Durgar stood unmoving, his long golden hair flapping defiantly in the gentle breeze. His eyes remained fixed on the green armoured giant standing opposite to him. They had held each other in their eyes unflinchingly for the past three hours, each seizing up their opposite number, assessing, wondering and imagining the possibilities. There was much Durgar had experienced in his four hundred year existence as a wolf lord of one of the great companies in the Spacewolves chapter. He had charged in to battle at the side of his lord, Grimnar on so many occasions that he had begun to forget their number. He had come to expect the unknown and there was little in this galaxy that would have surprised him. However, he had been completely taken aback by the recent arrival of the supreme grandmaster of the Dark Angels chapter. He could not but help admire their audacity in arriving in a solitary thunderhawk, no doubt to maintain the secrecy of the mission. The reason for the visit was not known to him, but the fact that the commanders of the two chapters had locked themselves away in confidential conference, alone and for more than three hours left little to be said. The situation must indeed be grim. The man who had accompanied, and who now stood opposite him outside the camouflaged doors of the command bunker had been introduced to him as Master Belial. Durgar had heard of this man, from his exploits against the ork horde in the Piscina system when their brothers in the Dark Angels had faced off with Ghazkull Thraka. He was an imposing man, even for an angel thought Durgar, and wondered if he would get the honour to face him in the blood feud tonight. Little had been said between the two as the stood guard for their primarchs. If Master Belial knew anything about the reason for their visit, he didn't show any evidence of that knowledge in his face or speech. His expression remained set in stone. Durgar remembered with pride when he had been informed that Logan Grimnar had been chosen unanimously as the overall commander of the space marine forces in the Cadian sector. That dour spacewolf had seen battle for centuries. He had been at the forefront of the imperial defence on occasions too numerous to recollect. The victorious defender of Armageddon during its first war, one that many had forgotten, when Angron and his hordes were defeated and banished was one of the many celebrated achievements. The guile and cunning of the great wolf lord were as necessary as the raw battle prowess he had demonstrated, if they were to beat the son of Darkness. He was overwhelmed with honour when he was ordered to accompany Grimnar with his great company as they assault landed on Cadia before the chaos blockade set in. He remembered with frustrated anger when all the so called unforgiven chapters refused to accept Grimnar's authority, nor even to follow the imperial battle plan. However, he knew enough from the constant flow of intelligence reports and individual sightings that the Angels were indeed very active in all sectors, striking hard and moving on but with no apparent pattern. It did not matter because the near complete strength of Fenris had been mobilised for this war and they would face the enemy with or without their brother angels. However, it did seem that now the unforgiven may just be on the verge of joining forces with the rest of the Imperium. As he stood there in honour bound duty to guard his chapter master, his mind raced, formulating and assessing battle plans and strategies and considering the possibilities of offensive action of the unforgiven forces joined the fray in coordination with the rest of the Imperium. Durgar's thoughts were rudely interrupted as the massive blast doors suddenly began to open with no warning. The multi-ton adamantium doors moved smoothly without any sound except for the low hiss of hydraulics as they moved on delicately balanced hinges. Without announcement out strode the two chapter masters. Two giants amongst superhuman battle brothers, for a moment Durgar could see in them the embodiment of Russ and Johnson. Obviously Master Belial may have had similar thoughts as the two battle hardened veteran commanders stood gaping momentarily at their masters in awe. Then that unique moment passed as Grimnar spoke to Durgar. He could see the tension and concern in the faces of both masters, but he also noted the gleam of hope in their eyes. "Wolflord Durgar, have your great company prepare for extrication from Cadia. The supreme grandmaster has assured us escort for your company. Your target is Kasr Sonnen. Your mission is to hold it at all cost. Prepare to depart within the day.!" Simple, straight forward instructions, as usual Durgar thought. The great wolf was one to never waste words. The implications of those few commands were enormous. He was to gather his great company, embark out system through the chaos festered blockade, apparently escorted by a dark Angel fleet and make landfall on Kasr Sonnen for its defence. Sonnen had been relatively spared in the war so far, but it formed the inner defensive ring of the Cadian system. The imperial attempts to reinforce Cadia surreptitiously since the chaos fleet blockade began was using in system space lanes flying close to the Cadian sun and dropping in close to Sonnen, which afforded some measure of protection. The strategic importance of Sonnen to Cadia's survival was not lost upon him. Azrael spoke in turn to Belial. "The third company will accompany our brothers to Kasr Sonnen. The orders are the same. Hold the Kasr until relieved!" Belial nodded, clasped his right fist across his heart in respectful salutation to Durgar who returned the gesture. The next words uttered by the great wolf nearly sent Durgar stumling backwards. "There will be no more blood feuds! By the name of Russ it ends today!" "In the name of Johnson so say the unforgiven!" thundered Azrael. Time froze as the two company commanders assimilated the enormity of this historical moment. It took Durgar a few seconds to notice that both Azrael and Grimnar had their gauntlets removed from their right hands. A thin line of blood could be seen on both hands, immediately identified as a ritual incision. The larraman's cells in their blood had already begun to coagulate the site of the wound and begin to form a protective membrane, but the injury itself and the smear of blood on both their hands indicated the age old ritual of bonding between battle brothers. "We fight as battle brother today and the future. The son of darkness must not pasS. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Durgar stood on the rolling plains of Kasr Sonnen outside its largest city. The fortress world had indeed been spared the brunt of the fighting. He was impressed by the Cadians' readiness for war and sacrifice. As he surveyed the potential field of battle he reflected upon the recent events. Despite the suddenness of his deployment away from Cadia itself he sensed the urgency of his mission. The great wolf himself had spoken to him in private. Oath-bound to Azrael, he was unable to divulge the details of the conversation between the two chapter masters. He had however revealed that while the unforgiven were acting outside his immediate command, he now understood the reason, and the danger that they sought to dispel. It was obvious that the chapter master of the Dark Angels and the de facto commander of the forces of the unforgiven chapters had confided in the great wolf mighty secrets that had never before left the sanctity of their inner circle. The gravity of the situation was evident in Grimnar's eyes as he bid goodbye to Durgar. They could not fail in Kasr Sonnen, they must not! His entire great company had moved like a well oiled machine, despite weeks of desperate fighting. Surreptitiously they boarded their thunderhawks and in-system transports at night fall and rendezvoused with the small Dark Angel fleet on the sunward side of Cadia. He was impressed by the sudden appearance of the fleet of the angels, the importance of the mission signified by the presence of a battle barge accompanied by three strike cruisers and attending destroyers. They had fought running battle with packs of hunter-killer chaos strike groups and had landed with minimal casualties on Kasr Sonnen under the eclipse shadow of Korolis. The third company of the Dark Angel chapter had already secured landing zones for their arrival. They had deployed, planned their strategy and discussed the identity of their enemy. With the Cadian planetary defence forces and regular shock troop regiments already deployed in strength, the space marines deployed and awaited the onslaught that was sure to come. Durgar slowly pulled his gauntlet off his right hand and studied it, deep in thought. The incision on his hand was already healing as would the one on Belial's hand. He had never taken a blood oath with a battle brother from another chapter, but now he wondered if things would change. He wondered if this was the emperor's way of testing the worth of his children, of uniting his progeny, of continuing the great task he had set about those ten thousand years ago. |
CHAPTER XX: MEETING OF MINDS (Continued) Chronicled By ( Shadow Guard ) |
GATHERING OF ANGELS |
This section provides the narrative history of the events that took place during the Gathering of Angels campaign conducted by the Inner Circle, during Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade. This is in no way the official GW version nor is it in anyway an attempt to infringe on their IP. There are many versions of imperial history buried within the sands of time and this is but just one of them. Read on if you dare! |
