The Unremembered Empire Part 32

*He was here, then?' Kleve asked the chamberlain. *Curze?'

Euten seemed too shaken to move, speak, or even look up. She was wiping blood from Faffnr's head with a strip of cloth torn from her gown.

*He was here,' she said at last. *The Wolves... They held him at bay. I think several have paid with their lives.'

Voices came from the hallway outside, ordering the praecentals to move aside. The tetrarch Valentus Dolor entered, escorted by Niax Nessus, Holguin of the Dark Angels, and a squad of Ultramarines. Eeron Kleve had voxed their alarm on all channels as he and Gantulga had rushed back to the Residency.

*Your concern was correct, Kleve,' Dolor said grimly.

*Gantulga made the call,' said Kleve.

*Your instincts are sharp, White Scar,' said Holguin.

*Not sharp enough to save lives,' said the White Scar, *nor to put a net upon him.'

*Where did he go?' Dolor asked. *My Lady Euten? Where did he go?'

*The Wolves held him at bay,' she repeated quietly. *For as long as they could, they held him at bay. Then... then he was going to kill me. But Vulkan stopped him.'

*Vulkan?' asked Niax Nessus.

*It was Vulkan,' said Euten.

*That is not possible,' said Holguin.

*I know him,' said Euten. *I have seen his likeness often enough. It could have been no other. He came upon us like a tempest, a storm-force. Curze was his sole intent. They clashed. They fought. The combat drove them back through the cas.e.m.e.nt, out into the night.'

*The lady is in shock,' said Holguin. *She does not know what she is saying.'

*I fear she does,' said Dolor.

*It is madness!' Holguin replied.

*Yes,' said the tetrach, *but not of the kind you think.'

Nessus had reached the smashed windows and stood at Gantulga's side.

*I think there's movement down there,' said the White Scar. *Movement on the lower roofs. You see?'

Nessus nodded. He opened his vox.

*This is the Third Master. We have located the Night Haunter. Move a.s.sault squads to the south side of the Residency. I want two Storm Eagles in the air, covering the lower roofs. Make it fast! Illuminate the roof tops and secure the yards so that no one can cross them. Invictus guard inside the Residency. When Curze sees his exit routes blocked, he will undoubtedly attempt to break back inside. I repeat the instructions you were given earlier a lethal force is not only permitted, it is expected.'

*Let's move,' said Dolor. *With a purpose! I want to be there for the kill. Badorum, get medicae teams for the Wolves, and for the Lady Euten. Secure this level.'

*Wait!' Holguin hissed. *Tell me... tell me what you meant about Vulkan.'

Dolor paused.

*Vulkan lives, Dark Angel,' he said. *He is not in his right mind, but he lives, and if the Lady Euten was speaking the truth, it is likely that Vulkan is holding Curze in combat on the rooftops as we speak.'

*Vulkan lives?' Holguin echoed.

*Who cares if Vulkan lives!' Euten exclaimed, rising to look at them, her hands and sleeves bloodied. *What of the Lion and our dear Lord Guilliman? What of them? Curze told me they were dead! Curze told me to my face that he had murdered them!'

They looked at her.

*Is it true? she asked. *Well? Someone speak! Someone say something!'

Flames surrounded them. White-hot, incandescent flames, so bright they hurt their eyes, so hot they would turn even the hardest plate to quicksilver dew.

Yet they felt no heat. A cool freshness surrounded them. A s.p.a.ce... a silence.

*You are alive, my lords, I am pleased to say,' said Warsmith Dantioch.

He stooped, with some effort, to help Guilliman to his feet as Alexis Polux went to the aid of the Lion. Ultramarines from the 199th Aegida Company rushed onto the tuning floor of Primary Location Alpha to a.s.sist, and then hesitated at the strange wonder of the encounter.

Guilliman took in the polished black cavity of the vast cavern around him, then looked back at the vision of the fire-wracked chapel shown to him by the communication field.

*Sotha?' he asked, his voice dry.

*Yes, my lord,' said Dantioch.

*We are on Sotha?' Guilliman repeated.

*I... Yes, my lord,' said Dantioch, *and I am glad of it, for if you had not been here, you would have been there.' He gestured to the sun-hot blaze of the chapel.

*You brought us here?' asked Guilliman.

*No, lord,' said Dantioch. *The Pharos did. Perhaps as a by-product of its process, perhaps deliberately.'

*Deliberately?'

*I am beginning to suspect this mechanism possesses some... sentience,' said the warsmith.

*I am beginning to suspect, brother,' said the Lion, *that you are dabbling in technologies that no one, not even our father, would play with.'

Polux had stood the Lion up against Dantioch's heavy seat and was examining the wound in his throat. Both Guilliman and his brother had taken several injuries during their contest with Curze, but the neck wound was the worst. It had stopped bleeding at least.

Guilliman leaned over, turned the Lion's head with his hand, and regarded the wound.

*That needs packing before it opens again,' he said.

*What, no comment, Roboute?' asked the Lion. *Of all the things that trouble me about you and your dealings, brother, we had not even begun to discuss your extraordinary beacon. It was the first thing I saw as I approached Macragge, and thus the first hint I had thata'

*But you saw it,' Guilliman snapped. *That's the point, brother. You saw it. It worked. It is as vital to the function and survival of the Imperium as a regent to watch over it!'

*Yet you seem to know nothing of its function or potential,' said the Lion. He pushed Polux away and stood up. *Am I to believe that we have been transported across s.p.a.ce some... unimaginable distance from Macragge?'

*You are,' said Guilliman. He sighed. *Brother, it was with the greatest reluctance that I explored and then authorised the use of the Pharos beacon. I am fully aware of the great unknowns that attach to it. It was a calculated risk.'

*I feel your calculations may be too optimistic,' said the Lion.

*Do you?' asked Guilliman. *Yet you are alive. Had we remained in Curze's trap, that would not be the case.'

The Lion sniffed.

*Furthermore,' said Guilliman, *I know I am not the only one who makes use of prohibited technology. The warp signature of your flags.h.i.+p, brother... Did you think the technicians of my fleet and the adepts of the Mechanic.u.m would not a.n.a.lyse it? When were you going to tell me about that? Or was that a secret you hoped to keep, like the fact that Curze was at large aboard your vessel? You keep too many secrets, brother.'

The Lion looked away. *We will debate this further,' he said. *Now, we must return. We came here. We must go back at once.'

*That will require some consideration,' said Dantioch.

The Lion glared at him.

*My lord,' Dantioch added, with a slight bow of his head.

*We will go back, just as we came,' the Lion insisted.

*At the very least, my lord,' said Dantioch, *I must spend some time re-tuning and focusing the device. I cannot send you back into that.' He indicated the seething fire beyond the field.

*Why am I even talking to you?' the Lion asked.

*Because the warsmith, appointed by me, made this Pharos device work,' said Guilliman. *He knows more about it than any person alive. If anyone can return us, it is Dantioch. I suggest you address him in a more civil tone.'

The Lion looked at Dantioch.

*It is hard to trust the face of an enemy,' he said.

*He is no enemy,' said Alexis Polux firmly.

*Then, warsmith,' said the Lion, *explain how this device works, and how we may be transported back. My Navigator saw it as empathic rather than psychic. She said it showed us where we wanted to go.'

*Your Navigator is perceptive, my lord,' said Dantioch. *This is a site of ancient technology of pre-human origin. My study has shown that it is indeed empathic in its resonance. A principle of quantum entanglement, I speculate. Unlike our warp technology, it does not use the immaterium to bypa.s.s reals.p.a.ce. I think it was part of a much larger navigational network that once existed. By tuning it upon Macragge, we have achieved a navigation guide to conquer the Ruinstorm, as well as instantaneous communication.'

*How did we get here?' asked the Lion.

*I am still pondering that, my lord,' said Dantioch. *I had wondered if, in its original form, the network might have allowed for site-to-site teleportation on a scale we could scarcely imagine. I had presumed that function was lost, as it would require other gateways or beacon sites. I was wrong.'

He looked at Polux.

*The successful transfer of Alexis to this place teaches us the most, I think,' said Dantioch. *The communication field was already providing me with enough empathic resonance for me to be able, with some success, to detect Konrad Curze in the darkness and forewarn my friend. Then, when his life was in true jeopardy...'

Dantioch paused.

*I wanted to save him. I wanted to reach out and take his hand, and save him from that monster. I think the empathic field responded to my great need and opened to allow it. Just as, when the two of us saw you, my lords, in peril of your lives, our will to save you opened the field again.'

*So it cannot be controlled or set?' asked Guilliman. *It cannot be switched on and directed? It simply responds to an innate, inarticulable need?'

*I'm afraid so, my lord,' said Dantioch, *which supposes that, if we cannot access or generate the appropriate emotive, empathic urge, we may not be able to return you to Macragge.'

There was a longer pause.

*Of course, there is also the fact,' Dantioch added awkwardly, *that we do not know with any certainty that the process works in both directions.'

There was an even longer pause. The polished, mirror-black dome of the cavern surrounded them with cool silence.

*Then you had better find me a s.h.i.+p,' said the Lion. *A fast one.'

19.

Mortality

*Common needs make for the strangest strangers comrades.'

a Zerksus, Proverbs *Look, I've told you a I cannot help you,' John Grammaticus said to the Word Bearer.

*And that is still not an acceptable answer,' Narek replied. *My efforts to secure you involved a great deal of planning, preparation, effort and sacrifice. I woulda'

*Listen to me,' said John. *I am the agent of a xenos power. The Cabal runs me. It owns me. I am here on their bidding, sent to perform a task that has been pre-ordained.'

*And?'

John strained against the ropes that lashed him to the chair.

*And? They are watching me. If I step away from my course, if I... defy them and refuse to complete my mission, they will come for me. And you too, if you are with me.'

*They can try,' Narek mused.

*They will do more than try,' said John. *They are quite resourceful. And determined.'

John relaxed and dropped his chin.

*G.o.d knows, warrior, I should dearly love to see Lorgar brought down and finished. The galaxy would be a better place for it.'

*"G.o.d"?' Narek asked. *There are few true G.o.ds any more. Only the daemons of the warp that pollute the hearts of men.'