Legends of the Smoke Jaguars Chapter 36

In the observatory pained whimpers filled the air, groans of torment fading into despair as the molten glory of the star slipped out of sight. For days the imprisoned Night Lords had laid in torment, every few hours being bathed in a fiery corona of searing light, before the succour of red-black heavens returned. Each rotation brought relief, but it was tainted by the knowledge that soon the pain would return again, making it impossible to rest. Again and again the unspeakable torment returned, every second of anguish eked out in the desperate yearning for the dark to return. It was as fine a torture as Xavaar had ever known, turning the Astartes' indomitable will against them, forcing them to endure pain rather than try to shelter in madness or catatonia.

Mikoa was gasping, "Not again, I can't take it again."

"Hold firm," Arkqas urged, "We can take anything, we are Space Marines dammit."

Cantus wheezed, "I can't close my eyes, if only I could close my eyes…"

Juru thrashed in his chains, "I'm trying to swallow my own spit and kill myself, but my Betchers Gland doesn't work that way."

Certa breathed, "Maybe we can shut down our life support functions, without our armour we'll die of thirst in a few days."

Arkqas barked, "You listen to me! We're going to survive this, we're going to find a way out and track down Kharkul. Hold to that thought: hold to revenge."

Herran spat, "You dream, this torture is endless, we will never get free."

Xavaar stared into the red heavens and said, "No… our torment is almost over."

"Brother?" Arkqas asked, "Have you seen something?"

"I have," Xavaar breathed, "A vision of the future… I saw this moment in my dreams and knew an end was at hand. Of our lives perhaps, of our torment at least. An end of one chapter is upon us, now we shall see if there is another page to be read in the story of our lives."

"Psyker riddles," Cantus spat.

"No, truth," Xavaar breathed, "Behold, he is here."

Suddenly a hush fell over the crowd as the air shifted. Xavaar heard his comrades struggling in their chains, trying to see who was amongst them, but none of them could so much as move their heads. Yet through the rustling of chains he heard heavy footsteps closing, someone was free, someone was moving in the room. Xavaar felt a shiver pass through him as the future unfolded, the moment he had foreseen was at hand. He knew who was coming and he knew the intruder intended to kill him, the question that lingered was, could he change anything?

A dark shape loomed into view, a silhouette backlit against the red-stained heavens. Xavaar didn't have to wonder who it was; the feline aspect of the helm gave it away. Sedaxus, the Smoke Jaguar had arrived. He looked about, taking in imprisoned Night Lords then cocked his helm and asked, "What happened to you sorry lot?"

Xavaar replied, "Hello to you too. I was expecting you, I was trusting we could talk."

"I don't care what you have to say," Sedaxus snarled, "I'm here to kill Kharkul."

"Ah, I am afraid you missed the Red Flayer," Xavaar replied, "We had a little falling out and he left us here to suffer."

"Shame, still I can content myself by gutting you one by one."

Arkqas pulled his chains hard as he called, "Who is it? Who's there?"

Xavaar answered, "It's that defector I told you about."

Juru butted in, "Can he free us?!"

"Or be kind enough to kill us," Certa added, "Anything's better than this!"

In response Sedaxus drew his plasma pistol and its actinic glow lit the room as he snarled, "I'm not here to chit chat with you curs. Anyone, who isn't Xavaar, opens his mouth will get it burnt off. You, tell me where in this cesspit Kharkul is hiding!"

Xavaar swallowed nervously then said, "He left us to rot and took off in a Stormbird. He's nowhere on the station, that's for sure."

"Frakking hell," Sedaxus growled, "That's an embuggerance… but then I guess I have no more use for you."

The plasma pistol came about to point at his face but Xavaar blurted out, "Wait, don't kill us, you need us!"

"No, I really don't," Sedaxus sneered.

"I spared your life!" Xavaar exclaimed, "Back in the Stompa factorum, I let you live!"

Sedaxus paused for a moment, his skull mask hiding his thoughts as he chewed on it, then the pistol lowered a hair and he admitted, "So you did, that buys you two minutes. Talk fast."

Xavaar hastily said, "Kharkul's taken off into the void, probably not intending to come back. You'll never find him out there, but I can. I know his objective; I know where he'll be going. Free us and I'll take you to him."

"Like you did when you steered the Raven Guard to be slaughtered," Sedaxus snorted, "I don't think so."

Cantus interrupted, "Wait, you spoke to the Raven Guard, when was this?!"

"I'll explain later," Xavaar hissed.

Juru snapped, "No, I want to hear what you've been up to!"

Suddenly there was a blast of plasma fire and a bolt slammed into the floor, spraying molten splashes of metal over the prone figures. Hisses arose where searing metal touched skin and Sedaxus barked, "I said no talking from the backseats! You there, noseless, you have one minute left."

Xavaar hurriedly spluttered, "Kharkul has grown mighty, he beat your forces and he beat us. Alone we can't take him, but working together we may be able to bring him down. Raven Guard and night Lords, together we have chance. Don't doubt we want him dead, look at our faces, look at the tortures he inflicted on us. We want Kharkul dead; you can trust us on this."

"Trust Chaos worshippers," Sedaxus sneered with contempt oozing from his voice.

"I've… dabbled," Xavaar confessed, "We all have, but none of us truly worship Chaos, we were exiled from the Legions in the early days, before Chaos took root. I've seen what became of the Traitor Legions across the galaxy, we aren't like them. We are what we've always been, bowing to no one but our own. We're proud and Kharkul stepped on that pride, we want him dead, we want revenge."

Sedaxus glared fiercely but then slowly said, "Kharkul killed Nolaro, I want his head but need a guide. I can get one of you out here, to lead me to him."

"What of the others?" Xavaar protested.

"Just you," Sedaxus growled, "One double-crossing backstabber is enough. No one else."

Xavaar cast his eyes about, seeing the prone shapes of his brethren, silently waiting for him to betray them. He couldn't hear their thoughts but knew they expected him to sell them out, saving his hide at the cost of theirs. Few among them would be entertaining any doubts he would abandon them to die, and for some reason that rankled. None thought of him as anything but a double-crosser and faithless wretch, ever looking out for his own advantage. Arkqas lay nearby, perhaps the only soul who thought the Night Lords could be anything but self-serving curs, and the idea of disappointing him stuck in Xavaar's throat. Xavaar was stunned to find under all his snide contempt and sly scheming he hid a scintilla of integrity.

Xavaar dropped his head back and said, "Then I'll pass."

Sedaxus' claws slid from his wrist as he growled, "That wasn't a request. You're coming with me."

"Not without my Brothers," Xavaar replied calmly.

"I'm not leaving you here," Sedaxus spat, "One way or the other…"

"Then kill me and be done with it. We all go free, or none of us," Xavaar affirmed as he looked away to the red heavens.

Sedaxus stared for a long moment, his bestial mask impenetrable, then struck. Xavaar kept his eyes fixed straight forward, expecting to feel twin blades ramming into his hearts but to his shock he felt the weights upon his form disappearing. The chains holding him down had been sundered, Sedaxus cutting them away one by one, leaving him free to move. He sat up, broken links rattling off his form as he gasped, "You're freeing me… why?!"

Sedaxus sniffed, "You wouldn't abandon your Brothers, that's not like a typical Night Lord at all. You are… different, like me."

"You were testing me, but what if I'd agreed to come alone?" Xavaar exclaimed as he began pulling bits of plasteel chain off his armour. Sedaxus didn't reply, silence his damning answer as he moved on to another trapped Night Lord. Xavaar stood up on shaky legs as Sedaxus moved off, freeing other Night Lords one by one.

Arkqas was first and lumbered to his feet, wobbling over to Xavaar to say, "You chose well Brother, you chose us. I knew you had it in you."

"Don't get soppy on me," Xavaar deflected, "I just knew I can't take Kharkul on my own."

"So quick to dismiss the nobility in your hearts, deeply buried but still gleaming," Arkqas sighed, "There's a shred of honour left in you, in all of us. I told you we could be better than Konrad Curze allowed us to be. You've just proved me right; the Night Lords were worthy once and can be again. It was Curze who dragged us down, now he's dead we can be what we should always have been."

"I should have known hanging about with you would make me go soft in the head," Xavaar muttered as Sedaxus moved away, freeing more Brothers from their bondage. One by one the imprisoned Astartes were freed and the Claw-leaders gathered together. Xavaar cast about and found his leather mask, affixing it to his face with a sigh of relief as the others donned their helms, shielding their lidless eyes behind the comfort of autosenses. Xavaar straightened up and counted eighty-seven survivors of his band, less than he had hoped, more than he had dreaded. Sedaxus finished freeing the rest as the Claw-leaders looked at each other, not sure what to say about their unexpected freedom.

Juru broke the silence, "We need to get out of here."

"Agreed," Herran whispered, "But first we kill that loyalist scum."

Arkqas started, "Kill him, but he just freed us. He's helping us!"

Certa snorted, "Because he needs us, but the second he doesn't' he'll gun us down. We need to eliminate him first."

Killios snarled, "We know he didn't do it out of the goodness of his hearts. No amount of time among Ravens can excise the soul of Nostramo from its children."

"More betrayals, more double-crosses," Xavaar snapped, "I'm tired of this constant backstabbing."

Arkqas urged, "Just try to play straight for once, you might like it."

Cantus interjected, "It's us or him, if we don't…"

He trailed off as a faint whine arose behind them, high-pitched and throbbing with latent energy. All eyes turned to find Sedaxus leaning against the wall, casually tuning his plasma pistol as his helm's dark eyes glared menacingly. The Smoke Jaguar didn't bother to look at his hands as he said softly, "Don't mind me, just making sure I'm properly armed. At least one person in this room has got his weapons. Carry on with what you were saying."

Silence fell over the group as the thought stole over them that he was armed, and they weren't. They had numbers on their side, but Sedaxus would take some down with him, and none wanted to be the first to die. Carefully Xavaar cleared his throat and said, "We were just saying we'd better get out of here."

Juru proposed, "I say we hit an armoury, grab bolters and fight our way up to the Stormbirds."

"Put guns in your hands… not happening," Sedaxus growled.

Xavaar protested, "The other Claws don't realise Kharkul has deserted them. They think he's coming back, not realising he still plans to sacrifice them all. They'll fight us if we run into them."

Sedaxus snorted, "I'm already putting a lot of trust in those inherently untrustworthy. No way am I letting any of you handle weapons."

Juru snapped, "Then how do you propose we get past our erstwhile Brothers?!"

Sedaxus lowered his arm but didn't sheath his pistol as he sniffed, "Simple, we don't try, we go down, not up. I've got a gunship stashed in the lower reaches."

"One gunship?" Cantus retorted, "We'll never all fit."

"You'd prefer to walk between planets?" Sedaxus asked snidely.

"We'll squeeze in," Arkqas hastily uttered, "Standing room only."

Xavaar turned for the door but Juru protested, "Hold on, I can't leave yet. Not till I gut Savare!"

"Savare, the Arlstone Strangler?" Sedaxus queried, "Don't worry about it, I killed him already."

"But I wanted to kill him!" Juru whined.

"Life's full of disappointments," Sedaxus retorted, "Now we'd better move, before the Orks get here."

"Orks?" Xavaar started.

"Did I not mention that bit?" Sedaxus sniffed, "I've broadcast this location to the Greenskins, they'll be on their way as we speak. Those other Claws you mentioned are going to be too busy to notice us slinking away. If we don't want to die, we need to depart and link up with my friends. And in case anyone gets any funny ideas of taking me unawares in the gunship, remember that I'm the only one who knows where the Raven Guard's ship is hiding."

With that he turned and left the observatory. The Night Lords spared a second to glance at each other then hurriedly followed. Xavaar was the last to depart, taking a moment to look over this space and knowing he would not be coming back. In his hearts was a surge of vindication, having proven the future could be changed. Curze had been wrong, the future was not fixed, but now he was in uncharted waters, sailing in seas unknown. The future lay before him, unmarked and mysterious and all he could do was wait for it to unfold as it will.