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THE TALE OF ASTELAN
PART ONE
With the whine of the shuttle’s engines dying behind hie, ornate gates in front of hied sword that was mirrored on each side
In the dark, cavernous rooures swathed in thick white robes They were standing in the shadows between the guttering circles of flame cast by tall candles set around the chaure bore a two-handed sword, held upright across its chest and face, the sharp edges of the weapons glinting in the erratic light The ruddy glow flickered off thousands of skulls adorning the walls and ceiling of the vast sepulchre, glearins Many were huated features; brutal, bucket-jawed aliens; eyeless monstrosities; horned, twisted creatures and many other contorted, inhuels
The solitary toll of a bell brought the asseates in front of Astelan opened inwards, another clanging of the bell drowning out the hiss of hydraulics and creak of ancient hinges, and he took a few steps forward Suited in his heavy black power armour, he was still taller by a few centimetres than the assembled Space Marines He wore no helathered warriors fro off his shaved head He looked back at the Space Marine who had accompanied him on the shuttle, the one who had been referred to as Brother-Chaplain Boreas He too wore heavy white robes, but unlike the honour guard, Boreas was still armoured His face was concealed behind a hel­met fashioned in the shape of a death’s head skull, decorated by tarnished gilding The dead eye-lenses of the helarded hiuard,’ Astelan said, glanc­ing at the Dark Angels who stood unht not to, they are here to honour me, not you,’ Boreas replied quietly and evenly, his tone slighdy dis­torted by his suit’s vocal projectors He then raised his voice to address the others in the room ’Form up for escort!’
Five of the Space Marines turned and took up position in front of Astelan, while the others fell in behind the newly arrived pair At another command from Boreas, they started a slow march forwards Astelan felt Boreas shove him from behind, and he fell into step behind the others As they passed from the charaved with nanition
’We just passed through the Memorial Gates, did we not?’ he asked Boreas, who did not reply ’I am sure It all see with banners of the families of Caliban whose lords had fallen in battle’
’Perhaps once, but not any more,’ Boreas conceded
’But how can that be? I saw from the transport that this is not Caliban, it is some form of space station,’ Astelan said ’And the Meet to the tombs in the catacombs beneath the citadel It was a place for the dead’
’That is correct,’ Boreas said
Perturbed and confused, Astelan carried on in silence as the Dark Angels led hi place Their journey was lit by torches that burned with s the walls Other corri­dors branched left and right, and Astelan knew froh the tombs of the ancient rulers of Caliban And yet he could not reconcile the sight he had seen upon his arrival with hisin space - he had seen the many towers and eantic asteroid
They turned left and right on occasion, weaving through the labyrinth of tunnels, surrounded by tablets proclaiels who had died in heroic coo on forever in all direc­tions Underfoot, the dust was thick, having lain undisturbed for many years, perhaps decades or cen­turies Small alcoves set into the walls held relics of the past - ornately decorated shoulder pads, the hilt and half the blade of a broken poord, engraved skulls, a tar­nished gauntlet, glass-fronted ossuaries displaying the bones of those who had fallen in battle, a plaque beneath declaring who they were in life He felt draughts and chill breezes on his face e froh, or the clank of a chain, all of which added to the macabre aura of the crypt, which did little to ease Astelan’s unsettled ht at one particular junction, a peripheral lanced to his left In the shadows he saw a diher than his waist, almost hidden in the darkness It was little more than a slittered with a cold, blue light as the strange creature regarded Astelan As suddenly as he had spotted it, the watcher in the dark faded back into the shadows and was gone
His confusion growing as they continued to march into the bowels of the sepulchre, it took Astelan a els turned and filed out by the way they had entered, leaving hihly two dozen metres across, its circumference lined less iron doors All of the doors were closed except one, and Boreas directed Astelan towards it with a pointing finger
Astelan hesitated for a moment and then strode for­wards into the room beyond He stopped suddenly as soon as he entered, stunned by what he found inside
The rooe, barely five metres square, lit by a brazier in the far corner A stone slab dos fro heavy chains, and to one side a row of shelves was stacked with various lowing coals There were twothem, their faces hidden by heavy hoods, their hands concealed beneath studded limpse of bony white under his hood
The door slammed shut behind Astelan and he turned to see Boreas had stepped inside The Chaplain removed his skull-faced helarded Astelan just as coldly as the flat features of the armoured skull had done Like Astelan, his head was also shaven and marked with faint scars
His left cheek was tattooed with a winged sword, Chap­ter syels, and his forehead pierced with service studs
’You are charged as a traitor to the Eator-Chaplain of the Dark Angels Chapter, am here to adhed harshly at theoff the bare stone walls
’You shall be ht do you have to judge me?’
’Repent the sins of your past, accept the error of your Lutherite ways, and your salvation shall be swift,’ Boreas said, ignoring Astelan’s scorn
’And if I do not?’ asked Astelan
’Then your salvation shall be long and arduous,’ Boreas replied, pointedly glancing at the blades, tongs and brands on the shelf
’Has the glory of the Dark Angels been so forgotten that you are reduced to barbarian torturers?’ Astelan spat The Dark Angels are warriors, shining knights of battle And yet, here you skulk in the shadows, turning upon your own’
’Do you not repent of your actions?’ Boreas asked again His face was intent, and his voice was tinged with anger
’I have co,’ Astelan replied ’I refuse to answer your charges, and I refuse to acknowledge your right to accuse me thus’
’Very well, then we shall endeavour to relieve you of the burden on your soul,’ Boreas stated with another glance at his torturer’s instruments ’If you will not repent freely and earn a swift death, then we must exorcise the sin from your soul with pain and misery The choice is yours’
’There is not one here aht I have borne upon my shoulders,’ Astelan declared ’And there is not one in this rooer upon me without violence’
’That is but the latest error of judgestured to one of the other Dark Angels ’Brother-Librarian Saht’
The Space Marine pulled back his hood to reveal a dark, weathered face Tattooed above his right eye was the winged sword sy eye His head was also shaven to the scalp, and criss-crossed with scars and branding marks There was movement in Samiel’s eyes, and it took a moment for Astelan to realise that they were tiny sparks of psychic power