A Pale Horse - Chapter II

                                               A Pale Horse
                                     Chapter II - Atop a Pale Horse

Freyja walked with purpose down the long corridor. Her grey tunic moved freely and comfortably as she walked. Her tight underclothes prevented much of the irritating scratching that the rough material normally imparted on the more delicate parts of her pale skin. As she walked she passed rows of tall stain glass windows. Some depicted famous moments in the history of Taiga while others were dedicated to famous Taigans. Freyja knew each window by heart and could repeat each High-Gothic inscription flawlessly. Ever-burning braziers were placed underneath each ornate window on the outside of the wall so that at night the hallway was flooded with deep greens, reds and blues. At the moment, however, the brief winter sun was shining through the windows, painting their twin on the opposing wall and over Freyja as she walked.

She was headed for her bedroom apartment in the south-eat wing of the dormitory building. Most of the four hundred or so students of the schola were busy in classes or outside on one of the many fields that surrounded the schola complex. Military training and classical education were the cornerstones of the Schola Progenium but the foundation was built on an unerring, total faith in the God-Emperor of Mankind. When not studying or training it was expected for students to spend much of their free time in the cathedral. Standing beneath the massive stain glass window they would reflect on the nature of the Emperor’s will and their place in His Imperium as His visage looked down on them.

Freyja ascended a winding staircase to her floor. The sound of her boots on the marble steps echoed up the steps as the young girl climbed two steps at a time. A servo-skull floated passed her. A speaker implanted in its mouth repeated a High-Gothic chant that Freyja recognised. Languages had always been her best talent and the class she excelled in the most. She continued up the stairs until she reached her floor and headed to her bedroom.
As she walked, she thought back to the night before, when she and Cecilia had lain together naked and sweating in the light of her glow-globe. It brought a smile to her face just remembering it. She was glad Cecilia was back where she belonged. Though the painful reminder that their time together was limited stung at her heart, she did her best to ignore it. She knew there was nothing she could do to stop Cecilia from joining the guard or being recruited into one of the many military arms across the Imperium. It would be unfair of her to ask Cecilia to surrender her dreams just so they could stay together. Freyja could not leave the schola until she was of age, which was still three years away while Cecilia had only months until she free to follow her dreams, assuming she was not recruited directly out of the schola.

Freyja’s smile faded at the thought of one day coming back from classes to find Cecilia’s belongings simply missing and her section of the room cleared out and ready for the next occupant. Rumours said that this was the preferred method of the mysterious inquisition, but rumours were all that was available on the subject of the inquisition. Even the Drill Abbots who had served decades in the Imperial Guard seemed uncertain as to the purpose of the inquisitors and preferred not to talk about them. Young Freyja dropped the thought and carried on her way.
The doors of each apartment were made from a heavy hardwood the colour of charcoal. The rusty iron hinges on which the doors were mounted were likely well over a hundred years old, as were most things in the schola, including the faculty. Above head door was a skull carved into the stonework with a numeral upon its forehead. At room V-XIV Freyja paused just before opening. She had a strange feeling as her fingers brushed the ancient wood. An intense feeling of importance overcame her. She felt like she had not done something that she needed to do. Quickly she wracked her brains for what she was forgetting. All her assignments were either completed or not due for many more weeks. She had nowhere she needed to be right now. It made her uneasy until she decided it was just a feeling and pushed open the door.

                                                    + + +

The man wore a longcoat of black leather adorned with belts, satchels and beads holding a large book to his waist that Freyja could just see. He was standing with his back to Freyja, staring out of the small window that overlooked one of the training grounds below. He was tall, Freyja noticed, tall enough that she would not be able to reach the top of his head unless he knelt down.

He turned to face her and it was then that Freyja saw his deeply tanned face that marked him as an off-worlder. His thick hair was a rich brown just slightly longer than military length. His beard was about a week old and not yet long enough to hide the deep lines and scars that criss-crossed his stern face. His eyes were dark and severe as they settled on the young girl standing but a few metres from him. His face was sharp and noble which again marked him as a definite non-Taigan.

‘Miss Blekhest?’ he asked. He had the voice of a man used to shouting commands. Freyja had heard it before in many of the Drill Abbots.

‘I am her.’ Freyja responded with a slight bow respectively.

The man turned his body to face Freyja. Around his neck was a long bead necklace with a large metal symbol shaped like -][- hanging from the bottom. In the centre of the medallion was a skull. Freyja did not recognise the symbol though it made her feel uneasy, as if she were instinctively afraid if it. The man took the symbol and held it out towards her.

‘I am Interrogator Maxavia of the Emperor’s Holy Inquisition.’ He said.

The words made Freyja confused. She stuttered her words and leaned against the door for support.

‘And why are you here?’ she asked, controlling her voice as best she could.

Interrogator Maxavia regarded the small girl with an eyebrow slightly raised. He looked much more intimidating from the front. His chest was large and muscles bulged under his all-black clothing. Freyja saw the las pistol in a holster at his waist where a gloved hand waited, ready to snap out the weapon and fire it.

‘You have been observed by my master and he has taken an interest in you. He sends me here today so you may join his retinue.’ Interrogator Maxavia said flatly. He seemed unimpressed with the girl before him.

Freyja blinked and was silent for a long moment. She had heard the words but her brain struggled to comprehend their meaning. She felt dizzy again.

‘You…you’re recruiting me into the inquisition?’ Freyja asked, not sure if she was right or not.

‘You are being recruited into my master’s retinue. You will be working for an inquisitor and, maybe one day, as an agent of the inquisition.’ Maxavia replied. His gaze was unrelenting and it was making Freyja more nervous.

‘But I still have three years in the schola before I’m old enough to leave. I’m not even an adult yet!’ Freyja objected. ‘You must have made a mistake’.

Maxavia’s eyes flared. ‘We made no mistakes, girl. You have been chosen and you will come with me if you agree.’

Freyja hadn’t realised it was a choice. Her gut told her to reject the offer. It was ridiculous that this organisation that she knew nothing about would try recruiting her. She was not even finished with school. What kind of strange organisation was the inquisition?

‘I don’t know anything about the inquisition. What is from me that you want?’ Freyja asked.

She felt like stalling for time until someone could rescue her. Maybe a Drill Abbot would happen by or Cecilia would return and help her.

The Interrogator sighed and looked back out the window as he began to talk. ‘The inquisition is vast and unfathomably complex. We protect the Imperium from threats both within and without. We maintain the purity of Imperial Creed, the holy human form and protect from xeno influences. To work in the inquisition is to surrender your life for the good of all humanity. Your life will be difficult and your death is all but certain. But your deeds will be remembered forever and you will be glorious in the eyes of the emperor.’

He spoke with truth in his voice. It gave Freyja pause to consider. It sounded like a truly grand calling and certainly not something that would be offered to just anyone but only raised the same question: why her?

‘Should you accept this invitation you will travel the galaxy. You will be educated in things you did not know existed and see things you believed impossible.’ Maxavia continued.

Freyja felt herself coming to his side. But there was one thing he could not offer her and that was Cecilia. She would not let him know the extent of her relationship with the other girl, which would be extremely foolish.

‘You’re convincing but I can’t go. I have friends here. I have a life here.’ Freyja wasn’t convinced of her own argument when she heard it out loud but it seemed to make the interrogator pause to think.

‘You refer to your roommate, Miss Cecilia Leder?’ he said looking at Cecilia’s empty bed.

Freyja felt a wave of fresh nervousness run through her. ‘Y-yes. Her and… others.’

‘Miss Leder has been accepted into the storm trooper program. She will be informed of this tomorrow and will ship out within the week. Is she worth you passing up this opportunity? We are offering you the chance to serve the Imperium in a greater capacity than often entire worlds can muster. I will ask you once more: Will you accompany me or must I inform my master of the unfortunate news?’ Maxavia explained.

 He took a time piece from his coat pocket and examined it.

Freyja felt a stab of pain hit her in the chest and her throat tightened in response. She wanted to crumble to the cold floor and sob at the news but she forced herself to remain composed. Her head was spinning far too much and she held onto the wall to prevent herself collapsing. Maxavia’s eyes weighed her down, preventing her thinking clearly.

In the dizzying blur of conflicting, powerful emotions Freyja blurted out her answer and reeled back as the consequences overcame her.

‘Ok.’ She said simply.

‘Excellent. I have transportation downstairs that will take us to my master. Follow me.’ Maxavia said, flashing a small smile that briefly made his worn face look all the more lined.

‘Wait, wait. Don’t I need to pack?’ Freyja asked in a sudden moment of clarity.

‘Everything will be provided for you.’ Maxavia said as he walked past her.

He reached the door and paused for a second as he reconsidered his answer. ‘Bring something warm.’

Maxavia walked out into the hallway and strode towards the stairs. Freyja had a mini panic attack. Thoughts bombed through her head too fast for her to stop and consider them. She looked around at the room she had shared with Cecilia for years and knew she would never see it again. The beds in which she had explored her emotions and desires, the window she had stared out of for countless hours, both would never been seen or touched again. Suddenly it hit her that she would not be able to say goodbye to Cecilia. Her lover would never know.

‘Wait!’ Freyja shouted out the door. She heard the heavy boots of the interrogator stop.

‘What is it?’ He asked.

‘I need to say goodbye to someone.’

‘There is no time. My master is expecting us.’

‘Please?’

‘It cannot be done. Come now or do not come at all.’ Maxavia said firmly and continued his walk to the stairs.

Freyja’s heart pounded in her chest and sweat formed on her pale brow. She wanted to scream a curse into the air to vent her stress but held it in and bit her tongue. She smacked herself to force herself into action.
In the chest at the foot of Cecilia’s bed was where she stored her personal belongings. Freyja had one too but for some reason there was nothing in there that she felt was important anymore. She dashed to Cecilia’s chest and opened it. On top of everything was the heavy PDF overcoat she always wore for training. It still smelled like her. Freyja gathered it in her arms and ran after interrogator Maxavia.

                                                    + + +

Freyja held the coat close to her chest, running her fingers through the fur lining to calm herself. She took in the smell of Cecilia’s sweat and perfume, fighting back the rush of emotions that swirled inside her. Interrogator Maxavia sat in the seat opposite her, watching scenery fly by as the luxurious ground vehicle drove away from the schola progenium.

Fields of snow and silent forests provided little entertainment after a while and it was not long until Maxavia turned his attention to the frightened girl sitting across from him and cradling a leather coat.

‘You made a wise decision.’ He assured her.

Freyja didn’t answer for a moment. Inside she was wondering if she really had done the right thing. Cecilia would have left her a few days later anyway, she told herself. It was the inevitable separation they had dreaded for such a long time but it had played out very differently to how she expected.
‘I hope so.’ She finally said.

The journey lasted almost four hours, most of it spent in silence. Interrogator Maxavia would sometimes chime in with a small piece of information or to answer a question that popped into Freyja’s mind. Freyja spent most of her trip lurching violently between emotional extremes. One moment she felt excitement at the prospect of travelling the galaxy which was quickly replaced by fear and then misery knowing Cecilia would not be by her side.

The transport took them to Taiga’s largest city of Rekjavan where the only spaceport on the planet was located. Freyja had been here a few times before but only as part of schola trips to museums and the grand cathedral. The transport took them to the spaceport which was a massive circular clearing on the outskirts of the city, lined by tall cranes and surrounded by warehouses, depots and vehicles yards. A dozen small craft were parked around the edge of the concrete circle, all dwarfed by the vessel in the centre.

Freyja stepped out of the vehicle and looked across the spaceport, her jaw slack and her eyes wide. The biting icy wind did not bother her, even as it made her hair swirl around her face. The vessel in the centre was amazing. Freyja could hardly imagine it moving, let alone flying. Standing on three colossal landing skids, the ship was roughly five storeys tall along the hull and easily double that at the end where three massive engines currently idled. Freyja could make out two guns pointing from the pointed prow and shivered at the thought of them firing. It was painted the colour of bleached bone with black trimmings that gave it a skeletal look. There was writing along the prow but it was too far for Freyja to read.

Maxavia stood beside Freyja as she took in the view of the vast spaceport. She looked up and saw several distant dots far above in the blue sky.

‘This is incredible.’ Freyja mumbled to herself. For a moment, her conflicting emotions were forgotten as she absorbed the view.

‘This is nothing.’ Maxavia said. He sounded almost bemused.

‘Which ship is your master’s?’ she asked.

‘The largest one’ Maxavia said, pointing at the bone-white ship in the centre.

A smile crossed Freyja’s face for the first time in hours. Her heart began to race with excitement.

‘Do all inquisitors have ships like that?’ she asked.

‘Not all. Some have smaller. Some have larger. But my master has many contacts across the galaxy and that is how he acquired it.’

Maxavia led the young girl across the tarmac towards the waiting ship. As she approached the vessel loomed over her like a sleeping giant. She could not imagine the power that was contained inside the giant engines. She could feel them thrumming as she stood near it. It vibrated her to the bone with its amazing power.
Running around the landing skids were servitors tending to the dozens of tubes and cables that fed into the mighty ship. A figure dressed in red robes was monitoring the servitors as they worked. From his back was a mechanical limb that moved like it was alive. Freyja tried not to stare but it was yet another thing she had never seen before. She was not even off the planet and already the interrogator’s promises were already coming true.
Now that she was closer she could read the High-Gothic writing across the prow of the ship.

It read "In Equus Pallidus".

'The Pale Horse'.