XII. SURVIVOR
Without so much as a blink, the warrior of the Contenders meets the cultist whirling her elegant swords in both hands. Bhuteg had fought such women under the gaze of Warlord Yugortha, long before he had earned the honour of Elevation, and thus no sooner did she complete her lunge than he lashes out, knocking both weapons out of her grip. In answer the cultist flings up a third, sickeningly pinkish limb with a gleaming blade in it from under her cloak – and gets no chance again. The Space Marine roars and, with a powerful sabaton kick, shatters her torso, watching as she crumples to the ground, so small and vulnerable beside him.
Bhuteg Ottokar growls as yet another heretic's knife pierces his remaining eye, the one not yet replaced by an augmetic. The thick back wall of his orbit holds, and the next moment the Vanguard Primaris hurls this last foe away. Crashing on the black-and-violet rocks of Esperanza, the cultist's body goes limp.
There is not a heartbeat to lose, now. As much as the Contender wants to stay, to deal with the remaining enemies lurking further off, it is time to retreat.
'Karoun Artashes,' he vox-hails another of their small party, 'we return to the lander now! Aelric will delay the rest!'
Picking up the wounded Inquisitor Makjali, Bhuteg cradles her still form in his giant arms and breaks into a heavy run, striking up dark rubble from under his boots. Meanwhile, Artashes the Skull Bearer finishes his own cultist with a single blow – driving the edge of his gauntleted palm right into the man's dusky face – and... it lasts only a moment, but for that moment his transhuman intelligent features look strangely, nakedly feral.
With the lone, boltgun-armed Space Wolf shooting off the pursuers, Bhuteg swiftly carries the inquisitor to the awaiting shuttle. Blood has already coagulated in the warrior's eye socket.
'Flesh is weak, Inquisitor!' He snarls, unsure if this mortal woman can hear him or not, but speaking all the same. 'On the silver sands of Ghanam, we have only three valuables: water... weaponry... and fuel. We believe that to be Elevated means to arrive in Bal Khell, to earn the honour of going to war side by side with the heroes of the past. And yet, for all that we are the descendants of Primogenitor Ferrus, we do value the lives of unenhanced people, for we recall ourselves in the same state.' He stops, and then continues: 'Our urge to be one with the Machine does not necessarily mean forgetting the past. We remember a lot and see no shame in sharing it. In that former life, for example, our Second Clan-Captain had been a slave, and our Ninth even worse than a slave…'
The Inquisitor is silent. No matter. She will survive. Because she must.
But first, he relays the final vox-order from the surface of this blighted rock.
'Shipmistress, inform Lord Steersman Beric: he must prepare to warp-translate immediately!'