"Telax?" Enkidu said without a hint of surprise, his eyes flashing with understanding. "He certainly has reasons to hate Varex. Strictly speaking, we all do. I still rember when we were trapped on the Velvet Abyss—it was you who held steady and piloted the shuttle back. For that, I owe you my thanks."
Armand let out a sharp, awkward grunt through his nose, which served as his acknowledgnt.
"If I hadn't flown it, we'd all be dead. Besides, you treated my wounds afterward. Now that Morpheus is gone, I'm not sure if anyone other than you or Telax can resist the urge to just finish the rest of us off."
Still no direct "thank you."
Enkidu had long since realized that these Chaos-tins were, to a man, a collection of contrarians—their symptoms only slightly less severe than Perturabo's. He didn't mind. The priority now was consulting Telax on how to dispose of Varex.
"So, where is Telax now?" Enkidu asked, his eyes scanning the ship's interior before settling on the spot where Telax and Virsuto had been standing earlier. "I saw him with Virsuto just a mont ago."
"Virsuto?" The na seed to trigger a reaction. Armand suddenly sneered. "Then you'd better stay away. Telax is in a towering rage."
"What happened?"
"You didn't think they'd stay as close as they used to after today's ritual, did you?" Armand remarked with a chilling air of schadenfreude. "Virsuto is currently the hero of the hour—the man 'nding the rift' between brothers. He's being hounded by sycophants."
"So they've fallen out? Just over that?"
Enkidu's eyelid twitched. What was this? A warband struggle, or a localized version of office politics? The kind where three people manage four different group chats? The mont one person gains favor, the others fall into a pit of jealousy and sche to drag them down? Co on, man. Even counting the initiates, there were only twenty-seven of them left. Was this really necessary?
"A total disaster," Enkidu summarized.
Varex was debauched and erratic; Telax was sadistic and impulsive; Virsuto was gentle yet inscrutable. And currently, the ship was hurtling through the Webway with its likely destination being Commorragh. The warband's future looked "bright" indeed.
"How does Telax view Virsuto now?"
"They're his business. Why don't you go ask him yourself?"
"Because you said he's in a rage." Faced with such a question, Enkidu chose to flatter. Tins were still people, and people liked hearing good things. "Besides, I haven't known Telax as long as you have. You carry more weight with him."
"Mortal sycophancy," Armand spat, characteristically cold. Yet Enkidu could feel the veteran's stance softening. When the temperature rises, the ice thaws from the outside of the confection, revealing the soft, sweet center. "I don't know the specifics of their talk, but Telax ca to afterward in a fury. He called him a 'shaful traitor' with no sense of honor."
Traitor...
Enkidu's fingers tightened at his side as he fell into deep thought.
In all his years with Telax, he knew the veteran wasn't prone to lying. Telax might enjoy tornting slaves and possessed a private trophy room that others were forbidden to enter, but he was generally a blunt, harsh old soldier of the Legions—a man morbidly chasing the fading shadows of a lost era.
As long as you showed him genuine respect, followed his idiosyncratic rules, and demonstrated superior skill in training, Telax was usually willing to listen. He would even offer the occasional word of ntorship.
Virsuto, however, was a more complex matter. He was almost always smiling, moving with an elegance that felt as refreshing as a spring breeze. When Telax punished the new bloods, Virsuto would sotis even intervene. Many liked him for it, but Enkidu had always felt an itch of wrongness—as if a secondary face lurked behind that mild exterior.
If Telax wasn't lying...
Enkidu's eyes flickered as he continued a rambling, idle chat with Armand, while a separate thread of his mind processed the data.
Perhaps Virsuto was the problem.
More clues surfaced from the depths of his mory. Like the ti Telax, in a fit of pique, ordered him to the Velvet Abyss to deliver a Genestealer Patriarch specin to Morpheus. But the mont the task was done, his shuttle had vanished without a trace. While he was stranded, Virsuto had appeared, offering to lead him around.
Then ca the appearance of Varcus and the sacrificial feast for Slaanesh.
Then there was the Velvet Abyss again. He had been assigned to rescue the Apothecary, only to find him dead, leaving behind a trail of rampaging lab-monsters and the signature of a lta charge. Just as he was about to investigate further, word arrived that an Aeldari Warlock was closing in on him.
Enkidu gently brushed the trophy-scrip at his waist. The Soulstones were smooth and warm, shimring with brilliant colors. At his touch, they grew icy, as if the contents were huddling together, trying to distance themselves from a predator of Slaanesh.
He found it a bit amusing. Too much had happened recently for him to study how to properly "play" with these precious prizes. If he found the ti, he would indulge.
The dark thought flashed and vanished; he returned to the matter at hand.
Looking back, the "attack" by the Aeldari Warlock felt suspicious in its own right. Enkidu rembered clearly that when Telax warned him of the enemy, the ssage was prefaced with: "Virsuto just told ." If all his hardships were rely natural occurrences, how did it happen that every mont of mortal danger involved Virsuto's shadow?
However, given the internal climate of a Chaos warband, he couldn't rule out Telax either. Telax could easily be masquerading as a blunt-headed brute, using Virsuto as his proxy. Once Enkidu was out of the way, he could rally the initiates under the banner of "vengeance" for their fallen brother...
Countless thoughts swirled. Enkidu kept up the idle chatter until he slled a cloying, near-foul perfu.
"My dear Brother Armand," Varex purred as he sauntered over. His eyes lingered on Armand's blessed face for six seconds, a microscopic trace of jealousy visible in his gaze. "Incredible. The Dark Prince loves you so deeply that He has designed a new visage for you."
The Warband Leader opened his arms as he approached. Armand side-stepped twice, neatly dodging the embrace.
"It seems my brother is not yet adjusted to my passion." Varex showed no sign of being offended. Instead, he turned and extended a hand to Enkidu. "And you? Will you welco , my most promising brother?"
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