(V) - Bloodied, But Unbroken

by PhantomStag458

Nine years in to the forty-second millennium, the wavering Imperium of Man struggles against the turmoil engulfing the galaxy. Larn, long demobilised and living under the radar, ekes out an existence with his old prison gang the Roaneks, until an unexpected message from an old associate reaches him, calling for one last favour.

15. Chapter 15

Villa Soraddan

One, two, three, four, five. Izuru's shoulders loosened. The knot in her gut unwound. Her heart beat a soft, steady rhythm. Thank you, James. I needed that.

A cool breeze brushed Izuru's cheek. "James?" Leaves of pure white burst from long, black boughs surrounding a clearing. Green ribbons glimmered in a turquoise sky. Violet grass stalks swayed in the wind. How did I…? Izuru clutched the layers of her robes at her throat. We were in the banquet hall. She swept her hand through the stalks. Sharp ends pricked her skin. Am I awake?

"Aye, you are."

"Oh!" Izuru's hand flew over her heart. She lurched around, her eyes darting across the trees. "James…?"

"You brought yourself here," James whispered. "Listen."

"Listen, Izuru." Another voice muttered, then another.

"—Face yourself—"

"—Being of two worlds—"

"—Never certain which you are—"

"—Too afraid to choose—"

"—Coward—"

"Stop." Izuru put her hands over her ears. "Please stop."

"Were those other men spiritbound too?" James murmured. "Do you even remember their names? Was it eighty, ninety, even a hundred years ago, now?"

Izuru's trembling bottom lip curled inward. Her fingers dragged through the grass and curled in to fists. She raised her chin and turned her eyes to the sky. "There was never anyone else that filled me with so much fury, so much compassion. There we share our own bond, our collective madness made one."

"Look to the ground."

Icy air bit in to Izuru's ears. Patches of mist clung to the forest floor. Leaves crackled. In the distance two little shadows flew through the trees. "My sons—" Izuru brought a knee up. Wait. She froze, lips parted, eyes wide. "You were right, James. You did bring a killer home." Her white breath streamed from her lips. "…James?" Shadows stretched across the clearing and reached out to her.

"I am not James," a rasp rolled from deep inside the ground. Spindly, scar-marked fingers slid over Izuru's shoulders. Izuru yelped and barrelled towards the trees. Leaves scratched at her flailing hands and whipped at her cheeks. Hairs came loose from her bun and flew outward.

"Ilic! Korsarro!" Izuru hitched up her robes and blew in to her cupped hands. "Oh, James…" she whimpered, teeth chattering. "Why did you leave?" She blundered on through the mist until gigantic, black roots sprouted from the rising ground and climbed towards the colossal Arebennia. "Oh—!" Izuru's toe caught the edge of a root and she tumbled on to her knees. "Ilic! Korsarro!" Grazes scouring her knees and palms, Izuru heaved herself over larger roots until the walkway's shadow fell upon her. "Children?" Izuru ran around to the foot of the staircase and peered up in to the darkness. Her head whipped around at a nearby crunch. Something long slithered over the leaves. She's close. Izuru's shoulders hunched. What do I do? Her fingernails worked across her palms. James, help me.

Head thrust forward, eyes flitting about, Izuru crept away from the staircase. A dead silence descended upon the forest. The wavering branches grew still. "Children?" Brow furrowed, eyes wet, Izuru ducked beneath low branches and eased them aside. White leaves fluttered down upon her shoulders and stuck in her hair. "Oh—Ilic, Korsarro!" Two little figures stood shoulder to shoulder in a glade. "My sons…" Izuru darted from the trees, arms outstretched. "Come to me." Ilic tore at Korsarro's shirt and dragged him away. Korsarro hid his face in Ilic's shoulder. "Don't you recognise me?" Izuru's eyes fell to her open palms. Deep red scars ran all over her hands. "No…" Izuru peeled back her sleeve and ran a finger along dozens of scars criss-crossing her arm. "Er… I… it's not what you think."

"They are not your sons," the low growl from far beneath Izuru's feet trickled in to her ears.

"…Run." Izuru's scar-ridden arms fell to her sides. Sticky trails dribbled down her cheeks. "I love you." Mist swept Ilic and Korsarro away leaving Izuru alone in the glade. She gulped in air and counted to five. "You're right behind me, aren't you?" Her shoulders drooped.

"Turn around… mother-of-mine."

Every hair on Izuru's arms stood taut. A gust peeled the mist away from a tiny figure in black robes standing on the far side of the glade. Deep grey surrounded pale blue eyes. Thick, brown hair hung over ashen skin. "No…" Izuru cupped her hands over her mouth and screwed up her eyes. "No."

"We belong together." The little girl's lips remained still. She drifted through the grass, her unblinking eyes fixed on Izuru. Livid scars marked her hands.

"I don't want this…" Izuru's hands slid up her forehead. "I DON'T WANT THIS!" Her knees buckled and she collapsed on her side. Damp seeped through her robes. Shadows closed in around Izuru. She shut her eyes and hugged her arms to her chest.

---

Mellenova

A red light blinked above me. I heaved my head off my sunken pillow and wiped at dust itching my eyes. One eye clenched shut, I swept my hand over the cold bedcovers. Oh, Izuru. Where's that warmth? My crumpled uniform clung to my itching body. Stubble stippled my jaw. I pattered at the blinking light on the panel above my head until it faded. I lifted my booted feet off the bedcovers and set them on the deck. The single red bulb blinked back on. I opened my palm and smacked it against the sensor embedded in the panel beside it.

Culcassian Guard stood sentinel on either side of the cabin door, the butt of their lasblasters resting on the deck. "Stand firm, Crestid!" Both brought their longarms to port-arms and pivoted towards me. "Thou must remain."

"Aw, shove off," I grunted, my nose wrinkling. I shouldered through the gap between the sentinel's longarms and strode off down the corridor. Two pairs of footsteps doubled after me. I whirled and let out a short, sharp bark. Both sentinels jerked their heads back and clutched their lasblasters to their chest plates. "Hah!" I smirked and spun on my heel. No more than a ceremonial guard. I bet they've not heard a single shot fired in anger.

Circular holo-projectors balancing upon curving legs filled the spaces formerly taken up by the smashed hardware inside Operations. Every one of the Inquisition banners lay in a pile amidst shattered glass and rent alloy in a corner beside a hovering incinerator overseen by two Eldar. Periodic flashes came from a gaping chute in the machine.

Ellorias sat in a hoverchair dead-centre cradling a cup and a saucer. At his elbow, resting on a hover-sled, sat the inert bomb. I kept my eyes off it and focused on a sharply-defined projection exploding from the Eldar's centremost unit. A vessel thrice Mellenova's size took up a line-astern position ahead of it. Huge, glowing fins curled from its insectoid body. Kilometre-long batteries protruded from the bows.

"If I wanted real pirates watching my back I'd hire human, not these schoolgirls." I growled. Hands in my pockets, I glared up at the projection. My two guards remained at my back.

"I regard them as I would the shit stuck to the sole of my boot." Ellorias tilted his cup and sipped. His little finger stood erect. "And would sooner seek the protection of our dark cousins."

"Yours?" I stared up at the Eldar vessel.

"Ynnari. Now, let us proceed with introductions. Your artificial companion seems shy. Shall we coax it out of its shell?"

"You smashed the—"

"—The tesseract held an offshoot, nothing more than a frail imitation." Ellorias stood his cup in the saucer. "No, Crestid, my eyes alone are for the matriarch of this vessel. Is it shy?"

"Hmph."

"Where is it?"

"Everywhere." Shapes began to form around Mellenova and the Ynnari ship. A fleet too large for the projection to convey the vastness of crowded the airspace around them. Colossal solar sails rose from bony-structured vessels with no discernible bow or stern. Whole cities clung to the upper sections of capital ships. Great wings and curving mandibles spread outward from hulls. Among these vast, alien spacecraft sailed hundreds upon hundreds of smaller ships, some of them boxy, human affairs, and even smaller than that were the thousands of fighters streaming through what little space remained in the vacuum.

"The matriarch's primary datahub, Crestid."

"How could a being likened to the shit stuck to the sole of your boot possibly know that answer?" I tore my eyes from the Ynnari fleet and glared down at Ellorias. "Looking up a lady's skirts is ungentlemanly…"

"Then we will come to an understanding. Any misfortune befalling my household at the hands of the matriarch falls upon your friend in the medical wing." Ellorias smiled, eyes narrowed. "He has the face of a fighter. Let us see him recover without incident now, shall we?"

"Aye, you'll not be the one deciding his fate."

"I hope not. Open discourse with the matriarch. Pass word of my titles. We have much to discuss."

"Oh, now if you'd be wanting an open channel, you best start looking for the intercom."

"Hold that tongue of yours, Crestid." Ellorias snapped his fingers at the stiff guards and flicked a finger at the bulkhead door. Both fell in behind me. "My hospitality remains upon Lirithion. If your artificial construct does not open communication within the next full cycle, your friend suffers."

"Then begin your search." I kneeled at a stack of dog-eared manuals beside the incinerator and tore pages from the spine. "In the meantime, I will use these pages for my poetry."

A second pair of Culcassian Guard awaited me on the tram platform and took up position at the front end of the cars with the other occupying the rear. I crossed my legs and sat back on the bench. Yellowing pages crackled on my knee. Damn, one night's absence. I drummed the pen's cap against my chin. I need you where I'm going, Izuru. My gaze flicked up to a display near the ceiling where a series of tiny bulbs illuminated the tram's position on the ship. The flickering bulb remained above Operations and did not fade out. Interesting. My teeth closed around the pen and bit the cap off. Quick and slow, dots and dashes. Outside the tram the light streaks separated and formed individual bulbs. I swayed sideways with the tram's dying momentum. A clunk and the cars halted at the platform.

Back in the confines of my cabin, I hunkered down in my bunk and watched the series of flashes from the overhead light. Dots and dashes crossed the page. "L-I-L-L-I," I whispered, a grin spreading across my face. "Number one." I patted the panel above my head. "For a moment there I thought I was in trouble."

Hostage, Lilli flashed.

"Estoc is, aye."

Sorrysorrysorry. Lilli's signal came out a long burble. Snare used capture systems nullified locked out sorrysorrysorry.

"Alright, alright, alright. Listen, these slant-eared bastards aren't any different to the Absolvers—arrogant, self-assured of their superiority. We've given one tyrant the boot, we'll do the same to the Eldar."

Should vent ship.

"No, no, look where we are. We're in the middle of the entire Ynnari Fleet."

Augur offline. Am in the dark.

"Then maybe it's time to come up for air and meet our guests." I swung off the bunk and planted my boots on the deck. "Rude to ignore 'em for this long."

Uninvited.

"Aye, but I have my deadline and Estoc's not in any fit state to countermand me, so…" I peered up at Lilli's light. "We bide our time, wait for Izuru. She has allies in the fleet, beings she trusts."

Do not trust xenos.

"No, but I trust her." Dots and dashes filled the page on my knee. I turned over and kept on jotting.

I have a plan.

"Caginess could provoke the Ynnari. We're better being frank."

Follow my directions.

"There's two slant-ears out there—probably four now."

Remove toilet.

"Remove toilet…" I cocked my head and frowned down at the irregular pattern crossing the page. "Remove toilet panelling."

Path to air duct.

"No…" I left the sheets on the bunk and entered the tiny cubicle holding the cabin's toilet. "There's no passage behind here, Lilli." My fingernails slipped in to the cracks in the panelling. "You'd have better luck flushing me to freedom." I peered over the spotless rim. My lump-ridden, sunken face stared up at me. Alloy squeaked and rattled. Footsteps entered the cabin.

"Stricken with malady, Crestid?"

"Xenos food." I steadied a hand on the rim and climbed off my knees. A short-barrelled lasblaster with a bone-coloured grip sat in a holster dangling from a wide belt at Ellorias's waist, as did an empty knife sheath. "You want my answer now?"

"Oh, you will answer now…" Ellorias's eyes fell upon the code lying on the bunk. "What is this?" He swiped the sheets and brandished them at me. "Well, what is it?" I tugged the hem of my tunic down and stuck out my chin. "Dyann!" Ellorias snapped his fingers at me and backed out of the cabin. A pair of Culcassian Guard filed inside and took me by the arms. Neither let go until we reached Operations. Forced upon my knees in the centre of the two-dozen Eldar, I met Ellorias's cold, unblinking eyes. A smirk crept across my face.

"You smile?" Ellorias cocked his head and grinned. "You think my bondmate can protect you?"

"I'm thinking about what she's going to do you should my blood stain this deck. Do you know what she became on Haven?"

"What she became will be nothing to what she will become."

"They called her the Butcher of Lutufeyo—nine of my kind slaughtered at her hands, hands that ripped the very jaw from a man's head." A spasm played in my cheek. "You spurned her when she was at her most vulnerable."

"I am the father of her children." Ellorias stooped and thrust his face at mine. "You are nothing."

"Nothing is more than you ever were to her. If you think she'll keep obeying you, you don't know your own bondmate." Warmth built up in my brow.

"Oh, that she will, Crestid." Ellorias raised his eyebrows. "I think she even wants to."

"The Butcher will take her cut," I growled, my upper lip quivering.

"Likewise." Ellorias snapped his fingers at the pair manning the incinerator. One withdrew a dagger from the open mouth. Bright orange, the curving blade glided towards me. Hands seized me by the arms and heaved me over to a holo-table. My knees scraped across the desk. Ellorias faced me from the far side of the shattered husk.

"You favour your left hand, Crestid." Ellorias raised a finger. "You have until the count of your infant age to reveal the matriarch's whereabouts. Defy me and suffer."

Gauntlets wrenched my left hand across the dead table and forced my fingers apart. The glowing blade hovered inches above. Hot air seeped from my locked teeth. "If youse are committing to this folly, you'd best be findin' my flesh with your very own hands. I'll accept no lackey."

"Hmph… your very own butcher." Ellorias flicked his finger down. "Menlia."

Steam hissed from my skin. I thrust my trembling head forward and hunched my shoulders. Blood pounding in my ears, I matched Ellorias's unblinking stare and growled, "And yon the gallows clacked as heads hung limp and limbs slack."

"So, you have chosen poetry over truths."

"Naked to the hangman's noose, the noonday clocks will ring—hahaha." A livid grin re-opened tiny cuts on my lips.

"You laugh…? How a human can derive mirth from its own torture… Fascinating."

A deep growl rose from the depths of my throat. "Ohh, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do to you."

"And what horrors could a human, crippled for life, visit upon the thirty-eight Dhan of Fir Culcassian?" Ellorias lifted his finger. The knife wavered above my hand. "Ainulin. Piat zhai." The faceless Eldar holding the blade bowed his head and bore the cooling blade over to the furnace. Paper crackled and Ellorias laid the torn sheet on the holo-table beneath me. "Read it."

"Dot, dash, dot-dot, dot-dot—" Lights exploded in my eyes. Head spinning, my nose struck the holo-table and I keeled sideways. Hands seized my shoulders and wrenched me upright. "If you keep hitting me like that, I may be compelled to lose consciousness."

"I will never understand that low-brow humour afflicting your kind." Ellorias beckoned a guard over, pointed at my severed finger and flicked it at the incinerator. Spiked fingertips closed around the little finger and threw it in to the fire. I tapped my forefinger upon the page and mimed scrawling across it. A silver pen, dirt tarnishing its shine, landed on the holo-table and rolled in to a shallow crack. I pushed my fingers past the sharp edges and plucked the pen out. A spiked letter I marked the body. The many silent pairs of alien eyes lasered the page beneath my trembling hand.

A pair of parallel lines, no more than half a centimetre, marked the page beneath the code. "It's a game…" I jabbed a dot in to the paper. "Dashes for lines, dots for corners. We start at opposite corners of the page, largest shape with the most lines wins—Ugh!" My forehead smacked the holo-table. Sharp fingers dug in to my skull and ground my face against the shattered plasteel. "Hur-hur! You think this hurts me...?" My head snapped upright.

"This hurts ME!" Eyebrows arched, nostrils flared, Ellorias stormed around the holo-table and bent over me. "My bondmate dragging a human plaything in to my home, in to my bed HURTS ME!" His head shook. Eyes wide, pupils slits, Ellorias flattened his hand and swung it up to his neck and back at me. My head whipped around. Bloody mucus flew from my lips and spattered the white sash hanging down from Ellorias's belt. "Choosing a human over the father of her children…" Ellorias seized my face in both hands. Teeth bare, veins bulging, he screamed, "HURTS ME!" Blood oozing from both nostrils, I managed a twisted smirk. "YOUR BLOOD ON MY ROBES HURTS ME!" Ellorias rammed my head down on the holo-table. Blood running freely across the broken plasteel, I lay still.

---

"Nephalem," a voice whispered.

Blue light filtered through Izuru's eyelids. Fiery needles peppered her eyes. Her fingertips pushed through a viscous liquid clinging to her naked body and pressed against a thin membrane cocooning her.

"Areath, kuro-breag."

Have mercy. Izuru pushed at the cocoon's walls. Spare me. A cold, hard surface touched Izuru's rump then moved up to her shoulderblades. Shadows closed in on Izuru. Long fingers picked and peeled at the membrane. "Cut it out of me," Izuru mumbled. "Cut it out."

"Kaelis-Ra, sista-oiche palam?" A muffled, accented voice came from far beneath Izuru. "Cresistauead Aithliam?"

"I don't want it." Sticky layers slithered down Izuru's shoulders and peeled off her arms. "I don't want it."

"Kitholel Crestid?"

Curled up on a hard rubber mat, Izuru cupped her belly and whimpered. "Cut it out."

"Sol lam-Eldannar ill-xamath gair-am?"

Cold, gloved hands picked Izuru up and laid her on a soft, spongy surface. A mask smothered her face and cool air tickled the hairs inside her nostrils. Light-headed, Izuru sunk in to the mat and let herself drift off.

Whispers seeped inside Izuru's ears. Hisses and murmurs flitted around her. "It's not mine." A trio of shadows loomed over her. Tall, pale beings in dark robes, weighed down with winged headdresses. A single weeping eye adorned the breast of each of their gowns. "Ulthanash…"

Splayed wings swooped down to Izuru. Through her blurry vision, a pair of emerald points gleamed. "Yes… You found your way home."

"Ulthranwé," Izuru murmured. "Forgive me."

"You are late his passing." The wings withdrew. "Ulthanash Shelwé stands in mourning for our Chief Farseer. You may join us in deference for dark dress as we express our collective sorrow."

A second voice spoke. "Through your bondmate, we called to your uncle in invitation, not you."

"You are late his passing," Izuru murmured.

"A tragedy. The loss of a First Captain of Rangers aggrieves us all."

The third winged headdress spoke up. "We welcome you in collective mourning but know this, you will find no hearth and home in the Court of the Eye of Ulthwé."

"Ulthanash Shelwé wishes your body and your marriage the swiftest of recoveries." Three blurry hands made the Eye of Ulthwé.

"Xama Ulthranwé," the three echoed before melting away.

"Xama Ulthranwé," Izuru whispered. She lifted a limp arm and laid her fingertips on her sore eyelids. "Ah…" A throbbing raged inside her skull. Please, make it stop. Izuru squeezed her eyes shut and draped the back of her hand over her eyes. Oh, Gods. Izuru flipped her hand around and ran her fingers down her face. One, two, three, four, five. She made a fist and squeezed until the nails bit skin. All five fingers ran along her quivering lips. A sob leaped free from her throat and fat tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.

Faceless, silent Eldar – little more than blurs – appeared every few hours. With their comings and goings, Izuru's swimming vision picked out greater and sharper detail. A bouquet of black flowers at her bedside, the soft glow from the winding veins within the wraithbone pillars holding up the chamber ceiling, the beds arranged around a group of dilating portals in a diamond pattern in the centre of the chamber.

White light glared at Izuru. She scrunched up her eyes and wormed her head in to her pillow. "Yirraith… boni-tu," a female voice said.

"My toes," Izuru gasped at a being clad in a pale blue hood, robe, and a transparent rebreather hovering next to her. A datapad sat in her hand.

"Err, Iam yess-Kitha At-lam Cresistauead." The healer backed away. "Kha."

"Count my toes!" Izuru wiggled her toes beneath the sheets covering her. "Please."

"Kha." The healer buried her covered nose in her datapad and scurried over to a dilating portal leading out of the chamber. Izuru's head collapsed back in to her pillow. Her palm came down on her burning forehead. Isha, take this pain away from me. Tears wet the dried tracts marking her skin. Izuru contorted her body and bent her right leg. Her searching fingers picked out her cold toes. One, two, three, four, five. A tiny squeak escaped Izuru's lips. Her chest heaved and she clapped both hands over her face. I am whole again.

Silent healers flitted to and fro between the chamber's beds. Not a single occupant spoke save a few snorts and rumbles. Izuru patted at a pair of nozzles attached to tubes protruding from a bulge in the wraithbone beside her and drew one nearer. Water squirted from one and tasteless nutrients flowed from the other.

Enough. Izuru pinched the edge of the sheets between her chin and breast and sat upright. Clothes. She squinted at the nearest beds and those within. Thin sheets clung to naked bodies. Gentle snores rose from the slumbering Eldar. All were pale-skinned and dark-haired; citizens of Ulthwé. The flat outcrops of wraithbone around them held neither robing nor breeches. Nothing was hung up and no boots stood at the foot of the beds.

Bedsheet clutched tight around her shoulders, Izuru tottered over to the portals looming in the centre of the chamber. Glowing runes ran around their circumference. I cannot understand a word of that. Izuru dipped her head and pressed her fingertips to her eyelids. Why not resuscitate my lost tongue too?

On the other side of the nearest portal, a long staircase flanked by writhing banisters led down to a shadowy grotto under the glittering gaze of millions of jewels embedded in the ceiling. My, such lustre. Izuru lifted her chin.

"They shine with such urgency, don't they?" Bright blue flames gushed within a circular hearth, casting light over the face of a female Eldar sitting alone in a corner of the grotto. "Until you look closer and see the mirage."

"Don't look at me!" Izuru whirled at the Eldar and clutched the sheet tighter around her. Blue light illuminated a sallow-skinned, stringy-haired Eldar with hooded eyes balancing a fat goblet in the palm of her hand. An ugly grin twisted a corner of her mouth.

"I look upon you with curiosity, darling. Kindred spirits we are both, separated only by the centuries. I was like you once, blessed with unquenchable wanderlust, my headstrong nature carrying me in to conflicts I had no business involving myself in. All I regret was my choice in mate, and that would never have been mine in the first place had I stayed at home. You were lucky, Izuru Numerial, power and pedigree chose you, blessed you with healthy children, and granted those new eyes and appendages."

Ellorias did this? Izuru kept her palm pressed to her breast and uncurled the fingers on her right hand. There was not a mark on any of them, nor on her toes poking out from beneath the dragging sheet. "Reveal the occasion of our last speaking and why we do so now."

"Ulthwé then and the Voidship Candiru now. I am honoured with the distinction of overseeing your rehabilitation, darling."

Is that sarcasm from a pureblood? Izuru's feet remained rooted to the floor well away from the flickering shadows. "You sat with me in the chamber of the Crystal Seers…"

"And paid compliment to your recent victory over the Void Dragons."

Recent. Izuru's steely gaze faltered and fell to the floor. That was ten years ago.

"Laying the great Princess Saarania to ruin…" Liquid tinkled inside a second goblet.

And sharing a cocoon with her bondmate. "Tell me why I should continue to listen to you, Taldeer."

Taldeer set a second goblet inside a holder in the arm of a hoverchair beside hers. "My father said once that a good label is one shared between familiars." Amber liquid glugged from a square bottle. "A being should age like a fine wine—weathered by the years, matured through kindred strife, a certain heightened desirability to them too."

"The sands run short for you." Izuru jerked the hem of the sheets up. "So does my patience."

"Tranquillity, Coldras." Gold glinted within Taldeer's sleeve. She slid the bomb's emergency override card out and twirled it around her fingers.

"I bore that title in shame to exile." Izuru fixed her eyes on the EOD.

"And bear it you will to eternity, just as I bore my son in protest." Taldeer slipped the EOD in to her robes and swept her hand across the vacant chair adjacent hers. A frown deepening on her face, Izuru stole closer to the seated seer until, five feet away from Taldeer, her eyes began to smart. Gods, is that alcohol? Izuru twisted her neck away and covered her mouth.

"If it's anything to you, my father also raised me—"

"—And there our entwined paths ended, Seer." Izuru swallowed and pinched her nostrils shut. The very essence clinging to the air stung the back of her throat. If not a seer, she's most certainly a drunk.

"Something awry?"

"These eyes…" Izuru circled her fingertips around her eyelids. "…Feel like another's."

"They probably are." Taldeer raised her goblet. "To the charity of others, and to your renewed body and marriage."

Izuru fell in to the chair beside Taldeer's and cocooned herself in the bedsheet. "I regret it too."

"Drink…" Taldeer's fingernails pattered the engraved goblet at Izuru's elbow. "You will feel better."

"I couldn't, and never on an empty stomach."

"Have you many regrets?" Taldeer swiped the goblet and set it on the floor.

"I regret not choosing a better bondmate, though that would imply my say mattered. It was only once I earned my Ranger title could I finally choose for myself, so I chose the Cameleoline over my sons and lost myself at Cadia. Now I am sick and embittered and afraid of facing the father of my children." Izuru laid her chin on her knuckles. "So afraid."

"How old are they?"

"Sixty-one, both."

"My son is two-hundred and ninety-four, long departed from Ulthwé." Taldeer skimmed a fingertip around her goblet's rim. It hummed. "He outlived his father," she said softly.

"Oh, I am sorry."

"It must not be so often the offspring's years surpass that of their progenitor."

"Did you lose him in the field?"

"Age. How frequent we look back on past misdeeds where, at the time, it all seemed so harmless. We had what we had almost three-hundred years ago, now I am lonely, drunk, and overseeing your rehabilitation." Taldeer picked up the goblet and tipped the contents on the floor. Pink liquid flowed away in to cracks. "To faded passions."

"I must see the Seer heading the council." Izuru gathered up her sheets and stepped around the sticky stone. "Now is not the time to fall to vice. My bondmate is plotting a coup!"

"The Grand Crelirun has yet to forward a suitable candidate to the Ynnari Council. We are in collective mourning for our Chief Farseer."

"If we are mourning then Ulthwé tenet commands we do not drink!"

"I am in black so I say I am in mourning. You, darling, are in white."

"He's…" Izuru hauled her sheets with her across the grotto. "Of course, he means to strike while we mourn. Not a soul will raise a finger in respect for Ulthranwé."

"Please, what is this coup? Your mind plays tricks on you in the shadows."

"What day is it?" Izuru whirled to face Taldeer. "What day!"

"We occupy the early morning cycle of Eotross."

"Eotross, Sindra, Iolox, Tesstrassa." Izuru's breath caught in her throat. "Three days."

"Three days to…?"

"Seer, my mind is as sound as my body!"

"Ranger, those committed to Candiru do not under any circumstances depart before their cycle of rehabilitation is complete. Your robes, your little gold card, all will be returned."

"Committed… committed…" Izuru brought a shaking, sweating palm up to her face. Is this all a trick? Am I truly insane? "How long?" She muttered. "How long?"

"Oh, no more than a full week."

"Shit—" Izuru jammed a knuckle between her teeth. "Kurnous."

"Ah-huh, found the taste of foreign culture appealing?" Taldeer grinned and refilled her goblet. "I have also had close brushes with the lower species."

"Seer, Ellorias Culcassian holds my sons Illic and Korsarro against their will. If I do not seek the elder's counsel on the matter, he will have his coup and unseat the Prophet! She is my only hope of banishing this thing within me!"

Taldeer's grin faded. "Oh, mind is as sound as your body…?"

"I plea, one mother to another, I plea. Let not our children's futures fall to a tyrant's bidding."

"There… I had you mistaken for a human up to this point. If only you remembered how to speak our language, you might become one of us again."

"Become one of you…?" Shivers wracked Izuru's body. Her quivering head dipped. Chattering teeth ground together. "I give my body, my mind, my soul and still, I am xenos." A deep growl resonated beneath Izuru's feet. Tremors surged through the grotto. Shattered glass spilled from Taldeer's fist. Izuru's head rose. She opened her mouth and blurted, "Tduigu-Uis Akhash a-Sha'eil. Chi'khami Iakash Q'qha Caur-kelkoesh!" Sheets flew from Izuru's shoulders. With a whoomph, the blue flames withered and died. Taldeer fell from her chair and cowered on the floor. Arms spread, hair flying, the Warp-thing's feet left the floor. "TSANI'KCHAMI'I IAKASH K'CHANU'TSANI'I. FUIAM-UOM UAL MUREKHALIR!"

Izuru's knees buckled beneath her. She toppled sideways and crumpled upon the ruffled bedsheet.

---

Mellenova

Blood-red lights flashed overhead. Saliva leaked from the corner of my mouth and pooled on the deck beneath me. My gummed-up, swollen eyelids parted. Head pounding, I peeled my cheek away from the deck. "…Uggh, Lilli?"

The emergency lighting faded and a bright strip above my bunk cast a warm, blue glow across the cabin. Are you okay? Lilli flashed at me.

Elbows sore, knees scraped raw, I pushed my naked body upright and swayed there. I unclenched my sweaty left hand and spread my fingers. One, two, three, four. The stump where my little finger should have been had turned an angry red. "I am tranquil."

Monster.

"Aye. I am, so I am." I opened my other hand and eased a thin, wicked-sharp piece of the holo-table from inside the skin on my palm. "Invaded his house, slept with his wife, insulted him in colour." Lilli flashed a reply. "Too fast, Lilli."

You are not.

"Known nothing but misery and strife since she spoke my name…" My fingertips brushed the dried blood encrusting my nose, brow, and cheeks. "How many outside the door?"

Four.

"Hm…" I gripped the three-inch piece of plasteel in my fist and jabbed. Neck, armpit maybe?

Dig.

Grey sealant filling the gaps between the wall tiles above the toilet came away in tiny chunks and spilled inside the basin. I guided the plasteel shiv at an angle and pummelled my palm against the flat base. "Son of a bitch knows where Estoc is."

Save yourself first.

"I'm not gonna lose him too."

You are naked and unarmed.

"All of this is my fault. I could've just said no, should've said no." A thin red trail seeped down my wrist and along my arm. "I've bled more for Izuru Numerial than I have my own kind. Where's the logic in that—in any of it?"

There is no logic in love.

"No logic in love…" Sealant fell away, exposing a corner of a panel above the toilet. "I'm taking that one to my grave." My fingertips curled around the rough edges and pulled. "Aww, c'mon…" Blood dripped from my elbow. My sore palms struck the shiv again and again. My knee clipped the raised toilet lid. It crashed down on to the seat. Ears ringing, fingers frozen, I peered over my shoulder at the sealed door.

"Lilli, how many are outside?"

Six.

"Shit." I dug my fingers around the edges of the panel. "Won't be fingers he's snipping next time." I squatted on the lowered toilet lid and heaved. "Euugh, c'mon…" Insulation peeled away from the bulkhead. The upper edge of the panel swung down, depositing great clumps of insulation foam on the floor. "Ohh, Lilli…" I thrust my arm in to a nestle of flexible tubing. "There's no passage here."

Wrong.

"What the hell do you mean?" I flapped my left hand and pressed the stump to my lips.

I have Mellenova's technical data package. Get in, don't argue.

"I hope I read that right." Rubber scraped at the skin on my shoulders. "Aahh, shit." I withdrew and flipped up the toilet lid. Scummy grey water filled the bowl. My cupped hands dove down and threw water over my shoulders. Body doused and dripping, I lowered the lid and climbed inside the bulkhead. Pipes slid over my slick shoulders. A lightless void stretched away from me.

"Lilli? Lilli, I'm in the dark here." A thin strip of greenish-blue light lit up an arrow-straight passageway disappearing in to the distance. Naked, soaked, and bleeding, I wriggled in to the passage.

---

Operations

A pair of golden keycards occupied the two of the slots within the bomb's guts. The third slot sat empty. Chin wedged in his fist, Ellorias glared down at the device sitting innocuously beside his left knee. An aide hovered in the corner of his eye. "Speak."

"Lord, flash traffic from the colony-vessel Candiru, the Lady Culcassia has suffered another attack from beyond the veil." The aide thrust his head down. "Through her another speaks."

"Is Candiru not a ship of the sick, and is it not under quarantine order?"

"Your word, lord."

"Then desist. My bondmate is exactly where I need her." A human transceiver vibrated in its cradle. Ellorias swiped the bricklike receiver and brought it to his ear. "Bridge."

"Lord, the human has escaped confinement."

Ellorias's stomach dropped. He let a long, slow pause hang in the air before replying. "Tell me exactly how a human slips from a cabin with a single point of entry, beneath the eyes of six armed sentinels."

"Lord, a bulkhead panel lies on the deck. Behind its façade is a warren. May we initiate pursuit?"

Ellorias squeezed the receiver in his fist and tapped the edge against his forehead. "Double the guard on the comatose human and the transit system. Do not let him draw you in to areas of the vessel we do not control."

"Lord, the human is bare to the skin and without a weapon to his name."

"And still a mockery of you he makes." Ellorias banged the receiver down. The few of his guard remaining in his presence turned their helmeted heads towards him.

"The primate insults you, lord." Lessa Muraddin, flexed his bandaged hand. "When I cross blades with another, death is inevitable."

Ellorias's head snapped around. "Captain, you were ordered to treatment. Seal that wound, it bears human taint."

Lessa's gauntlet came down on the pommel of his sword. He paced in a circle around the holo-table clenching and unclenching his wounded hand. "Why did you let him live?"

"CAPTAIN, STEP OUTSIDE!" Ellorias's hard eyes travelled around the frozen faces. Lessa bowed, took a step back, turned on his heel and strode at the parting blast doors. Ellorias drained his cup, left it in its sauce, and followed.

The thud of the sealing blast doors fresh in his ears, Ellorias planted his hands on his hips and faced the helmeted warrior.

"Why do human walls surround us, Lor?" Lessa twisted his helmet off and tucked it beneath his arm. Deep red lines scored his crown—shaven save for a white topknot. A triangular piece of his left ear was missing and shrapnel scars peppered his right cheek and chin.

Ellorias kept his eyes on the dull bulkhead and moved to Lessa's shoulder. "Your appointment to the captain of my guard appropriated benefits—you may advise and be advised upon Culcassian matters. You may not openly question your lord before his household."

"Then may my Waystone find a home in the Dream's Infinity Circuit, once the human's head sits on your mantle."

"Heads will remain attached to bodies, Lessa. You are too good to squander over a mortal matter."

"Yet this mortal dared stand shoulder to shoulder with your lady down in Soraddan's hangar—a primate did this!" Lessa ripped the greying bandage from his hand and thrust his flat palm at Ellorias.

"Affect gesture against me again, you will be ordered to evacuate." Ellorias took a step away from Lessa and began a slow circuit around him. "That wound will be sealed and the primate punished to the full extent of the human justice system. Are you aware of the fate of the offender in the Imperium of Man, Lessa?"

"Blade, bullet… I will compliment the humans on the practise of death for they have made it an art."

A gaping skull set in the blast doors rotated and broke apart. Between the parting halves, a being wearing a human headset appeared. "Lord." He bowed. "Communications, inbound and outbound, are ours."

"Encryption?"

"Apologies, lord. The human code is garbled beyond comprehension, we may transmit in ultra high frequency, nothing more."

"Captain." Ellorias paid Lessa a curt nod and stalked back in to the hall. "Pay compliments to our tow then find me this vessel's address system. Our runner need hear my words." Ellorias arranged himself in his hoverchair and gathered his empty cup and saucer. "Another tea."

---

The Warren

Rubber tubing dragged along my shoulders and gouged welts in my dry skin. Saliva seeped around the blunted shiv clamped between my teeth and dripped from my chin. The pale green strip, glowing faintly, stretched away down the passage. My shoulders cleared the tightly-clustered tubing and fresher air wafted across my burning cheeks. Two tunnels, wider and taller than the passage throttling my body, branched off in to complete darkness. A third, circular chute, led straight down. Sixty-seven junctions—no, I passed fifty-seven. Or was it sixty-seven? Sweat crept down my forehead and in to my eyebrows. I blew air from the corner of my mouth. My warm fingertips swiped a dark, sticky liquid from my eyes. "Oh, shit." My palm pattered my forehead and came away bright red. Clenched tight, my left hand throbbed. The stump prickled.

The pale green light faded. Blood rushed to my ears. "Lilli." A dead silence fell upon the passage. "Lilli!" I clenched my stomach. My numb toes curled in on one another. I inhaled through my mouth, held, then let go. Air whistled from between the shiv. From far down the passage, a whistle reached my ears. "Lilli, is that you?" My rigid eyes bored in to the darkness.

Two tiny gold pinpricks stared back at me. Ice seeped down my spine. Shivers danced through my shoulders. Izuru? Nails scraped across metal. A low hiss slipped inside my ears. I wormed my head and squeezed my eyes shut. Deep, guttural voices rolled over one another.

"For the Emperor, James."

I dove headfirst in to the chute. Wind rushing in my ears, arms pinned to my sides, I skidded down the smooth alloy. My chin banged off a curve in the tunnel. The skin on my knees burned and split. My limp body thundered along, fell through a dilating hatch and crashed in to a pool. Sour water forced itself down my throat. Blinded, I thrashed my arms and legs. My head broke the surface and I gulped down stinking, putrid air. Huge, slimy buildups climbed the walls of a bilge bathed in green light. A thin layer of filth coated the water's surface, its film plastering my streaming face. Bright shafts slipped through circular fans spinning in the ceiling. Eyes smarting, I twisted my upper body and kicked out towards a ledge jutting from a ferrocrete parapet. Clumps of waste clung to my legs and wound around my wrists. Greasy, slime-coated fingers grasped at the ledge and I heaved my body out of the water. My stomach dug in to the ferrocrete. Thick phlegm flew from my stinging lips.

Water crashed behind me. I heaved my knees out of the filth and scooted backwards until my shoulders hit the bulkhead. Ripples spread across the surface. I lurched upright and flew along the walkway. Feet slapping the cold ferrocrete, flecks of water leaped from my flailing arms. I shouldered an iron gate outward and slammed the locking bar across. Hatches, grates, access panels, all remained locked tight. Seven gates on, an open tunnel climbed up from the stinking bilges and dog-legged around to a darkened waste-disposal station. A single pressure hatch stood silent on the far side of the station. Beside it, a dead access panel and display. Within a clear casing sat a fire axe, and beneath that a hand-sized extinguisher. I dodged through the fat pumps and stabbed at the foursome of buttons beneath the display.

Cipher Ident Required.

"Lilli!" I dove at the extinguisher and wrenched it from its bracket. "Lilli, I don't wanna fu—" My eyes froze on the screen. A woman's face, stark white, grew in the reflection.

"For the Emperor, James."

I squeezed the extinguisher's trigger and whipped around. White foam gushed from the nozzle, coating the silent pumps and the deck around it. Eyes darting around the shadows, I backed up to the hatch and clutched the extinguisher against my chest.

"How can I help you, James?" A soft voice floated through the room. I threw a glance at the encased axe and swung the extinguisher at it. Transparent shards cracked and cascaded to the deck. I beat the remaining fragments aside and ripped the axe free.

"Your tenacity is in no doubt." A figure clad in black glided from the shadows between the pumps. Green light illuminated sharp cheekbones and a jawline. "If we may curtail our primal urges for a moment…"

"Help…?" The axe head clanged on the deck. I took a step towards the thing wearing Shesmet's face and dragged the axe behind me. "Kneel." I swung the axe up and hefted it in both hands. "C'mere… C'MERE!" Phlegm flew from my lips. "I'm gonna finish what Izuru started."

"Your mistress and I share plight." Shesmet glared directly at me. "You cannot threaten me, James. I am as much a part of this ship as your techpriestess's clone."

"What the fuck are you?" Air hissed between my teeth. "Your blood and brains were splattered all over that chamber—I saw your body in pieces!"

"As I said, your tenacity is in no doubt." Shesmet's glare softened and a small smile crept across her lips. "I am tethered, in part, to your world and to the Immaterium—my body host to one of its denizens—much the same as your mistress. I am a reincarnate, as is she."

"Does it have a name? Hers spoke to me…" Pins tap-danced along my arms and down my back. Murekhalir.

"A name and a face."

"Aye, I have seen what wears your face." My fingers tightened around the long haft. "Warp-thing."

"To you I am Shesmet."

"So, the xenos get to meet the real you."

"It appears so…" Shesmet slunk behind a pump. I gripped the axe and followed her. Where she had stood there was nothing but foam and the stink of the bilge. "…And I hoped today would be a good day."

Warp trickery. I rounded the pumps and found Shesmet with her back to me at the access panel. A black Inquisition uniform with crimson elbow and knee reinforcements clung to her body. I raised the axe head above my shoulder and bore down on her. Overlapping layers on the pressure door rotated and the whole structure pivoted outward. How the hell did you do that? I lowered the axe.

"Your techpriestess's clone and I were in contention for Mellenova while you were losing yourself between soft sheets with your mistress." Shesmet picked her way around the fragments littering the deck and headed through the hatch. "The xenos took us by surprise. Their intergalactic passageways are more discreet than ours."

Ours? You're nothing more than a puppet now. I slipped through the hatch and smacked a palm-sized release. An empty corridor stretched away from me.

"You are bleeding, James." Shesmet appeared at my shoulder. I jumped and held the axe tight. "If it makes you feel safer holding on to something…"

"I'd happily take another session with the angry xenos husband than swim through a bilge with you." I unclenched my left hand and spread the reddish-brown stump. "Wouldn't have thought it were fingers he'd start snipping first."

"Lucky you." Blue eyes crawled down my chest to my muck-covered genitals. "Even unmade, unkempt, undone, you are firm in conviction; of mind and body." Shivers shook my shoulders. Shesmet's lips split and curled upwards. "Decontamination is upstairs."

Skin blasted raw, cuts prickling, I tottered out from beneath the massed showerheads and snatched a towel from a long rack and tied it around my waist. I curled the fingers on my left hand and made a fist. The stump burned. Bruises clotted my forehead and bulked up my cheeks and chin. Out in the adjacent locker room Shesmet sat, legs crossed, on a high-backed bench topped with spikes. I headed straight past her and began thumbing open locker doors.

"There is a strong-room hidden in the Inquisitor's chambers." Shesmet uncrossed and crossed her legs. "And an executive shuttle."

I flicked the last locker in the row shut, rounded the benches, and approached Shesmet. One knee up on the bench, I leaned on it and thrust my face close to Shesmet's. "You never needed my help before. Why now?"

"If I perpetuated slaughter upon this xenos's household, he'd bring the entire fucking fleet down on me." Shesmet fixed me with a baleful look. "Should he beg for help after a single human escapes him and strikes back though, that makes him incompetent."

"Not just incompetent…" My gaze trawled away from Shesmet and across the tiled floor. "He's weak."

A shrill screech blasted through the lockers. I clapped my hands over my ears and shied away from Shesmet who grinned and tapped a finger to her ear.

"Hear me… Hear me now, human." Ellorias Culcassian's voice grated in my ears. I grimaced and brought my hands away from my ears. "Your defiance of my wishes, your defiling of my property, your desecration of my bondmate invokes such righteous vigour within. But I am now reconsidering our positions. My wrathful hand stays, and stay it will for the timeframe this hour provides. In sixty human minutes, your defiance will curtail your human cohort's lifespan. In sixty minutes – no more, no less – you will come forth and present yourself and your artificial construct to my household guard who, at this time, are patrolling on every deck of this vessel with orders not to shoot, only detain. Approach with confidence and mercy will meet you."

"Your face betrays the truth," Shesmet muttered.

"Aye, I have wronged him on a personal level." I flexed my twitching finger. "He expects me to hide. We're gonna counter-punch right now. Lilli if you can hear me, plot us a route to Estoc via the ducts." I struck off through the locker room.

"Planning on frightening the xenos to death, James?" Shesmet straightened her tunic and followed.

"I thought I'd let the xenos meet the real you." A spiked letter I embedded in a bulkhead door parted. Shesmet, arms folded, leaned against the curving wall out in the corridor. An unbroken holographic line, pale green, led away from us before climbing straight up to a vent in the ceiling. "No more Warp trickery, now. You are at my side permanent or not at all." I flung a withering look at Shesmet and strode along to the open vent.

"Please…" Shesmet's hand settled upon my shoulder. "Ladies first." I got down on one knee and cupped. Shesmet's shoe filled my hands and I shoved her upwards. Hands gripping the edges of the vent, Shesmet swung backwards and forwards and tucked her legs up in to the vent. She twisted without pause and thrust her outstretched hand at me. I backed up, bounded forward and leaped. My towel flew free. Her hand clamped around my wrist and Shesmet heaved me up. My scrabbling hand caught the edge of the vent and my kicking feet smacked the cold alloy. A broad smirk lighting up her stark face, Shesmet hauled me the rest of the way up to the vent.

"Well…" I tucked my feet out of the way of the sealing hatch. Ahead of us led Lilli's lifeline. "Ladies first."

---

Voidship Candiru

Binds held Izuru's wrists and ankles. The soft hum of repulsor engines flowed through her encased body. A rawness dogged the back of her throat. Tall, armoured beings shrouded in black and bearing bone-white masks devoid of features marched in formation around her. A single curving horn sprouted from each being's helmet. One shifted its gaze, revealing a carving of a face on the back of its helmet. Gods, what are you? Izuru flexed her fingers and wiggled her toes. Her chin touched her breast. The dreary Culcassian shade darkened soft robes layering her body. Do not take me back. Gods, please do not take me back.

Lady Culcassia, your wish is our command. An emerald glinted in the centre of a bare-headed warrior's breastplate looming over Izuru. A thick sash held hur-trimmed robes to his torso and a wide, horned helmet balanced in the crook of his arm.

"Nightspear."

Salacin. A broad smile reached his eyes, bright green and sparkling. How are your eyes?

"Do not take me back." Izuru tugged on bright blue energy binders snaring her wrists and ankles. "Please, for Isha's sake, I will sit at his table no longer."

"My lady…" Salacin spoke aloud. "Today, you are a guest of the Prophet. I urge you not strain yourself."

"Cut me loose!" Izuru wriggled and bucked her shoulders. "I am my own being!"

"And the words you found within fair Taldeer's company were your own? Lady Culcassia, not two cycles ago the tongue of Lam-Eldannar was alien to you. This casket grants our mutual protection."

"A tomb to bury me in!" Izuru's nostrils flared. Fog whitened the inside of the casing. Salacin broke eye contact and marched ahead of the little procession. Izuru's head tipped back. Please be safe, James. She drew air through her nose, counted to five then exhaled. After the third repetition she opened her eyes. "Re-orient me." The casket swung upright and manoeuvred her in to a sitting position. Six of Salacin Nightspear's warriors marched in two trios on her flanks. Nine-foot-long polearms sent soft ripples across the surface of an energy bridge spanning a vast cavern hundreds of feet high. "You knew my father."

"Met, yes. Acquainted, perhaps. We had no firm bridge to stand on as friends," Salacin checked his pace and folded in next to the casket. "He had an aura to him. I had hoped he would make First Captain—that is no slight upon Solene Yirryl, of course, Lady Culcassia."

"No, it is slight on me."

"Then I rescind my words."

"I am the last of the Numerials—my own sons are now Culcassians, yet only one will grow to become the thirty-ninth head of House Culcassian. If you see me, and you respect my father's memory, please call me by my maiden name."

"It would be an honour, Lady Numerial, though I am sorry your bonds with your mate have soured. Under which clause is the ascendancy of the new Dhan decided?"

"The Clause of Death, sir." Izuru's throat contracted. Warmth tinged her cheeks. "I was permitted to fuck, to conceive and carry the twins. When I awoke after delivery, they were no longer mine. Even away from him, I felt in possession of stolen property. It has taken me so long to awaken from my slumbering denial." Izuru swallowed a heave and sucked in her lips. "Tell me, are those beings below kept against their will also?"

Far beneath the great span, shielded pens, each twenty feet square, held scores of Eldar – pale and dark, young and old, male and female. Masked, gowned healers patrolled passageways between the pens.

"Candiru is a colony for the sick."

"So, Taldeer spoke the truth. I am surprised she wasn't seeing two of me."

"That matter is best left in the Prophet's hands." Salacin departed Izuru's side and led the procession to a cluster of circular platforms clinging to the cavern wall, all linked by spiralling walkways. Active portals glowed blue.

"Nephalem." A female voice gasped in Izuru's ear.

Izuru's shoulders twitched. "She is calling to me."

"Will you answer?" Salacin lowered his helmet over his eyes and blinked away. Weightlessness engulfed Izuru's casket. Colossal corkscrews – towers lit up by crackling energy – flashed past on either side of her. Transparent habitation pods and connecting umbilicals sped by. More chambers holding those afflicted filled Candiru's belly. Oh, gods… Izuru's eyes whipped side to side as the portal's artery carried her past each chamber. There are thousands of them.

"Nephalem," the Prophet whispered. "Why have you come?"

"Expect to receive me, Lady Prophet. I am not alone."

Wraithbone colonnades grew around the edges of a circular chamber host to dozens of portals resplendent with Ynnaric runes, all alien to Izuru's eyes. The stares of the Bone-singers and their apprentices tending to malfunctioning portals fell upon the casket. Many heads leaned out over the higher tiers rising up the chamber and looked down upon Izuru. She raised her chin and fixed her gaze upon the largest portal in the centre of the chamber. Salacin trotted up to the edge of the portal and turned his back on it. "This will transport us to the flagship where our Lady Prophet holds service. I ask you remain silent at all times."

Yes.

Then follow me.

Ice cascaded down Izuru's spine, seared corners of her teeth and rolled up to her gums. It drove beneath her fingernails and upended her stomach. Blades dove between her fingers and kissed the taut webbing. Izuru's eyes snapped open and she felt a portal's warmth directly behind her.

Welcome aboard Ynnead's Dream, Lady Numerial. Salacin stood at the edge of a semi-circular platform looking out across a chamber so vast the far reaches were lost in fog. A raised dais many hundreds of yards away supported a giant, opaque orb beneath a broad beam of light falling from the ceiling. Round-eyed, dry-mouthed, Izuru let herself be borne over to a gravity lift and carried down to the chamber floor.

Gods, are those people? Izuru's lips parted and her jaw hung slack. Filling the floorspace around the orb were hundreds of thousands of Eldar. All faced the centre and all were completely silent. Izuru's shoulders tensed and her toes curled inward. An unbroken rank of the Prophet's Holy Guard stood a dozen abreast before her. At Salacin's approach, they backed away a pace then split ranks. The reversed masks all faced inward. Bottomless eyes and expressionless mouths were carved in to the masks. Polearms rose to the ceiling and left arms cut across breastplates in salute. Izuru held her shaking jaw shut. She arched her back and peeled her sweat-soaked robes away from her seat.

Up to the throne, Lady Numerial. Salacin stood aside.

Your very own Golden Throne. Izuru's binds carried her down the long, silent path towards the foot of the stairs. What were you before your ascent, pauper, prostitute, privateer?

All of that and more, Nephalem. I have lived my mortal and my reincarnate life to its fullest – can you say the same?

That is not my name, Prophet. Your delusions of godhood have swallowed you whole and twisted the woman you once were in to that Warp-thing's puppet.

Ah, peas in a pod, would that be how your human-thing describes us?

A tiny twitch played in Izuru's cheek. These beings look to you for salvation and you led them through a poison belt! Have you seen the pens on Candiru? The stairs drew closer and far above them the orb grew. They are cattle.

Congregation. Practise with us now, Nephalem, the Invocation of Ynnead.

I do not answer to that name.

Then you will ascend and accept your true name. Be one with the Followers of the Seventh Path. Ascend, sever these mortal chains and achieve the supremacy you crave.

The first of many steps rose before Izuru. Her eyes climbed the hundreds up to the waiting orb. Unlit braziers ringed by clawed fingers flanked the stairs. Your words invoke pity within me. There is a bitterness clouding your mind, fouling your language, oppressing your communion. From here, it seems you keep a solitary vigil. Are you lonely up there, Yvraine?

Blue flame burst within the lowest brazier, writhed, then solidified in to crystal. Bright tongues exploded up the stairs until crystal filled every brazier. "I think I will remain down here with the masses, content without a throne. Does it assure you of your greatness?"

May your body remain bloodied and broken among the filth. No bonds can keep you, Murekhalir. Shed the sins of your mortal body. Ascend.

"Agh!" Izuru's head wrenched backwards. Freed, her body collapsed at the foot of the stairs. On her knees, she swayed and looked over at the hovering casket. A pale-skinned, dark-haired being remained frozen in the chair. That's me. Izuru stared down at her open palms. So, this is what it feels like.

Ascend.

Izuru swung around and brought a knee up. Arms swaying, she mounted the stairs.

T'was no choice of mine, this holy anointment. At Ynnead's call, you answer, you prostrate yourself and profess gratitude. Its divine word supplants all other callings.

I am sorry it claimed you. The shining crystal pulsated in Izuru's ears; a gentle thump-thump-thump.

No sorrow. Ynnead granted me rebirth after I fell to the sword. What I have never understood is why, why it offered you deliverance. You… a—a vagabond outcast of vile lineage.

Izuru's eyes cleared the very last step. Ten feet above her the orb shimmered, flickered and made a slow descent to the floor. "Long have I agonised, searched myself for the mundane and the logical, spurring my heart over my head." Layers slid black from the orb's surface. It shrank and withered, ridges forming on its surface until it faded. "In my delirium, I ignored, denied, argued against the simple fact that I am in love with the being I am sworn to and the children I am sworn to protect."

Eight electric blue feathers rose from a tall-backed throne hewn from magenta wraithbone. Fat capsules clung to the back and long tubes coiled around the wide arms, their nozzles embedded in the being embedded within. Chalk-white, sunken-eyed Yvraine slumped upon her throne. Faded runes scrawled her cheeks and tall brow. A clear, gel mask clung to her lower face. Deep cracks spread from the corners of her yellowed, sickly eyes.

"Look at you…" Yvraine rasped. "Firm of conviction, full of bust, blessed with purpose. By what right does the lashing of your tongue lay upon the Herald of Ynnead?"

"I am no reflection of you, Lady Shades. That which ails you fell down upon your household at your behest. Your words reflect your rule – throne, chains, supremacy – a mirror of the human juggernaut. There is no love funnelled in to this stewardship." Izuru paced around the edge of the dais. "Where is your man?"

"Pfft, man!"

"The Visarch—he is yours or just another bodyguard?"

"So full of life…" Yvraine murmured through her teeth. "When I ran kha-vir through you, I prayed destruction upon the thing within. Now it walks, talks, hangs your body from strings. By the Croneswords, I should have cut off your head!"

"She is as much a part of me, as the Yncarne is you." Izuru rounded Yvraine's throne. "I accept that."

"Naïve, raising mere stimuli upon a pedestal. Would a god waste its time with such trivial emotions?"

"You are as familiar with the Warp-dwellers as I—we are tethered to them in a way no other living race is. Liars and tricksters, leeches and parasites, forces powerful beyond our comprehension hanging our bodies from strings; not just mine. Call me naïve but surely evil cannot exist without good, and for all the bale forces stirring in the eternal night, there are other, brighter beings keeping the darkness away from our doorstep. Our long-departed fathers and mothers understood that, can a prophet too?"

The faded, red paint covering Yvraine's lips split and a corner of her mouth curled. "Do you want it?" Bony fingers, resting on the arm of her throne, spread and a veiny palm turned upright. Izuru hovered before Yvraine. Her eyes lingered upon the throne then cut over her shoulder to the casket and her body far below. Pins trickled along her arms. A tickle arose on her nape. A shadow fell across Izuru. From the beam's white epicentre, a slim alien being wrapped in flames flew straight down at her. Bright blue eyes gleamed. Long, thin horns grew from its smooth crown and a white mane splayed above it. Izuru clamped her quivering jaw shut and closed her eyes. Isha, protect them.