【战锤40k同人作品翻译】 Ennui 第二十九章：揭晓 Revealed
本章概述：
亚历莎在一名天使面前争辩。
In which Alessa argues before an Angel.
正文：
空气中弥漫着紧张的气氛。
它在我打开了信标转发器的时候就加重了，在我的姐妹们无疑正用于扫描的占卜阵列的机魂发起通讯时，教堂盔甲的机魂开始发出咔嗒声和唧唧声。
果然，只过了几秒钟，帝国引擎雷鸣般的反冲就在我们的头顶嘶吼起来，我在引擎反冲把沙土和碎屑卷到伊莎莱和我身上时瑟缩了一下。
我的盲眼只能给我周边事物最模糊的印象。灵魂辉光，正如伊莎莱所称呼的那样，仅局限于活物，但我的耳朵告诉我这可能是一架帝国卫军的VTOL，要么是女武神战机，要么是能够垂直起降的相关型号。在巢都里的任何行动都需要一队这种载具，毕竟开放空间十分稀少且相隔甚远，而且通常非常狭窄。
雷鸣般的铿锵在起落架放下时回响在广场四周，片刻之后，震耳欲聋的坡道落地声便跟了上去。我在闪烁的金光开始渗进我的视野时绷紧了身体：那是我的姐妹们充盈着信仰的灵魂。
在伊莎莱更紧地握住我的手的一个心跳前，另一个灵魂跟随我暂定为一整个小队的战斗修女走下坡道，进入了安菲特里亚昏暗的光照中，我同时胸中一紧。
它十分地厚重。那个灵魂像脉冲星一般，闪烁着冰冷而不屈的意志。
“跪下来，‘莱，”我低语道。
谢天谢地，她没有争辩，并迅速地跪了下来，把头低到几乎能触及地面。
“阿斯塔特修会，”我低声说，相比看见我更多是感觉到伊莎莱点头同意。“向我描述他，‘莱，他的盔甲、配色、武器、以及标志。”
“灰色，是挂霜的钢铁的颜色，”她在我下方低声回复道，“并且微微泛着银色。”
“链锯武器？”我问道，感到了希望的萌芽。“那标志呢？”
如果这是当地的那个战团的话那就还有希望，但如果这位战斗兄弟来自以屠戮异形为荣的死亡守望的话，我们两个就毫无办法，只有死路一条。
“一件古怪的武器，”伊莎莱继续说道。“我觉得它与长柄大镰刀类似，而且的确，它使用了你们种族那粗糙的链锯技术。至于标志，是一颗盖着裹尸布的骷髅头。或者说至少在我看来是这样的。”
解脱感涌上了我的心头。
“这是什么异端？！”
爆弹枪瞄准的金属合唱在我的其中一个姐妹的话语下充斥着广场，从她华丽的盔甲和装饰着桂冠的头盔来看应该是一名修女长，我把手随意地放在伊莎莱的头顶。
“姐妹们！”我大声喊道，向前走了一步，即便我的盔甲正在告警，表明我成为了质量反应武器的目标。我眨了眨眼将警报关掉，然后举起双手，以热忱的赞颂高声喊道：“欢呼吧！在这黑暗的时日里，帝皇与我们同在！”
“管住你的嘴，异端！”我的其中一个姐妹恶毒地喊道，她的声音被头盔的发声器扭曲了。
“我不会这么做！”我大吼道，感到她们被我的话语吓退了。我不能退缩，我不会给她们哪怕一寸的让步。
如果我狂热的姐妹们嗅到了就算一丝不确定的味道，我就会失去一切，然后我们俩都得死。即便是在最好的情况下，我们也有可能会死，但我坚信神皇将我们聚在一起是有原因的。
他不会允许我们像这样死去。
“你们难道瞎了吗，姐妹们？”我恳求道，指向我们四周。“你们的双眼难道就被黑暗所蒙蔽至此，以至于看不到自己正在面对一个奇迹吗？”
“奇迹？”修女长的声音充满了怀疑。“我面对的是一个污秽的异种和一名被疯狂击碎了心智的前修女。”
“抬起头来，科摩罗的伊莎莱。”我尽可能自信地开口。
伊莎莱听从了我的命令，我对我们的通讯网络中微弱的吸气声报以轻笑。帝国鹰徽的标记在她的脸上和胸口处清晰可见。
“你竟敢？”修女长在震惊中愤怒地低声说道。“你胆敢亵渎神圣的天鹰徽，把它放在卑劣的异种血肉上？！”
“神皇已经按手在她的灵魂之上！”我高喊道。“你难道在几个昼夜前没有感受到祂的光辉吗？你难道竟没能在祂与欢愉王子搏斗时注意到天空的崩裂吗？！”
我能感到修女长正振作精神想要回答，但我在她能够重整旗鼓前就打断了她。
“你们觉得我们的圣主为谁而战？！”我把手从伊莎莱的头顶上举起来。“为了我吗？我早就把灵魂托付于他的恩典了！”
“这个异种秽物在几天前被包围过！”另一个修女喊道。“原来是你对着自己的姐妹们开火，放跑了她！”
“那就是我！”我宣告道，让她们全都陷入了沉默。我能感到震惊从她们的身上散射出来。
这里就是转折点了。我为了一个异种而对我的姐妹们犯下的罪行在通常情况下都不可饶恕。如果我在这里动摇，一切就都完了。
“我饶恕了她，一如她饶恕了我！”我又不甘示弱地前进一步。“我曾经东躲西藏！我的小队被绿皮瘟疫所屠戮，我的姐妹们横死，我自己体无完肤，我的战甲破败不堪！”我说话时指向伊莎莱。“而在我受死之时，被野蛮的兽人包围之时，伊莎莱拯救了我，将它们撕成了碎片！”
“灵族吐出的只有谎言，小姐妹，”修女长争论道。“它们毒害帝皇忠仆的土地，它们为自己毫无意义的企图玷污我们的神圣目标。”
她现在瞄准了我。在这之前，我的姐妹们的武器大多瞄准着伊莎莱，也许是出于对她的族人所代表的危险的考虑，现在修女长已经把她自己的爆弹枪直直地对准了我的头颅。
“你已经堕落了，姐妹，”她阴沉地说。“但在帝皇的怀抱里还有希望……在你死前忏悔吧，你的灵魂或许仍能走向他的光明。”
我能感觉到伊莎莱在我身后绷紧了身体，我摊平手掌向她打了一个不以为然的手势。她再也不会忍受目睹我受到伤害，除非我要这么做，但我不允许，我不会允许任何一方流血。
“伊莎莱保护了我，”我继续说道，忽视了她的威胁。“她清洗并照看了我的伤口，在我恢复期间照顾了我。”我的姐妹的光晕正在发生改变。以前她们的光晕有着刺眼的金色边缘，现在它们都像碎玻璃一样产生了裂纹。“不仅如此，我全身上下都承载了圣阿拉贝拉所降下的奇迹的证据，我亲眼所见。”
那个吸引了她们的注意力，我张开双臂让她们能更清楚地看到我身上穿着的盔甲。
“这件神圣的装备，我们光耀紫藤修会的圣遗物，得以被保全。”目睹着这件精工甲，修女长的光晕泛着惊诧、厌恶、以及忧虑。
开枪击倒我会损坏这件盔甲，但在她的眼中，这盔甲正被穿在一个异端身上，可与此同时……圣阿拉贝拉的奇迹不容忽视。我们的圣徒创建者曾经，也依然以化不可能为可能而闻名。
“我们都是信仰的殉道者，”我轻声说。“这件盔甲原本被安放在圣阿拉贝拉的雕塑上，是伊莎莱，而非我，保卫了它，为我们的修会中死于保护它的姐妹们复仇，然后……”我把视线从修女长的身上移开，转而深情地看向伊莎莱。她没有抬头，但我能感到她的光晕在我的盲眼的注视下十分地温暖。“然后她把我们的姐妹们的遗体从瓦砾、盔甲、和其它的一切中挪了出来，将她们置于圣阿拉贝拉的注视下。”
“谎言，”这句话从修女长口中恶毒地低声说出。“你在撒谎。”
“她没有。”
这句话骤然炸响，我几乎在原地蹦了起来。我那些依旧用枪瞄着我们的姐妹们看上去同样惊讶——在直到刚才都保持着沉默的阿斯塔特开口时，我看到她们的光晕中出现了一闪而过的靛蓝色的恐慌。他是如此的安静，如此的慎重，以至于我几乎忘记了他还在那里，尽管我说不准他的存在是怎样逃脱了我的注意。
就好像他的半神灵魂只是悄悄回到了阴影中，藏在视线之外满意地看着我们这些凡人的争吵。
修女长转向阿斯塔特，刺眼的猩红色怒火划过她的光晕边缘。
“恕我直言，安塔雷斯（Antares）大人，”她用紧绷的语气说，“您是怎么知道的？”
“谎言，达尼卡（Danika）修女，”叫作安塔雷斯的天使阁下以出人意料的流畅而富有教养的嗓音开口，“是很简单的东西。”他用空余的那只手大开大合地指向我。“当凡人撒谎时，这并不难看出来，尤其是因为人的心智并非为虚假而生……他们必须在对别人撒谎前先对自己说谎，而这位帝皇之女没有撒谎，无论是对我们还是对她自己。”
然后他转向伊莎莱，红色的目镜片怀疑地看着她。
“然而，这个有没有撒谎还尚可供商榷，”他说。
“她是个灵族，”达尼卡啐道。“她会说的只有谎言！”
“不尽然，但大体上准确，”安塔雷斯不屑地回答道，让我不得不挣扎着不在修女长光晕上的猩红怒火加重时笑出来。“灵族只为了推进他们的族群、他们的文化、他们的种族的目的而发言，对银河系的正当的主人毫无敬意。”
这明显是个诱饵，但伊莎莱没有上钩。我也不觉得她会。天使大人，尽管他睿智而强大，却并不知晓伊莎莱对自己的种族非灵族的蔑视。
安塔雷斯以冗长、轻松的穿动力甲的大步越过姐妹们的阵线和修女长，向我们走近。在死亡天使的一员的阴影中，我在他从面罩后面冷酷地注视我许久时感到了第一个不确定的火花，然后他转向一直跪着的伊莎莱。她抬着头，让那标记清晰可见，但我相信她的目光仍然低垂着以示恭敬。
一阵轻柔而深沉的磁锁释放声从天使大人那里发出来，他握住了自己的爆弹枪，举起了那件巨大的武器，把枪管直直地对准了伊莎莱。
“你来这里的目的是什么，灵族？”安塔雷斯发问。“你照顾这个孩子是为了达成怎样的企图？她对你这样的人来说是烛火……是暴风中篝火的余烬，所以说吧，不要撒谎。”
伊莎莱没有回答。不管怎样她没有立即这么做。相反，她带着毫无担心的从容从枪管前抬头看向我，忽略了正漠不关心地威胁着她的阿斯塔特。
她在请求许可。
我对她轻轻地点头。
伊莎莱转身面对安塔雷斯大人，抬起脸来毫无畏惧地迎上他的猩红色镜片。
“我来这里寻死，阿斯塔特大人，”她以口音柔和的哥特语说。
“你不准嘲弄——”在伊莎莱使用天使的头衔时，我的年长姐妹开始咆哮，但安塔雷斯迅速地抬起一只手打断了她。
“再说一遍。”他现在带着好奇说道。
伊莎莱又看了我一眼，她的光晕在不确定中泛起涟漪。我又一次点头，我已经做完了我的那一部分，保全我们到了现在，但他问话的对象不是我，我也不能打断他的询问。如果他决意处决伊莎莱和我的话，他会尽职尽责地那么做，而哪怕他不这样做，我也不确定我的姐妹们是否会表示质疑。
“我说：我来这里寻死，阿斯塔特大人，”伊莎莱重复道。
“再来。”
我皱起眉头，不解于天使的要求，从伊莎莱的光晕的变化来看她也不比我更确定他想要怎样。
“大人？”伊莎莱发问。“我不确定我是否理解。”
“我的头衔，”安塔雷斯澄清道。“再说一遍。”
“阿斯塔特……大人？”
他点了点头。
“阿斯塔特大人，”伊莎莱顺从地说。
“有意思。”安塔雷斯向后退去，放下了他的爆弹枪，在他转头透过猩红的镜片看向修女长达尼卡的同时，我强压下一声解脱的叹息。“这个灵族说得很真诚。”
“我……我恐怕没能理解您的意思，大人，”达尼卡简短地回复道。“这有什么关系吗？”
安塔雷斯把爆弹枪磁锁上，转身面对伊莎莱。“这个灵族以真诚的敬意称呼我的头衔。这不是第一个我与之和谈的灵族，我也觉得这应该不会是最后一个，但这是第一个对我展现了与一个帝国公民所给予的相仿的顺从和尊重的灵族。”
“您是一名神皇之子，阿斯塔特大人，”伊莎莱轻声说。“您的灵魂携有祂的光辉。对您不敬将使保护我们的灵魂远离黑暗的祂蒙羞。”她再一起抬起头来，敢于迎上天使的目光。“那将是异端行径。”
从全副武装的姐妹们的阵线中传出了倒吸凉气声。
听一个灵族以此种方式谈论异端一定是相当古怪，这本可能会开启另一场争论，如果不是因为紧接着发生的事的话。
我们得到的唯一的示警是某种金属物件落在地上发出的两声轻敲。它可能是随便什么东西的碎片，而对于小队中的大多数人，以及我来说，这个声响都淹没在了城市的喧嚣、嘎吱作响的巢都、以及远方战斗和劫掠的爆炸声中。
唯二作出反应的是伊莎莱和天使大人。
“手榴弹！”安塔雷斯大吼着后退，抓起达尼卡姐妹的动力甲的衣领把她像流浪猫一样扯到身后。
在同一时间伊莎莱猛地蹬出一脚，抓紧我的膝盖，将我推到并抓紧了我的手臂，我不由得惊叫起来，随即用力把自己拉上她的肩膀以求挣脱出来，可仅一息之后我就猛地砸在了几米外的地面上。
一阵暴烈的电光在一个心跳的时间后爆发开来，释放出一股噼啪作响的电流，当我爬起来时，我看到所有的姐妹们，也包括修女长达尼卡，还有天使大人都步履蹒跚。大多数姐妹们都毫无形象地摔倒在地，被自己的盔甲的重量拖倒了。达尼卡姐妹仅凭坚强的意志力强行站稳了脚跟，而天使大人则凭借强化的生理机能保持挺立。
“有埋伏！”达尼卡大喊道，徒劳地试图举起她的爆弹枪，但她的双臂被她的盔甲压了下去。
“快趴下！”伊莎莱以杂技般的优雅跳将起来，随后像鞭子一样抽出她的连枷，将其缠绕在达尼卡的双腿上，把她的双脚从身下一把拉起来。
达尼卡在一声惊叫中像块石头一样栽倒，与此同时我辨认出一团毒晶火焰扫过她曾经站立过的空间。
一连串的枪声往空中充满了嘶嘶作响的单分子投射物，全都瞄准了我匍匐在地的无助的姐妹们，我在惊恐中看着天使大人顶着盔甲的重量向前冲去站在倒地的战士们身前。他的盔甲在上百处地方破裂穿孔，即便他交叉双手保护住重要部位我也确定他撑不下去了。
随后，在远处，一声高昂、狂热的呼啸割裂了空气，我的心脏剧烈地颤抖起来。
原文：
There was a tension in the air.
It thickened the moment I flicked the transponder on and the machine spirit of the chapel armour began to click and chirp as the spirits of the augury arrays that my sisters were doubtless scanning with made contact.
Sure enough, bare seconds had passed before the thundering backwash of Imperial engines soared over us, and I flinched back as the engine wash kicked up dust and debris over Isarae and I.
My blinded eyes could give me only the vaguest impressions of what was around us. The soulsight, as Isarae had taken to calling it, was limited in scope to living beings, but my ears told me it was likely an Imperial Guard VTOL, a Valkyrie or one of the associated models that could both land and take off vertically. Any action taken in a Hive would necessitate a small fleet of such vehicles since open spaces are few and far between, and usually quite cramped.
A thunderous clank echoed around the plaza as the landing gear was deployed, and moments later the deafening thud of the ramp being dropped followed. I tensed as flickers of golden light began to filter into my vision; the faith-filled souls of my sisters.
My chest tightened further a heartbeat before Isarae’s hand took a harder grip on mine as another soul followed what I tentatively counted as a full squad of Sisters of Battle out of the ramp and into the dim light of Amphitria.
It was massive. The soul was like a pulsar, and gleamed with cold, unyielding might.
“Kneel, ‘Rae,” I hissed.
Thankfully, she did not argue and quickly dropped to one knee, bowing her head low until it was nearly touching the ground.
“Adeptus Astartes,” I whispered, and I felt more than saw Isarae nod in agreement. “Describe him to me, ‘Rae, his armour, colours, weapons, and livery.”
“Gray, the colour of frosted steel,” she replied quietly from below me, “and chased subtly with silver.”
“Chain weapons?” I asked, feeling a small seed of hope bloom. “And what of the symbols?”
If it was the local chapter then there was still hope, but if this battle-brother was one of the vaunted xenoslaying Deathwatch then there would be no resolution but death for us both.
“A curious weapon,” Isarae continued. “I think it is supposed to resemble a scythe, and yes, it uses your kind’s crude chain technology. As for the symbol, it is a skull covered in a mourning shroud. Or at least, that is how it seems to my eyes.”
Relief flooded through me.
“What heresy is this?!”
The metal chorus of bolters taking aim filled the plaza at the words of one of my sisters, likely the Sister Superior from her decorated armor and laurel-adorned helm, and I let my hand rest casually on the crown of Isarae’s head.
“Sisters!” I called out, taking a single step forward even as my armour was blaring alerts that I was being targeted by mass-reactive weaponry. I blink-clicked the alerts away and raised both my hands and my voice in fervent praise. “Rejoice! For the Emperor is with us in these dark days!”
“Still your tongue, heretic!” One of my sister’s snaps venomously, her voice distorted by the vox of her helm.
“I shall not!” I bellowed, and I felt them set back by my words. I could not back down, I could not give them even a single inch.
If my zealous sisters smelled so much as a hint of uncertainty I would lose everything and we would both die. Even given the best possible scenario, it was possible we would still both die, but I had faith that the God-Emperor had brought us together for a reason.
He would not permit us to die like this.
“Are you so blind, sisters?!” I implored, gesturing around us. “Are your eyes so shrouded in darkness that you cannot see that you are in the presence of a miracle?!”
“A miracle?” The voice of the Sister Superior was rich with disbelief. “I stand in the presence of a xenoborn filth and a former sister whose mind is broken by madness.”
“Raise thy head, Isarae of Commorragh.” I spoke with as much confidence as I could.
Isarae followed my command, and I grinned at the soft intakes of breath over our linked vox network. The mark of the Imperial Eagle was clear and obvious on her face and on over her breast.
“You dare?” The Sister Superior hissed the words out in shock. “You dare sully the holy Aquila by placing on the flesh of a vile alien?”
“The God-Emperor has placed his hand upon her very soul!” I roared. “Did you not feel His light some cycles ago? Did you somehow fail to notice the heavens crack and split as He battled the Prince of Excess?!”
I could feel the Sister Superior rally to reply but I cut her off before she could regain any steam.
“For whom did you imagine our Divine Lord did battle?!” I raised my hand from Isarae’s head. “For me?! I have laid my soul unto his grace already!”
“This alien filth was cornered cycles ago!” Another sister cried. “So it was you who laid fire upon your own sisters and permitted her to escape!”
“It was!” I declared, silencing them all. I could feel the stunned shock radiating off of them.
This was the tipping point. My sin against my sisters for the sake of an alien was something that, under normal circumstances, would be impossible to disregard. If I faltered here, all would be lost.
“I spared her as she spared me!” I took another step forward, unwilling to yield. “I was laid low! My squad slaughtered by the greenskin plague, my sisters dead, my body broken, and my wargear in shambles!” I gestured back to Isarae as I spoke. “And at the moment of my demise, surrounded by the barbarous Orks, Isarae saved me and tore them to pieces!”
“Eldar breathe only lies, little sister,” the Superior spat. “They poison the soil of the Emperor’s faithful, they taint our holy purpose for their own meaningless ends.”
She took aim at me now. Where before, the weapons of my sisterhood had been trained mostly on Isarae, likely out of respect for the danger one of her kind represented, now the Sister Superior had leveled her own bolter squarely at my head.
“You have fallen, sister,” she spoke with dark solemnity, “but there is hope in the Emperor’s embrace… repent before your death, and your soul may still go to his light.”
I could feel Isarae tense behind me, and I flattened my hand in a dismissive gesture at her. She would not suffer to see me harmed any more than I would such done to her, but I could not allow it. I could not allow blood to be shed on either side.
“Isarae protected me,” I continued, ignoring her threat. “She washed my wounds and tended them, she cared for me while I recovered.” My sister’s auras were shifting. Where before their auras had a hard, golden edge to them, now they were crazed like cracking glass. “Not only that, but I also bear evidence upon my very body of a miracle of Saint Arabella, which I witnessed with my own eyes.”
That got their attention, and I spread my arms wide so they could see the armour I was wearing more clearly.
“This holy wargear, a relic of our own Order of the Radiant Wisteria, was preserved.” Fascination, disgust, and apprehension warred across the Sister Superior’s aura as she stared at the artificer armour.
To gun me down would damage the armour, but in her eyes it was being worn by a heretic, yet at the same time… a miracle of Saint Arabella could not be ignored. Our sainted founder was, and still is, renowned for making the impossible possible.
“We are martyrs of the faith,” I said quietly. “This armour was laid to rest upon a statue of Saint Arabella, and it was Isarae, not I, who defended it, avenged the sisters of our Order who died protecting it, and then…” I turned away from the Sister Superior to regard Isarae fondly. She did not look up, but I felt her aura warm under my blind gaze. “Then she pulled our sisters’ bodies from the rubble, armour and all, and laid them in state beneath the gaze of Saint Arabella.”
“Lies,” the word was hissed venomously from the Sister Superior’s lips. “You lie.”
“She does not.”
The words boomed and even I nearly jumped in place. My sisters whose guns were still trained on us looked equally spooked as I saw a flash of indigo panic ripple across their collective auras the moment the up-til-then silent Astartes spoke. He had been so quiet and so circumspect, that I had almost forgotten he was there, although how his presence could have slipped my notice I cannot say.
It was as though his quasidivine soul had simply slid back to rest in the shadows, hidden from sight and content to watch the prattlings of we mortals.
Hard, scarlet rage scored along the edge of the Sister Superior’s aura as she turned to the Astartes.
“With due respect, Lord Antares,” she said in a tone that was tight with strain, “how can you know that?”
“Lies, Sister Danika,” the Lord Angel called Antares began in a surprisingly flowing, cultured voice, “are simple things.” He gestured to me with his free hand in a broad, open manner. “When mortals lie, it is not so difficult to see, most especially because the mind of man is not made for untruth… they must lie to themselves first before lying to others, and this daughter of the Emperor has not lied, to us or to herself.”
Then he turned to Isarae, red eye-lenses regarding her blankly.
“Whether this one has lied, however, is up for debate,” He finished.
“She is Eldar,” Danika spat. “She cannot speak but to lie!”
“Untrue, but broadly accurate,” Antares replied in a dismissive tone that I had to fight not to smile at as the scarlet rage deepened on the Sister Superior’s aura. “The Eldar speak only to further the aims of their people, their culture, and their kind, with no respect for the rightful masters of this galaxy.”
It was a clear bait, but one that Isarae did not rise to. Not that I imagined she would have. The Lord Angel, wise and powerful though he was, could not know of Isarae’s very un-Eldar-like disdain for her own species.
Antares approached, crossing the line of sisters and past the Sister Superior in a pair of long, easy, power-armoured strides. In the shadow of one of the Angels of Death, I felt the first flicker of uncertainty as he regarded me cooly from behind his faceplate for a long moment before turning back to Isarae who remained kneeling. Her head was raised so the mark was clearly visible, but to my relief, her eyes remained cast down in respect.
A soft, deep click of a mag-release issued from the Lord Angel as he took a hold of his bolter, raised the enormous weapon, and leveled the barrel squarely at Isarae.
“What purpose do you serve here, Eldar?” Antares asked. “What ends do you meet by looking after this child? She is a flicker to one such as you… an ember in a windstorm, so speak, and do not lie.”
Isarae did not reply. Not right away, at any rate. Rather, she turned away from the barrel with unconcerned ease to look up at me, ignoring the Astartes who was so casually threatening her.
She was asking permission.
I gave her a small nod.
Turning back to Lord Antares, Isarae raised her face to meet his crimson lenses fully and without fear.
“I came here to die, Lord Astartes,” she said in her softly accented gothic.
“Do not mock the-!” My elder sister began to snarl as Isarae used the Angel’s title, but Antares himself was the one who cut her off with a swiftly raised hand.
“Say that again.” He spoke with curiosity now.
Isarae gave me another look, her aura rippling with uncertainty. I nodded again, I had done my part and preserved us til now, but he wasn’t addressing me, and I could not intervene with his questioning. If he decided to execute Isarae and I, he would be entirely within his remit to do so, and I doubted any of my Sisters would voice a doubt even if he was not.
“I said: I came here to die, Lord Astartes,” Isarae repeated.
“Again.”
I frowned, confused at the Angel’s demands, and from the shifting of Isarae’s aura she was no more certain as to what he wanted than I was.
“My Lord?” Isarae queried. “I’m not certain I understand.”
“My title,” Antares clarified. “Say it once more.”
“Lord… Astartes?”
He nodded.
“Lord Astartes,” Isarae said obediently.
“Fascinating.” Antares stepped backed and lowered his bolter, I suppressed a vocal sigh of relief as he turned his head to regard Sister Superior Danika through crimson lenses. “This Eldar speaks sincerely.”
“I… am afraid I fail to grasp your meaning, my Lord,” Danika replied tersely. “How is that relevant?”
Antares turned back to Isarae as he maglocked his bolter. “This Eldar speaks my title with genuine respect. This is not the first Eldar I have parlied with, and I imagine it shall not be the last, but it is the first one to show the same deference and respect I am given from an Imperial citizen.”
“You are a son of the God-Emperor, Lord Astartes,” Isarae said quietly. “Your soul carries His light. To show you disrespect would dishonor He who shields my soul from darkness.” She raised her eyes head again, daring to meet the eyes of the Angel. “It would be heresy.”
The intake of breath from the line of armed Sisters was audible.
It must have been quite a thing to hear an Eldar speak of heresy in such a manner, and it probably would have opened another round of debate if not for what happened immediately after.
Our only warning was a pair of faint clicks from something metal striking the ground. It could have been any stray piece of debris, and for most of the squad, and myself, the sound was lost amidst the noises of the city, the creaking Hive, and the distant detonations of battle and looting.
The only ones who reacted were Isarae and the Lord Angel.
“GRENADE!” Antares roared, backpedaling and seizing Sister Danika by the collar of her power armor, heaving her back like she was a stray kitten.
In that same instant Isarae lashed out a foot and caught me at the knee, toppling me over and grabbing my arm as I shouted in alarm before heaving me over her shoulder to throw me clear only to follow me a breath later as I crashed deafening onto the ground a few meters away.
A clap of explosive lightning detonated a heartbeat later, sending a wash of crackling electrical discharge out, and as I scrabbled to my feet I watched all of my sisters, the Sister Superior included, as well as the Lord Angel stagger. Most of my sisters fell gracelessly, dragged down by the weight of their armour. Sister Danika kept her feet through force of stubborn will alone, and the Lord Angel held himself upright by virtue of his genhanced physiology.
“AMBUSH!” Danika cried, trying in vain to raise her bolter, but her arms were weighed down by her armour.
“Get down!” Isarae kipped up to her feet with acrobatic grace before lashing her blade out like a whip, coiling it around Danika’s legs, and yanking her feet out from under her.
Danika dropped like a stone with a startled squawk just as what I recognised as a volley of splinterfire raked through the space she had been standing in.
A fusillade of shots filled the air with hissing, monomolecular projectiles, all aimed at my prone and helpless Sisters, and I watched in horror as the Lord Angel heaved himself forward against the weight of his armor to stand between the downed warriors. His armor chipped and punctured in a hundred places, and even with his arms crossed over his vital areas I was certain he would not last.
Then, in the distance, a high, keening wail split the air, and my heart quaked.
