The gnawing sensation in his gut increased, but Uriel suppressed it and began attaching the grenades to the machine at power couplings, axle joints and even climbing on top of the machine to place one at the base of the forest of gurgling feed tubes. He worked swiftly, but methodically, ensuring that the machine would be comprehensively wrecked upon the grenades' detonation.
Uriel climbed down from the machine in time to see Leonid standing before Obax Zakayo, his lasgun shouldered and aimed squarely between the Iron Warrior's eyes.
'Do it!' wept the broken Obax Zakayo. 'Do it! Please! They feed me piece by piece to the machine and make me watch...'
Leonid's finger tightened on the trigger, but he released a shuddering breath and lowered the weapon.
'No.' he said. 'Why should you get off easy after you tortured so many of my soldiers to death? I think I like the idea of you suffering like this!'
'Please.' begged Obax Zakayo. 'I... I can help you defeat the half-breed!'
'The half-breed?' said Uriel.
'Honsou, I mean Honsou.' wheezed Obax Zakayo. 'I can tell you how you can see him dead.'
'How?' asked Leonid, stepping in and slamming the butt of his lasgun against the Iron Warrior's chin. 'Tell us!'
'Only if you promise that you will kill me.' leered Obax Zakayo, spitting teeth.
'Uriel!' shouted Pasanius from the barricades of the tenders. 'I think they're coming!'
'We don't have time for this, traitor.' snapped Uriel. 'Tell us what you know!'
'Swear, Ultramarine. Give me your oath.'
'Very well.' nodded Uriel. 'I swear I will see you dead, now speak!'
'The Heart of Blood.' began Obax Zakayo. 'It is a daemon of the Lord of Skulls and the half-breed's former master imprisoned it beneath Khalan-Ghol and fattened its essence with the blood of sorcerers.'
'What has this to do with Honsou?' demanded Uriel.
'Know you nothing of your enemies?' mocked Obax Zakayo. 'The Lord of Skulls is the bane of psykers and the Heart of Blood was driven mad by such polluted blood. The warsmith's sorcerers channelled their most potent null-magicks through the imprisoned creature, using its immaterial energies to cast a great psychic barrier around the fortress that no sorcerer has been able to breach in nearly ten thousand years!'
Obax Zakayo coughed and said, 'I have your oath that you will end my suffering?'
'Yes.' said Uriel. 'Keep talking.'
The Iron Warrior nodded and said, 'Lord Toramino has some of the most powerful sorcerers in the Eye of Terror to command and, though they have great power, they cannot breach the ancient barrier of the Heart of Blood. Destroy it and they will raze this place to the ground!'
Uriel looked into Obax Zakayo's eyes for any sign of a lie, but the Iron Warrior was beyond such deception, too immersed in his own misery and need for death. He felt the guiding hand of providence in the traitor's presence now, for here was a chance to fulfil his death oath and deny the Omphalos Daemonium its prize.
'Very well.' pressed Uriel. 'How do we destroy it?'
'The awls.' said Obax Zakayo. The silver awls that pierce its daemonic flesh and hold it fast above the lake of blood...'
'What of them?'
'They are hateful artefacts, stolen from your most sacred reclusiam or taken from those whose inquisitions delved too deep into the mysteries of Chaos. They are more than just physical anchors: they bind it to this place. Remove or destroy them and its dissolution will be complete.'
Uriel took a step back from Obax Zakayo and looked up into the darkness of the chamber above the hissing lake of blood where the huge daemon hung suspended in its writhing madness. He saw three gleaming silver pinpricks of light impaled through its scaled flesh, each attached to a chain that was anchored in the bedrock of the chamber's walls.
His eyes followed the line of the chains from the daemon and squinted as he sought where the nearest was embedded. Uriel turned back to Obax Zakayo and raised his bolter, saying, 'I will kill you now.'
'No!' said Leonid grimly. 'Let me do it. I owe this bastard a death.'
Uriel saw the thirst for vengeance in Leonid's eyes and nodded. 'So be it. Once he is dead, set the timers on the grenades and get clear. The Savage Morticians are coming, so stay close to the Unfleshed. They will try to protect you if you are near them, but you have to hold the enemy at bay for as long as you can.'
'I understand.' said Leonid. 'Now go.'
Uriel nodded and ran towards Pasanius.
Leonid watched as Uriel hurriedly outlined his plan to Pasanius and the two Ultramarines set off up the iron ramps that led towards the daemonculaba.
'Now, slave.' hissed Obax Zakayo. 'Ventris told you to kill me.'
Leonid raised his lasgun and shot Obax Zakayo in the gut. He smelled burned flesh and nodded to himself, satisfied that the Iron Warrior was in pain, but still alive.
Obax Zakayo raised his head and roared, 'Shoot me again, I'm not dead yet!'
Leonid stepped close and spat into Obax Zakayo's face.
'No.' he said calmly.
'An oath was given!' screamed the Iron Warrior. 'Ventris swore he would see me dead!'
'Uriel gave his word, but I didn't.' snarled Leonid. 'I want you to live in agony then die in pain when this place is brought down!'
Obax Zakayo wept and cursed him, but Leonid ignored his pleadings as he removed the grenade attached to the crushing machine that was nearest the Iron Warrior and slipped it into his uniform jacket's breast pocket.
'Don't want you dying by accident, now do we?' he said.
Without another word, Leonid turned and walked away.
Uriel pounded up the ramp and ran past the heaving bodies of the daemonculaba, wishing he could stop to end each one's suffering. He knew that they had a better chance to end their torment if they could enable Honsou's enemies to do the job for them. He and Pasanius ran around the circumference of the chamber to reach one of the three awl-chains that pierced the Heart of Blood's body and kept it bound to Khalan-Ghol.
If they could pull even one of the awls from the terrible daemon, then it would be something...
'Great Emperor of Mankind, grant me the strength of your will to do this for you.' he prayed as he ran, his eyes tracing the line of the chain that ran from the daemon's body.
He saw it was higher than this level of daemonic womb-creatures, and as they reached the point on the gantry directly below the chain, he heard the explosive destruction of the crushing machine and the bestial roars of the Unfleshed echoing through the chamber. This was quickly followed by the bark of lasfire and the screech of the Savage Morticians.
'We'll need to climb.' said Pasanius.
Uriel nodded and turned to watch the battle below, seeing bodies flying through the air and leaping arcs of blue lightning as the denizens of this awful place fought against the Unfleshed.
'Emperor watch over you.' whispered Uriel as he gripped the iron bars of one of the daemonculaba cages and began to climb. The thick chain was some ten metres above them, and even in the dim light he could see it was firmly embedded in the chamber's wall with a rockcrete plug.
'I'll need a hand.' said Pasanius as Uriel reached the top of the cage, sounding thoroughly ashamed to be asking for help.
Uriel turned back, mortified that it hadn't occurred to him that Pasanius might have difficulty in reaching the chain with only one arm until this moment. He reached down and helped his sergeant climb to join him.
Rusted struts and long-abandoned scaffolding pierced the rock below the plug, presumably left behind by those who had put it there in the first place.
He heard a piteous, mewling cry of anguish from below him and looked down through the mesh of the cage roof into the weeping face of the daemonculaba.
Uriel knelt as close as he could to the tormented creature. 'I will see your suffering ended.' he promised. Her eyes closed slowly and Uriel thought he detected an almost imperceptible nod of her bloated head.
'There is not enough suffering in t
he galaxy to make the Iron Warriors pay for what they have done here.' said Pasanius, his voice choked with emotion.
'No.' agreed Uriel, 'there is not, but we will make them suffer anyway.'
'Aye.' agreed Pasanius as they climbed onto the roof of the cage and made their way further up the sides of the shadowed chamber, their goal nearing with every heave upwards.
The sounds of battle continued to rage from below as they clambered over the protruding scaffolding spars wedged into cracks in the rock and pulled themselves level with the chain.
As thick as Pasanius's forearm, it stretched off towards the centre of the chamber and the Heart of Blood.
'Ready?' asked Uriel.
'Ready.' nodded Pasanius, spitting on his palm.
Taking a firm grip on the flaking, rusted chain, the two Space Marines pulled with all their strength to wrench the awl-chain from the Heart of Blood's body.
Leonid sprayed a burst of full auto lasfire towards the skulking, vacuum-suited mutants taking cover behind a row of blood-filled barrels. His bolts punctured the containers, spilling crimson arcs from their sides. He knew he hadn't killed any of them, but it kept their heads down. He'd seen the mutant creature, Sabatier with the armed slaves of the Savage Morticians and dearly desired to put a bolt through that monster's head.
Damn, but it felt good to fire a weapon in anger again! The chaos of the bloody struggle swirled and raged around him, the Unfleshed battling with a primal ferocity against their creators and their slaves to give the Ultramarines more time to bring down the Heart of Blood.
The Lord of the Unfleshed bellowed as he slew, his powerful fists bringing death to his enemies with every blow. A black-robed monster reared up on great pneumatic legs equipped with shrieking blades, but another of the Unfleshed, a gibbering horror of limbs and mouths, landed upon it and tore its legs off with savage jerks.
Leonid rolled into the cover of the smoking remains of the crushing machine to reload as the Savage Mortician collapsed and its killer leapt for another victim. The limbless form of Obax Zakayo screamed, 'Kill me!' from his cruciform rack, but Leonid ignored him, too intent on the battle around him.
As ferocious as the Unfleshed were, the Savage Morticians had been practitioners of the art of death for uncounted millennia, and if there was one thing they knew, it was the weaknesses of flesh. Even when it was as resilient as that of the Unfleshed.
Flying razor discs lopped off thick limbs and heavy darts coated with poisons that could only exist in the Eye of Terror stabbed into pounding veins to slay their victims before they were even aware they were hit.
Creatures were dying and even the relentless fire of the Savage Morticians' servants was taking its toll, volley after volley cutting down the Unfleshed where they fought.
Leonid rose from cover and saw a Savage Mortician with massive chainblades for fists scuttle behind the Lord of the Unfleshed as he tore the torso from the mechanised track-unit of yet another foe. Leonid swung the barrel around and squeezed off a burst of bright lasbolts.
His aim was true and the Savage Mortician's head exploded, its twitching form slumping to the ground behind the Lord of the Unfleshed. The massive creature spun as he heard it fall, his confusion at its death turning to savage joy as he saw who had saved him. He beat his fists on his chest and roared, 'Now you Tribe!'
Even as Leonid ducked back into cover, he heard the thump of booted feet behind him. He spun, bringing the barrel of his lasgun up, seeing half a dozen mutant slave warriors armed with cudgels and billhooks bearing down upon him. An iron-tipped club slashed for his head and he hurled himself backwards, too slow, the tip of the weapon thudding against his temple.
He dropped his lasgun, hands flying to his head as the world spun crazily and bright starbursts exploded before his eyes. The ground rushed up to meet him and he slammed into the hard rockcrete, closing his eyes as he waited for the killing blow to land.
The shadow of something hot and heavy fell across him and warm blood splashed him.
He opened his eyes and shook his head, regretting it the moment he felt hammerblows of concussion reverberate inside his skull. The Lord of the Unfleshed towered above him, his thickly-muscled body pierced by a score of long blades and burned by innumerable lasburns. The creature reached down to lift him to his feet, and Leonid saw the bodies of those who had been about to kill him.
They looked like an explosion in an anatomist's collection, a mass of severed limbs and burst-open bodies.
'Thank you.' managed Leonid, wiping blood from the side of his head and bending to retrieve his fallen weapon.
'You Tribe.' replied the Lord of the Unfleshed as though no other explanation was needed. Without another word, the creature hurled itself back into the fray. Scores of the Unfleshed were dead, but the remainder fought on, unrelenting in their savagery. More and more of their foes were pouring into the chamber and Leonid knew it would not be long until they were overwhelmed.
He looked up towards the gantries surrounding the chamber, willing Uriel and Pasanius to hurry.
The veins on Uriel's arms stood out like steel hawsers as he pulled on the chain. Bracing themselves against the raised edge of the scaffolding before him, they hauled with all their might on the chain.
Uriel's booted feet slipped and he spread his stance to gain better leverage. The grinding pain in his chest and neck from his cracked bones tore into him as he pulled, but he focussed his mind, using all the discipline he had been taught at Agiselus and in the Temple of Hera to shut it out.
'Come on, damn you!' he yelled at the chain, hearing the ferocious sounds of battle and knowing that the Unfleshed were dying for him.
He could not let them down, and redoubled his efforts.
Pasanius strained at the chain also, sweat popping from his brow as he hauled on the chain. The sergeant was much stronger than Uriel, but had only one arm with which to heave at the chain.
Together, they put every ounce of their hatred for the Iron Warriors into their efforts.
Uriel roared in pain and frustration as he kept on pulling.
And suddenly he felt give...
Yelling in triumph, the two Ultramarines pulled even harder, feeling tendons tear in their shoulders and arms, but pushing their bodies to the limits of power.
Without warning, the awl-chain tore loose and Uriel saw a flaring spurt of white fire as the silver spike ripped free of the ancient daemon's flesh.
The red-scaled creature dropped, silver-white flashes exploding against its body where its falling weight tore the other two silver awls from its body.
It landed in the lake of blood with an enormous splash, sending a tidal wave of crimson spilling throughout the chamber. It vanished beneath the churning surface of the lake and Uriel felt a prescient sense of inevitability seize him as he watched the hissing red pool.
'We did it!' shouted Pasanius.
'Yes.' agreed Uriel, watching as the surface of the lake parted and the massive daemon reared up to its full height, arc lightning playing about its lustrous, scarlet flesh, 'I am beginning to wonder if we should have.'
High up in the tower of iron, Onyx cried out as though struck and dropped to his knees, clutching his head as his soulless silver eyes blazed with sudden awareness. Honsou saw the movement and looked up, irritated at having his battle-planning with Cadaras Grendel interrupted.
Then he saw the look of alarm on Onyx's face.
'What is it?' he demanded.
'The Heart of Blood!' hissed the daemonic symbiote.
'What about it?'
'It's free...' said Onyx.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The Heart of Blood threw back its horned skull and roared in lunatic pain, its bellow of rage and madness filling the chamber at a pitch that pierced the soul and drew screams of primal fear from almost every living thing within it. The lake of blood boiled where it stood and its eyes burned with white fire that blazed with ancient malice.
Its shaggy, horned head twisted as it su
rveyed its surroundings, as though seeing them for the first time, and its bloated body threw off great bolts of dark lightning that exploded with red fire.
The Heart of Blood's flesh was scaled and thick tufts of shaggy, matted hair ran down the length of its spine. The great wounds on its back, where the Savage Morticians had removed its wings, smoked with a liquid, red bloom, like a cloud of ink released underwater.
Its chest heaved violently, the thudding echoes of its heartbeat filling the chamber as it ripped away the pulsing red tube that pierced its chest and fed it the tainted blood of psykers. The flood of vital fluid gushed into the lake.
'Guilliman preserve us!' breathed Pasanius as the daemon stepped forwards, striding purposefully to the shore, the spark of its hoofed feet on the lakebed throwing up gouts of flaming blood.
'A daemon.' said Uriel. 'One of the fell princes of Chaos...'
'What do we do?' said Pasanius.
Uriel drew his sword as the huge daemon reached the edge of the lake of blood and reared up to its full height.
'We ready our souls for the end.' he said simply.
Honsou watched the sky around his fortress burn with an actinic blue light. Hundreds of pillars of pellucid blue flame surrounded Khalan-Ghol, spearing kilometres upwards from the plain below, like oil-wells gushing with precious fuel. The azure fire seethed and Honsou could see living nightmares swirling within the flames, the dreadful power and malice of the warp contained within them.
'What's happening?' he demanded.
'The towers!' said Onyx.
'Towers? What towers?'
'The ones we saw when we made that sortie into Berossus's camp.' said Onyx. 'Tall, baroque towers of iron that were saturated with psychic energy. You remember?'
Honsou nodded, recalling the unsettling sight of their arcane geometries and the chanting groups of gold-robed figures who danced around them, anointing them with the blood of sacrifices. He had put them from his mind after the raid, confident that the power of the Heart of Blood could resist their magicks.