Editing The 13th Black Crusade (section)

===Arrivals at the Eleventh Hour===

[[File:BFGA2_Cawl_Arrives.JPG|thumb|The Archmagos arrives]]

The dawn of the next day was greeted by the smell of ignited promethium, as countless funeral pyres burned in Kasr Kraf's muster fields. They burned for two days, fed by whatever fuel that could be spared for the task, a final mercy to the martyred dead, so that Chaos corruption would not disturb their rest.

It came at Saint Celestine's insistence, and even Creed couldn't gainsay her request, though not out of piety or respect. The task would keep the minds of his soldiers occupied, buttress their flagging morale, and keep them from quickly realizing just how precarious their situation really was. But Creed knew, even long before the corpse of the slain daemon prince was thrown off the ramparts. The previous day's show of defiance was the fortress' last, and when the hordes of the Despoiler came again, the defense would have to be done somewhere else.

Creed let Celestine continue her ministrations, and continued to ponder strategic withdrawals. The arrival of the ''Phalanx'', damaged as it was, provided possibilities. What if it could take the bulk of the Cadian forces on-planet elsewhere, to continue the fight perhaps at Agripinaa or Belis Corona?

As unbelievable as it may seem, reinforcements still managed to reach Cadia this late in the siege, mostly due to the disruption that the ''Phalanx'' and its destruction of the Blackstone Fortress had provided. First were the [[Crimson Fists]] 5th Company under Brother-Captain '''Luis Tracinto''' along with the remnants of the Cadian 14th, who had been driven off Kasr Partox. A dozen [[Imperial Navy Cruiser|cruisers]] limped in from Solar Mariatus, their holds filled with the tanks of '''Armored 51st Regiment''' as well as the Knights of '''House Taranis'''.

The latter's flight to safety was especially intriguing, as the spoke of slate-grey ships bearing faded symbols of the [[Space Wolves]] appearing out of nowhere to intercept their pursuers. When asked if these were reinforcements from the Fang, Orven Highfell could give no answer.

However, the last of these unexpected arrivals would be the most welcome. It was a Mechanicus [[Explorator Fleet]], arrived from the dry and backwater Eriad System. Creed hoped that it could breath life back to the planet's shattered defenses, but it soon became apparent that the newcomers had experienced their own trials. While the ships of the fleet itself were untouched, the ranks of its [[Skitarii]] as well as its artificers and battle-masons had been thinned considerably by prior violence at that arid world.

But that wasn't the worst of it, oh no. Its leader, the Archmagos [[Belisarius Cawl]], had some '''terrible''' news to share to the Cadian war council.