The first thing I noticed was something that I really should have thought about, having been damned for some time. As the day wore on and the sun battered us all, I kept looking to where the water was stored longingly, my throat parched. It was all I could do to avoid throwing myself into our water stores, quenching my thirst to excess. Not surprising considering my nature; I'd noticed since Slawkenberg that any desire I had could easily be magnified to absurd lengths. It was one reason why aside from a few creature comforts like tanna that I did without, denying myself as if in doing so I could hide from the fact that every breath I took was an act of heresy. Jurgen eventually noticed my covetous glances at the canteens.
"Thirsty, sir?" he asked. Good old Jurgen, always seeing to my needs faithfully, even when I turned into a karking Daemon Prince. I really didn't deserve his loyalty, but was grateful for it nonetheless.
"As is everyone. I should set an example," I told him. Illric, still prancing across and over the vehicles (much to the amusement and slight fear of those inside)(1), would occasionally tell me how things had been going, and had also been key in keeping people from taking more than their ration. He had a much faster metabolism than humans, so his portions were larger despite some of the grumbles a few of the more ungrateful civilians gave to this fact. Still a few calming words from me seemed to set them straight.
"Do daemons even get thirsty?" Jurgen asked with as much curiosity as he ever showed. "Can't you just eat warp energy?"
I… I hadn't considered that as an option, so focused on suppressing my desires as I had been. I focused inwards, and saw Illric stumble out of the corner of my eye; unsurprisingly given his species and lifestyle, he nearly instantly regained his balance so that only I caught the fleeting glance of our Eldar Ranger being anything less than graceful. Immediately, the feeling of thirst abandoned me.
"Huh. It worked," I mused. I supposed that damnation might have some small benefits after all, otherwise why would so many heretics seek it out? Then I reminded myself that it was because they were all several cards short of a tarot deck.
"Shall I tell the rest that their faith in the God-Emperor slakes your thirst as well?" Jurgen inquired. I nodded, feeling slightly guilty for taking advantage of these loyal citizens' devotion, before Jurgen and I were interrupted.
"It does that for me, too! Well, one type of Thirst," Illric replied, leaning out of my side of the buggy. "Things are going well across the convoy," he reported languidly, seemingly taking a moment to enjoy the sun. Over the time we knew each other, I came to learn that my Eldar companion was one to absolutely revel in the little pleasures now that enjoying himself didn't risk that whore Slaanesh sucking out his soul.
"You could check in with the combead," I told him in exasperation. Trust an Eldar to show off.
"Yeah, I could," he agreed cheekily, before swinging himself up on top of the buggy's roof- but on my side.
"Anything?" I asked. An average Eldar's eyesight could easily beat that of a human using binoculars, a trained Ranger's even moreso. So it was only sensible to use Illric as our eyes and ears with the lack of actual sensor suites in the Orkish vehicles.
"I see tracks up ahead- we should leave the main road soon," Illric responded, all business as opposed to his teasing tone from earlier.
"Roger," I told him, nodding to Jurgen, who seemed quite bored(2) with the current state of our driving. We peeled off of the main road, and onto a more jagged, rough terrain. This seemed to brighten his mood a little, and we were off. Finally, after another few hours of off road driving that left me glad that my spine was now reinforced by Warp stuff, we arrived at the first area that might have water. Kolfax, the particularly scruffy local who knew more about getting water from the desert than most of the other members in our rag-tag little group combined, hopped out of the truck he was in, and looked around. I decided to follow him, giving the appearance of being on top of things so the civvies wouldn't be too disappointed if the news was bad. He sighed in disappointment at what he had found.
"The Rock Sage is dead. That means the water can't be gotten at shovel distance. The ripperspikes here mean that it's at least ten meters down, and we can't reach that."
I stared down at my hands. Could I blow a hole that deep with my sorcery? Should I? I thought about the pros and cons for a bit. No, better not. The Emperor only knows what sort of taint I might leave on the local ecosystem by using my powers to reach down to the local water source. Besides, it would be far harder to pass off as a miracle than the healing had been. "There are other places to check, right?"
"There should be, but don't get your hopes up," he grumbled, heading back into the truck he was assigned to. Truly, a delightful and personable ray of light he was.
"Commissar? We have a discipline issue," Tayber comed. "And I think they'll only listen to you."
I let out an aggrieved sigh, and waved Jurgen over. He and I plodded along down the convoy, and sure enough, there was a problem. A woman with tattoos on her face was trying to get past Grenbow with a knife clutched in her hand. She looked positively murderous. Behind said PDF trooper was someone wearing arbitrator rags, with an equally murderous look in his eyes. Felecia was watching, legs kicking back and forth like an excited young child. Obviously, she found this whole scene entertaining.
"What's going on here?!" I shouted, hoping that my authority would cut through the haze of bloodlust.
"...Demara spilled some of Tamworth's water ration," Grenbow said slowly, as if he couldn't believe it either.
"It was an accident!" Demara, whose rough manner of speech and appearance reminded me of the gangers back home, complained.
"That's a load of Grox-shit and you know it, scum!" Tanworth spat with obvious contempt for her. Trust an arbitrator to make a situation more tense rather than de-escalate it. Then again, much the same could be said about most Commissars.
"Jurgen, please go get my allotted water ration," I replied, pinching the bridge of my nose in frustration. Jurgen nodded, and raced off, Illric flinching a little as he passed right by the Eldar. "How much was spilled?"
The ganger woman wouldn't meet my eyes, muttering in what might have been contrition. "Half the cup."
This answer seemed to further incense Tamworth. "You spilled the whole thing you-"
"You tossed it aside as you were going at me!" Demara screamed.
My sharply raised hand, palm flat, brought them both up short from further bickering. "So half a cup of water was spilled on accident. And you two tried to kill each other," I surmised, as Jurgen brought my ration up. "Bring both your cups forwards." They looked at me in confusion. "What I am going to do is this. I will give you my water ration… but the other tells me when I've given the other half a cup." By now, more of the civilians were watching. Good- an audience should help deal with this. "And when the other decides that it's half full, then the rest will go to them."
"What about you?" Felecia inquired.
"I drink from the font of the faith you all bestow," I replied evenly, lying as easily as I breathed. The watching civilians certainly seemed to lap it up like it was fresh, ice cold water at any rate. "I will survive." With that, I took Tamworth's cup, and began to fill. Slowly, the water reached a third. Then a half. Then three-quarters. Finally, it was full.
"That's half," Demara said. Tamworth took the cup, and drank.
"Well done," I replied, a pleased smile plastered on my face. Morale and discipline was just as much about praising good behavior as it was about punishing the bad, as they'd taught us in the Schola. "Instead of taking as you wished, you gave him all of it. Now, I don't care what your issues were in the past, but we can't afford to fight amongst ourselves. I know water is life, but a cup of water spilled does not equal the life of a citizen of the Imperium," I stated evenly. "I don't want to hear about any more conflicts like this. Do you both understand?"
"We understand," they both said at the same time, saluting me. I saluted them back, and went back up to the front and got into the Buggy with my aide. At my nod, Jurgen turned the engine on, and the convoy moved once more.
We came to a stop for the night by a rockcrete bunker. It had been built for the road-workers, back before Perlia was besieged by the Greenskins, as a place for them to get out of the elements and rest. Kolfax, familiar with the little hut, directed us inside. It was mostly stripped of anything useful, though we were able to recover a few tools, a small amount of food, and a porno-slate. I handed the last to Jurgen, who took it with glee and retreated to make use of his new prize; it was probably ironic that a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh had an aide so thoroughly addicted to smut while both were steadfastly loyal to both Emperor and Imperium. The two troublemakers from earlier had been assigned as paired watchers, and as an autogunner and her loader. I'd thought it a good punishment for their behavior which would also negate further problems. They'd have to get along to survive, now. They seemed to be slightly less murderous than they were earlier, so that was a good sign.
"We're making decent time," Kolfax admitted to me, moving around some sand in a corner of the shelter before grunting with satisfaction at finding what he was looking for. "Ah, it's still here." He pulled out two bottles of amasec. One was handed to me. A small luxury. He took a swig from his bottle. "You gonna drink up? It'll probably be the last one you have," he grumbled.
"I'm fine," I replied. I'd cut back on my drinking since my damnation, fearful of losing control with an excess of drink. So if I was going to indulge, it certainly wouldn't be from such a low quality of spirits. "It could be better used as an antiseptic for the medicae," I told him. I was half tempted to tell him to turn his own bottle in for such a use rather than dehydrating himself by imbibing alcohol, but figured it better to let him have this to keep his morale, such as it was, up. "I'll get some more when we reach the Imperial lines."
"That's a fool's errand," he said with his useful cheer and charm. He took another swig as the two of us moved out of the bunker. "We're gonna die out here. You know that, right?"
"I'm not," I replied as he sat down on the cooling sands to drink, taking a seat beside him to keep talking; Kolfax was our guide after all and thus his morale was of paramount importance. Some might take my statement of not fearing my own mortality as bravado, but unfortunately for my soul it was the simple truth now. I couldn't die- not anymore, barring the God-Emperor Himself, but he didn't know that- which left me more able to focus on Kolfax's own fears. "And neither will you. We're going to get through this." I said it with all the confidence I could reasonably fake. I still didn't know how I was going to get this motley lot to safety. Unknowingly, our guide echoed my thoughts, incredulous at my statement.
"You're serious? You think you can lead this ramshackle convoy all the way to the front lines?"
"Someone has to," I stated, watching the stars. We could see slight movement among them, and occasionally one would be far brighter before vanishing, evidence of the continuing battle in the void. "Who do you think's winning?" I asked, pointing to the sky.
He took a swig. "Us, hopefully," he muttered. Uncommonly optimistic for the dour man.
"I think so", I agreed. I raised my unopened bottle to the heavens in a toast to the Imperial Navy. "Give 'em hell," I told the voidsmen, before standing up and brushing the sand off of my uniform then heading back to the convoy. After depositing my bottle with Norbert (he would either add it to our supplies or drink it- either one was fine with me), I settled in for the night.
The second day was, for the most part, a repeat of the first, minus the attempted murder. Illric had decided to join us as the gunner in the buggy, instead of patrolling in the hot sun. Jurgen had been so kind as to move further away from the group when we were sleeping, due to his snoring threatening to set off a sand avalanche(3). It helped to some extent. Illric was wondering how far his range was, so I could use the powers of a Dark God to create a sound barrier, or if his snores had the same properties he had. A fascinating conversation, to be sure. Once that was over, we were off again. It wasn't long before we reached the second area that may have had water. By now, the civilians were obviously extra thirsty, and I feared that I'd have to try to bore a hole down to the aquifer with my power if there wasn't any here, and pray that it didn't taint the entire thing with my sorcery(4). Thankfully, it didn't come to that. I heard Kolfax whoop with joy, and raced over.
"Rock sage!" he declared. "Get the shovels!" I repeated the order, and soon enough, the entire convoy was headed to the patch, ready to take all the water they could. And then he and I realized that the rock sage was floating in some areas. We'd come across an entire lake!
"Thank the Emperor!" I declared, with at least a dozen of the civilians pausing to make the sign of the Aquila at my declaration as we all began to purify the water using what equipment we had. Norbert was leading that process, and as far as I could see doing a stellar job of keeping things orderly. After a while, he came over to me, dataslate in hand as he did whatever calculations he needed. "Well?"
"We should have enough for several days, even if the depot is empty," he declared confidently.
"Should we wash the clothes here as well?" I inquired. After nearly three days of hard desert travel after our escape from Prosperity Wells, even if the civilians and PDF hadn't already been ripe they certainly were now. I was feeling a bit grimy myself, and I wasn't sure if I even sweated normally anymore; Jurgen of course was a lost cause as far as cleanliness went. Cleaned clothing and a bath could do a world of wonder for morale.
"Further away, of course," Norbert suggested. I agreed with that, best not to have our drinking water polluted by our collected filth. With that dealt with, I moved onto Felecia, who was working on the vox equipment that Grenbow had on him when we had met. She was giving out instruction, occasionally pausing, or correcting herself.
"What are you doing?" I asked her and hoping that I wasn't going to get any of the typical cogboy mumbo jumbo 'explanations'. Fortunately, as usual she proved herself to be atypical for those of her faith.
"Trying to repair this," she replied with what I was coming to recognize as her usual good cheer. She picked up some metal, and started making some weird sounds(5) that were not totally unfamiliar- I had heard tech-priests make similar sounds, though of higher ranking(6). Her hands were covered in grease and other liquids from the technology. "The hope is that we can broadcast ourselves and see if we can gather any other stragglers," she explained.
"That could attract the Orks," I pointed out. "And if these are as common as I know them to be, why haven't we heard any other replies?"
"Because everyone else is thinking that it'll attract Orks?" Felecia mused. That… was an admittedly fair point. Our solace tech-priestess continued. "So one broadcasting should catch any straggler's attention."
I nodded in acknowledgement. It would be my duty to gather any soldiers I could into an ad-hoc unit if I could I supposed. Plus more bodies between myself and being banished to the Warp were always welcome. "What's the range?"
"Right now? Only a couple of kilometers. Hopefully I can get the range to go further…" she muttered, going back to her work. I decided to leave her to it. I was not one to understand the mysteries of the Mechanicus.
We spent the night at the oasis, with many of us bathing and swimming in it the following morning, after we topped off the water rations. It was a definite boost in morale, and a happy trooper is one less likely to shoot their officers or Commissars in the back(7). The civilians were still getting the sand pelted at them from the treads and tires of our shoddy vehicles, but having relatively clean bodies full of water made the mood considerably lighter. The day went about in a similar manner as the previous ones, though there was a slight delay when one of the ork vehicles broke- its engine snapping with an audible CRACK that sent half of the defensive soldiers scrambling to ready their weapons. But other than that, there was little in the way of action, which suited me just fine. When we set camp for the night, I decided to talk to Kolfax again.
"So how behind are we?" I asked. Even he was in better spirits though, and wasn't nearly as grumpy as usual.
"After that water pickup, we're still good. I would've hoped to make more progress today, but we should be reaching the depot by mid-afternoon tomorrow."
"That soon?" I asked, surprised and pleased at our rate of progress.
"Hopefully, barring another engine failure, or another setback." All I could do was nod in agreement, and hope that the Emperor would ignore my damned self enough to bless His other loyal servants with a bit of luck.
There was no such hope. We were woken by the night sentries and Felecia, who I would later learn didn't sleep, thanks to some hidden implants(8). Apparently they had spotted an ork group. I, being the head of this measly little band, was forced to be in front, the golden Aquila clinking as I took a crouching position.
"Illric?" I asked quietly, as he peered through his scope.
"Only a few dozen… they look to be driving near us… but not at us."
"So they don't see us?" I asked with relief disguised behind my facade of duty.
"Oh, they most definitely do, but they think that we're some of them." He paused. "One of them is making motions to follow them. They must've found something."
"The depot," I realized in horror.
"Can we take them out?" Tayber asked, fingering his lasgun.
"I can take a few shots, but I do believe that would be up to the blessings of Ciaphas here," Illric said, smirking. My hands clasped the Aquila.
"I know of one technique that can, but that would only immobilize them," I admitted, as the Orks began to speed away. Evidently they thought we weren't interested in the depot. "We'll have to take the fight to them, if we can reach it first."
"Shall we awaken the civilians?" Tayber inquired.
"Yes. We need to use every hour we can," I decided. With that, we headed off to do our duty. To my distaste, I found that sloth was also feeding me. So, I palmed the Aquila and improvised as I seemed to be getting increasingly good at when I was utilizing my taint. "Merciful Emperor, let me awaken Your servants," I intoned, as I peered through the Warp, and began pulling at the sloth around me. Little by little, careful not to cause damage, I drank deeply from the exhaustion and desire to sleep, slowly removing it. I could see the effects on Tayber- his eyes seemed less droopy. I ignored Illric as a courtesy, which he seemed grateful for.
"Using the Emperor's Blessing to act like a Recaf machine… how mundane," Illric mused, eyes twinkling with slight mirth.
"I'm not making a habit out of it," I answered back, stopping the pulling(9). By now, the civilians were wide awake, and several of the PDF were staring at me in naked awe. As if my reputation wasn't fraudulent enough! At this rate, they'd be filing the paperwork to make me a saint(10)!
"Remember this! Your men's lives are valuable, and not to be spent like water! The Saint himself taught me that." - Attributed to Colonel Alaric Tayber, 1st Perlian Crusaders Regiment (11).
Excerpt from the collected sermons of Cardinal Mordo Vervah of the Cainite Cult.
"From the Prophet's time in the desert, and from the Lesson of the Cup, we can take away several teachings. Firstly and most importantly, is to drink deeply of your faith in the God-Emperor, as the Prophet did. In this you shall be sustained in times of hardship and trial. The second teaching is to be generous to your fellow followers of the God-Emperor, as shown when the Prophet praised the woman Demara for her selflessness in letting the cup of what had been her enemy be filled. This also goes into the third teaching, that it is right and just to admit to one's faults and make restitution. The fourth teaching, often quoted, is that the life of an Imperial citizen has value and as such should be honored and not spent needlessly. And the fifth, is that in the Emperor we are all one; Human, Eldar, Eluan, lawbringer, criminal, priest, beggar, and noble all serve His Most Holy Imperial Majesty. Quarrel not with those of the faith. Take of these teachings that the Prophet bestowed upon us, and make use of them in your life." (12)
1: Rangers tend to show off when in convoys out of boredom. Illric is no exception. When there aren't birds to shoot out of the sky that land on annoying individuals, they will race down the side of vehicles, juggle, or make small talk.
2: Driving in an even remotely organized fashion does seem to bore him quite a bit.
3: I would say he is exaggerating, but I've heard Jurgen's snoring through, on different occasions: four separate walls, two bulkheads, a Baneblade, the Palace of Slaanesh, and many more.
4: Ciaphas' power can act as a wonderful filter for water. Just make sure it's next to Jurgen for at least five minutes before usage.
5: Cain is likely referring to Binary, the sacred language of the Tech-Priests.
6: Felecia was taught this language earlier than most by her… friend… and the… unique accent would make the Spirits listen to her above all others.
7: A lesson that Ciaphas would teach during his semi-retirement. It seems to have stuck, as fragging rates have dropped by a noticeable amount across the Imperium, with the rate still declining year over year, as I am told.
8: I wonder how Ciaphas figured that one out.
9: Recaf has nothing on Ciaphas' Feast of Sloth. He can and has been summoned by those in the know to help the troops wake earlier. However, it has also been noted that, no matter what, a human will need sleep at some point, so like recaf, it's a temporary fix at best. It's also almost as addictive.
10: Amusingly, this has become Ciaphas' cover story, as mentioned in an excerpt earlier. It was on Perlia that the story had its beginning, with the March of the Liberator later becoming a popular pilgrim's trail- so popular that it supplies noticeable economic growth to the planet.
11: After the Orkish invasion was completely destroyed and the planet recovered, Perlia was judged fit to provide tithes of regiments to the Imperial Guard based upon their performance during the siege. However by this time Ciaphas' reputation as a Living Saint had been established, and Perlia became a Shrine World to Cain with an influx of pilgrims. Perlia used this newfound wealth to invest in better gear for their provided Guard regiments; between this and their faith in Cain as a Saint of the Emperor, this has turned the Perlian Crusaders into an elite Guard unit that is often compared to the Maccabian Janissaries.
12: The Cainite Cult is often seen as one of the most compassionate and accepting of the various cults of the Imperial Creed, responsible for great works of charity and focus upon the common man. Considering Ciaphas' appreciation for the writings of Saint Emilia, it seems appropriate that a cult of the God-Emperor founded in his name should take such a direction.