Aquila

Chapter XXIII

"Theoretical?" Caius asked as he and Bahad stood side by side in the empty hallway, the shouts of the heretics further down telling him that they were waiting for him and the Farseer.

"They're lining those side halls waiting for us. I shield, you shoot?" Bahad turned his head just enough that Caius knew he was looking at him out of the corner of his helmet lenses.

"Throw around some of those witch powers of yours in addition to that and we have a Practical."

"Block me when I have to drop the shield, and we have a deal."

"Execute."

He was still impressed by Bahad's ability to keep pace with him if he was being honest. the first las rounds hit his ceramite from the left, and he saw a bright blue-white flash as Bahad's lightning shot through them, sending their bodies jerking and falling to the ground as he moved around the Farseer to absorb the rounds and shield him from the cultists holed up in the next hallway. His bolt pistol took care of them before Bahad rounded past him and threw up a shield in time to block a volley from a heavy bolter.

"Psyker," Bahad warned as he swept his body to Caius' left. Caius felt the air chill and then heat up rapidly moments before he heard the sound of flames followed by the crack of lightning hitting Bahad's shield. He turned and trained his pistol down the upcoming hallway, shooting down the three cultists who emerged from a side room and hitting another Psyker as the lightning of the Warp flared in their eyes when they lunged at him from the room closest to the entrance of the hallway.

"I am getting tired of these witches," Caius spoke over the sound of his bolt pistol as he heard Bahad chuckle.

"Hopefully not me. Dying here would be a disappointing way to die - particularly from friendly fire."

"You get to live for now. You still owe me a duel to the death." Caius felt the corner of his mouth twitch up as the hall fell silent, and he glanced at Bahad as the Farseer moved forward with him, the hall branching off before coming to a large door that likely led to their targets. "Ready?"

"I have been ready for a long time now," Bahad slipped his spear into its holster on his back before drawing his Ghost Glaive, the curved blade glinting in the light as he turned to give Caius the nod.

Without waiting another moment, Caius kicked the door open. The slabs of metal shot off of their track and skidded across the floor with the grating of metal on metal. There was a flurry of gunfire that heralded the noise, and Caius felt the round bounce off his armor once again as Bahad moved forward and vanished into thin air, materializing on the other side of the room. he swung his blade in a great arc that cut one cultist in half before a second swing took one's head from her shoulders. They turned to open fire before he vanished again, letting them shoot one another in the crossfire as Caius gunned them down from the other side as he tried to find Frebaal, wherever she was hiding. He charged forward when he caught sight of the upper floor of the room, making for the stairways on the left side of the room that would give him access as he caught sight of people retreating into one far room.

"Caius! Heavy bolter!" Bahad groaned and called out, swinging the edge of his blade to the top of the stairs after he unceremoniously fell from the air a meter up, barely landing on his feet.

Caius followed his gaze to the top of the stairs in time to see the cultists drop a tripod with the gun already attached. He dove behind one of the pillars, feeling one of the rounds rip through the very outer coating of his right pauldron as Bahad tried to get himself together, collapsing behind one of the other nearby pillars. "Get up, Farseer!" He shouted.

"He's coming! We need to get Frebaal quickly!" Bahad called back, hand going to his head with a growl. "Not today... No more!" Bahad screamed out the words as a burst of energy rippled through the room that rocked Caius even in his armor, but it sent Frebaal's people flying.