The Lost and the Damned by Guy Haley

Author:Guy Haley
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2019-07-01T13:56:22+00:00

Palace outworks, Daylight Wall section 16, 7th of Quartus

Katsuhiro was there when an angel came down from the distant heights into the mudscape of the outworks. He arrived without warning, passed among them like something from a dream and was gone before they could acknowledge his reality.

Sanguinius was gold and he was glory. Familiarity can lead a man to accept the worst circumstances as normal. In the blood and the destruction, where flesh was pounded into the pulverised stone, Katsuhiro had forgotten what purity looked like. In the person of Sanguinius he was reminded.

The first Katsuhiro heard were shouts of amazement, and he looked back from no-man’s-land to see a soft glow, then Sanguinius himself. He stood behind the broken rampart in full view of the enemy. There were snipers in the drop-craft wrecks, but he forgot them.

The guns on the walls were firing, aimed at the siege camp and the contravallation that grew day by day around the city. Counter bombardments answered from the enemy lines; the orbital batteries had not ceased, nor had the fleet bombardment, and shells periodically broke the flickering voids to blast up craters among the defensive lines. The roar of the siege was at its worst, save for those times the foe made direct attempts on the outworks, when all became a bedlam of flashing light and terror.

A hush descended. Though the guns continued to fire, their violence was somehow lessened by the primarch’s presence.

Men and women fell to their knees as Sanguinius passed along the line. His entourage of aides, standard bearers and the gold-armoured and winged elite that guarded him were almost as affecting as the primarch himself. Grumbles were silenced. Fear ebbed. Filthy hands reached out to touch the Lord of Angels. His warriors moved to push the soldiers back, but Sanguinius raised his hand, just slightly, and the guards moved away. A female soldier was the first to dare to hold out her fingers to his wings. The feathers twitched, but Sanguinius stood firm, and allowed her to caress him.

Another person came forwards, then another, until a crowd was around the Great Angel, arms radiating inwards like worshippers from less enlightened times stretching for their idol.

Sanguinius was uncomfortable, Katsuhiro could see. The primarch kept his perfect face as neutral as he could, but it was there in the set of his lips, and the way he looked upwards, away from the supplicants around him. Like all the rest, Katsuhiro was captivated, and moved towards him, his feet dragging through the mud of their own volition. The Angel’s radiance touched Katsuhiro. He felt a peace in his heart, a calmness in his mind and a stilling of fears. The aches and chills that sickened him were alleviated briefly. For a moment, he felt whole again.

Surrounded by the dirty and the desperate, Sanguinius shone as pure as sunlight reflected from snow.

Then it was over. The light dimmed. The Great Angel’s guards moved forwards and, gently as they could, pushed back the weeping crowd so Sanguinius could address them.

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