Editing The Tales of the Emperasque: Part Seven (section)

==5-027-001-M42==
On the Ravenspire, the diminished Raven Guard awaited their lord anxiously. He had been sealed in the Apothecary’s wing, after the Emperor had unceremoniously dumped him there. The Master of Apothecaries himself had fussed over the comatose Primarch as best he could, but only time could have told whether or not he had lost his mind in Fulgrim’s trap.

Now, however, the Master of Apothecaries had come forth, and announced that Corax had awakened. Several squads of the First and Eighth companies – the only ones present at the time – gathered, awaiting the verdict. Several of the vehicle crews of the Techmarines also lingered nearby. Finally, supported on one arm by the Chapter Master, Kayvaan Shrike, the Raven himself emerged.

“Brothers,” he said weakly, “I live again.”

As one, the assembled marines snapped to parade ground attention. The Chapter Master and Master of Apothecaries guided the Primarch to a chair, into which he dropped, grateful. He was unconscious of the eerie parallel that could have been drawn between his own return and that of his brother, Lion, whose demeanor and behavior could have mirrored his.

“Lord Corax, I was overjoyed to hear of your survival,” Captain Revus of the Eighth Company said, looking for all the world like it was the first pleasant emotion he had ever felt. “Please, tell us, how did you survive in the Eye?”

“I didn’t,” Corax said, his voice returning. “I lost my way in there, and I went completely insane.”

Revus and Shrike glanced at each other beneath their intricate helmets, wary. “Yet…” Poedra said carefully.

“Yet I am sane now? I sure hope so,” Corax said, with absolutely no trace of humor. “The Emperor saved me from the endless monotony of the Living Labyrinth, but I have no idea what it did to me.”
“Lord Corax, I can not know what you have been through, but surely you will return to lead us now?” Poedra asked.

Corax shook his head, his ragged black hair flying around him. “No, brother, now I rest. Honestly, I could stand for a few years vacation, as unlikely as I am to receive it. Somewhere very, very sunny.”

A few of the younger Eighth Company members smiled hesitantly, unsure if he was joking. Poedra tried to suppress a grimace, then remembered he was wearing a helmet. “My Lord, I’m sure that under the circumstances, a recuperative period would not go awry. The High Lords sent us a command to dispatch fifty Marines to Centrion, and their order stands with the return of the God-Emperor. The transit will take over two months. Will that be enough, my Lord?”

“I imagine it would be, but the Emperor has other ideas, I imagine,” Corax said wearily. “He risked a great deal to get me out. Fulgrim will not let this go uncontested. I have no doubt that the legions of Slaanesh are heading here, as we speak.”

The assembled Raven Guard were too disciplined to do anything as maudlin as gasp in unison, which is the only reason they didn’t. Shrike took an authoritative step forward, facing the First Company Veterans as he did so. “Then we will meet them, Lord Corax, as we must. We will stand by you in battle!”

“I’m sure you will, brother, but if Fulgrim attacks soon, I’ll be in no shape to do much of anything,” Corax said tiredly. “If he gives me the time I need to heal up, I will lead you once more. Until then…I can but wait.”