Screams echoed across the darkened landscape, exciting the metal spikes that had been driven into his skull to pierce his brain. He groped in the dark until his hands found purchase, his fingers digging into whatever had been unfortunate enough to be in front of him. Bloodlust crashed over him and took control. He drove his fingers through the flesh of the being before him, until lightning flashed and thunder rolled. As the sky ignited and illuminated the field of blood and bones upon which he stood, before him was the woman who’d just bested him. He didn’t recognize her, yet he knew her still. Her presence reminded him of the Primarchs he’d met in the Great Crusade, before Horus had led them in revolution against the false Emperor. But there was something… off, about her.
Amidst the anguish, terror and pain of Khorne’s Realm in which he now stood, she was serene. His rage and thirst for her blood were quelled by the delicate smile that graced her lips, but when his eyes met hers, his blood boiled as what he saw there was pity. With a howling cry he tore into her, his bare fingers ripping through her neck and severing her head from her shoulders. He basked in the fountain of her blood, a moment’s reprieve from the agony that the Butcher’s Nails in his skull usually inflicted upon him.
* * *
Fahlia watched in abject awe as the Blood Raven Terminators laid waste to their foes in a storm of plasma and metal. She'd yet to experience such a spectacle, but even as they did so, she couldn't shake the words of the leader of their saviors: Evaria was 'his lady'.
Sarai and her sisters fell back, deferring to the Blood Raven's authority. The palatine noticed Hanai's body and dragged her back behind the terminator line.
"May you rest in the Emperor's light, sister."
She grabbed the vox-caster and attached it to her own armor. Reports came flooding in from across the planet of Blood Raven Astartes dropping in and assisting in the evacuation. The rift before them closed, and the terminators turned. One strode forward, his boot steps threatening to crack the stone beneath him. Fahlia moved between them and Evaria.
"She is my prisoner."
The Blood Raven stared at her, his helmet concealing any expression at her defiance.
"She willfully submitted to the Inquisitor," Sarai added. "She submits to the authority of the Lords of Terra."
The Terminator turned his emotionless gaze to the sister, who stood proudly.
"I am of the same mind as you, brother. But it is her will."
The Terminator returned his gaze to Fahlia. "Then I will carry her, Inquisitor."
Fahlia narrowed her eyes. "So you can make off with her, as your kind do with everything else within your grasp?"
One of the terminators spun up his assault cannon, and Fahlia tensed as she prepared herself to be cut down by the heretics before her. The kneeling Blood Raven put one hand on the end of his brother's weapon, the barrels grinding against his gauntlet as he forcefully lowered it.
"If it is our mother's will, then we shall do everything in our power to bring about that end.” The Terminator returned his gaze to Fahlia. "You and the sisters will not be able to carry her. Allow me the honor."
Fahlia's jaw muscles tensed as the rest of her body relaxed. She knew she was cornered. Sarai would side with the Blood Ravens, and even without her the three Terminators could eviscerate Fahlia and her Ordo Hereticus Sororitas with ease.
"Then the honor is yours."
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The Terminator bowed his head as Fahlia stepped to the side. He reverently slid his armored hands beneath Evaria, tenderly lifting her into the air and holding her close. This specialized power armor was clearly not a recent acquisition for its wearer.
"Brothers, lead the charge. Sisters of the Inquisition, you will make up the rear guard. Lash the fallen marine to my back. Sisters of the Crimson Grail, you will move as needed to the front or rear. Palatine Eloroch and Inquisitor Kurchen, you both will remain with me to command as needed."
Fahlia wanted to protest, but her gaze fell on the terrifying weapons wielded by these monstrous feats of Imperium engineering. Still, she couldn't let the order go.
"I approve."
The words passed by her lips as if she was in a position to veto the decision, maintaining some semblance of Inquisitorial Authority. The two other Terminators lead the way forward, their heavy footsteps rattling the stonework around them. The sisters quickly lashed the chaos marine to the Terminator's back. Fahlia glanced up at the Blood Raven carrying Evaria's unconscious form as they walked down the once hallowed halls of the convent.
"What is your name?"
He didn't hesitate. "Lieutenant Simeon Orlochan."
"A lieutenant in Terminator armor?" Fahlia scoffed. "You'll have to try harder than that."
"We do not give out ranks that aren't earned, Inquisitor." Simeon glanced about, and she noticed a tome on his hip.
"You... You're a librarian?"
"I am."
She tightened her grip on her power stake.
"I am not corrupted, Inquisitor. To be in my mother's presence protects me. Her will becomes my own."
Fahlia narrowed her eyes.
"She is far outside of your jurisdiction, Inquisitor. Her realm is of the Lords of Terra, the Imperial Regent, and the Lion. While I submit to her will to be vetted, I will not allow you to harm her further." He glanced at the stake still in Evaria's thigh. "We will be her guard, no matter where our mother is, or for how long, until she deems elsewise."
Fahlia returned her gaze to scouring their surroundings. "So you would betray the Imperium for her?"
"We follow our Primarch, the Incorruptible."
A chill went through Fahlia. "If she's incorruptible, then why is her name, her description, her very existence beyond the number 'two' expunged, even from Inquisitorial records?"
Simeon fell silent. Were it not for his crimson helmet, she could know whether it was shame or defiance that clouded the Blood Raven's visage and held his tongue, and the mechanical gait of the armor betrayed nothing of the enhanced being's true emotions.
Her head snapped forward as she heard shots erupt from the terminators ahead of them, but before she could act the symphony of death ceased. A chill went through her once more as she was pulled back to staring down the barrels of the assault cannon. She shook herself from it and looked to Sarai, who'd since donned Hannai's helmet, covering her face. The Palatine was single handedly orchestrating the Order of the Crimson Grail's forces across the planet while coordinating with their Blood Raven comrades.
It was too much blood.
That thought smashed through Fahlia's mind. The Order's name should have been cause for suspicion from the beginning, and the Astartes Chapter had always been a mystery, with heretics rising from the Librarians. Yet, she was at their mercy. If nothing else, the Judicial Pyre could track her location and fire upon them. She held tightly to the small comfort that her martyrdom could end a demon as she glanced at Evaria. She still felt the powerful being’s presence to her very core, even as she was unconscious. But she wasn't going to let it interfere with her mission. Whatever vessel the Blood Ravens had brought on such short notice couldn't be a match for the Judicial Pyre.
A smile crept across her lips, and they neared the main gate, the sound of warfare getting all the louder. The Terminator's glanced at Simeon, who nodded. They opened the doors, and Fahlia stepped out, her gaze on the sky, searching for a Blood Raven Light cruiser. She was not prepared for the colossal veritable mobile fortress that loomed over the city. Her gaze dropped to the two dreadnoughts that flanked the open courtyard, covering civilians that ran towards the Thunderhawks that ferried them up to the battle barge. Her ire fell on a particular Astartes that stood in the middle of the courtyard, organizing the evacuation efforts. A great hammer adorned his back, and her blood ran cold as she recognized Chapter Master Gabriel Angelos. The battle barge above them was no mere warship, but the home of the Blood Raven Chapter, the Omnis Arcanum.
