As much trouble as he made it β I did. [ He sly smile brightens, amused again. ] As I said, I once served under him. I knew the man, and I knew just what he would want to hear.
[ With Eridanus sidled up against him, Lucius' own hand lifts, those dark claws that had grasped his skull in their hold a moment earlier instead teasing an affectionate, bloody path up the curve of his consort's spine. ]
The biggest obstacle that stood in my way was finding the opportunity to speak with him. But, then, I saw my chance to make one. [ He gives those words time to hang between them, thick with conspiracy once more. ]
Saul and I protected the western face of the Precentor's Palace β and I with the force of a mere 30 men to hold off an invasion of thousands. [ He can't help the addition; despite the stain of his once-loyalist affiliation, his tone swells with pride, sweet with the knowledge that he had faced his brothers with so many disadvantages and outmatched them anyway. ] The Palace was flanked by mountains, you see, leaving those western entrances by far the most vulnerable in the face of any assault. Each day, the courtyard beyond became a charnel house, littered with the uncounted corpses of our kin β half those remains so mangled it would be an unmatched generosity to refer to them as cadavers.
[ He pauses, and when he breaths in, he can nearly taste the stench of that death within his mouth again. His tongue flicks through his teeth, licking over his lips as he recalls itβbut the story must go on. ]
Every day, we fought off some new assault. And then, one day, it was Eidolon who brought his forces to bear on us. I didn't see him among the Astartes that warred that day, but that was for the better. [ The statement comes as something more a mundane statement of fact, but then his voice lifts again with grand excitement as he explains, ] Instead, I saw old Chaplain Charmosian commanding the field! He stood proud atop one of the land raiders that had ferried his men in, his great blade bobbing and weaving like the baton of a maestro conducting a grand concerto!
[ His smile grows wider, and so do his eyes, as if manic with the memory of that battle. ]
At once, I knew what I had to do. I had to claim Charmosian's life β and when I did, I would take his helmet from his corpse as a simple trophy. With any luck at all, its vox would still be open to the private channel where he answered to Eidolon's command.
no subject
[ With Eridanus sidled up against him, Lucius' own hand lifts, those dark claws that had grasped his skull in their hold a moment earlier instead teasing an affectionate, bloody path up the curve of his consort's spine. ]
The biggest obstacle that stood in my way was finding the opportunity to speak with him. But, then, I saw my chance to make one. [ He gives those words time to hang between them, thick with conspiracy once more. ]
Saul and I protected the western face of the Precentor's Palace β and I with the force of a mere 30 men to hold off an invasion of thousands. [ He can't help the addition; despite the stain of his once-loyalist affiliation, his tone swells with pride, sweet with the knowledge that he had faced his brothers with so many disadvantages and outmatched them anyway. ] The Palace was flanked by mountains, you see, leaving those western entrances by far the most vulnerable in the face of any assault. Each day, the courtyard beyond became a charnel house, littered with the uncounted corpses of our kin β half those remains so mangled it would be an unmatched generosity to refer to them as cadavers.
[ He pauses, and when he breaths in, he can nearly taste the stench of that death within his mouth again. His tongue flicks through his teeth, licking over his lips as he recalls itβbut the story must go on. ]
Every day, we fought off some new assault. And then, one day, it was Eidolon who brought his forces to bear on us. I didn't see him among the Astartes that warred that day, but that was for the better. [ The statement comes as something more a mundane statement of fact, but then his voice lifts again with grand excitement as he explains, ] Instead, I saw old Chaplain Charmosian commanding the field! He stood proud atop one of the land raiders that had ferried his men in, his great blade bobbing and weaving like the baton of a maestro conducting a grand concerto!
[ His smile grows wider, and so do his eyes, as if manic with the memory of that battle. ]
At once, I knew what I had to do. I had to claim Charmosian's life β and when I did, I would take his helmet from his corpse as a simple trophy. With any luck at all, its vox would still be open to the private channel where he answered to Eidolon's command.