Knight of Ashes - Battle on the Valatane Plains: Almost two hundred Knights charged the Orks on the Valatane Plains, making the assault in two separate spearheads. Led by the Freeblades of the Exiles and the Knight of Ashes himself, the right spearhead angled its path towards the Draconspire, overrunning the Greenskins' rear and silencing the batteries of Ork artillery that had been blasting away at the Draconspire's walls for solar weeks.Lightning fighters of the Pegasson Air Force raced ahead, and cleared the skies of enemy Dakkajetz and Blitza-Bommerz. An armoured spearhead of Sacristan Crawlers and Ironlegs' accompanied by the Vesserine Grenadiers followed in their wake, neutralizing those scattered Ork survivors left in the wake of the Knights' charge.As they fought their way through the Draconspire, the other spearhead headed to Northrise Battery. Led by the Marchioness and the Grandmarshal, they fared little better than the first. As the surprise of their arrival gradually wore off, huge numbers of Ork tanks and smaller combat walkers came at them. Whilst the Knights of House Pegasson interdicted the WAAAGH!'s forces outside the walls of Northrise Battery, House Minotos sought to capture the fortress and kill the horde's Warlord. Unknown to them, Gorgrok Killfist was not at Northrise Battery but leading the charge against the last barricade in the Draconspire's throne room.Leading the charge, Sword of Heroes soon found itself in the ruins of the Draconspire's Blackpowder District, annihilating a band of Mekz and their retinue who were busy stripping the parts of a fallen Knight and trying to repair a pair of Huntsman tanks, a local variant of the common Leman Russ Tank.Eight lances of Knights cleared the Draconspire's outer districts, killing all the Orks they could while retaining the maximum velocity. Their ultimate goal was Ottavio's Arch and the courtyard it held, for from there a single reinforced wall separated the outside from the throne room's outer audience chambers; a lance of Knights would be able to breach. "Keep moving," reminded Jennika Tan Draconis, who rode along with Colonel Gesmund in one of the Vesserines' Tauroxii. Praying to the God-Emperor that his old friend was still alive, the Knight of Ashes pressed on, fighting its way clear through the second and third walls, all the way to the Draconspire's central dungeon.As Sword of Heroes broke through the throne room's western wall, Luk Kar Chimaeros fought back his sense of dread, hoping not to find all within slain by the Greenskins. Storming through the breach, the other Exiles followed him. Danial Tan Draconis, victoriously standying atop the corpse of the slain Gorgrok Killfist was rallying his last men against Gorgrok's retinue of MegaNobz. With shots, energy beams and rockets, the slain Warlord's retinue were annihilated, Orks now trying to flee through the crowded corridors. Hindered by their kindred still trying to come to grip with their enemy, the Orks within the throne room were quickly put down, the disciplined fire of the Vesserines keeping the mob from swarming back into the throne room.Jennika Tan Draconis quickly headed to her brother. Exhausted, light-headed from his wounds and the combatdrugs his medics had given him, the High King did not understand his sister's hurry, but her urgency finally cut though the numbness of the High King's mind. Gathering every able-bodied Nobleman around him, the High King led the survivors of House Draconis towards the Chamber of Ghosts where their Thrones Mechanicum rested. It was time for House Draconis to join the fight outside their walls.