Chapter 9: Moth wings part 2
Nurgles realm is that of cycles spring gave to summer which gave to autumn which gave to winter before the cycle began anew.
Erda pulled herself together literally then looked down as the now infant Mortarian half asleep nuzzled into her for warmth as the harsh cold plague winds blew making Erda's heart do a backflip in her chest, snow pure white unblemished snow fell all around an alien sight to behold in the realm of the plague god.
A custodian ripped some of his black cloak free and offered it to Erda doing his duty, with a simple thank you Erda swaddled Mortarian holding him like he is the most precious thing in the galaxy. "To think he went from trying to kill me to being asleep it's almost cute… almost" Robute said a small smile on his face as marines and custodes alike scanned the horizon for a way out, Erda noted the snow and just as she noted an odd trail through the snow Quintus shouted out "WOLF! WOLF SITED! 1 KILOMETRE OUT!"
Robute stood in a defensive stance but Erda put a hand on his forearm "we follow the trail" Erda ordered as she pinged out with her senses, the winter that coated the land was not of the lord of plagues doing though it snuffed interference as she continued to sense regret and self hatred on the ice in the wind.
The convoy reformed following the trail a single wide line in the snow that was the width of a marine, it appeared as if what ever it was it was dragging something and Robute wondered what Quintus meant by wolf. As they approached the howl of wolves sang through the sky singing not with words but concepts that filled the minds of the pyskicly sensitive, the lie of a traitor, the betrayal of a brother, the breaking of a spine and the hopeful redemption to come to pay for his failures in full.
A cage of rusted iron was ahead inside a dimmed glow that emanated from what appeared to the group as an Eldari clothes once ornate with the very essence of life itself was tattered and decayed, her flesh a contradicting fabric as plague attempted to consume it but the smooth unblemished skin attempted to fill the gaps left behind by the decay and was slowly winning. She was thin from the diseases of over 10,000 years ravaging her diseased body making even Mortarian's current form look obese by comparison, but yet everyone could sense the very resistance that was life coming from her, where she laid against the bars rust didn't flake off but instead turned back to pure iron as if a bulwark against the rust threatening to consume it.
The cage scrapped against ice laidened ground as slowly but steadily a giant dragged it, the creature a desperate but feral thing the leading the cage forever on by a chain. Robute looked it up and down the Fenrisian runes on the armour familiar, the head to him shifting from that of a desperate weakened wolf dragging its catch back to its den with as much haste as it could to that of a grey haired man with a beard as long as his uncut hair and eyes glazed over in eternal winter.
"LEMAN!" Robute exclaimed as the primarch sped up to talk to his brother getting in front of him slowly walking backwards in front of him, "come on Leman stop for a moment please we are here to bring you home" Robute said almost pleading with him but the great wolf despite hearing him didn't stop. "Can't stop, tree of life must come home… father… FATHER!" Leman screamed not the usual hearty yell of the wolf king that brought a legion of fully trained astartes to battle and drink, this was the yell of a boy desperate to do anything to revive his father.
Erda kept up with the cage taking a moment to look at the prisoner inside it, their eyes locked for a moment a small trickle of glowing blood came from her a mouth when she tried to speak and Erda raised a hand to gently silence her. The Eldari complied nodding softly before smiling at Mortarian all bundled up, Erda returned the smile mentally reaching out to the prisoner to which the prisoner declined the mental touch.
"ISHA! ISHA! WE MUST SEE FATHER!" Leman yelled with Robute growing more and more frustrated with each failed attempt to get Leman to snap back to sanity, Erda looked to Leman then Robute, Mortarian and finally and the prisoner realizing that in the cage the Eldari goddess Isha laid.
"From one mother to another I implore you to help, what ever deal you have with my son break it now and form a pact with me," Erda said herself almost starting to plead "I will get you out of here and back to your people please just help me bring my children home!"
Isha looked to the sky as wolf howls filled the skies again a promise to revive the Emperors body, but she had warned Leman that this would not last as long as the Emperor was trapped upon the golden throne in permanent stalemate with the great enemy at the webway gate.
The image of the Emperor filled Mortarians little head making the boy begin to cry, Erda rubbed his back and cooed for him to be calm. A single wave from Isha aided in soothing the baby with Mortarians wails dying down and Lemans only just beginning.
The Wolf king dropped to his knees the cage clattering to the ground and clutching his head "FATHER! FATHER! I-I FAILED YOU FATHER! I NEED YOU FATHER!" he screamed out into the wind, the glow from the cage became brighter as the Leman screamed on Erda sensing what was going on reached out to connect to Leman.
She saw into Lemans mindscape Isha knelt by the boy that was on Fenris so long ago comforting as he cried over his dead wolf mother, as hunters circled the clearing where the boy wept. Erda approached and Isha still in her diseased state spoke "you made quite the son, pure of heart but still a child at heart" she said with a voice pure as spring water and smooth as silk, Erda looked to her with her own arms empty as her real body cradled Mortarian.
The wolf mothers corpse morphed from the single wolf mother to the many bodies of those on Fenris, to marines long since passed then to that of Magnus and finally the Emperor himself, "the primarchs my children were meant to be more than just weapons against the great enemy" Erda said with Isha nodding "I can tell, he showed me his soul."
Erda reached forward putting a single hand on Lemans shoulder with the boy slowly turning to look at her, "his soul remembers you, it remembers me too my grand wolf" Isha said smiling down at the boy giving him a pat on the head. Leman looked to Isha and the goddess gestured towards "go to your mother little pup she's here to take us home" Isha said, Erda smiled at Isha as their age old pact reignited and the mindscape connection fell away.
Leman howled insanely at his body began to transform grey turning to gold, shortening down and Leman himself began to regress as wounds healed as if they never existed. Leman started to shrink his loud guttural howls becoming the scared worried cries of an infant, Robute scooped him up and hurried him over to Erda as her maiden form split off grabbing more cloth from a custodian and bundling up the little pup.
Erda's forms clutched their chests feeling a slight pinch "a blessing that will help" Isha echoed into Erda's mind, Erda could only guess what the strange blessing was going to be but for now she had to focus on getting them all out of this snowy hellscape.
As if answering the silent prayer the shimmer of golden light returned splitting open a way out, with a single command Robute ordered for the convoy to make haste back through the portal back home.