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

the most conflicted character I have ever uhh met Attelus; you have been through a hell of a lot, kid. Glaitis has been trying to indoctrinate you for years, but you have still clung to your humanity despite it all."

She shrugged sadly. "But sooner or later, Attelus, if you are going to stay in your line of work, you have to realise that you can't have it both ways."

"Why the hell not?" I asked. "Why can't I be human and be an assassin as well? My friend Castella is still human, and she has been one for years."

Kons smiled. "You're a smart kid, Attelus, but you still can't see what is right before your eyes."

"And what is that?"

She sighed, attaching her eyes to mine. "That Glaitis is grooming you, making you into her successor, can't you see that?"

"What?" my eyes widened. "Why would Glaitis want me to be her successor? I don't understand, I'm not charismatic, I'm not a leader, and Castella Lethe is actually lined up to take over if anything ever happens to Glaitis."

Karmen Kons shrugged again, a slight, almost defeated movement. "Alright, keep convincing yourself of that now. Will you tell me what you know?"

I did, telling her everything right from the Twilight bar incident, a brief abridged version, studying her face intently for any interesting reactions along the way. But much to my frustration, I got nothing, even when I told of Taryst's death is at the hands of the Thing and its taking of the Rogue Trader's appearance afterwards.

The only thing I got an expression to was when I hesitantly told of Elandria's death.

"I'm sorry, Attelus," she said sadly once I finished. "Elandria didn't deserve the fate she was given, and just when you had finally admitted to her how you felt, Glaitis is a real callous bitch."

I could only manage a nod in agreement.

"And you really believe that Glaitis has really aligned herself with the Eldar?"

"Yes, I believe it to be," I hesitated; I had neglected to tell precisely what the Eldar had said in my dream, but it seemed to eerily fit with what Karmen said just earlier.

"Well, it would explain a lot," she looked at me. "And you want this alliance so you can get revenge on Glaitis for having Elandria killed?"

I nodded.

Her expression turned hard. "Well, once I tell you what, I know that will be the lowest on your list of priorities Attelus, Edracian is here; that means we have truly run out of time."

"What? Why?"

"I had no idea that Feuilt was both his and Glaitis' spy; how he had avoided my detection is quite beyond me," said Karmen. "But it's far too late now for regrets; you see, Taryst was working for Edracian."

"What?"

"Yes, up until seven months ago, Edracian and Taryst have been allies. We received information from Edracian that an Inquisitor's Interrogator was investigating evidence of their alliance," she sighed. "With the combined information from both Edracian and insiders of the local Arbites and Magistratum, we were able to ambush the Interrogator and his escort soon after they made planetfall on Omnartus."

"And let me guess, that Interrogator was this Brutis Bones, right?"

"Yes, you're correct, but you see, Attelus, our initial orders were to kill everyone but Brutis Bones, and many of his lackeys managed to escape our ambush, but we managed to take one of them alive."

"The dead girl in the cell, right?"

"You are correct again; we interrogated her for a long time, but finally we managed to get information, but it was information that I wasn't sure we wanted to know."

"Such as?"

"Well, it turned out she wasn't a direct colleague to Brutis Bones; her name was Amanda Heartsa, the daughter and interrogator to another Inquisitor named Torathe, that Brutis Bones and she were to collaborate on this investigation."

She paused, seemingly unsure of how to continue. "She said that Brutis Bones had stumbled over evidence that Inquisitor Edracian directly or indirectly was responsible in no less than twelve separate orders of exterminatus all over the Imperium in the last century. As well as a list of his colleagues, and Taryst was on it. They had come to Omnartus in the hope of getting Taryst to tell of where Edracian was."

"Exterminatus?" I echoed, exasperated. "It has happened that many times in this century alone?"

"Yeah, it's hard to believe, isn't it? Well, needless to say, Taryst was shocked at this news as well. He had no idea what to do at first. But in the end, he decided that he would put all his resources into hunting down Brutis Bones, get this information for himself, and erase any information that connected him to Edracian. As well as kill anyone who knew, that is when he hired you and Glaitis for aide."

She frowned. "And now I see hiring Glaitis that was his biggest mistake."

"Oh, by the Emperor, and now he is on Omnartus," I said, just realising the implications. "And he made me take a picture of the Interrogator's dead body. Why?"

"I don't know why he made you do that, Attelus, but it can't be good. But now you see our alliance must be toward hunting down Edracian rather than getting revenge on Glaitis,

"As we will need her help to track him down."

"Exactly."

I found it hard to breathe, all this at once was hard to take in, and then I remembered No One of Consequence's words back in the Twilight bar, and I shivered in fear.

I frowned. "Why then Taryst did not just collaborate with Brutis Bones if he was so afraid?"

Karmen Kons shrugged. "I don't exactly know, but my theory is that he didn't believe that the Interrogator would co-operate after being ambushed and almost killed by our forces. Or he feared retribution from Edracian if he directly collaborated with Bones, but I don't truly know either way, but both seem logical to me. By the way, is your face feeling any better?"

I nodded; now my cut is covered with a bandage, and it throbbed and hurt of a lot less; then it hit me.

"Wait!" I exclaimed suddenly. "We have one of Brutis' Bones allies captured from the Twilight Bar incident."

"Yes, you told me that," said Karmen sardonically.

"If we want to track down Edracian, we should find Brutis Bones first, and he might be willing to help us to him."

"Why?"

"The situation has changed since we last interrogated that man Karmen; now we know that Edracian is on Omnartus. So perhaps if we tell him that, then he might be willing to co-operate."

Karmen Kons' face suddenly lit up. "And we could gain his trust first by freeing him from capture."

I smiled, which was a hell of a lot easier now. "It's like the old saying: 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' if Brutis Bones could just hear us out, and freeing this man may just announce our desperation in the situation."

"Desperate times, call for desperate measures," said Karmen.

I nodded, getting to my feet. "But before we do anything more, we need to get out of here. Do you know how to deactivate the shield upstairs?"

"Yes, I do, but before we do anything..." Karmen Kons trailed off as she walked over to the kitchen and began to tear open the compartments. "I've really got to get something to eat."

 

Chapter 12

In silence, we sat at the small table in the kitchen Karmen Kons across from me with a massive pile of processed food in front of her that she tore into with animalistic fury.

I could only watch in shock as she continually shovelled a massive amount of food into her mouth and ripped apart bits of bread ravenously with her teeth.

Halfway through her feast, I felt my guts growl.

"Uhh, can I have some, too?" I said, reaching over.

Her attention snapped straight to me, a feral feline snarl escaping her lips. That immediately made me snatch back my hand in fright.

"Okay! Okay! That's...yours...then."

She didn't reply, only eating with even more intensity than before.

"Can I ask uhm a question?"

"Sure," she said, no longer feral, but an overly full mouth slurred the word. "Fire...away."

"I was uhh wondering," I said; there was a hell of a lot of questions at the tip of my tongue; how did you implant the mind blocks? How did you come under Taryst's employee? How did you receive the necessary training for your powers? But one which I didn't care much for was asked instead.

"Why is Taryst's password Garrakson's name?"

Karmen Kons swallowed abruptly and answered simply. "Well, Taryst and Garrakson used to be close awhile back."

I raised an eyebrow. "What?"

Karmen Kons sniggered her snigger again. "Let's just say that Taryst and Garrakson were a little closer than a normal employer and employee relationship."

"What? So like friends then?"

She smiled with food caked teeth. "Closer than that, Attelus."

"Oh," I said, as I realised what she meant, then my eyes widened and said another. "Oh," as it truly hit home, "but Garrakson-?"

"Garrakson, the manliest man this side of the Segmentum Obscurus?" she interrupted. "Hard to believe, right? Doesn't make it any less true, though."

I blinked. "But he teased me all the time because-"

"Because of your obvious attraction to Elandria?" she said. "But how does that make him straight?"

At the mention of Elandria, I frowned, and I averted my attention to the floor; I missed her more than I could ever admit.

Karmen looked away with narrowed eyes, apparently missing my sudden sadness.

"Well, that was until they fell out," she sighed. "Garrakson really didn't approve of Taryst keeping so many secrets and the new regime of the organisation, so after a heated confrontation, they kinda called it quits."

She looked back at me, her eyes locking onto mine. "You have to realise Attelus," she said somberly. "There is a real reason why Taryst had earned respect and... the love of those in his employ before he descended into the single-minded paranoia which led to his death he was a great man."

I shook away my sad state. "And how long did you work with them, I mean him?"

"A year, only a year," she answered, shaking her head. "I have been in almost every mind that worked for Taryst and have seen it all. When they find out he's dead..."

"If Glaitis has it her way, they'll never know, that Thing out there fooled everyone."

"And in turn, medicae Feuilt fooled It as well."

I sighed wearily, shaking my head into the palm of my hand. "Perhaps...But what I don't understand is why Edracian had me take the pict and not Feuilt...Although I could hazard a guess."

Karmen Kons pouted and shrugged. "That's a good question, Attelus, but there is one much bigger question we need to ask."

"And that is?"

"If the mimic-thing had its eyes, as you figured out earlier, replaced with Barhurst's, why didn't it have them in turn replaced with Taryst's?"

I stiffened in my chair, all of a sudden awake again. "Yeah! That's the only reason why we caught onto It! Surely if Feuilt and the mimic were cooperating, one being the leader of the organisation and the other the head of the organisation's medical department, surely they could've easily arranged a way to do it."

"Exactly, and we have a way to find out."

"The Thing? is it awake now?"

"Maybe," she said lightly. "If It isn't, maybe we should make it awake. It has a lot