Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

servant," it said. "You will follow in her footsteps as fate decrees, as I decree it to be."

 

With a cry, I awoke and sat bolt upright in my bed.

I was back in the real world, back in the medicae facility, back to the pain.

But yet, no agony swept through me like fire. I was okay.

I raised my hand to my face and flexed my fingers, expecting that the movement would cause the pain to shoot back, but again nothing. Was I healed?

But how? Perhaps I was unconscious during the entire estimated month of recovery? Glaitis' voice had said that the Eldar's 'test' had almost killed me perhaps that was the dreams, perhaps that was what caused me to fall into a coma?

With the thought of Glaitis, I closed my fist and clenched my teeth as sudden rage curdled within my slight form.

I needed to talk to my erstwhile mentor; I needed to know what I had heard was only a dream! But deep within me, I knew that it wasn't that what I had witnessed was true.

I was no Imperial zealot; my ideals did not adhere to the rampant xenophobia with the rest of the Imperium. But if the Inquisition were to ever find out about our mercenary force working in cohesion with the Eldar, there would be no escape; they would hunt us down without mercy and crush us underfoot.

How could Glaitis be capable of such idiocy! How!? What could drive her to become a servant of the Eldar, and why was I to 'follow in her footsteps'?

I needed to talk to her, I needed to hear the answer from her full lips, and I began to clamber out of bed, still half expecting the pain with the movement.

But then the door suddenly opened, and my jaw dropped as I saw who stepped through.

It was Glaitis.

"M-mamzel?" I stammered, completely unable to hide my bemusement, but it was then that the explanation why Glaitis had allied with the Eldar just suddenly became painfully clear.

Farsight, Glaitis craved control of her fate and that of everyone else. But I never imagined that she would go to such an extreme scope for that control, but it explains oh so much like how she could be so far ahead of enemies seemingly able to pull through with perfect, convoluted schemes and who was more skilled; at such power than the Eldar? Though in the ironies of ironies, she had no control now at all, the Eldar was her complete and utterly undisputed master.

She was just as much a slave as I was.

"Child, I see that you are finally awake; I came down to see your condition."

I stayed silent, feeling my jaw set ever so slightly, wondering why she had used such a weak lie.

She moved across the room to my nearby window and closed the shutters with an abrupt, Clack!

"I am sure that you have questions-."

"What happened," I interrupted with such force in my voice that it took me by surprise. "I need to know what the hell happened in the Twilight bar!"

A look of terrified shock appeared on Glaitis' face but was gone as quickly as it came. An empty smile replaced it.

I took note of that expression; I could hazard a myriad amount of guesses as to the reasoning behind it.

"I am not even sure if you will believe anything that I say about that young one," she said almost tenderly. "You did not believe Castella; why would you believe anything that I would say?"

My eyes widened; she did indeed have a point. Why would I believe her even if she told the truth? At times like this, I truly wished I could read minds.

"You have finally learned the truth, young Attelus, 'trust nothing, suspect everything' you may have known those words, but now you understand the true wisdom behind them, it is the only way to live in this world you are almost an assassin you are almost there."

I sighed. "If that is the only way to live, then...Really what is the point of living?"

Glaitis threw back her head and abruptly burst out laughing, which caused me to flinch in fright.

"Ahhh, this is the consequence of taking an apprentice who is so old, so self-righteous, so stubborn. That is the one thing in this world which is in no short order of young one "the point in living" to some their service to the Emperor is their point," and I could hear a slight undertone of bitterness at her mention of 'The Emperor.' "Some serve the ruinous powers; some serve for the good of humanity; your 'point' is to serve me."

"So that is it?" I cried. "The only point is to serve another? But they serve because they believe what they do is right! How can I serve you when I can't trust you?"

Her expression turned as hard as steel. "Because you know the consequences if you do not, you have seen the consequences if you do not a-"

"A fate worse than death," I finished, my eyes widening in fear.

"I saved you Attelus Xanthis Kaltos, I took you in, I have given you purpose just remember that, and also do not be so naïve that only trust and belief are what drive them, just like you they have a fear of consequence."

"Yes, yes I know," I sighed, Exterminatus the destruction of an entire planet that was the ultimate consequence and that was the first which came to my mind, but I could not help but wonder with a glance at Glaitis.

What is your purpose? What is it that drives you?

Glaitis turned and began to walk to the door. "That is all I have to say, young one. I encourage you to think about my words and-"Then the realisation hit me.

"There are other purposes that I can think on for living," I interrupted. Internally cursing as I realised that I had never once wondered what exactly the relationship between my father and she was; all that she had said was she knew Serghar Kaltos on a 'personal level'. "How about...Revenge being one?"

That made her suddenly halt in her exit, her hand still laid on the doorknob.

I smiled; now I was finally unravelling this woman after that dream; I knew she was human and not some all-powerful, all-knowing being.

She was like every other human, flawed and idiotic.

"Yes, young one, that is another purpose indeed," her voice was halting as though barely keeping back anger. "After the medicae checks you out, you are to report to Hayden immediately for briefing; he is on the fifth floor of my tower, don't keep him waiting."

With those words, she closed the door leaving me all alone.

So this was all about my father, and this confirmation brought in all new and very interesting revelations about why she had taken me in; perhaps she was using me as a hostage? Or as bait? It also explains why she was so eager to keep me alive, but why train me? Wouldn't it be easier to keep me in a cell or something?

Was it all just about Serghar Kaltos? Or was there more something more? Surely not just revenge would have enough inertia to drive mamzel Glaitis into cooperation with Xenos?

I sighed and silently swore that I would answer these questions no matter the price.

 

Chapter 7

 I paused just outside the entrance of Glaitis' tower, my hands inside the pockets of my flak jacket, a smoking Lho stick hanging out the corner of my mouth. It was good to finally get out of bed, out of that hospital, away from the stench of disinfectant mixed with crap. It was nice to escape into the day, and as if to make it even more cliché, it was raining.

While looking up at the overcast sky, my thoughts wandered. According to good medicae Feuilt, I had barely been in a coma for two days. Still, Feuilt had said earlier that I had yet another's month's rest before I could be at peak performance, and despite this, the medicae had given me a clean bill of health, much to his evident bemusement.

Even more interesting was that barely moments after Feuilt had answered my call for aide, my heart almost immediately stopped; the medical staff had worked for a good half an hour to try to revive me but to no avail. Then just after they had given up, my heart seemed to start back up again mysteriously; my eyes opened, and then I fell into deep unconsciousness. That was the second time I had come close to dying, it seemed...Cheap.

So it seemed that was what Glaitis had mentioned in my dream; the Eldar's test having apparently 'almost killed me' perhaps me managing to stop that walk through the ruins of Elbyra was signifying my escape from death's door.

I shivered, once again recalling the images that I had seen and quickly forcing them from my mind.

That was a time of my life I would rather forget, but now, that Xenos had dredged it up from the far recesses of my subconscious and, for what? Some test? What kind of sick creature would put someone through that?

I could still recall what the Eldar had said to Glaitis, its thoughts on humanity as a whole. For the first time, I actually felt sorry for my mentor; having to commune with such a creature would be beyond my comprehension, and then it said that it wanted me to follow in Glaitis' footsteps.

My wet, long brown hair was now in my eyes, and I was forced to brush it from my face. Never would I ever ally with the Eldar, never would I willingly do something so idiotic after what it had put me through, after seeing first hand its horrific arrogance and disregard for humanity.

I lowered my head and sighed out smoke, taking them almost all the way smoked Lho with thumb and forefinger, dropping it to the rockcrete, then stamping it out with the tip of my shoe.

"Time to get this over and damn well done with," I muttered while walking through the automatic sliding doors simultaneously, my hands instinctively slipping back into their respective pockets.

 

 

I rode the elevator up, spending the entire time tapping the tip of my shoe on the floor impatiently.

It was more due to the cravings, the consequence of over a month without a smoke, already I had burnt through six Lhos on my walk over here, but that didn't seem enough, frig it.

One thing that had also taken my notice as I collected my belongings when leaving Taryst's tower was that I noticed the distinct absence of Colonel Barhurst.

When I asked the colonel's second, major Olinthre, he answered that Barhurst was sent away on recruitment duties. That it was a recurring thing that the great colonel would every six months annually leave for two more to search for new members for Taryst's private army.

When I pointed out that it seemed unorthodox for the colonel himself to act as the recruiter, Olinthre just shrugged and said, "Hey, it's always been that way, kid and hell, you won't hear me complaining; about it."

I nodded my thanks and left; this proved to be yet another interesting development, yes. Was it a mere coincidence that our little incursion against the Twilight Bar just