Read Online Deathwing by William King, David Pringle, Neil Jones - Free Book Online Page B

himself
     to
     his
     feet.
     Genestealer guards
     raced
     towards him, but
     the
     huge
     creature
     glanced
     at them, and
     they
     froze in position.
    Two
     Heads
     Talking
     stood
     unsteadily,
     knowing
     he
     faced
     a
     Genestealer
     Patriarch.
     He
     had
     heard
     dim
     legends
     of such things,
     the
     progenitors
     of entire broods,
     the
     most ancient
     of their lines.
     
     
    He looked into his enemies' eyes.
     He felt an almost electric shock
     pass through
     his
     body
     as
     their
     minds
     made
     contact. The
     Librarian
     found himself
     confronted
     by
     a
     foe
     that
     was
     ancient,
     implacable,
     deadly.
     His
     mind
     reeled
     under
     the assault
     of its ferocious
     will. He felt an urge to kneel. to do homage to this
     ardent
     being.
     He
     knew
     that
     it
     was
     worthy
     of his respect.
    With
     an
     effort,
     he
     managed
     to
     restrain
     himself.
     He
     reminded
     himself
     that
     this
     was
     the
     being
     that
     had
     destroyed his people.
     He
     made
     to
     throw
     himself
     at
     it,
     to
     aim
     a
     killing
     blow
     with
     his
     good
     arm.
     He
     sprang,
     but
     his
     legs
     gave
     way underneath
     him,
     and
     the
     Patriarch caught
     him
     easily,
     almost
     gently,
     and
     held
     him
     at
     bay
     with
     its
     claws.
     The
     long ovipositor
     on its tongue
     flickered out,
     but
     did not touch
     him.
    Suddenly
    ,
     he found
     himself engaged
     in a bitter, psychic
     struggle.
     Tendrils of alien
     thought
     insinuated
     themselves
     into his mind. He blocked
     them, chopping
     them
     off
     with
     the
     blades
     of
     his
     hatred.
     He countered
     with a
     psychic
     bolt
     of
     his own, but
     it was stopped
     by an ancient
     will that
     seemed impervious to outside
     influence.
    The
     Patriarch
     exerted
     his full
     power,
     and
     Two
     Heads
     Talking
     felt
     his defences
     begin
     to
     buckle
     under
     the
     terrible pressure.
     The
     cold, focused power
     of
     the
     Genestealer
     was
     enormous.
     Even
     fresh,
     Two
     Heads
     Talking
     doubted
     he could
     have
     matched
     it.
     Now,
     strength
     fading because
     of
     his
     wounds,
     exhausted because
     of
     his
     earlier struggles, he could
     offer no contest
     at all.
    His outer
     screen
     fell, and
     the
     Patriarch
     was
     within
     his
     mind,
     sorting through
     his
     memories, absorbing
     them
     into
     itself. For a second,
     while it was disoriented,
     he
     tried
     a
     psychic
     thrust.
     The
     Stealer countered
     easily,
     but
     for
     a
     moment,
     they met mind to mind.
    Strange
     alien memories and
     emotions
     washed
     over the
     Librarian, threatening
     to drown him. He
     saw
     the
     Patriarch's past spread
     out
     before
     him.
     He
     saw
     the
     long
     trail
     that
     led through
     despoiled
     worlds
     and past
     many
     children.
     He
     saw
     the hive world it had
     fled from in a fast
     ship,
     just
     before the
     virus
     bombs
     fell.
    With
     a
     shock,
     he
     realised
     that
     he
     had
     been
     there
     himself
     -
     on
     'Thranx
     and
     that
     the
     creature
     had
     recognised
     his
     aura from then.
     He saw the
     ship
     crippled by an Imperial battlebarge
     and
     barely able to make the
     jump into warp space.
    He experienced the
     long
     struggle
     to
     return
     to
     normal space
     and
     the
     frozen
     eternities
     it
     took
     to escape
     and
     crash-land the
     crippled ship
     on
     a
     new,
     virgin
     world.
     He
     saw
     the
     pitifully
     few survivors
     emerge;
     only
     a
     few purestrains
     and
     three hybrid
     techs.
     He saw them make axes from the
     wreckage of the
     ship
     for trade
     with
     the
     tribesmen,
     and
     he
     watched
     them start
     the
     long struggle
     to