— the flagship —-
The shuttle Elena and her retinue stole from the now dead Calcazar cut through the naval battle undetected. Their flagship had been hit numerous times, and was fighting back sporadically and unorderly. Winterscale's ship had destroyed its opponent and was now directing itself towards theirs, no doubt wondering all the while why their comms were not responding and what in the void were they doing.
Elena's heart kept racing painfully in her chest and she felt had found his ways on my ship and I'm not there, she kept thinking. Abelard's perfect posture and face kept appearing in her mind, his uniform strictly unwrinkled.
How did Kunrad even know they would be there ? How did he sneak upon the ship ?
Perhaps she had underestimated the power of the Cult lately. All have gone so fast after Commoragh…she had forgotten just how deeply rooted Kunrad's minions were inside her own dominion and ship.
They landed inside the dock bay unharmed. The shuttle's doors opened and there was Kunrad to greet them.
Their eyes locked. This time, he was not a figment of her sick mind, she was sure of it. He reeked of the Warp, his aura so strong she had to make a conscious effort not to look away.
Kunrad was not a peculiarly tall man, but the sorcery that had distorted his body made him appear bigger. He had wings now, with blue and lavender feathers that were oddly beautiful if not for the monstrous, bulbous eyes looking in different directions over them. (In her mind, Elena thought he looked like those angels the humanity of old depicted, before the God-Emperor freed them from their superfluous beliefs and replaced winged angels with armors of steel and might.) His face had changed as well, getting more hollow, with unnatural eyes upon his cheeks and a crooked nose that seemed to turn into a beak. His slender arms ended up in vicious claws.
In his hand he held a sword that immediately seemed to ooze into her mind and stomach, poisoning her very thoughts and twisting reality around.
He was such a powerful vision to hold in that they almost didn't notice the dozens of corpses lying in the background.
All her retinue except Cassia staggered, Yrliet cursing in her language : "Kae'Moragh ! What is this creature ?"
Cassia narrowed her eyes, calling in on her bond to the Warp. "I have never seen such hollow colors before…Beware, friends, and help me still your will."
"Shut up, mortals", ordered Kunrad, and Elena's hair rose on her arms as a powerful wave of psychic energy hit them.
Yrliet fell utterly silent, clasping at her own throat in surprise as her voice seemingly got stolen away. Somewhere, someone started to cry.
Kunrad greeted them with open arms, his voice returning to normal. "My dearest sister ! At last we are reunited ! Please forgive the mess. I grew bored waiting for you and I had to clean up the place a little, you get my point ?"
The corpses, in unison, rolled their dead eyes towards them, their expression forever stuck in a silent plea for life.
"I will not stand idle in the presence of Chaos !" roared Ulfar, readying his bolter.
Kunrad frowned and again, this surge of psykana surrounded them. Elena felt her sense of reality fading as she stumbled to the floor, crushed by the will of the Sorcerer.
For a painfully long second, she thought herself back in Commoragh, sleeping the organic arms of the mattress of the dead. Their soft, decaying flesh surrounding her, swallowing her…
No, no, no !It was over ! She'd been saved. She'd been rescued. She wasn'tthereanymore…
With difficulty, she raised her black eyes to Kunrad and saw him smiling in almost angelic beauty. She would eat her own flesh to please such a being. She would execute any order, do anything…
No. He's just a psyker. An unsanctionned one. A little boy playing with new toys. You're stronger than this.
Cassia's shielding presence and the years of training as a psyker helped her get back on her feet.
Ulfar's eyes had gone entirely blank and the Space Wolf drooled, his bolter aimed at her retinue. Heinrix and Cassia, both being used to psychic energy, looked shaken but in control of themselves.
"Be careful, Elena," mouthed Heinrix. "His powers are…tremendous."
Cassia narrowed her red eyes. "Nothis. The sword's. It's the sword…"
"Yes, yes, I am indeed very powerful. Far more than any of you !" spat Kunrad, waving away at Heinrix and Cassia. "Now, learn some respect and be quiet. I do not want another interruption. This moment is between me and your Lord Captain. Come, Elena. Haven't you missed me ? Won't you hold your family member in your arms and kiss me ?"
Elena felt her blood grow cold with the uncanny presence of the warp as reality started to distort around them, the docking bay turning slowly into a place of nightmares. There was no escape from it. She stepped forward clumsily towards Kunrad's open arms. He smiled pleasantly.
"And here we meet in the flesh. Come on, another step."
"Were you really there ? In my mind, in Commoragh ?" she asked, her voice dry, as she drew on her strength to produce another step, trembling.
Kunrad must have known his vile aura and the crushing sorcery from his sword teared at her insides, slashed at the seams of her mind as she grew closer.
He stood there in triumph, as she crumbled slowly before him.
Such turns the wheel of fortune.
"In Commorragh ? No, the place is heavily protected from the influence of the Warp. I couldn't reach you there, but I dreamt about you a lot. And you did too ? Oh, that is so sweet. After all, wasn't I the one who started your story ? The first chapter of your life…it's me ! It's only natural that I get to end it as well, don't you agree ?"
Elena licked her lips nervously, ignoring the question. She felt a cold sweat on her back, on her hands, her thoughts blurring painfully inside the mess that have been her mind lately.
"Was Tanakia working with you all along ?" she forced herself to ask, her voice hoarse and cracked.
"Another step, Elena." Kunrad drew his sword forward, clearly intending for her to impale herself over it.
The rules of the game were clear to her. As long as she complied with his stupid orders, he wouldn't kill anyone else. For that was the fascination he had with her. The call of his hatred for her. But hate is so, so close to compulsion, obsession, passion ; it holds one's heart captive just as well as love. And thus he had eyes only for her, anticipating her death, but afraid it would end too, because something of him would die when she did.
Elena understood all that, all the complexities and the intricacies of this strange broken mind. When push came to shove, humanity was like that. Contradictory. Feeble. Passionate.
She took another step but immediately fell on her knees fighting for air, feeling the claws of the Warp lacerate her skin. Tears of blood rolled over her cheeks. She couldn't see or hear her companions anymore.
"Yes !" He answered her question without paying any attention to her suffering. "My dear, dear Tanakia. You know she was in love with me ?" He laughed disturbingly. "Ever since creeping her way into Theodora's retinue, we have had a relationship together. This is why I didn't rat her out to Theodora. Because then I thought I loved her too. She was the reason I didn't get to become Rogue Trader, but still she vowed her cold hard heart to me. And I took great care of her, I did. I made her feel special. I gave her purpose. She played Calcazar like a fiddle while I was to take Theodora out of the equation. We would have ruled together. Sadly things didn't go as planned, did they ? There was a little bit of interference in this scheme." He gestured to her.
His multiple eyes stared at her in avidity and Elena had to gather her wits not to cry out for mercy. This was just the pull of the Warp, she told 't let it tear at your soul. Let the raging waves engulf you but not drown you.
"How did you get here ?" she asked again, and once more Kunrad ordered her to take a step.
She found no strength in her to get up on her feet so she resorted to crawl on the floor, her dignity and pride shattered away.
Still, she had gone through Commorragh. Satisfying Kunrad's deranged sense of power was nothing compared to the humiliation she had suffered at the hands of drukharis.
The Sorcerer was elated by her ludicrous efforts to reach him. She'd rather not think too much about the way he was obviously getting off at this perspective. Soon he would gut her with his unholy blade, she was sure of it. But every second she squirmed on the ground was a second gained.
In her mind, she carefully played the various forebodings and outcomes her diviner senses could perceive, replaying the scenes as she purposefully kept distracting Kunrad. Her mind poked at the futures ahead easily with such empyrean energy around. Her eyelids fluttered as her eyes rolled white with the visions imparted to her, but Kunrad didn't pay attention.
"Calcazar worked with Tervantias, you know that ?" he continued in his monologue. "And Tanakia pulled his strings at my command. So, when I learnt you were gone and captured, I sent Tanakia to ask some questions. She learnt about your predicament in the Dark City and the worm inside your skull. I couldn't stop laughing at the idea ! To think Theodora had chosen you instead of me, and all that only so her precious heir could end up with a xenos worm eating her brain ! Delightful. But Tanakia had a better idea still. She asked a favor from that creepy Haemonculus, to corrupt your mind so that I could see through your eyes and be bonded to you, know your every movement, your every idea. After all, you were merely human, how could any of you understand the craft of a Haemonculus ? Was he gentle when he got that worm out of your brain ? Are you really sure he didn't put anything else in it?"
He tapped at the side of his forehead in the universal gesture of people trying to signify that their interlocutors were completely cuckoos in their head.
Elena's memories flashed. The strange dreams with Kunrad, the visions of him, all that she had said and done since Tervantias cured her of the worm. It seemed impossible, but…Kunrad had become a Sorcerer of considerable power, and Tervantias had skills unfathomable to her.
"But you helped me cause a dysjunction", she pointed out. "Why would you turn against the drukharis if they were allies to you ?"
"Drukharis are never allies. They thought they had a deal with Calcazar, that's all. Anything else ?"
Elena paused. Kunrad hadn't denied his implication in the dysjunction, even though he just said he couldn't project himself in Commoragh. But he did mention having dreams before. Willingly or not, he was curiously aware of what happened in the Dark City, so despite his pretense he must have had some way to see it in her mind still.
Was it a dream when he asked to be saved ? When she promised she'd help him ? Was it a hallucination or did he know ? Was there a chance he could redeem himself ?
How could one redeem themselves fromthat?
"I said I would save you from your master", said Elena, keeping her voice steady despite the fear and the pain.
It took her great effort but she got up to her knees, staring at Kunrad's eyes all the while.
"I promised you that. Do you remember ?"
"Save me ?" Kunrad's head lolled back as he emitted a screeching laugh. "Here you are on your knees like the good little bitch you are while I hold your very life in my hands and you claim to save me. That is rich. The drukharis really did a number on you."
Elena pressed on, ignoring him : "Here I am on my knees and yet you still haven't laid a single finger on me. I say you're all bark but no bite, Kunrad."
The man immediately stopped laughing, his crazed eyes widening. "What did you say ?" he growled, suddenly threatening.
"What do you even need me for ? You like to see me humiliated after all the belittling you went through, don't you ? You talk like you're some sort of big master, but we both know it's not true. Uralonownsyou. Your Lordownsyou. Whereas I -" she smiled sadly "-well, I'm no longer owned by anybody. You want that for yourself. You want that freedom so bad you've sold your soul for it, and guess what ?, you didn't even get a good bargain out of it."
A shocked pause of silence was all the answer she needed. Despite his theatrics, she could see through Kunrad's act.
And what she saw was a scared man looking back at her for a very split second. A brother, no matter how strange the idea was.
"I'm done playing with food", stated Kunrad calmly, his voice changing completely and taking unusually composed undertones. Perhaps the Kunrad of old, before giving himself to Chaos, spoke like that. Perhaps someday he had been sane and in control of himself. "I want Nomos, Elena. Call them."
She got up on her feet, taking advantage of the very short lapse in self control of Kunrad to gain back her willpower.
"No" she said simply, and reached for her gun just as Kunrad attacked her.
Despite having predicted the trajectory of the blade, she still was surprised when the Chaos artifact distorted the laws of physics and reality to cut her flesh in an impossible angle she could never have dodged. And a diviner was good at dodging. She could walk through battlefields in her Militarum days without a scratch, simply by not being there when the bullet traced its velocious dance in the air.
Ensued a series of swift movements from both sides, as Kunrad tried to stab her, and she tried to guess and dodge every attack. She managed to raise her gun and shot - Kunrad rolled on the side, the bullet having grazed his left hip. Kunrad leapt backwards, cursing at her.
"You see, Kunrad, I'll always have the upper hand on you", said Elena calmly. "Contrarily to you, I am not alone."
That's when Kunrad discovered he got himself in the way of a very angry and upset Lady Navigator. Lady Orsellio looked at him, raising her headband, and even the cursed Sorcerer found himself whimpering and yelping.
In a swift gesture, he got up to his knees, eluding Cassia's deadly stare by jumping behind her. There he found Heinrix, his blade anointed with sanctic energy, and barely parried his blow. The Chaos sword crashed with the holy blade, their influence battling at each other.
For a glorious second, the crushing aura of the unholy blade faded down, allowing everyone to take a breath and clear their wits.
The retinue acted together like dancers in a choreography, so fluid and organic that Kunrad could never land a blow.
"Psykers", spat Kunrad in the direction of Heinrix. "But you've got the mark of my Lord upon you, my boy."
Heinrix's dark eyes met the Sorcerer's coldly. "It is not a mark. It is a scar. Chaos will never have me."
Kunrad chuckled madly. "I thought that too at first, you know. Chaos never starts that way. But your curiosity was just too much not to look into the abyss, was it ? Now - Uralon will make you his bitch, you see."
Heinrix suddenly howled with pain as the sanctic energy surrounding his blade grew corrupted, his surprise transparent. He immediately let go of the blade and Kunrad would have taken that exact opportunity to open him up like a fish, if Ulfar had not intervened.
Distracted by his prize, Kunrad did nothing to oppose the powerful kick of the Space Wolf. Such a blow could have broken a human in two but Kunrad had become something else. He crashed against the wall as Ulfar raised his bolter to him. His wings closed up on him.
Kunrad chuckled and called on his Sorcery, using the Warp to change his location in space, using the same trick the lens artifact had provided to the warden back in Rykad sector. The wall was bereft of any victim when Ulfar shot at it.
"Damn them !", cursed Kunrad, who had safely transported himself back a few railings, away from Elena's retinue attacks.
He was powerful, he knew that, but Elena had a point - he was also alone. The ship trembled as it stirred to face another attack.
Elena was no easy target. That damnable woman seemed to read his mind. The feeling was infuriating. He could barely land a blow on her precious pale flesh. And the words she told him…like snares inside his heart. She was everywhere, leaking into his thoughts, making him doubt himself. Why ? Why was he weak like that ? His stupid sister could do nothing to him. He just needed to bring her back to Rykad and gut her and be done with her stupid eyes and stupid words.
Even now, he felt her pressing over the telepathic bond he had engineered on his own, trying to reciprocate the backdoor he put in her mind to locate him. Trying to speak to him.
Kunrad. I can save you. I promise. You can still redeem yourself.
She's a cannot be saved,he told himself. You cannot be saved, because you don't want to be. She's a stupid little fool.
He was not a trained psyker. He had acquired his considerable powers through sorcery. He had no idea that people like Elena, Cassia and Heinrix would prove to have some backbone into them. To resist his powers ! Most humans fell to his will easily, but those three had a resistance to them. Perhaps sanctioning was no joke after all.
Perhaps he could switch to another target. After all, he didn't strictly need Elena anymore. What he needed was Nomos, and her von Valancius's blood.
And she wasn't the only one who could provide him with that, yes ?
After all…Nomos had presented themselves the first time when he threatened a vulnerable and defenseless Elena.
Perhaps if he chose another victim, vulnerable as well, Nomos would choose to intervene on their own.
He smiled as his fetid little plan bloomed in his mind.
Echoing his mind, he felt her fear as she poked at his thoughts.
Don't do that. Come to me instead. I -
Her fear. Delicious. He felt high on it. Kunrad gripped his sword : "Cut her off my mind !" he ordered.
Something slashed inside his spirit and he felt her connection gone.
"The medbay", he told himself, gathering on his unholy powers to move faster. "It must not be that far away."
Over the docks, where the retinue had started to search for Kunrad, Elena's body grew eerily still as her eyes went rolling back in their sockets.
"Don't do that !" she repeated, and felt something cold and vile prod at her mind from her connection to Kunrad. The shock sent her shivering and blood ran from her nose and ears.
Was it what Idira's victim felt as the telepath crushed their thoughts and killed them ?
Hopefully soon after that the connection was cut and Elena came back to her senses, panting from the pain.
Her companions were by her side, worried.
"What happened ?" asked Cassia.
She brushed the matter away. "I used Kunrad's telepathic door into my mind to reciprocate and search for his. He is going to the ! We must stop him !" Her voice was desperate and pleading with urgency.
"At once, but…why the medbay ?" wondered Ulfar.
Elena tried to make a step and found out that the mental attack she had suffered scrambled her sense of direction. She stumbled, Cassia holding her up.
"He's going for her", understood Heinrix.
Elena gathered her wits and forced her legs to move, beginning to run. But her movements felt clumsy and awkward. "Yes !" she confirmed. Her companions ran with her, Ulfar watching over her clumsy movements and bloody face with attention.
Cassia was fidgeting with her vox-link, reaching to Vidgis as they run : "Voxmaster, this is the Lady Navigator. We have met Kunrad and he is fleeing towards the medbay. Warn the Chief Doctor at once and send as many wardens as you can there - Master van Calox ! Wait for us !"
Something had switched inside Heinrix. Like the light in his world suddenly had gone out. He started running, faster and faster, speechless and silent like a man in a grave.
A biomancer can turn himself into an athlete at will. He can also bend the will of the flesh and the bones, twist his ligaments and tendons, forcing his body to do things no human bodies could do. He gained speed, leaving Elena and her companions behind. Of course it would be more rational to wait for them. Kunrad was a serious threat.
But his mind was empty. He could only imagine the Sorcerer's distorted figure climbing up the railings to the medbay, with his unholy sword and his corruption. Leaning over the crib of his daughter. She'll be up very soon. Their child. His little girl. Elena and him didn't even think of a name. They had been so busy. Busy all the time. He liked the name Isolde.
He was already halfway up the railing. His heart stopped. A crooked figure was at the top of the stairs and disappearing inside the medbay.
The grey, industrial staircase soared in front of him, a stairway to the top of the stars. He ran up it, hearing himself screaming - "I'll kill you Kunrad I'll kill you" - The terrible fury choked him, the rage and dreadful fear set his lungs on fire, and still the stairs unrolled. There was no end to them. They climbed forever, while he was falling backwards into the Warp. But the Warp buoyed him up, gave wings to his rage, lifted him, sent him back…
And then, his breath nothing more than one long profane scream, he reached the top step -
Kunrad came out of the door of the medbay, backwards and fast. He hit the banisters as screams ensued.
Heinrix ran on, sliding over the bloodied floor, dreading the sight of -
The cradle had been turned over and the babe was safe inside Abelard's arms. The old man was white as a sheet and shaky. The body of Doctor Jane Valess laid on the ground beside them - wounded, but alive. There was something else too - the dismantled body of a golden servitor. Nomos. Its shattered parts laid in front of them all, as if the creature had leapt in to protect them from Kunrad.
Heinrix picked up his daughter, wrapped her in his red cape, and felt himself sag to his knees, all strength drained from him. He hadn't drawn breath all the way up the stairs. His eyes wanted to cry, tears burning in him, but he stilled his will -
And noticed the absent little hand. But strangely, there was no blood ; the wound had already closed up.
The babe did not even cry.
Kunrad was coming back. Under his arm he carried the head of the servitor Nomos had downloaded in, and held a very tiny pink hand with him - this one oozing blood.
"I thought I killed you, old man", claimed Kunrad, obviously disappointed at Abelard's survival.
The wounded old man smiled back ferociously at him. "You fail in everything you do, Voigtvir."
"No matter", cut Kunrad, "I have everything I need right there."
Bolts shot up. Bending the warp to his will, Kunrad once again teleported himself out of the medbay, right before Elena and the rest of the retinue catched up with him.
Elena threw one look at Heinrix and the babe wrapped up in the red cape with relief in her black, tired eyes.
"Where is he ?" Shouted Ulfar.
Elena was already turning heels, her unnatural senses guiding her towards Kunrad like a moth to a flame. "He is aiming to the escape pods ! Cassia, warn Vigdis !"
Elena led her companions out, but Heinrix and Abelard stayed behind.
Heinrix soon understood why. Despite his brave face, the Seneschal could barely walk. "My knee", explained the old man, watching him intently. "I guessed I should have listened to Idira and gone with the augmentic operation earlier. Kunrad's stabbing left me half-paralyzed. Ravor had managed to drag me in here and Jane Valess was busy reanimating me when that daemon appeared."
Abelard smiled to himself. "I think he was as surprised to see me as I was. But then he always was a bit of a sloppy young boy. Couldn't finish his job right. Didn't expect I would be armed this time. I snatched the newborn away before he could…well. You're a grown up. You know he didn't have good intentions in mind. Still sliced her hand, though."
"I am glad you were there, Seneschal", managed Heinrix.
"But then something strange happened", continued Abelard, his eyes not leaving Heinrix's face. "As I could barely fight, when I snatched the little girl from Kunrad's blade, I felt a surge of health and energy come back to me, sufficient enough to allow me to chase Kunrad away and heal my damned wound. Then all the devices and spirit machines in the room exploded - and Nomos erupted in the room, protecting us. Nomos ! A servitor ! A being of steel and machine ! I could scarcely believe it. They fought like rabid dogs."
Heinrix said nothing, his face growing white.
His daughter had inherited his biomancy, and was already developing these abilities. At such an ealy young age…
"Better not to linger on this for now", he said, holding the newborn closer to his chest. "She's alive. It's what matters."
Abelard's gaze softened and he placed a hand over his shoulder. "Nothing will be the same for you after that, young man. Protect her while you can."
Kunrad fled away (again), and disappeared into the Warp just as soon, snatching away Nomos from them.
Elena had no time to think. While Cassia was busy preparing for the jump to the Warp, she had to finish the fight with the last inquisitorial vessel. The flagship had been touched numerous times, her commanding officers were either dead or too wounded to serve, and who knew what was going on over Footfall. All was falling apart around her and yet despite everything she kept her head calm.
One thing after the other. The babe was alive. The whole Expanse was going to spiral into Chaos, but for now she could still do something, she could still put up a fight. Heinrix was nowhere to be seen - he had completely crumbled over in the medbay. She wondered if the shock would come to her as well or if she was just built differently. Perhaps Heinrix had always been the most empathetic of the two of them, and she'd only know come to realize that she'd always been the coldest one.
Order after orders, she regained control of the Footfall situation. The enemy ship went down under Evayne's fire. Emelina managed to rescue Jae from her crumbling tomb, though Tocara was nowhere to be found.
Argenta had saved Chorda Incendia from death (Elena would have gladly avoided that, but she supposed in the long run it was for the best for the Expanse) and, together with Pasqal, had repelled the last inquisitorial agents. The rest of them had scattered, hiding like rats as news of their master's death spread.
But Footfall was not free, not really, because it had lost its Liege. Chorda immediately made her claim.
And was cut short by an astropathic message emitting from theEmperor's Vow, whose apparition in the sector had gone unnoticed in the midst of all the chaos.
"Chorda, von Valancius, this is Calligos Winterscale. I'm taking over for Evayne. Let it be clear to both of you that the first one amongst you that try to sink its teeth into my fucking world will get blasted to the void by my ships. Now get out of Footfall. It doesn't belong to any of you : it has been mine from the very beginning. von Valancius, you started this riot against the Inquisition and dragged my heir into this, so now you get to tell us what it was all about. I suggest we meet at your ship."
Elena hated the thought of it. Entertaining her peers with the tale of her adventure and vision ? But she had no time for that ! She knew Kunrad had gone to Rykad Minoris, to the doomed daemon world that kept calling to her in her visions. The end awaited her there. They wasted precious time bickering with each other.
But perhaps that time needed to be wasted. After all, she could not hope to face the bulk of the Cult's force alone. Uralon would be there, with his corrupted Space Marines : a terrible opponent, and he possessed a few ships himself. And daemons would be roaming freely around the daemon world.
The truth was that she needed allies. She needed help.
Much later in the day, Argenta, Jae, Emelina, Achilleas and Pasqal came back to her. Argenta was carrying Jae, as the poor woman had lost the use of her legs under the collapse.
"You owe me, shereen", groaned Jae.
"I'm glad you're alive, Jae", replied Elena, embracing both the Sister and Jae in her arms.
Argenta looked surprised and awkwardly patted the Rogue Trader's back, while Jae protested. "I am a wounded woman ! Let me breathe, damnit !"
Elena stepped backwards. As Argenta and Emelina passed by her to lead Jae into the medbay, where the junior doctors were having a bad day, she whispered : "She'll be all right, Lord-Captain. Heydari is a tough one to crack. What's the worst that can happen ? She'll get new prosthetics to match her arm."
"I heard that, Sister !"
"Just think of the possibilities…"
Their voices faded away.
Pascal stood there. Elena directed her attention towards him and only now noticed the difference in his posture. He didn't seem hunched anymore - if anything, he was carrying himself with even more grandeur than before. There was also a sense of composure around him, of calmness.
Of being whole.
"...Pasqal ?" she hesitated.
His visor flashed a gentle blue hue. "Yes. And no."
"Armanat, then", she understood.
The man nodded. "This statement is correct."
To her surprise, the man smiled softly, something she'd never seen Pasqal do. "I understand you are the heir of Theodora", Armanat said. "How curious. You are nothing like her. Perhaps it is for the best. It is you who has awakened Nomos."
It wasn't a question. Elena would soon learn that Armanat asked very few questions. He preferred answers.
"But Nomos is gone", said Elena sadly. "Voigtvir has taken it away with him, to use him in whatever perverted ritual the Cult needs to achieve his goals."
"Ah", said Armanat, his voice curiously soft, like Abel's. He didn't seem especially worried or shocked. Pasqal would have been rambling mad right now. The calmness of the Magos was eerie and Elena refrained from a creeping shiver. And still he had that gentle smile, watching her absent-mindedly, as if he had already dismantled her in his mind and understood what she was. His gaze was a terrible thing to hold.
"It is good that I am born again then", continued Armanat after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence. He extended one mechadendrite to her, which proceeded to pat her hand in an almost familial way.
"My fragments have had some time to think about Nomos and I have planned a way to put it back to sleep. The spark of the Machine-God can be a very, very dangerous thing, especially in the wrong hands. If you allow me, Lord-Captain, I will make this device for you."
"To get Nomos to sleep ?" asked Elena, taken aback. What was the Magos talking about ? He was even less clear than Pasqal, and sometimes she felt speaking to Pasqal was like playing sudoku with a hardened veteran. "What do you mean ? You created a sort of blight-tech to kill Nomos ?"
Armanat paused, his mechadendrite still patting her hand. It could also break her wrist in two, she realized.
"No, no", said Armanat, his voice seemingly coming from afar, as if speaking was an effort to him. "Your statement is wrong. This is not what I mean. What I mean is that Nomos will get to sleep. Like a child does. It will be harmless. It will be safe. It will dream. It will be peaceful."
She hesitated. "It sounds like an imprisonment."
Armanat looked at her with piercing eyes, and she felt the weight of his acute heretical intelligence upon her, much deeper than hers.
"Do not make the mistake of anthropomorphizing Nomos, Lord-Captain. Believe me, to dream is what is best for it. For us all."
While Winterscale and Incendia were preparing to meet her aboard the ship, Elena took time to check on Abelard and Heinrix in the medbay.
The place was overcrowded. Doctor Jane Valess was unconscious and medicated, but her students agreed she'd be fine. Heinrix and the child were not there. Jae was undergoing surgery nearby.
"The young man went back to his cabin to tend to his wounds alone", Abelard informed her when he spotted her. He was laying down in a medical bed.
She sighed. "That seems like something he would do, yes."
She sat by the old man's bed. His face was strained with pain but the Seneschal immediately straightened, as if trying to stand to attention even while lying down.
"I feared you would be dead", she said.
"Dead? Beg my pardon, Lord-Captain, but I wouldn't be caught dead at my post during service ever ! This would be remarkably negligent of me", replied Abelard, clearly offended. "Voigtvir is a foolish young man. Youngsters all forget about old people and think we are feeble and harmless. Their mistake, really. The old crocodiles have the hardest leather."
Elena smiled. "Still. Your resilience is remarkable, Seneschal. After all you've been through…all I put you through. Commoragh, now this…"
Abelard nodded but interrupted her sharply : "Let's not talk about that. What is done is done. Neither of us can undo the past."
Abelard paused, then added : "By the way, Lord Captain. I believe congratulations are in order."
Elena's brows knitted together in confusion. " Why for?"
"For having a daughter."
"Oh."
"This child is quite a miracle, considering we've spent the last months in Commoragh."
Elena blushed, feeling stupid. "I am sorry I didn't tell you this, Seneschal. You ought to have known. I found myself pregnant at Dargonus and I took some arrangements with the Chief Doctor to…grow the fetus artificially. As you know, I had predicted our fall into the hands of Marazai and I wished to spare this seed of hope. I apologize for keeping that a secret as well. I've lied too many times, I think."
"Why apologize ?" replied the old man. "The dynasty is blessed with an heir. You are right to keep her a secret for now, but know that we will all rejoice with you once the time to announce her birth comes. Ah ! Clementia will be delighted to prepare Dargonus for the celebrations. " He paused for a second.
"I understand that the father of the child is Master van Calox", he ventured cautiously. "Though I have seen the pair of you sharing, hmm, somewhat overly spontaneous gestures towards each other, it does seem to an experienced father and husband as I am that no official relationship has been forged…?"
Abelard let the question hang in the air, but the absence of any Heinrix at her side was all the answer he needed. There was a time when the Interrogator would have clinged to her shadow and never left her alone, especially after such an eventful day.
Elena's chest heaved with sadness and she looked away. Why did she feel so foolish and brittle ? She was a Rogue Trader, a killer, a warrior. Yet as her sad little truth was exposed in the eyes of an old man she felt she came to grip with her broken sense of relationship and broken heart. But she would not cry, oh no. She was not a stupid child anymore.
"I see no point in lying to you anymore, Seneschal. I had a brief relationship with Master van Calox, but, as you can attest, we are very different people with different views about life and ultimately this has driven us apart. A predictable turn of events, really, but sadly one even a diviner such as I was too blind to see."
"We are always blind to matters of the heart, Lord-Captain." Abelard wisely did not mention the fact he had warned the both of them of this possibility a long time ago. "It's what makes them dangerous in the first place."
"Yes," Elena agreed, "yes, it is surely so." A soft smile. "What can I say, Abelard, I am bad at being loved, and good at destroying things. It looks like my fate is to be alone."
"This is the most nonsensical bullshit I ever heard you say, Lord-Captain, and believe me when I tell you you've said lots of those ever since your shaky beginnings." He sighed, mentally noting down that he will need to have a serious talk with van Calox about this.
"Youth makes us all fools and dramatic. Experience teaches us that love always finds a way. It's often where you don't expect it to be. And even when it's gone, it still reaches us, like the light of stars long dead still blesses us."
Elena looked at him gravely. "Thank you, Abelard. Your words give me hope. You know…I never truly had a father…"
"Say nothing of it, Elena", whispered the old man. "I know. I know." Speaking more loudly and formally now, he tilted his head in a bow. "It was a honor to receive your visit, Lord-Captain, but I wouldn't want to waste time over me. I'll be out as soon as I can and ready to serve. I believe our next step in the order of the day is to meet with Rogue Traders Winterscale and Chorda ?"
"Sadly, it is," sighed Elena. "I have to convince them to join forces with me and they will want to know why I killed the Lord Calcazar."
"The way I see it, they both owe their lives to you, so they'll complain about it but they'll help you. Believe me, no Rogue Trader wants to be indebted to another. You'll see. And after that…?"
"After that ?" she echoed. "We go to Rykad Minoris. To the beginning. To the Final Dawn."
Abelard said nothing for a while. "We almost got killed the last time we were there."
Elena just looked at him. "It has to be done. No matter the cost."
"Well, if such is the case…let us pray that the Emperor protects."
Author's note : Nearly there I swear !
Had to add another chapter because I didn't want to bomb you with 15k words chapter lol.