Chapter 6 Part 4

Chapter 6: Victory, you say?

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Part 4

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Victory Bay

Kronus

This was not right, Taldeer screamed within her head. She wanted to voice her fury, her hatred and loathing aimed at the Mon-Keigh who had the sheer, impossible gall to hunt her down like an animal. Yet, the Farseer was too busy running and fighting to waste even a single breath to such a frivolity. She dashed around a corner, went low and skid over a wasted street covered with cracked stones. Laser bolts flashed above her head, a barbaric chain-blade roared past her helmet and a Mon-Keigh spat his bile at her. Taldeer slashed upwards, gutting a screeching crimson-clad animal and at the same time sprayed its pack with her trusty pistol. Mono-molecular blades cut through the beasts shooting at her and they collapsed in screeching heaps.

The Farseer had no time to enjoy her handiwork. She nimbly jumped on her feet and continued her flight, while Yungir murder-machines hounded her. Broken visions, combat senses, and her armour's sensors were barely sufficient to keep Taldeer just a step ahead from dead or worse, ending up as She-Who-Thirsts' latest plaything. Blasts of abominable emerald energy burned through polluted air, cored through abandoned primitive Mon-Keigh vehicles and clipped the hides of nearby buildings. Wraiths exploded from the ground, their wicked claws slashing, thirsty for Taldeer's tender flesh. Mon-Keigh sprinted to cut her of, screaming obscenities in their crude language.

It wasn't enough to bring her low! She was a Farseer, she was an Aeldari! Taldeer wouldn't allow it! She couldn't meet such an inglorious end!

The Aeldari threw her last plasma grenade over her shoulder and jumped through the window of the next Mon-Keigh building she ran past. Wood and glass shattered harmlessly over her armour, she saw a Mon-Keigh brat stare at her wide-eyed and ran past, even as weapon's fire struck the wall behind her, turning it into shrapnel.

Taldeer burst into a side-street, finding herself face to face with a surprised group of those arrogant beasts. She acted without thinking and waded in between them with blade and sword. Five died before the first one could even attempt to aim at her, she shot two more and ran an eight through before an officer managed to parry her sword strike. The hilt shook within her grasp as her weapon struggled against dozens of spinning jaws of a chainsword. Before the Mon-Keigh could do more than gawk in surprise at her, Taldeer shot him in the face and continued her flight.

No matter where she looked, both through her eyes and her connection with the Great Ocean, all Taldeer could see were more and more Mon-Keigh and Yungir converging upon her position. The only saving grace of her situation was that with so many murderers after her, more of the Farseer's warriors were liable to slip out of this place.

It stung, being forced to run away. That doing so wasn't going to be enough, it was even worse. Taldeer shook under the pressure of her emotions, the Great Ocean around her frame stirred as it eagerly drank her frayed feelings.

Taldeer refused to see her song extinguished in such a way, by soulless automatons and barbarians! She headed straight towards the closest tall building and sent a psychic call to all remaining Aeldari aircraft fighting above the Mon-Keigh city. The command was simple – to abandon their current missions and retrieve everyone they could. She felt acknowledgments pulse through the Great Ocean followed by more mundane response. That was good enough. All she had to do now, was reach the dubious safety of a nearby roof where someone could pick her up.

Taldeer ran for her life, even as the enemy redoubled their efforts to snuff it out of existence and feed her soul to She-Who-Thirsts. A huge Mon-Keigh slammed in front of her shortly before she could reach the building. The shock-wave of his rocket-assisted landing shook the Farseer to the core, rattling her teeth and nearly throwing her off her feet. It was only her natural grace and agility that allowed her to remain on her feet, if barely. That in turn saved her life when the Space Marine went after her with a roaring chainsword and bolter pistol. Taldeer twisted out of the way of the shells, parried the ravenous blade and pushed with all her strength and psychic might against the large abomination who leveraged his own physical strength and even triggered the rocket pack strapped to his back. The Farseer pirouetted away, dancing around their locked blades, and leveraged the pressure point to sling the Mon-Keigh past her lithe frame. He reacted faster than any of his wretched kind had a right to and sent two shots her way as he twisted in mid-air. Taldeer merely moved her head and the bolter rounds missed by a fraction even as she brought her own gun to bear and perforated the Astartes with two precise bursts. Before the mutated Mon-Keigh crashed behind her, the Aeldari already had the encounter filled out of her mind and sprinting away.

There were more Mon-Keigh coming to murder her or worse, there were always more of those wretched vermin!

Taldeer blasted her way through a solid wall, tore the ceiling off and vaulted up, gracefully landing on the upper floor where she swirled around, blade and gun reaping through what was left of a group of Mon-Keigh running through a corridor that she now painted in their blood. Another pulse of warp energy tore the ceiling above her and the Farseer vanished through the hole moments before a pair of Yungir warriors materialized among the carnage. She ran, while blasts of green lighting disintegrated the floor behind her heels. Taldeer summoned more eldritch energy from the Great Ocean, tore the ceiling off and twisted, surrounding herself with a shield of purple energy, before sending a lance of pure warp downwards at the Yungir. She caught one in the face and blasted it away, neutralizing the murder-automaton, however the second one lasted just long enough to return fire. Gauss energy washed upwards and caressed her right foot, stripping away armour, flesh and bone. Taldeer collapsed with an ear-piercing scream that shattered what little glass survived for blocks around. She had to cut off her own leg at the knee and cauterize it with warp-fire in order to stop the Yungir's terrible weapon from further ravaging her body. She got up with a roar of anger, using her fury to push the pain away and hobbled up, substituting her blade for a crutch; the wraithbone sword was more than strong enough to support her weight when slammed horizontally into the nearest wall.

Somehow, Taldeer made it to the roof only facing one more Mon-Keigh who she turned into a living torch after unleashing all her pain, loathing and frustration upon him.

A Vampire Raider shrieked overhead – it was one of the few attached to her crippled flagship, and Taldeer used her remaining strength to jump onboard. A pair of welcoming hands grasped her by the shoulders and pulled her in, an Aspect Warrior with cracked helmet aimed at something behind her and opened fire. The warrior holding her suddenly increased his grip and shoved her away and before Taldeer could comprehend what was happening, someone kicked her in the side, shoving the air out of her lungs. The Farseer gasped, her side burned, trying to breathe was excruciating agony the likes of which she hadn't experienced before.

Was this it? It couldn't be! She was an Aeldari Farseer! The Mon-Keigh couldn't bring her down! Not now, not ever! It simply wasn't right… All Taldeer ever did was what she was taught to, what she was supposed to, what was right! She should have won, brought glory to her Craftworld, brought it a step closer to uniting the Aeldari and bringing back their Empire!

This wasn't right…