Tales of the Amber Vipers Chapter 218
"Hostiles have reached deck forty!" came a panicked cry.
"Reroute armsmen to that deck!" Verina shouted back.
"Too late, hostiles passing deck thirty-five!" another shouted.
"Nobody can move that fast!" Verina bellowed, "The reports are delayed, I have no use to know where they've been, find out where they are right now!"
"Hostiles passing deck thirty!" came the desperate cry of fearful men.
Verina gritted her teeth and smacked her fist on the rail. Everything was going wrong, all of it coming undone even as she tried to grasp the unravelling threads. She couldn't believe it, victory had been theirs, the fight was over and the Astartes dead… only they hadn't been. She had been lured into a trap, deceived and outplayed. Her vessel had been boarded and nothing she did could stop the rampaging Space Marines.
Everywhere the bridge crew raced to restore control of the ship. In theory it should have been easy, they had tens of thousands to call upon, enough bodies to drown the foe, except they kept breaking past the defences. They moved too fast, every time an order was given to draw a new line of defence it turned out the Space Marines were already past that point. Give her five minutes reprieve and Verina would crush them, but it wasn't going to happen. So the bridge crew panicked, knowing what was coming for them, while above Lanfast chuckled in his chains, enjoying his captor's dismay.
Verina threw herself off the rail and turned about snapping, "This is no good."
Moryna looked pale as she gulped, "They're coming for us, aren't they?"
"The bridge is the highest value target, they're coming for us."
"Can't we stop them?" came the worried question.
"The Arco-flagellants couldn't stop them. If they couldn't do it, nothing else will."
"Hostiles passing deck ten!" a terrified crewman yelled. Verina knew time was up and drew her chainsword. She eschewed her helm, knowing it would be no good in this fight, if she was to face this foe then she would do so with her face open to danger. Moryna looked pale as she saw the action but steadied herself, shaking her hands out of their sleeves. Ice began to form over her hands as she summoned psyker power, perhaps the only thing that would give the Space Marines pause.
"Armsmen to the hatch, stand by to repel boarders!" Verina ordered. Shaking hands took up weapons as mobs of burly men in carapace armour raced between the dais and the heavy barriers that sealed the bridge tight. Many looked ready to flee but they knew there was no way out, whatever was coming through those doors would find them regardless. Verina faced the reinforced door and comforted herself with the knowledge the Emperess was with them in spirit, surely the new mistress of Mankind would not let it end this way.
As if summoned by the thought a presence emerged at her shoulder and the other whispered, "Justice comes for you."
Verina muttered under her breath, "I banished you."
"You cannot get rid of me so easily," the other hissed, "I am always with you, unlike your witch of a master."
"Shut up," Verina snapped.
"Eh?" Moryna called.
"Nothing," Verina deflected as she saw the door start to glow redly, the unmistakable sign of Melta-bombs blasting through metres of solid metal. The armsmen took a step back and all others trembled but Verina stepped off the dais to join them and cried, "The foe is at our door but we shall not be afraid! The Emperess watches us even now, her grace guides us! Draw courage from her benevolence and know she loves us all!"
The line steadied but in her ear the other whispered, "You know she doesn't. She lied to you, she deceived you all."
Verina forced her ears closed as the doors glowed cherry-red and began to melt. Incredible heat wafted off them, carrying the iron-tang of a smeltery into the sinuses. The floor trembled under her feet and she felt the deck quiver as the hatches sagged and parted, opening a tiny sliver into the passageway beyond. She triggered her chainsword and raised it high as she cried, "As one, fire on my command… wait for it… wait… n…"
Before fingers could tighten on triggers something flew through the widening aperture. It was a shell, fat and unlovely and it struck an armsmen with a sharp pop. What followed an incandescent flare of white-hot light, magnesium brilliance searing retinas with fiery contrails of aching pain. The man erupted into a living candle of phosphorus brilliance but Verina saw none of it, shaking her agonised head and furiously blinking as she tried to clear green splodges from her vision. Suddenly she heard pounding boots and the harsh burr of chainswords roaring, followed moments later by high-pitched screams. Verina recognised the butcher sounds of chainweapons dicing flesh and smelled hot vitae as blood fountained high and she knew the Space Marines were inside the bridge. They were slaughtering the armsmen, wading into the mob defending the hatch. Her people were dying and she could see nothing.
"Come on, come on," she wailed as she jerked watering eyes to and fro. Slowly sight returned and she beheld an abattoir. Corpses lay strewn on the deck, armsmen opened up by weapons so hefty they made ruination of living beings. Piles of dead lay everywhere and striding over them came the Space Marines. Clad in orange were they, broad and tall in ways only an Astartes could boast. They carried themselves differently to the Blood Talons, no grace or artistry was to be found in their stride, only brutality and spite. They were butchers and savages, not warrior-artists, but no less deadly for it. They slaughtered all in their path as they bellowed war-cries, "Death is upon you! None can withstand the Amber Vipers! Ave imperator!"
The slaughter was too great for even the bravest heart. The Astartes were more than gene-forged killers; they were the Angels of Death. Faced with annihilation fear took the hearts of all and they broke, running away from the killers in their midst. It did not matter that there was nowhere to run; away was all that mattered. The Space Marines gave them no respite, chasing them pace for pace and cutting them down from behind.
Standing atop her dais Verina howled, "Moryna!"
"Emperess give me strength," the hag spat as she raised her hands and sent forth a blizzard.
A howling tornado sprang up from nowhere and battered the enemy, wrapping their limbs in chains of wind. Ice-shards as big as spears formed from nothing, pelting their armour and chipping ceramite away. A single spear of ice struck an eye-lens and sank deep, sending an Astartes crashing to the deck with a shard buried deep in his face. The rest struggled to turn and address the psychic attack but could make no headway against the hurricane pinning them back.
Moryna was doing it, she was holding them at bay, but then another stepped forward. From the back strode a man in silver armour that glowed with runes of aversion and abjurations against warp-magics. In his hands was a relic hammer and he raised it before him as he strode into the wind. The gale seemed not to touch him, dispelled by the wards in his armour and he strode confidently forward as he cried, "You have no power over me hag!"
"Emperess help me!" Moryna cried as she tried to hold the man back.
The warrior in silver strode on crying, "There is no power that can stop me, for I am His judgment!"
"My Sovereign, aid me!" Moryna cried in desperation.
"Your god is not with you, but mine is always with me!" the man yelled as he swung his hammer. The broad head caught Moryna in the flank and lightning unmade her. Flaring disruption fields ripped skin and bone to shreds, exploding her innards high into the air. Moryna ceased to be, turned into a fountain of blood, her life ended with one swing of that hammer and with her death the wind faded to nothing.
Instantly the Space Marines leapt back into the fray, resuming their slaughter. Verina stood alone above the tide and knew she could not survive, but she was determined to die with honour. She raised her chainsword and cried, "I Lord Militant Verina challenge your leader to single combat!
A fierce warrior with an iron-face pushed through the carnage to snarl, "I am Battle-Captain Ferrac, you betrayed the Emperor, prepare to die."
"In her name…" Verina began but didn't get to finish. There was no formal start, no careful measuring of blows, Ferrac merely lowered his head and charged. Verina found a giant of Ceramite barrelling down upon her, coming on like a freight train with force enough to crush her underfoot. She was forced to throw herself aside to avoid a swift death, yet as she did so a snarling chainaxe of some description slashed over her spine, chewing Ceramite like a wet rag.
Only the thickness of her plate averted certain death, but it left a ragged tear over her lumbar. She spun about and thrust with her chainsword, aiming for a vicious tear on Ferrac's chest, but the Astartes' hand flashed out and grabbed her wrist before it made contact. Verina gasped in shock and tried to pull free but Ferrac's grip was iron and held her immobile. Slowly he clamped his axe to his hip and grabbed her gorget, lifting her bodily off the deck to hang before him.
"Pathetic," Ferrac hissed, "Treachery has made you weak."
Verina kicked and flailed as she spat, "I die gloriously for her honour!"
Ferrac growled, "You don't deserve a glorious death, no honour for you, only a slow and painful ending."
His hand moved and Verina's eyes widened as her arm was forced up and inwards, bringing her own chainsword to her belly. Horror flooded her soul as she saw his intent but was powerless to resist as he forced her sword against her armour and pushed hard. Spinning chainteeth devoured Ceramite, cutting deep then slicing within her abdomen to rip and tear at her guts. Verina screamed as she was disembowelled by her own weapon, death sealed by her own hand, there could be no greater dishonour.
Ferrac let go and turned away to rejoin the slaughter, not even granting the dignity of watching her pass. Left to die Verina fell to the deck as agony ripped through her. Searing fire consumed her midriff and breath laboured in her chest. Blood pooled around her collapsed frame, and she was horrified to see entrails falling out of her belly, ropes of intestines draped everywhere. She reached feebly for them but it was useless, she was doomed, the only question was how long it would take for her body to realise it. The fire faded as a cold lethargy stole through her, sapping her will as the lifeblood poured out.
A shadow fell over her and she looked up to see the other looming above. Amid the carnage she stood calm and collected, gazing down with contempt curling her lip into a cold sneer. The other knelt by her side and whispered, "At last justice has claimed you."
Somehow Verina found the strength to whisper, "You die with me."
The other replied, "Death is nothing when set against vengeance."
"Begone shade," Verina spat, "Let me die in peace."
"Oh no," the other hissed, "You owe me this moment for what you have taken from me."
"I took nothing, it was mine, always mine."
But the other's eyes flashed angrily and uttered, "You took everything from me. My dignity, my ship, my legacy and my Brothers."
"Brothers…" Verina whispered in confusion. That wasn't right, surely she meant sisters not Brothers. The words baffled her and she knew not what they meant. Then Verina's eyes drifted past the other to fixate on Lanfast, last of the Blood Talons. The ragged torso of the Librarian hung in his chains, dismembered and immobile but for the first time she saw his eyes, flickering with caged lightning, the unmistakable tang of the Psyker. He had overcome the wards, bypassing the null-spikes driven into his temple. A terrible realisation filled Verina as she saw how she had been played, for weeks, months even she had been locked in a battle of wills and hadn't even known it.
The other smiled coldly as it parroted the words of the Librarian, "You took my Force-sword and my armour, my arms and my legs, but you foolishly left my greatest weapon: my mind. I have struggled to overcome your shackles but at last my mind broke free, to roam in your psyches and plot my vengeance."
"You were behind it all," Verina gasped.
"Oh yes, in the darkest hours of the night I slipped into your minds, undermining the foundations of your people's will. Applying pressure to the cracks in your souls and turning your people against their own."
"The dissidents," Verina gasped.
"All my handiwork," Lanfast spoke through the other, "I was the architect of your doom. I turned you against your own; I tricked you into burning your lover alive. I goaded you into charging headlong into this trap. All it took was stoking your doubts, uncovering the truth you knew in your heart: that your Emperess was nothing but a lying witch. I want you to understand how completely you were deceived before I let you pass."
"You lie…" Verina wheezed, "I'll kill you for this…"
"No, you won't. Your heart stopped beating over a minute ago, only my will has kept your spirit bound to its bones but my largesse is over. Take the truth to your grave, it will torment your soul for eternity and so the Blood Talons are avenged."
"No…" Verina's ghost screamed, "No!"
But it was too late, the Librarian let go of her spirit and her shade fell into an infinite pit of darkness. Her last thought before her end came was to scream denials at how she had been tricked: deceived by Space Marines, a Librarian and a witch alike. Verina had been a fool, she had been led into treachery by a lie and that truth dragged her soul into hell, where Daemons would gnaw upon her spirit for all eternity.