The Knight, The Witch and The Daemon

[Yaj]

A Space Marine stands upon a riverbank of some forgotten world watching a small ship drifting lazily down a river he is Markus Chelios of the Emerald Lion, Knight-Guardian of the House of the Lion Rampant and Adeptus Astartes of The Knights Cobalt. Curled up along its edge lies a boy covered in blood and the only survivor of a crew of thirty. He should assist the child but then helping was what had…

 

He closes his eyes remembering bitterly his last sight of the storm bird ascending to the heavens. They had given him the honour of his banishment via the chapter’s heresy relic for his past deeds to the Knights Cobalt. They could not forgive him his most recent act however and if he was honest with himself he did not want there forgiveness.

 

‘Perhaps saving the boy will help’ Chelios mutters to himself but help from what? He was not lost to damnation but would saving the life of a single mortal alienate his shame?

 

A sharp pop caused Chelios to snap out of his musings and bring his attention back to the matter of the boy. The ships single wooden mast had decided at this point to break in two, although Chelios was more surprised that it had remained standing for as long as it did given the damage it had suffered. Now the boat was too heavy to its portside and starting to take on water.

 

With out further thought Chelios leapt into the river his armoured bulk causing several colonies of a native water-wasp along the riverbank to scatter in flight. The water was deep and strong and if he had been human, it would have proven far too great a challenge. As it was, he quickly swam across to the stricken boat, plucked the boy from the deck, draped him across his back before pushing of the boat, and made his way back to the embankment.

 

As he exit’s the water, feeling the heat from his armour vaporise not only the droplets still clinging to him but the miniature bodies of water-wasps attacking him, he lays the boy down on to the grass Chelios examines the little mortal. The bleeding, from what the marine can ascertain, is coming from numerous small cuts none of which is life threatening. The boy’s right shoulder however had popped from its socket and with dexterity, belying his size puts it back into its rightful place.

 

‘Father No!’ Just as the shoulder clicked audibly into the socket the boy awoke with the painful scream and then fell back into unconscious. Coming round a few minutes later he swiftly laid eyes upon Chelios armoured from and started visibly shaking from fear.

 

‘I will not hurt you’ it was a clear indication that Chelios was not used to reassuring people. As it would have been prudent to remove his helm and talk with his natural voice and not the harsh, evil sounding one the boy heard.

 

As it was, his words did have an effect…

 

Which was sending the boy running into the dark forest that lay beyond the river? He was just about to set of in pursuit when a great commotion erupted behind him. Turning he had just enough time to see the clubbed tail before he was hit square in the chest and sent flying. He picked himself up as the vast reptilian creature that was easily three or four times his size and bulk crashed into the forest leaving destruction in its wake.

 

Realising it was probably after the boy and ignoring the warning runes flashing on his visor display. Chelios, Knight-Guardian set of to rescue the human boy once more…

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Opinions? - Very welcome.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Yaj]

Cascias, Knight-General of the Knights Cobalt, was dieing...

 

He had been dieing for over two months. Ever since returning from battle against Tau forces injured, a broadside's railgun amputating both legs below the knee. Mortal wounds for a human if not treated quickly but for a marine it should not have been a problem. Yet the reality was that Honorious Cascia's, Battle-Lord of The House United, Keeper of the Sacred Watch and a whole host of other titles most of which had lost all meaning, was dieing.

 

'My lord' Cascias looks up from his throne. His armour once a glorious chequered pattern of blue/yellow and adorned with all manner of honour markings. Now covered in filth it sits in a corner whilst its master wears robes barely fit for peasants. No matter the administrations from his personal serf or the Tech-Lord's Huscarls, the armour was a sick as the Lord was.

 

'Fetch Chelios, I mus...' a series of uncontrollable spasms cut his words short. The man, who had spoken, his Huscarl Lenade, stood waiting for his masters seizures to stop a worried look creasing his brow.

 

'I cannot, Lord, you banish him' replied Lenade once the convulsions had ceased.

 

'I...yes I remember' Lenade moved towards his master and began attaching a series of thick pipes directly into his masters body. Turning his head back towards the shadow of the door he had passed through earlier, he gave a quick nod. A low humming noise began and Cascias blood began at first to trickle from the left pipes and then became a flood.

 

Through the right pipes came fresh astartes blood. It was a vain effort to cure the Chapter Master having been adapted from a device intended for use in the interrogation of captured traitor astartes. Lenade held little help for what he had heard the Hospitaller-Captain call 'The Bleeding' but until the chapter council decided on Cascias final fate they had a duty to keep him alive...

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Once again comments are welcome.

 

Thanks for reading!

[Yaj]

Should I change the title?

 

Next part sometime tonight.

[Yaj]

The stranger found the boy, three day's later, sat at the base of a large grey tree happily chewing on a piece of meat. The beast that had came forth from the water lay dead a few feet away. Its soft underbelly riddled with great gauges that the marine had cooked in the fire for the boy. The left side of its skull crushed a bloody rock nearby its cause of death.

 

'You have caused me no end of trouble!' bellowed the middle-aged man as he dismounted from his steed. He had a kind face but one which had to started let hatred and despair creep in for his actions were anything but kind. Ignoring the monster's corpse, he strode over and picked the boy up by his neck held him aloft in the air.

 

'I told you not to go with them! Stupid boy' with his free hand he slapped the boy hard round the face twice. The child crushed his eyes shut tight not wanting to cry out silently wondering where the giant had gone.

 

'Why did you not heed my warnings? was not the death of your father at there hands enough to show you that they are death to us, nothing more..' his words were cut short as he found himself dangling in the air. An overly sized hand wrapped around his throat as a second hand slapped him, as he had done with the boy, twice.

 

'This child is under my protection, little man' said Chelios has he placed the stranger back down. He had struck with the minimum amount of strength but it was enough to bruise.

 

'Y...you are with…T…T…Tau?' asked the man visibly trembling in terror and barely able to speak.

 

'No, are they here?' replied the Knight-Guardian his quartered armour of blue and yellow covered in large gashes from where he had fought and finally overcame the monster. In places, the beast had cut into flesh leaving Chelios with a host of noble scars to mark the battle. Mag-locked to his waist was his helm it is once red colouring now even darker and to badly dented to be of service any more. Fortunately, the emerald lion bearing a golden sword, his personal crest, was unharmed.

 

'Tau..' it was the first time the boy had spoken in three day's, he spat on the floor in disgust before continuing

 

'They kill us for fun, for sport and we can do nothing to stop them' Perhaps thought Chelios the word Tau had a different meaning here. For the boy description of the aliens actions was more that of the Ork or Dark Eldar. Certainly not the Tau whom Chelios had considered an honourable foe, misguided in there beliefs for certain but honourable all the same.

 

'Then it is fortunate I am here' He was not quite sure how he alone could prevail against a Tau army. Even if the weapons of his office had, not been, stripped from him prior to his banishment, it would have been a near impossible task. Here though was a chance to prove himself to his chapter, even if they would never know of his deeds. It occurred to the Knight-Guardian that Knights Cobalt must have known of the Tau's presence on the world and wondered why they had not prosecuted war against them for violating the imperium.

 

The man, who turned out to be the boy's uncle, glanced at the marine and then at the immense monster, which he had taken for a natural beast at passing glance, he recalled an old tale of a mighty golden knight who had smote the kingdoms into one and for a time had ruled them. Surely, however this giant could not, be the 'Emperor' of the tales for it was all just a story...

 

Was it not?

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Next part on Sunday, hopefully.

[Yaj]

The Council Chambers...

 

'Did you not hear, Archad?' the knight in question Thadius Archad, Battle-Lord of the White Raven, shot his accuser a venomous look but said nothing.

 

'Our chaplain's say that our lord's spirit is free of taint and that he still serves our holy father' finished Sidaz Jarg of Manticore. Pausing as entire council lowered the heads at the mention of the Holy Father and each whispered 'Blessed be his name' in benediction of him. Unlike other chapters, the Knights Cobalt was an alliance of brotherhoods forged into one by war. Each house or company, of which there were four, originally formed from the remaining survivors of the Garan disaster and moulded into one by the passion and deeds of Brother-Sergeant Andar. Andar, last member of the Knights Cobalt and venerated as the visionary who had from defeat and despair remade the remnants into one single chapter. As the alliance stood upon the ashes of it's conquered foes it came to realise that the bonds of brotherhood forged in the decade long struggle could not be broken and so the Knights Cobalt, named in honour of Andar, had been formed.

 

'That maybe so, Jarg, but the body is corrupted! How long can it be before the spirit is as well?' Archad rose from his seat as he spoke and began to walk around the council table. Known for his fiery rhetoric if not his skill with language he continued.

 

'We must end his life' raising a hand to stifled a response from Jarg he continued.

 

'This alliance has stood as one for five hundred years! We must not now allow the Knights Cobalt name and reputation to be come tainted. Though it saddens my hearts to voice it we must purge the Knight-General's soul and body for surely this would be a mercy' a gruff laugh echoed around the hall as Archad returned to his seat.

 

'This alliance, chapter master of White Raven, should have ended with the death of Andar' said the owner of the laugh Kai Harid of the Lion Rampant. Old enough to remember the early days of the Knights Cobalt, having joined the new chapter in its infancy, he was among the most vocal in calls for the four houses to separate and re-form there original chapters.

 

'We know of your arguments, brother, but this is not the place for them' replied the Battle-Lord of the Crimson Griffin L'ha Su'nai who then began voicing his own opinion. The debate over the future of Cascias had been on going for three days. Each of the commanders suits of power armour stood neatly arranged behind them and they wore simple plain grey robes adorned with the quartered circle. Each segment was filled with the symbol of one of the houses over the middle of the circle was a smaller one on which the original symbol of the Knights Cobalt resided.

 

In the shadows stood the Knight-Guardians, or to give the more common name 'Chapter Champion, of the respected Houses. Though forbidden to speak of it by there masters each knew that in the end that two of them, perhaps even all four, might have to end the debate in a death-duel. Each warrior knew this and silently prepared his mind and body to slay that which he once called brother.

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Will write an IA at some point.

 

Next part - sometime later on today.

 

thanks for reading, comments welcome.

[Yaj]

They had been travelling on foot for six days when they finally reached a town with signs of life still in it. Hictar, the man that had found them and the boy's uncle, had originally led them to a small village a single day's ride away. However when they reached it became obvious that nothing lived the entire area a places little more than a blackened smudge.

 

So Five days after that they had arrived outside a town, which actually had some form of life still residing in it unfortunately Chelios had already heard the all to familiar sounds of pulse rifle fire and knew that they had to continue. Here though was an opportunity to assess the Tau's strength and to see if Jophas, whose culture forbid children the giving of names to strangers was right about what he said of these Tau.

 

'Stay within the tree line and do not move until I say' the Knight-Guardians stern features told them not to argue but the boy grabbed his left gauntlet and refused to let go. Chelios audibly sighed before looking down on the terrified child. Jophas had never been so close to battle before and did not want his protector to leave.

 

'I have a task for you Jophas' Chelios kept his voice calm and neutral as he crouched down to the ground although the boy still had to look up. He removed his damaged war helm from his side and placed it on the ground by the child’s feet.

 

'This is my personal crest, Jophas' the boy looked at the marine questionably 'it is considered a grave dishonour for me to die without this. So I give it to you to protect until my return' a new pride filled the boys eyes as he nodded in acceptance of his appointed task. Chelios did not like lying to the boy but knew he could not risk his life by the boy following him. Rising he headed towards an outcropping over looking the town and then lowered himself down to lie flat.

 

What he saw was one-sided battle...

 

The Tau forces were advancing in perfect co-ordination of over lapping fire arcs punishing the defenders with deadly pulse fire. To the far right of the village he saw soldiers armoured in thick plate armour riding large destriers and armed with great broadswords. They were charging a group of Fire Warriors that had somehow become separate from the rest. Chelios watched, as the charge got closer and closer...

 

Suddenly enfilading fire struck the groups flank as concealed stealth teams made there presence known. In a matter of seconds the charge became a route and a few seconds after that the few remaining warriors were pulverised. Closer to the centre of the battlefield more modern warfare was taking place as the worlds PDF struck back with laser and missile. They were few though as most of the world’s society saw even crude black powder as devil magiks and the imperial governor clearly had not made much effort to rectify the problem.

 

The PDF were making the Tau suffer for there advance but where quickly overwhelmed by return fire once they revealed themselves. A missile launcher team, close what appeared to be a small ruined church, let fly against a crisis suit bringing it down. The two men did not stop to celebrate there small victory and quickly began moving to another firing spot. Learning fast not to remain in the same area once they had attacked the human heavy weapon team was relocating as quickly as they were able. However, the second two crisis suits cut them down almost immediately.

 

In all the one sided battle Chelios saw that the Tau were not fighting as Jophas had described and placed this down to the boys fear. He also noted the seeming absence of Kroot and wondered if this was a weakness, he could exploit.

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More tommorow.

 

Comments welcome,

 

Thanks for reading.

[Yaj]

'And so he shall, I must attend to a guest’ Haemonculus pressed two lump ridden fingers into it’s neck and deactivated the vox-unit before turning to see who had dared disturb its conversation. Its ugly scared face twisted into grin that made the creature even more unwholesome than before.

 

'Shas'el V'Lai, I presume?' asked the Haemonculus twitching oddly as it spoke. The Tau warrior nodded glancing nervously around herself. Miraius, Haemonculus of the Silent Scream, beckoned her over. Ending his secret communication with the traitor Miraius turned to regard his guest.

 

'Shas'el K'Nal is dead' hiding his irritation at the Tau is stupid stating of the obvious. Miraius sighed in mock sadness and walked over to a series of thin spirals attached to an inverted pyramid. To Human or Tau eyes, the spirals appeared to be made of copper. In fact, they were of a substance now only found on Commoragh.

 

'Follow me' Miraius turned away from V'Lai and slowly floated, walking was beneath him, toward the multi-coloured portal that the device had created. Stopping by the portal Miraius turned to find V'lai had indeed followed him. She had no choice of course but to follow due to her blind obedience to Aun'o M'Kai.

 

'What is this thing?' asked V'lai suddenly wishing very much to run. That though would be disobeying an order from a sacred ethereal and such an action was unthinkable.

 

'Do not worry, V'lai' the Tau felt herself feeling queasy at Miraius reassuring touch upon her arm.

 

'Aun'o M'Kai has your best interests at heart, my dear' then before V'Lai's natural instincts took over he grabbed her and threw her bodily through the rift. The Haemonculus followed a moment later with a laugh upon his grey lips and muttering to himself.

 

'Oh yes, dear, your best interests...'

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A bit shorter this time.

 

Thought it time to introduce new characters.

 

Comments welcome.

 

Thanks for reading - more either tonight or tommorow

[Yaj]

In the end, though it took another two days, there would be only one way to settle the fate of Cascias. The death-duel fought between the Houses of White Raven and Manticore. As tradition demanded the Knight-Guardians were led away from the chamber and into the respective halls of there houses. Here under the guidance of the Chaplains the huscarls prepared the champions body for the battle ahead.

 

Hot avian blood rained down upon Ohil Jarg, Knight-Guardian of Manticore. As the bird died under the chaplains knife three huscarls took up blades of there own and laid three bloody gashes across there own naked torsos. Each cut was symbol of the White Raven's lighting claws and a ward against them in the duel. Dropping the bird, this was a symbolic manifestation of the White Raven house. The chaplain stepped in front of the closest huscarls and thrust three armoured fingers into the man's wounds. To his credit, the human did not flinch as the chaplain withdrew and stroked them across Ohil face. This process was repeated twice more and then for precisely forty-five seconds, though know one could remember the reason behind this, the chaplain stood in front of the kneeling Ohil. Eventually he nodded giving a grunt of satisfaction as he turned back to the three bleeding huscarls. Then with a blur of rage, he struck at them! Each dropped under the assault there lifeblood pouring from the death-wound. Swiftly the chaplain angled the fast dieing servants so that there blood ran down specially designed channels and pooled into a large basin in which sat the armour and weapons of Ohil.

 

Then the chaplain left with respectful incline of the head. More huscarls rushed in to drag the cold corpses away and begin arming there master for war. The omens were good! House Manticore would meet with victory.

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On the contrast, the preparations of Gideon Sydar were simplistic in comparison. Having adorned the near all yellow armour with the exception of blue fists and checked his lighting claws were functioning. Sydar knelt in front of a small shrine of Primarch Guliman and silently prayed for his guidance in the duel ahead.

 

Gently he picked up the small wooden effigy of the great man close to his lips and whispered ‘Courage and Honour' before gently placing it back on the shrine and extinguishing the candles around it. Rising he turned to the doors leading back to the Council Hall and to whatever fate awaited...

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Short again, sorry!

 

I wanted to show some of the differences between the two dueling Houses before the main event.

 

Opinions? - more than welcome

 

Thanks for reading - more either tonight or tommorow.

[Yaj]

They had put up a spirited fight that was certain but in the end, engineered perfection had seen them slain. Crushing the throat of the last of the fire warriors under his armoured boot Chelios turned to see how his two companions faired. To his annoyance, he saw that Jophas had not stayed with his uncle and the battered lasgun the marine had looted for them. Rather he had advanced to a large rock formation and had watched the fight from there it was fortunate that the Tau were too occupied with Chelios to notice the boy.

 

'Tell your uncle to relax' he would have to chastise the boy later on for disobeying him but that moment was not now. For he was trying not to laugh at the sight of Hictar clutching the lasgun tight to his chest-standing ramrod straight out of pure fear.

 

'Jophas, I told you to...' repeated Chelios a few moments later when the boy did not move. Then to his surprise the boy walked over to the leader of the slain Tau, it's alien body silhouette against the burning wrecked Devilfish, and picking up a broken stick lying on the ground began to force open the mouth of the fire warrior leader. Figuring it to be nothing more than childish curiosity the marine was going to ignore it and go back to the missile launcher he had left in the care of Hictar. He had given the older human strict instructions not to fire it though given his near catatonic state it now seemed pointless. He felt an urgent tug upon his arm and found the boy standing pointing urgently at the body he had been so interested in. At first Chelios was going to ignore the child but the tugging became more persistence and then Jophas punched the marine resulting in a sharp whelp of pain it did however get Chelios attention.

 

'Look, look!!' cried the boy now gripping his bruised hand as he ran back to the corpse and again used the stick to part open the mouth

 

'Look, look!!' it was probably nothing but also knowing the boy would probably only give up if either Chelios forced him or if he indulged his curiosity. Choosing the latter, although giving the boy a few broken bones was tempting, the Marine walked over to the sight of the boy's excitement.

 

'You are lucky you didn't break that' said Chelios as he came to stand next to the boy. Jophas simply pointed down at the open jaw of the Tau and felt his anger at the boy rising. For there was nothing to see and so he turned away from the child but once, again Jophas grabbed his arm causing him to stop.

 

'Stop this child...' the Knight-Guardian paused in mid-flow as he found his gaze staring at parted lips of the Tau. He bent down pushing Jophas left foot of the upper face of the dead xenos and placing his own hand down upon the same place. Nothing happened at first until he applied pressure and then as Jophas had discovered before he found himself looking once again upon something he had not expected.

 

Fangs, the Tau had hidden fangs!

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Opinions, Critism etc - Very Welcome.

 

Tommorow - The Fate of V'lai

 

Thanks for reading!

[Yaj]

V'lai led her two bodyguards into battle once again. It had been only a few hours since she had left the strange organic tent of Miraius and after receiving her treatment in the Haemonculus disturbing alter world. Oddly, she found she was not that disturbed, perhaps something to do with the kroot. She had been told of a small human force preparing further mischief on the marsh islands just of the planet’s southern continent. Mischief was an apt word to use as the Tau had crushed any real opposition by the end of the third week of the campaign. V'lai viewed the attacks of the remaining human forces like the nests of water-wasps that were occasionally disturbed by the Tau - irritating but hardly threatening.

 

They could have defeated the humans in the first week of the campaign but an unforeseen malady had swept through the Tau forces within hours of there unopposed landings, the PDF having wisely chosen not to fight against overwhelming odds. Whilst it hadn't been life threatening on it's own the had illness affected the Tau natural aggression and eroding there sense of duty to the point that only the ethereal was obeyed and then orders often had to issued twice. Many amongst those who managed to remain unaffected began whispering to themselves that the terror of the Tau's violent pre-ethereal past had returned. By the middle of the first week, those affected had begun launching attacks on the human settlements. To say these attacks were brutal was an understatement and many of those Tau fortunate enough to remain healthy likened them to the senseless attacks of barbaric orks such was the level of butchery committed by the sick Tau.

 

By the end of the first week, the number of affected Tau had increased to roughly seventy percent. Aun'O M'Kai had been forced to request reinforcements though he kept the reason for the request to himself and simply said that the human defences were stronger than anticipated. Shas'el V'lai had arrived with a cadre of fresh warriors at the mid-point of the second week but when she request clearance to go down to the surface all that was received was an automated denial. When she questioned the orbiting air caste ships of the original expedition she was informed that shortly before her arrival that an alien doctor had arrived offering to cure the Tau of there affliction only asking that the Tau lend him a handful of warriors to prevent the xenos hating Knights Cobalt from destroying his world. After that all communications had ceased by order of Aun’O M’Kai.

 

Incensed by this V'lai had been about to land her forces anyway but as fate would have it Aun'O M'Kai had re-established contact two day's later and permitted her forces to land on the condition that they under go treatment from Miraius. Fate intervened again when Shas'el K'nal had been killed by a human missile during a probing attack against the closest fortified town though fortified was being kind as most of the humans, with the exception of the PDF, still used swords and bows. So at the start of the third week with human forces virtually all but crippled by a series of swift strikes against the political and military leadership and after insisting her warriors be treated first V'lai had undergone the treatment and now she....

 

never felt more alive! She had responded to the build up in the marsh islands personally accompanied by her two bodyguards. Despite protests from them and other subordinates, she had declared that she would send no other forces in at all. Swiftly the three warriors had found the human camp and put it to the sword scattering the enemy before them and began hunting them down.

 

'Wait here I shall hunt alone' ordered V'lai ignoring her bodyguards protests as she powered up her jet pack and began scanning for targets. She had felt strange during the first attack and could not explain why. Fearing the treatment had not worked she decided to complete the task on her own. She soon found the first group close to the camp attempting to hide amongst some long reeds and as soon as they were in range she opened fire with her remaining missiles killing three forcing the remaining six to flee moving in closer she picked of each one with plasma fire. Now she realised what she had been feeling during the first attack - pleasure! It was as if she were able to draw brief moments of joy from her enemies’ deaths.

 

Moving on it did not take long before V'lai had found and eliminated all remaining opposition but she found that the level of bliss she had felt had diminished as she got close to finishing her task and then had become a dull ache that affected her muscles. By the end the aching had become intolerable and her head throbbed with the constant hammering of migraines. As she approached her two bodyguards her eyes were bleeding and her voice was rasping so bad was her state that she could barely pilot her crisis suit. Fearing that the Shas'el suit had been damaged or worst that she had been injured the two bodyguards sent urgent vox transmissions.

 

'Commander, are you all right' but all they received was incomprehensible gibberish and so after alerting the main Tau base that Shas'el V'lai required urgent medical attention they moved in closer. It was at that point that without warning V'lai shot both of them dead with direct plasma rifle strikes to the chest and laughing darkly as she did.

 

The attack had been instinctive and had brought the pleasure back once more but only briefly. Then the pain had returned and V'lai thought that she would drown in it until she died however, the main Tau base had reacted quickly to the report of her bodyguards and her battle-suit enhanced hearing could make out the distinctive noise of a devilfish some distance away. All she had to do was ignore the pain as best she could until they arrived and then she would kill them.

 

All V'lai now desired was to kill for joy and prevent the pain from returning...

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Next - The Duel.

 

Opinions etc - Very Welcome.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Yaj]

The first strike was a blur of movement the axe narrowly missing Gideon Sydar's neck as he leapt back. To late, he saw the strike for what it was a faint to open his guard for Ohil's lighting rippled shield to dart out at his unprotected right flank! The serrated powered edge of the circular shield hit home cutting through armour and into flesh but before it could cause serious injury Sydar turned the attack to his advantage. Leaning into his attacker he slammed his helmet into Ohil's face then before the Manticore warrior could recover Sydar thrust the claws of his right hand into the shield arm of Ohil and spinning on his heels used the motion to bodily throw Ohil into the arena wall.

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A cloud of dust descended from one of the stone columns supporting the ceiling as the marine crashed into it! Ohil quickly rose shrugging of the set back his enhanced body already healing the wounds to his face and arm. Before he could do anything Sydar launched a vicious series of attacks which whilst not at the speed of Ohil first attack were constantly alternating in pattern and Ohil was forced to adopt a more defensive style. Holding his shield close to his chest and using his short handled axe to counter any of Sydar's attacks that the shield could not block. Ohil more used to an aggressive 'battering' style of attack struggled to maintain the defensive posture and knew he needed to force Sydar on to the back foot. The White Raven however did not seem to have any weaknesses to exploit.

 

Therefore, Ohil would have to make one! When the next series of attacks came in Ohil started to back away slowly but surely and began to parry his opponents lighting claws fractions of seconds to late. The intent was quite simple make Sydar believe he was close to victory and become over confident but it seemed that the Knight-Guardian of the White Ravens was not prone to reckless actions. Ohil was about to try other tactics though he gave little hope to them succeeding then after the two combatants briefly parted he noticed that Sydar next attack would left his gauntlets to high...

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Seeing Ohil stumble backwards, the stone floor marked with splashes of blood from where is claws had struck, Sydar knew victory was at hand. Roaring 'White Raven!’ he charged in weapons raised high ready to deliver the death blow and victory. To late he saw the positioning of Ohil's body was perfectly formed to counter his attack...Ohil side stepped the now unbalanced Sydar before pivoting inside his open guard and delivering a crushing blow to Sydar's left arm completely severing it! Ohil followed this attack by smashing his storm shield into Sydar's back sending him sprawling...

 

Sydar picked himself up determined to die facing his foe with honour and courage. It was then that he felt something light and soft upon his face risking a quick glance around himself he noticed that he was standing just behind the same column that the Manticore had struck when he had thrown him into it. A plan started to form in his mind one that could bring victory but timing was crucial.

 

'A flesh wound, Ohil! a pathetic flesh wound I've seen human children do better' Sydar knew he was weak and loosing blood fast from his shoulder where Ohils power axe had cut his arm despite his enhanced physique. Ohil knew it to and seemed content to move in slowly for the kill like a predator toying with its food.

 

'Still afraid of me? Ha! Even with one arm I can still beat you like your weakling mother did when you were a boy!' Ohil ignored the taunts seeing them for what they were the venom of a defeated man and did not charge in as Sydar clearly wanted.

 

Ohil had just stepped past the column when Sydar launched his plan of action. Charging wildly forwards, he caught Ohil of guard diving under the Manticore’s attempted downward hack and rolled to his feet by the column before running towards the archway of the arena exit. Ohil turned to give chase screaming 'coward! coward' when he felt something akin to a gentle touch upon his face and heard the first ominous crack...

 

He had just enough time to scream his defiance as hundreds of tons of stone and admantium crunched down on top of him...

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Next - Markus Chelios continues his war.

 

Opinions etc - Very welcome.

 

Thanks for reading.

[Yaj]

What was it like to be a boy of ten? What was it like to be a boy of ten and at war? These questions currently plagued Chelios as he watched the road. He tried to remember when he had been ten fighting in the 'Hunting Hurricanes' gang in the underground caverns beneath his dead home world of Iafal Theta. All that sprang to memory was an odd collection of noise and death of seeing a woman die in a strange man's arms tears running down his cheeks and on to her lavish clothing. Chelios had always assumed they were his parents but the mental conditioning gone through by every aspirant to the Lion Rampant had stripped him of all but these fragments. As a scout and then as member of Karl 'The Fat' Irmya devastators he had been plagued by these memories and had even considered going against permission back to Iafal Theta. Quite what he would have done when he got there he didn't know but in any case a few sharp words from Chaplain Agmai had soon ended such plans.

 

When he had been a member of the Hunting Hurricanes, he would have at best a barely serviceable autopistol. Jophas at least had a seven foot tall giant to look to for protection even now the boy couldn't help but stare at his protector even if he was supposed to be helping watch the road. It was as if he feared his imagination was playing tricks and if he looked away for more than a split-second the marine would vanish.

 

'Aspirant Jophas! Pay attention to your duties' snapped Chelios who had known the boy was there without having to check. Jophas shuffled to his right across the dead leaves and wet twigs of the autumn woodland that covered the exit point of the narrow mountain pass they were watching. Cradling his lasgun close to his chest Jophas returned to his watch and prayed that one day he would be a space marine like Chelios. A loud thud of explosion stopped his child's prayer in mid-thought as a massive black cloud briefly darkened the sun.

 

'All teams commence attack!’ ordered Chelios through a series of quick hand signals as he charged from his concealed position firing his twin boltguns as he did. The weapons looked like pistols in his hands as they were designed for normal humans and not astartes. Three of the Tau who had emerged from the crippled devilfish had great holes blown in there chests as the explosive bolts ripped into them. A fourth and fifth only escaped briefly as the transports gun drones briefly gave the marine pause before he blew them from the sky and turned his bolters on the surviving Tau who had been desperately trying to get back into the burning craft and recover there pulse rifles.

 

On the opposite side, a crisis team was engaging the rag tagged human forces of Chelios who were already running from them unable to inflict damage. The marine had planned for this and under the cover of oily black smoke coming from the wrecked Devilfish, the three heavy weapons operating teams had moved in to position. Suddenly what had seemed to be humans running intimidated turned out to be humans running them into a trap! To late two exploded in fountains of blood and armour as missiles found there mark and the third was carved into two by the slow firing lascannon of the third operating team.

 

As the battle, ended Chelios took stock of the situation and noticed with grim pride that only eight of his fledging army had died. Knowing that it would not be long before the enemy sought there dead comrades’ whereabouts the Knight-Guardian ordered the withdrawal with quick sharp signals.

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If you are reading this please post comments!

 

thank you for reading.

 

Next - V'lai's madness deepens....

[Papewaio]

Very intriguing! The only things you could do to improve it would be to check your spelling and grammar before you post. Other than that though, very nice!

[Yaj]

Actually I type as the story evolves in my mind.

 

I'll try to go through it at some point once it's finished and make corrections but at the moment I'm more interested in creating the story than anything else.

 

Thanks for the comments! I was begining to wonder if anyone was reading past the first or second post. Though I would have carried on regardless if no one had replied as I enjoy creating it to much to stop.

 

Thanks again.

 

The next part will be sometime this afternoon/early evening (GMT).

[Yaj]

She walked almost in an odd staggering fashion a crazed look about her dirt-covered face. Her right arm was a bloody ruin where she had repeatedly stabbed it with a crude stone knife and left was covered in burn scars from where she had deliberately cast it into the fires she made at night to keep warm. It had been one month since the Marsh-Islands and V'lai had been forced to abandon her crisis suit shortly after being denied the kills of the rescue teams. The pain had become too much to handle and pilot the suit effectively.

 

V'lai had barely ate or drunk anything since the marsh-islands and yet she felt stronger not weaker. She had discovered that she was able to bring brief moments of the pleasure by inflicting pain upon herself but these barely lasted for more than a couple of minutes. This discovery was made quite by accident when in her pain-fuelled state she had tripped on to sharp rocks now one of these rocks formed her knife with which she kept the wounds open and made fresh ones. The fall also had another unexpected discovery in that she now knew her body was capable of rapid healing far beyond that of a normal Tau.

 

After being denied the easy kills of the devilfish crew and passengers she had resorted to hunting lesser prey but discovered that no matter how many she killed she never got the rush of joy she so desired. It seemed that only the deaths of sentient beings would suffice pickings though had been slim to the point of none existence and V'lai knew that her self inflicted pain would only do for so long eventually she would have to find more than the odd morsel to satisfied her cravings.

 

To this end, she had been approaching a camp of humans huddled around a large fire and set in a clearing along the edge of the forest over looking the green tinged waters of the ocean. Activating her pulse pistol and striking her stone knife into her flesh one last time to bring a brief surge of bliss she prepared to gorge herself on human death...

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Comments etc are very welcome.

 

Next - The Duel: Part 2

 

Thanks for reading.

[Yaj]

Gideon Sydar stood downcast in his suit of armour as the Huscarls of Manticore bore the body of Ohil Jarg past in silence at there front marched Ohil Khârn who advanced without his skull helmet. In place of his crozius and plasma pistol, he bore a red banner covered in hundreds of golden lines of text each one a testament to a great victory won by Manticore past and present.

 

The White Raven placed his hand on his former brother's body now stripped of it's armour and covered from the neck down by the traditional chain mail robe and heavy black chains of his former office. Whispering a silent prayer to Jaghatai Khan, Primarch of Manticore asking him to guide Ohil Jarg to whatever afterlife his house believed in and then allowed his hand to drift over death wounds of corpse as the procession went past. As he brushed the face of his defeated foe, he noticed that it felt slightly warm to the touch almost as if there was still some life left in the Knight-Guardian of Manticore but seeing the crushed rib cage, the non-existence of the right side of the face meant such notions were ludicrous!

 

He still thought that even as the axe bit into his neck and his severed head hit the ground...

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Sorry for the late post! I had conflicting ideas on which direction to go in.

 

Next - The forces of Chelios suffer a painful loss.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Comments etc welcome.

[Yaj]

He wanted to weep, He wanted to roar in frustration and anger but all he could do was slump dejectedly on to his knees in the bloody mud and do nothing else. All around him was a seen from a war zone bodies lay everywhere torn to shreds of course he was no stranger to war and had seen worse atrocities in his 174 year service to the Lion Rampant House of the Knights Cobalt. Perhaps it was because he had led, fought and at times bled for those that now lay dead before him that he now felt so lost and utterly hopeless.

 

Some like the marine had crashed down into the blood soaked ground in abject defeat. Others had simply bawled in open sorrow at the terrible sight and yet more had simply stood in mute shock. The only person who didn't look upon the massacre was a small boy clutching a lasgun tightly to his chest instead he stared at the marine kneeling in the mud this was the man that he looked up to, the man that he wanted to inspire to become. A warrior who he had seen wading through torrents of Tau fire just to rescue one accidentally abandoned autocannon it’s crew gunned down by burst cannon fire. On another, he had charged recklessly at a Hammerhead gunship just to provide enough time for his fighters to extract themselves after ill discipline had led to an ambush launched to early. Over three months of fighting the boy had seen the giant do things that should be impossible and yet had been done as if it was nothing but a casual walk in the park.

 

Jophas knew what afflicted the marine and the others to a lesser extent because he himself was affected by it. The bloody mess before them was not fellow soldiers lost in war, which could have been acceptable on some level but those who had sought out there protection - civilians that had given those fighting a reason to continue, and now they were all dead. Somehow, Jophas found himself standing by the marine though had no memory of even thinking about approaching the marine. He placed a hand upon the warriors shoulder guard causing the marine to snap out of his melancholy and look upon the boy who simply looked upon him with a fierce look in his eyes and Chelios laughed.

 

How could he even contemplate defeat when a mere mortal, a boy no less refused to be bowed by such a sight? Rising he nodded his thanks to Jophas and walked over to his soldiers.

 

'Look upon them! Look upon them and harden your hearts for you will no doubt see more of this in the coming months' Chelios paused as he swept his gaze across them taking a measure of pride that each of them met it with grim determination.

 

'We shall avenge them! We shall avenge them by driving these invaders of Gial!' the name was a corruption the ancient word 'Gaia' used by the planets ancestors in half-forgotten histories. Over the intervening centuries, new names for the world had cropped up and as the world had gradually split into small kingdoms, the numerous names had stuck. Now however the old name was being used to as a banner to drive the populace on to victory.

 

'Fighting 39!, Fighting 39!' they numbered in the hundreds but 39 had been the original number of lost souls Chelios had discovered shortly after the incident with the mutated Tau and Jophas had dubbed them 'Chelios - Fighting 39' after there first victorious battle.

 

'Fighting 39!’ roared Chelios adding his voice to the battle-chant as he started to march back towards the forest with renewed vigour. He had wondered over all those months how they would win against the alien invader but now he knew the answer. Sheer blind refusal to know when they were beaten! Thought Chelios as he marched still quietly chuckling to himself

 

somewhere in the distance a growl of engines approached...

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At last I've named the planet!

 

I must admit I'm not to happy with this part so any suggestion on how to improve it are welcome.

 

Next part - V'lai

 

Thanks for reading.

[Incus]

A very interesting plot, I like the different plotlines and chapter organisation. I might have to agree with Papewaio, I normally write on word, so I can use the spell check etc before I post. That way you can get on with being creative, whilst be able to check it. It also means that you can't accidentally navigate off the page and lose all the work you've done, which has killed many a tale for me. But yes, I'm presuming English isn't your first language, which makes this piece somewhat exceptional. Keep writing!

[Yaj]

Actually English is my first and only language! I'm good at creating characters, plot etc but I am awful at times on the actual writing side.

 

So it would probably be written better via word in terms of spelling etc but I find that I write better in terms of the story when typing straight on to the post.

 

I think what I might do in the future and to all of the prievious posts is do what I've been doing and then copy/paste it in to word to ensure that at least the spelling isn't so bad. Either that or hire an editor!

 

Thanks for the comments.

 

Next part should be tonight.

[Incus]

My bad, I'm just used to online communities where, for the majority, English isn't there first language, so basic errors autromatically make me think of someone not being British. Yeah, you'd be surprised how much you can miss when typing. Also, possibly a quick skim through when you finish can help.

 

Well, stick with it, practice makes perfect!

[Yaj]

Yeah, you'd be surprised how much you can miss when typing

 

Believe me I know! Problem is if I start to worry to much about punctuation, spelling etc I'll panic and that will affect the creation of the story.

 

You'll just have to put up with it for now.

 

Sorry!

 

Now for anyone else reading this story please do not mention the bad spelling or punctuation etc any more. My thanks to Incus and Papewaio for there advice and pointing out the problem in the first place but please if your reading this I would ask for critique/suggestions on the characters, plot etc.

 

Unless of course I write complete unreadable gobbledygook in which case tell me.

 

Does anyone have any tips for describing places? I would like to describe the places in the story with more than 'forest' or 'stone castle'. Any suggestions are very welcome.

 

Thank You.

 

Edit - I've checked the grammar etc up to post ten.

 

Probably made it worse!

[Lady_Canoness]

hmmm.... How to describe places.

 

Well, from one writer to another, I try to go with the senses: what stands out most to the people that are there? The smell? The dirt in the coners? Cobwebs? Sounds? ... the list goes on. Try walking into a room in a building you aren't familiar with (public Library, etc...) and just describe it in fundamental details. I find that people are very receptive to enviornments in real life and will pick up on things that don't necessarily meet the eye (such as atmosphere or how something makes them feel.)

 

Just some things that come to mind.

[Yaj]

Thanks for the advice.

 

I'll try out your suggestion in the next part.

[Yaj]

A tearing of flesh silences the ape pinned against an upper branch of particularly gnarled tree. Its pack-mates have long since fled sacrificing him in order to save the rest and so they do not see what becomes of the now dead animal. They do not see this new predator of the forest scream at the half-headless corpse as if in frustration nor do they see it violently thrash it into bloody rags leaving a scattering of crushed bone and pulped sinew covering the forest floor. They are not around to hear the high-pitched scream of a creature denied what it seeks. Lastly, they do not see creature give of a cat like purr as it lashes out against its own flesh with a black bulbous tongue pot-marked with strange white pustules and a spiked bony protrusion at its tip.

 

The part of the forest the predator resides in is old and the trees here have grown to be tough easily able to withstand the constant challenging of the elements and humans to there domination. They have lived unbowed for hundreds of years whilst there own young have withered and died unable to reach the much needed sun to grow and so this is the predators realm one of stagnation where only the ape-like creatures dare to tread to consume the dead or dieing saplings. The strange grey skinned animal has no intention of staying in this part of the forest and as it leaps of the end of the branch on to the trunk of the next tree, the long single bone-claw that makes up half of its long arms piercing the tree's hide with little effort, it hears something that attracts it's attention. It has no idea what the noise signifies only an undeniable instinct to seek the source of the odd grumbling out.

 

If the apes were, still around to see the thing as it leapt from tree to tree leaving large wounds in each. Then perhaps they would have seen the unnatural lump protruding from its right hip...

 

That of a pulse pistol over grown now with large clumps of greenish grey hair.

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Next - A traitor revealed!

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Comments and Suggestions - Very welcome!

 

Side note - For some reason when I edited this in word (yes I know it doesn't look like I did) it kept telling me to captalize letters at the start of sentences. This would be fine, eveyone misses out on doing it for the odd sentence, but it was telling me to captalize the second letter of the first word!

 

All story posts believe it or not are now edited and slightly improved hopefully.

[Yaj]

'Gideon Sydar, Knight-Guardian of White Raven' voiced the three chaplains in unison as they circled the body of the warrior. He was placed on top of a pyre in full armour the damage inflicted upon it by Ohil of Manticore repaired and fresh paint applied. Behind stood a statue of Roboute Guilliman his venerable face worn and weathered. In his left hand, he held a short-sword out stretched as if pointing to the outer part of the weapon made of bronze with the middle formed from a single ruby. Designed in such away that the light from the fires cunningly placed around him made it seem as if the gladius was engorged with the fresh blood of the imperiums enemies. The right hand held an oversized book held just before the face, the head angled to look as if reading, the words 'Codex Astartes' engraved along a stylised spine.

 

'Gideon Sydar, Knight-Guardian of White Raven - Honoured Brother' the chanting continued. In General the scions of Ultramarine Primarch were not given to religious superstition and the warriors of White Raven were no different. The ceremony had symbolic standing within the chapter nothing more, nothing less if Sydar had died fighting in a far distant world, and his body lost. The chapter would have simply carried on regardless and named a new champion without fear of misfortune or the new champion being struck down by gods.

 

'Gideon Sydar, Knight-Guardian of White Raven - Death-Dealer' in-between the pyre and the statue stood, over looking Sydar, an iron pulpit covered in embossed writing listing the names of all who had fallen in service to the chapter. Four perfectly straight stone stairs led up to a golden lectern upon which sits a book it's pages yellow with age and weight of baring the names of so many of the glorious dead.

 

'Gideon Sydar, Knight-Guardian of White Raven - Slain, Betrayed!' the chaplains were not alone with the corpse for arranged in front of the pyre in three half circles by order of seniority was Thadius Archad, Battle-Lord of the White Raven and the respective Battle-Lords. The masters of the houses stood in the first half-circle though Sidaz Jarg of Manticore had been refused a place for Archad saw the death of Sydar with such underhanded tactics as gross betrayal. The second half-circle consisted of the captains of the houses though as per tradition those of White Raven stood slightly in front of the rest. Last the third circle consisted of Huscarls whose place within there respective houses allowed them a place at the ceremony. Cascias would normally have stood before the first half-circle and though Lenade his personal Huscarl had gone in his master’s absence it was forbidden for any huscarl, no matter of standing, to go beyond the final half-circle. As for the Knight-Guardians none were in attendance having been left to tend to the day to day duties of the battle-lords and captains. Whilst the ceremony took place over the required number of days, in this case five.

 

'Gideon Sydar, Knight-Guardian of White Raven - Who will recite his victories?' at this cue Archad stepped forward clad in the traditional iron-coloured armour of the chapter, prior to unification with the other houses that formed the Knights Cobalt, a crimson circle upon both pauldrons in which lay a white raven trimmed with gold. All eyes turned to him as he climbed the steps leading to the lectern and began to speak of the glories won by Gideon Sydar.

 

'As a scout he slew the ork Killa-Gra The Cunning! Who had slain no less than five of our finest veterans' as Archad spoke no one noticed Lenade slip through the huscarls and exit the chapel for they were all fixed on hearing of the great accomplishments of Gideon Sydar. They did not see him press two fingers into his right arm or the beatific smile that crossed his face and last they did not see him reached into his robes for a strange xenos looking device.

 

For in precisely two minutes twenty-four seconds and counting they would be all dead...

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Next - The Fighting 39 meet an unexpected foe.

 

Comments, Suggestions on the plot/characters etc are welcome.

 

Thank You for reading.