'Are you ready for this?' asked Uriel.
'You're damn right I'm ready for this,' said Pasanius, angling his head towards Leodegarius. 'No disrespect intended, but these bastards questioned our loyalty. I'm ready for whatever it takes to prove we're not traitors.'
'Your sergeant has been fiercely loyal to you, Captain Ventris,' said Leodegarius, and Uriel couldn't help but notice that his name had now been prefixed by his rank. That had to be a good sign.
'He is my friend,' said Uriel, 'and that is what friends do.'
Leodegarius turned towards the chamber's exit, a tall arch of black stone that led upwards.
'Then let us hope that is enough.'
Flanked by the Grey Knights, Uriel and Pasanius followed them through another series of winding tunnels that eventually opened up to a fortified gateway lined with gunports and which ended at a tall bronze gate.
The gate was open, daylight streaming inside, and Uriel remembered his joy at seeing true light when they had arrived on Salinas. The feeling of being outside again after so long, although it had only been for a few days at most, was sublime and as he marched down a sloping causeway, he was filled with a sense of hope.
That hope was snatched away as soon as he set foot outside and felt the crushing weight of gloom that filled his lungs with each breath. The air was leaden and heavy, the sky pressing down like a monstrous weight upon the day. Threatening clouds scudded above and Uriel was filled with a dreadful sense of melancholy that put him in mind of the ruins of Khaturian.
Once again, he and Pasanius were in the vast flat space where Restoration Day had been declared. The inhospitable parade ground was filled with at least two hundred soldiers and a tight knot of the planet's dignitaries.
A gleaming silver Thunderhawk gunship sat with its assault ramp open behind the dignitaries and Uriel smiled at the sight of such a reassuringly familiar object. Even though the gunship was not in the colours of the Ultramarines, the potent symbol of the power of the Adeptus Astartes lifted Uriel's spirits from the ugly atmosphere saturating the day.
Uriel saw the tower of the Janiceps at the far end of the space and on his right was the decrepit, yet wondrous, Gallery of Antiquities. Craning his neck over his shoulder, he saw the high towers and bleak spires of the Imperial palace.
'Never liked this place,' said Pasanius. 'Now I like it even less.'
'We are to fight here?' Uriel asked Leodegarius. 'What has happened to this place? It feels… dead.'
'The fight will be held before the proper planetary authorities, both secular and holy,' said Leodegarius. 'In order for the Judicium Imperator to mean anything, it must be witnessed. As to what has happened since your incarceration… We will speak of it if you survive.'
On that grim pronouncement, they followed Leodegarius into the centre of the parade ground and Uriel saw many familiar faces gathered to witness the fight. Cardinal Togandis sweated beneath his ceremonial robes of office and Daron Nisato was resplendent in his gleaming black enforcer's armour.
Leto Barbaden was seated on a tall podium, looking simultaneously bored and angered by the proceedings, despite the fact that the fate of two of humanity's greatest protectors was to be decided before his very eyes.
Leodegarius halted before the podium and gave a curt nod of acknowledgement to Leto Barbaden before turning to Uriel and Pasanius.
'Governor Barbaden, these two warriors have passed through the trials of purity as determined by my order and I present them before you that you might bear witness to the Emperor's judgement upon them. No higher authority than the Emperor exists and thus He will have the final say in their fate.'
Uriel blinked in surprise at the Grey Knight's choice of words, recognising in them an implicit threat that Uriel's fate was not Barbaden's to decide. Had the governor demanded their execution in the last few days? Given their previous dealings, it was not beyond the realms of possibility, but Leodegarius's words suggested that such a decision was not Barbaden's to make, not when the Grey Knights were involved.
The Adeptus Astartes stood apart from the rigid hierarchy of the Imperium in a way that some found distasteful, but the Grey Knights were an authority beyond even the autonomy of most Chapters. Their authority was absolute and no one who valued their life would dare to go against their dictates.
It seemed that Leto Barbaden was no exception to this, and Uriel could see that it sat ill with the governor to have to bow before the authority of what he no doubt saw as interlopers.
Barbaden nodded and said, 'These two have brought nothing but trouble to my world, but if your order decrees this combat to be a just and proper trial then I will bear witness to it.'
Uriel hid his amusement at Barbaden's transparent ill-grace, meeting his hostile gaze and returning it with one of his own. His dislike for the governor of Salinas had intensified the more he learned about him. Barbaden's disregard for human life and his actions during the conquest of Salinas were unconscionable and Uriel knew that his crimes must be addressed in the fullness of time.
Leodegarius turned to him and said, 'Follow me to the place of battle.'
Uriel nodded and both he and Pasanius followed the Grey Knight to the centre of a circle that had been etched in silver, like the protective one carved in the stone chamber where he had undergone the ordeals, albeit this was considerably larger. Grey Knights in power armour took up positions around the circle, the shimmering blades of their tall polearms crackling in the sunlight.
'We fight hand-to-hand, no weapons,' said Leodegarius, 'the two of you against me.'
'That's it?' asked Pasanius.
'What more did you expect?'
'I don't know,' admitted Pasanius. 'I just thought there would be a lot more… ritual.'
'Rituals are for heathen corpse-whisperers and sorcerers,' said Leodegarius, assuming a fighting pose. 'I prefer more direct action.'
Uriel let his mind and body slip into the rhythm of combat, allowing his metabolism to speed up and heighten his senses and reaction times.
'So what are the rules?' he asked.
'You are such an Ultramarine,' grinned Leodegarius, launching a thunderous jab at Uriel's face. The Grey Knight's fist was like a steel piston, bludgeoning Uriel backwards as though struck by a dreadnought.
Blood arced from his split cheek and stars exploded behind his eyes at the force, but Uriel had been hit before and he knew how to ride with the pain of impact. He lowered his shoulder and rolled his neck, twisting his head out of the way of Leodegarius's follow-up hook.
His arm came up of its own accord, blocking a right cross and he launched an uppercut into his attacker's torso. His other fist slammed into the Grey Knight's side and he heard a satisfying whoosh of breath. His burned hand was bathed in fiery heat, the flesh split where it had not fully healed, but Uriel pushed the pain to the back of his mind.
Pasanius swung with his left, but Leodegarius easily dodged the off-balance blow. Leodegarius's elbow hammered into Pasanius's side and his fist slammed like a club into his midriff, driving the sergeant to his knees.
Uriel surged forwards, his fist arcing towards Leodegarius's head, but the Grey Knight had been expecting his attack. With a speed that seemed impossible for such a huge warrior, Leodegarius swayed aside and seized Uriel's wrist. He pivoted smoothly and slammed his hip into Uriel, using the momentum of the charge to hurl him from his feet.
The ground came up hard and Uriel slammed into it with pile-driving force. The breath exploded from his lungs and he looked up in time to see a slashing foot descending on him. Uriel rolled aside as the heel smashed down and split the stone. He twisted to his feet as Pasanius took another punishing blow to the head.