Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 59

The sky was iridescent lilac and the ground yellow, gravity was constantly shifting and the air was mixed with toxic levels of methane. That wasn't right, he knew it to be true but for some reason he couldn't explain why. He was also clad in his power armour, the purple and gold embellishments stained by befouled mud. That also wasn't right either but it had to be, shouldn't it? His hands lacked for his spear, yet they bore his familiar bolter, the one he had used every day for decades. It was right, yet somehow Reddam knew it was also wrong and the contradiction baffled him.

"Reddam!" a voice yelled, "Get your head in the fight!" Reddam's eyes snapped up, the familiar icons of his autosense picking out another warrior in glorious purple armour.

"Jortas?" Reddam exclaimed in surprise, "But you're dead."

The other warrior looked at him oddly and said, "What are you talking about?"

Reddam shook his head and said, "I don't know…"

Jortas ducked as a rocket shot overhead, exploding nearby in the plume of fire and mud. In all directions lay endless tracks of mud, churned up by warring transhumans. Bolters fired constantly and battle-cries rang out, calls to challenge and condemnations in equal measure. Reddam's Brothers were beset on all sides, surrounded by zooming figures in stained white armour, who sped past on bikes that sprayed torrents of mud in their wake.

Jortas set off, hefting his bolter as he cried, "Come on, we have to move."

Reddam instinctively followed saying, "What's happening?"

Jortas fired a burst off as he shouted, "White Scar bastards have broken the left flank, Sergeant Ferrac is trying to lead a counter-attack but they're too damned fast."

"White Scars?" Reddam spluttered, "Weren't we fighting Eldar?"

Jortas resumed his run as he barked, "Eldar, were you hit in the head? Don't you remember, we came to Lorthal looking to raid an Imperial supply depot, only to be ambushed by White Scars."

Reddam pulled up short as his confused mind latched onto a word and he hissed, "Lorthal…"

Jortas stopped and spun around as he barked, "What are you doing!"

Reddam looked at his Brother and said, "Lorthal, I remember Lorthal. We can't be here, you can't be here and I know why."

Jortas angrily shouted, "Dorn's Blood it doesn't matter, we have to get into the damned fight."

Reddam stared at his friend and Brother and said, "You don't understand, Lorthal is where you died."

Jortas suddenly lurched as a spray of bolt rounds caught him in the back, shattering his powerplant and punching shrapnel into his spine. The world went dark and sounds became muffled as the Space Marine collapsed forwards, tumbling into Reddam's arms and he shouted, "Jortas, no! Don't die again, not when we were so close. You almost made it to Trux…"

"Sergeant," a different voice cut in, "Who are you talking to?" Reddam blinked in shock as the voice intruded, sending his head spinning. He didn't know where he was or what he was doing. Furiously he blinked over and over, seeing a different vista manifest before his eyes, each a blood-soaked warzone where good Brothers had died but on the fifth blink his eyes opened to Glord's concerned face. Reddam blinked again in surprise but this time the world stayed true. The kilometre high trees looming over him, framing Glord's head. It took Reddam an awfully long time to realise he was still on Athelling, apparently laying flat on his back, staring up at the sky. He was laying upon a bed of mulch and bracken and the wet smell of vegetation clung to him like mildew. His ears could hear the skittering of insects crawling over his lobes and he was sure some of them had snuck into his carapace plate, inching around under his fatigues.

Reddam's head was pounding and his breath caught like a rasp in his throat but he croaked, "What's happening?"

Glord cocked his head and said, "You tell me, you were dreaming and calling out for someone called Jortas."

"Jortas," Reddam groaned as his dream faded into mist, "He's none of your concern."

"I was only asking," Glord snorted impudently.

Reddam sighed, "It was the Time of Exodus, a time best forgotten. Jortas is dead, leave it at that."

"Well don't be too eager to join him," Glord replied, "I didn't drag you out of that Vulture wreckage only to let you die."

Reddam started as the memory of White Condor's crash came back to him, the terrible wounding he had suffered followed by a deadly plunge. He tried to sit up and look for the Vulture but knives of fire sank into his chest, eating him alive from the inside out. His limbs felt weak as they had not since his genforging, and he flopped back gasping for breath. He felt as helpless as a babe in arms, a situation he could not tolerate.

"Careful," Glord said, "Your wounds are still open, they won't close."

"That's not right," Reddam gasped, "Astartes can heal any injury, this shouldn't be happening."

Glord shrugged, "I don't know what that Xeno scum hit you with but it left something behind, some form of crystal shards embedded in the wound. I can see them but I can't get them out. I've bandaged you up as best I can but you're still oozing blood. You need an Apothecary."

Reddam focused all his willpower and managed to get his right arm to come up and touch his chest. He found his scout carapace was missing and his chest was covered in wadded bandages, they were damp and clingy, not good signs. Reddam knew the ability of an Astartes to heal was remarkable but far from infinite. If this wound was going to heal it should have done so already. The fact that he was still bleeding meant something had gone seriously wrong within him.

Reddam swallowed as his arm flopped to the damp soil and he said, "We can't stay by the gunship, the enemy is still out there."

"My thoughts exactly," Glord replied, "Which is why we didn't, I carried you for five kilometres before we set down."

"Five kilometres!" Reddam exclaimed, "How long was I out?"

"A few hours," Glord replied, "I would have got further but I had to keep stopping to hide from Eldar hunting parties."

Reddam frowned as he said, "Slow down and start at the beginning, what have I missed?"

Glord drew in a breath and said, "As I said, I dragged you out of the wreckage and carried you into the forest. I ripped out a transponder so we don't get lost, according to the Machine Spirit we're thirty-eight kilometres from the base. We aren't the only ones to crash, the Eldar brought down other gunships. The survivors were mortal huscarls, they tried to run but didn't get very far. Xenos prowls these woods in great number, seeking every last soul. We're being hunted; I had to travel a long way to find a spot they aren't probing… yet."

Reddam sighed, "Then I die in disgrace, helpless and unarmed. I can't fight like this, I don't even have my spear."

Unexpectedly Glord grinned as he said, "Oh didn't I mention, I grabbed that too. Thought it might be useful, good job you packed it."

Reddam's eyes went wide as he spied his familiar spear in Glord's grip, the shining power weapon unblemished save for the hatched out mark of a lightning bolt. Reddam's breath caught as the icon brought his dreams back to him, but he shoved the guilty impulse aside and said, "Well done, lets march out of here."

Glord frowned as he said, "Sergeant I don't think it's a good idea trying to stand right now."

But Reddam ignored him as he struggled upright. His chest heaved with exertion and knives of fire sank into his joints, trying to rob him of strength. Reddam quashed them with his iron will, forcing his limbs to obey him. Slowly his legs drew under him and he wobbled to all fours, his left arm was hanging uselessly but his pushed up with his right and managed to get his feet under him. He rose shakily, his legs blocks of ice and his head swimming but he was upright and standing.

"See," he said, "I can walk."

Glord cocked his head and said, "I don't think you'll get very far, you should let me carry you."

"Never," Reddam snarled, "If an Astartes can stand he can march, if he can march he can fight and if he can fight he can win. I will take on every Eldar in this forest with my bare hands before I admit defeat."

Glord didn't say anything in return; his only response was to reach out one hand and extend a single finger, then poke Reddam in the chest. The Sergeant instantly collapsed like a dropped sack of bricks, falling into the moist underbrush with a groan. Whatever strength had returned to him fled, leaving him utterly out of breath as he lay impotent. Glord loomed over him and mused, "I think that Eldar weapon really messed you up Sergeant."

"Thank you Brother," Reddam hissed in vexation, "Your grasp of the obvious is astounding. Why couldn't I have crashed with Tebes, he at least knows how to shut up."

Glord grinned as he said, "You can still jest, that's a good sign. Shrios will patch you right up when we get back to base."

"We both know that's not going to happen," Reddam said forlornly, "I am going to die here. What you're going to do is take my spear and go on without me. Leave me here and save yourself, that's an order."

The solemn order hung over the pair, a sentence of death laid upon the Sergeant. Glord heard the order but to the Sergeant's complete shock the young Amber Viper said, "No."

Reddam gasped, "What did you say?"

"I said no," Glord stated, "I'm not leaving you here to die alone."

"I gave you an order," Reddam snapped, "An Astartes must obey orders."

Glord sniffed, "Sorry, but you don't have any authority here. The Codex Astartes says a commander must be hale of mind and body, fit to lead his men at all times, or he must forfeit his authority to the next in the chain in command. Which in this case would be me."

Reddam spat, "Since when have you snakelets cared about the Codex?"

"When it said something I agreed with," Glord replied glibly.

Reddam snarled, "Fang-rot, this is no time for quibbling over doctrine. We aren't Ultramarines; the Amber Vipers must be pragmatists."

However Glord replied, "The Amber Vipers have no homeworld, no allies in the Forgeworlds or planets sending us recruits and supplies. No Fortress Monastery is churning out new initiates. But what we do have, the only thing we have, is each other. You taught us that Reddam: cold hearts, fast blades and unbreakable loyalty to each other. I won't break that bond, not now, not ever."

Reddam snapped back, "Damn it you idiot, I'm trying to save you. This enemy territory and you're being hunted. If you're slowed down by a wounded man you will never make it. Alone you might slip the net, but dragging my useless carcass along you haven't got a chance."

"Then that's how it will be," Glord replied, "Come on, daylight's fading fast."

Glord reached down and grabbed Reddam and heaved up like a sack of flour. He hefted the limp form of his Sergeant over his shoulder and took up the spear in the other hand then began to march through the forest. Reddam's head swayed from side to side and he felt like being sick with every step. His chest burned like fire and he had never felt more humiliated as he snapped, "This is not dignified!"

Glord replied through gritted teeth as he shifted the weight on his shoulder, "I… won't tell the squad then."

"Glord, see sense," Reddam urged, "It's forty kilometres of hostile territory and I am dead weight. You'll never make it."

"Thirty-eight kilometres," Glord replied cheerily, "Now do keep quiet or you'll draw every Eldar in this forest down on us."

Reddam bit down on his retort and quietly hissed, "When I get my strength back I'm going to call you out in the fighting arena and beat seven kinds of living hell out of your disobedient face."

"Good," Glord replied softly, "Something to look forward to."

Reddam finally relented and said, "Glord, I don't know if you're the bravest soul in creation or the biggest fool I've ever met… but thank you. You're a true Brother."

Glord snorted, "Don't thank me yet, we've still got dodge every Eldar in this forest."

As they walked into the shadows Reddam could only slump helplessly and wonder if they would make it. He was sure Glord would never relent in his quest but what he didn't say aloud was that he suspected there wouldn't be any base left by the time they got there. If by some miracle the Eldar didn't catch them then they may well arrive to find only a smoking ruin where their base had once stood.