Read Online Galaxy in Flames by Ben Counter - Free Book Online Page B

book from beside the fire and rose to his feet, reverently turning the ancient pages until he came to a complex illustration of interlocking symbols.
    ‘We are ready. I can begin once the sacrifice is made.’
    Horus nodded and said, ‘Adept, join us.’
    Moments later, the bent and robed form of Adept Regulus entered the warrior lodge. The representative of the Mechanicum was almost completely mechanised, as was common among the higher echelons of his order. Beneath his robes his body was fashioned from gleaming bronze, steel and cables. Only his face showed, if it could be called a face, with large augmetic eyepieces and a vocabulator unit that allowed the adept to communicate.
    Regulus led the ghostly figure of Ing Mae Sing, her steps fearful and her hands flitting, as if swatting at a swarm of flies.
    ‘This is unorthodox,’ said Regulus, his voice like steel wire on the nerves.
    ‘Adept,’ said the Warmaster. ‘You are here as the representative of the Mechanicum. The priests of Mars are essential to the Crusade and they must be a part of the new order. You have already pledged your strength to me and now it is time you witnessed the price of that bargain.’
    ‘Warmaster,’ began Regulus, ‘I am yours to command.’
    Horus nodded and said, ‘Erebus, continue.’ Erebus stepped past the Warmaster and directed his gaze towards Ing Mae Sing. Though the astropath was blind, she recoiled as she felt his eyes roaming across her flesh. She backed against one wall, trying to shrink away from him, but he grasped her arm in a crushing grip and dragged her towards the fire. ‘She is powerful,’ said Erebus. ‘I can taste her.’
    ‘She is my best,’ said Horus.
    ‘That is why it has to be her,’ said Erebus. ‘The symbolism is as important as the power. A sacrifice is not a sacrifice if it is not valued by the giver.’
    ‘No, please,’ cried Ing Mae Sing, twisting in his grip as she realized the import of the Word Bearer’s statement.
    Horus stepped forwards and tenderly took hold of the astropath’s chin, halting her struggles and tilting her head upwards so that she would have looked upon his face had she but eyes to see.
    ‘You betrayed me, Mistress Sing,’ said Horus.
    Ing Mae Sing whimpered, nonsensical protests spilling from her terrified lips. She tried to shake her head, but Horus held her firm and said, ‘There is no point in denying it. I already know everything. After you told me of Euphrati Keeler, you sent a warning to someone, didn’t you? Tell me who it was and I will let you live. Try to resist and your death will be more agonizing than you can possibly imagine.’
    ‘No,’ whispered Ing Mae Sing. ‘I am already dead. I know this, so kill me and have done with it.’
    ‘You will not tell me what I wish to know?’
    ‘There is no point,’ gasped Ing Mae Sing. ‘You will kill me whether I tell you or not. You may have the power to conceal your lies, but your serpent does not.’ Erebus watched as Horus nodded slowly to himself, as if reluctantly reaching a decision.
    ‘Then we have no more to say to one another,’ said Horus sadly, drawing back his arm.
    He rammed his clawed gauntlet through her chest, the blades tearing through her heart and lungs and ripping from her back in a spray of red. Erebus nodded towards the fire and the Warmaster held the corpse above the pit, letting Ing Mae Sing’s blood drizzle into the flames.
    The emotions of her death flooded the lodge as the blood hissed in the fire, hot, raw and powerful: fear, pain and the horror of betrayal.
    Erebus knelt and scratched designs on the floor, copying them exactly from the diagrams in the book: a star with eight points that was orbited by three circles, a stylized skull and the cuneiform runes of Colchis. ‘You have done this before,’ said Horus. ‘Many times,’ said Erebus, nodding towards the fire. ‘I speak here with my primarch’s voice, and it is a voice our allies respect.’
    ‘They are not allies