Ahriman: Gates of Ruin Read Free

and then back at Astraeos. +When you have known Ahriman a little longer you will find that his ideals extend to ends, not means.+ I grinned again. Part of me could not help it. +When there is a choice between succeeding and failing he rarely quibbles over the price of victory.+
    He stared at me, the green lens of his augmetic eye a hard and steady light.
    +He will not be harmed?+
    +More than he has been already by being a Navigator puppeted by a coven of sorcerers to steer through a realm swarming with the nether-born?+ I shrugged both mentally and physically. +No. He will not be harmed. I will keep him safe. Though I cannot say that the experience will not leave its mark on him.+
    Astraeos held his stare, and his mental grip on me did not release, though I could almost hear the thoughts turning over in his mind. I sighed, and closed my eyes.
    +If you are going to take the irrational path could we at least move past this part?+
    The telekinetic blow rippled through my armour and body and tore me from the deck. I felt the sphere shiver, slip from my fingers, and land on the deck with a heavy crack. I landed face down, and felt the broken edges of bones grind in my limbs. I would have some healing to do later. I pulled myself up in time to see Astraeos sheathing his blade. He looked down at me, power radiating off him like the downdraft of vast wings. I confess that I was impressed. Even after all this time, I still am.
    +Is that the extent of the point you wanted to make?+
    He snarled, turned his back and returned to his position at the side of the chamber.
    I looked back to Silvanus. The black sphere lay on the floor between us where it had fallen from my hand. He looked at it, and then back up to me.
    ‘No…’ he whispered, and there were flecks of blood in the tears rolling down his cheeks.
    I picked the sphere up, and winced as the pain of my freshly broken bones flared brightly. The song surrounded me again.
    +Yes,+ I sent, and pulled him upright with my free hand. +I need you for this. Ahriman needs you for this. Be thankful for it. It is what is keeping you alive. Now, open your hand.+
    ‘Please…’
    +Open your hand.+ I put iron and pain into the sending, and his hand came up, long fingers opening like the legs of a pale spider. +Hear the song, and lead us to the Gates of Ruin,+ I sent, and dropped the sphere onto his palm.
    +You are disappointed.+
    I twitched my eyes at Astraeos. We had been silent in word and thought since we had come from the Navigator’s chambers. The Sycorax lay in the warp-tainted void and waited, just as it had done for many weeks. The passages we walked murmured with the sounds of distant machines, but few of the crew came to these high levels, and most that did would be avoiding encountering us. Two sorcerers walking in warplate, armed with sword and staff and the power to break reality, can have that effect.
    +Disappointed?+ I mentally shrugged. +No.+
    +But you were not anticipating how the matter has turned out?’
    +Are you trying to take pleasure in what you see as my failure?+ I shook my head. +I did not fail. I did not know exactly what would happen. That is the nature of what I do. The nature of what we all do, in fact. From your swinging all that mental force around to Ahriman’s peeling truths from the future. None of it is science no matter what any of my brothers choose to believe when they mutter about aetheric energy. All of it is trying to shape and ride the winds of a storm. Better to be glad you get there than worry how.+
    +The Navigator–+
    +Will lead us to the Gates of Ruin,+ I interrupted, +and through the Antilline Abyss.+
    Astraeos glanced at me out of the corner of his good eye, and took his turn to shrug.
    +If you are certain.+
    I nodded, but did not reply.
    In truth I was not certain. We had left Silvanus in his chambers, curled in his sleep cradle, pressing the sphere to the fabric over his third eye. He had been smiling, and his thoughts were slow, calm circles