A/N – Another chapter and even more plotting, scheming and planning things to happen. Though after this bit there will be a bit of a pause as things will calm down.
o-0-o
The Grandmaster felt a weird feeling in his gut as he watched a shuttle descend from the orbit, carrying the newest addition to the Wolfblades. It meant that Carrow failed and that plans needed to be updated, he wanted to curse the world and the traitors for all of the luck they had. First they managed to slaughter all of the zealots that could be used against them and now the perfect trap that could have solved the issue, failed.
For one last time he looked at the shuttle and then walked away, he knew enough to start making plans to protect him from the fallout of the mistakes he had done. However he didn't plan to stop on just prevention, no, that was for fools and centuries of scheming taught him that fools died in the most gruesome manners possible. He needed allies to survive the coming confrontation as he knew that the Wolves would call every favor they could get their hands on and possibly, highly unlikely, but possibly they could get support of all of the First and Second Founding chapter which could spell a disaster. The Grandmaster shook his head, not thinking about it and stepped into a heavily modified Land Speeder that awaited him.
"To the Palace of the Ecclesiarchy," he said towards the pilot once he took a seat in the passenger compartment.
o-0-o
Harry smiled as he passed under the archway that led into the inside of the palace of the House of Belisarius, he inhaled the air and almost immediately his senses were assaulted by hundreds, if not thousands of various scents. Some were familiar, just a lot stronger and more pronounced, while the rest was new, those were ones his human senses couldn't spot, but thanks to the transformation he easily detected them.
"Easy," Torin said, placing his hand on Harry's shoulder. "Don't let it overwhelm your mind, you will have time to discover all of them and remember your training. You control what your body does, not the other way around."
Harry nodded and shaking his head to banish those thoughts he walked forward, through the entry hall that ended splitting into several long hallways, each of them leading into a different part of the spire. He tried to remember the layout of it when he felt Torin nudge him lightly. "What?"
"You need to make an oath to the Celestarch," Torin explained and added after a moment. "And that's always done in the throne room."
"Even if my armor looks like hell and in my knee there's a hole?" Harry asked and Torin looked at him, a very confused expression on his face.
"How did it happen?"
"A hotshot laser during that scuffle on the ship," Harry explained with a shrug. "One that did it ended a bit shocked."
"Shocked?" Torin asked, tasting the word.
"Psychic powers," Harry said and added after a moment. "Njal the Stormcaller forced me to learn how to manipulate at least one element and I chose lightnings."
Torin gave him a wary look, but then nodded and the two of them walked towards the throne room. On their way there Harry noticed two murals that eluded his sight when he last walked through those ancient halls, on one was shown a tall man that was obviously a Navigator, his third, pineal eye not hidden by anything and he was accompanied by the two towering giants in power armors. One of them was a Primarch of Harry's own chapter, Leman Russ, while the second was a Primarch of the Blood Angels, Sanguinus. However this was not the mural that caught Harry's attention, but one to its side, one where was shown a coat of arms of the house. Head of a wolf placed inside of it previously didn't make any sense to him, but now it was obvious that it was a sign of his chapter.
"I never realized that the wolf in the coat of arms is from our coat of arms," Harry said as they passed it.
"Indeed," Torin said and paused for a second, playing with his neatly trimmed mustache. "It is a very subtle, yet easily understood sign of with whom someone risks a conflict if they start picking on this house. It is also a reason why you were requested by the Celestarch to be assigned to the Wolfblades."
"Why's that?"
"Because of how having a relative in our ranks is seen amongst the nobility of the Imperium," Torin patiently explained. "They see it as a great honor for the family and a thing that boosts its prestige among their peers. It would be even better if you managed to sire children when with us, as they would be technically speaking members of the house and would most likely be picked by us to see if they are worthy candidates for the transformation."
Harry actually stopped and looked at Torin. "You're joking?"
"No," Torin said and gave Harry a look. "Intrigues and politics of Terra are crazy and you need to get used to them. I know that you received basic training from the house, but it seems that you forgot most of it, so we will need to fix it and I will start doing that tomorrow or so. Now, however we need to get you to swear an oath to the Celestarch."
"Right," Harry said as he composed himself and followed Torin.
They entered into the throne room and he immediately noticed that it was packed full of various Navigators, several Magii of the Adeptus Mechanicus, a crowd of normal human courtiers and allies of the house and finally a group of six Wolfblades that surrounded the throne of the Celestarch. Harry walked to the prescribed distance from the throne and dropped to one knee, his eyes boring into the floor.
He could feel the Celestarch regard him with cool gaze for several long moments before she finally spoke. "We have heard a great deal of things about you and your training to become one of the Wolves and seeing you as a full battle-brother of the chapter fills our heart with pride. Having one of our relatives, even an adopted one become a member of the Adeptus Astartes is a reason for pride and respect to the house and everybody associated with it," she said and then she paused for a brief moment. "However while those things are important, we are here for a different reason. Do you, Harald Belisarius of the Space Wolves, swear to serve and protect me?"
"I do," Harry said, clearly pronouncing the words.
"Then we, the Celestarch of the House of Belisarius, accept your oath as binding and we name you as one of our Wolfblades," the Celestarch said. "Rise and join the ranks of the Wolfblades."
Harry stood up and moved towards the place where a group of Wolfblades was standing. They moved to the sides to make room for him and some patted him on the shoulders as they noticed markings he had on his armor.
o-0-o
Carrow groaned as he opened his eyes and looked around, he was in a small cell with the sole source of light being a small slit set in the armored door that led inside. He didn't know where exactly he was, but he knew that the Inquisition would get him out of his prison no matter the cost and effort involved.
He heard the door croak and groan as it was slowly opened and he narrowed his eyes to prepare them for the assault of the bright light. Once door was fully opened through it stepped a single person, a giant clad in a power armor and it took a moment for Carrow to realize that it was a Space Marine.
"We have a lot to talk about," the Marine grimly said and Carrow narrowed his eyes into tiny slits. "Yes, you and I. We can do it peacefully or we will need to convince you to open your heart and spill your secrets."
"You have no power over me and attack against the Inquisition is an attacked against the God-Emperor," Carrow hissed.
The Marine just laughed, his elongated canines flashing. "As is an attack against the Space Marines chapter and plotting against one, if I was feeling generous I could add plotting against the Navis Nobilite and the Imperium," he said once he calmed. "So you don't have as much power as you think you have. Also the Great Wolf will be a very annoyed person once he gets all of the data that you will tell us."
"You won't dare-"
"I dare and I will do it," the Marine said. "The Inquisition grew too powerful and it needs to be humbled. I fought on Armageddon and I remember Months of Shame all too well, so you either cooperate or we will break you and get what we want."
Carrow gulped and started to recite the litanies to the Emperor, hoping that they would bring him salvation from those heretics and savages.
The Marine just smiled at this and grabbed him before proceeding to drag out of the cell.
o-0-o
Harry flexed his muscles as he got out of his armor, he didn't feel its weight and it was in a way a second, albeit a much harder layer of skin, but he still wanted to be out of it. Diverting his gaze from the stack of plates that made his past armor he looked at another that made an armor worn by all of the Wolfblades. It was thicker, more reinforced and had few features he couldn't find in his normal armor.
"You will never have any desire to replace it for any other model of a power armor," Torin said and Harry looked at him. "It has things that you will come to love and the Mechanicus used the very best materials they could get, no matter the cost, to manufacture them."
"I see," Harry said and motioned for servants to start putting the armor onto him. As they did it, he looked at Torin and narrowed his eyes. "I guess that you're here not because of your free will, but because someone told you so."
Torin laughed, but then nodded. "Aye," he said. "Valkoth, senior Wolfblade ordered me to introduce you to your duties and show you around. Also I'm one of the few Blades that has knowledge of the scheming ways of the nobility and patience to teach someone new. The fact that you had known me before you began your training is nothing to sneeze at."
"So I won't easily get rid of your company?"
"No, you won't," Torin said and added after a moment. "I wish you were a lot more like Ragnar when he arrived."
Harry paused and looked at the older Wolf. "Ragnar, as in Ragnar Blackmane, Lord of my company?"
"Same one," Torin said and paused. "He didn't mention that he served with me and that he managed to lose the Spear of Russ and later reclaimed it?"
"No..."
Torin laughed and Harry arched an eyebrow in question. "It seems that he didn't mention his most famous exploit. But that is a story for the time when I will show you some things. Now, once you are in the armor we will begin your more boring training."
Harry nodded and once the last servant stepped away from him he moved and felt the new armor was even better than his former one. He also smiled when he noticed a storm bolter built into the arm of the armor. "Is it real?" He asked, looking more closely at the weapon.
"Aye, it is," Torin smiled. "A very useful thing, but you need to get used to it."
"So that I don't shoot myself?"
"Among other things," Torin said and motioned for him to follow. "Come and I will show you a range where you can practice with it and blow up targets we don't care about."
o-0-o
Aldrik walked into the throne room of the Great Wolf and immediately noticed that it was filled with the Wolf Lords that were on Fenris as well as their retinue. He smiled thinly at it as he realized that the Great Wolf wanted to have a show for his lieutenants, however seconds after appearing the smile vanished and his face once again became impossible to read. He walked between the ranks of the Wolves and stopped right in front of the throne of the Great Wolf.
"I am here to make an oath to you that one of your brothers won't be injured or killed when amongst the ranks of our chapter," Aldrik said, pronouncing each word perfectly. "I swear that on my honor, honor of my chapter and the Golden Throne of Terra."
There was a long moment of silence before the Great Wolf spoke. "I, Logan Grimnar the Great Wolf of the Space Wolves chapter, accept the oath as binding and swear on my honor and honor of my chapter that we won't seek hostility with your chapter unless provoked and given a righteous cause."
Aldrik managed not to show any surprise at this particular wording, but inside it puzzled him, he never expected the Wolves to make such an oath and never expected to be the one receiving it. "In the name of my chapter I accept it and I will ensure that your brother receives the best training we can offer him," he said and bowed. "Thank you for your hospitality, the Great Wolf, I wish I could studied more the lore of your chapter, alas I'm in great hurry."
The Great Wolf nodded and Aldrik walked out of the chamber before following his guide who took him to the levels of the Fang where shuttles and even massive spaceships were moored. The second he was on board of his strike cruiser it started to move away from the Fang and accelerate out of the system.
o-0-o
Valkoth looked at the body of the Inquisitor Carrow Harald managed to catch and he whistled in respect. It took several hours before his interrogators managed to convince Carrow to start talking and even more before he managed to tell them what they wanted to know.
"How real is the stuff he told us?" Adrian asked and Valkoth regarded the human with a curious gaze. "From what I remember the Inquisition is trained to be as deceptive as it can be."
"Aye, it is," Valkoth said and glanced at the transcriptions. "But one of the Wolves was there for the whole time and we can sniff out lies even from the Inquisition. What worries me is what he said."
"That they plot against the chapter?"
"Among other things," Valkoth said and shrugged. "Since Months of Shame the chapter and the Inquisition didn't see eye to eye on a great deal of things. So the fact that they plot against us is a thing that doesn't surprise me too much. What worries me more is the scale of those plots and how widespread they are."
"How?"
"They tried to drag everybody they could and so far managed only to get some support from the Ecclesiarchy," Valkoth said and looked at the transcripts. "Which isn't the worst thing to deal with, Sororitas are numerous, but for me most of them is a band of useless religious zealots that can be easily killed. I lived for far too long to learn the brutal truth that on the field of battle how zealous you are means shit and the chance that you die or a person who's the most devout follower of the Imperial Cult is equal. More matters experience and how good are your commanders and my opinion about Sororitas isn't the best."
Adrian blinked and looked at Valkoth. "So you don't care that we can have an order of them crash onto us?"
"No," Valkoth said with a vicious smile. "They do it and the Great Wolf will come here with everybody he can get to support us and several thousand Astartes landing on top of your positions is a slight problem. Also the Celestarch isn't as idiotic as the Inquisition thinks and she secured some allies for herself."
"Right," Adrian said. "Adeptus Mechanicus from Mars pledged their support for us and the Navy was looking more favorably upon deals with us."
"Aye," Valkoth said and gave one last look Carrow. "If his masters want to bump the stakes to an open war I won't mind it. Especially if they do something foolish and let me send a message to my chapter's leadership ahead of time. We have contingency plans and ancient oaths with other chapters that wait to be used."
Adrian nodded and together they walked out of the room and towards the training grounds. "Do you want me to push the soldiers harder?"
"Yes, I'm going to do the same for my Blades," Valkoth said and paused to look at Harry who emptied whole magazine of a storm bolter into practice target. "They are a good mix of experience and enthusiasm, but they're not a cohesive force that can be deployed as a single unit. They need to have a couple of missions in larger team and hopefully one or two as a whole."
"There is always hunting down pirates and I have a feeling that we will see plenty of privateers show up quite soon."
"Aye," Valkoth said and paused. "But for that we have maybe few months or years even to prepare. In the meantime, get me a list of the routes most frequented by pirates. It is a time for my Wolves to stretch and do some work."
Adrian nodded and the two of them walked towards the place where household guard was training and honing their skills in case of a war.
o-0-o
Harry looked curiously around as he followed Torin and another Wolfblade he learned was named Gunnar, and was a Wolf Guard in the same company as he was, through the Merchant Quarter. "Where are we going?" he finally asked.
"To have some fun," Torin laughed. "Drink and eat at the cost of the Celestarch and take part in various brawls."
"Brawls?"
"Zealots and other scum tend to dislike us," Gunnar said and Harry gave him a look. "Horus Heresy and the Reign of Blood made inhabitants of this world distrust us and some look at us with open hatred and fear."
"Even if our oaths make us defend the humanity and protect it from danger?"
"Yes," Torin softly said and Harry looked at him. "You need to remember that the Heresy and the Reign of Blood left this world devastated and covered in piles of corpses. And we were the main force in both of those sieges, so they have their reasons to hate us."
"And while more educated people will control their feelings, drunk, usual scum that is in those districts and zealots will cause troubles," Gunnar said and stopped Harry. "If a brawl happens, do not kill them, just knock them out, we don't want more troubles and if Arbites show we let them do their work."
Harry nodded and following Torin they entered into a tavern that immediately reminded Harry of the Great Hall of the Fang with its ceiling supported by wood and large fireplaces set in the walls. In the air there was a strong scent of animal furs, ale and meat that only reinforced the feeling and made him think of his chapter homeworld.
"One of few places where you can actually get decent ale," Gunnar explained as they took places at one of the tables in the corner.
"Also the owner and his family owns us a couple of favors so we can have peace," Torin added. "And nobody will ask what we are doing here or plan to do."
"And that is?" Harry asked.
"Have fun and start some of your education when it comes to scheming and planning."
Harry nodded and smiled when onto the table in front of them made their way large, steaming piles of meat and several tankards of ale. He reached for the food and greedily dug his teeth into it. While he ate he didn't completely ignore his surroundings and quite easily noticed a group of people enter the tavern. He lightly nudged Torin and indicated them with his head.
"Good eye," Torin nodded. "What can you tell me about them?"
Harry squinted his eyes and gave them a look. "Muscular, behave like former guardsmen, necklaces with the aquila, probably some kind of a baton or a knife hidden in their clothes, behave as if they were familiar with this place, yet are staying away from everybody else."
"Not bad. What you just described is a typical representative of our local annoyances known as zealots and gang scum. In this case those are zealots and knowing our luck they will start troubles," Torin explained.
Harry nodded and focused back on eating, yet his eyes still were following those zealots and trying to see what they were going to do. For a long moment nothing happened, but then they became more active and walked towards Harry and his companions.
"Uh oh, troubles coming," Torin said as he finished his ale and noticed the same thing Harry watched.
Harry nodded and before he could say anything zealots stopped in front of him. "Get off the sacred world, offworld scum," one of them spat before sending a punch towards Harry's head.
Harry narrowed his eyes and stopped the punch with his hand before sending a punch in reply, one that was strong enough to send the poor zealot across the room and into other patrons. Before he could appreciate the effect of the punch more of them hurled themselves at the table and forced him to dodge.
"Don't kill them," Torin shouted over the noise as he grasped one of zealots and hurled him into a group of them. "Also, we better make our way towards the exit. Arbites will be momentarily upon the tavern and we don't want to be here when they crack down on it."
Harry nodded and stopping a baton strike with a pauldron of his armor he kicked away a zealot and started to push his way through the crowd which degenerated into an all-out brawl where everybody fought against everybody. When they emerged from the tavern he saw a couple of Rhinos in colors of the Arbites stop in front of the building and unload their cargo of heavily armed and armed law enforcement.
"Something was off about those zealots," Gunnar said as they walked away. "I saw plenty of them fight, but those were different."
"Aye," Torin said. "Calmer and more focused, not your typical thugs, but as if they were there on a mission."
"What does it mean?" Harry asked.
"Those were paws of someone, of whom, we don't have the slightest idea," Gunnar said and Harry looked at him. "Do you remember from your training that cultists are often paws of daemons that want to claw their way out of the Immaterium?"
Harry nodded. "They mean nothing, just need to do some task for their masters."
"This is the same kind of a situation, just the purpose and master is different," Torin said.
Harry nodded, his mind trying to comprehend what was going on and how all of it was connected to him.
o-0-o
Aldrik Voldus stood on the bridge of the strike cruiser as it left the Warp on the outskirts of the Sol system. "Plot course for Terra," he said and captain looked at him. "Brother, I'm not quite insane yet and there's someone we need to pick up from Terra."
"If I may ask, Grand Master, who it is?" the Captain asked.
"A rather unique member of the Space Wolves chapter," Voldus said and gave the captain a look. "I will need a Thunderhawk to take me to the surface and later return to the ship with that Marine."
The Captain nodded, but Voldus could feel that there were going to be problems in the future because of this order.
o-0-o
Some behaviors might seem odd, but they have a greater purpose that will be later revealed and the amount of allies Wolves can have. It is an example of a situation, we hate each other, but there is a third person that we hate even more, let's deal with them and then proceed to bash our heads.