Title: Angelus Erroneous: Fabricati Diem
Author: Spike
Chapter: Four
My eyes widened. What the hell?!
I jumped off my feet and immediately fell to the ground, behind one of the rocks that encircled the campsite. My combat instincts demanded that I draw one of my pistols and so I heeded.
I drew one of my bolt pistols and immediately peeked out from behind the rock.
And there, emerging with the dawning rays of sunlight, came Deacon. He marched with a cigar in mouth and his stubber gripped tightly in his hands. The end of the stubber was smoking and Deacon marched with a stride that betrayed his complete lack of remorse.
Not to mention a twisted grin.
I got to my feet and blinked at Deacon as he strode over. Somehow, I began to feel an uneasy sense of impending doom as our weapons expert advanced.
The only one's out here….
I looked over my shoulder at Laertes: The priest had noted the arrival of Deacon and as such, a look of unease began to appear on his face. Thus, he lost interest in trying to preach to me about the Emperor's loyalty his servants and, instead, returned his gaze to the sunrise.
You had to hand to Deacon: He conveys a presence that makes the fanatical sit up and take notice.
"I heard some shouting" he said nonchalantly "Thought there might be some Orks around."
I opened my mouth to speak but before I could say anything, Deacon cut me off:
"I need some volunteers for mission" he growled. "Bishop sent me on Dawn-watch"
Laertes and I exchanged glances.
Dawn-watch was something Bishop had set up ever since we had all decided to travel with one another. Each morning at dawn, before we took down the camp site and moved on, someone had to do a quick scan of the surrounding area and to identify any traces of the Orks. Should any be found, whether it be one or a whole group of them, it was up to the participant to take them all down. It was important that any Orks were killed because we needed to remained concealed and not let the green-skins become aware of our presence. Henceforth, Dawn-watch was the only way of preventing any sudden attacks and another one of our methods of keeping one step ahead of the orcs. Should a whole group of Orcs be encountered, chances are, the whole group will need to be awakened to deal with them. And once we salvaged what we can use form the bodies of the Orcs we would simply leave them there – Being on a planet housing a countless number of Ork tribes that are engaged with a constant war with each other, it was easy to assume that should the bodies be discovered they would be considered as the work of another Ork tribe. Thus, the Orks never really become aware that they are sharing this planet with a sextet of desperate humans
On certain occasions, more than one person would be called in to do this daily task.
And in this case, there were three.
However it was not a case of willingness. Instead, there was enough tension between the three of us that it was likely that we would rather kill each other than the Orcs.
The three of us walked down the slope towards the jungle that lay at the bottom. The plan was to do a quick circle of the plateau that we had encamped upon and to locate any potential threats to our position.
I cast an eye to Laertes and Deacon.
The priest had his flamer in hand. He certainly looked ready for action – but at the same time he looked ready for what he would normally call "redeeming all the un-pure heretics in the Emperor's name". That's what I found unsettling about him: just how much dominance does his fanaticism have over him? What would happen should we not find any Orcs – will he instead find satisfaction in roasting the rest of us with that flamer?
Deacon, meanwhile didn't look any more comforting. He had his heavy stubber slung over his shoulder. A sick smile was also forming across his face, as if in anticipation of the mayhem to come. His eyes were leering towards the jungle's edge, a murderous glint in them. It seemed obvious he too was ready to surrender to a horrendous blood lust.
Oh this was just great – here I am trapped with two psychos who may kill me should they not find any Orcs!
In a situation like this the only thing that would save me would be a prayer to the Emperor that we do find some Orcs.
But I personally would rather that the Emperor have Laertes kill Deacon……….
Just then, I noticed Deacon's eyes turn to my direction. He must have sensed my tension for his grin grew wider.
"You're certainly up at an early hour Narc" he said. "Most unusual I have to admit"
Immediately, the alarm bells started ringing off inside my head. Deacon wasn't known for being the talkative type. When he started using complete sentences such as these it probably was a sign that homicidal intent wasn't far away.
Unusual yes but it takes all kinds to make up a universe.
Only I seem to be stuck with the worst of them.
"Is that a problem?" I replied.
A cruel smile formed its way across Deacon's lips.
"Actually, as a matter of fact, it does" he said.
I could feel myself stiffen more with each passing second: I was beginning to pick up on the fact that as Deacon's vocal chords was getting a good workout, the tone was growing increasingly sinister.
Ever since he arrived on this planet, I have never really been entirely comfortable in Deacon's presence. However, he became all too aware of this because he frequently enjoyed freaking me out and generally be intimidating.
"For all I know" he continued. "You could be selling us out to the Orks"
I could feel my hands growing with sweat. I wasn't really enjoying the direction this conversation was taking.
Believe you me, Deacon wasn't the type of person one would seriously want to mess with.
And considering we, the only humans on this planet, were the scum of the universe that is saying a lot.
"That's absurd!" I countered. "Why the hell would I want to do a thing like that?"
"You're trying to save your own skin" came the reply.
"Me? Do a thing like that?! Never!"
It was there and then that I was struck with the dreadful sense of impending doom. I cast a brief look at Laertes, is if in hope he would step in and prevent a potential disaster happening.
But no such sign came. Instead his gaze was more focused on the jungle ahead. His grin was wide and words that formed a battle hymn to the Emperor came tumbling softly out of his mouth.
"So you say" Deacon growled. He sopped walking and then swung the barrel of his heavy stubber right around to point it right at my chest. This gesture prompted me to stop as well.
"But I'm not buying that kind of crap" he went on. "You don't want to share your food or your ammo. You want it all to yourself: And how do you do that? By selling us out the Orks so you can have the rest of us all killed off!"
"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!" I snarled at him. "Dammit man, whatever gave you that idea?!"
Deacon didn't reply – instead his eyes sparkled.
I felt a cold a shiver run down my spine – I recognised that sparkle: it was the one which meant that Deacon was eager for some killing and he will get it.
Even if it meant he had to find it within his own companions.
And finding any excuse, no matter how preposterous, to do so.
Being caught in such a nasty situation I was, unsurprisingly, packing death. Deacon wasn't the type of person one would want to get angry because once he was ready to kill someone; nothing would stop him until he got it.
One can only wonder why his soul hasn't already caught the attention of the Chaos God Khorne.
Dammit, where was Laertes?! Surely he could see this happening before him! And surely he may object!
But now, the priest was continuing his advance to the jungle, still chanting the battle hymn and completely oblivious to the conflict that was taken place behind him.
All in all there wasn't really a way out of this. So the only left for me to do was to rely on some well-chosen words.
And a lot of luck.
"Ah, you don't want to kill me" I said. "There's a whole planet of these damn greenskins for all of us"
"I know" Deacon growled. "I'll just kill them all once I'm done with you…"
"Bishop might question my absence!"
"You really think he'll care?"
I could feel my teeth clench – right now, the chances my survival weren't looking very good at all.
Suddenly a brainwave hit me!
"No Deacon" I grinned, my voice gradually increasing in volume. "You don't want to kill me"
Deacon fumed at the sight of my grin: which meant he hadn't noticed the change in my voice. It also meant he had swallowed the bait….
"And why wouldn't I want to kill you?" he growled in reply. "So far you've got on my nerves and that is good enough reason to shoot you"
"But you're a bad man" I retorted loudly. "A heavy drinker I believe!"
Immediately, Laertes stopped walking.
Suddenly, in a flurry of movement, he then turned around and sprinted over, a look of ferocious zeal across his face.
Deacon blinked as realisation hit – but before he could do anything, the priest was all over him like flies on a Nurgle Plaguebearer. He charged in-between the two of us and started shouting at Deacon.
"Drinking!" Laertes shrieked. "One of the many sins that seduce the Emperor's children and gradually change them into a heretic! Drinking is the work of deviants and miscreants that should be dealt with by the purifying flame of absolution!"
Deacon groaned as the priest rattled off into one of his many lectures on the sins in the Emperor's eyes and how much evil is creating in the minds of the populace. Once Laertes started, there was next to nothing that could stop him. There was no escape…..
He looked in rage at me. I merely shrugged my shoulders and strode silently away, completely unnoticed by the ranting Laertes.
I chuckled to myself, relieved to have outwitted Deacon. I had to hand it the priest – sure his fanaticism may be problematic at times but it also meant that he can be easily manipulated should the correct words be applied.
I continued on my way towards the jungle (hey someone's got to carry on with the Dawn-watch)….
Drawing my two bolt pistols, I headed for the jungle………