These gases are typically subsequently dissipated as the E stream effluent from each electrode compartment is combined to maintain a neutral pH and discharged or re-circulated to a separate E tank.


FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2013 file photo, Japan's Misao Okawa, then 114, poses with the certificate o …


Other lawyers sheepishly used another word to describe the membership: cool.


Additionally, the engines used on the YB-36 were a good deal more powerful and more efficient.


They would have taught themselves Spanish.


Despite that, however, she went on making the copies the whole night.


Emergency room nurses work 12-hour shifts.


The council, which gave the same percentage raises to the borough’s blue-collar employees, is scheduled to vote next week to grant similar raises to its white-collar employees as part of contract settlements, Borough Administrator Peggy Thomas said.


According to police, the couple's infant daughter was at home in a crib when the incident occurred.


He'll become the first player to ever play in two mid-summer classics before his 21st birthday.


Violence and insecurity cost children dearly when it comes to preventable diseases.


Ezra Boyd, who took the pictures, said, People don't expect Lakeshore Drive to flood when it's a clear sunny day.


It says the Assembly is well behind in its work - the body has already gone eight months beyond its promised deadline - and should therefore be scrapped.


In response to concerns about Soviet activities, the US began a series of reconnaissance flights over Soviet-controlled territory in Germany that led to numerous skirmishes and high tensions.


It was this morning that we heard of the news at the park.


Before going to bed, he turned off the lights.


The calculation of the Roulette house edge was a trivial exercise; for other games, this is not usually the case.


Tahir later recalled that "I asked him if that was all he knew about Kashmir, and he said, 'Yeah, what else?'


Michigan won't last at no 1 for more than a week.


In the last three decades the company has emerged as a forerunner in the Indian shipbuilding & Shiprepair industry.


ZAPU President Dumiso Dabengwa warned on Friday that the armed forces chiefs remain a potential source of instability, which could still throw Zimbabwe and the region into chaos after the elections.


You are preparing yourself for the game.


Seitzinger said Bond Brook is aiming to host Bill Koch race Sunday at 2 p.m. to introduce kids to the sport.


I never experienced any discrimination while I was studying.


Sometimes, this form also featured a ritornello, which was occasionally also in a canonic style.


In some, most traces of previous commercial establishment are all but obliterated, but others still retain recognizable evidence of a time before automobiles, when certain necessities had to be within a few miles.


Landy called it a criminal action of Bell to not provide a live operator when Northerners call 911. He said it causes a critical delay, putting people in further danger.


If the model is made into a computer program and the program generates a one-year forecast of market performance, then that is a testable prediction.


Another memorable event was a dean of the Polytechnic University of Madrid do the same.


He said that it is difficult to trace stolen vehicle parts because often they do not have serial numbers.


Rebels invaded the capital in March and have since been blamed for killing scores of civilians.


Michael Johns to Discuss His Support for McCain Economic Plan, April 16, 2008. "Michael Johns to Speak on 'America, 2013'," May 19, 2008. In addition to his industry, government and public policy roles, Johns authors a political blog.


He cited the cost-cutting measures and streamlined business organization that have helped improve liquidity and capital positions.


Where the law does not specifically allow them to, all they can do is make an introduction, leaving the details of the placement to those legally qualified to do so.


Among the many offerings fantasy sports has given the world: A never-ending supply of things to complain about.


OCLC 1070440. Unaware she had hit her target, Seawolf then underwent 7½ hours of depth charge attacks.


The living room and adjoining dining room are divided by an archway.


The poll suggested voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials for a possible White House run than tending to local matters.


Metz, in a response dated in July, said that an outside expert would be hired as a result of Kessler’s concerns and that confidentiality should be maintained “to ensure this process is credible.”


Fatalities numbering in the thousands were not uncommon during the first part of the 20th century.


The gifts themselves may be just an excuse for the wrapping, which can also be quite elaborate.


Another safety improvement is electronic card readers at doors that lead into hallways that do not have a set of eyes on them.


According to McPherson's family, the couple moved from Winnipeg to B.C. about five years ago.


Every other important subject of science fiction which Heinlein has examined at length has come out remade, vitalized and made the author's own property.


He finally found peace and slept a deep sleep after a long and exhausting journey.


Officers at the scene wouldn't comment on what they were doing.


The plumber arrived who we had called earlier.


Having recrossed the Niagara, Riall marched upstream past the falls, carrying the boats.


It takes time and, above all, a lot of money, he adds.


For example the way that it relates to faith groups and traditional customs.


It's not illegal for public officials to meet with sanctioned Zimbabweans, but individuals cannot provide lobbying services to those subjected to U.S. sanctions, prosecutors said.


On his next drive, the New England Patriots third string quarterback was picked off.


KimRon has not ventured further into the Nazi historical archives in Berlin to find out more about what happened to Bodner in the camp, and he insists he does not want to know -- but he does want to trace his brother.


When he understood this, Scree had fled.


The Night Haunter waited for his father’s response to his joke.


Kellephon was kinder than the others, and Fortreidon was glad of his proximity.


‘I admit, I had not expected you to return so early, Miltiades,’ said the tyrant.


The Nidhoggur’s void shields crackled into nothingness, and the gunships shot out into open space.


That left Hymor and me, and we pressed on eastwards towards Hydana at the best pace we could manage.


‘The command bears the seal of the Imperial governor,’ said Tessza.


Warriors in tall helms and golden armour were arrayed behind the Emperor.


‘I thought I gave orders that the patricians weren’t to be harmed.’


The impact threw Ahriman from his vision and he cried out as a hideous sensation of vertigo blurred his vision.


Elsewhere in the diorama were three-headed chimerae, ocean krakens and other legendary beasts of Medusa.


In the end the Great Crusade is all, and it stands or falls by our actions.’


There can only ever be one future, thought the Night Haunter.


Had he not been so close, Nairo might have missed Lorgar’s whispered question.


‘There is something stately about them, don’t you agree?’ asked Chancellor Corynth.


‘That is the first aspect of the Truth you must understand, Lorgar,’ Kor Phaeron replied.


To have an entire Chapter adopting that name should give us pause.


Lorgar looked as though he might protest but Kor Phaeron’s glare forestalled any dissent.


The Kingwyrm was neither worm nor serpent nor drake, not any creature depicted in the histories and bestiaries that Lorgar had translated for Kor Phaeron.


‘This planet refuses to cooperate,’ Caelius said, echoing Numeon’s thoughts as they charged into the crater.


As the years went by and the injustices piled up, the stories of Lycaeus were told with increasing bitterness.


Six separate Imperial Army battle groups were making their final landings.


Across the entirety of the XII Legion fleet, a single order was given.


Nothing was destroyed or damaged, and with enough time and patience, a Techmarine could have rebuilt the tank.


Gahlan set the slate down carefully, returning his full attention to Mago.


But now, with your work and the actions of our forges on Nocturne, this ship will do so much more.


‘The Thousand Sons are sometimes guilty of hubris, for we are seekers after truth and such a quest sometimes requires us to set ourselves apart from our brothers.’


He had meant to take his cue from the Iron Hands around him, but the act of obeisance was instinctual, the only rational recourse to the presence of a demi-god.


A hololithic representation of Antaeum and the ork vessels dominated the tacticarium table.


Abdemon put it down to that old Europan ruthlessness – an instinctual assumption of superiority that the ancient aristocratic lines, in particular, seemed possessed of.


Like command squads from any Legion, Agapito’s bodyguard had armour festooned with honours, embellishment and crests.


The slaves and remaining converts stayed watching until long after Lorgar had been swallowed by the haze of distance and the wind had erased his footprints.


You baited us, allowed us to kill men loyal to you, to Pandion, in order to draw us in.


I have lived all my life as well as I could.’


Even Perturabo, who is perhaps the humblest of us all, is not without his vanity.


Miltiades grasped Perturabo’s shoulder and pushed down to force the boy to kneel.


That they’d almost carved Cyrius out of his armour was proof enough of that.


‘Numeon,’ he said, forgetting that Xerexenia was controlling the communications, ‘can you hear me?’


He let the anger rasp through his lips as he gave the final order, the order that would forever more become synonymous with the compliance of the Gardinaal.


So many explosives had been detonated in the planet’s air that it would take decades of Mechanicum scrubbers to make it even vaguely safe to breathe.


He sat back into his throne and stared at the leaders of the Thousand Moons.


The Flamewrought and its escorts were coming in an unnaturally tight formation.


The Great Crusade was a vision of supreme ambition, one that would take father and sons to the uttermost corners of the galaxy for decades, perhaps even centuries.


He breathed in the musty air, and its flavour reminded him of something far off and semi-forgotten, as if from childhood, except that his childhood had been experienced a long way from Terra.


His blood was a contract between Chemos and its people, unbreakable.


‘My lord, you relieved us of one terror only to replace it with one greater!’ protested Didimus.


The most acute of all knew that his true form was almost certainly a mystery to all but himself and perhaps the Father who had created him, and that the projection was, for all its incomparable art, just that.


Fabius stood in his apothecarium, eyes closed, seemingly enraptured by the quiet rhythms of a Terran concerto.


The Iron Warriors gunship threaded the needle of the worst storms, surviving thanks to a mixture of near real-time data from Magos Tancorix and Perturabo’s phenomenal skill as a pilot.


‘I will only be happy when we are home again, Khagan.’


This punishment for treachery must be borne, but I will rebuild Olympia.’


I speak to you as your warleader, master of this fleet and primarch of the Iron Warriors, appointed by the Emperor himself to this position and entrusted with the prosecution of this war.


He had taken three more strides when Lorgar’s quiet command halted him.


If you wish to know his purpose, look no further than the walls and spires of Vharadesh.


‘We’re living in a golden age,’ Harik Morn had said, a wetness in his eye, as he broke open the consignment from Mars.


But if I have learned one thing at all, it is that the march upcountry is often the most difficult.’


Suddenly Angron reared from his hunch to full height, his face turned upwards, and he laughed.


‘I should admire Him more, I know,’ the Khan said, pensively.


However, it would be far harder for me to achieve my own objectives if the Dark Angels made it clear they did not wish for us to be anywhere near them.


When he turned to look at Forrix, the primarch’s decision was written across his face.


‘The city,’ said Forrix, who was watching everything from the main deck level.


However, never let it be said that the Lion is without subtlety in this regard, for he too can judge his interactions with finesse.


The ork responded to his taunt with fury, but there was a desperation in its charge, and again Vulkan thought it was the fear of something else, rather than anger at him, that pushed it forwards.


Perturabo’s armour was still bloody from the fighting in the Sharei Maveth and still radiated heat from action.


Hathor Maat stood at the edge of what looked like an elevator shaft for bringing vehicles up from a subterranean hangar.


‘I fervently wish that your plan works, my lord,’ said Fenc.


Caphen’s look, even through the frosted amethyst of his helmet lenses, was one that DuCaine had come to recognise all too well over the last century and a half.


The Iron Hands legionary that opposed him could not have been more different.


The Apothecary extended a bloodied claw towards the pinned-back wings of the mortal’s cranium.


It had taken all Magnus’ considerable powers of persuasion to convince Perturabo to abandon his fortress.


A time after Pexx had been incarcerated – how long was impossible to gauge – the door lock clunked.


‘You are certainly not a beginner,’ Malcador said appraisingly, when the game had concluded.


That was Magos Kunitax of the Mechanicum, one of the Legion’s primary allies amongst the Martian priesthood.


The Alpha Legion is hereby considered part of the Third Rangdan War.


Abdemon was right: Fabius had grown too comfortable in his web, outside of all authority.


And, yes, I have seen those that do not return from the wilds.


‘Amon spoke to me of your great victory at Gorro, father,’ said the Lion, eyes hooded, voice neutral.


The path of slaughter leading to the real inhabitants of Ghenna was an unbroken chain of brutalised false humanity.


But what the Ultramarines knew in their blood, Guilliman had ensured was also a direct, conscious, ever-present truth.


The soldiers working on the tanks saw him coming and their reaction told Forrix everything he needed to know about their intent.


In my father’s librarium there is a near complete folio of The Art of War.


‘I am told that the Imperium encompasses a thousand stars,’ Dekka murmured.


His canopy armourglass struck that of the Gardinaal, and for a snapshot of time Moses stared into the dark-tinted visor of a Gardinaal pilot.


Lit by pale white light, Gholghis’ grey rock made for a confusing landscape where shadow and stone were difficult to tell apart, as if the planet had camouflaged itself in order to hide.


Where Fulgrim was contemplative and beatific, he was belligerent and headstrong.


He guessed that somehow he, not Guilliman, was the one who was meant to be acquiring new information, or new understanding, from the dialogue.


Torn electrics and microfluidics bled onto the back of his neck as Savine placed a cold palm on his head.


To speak of Kor Phaeron’s tyranny, to lament his beliefs directly would be to speak against the Word and the Truth – concepts in which Lorgar was fully invested despite his suffering under those convictions.


Even those born of Chemos were not immune to the malignant imperfection.


He knew what it was even before he saw the look of chagrin in T’kell’s eyes.


The master had been right – the Powers had set Lorgar upon this world for a purpose.


Skorr would do it, I knew that much, but his team would not be able to get here immediately.


Orlov knew it was pointless to argue with Tancorix, but couldn’t help himself.


He thrust the book towards Lorgar, who looked at it with surprise and bafflement for a moment before he took it.


‘Our network has received rumours of a being sighted some way from here, in the galactic north-east – a being which appears to bear the characteristics of a primarch,’ Dynat informed us all.


Corax’s astropath primus was present, as was the Navigator of the Saviour in Shadow, his fleet logisticians, four shipmasters of his capital ships, and the heads of several auxiliary regiments, the chief of which was named as Caius Valerius, praefector of the Therion Cohort.


She had thought as much earlier, before Corynth had convinced Fulgrim otherwise.


‘You have read them, yes, I could have guessed,’ said another priest.


‘I have a shot,’ confirmed Jorin, his voice distorted in fury.


‘They did not mean to, but the orks shielded us from the worst of the blast,’ Numeon said.


And so while the Legion, and those few humans sufficiently strong of will to resist, were engaged suppressing a thousand insignificant acts of anarchy and mayhem, half a dozen small but growing forces converged, as if by conscious command, on critical sections of the ship.


This was all Perturabo could see of his actions’ consequences, a small gap in the fortifications he had surrounded himself with.


‘All pyramids are currently under attack on two fronts,’ Habron said.


From what Aravain had been able to glean, the creature that Corax had slain had been an engorged and physically atrophied specimen, already on the wane having exhausted the psychic resources of its world.


There are worlds where the worst possible things you can imagine happen as a matter of course, things that make the horrors of the Red Level seem mundane and kind.


He had not then met a man to whom he was not related, much less heard one speak another language, before the Legion recruiter had come to take him to Aldurukh.


‘Are you prepared?’ asked Korit, his voice harshened by the grille of his snarling crimson helm.


Everything about him – the way he looked, the way he fought, his poise and his resilience – spoke of a son of the Altak.


‘I did what I could with what we have available here.’


Despite his stern demeanour, Skraivok was eager, infused with energy, in marked contrast to the dour warrior who stood guard at his back.


The Tyrant struggled to his feet then, swaying unsteadily over the throne and supporting himself with switch-thin arms.


Deploy another two companies from the Legion to replace them, and as much auxilia support as they require.


Though his view should often have been obscured by the overhanging crags of the unclimbable peak, Perturabo could see his father no matter where he was.


The Gubernatorial Throne had once had access to an impressive intelligence network, but its reach and resources had been slowly whittled away by the patricians.


The situation upon the planet’s surface is unfortunate, but now you have returned I believe it can be resolved swiftly.


‘You are here at the command of the lords of Nostramo, chosen for your murderous and pitiless natures,’ he said.


‘What is the point in being commanders if we follow orders blindly?’ said Agapito.


Perhaps a hundred metres of clear air separated the Lux Ferem from the ground.


‘I could feel your existence, of course,’ Omegon said to me.


He spoke the words with the same inflection as Kor Phaeron, perfectly mimicking the emphasis the priest placed upon them.


Or did Akurduana read too much into a mere reflection of the light?


Amid the squares of soldiers awaiting inspection by Dammekos, three dozen war machines of Perturabo’s own design idled their engines.


Shamefully, he stopped shooting, waiting for Zankator or Fan to finish the deed for him.


‘Steady now, keep the advance!’ bellowed Mago, his spear never ceasing.


In this regard, our Legion is the foremost of all in trustworthiness.


Faster than eyes could track, Mago had the blade of his spear at Ohna’s throat.


‘We need to get them moving faster,’ said Ahriman’s armoured companion on the other side of the street.


‘Where did that strike come from?’ demanded Russ, striding to the edge of the command platform, unwilling to believe the evidence of his senses.


His skills, already potent, had been further honed by Tesserius Akurduana, a warrior reckoned the finest swordsman in the Legion.


Did he truly believe the brightest minds of the Thousand Sons had not already debated this thought experiment a hundred times over?


‘Perhaps were it not for the machinations of the Achaens, we would not be in this woeful situation!’ retorted Didimus.


But always he had attested to the plans of the Powers and how they acted through him.


‘I can try, lord,’ Gukul replied grimly, which was all the information I needed.


‘It was to demonstrate my Legion’s prowess, and by reflection my prowess.’


I had purchased it from a manufacturer of such goods not far from Winnika’s depot, then cut it down to size.


‘The problem with that,’ as Russ had once explained to his brother Vulkan, ‘is that we like being angry.


The glory of the Truth does not die today on some unmarked field of sand and dirt!


The immense armature of his Cataphractii plate glittered with trembling droplets of condensed vapour.


Lion El’Jonson was a mighty general, and he would want to assess this new development in the Great Crusade as soon as possible.


Nairo saw several parchments covered in the neat cuneiform he knew to be Lorgar’s script.


The patricians might have accepted Corynth as regent, but they would never accept an elected body of malcontents.


They were of the Kushtun Naganda regiments, and might have fought alongside my father, or at least in the same conflicts He had.


‘You cannot live your life alone, my son,’ said Dammekos sadly.


‘You have given him the authority to run all of Vharadesh in your absence.’


The Night Lords had another name for the planet, bestowed with a Nostraman flair for poetry, and that was the Carrion World.


Although I had felt kinship of a sort when I had laid eyes on those found so far – all without their knowledge – I had not yet discovered the one whose soul I could feel was bonded to my own.


Unlike the human woman’s, Aravain’s vocal cords were scarcely perturbed by the gunship’s vibrations.


What did keep his attention was the stone around him – it was old, terrifyingly old, sunk into the bedrock long before the spires and domes that now formed the outer profile of the Palace were built.


Nairo could see the glint of weapons – spears for the most part, nothing advanced – but the arrangement of the Declined suggested curiosity more than hostility.


Other Legions, I believe, view it as offensive that my Legion take on not just my appearance when dealing with outsiders, but also my name.


His armour was covered in reddish stains, and Fulgrim wondered whether the wounded had appreciated the attentions of the Apothecary, or whether they’d have preferred the ministrations of the merely human.


‘Now is the time, Leman of the Russ,’ the Wanderer said, in the voice that was both young and old, masculine and feminine, always soft, suffused with a patina of epochal sadness.


‘We are captains of the Twenty-second, and we will prove what that means.’


Jorin didn’t reflect on that as he entered the crew bay of the Haukr, some hundred metres below the command bridge.


The stippled, Dark Age ruins of the islands’ fortifications had been extended with the harsh features of gothic architecture.


I am better than you because I saw that clearly, without your naivety.’


Some innate ability, psychic in nature, Corax surmised, blocked out his presence from the minds of humans and most xenos.


Their looks of fear and the reactions of his sons cleared Perturabo’s mind.


Elver unwittingly caught his gaze, and, perhaps due to Elver’s hidden gift, a flash of understanding passed between them.


The warp currents are smooth, and I can see no impending problems.’


He had learned the war-rhythms from the Sulpha in his youth.


Now he stood, alone, in the presence of the Lord of Winter and War.


He dug his fingers into the earth, drawing out a handful of Ghenna’s dark soil.


‘Prospero is a place of… mixed emotion for me,’ said Ahriman, startling himself with his need for honesty.


Yet secrecy is of the utmost importance, I hope you will understand.


Thus, he had done his best to quash all hint of wrongdoing on Fabius’ part.


The Khan drew in a long breath, pulling the cold air of Chogoris deep into his lungs.


‘The Fourth and Fifteenth Legion fleets comprise enough civilian craft to accommodate between forty and sixty thousand evacuees per vessel.


‘They are the leaders of the Great Crusade, crafted from the Emperor’s own genetic stock to embody a different facet of his personality and the demands of war.


Night Haunter was unworried; no infection could harm him, he knew this instinctively as he knew so many other things.


Perturabo had the Cavea Ferrum installed beneath the smoking ruins of Kardis, his labyrinthine lair of iron halls and subtle energy fields that could misdirect any intruder.


‘You wish to expunge all evidence of our faith from the Legion?’


I panted from the exertion, but I was still not done.


This was true as well, since I had not sought consent from either of them.


The intensity of my expression was so great that they both quailed before me, and I forced myself to relax.


He glowered at the screens as Legion markers poured through the capitolis walls.


We did not know what wounds or illnesses the refugees might have suffered before arriving here, and it was already obvious that, at this stage at least, the infrastructure of Volda Beta was not capable of meeting their needs.


My father had greeted my rediscovery with wonder; Malcador, with intrigue and some satisfaction.


‘I have acquired a new world for the Imperium, at minimal cost, and a new source for potential aspirants for my Legion.


‘That is kind of the idea,’ said Skraivok, again to great approval.


‘It is no comfort that he will die a slow death instead,’ moaned Axata.


Bucepholos may have been behind one or more of the recent attempts on Pandion’s life.


‘Perhaps,’ said Ashkali, bending to draw a circle in the dust with her fingertip.


Any trace of the amusement Angron had expressed moments before had vanished.


‘You can always come to me, you know this?’ said Russ.


‘It seems that the Third Legion has much to teach us.’


‘I am sure the Emperor has His own ideas on ruling the galaxy fairly,’ said Corax.


He carried a naked dao blade, as long as a man’s height, engraved with ancient Khorchin battle-curses.


With an effort that almost made him black out again, Vaughn turned his eyes to the right and saw the first captain.


This simple fact made them more fervent followers, with the vigour of those whose existence now depended upon the Truth of the Word to give their lives meaning.


She had fought so long for the XVIII Legion, and had been through so many desperate struggles, that she had a taste for the last stand too.


As far as the Sak’trada Deeps were concerned, miserable Gholghis was a paradise.


We have determined, through our study of the signal it was broadcasting as well as their anatomy, that the Ghennans are not merely autonomous machines masquerading as humanity.


‘If you cannot accept simple instruction I will not waste my time with you.


You are to relinquish command immediately to your lieutenants and report to me aboard the Iron Blood.’


I never got the impression He understood such things, but then again it is dangerously easy to underestimate Him.’


You think He’s too close and driven by plans He does not divulge.


In a xenos enemy, Jorin might have respected the continued defiance, for it was natural instinct for any organism to defend its own, but there could be no respect for the Tyrant of Dulan’s armies.


Even when she did manage to approach one they would tell her almost nothing; sometimes even getting their name and rank felt like prising the darkest secret in the Imperium from its sworn protectors.


The Khan reached for a goblet and poured himself a drink.


‘Witness the Truth from my lips and remember the name of Kor Phaeron!’


Though his attention was elsewhere, Kor Phaeron did not think he was listening to the universal music that filled his thoughts.


This, however, was fleet warfare, and the xenos had no chance against the precision strikes and group tactics of my Legion.


He was fighting the Elemental of Karaashi through a maze of ice.


Perturabo and a dozen of his warriors watched from his elevated workshop, and Magnus winced as he climbed the steps to meet his brother.


‘Theoretical – if this fortress and its tunnels are what the culture of Thoas became, then this was a civilisation devoted entirely to war.


‘Yes,’ I replied through gritted teeth, rising back to my feet.


Against all effort to remain aloof and scholarly, a teacher not a parent, Kor Phaeron could not restrain the growing paternal instincts that Lorgar aroused in him.


A full company of legionaries joined Vulkan on the roof of the hull.


By their position, Forrix knew the cities, but his brain was numbed by the slaughter, and when he tried to recall their names they swam away from his mind, like fish evading capture.


‘I fear that I will be forced to draw this blade in anger.


She reassembled the Aegypta’s navy, using it to re-establish their old empire, and launched military campaigns against the nations who had once been their oppressors.’


‘The Wolves razed my world and burned our knowledge to ash!


They celebrated the XVIII Legion and the history of the device.


‘And I am guilty, just as you are,’ the Lion urged again, his grip on the sword tight.


The workings of a Hydra were no mystery to Forrix; an Iron Warrior could operate any artillery piece in the Imperial armoury.


The voice in the chamber only spoke his own fears aloud, he knew that; he knew it wasn’t the Emperor, as much as he knew it was.


Each of the gladiators is an abhuman giant, equal to Angron in size.


The XII Legion phalanx was a devastating force on any battlefield, often imitated but never bested.


We can discuss the war, and we can join our forces to combine their strengths, just as our father intended when He made us all so… different.


He couldn’t know for sure that every Morningstar soldier was hostile, but the Iron Warriors operated a zero-uncertainty policy within their perimeters.


Of all the blazes Kor Phaeron had witnessed of late, this was the crowning moment.


Delicate scrollwork marked the flat panes of ceramite, depicting scenes from Chemos’ history.


‘You thought the end of the waiting would be the end of doubts,’ Vulkan said, as he joined Rhy’tan.


‘Malcador tells me you have made significant progress with your studies,’ He said, as we left my quarters and began to walk through the Imperial Palace.


Do not take my levity to heart – I wish this to succeed.


Their return to Gardinaal Prime would see the institutes of Human Resourcing ensure that their stripped flesh and ground bones provided one final service to the state.


The fires consuming Malkoya, though, were still raging when word reached Angron from the fleet in orbit.


Upon these walls were battle companies of Iron Warriors, who now patrolled as if the city were an embattled outpost.


Under magnification, they were marvellous landscapes of the worlds Agapito had visited in his career, forty-nine thus far.


Unfortunately Kor Phaeron had never seen the original text on which the book remarked, but he had inferred much of Dammas Dar’s observations nonetheless.


By the time legionaries of the First Chapter arrived with Marius Gage, there was nothing left to kill.


‘I wonder how many ships called Terra’s Glory there are in the galaxy?’ mused Autilon Skorr.


‘Do you think,’ Russ said, mulling the matter over in his mind, ‘that Malcador knew we would meet here?’


And you are sure enough of your position to stand before me and tell me that you will not do what I ask?’


But I trusted too much to human nature, as you made me to, as the universe dictated I do.


Solemnly, Curze passed into his arming chambers, where sombre, tongueless slaves awaited him.


The tallest spires of Zharrukin swayed and groaned, the reinforcement within the stone tearing as alternating fields of powerful magnetics twisted them.


The men destroying his Legion from within were either confident they would not be discovered, or were so proud of their actions they felt they had nothing to hide.


It was peaceful here, in contrast to the rest of Byzas.


But I know well enough that, for all our glory, we are but a backwater province of a far greater kingdom.


‘Do you believe that even the First Expedition Fleet never suffers a casualty?’


‘You say “hosts” but what you mean is the population of Muspel.’


But to craft an image rather than simply recreate one, it is…’ His face contorted in an agony of frustration.


He needed to stop Alkenex and Quin before they depopulated the entire barracks.


On Chemos, he had been forced to navigate spheres of influence, as he slowly worked to break down and rebuild the old executive clan system.


If he kept talking, he might give me information I would not have thought to ask about.


He looked expectant at this witticism, and expected Kiner to share the joke.


As he walked, he sent a second command, this time directed at the Legion garrison commanders rather than the ship-crews.


The chatter died down a little and Vashti walked to the edge of the command centre, peering down onto the platforms through the vibrating armourglass.


Of the one hundred and fifty-five legionaries under Santar’s command, only sixty were with him now.


‘And it is the same in the other two warehouses?’ asked Caius.


Two masked men in golden robes, with an Imperial Army-issue rocket launcher primed and ready to fire.


‘But you waited until I was here to see you do it.


If such disasters were not bad enough, Mechanicum theorists predicted an ultra-rapid erosion of Morningstar’s atmosphere, resulting in lethal exposure levels of stellar radiation.


But I also know I was placed here for a reason, and you must know that I intend to carry out my duty.


‘What do they say, brother?’ said Farith Redloss, nodding towards the slate in Duriel’s hand.


‘They have no conception of the enemies we have overcome,’ said Corax.


Let me hear in your march the beat of the great hammer of the Eighteenth Legion.


But even now, with the Great Crusade having uncovered so much of that ancient knowledge, ignorance of the galaxy’s far expanses was near complete, with only rare oases of light, such as Ultramar or Terra, to break the remorseless dark.


He would see the Dark Angel broken on the dust before the sunset, for now he understood the ritual, and what it meant, and why it had to continue.


Nairo bowed his head in supplication while Hu Osys fell to her knees, forehead pressed to the flaking grey paint on the metal floor.


‘I can draw down fire from heaven and scorch your cities to glass, if I wish.


He could only see with the eyes of a member of the old order on Macragge.


‘What happened to the man I knew who wished for no more war?


She wore deep green robes and bore the stylised I-icon of the Imperium atop a long metal staff.


This pointless, ruinous campaign was the fault of the Emperor’s vanity.


He closed his eye, letting his mind absorb Shai-Tan’s pain, reliving it over and over through the memories of all those who had suffered here.


The Golden One was not seeing anything in the physical realm, nor paying heed to the mortals who passed him, or the lick of the flames creeping closer and closer.


And if he had drawn anything from his interrogation of Moses Trurakk, and from his present company, then it was that the Imperials were profoundly intolerant of weakness.


His manner was so hypnotic Kiner saw the place in a new and glorious light.


On the sixth Coldfall after Lorgar’s discovery Kor Phaeron consulted the heavenly messengers and asked them to provide guidance.


‘I agree when you say you’re not an enforcer,’ said Tensat.


The request was made quietly, but it entered Kor Phaeron’s thoughts with the same weight as the commands of the Powers themselves.


Pride and duty held him here, not dedication to the welfare of the Imperium as a whole.


He lost a few seconds, because Xerexenia was suddenly leaning over him, when she had been standing before her console, a few metres away, the moment before.


‘Then we should look for answers in the ruins,’ Guilliman said.


For a moment, I thought we had an understanding – that we had showed him what could be done – but then he pulled away.


The Khan looked sceptical, studying Magnus for a long time, probing for some subterfuge or dissemblance.


The orks were caught now between Iasus’ formation, Guilliman and Hierax’s company.


The idea is worth exploring, and I am sure you would do a fine job,’ said Guilliman.


She tucked the paper into the breast pocket of her coat and looked up at Amar.


For the first time Elver could recall, the captain seemed cautious, even frightened.


As they moved through the tents and caravans and into the city proper, Nairo was shocked by what he saw.


The upper hundred metres of the tower exploded, as if an Elemental had just been born within.


The trio of Stormbirds had landed on a massive, flat stone dais, many hundreds of metres across.


‘I saw it,’ whispered Tethys, the low rasp of collapsed lungs.


The echo of the Emperor’s words sent a shiver of dark prescience through Magnus.


The belly of the Lux Ferem was a hundred metres above them.


In a few seconds the blind cloud had enveloped the construct, the plasterbag stockade and the Ultramarines; even the wail of the tocsins became muted.


For a moment, Dantioch thought that Perturabo would strike him dead there and then.


‘Have you wondered why a pre-Imperial human planet did not have one already?’


It was rendered deliberately small, partly for reasons of space, partly so that Corax might stare down at it from imperious heights.


‘I shall bring a new creed, the Truth of the One.’


It was all the momentum of the Termite, its monstrous totality – just as it was not the hammer itself that would crush an enemy, but the force of the blow.


‘My time is limited, but while I draw breath, I will stay and provide a welcome for any of the xenos who come here in search of us.’


‘There is a term in the Augean dialect of the Ionic Plateau – anabasis.


I opened my mouth to order Everedd to withdraw, but something held me.


‘We do not truly understand the warp,’ Omegon continued, ‘but it is not like the material universe in any way.’


Let the Truth be your strength, and whatever becomes of this world know that your faith will prevail.


Kor Phaeron considered dismissing the question but he could see that the matter would nag at the captain, and through him would infect the thoughts of the other converts.


They raced towards their targets, but at the last second, Ahriman twisted their course and turned them back upon their source.


‘What…’ The old man looks between the becalmed Jochura and Angron.


He had fallen almost eighty years before Aravain’s ascension to the Legion.


He had fought alongside the sons of three Legions in his time, and the thought that they might be to blame for the current predicament, even unknowing, was anathema.


Not the battles since, but those on Fenris I never forget.


There’s more than a few people believe that the Mechanicum is responsible for their misery.’


Whether through instinct or some brutish version of strategy, the orks were tracking the Termite with greater accuracy now.


His was a false smile; sometimes Perturabo regretted Harkor’s elevation to the Trident.


Ilthen’s ruby eye lenses danced with the reflected light of hundreds of detonations blooming across the cloudy orb of Nostramo.


A migration was building, almost certainly a reaction to the Iron Warriors’ presence in the sector.


‘I will see you rise again, Cassian Vaughn, your strength the equal of your will.’


The man turned round so fast Elver didn’t have time to blink.


The Legion was courting one disaster in order to avert a greater one.


The 125th Expeditionary Fleet was scattered across at least one astronomical unit of space or more.


‘Justice is hard and cruel and I am hard and cruel!’ he snarled accusingly at the figure.


He thought about Ranknar, and how close the war to bring that world into compliance had come to becoming a war of extermination.


Take me there – I need to fill my lungs with purer air.’


‘You at least, Camen Manek, are blessed with a little brain,’ Curze said.


‘I had always assumed it was the soul of the one who made me, but now I see my error.’


Even with such a warning in our ears, even having seen many strange and vile things in my time amongst the stars, I was not prepared for what rounded the corner.


The army units in the western provinces and the agri-circle will put pressure on Bucepholos, forcing him to meet with the Sabazians, or risk fighting a war on two fronts.


He took a sip from the cup and passed it to Kor Phaeron, who allowed only enough liquid to moisten his lips.


They left the rest of the tens of thousands of Lorgar’s converts behind, to make camp away from sight of the city and its defenders.


Curze could hear Elver’s heart from the other end of the vessel.


He would use Sirras’ foolishness to reach his goal much sooner than would have been possible until now.


Sometimes, he would spend time with Elver, and instruct him in various matters.


‘And such things are impossible, or so our Father told me.’


If the clerk noticed the croak in Grymn’s voice then he was too harried to remark on it.


Duriel glanced at the prostrate form of the previous governor, then at the Lion.


The Wanderer turned, looking out into the highlands of Asaheim, where the peaks marched under a crystal sky, eternal and inviolate.


You will be taken from here and judged for your crimes, but your world will be received into the Imperium, its people preserved.’


It had slender lines, as proportionate as everything constructed by the Blood Angels artificers, though also as heavily armed.


‘What could be down there that is of interest to the primarch?’ asked Astakos.


Corax thought of Sanguinius and Angron, Dorn and Guilliman, The Khan and the Wolf.


Again Axata showed his understanding but betrayed further thought with his disturbed expression.


Whether that lay in the artifice of the Emperor or the being of the Lion was unclear.


Slowly, Angron looked back at Khârn, the absence of light doing nothing to dispel the intensity of his yellowed, glaring eyes.


Half the corporal’s men had already left to delay the Imperial attack on the district power plant.


Morningstar had been settled early in the golden age of exploration, and Zharrukin was one of its earliest cities.


Autilon Skorr had his own features, as did Dercius and Sheed Ranko; but Eltan, Hymor, Jha-Tena, Ingo Pech, Silonius Kel and Thias Herzog all wore mirrors of my own face, or as near as made no difference.


Like his Legion, they sought to attain a perfect state of grace.


He could see his words sinking into the mind of Lorgar, and pushed home his message.


‘We embarked on this endeavour to save the Emperor’s realm, not to watch it die.’


The Dark Angels would assume that was a difference between us, and they would be mistaken.


He had sought out the Forgemaster in his quarters, where T’kell had been preparing for embarkation, and told him that he would be the pilot of the great engine.


The orks had managed to hold the Spear of Fire in the hall long enough to bring their weapons to bear.


Six hours they had taken to reach the bastion’s inner command coil, two more to destroy the residual Scarabine suicide guard units, and then another two to sequence the plasma charges before lifting out.


He’d heard similar sounds often enough on Chemos as a child.


Clearly his sense of secrets buried in Zharrukin had been correct, but what danger had he sent his sons into?


‘I heard all of your chatter as you approached the camp, and everything that has been said since I came aboard.


The door slammed in Nairo’s face a moment before he heard a muffled low moaning, swiftly followed by indistinct words of comfort from Kor Phaeron.


It was always hot in those armour sets, Caius remembered well from his days as a line officer, even though they had inbuilt cooling systems.


The situation did not please Och’hi, but it did not surprise him.


It fell back to Morningstar with infinite grace, but Forrix knew that something of such titanic mass would cause untold devastation upon impact.


One of the Space Marines who had saved Dantioch staggered back into the line.


‘He will bring doom on Lochos!’ said the priest, directly to the crowd.


Though they were invisible to other human eyes, Corax could see his twelve warriors ranging high and far through the recycling plant’s structure.


My lord, one of my sergeants, Zolan, insisted that I should consider withdrawal.


Although I now lacked a pauldron and half my chestplate, the communications functions were still working properly.


They claim they are our protectors, but I tell you they are daemons given human faces!


That single statement soured the mood more than all the artillery of the III Legion ever could.


He was the Eighth Assault Company captain, the equerry, the eyes and ears of the primarch.


The Wolf King boasted to all that he was his father’s executioner.


But when Guilliman arrived, he shamed Corax for his harsh judgment.


The sensible ones noticed quickly that the Space Marines were not firing, and took shelter in the nests of seats.


‘All I see is dust and smoke, and my eyes are far keener than yours.’


Either his brain was more cunningly engineered than even a high consul of the Gardinaal could comprehend or he genuinely did not know.


The Khan ran his hand over his face, rubbing at the scar that ran down his left cheek.


Ove-Thost caught a glimpse of three rows of teeth, then a blast of foul breath and a splatter of yellow saliva.


Of the ten commanders of the first ten Millennials of the Legion, he was perhaps the most thoughtful.


‘Explain your analysis,’ Iasus said, more out of necessity than interest.


The memory of the fight with the Cadere curdles and deforms, yet Tethys feels every sensation experienced by his father that day.


The greater part of those garrisons was made up of the Auxilia regiments, though most had a skeleton Legion presence and access to rapid-response networks.


My enemy is in our very blood and bone, and strikes where I least suspect, at every turn.’


A whole Legion of Space Marines dedicated to the prosecution of the Powers’ goals, nestled in the heart of the Imperium’s efforts to conquer the galaxy.


If the day ever comes, I will not be astonished at it.’


Against this background of fear, Elver attempted to do his duties as best he could until, in the end, terror became mundane.


‘It has been near a year and a half since I departed these walls.


‘Cut me,’ he commanded her, ‘and release Perturabo’s blood, for my name is Perturabo.’


‘I am saying I do not need you to explain the craft of war to me,’ said Pexx, punctuating his words with shots from his volkites.


Next to him, Aladas gave him a pointed look, her eyes filled with doubt.


His knees almost buckled, but with the help of the Land Raider behind him, they held.


Smooth warp currents or otherwise, Arachmus was best off concentrating on his role rather than speaking with me.


‘From the earliest days, before I understood anything but the Altak, I always knew where the threat lay, and how to counter it.’


It was as if the Imperium were governed by the two faces of a single man – one preternaturally healthy, the other irredeemably sick.


We will bring him before the Emperor, but we must do it ourselves.’


It began to float towards me, but I ignored it for now in favour of the other warrior, which was already scuttling sideways to get a better line of fire.


Barely functional was the expression that leapt to Vashti’s mind when she first saw her new working environment.


His former captain, Garr of Order Quarii, had, to the relief of all, bellowed the news into the Hall.


Fuggy heat hit a moist slap of sweat about Caius’ face.


Kasperos Telmar and Grythan Thorn paced to either side of him, alert for any threat.


To see someone as vital, so physically imposing as Lorgar in pain was dreadful.


‘When I was younger I used to have so much fun.


‘As I understand it this planet will fall in a week or two.


‘The Emperor Thutmose the Third did not have his Dark Angels.’


They failed to heed the call to join the Imperium, and so it was a forced compliance.


It took us four hours to reach the outskirts of Hydana, but here our pace had to slow once more, for now we were at greater risk of discovery.


Vel-Kheredar would wring every scrap of knowledge from here, and then he would burn it to the ground.


He recognised her as Enith Forsault, a recruit from the more recent intake, but a promising one.


Ultimately, though, it was Guilliman’s distaste for what the Destroyers were and did that held them at bay.


‘If I spoke in here now, it would be a lie.’


Fan Morgai, leader of the tribe, gathered his family to a brief council.


I thought my crews were good, but I believe yours could school them.’


Fenc stared at polished, chequerboard tiles, but he imagined Corax surveying the kneeling men.


When I look at this painting, I am reminded again of why I insist upon perfection in every aspect of my Legion’s conduct in battle.


Belleros Corynth, on the other hand, was a man of the people.


Whereas the Emperor’s knowledge and mastery of all seems an innate part of Him, Malcador gives the impression of someone who has come by his wisdom through long study.


Shield flares enveloped the morbid machine, but DuCaine could not tell if it had been damaged.


‘Captain, I would cast this cargo out into the void, and forget you ever saw it.


I have slain thousands in the name of the Imperium, but these feelings, my lord…’ He swallowed.


Nairo had eyes only for the master – not out of any loyalty to Kor Phaeron, for he was a despicable man, but for fear of his own future.


All the Iron Warriors’ logistical expertise was required to reform their battlegroup, but slowly the fleet regathered, and such repairs as could be made without orbital facilities were begun.


In all the years since his elevation into the Legion, all the wars, he had known loss and defeat.


It served your brothers who are now on Antaeum, and you have served it by remaking it stronger.


Then he would order the next attack, knowing that he was set upon a course and to abandon his plan now would render everything undone, a failure to the One and the millions who now looked to him for spiritual guidance and leadership.


If Fulgrim was the phoenix, then the Emperor was the fire that bestowed renewal.


There were no measurable communications between the xenos worlds, nothing to indicate that they shared information at all, but shortly after the use of the temporal bomb on Gugann, the hrud had begun to move en masse.


‘I wish I had more time to know you, Forrix,’ said Ahriman.


At the time of its departure for the Taras Division the XVIII had only one battleship.


He hadn’t been able to relay a message to Anastana and his sons in six months.


The Lion pinned him beneath the weight of his regard a moment longer before releasing him.


Sevatar glanced up to see the primarch’s eyelids flutter, and take an unsteady step back, signs the First Captain knew only too well.


‘Might I formally request that you choose another in my place?’


If the IX Legion had a flaw, Yesugei had decided, it was this unwearying enthusiasm for testing themselves in close combat.


‘I spent my boyhood in the shadow of the great mountain of Eite Mòhr, but my heart is Olympian.


Battle raged around the twin islands of calm that were Angron and Tethys, and Khârn and Mago.


‘You are going to die,’ said Aravain, the taste of coagulated blood in his mouth, ‘in the manner of every tyrannical xenoform that stood in the path of humanity before you.’


Sometimes I wonder if Jaghatai views the Imperium more as a means to get him to the stars than anything else, but that is of little concern.


‘I swear by the almighty Powers that… I shall dedicate my life to learning the Word and the Truth, and to serve the Powers as they see fit to guide me.


For the first time, and the last time, his foes would see a son of the Emperor unleashed.


Sometimes ten thousand or twenty thousand of the Faithful were sacrificed against the defences of the unholy, yet he remembered them in his speeches and his dreams were haunted by their deaths.


In the interim, I have received delegations from many of the factions.


On the bridge of the Conqueror, three hundred souls moved in ordered anarchy as they orchestrated the XII Legion flagship and the fleet of warships that surrounded it.


She had prospered under the tutelage and patronage of Lorgar, one of the handful of the original slaves of the caravan who still survived.


But Thunder Warriors were no great secret, and this man’s anatomy did not match what I had learned of them.


Guilliman had never made a secret of his distaste for Destroyer tactics.


‘He,’ said Khârn coldly, ‘is our primarch, and we are his sons.


‘I am the intermediary of Galithium Vo-Phoex, creator of this vessel.’


If you will excuse me, I have other duties to perform.’


Even among all the great works of architecture, mathematics and science that lay in ashes around him, this loss struck Magnus deeply.


Many of the routes were blocked by rockfall, and Tarchus’ squad had to double back or choose alternative routes so many times that it became impossible to plan a systematic reconnaissance of the ruins.


If Corax had violent intentions towards Curze and made the first move, then he’d definitely die.


‘The truth, as one of Terran descent would say, is that such men are seldom given choices.


Kasperos and the others looked every inch the demigods that the Emperor had intended them to be.


Guilliman’s ear separated the roar of the orks from the roar of the Ultramarines.


Squads that had never before heard of one another were thrown together into new attack groups, organised under the auspices of the general taken so recently from the Imperium’s Departmento Munitorum.


Jorin was at the head of it, accompanied by Bulveye and his retinue, smashing their way through a labyrinth of burning, melting, sliding detritus.


Guilliman had seen the look on Fulgrim’s face during their joint operations.


‘And that is why I have entrusted the guard of this temple to you, my vigilant gun-deacon.


He tried to run for the ladder but the other priests snatched hold of his robes and forced him back towards Kor Phaeron.


The legionary was looking over the tent’s wounded, eyes trembling with a force of compassion that even Cicerus had never shown for his mortal soldiers.


‘What by the Throne of the beloved Emperor is going on?’ he shouted.


The Termite was armed, but its lascannons and twin-linked heavy bolters, which would be devastating against infantry and armour on the ground, were futile against a void ship.


This was a good thing, because with the unprovoked attack on Kardis, they now had a great many foes.


‘If Lorgar is a prophet, nobody will control him, none but the Powers.’


Numeon and Orasus had kept to within a few metres of Vulkan during the entire rout.


The Covenant Militarum gave a regiment’s commanding officer ultimate responsibility for the individuals in his regiment.


There was little doubt what his role was, at least to anyone who had seen the Wolves fight.


However, by some means, Gharluk had nevertheless tightened his grip on an entire subsector, maintaining communications between worlds and organising offensive raids across multiple battlefronts.


The lights were closing on me now, and I could hear, above the wind, the mechanical roar of an engine.


To the men and officers of his Legion and their allied fleet and army personnel, the reasons for his choices were moot.


‘Not all of us are so without friends in the Palace, Leman, and you have no idea who our father favours.’


The Gardinaal had not faced a military threat in twenty-five hundred years.


Give my Chaplains and enigmatus cabals a week, sire, and I will have the solution you require.’


Though he could only hear two words out of every three, it was obvious that the argument was not turning in Kor Phaeron’s favour.


Several of my brothers – Ferrus, Mortarion, Perturabo, even Russ – would have taken the enemy’s strength as a challenge, and met it head-on.


The Apothecary had striven against impossible odds for so long that all he could see was the fight.


He moved to fill it again, for the boy, but Kor Phaeron shook his head.


The cold stone walls reminded him of Aldurukh and the home he had forsaken in favour of duty.


The primarch called up the manifests and fleet registries for the Legion ships anchored within the upper atmosphere.


I have watched Sanguinius soar and have wished, for a moment, that I possessed his wings.


Few can comprehend time as I do – it is the very engine of the universe.’


As it had been with Bjell, it was a bad way to die.


Yesugei and the Khan left the chamber after that, escorting Horus back to his shuttlecraft from where he would go on to command the entire network of expeditionary fleets.


In the week since Bucepholos’ failed coup, the renegade patricians had either surrendered or retreated into the hinterlands.


By fortunate happenstance, Magnus and his Thousand Sons were traversing the outer edges of the system and offered their assistance.


Many legionaries had died in the combat that followed, and the cadre of Stormseers under Borghal’s command had shrunk down to four.


‘Then perhaps one of us might better lead this expedition?’ said Harkor.


There were holes in the command structure, and the Phoenician was seeking to fill them as swiftly as possible.


They had pummelled one another to the edge of consciousness, demolished half of the Tyrant’s palace in their fury, and still the Lord of Angels was demanding satisfaction.


There are those on Terra who don’t see things our way.


His enormous, dog-toothed shoulder rim was still higher than the regimental crest on Riordan’s cap.


He assumed a more respectful expression, yet returned the look of the First Chaplain in acknowledgement of the moment and their achievement.


The legionaries of Terra are my sons as much as the legionaries of Nocturne.


‘I had always believed…’ He knelt, holding Lorgar’s massive hand in his.


Princeps of the Collegia Titanicus sometimes commanded their giant war-engines in a similar manner, and it was said the connection to the Omnissiah was sublime.


He had not heard the voice that had spoken to Vaughn.


Relaxed, seemingly entirely at ease with the world, Lorgar broke from his followers and advanced towards the storm.


Orfeo had sent them directly into the heart of the Tyrant’s throne room, right at the topmost pinnacle of the Crimson Fortress.


I authorised it because Hierax specifically referred to his Chapter Master.


Fenc had a sense Corax found it hard to engage sympathetically with enemies who thought differently.


I was moving before the ruined corpse of my Headhunter had hit the ground.


From the centre of the shield wall, Mago drove his spear forward and back, forward and back, in union with his veteran front-rankers.


Such was the monumental scale of man’s continually expanding dominion that such a length of time had passed before the Throneworld had taken notice.


That had not kept him from persisting at it long after his stubbornness had driven half of the III Legion to despair.


Qin Xa remained on the flagship, as was his duty, as did Yesugei after dividing the Legion’s zadyin arga between the various divisions.


I was not immune to the excitement myself, even though I already knew what was being discussed.


‘I know that, but if we are reckless we risk losing everything this ship may teach us of Morningstar’s past.’


Working in silence, the servitors quickly sheared Iocare’s head to the scalp and marked points of incision across his skull, all under the careful supervision of the Librarian’s specialised kin.


Chronologically, the boy was probably some years older than the Night Haunter, but he was young, very young.


‘No, we cannot,’ snarled Russ, striding from the throne and beckoning his warriors to follow.


‘Jusua and his brethren were the last of the Relic Wardens.


You are aware of the new Order of Remembrancers that the Emperor has instituted?


More so, perhaps, than any of the Lion’s brothers, for, whatever their view or wish on the matter, there was but one amongst them with claim to being His firstborn.


As for myself, I’ll stay here and help you kill this bottle, if you like.


‘I will do what I must, to see this thing done.


He already knew what he would find as the Legion made its way deeper into the ruins.


Kor Phaeron knew he would have to be careful, lest Lorgar started seeing the slaves as victims rather than deserving of their suffering.


Ahriman and Phosis T’kar were the last to board and were standing on the embarkation ramp when Perturabo came over to speak to his brother.


The cudgel of a Covenant mineguard hung at her hip, carried more as a trophy than a weapon.


It seemed like a foolish question, but Atharva had no readily available answer.


I looked over my shoulder towards the far end of the corridor, where a window looked out over Prime City.


‘But I am not from Olympia, of that I am sure.’


‘At least tell me something!’ said Elver with a courage that surprised him.


From what I’ve been told, the majority of this planet’s population lives in poverty such that even the most wretched slum-dweller on Chemos – when there were slums on Chemos – would pity them.’


I show the tech-guilds mercy, I will show you mercy also.


Several main criteria dictated their selection – the procession of their orbits relative to the other Thousand Moons; the weight of fire their guns could bring to bear in combination with their neighbours on eight key quadrants; the strength of their defences – those of medium potency were selected first, being suitable demonstrations of the Raven Guard’s power without posing too large a danger to the forward insertion teams; the size of their populations; and, finally, the intransigence of their rulers.


‘It is the name of this vessel,’ said Shai-Tan, running his fingers over the walls and leaving painfully bright trails carved in the metal.


It wasn’t long before the inhabitants of Aphelion-2 became aware of the war erupting in their midst.


‘The Legion has not the strength to fulfil the duties of every mortal officer on our ships,’ said Garradin.


‘As the Angel noted in his reports, sire,’ said Duriel, walking out onto the ramp behind him.


‘I am talking about being the first Legion to rebel against its patriarch.


Most chose conversion, either out of fear or finally repenting before the sermon of the Ecclesiarch, having initially resisted out of fear of slavery.


He moved to the window and opened it, in full knowledge that Lorgar’s hearing was uncannily good, like all of his senses and much else about him.


Raptora energies warped the metal of the Hydra like softened wax.


‘We must preach the Word of the One, and the Truth will return to Colchis.’


At the final turn, another anonymous hooded warrior barred Aravain’s path.


And to think that he had once thought Moses Trurakk a giant.


‘Not quite as welcoming as your home world, lord,’ Azkaellon said.


A nagging sense grew in me that there was something wrong with me, that I had been damaged in some way.


With the Termite destroyed, the final stages of the campaign were heavily dependent on precise coordination and all the companies being in position at the critical juncture.


A coal fire burned in an open brazier, chasing shadows across walls of dressed Calibanite stone, glinting off the ancient weaponry on display.


‘The Varvans believed in a race of giants that would descend from the heavens and bring them into the light,’ said Agapito.


Sixty thousand soldiers of the Imperial Army are a day’s warp travel behind me.


The Emperor stood there before him, sublime, burning sword held out in challenge, and Ferrus knew.


I had every confidence that my Legion would surpass the Lion’s expectations, and more than hold their own.


The lengths He went to, and what He willed us to do for Him to achieve unification.


The honeyed words of the Ghennans flickered through his memory, spoken in that bizarre, shared chorus.


According to Dantioch, unlike the ones we faced here, those hrud he encountered fought only if confronted, at least until the last days when they appeared in greater numbers.


They spoke to Angron’s mind in a chorus of their voices, with the warmth of new light spilling over the land at sunrise.


Phoros, Iskia, Vren and Achos fell in quick succession on the first two days.


I felt no guilt, merely gratitude, even though I quite possibly owed Gukul my life.


‘Naturally, but then why make children, if you are not interested in learning from them?’ countered Guilliman.


The Powers assert the Truth again, assuring us that we tread the path.


‘At this moment, yes,’ said Skraivok, ‘but with them we shall reforge this Legion in a new image, a cadre of killers like no other before it, merciless, without conscience.


‘The culture of the Twenty-second has a strong Terran influence, and that influence is itself shaped by the Destroyer companies.’


Normally Mago would have forbidden such means, especially as the Legion was still on an active war footing, but in light of recent events he relented.


‘You have all read the same reports as I have been granted.


‘I prefer not to make assumptions,’ said Forrix, tired of his constant sniping.


We will do whatever you ask of us – I swear that oath to you now and always.’


My ship may still be out there, but we would need to get past the xenos in orbit to get to it, and the shuttle I have here would not survive such an attempt.’


‘I’ve seen it before – secret societies were rife on Chemos in my youth.


In contrast to the rest of the prow, which was crammed with lance batteries, torpedo tubes and all the many systems that made them function, the open space of the Mason’s Hall seemed an indulgence, but it too had a purpose.


Even at first glance, Guilliman could easily imagine how this creation had come to pass.


He opened his eyes, but saw only the darkness of the sunshade for a few heartbeats before the scarf-shrouded, weathered faces of the Declined intruded upon his view, concern in their dark eyes.


Ani nodded and opened the door of their cupboard to wrap Seddy in her bedroll, then quietly shut the door again.


‘I curse that I know not when the Lion truly died,’ he murmured.


The Callax worker protests had shown him the consequences of disorder.


Chapter Master Iasus and some elements of his force have survived.’


‘Do you think,’ Agapito asked, as he poured out the contents of a small aluminium flask into two mugs, ‘that it is going to work?’


‘If not in the grand library, he is among his people spreading the True Word.’


There is no ban in the Legions on the use of these weapons.’


We killed anyone He commanded, even those He used to lead.


‘This is not about truth,’ Niasta said, just a trace of exasperation creeping into her polished voice.


Perhaps the Lion had taken his Stormbirds to the Tyrant’s fortress, and he himself had teleported in.


Like Abdemon, he was of the Two Hundred, and had been the only surviving member of the Legion’s apothecarion.


Angron ceases to breathe, holding his breath as long as he can to save oxygen for Hexx.


It must be founded upon humility if it is to be of worth to the Powers.


To the wider Legion, the 18th Company was known as the Unbroken.


‘If Balthius is overthrown, it is the culmination of corruption, not the cause.’


‘Perhaps one day, far from now, you will encounter an enemy that you cannot best,’ the Tyrant said.


He became the rallying point, the glorious hope of the burgeoning Imperium: apparently the first of the Emperor’s sons to be found, and destined to be the greatest and brightest of us all.


Blood fountains up from a ruptured throat, spilling out over Ryn as he shivers in agonised convulsions.


The old and the new, Rhy’tan thought, and wished the words did not trouble him.


Tolly was a simple man, and could not comprehend another had almost taken the Emperor’s place not very long ago.


I am a skilled fighter, and even Valdor did not outmatch me, although that contest was so brief that no particularly telling conclusions can be drawn from it.


‘But there is a first time for everything, and I need all your warriors on board.


Horus thought it too soon for Fulgrim to spread his wings and fly unaided.


Sensible, given that he was the fastest of the Emperor’s sons, by all accounts.


‘For one so gifted with words and speech, you lie terribly, Lorgar.


Into him the Powers had invested knowledge of the Truth and the strength to be the Bearer of the Word – the seer among the blind, the listener in a crowd of the deaf, the speaker in a world of mutes.


The statue was intact, though covered in a thick layer of dust, just as everything in the ruined Palace was.


At first, Perturabo had taken their panic as the first signs of victory.


Officers of the Iron Hands, he knew, were encouraged to settle such matters for themselves.


‘If there is a threat, I would like to know about it.’


Magnus let Shai-Tan’s words wash through him, their remembered pain breaking his heart.


‘I am trying,’ said Tessza, data light swirling around her station.


A heavy strike broke four of Karzen’s ribs and sent him back down.


Do you think me so lacking in honour and fortitude that I would suggest a retreat lightly?’ said Zoltan forcefully.


He tried to see the effect of his words on Gage.


For Numeon, the second of Vulkan’s arrival seared itself forever into his consciousness.


They had allowed him to achieve things all but unknown in the days before Prospero.


‘Legiones Astartes,’ Norlev muttered, understanding now the uncertainty he had felt in the alien voice before.


Looking back on it, Tensat thought his old man had enjoyed frightening him.


Iron Warriors stamped out of the thinning smoke victoriously, but a dozen at least lay dead.


It is said that he plans soon to retire from the forefront and better attend to the construction of his Imperium.’


‘The losses we suffered there almost carved the heart out of the Legion.’


The rain was coming down hard now, soaking Tensat’s disguise in metal-scented water.


The jarl of Dekk-Tra had a face seemingly carved from wind-blasted bedrock, long and lean and riven with scars.


In Quin’s opinion, there was little to mark the natives of Chemos out as suitable warriors.


Magnus had not considered the idea of his act becoming widely known, but with troublesome rumours already circulating the crusading expeditionary fleets, perhaps a story to reinforce the positive aspects of the Thousand Sons’ abilities would be no bad thing.


Ahriman reached deep inside himself and used his Pavoni arts to blunt Forrix’s pain.


‘The Emperor desires Gardinaal to be taken intact,’ the warrior added unasked, filling the silence.


Where were they when Angron had called, and none save Iocare had answered?


The heat of a thousand confined bodies generated a steady wind that buffeted Caius as he approached the doorway.


He’d often thought much the same about his time in the Palace on Terra.


Even Chemos, an exhausted desert of hollowed mountains and drained seas, had possessed bright spots, oases where beauty lingered.


‘Do you think I have time to speak with them all?


As the Lord of Iron returned to his gunship, Ahriman saw a look of profound sadness in his primarch’s face.


For all the battered dustiness of the crawlers, the Synans kept the machines on which their livelihoods depended in good condition.


Their kind aspired to the flawless logic of machines, but they could never learn what the Lord of Iron had known instinctively since birth.


The faintest hiss of air was the only warning Guilliman got of the attack.


The fireball filled Vaughn’s vision, a misshapen, monstrous, grotesquery of a ship.


Lorgar was about to speak but Kor Phaeron heard steps in the companionway and held up a hand to silence the acolyte.


‘But nor can I simply leave the tens of thousands of people aboard the Lux Ferem and in Calaena to their doom.’


The fourth – some sort of minor official, Elver thought – travelled alone.


He had gone from a warrior of the Nan, to a warrior of the Khitan, to a warrior of the ordu of Jaghatai.


And, more than that, Ahriman suspected he and Forrix were becoming friends, which had surprised him, until he thought of Magnus and Perturabo’s friendship.


‘Lord Commander Cicerus reported a large air defence force of capable atmospheric fighters.’


‘He has dwelt among us here at Lochos now for ten years, and although his birth date remains as mysterious to us as so much about him, we reckon it is now his sixteenth birthday, on this, the anniversary of his coming to us.


In a few weeks, with barely a handful of warriors, I accomplished what would have taken my brothers months, and hundreds – if not thousands – of warriors.’


For more than a year, they have been fighting the orks in the Taras Division.


The Lion looked as if he was barely seeing the world around him.


‘I say many of the other Legions see you as a coterie of sadists and murderers,’ said Corax.


A kilt of leather hung to his knees, and a hook-bladed sword crafted from Prosperine silksteel was belted at his waist next to a colossal tome of psychic lore.


‘The High Lords have decreed that the wanton exaggerations of the Imperial envoys are to be disbelieved by all citizens.


‘We showed this place to you for a reason, Phoenician,’ the masked figure continued.


The admiral imagined his opposite numbers on the Carinaean warships staring at similar displays and thinking similar thoughts.


‘The question then is this – is Muspel itself infested with the santales parasite or have we stymied its encroachment here by denying it the planet’s ships?’


‘These bastards will pay in blood for this, and I am going to enjoy every second of it.’


‘How can we possibly navigate this?’ said Phosis T’kar, staring in wonderment at the smashed city.


Gothic was the language of the Imperium, of course, but there were innumerable tongues individual to systems, planets or particular ethnic groups.


Kor Phaeron could not look at Lorgar, wrathful and ashamed at the same time.


Visibility was poor, and what Vaughn could see was the madness of war and volcanic mayhem so utter, coherence was lost.


‘So we have a method of getting into orbit,’ I said.


The differences between them were so great that Resalt thought them obscene.


Though Iasus and Hierax might as well have been statues, Guilliman could still detect minor variations in their bearings.


Then again, if Roboute had known of this event, and known it was me involved, perhaps he would have described it as fleeing after all.


The blood had already ceased flowing by the time Mago finished.


Vapour pillars of departing vessels columned the volatile sky and a nimbus of flickering energy hazed the air above the cliff-like dorsal surfaces of the Lux Ferem.


Perhaps it was a little arrogant to think he deserved all of the credit, but he had guided Lorgar well and the primarch had recognised that, rewarded his contribution and loyalty.


They had their own ciphers and code-speak, of course, but the Custodes were all creations of my father, as was I, and He had gifted me with an intellect somewhat in excess of theirs.


‘We do not know that he is dead, Xarl,’ said another.


So it was that the three passed out into the west, tracing the old pilgrimage paths towards the Ulaav, just as they had done before the Emperor had destroyed the past in order to create the future.


He pointed to the ceremonial sceptre carried by the head of the Covenant: a golden, jewelled counterpart to the crude weapon he had fashioned for himself from a censer and axle.


But if I believe the battle to be in any way jeopardised by your interests, I will kill you myself.’


Despite what you say I am sure I can find warriors fit for the same role.’


‘Several of those who spoke against you in the Consortium have left Vharadesh with their families and entourages.


He knew Guilliman was not asking whether he had spotted the foe.


He took a breath, realising that Perturabo had spoken to him.


Another kind of night was gathering over all of Antaeum, a night that would not pass for centuries.


He and I were so similar, we could have been twins.


‘My lord, we are entering orbit over Twenty-Eight One,’ Abdemon said, his voice shrouded in static.


It was no easy thing for a Space Marine to be in close proximity to their primarch.


The Palace was a never-ending project, they said, a billion techwrights working on it daily to render the peaks into cathedrals of the mind and the soul, raising up monuments to Unity that would endure for eternity.


The Sons of Shaitan showed no mercy, turning their weapons on the young and the old, the strong and the weak.


This was not so very different in concept – although drastically so in scale – to what my father had done with my brothers and I. Faced with biological limitations, humanity had found a way to surpass them in order to achieve the results we desired.


And respectfully, whatever rank long service has earned me, I’m a medicae.’


‘If he feels anything for the fallen men, he hides it well,’ said Fortreidon.


‘We take the governor and his family into protective custody…’ He paused.


The main nave ran for a third of that length, and within the vast structure had been assembled the commanders and their staffs from every Chapter of the Legion.


‘I would have expected that suggestion from Ferrus, or maybe even Horus, but never Russ.


He rarely displayed any strong emotion, and so he betrayed no surprise at the discovery of the Ghennan’s inhuman nature.


‘Angron has failed to drag Hexx from the shores of death.


T’kell was laughing, and it took Rhy’tan a second to realise that he was too.


Atharva was loath to leave Zharrukin, but to stay would be to risk the lives of the conservator’s staff of archaeotechs and all they had unearthed thus far.


Fulgrim’s expression didn’t change, but Pyke could feel the sudden tension radiating from him.


‘Kor Phaeron is archdeacon, but in your absence might as well be Ecclesiarch.


‘We must forever desire the gaze of the Powers,’ he said, clearly, slowly so that the diction device could catch each word precisely.


‘I mean no disrespect,’ said Sentril, ‘but you underestimate their pride.


As far as the Lion was concerned this war had ended with the destruction of the khrave and the demise of their lord, but the fighting aboard some of those ships continued to be heavy.


Somewhere in this city were two adults who had seen my true face, and knew I had an interest in Bar’Savor.


‘However, for our efforts to create a working reproduction of the Nails, it is revolutionary.’


‘So tell me,’ said Jorin, ‘ever fought beside the First Legion?’


‘The days when I could count my rivals on one hand are gone forever.’


They saw me coming, for I made no effort to hide.


But by then, the Khan himself was almost invisible, hidden behind a curtain of severed flesh and thrown blood, a primordial force burning through the xenos ranks, inviolable and darkly magnificent.


The rest of my time I devoted to learning, both about myself, and about the world my father and Malcador had created.


For this, the boy thanked the Night Haunter, and he was loved for the change he brought.


I Bear the Word as you did, and the converts grow in number, but this cannot be what the Powers desire of us.’


‘And if the Emperor does not think as you believe He does?


How dare their messengers be so calm, so assured, thought Perturabo.


There were many who fought for Deliverance that were too old to be elevated to the Legion.


It was not alone – Hasik’s vessel, the Tchin-Zar, came with it, as did half a dozen lesser craft.


Corax sipped the wine while Guilliman took a moment to formulate his answer.


As captain of a support vessel she was not privy to my true identity, but she was well aware that a lord of the XX Legion stood at her shoulder, and I had no doubt she wanted to impress.


A chunk of basalt the size of a Rhino missed Numeon by inches.


Little could be seen of Taranthis from the ground, for like the tezenite mine workings for which it was famed, the settlement was mostly dug beneath the hard sandstone and granite rock of the hinterlands known as the Copper Plate.


At Nedella, the Synan brothers transferred their cargo to other, more local contractors.


Now I will have to appoint new chief guardians of the armouries and museums.


But sooner or later you will have to answer to Ferrus Manus.’


In his mind’s eye, Perturabo saw what the planet would look like through the temporal wave: a moon’s reflection on a pool shattered into a thousand curved pieces by a cast stone.


The Lion visibly started, an expression of incredulity spreading across his face.


Kor Phaeron blink-activated an icon in his display to reply on the same frequency.


To the converts this was not only a practical nightmare, but also an injunction against all they had been taught by Kor Phaeron.


Such a weapon could not truly harm my father, but it would provide the wake-up call the Palace’s defenders so desperately needed.


‘For those companies as they are presently constituted, I hope not.’


Inardin’s paladins instantly fell into a defensive cordon around their lord, but the Lion gestured calmly for them to fall back.


The Legion was pulling its full strength together, and over the years that strength had grown indeed.


From Ferrus’ cage, Akurduana could see across the Practice Hall from end to end.


For Fulgrim, whose perceptions were far beyond mortal, it was an eternity, in which to prepare for what came next.


‘The Nails will not change any of those things,’ Mago conceded with a shallow nod.


‘Hrastor came here himself, though he is well into his eighties and had vowed never to travel beyond the walls of Epherium again.


‘The Nemesis Chapter stands ready to deploy when and as ordered,’ Hierax said.


The answer had been in the manuals, as Fulgrim had expected.


‘Is it normal for a Legion combat squad to be accompanied by one of its Librarians?’


The psyker was howling in denial, crimson energies whining and sparking, flickering about Ferrus’ wrists as though he had plunged his hands into electrified blood.


If you can restore communications with the rest of the Legion…’


From these, Imperial commanders were quite clear that the Tyrant was not in the slightest part intimidated by them, and nor did he have any intention of running.


Two Iron Warriors stood at the command table in the centre of the space, haptically shifting data manifests between glowing tags of starship designations.


And has the Alpha Legion heard any word as to who this commander would be?’


Outside the Stormbird, the air was growing dark as the gunship passed through the upper atmosphere.


The Emperor of Mankind sent out His crusade to save humanity from creatures like you.


‘What name will you choose, my son,’ prompted Dammekos, ‘to be remembered in the hallowed annals of our family?’


The addition of the Invincible Reason and her fleet would allow them to project their will over countless more worlds.


It is especially problematic among the Xeric tribesmen I inherited from father, though I have begun to notice it among my warriors from Deliverance also.


An elaborate hierarchy of symbols identified him as a knight of the Third Order, 15th Company, commander of Tactical Squad ‘Martlet’.


‘But I feel this working of iron is not my true strength.’


You are, however, if I may beg your indulgence, new to the esoteric field of temporal engineering.


Firstly, it tells us Rogal believed my Legion should work as directed by the Imperial Fists, and that my methods should be subservient to his.


Heavily defended by six sets of walls each hundreds of metres high, the road made its unhurried way to the city gates of Kardis, seat of the Tyrant of Kardikora.


‘He calls himself the Khan, though I’m not entirely convinced he understands what the word means.


The Legion was intolerant of curiosity, but suspicion was healthy, and quietly encouraged at all levels.


His hand was around Elver’s throat and one of his strange pistols under Elver’s jaw.


They’d fought raiders in the western provinces, and mutants in the Glass Waste.


He spied the chief of the Declined tribe close to his tent, conversing conspiratorially with his family.


When the Wolves charged, their cries were most often a cacophony of raw emotion, designed to be overwhelming and disorientating in their sheer volume and energy, but this was different.


Corax spoke over him to a man at his side who wore the uniform of the Imperial Iterator corps.


Vorias wiped the blood from his eyes and knelt beside the young Lexicanum.


His methods have their place, but I shall show you a different way.’


‘And what of the others, on other ships?’ said Kuln angrily.


The day would come, before too long, when the XX Legion would need to finally announce itself to the galaxy at large, even if I did not yet reveal myself.


Their pilots were assigned other roles for the war games and so were left behind with the bulk of the Fifty-second.’


At first, Elver took it to be a mountain, but it was far mightier than that.


As fusils hummed into life and feyblades crackled, the old slave was certain that Ahengi and his companions would execute the son as they would the father.


At times, Vulkan disappeared from Rhy’tan’s view, but he always reappeared moments later, hurling his attackers to the ground and gutting them with his blade.


If not for them then I am sure I could hold their slave warriors at bay indefinitely.’


The courtly, Calibanite manner of speaking whilst actually saying little was one that many of the older Terrans in the Legion found irritating.


Hierax had been fighting in the XIII Legion for decades when the Emperor found his lost son.


In particular, I find it annoying the way you present a confident face to the primarch and that of a worried grandmother to the rest of us.


You can speak to me, just like it was in the past, for I do not forget.’


In fact, the more I insisted that he did not speak with the ambassadors of Koray, the more he was determined to do so.’


It was only through such a union that the achievement of his life’s work could be made possible: the fulfilment of his father’s mandate to forge a functioning, stable replica of the Butcher’s Nails.


‘Malithos Kuln, you will find this warrior, and you will bring him to me,’ said Curze.


He and Alkenex had been left behind to oversee the defence of Nova-Basilos.


He was a cold man, aloof from the Dodekatheon and every other organisation.


‘That is another thing I can neither touch nor see, another unverifiable object taken as an article of faith.


‘Konrad Curze is not mad,’ said Sevatar with deadly, threat-filled certainty.


Of the two dozen gladiators that had come from the caves to fight, only Angron and his mentor remain.


He wondered again whether he was making the right decision in his support for the current occupant of the Gubernatorial Throne.


Calaena’s buildings were older than any other Atharva had seen in his travels from Terra: glorious, domed basilicas, rotating towers of phototropic glass, grand libraries and bustling commercial districts that welcomed vessels from off-world and ocean-going haulers from all across Morningstar.


The sidelined Fenc watched helplessly from the command deck of the Song-he, his fleet reduced to providing a protective umbrella to the Raven Guard ships against the weapons fire of other cities.


He gestured to a heavily leaded window, beyond which spread the roofs and towers of the City of Grey Flowers.


His wing-brother, Thyro, holding a glass and wearing a stretched grin.


‘What Horus considers adequate, for instance, others might call grossly barbaric.’


Perhaps, but He rarely spoke of the full extent of His reach.


‘Anyone who takes the life of another Imperial citizen without recourse to the law is no longer loyal to the Emperor, no matter what they believe.


‘I don’t know when I realised I was a monster,’ Curze whispered.


He knew just how well defended the generator zones had been, and how hard Gahael must have fought to take them.


I accept the nature of the Chapter’s feelings towards me, but I will have discipline.


I have worked hard to distance my Legion from its past practices of terror.


‘You cannot blame your losses on him,’ one of the Iron Hands growled.


Harkor wore his helmet, but Golg was bareheaded, and the greedy sneer on his face disturbed Forrix.


He saw that the guards and slaves had heard the clear declaration, not only reminding them of the Truth to which they were all subject, but also of Kor Phaeron’s authority over Lorgar and, by extension of that, every member of the caravan.


He was a beacon of hope, both to the masses of Chemos and his remaining gene-sons.


Always with regret, always with a tear and self-flagellation, but all the same Lorgar removed every obstacle between himself and his goal.


He was the first of the captains to meet with Iasus.


The captain of the 166th was younger than Hierax, and a native of Macragge.


Our duty on Corcyra is complete, but our war is not.’


The Lion had engaged at arm’s length, keeping his major warships out of the most concentrated areas of combat and firing from a distance.


With its origins in the dark years of Old Earth, the Fusil Actinaeus’ destructive capabilities far exceeded the modern plasma weapons mass-produced by the forges of Mars.


‘What is it?’ asked Atharva, as he and Ashkali picked a path through the rubble towards him.


Spreading his hands along the flaking metal of the parapet, Dekka leaned over, as if it were the weight of his mind that pulled him forwards.


The coming together of four full Legions was either the consequence of great events or the cause.


As the Saviour in Shadow opened itself to the wider world, the hololiths took on finer definition and the figures they projected moved more smoothly.


‘What you mean, and what occurs, are often two entirely different things,’ Telmar said.


‘It looks like Morningstar is stripping them of their identity,’ said Ahriman.


It is one I shall use again, should I have the opportunity to.


We will take Thoas back, and we will build a new civilisation here.


‘What does Kiavahr matter to you?’ he said, letting some of his bitterness out.


Other ships joined them – the remainder of Bloodhowl’s battle-group, other warships of Tra – all under the suzerainty of the jarl Ogvai Ogvai Helmschrot.


‘This is fine work, Master T’kell,’ Rhy’tan said as he drew near.


However, he had been brought up as a knight, a noble protector of the populace of Caliban from the monsters that stalked its lands, and he was a hunter.


They chafed under the rule of the Priests of Mars, and vented their frustrations against those still beneath them.


They had stood by while one of their number had fired a grenade into an Imperial building containing Imperial citizens.


The loss was a shame, but my Legion was still operating secretly, and we could not afford resentment risking that.


‘Unless this clears up, we’ll have trouble restoring contact with the Imperium.’


He would outpace them and his endurance is endless,’ said Nairo.


In truth, Ev had been one of his cousin’s friends, not his.


Hearing raised voices, Nairo was drawn to the bulkhead between the slaves’ quarters and the more spacious dorms of the converts.


Until we can say unequivocally what the Powers wish us to know, what would you tell them?’


‘Lord Arachmus, can you provide me with an estimate on timing?’


Were Fenc to draw his sword, the scintillas from its gleaming blade would be sharper than its edge.


The boy’s gut wound, framed by the lacquered purple and gold of Akurduana’s gauntlets, was a thin red line through tissue that was uncannily bloodless and clean.


Amid the galaxy at large, he was feared or scorned, the leader of a Legion of barbarians and vandals, though few would have dared mouth such sentiments to his face.


The mass insanity… It manifested through the psykers, infecting whole worlds and plunging them into an abyss of ruin and death.’


‘It certainly does not require the official redeployment of Imperial forces to deal with it.


The Klostzatz’s fate was sealed, and there was only one last thing it might do against the ork base.


And the stakes I play for are greater than you can imagine.


As I walked towards the Ultimate Wall, I left a trail of wonderment behind me.


Once Corynth had put him on the right track, it had been easy to find the information he sought.


Though the function of the machine needs no explanation, I did not tell you then of its provenance or of its history.


‘In the Great Ocean, all things are possible,’ said Ahriman, holding out his hand.


What was also undeniably true was that I could see lights approaching from the north.


Phelinia Eftt waited for her next instruction in an isolated service stairwell.


I did not see the sun until I was a man.


It made the slave flinch when finally Lorgar laid a broad hand on his leg and spoke.


Ferrus Manus took its haft in both hands and strode towards the buckled door.


It appeared my first impression on Constantin Valdor had not been so positive.


In a year of war, Vaughn had not yet been able to determine precisely how large the enemy’s force was.


‘It is not in their nature to risk themselves,’ said Forrix.


‘A child I was when we first met, but no more.


‘You have been led to me, son, and I to you.


The north and south were shielded by the embrace of the mountain chain, and to the west lay the ocean that surrounded Corcyra’s single inhabited land mass.


Nobody had seen Lorgar for the previous day, and Axata had been tight-lipped about their holy master’s whereabouts and intentions.


Across a lifetime that spanned more than a century, there existed three days that, to Iocare’s mind, were fundamental in the shaping of his destiny.


The Anvilarium reminded Akurduana of the manufactories of the Urals, though even the X Legion’s colossal flagship, for all its youthful distemper, could not rival those cathedrals of industry for scale.


The Mechanicum had to work for the advancement of the Imperium, after all.


But I swear to you that even that will not suffice.’


Beneath the hill of tanks, Vaughn saw motionless limbs protruding from the lava flow.


‘It is claimed for the Imperium, for the Master of Mankind.’


‘I come not as one who will bring you to the Truth, for it is already in you.


Three standard Terran days went by without any sign of the primarch, and all attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.


I wonder if Rogal would have made the same demands had he been joined in the field by Horus?


The material was of a kind that magos explorators attached to the 2003rd had found all over Maripose and the Vaniskray: cold like metal, pliable like plastek, devoid of any colour or reflection as though it existed beneath even the narrowest wavelengths of light.


Even though Lochos was a city of old men, the genetically unsuitable, children and women, the Iron Warriors treated them all with the same ruthlessness.


It was worse in the ore-processing facilities, according to Alkenex’s report.


Kor Phaeron paused a moment, to ensure he phrased his next words properly as he looked down at the child.


The sudden stillness was shocking after such roiling chaos, and the Stormbird shuddered in release.


What she’d singularly failed to appreciate was that Caliban, until about a hundred years ago, had been a pseudo-feudal death world.


‘Arch-Comptroller Agarth has no such weapons, and if he did, why would he use them on his own people?’


There were many things I had no experience of, and the abstract knowledge father engineered into me was no comparison to the thing itself.


‘Your religion is offensive to me,’ said the Lord of Iron without preamble.


The muted clicks of the Ravens’ voxes intruded on their frequency, a sure sign the Ravens were also communing with each another.


‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ Orontes voxed over a private link.


The Khan endured it all for three days, locked within the assembly hall of his new palace, his brows knotted and his fingers drumming on his cloaked knee.


I was not sure where I was, or how I had come to be there, but I knew my name.


And so, in the darker hours, he ruminated on the Legion’s purpose in the Sak’trada Deeps.


From now on, Nostramo will be ruled for the benefit of the families who made it what it is.


Roboute raises an Imperium in miniature that celebrates his name and yours.


So Yesugei had avoided them, both during the Triumph and also in the aftermath.


‘Is it not the Olympian way to present the iron facade to hide the fractures within?


‘But I’ll tell you what I told Jorin, though it did him no good.


‘A good place as well to stage an emergency warp jump,’ said Perturabo.


‘I thought that I could lead the Legions as well I lead my own.


He did not haunt the dreams of men in the way of Fulgrim or Sanguinius or Horus, but he was beautiful, as a charnabal sabre or a hand-wrought suit of armour could be beautiful.


His command would be a wind of change through the Chapter.


The moment Vashti had been planning for the last six days had finally arrived.


He had guessed, but Guilliman had made it clear his own counsel was enough on this matter.


The Emperor’s gene forging was supreme, but the genetors of the Age of Technology were master artisans of death.


When you next converse with your master, tell him that I regret we were not able to join forces as arranged.


That was not what Ahriman meant, but he did not correct the Iron Warrior.


There is much work to be done before Byzas can assume its proper place.’


This makes Angron hesitate for a moment, and he doesn’t see the knife until it is buried to the hilt in his gut.


‘A bit of theatre never hurts in these situations, I’ve learned.’


‘So long as they do not resist too fiercely,’ Gukul muttered.


Fabius said nothing, but from the look on his face, Fulgrim could tell that he didn’t think so.


The Ravenlord’s sensitive olfactory sense registered the fermented juices of grapes wafting from its throat.


These ones were too old to become his brothers, but their children, and their children’s children, might yet serve beside him in the vanguard of the Great Crusade.