Festum Gladius Chapter 26

Novak had caught a lead at last. Word had come to him that someone had information to share and he hastened to find them. The prospect filled him with giddy excitement, finally after his feeble groping in the dark he had a chance to shed light upon the travesty and he was determined to seize this chance before it disappeared. If he didn't then he would be left flailing in the dark, lashing out in ignorance.

The Champion was jogging over the surface of the Fortress-Monastery, passing bland-faced serfs toiling in the burning heat of the midday sun, which on Lujan II lasted a long time. Novak had long since left behind the regions where Astartes typically practised their skills and devotions. This tiny corner of the island was a memorial park, where obelisks soared, arches loomed, mausoleums brooded and statues of dead heroes slowly decayed into obscurity. Five thousand years of war had left a lot of dead heroes to be honoured and the monuments battled for space, jostling together to create narrow avenues and dark alcoves between the memorials.

Novak saw dust covered masons tending to crumbling buildings, holding back the passages of ages with careful deliberation. It was a never-ending task, when they finished the final memorial the first ones would have already have started to decay again, yet they persisted. Generations of serfs had toiled in this park, passing down skills from father to son for millennia. The fact that few had the time to come admire these memorials was irrelevant, only ritual processions by clerics and professional mourners could afford to be away from the endless preparations for war.

Novak spied a gaggle of such serfs ahead and fell back, not wanting to be seen. The mortals were marching in procession, banging brass gongs in ritualised timings. They wore elaborate gowns of black, with headdresses that drooped veils over their faces. Overhead cyber-cherubs drifted back and forth, shrieking out wails of lament as the procession advanced. In all his years Novak had never observed this ritual and he was bemused to note a woman directing her small daughter on how to bow her head and weep over the deaths of Storm Heralds who had died four or five thousand years before she was born.

As he pressed his armoured shoulders into the shadows Novak had a moment to reflect. Far behind him the Feast of Blades was ramping up for the next trial. He didn't know what it would involve, but it would surely prove testing. The last trial had seen two more Champions rejected, the Doom Eagles and Howling Griffons failing to solve their murder cases. The number of Champions was growing fewer and fewer, out of twenty-nine Chapters only fourteen remained in play and soon they would be whittled down to the last handful, who would fight it out among themselves.

All that was to be expected but what troubled him was the elusive killers hiding in their midst. Someone was plotting in the dark and laughing at the feeble attempts to root them out. Novak was certain that Cato Sicarius was involved in some fashion but he couldn't be doing it alone. Who were his accomplices, where were they and how did they evade notice so easily? Questions that needed answering. Nimodes, Jemiel and Phalros were working ceaselessly to find out but it was Novak who had the lead, a printed note left in his cell guiding him here.

The procession passed on and Novak eased out to continue his journey. Soon he saw his goal, a mausoleum to the battle of Redjac's Folly some three millennia ago. The tomb was covered in frescos of Storm Heralds battling Traitor Marines, valiantly casting out the chaos filth. In the background moved packs of Space Wolves, small and insignificant, as if the Storm Heralds had won the battle single-handed. Novak was amused to note a depiction of Honourable Ajax on one wall, fighting side-by-side with Bjorn the Fellhanded. A notable victory, but to warrant a tomb the death toll must have been high indeed. Novak doubted the day had been won so effortlessly as the murals proclaimed.

He slipped around to the front, where a plasteel gate hung open and inviting. Yet before he could slip inside he ran straight into the backpack of another Astartes. Iron and black, the colours of the Steel Confessors: Janus. Novak pulled up a hairsbreadth from colliding into him and gasped, "What are you doing here?!"

Janus stomped about, his scarred face glowering as he hissed, "Quiet fool, I'm trying to go unnoticed."

Novak took a step backwards and whispered, "Don't fob me off, why are you here?"

"Why are you?!" Janus spat back.

Novak looked him up and down and then a cold thought occurred, "You… weren't summoned by a mysterious note perchance?"

Janus blinked in shock as he spluttered, "How did you know that?!"

Novak resignedly pulled out his note and said, "I received a summons, promising answers to the conspiracy plaguing the Feast. No sign of who left it, just a cryptic summons."

Janus pulled an identical slip from his belt and they held them together as he said, "Identical… the same person left this. Someone is playing games with us."

Novak eyed the dark entrance to the tomb and said, "Or it's a trap."

Janus snorted, "Two Space Marines at once, whoever thinks to spring a trap on us doesn't want to live very long."

"You suggest we march in there?"

"Its either that or wait here and watch the stone crumble."

Janus didn't wait for an answer as he stomped within. Novak sighed and followed, ducking under the lintel to enter the darkness. Within the building the walls were as decorated as the exterior, scenes of battle and glory depicted in scabbing paint. Iron sconces held lumen orbs that cast light over rows of stone biers, each carved into the shape of a Space Marine laid to rest. A hundred or so coffins, bearing the bones of slain heroes and the dripping corpses of serfs.

Novak paused in alarm as he spied a half-dozen mortals laid out, each one with their throat slit. They had been strewn over the coffins in poses that left no doubt they had been fleeing when they died. His Astartes brain calculated in an instant that the deaths had been performed by a single individual, post-human or Transhuman. They had killed everybody and left the bodies where they lay, within the last hour judging by the still wet blood oozing from the bodies. It was a shocking scene but that was nothing compared to the four Space Marines standing in the tomb.

Maxath's head shot about as he uttered, "Emperor wept, Not more of us! At this rate we might as well send up a signal flare."

Novak stepped within and gasped, "What are you doing here?"

Chogai stepped out of the shadows and said, "We were summoned by a mysterious missive."

"Did it look like this?" Janus asked holding up his script of paper.

The four lifted identical parchments and Maxath groaned, "Yes."

Novak stepped within and eyed the Red Hunter and the White Scar. Beyond them lurked Castael of the Angels Sanguine, his armour embellished to resemble graceful muscles. Then there was Corwy of the Exorcists, his armour covered in hexagrammatic wards and marks of aversion. They were carefully checking the bodies, in a fashion that betrayed their wariness of grenade traps and other surprises.

Novak sighed loudly, "What have we learned?"

Maxath spat, "Nothing that concerns you."

Novak rolled his eyes and said, "Leave it alone, I didn't do this."

"And for that I have only your word."

"I've only just arrived, I couldn't have done this."

Janus stomped forward and growled, "He arrived with me, I vouch for him."

"Maybe not personally," Janus hissed, "But his Chapter could have, this is their world."

Novak groaned in dismay but Chogai interjected, "If he is innocent then he can aid our investigation. If not, he already knows everything so will learn nothing new. For myself I believe he is true, I sense no deception in him."

Maxath threw up his hands and spat, "On your head be it!"

Novak glanced at Chogai and said, "My thanks for your trust."

Chogai smiled as he said, "Your thanks are unnecessary, your face tells me you are no liar."

Janus snorted in amusement, "He means you're a bad actor, no way could you fake that dumb look on your face."

Novak sighed in exasperation and asked, "What have we learned?"

Chogai gestured at a body and said, "Mortals, men and women, young and old. They came here individually but died together. Someone came upon them swiftly and slew them with ease, they barely had time to react as they died."

"Six mortals," Novak mused, "Six notes for us… these must be the informants we came to meet."

"Maybe," Janus hissed, "But what did they mean to tell us, who were they and how did they come to be involved in this web of treachery?"

Novak prodded each body in turn and said, "Shoulders bear brands of the Crusade, these were attendants upon the feast. Three, four… no wait. That can't be… these last two bear Storm Herald brands. They weren't new arrivals, these are servants of the Chapter."

"I knew it!" Maxath spat, "I knew you were involved!"

"All that means is the local's serfs are involved," Chogai countered, "Mortals prove distressingly corruptible."

Novak however felt cold as he mused, "But all our serfs receive basic Hypno-indoctrination. To break that loyalty takes time and effort. Not something you can do in a few nights. This means whoever did this has been preparing for a long time… longer than the Feast has been planned. I… I don't know what that means."

Maxath scoffed, "It means your Chapter's security is lax."

Janus however retorted, "I'm more interested in the bodies. All killed by one soul, that takes Transhuman speed. A Space Marine did this."

"Incorrect," Castael countered, "The wounds are too thin for an Astartes' blade, the cuts too shallow. This is surgically precise work, delicate and exact, not Space Marine's chopping and hacking. The blood splatters speak of a skilled but merely post-human killer."

"You should trust him on this," Corwy muttered, "The children of Sanguinius know blood."

Novak rubbed his jaw and said, "Let try to think this through. These six mortals knew something of the killers, or were involved in some manner. Blackmailed, coerced or corrupted, but they got cold feet. They elected to warn us six but someone got wind of their betrayal and silenced them before they could speak. We missed them by mere minutes."

Maxath stiffened suddenly and hissed, "Or… the killers knew these six were unreliable and decided to eliminate them while furthering their goals. Sending us enticing messages and then using these deaths as a lure to get us all in here and keep us distracted."

Novak's eyes widened as he realised they had walked into a trap and he yelled, "Run!" He turned for the door and sprinted to get out. He made it all of two steps before the demolition charge set into the floor detonated. A blast wave of noise and light slammed into Novak as the floor behind him fountained up into the air, spraying stone shrapnel and flame in all directions. Corwy was nearly standing on the charge when it went off, his limbs torn from his body and his internal organs pulped by overpressure. The Exorcist died in an instant and his death was followed a second later by the roof caving in.

Novak felt the blast wave slam into his retreating back and was practically thrown from his feet. He stumbled but kept his balance as he charged for the door. His ears rang with hammerblows of noise and his eyes could see nothing as stone dust showered into his path. Debris pattered off his armour and the floor danced under his feet as the tomb caved in. Novak could do nothing save stumble on, grasping for daylight as he put his head down and ran blindly into the cloud of swirling dust.

Suddenly he was out into the light, teetering down the short steps as his multi-lung fought to keep him from suffocating on dust. He stumbled to a halt and spun about, blinking tears from his eyes as he fought to clear his vision. Before him the tomb was sagging into itself, the roof was gone and the walls falling down before his eyes. Novak knew emergency bells would already be ringing across the island but they would be too late to save anybody still within.

To his relief he saw Chogai stumble out of the ruin, his white armour caked with grey dust. Maxath and Janus were next, coughing profusely as they spat mortar from their lips. One step behind came Castael but the Angel Sanguine was moving slowly, swaying as if drunk. He took a step then fell down, blood pouring down the side of his face.

Novak rushed over and saw a shard of stone buried in his skull, penetrating the superhard bone to burrow into the brain. He checked for a pulse and cried, "He's still breathing!"

He reached for the shard but Maxath spat, "Don't pull it out you idiot! There's no telling how much brain damage he's suffered."

"He requires an Apothecary!" Chogai urged.

Novak hurriedly lit his vox and summoned medical aid. A chirp told him a Stormraven had been dispatched and he sagged back in dismay as he hissed, "Someone tried to kill us. They killed Corwy and put Castael into a coma."

"But they failed to finish us off," Janus hissed, "All they did was piss me off. I'm going to kill them slowly for this."

"First we have to find them," Maxath growled.

"We shall," Chogai promised, "Then we shall tie them to wild horses and watch as they are ripped limb from limb."

Novak knew it was a serious promise but in his mind he lamented the scale of the task before him. He had learned something important today, the killers had agents inside his own Chapter, corrupted serfs working for the conspiracy. He had assumed the killers had all arrived with the Feast of Blades but now he knew they had roots sunk into the bones of the island. This was something Phalros needed to hear immediately.