'Mistress Sing,’ said Horus coldly, 'precision is exactly what I need from you, now more than ever. The direction of the Crusade will change dramatiВcally at this news, and if you are wrong it will change for the worse,’
'My lord, I cannot give you an exact answer, but I believe that within days the gathering warp storms will obscure the Astronomican from us,’ replied Ing Mae Sing, ignoring the Warmaster's implicit threat. Though she could not see them, she could feel the hostile presence of the Jus-taerin warriors, the Sons of Horus First Company Terminators, lurking in the shadows of the strate-gium. 'Within days we shall hardly see it. Our minds can barely reach across the void and the Navigators claim that they will soon be unable to guide us true. The galaxy will be a place of night and darkness,’
Horus pounded a hand into his fist. 'Do you understand what you say? Nothing more dangerous could happen to the Crusade,’
'I merely state what I see, Warmaster,’
'If you are wrong.
The threat was not idle – no threat the Warmaster uttered ever was. There had been a time when the Warmaster's anger would never have led to such an overt threat, but the violence in Horus's tone sugВgested that such a time had long passed.
'If we are wrong, we suffer. It has never been any different,’
And my brother primarchs? What news from them?' asked Horus.
'We have been unable to confirm contact with the blessed Sanguinius,’ replied Ing Mae Sing, 'and Leman Russ has sent no word of his campaign against the Thousand Sons,’
Horus laughed, a harsh Cthonic bark, and said, That doesn't surprise me. The Wolf has his head and he'll not easily be distracted from teaching Magnus a lesson. And the others?'
Vulkan and Dorn are returning to Terra. The other primarchs are pursuing their current camВpaigns,’
That is good at least,’ said Horus, brow furrowing in thought, 'and what of the Fabricator General?'
'Forgive me, Warmaster, but we have received nothing from Mars. We shall endeavour to make contact by mechanical means, but this will take many months,’
'You have failed in this, Sing. Co-ordination with Mars is essential.'
Ing Mae Sing had telepathically broadcast a mulВtitude of encoded messages between the Vengeful Spirit and Fabricator General Kelbor-Hal of the Mechanicum in the last few weeks. Although their substance was unknown to her, the emotions conВtained in them were all too clear. Whatever the Warmaster was planning, the Mechanicum was a key part of it.
Horus spoke again, distracting her from her thoughts. The other primarchs, have they received their orders?'
They have, my lord,' said Ing Mae Sing, unable to keep the unease from her voice.
The reply from Lord Guilliman of the UltraВmarines was clean and strong. They are approaching the muster at Calth and report all forces are ready to depart.'
'And Lorgar?' asked Horus.
Ing Mae Sing paused, as if unsure how to phrase her next words.
'His message had residual symbols of… pride and obedience; very strong, almost fanatical. He acknowledges your attack order and is making good speed to Calth,’
Ing Mae Sing prided herself on her immense self-control, as befitted one whose emotions had to be kept in check lest they be changed by the influence of the warp, but even she could not keep some emotion from surfacing.
'Something bothers you Mistress Sing?' asked Horus, as though reading her mind.
'My lord?'
You seem troubled by my orders,’
'It is not my place to be troubled or otherwise, my lord,’ said Ing Mae Sing neutrally.
'Correct,’ agreed Horus. 'It is not, yet you doubt the wisdom of my course,’
'No!' cried Ing Mae Sing. 'It is just that it is hard not to feel the nature of your communication, the weight of blood and death that each message is wreathed in. It is like breathing fiery smoke with every message we send,’
You must trust me, Mistress Sing,’ said Horus. Trust that everything I do is for the good of the Imperium. Do you understand?'
'It is not my place to understand,’ whispered the astropath. 'My role in the Crusade is to do the will of my Warmaster,’
That is true, but before I dismiss you, Mistress Sing, tell me something,’
Yes, my lord?'
Tell me of Euphrati Keeler,’ said Horus. Tell me of the one they are calling the saint,’
Loken still took Mersadie Oliton's breath away. The Astartes were astonishing enough when arrayed for war in their burnished plate, but that sight had been nothing compared to what a Space Marine – specifically, Loken – looked like without his armour.
Stripped to the waist and wearing only pale fatigues and combat boots, Loken glistened with sweat as he ducked and wove between the combat appendages of a training servitor. Although few of the remembrancers had been privileged enough to witness an Astartes fight in battle, it was said that they could kill with their bare hands as effectively as they could with a bolter and chainsword. WatchВing Loken demolishing the servitor limb by limb, Mersadie could well believe it. She saw such power in his broad, over-muscled torso and such intense focus in his sharp grey eyes that she wondered that she was not repelled by Loken. He was a killing machine, created and trained to deal death, but she couldn't stop watching and blink-clicking images of his heroic physique.
Kyril Sindermann sat next to her and leaned over, saying, 'Don't you have plenty of picts of Garviel already?'
Loken tore the head from the training servitor and turned to face them both, and Mersadie felt a thrill of anticipation. It had been too long since the conclusion of the war against the Technocracy and she had spent too few hours with the captain of the Tenth Company. As his documentarist, she knew that she had a paucity of material following that campaign, but Loken had kept himself to himself in the past few months.
'Kyril, Mersadie,’ said Loken, marching past them towards his arming chamber. 'It is good to see you both,’
'I am glad to be here, Garviel,’ said Sindermann. The primary iterator was an old man, and Mersadie was sure he had aged a great deal in the year since the fire that had nearly killed him in the Archive Halls of the Vengeful Spirit. Very glad. Mersadie was kind enough to bring me. I have had a spell of exerВtion recently, and I am not as fit as once I was. Time's winged chariot draws near,’ A quote?' asked Loken. A fragment,’ replied Sindermann. 'I haven't seen much of either of you recently,’ observed Loken, smiling down at her. 'Have I been replaced by a more interesting subject?'
'Not at all,’ she replied, 'but it is becoming more and more difficult for us to move around the ship. The edict from Maloghurst, you must have heard of it,’
'I have,’ agreed Loken, lifting a piece of armour and opening a tin of his ubiquitous lapping powВder, 'though I haven't studied the particulars,’
The smell of the powder reminded Mersadie of happier times in this room, recording the tales of great triumphs and wondrous sights, but she cast off such thoughts of nostalgia.
'We are restricted to our own quarters and the Retreat. We need permission to be anywhere else,’
'Permission from whom?' asked Loken.
She shrugged. 'I'm not sure. The edict speaks of submitting requests to the Office of the Lupercal's Court, but no one's been able to get any kind of response from whatever that is,’
That must be frustrating,' observed Loken and Mer-sadie felt her anger rise at such an obvious statement.
'Well of course it is! We can't record the Great Crusade if we can't interact with its warriors. We can barely even see them, let alone talk to them.'
'You made it here,’ Loken pointed out.
'Well, yes. Following you around has taught me how to keep a low profile, Captain Loken. It helps that you train on your own now.'