Click here for Part One
Fear and Vengeance: The Tale of the Avenged (Part two)
The fight for power
And so Mekidius and Nightmare plotted their vengeance. They knew they would have very few allies: the Night Reaver was feared by most, anyone who questioned him, from lowly cultist to the Terminator elite, went unseen for days, and then a new skinless corpse was added to the terror chamber. Mekidius could rely on most of his squad to follow him, as he had often overheard their dislike of the Night Reaver, and thought one of their own should lead the Night Lords. He also suspected that the Betrayed, a Raptor squad made up of rebel Word Bearers Ashen Circle members, also hated their current lord and master.
The rebels were to make their move during a raid of the Golthana Hive world. The Night Reaver was to lead the assault personally into the main hive, Golthana Prime. To make sure they had some decent fire-support should things go wrong, Mekidius arranged for Nightmare to be smuggled inside a modified Thunderhawk Transport transporting a pair of tanks. With that arranged, he and his supporters boarded their Storm Eagle for the assault.
Mekidius' rebels were tasked to take out the defenders surrounding the Golthana Prime hive's power station. once completed, they would redeploy up front with the Night Reaver alongside his terminator elite. Mekidius made sure that his forces were 'delayed', meaning the Night Reaver's forces were further dwindled by enemy fire. With the power station finally deactivated, the rebels made their way to change history.
Furious with the delays of Mekidius, the Night Reaver was ready to execute the failed soldier. By the time he had made it to the governor's palace and killed the governor, he was left with a very small detachment of Terminator bodyguards and a few dozen marines, waiting for pick-up in the courtyard. Finally he saw Mekidius' flyers, coming in very fast; too fast to land in the designated zone. He realised what was happening; a coup. The flyers came down fast and he ordered his bodyguard to fire on the flyers. Too late. Both craft landed in the coutyard, the first to release it's cargo was the transporter, its door opened to reveal a dark cargo hold. Expecting meagre infantry, he ordered the terminators to fill the cargo hold with flamer fire. But once the fames cleared, Nightmare burst out; armour blackened by promethium flames. In rage, the Dreadnought smashed apart the closest Terminators, vaporising one with his Plasma Cannon, and crushing another underfoot. A third was swatted aside and over the edge of the courtyard, to fall three-hundred feet into the hive's acid lakes. Mekidius then emerged from the other craft; an air of superiority came off him.
"Well then, the dog seeks to be the master now?" said the Night Reaver, lightning dancing off his Lightning Claws.
Mekidius smiled: "So sad, I know. It's about time things changed for the better; your time has come".
"Never!", yelled the lord, and then the two clashed. All the others remained circling the two combatants; neither wishing to irk the winner by involving themselves in the challenge for power. The Night Reaver slashed with adaminatine claws, raking deep groves in Mekidius' Storm Shield. Mekidius' axe swung across, cutting deep across the Night Reaver's Terminator, but not to the flesh. Mekidius was not able to get through the massive lord's armour, as he staggered back to the edge of the circle, blow after blow struck his shield. He was struck hard, his shield taking the hit, but smashing back to strike him in the face.
"You are a week fool Mekidius, you knew that from the start", exclaimed the Night Reaver.
"Perhaps against you, yes", Mekidius said, forming words in a bloodied mouth. 2But do you know what I am? Clever".
Mekidius ducked, and the Night Haunter was too caught up in blood-rage to see where they had ended up. Nightmare struck the lord with an uppercut smash of his power claw; shattering his Terminator-armoured torso and sending him crashing into the centre of the makeshift arena. He lay there, with broken ribs piercing both of his hearts. He gargled words with blood filled lungs, until Mekidius limped towards the lord.
"Welcome to your fate". Mekidius' power axe struck the lord's skull, ending his life and the reign of the Night Terror.
"I am your new master, and you will follow me". The few remaining warriors all knelt in front of their new master, just in time for the remaining Night Reaver soldiers to arrive....
Part three coming soon, I hope you enjoyed today's instalment.