Speculum Enigmate Chapter 41

Odrin was pleased with his work and so was the Broodmind. He could feel its satisfaction thrumming through him, the knowledge that victory was within its clutches. Even though he was kilometres away Odrin could sense that the triumph of the Kiith was at hand. The Imperials were falling back into their last redoubt, chased by Genestealers every step of the way. The scattered remnants of the PDF in the city were isolated or subverted and the rest of the planet was wracked by confusion and violence. This was all thanks to Odrin.

The former First Secretary had been making himself useful. He had taken a group of Purestrains and spent the last few hours hunting down as many PDF officers as they could find. In small groups they had been captured and brought before him, to be given the Genestealer's kiss. One by one the officers had been subsumed into the Broodmind, their wills perverted to the service of the Cult. With them had come a good chunk of the PDF, many of the foolish dupes blindly following orders to turn over their weapons and tanks to the Cult. Those few troopers who resisted had been eliminated swiftly. The handful of units whose officers had escaped notice were isolated in their enclaves, unable to act or coordinate any effective resistance. The PDF was no longer a threat.

Elsewhere Odrin's web of allies and rebels were sowing havoc, mustering rebellions in other cities, attacking loyal institutions and ambushing authority figures in their own homes. Even the orbital lanes were a warzone, his uprising overwhelming many stations to turn their guns on their fellows. It was base treachery and the best part was the dupes had no idea they were serving a Genestealer cult. Word of what was happening in Pasdem city had been suppressed, or dismissed as propaganda by agents Odrin had placed long ago. Most of those taking up arms thought they were fighting for a free Pascum, blithely unaware of the canker in their heart.

Yes, Odrin thought, he had served the Kiith well. So why wouldn't the Broodmind leave him alone?

He could feel it pulsing in his head, compelling him to join the assault on the Jade Citadel. Even with victory mere hours away the group consciousness wanted Odrin to throw himself heedlessly into danger, sacrificing his life like a pawn. It wasn't right, Odrin grumbled, he had arranged this victory, his wits and his intelligence had advanced the Kiith further than he ever could have done with his fists and a rifle. He was a planner and a schemer, bred to lead and command, not a low-caste thug to be thrown away on a whim.

It was Tyvis' doing, he told himself. For years he had served the Kiith in isolation, granted freedom of thought and action. Then he had reconnected with his kin and found it far less pleasing than he had expected. He hadn't expected to be treated as a pawn. Worse had been the revelation that the mysterious leader of the Kiith he had longed feared was in fact a woman he detested. It had been too much.

The Magus of the Cult held him in contempt and her sneering dismissal of Odrin was leaking into the Broodmind, turning it against him. The Patriarch didn't care, all its children were equally expendable in its eyes. Odrin didn't dare challenge the Grandfather but Tyvis he could do something about. Yes the Magus had to go, before she got Odrin killed.

Odrin's bitter musing was interrupted as a Hybrid raced up to him, waving to indicate they had captured more prisoners. They were currently underground, in the endless warren of tunnels and passages laying beneath the city. Odrin was standing in a disused railway line, the walls dank and musty from centuries of neglect. Further down the passageway a group of Purestrains lurked, awaiting his order and Odrin indicated they should follow him with a weary sigh.

He followed the Hybrid down the tunnel for long minutes, until he spied a knot of Hybrids grouped around a line of kneeling prisoners. The Kiith warriors looked battered and frayed and many of them still bore weeping wounds, an impulse through the Broodmind telling him these were the paltry survivors of a far larger number. Odrin frowned as he wondered what could possibly have claimed so many Genestealer lives, then he saw it.

Kneeling in the dust was a Space Marine, one warrior in blue ceramite of the newer pattern. His chest was cleaved by many wounds, still leaking transhuman blood. A great chasm in his breast revealing where one of his hearts had been ripped out. His arms were bound by many heavy chains, held by four Hybrids and his head was dipped low in a drunken fashion. Odrin was amazed any warrior could suffer such wounds and yet live, but the Space Marine radiated fortitude and stubbornness. Were he not half-dead then there was no doubt that the Marine would still be trying to kill them.

Next to him was a line of lesser mortals, kneeling in the dirt with their hands bound behind them. A Red-robed tech-priest, a muscled guardsman, a woman in silver armour and finally a face he recognised: Inquisitor Vevara, glaring at him with hatred in her eyes. Odrin grinned at the sight; they had captured an Inquisitor, the possibilities of that were endless. He stepped closer to gloat but the Hybrid who had summoned him hissed, "Careful, there's something wrong with this lot. Something cold."

"Spare me your feeble-minded protests," Odrin scoffed, "I can handle it."

"On your head be it," the Hybrid muttered.

Odrin faced Vevara and said, "My lady, how good it is to see you. Have you come to join our family?"

Vevara's lip curled as she growled, "Alien scum! I have nothing for you, save death. I should have shot you on sight."

Odrin smirked, "So defiant, yet once you receive the Kiss you shall serve us willingly."

"Never," Vevara hissed.

Odrin chuckled as he looked over the line and asked, "Where is your Eldar servant? The Kiith could do so much with his unique genic material."

Vevara hacked a gobbet of spittle at his feet and snarled, "I name thee Diabolicus Hereticus. Your extinction shall be meted out by the hand of the Emperor's servants."

Odrin laughed it off as he eyed the damaged Transhuman and mused, "I confess I don't know what effect the Kiss will have on a Space Marine. Can the Broodmind turn his spirit or shall his gene-forging make him immune? I am curious to find out, perhaps we should…"

As he said that he stepped nearer and felt the strangest sensation wash over him. A cold shiver and a sense of lurking dread stealing over his heart. He felt empty and alone and forgotten, cut off from the universe and all possibility of comradeship. He was shocked to realise the Broodmind was gone, totally absent from his head. For the first time since this began he didn't feel the compulsion to throw himself into battle, he did not have to fight to keep his body under control. He was back in command of his own instincts and relief filled him.

From the look in their eyes the other Hybrids felt it too and Odrin leaned down to Vevara and hissed, "How are you doing that?" Vevara clamped her mouth shut and refused to answer. Odrin however was not concerned, whatever eldritch technology she wielded, whatever anti-psychic power she possessed it was working and Odrin spied possibility unfold.

He leaned back and declared, "Bring them to the Mother."

The nearest Hybrid frowned as he asked, "Shouldn't we give them the Kiss first?"

"Of course not," Odrin lied, "The Mother wants new genes to examine, pure and untainted. She will want to examine their genomes, before we start changing them."

The Hybrids nodded dumbly and forced the prisoners to their feet. The Space Marine was half-dead and had to be dragged along by four Purestrains, his feet leaving tracks in the dust. Odrin made sure to stay near to Vevara as they walked, luxuriating in the feeling of having his will back. He didn't understand how this was possible but he intended to make the most of it. There was no telling how long the effect would last. If he was to make his move he had to do it now.

Odrin led the party through the tunnels back to the railway station where he had last seen Tyvis. They entered through one of the deserted tunnels and found the place unchanged. The piles of dead lay where they had been dropped, stinking badly as they rotted. The blood had dried on the floor and the shattered clock hung forlornly over the middle of the space as lumen orbs fitted weakly along the walls, casting thick shadows across the roof girders. Tyvis was standing in her black dress on one platform, her hands pressed together and eyes screwed up in concentration. She was communing with the Broodmind, imposing her will upon her kin and directing their efforts from afar. She didn't need to be near the assault to win the day.

Tyvis' eyes opened, black pearls in the white dot of her face that glittered with power, as she hissed, "Odrin, what are you doing here?"

Odrin should have been floored by her will but he felt nothing, the aura of emptiness rendering the Magus' power moot. He smiled falsely as he called, "I bring you great prizes."

Tyvis didn't seem to notice he wasn't quailing before her power and sneered, "You should be joining the assault on the Jade Citadel. Even now our kin break into the Dominus' precious palace, it shall be ours before the day is out. You should be leading the Kiith to victory."

Odrin kept walking as he called, "I have better ways to serve the Kiith, come and see."

Yet Tyvis raised a hand and snapped, "I can see from here. A gaggle of humans, worthless to me."

Odrin suppressed a flinch, he had hoped to get the Magus within the Null aura and so render her powerless. Still he faked a generous wave as he declared, "Not worthless, look."

"A Space Marine," Tyvis breathed, "One of the corpse-Emperor's gets."

Odrin nodded as he confirmed, "You said you desired their genome to study."

Tyvis' face curled in anger as she growled, "One of them burned my home to ash, destroying the fruit of my labours. I want more than a specimen to study, I want revenge."

Odrin grinned as he elaborated, "That is not all. I bring an Inquisitor before you."

"An inquisitor?" Tyvis started, "A great prize indeed. What secrets will she reveal to us?"

Vevara glared up at her and spat, "I will see your wretched cult burned out root and branch. There is nowhere you can hide from the gaze of the Inquisition!"

"Silence!" Tyvis barked as her eyes glittered. Odrin felt nothing of the psychic command but his hand jerked anyway, knowing what she wanted, to strike Vevara over the face.

Vevara winced as a livid mark was left over her face and were her hands not bound she would surely have struck back. As it was Tyvis hissed, "You shall tell us all your secrets, when you join us."

Odrin was alarmed by the prospect, he didn't know what arts the Inquisitor was employing but he couldn't risk them being disrupted, so hastily interjected, "If she won't speak, maybe one of her comrades will."

Tyvis grinned evilly as she said, "Yes, let her see the fate that awaits her. Make them all kneel."

Kicks to the back of the legs made them all fall and the line of humans struggled resentfully as they were grabbed by rough hands. Odrin enjoyed seeing the Tech-Priest and silver-clad woman helplessly wriggling in their captor's grip but the muscled guardsmen jerked his head back and smashed his skull into the nose of the Hybrid gripping him. He growled angrily but two more grabbed him and forced him to hold still as a Purestrain loomed behind him, mouth opening to reveal its ovipositor.

Tyvis' face screwed up in anger and she jumped down from her elevated platform as she snapped, "For that, you go first." Odrin stepped back slightly and felt the tingle of the Broodmind, just on the edge of his consciousness. He judged he was at the edge of the Null Aura and eyed Tyvis warily. A few more steps and she would be inside the effect, stripped of her power and influence over the Kiith. Odrin forced his hand to stillness but he was ready to draw his laspistol and fire the second she was near. He had to be fast and sure, else his kindred would tear him limb from limb in revenge. He was gambling that the disruption of losing their Magus would leave the rest of the Kiith bewildered and confused, her absence from the Broodmind a hammer blow to their spirits. If he was quick and bold he could step in and assume her place, grasping the reins of leadership in the sudden confusion.

Tyvis took a step forward, head held high as she declared, "Soon you will join the Kiith. Your will shall be mine, your thoughts only those I desire. You will serve me willingly, telling me everything you know of the Imperium's secrets and taking our seed out into the stars."

Odrin expected a bold retort from the Inquisitor, he expected defiance and vitriol but to his surprise Vevara said nothing. He frowned as he saw the Inquisitor wasn't even looking at them, but instead her eyes were slipping upwards, gazing into the shadows overhead. A more experienced soldier wouldn't have looked, expecting some ploy or trap, but Odrin hadn't spent much time in battle and curiously his head swivelled to gaze upwards. Then his jaw dropped in horror.

Staring back at him was a dark figure in a half-skull mask. The being was clinging upside down to a girder with its legs and one hand and in the other was a wicked knife. He was slimmer in build than the Transhuman they had dragged here but he was unmistakably a Space Marine and he wasn't alone. Among the rafters over the railway station were eight of them and one in heavier plate. They were directly over the Genestealer's heads and they were poised to strike.

Odrin's alarm flared but his kin did not feel it, he was cut off from the Broodmind and could not alert his comrades through their group consciousness. It took him two whole seconds to remember that and he opened his mouth to scream a warning but he was too late. As one the Space Marines let go and silently dropped onto the Genestealer's heads.

Jediah's band of murderers had found the Magus and they fell upon the vulnerable Genestealers like avenging angels from on high.