Why, I often wonder the same thing, [ Lucius returns, the words nearly sung in jest. Truly, how could Eidolon have been so foolish! But he knows the mechanics of it, and the mechanics were all he promised to tell; again, dark enamel plays the length of Eridanus' spine as Lucius draws air through his sharpened teeth. ]
The plan that was agreed upon was this: Horus would marshal his Sons and drive an attack against another of the Palace's cardinal walls. The furor of it would draw the attention of its defenders away from the west. While they were so absorbed in warding off that assault, Eidolon and his men would make an entrance through the breech I guarded โ once I made sure it had only me to protect it. Three dozen or so heads for me to take, alone...
[ Even as close as Eridanus has pulled their eyes, his tongue lolls between his teeth again, hungry with the thought of that struggle. Never once had he doubted in his ability to end the lives against that mob alone; still, it had been quite the experience, defending himself from so many blades wielded against him on all sides. More than any human enemy, it had felt like being locked in battle against the Megarachnid on Murder once more, in that struggle that had nearly ended his life centuries before he could become the blight the galaxy knew him as today.
A pity, that none of those men had been as swift or as unfaltering as their xenos foes. ]
Simple enough for a swordsman as skilled as I, wouldn't you say? [ Like the punchline to a joke, he exhales those words in a breath of laughter. ] The first handful were dead before the rest of our brothers could understand that I had killed them. The rest threw themselves to me, but no matter how many of them came at once โ compared Lucius the swordsman, their clumsy bladework was little more than the imaginary play of a Chemosian child fantasizing of growing up into a grand duelist.
[ There had been someone else there, too, butโwell, that subplot hardly mattered anymore, and Eridanus couldn't give the payoff nearly the appreciation it deserved without hearing a whole other story first. ]
By the time Eidolon and his men arrived, my face was a mask of blood, and not a single drop of it dripped from a gash made by any other sword but my own. Just as we agreed, I allowed him entry to the palace, where he would flank our struggling kin...
[ Lucius trails off as though his story were about to crescendo to some new and glorious turn of eventsโbut then he shrugs, the brightness of his expression suddenly diminishing with his disinterest. ]
I didn't accompany him, so I cannot tell you precisely what occurred from there. Still, I know enough to say my dear friend Saul Tarvitz had doubled back, evidently in the hopes of finding me. Too much of a dullard to realize I had decided to move onto more fruitful lands, I suppose he was worried for my life.
[ He doesn't mention the way he had Saul had fought long enough for the pair of them to be found, and though he speaks of the concern of what may be the last man he had ever called a friend, his voice is flat. ]
In any case, Eidolon, that fool โ he was so preoccupied with thoughts of glory and claiming the most heads that he threw out good sense. [ Lucius rolls his eyes. ] As the good Lord Commander flanked our loyalist kin, Tarvitz gathered what men had been left scattered and unmoored by the disorder. Eidolon allowed his flanking force to be flanked, and by perhaps a mere two dozen marines!
[ He scoffs, and it's hard to say which irritates him more: Eidolon's failure, or Saul's success. ]
The damage had been more than done by then, but can you imagine the humiliation of being driven out by the same men you had set fleeing like vermin from a flaming field? That he couldn't finish the task, that he suffered so many unnecessary losses in what should have been a foolproof operation โ well, you can imagine it was quite the stain on the story of his great victory.
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The plan that was agreed upon was this: Horus would marshal his Sons and drive an attack against another of the Palace's cardinal walls. The furor of it would draw the attention of its defenders away from the west. While they were so absorbed in warding off that assault, Eidolon and his men would make an entrance through the breech I guarded โ once I made sure it had only me to protect it. Three dozen or so heads for me to take, alone...
[ Even as close as Eridanus has pulled their eyes, his tongue lolls between his teeth again, hungry with the thought of that struggle. Never once had he doubted in his ability to end the lives against that mob alone; still, it had been quite the experience, defending himself from so many blades wielded against him on all sides. More than any human enemy, it had felt like being locked in battle against the Megarachnid on Murder once more, in that struggle that had nearly ended his life centuries before he could become the blight the galaxy knew him as today.
A pity, that none of those men had been as swift or as unfaltering as their xenos foes. ]
Simple enough for a swordsman as skilled as I, wouldn't you say? [ Like the punchline to a joke, he exhales those words in a breath of laughter. ] The first handful were dead before the rest of our brothers could understand that I had killed them. The rest threw themselves to me, but no matter how many of them came at once โ compared Lucius the swordsman, their clumsy bladework was little more than the imaginary play of a Chemosian child fantasizing of growing up into a grand duelist.
[ There had been someone else there, too, butโwell, that subplot hardly mattered anymore, and Eridanus couldn't give the payoff nearly the appreciation it deserved without hearing a whole other story first. ]
By the time Eidolon and his men arrived, my face was a mask of blood, and not a single drop of it dripped from a gash made by any other sword but my own. Just as we agreed, I allowed him entry to the palace, where he would flank our struggling kin...
[ Lucius trails off as though his story were about to crescendo to some new and glorious turn of eventsโbut then he shrugs, the brightness of his expression suddenly diminishing with his disinterest. ]
I didn't accompany him, so I cannot tell you precisely what occurred from there. Still, I know enough to say my dear friend Saul Tarvitz had doubled back, evidently in the hopes of finding me. Too much of a dullard to realize I had decided to move onto more fruitful lands, I suppose he was worried for my life.
[ He doesn't mention the way he had Saul had fought long enough for the pair of them to be found, and though he speaks of the concern of what may be the last man he had ever called a friend, his voice is flat. ]
In any case, Eidolon, that fool โ he was so preoccupied with thoughts of glory and claiming the most heads that he threw out good sense. [ Lucius rolls his eyes. ] As the good Lord Commander flanked our loyalist kin, Tarvitz gathered what men had been left scattered and unmoored by the disorder. Eidolon allowed his flanking force to be flanked, and by perhaps a mere two dozen marines!
[ He scoffs, and it's hard to say which irritates him more: Eidolon's failure, or Saul's success. ]
The damage had been more than done by then, but can you imagine the humiliation of being driven out by the same men you had set fleeing like vermin from a flaming field? That he couldn't finish the task, that he suffered so many unnecessary losses in what should have been a foolproof operation โ well, you can imagine it was quite the stain on the story of his great victory.