Speculum Enigmate Chapter 37
A bolt round nearly blew out his spine as it ricocheted off his armour. The flexible weave hardened on impact, spreading the force of the shot across its surface, but the shock still reverberated through Manaar. He was forced to relocate instantly as another shot flew for his head, leaping to the next pillar in a bid to evade death. Speed was his only ally in this fight, his ability to soar over the lumbering Mon-Keigh keeping him from dying in failure.
Below him Sergeant Yones snarled in frustration, trying to track the Warp Spider as he vanished into the darkness. The Primaris kept his bolt rifle high, stablight penetrating the darkness as he chased the Eldar. His boots kicked up sprays of dank water as he waded through the swampy filth, uncaring for the dishonour to his heraldry. His side was running with genhanced blood but the flow was slowing, a thick crust of artificial scar tissue forming to stem the loss. Still drops of vital fluid touched the water and provoked angry growls from the darkness, the noise of hungry predators scenting fresh blood.
Manaar gave them no heed as he scuttled around a pillar, keeping its bulk between him and the Primaris. He had to admit this wasn't going the way he had expected, he had hoped to end this fight in one shot but the target was proving irritatingly difficult to eliminate. Still Manaar wasn't about to give up, he had crossed the stars and lived among primitives to reach this one individual. Manaar's Warp Spider mindset knew no doubt that he would triumph, then he would claim this one's annoying head as a trophy, to complete the humiliation.
Yones was peering around a different pillar, sending his stablight off in the wrong direction as he roared, "Come out and face me Xeno scum!" Manaar knew it was a feeble ploy to entice him to reveal his position but refused to play that game. He crept around the pillar, clinging to it with fingers and toes, then tensed before leaping across the distance to the next. As he flew overhead his Deathspinners let loose a salvo, intending to eviscerate the Primaris from behind. Sadly the Space Marine's reactions equalled an Eldar's, Yones hurled himself sideways and evaded the blast as his bolt rifle tracked and fired a shot.
Manaar felt the round pass within an inch of his hide, the breath of the wind setting his skin tingling. He touched the pillar and bounded off it, sailing to the next and the next, disappearing into the darkness beyond. As he evaded he cursed the dead gods, this was proving far too hard. He had killed Astartes before and they hadn't been this much trouble. It seemed the boasts of a new Paradigm of Transhuman were not hollow. After ten millennia of moribund decay the empire of the Corpse God had actually produced something new.
Suddenly there was a swirling motion in the water below as something large and scaly reared up and snapped at him. A long snout and reptilian eyes burst from the water, snapping at the air beneath his feet. Had Manaar been in the water he would have been ensnared and dragged down by those gnashing teeth and as it was they snapped closed inches below his feet. Manaar touched the next pillar and ran up its length to safety, then turned and looked down. In the water a huge Crotalid sank back into the water, the top of its head floating on the surface like a sunken log. Several more closed in, drawn by the commotion, their watchful eyes tracking his every movement.
The sight gave Manaar an idea and he grinned as he shifted position, putting the reptiles between him and the lumbering Primaris. Manaar opened his mouth and called out, "Foolish Mon-Keigh, to think you can match me."
There was a sharp noise as Yones turned to follow the voice and the beam of his stablight drew nearer as the Primaris snarled, "Persion and Jediah were right about you, aliens are not to be trusted."
Manaar shifted around the pillar for cover as he mocked, "You should have listened to your comrades, they are wiser in the ways of the galaxy."
"Red Sands," Yones cursed, "I defended you. I told the rest you weren't a threat, not on your own."
"Then you are a blind fool," Manaar sneered, "There is no peace between races, no comradeship with other species. Among the stars, there is only war."
Yones was nearing his location as the Space Marine called out, "I should have known it: you're working with the Genestealers. You want Pascum to fall into their clutches!"
That actually made Manaar laugh, "You think I care for this planet's allegiance, you think I care for the lives of Mon-Keigh? You primitive ape, this world is nothing to the Eldar. The fate of one planet of barbarians is meaningless in the grand scheme of things. I am here for you and you alone. Your existence imbalances the Skein and the disruption must be removed, this is fated."
Yones was only a pillar away, his light blazing as he snarled, "You came all this way for me?! Then you should have killed me on sight. When we first met in that ballroom you should have struck me down."
Manaar replied coldly, "Had you been alone I would have. Unfortunately your comrades blundered into my way. That clown with the axe and your bitter healer blocked my opportunity. I knew I could not defeat three of your kind all at once, I had to wait until I could get you alone and isolated."
Yones was mere feet away and he burst around a pillar, rifle held high to kill Manaar in one shot. The Primaris was quick and certain and he almost made it. Yet as he stepped out of the shadows the waters erupted as a massive Crotalid rose and attacked him. Yones spun about with Transhuman speed and tried to shoot its brains out, but massive jaws slammed down on his right arm and bit through Ceramite and reinforced bone like they were gossamer. Yones' arm was torn clean off and his rifle went spinning away, landing barrel up against a pillar, shining light upwards to illuminate the scene.
Transhuman blood sprayed out of the stump of Yones' arm and he roared in outrage but he was barely slowed as his left hand snatched a knife from his belt and stabbed the Crotalid through the eye. Black blood mixed with his own and the sight made Manaar smile, for the scent sent nearby reptiles into a feeding frenzy. Crotalids swam from all directions and set upon the beleaguered Marine. Snapping jaws cleaved his armour and lashing tails battered him as he desperately fought for his life. His knife hacked and stabbed reptilian hides but to no avail as they smothered him in flesh.
"Treachery!" Yones shouted, "You shall pay for this perfidy!" Yet the odds were too great and he was pulled under the water, disappearing in a scrum of scales and teeth. The water ran red with blood and guts as warm entrails spilled free and the Crotalids roared as they dove into the water, fighting over choice scraps of flesh. Manaar watched from on high as the pack feasted well, gobbling down fresh meat and then it was over.
Silence fell at last and the waters grew still. Manaar hung to the pillar for long moments, counting the passing of seconds. He could sense no sign of life but he remained wary, he knew the Space Marines were tougher than they had any right to be and many a foolish Eldar had died to a supposedly defeated Mon-Keigh. His eyes scoured the waters, looking for any hint of his prey, but he saw only the satisfied form of Crotalids in the wan illumination cast by the dropped stablight.
A swish of motion drew his eye and he saw a head floating in the water, the rounded shape barely visible in the gloom. Manaar felt the flush of victory run through him. The deed had been done and the Skein righted; the future of Furta-Rith had been assured with this death. He had spoken the truth when he said this planet was of no consequence, the salvation or destruction of this world making no difference to his people. The death of a billion humans counted for nothing when set against a single Eldar life. Humans were a lesser race, of little import in the scope of the universe. This was what the Mon-Keigh could never grasp; the galaxy revolved upon the actions lone individuals, while the deaths of billions of others changed nothing. Yones had been such an individual, his existence upsetting the weft of destiny, an impediment now removed. All that remained was to claim a trophy and depart, such a fight as this needed commemoration.
Manaar let go of the pillar and dropped into the blood-soaked water with barely a splash. He moved silently to claim his prize, warily stepping around dozing Crotalids. Thankfully the beasts seemed stupefied by their feast and they ignored him. Manaar delicately scooped the helmet up in one hand and examined the Ceramite. The shape of the helm was odd, a new design that differed from those the Space Marines had used for ten millennia. It had availed the Mon-Keigh not, for he had fallen to the superior cunning of the Eldar. Manaar turned the helm upright to gaze into the blank eyes… and that was when he realised the helm did not contain a head. It was empty.
The waters next to the Warp Spider exploded as a Crotalid burst upwards, no, the corpse of a Crotalid. It had been slit open from neck to groin, its spilt guts the meat others of its kind had consumed. The gutted form had been laid over Yones' head and shoulders like a cloak, a crude camouflage to disguise the Primaris' survival. Yones threw it aside as he burst from the water, mere inches from Manaar. His helm was missing, revealing a face filled with brutal rage and crazed, animalistic savagery that made him resemble an Ork. His right arm ended above the elbow but his left drove forward like a piledriver and snatched Manaar around the throat.
Manaar's surprise was total and he had no time to react as a vice closed around his throat, lifting him out of the water. The Warp Spider struggled for air as his phase-blades scored over ceramite but the angle was poor and he could barely draw drops of blood from his enemy. Manaar brought up his Deathspinners but Yones wasn't done. The Space Marine's legs pounded through the water, sending plumes of water into the air as he drove Manaar backwards, slamming him into a pillar with bone-shaking force.
Despite the flexing of his Aspect armour Manaar's teeth rattled in his skull as Yones bellowed, "Treacherous Xeno filth!"
Manaar couldn't breathe, he couldn't fight and was helpless to resist as Yones heaved him forward then slammed him into the pillar again roaring, "Hate the Alien!"
Star's flashed in Manaar's head and his ribs screamed as he was slammed into the pillar again with a cry of, "Fear the Alien!"
Manaar's world was going black as oxygen deprivation sank into his brain, he could barely feel himself being drawn forward once more as Yones screamed, "Kill the Alien!"
Manaar's vision had shrunk to a pinprick and he knew the Space Marine would continue until he was reduced to a bloody rag. Nothing could stop it, not the Warp Spider's weapons, nor his skill, nor his cunning. The Space Marine had the advantages of strength and mass, he had the edge in height and reach. Yones was driven by feral anger and relentless determination and lived in the sure and certain knowledge that his every action was endorsed by his corpse god. Such self-righteousness could not be daunted, intimidated or dissuaded. Yet despite all that Manaar had something the Space Marine didn't: he was a Warp Spider.
A single psychic impulse triggered the teleporter on his back and unlight engulfed the pair as they vanished into the Empyrean. Yones had Manaar by the throat and so was dragged into the Immaterium with the Warp Spider, both of them skimming across the surface of the Ether for a single heartbeat. Manaar felt the grip on this throat closing, and knew he could not shake it off; there would be no leaving his rival here for Daemons to feast upon. Yet Manaar had other options and his purpose was unwavering as he reached his destination and dropped the pair back into realspace.
Silence and darkness greeted him, a still nothingness that stunned him with the sudden absence of noise. Yet he was alive, he knew that because the vice on his larynx was easing as the grip on his throat slowly slackened. He forced his eyes to focus and beheld Yones. The Primaris was before him, his expression slack and vacant on the half of his face that was visible. The left side of his head remained as it had been but the rest was missing, buried in the solid Ferrocrete of a pillar. The Primaris had emerged from the teleport half-buried in one of the columns, the atoms of his body fused with the matter of the stone. From the crown of his head, down his chin to his jaw and onto his chest there was only stone to the right side of him. All that remained was half a head, a bit of his torso and his left arm and shoulder, sticking out of a stone pillar like a narwhal rising from an ocean swell.
Manaar reached up and loosened Yones' fingers one by one, then dropped to the water with a weak buckling of his knees. He looked up at the dead Marine and rubbed his sore throat, feeling how close he had come to death. The Space Marine's life had been ended; there could be no doubt about it. The lifeless remains of Yones would remain forever embedded in the Ferrocrete, nothing could ever separate the atoms from each other, while the exposed half would rot. This time Manaar's kill was certain, but he did not feel triumphant. He had come too close to losing this fight and that knowledge left him cold.
No longer desiring to claim a trophy Manaar turned his back on the deceased and walked away. He swore to leave this world at the first opportunity and never return. His violent emotions had been satiated and he longed to return to the Craftworld and the bosom company of his own kind. Yes, the sooner he left this planet the better. With that thought he departed, leaving Yones' stiff corpse behind in its eternal tomb where no one would ever find it.
