Secret War: Warhammer 40,000, Ben Agar [list of ebook readers .txt] 📗

all together in one, convenient location."

I stood for a few seconds, my jaw working as I struggled to make my next sentence. Glaitis was right; damn it, why hadn't I thought of that?

"S-so, what are we to do, mamzel?" stammered the Mimic.

She shrugged. "Why we are going to fall for it, not doing so would be..." She paused and smiled, "...Inconceivable."

That jolted me out of my stupor, and I glared at her hard.

"We are?" asked the Mimic timidly.

"Of course!" she yelled abruptly, causing both the Mimic and me to flinch in fright. "We'll play Edracian at his little game."

"That's still assuming he's still planetside," I growled. "He could've just left his mooks to ambush us and left."

Glaitis sighed. "Could you, just for once in your miserable life, trust me, young one. Edracian is on Omnartus, this I know without a doubt. Now you can go back down to your friends waiting down in the lobby and tell them; they have my permission to talk to No One of Consequence; I will send word to Hayden, Castella and Darrance. You are both dismissed."

The Mimic immediately turned to leave, but I still glared at her balefully; I had never mentioned Edracian's catchphrases during my report.

Did the Eldar tell her of them, or was there something else behind it?

She just looked back, mocking me from behind her glasses.

"Uhh, Attelus?" asked the Mimic.

"Whatever," I only growled and left without a further word.

 

 

We stepped out of the elevator and into the black marble-walled lobby to find everyone waiting for us, including, much to my surprise, Garrakson and the two stormtroopers who Torris had sent to help him.

"Well, that took a while," said Karmen without greeting. "Did you get permission or not?"

I only managed a slight nod, my attention on Garrakson, who strangely seemed his usual grim, unreadable self.

Standing next to Karmen, Torris frowned. "That a yes then, Attelus?"

I nodded again as Garrakson slowly approached.

"If you wondered where I was, kiddo, I was looking for medicae Feuilt," said Garrakson and I could barely hide my relief. That would explain why Karmen Kons was so calm.

Or he could've met with Vex and was lying about it.

From now on, I certainly had to keep an eye on Jeurat Garrakson. Perhaps it would have been a better idea just to have told the truth?

I wasn't sure, but it was too late now; we'd lied, so now I needed to concern myself on how to reinforce that lie.

"And let me guess," said the Mimic for me. "He was nowhere to be found?"

Garrakson grimaced and looked away. "Yeah, I even checked the surveillance recordings and got nothing. I don't know what that implies, but it cannot be good."

"A-and no sign of El's body?" I asked haltingly.

Garrakson grimaced even more and shook his head. "Nothing, sorry kid, he might have hidden her somewhere I had no time to look; it's a bloody big tower. Or took her with him, either/or, I dunno."

I furrowed my brow and sucked air through clenched teeth; why the hell would Edracian want Elandria's body? This was truly getting weirder and weirder.

"Alright," said Torris with a smile and a nod. "I think it's time we got to doing this, then."

We rode the elevator up to the fifth floor, all of us barely fit in the small space, and I suspected the weight of our combined weights was well over its limit.

Just then, I couldn't help wonder, how many times have I ridden up and down elevators this day alone? I began a quick calculation in my head.

Mathematics has never been my strong suit, so it took a little longer than it really should've, but what I came up with was twelve; I've been up and down elevators twelve times today since my miraculous recovery. By the Emperor, that was a hell of a lot, and it seemed after every time, I found some new tidbit of information, some new revelation that turned everything on its head. Sacred frig, today was indeed an eventful day.

I smiled to myself and turned to meet Karmen Kons' impassive gaze as she stood right beside me; now that was the understatement of the millennia, I thought.

She looked back unflinchingly, and we played 'who can stare at the other the longest' for the rest of the ride.

Finally, the elevator found the fifth floor and immediately, we quickly filed out into the dark, brown-walled corridor.

Waiting for us was Castella, Darrance and Hayden.

Hayden, a big figure barely able to fit into the thin corridor, stood with Darrance and Castella at his sides just in front of him.

I was one of the first to file out, and all three couldn't hide their shock when they saw the state of my face.

"W-what happened to your face?" Demanded Darrance, with wide eyes.

I looked at all three, a little surprised that Glaitis had neglected to tell them what happened.

"I-I fell down some stairs," I lied.

Immediately, Darrance eyes turned into suspicious slits, evidently seeing straight through my fib, but he left it at that.

Garrakson's jaw clenched with impatience, and he started forward, growling, "alright, alright enough mucking about we're-"

Hayden's outstretched hand interrupted the ex-guardsman in mid-sentence and mid-stride.

"No," said the ex-arbitrator in a tone with so much finality it would've envied Major Olinthre. "That wasn't to the conditions, those three and those three only."

Hayden indicated, 'Olinthre,' Karmen and me as he said it with a brief wave of his hand.

Garrakson, who I never thought could be intimidated by anyone, flinched back from Tresch, who stood with such stability he could've been an adamantium bulwark. The ex-guardsman directed a withering glare at me.

"Why didn't you tell us we couldn't come?" He demanded.

"I didn't know," I said with wide eyes. "Mamzel Glaitis neglected to tell us this when we met her, right, Olinthre?"

"Yes, yes she did," confirmed the mimic; its voice so deadpanned it could've echoed.

Garrakson turned back to Tresch, his fists clenching open and closed, and for a few scary seconds, it seemed that he was going to strike out at Hayden. But Tresch stayed deathly still, and in the blink of an eye, both Castella and Darrance reached for their weapons, as did Torris and the ten soldiers escorting us.

I watched on, with my heart in my throat, unsure what to do, or even if it came to blows, which side to take.

Finally, Garrakson turned away and snarled out a, "frig it!"

Then he turned his glare back to me. "I know when we're being hoodwinked, let's leave this farce. let's go."

With that, they left, filing back into the elevator, all the while Garrakson glaring accusingly at me, and I couldn't help wonder; what the hell did I do?

We walked in silence through the cramped, brown, dull lit corridor. Tresch was at the front with Castella and Darrance just after him, Karmen and I; the last was the Olinthre-thing.

I had my hands in their pockets, and every few metres, I had to rub my eyes with my fists.

I felt tired and as sick as all hell and my face stung and throbbed.

Shacking away the dizziness and while avoiding Estella, who walked beside me, I said, "Darrance?"

Darrance frowned deeply and looked over his shoulder at me. "What?"

I forced my eyes to stay open; I needed something to distract me, so I can keep my eyes open, and I had a question I wanted to ask the veteran assassin.

"When I woke up, medicae Feuilt told me something."

Darrance grimaced and turned away. "I assume he mentioned that I visited you while you were in a coma? Is that what you are alluding to?"

"That's exactly it, yes," I said through gritted teeth, not liking his tone at all.

Without looking back, he shrugged. "And you are wondering why Darrance the complete frig head, who seems to hate Attelus Kaltos, deigned to bother to visit you? Am I again, correct?"

My jaw twitched. "Yes."

He shrugged again. "It was your birthday; I thought I might as well, as it may very well have been your last."

My eyebrows raised with bemusement. "My-my birthday?"

Darrance looked back over his shoulder at me. "Don't tell me you forgot? You turned twenty-four standard, did you not?"

"Y-yeah, but with everything that's happening, surely, I could be forgiven for forgetting my birthday?"

Darrance shook his head and sighed. "That is where our opinions yet again differ, apprentice. When one is in our line of work, one must appreciate every birthday they live to see as the next is far, far from guaranteed. Isn't that correct, Castella?"

Castella seemed to suddenly flinch and hunch forwards as Darrance turned his attention to her. "Y-yes, that's right, Darrance!" She said, then she looked over her shoulder, giving me a nervous grin. "An assassin must appreciate every birthday they live to see! A-and happy birthday, Attelus!"

I could only purse my lips and look to the floor, unsure what to think, never did I ever comprehend that Darrance would care for such a small thing or, anything, for that matter, and Castella, well, I didn't know what I should say to her or why she had reacted to Darrance's question so strangely. Was it because of my reaction to her treatment of the prisoner?

"You need not look so perplexed, apprentice," said Darrance, shaking his head. "Believe it or not, I have a personality as well."

"Yeah," growled Hayden. "Happy birthday, kid."

This was echoed in turn by Karmen Kons and the Olinthre-thing.

"Th-thanks, everyone," I stammered, rubbing my eyes again.

I'm so frigging tired, I thought.

 

 

We came to the door soon afterwards, and the guards, looking as bored as they did earlier, again nod respectfully to Castella and Hayden, who both returned the nods, and absently opened the door for us.

We filed inside and gazed through the one-sided glass into the cell. There sat the man that we beat brutally, but who we depended on so much.

Would he help us? And if he didn't, could I blame him? I decided a certain, no, on the last question, no I wouldn't at all.

Next to me, Karmen Kons, with her arms folded, grimaced and growled. "I knew we shouldn't have given you this building."

Tresch turned to her and smiled, although it lacked any humour. "Well, it's a bit late for that regret, mamzel," He said.

Karmen shrugged. "I never said that we regretted it, assassin, just that we will learn from it."

"Like you also learned how to not fall so easily for traps?" said Castella darkly.

Karmen's attention snapped straight to Castella, her face as hard as stone. "Yes, we have certainly learned not to trust supposedly trustworthy allies, ever again."

That caused all my colleagues, and Darrance included, to suddenly burst out in almost riotous, contemptuous and cruel laughter.

Karmen Kons grimaced with barely contained rage and balled her hands into fists.

I had got that one; they found it incredibly amusing that Taryst and his group had even slightly trusted us in the first place, which in hindsight, was, actually, kind of funny. But I had no intention to laugh along with my colleagues; their laughter was harsh on the ears and horrified me. It was the laughter I could imagine from a group of predators would laugh once they had cornered their prey.

"Can we talk to the prisoner now?" growled the Olinthre-thing with such force my fellow assassins' laughter was cut short. "Or are we going just to waste time standing around exchanging petty jokes?"

Castella smiled and shrugged. "Well, I enjoy the petty jokes more, personally, but if you insist, Mr major," she said while giving the Olinthre-thing a mocking salute and a playful wink.

Treasch frowned at Castella. "Alright, we'll go in and talk to him first; you three just wait out here for a while."

With that, the assassins walked down the corridor and into the cell while we approached the window.

"So," said no one of Consequence after Castella gave him a long sip of water. "You here to ask more questions?" Then he glared accusingly at Castella. "Or just to beat the crap outta me again?"

"Why don't you take a guess?" Said Castella. "I bet you won't even come close."

I grimaced, tuned