The black rose chapter 33
When Emma came back, she was surprised to see that the old wolf, Hjalmar, had entered the room. He was drinking something foamy from a large wooden tankard. Her sisters drank purple wine from thin glasses. The Inquisitor drank nothing.
Even outside of his armor, Hjalmar was massive. Even sitting down, he towered over everyone else in the room. When Emma closed the door, he lowered the tankard and licked the foam of his lips before setting it down at the table and looking at her with his large, grey eyes.
"So," Derik turned to Emma and glanced down at the blood on her robes. "How did it go?"
"He´ll tell you everything you want to know." Emma tried to wipe the blood of but only smeared it.
"You beat him?" Hjalmar asked.
"A few times."
"Must have been some hardy punches."
"I´ll go talk to him." The Inquisitor said.
"I´m coming to." Sophia said. "If a few beatings into his face was enough to get him tell, then I´ll make sure he doesn´t slip in any lies. I´ll kill him when the Inquisitor is done."
"Wait." Emma said before they left. "I promised him that I would be the one to execute him."
"I´ll make sure he stays alive long enough for that." The Inquisitor said before he left with Sophia.
Once the two of them were gone, Emma sat down in a chair next to the old wolf who had the tankard raised to his lips again.
Galatea offered Emma an empty glass but she turned it down.
"You don´t like to drink?" Hjalmar asked as a few flakes of foam flung from his lips and caught in his beard.
"I just never grew to like the taste." Emma glanced at the tankard in Hjalmar´s hand.
The old wolf just shacked his head. "I wouldn´t try that if I were you."
"Why not?"
Hjalmar tapped the tankard with a thick finger. "This is no ordinary mead. This is Fenrisian Ale, a brew so strong it eats through stomach of a normal human. Only Space Wolf can drink it without having their guts spilled inside their bellies."
"How about we dilute it then?" Emma proposed. "Surely that would make it drinkable for a normal human like me."
"No need for that." Hjalmar took the wineglass offered by Galatea and filled it with ale from his tankard. Before handing it to Emma he took a little bottle from his belt and poured the transparent liquid into the wineglass. He gave it a swirl so the two mixed. "Here you go."
"What did you pour into it?"
"A counter-toxin to make sure you can drink it without dying." Hjalmar raised his tankard. "Skål."
Emma wasn´t sure what the phrase meant but she took her glass and raised it to his. The old wolf let his tankard tap her glass before he started drinking again. Emma raised the glass to her lips and looked down at the ale. It was golden-brown, with little shifting islands of foam floating on top of it. As Emma inhaled through her nose, she felt a strong, musky scent. It reminded her of the smell of tree sap. She raised the glass to her lips and let the ale flow into her mouth. The moment after it had slipped down her throat, Emma threw a violent coughing fit and almost dropped the glass.
Hjalmar laughed as he gave her a smack the back. "Strong stuff, eh?"
The cough took a moment to give in. Emma closed her mouth and let the air pass through her nose to make force herself to slow her breathing down.
"It was…" The words felt like dry paper being dragged against the inside of Emma´s throat. She took a swallow. "It was very strong, yes."
Hjalmar chuckled as he noticed the other sister looking at him. "Don´t worry. Give her a moment and the coughs will stop."
By the Emperor. Emma gently massaged her throat. The wolves like strong drinks. Is that what makes them so reckless?
"Are you alright, Emma?" Galatea asked, rubbing her hand on Emma´s back.
"I´m fine." Emma assured her. "Just a little dry in the throat." Another cough leaped across her lips. She swallowed again
"You want another sip?" Hjalmar asked.
"No, thanks. But there is something else I want to ask you."
"What is it?"
"One of your brothers told me earlier about something that you and the Inquisitor discussed before arriving on this planet. He told me that the Inquisitor told you that the Maiden of Astroya, the Maiden we captured this fortress to take, was a psyker. Is that true?"
"Aye."
"The Maiden was a psyker?" Anna asked.
"Aye." Hjalmar put his tankard on the table. "Did the Inquisitor not tell you?"
"No." Galatea said. "He didn´t."
The old wolf growled to himself. Emma might not have heard it if she was not sitting next to him.
"But he wasn´t the only one." Galatea threw a look at Anna.
The door opened behind them. Derik and Sophia walked in.
"So?" Hjalmar asked. "Did he tell you anything?"
"Yes." Derik held up a piece of parchment with ink still drying. "He told me everything I wanted to know."
The Inquisitor and the Palatine sat down in their chairs. Derik handed the paper to Galatea. She read through it before handing it to Emma, who did the same before handing it to Hjalmar and so on. It was a rather comprehensive list of things the Inquisitor wanted to know. He had asked about everything from troops, to the generals on the side, to the locations of their enemies.
"So," Derik said when he was handed the parchment by Sophia. "what´s our next move?"
"Regardless of what we do after this war," Galatea said. "we need to put it to a swift end. The Maiden is dead, we failed our mission and have no reason for this fight to go on longer than it needs."
Emma could see the Inquisitor´s eyes brightening by Galatea´s words. "I agree." He said.
"Me too." Anna said.
Hjalmar simply nodded but Sophia remained silent.
"Well," Derik said. "how do we do that?"
"By dealing a harsh blow." Galatea reached into a pocket on the side of her robe and pulled out a map. She rolled it out on the table, using the wineglasses as weights to keep it from rolling back. "The information Jorno provided us is definitely useful. Because now we know where the heretics have their strongest allies." She pointed on a spot on the edge of land on the map, bordering on the ocean. "The house of Mountbatten."
"The Knights of the Blackwater." Anna said.
"Jorno claimed to come from one of their cousin families." Sophia said. "Heretics are always eager to betray each other."
"Why are they called the Knights of Blackwater?" Derik asked.
"Two reasons. One, because of their dominance of everything that surrounds their fortress." Anna said. "About three hundred years ago, a fleet of heretical Astartes tried assaulting them from sky. The fleet they sent was shoot down in a matter of hours, sending every last one of them crashing into to the ocean. Afterwards, the water was covered in thick oil."
"And so, the water never turned blue again." Emma said, remembering a story that her mother used to tell her.
"A bit exaggerated," Anna said. "But the water stayed black for weeks afterwards. None has dared trying to siege that castle ever since. Though they have been mostly keeping to themselves for most of this war, even if they have sworn allegiance to the heretics."
"How come?" Derik asked.
"We´ve been wondering that for some time." Anna said. "The second reason for their title is because they are one of the most powerful houses on the planet, being the only ones who have access to Imperial Knights." She turned to Galatea. "And you mean to send us there."
"You´ve got the wolves on your side to." Hjalmar butted in.
Galatea shook her head slowly. "It won´t be enough." She looked over at Derik. "We need the Imperial guard to join forces with us again."
"You didn´t part on the best terms." Derik said. "But if we share your plans with him, I´m sure Colonel Lup would see the sense in a quick end to this war."
"You want us to fight alongside the Imperial guard again?" Sophia said, frowning.
"Trust me." Galatea said. "We need them."
"The Imperial guard can be trusted." Emma reaffirmed. She turned to Hjalmar. "I´m not sure the same can be said for your brothers?"
"What are you saying?" Hjalmar´s eyes narrowed.
Emma took a breath. "When I was out there on the battlefield, your brothers charged ahead despite having agreed to follow my sisters and stay in formation. Even when you told them to hold their ground, they still ran forward."
Hjalmar growled behind closed lips. "Why are you telling me this?" The silver-grey eyes stared down at Emma.
"I took an oath. To never tell any lies. Lies are the tools of the heretic." Seems like the truth is the tool of the fool. Emma though nervously.
The old wolf rose slowly from his chair. "You´ve got some guts, Emma." A little smirk appeared on his lips. "Har!" He laughed so suddenly Emma almost jumped. "Aye, you´re not wrong." He sat back down in the chair. "My brothers are eager, bold and sometimes foolish. I´m not too proud to admit it but it's true."
"Good." Emma forced a smile to her lips.
"Don´t get it wrong." The intensity returned to Hjalmar´s eyes. "A Fenrisian wolf is not some lapdog. It cannot be tamed and it cannot be controlled."
Emma gave a nod of acknowledgement.
"A slave to the truth." Derik said. "But there is the matter of Jorno´s execution. Emma, you promised him you would be the one to do it."
"And I will keep my word." Emma said. "But I will need a new sword."
"What happened to the old one?" Galatea asked and Hjalmar chuckled to himself.
"It broke in half." And you blow the rest to oblivion.
"We´ll have a new one made." Galatea said.
"How will it be done?" Anna asked.
"Take him out to the courtyard, have it so that everyone can see it and then I´ll cut his head off."