The swiftness with which the human commander has assembled his forces and launched them through the mountains is impressive. I am afraid that dealing with the slow-witted inhabitants of this world has caused me to underestimate humans in general. I confess I am pleased. There is more pleasure to be had from humbling foes who at least have a comprehension of the basic uses of military force.
I am left with several choices. I can cease harassing the primitive cities and concentrate my forces on this new threat. This will give the humans a respite and a chance to organise against me, and most likely they will swiftly realise they have an advantage. Or I can wait for the humans to reach me here and do battle on a prepared ground of my choosing.
The main thing is to hold the valley for the moment. Timing is becoming critical. Soon the gate will open and I wish to be here when that happens. I do not want to surrender any ground to the humans. It would be foolish to allow the prize to be snatched from my hands at this late hour.
Let them come. I have a few surprises in store for them when they get here.
It grew swiftly cold in the mountains once the sun went down. The temperature dropped perceptibly within minutes. Breath clouded in the cold air. We set up camp, the largest and least vulnerable of our vehicles forming a perimeter around our improvised base, turrets turned to face outwards, engines left running to provide warmth. Our scouts had chosen a valley large enough to contain our entire force. It was easy enough to hold each end of it. Lines of fire covered the approaches. Overhead, I caught sight of a sleek eldar craft silhouetted against the moon. A few of our fighter air cover got on its tail and the battle raged on somewhere into the darkness, moving out of sight behind distant mountains. Thunder rumbled and lightning flashed where the conflict continued.
We sat ourselves around a fire, eating rations out of mess-tins. Macharius and Drake sat like common soldiers. It was not just for the sake of morale. It made them less conspicuous targets for any sharpshooter seeking officers to kill. They ate the same field rations with the same cheap Imperial Guard-issue utensils. Back on Emperor’s Glory, they might have the ransom of planetary governors. Here they mucked in with the rest of us.
‘In two more days we should reach the valley,’ Macharius said. ‘We will drive out the xenos and take possession of it in the Emperor’s name.’
‘You think it will be that easy?’ Drake said. There was a troubled expression on his face. More and more of late it had been there in his dealings with Macharius. If I was not talking about an inquisitor I would be tempted to say it looked as if he were having a crisis of faith. In Macharius.
‘Easy or not, it is what we must do. I have not come so far to fail now at the last hurdle.’
‘Are the maps of the valley the Tyrant gave us accurate enough for our purposes?’
‘They match our orbital divinations in so far as they go. The secret underground routes may prove useful, but I am not counting on them.’
‘That is wise since they may not be secret any longer. The eldar have been in possession of the place long enough to find them…’
‘But they have not, at least not all of them,’ said a strongly accented voice. I looked up and saw a massive bearded man flanked by two members of Macharius’s Lion Guard. More soldiers were with him. One of them said, ‘Speak to the Lord High Commander when you are spoken to.’ He turned to Macharius and said, ‘We found him skulking around the edges of the camp, my lord.’
The bearded man laughed. ‘You found me because I stood up and let you see me, otherwise I could have walked into your camp and taken food from your plates without being noticed.’ The Guard lieutenant turned and looked as though he were about to strike the giant. Macharius raised his hand and said in a level voice, ‘You do not have the look of a thief, sir.’
‘I take what I want from those who pass through my land without my permission,’ said the hill-man. ‘It seems only fair. It is more in the nature of a toll.’
‘Why did you allow my sentries to see you?’
‘I wanted to talk with you, to see what manner of man commands this force. You are moving towards the xenos so that means you are no city-man, certainly not one of Kha. None of them would dare move towards the valley now. The mere thought of those xenos has them shitting in their pants.’
‘And yet you are not afraid,’ Macharius said. The big man laughed.
‘Oh, I am afraid. Any sane man would be of those xenos. They are not like the peaceful beings our legends spoke of. They live to torture and kill, and they have more ways of going about doing so than a Dakathi village woman. The screams that rise from the Valley of the Ancients let us know that. I have toyed with sending them some of my enemies for their sport, but in the end I found I did not have the stomach for it.’
‘You would deal with xenos?’ Drake asked. There was a note of soft, purring menace in his voice.
The hill-man studied him, obviously aware of the threat and equally obviously unafraid. He shook his head. ‘In the hills we are unkind to our enemies. As unkind as can be. Or so I thought until I saw those eldar. I find at this late hour, and very greatly to my surprise, that there are things I would not do to my worst enemy.’ He laughed and shook his head as though he really were surprised to find this thing out about himself.
‘You still have not told me why you are here,’ said Macharius. Something about his tone suggested that an explanation might well be a thing it was in the hill-man’s best interests to provide.
‘Our watchers saw you emerge from the city. They saw your ships come down on the field. The people wanted to know who you are and why you have come.’
‘We have come from the Imperium of Man to bring the Emperor’s Law,’ said Macharius. ‘We have come to drive back the xenos.’
‘You will make war on the eldar?’
‘Yes,’ said Macharius.
‘I will take word of that back to the People of the Mountains.’
‘Will you aid us?’ Macharius asked.
‘If you fight against the eldar, we will. If you recognise our ancient claim to these mountains, we will.’
Macharius simply looked at the hill-man. He was turning over possibilities in his mind. I knew he was thinking that he did not know whether the hill-men had a claim to these mountains or not. He took only moments to consider. ‘If such claims are just, I will support them.’
The hill-man smiled back at him. ‘They are just.’
‘That must be decided at a future date after all claims are weighed,’ said Macharius. He spoke slowly and clearly, making sure his every word was heard and understood. He was not going to commit himself or the Imperium to anything as small as some hill-man’s claim of truth.
‘If you are a just man that is enough,’ said the hill-man. ‘I will carry your word back to the People.’ He looked pointedly at the Guardsmen surrounding him. ‘With your permission, of course.’
Macharius nodded to them. The hill-man padded off into the night.
‘He may be a spy,’ said Drake.
‘Of course he is a spy,’ said Macharius. ‘But he has not learned anything here that he could not have from watching us from the hills.’
‘On the contrary,’ said Drake. ‘He has learned who our leader is.’
Macharius nodded. We changed our position. That night we slept within the hull of the Baneblade. For me, it was like old times. I found being inside the huge tank reassuring. It had been almost ten years since the destruction of Old Number Ten.