The Emperor's Legion (Watchers of the Throne #1) - Chris Wraight Page 0,92

scything path of the great axe. The blades impacted – hell-wrought iron against Imperial steel – and the shock wave screamed out across the entire battle-plain. I crashed to the ground, thrown wide by the blow, only to be replaced by Alcuin who slammed his warhammer into the daemon’s leading greave. His battle-brothers threw themselves in close, hacking and thrusting with their great blades before pulling clear to send volleys of sanctified bolt-shells punching into its hide. The Sisters charged alongside them, cleaving at the daemonic flesh even as their aura swelled up to deaden its fearsome power.

I raced into contact, only to see one of Alcuin’s warriors crushed by a single kick from the creature’s spiked hoof. It swung around again, vast and ponderous, slamming the axe-blade down where two Sisters were retreating. The iron head plunged deep into the earth, throwing both from their feet and sending burning cracks snaking across the platform.

It was colossal, a soul-crucible fuelled by veins of molten lead and driven by a core of inextinguishable venom. Our blades barely scratched its flesh, our blows barely halted its heavy rampage. Every pendulous swing of that axe was more than lethal, unleashing forces capable of levelling whole fortresses and against which our armour was as potent as parchment. If we were to have any chance to end it we would need to dare the impossible.

I sprinted harder, throwing myself high and reaching for the daemon’s brass-disc hauberk. I grasped on to its iron-studded belt with my left hand and plunged Gnosis with all my strength. The blade drove deep, causing a fountain of scorching blood to gush out, splashing against my visor and making me gag from the stench. The daemon bellowed and jerked around, trying to throw me loose, but I gripped tightly to both spear and buckle.

I heard Alcuin cry out then as he smashed his warhammer into the beast, I caught a blurred glimpse of the Sisters racing to carve fresh wounds into its exposed flesh. I twisted Gnosis, trying to drive it under the creature’s immense ribcage and prise bone from sinew. Just at the last moment I saw it release one claw from the axe shaft, ready to seize me, and I yanked Gnosis free, dropping down beneath its twisting bulk and swerving from the outstretched talons.

By then the lesser daemons had raced back after us, scrambling up the slope in a skittering wave of crimson flesh. Two of Alcuin’s warriors had to turn to hold them back at the head of the stairs, fighting furiously even as a Sister rushed to their aid, further diminishing our assault.

The greater daemon stamped down again, pulverising more of the tortured rockcrete. Its axe whistled across, the rune-marked head igniting as it hurtled into one of Aleya’s troupe, bisecting her cleanly and sending the bloody fragments spinning into the masses below.

Four null-maidens remained standing, four Grey Knights, all now pressed hard and carrying wounds. I spun in towards the monster again, knowing that only another close-range blow could possibly harm it. It felt like assaulting a living mountain, albeit one that gyrated and thundered and brought down the fires of hell. The platform was slippery with blood by then, dragged down from the unholy rain, and it fizzed and popped against the ever-kindled flame.

I jabbed another deep wound into its veined thigh before darting away from the swing of the axe. As the head screamed past me I twisted and turned, slamming Gnosis down on the great iron shaft of the weapon. The impact was horrific, jarring my arms to the bone and nearly shattering them, but my blade broke through its tortured mass, severing the shaft in two and showering me with flying splinters.

The creature roared with true fury then, turning on me. A vast fist punched out, catching me full and sending me flying across the blood-soaked platform. The world spun around me, and sharp pain speared up my right leg as the bones smashed and armour rent. The monster loped after me, shaking off assaults from Alcuin, its blazing red eyes fixed on me. I twisted Gnosis round in my fist, swinging it up even as the daemon swept out of the flames.

It held the stunted axe, its shaft now broken and little more than a stump below the iron blade, high above its horned head, the muscles on its chain-draped arms taut. I saw its jaws foaming with bloody saliva, its unholy flanks shimmering with sweat, its wings spread