Other Fan Fiction ❯ Extremus Malleus ❯ Chapter the Second ( Chapter 2 )

Forty minutes later we sat the wall mounted bracket benches of the dropship's hold. I wore a three quarter length leather coat over my flak plate armour. My las-pistols were holstered as they usually were, right to left and left to right, and my favoured power sabre was secured at the back of my belt. Konrad sat a few spaces down, a dulled metal cuirass over a knee length black greatcoat. The cuirass was a finely constructed item, a gold symbol of the inquisition sculpted at the front. As I watched him for a moment, he brushed dust off the metal shoulder guards at the sides of the armour. He then proceeded to recheck the MIU system for the psycannon mounted on his left shoulder. He continued to check his weapons, first the bolt pistol, then the frostblade. My friend met my gaze and grinned, holding up a gloved fist. I returned the gesture, then checked my own equipment again.

Kyle drummed his fingers on the grip of his drum-fed heavy stubber. A heavy bore autopistol was holstered at his thigh, with extra ammunition scattered throughout his webbing. He wore his old suit of Arbites carapace armour, his helmet laying on the bench next to him. Fara wore an armoured bodyglove, her duelling sabres sheathed on her back. A pair of needle pistols rested in their thigh holsters. She had leant her head back against the vibrating interior wall of the dropship, her eyes closed. I wondered if she was really sleeping, and if she was how anyone could sleep in such a shaky crate. Like most pilots, Defrè made a pretty bad passenger. He sat apart from the rest of us, fidgeting with displeasure. The polished pair of autopistols in their underarm holsters suited his slight frame. He wore his usual pilot suit and solid boots. Dr Zheng also accompanied us, wearing an armoured bodyglove quite similar to the one that Fara wore. A knife was sheathed on the side of one boot; the sword she had beaten me with hung from its scabbard on one side of her belt, a holstered handgun at the other side. Her hair was pinned up in a tight bun, and there was absolutely no sight of her eyeglasses. A las-carbine lay across her athletic legs. Golden Throne she had changed since I first saw her on Spectus!

Brother-Captain Choten and another marine from his squad called Fenress had joined our party. They sat alone, performing their pre-battle ceremonies with practiced and dutiful respect.

A sharp jolt jarred everyone from their preparations before the pilot's voice crackled over the vox channel.

“Planetfall in two minutes!”

Five

I honestly hoped that we would find something conclusive on this planet. It would have been a horrible waste of resources and time. Then again, as an inquisitor I was prepared for such things.

Iota-335 was a barren piece of rock, which was probably the main reason behind its not being colonised. Steep cliffs surrounded deep valleys of stone. It was like walking on a moon with average gravity and a breathable atmosphere. We followed the data slate map that Konrad had fixed to his wrist.

“We're two hundred metres from where the first two drones were lost. Be ready.” he said, drawing his bolt pistol and arming his psycannon.

We all drew and readied our weapons, and advanced slowly. The first obstacle was fifty metres forward. A pair of heavy bolter turrets sprang from their concealed positions in the rock, and opened fire on our position. Luckily for us, Brother Fenress alerted us to the danger and we got into cover before anyone was killed. It took ten minutes to destroy the turrets. By then we were certain that our enemy knew of our approach, so we took a different route. Even so, we were still met by other defence turrets. By the time we reached our destination, we were running low on ammunition. But we at least found what we were looking for. It was a large building, built into a cliff to resemble an ancient mausoleum. A huge yawning space nearly as tall as the building itself served as a door. We hid behind whatever cover we could find - that meant rocks - and waited.

“There's what's left of one of the drones.” Kyle voxed. I could see him peering into his binoculars. “There's the second one.”

“But where's the third?” Fara asked.

As if in reply, the third drone flew from the doorway, firing its two lasguns at our positions. One shot from Choten's storm bolter shot it to pieces. But that was the intention. The explosive charge planted inside the drone detonated, spraying shrapnel all around. The sheer concussion wave of the explosion knocked me flat on my back, and I blacked out.

When I came to, I found that my hands hurt. I soon realised that I was chained by my wrists to a heavy wooden cross. I knew from mere experience that my captors, whoever or whatever they were had stripped me of my weapons. I craned my neck as far as it would go and saw my companions in a similar way. Defrè and the two Grey Knights were missing. Konrad jolted awake, looked across at me and swore.

“Yes, that's right inquisitor,” a voice said from the shadows in front of us. The whole room illuminated. A short, skinny man faced us. On a table behind him were our weapons and possessions. Behind that was a huge stone vat of steaming blood.

“Where…” I grunted, my head throbbing from the aftershock of the explosion.

“You are in my castle now, inquisitor. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nihilachi Quinn. You may know my brother Conduray.” He said, looking at me for the last part.

“I hunted him down and had him killed myself, heretic.” I spat in reply. The similarities were boggling. The same thin, pale face, those glinting eyes. That damn smile.

“As you can all see, I and my brother strived to achieve ultimate power through our practices.”

“You hope to become daemons?” Konrad asked incredulously. He had reviewed my quick report to the ordos back home.

“Yes, to put it simply. Why does that surprise you so, dear inquisitor?” he looked to Konrad now, thin lips drawn back into a sneer.

“To do so would result in a power gain so great that no-one would stand in our way. Not any feeble part of the Imperium. Not even the Inquisition.

“You deluded fool.” I gasped.

“Sometimes the most deluded are the most brilliant. Begin the ceremonies!”

“Wait! Where are the others?” Konrad asked quickly.

“Oh, the two marines and the other human? Dead. The marines, Grey Knights as they were, died at the blades of my Bloodletters. The explosion of my scout killed the other human outright. Their blood and flesh were good, strong sacrifices. Without them it would have taken me at least a week to achieve such levels of power…Now, enough of talk. Begin the ceremonies!!”

I realised when they stepped forward, that there were more people standing in the shadows around us. Each one was draped in a black cloak glittering with foul runes, and each one carried a ceremonial cushion, on which rested a twisted assortment of surgical equipment. Among them were other figures, dressed in bright red robes over black leather. Their faces were hidden behind the drawn hoods. These did not bear cushions like the others, and this suggested to me that they would perform the “ceremonies”, whatever the damn they were. This entourage walked forward to us. I realised that there were enough cushion-less figures to have one to each of us.

“This one first. He must pay for Conduray's death.” Nihilachi pointed a dainty finger at me, and then added with relish “Make him feel it.”

The torturer in front of me took a long, curved blade from the cushion next to him, and placed it vertically down the front of my neck. A sharp burning pain hit my senses as he began to push the blade into my flesh. The burning became a searing as he moved the blade a centimetre down. He moved it another centimetre, then another. He was cutting open my chest in the slowest way he could. And slow usually meant painful. Very painful. Tears were trickling down my cheek by now. The pain was too much. I tried to focus my will but my mind was mauled by the sensations from my front. The wounds were not too deep, lest I would have been dead already. Nonetheless, there was blood all over the damn place, my blood. Liza screamed, but the sound was so distant. I struggled to stay awake; to sleep now was the path to damnation. As my consciousness slipped away from me, it felt as if the pain stopped growing, that the cutting had stopped. Then again, that's probably what it feels like to be dying…………………

Emperor knows how long I was out for, but when I awoke again, I felt only a faint trace of the blinding pain from before. I looked up, eyes bleary and nearly beyond death. What I saw shocked me. It was Dr Zheng. There was a long scar down one side of her face, but it was still the same Liza Zheng, the same stunning woman I had known from before. I was lying on my back. Whatever I was lying on was soft.

“Where…” my mouth fought to make out the words.

“Don't try to talk, Marcus. You'll recover soon.” Liza replied, stroking my forehead softly.

“I…I dead?” I asked feebly.

Liza smiled. “Almost, Marcus. Almost, but not quite. Sleep now, you'll get better.”

I did not want to close my eyes again, the thought of re-entering that endless void made me shudder. But Liza's touch was warm, soft. Slowly, I let go of my consciousness again, this time willingly.

I knew nothing of the hour of torture I went through at the blades of Nihilachi's fleshsmith. Nor did I know anything of the Ordo Xenos Deathwatch kill team that arrived in time to bust us out of that hellish place. I was still not conscious when the first of the orbital strikes ravaged the surface of Iota-335. I knew nothing about the amount of blood I had lost, and about the multiple attempts to shock my heart back to life. All I knew was that I was in a beautiful place that I still fervently wished to leave…

I awoke suddenly, so suddenly in fact that it made Fara jump. It was easier for me to talk this time, but it was still damn hard.

“Where am I?” I asked, staring at the ceiling.

“You're on my ship, Marcus. Welcome back.” I turned my head to one side and saw Konrad Holk standing in the doorway.

Fara got up to leave. “I'll leave you two to it.”

“No, I want you to stay, Fara.” I said. I tried to sit up, but slid back down onto my back. I must have looked alarmed, because Konrad strode over to me and placed his hands onto my shoulders, telling me to be calm. Fara sat back down again at the end of my cot.

“How the hell did I get here? And why can't I move my damn legs?” I demanded. Emperor save me, I did sound alarmed.

“The medicae say that you'll never walk again. Not without help, at least. Quinn's butcher made hell for your neural pathways.” Fara said quietly. Straight to the point. That's why I liked her so much.

“Help me up.” Konrad lifted me into a sitting position.

“Ok, how did I get here?”

“It was an Ordo Xenos kill team that got us out. They arrived at just the right moment, summoned by my report from before.” Konrad started.

“You were counting on it weren't you?” I asked suddenly.

“Yes. I'm sorry about what you had to go through…”
“Don't be. We are inquisitors, aren't we?”

My old friend nodded his head slowly.

“Who else survived?”

“Everybody except for Yves and the two marines.” Kyle said from the door. To his right was Liza. They stepped into my room.

“We stopped Nihilachi, with a little help from the Deathwatch marines.” He said.

“They still lost two from ten.” Liza continued.

“It worked, didn't it? That bastard reached what he was after, didn't he?” I asked, gripping my fists tight.

“It's not easy to fight with a Bloodthirster, even one that hasn't hit full power yet. Even with ten Space Marines with you. We did it, though.”

I knew full well what it was like. But if Choten had managed to defeat Conduray on Spectus on his own, it only meant that his brother had reached a level beyond that. I must have looked tense, because I sure as hell felt like it.

“Easy there, inquisitor. You haven't fully recovered yet, so now's not the time to get worked up.” Liza said sharply.

“Yes doctor.” I replied meekly, drawing laughs from everybody. It felt good to make people laugh, even at my own expense.

It felt even better to be alive…

 

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