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THE TALE OF ASTELAN
PART TWO
Astelan could not guess how long he had been chained to the slab in the cell Boreas had visited him eleven times, that much he knew Sometimes the psyker had been with him, at other times he had been alone
His body was scarred with burns and cuts froator-Chaplain’s attentions He had cut away parts of Astelan’s black carapace to probe and bleed the exposed flesh beneath
Hunger gnawed at Astelan, his throat was parched, his lips cracked, his ued But he would not let himself sleep He would shoeakness In the ranted, he would fall into athe pain to wash away fro his mind clear He was deterreatest betrayal of all
Every ideal and principle Astelan believed in told him this was the true way, that it was his captors ere in the wrong It was they ere ignorant and deluded, shackled by those ere scared of their power It mat­tered not whether Astelan died or lived, he would stay true to the cause for which he had been created
On his twelfth visit, the Interrogator-Chaplain was alone once oblet of water, which Astelan thirstily gulped down, ignoring the chill­ing spills across his face and throat Next, he took the bread Boreas proffered hith to chew and s, though pain flared in the back of his dehydrated throat When he finished, Boreas took a phial from inside his robe and sprinkled liquid on Astelan’s wounds The stinging wracked his body at first, but the pain subsided after several minutes
’We must let the body recover, for it is weaker than the soul,’ Boreas said, standing next to Astelan with his arms crossed ’While the impure soul endures, the body must also endure’
’Then you must preserve my physical shell for eternity,’ replied Astelan ’I will never subic, your errant ways’
’TellAstelan’s defiance
’What of it?’ Astelan replied with a shrug
’I would knoorld could be so subverted fro to the shelves and picking up one of the blades that lay there
’I did not subvert Tharsis, it was I who saved it,’ protested Astelan
’I do not believe you,’ Boreas snorted, toying with the knife ’You brought damnation upon that world’
’No, that is not true, not true at all,’ Astelan denied, shaking his head ’I saved Tharsis from itself’
’Tell me how such a feat could be accomplished,’ Boreas said as he returned the knife to its place and walked to the interrogation slab, standing so that Astelan could only see his face
’I arrived on Tharsis eighty years ago,’ Astelan began ’It was a beautiful world of high rassy plains, not unlike dozens of other worlds that I have seen inlife But that beauty hid a dark canker The world was in turripped by a vicious civil war’
’A war that you began!’ Boreas spat, crashing a fist down onto the stone table next to Astelan’s head
’No, I swear by the E his head as far as possible to look up at his interrogator ’We cae of wilderness space, self-sufficient and far from the daws of those who have turned the Imperium into a mockery of the Emperor’s dream’
’You said ’’we’’ Who else ith you?’ Boreas’s voice dripped with suspicion
’I travelled for a century and a half before I came upon Tharsis and its woes,’ explained Astelan ’In that time, fate saw fit for my journey to cross with that of two others like ued at Tharsis They would not join me in my mission to deliver the planet from the tyrants who attempted to usurp the Emperor’s rule’
’They abandoned you there? Disloyalty even a so base?’ Boreas scoffed
’I let theht shake of his head ’Though they did not care to share the task I had set ain, a chance to do that for which I was created’
’Which was?’ Boreas asked
’To fight for the Emperor, of course!’ Astelan’s hands subconsciously balled into fists and the chains creaked under the flexing of his muscles ’The others left, but I remained on Tharsis At first it was impossible to tell friend from foe, but I soon learned to mark them apart Secessionism, heresy, rebellion, call it what you will, had taken hold They had divided the population with grand, empty speeches of fraternity and equality They defied the Imperial comed for a year before I arrived’
’A strange coincidence that such strife should herald your arrival’ Boreas made no attempt to hide his disbelief His accusation was clear - Astelan had started the war
’Not coincidence, fortuitous destiny,’ the prisoner argued ’Whatever it is that controls our fates had seen fit to bring me to Tharsis in its ti the Great Crusade, eighty worlds fell tothe wisdohty worlds! And here was another chance to prove myself’
’What did you think you could do, a lone Space Marine in a ide conflict?’ Boreas de away frolanced back at Astelan as he spoke ’Such arrogance is unbe­coance, it was a sense of purpose,’ Astelan replied, his gaze following the pacing Chaplain ’My heart told me that I would make a difference, and I did’
’And how did you ?’ Boreas said, his back to Astelan so that his low voice echoed off the cell walls
’At first I siht the rebels where I found them, but they were ill-trained and poorly equipped,’ Astelan told him ’It was more a just execution than a battle But soon, I joined with others fighting for the Emperor They welcoht by their side at Kaltan Town, breaking through the enemy with bolter and fist’
’Were they not surprised?’ Boreas asked, turning to stare at his prisoner, arms crossed over his chest ’Were their suspicions not aroused by a lone Space Marine?’
’They saw me for what I am, a warrior of the Ereat heart froht on their side, confir the justice of their cause’
’So you set yourself up as a symbol to be worshipped? You saw fit to replace the Eust ritten over Boreas’s face as he con­sidered this grievous sin
’Must you twist everything I say?’ growled Astelan, looking aith contempt ’Have your own endeav­ours become so hollow that you now seek to belittle the achieveht for the true cause?’