The Omnibus - John French by Warhammer 40K

Author:Warhammer 40K
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781785726330
Publisher: Games Workshop
Published: 2017-05-03T23:00:00+00:00

VIII

MINDSCAPE

‘No one enters.’ Ahriman turned and looked at Kadin as the door to the chamber opened. The hiss and clunk of the door mechanisms sounded loud in the empty corridor. Behind him Maroth had crouched against the corridor wall, his hound helm swaying from side to side as though listening to a sound that was not there. The Cyrabor had cleared the deck levels for a kilometre in every direction around this spot.

The chamber beyond the door was not what Kadin had expected. Buried in the Sycorax’s machine decks, it might once have been a magazine or store for volatile chemicals. Small, and accessed by a single blast door, its walls were slab panels of plasteel. Dry rust ran round the chamber’s edges, and the only illumination came from a yellow light held behind a cage of brass in the ceiling. It had the feeling of a place that had fallen between needs again and again until it was forgotten.

A sarcophagus of black stone sat at the room’s centre. Its upper surface was carved in the vague likeness of a human. Kadin could see the impressions of a serene face, and arms folded across its chest. Sigils ran over the surface of the sarcophagus, incised into the stone. Kadin heard voices whisper at the edge of his awareness as he looked at them. He could understand the symbols, but was not sure how; they were demands to the warp to hold the one who lay within the casket quiet.

‘That is her?’ he asked. ‘Iobel?’

‘The princess of the blind,’ hissed Maroth from the corridor behind.

Ahriman nodded, not moving from the door, his eyes flicking over the chamber. He was armoured but bareheaded. In the space before the casket the deck was marked with lines burned into the metal. The lines and spirals made Kadin blink as he looked at them.

‘Why not simply rip it from her mind? If she has what you want, why not just take it?’

Ahriman’s eyes darted over the design on the floor, and then to the sarcophagus. Kadin thought he heard Ahriman muttering even though the sorcerer’s lips did not move.

‘Understanding,’ said Ahriman eventually, still not looking at Kadin. ‘Knowledge without context is useless. The facts are not enough. I must have everything that gives those facts meaning. Besides, who knows what else her mind might contain?’ Kadin saw something that might have been a grim smile flicker across Ahriman’s face, and then vanish. ‘And to take all of that requires… delicacy.’

Ahriman let out a long, measured breath, and his eyes closed briefly. Kadin felt the air become cold. His machine limbs twitched as pistons and servos spasmed. Maroth gave a low whimper from the shadows.

‘No one enters,’ repeated Ahriman, the breath of the words white as it came from his lips. ‘Sanakht and Ignis have primacy over the fleet while I am here.’ Kadin nodded, and unclamped the two-handed chainsword from his back. His machine fingers flexed against the worn grip.

Ahriman stepped through the door.

‘You think someone will try to interfere?’ Kadin asked.

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