About this time last year a friend and I drove a hundred or so kilometres out of the city and went camping in the mountains. We were just going for the weekend, and spent the first day hiking. It was bright, warm and sunny and just in general we had incredible weather. The next day when we woke up it was cold, the sky was clouded over and the lake was choppy. Just as we were finishing packing up the tent it started snowing gently, and within ten minutes it was dumping.
What made the whole experience so incredible was the fact that the day before it had been so hot and sunny. The reason I am explaining this is because I just remember how nice the lake looked, both in the sun and the next day in the snow. I thought I would write this chapter loosely based around the snowy day, hiking along the lake.
On a completely unrelated note, sorry this chapter took so long coming. I have been incredibly busy lately, playing in a flames of war tournament, school, and procrastination. I actually got accepted into my first choice of university, which was a huge surprise considering my grades are absolute shit. I think I said earlier that if I ever do drop the story, which I don't plan on ever doing, I will say in the description, so you guys will know if it's never going to be updated again.
Also, I only just realised that my double spaces to indicate a break in the story do not transfer over to fanfiction. This will now be indicated with a:
The next month was spent heading deeper into the mountain range. Along the way the pitiful remnants of the Roland 3rd Regiment managed to regroup with fragmented groups of the shattered imperial forces. They mainly met up with fellow Rolanders and Vostroyans, who were battered and fatigued from an almost constant retreat, which had allowed them to stay ahead of the slowly approaching Ork horde.
Much to the dismay of the Imperial Fists, and to a lesser extent the guardsmen, they had failed to regroup with any Mordians or Kriegers along the way. The Mordians had been outflanked and surrounded, presumably eliminated to a man. The Kriegers, in typical Death Corps of Krieg fashion, had fought to the last, dying in their trenches.
The Space Marines had been upset, or as upset as the superhumans could be, about the lack of veteran soldiers. The Vostroyans were mainly fresh recruits, the veteran regiment having sustained immense casualties in their last action. The Rolanders had the obvious disadvantage of being a fresh regiment. The guardsmen were afflicted with the news that there would be no veteran squads joining them, but were not too perturbed by the absence of uptight Mordians and stone faced Kriegers.
Even without the addition of any solid veteran squads, the imperials were still almost at regimental strength. They had been formed into platoons, with some effort made to keep the Vostroyans and Rolanders separate. There were no ill feelings between the two regiments, but the doctrines of the worlds were completely different, and the Astartes had advised that it would be much more efficient to have them working separately. Any armoured elements they had come across were long out of promethium, and the tankers were spread out amongst the squads, filling out the holes that had been left from the battle for the mountain pass.
The imperial trek ended on the shores of a mountain lake. None of the guardsmen, including the lieutenant, who was now a colonel, had any solid idea of what purpose the space marines had for them. No matter their objective, the guardsmen were awed by the lake. They had come upon it late in the afternoon, as the sun was setting behind the white mountain peaks. The lake stretched out before them, its waves lapping at the frost- and snow covered rocks of the shoreline. Farther out white caps crested the small rises created by the alpine wind flowing through the valley.
The Regiment, which was staying under the name of "Roland Prime 3rd Drop" for logistics purposes, made its way down the forested slopes towards the water. The forest was the same as what they had seen for the past month: tall snowcapped fir trees, with little underbrush aside from the carpet of pine needles which occasionally made an appearance through the blanket of snow. But Sev could smell salt in the air. It reminded him of back home, and he had a blast of nostalgia for his home by the sea.
The lake was farther away than it had looked from the ridge, and it was a little over an hour later by the time the regiment had made it to the bottom of the slope. The sun had now sunk below the mountains, and the peaks were edged with a golden-red light. The men picked their way along the stony beach. There was a layer of frost and snow, and the rocks were caked with a thin white layer of dried salt. The water was a dark emerald green, almost black.
After moving for another half an hour along the shore the men were told to set up camp for the night. It was the same procedure as it had been for the past month, break into platoons, figure out who would be on watch and dig in. Sev and Illineth's squad was given second watch, and they retired to their foxholes.
Sev was a little disappointed with how their relationship was progressing. Nothing had really happened since their march had begun, which wasn't surprising considering they were fleeing for their lives. Every evening, after digging in, the pair would fall asleep almost immediately. The barrier that was forming was compounded by the pressure of not only the possibility of discovery of Illineth's identity by the men of the regiment, but by the space marines. Sev could feel a rift forming, and he was unhappy about it. He knew that Illineth was scared of discovery. She was now able to speak basic low gothic, and had even been forced into conversation once.
Sev recalled the event, and his utter terror as it had played out. They had been on the march, in a column and heads down as usual. The sun had been filtering through the trees and the birds had been singing. It had been snowing for the past four days, and despite his exhaustion Sev had welcomed the warmth and the light. He remembered specifically how he had just noticed Finn's canteen was a little loose, and had been about to comment when there was the thump of massive ceramite-clad boots approaching, announcing the approach of one of the space marines.
The Astartes had been making his way towards the back of the column when he stopped next to Sev's squad. He had turned and begun matching pace with the guardsmen. Sev had glanced furtively up at the superhuman and bowed his head briefly in respect before staring back towards the ground.
"Guardsman, did you happen to see Brother Lucsious pass by?" He had paused. "That is to say, my Plasma armed battle brother." The marine had elaborated.
Sev had noticed that the space marine was staring directly at Illineth, obviously addressing her. Sev had been about to give the usual response of "I'm sorry sir, she lost her hearing" when she turned her masked face towards the yellow giant and, to Sev's absolute horror, spoken up.
"He passed by, heading back along the column half an hour ago, sir." She had spoken clearly.
Sev had been talking to Illineth for a while by that point. Within a week of him teaching her low gothic she was almost fluent. But her accent was obvious, and she had still struggled with some of the general language concepts. She had been able to hold a conversation, but she wasn't strong. It didn't help that they had rarely got a chance to talk and practice.
The space marine had stared down at the girl. Sev had turned his head slightly so he could see the space marine out of the corner of the lenses of his mask. He remembered the feeling of a cold sweat building on the back of his neck.
"You have a strange accent guardsman. I have been through the dossiers on your planet, and I do not recognize it. Perhaps this is a logistics error." The marine had boomed in his emotionless voice.
Sev's mind had been scrambling, desperately trying to think of some loop hole, some way out of the situation. But nothing had come to mind. He had just about accepted his, and Illineth's, fate. He had been expecting the boom of the bolt gun at any moment. But the shot had never come. Suddenly the marine had halted. He had paused for a brief moment, before speaking again.
"You must excuse me." He had said, before taking off at a jog towards the rear of the line.
Sev had been in shock for a good few minutes. He vaguely recalled the report of bolters being fired, presumably some combat, perhaps a run in with an Ork patrol, which had drawn the marine away. But whatever it was, it had saved both his and Illineth's lives. Since then she hadn't spoken with any of the guardsmen. Either way her statement had been overheard and there had been questions. When pestered Sev would answer that her hearing was starting to return but that she still didn't like talking.
The entire event had become surreal, and Sev attributed the fact that they hadn't been discovered to incredible luck and fatigue dampening whatever intuition any of their fellow guardsmen possessed. Sev wondered how much longer it could last, and despite racking his brain for any sort of solution or escape from their situation, nothing presented itself. For the indefinite future they would have to continue on as they were.
After digging out a shallow foxhole, as they had almost every night for the past month, Sev and Illineth lay down next to each other, pulling a munitorium-issue sleeping bag over themselves. Illineth took off her mask and helmet and nuzzled her head into Sev's neck. Her nose felt freezing on his collarbone but he didn't complain. He absent mindedly rubbed his gloved hand across her back, still thinking about the issue of discovery.
"Sev?" He looked down at the girl. Every time she spoke it still surprised him.
"Yup?" He replied.
"What's going to happen to us?" She asked. He was taken aback by the question. Despite the fact that his mind had remained almost solely on this exact issue for the past couple weeks, he had never even considered bringing it up with her.
"I don't know. Keep doing as we are for now. We'll see what happens." He said. She pushed her face into his chest, and he could feel his own heart beating against the pressure from her cheek.
"I don't want to die, but I want to stay with you." Her voice was muffled slightly by his overcoat and flak armour. Sev let out a sigh.
"I don't think there's anything we can do for the moment. We're going to have to figure it out as we go along." She turned over, her eyes staring into the green tinted lenses of his respirator mask. Illineth didn't say anything more. He ran a hand through her hair and she relaxed.
The next day they were told that they would be resting. The space marines had informed the first in command that they were nearing their objective and were well ahead of the Orks. The guardsmen were grateful, as every man had been pushed to his physical limits.
Most of the men planned on spending the day either resting or checking over equipment. Sev and Illineth decided that it would be a perfect time to go for a walk and have some time to themselves. After breakfast they left the camp, and slipped into the woods.
It was sunny when they left, with the bright morning light reflecting off the snow. They made their way down to the shore of the lake. The water was calmer than the day before, with the wind having died down to almost non-existence, and the trees cast marginally distorted reflections on to its surface. Far off in the distance they could see some sort of facility on the edge of the lake, perhaps a refinery or mill. It was probably a good few kilometres away, and it was difficult to tell its exact purpose. Despite its industrial nature, it had an odd synergy with the surrounding pine forests.
Within an hour of walking along the shore it had started to snow. It wasn't the heavy, blizzard like snow that had become so routine in the mountains. Instead it was light, and held a certain beauty. Clouds rolled over the edges of the mountains, and soon the far off industrial building was obscured. The snow flakes were large, but few and far between. Sev and Illineth continued along the shore, watching the snowflakes casting barely perceivable ripples across the surface of the frigid water.
It was after a few hours of this relaxed pace that they came upon a creek. A mountain river, running gently down into the lake, opened up onto a pebble beach. A large tree had fallen across the shallow stream, and the pair balanced on the slippery dead log to cross the river. Once on the other side they lay down side by side on the beach.
Sev slipped off his helmet and rebreather. Despite their mellow pace he was still hot from the walk. Illineth did the same and stuck out her tongue to catch a snowflake. Sev laughed when she missed and it landed on her nose. She rolled over and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned over and they looked into each other's eyes. Before he knew what was happening they had both leaned forwards and their mouths met.
Sev brought his arm behind her back and pulled her farther into himself. The pebbles of the beach were digging into his hip but he didn't mind. Illineth lifted one leg and draped it across Sev's. He pressed himself deeper into the kiss, his mouth opening and closing slightly, Illineth doing the same. He was tense at first, having barely been able to show affection to her for a month. But he quickly relaxed, enjoying the intimacy.
After a few minutes, with the snow falling on them, Sev broke from the kiss. He sat up, with Illineth still clinging to his chest. His flak armour had been pressing uncomfortably against him. He pulled off his great coat before undoing the straps that held the armour to his chest. Illineth followed suit. After they had laid the ochre armour next to them she climbed back on top of him. His hair had started to grow longer in the past month, and she pushed a dark brown strand out of his eyes.
Illineth let out a sigh before lying back down on top of him, her mouth moving to his again. They spent the next few minutes kissing, until they were both out of breath. Illineth relaxed, with the side of her head on his chest. Sev pulled his arms up and rested his hands on his head, forming a cushion between himself and the stony beach. He looked across the glassy water of the lake. The water looked incredibly cold and incredibly clear. He wished that it wasn't so salty so he could drink it.
"When do you want to have lunch?" He asked the girl resting on his pecks, keeping his gaze fixed on the placid lake. He had left his backpack back in their fox hole, but he had a pair of Munitorium-issue MREs stuffed into his webbing as well as a tiny imperial portable stove and a small pot on his back.
"I don't mind." Illineth replied, looking into his eyes and rubbing her thump across the freckles along his cheek bone. "But maybe we can start with some tea?"
Sev remained where he was for a few more moments before reluctantly getting to his feet. He went a little ways up the shore towards the river, hoping it would not be salty like the lake. He moved some of the rocks around so there was a good foundation to put the stove on and no possibility of it tipping over. After bringing his face down to the river he took a hesitant drink. Despite the fact that he almost instantly got a brain freeze, the water was in fact fresh and saltless, and extremely refreshing.
After filling up the pot with water, he put it on the stove to boil. He sat down in the light dusting of snow, pulling his greatcoat tightly around himself. Illineth had been resting on her side, watching him from where he left her, but opted to stand up and move over to him, next to the negligible heat given off by the flame from the stove.
Sev wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, his hand drifting across her leg. They were disturbed a few minutes later by the water boiling over onto the open flame and splashing onto the rocks. Sev turned down the heat and put in a tea bag. They hadn't had a chance to enjoy any tea during their march through the mountains, and Sev missed it.
Tea had been part of his life back home. Most of it had been imported from the Eastern archipelagos of his home world, and was one of the more expensive commodities. All the same, after a cold day out on the water, a cup of tea had always been welcome. He expected to enjoy it now as much, if not more, than he had enjoyed it back then.
He poured the drink into the sturdy metal mugs that were so common among imperial regiments. Sev lay back in the snow, placing the cup next to his arm and watching as it melted through the thin layer of snow to rest on the stones beneath. Illineth lay perpendicular to Sev, resting her head on his chest and sipping at her steaming mug.
"Do you think we'll live?" She asked, turning her head up a little to look at Sev. He thought for a second before replying.
"Yes. The emperor will protect us." He didn't know if his relationship with Illineth would have pushed him out of favour with the Emperor, but he could only hope not, and continue praying.
"And what if we do survive? What then?" Sev didn't have an answer for that, and he remained silent. They stayed on the beach next to the stream for a while longer, relaxing in the light snowfall. A little while later they had lunch. By mid-afternoon they decided that it would be for the best to get going. After packing up their gear they started back along the shoreline, towards the imperial camp. They stayed at the relaxing pace they had maintained earlier in the morning, and the sky was almost dark by the time they got back.
They returned to their foxhole, and fell asleep quickly, knowing that there would be marching to come the next day.