Secret War: Upon Blood Sands

Chapter 35

Attelus took cover behind the marine and added his piddling fire to Kalakor's roaring deluge.

"Mostly out of fun," said Attelus. "And a little so I can be a distraction for you to be able to kill as many of the enemy as possible."

Kalakor sighed. "You aim for the mortals; I will take care of the Bloodletters."

"Bloodletters?" said Attelus while sending a cultist cracking, bouncing down the stairs with around to the chest. "Is that what they're called?"

With incredible speed, Kalakor ejected his empty clip and reloaded. "You are a part of the Inquisition, but you do not know what those daemons are named?"

Attelus shrugged as he darted back from a brief fusillade. "We're Ordo Hereticus; the daemonic isn't our speciality. I do know that they are in the service of the blood god, though."

"But you still ally with Xenos, despite the fact that you are not Ordo Xenos, but the alien is not your speciality, either."

Attelus said nothing, just cut down a guardsman as he was starting to advance up the stairs.

His vox bead beeped.

"We're about to enter the city," said Darrance. "Get ready for-"

"Yes, yes," said Attelus. "Evasive manoeuvres, we know."

"Hold on to me," said Kalakor as he magnetised his boots.

Attelus sheathed his sword, holstered his pistol then grabbed the Space Marine by his overly-large backpack.

The ship began to tilt right, and an idea hit Attelus, and he activated his vox bead.

"Darrance, keep the line open and tell us how you and when you are going to turn."

"What?... Oh yes, I see where you are going with this. I am about to turn hard to starboard."

Before Attelus could ask what the hell that meant, the ship whirled right, almost ninety degrees; Attelus cried out and only just managed to hook his hand around Kalakor before he was thrown against the wall. The Resurrected and the daemons weren't so lucky. Their crashes were almost deafening as they hit the wall, as were their pained cries.

Kalakor pumped bolt round after bolt round into the stunned, injured enemy ranks; even if he weren't shooting insanely powerful miniature missiles, each shot would've been a kill shot.

Attelus found purchase with his left hand, pulled himself behind Kalakor and drew his powersword with the right.

"I am going upward," said Darrance and a second after, the Guncutter straightened and started swinging up.

The Resurrected were thrown back against the airlock doors, but the daemons were ready. They'd already dug their huge claws into the bodywork, but that was what Attelus was counting on as he hurtled at one so fast that it had no time to react before Attelus' powersword sliced through the Bloodletter's chest. The daemon roared. Attelus forward momentum carried him onto the large airlock door, but he'd angled himself so he could roll into a kneel to negate the impact.

He ignored the pain which flared through his legs, stood and faced the huge cultist coming at him, his whirling chainsword smashing for Attelus' skull.

Attelus slipped aside the attack's path, but the cultist turned it into a horizontal cut. Attelus weaved beneath the attack; then, he heard the huge, clawed feet hitting the steel behind him.

He darted past the cultist and sliced his sword across his ribcage on the way. He drew his autopistol and put a point-blank round through the face of a guardsman while he was in the midst of raising his recently retrieved lasgun, then gutted a cultist with another bolt. Kalakor's bolter blasted, and Attelus glanced over his shoulder to see the daemon reeling and writhing beneath the deluge.