around, its long curved blade slicing towards his throat. The Dark Apostle swayed beneath the lightning quick repost and swung his crozius again. The heavy blow was deflected easily and he stepped to the side, moving further around the flank of the creature and closer to escape.
Marduk broke into a run, invoking the gods of Chaos, and fired the bolter one-handed. If the Dark Apostle escaped then his life was forfeit. The bolts slammed into Jarulek's lower back, pitching him forwards. He roared in despair as he lost his grip on the metal sphere, and it flew through the air away from him.
The hovering corpse-machine swung its weapon in a wide arc as the Dark Apostle fell, the blow carving through the chest armour just below the fused ribcage. Blood sprayed from the wound and from the blade as it passed through the Dark Apostle's body and out the other side, severing his torso. Jarulek flailed frantically for the spilled sphere as he fell to the ground in two pieces, his lifeblood flooding the floor beneath him.
Marduk leapt, landing with his right foot on the carapace of the enemy and hacked his chainsword into its head. Chunks of metal were torn loose by the whirring chainblade, turning almost instantly into tiny, metallic flying scarabs, and the death's-head visage of the foe was snapped back by the force of the blow. Pushing off with his other foot, Marduk leapt through the air, his good eye focused on the falling sphere, and his hand reaching out vainly to catch it.
The metal ball slipped beyond his reach and hit the ground with a heavy, reverberating thud. It did not bounce, but began to roll straight towards the pit from which the cursed alien creature had emerged. Marduk hit the ground and slid after the ancient artefact. His hand closed on it just as it rolled clear of the edge and the unnatural weight of it almost took him with it.
He saw Jarulek's eyes glaring at him, filled with bitterness and hatred. The Dark Apostle clawed his way towards him, pulling his legless torso across the blood-slick floor.
'
Jarulek was silenced as his head was skewered upon the blade of the massive skeletal creature. It lifted his severed torso high into the air and the dark crozius slipped from dead fingers to the floor. The Dark Apostle was hurled through the air, thudding wetly against the curving wall of the chamber. He slid down its slick surface and disappeared into the abyssal darkness.
Marduk attached his daemon-blade to his waist and staggered forward to retrieve the fallen crozius. He raised it before him and it crackled to life, arcing blue electricity shimmering over its spiked head.
He felt the baleful gaze of the enemy fall towards him and he turned and ran.
Marduk staggered from the gateway, falling to his knees, the ice-cold sphere cradled under his arm.
Had the Undying One allowed him to leave its realm? No, he told himself, my faith brought me back from that ungodly place.
Gunfire blared around him and he stumbled up the black steps to the top of the dais. The Anointed, their ranks more than halved in number, had fallen back, forming an ever-tightening circle of warriors.
Kol Badar spun as he saw the First Acolyte rise from the steps, and took a few paces forward, lightning crackling across the talons of his power claw, but he slowed his advance as he drew nearer.
'Where is the Dark Apostle?' he thundered.
'Dead,' spat Marduk. 'He sacrificed himself that I may escape to lead the Host.'
'That is a lie!' roared Kol Badar, stepping forward to smash Marduk with his powerful fist. He halted his movement as Marduk lifted the crozius up between them.
'The Dark Apostle gifted me this, his sacred crozius arcanum,' said Marduk, his voice raised loudly to carry to all the Anointed. 'He told me to lead the Host to Sicarus, to see me sworn in as Dark Apostle. He sacrificed himself that I could escape with that which we have fought so hard, my brothers, to attain. Come,' he said, as more of the Word Bearers were cut down by the scything green flashes of the xenos weaponry, 'we must vacate this world.'
Kol Badar clenched his fist but did not move. Did he know that Jarulek had always intended to see him dead, pondered Marduk? Most probably, he surmised.
'The Host must honour the Dark Apostle's last wishes, else his sacrifice has been made in vain,' said Marduk loudly, a smile curling the right side of his mouth. The left side of his face was a mess of torn and missing flesh. 'Come, Coryphaus, we must leave here.'
Kol Badar's face twisted in anger and hatred, and he lashed out violently with his power claw, the talons curling around Marduk's neck, crashing the ceramite of his gorget and lifting the smaller Word Bearer up into the air before him like a child. The muscles of his neck straining against the immense grip, Marduk still managed a crooked smile.
'Just like our encounter upon the cursed moon so many years past, Coryphaus, 'and all because I killed your worthless, heathen blood-brother.' Marduk's face turned red as Kol Badar tightened his grip. 'He was a worthless dog, not fit to be named Word Bearer,' gasped Marduk. 'He brought nothing but shame to the noble Host. Lorgar himself would have done as I did that day.'
'Your words are poison. They mean nothing to me,' snarled Kol Badar, exerting even more force, hearing the enhanced muscles and vertebrae of the First Acolyte groan in resistance to his pressure.
'You would try to kill me here, Kol Badar?' snarled Marduk, his voice strained.
'You wouldn't be able to stop me,' growled the big warrior.
'No,' said Marduk, with difficulty, 'but
Kol Badar glanced to his side to see Burias-Drak'shal's hulking form beside him, staring at him.
Great horns rose from the possessed warrior's forehead and his corded muscles were tense. His massive clawed hands clenched and unclenched as he stared at the Coryphaus with glittering, daemonic eyes filled with bestial rage.
The possessed warrior rose to his full, towering height, his chest rising and falling heavily as he drew breath, steam billowing from his flared nostrils. He was quivering with anticipation for the kill, veins bulging within his hyper-tense muscles.
'You would stand against me, Icon Bearer?' growled Kol Badar.
'I would not stand against the holy leader of the Host,' replied Burias-Drak'shal, forming the words with some difficulty, his jaw having altered in form to contain his thick, tusk-like teeth.
'And this is not he!' thundered the Coryphaus.
'The Dark Apostle entrusted me with his holy writ,' said Marduk. 'Go against me and forfeit your life. Choose your words carefully.'
The Coryphaus was silent. The sound of bolters firing echoed from the glossy black walls, accompanied by the death groans of falling Anointed warriors.
'We cannot leave this place without the Dark Apostle.' Kol Badar said, at last.
'He is dead!' snarled Marduk.
'Then we must bear his holy body back to Sicarus,' roared Kol Badar, his grip around Marduk's neck tightening. Burias-Drak'shal hissed and grasped Kol Badar's arm, his claws digging deep, cutting into the thick armour. Their strength was evenly matched.
'You would dare put hands upon me.' Kol Badar growled. Burias-Drak'shal snarled, digging his talons in deeper, blood pooling around them and flowing over the Coryphaus's sacred Terminator armour.
'And you would dare defy my command?' asked Marduk. 'Your life is on tenterhooks, Kol Badar. We leave this place,
Kol Badar stared at Marduk, who returned the glare, staring back at himself in the eyes of the Terminator's helmet. 'Choose swiftly, Kol Badar. The warriors of the Legion are dying.'
'This is not over,' growled Kol Badar, releasing his grip around Marduk's neck with a shove. 'Remove your hands, Icon Bearer.' Burias-Drak'shal looked to Marduk, who nodded, and the possessed warrior released his grip, blood upon his talons.
Kol Badar swung away, shouting orders.
'We leave, now!' he roared. 'Form up!'
'Your forehead,' growled Burias-Drak'shal. 'You bear the mark of Lorgar.'
The burning pain on his forehead was as nothing to the pain covering the rest of his head, but it was worth the
