Ultramarines Omnibus (warhammer 40000: ultramarines)

by Graham McNeill

  'Come on!' shouted Pasanius. 'I don't know how much longer this will hold them!'

  Uriel sheathed his sword and stopped to grab two shorn lengths of iron from the corpse of the nearest monster before heading once more for the treacherous slope.

  Driving the lengths of iron bar deep into the powdery shale like crude pitons, Uriel was able to climb the slope without too much difficulty while Pasanius kept the delirium spectres at bay with his flamer.

  At last he reached the ledge and rolled onto his back as the delirium spectres closed in again. He drew his sword once more and slashed the first apart, feeling a grim satisfaction as it screamed in gratitude before its dissolution. Others burned in the fire, child-like laughter rippling from their blazing flesh as they died.

  The two Space Marines edged backwards to the sanctuary of the defile, killing the shrieking, swooping beasts every time they came near. Though they killed dozens of them, Uriel could see hundreds more gathering around the mountaintops and knew that unless they found cover soon, they were as good as dead. They could not hope to hold off that many forever.

  The defile was behind them and Uriel glanced along its length as it wound further and deeper into the mountain. Flocks of the delirium spectres circled lower and Uriel prayed they would not be able to follow them.

  'I can't tell where it leads!' he said.

  'It doesn't matter, does it?' replied Pasanius, bleeding from a patchwork of shallow cuts across the side of his head. 'We don't have much choice.'

  'Give them one more blast, then follow me in!'

  Pasanius nodded and shouted, 'Go!' and sent another stream of blazing liquid towards the shrieking monsters. Uriel darted into the defile, the narrow basalt walls glassy, black and reflective. It scraped against his shoulder guards, cutting grooves through the paint, and Uriel offered a whispered prayer of forgiveness to the armour's battle-spirit at such careless treatment.

  Pasanius backed into the narrow defile, having to force his way sidelong through its narrow length and Uriel had a sickening vision of the pair of them trapped here and waiting to be picked off by these vile creatures.

  'Damn, but it's tight,' grunted Pasanius stoically.

  Frustrated screeches rang from above and Uriel saw scores of the monstrous beasts flashing overhead across the narrow strip of sky at the top of the defile. He pushed further along its twisting length, the ground sloping upwards and the distance between them and the open sky diminishing with every step.

  'We're running out of room!' he called back, as a desperate scrabbling of claws and clanging of metal on stone sounded from above. Hissing beasts, fleshy wings thrashing, forced themselves down into the defile, their screeches echoing deafeningly in the enclosed space. Wails of frantic hunger and longing spat from their bodies and Uriel stabbed upwards, skewering the first of the delirium spectres on his blade.

  More forced themselves into the defile, clanging and beating against one another as they struggled to reach their prey.

  Unable to fire his flamer in such a confined space, Pasanius ripped them apart with his bare hands, tearing the skin from the desecrated frames with angry bellows. Uriel stabbed and cut blindly, dead flesh enfolding him and sharp teeth snapping at his face. The sound of tearing skin mingled with their grunts of pain and the incongruous noise of joyful souls escaping their hideous torment as each beast died.

  'Keep going!' shouted Pasanius in a lull between the ferocious attacks.

  'I don't know what's ahead,' answered Uriel.

  'It can't be any worse than this!'

  Uriel couldn't disagree and forged onwards, wiping clotted blood from his forehead and desperately seeking somewhere that would offer better shelter. The delirium spectres resumed their circling above the defile, patiently waiting for another chance to attack.

  The defile twisted and turned, each step winding further into the mountain until at last it turned downwards and led out onto a narrow path that ran along the side of a sheer cliff.

  The rockface fell away for hundreds of metres on one side of the path and at its end Uriel could see a narrow cave, its entrance surrounded with a forest of long iron spikes hammered into the rock.

  'There's a cave ahead,' said Uriel. 'Looks like someone has used it to hide from these things already.'

  'How can you tell?'

  'There are spikes around the cave mouth. I doubt these beasts could get near the entrance without fouling their wings.'

  'That just begs the question—'

  'Who put them there?' finished Uriel.

  Pasanius looked towards the sky, hearing the delirium spectres clanging from the rock and their shrill cries drawing closer as they circled down to attack once again.

  'We will have to make a break for it,' said Uriel.

  'We'll never make it,' pointed out Pasanius. 'They'd be on us before we got halfway.'

  'You think I don't know that?' snapped Uriel. 'But we have to try.'

  Uriel bit his lip as he wondered how far they could get before the creatures caught them. They might be able to fight some of them off, but not all of them, and even if the monsters didn't kill them, it would be only too easy for them to hurl them from the path.

  And to fall such a distance would be fatal, even to one as mighty as a Space Marine.

  One of the monsters flew overhead, its blind hunger loathsome and utterly alien.

  'Wait…' said Uriel as a memory struggled to the surface of his mind.

  'What?'

  'When the Omphalos Daemonium spoke of these creatures it said something about how they hunted, something about our hearts and how we wouldn't go unnoticed for long.'

  'And?'

  'And that's how they are hunting us, they can hear our heartbeats,' said Uriel.

  Pasanius was silent for a moment before saying, 'Then we take away what they need to hunt us.'

  'You still remember the mantras that trigger the sus-an membrane?'

  'Aye, though it's been decades since I've needed to recite them.'

  'I know, but we damn well better get them right,' said Uriel. 'I don't want to fall into a coma halfway along that path.'

  Pasanius nodded in understanding as Uriel slowly crept to the edge of the defile. The delirium spectres were high above them, but still too close for them to have any hope of reaching the cave entrance unmolested.

  Uriel turned to Pasanius and said, 'Go when I go. Slowly, but not too slowly, I don't want you dying on the way.'

  'I'll try not to,' replied Pasanius dryly.

  Uriel closed his eyes and recited the verses taught to him by Apothecary Selenus that began the hormonal activation of the sus-an membrane, an organ implanted within his brain tissue during his transformation into a Space Marine. He took deep breaths, regulating his breathing and forcing his heart rate to slow. What he was doing was extremely dangerous, normally requiring many hours of meditation and the correct prayers, but Uriel knew they didn't have time for such preparations.

  Uriel could feel his hearts pounding in his chest, their rhythmic beats slowing.

  Forty beats a minute, thirty, twenty, ten…

  He could hear Pasanius repeating the same mantras, knowing that they had to move and reach the cave before the organ activated fully and plunged them into a state, of complete suspended animation and their hearts stopped beating completely.

  Three beats a minute… two…

  Uriel stood, his vision greying at the edges and his limbs feeling leaden.

  He nodded to Pasanius and walked from the transient cover of the defile, moving as quickly as he dared along the path towards the cave mouth. Pasanius followed, the piercing shrieks of the daemonic furies above him almost breaking his concentration and icy sweat streaking his pale face. Both Space Marines hugged the cliff face as they inched their way along the path.

  The winged beasts swooped towards them, their shrieks ringing from the cliff-face as they circled and climbed in confusion, unable to pinpoint them.

  They were almost at the cave as
the flocks above wheeled aimlessly in the air.

  Two of the delirium spectres flapped noisily past Uriel, their wings flaring as they landed with a scrape of claws on the path before him. Their cries were low and hideous as they turned slowly their rippling, fleshy skins trying to discern their quarry.

  Uriel slowed as he inched his way past the monsters, fighting to hold his body in the limbo between life and a self-induced coma.

  He stumbled, his boot scraping against the nearest beast's claws…

  He froze.

  But whatever other senses it may have possessed, the creature did not register the touch and ignored him.

  Uriel edged past the oblivious monster.

  The second beast took to the air as he drew near the end of the path and—

  One beat…

  The delirium spectre twisted in midair, giving voice to an ear-splitting shriek as it heard the thudding beat of his heart. The flocks above ceased their confused wheeling and turned as one towards them, screeching in triumph.

  'Move!' shouted Uriel, abandoning all subterfuge and running for the cave mouth, ducking below the first spike and threading his way between the others to reach the entrance. He staggered inside, gasping a great lungful of air. His chest was a raging inferno as his hearts suddenly leapt from a virtual standstill to their normal rhythm in a matter of moments.

  He pushed into the stygian darkness of the cave, dropping to his knees as he fought to stabilise his internal organs and willed himself not to slip into a sleep he knew he would not wake from.

  Pasanius backed into the cave, his flamer billowing out a cone of blazing fuel.

  The delirium spectres flapped noisily around the entrance to the cave, screaming in anger at being denied their prey. Several darted in to attack, but only succeeded in skewering themselves on the sharp spikes protecting the entrance. Their thrashing bodies ripped apart, their torn skins and iron frames tumbling down the cliff as they died.

  Uriel let out a juddering breath, knowing how close they had come to death.

  'Pasanius, are you all right?' he gasped.

  'Barely,' wheezed Pasanius. 'By the Throne, I never want to have to do that again. It felt like I was dying.'

  Uriel nodded, pulling himself upright using the walls of the cave. His returning vision easily penetrated the gloom of the cave and he saw that they were in a long, arched tunnel carved into the rockface, but by who or what he could not tell.

  'Well, at least we are safe for the moment,' said Uriel.

  'Don't be too sure about that,' replied Pasanius, kicking over a cracked human skull that lay on the floor.

  The two Space Marines made their way carefully along the tunnel, the screeching wails of the delirium spectres fading the further they penetrated into the mountain. Their enhanced eyesight magnified the glow from the hissing nozzle of Pasanius's flamer such that they walked through the utter darkness as though their steps were illuminated by glow-globes.

  'Who do you think made these tunnels?' asked Pasanius, staring at the marks of picks and drills cut into the rock.

  'I have no idea,' said Uriel. 'Perhaps slaves or the populace of this world before it was taken by Chaos?'

  'I still can't believe we have travelled so far,' said Pasanius. 'Do you really think this is Medrengard? Can we really be in the Eye of Terror?'

  'You saw the dark city beyond the mountains. Can you doubt that one of the fallen primarchs dwells there?'

  Pasanius made the sign of the aquila over his chest to ward off the evil that went with even thinking about such things. 'I suppose not. I felt the evil as a poison in my bones, but to come so far… it is impossible, surely.'

  'If this is truly the Eye, then nothing is impossible,' said Uriel.

  'I had always believed that the stories of worlds taken by daemons and the Ruinous Powers were nothing more man dark legends, exaggerated tales to scare the unwary into obedience.'

  'Would that they were,' replied Uriel. 'But as well as destroying these daemonculaba that Librarian Tigurius saw in his vision, I believe that we have been brought to this place to test the strength of our faith as well.'

  'And have we failed already?' muttered Pasanius. 'To truck with a daemon…'

  'I know, I have put our very souls at risk, my friend,' said Uriel. 'And for that I am sorry. But I could see no choice other than to make the Omphalos Daemonium believe we would do as it wished.'

  'Then you don't plan on getting it this Heart of Blood, whatever that is?'

  'Of course not,' said Uriel, appalled. 'Once we find it, I intend to smash the vile thing into a million pieces!'

  'Thank the Emperor!' breathed Pasanius.

  Uriel stopped suddenly. 'You thought I would acquiesce to the desires of a daemon?'

  'No, but given how we ended up here and what it threatened…'

  'Breaking faith with the Codex Astartes is one thing, but trafficking with daemons is quite another,' snapped Uriel.

  'But we have been cast out by the Chapter, banished from the Emperor's sight and are probably trapped forever in the Eye of Terror,' said Pasanius. 'I can see why you might have thought it could have been an option.'

  'Really?' demanded Uriel angrily. 'Then tray explain it to me.'

  Pasanius did not meet Uriel's gaze as he said, 'Well, it seems likely that the Heart of Blood is some daemonic artefact meant to bring ruin upon an enemy of the Omphalos Daemonium here in the Eye, so might not we be doing the Emperor's work by stealing it from its current master?'

  Uriel shook his head. 'No. That way lies madness and the first step on the road to betraying everything we stand for as Space Marines. By such steps are men damned, Pasanius, each tiny heresy excused by some reasonable explanation until their souls are irrevocably blackened and shrivelled. With no Chapter to call our own, some might say that our only loyalty now is to ourselves, but you and I both know that is not true. No matter what becomes of us, we will always be warriors of the Emperor in our hearts. I have told you this before, my friend. Do you still doubt your courage and honour?'

  'No, it is not that…' began Pasanius.

  'Then what?'

  'Nothing,' said Pasanius eventually. 'You are right and I am sorry for even thinking such things.'

  Uriel locked his gaze with that of his friend. 'Do you remember the story of the ancient philosopher of Calth who spoke of a stalactite falling in a cave and asked if it would make a sound if no one was there to hear?'

  'Aye,' nodded Pasanius. 'It never made sense to me.'

  'Nor I, at least until now,' said Uriel. 'Though we have been exiled, we retain our honour and though it is likely that the Chapter will never hear of our deeds, we will continue to fight the enemies of the Emperor until our dying day. Yes?'

  'Yes,' agreed Pasanius, slapping his hand on Uriel's shoulder guard. 'And that's why you were captain and I was just a sergeant. You know all the right things to say.'

  Uriel chuckled. 'I don't know about that, I mean, look at us, tens of thousands of light years from Macragge and stuck in a cave in the Eye of Terror.'

  '…filled with corpses,' finished Pasanius.

  Uriel turned and saw that Pasanius was right. The tunnel had widened into a domed cave with rough walls and a number of shadowy passageways leading away. The remains of a long dead fire filled a deep firepit at the centre of the cave, a thin shaft of weak light spearing down from a smoke vent in the roof. Skeletal bodies littered the floor of the cave, splayed and broken, scattered throughout the cave, the bones dusty and cracked.

  'Throne! What happened here?' whispered Uriel, circling the firepit and kneeling beside a rag-draped skeleton.

  'Looks like they were attacked while they cooked a meal,' said Pasanius, poking around in the remains of the fire with his silver arm. 'There are pots still in the firepit.'

  Uriel nodded, examining the bones before him, wondering who they had belonged to and what malicious twist of fate had seen him condemned to such a death.

  'Whoever did this was incred
ibly strong,' said Uriel. 'The bones are snapped cleanly.'

  'Aye, and this one has had its skull ripped from its shoulders.'

  'Iron Warriors?' asked Uriel.

  'No, I don't think so,' said Pasanius. 'There was a madness to this attack. Look at the stains on the walls. It's blood, arterial spray. Whoever killed these people did it in a frenzy, ripping out throats and tearing their victims apart in seconds. They didn't even have time to arm themselves.'

  Uriel crossed the chamber to join Pasanius, stepping over the bones of the dead as he noticed something metallic lying partially buried in the dust. He bent down to retrieve it, his fingers closing on a crude, thick-handled knife, the blade long and flexible. He turned to look at the splayed bodies and a sickening realisation came to him.

  'They were skinned,' he said.

  'What?'

  'The bodies,' said Uriel, holding up the knife. 'They were skinned. They were killed and then their killers flayed them.'

  Pasanius cursed. 'Is there no end to this world's evil?'

  Uriel snapped the blade of the skinning knife and hurled it away from him, the broken pieces clattering from the rocky walls of the cave. What manner of beast would track its prey deep into the mountains to attack with such speed and frenzy before taking the time to remove its victims' hides? He hoped they would not find out, but a sinking feeling in his gut told him that there was a good chance they had already stumbled into its territory.

  'There's nothing we can do for them, now, whoever they were,' he said.

  'No,' agreed Pasanius. 'So which way onwards?'

  Uriel crossed the cave, stopping to examine each passageway and hoping to discern some clue as to which direction offered the most hope of a way out.

  'There are tracks leading away at this one,' he said, kneeling and examining the ground at the middle passage. 'A lot of them.'

  Pasanius joined him, tracing the outline of a huge footprint in the dust. There was no telling how old it was, but, despite its size, there was no doubt that it was human.

  'Are you thinking these might lead to the monsters' lair and that we should avoid it?'

  'No, I think that they might lead to a way out of these tunnels,' said Uriel.