A smashed emerald lizard-ape lay beneath the corpse's jaw. Three other bodies lay shattered near its tree trunk-sized tail. Ragnar wondered how many more might be underneath the corpse. He guessed the lizard creatures had driven the monster off the cliff, and then ambushed it.
Those things killed this,' said Ragnar, voicing the thoughts of his fellow Space Wolves. In order to take down this behemoth, the lizard-apes must have hunted with patience and cunning. It appeared that they had stalked and wounded the beast using spears, and then driven it off the edge of the cliff. A group of them had lain in wait to finish it off once it had landed. They had coordinated their efforts to kill the
rotting leviathan. Odd, then, that they had attacked the squad like frenzied animals.
Ragnar activated his comm. A healthy amount of static blared back at him. One of the complaints about production stated that something about Hyades caused problems with communications.
'At least they had hefty appetites,' remarked Haegr, 'a sure sign of deadly warriors.' Bite-sized holes showed in the behemoth's skin. Haegr looked like he was considering a taste.
Despite Haegr's jocularity, Ragnar stayed serious. 'Did any of the briefings say anything about intelligent alien creatures on this planet?' asked Ragnar.
The Space Wolves looked back and forth. They all knew that no one had reported intelligent native life on Hyades.
'Over here,' said Haegr, 'there's something that can't escape my keen senses.'
'Is it food?' asked Ragnar, trying to collect his sense of humour. Haegr's appetite was legendary.
Haegr shook his head. 'Just remember who saved you from that Imperial assassin.'
'All I remember is the way you fell down when he shot you,' said Ragnar.
Cautiously, he pushed through the foliage in the direction Haegr pointed. A faint path between the trees marked the way. Haegr had found a path well traversed by the native fauna. Only a few hundred metres from the rotting corpse, a second immense space opened beneath the canopy.
The new space was extremely large, reaching a height of perhaps twenty-five metres and possibly
having a diameter of ninety metres. This new opening looked unnatural, with an arched ceiling created by the twisting vines and trees, almost as if some alien gardener had created a cave out of plants. Strange flora shone with phosphorescence giving the setting an eerie blue and green glow. A large stone structure, wider than it was tall, sat shadowed in the centre of the space, perhaps half the height to the canopy, but at least thirty metres wide. It reminded Ragnar of a great toad lying in ambush for unwary insects.
Magni, a recent addition to the Wolfblade, pushed his way closer. The others followed, scanning for guards, feeling both compelled to investigate and an uneasy sense of horror. Ragnar was reminded of the feeling he had on a silent battlefield, covered with the wounded and the dying. It was that same sense of not wanting to see the carnage visited upon your battle-brothers, and yet having an inability to tear your eyes away.
Magni moved as if drawn by an invisible magnet. Ragnar felt his fellow Space Wolves' unease as they checked their weapons and scanned their surroundings. When Magni reached the base of the hidden structure, he activated his armour's illuminators. The bright light revealed far more than the flora's phosphorescence.
The stones formed a great, tiered ziggurat. Ragnar couldn't tell if it was a great rock that had been carved into the shape of a ziggurat or if it was a carefully built structure. Faces leered out from the stone, grinning and laughing, some human, some insect, some animal and some completely unrecognisable.
Ragnar felt that this was the home of evil, an ancient evil. Though he had no reasons other than his old tribal superstitions, Ragnar suspected that this place was somehow tied to the gods of Chaos. Ragnar always suspected Chaos.
Other members of the team activated their illuminators, combatting the dark and quiet atmosphere of the temple with bright light. Slowly, the Space Wolves circled the ziggurat, studying it, looking for openings and signs of age and use. Stone stairs led up the tiers while sculptures of flame marked the way. Ragnar thought the symbols were appropriate for a planet that produced so much promethium. He led a few members of his team in a climb of the stairs, while the others stood guard at the base of the structure.
On the third tier, the team found an opening. The outside of the passage was carved in the shape of a single eye. The hair rose on Ragnar's neck. He didn't like this, but he knew that if it was dangerous there was only one course of action.
We should go inside.’ proclaimed Ragnar.
'I agree,' said Magni. For a moment, Ragnar felt as if he was looking into a mirror of his past. Young Magni had all the fire of a new Blood Claw.
'Ho,' Haegr shouted up from below. The heavy Space Wolf had stayed on the ground to guard the stairs. Haegr directed his illuminators to a section of soil.
Ragnar could make out tread marks. Alien creatures didn't use tracked vehicles. He gestured and took the team members who had made the climb back down with him to investigate.
The tracks that Haegr had seen were recent, but the Space Wolves soon found signs of older tracks beneath the fresh ones. The tracks belonged to a vehicle, probably a Chimera. The trail went off in the direction of the jungle back towards the east. Ragnar could make out where the trees parted, leaving only a sea of vines to cover the hole used by the vehicle.
Imperial troops had been here, and from the freshness of the tracks, within the last few days. They might even have been here just hours before Gabriella's shuttle had arrived. Why in the Emperor's name had they let such a foul place stand?
'Chimera tracks.’ stated Magni, voicing the conclusion Ragnar had already reached. The Chimera was the standard transport vehicle of the Imperial Guard. Although troop carriers, Chimeras boasted an impressive amount of firepower. It could have easily burnt its way through the forest and survived the twists and turns of the hills beneath the canopy.
Ragnar said what the other members of the team were thinking. 'If they knew about this place, someone should have told us.’
Haegr clapped Ragnar on the shoulder with his meaty hand. Then why are we still standing here? Let's go.’
Ragnar paused, glancing back at the temple. 'I agree. We can study this place later.’ he said, but he wondered if he'd regret not continuing their exploration. Besides, what if there were traitors in Lethe, possibly inciting these beasts to cover their own sabotage? Ragnar shook his head. It was best not to engage in unfounded speculation.
The squad moved as one, following the tracks through the undergrowth. The Chimera was a versatile vehicle, but even with terrain modifications, Ragnar found it surprising that one would force its way here to the temple. A tank driver couldn't have followed one of the narrow paths used by the reptile things, so they must have known where they were driving.
Unlike the slow hacking of before, the Chimera had burnt a hole through the jungle easily large enough for the Wolfblade squad. Insects smacked into the eye plates on Ragnar's helm as he took the lead over the others. Few Space Wolves could match Ragnar's speed, especially when his duty was at stake. He couldn't fail House Belisarius.
As his armoured boots crushed the remnants of foliage beneath them, he thought back. It wasn't House Belisarius he didn't want to fail, it was Logan Grimnar. He recalled that day on the Fang, standing in front of the Great Wolf himself, the leader of all the Space Wolves, when he had been assigned to the Wolfblade. He had seen it as a punishment. He was an exile from the Space Wolves. Since then, he had learned from Haegr, Torin and others about the glories of the Wolfblade, but still, he longed to return home to the Fang. He wanted to be back on Fenris, as a Space Wolf. Then, if he volunteered for the Wolfblade, that would be his choice, not something he had been forced to do. All he needed was a chance.
More light filtered through the jungle as the trail twisted and turned. The squad was surfacing from the jungle depths. Surprisingly, the further along the path they ran, the more the jungle had grown back. The
entire jungle seemed accursed. The tracks couldn't have been more than a few hours old, yet vines crossed the trail and new saplings almost half a metre high thrust out of the ground.
Plants couldn't stop Ragnar. With his enhanced strength and the servo-motors in his armour, he tore the vines and snapped saplings. A group of blood thorn trees flung their deadly poison spines at the Space Wolf as he passed. An unprotected man would have died in seconds from the barrage, but the volley provided only a moment's distraction as it clattered off his power armour.
The team ran for over half an hour following the tracks. With their enhanced muscles, each Space Wolf moved faster than an ordinary man despite their armour. The pace was relentless. They were on the hunt.
Magni reached Ragnar and then passed him. The young Space Wolf gave the victorious howl of a Blood Claw. Ragnar remembered that Magni had been sent to the Wolfblade for disobeying orders in his zeal to fight. Although all Blood Claws were hard to control, when battle lust and excitement gripped Magni, he lost his head and had trouble regaining it. Ragnar considered ordering him back in line, but decided that he would simply meet the young one's challenge.
Ragnar saw the trees thinning and he knew that they were coming close to the capital. The city's defenders worked to keep a swathe of clear ground around the walls and would kill anything that ventured out of the jungle. The kill zone wasn't far away. He pushed himself to pass Magni, although he knew that such a
breakneck pace was dangerous. Ragnar wasn't going to let anyone beat him.
The city of Lethe was a walled fortress in the jungle. Massive walls, reaching twenty metres high, loomed over a several hundred-metre kill zone. The citizens had poisoned the earth and kept the jungle away from the city with flame. Several gates allowed transports to move in and out to the mines along guarded roads maintained with more flame. Planetary defence force Sentinels with armoured cockpits patrolled the kill zone, armed with Hyades's signature heavy flamers and chainblades to fight the ever-encroaching vegetation. Hellhound tanks stayed ready to emerge and unleash their Inferno cannons on anything that threatened their city. The planetary defence force manned the walls with large twin– and quad-linked heavy bolter turrets.
The amount of emphasis placed on defending Lethe from its surroundings seemed suspicious to Ragnar, but he had been around the galaxy enough to know that war would find the unprepared. Now, he wondered exactly who had done the preparing.
Ragnar dropped his pace as he reached the kill zone. The other Space Wolves behind him started catching up, although it appeared that giant Haegr was lagging a little behind the others. Magni surged forwards as Ragnar slowed.
Ragnar activated his comm. 'Magni, stop,' he ordered, but there was no stopping the young Space Wolf.
Magni looked up at the walls, and Ragnar knew that he could see the gun turrets. The men on the wall were
trained to fire at anything entering the kill zone from the jungle. Still, the defenders knew that the Space Wolves were on patrol and surely, they would recognise power armour.
Ragnar heard the retort of the turrets from the wall. Heavy bolter shells pounded Magni. Dirt sprayed into the air as the blasts gouged holes in the earth. The large shells knocked Magni from his feet, cracking his power armour.
Ragnar watched in horror. He was in charge, and Magni was one of his men. The turrets had targeted the young Space Wolf, and Ragnar wasn't sure if the wall's defenders had recognised his fellow Space Marine as an ally.
Magni twisted backwards as another blast threw him into the air, instinctively seeking the shelter of the jungle. He came to rest at Ragnar's feet in a broken heap of blue-grey armour.