Blood gathered in the corner of his mouth as he staggered away from yet another wounding blow.

'A hit,' sniggered Lucius. 'A palpable hit.'

Tarvitz knew he was fighting with the last of his reserves and the fight could not go on much longer. Soon Lucius would tire of his poor sport and finish him, but perhaps he had held him here for long enough.

'Had enough?' coughed Tarvitz. 'You don't have to die here.'

Lucius cocked his head to one side as he advanced towards him and said, 'You're serious, aren't you? You actually think you can beat me.'

Tarvitz nodded and spat blood. 'Come on and have a go if you think you can kill me,’

Lucius leapt forwards to attack and Tarvitz dropped his sword and leapt to meet him. Surprised by such an obviously suicidal move, Lucius was a fraction of a second too late to dodge Tarvitz's attack.

The two warriors clashed in the air and Tarvitz smashed his fist into the swordsman's face. Lucius turned his head to rob the blow of its force, but Tarvitz gave him no chance to right himself as they fell to the floor, and pistoned his fist into his former comrade's face. Lucius's sword skittered away and they fought with fists and elbows, knees and feet.

At such close quarters, skill with a blade was irrelevant and Tarvitz let his hate and anger spill out in every thunderous hammer blow he landed. They rolled and grappled like brawling street thugs, Tarvitz punching Lucius with powerful blows that

would have killed a mortal man a dozen times over, the swordsman struggling to push Tarvitz clear.

'I also remember what Loken taught you the first time he brought you down,’ gasped Tarvitz as he saw movement at the edge of the dome. 'Understand your foe and do whatever is necessary to bring him down.'

He released his grip on Lucius and rolled clear, pushing himself as far away from the swordsman as he could. Lucius sprang to his feet in an instant, scrambling across the floor to retrieve his weapon.

'Now, Solathen!' shouted Tarvitz. 'Kill him! He betrayed us all!'

He watched as Lucius turned towards the dome's entrance, seeing the warriors Solathen had rallied and brought to him. Solathen obeyed Tarvitz's command instantly, as a good Emperor's Children should, and the dome was suddenly filled with the bark of gunfire. Lucius dived out of the way, but even he wasn't quick enough to avoid a volley of bolter shells.

Lucius jerked and danced in the fusillade, sparks and blood flying from his armour. He rolled across the floor, scrabbling for a hole in the wall blasted by the months of battle as the gunfire of the loyalist Emperor's Children tore into him.

'Kill him!' yelled Tarvitz, but Lucius was faster than he would have believed possible, diving from the dome as shells tore up scorched frescoes around him.

Tarvitz pushed himself to his feet and staggered over towards where Lucius had escaped.

Beyond the dome, the outer precincts of the palace were a nightmarish landscape of craters and blackened ruins. A pall of smoke hung over the battlefield the palace had become and he smashed his fist into the wall in frustration as he saw that the swordsman had vanished.

'Captain Tarvitz?' said Solathen. 'Reporting as ordered.'

Tarvitz turned from his search for Lucius, pushing his frustrations aside and focusing on the more immediate matter of counter-attacking Eidolon's warriors.

'My thanks, Solathen. I owe you my life,’ he said.

The warrior nodded as Tarvitz picked up a fallen bolter and checked the magazine to make sure he had a full load.

'Now come on,’ he said grimly. 'Let's show these bastards how the real Emperor's Children fight!'

SEVENTEEN

Winning is survival

Dies Irae

The end

'BETRAYER,’ SAID LOKEN, stepping into the parliament house.

There was nothing to betray,' retorted Abaddon.

Even after all mat had happened on Isstvan III, the word betrayal had the power to ignite the ever-present anger inside him.

'I envy you this, Loken,’ continued Abaddon. To you the galaxy must seem so simple. So long as there's someone you can call enemy you'll fight to the death and think you are right,’

'I know I am right, Ezekyle!' shouted Loken. 'How can this be anything but wrong? The death of this city and the murder of your brothers? What has happened to you, Abaddon, to turn you into this?'

Abaddon stepped down off the stage, leaving Aximand to stand alone at the lectern. In his

Terminator armour Abaddon was far taller than Loken and he knew from witnessing the first captain in battle that he could still fight as skilfully as any Astartes in power armour.

'Isstvan III was forced upon us by the inability of small minds to understand reality,’ said Abaddon. 'Do you think I have been a part of this, and that I am here, because I enjoy killing my brothers? I believe, Loken, as surely as you do. There are powers in this galaxy that even the Emperor does not understand. If he leaves humanity to wither on the vine in his selfish quest for godhood then those powers will swamp us and every single human being in this galaxy will die. Can you understand the enormity of that concept? The whole human race! The Warmaster does, and that is why he must take the Emperor's place to deal with these threats.'

'Deal with them?' said Torgaddon, shaking his head. 'You are a fool, Ezekyle, we saw what Erebus was doing. He has lied to you all. You have made a pact with evil powers.'

'Evil?' said Aximand. 'They saved the Warmaster's life. I have seen their power and it is within the War-master's ability to control them. You think we are fools, that we are blind? The forces of the warp are the key to this galaxy. That is what the Emperor cannot understand. The Warmaster will be lord of the warp as well of the Imperium and then we will rule the stars.'

'No,’ replied Loken. 'The Warmaster has become corrupted. If he takes the throne it will not be

humanity that rules the galaxy, it will be something else. You know that, Little Horus, even if Ezekyle doesn't. He doesn't care about the galaxy; he just wants to be on the winning side,’

Abaddon smiled, slowly approaching Loken as Torgaddon circled towards Horus Aximand. 'Winning is survival, Loken. You die, you lose, and nothing you ever believed ever meant anything. I live, I win, and you might as well have never existed. Victory, Loken. It's the only thing in the galaxy that means anything. You should have spent more time being a soldier, maybe then you would have ended up on the winning side,’

Loken held up his sword, trying to gauge Abaddon's movements. 'There is always time to decide who wins,’

He could see Abaddon tensing up, ready to strike, and knew that the first captain's taunting was just a cover.

'Loken, you have come so far,’ said Abaddon, 'and you still don't understand what we're doing here. We're not so far from human that we're not allowed a few mistakes, but to fight us instead of realising what the Warmaster is trying to achieve... that's unforgivable,’

Then what's your mistake, Ezekyle?'

'Talking too much,’ replied Abaddon, launching himself towards Loken with his bladed fist bathed in lethal energies.

S * S

TORGADDON WATCHED AS Abaddon charged towards Loken, taking that as his cue to attack Little Horus. His former comrade had seen the intent in his eyes and leapt to meet him as Loken and Abaddon smashed apart the pews along the nave.

They met in a clatter of battle plate, fighting with all the strength and hatred that only those who were once brothers, but are now bitter enemies, can muster. They grappled like wrestlers until Aximand flung Torgaddon's arms wide and smashed his elbow into his jaw.

He fell back, blocked the right cross slashing for his face, and closed with Aximand, cracking an armoured knee into his opponent's midriff.