Fear the Alien
Page 32
Before she knew it, the metal horror had strode across the chamber, and stood, towering over Brielle. Even as her finger tightened on the bolt pistol’s trigger, it regarded her through blazing green eyes. It extended its hand. Brielle steeled herself for the same fate that had befallen Quin, her skin burning with dreadful anticipation of such a grisly end.
But instead of that metal hand erupting in green, pulsating light, it appeared to make a gesture. The breath stuck in her throat, and Brielle relaxed her finger, for but an instant. Her mind raced as she sought to decipher the figure’s gesture.
Then it came to her. The metal daemon was demanding she surrender the stave she still held in her left hand.
“You want this?” She growled, girding her muscles and bracing her feet on the ground.
“Then have it!” With titanic effort, Brielle hurled the stave at her foe. The blade flared green as it crossed the space between them, almost blinding her. With unerring accuracy, the tip struck the skeletal figure in the centre of its ribcage, piercing armour that had proven impenetrable to dozens of boltgun rounds. A shaft of green light shot outwards, accompanied by a piercing machine howl, and the stave continued its course, burying itself up to the haft in the figure’s chest.
The skeletal horror stood transfixed by its own weapon, blinding green light now splaying in all directions from its wound. It stood, unable to move, its hellish death-mask face staring at Brielle as it writhed as if in agony. For an instant, Brielle felt some unutterable hatred of truly cosmic scale turned upon her, and knew total, soul-rending insignificance before that impossibly ancient malice. And then, the moment passed, and she tore her eyes away from the dazzling sight before her.
Seeing that the skeletal warriors around the chamber appeared to have faltered in their advance, as if they shared something of the pain Brielle had inflicted upon their lord, she saw the chance to escape, and grasped it for all she was worth.
“Hep!” she shouted above the infernal metallic howl emanating from the transfixed metal giant. “Gather the men. I’ve had just about enough of this place!”
Brielle stood upon the bridge of the Fairlight, Joachim Hep at her side. The wound at her brow was dressed, while Hep’s right arm was set in a sling.
“A close call, ma’am,” Hep said flatly.
Raising an eyebrow at the understatement, Brielle turned to face her advisor. “Aye, Joachim,” she replied. “And costly. Santos will be missed. But,” she continued, “it may not have been in vain.”
Hep rounded upon his mistress, unease writ large across his craggy features. “Ma’am…” he started.
“Easy, Joachim.” Brielle smiled as she raised a hand to forestall her advisor’s inevitable objection to what she was about to say. “If what the pathfinder said is true, there must be more of these places, these tombs, out there,” she nodded towards the void through the viewing port. “Just think, Joachim. Just think. We gained entrance to that tomb, and we had no idea what waited for us.”
“Ma’am…”
“That place makes Skard look like a downhive scav-mart,” she grinned. “Just think what the Mechanicus would give to get their hands on that tech. They’d give anything to study just one of those machine warriors… what if we could broker contracts with each of the forges, one sample to each, exclusive rights…”
“Brielle!” Hep interjected. “Your father would march me from the torpedo tubes if I allowed you to…”
“Next time,” Brielle pressed on, a mischievous light entering her eyes, “we’ll know what awaits us.” Feeling suddenly breathless at the thought of the riches she might bring to her house, she pressed on. “Next time, Joachim, no conceited eldar will interfere with our efforts. Next time, we’ll take it all…”
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
DAN ABNETT
Dan Abnett is a novelist and award-winning comic book writer. He has written many novels for the Black Library, including the acclaimed Gaunt’s Ghosts series and the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, and, with Mike Lee, the Darkblade cycle. His Horus Heresy novels Horus Rising and Legion are both bestsellers. He lives and works in Maidstone, Kent. Dan’s website can be found at www.DanAbnett.com
JULIET E. McKENNA
Juliet E McKenna has been interested in fantasy stories since childhood, from Winnie the Pooh to The Iliad. An abiding fascination with other worlds and their peoples played its part in her subsequently reading Classics at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. After combining bookselling and motherhood for a couple of years, she now fits in her writing around her family and vice versa. She lives with her husband and children in West Oxfordshire, England.
NICK KYME
Nick Kyme hails from Grimsby, a small town on the east coast of England. Nick moved to Nottingham in 2003 to work on White Dwarf magazine as a Layout Designer. Since then, he has made the switch to the Black Library’s hallowed halls as an editor and has been involved in a multitude of diverse projects. His writing credits include several published short stories, background books and novels.
You can catch up with Nick and read about all of his other published works at his website: www.nickkyme.com
BRADEN CAMPBELL
Braden Campbell is a classical actor and playwright, currently living in Milton, Ontario. His theatrical work has seen him perform across not only across Canada, but in England and New York City. For the past five years he has also worked as a freelance writer, particularly in the field of role playing games. Braden has enjoyed Warhammer 40,000 for nearly a decade, and remains fiercely dedicated to his dark eldar.
C.L. WERNER
C.L. Werner was a diseased servant of the Homed Rat long before his first story in Inferno! magazine. His Black Library credits include the Chaos Wastes books Palace of the Plague Lord and Blood for the Blood God. He is also the author of Mathias Thulmann: Witch Hunter, Runefang and the Brunner the Bounty Hunter trilogy. Currently living in the American
South-West, he continues to write stories of mayhem and madness set in the Warhammer World.
Visit the author’s website at www.vermintime.com
MARK CLAPHAM
Mark Clapham was born and raised in Yorkshire, studied and worked in London for over a decade, and is now an itinerant writer and editor based in Exeter, Devon.
Mark has written prose and scripts for characters including Doctor Who, Bernice Summerfield and Iris Wildthyme, as well as comic scripts for acclaimed indie publisher Accent UK. Mark is Content Editor for the Shiny Shelf review site and blogs at the modestly named www.markclapham.com
MATTHEW FARRER
Matthew Farrer lives in Australia, and is a member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild. He has been writing since his teens, and has a number of novels and short stories to his name, including the popular Shira Calpurnia novels for the Black Library.
JAMES GILMER
James Gilmer is a graduate of the Clarion Writers Workshop as well as a former newspaper stringer, graduate of Michigan State University with an English B.A. He currently lives in San Francisco with his wife, works full-time as a surgical and trauma radiographer, and is working on more projects for everyone’s favourite grim future where there is only war.
AARON DEMBSKI-BOWDEN
Aaron Dembski-Bowden is a British author with his beginnings in the videogame and RPG industries. He’s been a deeply entrenched fan of Warhammer 40,000 ever since he first ruined his copy of Space Crusade by painting the models with all the skill expected of an overexcited nine-year-old.
His previous novels for the Black Library are Cadian Blood and Soul Hunter.
ANDY HOARE
Andy Hoare worked for eight years in Games Workshop’s design studio, producing and developing new game rules and background material. Now working freelance writing novels, roleplaying game material and gaming-related magazine articles, Andy lives in Nottingham with his partner Sarah.
Scanning and basic
proofing by Red Dwarf,
formatting and additional
proofing by
Undead.