29. The promised tithe (Part 1)
Cassius ran through the dark forest, several of the younger orphans behind him, he couldn't see what hunted them but he could hear their thundering footsteps somewhere out in the dark. They had all escaped the orphanage they called home and managed to stay together for a few days before the monsters caught up to them and forced them to split up, Cassius didn't know if the other groups had escaped but as long as there were monsters chasing him then they weren't chasing the others, in truth he was more concerned about the younger children that had come with him.
Cassius thought back to before they all escaped, his life had been peaceful before they found out, he wasn't close to the other orphans and spent most of his time alone but it was peaceful. At least it had been peaceful until they found out the truth of their orphanage and their entire world. He had always thought it was weird that all the new kids were always babies, no older children ever lost their parents and came to live with them, he thought it was strange how they were never allowed near the gate building or to leave the orphanage ever but he never had any reason to truly question it. It was one of the other older kids, Julia, who first wanted to go see the gate house but their caretaker had always dissuaded them but when she was taking some of the adopted children to the gate house, Julia thought it would be the best time to sneak there under the cover of dark. Cassius had tried to convince her not to go but Julia never listened to anyone, she went and Cassius went after her to bring her back, they both got to the gate house and witnessed the horrible truth of the orphanage they called home.
That was the first and only time Cassius saw the monsters; hulking things with pitch black skin, what looked like an animal skull sat on top of their head, their eye sockets vacant voids. The monsters spoke to their caretaker as they locked the adopted children in a van, they were all unconscious but obviously still alive. Cassius and Julia huddled in the shadows as they watched the woman who acted as their mother and a monster from their nightmares talk about a tithe of children and feeding a hungry population, the two ran back and managed to make it back before anyone noticed they were missing. Cassius never really connected with any of the other children in the orphanage but he quickly became the only one Julia could confide in as they planned an escape.
They worked for months, telling some of the other kids the truth and scouting the area around the orphanage. They watched every month as a handful of kids were "adopted" but they forced themselves to keep their mouths shut and smile as they said goodbye, Cassius always had nightmares of what would happen to those kids after they left. After months of work and some help from the other children they managed to escape, they couldn't bring the infants or the youngest children with them but the youngest children that were "adopted" were 10 so they would be safe.
Cassius was 12, he was cutting it close with the escape since children seemed to be "adopted" before their 13th birthday, he was the eldest out of all the children and the youngest they managed to escape with was 6. They didn't want to leave the younger kids but they wouldn't be able to keep up and it gave Cassius and the others 4 years to figure out a way to save them. At least that had been the plan.
The monsters hunted them relentlessly, giving them little time to rest, they had almost caught them a few hours ago and the large group of children had all split up in to several smaller groups with the older kids leading the younger ones, Cassius understood that this wasn't a true solution, it was sacrificing one group so the others could live to save the ones they left behind and it seemed like Cassius had drawn the short straw. The shadowy forms of several monsters moved between the trees as Cassius led the children through the forest, he had no idea where he was going only that he had to find a way to save the younger kids, the path was soon blocked by the skull like face of one of the monsters.
It towered over them, a strange sound coming from its monstrous throat, a nightmarish sound that sounded almost like mocking laughter. Cassius stood between it and the other children as he looked around for a route for them to escape through but he could see the forms of other monsters lurking just beyond the trees, they were trapped.
"You stupid kids thought you could escape" when the monster spoke it sounded strange, like it shouldn't be speaking in a human tongue, it made the laughing sound as it stalked towards the cowering children, "Since we have no cages, we'll have to drain them dry, really a shame but we can just tell the higher ups nothing could be done"
Cassius stood firm as the same laughing sound came from all around, his legs were shaking but he stood firm and stared down the hulking beast that was almost three times his size. He had no weapons to fight with but as soon as the monster came close he drew on all his courage and let out a scream as he threw a punch at the monster, he wouldn't go down without a fight not after all he did to escape the fate these monsters had in store for him, his fist bounced off the solid muscular of the monster with no damage dealt. The monster stood in front of him for a few seconds, staring at him, its vacant orbs seemed to convey some form of curiosity.
"This one has no nectar, the meat would probably taste spoiled as well" Cassius had no idea what it was talking about and before he could ask the monster swatted him aside and moved on to the other children who huddled together in fear, "It's inevitable that one would slip through but we should report it after we get back so someone can investigate how one of the farms let an empty child grow so old"
Cassius felt blood flowing down the side of his face as he scrambled to his feet, "Leave them alone!" he charged the monster but it simply flicked him back as it picked up on of the children
Cassius could only watch in horror as the monster brought the squirming child up to its face, its skull face flying back to reveal a previously unseen mouth, the monster opened its pitch-black maw as it started to draw the child's soul out of his body, the child's fighting grew weaker and weaker as the monster feasted on his soul. Cassius watched helplessly as the monster ate his fill, he couldn't do anything to save them, he would die without ever having truly lived.
The monster laughed as it watched the Cassius crying on the floor, its meal almost empty, but before it could finish its head exploded in a shower of black gore. Everyone, monster and child, looked on in shock as the monster's headless body fell to the ground, the child it held falling from its lifeless grip, before Cassius could understand what happened the sound of many great explosions filled the forest. Cassius crawled back to the other kids as he saw black blurs running through the forest slaughtering the monsters who had surrounded them, it took barely a minute for them all to be killed and for the children's saviours to reveal themselves. They looked similar to the monsters, hulking pitch-black things that towered over Cassius, but they were more human in form instead of the twisted things that had hunted them, they lacked the skull face and empty sockets but their eyes were a glowing red.
Cassius stood as best he could as the largest of the new arrivals approached the cowering children, he knew he stood a batter chance with the monsters but he wouldn't let himself die without a fight, he stood between the black giant and the child that the monster had tried to eat. The two stared each other down for a few seconds before a low chuckle came from the giant.
"You have guts kid" the giant's speech was accented but it didn't sound unnatural like with the monsters, the giant took a knee and reached for its head, pulling it off and revealing a human face beneath, "I'm Atris, what's your name?"
"I'm Cassius" he saw that several other giants were coming out of the trees, some of them carrying the heads of the monsters and all of them covered in their black blood
"Why are you kids out here? If the forest is dangerous surely your parents would have warned you, are you from that house we saw?"
Cassius quickly realised he was talking about the orphanage, "You're not taking us back there!" he put up his hands to fight, "I'll die before I become food!"
"Food?" another giant stepped forward and took off his helmet, "What are you talking about? What exactly is going on here?"
Both parties were confused about the nature of the other, "Tell me who you are? If you're not here to take us back why are you here?"
"We were simply scouting the area and we noticed these xenos attacking you" the other giant kicked the monster's lifeless body, he looked at Atris who nodded at him, "We're the 11th legion of the legiones astartes, we're here to bring this world in to the Imperium of man but it seems to be infested with xenos"
"So you want to kill the monsters?"
"That is our job, we can't let even one survive, now what were you talking about? Who is going to make you food?"
"The orphanage, the house you saw we thought it was an orphanage, the kids that were adopted were given to the monsters to be eaten" Cassius teared up as he thought about all the children he saw get "adopted", how happy they were to meet their new parents and how they all promised to write or visit but none of them ever did
He saw the faces of the giants twist in to looks of shock, rage or disgust, "They gave children to these monsters?" Atris' face was pale and he looked like he was about to throw up
"Yes, I saw it" tears fell down Cassius' face
Atris stood as he pat the kid on his head, trying to comfort him, "Don't worry you're all safe now, you should come back to our base with us" Atris looked back at his men as one of them talked in to their collar, "What is the status of the fleet?"
"They remain undetected and have scanned the surface, they have found hundreds of similar compounds, this isn't isolated" the other giant spoke with Atris, he seemed eager to unleash hell on the world
One of the children tapped Cassius on his shoulder, he looked behind him as saw they were all cowering away from the giants, "Let's run" one of them suggested as they eyed Atris with suspicion
"Why? They're here to save us" Cassius couldn't understand why they didn't trust the ones who saved them
"They're strange and not kinda strange like you but really strange, we don't like it" the kids seemed really afraid but Cassius couldn't figure out why but then a thought came to his mind
He approached Atris who was talking to another of the giants, "Do you know why the monster didn't try to eat me?"
Atris looked down at Cassius, "Good question" Atris went over to the unconscious child who had almost been eaten, one of the giants was checking his vitals and looking for any injuries, "What did the monster do when it grabbed him?" Atris looked at the children who flinched at his gaze
"It just had him in front of its face" One of the children answered
"I think I saw it sucking something out" another said
Atris thought for a second before turning to Cassius, "Did it say anything to you?"
"It said I had no nectar and called me an empty child"
Atris looked at the other warriors before picking the unconscious child up, "Well you're all very lucky, now come on we need to take you back to our base"
"Wait! There are more of us out there" in the confusion and relief Cassius had almost forgotten about the other groups that had split off
"How many?"
"3 more groups, I don't know where they are but they can't be far"
"Fine, squad Karne, squad Gernd and squad Yult head out and find those kids, keep in contact and report any engagements with the xenos"
Several of the giants nodded and headed off in to the forest while the others rounded up the children and herded them in the direction of their base.
The 11th legion had arrived in the system a few days prior, scans hadn't showed any satellites or powerful telescopes, Ovis had decided to send the 1st company down to scout the world before they made contact. A makeshift fortress was quickly ferried down and set up in the middle of the forest far from any other building. Despite being makeshift it was a sturdy construct with highwalls and watchtowers, the 11th legion had complete control of the area around the fortress and no one even knew they were there. The children were herded through the gate and in to a room where the astartes left them as they went to coordinate with the fleet about what exactly needed to be done about the world.
"We need to leave" the younger children were obviously anxious and afraid of the giant astartes but Cassius tried to calm them down
"We're safe here, they won't hurt us, they're here to help" Cassius tried his best but it was a pointless task, he trusted the giants but the others didn't for a reason he couldn't understand
Atris stood at a hololith with some of the sergeants of the 1st company, he looked at a scan of the house the children had supposedly come from, it was pretty much just a house in the middle of a large field with a large wall around the perimeter.
"This world is sick" Sargent Koren Teler looked at the hololith in disgust, "Handing your own children over to xenos, we should scour this world clean they don't deserve to join the Imperium"
"And what of the children?" Iren Palern, another sargent, asked, "They are innocent in this, we should secure these orphanage farms they have and cleanse the rest of the world"
"I like it, give the world a new start" Koren smirked
"We should be focusing on the xenos infesting this world then we can kill the degenerates that call it home" Atris snapped the men to attention, "Father what do you think?"
"Have you talked to the children about the defences around the orphanages?" the voice of the 11th primarch came from the hololith
"From what they said it is lightly defended, they are keeping children who are ignorant of their situation, they don't expect escape or resistance"
"Good, the star raiders can deal with them, the legion will drop pod in to the cities, from orbit they seem to be inhabited with humans but those xenos scum are somewhere"
"And what shall the 1st company do?" Atris asked
"Well you're near one of the orphanages secure it quickly, find out what the caretakers know of where the children are taken" Ovis cut communication
"What about that Cassius kid?" Iren asked, "You think he's one of us?"
"Those xenos weren't interested in him, my guess is they eat souls" Koren spoke up, "We wouldn't make much of a meal for them, the logic follows"
"Instead of getting excited over a possible new recruit we should prepare to take the orphanage. Once the squads get back with the other children we'll head there and take it, it'll be better equipped to hold them than here" Atris turned from the hololith as it went dark and left the briefing room
The other groups of children had been found and taken back to the astartes scouting base, they had been given some food but the astrates mostly just kept them contained to a small area, all the children still didn't trust the astartes despite Cassius' best efforts but the security around the base was much greater than the orphanage so they had little choice but to stay. The older children gathered in a corner to talk about their situation.
"The first thing we need to do is find a way to get out of this room" Bruti, one of the older boys, spoke
"We can't fight them and I'm sure they're expecting us to escape so we need to be sneakier about it" Julia stroked her chin as she tried to think about a way out
"Why do we need to leave? They saved us from those monsters, they're feeding us and they're going to kill all those monsters and save the others" Cassius tried to dissuade them from trying, it was clear that the best option for them was to trust the astartes
"They can't be trusted, they're probably tricking us and just waiting to bring us back to the orphanage" Plutia, another older girl, was the most suspicious of them
"Why don't you trust them" Cassius asked
The kids thought about it for a second, "I don't know they just don't seem trustworthy" Bruti answered
"Don't you feel something's off about them?" Plutia asked
"No, they saved us and haven't done anything to make us think they're not here to help" Cassius didn't understand why everyone besides him disliked the astartes but he suspected they knew
The door slid open and Atris marched in, the children parting in his wake, he walked over to the older children, "Come with me Cassius, we need to talk to you about something" the older kids shrunk away as Atris stood over them, they shook their head at Cassius but he just sighed and followed Atris out
Cassius was taken to another room where several astartes stood around a table, Cassius stood up on a box by Atris' side as he pressed a few buttons on the table and a hologram of the orphanage came up.
"We'll be attacking the orphanage in a few days, we'll abandon this position and set up camp there after we've cleared it out, so we'll have to take you all back there" Atris explained the situation to the child, "They don't trust us but you're one of them, you need to convince them to cooperate"
Cassius thought about what the other kids were saying, it didn't seem likely they would ever trust the astartes like he did, "Why can't you just let us go? You killed the monsters chasing us"
"True but we don't know where these xenos are truly based if we let you go you could run in to their nest and get yourselves killed, do you want that?"
"Why don't they trust you? They keep saying you're strange but I don't get it"
The astartes all looked at each other, "You were never very popular at the orphanage, right?" one of the astartes said something after a few seconds of silence
"No I wasn't"
"The other kids found you kinda strange, they didn't know why, they just didn't like you"
"Yeah"
"That's the story of just about every man in this legion, I was abandoned by my parents and spent the first 10 years of my life hunting rats in the one of the underhives in Merica until the sisters found me and gave me to the legion"
Another astartes spoke up, "My parents kept me locked in the hab-block, they wouldn't allow me outside until the 11th invaded my world, our hab-block was pretty much the only thing that survived and I was found by the legion"
"Why?" Cassius asked
"We have no souls" Atris told him, "People don't like it"
Cassius looked up at Atris, "Did the same thing happen to you?"
Atris scoffed, "No, I was born a prince unlike these peasants I grew up in luxury"
"And I'm like you, I have no soul?"
"Yes, it's nothing you did it's just how you were born"
Cassius looked down and thought about his life, a lot of things now made sense to him, one of the astartes snapped him out of his thoughts, "If you want it there is a place for you in the legion"
Cassius looked around at the giant astartes, he couldn't imagine being one of them, Cassius opened his mouth to reply but he was cut off by Atris, "Don't answer right away, the path to becoming an astartes is long and hard and might very well kill you and you will likely never see this world or its people ever again" Cassius dropped his head, "But you discovered the truth of your orphanage, put together an escape and successfully stayed on the run for several days so I doubt you'll find it that difficult"
"You'll really kill all those monsters?" Cassius asked
"Every one of them, I'll even save you one of their skulls" Atris smiled at the child, "Now go a make sure that the others don't cause any problems, this world is about to descend in to hell and it won't be safe for you to be running about"
the 1st company prepared to attack the orphanage, it was surrounded by a 20 foot wall with a forested area inside and outside the perimeter and a single road leading from the gate house to the outside world, the xenos would mostly likely be concentrated on the gate house and road so the bulk of the 1st company would attack there while the rest moved through the forest and quickly secured the building for their use. The attack would coincide with the legion's invasion of the world, the astartes would drop pod in to large population centres and quickly take control while the Kraken star raider regiments of the Kraken army would attack the hundreds of other orphanages around the world, it would be a single strike to cripple the human capacity to fight and seize the apparent food source of the xenos.
The makeshift fortress was mostly dismantled with anything of value being taken or destroyed, if they needed to retreat it would be an effective place to make a stand but if the enemy found it they would find only walls and little else of value. The children were herded in to a rhino transport and the company set off for the orphanage, careful to keep an eye out for any xenos still searching the forest for the children.
The rhino was cramped, it was designed to transport the transhuman bulk of 10 astartes but with 30 some children in the compartment it was quite cramped. Cassius had told them all what was happening and tried to convince them to go along with it but he had completely failed, the children had tried to fight back but they had no weapons and the astartes were stronger and faster than them, they were easily forced in to the rhino. Cassius sat in a corner as the rhino rumbled along, all the other kids were terrified and desperately looking for a way out but Cassius trusted that they weren't being taken to be eaten by the monsters but he could feel that trust waning as the other kids grew more distressed and agitated.
"Help us" Bruti pushed against a hatch in the side of the transport with a couple of the other kids but it didn't move an inch, "I'm not gonna be eaten by those monsters"
Cassius sighed, no matter what he said they still believed the astartes were working with the monster or something worse, "They're not taking us to the monsters, they're gonna kill them"
"Well maybe they want to eat us" one of the kids said
"If they wanted that they would have done it already" Cassius was growing fed up, "Why are you all acting like idiots?"
"They're taking us back to the orphanage, why else would they do that if not to give us to those monsters" Bruti got up in Cassius' face, "They might keep you because you're weird like them"
Cassius let out a scream as he jumped at Bruti, tackling the kid to the ground and raining punches on him as he held his arms over his face, some of the other kids tried to pull him off Bruti but he just shrugged them off, Cassius only stopped his assault when the rhino stopped and the storm bolter mounted to the top started firing, shaking the whole vehicle. The children could hear the roars of the monsters outside the transport's hull but they could also hear the boom of bolters and revve of chainblades.
Squad Yult and Gernd were given the responsibility of ensuring the safety of the children, Sargent Lorem Yult wasn't happy about the responsibility and Sargent Tare Gernd was just happy to see how much Yult disliked the assignment. The squads had split from the rest of the company and took the rhino full of kids; they were supposed to head for the wall, scale it and take the orphanage all with these unruly kids in tow.
"This is gonna be impossible" Yult complained as he scanned the area around him, they were approaching the wall and while they didn't think the xenos would bother patrolling the wall it was better to remain vigilant
"If it is too hard for you we can leave it to the other squads to take the orphanage" squad Yult and Gernd were assisted by two other squads coming in from the opposite direction while the other 6 squads attacked the gate house where the most resistance was expected
"This is our first compliance with our primarch and we're stuck babysitting, they don't want to be here anymore than we want them here why don't we just release them in to the wild?" Yult continued to complain
"The captain wants them kept safe and if we release a bunch of kids into a world in the middle of a compliance, they're going to die"
"Orarth wouldn't have even bothered with them"
Gernd gave his battle-brother a sideways look, "Careful talking about him, the captain might not like it"
"Captain Orarth, say his name and what do I care what the captain likes, he's just a spoiled prince"
"Watch your tongue Yult! The 11th cannot afford to be divided, Atris is our captain now and we need to accept that, he's proven himself a competent warrior and he's obviously a good commander"
Much of the legion was divided after the coming of their primarch, much of the old command was exiled from the main bulk of the legion and replaced, many disliked it while begrudgingly accepting it, the 11th legion could not be divide, they had few friends outside their legion so they couldn't afford to lose those they had in it.
The squads stopped as their auspex returned signatures, a dozen or so xenos were patrolling the wall, they kneeled in the brush as they cautiously approached, using their training to pull in their null aura so it didn't alert them. The rhino was the first to fire, its remote operated storm bolter firing and splitting one of the xenos in half, the other astartes opened fire with a concentrated volley that decimated their enemy. If the xenos could show fear then Yult and Gernd saw it as their squads rushed the xenos with their chainswords revving, their foe could only let out screams in some alien language as they were cut apart.
The squads arrived at a brick wall that rose 20 feet up, "Impressive that they managed to climb over this" Gernd commented as they watched the rhino run right though it
"Doesn't seem that hard to get past" Yult said sarcastically as he followed the rhino
Gernd chuckled, "I hope getting past the gate house is as easy as this"
The road leading to the gate house was surrounded by forest, there were 3 dozen or so xenos guarding the outside but from the construction of the gate house it was likely there were more inside. Atris lay prone as he watched the xenos watch the road and lumber around ignorant of what was about to happen, at his signal astartes from all six squads pulled out frag grenades and hurled them in to the loose xenos formation, they had no time to react before the grenades exploded and sent shrapnel everywhere, shredding some to almost paste and cutting deep gnashes in to others. The astartes charged the gate house as the xenos were still processing the attack. The astartes easily cut the unprepared xenos apart and charged in to clear out the rest of the gate house, Atris looked up to the sky before he entered the gate house, seeing flaming streaks falling from the sky as the rest of the 11th descended on the world.
Next time: The promised tithe (Part 2)
