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

you want?" came Olinthre's voice, only a few chimes.

"You forgot to mention that you'd sent people to guard me; I'm just calling in to make sure they're yours."

"Of course they're mine," he said. "I sent them to make sure you won't screw up and get yourself kidnapped again."

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, thinking that six ex-guardsmen escorting me wouldn't really make much of a difference if Edracian wanted to attack me again, but okay. Also, they'd just make me stick out all the more.

"Alright," I said and cut the link.

"You ready to go now?" said one, sounding impatient now.

"Yeah, let's go," I said, putting my hands into the pockets of my flak jacket. "Sorry, I just had to make sure you were who you said you were."

They glanced at each other, seeming more than a little bit bemused.

They really knew nothing, didn't they?

"Wow, you are paranoid, aren't you?" said one.

I clenched my teeth and bristled, trying to contend a coherent reply, but my words only came out as angry, idiotic monosyllables.

"Uh, oh," said the first. "I think we may have just broken him."

"If you went through even half of what I've just been through, you would be too!" I snapped.

"Yeah, yeah," said one of them sarcastically. "It's bad enough we're running around after a brat like you; we don't need to be shouted at as well. So kid let's move on and get this over and done with, okay?"

"Yeah, right, fair enough," I said with a shrug. "Sorry to be such a pain, let's get on."

 

 

The elevator reached the top of Taryst's tower, and I was shocked to see in the corridor at least thirty or forty people standing guard. Some were Taryst's regulars; some were the very few remaining Hammers under Brutis and Magistratum enforcers under Arlathan Karkin.

They glared at us with barely contained anger as we exited the elevator. All of them looked weary, scarcely able to keep their feet. Almost all the magistratum and Hammers had assorted wounds of varying intensity.

"Poor bastards," said Halick quietly, most of the mercs with me had now taken off their helms, allowing me to see their faces. Halick was a tall, dark-skinned man whose long hair was in dreadlocks and pulled into a ponytail; he was an ex-bounty hunter but seemed like a good man. "You wouldn't know what happened to them, would you, kid?"

We began to walk through them, trying to ignore their looks.

"Yeah," I said hesitantly. "It's a little hard to explain, though; I'll tell you later when I get the chance."

It was an outright lie, as I knew I'd never get that opportunity.

"Never thought I'd see the day when ours, the local Hammers and the frigging Magistratum would all be in the same room and not be trying to kill each other," said Roldar, a little louder than I would've liked, he was an ex-guardsman and the group's leader. He was a man of medium height, his short grey hair close-cropped; he reminded me a bit of Garrakson. His tough, no-nonsense attitude was very similar; he also had scars all over his face from countless battles. He looked quite young, though, only a few years older than me.

I just frowned and shrugged.

We came to the curtains at the end of the corridor and immediately out slipped the Mimic to meet us, the men around saluted.

"You're here," It said. "Took your bloody time."

"Hello to you too, Olinthre," I said.

"Get in here, Attelus," It just said. "You six stay out here."

"Yes, sir," said Jelket, the short pale man looking uncertain as he and the rest turned away.

The Olinthre-thing beckoned me through, and hesitantly, I followed.

Inside I found standing near the entrance was Arlathan Karkin; he was pacing the room and still wearing his dark blue Magistratum flak armour. With his finger and thumb on his chin. He eyed me as I entered, his big eyes wide with fear, or at least it could've been fear, could've been humiliation as well. After his performance in Brutis's hideout a few hours ago, I couldn't blame him if it was. When I met his look, he immediately averted his gaze.

I smiled, humiliation definitely; his ego had taken a huge hit. Perhaps it'd brought him some humility.

Then there was Brutis Bones; he still wore his power armour which made him tower over everyone else in the room; his expression was unreadable as he watched me. Next to him was Wesley; he sat hunched forward on one of the couches he'd shaved off his considerable beard and, as a result, looked ten years younger. His long blonde hair washed and tidy now. He didn't even look at me; his attention stayed firmly on the floor.

Standing in the far left corner was Glaitis, who stood surprisingly alongside Hayden, Castella and Darrance. Darrance sneered at me; Hayden just sat in the corner looking like he was meditating. Castella, oh Emperor, I was glad she was there as she smiled at me, but I was more than a little disturbed to see it didn't reach her eyes.

Glaitis, her cold blue eyes were uncompromisingly hard.

I involuntarily flinched as the shield suddenly activated behind me; sudden anger took me.

"Well! Well!" I exclaimed, smiling and raising my arms theatrically. "This is a sight to see!"

"Shut it, Attelus," said Darrance.

I ignored him. "You'd think having all the guards in the corridor would be a bit redundant. When all you're going to do is turn on the void shield."

"Frigging, shut it!" snarled Darrance.

"Or is there another reason?" I said. "It's really there, just so they can't hear us, right? So that we can keep our secrets and lies...Well, secrets and lies."

"You know how it works," said Glaitis sternly.

"I do, I really really do," I said. "But it goes too far; all those men out there are expected to fight and die for you. For your damned agendas, and they have no real clue as to why. While you sit back on your damn chairs scheming, safe and sound. It sucks; it just sucks and sickens me. I'm sick and tired of this shit! All the games! This isn't just a game of regicide; out there are real people with hopes and dreams. They deserve to know something, anything. I was just like them barely a few months ago. I know what it's like."

"And now you know everything, Attelus," said Wesley. "How does that make you feel?"

"I-I don't know," I said. "But I can tell you this if I didn't know what was at stake, what was needed to be done. I wouldn't have done what I just did. Run through hell, pushing myself far and beyond what I'd ever imagined I could. I did that because I knew Edracian needed to be stopped. If they knew it too, if we gave them purpose, a cause, they might work half as hard as I did, perhaps even harder!"

"That's enough!" said Brutis. "I assure you, young man. I'm going to tell my men everything they need to know, do not lump me in with these others in your moaning and whining."

I clenched my teeth. "Yet here you are, behind the void shield conspiring with them anyway. By the way, am I ever going to get a thank you? Any sort of appreciation for all I did to save all your arses?"

"No," stated Glaitis bluntly. "Because you do not deserve it, Apprentice. While what you did was quite admirable. I will give you that much; it is going to mean nothing because of your earlier actions, guided by your selfishness and cowardice."

I sighed; surely, she didn't need to say both 'selfishness and cowardice.' Surely that was a little redundant?

"The pict I took, right?"

"Indeed," she said and looked to Wesley, who sighed.

"I told you that that was my master's Interrogator and daughter, right?" said Wesley.

"Yeah, you did," I said, although I'd already forgotten her name.

Wesley looked around at everyone guiltily. "Over the past few years, my master, Inquisitor Devan Torathe, has been...How can I explain this? Losing his mind, he, ironically, used to be quite the radical. A member of the Ordo Malleus who knew not everything was black and white and fought for the people. I do not know why, but he has fallen into extreme Puritanism. He follows the Libricar philosophy, which was at complete odds with his old ideals."

I raised an eyebrow. "Libricar philosophy?"

Wesley finally looked at me directly. "It's uh, a well, I'd say a radical sect of the Inquisition that's grown in the Calixis sector for some time. The Libricars are just like the Amalathians but more extreme."

"And what are the hell are the Amalathians?" I asked with a furrowed brow.

"They follow a philosophy which deems everything is according to the God-Emperor's great plan; they fight for the Imperium to stay the same, for us to keep the status quo. Progress and change is their anathema. Libricars take this ideal even further. They believe that whatever deviation, no matter how small, is grounds for death, without exception," said Wesley, patiently but not condescending.

"Okay," I said, glancing at everyone around the room; they all avoided my look, even Brutis. So what? This Devan Torathe was an extremist; what did that, did that...

Then it hit me, making my mouth gape and my eyes widen. That was his dead daughter I took the pict of. What was this supposedly psychotic, uncompromising Inquisitor going to do after he saw it?

Wesley looked at me sadly. "It gets worse, kid. Much worse. This whole mission was a secret after Brutis found this evidence and came to us; we started it independently of master Torathe."

"Why?" I asked, utterly confounded by this.

"Because," Wesley sighed. "Because both Edracian and Torathe were once Interrogators together under the same Inquisitor. They are old, old friends. Amanda and I couldn't trust his judgement on this, both with his insanity and he and Edracian's history."

I said nothing, just looked at Wesley.

"That pict you took, Attelus Kaltos," said Wesley. "Edracian could send it to my master telling him any lie with it he wishes. My master will believe it no matter how far fetched, or maybe even with the truth, but either way, it doesn't matter. He will take extreme measures to avenge Amanda. He is coming, and with him, I fear. No, I know, will be Omnartus' destruction; he will order an exterminatus. Just like Edracian wanted. Just like Edracian had planned."

 

 

For a long time, I said nothing; I could only stand in dumbstruck silence.

"Nice work, apprentice," said Darrance. "Now, your foolish actions have doomed an entire planet."

"I-I!" could only stammer, over and over; everyone looked at me with hard expressions, all except Castella, whose eyes were wide with sympathetic sadness. That made it even more horrible somehow.

"Why?" I managed finally. "I had no idea; I'd just taken a pict! I had no idea! Please tell me this is just some joke."

"Snap out of it!" snarled Glaitis. "Do you truly think we would joke about something as serious as this? I thought I taught you better than that!"

My shoulders began to shake, and tears welled in my eyes; my mind whirled as I struggled to comprehend. Could I be indirectly responsible for the deaths of billions?

My thoughts first came to Adelana. I knew then that I wanted to save her more than anyone else. She deserved to live more than me if I died, so she'd live it'd all be worth it.

I'd also deserve it.

I wanted to fall on my knees and weep; I wanted to throw up.

"Attelus," said Castella as she approached me, laying her hand on my shoulder, then pulled me in a tight embrace. "I understand that you're upset. But the world isn't dead. Not yet; we can still stop it. You can still stop this. It's not too late."

"But how? I whimpered. "How can we possibly?"

"You stopped the daemons, didn't you?" she said. "Well, we can stop this as well. There is still hope."

She let go of me and smiled at me sadly.

Castella was right; we still had time, we