Champion of the Gods

Chapter nineteen

I had been climbing for about a quarter of an hour when the inevitable finally came.

‘Go no further, Hamilcar. You are surrounded, above and below.’

An Azyrite warmth prickled at my back, melting the scab of hoarfrost that had formed over my plate. I pressed my cheek against the rock face to look back over my shoulder, my beard gusting wild, and caught sight of the Prosecutor-Prime behind me. He was one of Akturus’ Imperishables, his black armour embellished with morbid symbols of death and eternal life. Every beat of his wings was an assertion of Azyri dominance, denying the lesser gods of earth and sky the right to dash his heavily armoured body against the rocks below. I saw no weapon in his hand, but knew that it would take but a prayer on his part to summon one from the Cosmic Storm.

‘Begone!’ I bellowed into the gale.

With my gauntlets, I probed the rock face for another handhold. I couldn’t find one, resorting once again to punching one for myself. With a grunt of effort, I dragged myself another few feet, reassigning my boots to the holds that freed up.

I scowled breathlessly at the rock.

In cruel mockery of the numbness in my fingertips and in the skin of my face, my muscles felt as though they were turning slowly and painfully molten. It was worst in my hands, particularly along the outside edges, but no muscle in my body seemed immune to the burn. My legs. My back. My stomach. Even the muscles of my lips and eyes. As if even grimacing in pain had become an effort. I looked down. I know that this is what climbers in every realm are warned not to do, but I was born a child of the mountains. I had no fear of high places.

Then I looked up.

That was arguably less wise.

Breath steamed out of my mouth in a rasp.

The summit was so far above me that I couldn’t even see it yet amongst the lesser ridges and crags. If someone had appeared to me in spirit form to tell me that it was only ten times the distance I had already scaled yet to go, then I would have taken it and kissed that spectre’s hand. The uncounted legions that had warred over the Seven Words for so many thousands of years had shared little in common beyond an acceptance that the Gorkomon was unconquerable.

I hated proving people right.

‘I will not relent,’ I hollered to the Prime over my shoulder. ‘Not to Frankos. Not to Vikaeus. And definitely not to Akturus.’

‘The Lord-Veritant comes bearing the seal of the God-King himself with orders for your capture and return to Sigmaron,’ said the Prime evenly, as though we were having this discussion over ale. ‘She impressed upon us the commandment to return you alive.’

‘Good luck with that, brother.’

‘It is for your own protection.’

‘She said that, did she?’

‘Indeed. She told us of how your spirit has been spoiled by sorcery most foul, and that you will surely deteriorate and perhaps perish if you are not soon returned to the care of the Six Smiths.’

I thought of the flashes of anger I had been experiencing since my return to Ghur. My unexplained feelings towards Vikaeus. The thawing of my memories.

I shook my head fiercely.

‘Never!’

‘She said that you might not be of your right mind.’

‘What does Vikaeus know of my mind anyway?’

There was a snap of Azyr power as a stormcall javelin exploded from the raw aether and into the Prosecutor-Prime’s gauntlet. It hummed forcefully. I glanced back. The rest of the retinue circled a short distance away, four winged warriors accompanied by an amethyst-and-gold figure infused with the unmistakeable cobalt halo of a Knight-Azyros. Another holy warrior with a damned lantern. The Prosecutor-Prime turned his head to follow my gaze, then turned slowly back. His mask was blank. He didn’t say anything. But I could tell very well that he knew exactly what I was thinking, and why, and that he was offering me this one last chance.

‘You heard what happened when I used my own lantern then?’ I said.

He nodded. ‘I happen to believe that Vikaeus is correct in this. You started a riot. Did you know that elements of the Freeguild have barricaded themselves within some of the outer wards and are refusing to recognise any higher authority unless it is you?’ His mask emitted an exasperated sigh. ‘If the skaven are anywhere close then they will attack soon, and in full force. You may have doomed the Seven Words with your actions, Hamilcar. But if you surrender to me now, talk these misguided captains down from the calamity they rush towards, then you have my oath that no harm will come upon you.’

With a grunt, I broke open another handhold and pulled myself up. It was quite probably the last I had the strength to make, but surrender just wasn’t in me. The Imperishables could catch my unconscious body when my strength gave and I fell. Not a moment before.

The Prosecutor-Prime shadowed me effortlessly.

‘It’s not that I doubt your oath, my friend,’ I wheezed. ‘I know Akturus well enough to know that he’d sooner break his own fingers than his word, and I am sure his warriors would do the same.’

‘In the heartbeat of a zephyrgayle.’

‘What I doubt, however,’ I said, my voice raising to a shout, ‘is that you have the slightest inkling of what awaits me in Sigmaron.’

‘It is Sigmar’s will.’

‘To the Great Nothing with Sigmar’s will!’

The Prosecutor hissed, taken aback. ‘Very well, then.’ The javelin crackled as he drew it back for the cast.

I turned my back and gritted my teeth against the expected pain.

A screech tore through the freezing air and I tensed, expecting to find myself pinned to the mountain by a lightning bolt, but instead a winged shadow fell across me, followed by a metallic scrape and a human scream. I looked back to see the terrifying form of an aetar eagle knight with the Prosecutor-Prime clutched in one of his talons. The Stormcast’s javelin snapped back into non-existence as he threw all his strength into fighting his way free, only to be summarily dashed against the mountainside. I felt the crunch of his impact through my fingers. I watched his wings fizzle out and held on tight to the rock face as his crumpled body plummeted by me.

The aetar beat its wings, almost ripping me off the mountain, as it shrieked a challenge. The turbulence scattered the remaining Prosecutors, but they had been drawn from the greatest heroes in the Mortal Realms, and belonged to a chamber renowned for its phlegmatism. They were already summoning javelins to hand, and fighting for height. A beam of Celestial starlight lanced from the Knight-Azyros’ beacon and across the eagle knight’s armour. It did absolutely nothing. I, however, winced at even that close a glimpse of the heavens.

The aetar snatched the Knight-Azyros up in its beak.

‘Release him, heathen bird!’ Lightning leapt from a Prosecutor’s casting arm, the stormcall javelin exploding into rainbow hues against the spell-wards knit into the eagle knight’s mail.

The aetar delivered another piercing shriek, this time mocking, even muffled as it was by the Knight-Azyros struggling to drive open his beak.

Sigmar, but the aetar were so much more impressive in the air.

‘Go higher, brother. Higher.’ The Prosecutors called out to one another as they circled the great beast, like starving dogs around a white lion. ‘Anubus. Grab the Bear-Eater and fly. We will shield you.’

Another lightning bolt scalded the eagle knight’s beak. Shrieking in rage, it raked for the Prosecutor with its talons. The Stormcast dived, but the aetar were the kings of this sky, and there was nothing nimbler or fiercer with wings. Claws the length of swords nicked the Stormcast’s harness and ripped a fistful of glowing feathers from his back. The warrior screamed as he pinwheeled towards the Seven Words, trying desperately to gain flight without half of one wing.

His brothers hesitated, torn between grabbing me, fighting the eagle knight and rescuing their comrade.

Then another devastating shriek rang out of the higher crags.

Two more proud aetar in splinted mail and bladed claws appeared in the sky above us, growing very large, very fast.

The eagle knight already in the fight tossed the Knight-Azyros contemptuously aside. His harness had been buckled in the aetar’s beak and it struggled to ignite, trailing lightning as he tried to deploy his wings.

That seemed to settle it for the Prosecutors.

Without a word to me or to each other, the three remaining warriors tucked in their wings and dropped after their falling comrades.

I laughed fiercely as I watched them become specks and then vanish.

‘I always knew that Augus had my b–’

A scaled foot the size of a door flattened me to the rock face before I had much chance to get carried away. Then it clawed me out, excavating a few hundred pounds of shattered rock along with me. Beating its wings hard, the aetar drew me from the mountain and into the air. I swung in the eagle knight’s talons, watching as the stones and debris drained through its claws and dissipated into the great gulf of nothing between me, the wind and the Seven Words. My first instinct was to fight.

I felt that to be an instinct worth suppressing on this occasion.

‘Where are you taking me?’

The eagle knight issued a deafening shriek.

‘Of course,’ I said. ‘I should have known.’