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A charming experiment in reconstructed mythologies.’ ‘What do you mean?’ ‘Fenris is a relic from the days before Old Night.’
‘In the old days, in the Crusade, I thought I could beat most of my brothers. Maybe not Sanguinius. In him there is a fine blend of skill and fury. He is a baresark in angel’s garb.
Fundamentally, the Mechanicum operated upon the principle of discovery – or finders keepers, to put it more crudely. Cawl put his acquisitiveness down to an individual expression of the principle that guided all forge world societies, and doggedly refused to acknowledge his acquisitions as theft.
So often, individual human desires undermined collective human effort.
The Angel and the Wolf are more similar than they appear, thought Sanguinius. I am refined on the surface and savage within, Russ is the opposite. How many mirrorings like these did the Emperor engineer into His sons? And why? He thought of Curze, another, darker reflection of himself.
‘The great proponent of the Nikaean edict, who kept his own sorcerers. You have many qualities, my brother,’ said Dorn. ‘I never thought to say hypocrisy was one.’ ‘Is it? The priests of my Legion and the Stormseers of Jaghatai’s are different to the Librarians that were. Our warriors draw on an older tradition. A limited tradition. Magnus did not believe in limits. That was his error.’
‘Your purpose is singular, and He relies on you to perform it. So many of the others have been disappointments, first those we do not name, then Horus and the rest, but not you. He trusts you, Leman. I need to know I can too.’
‘One of your names is the Erlking. You are the lord of wights and of the alvar, the god of the nettagangr. This is the Muspjall, the hall of those who die deaths that serve no one. Those slain by age serve at your tables, and here cowards are devoured.’
‘It is not my place to judge those who come after. A man lets his deeds speak for him. You cannot petition the myth-makers of the future to respect you, or acknowledge you existed at all. They will, or they won’t.’
‘The civilised barbarian. The magic hater who surrounds himself with mumbling priests. The berserk thinker. The leashed hound who runs free. The Terran Fenrisian.’ ‘Aye,’ said Russ. ‘That’s me. It does a man no favours to be straightforward. Now I believe you owe me a boon.’
Adepts of the new Adeptus Mechanicus began their hymns to the machines. Russ observed them ruefully. Dorn called him a hypocrite; if that were so, so was their father, who had decried all religions as false save when it suited Him. Everything came down to expediency in the end. Russ took after Him in that way.
‘He promised knowledge,’ said Friedisch. ‘Forbidden knowledge. Are you not tempted?’ ‘Of course I am tempted. But sometimes forbidden knowledge is forbidden for good reason. We have to get out of this place.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Friedisch. ‘She is convinced she is right, as everyone with an opinion is convinced they are right.’ Cawl stared hard at his wide-eyed friend. ‘The truth is, no one ever is. The assumption of truth blinds one to the shading of actuality. It’s all subjective. We can only do the best we can, and she has made the wrong choice.’
