Incantator Congressus Chapter 26

The wind tussled Harbinger's hair as they flew high over the landscape. The Daemon had to admit it was finding the sensation novel, as was the tingle of vertigo pickling the soles of its feet. The entity that was Harbinger had travelled the length and breadth of the galaxy, slaughtered billions, but it had never allowed itself to simple experience the physical impulses of its host. It was an exotic sensation, a treat to be sampled for a moment but fleeting in allure, nothing was as thrilling as twisting the galaxy to one's will.

Beneath his feet a strange circular platform flew on a comet of mutating flames. A Disc of Tzeentch, a minor Neverborn bound into a frame of metal to become a flying chariot. The Disc had a large blinking eye in its middle and sharp claws ringing the edge that constantly reached for the blood of its passengers, yet it was subservient to Harbinger's will and dared not touch them. Harbinger stood fearlessly while former Inquisitor Dago hunched his shoulders and sulked. The man had failed to prevent the Librarians fleeing the mountain and had returned expecting severe punishment, only to be surprised when Harbinger had shrugged it off. Now he lurked at the back, probably expecting Harbinger to throw him over the side at any moment.

Harbinger grinned wickedly as he called, "Do stop pouting and come enjoy the view."

"I've seen it before," Dago muttered sullenly.

"But you never understood it," Harbinger admonished, "Truly look and see the majesty of a dead race."

Far below their steed the foothills rolled on, craggy peaks and icy waterfalls spilling out in all directions. Sharp summits rose and fell endlessly, with no signs of lake or ocean. In some sharp valleys scraggly forests lurked, thin-trunked trees clinging to stony slopes but the vast majority of the horizon was taken up with foothills. In the furthest distance the edge of the world could be seen, the sharp division between land and space making the eyes water. Somewhere down there packs of possessed raced hunting parties of flesh-beasts and Traitor Marines, but from this height they were invisible.

Dago sniffed, "I don't see anything worth getting excited about."

"Because your former masters were limited in thought. They found this place when your Saint Karyl passed by so long ago, but never grasped its potential. They built a base into its foundations but never bothered to explore the potential of Holdfast. They saw only a dark hole to hide their secrets in, little knowing they stood atop the crowning achievement of an entire race. The things your Imperium could have done with this construct; had they only the wit to try."

Dago snorted, "You do love riddles, speak plainly damn it."

Harbinger scoffed, "You will not advance far in the service of Chaos unless you learn to think for yourself. Start with the makers, who built this planetoid?"

Dago drew in a breath and said, "During my days as an Interrogator they taught us the oldest relics unearthed bore markings of a Xenos race known as Kinebrach."

Harbinger leered, "Ah yes, the Kinebrach, a most enlightened race. Their mastery of the warp/realspace interactions far surpassed your feeble race's grasping's at understanding. They almost rivalled the Eldar at their peak, though that didn't last long."

Dago sniffed, "I know they suffered some form of cultural collapse and their empire imploded. This was before the rise of man. By the time of the Great Crusade there was nothing left of them save scattered and degenerated enclaves, withering on the vine. I didn't pay any attention to their history beyond that. They were dead and we were alive, what else matters?"

"It matters because the Kinebrach were both powerful and ambitious; they had achieved much but dreamt of greater feats. Holdfast was the keystone of their plans and the engine to propel them to greatness. This false world is one vast mechanism, a multi-dimensional prism to focus their ambitions and make their dreams live."

"What does it do?" Dago asked with a gleam of interest.

"Anything you want it to do," Harbinger explained, "Holdfast enables avarice and empowers rites and rituals with significance that would be impossible anywhere else. Holdfast is the place where all things are possible."

Dago frowned as he mused, "So... it's a psionic amplifier. It takes whatever spells you cast and enhances them, like a vox-array boosting a weak signal into orbit?"

Harbinger laughed aloud, "How simple your mind is, but in terms you can understand, yes. It is a gross over-simplification but Holdfast will make my incantations impossible to resist. No Psyker guard or ward or Null-maiden will be able to deny my spells, no matter how far away they are, I can touch anyone in the galaxy from here, if we can but find the epicentre."

Dago cocked his head over his shoulder and remarked, "The mountain is behind us, we are flying away from the centre."

"It is a common failing of humans to assume because something is important it must be big and impressive looking. The Mountain was nothing but a heap of rock, until your people carved out a base. The Inquisition dug into the hub of Holdfast but it was not the Fulcrum upon which it balances, it could be anywhere out here."

"So we're looking for something small," Dago pondered, "And when we find it, what do you intend to do?"

Harbinger snorted, "You are new to the service of Chaos and your attempts at undermining me are unsubtle. You will learn the secret when the time is ripe. I have not risen to be the Cupbearer of Tzeentch by telling my underlings every little detail."

They flew on, passing over many hillocks and valleys. Harbinger scoured the landscape keenly, tracing webs of geomantic power built into the structure below. That there was a key nexus was evident but it eluded him, the patterns baffling and contradictory. He sensed an active flow of energy nearby and directed his disc lower, homing in on the source. He jumped clear as soon as they were near the ground and found a stone circle, menhirs glimmering with stored energy, but not enough.

"Is this it?" Dago asked as he alighted.

"No," Harbinger hissed, "But there is something... or rather someone."

Suddenly a surge of energies broke loose, opening a dark portal between the upright stones. It was open for a mere second but a smallish woman hurried through, stepping daintily across hundreds of kilometres in a heartbeat. She was dressed in a revealing robe, with lustrous hair and dazzling eyes. Attractive by human standards but Harbinger was not fooled; he noted the play of power around her essence, the debauched reek of Slaanesh pouring off her.

His hands rose to cast dire spells but the woman called out, "Stay your wrath, I come to talk not fight!"

"Who are you?" Harbinger hissed.

"You know already, I am Rebre and you are Harbinger. I come to bargain."

Harbinger looked upon her and sneered, "Whatever Jubila has to say I am not interested."

"But I do not come in service to Jubila, I serve another," Rebre argued, "One who is most eager to forge an accord with you."

"What treachery is this?!" Dago spat as unsheathed his pistol.

"Treachery indeed," Harbinger mused, "But useful betrayal. Tell me more."

Rebre smiled knowingly and said, "Jubila wallows in failure, his task was to capture the Gladius Incandor and he falls short of the mark. Favour falls from him and his sponsors seek new stars to align with. You Harbinger, represent the greatest force on this planetoid. We wish to ally with you, uniting Tzeentch and Slaanesh to claim victory for Chaos Undivided."

Harbinger snorted "Chaos Undivided, an idiot's dream. Chaos is strife and calamity and treachery, there is no unity in the Warp."

"And yet at times the Ruinous Powers have set aside their feuding, to achieve greater goals."

Dago hissed, "Don't trust her, she serves the enemy!"

"I assure you..." Rebre uttered.

But Harbinger growled, "You carry betrayal on your shoulders like a cloak... I sense another soul lingering around you. A Brother..."

With a surge of mystical power Harbinger plucked the soul from the veil and brought it into being. Rebre gasped as her legs gave out under her and her flesh contorted. Strange shapes pushed from under her skin, beefy hands and a screaming face trying to tear free. Muscles swelled into Transhuman bulk then shrank again as two souls fought for possession of one body, each trying to impose their nature on skin and bones. Rebre was in agony as her dead brother tried to climb into her body and take control but she hissed, "I never served Jubila, not loyally. I was placed in his court by another, one who required an agent by his side."

Harbinger leaned in and whispered, "Before I would consider such a bargain, I would know who I am dealing with."

"I speak with full confidence of my lord."

"But not your Primarch. Oh yes, I sense you are not here at Fulgrim's behest, there is another player on the field. I will deal only with the puppeteer, not the puppet. Name him and I will end your torment."

"Ozymandias!" Rebre wailed.

With a mental shrug Harbinger released his spell and Rebre's flesh settled, meanwhile the Daemon turned and called, "Come out and face me Ozymandias!" The surrounding menhirs glimmered as another force intruded, the image of a bulky Daemon appearing in their crystallised depths. That it was a creature of Slaanesh was obvious but the static nature of its form was more telling. A rigidity of being that betrayed a shameful origin; this entity had been mortal once.

"A lowly Daemon Prince!" Harbinger laughed, "Is this it?!"

"Careful," Dago urged, "This fiend is not to be trifled with."

"I am not afraid. Daemon Princes are lowest in the courts of the Warp. Least among lords and fallen potentates. A debased and soiled creation, tainted by mortal weakness and morality."

"Yet cunning enough to root out your little scheme," Ozymandias countered, "I know about the blood-curse."

That shut Harbinger up and he snapped, "Do not test me, little thing, true Neverborn are not known for our patience and goodwill."

Ozymandias cocked his horned head and replied, "I did not come here to fight but to bargain. I know you seek the end of that cur Guilliman and I want in. I offer you my aid in finding your last ingredients and hunting down the Loyalist scum who hide the Gladius Incandor from you."

Harbinger probed warily, "And in return..."

Ozymandias grinned, "I want Jubila's head on a pike."

"Treachery!" Dago spat.

Harbinger however laughed, "Yes delightful treachery, how pleasing. Yet you must tell me why you want your own agent dead."

"Revenge!" Ozymandias growled, "I was his lord and master and yet when I achieved my apotheosis he tracked me down and bound me! He made me into a Daemon Engine, slaved to his will. Only the destruction of my physical form set me free and I swore eternal agony upon his head. I would have claimed it too, had not Fulgrim saw fit to recruit Jubila to be his errand boy."

Harbinger sniffed, "About that, do you not fear tempting Fulgrim's wrath?"

Ozymandias snorted, "Fulgrim's favour is fickle and Jubila grows boring. My gene-father will forget him swiftly, especially if I can claim credit for killing Guilliman, even in part. And should everything fall to ruin, well, I am not even here. If there is blame to be placed for failure then it will fall upon Jubila's head. A win-win situation from my point of view."

"Your deviousness pleases me," Harbinger chortled, "You could almost be Tzeentchian in spirit."

Ozymandias grinned back, "Then we have a bargain?"

"For now," Harbinger agreed.

Dago however growled, "You can't trust them, either of them!"

"Trust… I don't trust anyone. Betrayal is the essence of chaos, but our goals align. Slaanesh and Tzeentch have worked together before and will again, when it suits them. This can work for today, tomorrow is another problem."

Rebre wobbled to her feet and pressed, "Then you will help us end Jubila?"

"I shall," Harbinger confirmed, "Two gods of Chaos combined, no power in the galaxy can stop us now!"