Salamander

I The Old Ways…

Dak'ir stood above the lake of fire, waiting to let his captain burn.

What was left of Ko'tan Kadai's corroded power armour was chained to a pyre-slab along with his half-destroyed body. Lava spat and bubbled beneath it, wafts of flame igniting in it before being consumed, only to flare to life again in another part of the molten flow. The black marble of the pyre-slab reflected the lava's fiery glow, the veined stone cast in reds and oranges. Two thick chains were piston-drilled to one of the short edges, and the rectangular pyre-slab hung down longways. Ceramite coated its surface, so the pyre-slab would be impervious to the magma heat. It would take Kadai on his final journey into the heart of Mount Deathfire.

Inside the vast cavern of rock, Dak'ir recalled the slow and solemn procession to that great volcanic peak. Over a hundred warriors, marching all the way from the Sanctuary City of Hesiod, had made the pilgrimage. The mountain was immense, and tore into the fiery orange heavens of Nocturne like the tip of a broken spear. Ash drifts had floated from the crater at its peak, coming down in slow, grey swathes.

Deathfire was at once beautiful and terrible to behold.

But there was no pyroclastic fury, no belligerent eruption of rock and flame this day, just lamentation as the mountain took back one of her sons: a Salamander, a Fire-born.

'Into fire are we born, so unto fire do we return…' intoned Dak'ir, repeating the sombre words of Brother-Chaplain Elysius. He was speaking rites of interment, specifically the Canticles of Immolation. Despite the Chaplain's cold diction, Dak'ir felt the emotional resonance of his words as they echoed loudly around the underground cavern.

Though ostensibly rough rock, the cavern was actually a sacred place built by Master of the Forge Tkell. Millennia old, its artifice and functionality were still lauded in the current decaying age. Tkell had fashioned the vault under the careful auspice of the progenitor, Vulkan, and had been amongst the first of his students upon his apotheosis to primarch. These skills Tkell would impart to future generations of Salamanders, together with the arcane secrets learned from the tech-adepts of Mars. The Master of the Forge was long dead now, and others walked in his mighty stead, but his legacy of achievements remained. The cavern was but one of them.

A vast reservoir of lava dominated the cavern's depths. The hot, syrupy magma came from beneath the earth and was the lifeblood of Mount Deathfire. It was held in a deep basin of volcanic rock, girded by layers of reinforced heat-retardant ceramite so that it pooled briefly before flowing onwards from one of the many natural outlets in the rock. There were no lanterns in the cavern, for none were needed. The lava cast a warm and eldritch glow. Shadows flickered, fire cracked and spat.

Chaplain Elysius stood in the darkness, despite his prominence on an overhang of rock that sat on the opposite side of the cavern to Dak'ir. A spit of lava threw harsh orange light across the overhang. It was long enough for Dak'ir to see Elysius's ebony power armour and the ivory of his skull-faced battle-helm. It was cast starkly, the light describing the edges of its prominent features. Eyes glowed behind the lenses, red and diabolic.

Isolationism was a fundamental tenet of Promethean creed. It was believed this was the only way a Salamander could find the reliance and inner fortitude he needed to prosecute the Emperor's duties. Elysius embraced this ideal wholly. He was insular and cold. Some in the Chapter reckoned in place of his primary heart, the Chaplain had a core of stone. Dak'ir suspected that might actually be true.

Even though Elysius was often distant, in battle he was completely different. His barbed zeal, as tangible and sharp as a blade, as furious as a bolter's voice, brought his battle-brothers together. His fury, his fierce adherence to the Promethean Cult, became theirs too. Countless times in war, the Chaplain's faith had dragged hard-fought victory from bitter defeat.

A symbol of devotion hung from his weapons belt, a simulacrum of a hammer. It was Vulkan's Sigil and had once been carried by the famed Chaplain Xavier. Long dead now, like so many heroes, the legacy of Xavier as keeper of this badge of office had passed to Elysius.

There in the highest echelons of the cavern, the Chaplain was not alone.

Salamanders from the 3rd and 1st Companies were watching too from a ridge around the edge of the cavern, where they stood to attention in darkened alcoves, their red eyes ablaze. This ocular mutation affected all Salamanders. It was a genetic defect brought about by a reaction to the radiation of their volatile home world. Together with their onyx-black skin, it gave them an almost daemonic appearance, though there were none amongst the Emperor's Astartes more noble, more committed to the defence of humanity than the Fire-born.

Chapter Master Tu'Shan observed the ceremony from a massive seat of stone. He was flanked by his bodyguard the Firedrakes, warriors of the 1st Company, his company. Honour markings covered Tu'Shan's noble countenance, a physical legacy of his deeds writ into his ebon flesh. They were the branding scars that every Salamander had, in keeping with Promethean ritual. Few amongst the Chapter, only the most distinguished veterans, ever lived to have them seared upon their face. As Regent of Prometheus, Tu'Shan wore a suit of ancient power armour. Two pauldrons sat upon his hulking shoulders, wrought into the image of the snarling fire lizards from which the Chapter took its name. A cloak of salamander hide, a more venerable and honour-strewn version of that worn by the Firedrakes, was draped across the Chapter Master's broad back. Tu'Shan's bald pate shone with the reflected lustre of the lava, the shadows of its undulations creeping up the walls like fingers of dusk. His eyes were like captured suns. The Chapter Master brooded, chin resting on his fist, as inscrutable as the very rock of the mountain itself.

After acknowledging his Chapter Master, Dak'ir's eye was drawn to Fugis. The Apothecary was one of the Inferno Guard, Kadai's old retinue, of which only three now remained. He had removed his battle helm and clasped it in the crook of his arm. It was stark white like his right-side shoulder armour. His sharp, angular face was haunted by lava-shadows. Even through the rising heat shimmer emanating from below, Dak'ir thought he saw Fugis's eyes glisten.

Ever since Dak'ir had won his black carapace and become a battle-brother, throughout his forty years of service, he'd felt Fugis's watchful eye. Before he became Astartes Dak'ir had been an Ignean, an itinerant cave-dweller of Nocturne. That fact alone was unprecedented, for no one outside the seven Sanctuary Cities had ever been inducted into the vaunted ranks of the Space Marines. To some it made Dak'ir unique; to others, he was an aberration. Certainly his connection to the human side of his genesis was stronger than any the Apothecary had ever known. During battle-meditation, Dak'ir dreamed. He remembered with unerring clarity the days before he became superhuman, before his blood and organs and bones were reshaped forever into the iron-hard cast of the alpha-warrior. Biologically, he was a Space Marine like any other; psychologically, it was hard to tell just what potential lay within him.

Chaplain Elysius had found no taint in Dak'ir's spirit. If anything, the Ignean's strength of mind and purpose was remarkably pure, to such a degree that he had achieved the rank of sergeant especially swiftly given the slow and methodical nature of the Chapter.

Fugis, though, was curious by his very nature and unshackled by the extreme views that afflicted the Chaplain. Dak'ir was an enigma to him, one he wished to fathom. But the Apothecary's watchful eye did not scrutinise him this day. His gaze was turned inward instead, mired in grief-ridden introspection. Kadai had been Fugis's friend as well as his captain.

Unlike his brothers, Dak'ir wore the garb of a metal-shaper, the nomadic smiths who worked the iron found deep beneath the mountains and sweated over heavy anvils. The vestments were archaic, but then on Nocturne they still believed in the old ways.

In the earliest millennia of civilisation, when the native tribes of the planet lived in caves, worshipping the fire mountain as a goddess and its scaled denizens as objects of spiritual significance, metal-shaping was regarded as a noble profession and its masters were tribal leaders. The tradition held thousands of years later, after the development of primitive technologies and the nascent art of metal shaping became forging, after the coming of Vulkan and when the Outlander had taken him away again into the stars.

A pelt of salamander skin covered Dak'ir's loins. Thick sandals were lashed about his feet. The Astartes's bare chest shone like lacquered ebony, onyx-black and harder than jet. In his hands he clasped one of the thick chains that held Kadai's corpse steady above the lake of fire.

Promethean tradition demanded that two metal-shapers would guide the passing of the dead. Across from him, standing upon a plinth of stone that jutted out above the lava much like Dak'ir's own, was Tsu'gan. He too wore a similar garb. But where Dak'ir's Ignean heritage was obvious in his rugged and earthy face, Tsu'gan's noble bloodline, passed down from the tribal kings of Hesiod, made his countenance haughty and cruel. His glabrous skull was fastidiously shorn, and he wore a narrow crimson beard like a spike. It was as much a statement of his arrogance and vainglory as it was simple affectation. Dak'ir's hair was dark, characteristic of subterraneans like the nomads of Ignea, cut simply and close to the scalp.

Accusation and thinly-veiled contempt burned coldly in Tsu'gan's gaze, when their eyes met briefly. The fiery gorge between them spat and bubbled in sympathetic enmity.

Anger rising, Dak'ir looked away.

Tsu'gan was one of few amongst the Chapter that found Dak'ir's singularity deviant. Born into comparative wealth and affluence, as such were possible on a volcanic death world, Tsu'gan had found himself instantly at odds with the idea of Dak'ir being a worthy candidate for the Astartes. The fact of his humble birth, his lowborn origins, and the levelling effect of them both as Space Marines, vexed Tsu'gan greatly.

Heritage was merely the undercurrent of acrimony that ran between them now. The bitterness that divided the two sergeants so cruelly had been set in motion as far back as Moribar, their first mission as neophytes, but its colour and acerbity had changed forever with the recent undertaking to Stratos.

Moribar… The thought of the sepulchre world he had visited over four decades ago unearthed bitter memories for Dak'ir. It was there that Ushorak had lost his life, and that Nihilan's vendetta had been born.

Nihilan who had…

Old memories surfaced from Dak'ir's subconscious like pieces of sharpened flint. He saw again the looming dragon, its red scales glistening like blood in the light of the temple to false gods. The melta flare filled his vision like an incandescent star, angry, hot and unstoppable. Kadai's cries smothered all of his other senses and for a moment there was only blackness and the sounds of his accusing anguish…

Dak'ir snapped to. Sweat laced the grooves of his enhanced musculature; not from the lava heat, Salamanders were resistant to such things, but rather from his own inner pain. His secondary heart spasmed with the sudden increase in respiration, fooled into believing the body was entering a heightened state of battle readiness.

Dak'ir fought it down, mastering his own capricious biology with the many mental and physical routines he had been conditioned with as part of his rigorous Astartes training. He hadn't endured a vision like that since Stratos. By Vulkan's grace, it had lasted only seconds. None amongst his gathered brothers had noticed him falter. Dak'ir felt the impulse to suddenly cry out, and curse whatever fates had led them down this dark path to this grim moment of mourning and sorrow, this grief for a captain beloved.

Kadai's death had stained them both. Dak'ir wore his openly, a white patch of scarification from a melta flare that covered over half his face. He had seen it again in his vision, the self-same blast that had ended Kadai's life so grievously. Tsu'gan, however, carried his wounds inwardly where they ate away at him like a cancer. For now, their feud was kept hidden so as not to arouse the suspicion or displeasure of either Chaplain or, indeed, Chapter Master.

Brother-Chaplain Elysius had almost completed the ritual and Dak'ir shifted his focus back to his duty. It was a great honour to be chosen, and he did not wish to be found wanting under Chapter Master Tu'Shan's fiery glare.

At last the moment came. Dak'ir had carried the weight of the pyre-slab for several hours. His shoulders did not even feel this exertion as he fed the chain down slowly, hand-over-hand. Each of the vast links, twice as large as an Astartes's fist, was etched with the symbols of Promethean lore: the hammer, the anvil, the flame. Though the chain links would not dissolve when they touched the lava, they were still red-hot from the rising heat. As each link fed through his palm, Dak'ir gripped it and felt the symbols being slowly branded into his flesh.

Steam issued from every grasp. Dak'ir did not even flinch. He was focused on his task and knew that every link in the chain must be gripped in precisely the same way so that the three symbols were burned into the same place on his palm. Any mistake, however slight, would be obvious afterwards. The ruined mark would be scoured away by brander-priests, shame and disgrace left in its stead.

Though they never made further eye contact, Dak'ir and Tsu'gan worked in concert, passing the links, one over the other, in perfect unison. The metal chain clanked from its rig hoisted in the penumbral dark of the cavern's vaulted ceiling, and Kadai was gradually lowered into the lava. The pyre-slab was soon submerged. The captain's armour and the remains of his body were quickly ravaged. The intense heat would render the last vestiges of him to ash. Then he would sink, returning to the earth and Nocturne.

The scoured pyre-slab came into view again as the chain was hauled back up. Its mortal cargo was gone, its surface steaming. When the slab had at last reached its apex, the rig above was locked off and Dak'ir released it, his duty done.

A votive-servitor shambled forward. The part-flesh, part-mechanised creature was bent-backed from the weight of the massive brazier it carried. The dark metal cradle was fused to the servitor's spine, filled with the gathered ash of offerings. As it approached, Dak'ir plunged his hand into the ash and with a thumb daubed a skull-like symbol upon his right arm.

Turning away from the creature, Dak'ir smacked his hands together allowing the flakes of burnt skin from his palms to cascade into the lava below. When he looked back he found a pair of robed brander-priests in the brazier bearer's place.

Even without his armour, the Astartes towered over the serfs. Heads held low, they carried burning staves and used them to sear fresh honour-scars into Dak'ir's skin. The Salamander accepted the heat, scarcely acknowledging the pain it caused, but embracing the purity of it all the same.

The silent exchange with Tsu'gan was distracting him. Dak'ir barely noticed the brander-priests as they withdrew. Nor did he see at first the three serfs that came after, carrying a suit of power armour between them.

Remembering where he was, the sergeant bowed as the serfs proffered his Mk VII battle-plate. He took each piece of armour in turn, slowly re-donning it, casting off the mantle of metal-shaper and becoming Astartes again.

A deep voice issued from the dark when Dak'ir had almost finished.

'Brother-sergeant.'

Dak'ir nodded to the armoured Salamander that emerged, the serfs scurrying past him and back into shadow. The mighty warrior, almost two heads taller than him, was clad in the green battle-plate of the Chapter, a blazing orange salamander icon on his left shoulder pad against a black field denoting him as a battle-brother of 3rd Company.

'Ba'ken.'

Trunk-necked and slab-shouldered, Ba'ken was a fearsome sight. He also held the rank of Dak'ir's heavy weapons trooper, and was his most trusted comrade.

Ba'ken's arms were outstretched. In his gauntleted fists he clasped an ornate chainsword and plasma pistol.

'Your arms, brother-sergeant,' he said solemnly.

Dak'ir mouthed a silent prayer as he took up his weapons, relishing the familiarity of their touch.

'Is the squad in readiness?' asked Dak'ir. He gave a side-glance to Tsu'gan across the lake of fire, as he too was re-armouring. Dak'ir noticed that Iagon, Tsu'gan's second, had dressed his sergeant. 'Beneath you, is it?' His muttered words were edged with venom.

'3rd Company await only you and Brother Tsu'gan.' Ba'ken kept his expression and tone neutral. He had heard his brother-sergeant's veiled remark, but chose not to acknowledge it. He knew well of the discord between Dak'ir and Tsu'gan. He also knew of the approaches Dak'ir had made in an attempt to ingratiate the other sergeant and the fact of their falling on deaf ears and a closed mind.

'When I was in my youth, a mere neophyte,' Ba'ken began as Dak'ir sheathed his chainsword and holstered his plasma pistol, 'I forged my first blade. It was a gleaming thing - sharp-edged and strong - the most magnificent weapon I had ever seen because it was mine, and I had made it. I trained with the blade constantly, so hard it broke. Despite my best efforts, the hours I spent in the forges, I could not repair it.'

'The first blade is always the most precious, and the least effective, Ba'ken,' Dak'ir replied, intent on mag-locking his battle-helm to the weapons belt of his power armour.

'No, brother-sergeant,' answered the hulking Salamander, 'that is not what I meant.'

Dak'ir stopped what he was doing and looked up.

'Some bonds, they cannot be made however much we want them to be,' Ba'ken told him. 'The metal, you see. It was flawed. No matter how long I spent at the anvil, I could not re-forge it. Nothing could.'

Dak'ir's expression darkened and his red eyes dimmed in what might have been regret.

'Let's not keep our brothers waiting any longer, Ba'ken.'

'At your command,' Ba'ken replied, unable to keep the hint of melancholy out of his voice. He had neglected to mention that he had kept the blade, in the hope he would one day restore it.

'Or our new captain,' Dak'ir concluded, stepping off the plinth and stalking away into the darkness.

II Grief

Dak'ir passed down a line of warriors, Ba'ken in tow, until he reached those of his own squad. Several of the other sergeants of 3rd Company acknowledged him with a nod or mutter of approval - Salamanders like Lok, Omkar and Ul'shan, Devastator squad leaders who had shared in the tragedy of Kadai's death on Stratos.

He briefly locked eyes with Battle-Brother Emek, who clasped his shoulder with a reassuring hand. It was good to be amongst his brothers once more.

Others were less genial.

Tsu'gan had many supporters. In every sense, he was Promethean perfection: strong, courageous and self-sacrificing. Such warriors were easy to like, but Tsu'gan had an arrogant streak. His second, Iagon, was no less conceited, but his methods were entirely more insidious. Tsu'gan glowered from across the opposite side of the temple. The glances of his partisans were no less scathing. Dak'ir felt each and every one like red-hot daggers.

'Brother Tsu'gan still protests.' Ba'ken had followed the other Salamander's eye line, and whispered the remark to his sergeant.

Dak'ir's reaction was pragmatic.

'He is certainly fearless, defying the will of the Chapter Master.'

It was no secret that the appointment of Captain Kadai's successor had not been met with universal approval. Some amongst the sergeants openly contested it. Tsu'gan was the chief detractor. He and others like him had been silenced by Tu'Shan. The Chapter Master's decree was law. His eyes and ears, however, could not be everywhere.

'Doubtless, he expected his own name to be called,' Dak'ir continued with a trace of rancour.

'It's possible. He regarded Kadai as highly as you, brother-sergeant. He may not think his heritor worthy,' said Ba'ken. 'There's talk that Iagon has begun to gather support for his patron amongst the other sergeants.'

Dak'ir jerked his head towards Ba'ken abruptly.

'He would challenge the leadership of the company before Kadai's replacement is even sworn in?'

A few heads amongst the gathering on Dak'ir's side turned as he spoke a little too loudly. The sergeant lowered his voice.

'If enough of the sergeants support him, he could argue for Tu'Shan to make him captain instead.'

'It's a rumour. It may be nothing.'

'He wouldn't dare.' Dak'ir bristled at the thought of Tsu'gan's lobbying for power. It wasn't that the sergeant was unworthy. Dak'ir acknowledged Tsu'gan's prowess and courage, his tactical acumen. But he was also a glory hunter who sought advancement aggressively. Ambition was laudable, it drove you to excel, but when it was at the expense of others… Moreover, Dak'ir was annoyed because he had heard no inkling of this. Unlike Ba'ken, he was not so well liked. In many respects he was the outcast that Tsu'gan described. He could inspire his men, lead them into battle, and they would die for him as he would for them. But he lacked Ba'ken's common touch, his broad empathy with the warriors of 3rd Company. Sometimes that left him on the periphery where internal politicking was concerned.

Dak'ir felt his ire for the sergeant anew, his burning eyes echoing his belligerent mood. Tsu'gan caught his gaze and returned it, proud and imperious standing amongst the Firedrakes and Tu'Shan himself.

Something sharp and insistent pricked at Dak'ir's senses and he averted his attention from Tsu'gan to search for its source.

Clutching the hilt of his sheathed force sword, Librarian Pyriel regarded Dak'ir intently. A student of Master Vel'cona, Pyriel was an accomplished Epistolary-level psyker. Arcane power armour, accented by green robes and esoteric sigils, encased his body. The circlet of a psychic hood arced around the back of his skull. Tomes and scrolls were chained to his battle-plate, which was deep blue in the manner of the Librarium, and he wore a long drakescale cape. A faint trace of psychic resonance crackled cerulean blue across his eyes as Pyriel's gaze narrowed.

Whatever his interest in him, Dak'ir found the examination unsettling. Perhaps Pyriel had taken up Fugis's mantle as watcher, given the distraction of the Apothecary's grief. Determined he would not be cowed, Dak'ir stared back, inwardly squirming beneath the Librarian's intensity. In the end it was Pyriel who relented, smiling thinly first before looking away.

Dak'ir followed his eye to a long narrow walkway above the ridge of stone where he and his brothers now stood. A robed figure was standing in the centre of the dais at the end of the walkway, his features shadowed by a heavy cowl. Only the fire in his eyes was visible. From the darkness behind him, a pair of brander-priests emerged silently. As one, they gripped the rough fabric of his apparel and pulled it to the ground.

Veteran Brother N'keln stood before them, head upraised. He was naked apart from the tribal sash preserving his dignity. Fresh scars were burned into his bare skin; they were the marks of a captain, seared onto his chest and right shoulder by the brander-priests.

The dais was not merely as it appeared. A disc was sunken into the rock, the internal circuitry within it concealed behind stark grey metal. As the serfs retreated, a pillar of fire erupted from the dais, engulfing the ascendant completely. The inferno lasted seconds, and as the flames died away N'keln was crouched on one knee with his head bowed. Smoke rose from his coal-black body but he was not burned, rather he shimmered with inner strength.

Chapter Master Tu'Shan stirred from his throne and stood.

'Through elemental fire is our mettle gauged and our devotion measured,' he declared. His voice was deep and resonant, as if it had come from the soul of the earth. It held a molten core of inspirational passion, and carried such power and authority that all who heard it were instantly humbled. 'Endurance and fortitude are the tenets of our lore and creed. Sacrifice and honour are the virtues we Fire-born uphold. With humility do we guard against hubris and our own vainglory.' Tu'Shan focused all of his attention on N'keln, who had yet to lift his gaze.

'Vulkan's fire beats in my breast…' the Chapter Master began, thumping his plastron with a gauntleted fist and making the sign for the hammer.

N'keln looked up for the first time since his fiery baptism.

'With it, I shall smite the foes of the Emperor,' he concluded.

Tu'Shan smiled broadly, and its warmth spread to his blazing eyes.

'Brother-sergeant no longer…' he intoned, brandishing a massive thunder hammer in one huge fist. 'Rise, brother-captain.'

The Vault of Remembrance was all but empty. Echoing footsteps reverberated off the walls from solitary Salamanders going about their rituals or serfs performing chores. From the catacombs below came the sound of forges, as anvils were struck and metals honed, travelling through the rocky core of Hesiod's Chapter Bastion as a dulcet ring.

Hesiod was amongst the seven Sanctuary Cities of Nocturne. These great colonies, their foundations bored deep into the earth and rooted in the hardest bedrock of the planet, were based on the seven settlements of Nocturne's tribal kings.

Each of the seven Salamander Chapter Bastions resided in one of these cities. Devoted to the seven noble companies, they were austere and hollow places.

Gymnasia provided for the rigours of the Astartes' daily training regimen, and a Reclusium, presided over by the company's Chaplain, saw to their spiritual needs. In the lower levels were the solitoriums, little more than stark oubliettes used for battle-mediation and honour-scarring. Dormitories were sparse and mainly inhabited by serfs. Armouries held weapons and other war materiel, though these were mainly for neophytes - seasoned battle-brothers often maintained their own arsenals, situated at private domiciles amongst the populace of Nocturne where they could better act as their custodians and protectors. Refectories provided repast, and in the great halls rare gatherings could be held. An Apothecarion saw to the wounded. Oratoriums and Librariums were the seats of knowledge and learning, though the culture of Nocturne stressed greater importance on the experience and the tempering fire of the battlefield.

Catacombs ran through a vast undercroft where the emanating swelter of the forges could be felt, the soot of foundries and the hard metal stench of smelteries absorbed into every pore. The great forges, temples of iron and steel, where an anvil not an altar was the pillar of worship, were ubiquitous across all of Nocturne. The hours of devotion spent in the cloying heat, through the lathered sweat and thickening smoke, were as crucial to a Salamander as any battle-rite.

It was in the highest echelon of the Chapter Bastion that two warriors in green battle-plate chose to reflect and offer supplication, in the Vault of Remembrance, in memoriam for their slain captain.

The temple was a vast, echoing space. The harmonies of phonolite-chimes echoed off its darkened walls. Hewn from volcanic aphanite, they rose up like geodesic intrusions and tapered off into a craterous aperture that lay open to Nocturne's fiery-orange sky. Black and fathomless obsidian formed a hexagonal expanse, serving as the massive chamber's floor. Stout columns of deep red felsite buttressed the half-ceiling, shot through with veins of fluorescent adamite.

The rare volcanic rocks and minerals used to fashion the magnificent temple were harvested after the Time of Trial, and the stark and frigid winter that followed in its wake. Such artefacts of geological beauty could be found throughout Nocturne. The most precious were protected within the stout walls of the Sanctuary Cities and their void shield generators.

Iron braziers around the chamber's edge gave it a fiery cast, flickering in the lustrous faces of the polished rock. It appeared luminous and abyssal in the light's reflection - a diabolic temple raised from the bowels of the world. At its nexus a giant pillar of fire roared, tendrils of flame spilling and lashing from a core of white heat. The two warriors knelt at it, insignificant before the conflagration.

'As Kadai passes, so does N'keln ascend,' Dak'ir uttered solemnly, his onyx skin tinged in dark amber by the memorial flame. In his gauntleted fist he clutched a votive offering that he threw into the fire. It ignited quickly, and he felt the heat of its immolation briefly against his downcast face.

'History will remember him,' Ba'ken replied in a reverent voice, burning his own tribute.

The ceremony of Interment and Ascension had ended with N'keln accepting his captain's battle-plate. Tradition held that whenever an old captain died and another took his mantle, the ascendant would wear the previous incumbent's armour. Ordinarily, the slain Salamander would be incinerated in the pyreum, a massive crematoria forge beneath the mountain. According to Promethean lore, the essence of the departed would be passed on into the armour when his ashen remains were offered up on the pyre-slab and he was returned to the mountain. Ko'tan Kadai had met his end before a traitor's multi-melta. There had been little left of him to salvage, so his armour was given unto the mountain instead. It seemed a fitting offering. N'keln's armour then was forged anew, an artificer suit fashioned by Brother Argos, Master of the Forge.

After N'keln had been reborn from fire as captain and clad in his battle-plate, the congregation of Salamanders had disbanded. Tu'Shan and the few Firedrakes that had been present for the ritual boarded Thunderhawk gun-ships idling on the Scorian Plain beyond the mountain. Tearing into the sky, they were bound for Prometheus and the fortress monastery stationed upon Nocturne's sister moon where the greater matters of Chapter and galaxy were Tu'Shan's chief concern.

For the others there was the slow pilgrimage back to Hesiod and a return to their duties.

3rd Company had earned a brief respite from campaign until their next mustering. Tempering of spirit and the remoulding of purpose was needed in the battle-cages, chapels and at anvils. Before the resumption of their training routines, Dak'ir and Ba'ken had come to the Vault of Remembrance. Like many others of 3rd Company, they did so to pay their respects and honour the dead.

'These are grave times.' Ba'ken appeared morose. It was unlike him.

A hot wind was blowing off the northern Acerbian Sea, bringing with it the stench of burning ash and the acrid tang of sulphur. Eddies swirled the blackening parchment Ba'ken had placed before the flame, slowly pulling it apart and turning it into ash. It reminded him of the deep fractures within their company left in the wake of Kadai's death.

'As one life ends, another begins. As it is before the forge flame, metamorphosis is existence in transformation,' a calm and thoughtful voice answered. 'Where is your Nocturnean pragmatism, Sol? You led me to believe you hailed from Themis.'

Ba'ken smirked away his melancholy.

'Pragmatism, maybe, but the sons of Themis are no philosophers, brother,' he offered dryly, a flash of fire lighting his eyes as he craned his neck to acknowledge Emek. 'We are warriors,' he added, clenching his fist in mock machismo. Themis was another of the Sanctuary Cities, well-known for its warrior-tribes and the tall, wide stock of men it produced, a trait augmented through the genetic process of becoming a Space Marine.

Emek smiled broadly showing his teeth, stark white against his onyx skin, and knelt down beside his brothers.

'Would you prefer a verse from the Promethean Opus, instead?' he countered.

Brother Emek, like his late captain, hailed from Hesiod. He had a noble, slightly studious bearing. His hair was carmine red and shaved into thin chevrons that extended across his entire skull and arrowed down to his forehead. Younger than Ba'ken - who had served almost a century in the Chapter but had no ambition for advancement - and even Dak'ir, Emek had an eternal look of curiosity in his eyes. Certainly, he possessed an impressive capacity for learning and an even greater desire. His knowledge of Promethean lore, its philosophy and history, and the culture of Nocturne, was lauded even by the Chapter's Chaplains.

'As worthy an account as that is, brother,' replied Dak'ir, 'I think that now is not the time for a recitation.'

Chastened, Emek lowered his head.

'My apologies, brother-sergeant.'

'None are necessary, Emek.'

Adopting an attitude of penitence, Emek nodded and cast his own offering into the fire. For a few moments, the three were joined in silent reverie, the crackling of the votive flame a chorus to their solitude.

'My brothers, I…' Emek began, but whatever he was about to say caught in his throat when he looked past the flame to the figure standing beyond it.

'Kadai's death has hit us all hard, brother,' Dak'ir told him, having followed Emek's gaze, 'Even him.'

'I thought his heart was cut from stone.'

'It would seem not,' offered Ba'ken, mouthing a silent litany before rising to his feet.

'This enmity with the renegades has exacted a heavy toll. Do you think this is an end to it?'

Dak'ir was interrupted before he could reply.

'Not for us,' snarled Tsu'gan, his belligerence unmistakable.

Dak'ir got to his feet to face his fellow sergeant, who was stalking towards them across the obsidian plaza.

'Or for them,' Dak'ir added, eyes narrowing when he saw Iagon following behind, the ever faithful lackey.

Iagon was gaunt and slight, his face etched with a perpetual sneer. He blamed this affectation on an encounter during the Gehemnat Uprising on Kryon IV when, during the cleansing of a genestealer infestation, a brood creature's bio-acid had severed some of the muscles in his face, leaving his mouth permanently down-turned.

Dak'ir thought it appropriate for one such as Iagon. He kept his gaze on the two approaching Salamanders, vaguely aware of the immense presence of Ba'ken at his back.

'This retribution is old, Emek,' Dak'ir told the other battle-brother. 'It goes back to Moribar when Ushorak died. I don't think Nihilan or the Dragon Warriors will easily lay the death of their captain to rest. I doubt even Kadai's destruction would have slaked their thirst for vengeance. No,' he decided, 'this will end when one of us is dead.'

'Annihilated,' added Tsu'gan unnecessarily, by way of elaboration for Emek's benefit. 'The entire Chapter - them or us.'

'Are you expecting a long war of attrition then, Brother Tsu'gan?' Dak'ir asked.

Tsu'gan's lip curled in distaste.

'War is eternal, Ignean. Though, I would expect no less from one of your craven ancestry to desire eventual peace.'

'There are many upon this planet and others across the Imperium who would welcome it,' Dak'ir returned, his ire rising.

Tsu'gan sniffed his contempt.

'They are not warriors, brother, like us. Without war, we are obsolete. War is my clenched fist, the burning in my marrow. It is glory and renown. It gives us purpose. I embrace it! What would we do if all the wars were to end? What use are we to peace?' He spat the last word, as if it stuck in his mouth, and paused. 'Well?'

Dak'ir felt his jaw tighten.

'I shall tell you,' Tsu'gan whispered. 'We would turn on one another.'

Silence followed, charged with the threat of something violent and ugly.

Tsu'gan's smile was mirthless and goading.

Dak'ir's hand went almost of its own volition to the combat blade sheathed at his hip.

The smile turned into a malicious grin.

'Perhaps you have some warrior's blood in you after all, Ignean…'

'Come now, brothers.' Iagon's voice dispelled the red haze that had settled over Dak'ir's vision. He spread his arms in an expansive gesture, ever the ostensible conciliator. 'We are all kin here. The Vault of Remembrance is no place for recusation or rancour. The temple is a haven, somewhere to absolve one's self of guilt or self-recrimination, isn't that so, Brother-Sergeant Dak'ir?' He added the barb with a viper's smile.

Ba'ken bristled, poised to act, when Dak'ir extended a steadying hand to placate him. He had already released his grip on the combat blade, seeing the act for what it was - a simple taunt. Emek, uncertain what to do, merely watched impotently.

'It is more than that, Iagon,' Dak'ir replied, side-stepping the snare Iagon had laid for him. He turned his attention back to Tsu'gan, making it clear that the lapdog was beneath his concern.

Dak'ir drew close, but Tsu'gan held his gaze and didn't flinch.

'I know what you are doing,' he said. 'N'keln is a worthy captain for this company. I warn you, do not besmirch Kadai's memory by opposing him.'

'I'll do what is best for the company and the Chapter, as is my right and duty,' Tsu'gan returned vehemently. Stepping closer still, he snarled through clenched teeth, 'I told you once I would not forget your complicity in my brother-captain's death. Nothing has changed. But question my loyalty and devotion to Kadai again, and I will cut you down where you stand.'

Dak'ir knew he'd gone too far with that last remark, so capitulated at once. Not out of fear, but shame. To challenge Tsu'gan was one thing; to call his fealty and respect for their old captain into doubt was unfounded.

Satisfied he'd made his point Tsu'gan backed down too and went to move around his brother.

'How long has he been here, like that?' he asked, looking beyond the memorial flame. There was the faintest trace of sadness in his voice.

The Vault of Remembrance was laid bare to the elements at its north-facing wall. An archway of white dacite engraved with the effigies of firedrakes led out onto a long basalt promontory that overlooked the sun-bleached sands of the Pyre Desert. Silhouetted in the evening glow was Apothecary Fugis, as motionless as a sentinel.

'Since we arrived,' said Dak'ir, and felt the spark of belligerence between them ebbing, if only for a few moments. 'I haven't seen him stir even once.'

'His grief consumes him.' Emek had turned to watch the Apothecary too.

Tsu'gan's face creased into a disdainful scowl and he looked away. 'What use is grief? It affords us nothing. Can grief smite our enemies or protect the borders of our galaxy? Will it resist the predations of the warp? I think not.' With barely concealed contempt, he nonchalantly cast the votive scroll he had clutched in his fist into the memorial fire. It slipped and fell out of the flame's caldera where the rest of the ash gathered, only half-burnt. For a moment, Tsu'gan almost went to retrieve it but then stopped himself. 'I have no use for grief,' he muttered quietly. Then he turned and left the Vault of Remembrance, Iagon following in his wake.

When Tsu'gan's back was turned Dak'ir did it for him, mouthing a silent oath of remembrance as the parchment was consumed.

Fugis stared out across the vastness of the Pyre Desert. He was standing upon an overhang of dark rock that was often used as a natural landing pad for the Salamanders' gun-ships and other light vessels. The strip was empty today, apart from the Apothecary, and Fugis welcomed the solace.

To the north beyond the arid desert region was the Acerbian Sea. Fugis saw it as a dim black line where the tall spire of Epimethus, Nocturne's only ocean-bound Sanctuary City, jutted like a dull blade. It was surrounded by other, much smaller satellites, the numerous drilling rigs and mineral harvesting platforms that raked the ocean floor or mined its deepest trenches for ore.

Out on the barren sands of the Pyre, he witnessed a sa'hrk, one of the desert's predator beasts, stalking a herd of sauroch. The lithe, saurian creature slithered low across the desolate plain, scurrying from the scattered rock clusters to draw close enough to its prey to strike. Oblivious to the danger, the sauroch herd ploughed on, their bulky, gristle-thick bodies swaying as they marched in file. The sa'hrk waited for the end of the cattle trail to reach it, then pounced. A bull-like sauroch was wrestled bodily to the ground, hooting plaintively as the predator levered aside the bone-plates encasing its neck to reach the soft flesh beneath. It gorged itself quickly, tearing strands of bloody meat with its iron-hard jaws and chugging them down its bloated gullet. The rest of the herd mewled and snorted in panic. Some of the cattle-beasts stampeded; others merely stood petrified. To the sa'hrk, it mattered not. It took its fill and merely sloped away, leaving the carcass to rot in the sun.

'The weak will always be preyed upon by the strong,' uttered Fugis. 'Is that not correct, brother?'

Dak'ir stepped into the Apothecary's eye line. Carrion creatures were already flocking to the dead sauroch, stripping it of whatever sustenance the sa'hrk had left them.

'Unless those with strength intercede on behalf of the weak, and protect them,' he countered, turning to regard his fellow Salamander directly. 'I didn't realise you were aware of my presence.'

'You've been standing there for the last fifteen minutes, Dak'ir. I was aware. I merely chose not to acknowledge you.'

An uncomfortable silence followed, filled only by the low, insistent thrum of Hesiod's void shield generators. Those of Epimethus to the north and Themis to the east added to the dull cacophony, audible even across the expanse of the desert and the shelter of the mountains.

'On Stratos, we were weak.' Fugis couldn't keep the spite out of his voice, as he said it. 'And the strong punished us for it.'

'The renegades were not strong, brother,' insisted Dak'ir. 'They were cowards, striking from the shadows whilst our backs were turned, and cutting him down—'

'Without honour,' snapped Fugis, turning on Dak'ir before he could finish, a mask of rage drawn over his thin countenance. 'They slew him, as that sa'hrk slew the sauroch, like swine, like cattle.'

The Apothecary nodded slowly, his anger usurped by bitterness and fatalism.

'We were weak on Stratos… but it began on Moribar,' he rasped. 'I curse Kadai for that. For his weakness then, that he did not see and end the threat Ushorak presented, the loyalty he had instilled in Nihilan, when he had the chance.'

Dak'ir was taken aback by Fugis's reaction. He had never seen him like this before. The Apothecary was calm, clinical even. It kept him sharp. To hear him speak like this was unsettling. Something had died inside him, burned along with Kadai's remains on the pyre-slab. Dak'ir thought it might be hope.

Fugis closed on him. It was the second time that one of his battle-brothers had approached him like this today. The brother-sergeant didn't care for it.

'You saw it, brother. You dreamed of this danger for almost four decades.' Fugis gripped Dak'ir's pauldrons intensely. The Apothecary's eyes were wide, almost maddened. 'I only wish we had known then what we know now…' Fugis's voice trailed away. Whatever grief-fuelled vigour had seized his body ebbed with it, as he let his arms fall back to his sides and faced the setting sun.

'Perhaps you should visit Chaplain Elysius. There is…' Dak'ir stopped talking. Fugis wasn't listening to him anyway. His eyes were glassy like rubies as he stared across the desert.

'Brother-sergeant.'

Dak'ir exhaled his relief at Ba'ken's voice. He turned to see the burly Salamander standing a few metres away as if he had been there a while, not approaching out of respect.

'Brother-Captain N'keln is here in Hesiod,' Ba'ken continued. 'He wishes to speak with you.'

'Stay with him until you are called,' Dak'ir husked beneath his breath on his way back into the Vault of Remembrance, with a half-glance in the Apothecary's direction.

'Of course, brother,' Ba'ken replied and waited on the Thunderhawk platform for his sergeant's return.

Surrounded by darkness, Tsu'gan bowed his head and beckoned the brander-priest with an outstretched hand.

'Come,' he uttered, voice echoing inside the close confines of the solitorium. The reverberation faded, swallowed by the stygian black and the shifting of fire-wrapped coals beneath Tsu'gan's bare feet.

Iagon had already removed his power armour, securing it in an antechamber where he awaited his sergeant's return.

Tsu'gan stood bare-chested, wearing only a pair of training fatigues borrowed from the Chapter Bastion gymnasia. Steam cascaded off his body in waves, diffusing the blood-red gleam from his eyes. Fresh scarification throbbed against his seared skin where his brander-priest had already applied the rod. Still, Tsu'gan beckoned for more.

'Zo'kar!' he snapped, gesturing agitatedly with his hand. His voice came out in a harsh whisper. 'Burn me again.'

'My lord, I…' the brander-priest quailed hesitantly.

'Obey me, serf,' Tsu'gan hissed through clenched teeth. 'Apply the rod. Do it, now.' His tone was almost imploring.

The Space Marine's mind was in turmoil. He regretted not going back, on seeing to the offering he had so casually discarded into the memorial flame. Kadai was worthy of his reverence, not his scorn, however it might be directed. He recalled the moment in the temple on Stratos when he had confronted Nihilan.

You fear everything…

The remembered words were like cold steel rammed into his flesh. For in some hollow of his heart, some hidden vault the Dragon Warrior had uncovered and cruelly opened, Tsu'gan knew them to be true. He hated himself for it. He had failed his lord and thereby realised his greatest fear. Purgation was the only answer to frailty. Kadai was dead because…

Pain filled his senses, together with the stench of his own tortured skin. It was clean and pure - Tsu'gan revelled in it, sought solace in flagellation by fire.

'Scour it away, Zo'kar,' he husked. 'Scour it all away…'

The brander-priest obeyed, afraid of his master's wrath, searing again the lines of the Salamander's old victories and past achievements. It had gone beyond ceremony. There was no honour in what Tsu'gan was deliberately subjecting himself to. This was masochism; a shameful art brought about by his guilt.

By the time Zo'kar was finished and the rod had almost cooled, Tsu'gan was breathing hard. His body was alive with agony, the heat of the brand's attentions coming off him in a haze. The entire chamber was redolent of burning, and scorched flesh.

Masochism was becoming addiction.

Tsu'gan saw again the moment of his captain's demise. Watched his body immolated by the multi-melta's bright beam. His eyes hurt at the remembered sight of it.

Dragging air into his chest, Tsu'gan could only rasp. 'Again…'

In his half-delirium, he didn't notice the other figure in the room watching him from the secrecy of shadows.

Dak'ir found his captain in one of the Chapter Bastion's minor strategium chambers. It was an austere room, bereft of banners, triumphal plaques or trophies. It was hard-edged, practical and bleak, much like N'keln himself.

Leaning over a simple metal altar-table, the captain scrutinised galactic maps and star-charts with Brother-Sergeant Lok.

Lok commanded one of 3rd Company's three Devastator squads, the Incinerators. A Badab War veteran, he carried black and yellow slashes on his left kneepad to commemorate the armour he had worn during the conflict. Lok was hard-faced and grim, two centuries of war calcifying his resolve. A long scar ran down the left side of his face from forehead to chin bisecting the sergeant's two platinum service studs. This he had received fighting a boarding action on an Executioner's battle barge, Blade of Perdition, during Badab. The bionic eye on the opposite side of his grizzled visage was implanted much earlier after the scouring of Ymgarl when he was only just a full-fledged battle-brother. Lok had been 3rd Company then, too, assigned as part of a small task force to assist 2nd Company who were mustered for the campaign in their entirety.

Lok reminded Dak'ir of an old drake, its skin chewed by the ravages of age, and as tough as cured leather. To see his dour expression, one might think he felt like one too.

The veteran sergeant's left arm was encased in a power fist. Lok rested the cumbersome but brutal looking weapon on the altar-table as he attended to matters of tactics with his captain. What campaign or mission they might be masterminding, Dak'ir didn't know. Many in the Chapter believed Lok should have been promoted to the 1st Company by now, but Tu'Shan was wise and knew that he was more valuable to 3rd Company as an experienced sergeant. To Dak'ir's mind, that decision had proven an astute one.

Lok looked up at Dak'ir as he entered and gave a near imperceptible nod of his head.

'Sir, you summoned me,' the sergeant said to his captain, after bowing.

Disturbed from his planning, N'keln appeared distracted at first. As he straightened, the captain's full panoply of war was revealed. Close up, the artificer armour he wore was rarefied indeed. Encrusted with the sigils of drakes and wrought with super-dense bands of adamantium that bound its reinforced ceramite plates, it was a masterpiece. A gorget lay discarded on the altar-table, evidently a portion of the suit N'keln had removed for improved dexterity in his neck. The battle-helm rested next to it, traditional Mk VII in style but sleeker with the mouth grille replaced by a fanged drake snout. A mantle of salamander hide, the armour's last concomitant element, was hanging reverently in one corner upon a nondescript mannequin.

'Thank you, Sergeant Lok, that will be all for now,' said N'keln at last.

'My lord,' Lok replied, adding, 'brother-sergeant,' for Dak'ir's benefit on his way out.

N'keln waited until Lok was gone before he spoke again.

'These are inauspicious times, Dak'ir. To assume such a heavy burden as this was… unexpected.'

Dak'ir was lost for words at the sudden frankness.

N'keln went back to his charts for a moment, searching for a distraction.

Dak'ir's gaze strayed to the sheathed sword at his captain's side. N'keln caught the look in his sergeant's eyes.

'Magnificent, isn't it,' he said, drawing the weapon.

Master crafted, the power sword hummed with an electric-blue tang rippling along its gleaming face. Consisting of two separate blades, conjoined at points along each inner edge, it was unique. The hilt was masterfully constructed with a dragon claw guard and drake-headed pommel, plated in gold.

As august as the power sword was, it was N'keln's right and privilege to take up his old captain's weapon too. Dak'ir's understanding was that Kadai's thunder hammer was repairable. He wondered why N'keln had refused it.

'I confess, I prefer this.' After sheathing the blade and setting it back down, N'keln patted the stock of his worn bolter, lying opposite. A great many kill-markings were etched along the hard, black metal of the gun and the skull and eagle hung from its grip on votive chains.

'I know of the discontent amongst the sergeants,' he said suddenly. His eyes were flat as he regarded Dak'ir. 'Kadai's legacy casts a long shadow. I cannot help but be eclipsed by it,' he admitted. 'I only hope I am worthy of his memory. That my succession was justified.'

Dak'ir was taken aback. He had not expected his captain to be so forthright.

'You were Brother-Captain Kadai's second-in-command, sir. It is only right and proper you succeeded him.'

N'keln nodded sagely, but at Dak'ir's or his own inner counsel the brother-sergeant could not tell.

'As you know, Brother Vek'shan was slain on Stratos. I am in need of a Company Champion. Your record, your loyalty and determination in battle are almost peerless, Dak'ir. Furthermore, I trust your integrity implicitly.' The captain's eyes conveyed his certainty. 'I want to promote you to the Inferno Guard.'

Dak'ir was wrong-footed for a second time. When he shook his head, he saw the disappointment on N'keln's face.

'Sir, on Stratos I failed to protect Brother-Captain Kadai and that mistake cost his life and damaged this company into the bargain. I will serve you with faith and loyalty, but with the deepest regret I cannot accept this honour.'

N'keln turned away. After exhaling his displeasure he said, 'I could order you to do it.'

'I ask you not to, sir. I belong with my squad.'

N'keln regarded him closely for a few moments, making his decision.

'Very well,' he said at last, chagrined but willing to concede to his sergeant's request. 'There is something else,' he added. 'The other sergeants will hear of this soon enough, but since you are already here… I wish to heal the wounds in this company, Dak'ir. So, we are returning to the Hadron Belt. There we will scour the stars for any sign of the renegades. I mean to find them and destroy them.'

The Hadron Belt was the last known location of the Dragon Warriors. There it was that the Salamanders fought them on Stratos, or rather were ambushed by them and their former captain assassinated.

'With respect, sir, our last encounter with Nihilan was months ago. They will be far from there by now, likely returned to the Eye of Terror.' Dak'ir looked down at the maps on the altar-table and saw the dense and expansive region of the Hadron Belt. 'Even if, for some inscrutable reason, the Dragon Warriors still linger there, the Belt is a vast tract of space. It would take years to search it all with any certainty.'

N'keln allowed a brief pause, deciding if he should say anything further.

'Librarian Pyriel has been probing the star clusters out in the Belt and detected a resonance, a psychic echo of Nihilan's presence. We will use that as our marker.'

Dak'ir frowned.

'It is a slim hope to find them on such evidence. This remnant Brother Pyriel has found could be weeks old. What makes you think they will still be lurking in-system?'

'Whatever was begun on Moribar with Ushorak's death, it continued with the assassination of Kadai. Both planets are part of the Hadron Belt, which suggests that the Dragon Warriors have some lair situated there, from which they can launch their raids. Without the Imperium and the forges of Mars to sustain their war materiel, the renegades will need to get it from somewhere else. Piracy and raiding is the only way.'

'A slim hope - yes, I agree,' added N'keln. 'But a solitary flame when kindled can become a raging conflagration.' The captain's eyes flared with sudden zeal. 'It isn't over, Dak'ir. The Dragon Warriors have cut us badly. We must strike next and without restraint, so we are not blooded again.'

N'keln's final words before he dismissed Dak'ir sounded slightly desperate, and did nothing to assuage the brother-sergeant's own burgeoning doubts.

'We need this mission, Dak'ir. To heal the wounds of this company and restore our brotherhood.'

Dak'ir left the strategium feeling uneasy. The meeting with N'keln had unsettled him. The captain's candour, the admission of his own failings and deep-seated doubts, though masked, was disquieting, for no other reason than he now believed that despite his arrogance and vainglory Tsu'gan might be right. N'keln was not ready for the honour that had already been bestowed upon him, and he was brother-captain in name alone.