The Flight of the Eisenstein

by James Swallow

‘As you wish, lord,’ Garro replied, getting the use of his throat back.

  ‘I know you frown on such things as the cups, but you must understand that honours and citations are sometimes necessary.’ He nodded to himself. ‘Warriors must know that they are valued. Praise… praise from one’s peers must be given when the moment is right. Without it, even the most steadfast man will eventually feel unvalued.’ There was an edge of melancholy that flickered through the primarch’s voice so quickly that Garro decided he had imagined it.

  Mortarion brought them to the edge of the balcony and they looked down at the large assemblage of men. Although Endurance was not large enough to hold the entire Legion, many of the Death Guard’s seven companies were represented below, in whole or in part. Garro caught sight of Ullis Temeter and his comrade threw him a salute. Garro nodded back.

  ‘You are a respected man, Nathaniel,’ said the primarch. ‘There’s not a captain in the whole of the Legion who would not acknowledge your combat prowess.’ He smiled slightly again. ‘Even Commander Grulgor, although he may hate to admit it.’

  ‘Thank you, lord.’

  ‘And the men. The men trust you. They look to you for strength of character, for leadership, and you give it.’

  ‘I do only what the Emperor commands of me, sir.’ Garro shifted uncomfortably. As honoured as he was to have a private moment with his master, it troubled him in equal measure. This was not the direct, clear arena of warfare where Garro understood what was expected of him. He was in rarefied air here, loitering with a son of the Emperor himself.

  If Mortarion sensed this, he gave no sign. ‘It is important to me to have unity of purpose within my Legion. Just as it is important for my brother, Horus, to have unity across the entirety of the Astartes.’

  ‘The Warmaster,’ breathed Garro. There had been rumours aboard the Endurance for some time that elements of the Death Guard’s flotilla would be sent on a new task after the jorgall interception. At the forefront of this talk was the possibility that they would join the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade, commanded by none other than the chosen son of the Emperor himself, Horus the Warmaster. It was clearly more than rumour, he now realised. Garro had fought side by side with the warriors of Horus’s XVI Legion in the past, and had only admiration for men like Maloghurst, Garviel Loken and Tarik Torgaddon. ‘I have served with the Luna Wolves in the past, lord.’

  ‘They are the Sons of Horus now,’ Mortarion corrected gently, ‘just as the Death Guard were once the Dusk Raiders. My brother expects great things of our Legion, captain. A battle is coming that will test all of us, from the Warmaster to your lowly housecarl.’

  ‘I will be ready.’

  The primarch nodded. ‘I have no doubt of that, but it is not enough to be ready, Nathaniel.’ His fingers knitted together over the iron balustrade. ‘The Death Guard must be of one mind. We must have singular purpose or we will falter.’

  Garro’s discomfort deepened and he wondered if the after-effects of the cup’s contents were not still upon him. ‘I… I am not sure I understand you, lord.’

  ‘Our men find solace in the lines of command with their superiors and inferiors, but it is important that they also have a place in which the barriers created by rank can be ignored. They must have freedom to speak and think unfettered.’

  All at once, the insight Garro had been lacking came to him in a cold rush. ‘My lord refers to the lodges.’

  ‘I have been told that you have always eschewed membership. Why, Nathaniel?’

  Garro stared at the deck plates. ‘Am I being ordered to join, lord?’

  ‘I can no more command the workings of the lodge than I can the motion of the stars,’ Mortarion said easily. ‘No, captain, I do not order you. I only ask why. Illuminate me.’

  It was a long moment before he spoke again. ‘We are Astartes, sir, set on our path by the Master of Mankind, tasked to regather the lost fragments of humanity to the fold of the Imperium, to illuminate the lost, castigate the fallen and the invader. We can only do so if we have truth on our side. If we do it in the open, under the harsh light of the universe, then I have no doubt that we will eventually expunge the fallacies of gods and deities… but we cannot bring the secular truth to bear if any of it is hidden, even the smallest part. Only the Emperor can show the way forward.’ He took a shuddering breath, intently aware of the primarch’s unblinking stare upon him. ‘These lodges, though they have their worth, are predicated on the act of concealment, and I will have no part of that.’

  Mortarion accepted this with a careful nod. ‘What of your battle-brothers who feel differently?’

  ‘That is their choice, lord. I have no right to make it for them.’

  The primarch drew himself up once more. ‘Thank you for your candor, battle-captain. I expected nothing else.’ He paused. ‘I have one more request of you, Nathaniel, and this, I’m afraid, is indeed an order.’

  ‘Sir?’ Garro felt an odd flutter in his chest.

  ‘Once we are done here, this fleet will make space for the Isstvan system to rendezvous with the Warmaster’s command ship, the Vengeful Spirit. Horus will be holding a war council with representatives of the World Eaters and the Emperor’s Children, and I will have need of an equerry to join me there. First Captain Typhon will be engaged in other duties, so I have chosen you to accompany my party.’

  Garro was speechless. To extend such a privilege to a battle-captain was unprecedented, and the thought of it made his chest tighten. To stand in Mortarion’s presence was heady enough, but to be close at hand before an assembly of the Emperor’s sons led by the Warmaster…

  It would be glorious.

  FOUR

  Two Faces

  A Scream in the Darkness

  Gathering of Legends

  THE PICT SCREEN was a flexible thing, like cloth, and it hung from the eaves of the armoury chamber alcove in the manner of a tapestry. Cables trailed away to shining brass sockets in the walls, streams of data feeding images from the ship-to-ship vox network. The view was a live signal, attenuated by interference from the Horologii star, and although it appeared to be instantaneous, it was actually a few minutes behind the real events, the transmission slowed by relativistic physics, not that such a fact seemed to concern the Astartes gathered to watch.

  The display came from remote scrying picters on the bow plane of Barbarus’s Sting, a light frigate that had been tasked to follow the jorgall world-ship on its last journey. The images were being recorded for posterity. The better views would doubtless be worked into stirring newsreels for distribution across Imperial space.

  The world-ship’s drives flashed red and tongues of fusion flame erupted from their nozzles, each one as long as the Sting. At the edges of the picture, it was possible to see the glints of smaller craft – shuttles and Thunderhawks – escaping the world-ship with the last of the Imperial forces on board. The picters rotated to follow the monolithic craft and smoked filters faded in as the Iotan sun hove into view.

  The world-ship was accelerating away, gaining speed with every passing moment. The controls for the propulsion system captured by the Death Guard of the Second Company had been locked open by the adepts of the Mechanicum. Barbarus’s Sting kept a respectful distance, drifting after the bottle-world, framing its descent towards the sun. Great loops of crackling electromagnetic energy shimmered around the pearlescent cylinder as it cut into the star’s invisible chromosphere, destroying the solar panels at the aft. They crisped and burned, folding in on themselves like insect wings touched by candle flames. The world-ship fell faster and faster, dipping into the raging superheated plasma of the photospheric layer. Hull metal peeled away in curls a kilometre long, revealing ribs of metal that melted and ran. Finally, the alien vessel sank through a glowing coronal prominence and disappeared forever into the stellar furnace.

  ‘Gone,’ murmured Brother Mokyr, ‘ashes and dust, as are all the enemies of the Death Guard. A fitting end for such xenos hubris.’ A swell o
f self-congratulatory mood passed through the assembled men of the Second Company.

  It was they who had made the sun dive possible, after spending their blood and fire to take the heavily defended engineering domes from the jorgall. It was fitting that they were witnesses to the alien vessel’s final moments.

  ‘I wonder how many survivors were aboard,’ said a sergeant, watching the star’s rippling surface.

  Mokyr grunted. ‘None.’ He turned and grinned at his company captain. ‘A fine victory, eh, commander?’

  ‘A fine victory,’ repeated Grulgor in a rancorous tone, ‘but not fine enough.’ He shot a hard look up at the gallery, where Garro stood in conversation with his primarch.

  ‘Curb your choler, Ignatius. For once, try not to wear it like a badge upon your chest.’ Typhon drew near, the rank-and-file Astartes parting before his approach.

  ‘Forgive me, first captain,’ Grulgor retorted, ‘it is just that my choler, as you put it, is apt to suffer when I am forced to witness the unworthy rewarded.’

  Typhon raised an eyebrow. ‘You are questioning the primarch’s decisions? Careful, commander, there is sedition in such thoughts.’

  He drew close to the other man so that their conversation would be less public.

  ‘Garro rescues women and kills newborns, and for that he is given a draught from the cup? Have the standards of the Legion fallen so low that we reward such behavior?’

  The first captain ignored the question and answered with one of his own. ‘Tell me, why do you object to Nathaniel Garro with such vehemence? He is a Death Guard, is he not? He is your battle-brother, a kinsman Astartes.’

  ‘Straight-arrow Garro!’ Anger bubbled up through Grulgor’s mocking reply. ‘He’s not fit to be a Death Guard! He is high-handed and superior, always looking down his nose! He thinks himself so much better than the rest of the Legion, too proud and too good for the rest of us!’

  ‘Us?’ asked Typhon, pushing the commander to say what he knew was there just beneath the surface.

  ‘The sons of Barbarus, Calas. You and I, men like Ujioj and Holgoarg! The Death Guard who were born upon our blighted home world! Garro is a Terran, an Earthborn. He wears it like some sacred brand, always reminding us that he is our better because he fought for the Legion before it was given to Mortarion!’ Grulgor shook his head. ‘He pours scorn on my company, upon our brotherhood and comradeship of our lodge, too haughty to mix with the rest of us outside of rank and rule, and do you know why? Because his precious birthright is all he has! If he wasn’t favored by the Emperor with that damned eagle cuirass he wears, he wouldn’t be allowed to ride the hem of my cloak!’

  ‘Temeter is a Terran-born, and so is Huron-Fal, and Sorrak and countless others within our ranks,’ said the captain levelly. ‘Do you detest them as well, Ignatius?’

  ‘None of them drag the old ways around like rattling chains. None of them think themselves a cut above the rest because of their birthplace!’ His eyes narrowed. ‘Garro acts as if he has the right to judge me. I will not tolerate such condescension from a man who grew up watered and well-fed, while my clan fought for every breath of clean air!’

  ‘But is not Mortarion himself a Terran?’ Typhon asked with a wicked smile, daring Grulgor to go further still.

  ‘The primarch’s place of birth was Barbarus,’ insisted the commander, rising to the bait. ‘He is, and always will be, one of us. This Legion belongs to the Death Lord first and the Emperor second. Garro should be reminded of that, not given praise he does not deserve.’

  ‘Bold words,’ noted Typhon, ‘but I’m afraid you may be further disappointed. Our lord commander has not only granted Captain Garro the cups today, but will also take him as equerry to the war council at our next port of call.’

  Grulgor’s pale face flushed crimson. ‘Did you come to mock, Typhon? Does it amuse you to parade Garro’s favours in front of me?’

  The line of Typhon’s jaw hardened. ‘Watch your tone, commander. Remember to whom you speak.’ He looked away. ‘You are a true Death Guard, Grulgor, a blunt instrument, lethal and relentless, and you are loyal to the primarch.’

  ‘Never question that,’ growled the Astartes, ‘or I will take your head, first captain or not.’

  The threat amused the other man. ‘I would never dare to do such a thing, but I would ask you this – how far would your loyalty to Mortarion take you?’

  ‘To the gates of hell and beyond, if he commanded it.’ Grulgor’s reply was immediate and absolute.

  Typhon watched him carefully. ‘Even if it was against the will of a higher authority?’

  ‘Like the Sigillite?’ snapped Grulgor, ‘or those wastrels filling the Council of Terra?’

  ‘Or higher still.’

  The commander snorted with bitter laughter. ‘The Death Lord first, the Emperor second. I said it and I meant it. If that makes me of lesser worth than men like Garro, then perhaps I am.’

  ‘On the contrary,’ nodded Typhon, ‘it makes you all the more valuable. There are great powers soon to bloom, Ignatius, and men of your calibre will be needed when those moments come.’

  He threw a dismissive glance up at the gallery. ‘And what about him?’

  Typhon shrugged, a peculiar gesture in the heavy plate of his armour. ‘Nathaniel Garro is a good soldier and a leader of men, with the respect of many Astartes in this and other Legions. To have him at the primarch’s side – as you say, a man so staunch a Terran – when a time of decision came to pass… that would carry much weight.’

  Grulgor sneered. ‘Garro has a steel rod up his backside. He would break before he would bend his knee to anything but the rule of Terra.’

  ‘All the more reason for the primarch to keep a close eye on him.’ Typhon’s gruff voice became a rough whisper. ‘I, however, see the reality in your viewpoint, Ignatius, and when the moment of choice comes and Garro does not fall in to line—’

  ‘You might require the services of a blunt instrument, yes?’

  A nod. ‘Just so.’

  The commander showed his teeth in a feral smile. ‘Thank you, first captain,’ he said, in a louder voice. ‘Your counsel has been most soothing to my ill-humour.’

  ENDURANCE TORE ITSELF from the mad fury of the warp and crashed into corporeal reality once more, leading the Death Guard flotilla into the wide-open diamond formation of the 63rd Expedition fleet. Garro, once again in his full battle armour and honour kit, stood behind and off to the side of his primarch as Mortarion observed the Warmaster’s forces from the assembly hall. Flanked by the Deathshroud, Garro’s commander stood with one hand pressed to the thick armourglass window that formed the right eye socket of the giant stone skull on the ship’s bow.

  ‘My brother seeks to impress us,’ Mortarion said to the air. ‘The Sons of Horus have indeed assembled a mighty force in this place.’

  Garro had to admit that he had rarely seen the like, not since the days when the Emperor himself led the Great Crusade. The darkness was thick with ships of every type and tonnage, and the space between them swarmed with auxiliary craft, shuttles and fighters on perimeter patrols. The arrowhead arrangement of the green and grey liveried Death Guard ships slipped carefully into a pattern cleared for just that purpose. To the far starboard, across the bow of Typhon’s flagship, the Terminus Est, he spied the ornate purple and gold filigree of a cruiser from the III Legion, the Emperor’s Children, and high above at a different anchor, blue and red trimmed craft from the XII Legion, the World Eaters.

  But what caught his attention and held it firmly was the single great battleship that orbited ahead of them all, isolated in its own halo of open space and screened by a wall of sleek Raven-class interceptors. A heavy ingot of fashioned iron, the Warmaster’s Vengeful Spirit radiated quiet power. Even from this distance, Garro could see hundreds of gun turrets and the slender rods of massive accelerator cannons that were twice the length of the Endurance. Where the Death Guard ship displayed a skull and star sigil, Horus’s flagship had a ma
ssive golden ring bisected by a slim ellipse. The eye of the Warmaster himself, unblinking and open to see all that transpired. Soon, Garro was to set foot aboard that vessel, carrying the honour of his company with him.

  Repeater lights set into a control panel beneath the windows clicked and changed, signaling that the Endurance had come to her station. Garro looked up at his primarch. ‘My lord, a Stormbird has been prepared in the launch bay for your egress. We are ready to answer the Warmaster’s summons at your discretion.’

  Mortarion nodded and remained where he was, observing silently.

  After a moment, Garro felt compelled to speak again. ‘Lord, are we not ordered to attend the Warmaster the moment we arrive?’

  The primarch grinned in a flash of rictus. ‘Ah, captain, we move from the battlefield to the arena of politics. It would be impolite of us to arrive too soon. We are the XIV Legion, and so we must respect the numbering of our brethren. The Emperor’s Children and the World Eaters must be allowed to arrive first, or else I would earn the ire of my brothers.’

  ‘We are Death Guard,’ Garro blurted. ‘We are second to none!’

  Mortarion’s smile widened. ‘Of course,’ he agreed, ‘but you must understand that it is sometimes tactful to let our comrades think that is not so.’

  ‘I… I do not see the merit in it, lord,’ Garro admitted.

  The primarch turned away from the viewport. ‘Then watch and learn, Nathaniel.’

  IN THE CONFINES of the Stormbird’s spartan crew compartment, Garro once again felt dwarfed by his commander. Mortarion sat across the gangway from him, hunched forward so that his head was only a hand’s span from the battle-captain’s. The Death Lord spoke in a fatherly tone. Garro listened intently, absorbing every word as the small ship crossed the void between the Endurance and the Vengeful Spirit.

  ‘Our role at this war council is an important one,’ Mortarion said. ‘The data you hold in your hand is the lit taper for the inferno that is about to engulf the Isstvan system.’ At this, Garro opened his palm and studied the thick spool of memory-wire there. ‘We bear the responsibility of bringing the news of this perfidy to the Warmaster’s ears, as it was our battle-brothers who came across the warning that Isstvan has turned from the Emperor.’