Shroud of Night

by Andy Clark

  ‘Haltheus’ plan isn’t without its risks,’ said Kassar. ‘But he’s right, it’s the quickest way at this stage, and we cannot afford to lose any more time. Your concerns are noted, Makhor.’

  ‘Well, that’s a relief,’ muttered Makhor. ‘I don’t see why we have a naysmith if no one ever listens to my objections…’

  Ignoring Makhor’s dark mutterings, Kassar surveyed his warriors, assessing their readiness. The Unsung had a scattering of injuries between them, from Phalk’ir’s hidden facial burns and D’sakh’s cracked shin to the ugly wound that marred Skarle’s chest. Their armour, repainted for this mission, already looked every bit as grimy, dented, blood-spattered and scorched as it had upon their departure from Bloodforge, and several of their camo cloaks had been reduced to tatters. They clutched an assortment of weapons, some their own, some scavenged from the dead, many low on ammunition or suffering damage in their own right.

  None of that mattered. They were his Harrow, his Unsung, and they would win through as they always had, without the aid of the Dark Gods. For all their flaws, corruptions and failings, they were the only ones he trusted in the entire galaxy. And that was enough.

  ‘Are we all clear on the plan?’ asked Kassar.

  ‘It’s hardly complex,’ said Haltheus. ‘Wait until the train is passing below us, then we jump, grab hold, rally to you, and ride it all the way to our destination.’

  ‘The vehicle is likely to be travelling in excess of one hundred miles per hour,’ cautioned Kyphas. ‘It will be no easy matter to time our drop correctly, or to land safely atop it.’

  ‘Are we sure that the baggage will survive this?’ asked Makhor. He gestured to where Syxx clung to Krowl’s backpack. The cultist had been firmly lashed in place with plasteel rappelling lines, and was now doing his best to avoid the biomechanical vents that drizzled hot, wet steam from Krowl’s power pack.

  ‘He’ll be fine,’ said Haltheus dismissively. ‘So long as he keeps his limbs tucked in and hangs on, those lines will hold him in place. And you know Krowl would go under the maglev before he let the baggage get injured when he’s been ordered not to.’

  ‘Besides,’ said Phalk’ir, darkly, ‘it survived drowning, and crushing. I’m sure it can survive this, too…’

  ‘Has anyone considered that we might not be the only ones trying this?’ asked A’khassor. ‘Stealing a ride on the maglev into the city, I mean. We may be about to leap onto a train crawling with Khorne worshippers just as eager to reach the city as us.’

  ‘Or Imperials,’ said Makhor. ‘If they’ve kept the trains running while there’s an invasion under way, you can believe they’ve garrisoned them.’

  ‘If we run into resistance,’ said Haltheus, ‘I have a backup plan. Trust me, brothers.’

  ‘Trust in all of us,’ said Kassar. ‘In each other.’

  Murmurs of appreciation greeted his words, drowned out by a rising wind that moaned along the tunnel. Overhead, strip-lumen pinged and ticked as they burst to life, a bow wave of light and air rushing before the approaching leviathan. The thunder of the train’s approach built for longer than Kassar expected. The gantry to which they clung began to quiver, its railing humming with vibration, its mesh decking emitting a tinny rattle.

  When it came, it did so with breathtaking suddenness. One moment the tunnel was empty. The next, Kassar had a fleeting impression of the engine hurtling beneath them, furiously alive and spewing smoke and steam. Then the carriages were whipping past just feet below, fast and lethal.

  ‘We’d as well jump into a rock grinder,’ breathed Makhor, aghast.

  ‘Now or never,’ said Haltheus.

  ‘Then it’s now,’ said Kassar, and sent his signal, three vox pips in quick succession.

  As one, the Unsung jumped. They slid off the gantry with eerie synchronicity, and fell.

  Kassar dropped, and the hurtling train hit him like a battering ram. He flipped helplessly over, backwards, tumbling like a leaf in a gale, then managed to clamp one hand around a railing. The metal bent under his sudden weight, but held, and Kassar slammed down onto a walkway with a grunt.

  ‘Kassar, back here,’ voxed D’sakh. Kassar glanced back to see the vexillor hunkered down between a pair of heavy fuel bowsers. ‘Join me,’ said D’sakh. ‘Better place to rally the troops than out there in the open.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said Kassar. Still clinging firmly to the railing, he lurched back to join his brother.

  Thelgh was first to arrive, sliding wordlessly down into cover with his rifle ready. Makhor and Krowl came next, Syxx lolling unconscious but alive on Krowl’s back. Their other brothers followed, Haltheus the last of them. Blood clotted a gash in his temple, and more of it spattered his armour.

  ‘It’s not all mine,’ he said. ‘I clipped a pipe, got knocked up into the air and came down two carriages back. Slid head first into the side of a crew compartment. It stopped me from being thrown right off the back of the train, but it did this.’ He gestured to his head.

  ‘Were you detected?’ asked Kassar. ‘Does anyone know we’re here?’

  ‘I was, but no, they do not,’ said Haltheus while A’khassor inspected his wound. ‘My impact brought a handful of cultists out to investigate. None of them survived their curiosity long enough to call for help.’

  ‘Good,’ said Kassar. ‘But we know the enemy are here, now. Can we determine in what numbers?’

  Kyphas was already hunched over his auspex, deftly working its controls.

  ‘I’m reading a lot of power signatures and Khornate helm-vox exchange, all unshrouded,’ he said. ‘It appears Khordas’ followers are here in substantial numbers. No suggestion of weapons discharge though, so we must assume that any Imperial forces originally present have already been neutralised.’

  ‘We know we can’t stay out here,’ said Makhor. ‘The corpse worshippers will have fortified the hub beneath Hive Endurance. If we’re exposed like this when the train arrives, there’s a good chance we won’t all survive. I’d rate the baggage’s chances even lower.’

  ‘Moving inside risks triggering a fight we can’t win,’ said D’sakh. ‘One message gets through on the vox, one auspex sweep runs over whichever carriage we’re in, and we’ll have a train full of enemies coming down upon our heads.’

  ‘That is already a danger, even out here,’ said Phalk’ir. ‘You all know this. If any of the Khorne worshippers has the wherewithal to be scanning the train for threats, there’s nothing we can do to mask our power packs’ signatures.’

  ‘How far to the hive?’ asked Kassar.

  ‘According to the cogitator information I accessed,’ said Haltheus, ‘from our drop point, one hour. So approximately forty-five minutes from here.’

  ‘Too long to be trapped on a train full of hostiles,’ said Kassar. ‘All right, Haltheus, we go to your backup plan.’

  ‘We move back along the train,’ said Haltheus. ‘All the way to the back, noting and rune-marking alternative routes as we go. Once back there, we ensure weapons fire and a voxed warning or two.’

  ‘You want us to intentionally reveal our presence?’ asked Makhor.

  ‘Correct. We get their attention. We’ve all fought Khorne worshippers before, so we know they’ll come running at the chance to claim our skulls.’

  ‘I fail to see how this would be advantageous,’ rumbled Phaek’or.

  ‘By the time the enemy reach the rear carriage, we will have split into Formation Scylla to evade them,’ said Haltheus. ‘In small groups we move around the Khornate charge, and rendezvous here.’

  A rune flashed up in Kassar’s helm display.

  ‘The carriage behind the engine,’ he said.

  ‘We’re owed a little good fortune,’ said Haltheus. ‘If the enemy take the bait the way I expect they will, this carriage and the engine itself will be all but deserted. We storm the engine, take control,
then I use my last demolition charges to blow the coupling between us and the rest of the train.’

  ‘And when we reach the hub?’ asked Makhor. ‘And face the guns of the Imperial defenders alone?’

  ‘We conceal ourselves before we get there,’ said Haltheus. ‘Let the servitor guidance take us in. The Khornate forces will be in full pursuit on foot, an obvious heretic threat pouring along tunnel thirteen. Our enemies turn their attention to Khordas’ warriors, and when they do we cut down through the underside of the engine chassis, and slip away.’

  ‘That will have to be enough,’ said Kassar. ‘Ready your weapons. Skaryth has point, Thelgh is rear guard. Single file, and stay high to reduce chances of premature contact. Let us begin.’

  They moved swiftly along the roof of the speeding train, bracing themselves against the screaming wind using grab rails and pipes. Partway down the third carriage they came across the crew compartment that Haltheus had struck. Behind this carriage was another, and then another. They leapt, landed, swept and cleared, keeping moving at a steady pace. Kassar watched the chron on his retinal display. Thirty-seven minutes until they reached the hub, if Haltheus’ cogitations were correct.

  ‘I think it is safe to assume that the greatest strength of our enemies must be in the front carriages,’ said Kassar as they pressed on. ‘Khorne worshippers. They will be eager to fight, keen to be at the forefront the moment the enemy is in sight.’

  ‘If there’s no enemy to fight back here,’ said Makhor, ‘we may simply have to discharge weapons and hope that it is enough to attract their attention.’

  One more leap, and they were atop the final carriage. A heavy bolter turret surmounting it pointed back down the tunnel, and bunker-like hatches and viewing slits dotted its armoured structure.

  ‘Troop transport,’ said Kassar. ‘Garrison carriage.’

  ‘Auspex definitely has energy signatures,’ said Kyphas. ‘Could be a concentration of warriors, but it reads wrong for that. Maybe a stowed tank or two, or part of the train’s machinery?’

  ‘Let us find out,’ said Kassar. ‘Time is pressing.’

  Moving up, they kept watch while Skaryth clamped a melta bomb onto the nearest roof hatch. A hissing detonation later, and the Unsung dropped, one by one, through the glowing rent.

  Kassar landed in gloom, his auto-senses instantly adjusting. He had a moment to register heat, fiery light, something big moving fast, and then a titanic impact lifted him off his feet and hurled him through the air. Kassar struck a bulkhead wall with a clang, then crashed to the floor. Pain blossomed in his chest. He felt blood running freely from ragged wounds, and his thoughts seemed to have come loose in his head, rattling and jumbling together. Something big, hurtling closer. An impact that had thrown him here…

  ‘Kassar, move!’ D’sakh, bellowing at him. Kassar’s mind snapped into focus, triggering his instincts. He threw himself sideways just as huge brass claws tore into the wall where he had been slumped.

  Kassar rolled to his feet, shunting aside the blizzard of warning runes flashing in his vision. He ripped Hexling from its sheath, then threw himself into another dive as monstrous claws split the air where his head had been.

  ‘Daemon engine!’ shouted Haltheus.

  Kassar had a fleeting impression of a large space, a shattered hololith table, gantries and ladders torn down and mangled, equipment racks smashed to wreckage. Huge claw gouges marred the floor and walls, and the bloodied remnants of servitors and cultists sprawled like rag dolls. Then it was coming at him again, a roaring mass of animate metal and flame. It was tank-sized, a nightmarish amalgam of hunting cat, feral hound and enraged bull, eyes glowing, fangs gnashing, thick steel tendrils lashing around it.

  Desperately, Kassar threw himself backwards as the daemon engine pounced, then rolled aside as its spike-tipped tendrils stabbed into the decking where he had landed.

  ‘Kill it!’ he roared.

  The Maulerfiend reared up on its hind legs, tore at the air with its claws, then lunged straight for Krowl. Protecting Syxx, Krowl had backed into a corner. With nowhere to go, he met the Maulerfiend head on with a thunderous uppercut from his power fist. The beast managed to rake its claws across his chest, spraying brackish gore, but in return his punch smashed its head upwards and it staggered back.

  Darting in from the side, D’sakh slashed his blades through the metal tendons of one of the Maulerfiend’s back legs. Lubricant sprayed and the daemon engine roared again. Its tendrils lashed out like whips, cracking across D’sakh’s faceplate and chest. He was thrown from his feet, fetching up amidst a heap of bloody corpses.

  ‘Keep at it,’ shouted Kassar. ‘Keep it off balance.’

  The Unsung lunged in and darted back, like hunters baiting some ursine monster. Yet the Maulerfiend struck blows as well. A mighty claw-swipe caught Phaek’or under the chin, ripping his helm off and hurling him into a pile of wreckage in a shower of blood.

  ‘Kassar,’ shouted Kyphas. ‘We need to finish this. Auspex has massive movement flowing down the train, carriage to carriage. The enemy has taken our bait.’

  Kassar spared a split-second glance at his chron. Less than thirty minutes to the hub.

  The momentary distraction was all that the beast needed. Knocking Makhor and Phalk’ir from their feet, it hurled itself at Kassar. Its claws swung down, then stopped, inches from Kassar’s helm.

  ‘Move,’ shouted a pained voice, thin with strain. Kassar glanced to his left and saw Syxx, leaning from Krowl’s back, one hand outstretched.

  ‘I can’t hold it,’ shrieked the cultist, and Kassar flung himself aside. The Maulerfiend’s claws finished their swing, sinking deep into the carriage wall. Snatching up Hexling, Kassar angrily pushed down the blade’s hissed mental challenge, and raised it high. He swung his sword down double-handed, and scythed its blade through the Maulerfiend’s neck. Metal shrieked. Hellish energies crackled, and the blazing fire in the monster’s eyes went out as its ironclad skull crashed to the deck. Kassar staggered back as the thing slumped, now no more than a heap of debris.

  ‘First cypher,’ panted Kassar. ‘A’khassor, get down here, now. See to the wounded, get everyone up and ready to move. We don’t have time for recuperation.’ As the Apothecary dropped down with a clang, Kassar jogged to D’sakh’s side and rolled the vexillor over. D’sakh pushed Kassar’s hands away and sat up, shaking his head.

  ‘Can you move?’ asked Kassar.

  ‘Of course,’ said D’sakh, staggering to his feet and shaking his head again. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘Good,’ said Kassar, before turning to Skaryth. ‘I need at least four egress routes from this carriage, now. The enemy are almost upon us, and we need to slip around them like ghosts. Otherwise, we’ll be trapped in here and slaughtered.’

  Skaryth nodded and moved off. Kassar turned to Syxx.

  ‘You, cultist, stay where you are. Krowl will continue to carry you, so that you don’t slow us down.’

  Syxx nodded weakly, swiping away the blood trickling from his nose.

  ‘Kassar!’ said Makhor, gripping his arm. ‘Are we not going to speak of what just happened? The baggage… that was psyker manifestation! He has powers!’

  ‘I know,’ said Kassar. ‘And yes, our guest here is going to tell us everything about himself that we don’t already know, or I shall give him to Kyphas, and damn the mission. But not now.’

  ‘I… lord, I don’t know how I did that,’ said Syxx. ‘I swear to you, I have some slight ability, it’s why Phelkorian picked me, but so minor a talent that–’

  ‘I said not now,’ said Kassar. ‘There’s no time. The enemy are upon us. But understand this, cultist. If you use those powers again before we have had our conversation, I’ll kill you myself.’

  ‘Everyone’s on their feet, Kassar,’ said A’khassor. ‘More injuries, and that’s the last vials of stimms gone. If anyone goes
down from now on, they stay down until their body heals.’

  ‘Egress routes assigned,’ reported Skaryth, and fresh runes lit in Kassar’s retinal display, plotting his projected path along the train.

  ‘How close?’ asked Kassar. Timing would be everything with this manoeuvre. Kyphas was watching his auspex intently. ‘Front runners just reached the next carriage along,’ he said. ‘It’s time. We… stop, wait.’

  ‘What?’ asked Kassar, eyeing the time. ‘Kyphas, what is it?’

  The former spymaster struggled for a moment, as though he couldn’t force the words out. When he finally spoke, his voice strained with effort.

  ‘He should be at the hive, not here.’

  ‘Kyphas!’ barked Kassar. ‘Who? What are you saying?’

  ‘The Betrayer,’ said Kyphas. ‘Khârn is here. He’s leading the charge. Kassar, he’s almost upon us!’

  Chapter Ten

  ‘We should meet him head on,’ said Phalk’ir. ‘All of us, the champions of Bloodforge, ambush Khârn the Betrayer and finally lay him low.’

  ‘And earn the rewards of the gods,’ said D’sakh angrily. ‘That’s what you really want, isn’t it, Phalk’ir? To force us into this fight in the hopes you’ll finally get your divine reward?’

  ‘We would win such incredible boons!’ hissed Phalk’ir, squaring up to D’sakh, helms almost touching. ‘Are you so dull and blind that you cannot see that?’

  ‘We cannot and will not fight the Betrayer,’ said Kassar. ‘Especially not with an army at his back. Formation Scylla. And leave a spread of long-fuse krak grenades in our wake – we might not be able to defeat the Betrayer, but let’s see if we can’t slow him down the Alpha Legion way.’

  Kassar unclamped two krak grenades from his belt and thumbed their primers, allowing the detonation count to spiral upwards before letting them go to clatter across the floor. According to the runes that Skaryth had exloaded, Kassar’s egress was a nearby side hatch. He slid through into the service corridor beyond, a low-ceilinged space filled with the roar of the maglev and the flicker of tunnel-lumen whipping by. Makhor followed him, also assigned to this route.