by Chris Dows
The insistent stabbing pain across Pedahzur’s right side told him he wasn’t dead. What swam into view was hardly the stuff of the glorious afterlife either – this was no vision of the Emperor looking down at him benignly, ready to embrace him into the heavenly fold. The face was filthy and bloodied, criss-crossed with scars and with a sunken left cheek rapidly darkening into a purple bloom.
‘He’s coming to, sarge.’
A second figure moved into view, the uniform immediately recognisable. Elysians.
‘Colour Sergeant Pedahzur?’
He nodded once, then tried lifting himself up. Searing heat coursed across his right arm and chest, and he dropped back onto the unyielding stone floor.
‘I’m Sergeant Zachariah, this is Guardsman Adullam. Your shoulder’s dislocated. I can fix it if you like, but it’ll hurt like hell.’
Zachariah’s matter-of-fact tone might have sounded callous to some, but Pedahzur appreciated straight talking. Adding the fact that the Elysian had just saved his life, the colour sergeant liked him already.
‘It already hurts like hell. Do what you have to.’
Zachariah nodded to Adullam, who retrieved a handful of field dressings from their discarded packs. Wrapping them into a roll, he tossed it over to his kneeling sergeant who carefully placed the soft material in the crook of Pedahzur’s injured arm, directly below his dented shoulder plate. Shuffling around on the black rock, Zachariah positioned himself astride the Cadian’s now outstretched arm and grabbed the man’s wrist between his gloved hands.
‘I’m going to push my boot against the padding while I pull. Are you ready?’
Zachariah leant back, pulled and then rotated the wrist slightly. Gauging it perfectly, he increased the pressure and was rewarded with a loud, wet pop from inside the shaking man’s tunic. Pedahzur slumped in immediate relief. Only then did he register that he still had a hold on the torn cloth in his other hand. He looked down at the precious material.
‘What are we up against, colour sergeant?’ asked Zachariah.
Pedahzur took a deep breath then gingerly brought himself to a sitting position. The pain hadn’t disappeared completely, but it wasn’t debilitating either. Tucking the colours into his tunic, he reached out his left arm to Adullam, who stooped down and pulled him to his feet. His back was wet from a cold sweat and lying on the slick floor. The Cadian did his best to smarten himself up, but knew he looked exactly like he’d just fallen off a building and been thrown back in on the way down.
‘The traitors came from nowhere six days ago. They hit the ground level garrison and the command post at the same time. It took us three days to destroy their air support, but most of our forces were wiped out doing it.’
Pedahzur retrieved his laspistol from the ground, inspected it momentarily, then holstered it as Zachariah pointed two fingers to his eyes then over to the triangular entrance through which they had all plunged minutes before. Adullam moved towards it. Pedahzur could see that the sky was beginning to turn orange as the sun moved lower on the horizon, the wind whistling in from outside.
Zachariah continued with his questioning.
‘What’s their strength now? And what are they up to?’
Pedahzur took a closer look around the massive cave-like level on which they’d landed. Squinting into the darkness, he moved his injured arm gingerly backwards and forwards to ease life into it.
‘Strength unknown, although there weren’t that many to start with. I’d guess a few dozen. As for what they’re up to… They’re going to blow the top off this structure.’
Adullam threw a look over to Zachariah and frowned. ‘Why?’ he asked.
‘This place isn’t the same as our pylons, but the general consensus is that it’s similar. We’ve had tech-priests here for years doing various tests, but I don’t think they’re any closer to figuring out this monolith than they are the ones on Cadia.’
Pedahzur grimaced and corrected himself.
‘Were any closer. They’re all dead now.’
Zachariah exhaled, unbuttoned his canteen and offered it to Pedahzur, who took a couple of gulps then handed it back with a grateful nod.
‘I was in the command post up top when they cut us off from below. They used our own network of gantries and the scaffolding we’d built up over the years to reach us once they figured out we were dug in well enough to fend off jump pack assaults. Hitting us from the air and from below was just too much.’ Pedahzur gritted his teeth, more from recollection than from physical pain. ‘Too much.’
The Cadian looked to the high vaulted ceiling, greater detail coming into view as his eyes adjusted to the gloom.
‘Just before we lost it up there, I saw a lot of fyceline being hauled up by a couple of the Raptors.’
Zachariah cradled his lasgun lightly in his arms and frowned. ‘Is that what they’re called?’
Pedahzur looked back down and met the gaze of the Elysian. Of course. He wouldn’t even know what it was that had attacked him. ‘My captain knew what they were the second he saw them. He’d fought one before on another campaign, and lost most of his men bringing it down. The Chaos Raptors are amongst the worst of the traitors and if they’ve been sent here, it’s to do something very important as quickly as possible.’
Zachariah looked over to Adullam who nodded in agreement. Stories had turned to reality, and a grim reality it was proving to be. The veteran sergeant looked back to the Cadian.
‘Reinforcements are on their way, but they’re going to take time which we don’t have. No point in heading down to ground level – there’s no one left to help us. The Raptors will be putting charges into every possible nook and cranny. The captain also said the tech-priests believe this place will only work if it’s intact, particularly the temple on the summit.’
Zachariah raised his eyebrows at the description.
‘Temple? You mean those stone pillars?’
The colour sergeant nodded, a half-smile on his lips.
‘That’s what we called it. Seemed fitting, with its shape and location. Whatever it is, the traitors’ mission seems to be its destruction so that’s reason enough to stop them.’ He rested his hand over the cloth tucked into his tunic. ‘What’s more, they’ve got my colours.’
Zachariah saw the pain and anger in Pedahzur’s eyes. That, more than anything, would be playing on his mind. Before he had time to respond, Adullam shouted from his vantage point.
‘Sarge, there’s something–’
Adullam flew past the two men in a shower of rock and debris that caught Zachariah sideways. The remaining packs on Zachariah’s back and shoulder armour took most of the explosion’s force but he was still thrown to the ground, rolling to protect his precious rifle from a potentially damaging impact.
Within seconds he was in a defensive crouch. He could hear the groans from Adullam somewhere towards the centre of the chamber. The blast hadn’t killed him, but any help would have to wait; silhouetted in the entranceway was the battered form of the Raptor he’d thought he had lost with Beor, its breath rasping laboriously in the gloom.
Whatever it had used to create the explosion heralding its appearance had been discarded. Staggering forwards, the abomination raised its bolt pistol in a shaking hand, steadying itself with a clenched fist on the angled rock wall. It fired wildly, pumping bolts towards the three prone men, but none found their target, giving Zachariah just the time he needed to bring the scope to his eye and activate the intensifier.
A speckled green image of the monstrosity flickered before him, the reticule brighter than the surrounding field which partially obscured the enhanced details of the Raptor’s armour. He fired immediately, creating flashing blossoms of zero effect. The Raptor tried to summon a scream, but all that issued was a garbled, grating noise which made it stumble forwards with the effort.
The light changed imperceptibl
y but it was enough for Zachariah’s acutely trained eye. He’d never seen a Chaos Raptor before, but the small crack in its elaborate mouth grille gave him more than he’d need for a shot. A bolt whistled past his shoulder and impacted somewhere far behind, showering rock to the floor of the cavern, but Zachariah was in his zone now, breathing slowly, the outside world blocked out.
He fired twice. The first shot deflected away, but the second disappeared into the vertical slots. The creature’s head jerked backwards and it stood motionless for seconds until it pitched forwards, crashing face down. After the echoes had died in the massive room, the only sound was the loud ticking of the battered jump pack’s casing which, Zachariah assumed, was down to it cooling in the dank air. Even so, he kept a healthy distance from the Chaos Raptor’s hulking form. He snapped the intensifier off and walked over to his friend, who raised his eyebrows sardonically. Zachariah nodded. Lucky shot. Weakened target.
‘Can you walk, Adullam?’
‘I think I’ve broken a couple of ribs.’ His battered face contorted with pain as Zachariah pulled him upright. ‘Emperor’s Throne, I have. At least two.’
‘Get your jumpsuit off and I’ll strap you up best I can. I’m guessing we’ve got a lot of climbing to do, Pedahzur?’
The Cadian rose unsteadily to his feet.
‘That we have. I know which level we’re on. We’ve got twenty to climb. Some have good staircases, but there’s one that’s going to be difficult. It’ll leave us wide open too.’
Zachariah began rolling out a field bandage between his hands as Adullam painfully removed his bandoliers, webbing and various bits of kit. Retrieving his helmet, he flicked on its integrated image intensifier and the darkness of the cave’s far side flickered into an eerie green glow. He could make out large, steep rockcrete and metal steps disappearing up into the vaulted stone ceiling thirty yards up, and a large triangular shaft in the floor and ceiling.
‘At least we’ve got no issues with the darkness. We’ll lead you through,’ Adullam said.
Pedahzur laughed as he walked into the gloom.
‘I’ve been going up and down this bloody tower for nearly two years, sergeant. I could do it with my eyes closed, and have done before.’
Adullam looked to Zachariah with a frown as the bandages tightened around his ribs.
‘Fair enough.’
Despite every breath and movement being painful to Adullam, the first three levels were traversed with little incident. Remarkably, the traitors hadn’t raided the various weapons caches stored by the Cadians on every other level, so they weighed themselves down with as much ammunition and grenades as they could carry. They even found a compact missile launcher and, while it slowed them somewhat, they all felt comforted by their new acquisitions – particularly a short-range vox headset for Pedahzur, the old one having snapped off during his fall.
Despite having the ability to communicate, little was said and they fell into a silent, steady pace, their senses straining for the first sign of trouble. By the fourth level, the lack of resistance left them all feeling uneasy.
Pedahzur tried to recall how many Chaos Raptors he’d seen on the initial attack but still couldn’t reach a figure he felt comfortable sharing with the Elysians. Regardless of numbers, it was highly probable the traitors knew they were here and it was only a matter of time until an attack came.
While the floor space was decreasing with every level, the chambers were still massive, allowing them to avoid the huge, triangular shaft that ran upwards in the middle of the structure. Neither Cadian or Elysian had any idea what it was for, but they realised it was a long, fatal drop.
Coming to the base of a badly damaged staircase, Pedahzur beckoned them both to come within whispering earshot.
‘We’re heading into the final big chamber. It’s been crumbling away for decades so watch for bits falling off.’
He paused to wipe his heavily sweating face before continuing.
‘Like I said, it’s an absolute pain.’
The Elysians followed the colour sergeant up through the opening in the metres-thick solid rock floor. Zachariah looked up at the wall before him and took a breath. A series of metal gantries, plasteel tubes and ropes had been lashed together in ever-decreasing widths, zig-zagging up to the triangular roof and a large ragged exit hole at the junction of the wall and the ceiling. This chamber was the biggest yet, and he noted the central shaft terminated on this floor.
Adullam exhaled more noisily than he’d wanted to, his shortness of breath difficult to conceal.
‘Couldn’t you have done a better job?’
Pedahzur threw Adullam a grim smile.
‘The walls couldn’t take a single staircase so we had to do it this way. Engineers had to drill through this level’s ceiling, such is the unstable condition of the rock. It was originally separate to the last fifteen floors.’
Pedahzur gingerly placed his boot on the plates of the lowest platform, the whole walkway swinging and clanking as he began up its slippery surface. There was still enough light filtering in through a number of high triangular openings on all three sides, but he’d have to use the luminator he had retrieved from a supply cabinet a couple of floors below sooner rather than later.
Pulling himself along the rope guide with his free hand, he headed towards a flatter platform at the far end of the wall which, thanks to a stubby vertical ladder, connected to the next, shorter, upward-angled platform. He’d told Zachariah and Adullam to wait until he’d mounted the next level before following on, and ensure they traversed one person at a time. That’d spread them over three levels at the very least, and as there were a dozen stages to this ramshackle network and it would take them at least twenty minutes to cover it. He just hoped the Raptors were slow at positioning charges.
It was as Zachariah hauled himself up onto the fourth level that the world went green. Even though his helmet’s intensifier had a safety system built into it, there was always a lag before it could adjust to rapid changes in light, so he was effectively blinded by the huge explosion that shook the room.
Rocks, tubes and girders rained down past Zachariah, who clung for dear life to the safety rope running on the outside of the precarious walkway. A high-pitched shriek built to a deafening howl, sending the veteran sergeant to his knees on the bucking platform. His teeth felt as if they were being ground with a rasp file.
The Raptor’s meltagun dissolved the bottom three walkways, causing Zachariah’s level to pitch violently downwards. Losing his grasp on the rope, the Elysian slid uncontrollably towards the disconnected end of the gantry, watched by the traitor.
With its shrieking vox-caster still at full volume, the Raptor angled its weapon higher, vaporising a good part of the upper levels towards which Pedahzur was desperately trying to scramble. Glowing rockcrete rained down, the width of the platform directly above his head, diverting the lethal debris but still forcing him to duck away from blobs of molten metal.
With a roar of thrusters, the scarlet monstrosity fired up its jump pack and leaped towards the disintegrating network of ropes and metal, the flickering fire from its exhaust lighting up the cavernous interior of the chamber. Landing heavily on the near side of the gaping triangular shaft, it picked its way through stone and steel, staring up at Zachariah with an unflinching gaze.
‘How dare you try to fight us in the skies?’
The creature’s rage boomed around the unrelenting black walls, the force of its words causing chunks of stone to break loose and crash onto the floor or disappear down the shaft’s gaping maw.
‘We rule the skies! You are naught but prey, and a disappointing hunt at that.’
Zachariah’s head spun, his body ached and he had no real idea exactly where he was, but the traitor’s words cut through the mist like a white-hot knife. Old tricks he’d developed over years of bombardment and confusion played out: he forc
ed his head clear, focus returned, and he found enough support on the safety rope’s steel rods to push himself upright against the steeply angled metal floor. The Raptor took a couple of steps closer, mounting a large rock, its meltagun held almost casually within its huge spiked gauntlets. Another piece of black granite crashed within a metre of its position without causing it to so much as a twitch.
‘We shall destroy this place and consume you all. There is nothing you can do against the glory of the Blood Disciples. Chaos shall reign!’
Zachariah brought the lasgun’s scope up to his eye, but he didn’t fire on the Raptor. Instead, he pointed the muzzle skywards and searched for the source of the falling rocks. Sure enough, he could see a fissure deep in the roof, a maze of cracks running from it in all directions. He pulled the trigger and fired repeatedly, aiming surgically precise shots into the weakened ceiling. The Raptor didn’t even bother looking up, such was his arrogance and hubris.
‘I will carve my name into your mortal body. Prepare for your death!’
The first chunk of rock to fall was barely a metre across, but it threw the Raptor off balance, smashing over its raised arms so that its meltagun’s lethal super-heated blast ejecting wide of Zachariah’s position. The second rock, however, was far larger and seemed to fall in slow motion, majestically gathering momentum until it piled onto the traitor’s head.
The sound thundered around the chamber, dislodging yet more rock from the walls and ceiling. Such was the weight of the slab, the Raptor couldn’t push it up and off. However, it could still move sideways and Zachariah realised it was only a matter of time until it prised itself free.
Strapping his rifle to his chest, the veteran sergeant threw himself towards the safety rope which was now trailing to the debris-strewn ground below, and rappelled down it in seconds. Grabbing a bandolier of frag grenades, he wrapped them tightly together as he ran, forming a large loop with the remains of the strap.
Before him, the huge slab was moving and he could see the arched projections of the Raptor’s jump pack intakes; it was freeing itself faster than he’d hoped. Pulling the pin on one grenade, he threw the makeshift lasso towards the opening gap in the rocks and saw it rattle downwards into the makeshift tomb he’d formed around the Blood Disciple. A single grenade against power armour wouldn’t do a great deal of damage, but half a dozen detonating in a concentrated area was something else.
