The Path Forsaken Read online

  +Darhedron?+ Belphoebe said finally.

  +There’s next to no cover on the approach,+ Darhedron replied.

  +Well, what is there?+

  +The spirit posts are made of crystal,+ the scout replied. +They occur at intervals up through the terrace. If we watch the angle of approach and put them between us and the flock, they should offer some protection.+

  +That’s suicide,+ Helshandra offered.

  +If those things are out here, imagine what horrors the settlement is facing. Imagine what Isarion is facing.+

  +How can you know he’ll be here?+ Helshandra challenged.

  +This is the chieftain’s seat, his father’s settlement. He’ll be there.+

  +But how can you know?+

  +He’ll be there,+ Belphoebe insisted. +Darhedron will lead. Use the spirit posts at intervals. Run. Run as fast as you can. They’re on a second pass for what’s left. Darhedron, go.+

  As the ranger sprinted through the paddy, his footfalls created quickfire sploshes in the flooded field. Slamming his back into the crystal of the spirit post, Darhedron took a moment to catch his breath and scan the skies. +Helshandra, with me.+

  Splashing through the shallows, Belphoebe could hear the descending shriek of the swarm behind her. With a grunt of exertion, she reached the first spirit post.

  +Mistress!+ Helshandra called, her natural speed and grace of little help to her on the swampy terrace.

  +Give me your hand!+ Snatching for one another, Belphoebe hauled the young eldar to her. With a splosh, Helshandra and her mistress slammed their backs to the crystal monolith and allowed the screeching flock of skyborne rippers to slash past.

  +Run!+ she ordered the young ranger, not daring to waste a moment. +Tassarion, Kal-Saar.+

  +Coming.+

  +On our way.+

  Suddenly the air was alive with the roar of a rapid descent. A fleshy pod had streaked down out of the heavens. The thing struck the terrace and proceeded both to steam and boil the paddy water about it. A horrid cracking noise gave indication that some engineered horror was about to emerge.

  +Go around!+ Kal-Saar told his brother.

  +Rangers, target presented,+ Belphoebe thoughtcast. Kneeling down in the water where they stood, Darhedron, Helshandra and their mistress brought the humming scopes of their rifles up. Needlepoint beams of intense energy seared across the paddy and over each other, before fading on the breeze. They punctured the pod and lanced through the emerging beast within, whose building bellow descended into a wet, chitinous death rattle.

  +Tassarion, come on,+ Belphoebe urged.

  +Flock inbound,+ Darhedron informed them.

  +Come on!+

  +They’re not going to make it,+ Helshandra stated. Belphoebe knew the girl was right.

  +Down!+ The ranger ordered. +Get down in the shallows.+

  The two brothers splashed down into the paddy water, Tassarion a moment after his brother. The sky-slashers screeched their way across the terrace, coming in low. Latching onto Tassarion with their ripper-jaws and wing-talons, the flock took the screaming eldar up into the air, tearing and shredding him as they flew. As Kal-Saar rose from the shallows he brought up his long-rifle and sent several long, searing beams into the swarm, grimly hoping to hit his brother and end his suffering. The rapid beams that followed were meant for the monsters but did little except punch pointless holes through the flock.

  +Kal-Saar,+ Belphoebe thoughtcast. +I need you to move.+ When the ranger answered with more useless blasts at the banking swarm, she added, +Ranger, I lead, you follow. Move.+

  After perilous moments of silence, Kal-Saar sploshed to his feet.

  +Yes, mistress,+ he replied and ran through the shallows, joining Belphoebe, Helshandra and Darhedron at the paddy edge.

  +Kal-Saar, I–+ Helshandra began.

  +Darhedron, Kal-Saar, on to the settlement,+ Belphoebe ordered.

  +Give him a moment,+ Helshandra shot back.

  As the rangers’ foliage-crunching footsteps carried them on to Ishtariel-La, Belphoebe turned on the young eldar.

  +He does not need your pity, child.+

  +He lost a brother.+

  +As Isarion loses a world and the world its people. Time will not wait on your tears. Tassarion was a ranger, like his brother. They knew the risks. The outcast’s path is a perilous one. Tassarion’s loss is a tragedy but grief serves no-one but yourself. Like I said, Kal-Saar does not need your pity. He needs you to learn quickly and do your job. Do you understand?+

  +Yes mistress.+

  +Onwards, ranger.+

  Belphoebe and Helshandra caught up with the remaining rangers on the edge of Ishtariel-La. The settlement was ablaze. Fire raged about the intricate heartwood structures, crackling and spitting furiously. There was confusion. There was terror. Harbinger organisms of the tyranid invasion force were erupting from the treeline. Hissing monsters sprang through the billowing banks of smoke and set upon screaming eldar as they tried to get their friends and families to safety. Talons sank into back-flesh. Scything limbs plunged into torsos with startling precision. Heads were torn clean off in mid-scream by snapping jaws. Chitinous horrors leapt from body to butchered body, leaving the blood-splattered carcasses of eldar in the wake of their frenetic savagery.

  +Darhedron, report.+

  +Vanguard organisms have reached the settlements.+

  +They are barely the beginning,+ Belphoebe told him, amidst the horrible hissing and screeching. Several of these turned to shrill wails of death as Exodites cut through encroaching specimens with their single-shot shuriken casters. +There’s the communal dome, the chieftain’s seat. That’s where we’ll find Isarion. Helshandra, Darhedron, with me. We’ll seek an audience with the chieftain and his son.+

  +Don’t you think they might be a little preoccupied?+ Darhedron said.

  +Among all these unwelcome guests, I’ve got the feeling that they’ll be glad to see us,+ Belphoebe returned.

  +Belphoebe, I know you know these people. But we’ve got to be in and out. The descents are intensifying. Once the invasion moves on to the next phase, we’ll be cut off.+

  +Don’t you think I know that?+ Belphoebe put to him. +Kal-Saar, are you with us?+

  +To the end, mistress.+

  +Dissemble here. I need you to provide cover fire for our approach. Hold this exit point. Like Darhedron says, we’ll be in and out. Can you do that?+

  +Go.+

  With Belphoebe leading the way, the three rangers broke cover and ran into the chaos and confusion. With measured steps and elegance of rolls, bobs and weaving vaults, the rangers negotiated the unfolding havoc like a steeplechase. The cacophony of battle intensified and faded about them. The crackle and hiss of fires. The screams of the savaged. The leaping screeches of invader organisms, the frenetic slaughter that followed. Clawing. Stabbing. Snapping.

  +Three points east,+ Darhedron warned. Belphobe blasted through an oncoming construct. +Elevation minus two.+ Belphoebe cut through another leaping monstrosity.

  +South-west by west,+ Belphoebe fed back. +Allow for obscurity.+

  Darhedron fired off a shot from his long-rifle. +Got it.+

  +Flanking!+ Helshandra piped up from behind.

  +Over my shoulder,+ Belphoebe ordered.

  +Over mine,+ Darhedron countered. The two rangers fired over each other, turning a pair of furious screeches into trailing hiss-whimpers.

  +Come on!+ Darhedron thoughtcast.

  Helshandra screamed as a chitinous beast leapt from the flaming ruins of a nearby structure and landed on the ranger, its carapace still alight.

  +Darhedron!+ Belphoebe called as the pair of rangers turned and landed blows of the creature with the stocks of their long-rifles. +Back, beast!+ Belphoebe roared as she slammed it before turning the weapon around and releasing a blast into its abdomen. Helshandra shrieked again as a second monster scuttled across her prone form.

  +Another!+ Darhedron announced.

  +Mistress!+ Helshandra pleaded. Jaws snap
ped for the young ranger’s maskplate with pneumatic insistence. The whoosh of a beam passed through the thing’s bulbous head, spreading what passed for its brain across Helshandra.

  +Kal-Saar?+ Helshandra managed.

  +Get up,+ Kal-Saar thoughtcast.

  Among the screeching, screaming and the discharge of weapons, a rumble grew. Something deep and troubling. Something that led the ground to tremble and the settlement structures to shake.

  +What is that?+ Belphoebe thoughtcast.

  The ground ahead of them gave way like a colossal sinkhole. Showering grit and stones, a monstrous, serpentine behemoth rose out of the ground, great tunnelling appendage blades clicking and rattling before it.

  +We have a big problem,+ Darhedron confirmed.

  +Kal-Saar,+ Belphoebe thoughtcast.

  +Scope and spectrals offer nothing on vulnerabilities,+ Kal-Saar informed her. The rattling grew to a horrible insistence, presaging a mind-shattering shriek and a lunge forward.

  +Darhedron, roll!+ Belphoebe ordered. The tunnelling talon came down, stabbing into the ground as the ranger tumbled through the grit. +Again!+ Belphoebe warned as it stabbed down with another colossal appendage. +Kal-Saar, disarm it… literally.+

  A succession of sizzling beams cut through the wrist-gristle of several scything blades, causing the weapons to crash to the ground and dribble ichor. The monster shrieked its fury and Darhedron rolled clear. Once again a doom-laden rumble reached up through the ground beneath their boots. Earth erupted about the rangers.

  +Two more,+ Kal-Saar reported. +You’re cut off.+

  +We must abort,+ Darhedron said.

  +He’s right,+ a shaken Helshandra added.

  +No,+ Belphoebe shot back. +We do what we came here to do. I will not take the coward’s path.+ Her words were lost in the air-trembling screech of the three tyranid monstrosities, which in turn were lost in a reptilian belly-roar from the heavens.

  +Above you!+ Kal-Saar suddenly called. +Dragon riders!+

  The sound of the belly-roar rode on the beating of great, leathery wings. The tyranid constructs hissed, spat and shrieked their acknowledgement of the threat, uncoiling the rattling chitin of their serpentine forms from the ground.

  +It’s Isarion!+ Belphoebe announced. +Down!+

  The sound of a building eruption was unleashed as the lead mount launched a stream of flame from its scaly jaws. The stream was joined by two others as the flying reptiles engulfed the tyranid constructs in a fiery inferno. The invader organisms shrieked and sizzled in the fires. One of the mighty reptiles flapped down into a landing, sinking its great talons into the nearest tyranid tunneller. The organism spat and rattled, hissing its alien enmity at the dragon and its rider. The sky beast roared back.

  +Forward,+ Belphoebe ordered, but the thunderous clash of the behemoths, entwined about one another, took them crashing through settlement structures and invader organisms waiting to pounce. +Wait, back!+ Belphoebe thoughtcast. The tyranid construct shrieked and snapped its jaws at the flying reptile, while the dragon crunched through the alien’s thick carapace with its powerful jaws.

  The beating of wings signified a second sky beast coming in to land. Unclasping the plastic-crystal seals and removing her helm, Belphoebe called, ‘Isarion!’

  +Mistress,+ Kal-Saar thoughtcast. +The swarm.+

  Scanning the skies, Belphoebe saw the flock of rippers, like an inkblot on the heavens. It was searing up behind the great winged reptile.

  ‘Isarion!’ Belphoebe called again. The rippers punched through the membrane of the dragon’s wings and tore up through its scaly flanks. The rider sensed his steed’s difficulty and guided it out across the canopy of the vapour forests. Like a cloud of barbs and razor-jaws, the ripper flock tore the groaning beast to shreds. ‘Isarion, the trees. Jump!’

  Isarion Stormsmourn couldn’t have heard the ranger at that distance, but the prince had few options left to him. With a roar of defiance, Isarion leapt from the savaged reptile and dropped down through the treetops. The dragon rider plummeted awkwardly, clawing through the canopy, breaking both bones and branches as he tumbled down through the brumewoods. Isarion finally hit the ground with an ugly thud, groaning to himself and falling in and out of consciousness. Some distance away, the shredded carcass of his mount crashed into the forest.

  For a moment, all was silent, but for the Exodite’s laboured breath. Then he heard the chitinous clicks and hissing of tyranid constructs closing in. They leapt from tree to tree, their bounding weight rustling the leaves on the branches.

  ‘No,’ the Exodite warrior mumbled to himself, half-conscious. ‘No.’ He tried to move but the exertion produced an agonising wail. The bounding grew in speed. The hissing grew louder. Then suddenly, footsteps, swift and graceful through the forest.

  +Darhedron!+ Belphoebe thoughtcast with desperate urgency. The vapour woods seared with the beams from their long rifles. Death-shrieks were followed by the crash of construct bodies meeting the ground.

  +Is he alive?+ Helshandra asked.

  +Get him up. Get him up,+ Belphoebe said. Isarion’s breathing became rapid and shallow. Movement prompted another wail of agony.

  ‘Isarion, look at me. It’s Una.’

  ‘Have to send word to the northern tribes,’ Isarion said, moving in and out of consciousness. ‘The worldsingers of Biel-Tan.’

  +Arm and a leg broken,+ Darhedron reported, checking the Exodite over. +Some lacerations. Probable collapsed lung and head trauma.+

  ‘The dragons of Araslein must be unleashed,’ Isarion continued. ‘The kindred of the lakes. I must warn my father… Our people…’

  ‘Isarion, it’s Una,’ the ranger insisted.

  Beams sizzled through the trees once more.

  +I’ve got targets,+ Kal-Saar thoughcast. The forest came alive with the sound of invader organisms closing in on their position. +I’ve got lots of targets.+

  ‘Una?’ Isarion mumbled. ‘Una!’

  ‘I’m here,’ she reassured him.

  ‘Una, my father. For Isha’s sake, my people.’ Once again, the Exodite tried to get up but a teeth-clenching howl of agony put him back down.

  ‘I know.’

  Isarion’s groans faded.

  +The pain. He’s out,+ Darhedron confirmed.

  +Belphoebe,+ Kal-Saar thoughtcast. His firing intensified with the shrieks of dying constructs.

  +What are we going to do?+ Helshandra asked.

  +What do you mean?+ Belphoebe replied.

  +We’ve got to go back.+

  +There’s no going back. Only forward. Farseer Kelmon taught me that.+

  +You heard him, his people–+

  +His people are doomed.+

  +We can save them,+ Helshandra insisted.

  +No.+

  +It’s what he would want.+

  +Belphoebe!+ Kal-Saar called.

  +This has nothing to do with want, child,+ Belphoebe shot back. +It has to do with need. Isarion Stormsmourn is needed elsewhere. It’s destiny’s decree.+

  +You won’t even try?+ Helshandra asked. +We could take the tribes back with us.+

  +I’m not here to save them,+ Belphoebe told her. +I’m here to save him. Only him. If I do, he will look at me – if he can look at all – through your unforgiving eyes. But… that’s the way it has to be.+

  +Belphoebe,+ Helshandra said.

  +It is done. You will learn, child, that it is futile to fight your future.+

  +That’s it,+ Kal-Saar said, stepping back through the sad scene. +We’ve got to go, right now.+

  +I’ve got him,+ Darhedron thoughtcast.

  +No,’ Belphoebe insisted. +It’s my burden. I’ll carry him.+ Isarion moaned as the ranger picked him up and put him over her shoulder. +Single-file, double-stride. Back to the gate. We stop for nothing. Rangers, move out.+

  The soft steam of groundvents. The buzz of vapour-shrimp. The pitter-patter of condensed droplets falling from canopy. Tree imps shrieking their alarm. The sear of rifle beams in the dista
nce.

  +Kal-Saar, come on!+ Belphoebe thoughtcast. The forest echoed with the last of the sizzling beams.

  +I’m out,+ Kal-Saar reported.

  +Me too,+ Helshandra comformed.

  +It’s not far,+ Belphoebe assured them. ‘Darhedron, go ahead and activate the webway portal.’ Isarion groaned with each of her heavy steps.

  As Darhedron’s own took him off, something crashed down through the forest canopy from above, a fleshy capsule that crackled with the heat of atmospheric entry. One of the Great Devourer’s descent pods. It began to crack and split, unleashing tyranid horrors on the landing site. They clicked and spat their hatred for life.

  +Dissemble,+ Belphoebe ordered. The eldar scattered, blending into the foliage. For the longest time, there was nothing but the inquisitive hissing of the tyranids’ new arrivals and the soft moans of the Exodite prince.

  The sudden crack of immaterial energies arcing across the nearby webway portal provoked the throng of monstrosities and they took off through the foliage.

  +Go!+ Belphoebe ordered, and the rangers set off after them. They had only got a few steps before something leapt out of the trees at them, a towering, scythe-limbed hunter with feeder tendrils whipping from its open maw.

  +Kal-Saar!+ Helshandra called out.

  The beast had the ranger, who was beating it back with his fists. His ranger’s knife whispered from its sheath and Kal-Saar stabbed at the monster that had him pinned to the forest floor. The construct had blades of its own, however, and proceeded to gore the eldar with mantid precision.

  +Go for the gate,+ Kal-Saar spat.

  +Come on!+ Belphoebe yelled.

  +I,+ Helshandra mumbled, +I…+

  +Move!+

  The two rangers made for the warp gate, but as they approached the sizzling, arcing space within the wraithbone arch, Darhedron was nowhere to be seen.

  +Where is he?+ Helshandra asked, breathless.

  +Darhedron!+ Belphoebe called.

  +Has he gone through?+

  As they approached the webway portal, the pair of rangers could hear the snapping of bones and tearing of flesh. The tyranid constructs from the pod were hissing and snapping at one another in a feeding frenzy above the butchered mess that used to be Darhedron.