Secret War: Upon Blood Sands

Chapter 9

About twenty kilometres away, they got their first view of Kelitia as it loomed in the horizon ominously. It was set lower than the surrounding dunes, so only the tallest buildings were visible.

With Karmen's power practically out of commission. Attelus was forced to re-evaluate their approach. Needless to say, Karmen wasn't happy about this, and while he hid it, Attelus was far from happy either. Her being so handicapped was turning into a huge pain in the arse; now, they had to waste valuable time.

Four kilometres from Kelitia, they stopped inside the shadows of a small outcrop and hid the vehicles underneath their cameleoline tarpaulins. Then Hayden, Attelus, Adelana and Delathasi scouted forward on foot.

They were walking for about half a kilometre when they got their first proper view of Kelitia, and there they stopped. From the apex of the man-made ledge hill, which sloped down for two kilometres. Attelus couldn't see his comrades' expressions beneath their masks, but he imagined them gaping, just like him.

Kelitia was once a huge, bustling city. About forty million people had lived in its depths, mostly miners who'd toiled underground, night and day. Sarkeath was once the biggest exporter of minerals in the sub-sector and had been for nigh five hundred years. According to reports, the planet wouldn't last another century before being mined out.

But now that was the least of the planet's problems. Karmen was right; the grey ruins of Kelitia were hollowed out, crumbling apart. Attelus had seen first hand the destruction wrought by bombardment. His home city, Varander, had been flattened from orbit when he was a teenager. Flattened to such an extent that only a few walls still stood.

Not just that, but Kelitia was drowned in blood sands; Attelus calculated the lower five stories were utterly engulfed, just like in Faleaseen's vision.

"This is going to be hell," said Adelana, as the vox came to life, causing Attelus to flinch. "What in the Emperor's name happened here?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," said Attelus, trying to sound optimistic. "And that's one of the reasons we're here, to find out."

"I think I would rather stay ignorant," said Delathasi. "Adelana is correct. This place is hell."

Attelus frowned and started on. "No, it's not; hell is the warp. The sea of souls, we're still on the material plane. Now, we've gotta move! We can't waste any more time! We've still got to scout out a safe place to make our base. Move it!"

The others hesitantly followed, and Hayden said, "we're in the material plane, as far as you know."

Attelus clenched his jaw. "Shut it, Hayden. You're starting to sound like Darrance."

"Just saying what we're all thinking," said Hayden with a shrug.

"Speak for yourself!" said Adelana. "Never for a second did I think we're in the warp!"

"Thank you, Adelana," said Attelus.

"No," she said. "I think we are somewhere even worse."

Night was falling as they approached the ruined city, and more than she could ever care to admit, Adelana was relieved. Relieved that there was still a day and night cycle on this Emperor forsaken planet. That at least some of the laws of the physical universe still applied here.

But when they found the sand that had taken over Sarkeath sloped up almost fifty-five degrees, Attelus' curses echoed over the vox link. Their All-Terrain Vehicle couldn't ascend such a steep incline even with the hook shot on its nose, especially because the sand here was softer.