Dark Apostle

'No, Burias, but nothing beneath the gaze of the gods is certain. Do not allow your hubris to one day shame you.'

'Nothing will bring shame upon me, just as I will never bring shame upon the blessed Legion of Lorgar,' said Burias severely.

Marduk smiled and placed his hand upon the Icon Bearer's shoulder.

'I believe you may be right, Burias, old friend. You said the same words on Calth while we battled the cursed warriors of Guilliman.'

'And you said that one day you would lead one of the grand companies, with me at your side,' said Burias.

'That is true.'

'If this… trick of Kol Badar's goes badly, then there will be too few warriors within the Host to justify splitting it, as the council on Sicarus ordered, especially after the casualties we suffered against the Titan. There will be little need for a second Dark Apostle.'

'That thought had crossed my mind,' snarled Marduk, his mood darkening. 'Regardless, one way or another, I will become a Dark Apostle.'

'Always I have fought at your side, First Acolyte, long before I called you such. And I will fight there, always, whatever may come.'

Marduk placed a hand upon Burias's shoulder.

'I would expect nothing less of you, my friend. Now, order the last of the Host to advance. We fight them here, and pray to the gods that Kol Badar succeeds, else we will all be slaughtered and seeing them sooner than expected.'

'What if it is the will of the gods for us to die here, First Acolyte?'

'Then it is their will, but that is not what I have foreseen. The twisting paths of the future are never set, but of the thousands of coiling threads that I have followed in my dream visions, we were slaughtered here in less than half of them.'

'That is of… great comfort, First Acolyte,' said Burias dryly.

Marduk laughed again, his black mood evaporating in the blink of an eye.

In the distance, the Titan's guns flared brightly as they were unleashed, followed half a second later by the cacophony of the barrage as it echoed up the narrow ravine. Hundreds of cultists were instantly slain in the devastation. The timing for the Word Bearers' advance was critical. If Kol Badar timed it wrong, it would result in the destruction of hundreds of the Legion's warriors. If he timed it just right, then the slaughter of the enemy would be great.

Gods of the Ether guide me, he prayed, and he closed his eyes. A waking vision assailed him the instant he closed his eyes, the image sharp and painful, leaving a dull ache in his temples. He wiped a droplet of blood from his nose and watched as it instantly congealed to a dried crust upon his finger. He would need to discuss this vision with the Warmonger at battle's end, for its meaning was obscure and disturbing.

'Come,' he said, 'let us release our anger upon the foe.'

'I've got a lock, sir!' shouted Rachius. 'Emperor damn them, there are more than fifty of the bastards in there! Vector 7.342.'

Havorn swore and swung his crys-scopes around towards the location that Rachius had indicated. 'Get the Chimeras moving,' he shouted, but the words were lost as a series of detonations ripped apart the mountainside, rocks exploding outwards spectacularly. One sizeable chunk of rock smashed onto the front of his Chimera, denting the thick armoured plate, and others smashed harmlessly against one of the massive feet of the Exemplis, no more than thirty metres from the explosion. At such a range its void shields were useless. They were only effective from a certain distance, and anything within them would be able to attack the god-machine directly.

With this thought running through his mind, he swore again and slammed his fist down onto the top of the Chimera as he saw the dark shapes emerging from the cloud of dust surrounding the point of the explosion.

Clattering gunfire erupted from weaponry as the figures stamped heavily through the rubble. They were huge individuals, their armour plate thick and nigh on impervious to harm: Terminators, the enemy's elite.

Havorn banged on the top of the Chimera.

'Go!' he shouted. 'Intercept them! And get some heavy support over here now!'

The engine of the APC roared as the tank surged forward over the hard packed earth. The other Chimeras were already heading towards the foe, and Havorn saw one of them explode, oily, black smoke rising sharply above the orange conflagration.

'Sir, you should come down here,' said Rachius from below, concern in his voice, but Havorn ignored him, instead grabbing the pistol-grip of the pintle-mounted storm bolter. He swung the powerful weapon in the direction of the Terminators and squeezed the trigger.

Kol Badar roared as his combi-bolter barked fire at the enemy. He was in the middle of the foe's colonnade, surrounded, and he saw vehicles and soldiers rushing towards him from left and right. But the true target of his wrath stood before him: the massive Imperator Titan.