‘They just came out of Warp. They’re currently above the planet.’
Ortherwelai sighed. ‘They can’t keep their noses out of anything. Blasted fools the lot of them. How do we progress Perithal? We don’t have much time, it seems.”
Perithal’s face twisted strangely as it took the unfamiliar shape of someone uncertain and worried. In the hundreds of years she had known him, Ortherwelai had not seen the visage of worry cross his face. She frowned.
‘That bad?’
‘The area affected is large. The Temple here was used often. Big on the inside, or as far as we got. I don’t know if we can contain it. There’s been increased activity, we think. I don’t know. We didn’t have much time to begin with.’
“I don’t know”. It was another first for Perithal. This was bad. Ortherwelai sighed once more. ‘Let’s go.’
‘In orbit sir. Sensors reveal a large concentration of life forms on the planet.’
‘What? What kind of life forms – oh… wretched creatures. What are they doing here?’
‘Evidently the same thing we came to do, captain.’
‘They can’t be allowed to. We have no idea what they’ll use the fracture for. It seems that we will have two enemies to face.’
‘Yes, captain. Your orders?’
‘Prepare third company. We make planetfall tomorrow morning.’
‘By the Blood of Sanguinius, it will be done, captain.’
‘Aye. By the Blood of Sanguinius.’
Ortherwelai of the Alaitoc observed the site. The area stank of infestation, all emanating from the building. It was a squat, ugly thing and it seemed to warp the landscape around it, making the trees black, killing the grass. The once peaceful forest was now rank with death and no animal came near here. No native either, affording Ortherwelai and her brethren the ability to work without attracting attention. Or it had, up till now.
‘What have we learned?’ asked Ortherwelai.
‘Apparently the cult was trying to summon what they believed to be their God of destruction to wage war on enemy tribes. Khorne, by any other name. They were killed by something before they could, but they left this place’s borders into the warp very thin. What’s coming next? Warp storm? Incursion? I don’t know, and I hate not knowing. We need to seal the place up fast and I’m afraid we can’t get close. Severe psychic backlash. We lost the first person that went near, just keeled over dead. We almost didn’t retrieve his body in time to get the spirit stone.’
’What?’ said Ortherwelai, appalled. She was tall and proud, her features as angular as any other and had raven dark hair. Her eyes were dark and sunken. She had not had much rest over the past month. ‘His spirit stone almost failed? We can’t do anything! We can’t risk losing anyone to The Enemy!’
‘I know,’ said Perithal. He shared much the same looks as Ortherwelai. You could have mistaken them for relatives. The only difference was his pure white hair and his eyes, which were still bright and alert despite the amount of effort he had poured into this endeavour. ‘I told you, we’re at a loss for what to do. It could amount to nothing, or it could become another entry point for Chaos and we can’t risk that.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘I. Don’t. Know. I don’t. The amount of Chaos taint here is unbelievable. I have no idea what caused it to be so strong, but it wasn’t some barbarian temple.’
Ortherwelai sat on her haunches and started at the building for the longest time. They were a fair distance away. Most of the trees had been cleared in one direction, a large roadway of sorts. It was here they observed the temple.
‘And our unwanted guests?’
‘Seem to be staying in orbit above the planet. They haven’t done anything yet. I don’t like it.’
‘Me neither.’
’This is Urullia of Ranger group Promentina. Locals seem to be encroaching on our perimeters. Several young males.’
Perithal looked up, activating his communications link.
‘Keep an eye on them Promentina. We’ll cloak if we have to.’
’Understood. Promentina out.’
‘They’re the least of our problems,’ muttered Ortherwelai.
‘Indeed. I’ll see you soon, friend,’ said Perithal, standing. He moved off.
‘Yes,’ mumbled Ortherwelai. ‘We’ll work this out.’
She continue to stare at the ruins long after the sun had set.
The next morning, Captain Oliver of the Blood Angels third company walked among his battle brothers as they prepared to enter their drop pods. The Chaplain had blessed the men the night before, and the first to land would be those of the Death Company. Their landing zone was in the centre of an enemy infested area who, presumably, were searching for traces of Chaos, but all that mattered was that they were impeding the will of The Emperor. Captain Oliver spoke at length about the importance of their mission and finished his speech with a roar of ‘By the Blood of Sanguinius!’ which was repeated by the marines. They quickly entered their drop pods and prepared for planetfall.
‘We have movement,’ called out one Eldar. He was bent over a radar screen, one currently showing several dozen objects moving at high speed.
‘Humans,’ whispered the Eldar in charge of the lookout post. ‘Where are they headed?’
‘…here,’ said the Eldar, pointing out an area he had just brought up on the screen. The area had several guardian squads there. Awaiting the arrival of Ortherwelai to sweep the area for Chaotic taint. It was a flat, grassy clearing in the middle of the forest, not too far away from the Eldar’s main concentration of forces.
‘Inform Warlock Ortherwelai.’
With an almighty crash, the first drop pods hit the ground. The guardians, who were informed not five minutes ago of the invasion, had little time to prepare, but to their credit managed to start firing before the Death Company and their accompanying Chaplain did. Charging from their smoking transports with roars of rage, the Space Marines opened fire with a deafening and deadly barrage, running towards the enemy in their crazed fury. The guardians began to fall back as their number’s began to fall, Eldar after Eldar being ripped apart by gunfire. In turn, their molomolecular shurikens began to cut into Space Marine armour and the warriors began to fall. For all their efforts, however, the guardians had no chance whatsoever against Black Rage filled Marines and were being ripped to ribbons by bolter fire. Running for the trees, most never made it, instead falling, blood fountaining from multiple fatal wounds. Less than two minutes after planetfall, the Death Company had cleared the area, now covered in the bloody corpses of Space Marine and Eldar. Intending to utilise the Black Rage to the full, the Chaplain in charge directed his men towards the trees. They charged in the direction of the main Eldar forces, disappearing into the forest. The Emperor's will done, the Chaplain radioed his Captain.
‘Area clear,’ he said. In the distance, the roar of gunfire started up again. Five minutes later, it had finished. He hoped that they had thinned the Eldar’s numbers, though he would gladly face them if there were ten or ten thousand in the execution of his duty.
The earth shaking thump of drop pods resonated round the clearing. Behind the Chaplain, Captain Oliver emerged, as did the Third Company. The Chaplain walked up.
‘The Death Company have completed their duty, brother. We have established a beachhead.’
‘Indeed,’ responded Oliver. He turned as a proud, tall, dark skinned man strode towards him, wielding a power sword.
‘The Inquisition will direct you, Captain. Praise the God-Emperor.’ He said, in a deep, commanding voice.
‘I understand,’ replied Oliver. ‘Praise the God-Emperor.’
Hidden, cloaked, on the far side of the clearing, a ranger broke away and ran for base.