Festum Gladius Chapter 44
Novak could see the whole battle. He could see advancing waves of ghouls and the desperate knots of resistance spread across the dock. Even at a glance it was obvious the Storm Heralds were losing, isolated, cut off and inundated by enemies. They were facing a foe stronger and fiercer than they and one that would not die. No matter how bravely they fought the Storm Heralds were going to lose this fight unless something changed. Novak should be down there, he should be standing by his kin in their hour of need. Unfortunately right now he had other problems.
A shimmering sword came at his face, the point aiming to plunge through his head. Novak barely got his own blade up in time to parry and he felt it sail past his exposed face with millimetres to spare. In return he lunged for the heart but his strike was blocked by a combat shield, its frontage covered in inquisitorial runes. As his blow rang loud the razor blade of the foe's sword came for his flank and Novak was forced to jump back to avoid being cut in half. He had to go backwards because there was no way to move left or right. He was fighting upon a crane's arm, a narrow slice of metal set atop a framework of bars. The arm was not still, it moved randomly left and right as the servitor driver tried to comprehend the violence, jerking its machine about as it sought orders. Other cranes moved too, sweeping back and forth and Novak had to keep a perfect awareness of his surroundings lest he be knocked off his perch.
Maxath for his part was untroubled, fighting with furious zeal and total focus. The Champion of the Red Hunters seemed outraged by events but his form did not waver. He duelled with exacting precision and relentless fury, channelling his outrage into his swordplay, making him a lethal combatant. The pair of Champions had been ignored by the Aeterna Nodes, perhaps too elevated to be noticed or perhaps the heat of battle drew them to more important targets. Either way the results were the same, Novak and Maxath were left to fight out their enmity, while below them the looming bulk of the Aeterna Paradigm throbbed greenly as it empowered its army.
Novak saw Maxath aim low but was not fooled by the obvious feint. Sure enough the sword twitched and jerked upwards, trying to plunge into his hearts. Novak blocked the strike with his shield and tried to slash his blade across the Red Hunter's throat but Maxath ducked and let the shining length pass over his head. Maxath's shield came up and drove forward, slamming into Novak's belly and forcing him to skip back lest he be bowled over. One misstep would have sent him plummeting to the ground below but Novak's feet were steady and he retreated without losing his balance.
Maxath pursued, trying to press his advantage but Novak was ready. As the point of the Red Hunter's sword came for his belly he twisted aside, deliberately letting the blade touch his armour. The length of it tore over his Ceramite, cleaving a sparking furrow into the plate but only shallowly, not penetrating enough to draw blood. Novak had allowed his foe a touch and in return his sword flashed, slamming into the scarlet helm. He had intended to split Maxath's head in twain but the other champion was supremely skilled and jerked at the last moment, taking a blow that only shattered his left eye lens and ripped out his rebreather.
Maxath was blinded in one eye and had to retreat, holding his weapons high. Novak pursued, eager to finish the fight but Maxath weaved his weapons about, keeping his defence tight. Novak's eyes narrowed as he looked for an opening but so tight was his focus that he almost missed a crane arm swinging about at chest height. From nowhere a beam of yellow and black striped bars came at the pair, carefully set in height so the cranes would never touch but just right to knock off a fool standing upon them. Novak gasped in surprise as he dropped flat, letting the bars slide overhead. He was horrified to see Maxath had leapt high, catching the other crane and heaving himself onto its length. Novak leapt to give chase but already the pair of cranes were parting, he was not able to jump in time and could only watch as Maxath was carried out of range.
Novak's anger boiled over and he shouted, "Get back here you coward!"
Maxath was wrestling with his helm and he wrenched it off to reveal a face filled with anger as he shouted, "You damned fool, look at my Brothers, look at what you've done to them!"
"This madness is your fault!" Novak snarled over the increasing distance.
"We had everything under control until you blundered in," Maxath retorted, "We were taking the Aeterna Paradigm away to study and improve, to fix the flaws in its design but you ruined our plan. Everything you see below is your own doing!"
Novak eyed the cranes, looking for a way to chase Maxath but saw he didn't have to. The cranes moved on fixed pivots, rotating around a central base, they couldn't swing far before starting to return back to where they started. All Novak had to do was stand still and Maxath would come back to him. Reluctantly Novak lowered his blade and counted the seconds, judging in a minute or two Maxath and he would be brought to together once more.
He eyed the other Champion and saw Maxath pacing back and forth, clearly coming to the same conclusion. He seemed as eager to continue the duel as Novak and spat, "My Brother's blood is on your hands and you will pay."
Novak scoffed, "You dare talk of blood, you who plotted murder and theft. Imperial Fists, White Scars, Smoke Jaguars, Fire Lords and more. How many did you kill?!"
"Idiots and fools," Maxath snorted, "They saw not the peril to the Imperium, but we do. The adepts of the Lazarus Progression approached my Chapter and warned us of the danger the Primaris represented. We knew we had to act and they showed us how. The technology that your Chapter buried in your Forge, the way to surpass Cawl's wretched freaks. The Feast was the perfect opportunity to act and our allies were ready to aid us. We could have done it, we could have made superior Astartes and left the Primaris in the dust, outclassed by a better model of Transhuman. You destroyed that hope, you let loose this calamity!"
"That's what this is about," Novak snorted, "Your fear that the Primaris will surpass us. That's what this is, fear! You think you are no longer the best and you just can't handle that idea. What was the Feast of Blades to you, nothing but a distraction for your thefts?"
"Oh no," Maxath sneered, "I spoke truly when I said I intended to win. A Firstborn must stand by the Lord Regent and steer him away from his folly, to warn him against trusting Belisarius Cawl. The Primarch doesn't know half the things Cawl has done over the millennia, the dark pacts and failed experiments that perfidious Magos has been involved with. But the Inquisition does, we know he plays with forces he cannot dream to master."
The crane arms had reached their furthest point and begun their return journey, Novak judged they had a bare minute left and called, "So you planned to assassinate your way to the top, taking out any who stood in your way."
Maxath snarled, "We had agents in the Crusade and your Chapter's serfs, the Inquisition has agents in every Chapter. Everything was ready and then that fool Cranicus stumbled across our opening move. We had to silence him but then you came along and spread the word. Since then we've been tripping over ourselves trying to get this plan back on course."
"That's why you lured us to the tomb," Novak snarled, "To kill me with a bomb. Quite the risk."
Maxath sneered, "Hardly, I judged my exit route to perfection, I was never in any danger."
"So why accuse me of being the murderer?" Novak pressed.
"To steer everybody off the scent," Maxath gloated, "First rule of escaping suspicion: throw blame everywhere."
"And your fanciful tale of the Flame Falcons," Novak hissed as he eyed the approaching crane.
Maxath grinned wickedly, "Every word of it was true, that's what made it so effective. I needed to know what you had uncovered so I told the truth, to get you to open up. I thought you were right on my heels, imagine my surprise when I discovered you knew nothing, you even suspected Cato Sicarius! I almost laughed aloud at your idiocy, to think the commander of the Victrix Guard would stoop to such measures. You are a blind fool and now I shall claim my revenge!"
The cranes had come back together and Maxath leapt the distance with a single bound. Novak saw his sword sweeping down for a killing blow and skipped back, letting the blade sail past without harm. He lunged for Maxath's side but with speed Novak hadn't dreamt was possible the champion spun about and knocked his sword up so the point cleaved into a pauldron. Ceramite shattered and spiderwebs of cracks etched the scarlet surface but Novak was pulled out of position and gasped as a swordpoint punched into his guts.
Blood flowed around the wound and fluid built in his guts as Novak's eyes went wide. Maxath grinned as he twisted the blade rammed into Novak's stomach and cut deep. Searing agony ripped through Novak, pain that would cripple a mortal man and leave him screaming in torment. Even for a Space Marine it was a debilitating strike and Novak was forced to clumsily sweep his sword down to dislodge the shaft of metal buried in his abdomen.
He staggered back, waving his sword weakly before his face. He expected Maxath to press forward and finish him off but the Red Hunter only stepped forward slowly, sneering down at the wounded Storm Herald. Arrogance and disdain dripped off him, contempt for his foes written all over his face. Condescension wafted off him in waves, self-belief and conviction of righteousness. Novak saw then that Maxath would never admit to making a mistake, never let himself consider that anything he did was anything other than justified, righteous even. To him all things were someone else's fault and his own involvement never considered in the judging.
Maxath stepped nearer and hissed, "You're finished and vengeance is mine."
Novak felt Larramen cells clotting over his abdomen but knew they would be too slow to make a difference. He woozily stepped back and wheezed, "I'm… not dead yet."
Maxath sneered, "You dream, one more blow and I'll finish you. Your worthless Chapter shall suffer and I shall watch as your home burns down."
Novak looked about as he retreated, seeking any way to escape but there was nothing. The crane was swinging over the length of the submersible, let green by the ambient glow of the Aeterna Paradigm, and there was no other crane arm he could reach. In desperation he looked down, seeing the plunge below him and then he looked up and hissed, "You can kill me but you can't escape your guilt."
"I have no guilt," Maxath sneered as he paused in his stride.
Novak retorted, "You killed loyal Space Marines, you set loose vile horrors. You plotted with the Inquisition to subvert an honourable contest. Your Chapter has forsaken its nobility and your honour is mud."
Maxath sneered, "Playing for time but you speak of things you don't understand. My honour is impeachable and the Red Hunter's worth is not measured by tawdry nobility, I serve the Emperor's Left Hand, all things are just in His service."
Novak nodded, "I suppose our Chapters are different after all… but there's something you don't know about my Chapter."
"What's that?!" Maxath chortled.
"We are the Emperor's Storm!" Novak yelled as he bent double and swept his sword through the bars that made up the crane's arm.
Metal parted under the touch of his sword, bars and cables and walkways shearing apart. One, two, three, four bars spilt as Novak sheared away the metal holding the end of the crane arm aloft and parted it from the rest of the machine. Maxath's face filled with panic as the walkway dropped out from under him, breaking apart as it fell. He tried to jump clear but proved too slow and was helpless to stop himself dropping straight down. Novak watched Maxath fall, arms and legs thrashing as he plummeted through the air and dropped exactly where the Storm Herald had intended, straight onto the pulsing crystal set atop the Aeterna Paradigm.
A falling Space Marine slammed into the pulsing gemstone and shattered it into a billion pieces. Instantly a massive explosion blew forth, green flames leaping high as arcane energies were set free. The Aeterna Paradigm generated torrents of eldritch energy and all of it was set loose to rend and tear. The pyramidal device disappeared in a fireball of green energy, ripping apart and hurling bits of metal across the entire dock. Maxath was consumed by the explosion, reduced to his constituent atoms by the very power he had sought to harness. He had paid the price for his hubris.
Far above Novak clung to the truncated end of the crane and felt the heat of the explosion wash over his face. His body was yet wracked by pain and his wounded abdomen was a knot of torment but he drew in a breath to yell, "We are His wrath!"
Filled with confidence of victory Novak turned to look over the dock, expecting to see the ghouls dropping dead. Surely without their hub the nodes would loose power and deactivate. Yet to his disgust they did not drop to the floor, they fought on, grappling with Storm Heralds even as green flames washed over the submersible below. The fighting was as desperate as ever and… no wait… Novak peered closer and saw a ghoul take a blow that sent it staggering to the floor, struggling to get back up. An Initiate pounced and hacked off its arms and legs, leaving it dismembered. No mighty blow, four simple cuts of a chainsword was enough to end it. All over the dock the ghouls were slowing down, fighting with diminished speed and strength, moving like mortals in their dotage. The nodes must have some form of reserve power but without their hub it was dwindling. The ghouls were weakening and slowing down, easy prey for the Storm Heralds to finish.
Novak gritted his teeth as he limped along the crane's arm, determined to join his Brothers. His injuries were many but he would not rest until the battle was won. The final moments were upon them and Novak resolved to be there to end this once and for all.
