‘Soon.’ The Chaplain met his brother’s eyes. ‘I told you, I returned because the time has come. Soon, the call will come from Terra.’
Xaphen activated the wall-screen, cycling through visuals of stellar cartography. He added layer upon layer of superimposed fleet markers. Argel Tal watched the display taking shape, so beautifully complex in its completion.
‘Tell me what you see,’ Xaphen said with a smile.
Argel Tal glanced at him. ‘I see the death of my patience. I see my anger rising at how you hold all these answers purely by virtue of your position in the Chaplain brotherhood. I see me walking from this room without a straight answer given immediately.’
‘Such vim,’ the Chaplain chuckled. ‘Very well. Here is the Isstvan system. Here, far across the western spiral arm, is Terra. Take note of the compliances being carried out in the subsectors closest to Isstvan. Now, humour me. What do you see?’
Argel Tal recognised symbolising runes from four Legions – and no others. It formed a curious pattern, notable for the lack of Imperial Army or Mechanicum battlefleets, as well as the total absence of many notable Legions.
‘I see the hand of the Warmaster at work,’ said Argel Tal. ‘He has positioned certain fleets closest to him at Isstvan. These fleets could reach the system within a matter of days. Those on the outer arc will take longer, but... This is an immense gathering of force.’ Argel Tal looked at Xaphen, reluctantly drawing his eyes from the twinkling stellar ballet. ‘Now tell me why.’
‘Forgive me, brother. Little did I realise the frustration of isolation you’ve suffered in a fleet burdened by Custodes presence. Your duty was to maintain the lie, and you’ve done so to perfection. But you are owed enlightenment.’
Xaphen cancelled the cartographic imagery and continued. ‘Horus and Lorgar are already moving against the Emperor. The Warmaster has sworn devotion to the Hidden Gods, and now walks in their light. For now, the warp is pregnant with unrest, leaving much of the Imperium blind. Many of the established warp-paths are severed from each other by aetheric storms. The tumult will only grow worse, giving us enough time to enact the primarch’s will without fear of Imperial retribution. Such is the influence of the true gods. The warp itself is their canvas, and they paint to please us.’
The Master of the Serrated Sun let his scowl speak for him. He took offence to the way Xaphen insinuated they were no longer Imperial, purely for contemplating regicide. We are overthrowing a stagnant and ignorant ruling order. We are bringing enlightenment to our people, not ending the empire.
‘Go on,’ he said.
‘A call will reach us soon – a panicked plea that every astropath in the fleet will hear at once. A call from Terra. The Emperor will soon learn of Horus’s rebellion, and what choice does he have? He must order the closest Legions to destroy the Warmaster’s traitorous forces.’
Argel Tal pictured the Legion signifiers flashing closest to the sun named Isstvan.
‘Horus will be destroyed.’
The Chaplain laughed, relishing the moment. ‘He will be entrenched on an impregnable world, commanding four Legions. What could destroy him?’
‘The seven Legions tasked with doing so. Even with the Iron Warriors at our side, the other five Legions remain under the Emperor’s aegis. Six against five. Our losses will be catastrophic. How can we illuminate Terra when the Legions sworn to Lorgar and Horus are bloodied and broken?’
Xaphen didn’t answer immediately. His brother recognised something in his face – some creeping disquiet, close to the bladed edge of mistrust.
‘Do you have such little trust in your own Legion’s Chaplains, that our work has failed to turn the Night Lords, or the Alpha Legion? Lorgar has worked for half a century to spread the truth to those ears worthy of hearing it. Every Legion we need will be at our side. The loyalists will find nothing but extinction waiting for them on the surface of Isstvan V. They will never leave their dropsites alive, Argel Tal. I promise you that.’
‘This conspiracy,’ said Argel Tal, ‘disgusts me.’
‘It is the primarch’s plan, brought into being by Horus himself.’
Argel Tal shook his head. ‘No. This is not Aurelian’s work. This is Erebus and Kor Phaeron’s doing. Their treacherous stink comes off this vision in waves. Lorgar is a golden soul, a being of light. This shadowplay comes from the dreams of much smaller, darker men. The primarch, blessings upon him, loves that foul wretch. He embraces a viper to his breast and names it father.’
‘You should not speak this way of the Master of the Faith.’
‘Master of the...’ Argel Tal laughed. ‘Kor Phaeron? “Master of the Faith”? He coats himself in titles the way a killer’s knife is laced with poison. Truly, I have been isolated from the Legion too long, if Kor Phaeron is now beloved of the masses. You of all people, Xaphen – you loathed him. An impure soul. A false Astartes. Your own words, brother.’
Xaphen looked away at last, unwilling or unable to hold the gaze any longer. Nothing broke eye contact like shame. ‘Times change,’ the Chaplain said.
‘So it seems.’ Argel Tal closed his hands into fists to ease the pain in his bones. It didn’t work. His knuckles went on throbbing. ‘Just get on with it. I have a world to bring to compliance.’
‘If you please, I have questions of my own.’
‘Ask,’ said Argel Tal, ‘and I will answer.’
‘Cyrene,’ Xaphen began. ‘She has undergone more rejuvenation treatment.’
‘Do not look at me, nor should you accuse her of vanity. An astropathic order came from the primarch himself some time ago. He still holds her in high regard, and expressed his desire that she go through another cycle of treatments.’
Xaphen nodded. ‘And Aquillon?’
Argel Tal’s expression was unreadable. ‘As before. He knows nothing, and suspects even less. His messages to the Emperor never leave the fleet.’
‘My failsafe?’
‘Is still in effect.’
‘Have you checked yourself?’ The Chaplain knew his brother found certain methods distasteful. ‘It is integral you check yourself.’
‘I have,’ said Argel Tal. ‘Nothing has changed, put it from your mind.’
‘Then I am sanguine. Nevertheless, I will renew the wards tonight.’ He moved over to his writing desk, and unclasped a great book from where it was chained to his waist. Slowly, reverently, he leafed through the pages of the great, leather-bound tome – through pages and pages of elegant scripture, mathematical designs, astrological diagrams, chanted invocations and ritual formulae.
Argel Tal ached to step closer and read the secrets spilled from the primarch’s mind. Truly, Lorgar was sharing a great deal with the Legion’s Chaplain brotherhood.
‘You have added much to the book,’ he noted.
‘I have. Each month, we receive new chapters and verses for the holy work. The primarch’s mind is aflame with ideas and ideals, and we are honoured to hear them first. Thousand of epistles now grace these pages.’
The 1301st’s databanks would never be allowed to archive digital copies of the primarch’s scriptures, for such information could be accessed by the wrong souls. Instead, the Serrated Sun’s Chaplains each carried their own copies chained to their armour – forever adding to them as the Word grew and spread – using them to preach at secret sermons. Argel Tal had taken Sar Fareth’s Book of Lorgar from the Chaplain’s corpse, incinerating it on the battlefield; committing necessary blasphemy to prevent the tome ever falling into unintended hands.
The Chaplain took a slow breath. ‘I have been gone too long, Argel Tal. You’re right. I was lost in manipulating the dull-witted labourers of the IV Legion, when in truth I desired nothing more than to be here with my brothers, preaching the evolving Word of Lorgar.’
‘Apology accepted,’ said the Crimson Lord. ‘And you have thirty-eight minutes before planetfall. I will see you on the deck before the Rising Sun.’
Xaphen was reading the data screeds scrolling over his eye lenses. ‘There’s an order for the coming engagement, sanctioning the presence of remembrancers during combat operations. That cannot be correct, for I know you would never acquiesce to such a thing.’
Argel Tal grunted something that wasn’t quite an answer, and made his way to the door.
‘Wait.’
Argel Tal froze, already at the chamber door. ‘Yes?’
‘Think of all that has come to pass, brother. Focus upon how events are flowing faster towards the inevitable insurrection. Are you feeling anything within you? Any... changes?’
The Chapter Master’s hands ached with sudden ferocity. It was if his knuckles and wrists were hinged by broken glass.
Without knowing why he did it, Argel Tal lied.