The former Captain of the Ultramarines Second Company now leads the elite Victrix Guard as the Chapter’s paramount champion – and in this short tale, he tests his martial prowess against the deadly Drukhari.
Engines howled as the Thunderhawk rose from the tower top and swung its armoured prow heavenward. Cato Sicarius and his Victrix Honour Guard backed away across the landing pad as the gunship’s thrusters flared. It climbed over the burning city toward the void, and a rendezvous with the strike cruiser Fidelis.
‘The governor and his staff will be safe aboard until the xenos raid is driven off,’ said brother Gaius over the squad vox-network. His satisfaction was evident now they had escorted their charges out of danger.
‘All but certain, brother,’ replied Sicarius. ‘Meanwhile, we- ’
Auto-senses and instincts screamed as one. Sicarius wheeled aside, just avoiding a beam of searing darkness that cut the air between the Ultramarines. He saw a sky-skimming Drukhari transport streaking toward them. Sicarius recognised the warriors on the vessel’s deck as Incubi and knew well the threat they presented. Yet the greatest danger, he knew, would be the shadowy something he saw lurking in their midst.
Sicarius and his battle-brothers raked the incoming craft with bolts. Its steersman veered, prow gunner shouting angrily as the evasive manoeuvre caused her next blast of darklight to miss. The Raider streaked overhead, and its passengers vaulted acrobatically into battle.
The Victrix Honour Guard met the storm of blades with skill, absorbing the shock of the Drukhari onslaught and dispersing to draw the xenos into one-on-one duels. Honourless and cruel, Incubi were especially dangerous when ganging up on opponents; the Ultramarines had no intention of allowing them that advantage. Whirling klaives crashed against artificer power axes in showers of sparks.
Sicarius was peripherally aware of the duels being fought across the tower top. The figure wreathed in shadows came for him, leaving little time for anything beyond staying alive. Sicarius’ auto-senses flicked through filters but couldn’t penetrate the umbral shroud around his opponent. He had an impression of preternatural speed as his enemy whirled about him, of malevolent eyes amidst the gloom and of a glowing blade that rushed toward him like a striking serpent.
Sicarius parried a thrust at his throat. The xenos blade whipped in again, in a series of cuts. He smashed two blows aside, but the third slid through his guard and drew a line of fire across his flank. An excited hiss issued from the shadows. The blade thrust again from a new angle, but instinct, skill and outrage lent the Ultramarine speed. Parrying one-handed, Sicarius snatched a frag grenade from his belt, primed it for near-instantaneous detonation, and dropped it.
The blast rocked him back. Amber damage runes flickered in his helmet’s peripheral vision. Yet Sicarius’ power armour was proof against the blast. His foe had suffered worse. Evidently, the speed of its reactions had spared the xenos serious wounding, but he stood revealed, shadows tattering away, his elegantly moulded body armour studded with shrapnel. Blood ran down one alabaster cheek. His eyes burned with hate and outrage.
As battle crashed around them, Cato Sicarius took up a bladesman’s stance and inclined his head.
‘Come, let us finish this. A fair fight, if you can manage such a thing, filth.’
With a snarl, the alien attacked. The duel began anew.
Cato Sicarius’s new miniature is available to pre-order from this weekend, alongside the new Marneus Calgar and a box packed with awesome Terminators.
