Galaxy in Flames

Within moments, the newly re-christened Luna Wolves were ready to move out, Torgaddon barking orders to put the assault squads up front. Loken gathered a body of warriors to him, forming a pocket of resistance in the shadow of the tomb-spire.

'Kill for the living and kill for the dead,' said TorВ­gaddon as they prepared to move out.

'Kill for the living,' replied Loken as the speartip, numbering perhaps two thousand Luna Wolves, moved out across the tombscape of the Sirenhold towards the massive gates.

Loken turned back to the valley, seeing the shapes of Sons of Horus moving towards him. Larger, darker shapes loomed in the distance, grinding the battle-scarred shrines and statues to dust as they went: Rhino APCs, lumbering Land Raiders, and even the barrel-shaped silhouette of a dreadnought.

He felt he should be filled with sadness at the tragedy of fighting his brothers, but there was no sadness.

There was only hatred.

Aruken's eyes were hollow and he was sweating. Cassar was shocked to see his normal, cocky arroВ­gance replaced by fear. Despite that fear, Cassar knew that he could not fully trust Jonah Aruken.

This has to end, Titus,’ said Aruken. 'You don't want to be a martyr do you?' 'Martyr? That's a strange choice of words for : someone who claims not to believe.'

A small smile appeared on Aruken's face. 'I'm not

: as stupid as you think, Titus. You're a good man

and a damn good crewman. You believe in things,

which is more than most people can manage So,

I'd rather you didn't die.'

Cassar didn't respond to Aruken's forced levity. 'Please, I know you're just saying that for the prin-ceps's benefit. I've no doubt he can hear every 1 word,’

'Probably, yes, but he knows that as soon as he opens that door you'll blow his head off. So I guess you and I can just say what we damn well like,’

Cassar's grip on the gun relaxed. 'You're not in his pocket?'

'Hey, we've been through some scary shit recently, haven't we?' said Aruken. 'I know what you're going through.'

Cassar shook his head. 'No you don't, and I know what you're trying to do. I can't back down, I'm making a stand in the name of my Emperor. I won't just surrender,’

'Look, Titus, if you believe then you believe, but you don't have to prove that to anyone,’

'You think I'm doing this for show?' asked Cassar, aiming his gun at Aruken's throat.

Aruken held out his hands and walked carefully around the princeps's command chair to stand across the bridge from him.

The Emperor isn't just a figurehead to cling to,’ said Cassar. 'He is a god. He has a saint and mira­cles and I have seen them. And so have you! Think of all you have seen and you'll realise you have to help me, Jonah!' 'I saw some odd things, Titus, but-' 'Don't deny them,’ interrupted Cassar. 'They hap­pened. As sure as you and I are standing in this war machine. Jonah, there is an Emperor and He is watching over us. He judges us by the choices we make when those choices are hard. The Warmaster has betrayed us and if I stand back and let it hap­pen then I am betraying my Emperor. There are principles that must be defended, Aruken. Don't you even see that much? If none of us take a stand,

then the Warmaster will win and there won't even be the memory of this betrayal,’

Aruken shook his head in frustration. 'Cassar, if I could just make you see-'

'You're trying to tell me you haven't seen anything to believe in?' asked Cassar, turning away in disapВ­pointment. He looked through the scorched panes of the viewing bay at the assembling Death Guard.

Titus, I haven't believed in anything for a long time,’ said Aruken. 'For that I'm truly sorry, and I'm sorry for this too,’

Cassar turned to see that Jonah Aruken had drawn his pistol and had it aimed squarely at his chest.

'Jonah?' said Cassar. You would betray me? After all we have seen?'

There's only one thing I want, Titus, and that's command of my own Titan. One day I want to be Princeps Aruken and that's not going to happen if I let you do this,’

Cassar said, To know that this whole galaxy is starved of belief and to think that you might be the only one who believes… and yet to still believe in spite of all that. That is faith, Aruken. I wish that you could understand that,’

'It's too late for that, Titus,’ said Aruken. 'I'm sorry,’

Aruken's gun barked three times, filling the bridge with bursts of light and noise.

* 6BФ

Tarvitz could see the battle from the shadow of an entrance arch leading into the Precentor's Palace. He had escaped the cyclone of carnage that Angron had slaughtered into life, to link up with his own warriors in the palace, but the sight of the World Eater's primarch was still a vivid red horror in his

mind.

Tarvitz glanced back into the palace, its vaulted hallways strewn with the bodies of the dead palace guard darkening as late afternoon turned the shadВ­ows long and dim. Soon it would be night.

'Lucius,' voxed Tarvitz, static howling. 'Lucius, come in.' 'Saul, what do you see?'

'Gunships and drop-pods too, our colours, land­ing just north of here.' 'Has the primarch blessed us with his presence?' 'Looks like Eidolon,’ said Tarvitz with relish. The vox was heavy with static and he knew that the War-master's forces would be attempting to jam their vox-channels without blocking their own.

'Listen, Lucius, Angron is going to break through here. The loyal World Eaters down there won't be able to hold him. He's going to head for the palace,’

'Then there will be a battle,’ deadpanned Lucius. 'I hope Angron makes it a good fight. I think I might have found a decent fencing opponent at

last,’

'You're welcome to him. We need to make this stand count. Start barricading the central dome.

We'll move to fortifying the main domes and junc­tions if Angron gives us that long,’

'Since when did you become the leader here?' asked Lucius petulantly. 'I was the one who killed Vardus Praal,’

Tarvitz felt his anger rise at his friend's childish­ness at such a volatile time, but bit back his anger to say, 'Get in there and help man the barricades. We don't have long before we'll be in the thick of it,’

The Thunderhawk sped away from the Vengeful Spirit, gathering speed as Qruze kicked in the afterВ­burners. Mersadie felt unutterably light-headed to be off the Warmaster's ship at last, but the cold realВ­isation that they had nowhere to go sobered her as she saw glinting specks of the fleet all around them.

'Now what?' asked Qruze. We're away, but where to next?'

'I told you we were not without friends, did I not, Iacton?' said Euphrati, sitting in the co-pilot's chair beside the Astartes warrior.

The warrior gave her a brief sideways look. 'Be that as it may, remembrancer. Friends do us little good if we die out here,’

'But what a death it would be,’ said Keeler, with the trace of a ghostly smile.

Sindermann shared a worried glance with her, no doubt wondering if they had overreached themВ­selves in trusting that Euphrati could deliver them to safety out in the dark of space. The old man looked tiny and feeble and she took his hand in hers.

Through the viewshield, Mersadie could see a field of glittering lights: starships belonging to the Sixty-Third Expedition, and every one of them hosВ­tile.

As if to contradict her, Euphrati pointed upwards through the viewshield towards the belly of an ugly vessel they would pass beneath if they continued on their current course. The weak sun of Isstvan glinted from its unpainted gunmetal hull.

'Head towards that one,’ commanded Euphrati and Mersadie was surprised to see Qruze turn the controls without a word of protest.

Mersadie didn't know a great deal about spaceВ­craft but she knew that the cruiser would be bristling with turrets that could pick off the Thun-derhawk as it shot past, and could maybe even deploy fighters.

У\Плу are we getting closer?' she asked hurriedly. 'Surely we want to head away?'

Trust me, Sadie,’ said Euphrati. This is the way it

has to be,’

At least it will be quick, she thought, as the vessel grew larger in the viewshield.

'It's Death Guard,’ said Qruze,

Mersadie bit her lip and glanced at Sindermann.

The old man looked calm and said, 'Quite the adventure, eh?'

Mersadie smiled in spite of herself.

What are we going to do, Kyril?' asked Mersadie, tears springing from her eyes. 'What do we have left to us?'

'This is still our fight, Mersadie,’ said Euphrati, turning from the viewshield. 'Sometimes that fight must be open warfare, sometimes it must be fought with words and ideas. We all have our parts to play,’

Mersadie let out a breath, unable and unwilling to believe that there were allies in the cruiser loom­ing in front of them. 'We are not alone,’ smiled Euphrati. 'But this fight… it feels a lot bigger than me,’ You are wrong. Each of us has as much right to have their say in the fate of the galaxy as the War-master. Believing that is how we will defeat him,’

Mersadie nodded and watched the cruiser above them drawing ever nearer, its long, dark shape edged in starlight and its engines wreathed in clouds of crystalline gasses.

Thunderhawk gunship, identify yourself,’ said a gruff, gravel-laden voice crackling from the vox-caster.

'Be truthful,’ warned Euphrati. 'All depends on it,’

Qruze nodded and said, 'My name is Iacton Qruze, formerly of the Sons of Horus,’

'Formerly?' came the reply.

Yes, formerly,’ said Qruze.

'Explain yourself,’

'I am no longer part of the Legion,’ said Qruze, and Mersadie could hear the pain it caused him to give voice to these words. 'I can no longer be party to what the Warmaster is doing,’

After a long pause, the voice returned. 'Then you are welcome on my ship, Iacton Qruze.' 'And who are you?' asked Qruze. 'I am Captain Nathaniel Garro of the Eisenstein.'

PART THREE

BROTHERS

FOURTEEN

Until it's over

Charmoisan

Betrayal

'I've lost count of the days,’ said Loken, crouching by one of the makeshift battlements that looked over the smouldering ruins of the Choral City.

'I don't think Isstvan III has days and nights any more,’ replied Saul Tarvitz.

Loken looked into the steel grey sky, a mantle of cloud kicked up by the catastrophic climate change forced on Isstvan III by the sudden extinction of almost all life on its surface. A thin drizzle of ash rained, the remains of the firestorm swept up by dry, dead winds a continent away.

'They're massing for another attack,’ said Tarvitz, indicating the tangle of twisted, ash-wreathed rub­ble that had once been a vast mass of tenement blocks to the east of the palace.

Loken followed his gaze. He could just glimpse a flash of dirty white armour.

World Eaters,’

Who else?'

'I don't know if Angron even knows another way to fight,’

Tarvitz shrugged. 'He probably does. He just likes his way better,’

Tarvitz and Loken had first met on Murder, where the Sons of Horns had fought alongside the Emperor's Children against hideous megarachnid aliens. Tarvitz had been a fine warrior, devoid of the grandstanding of his Legion that had so antagoВ­nised Torgaddon.

Loken barely remembered the journey back through the Sirenhold, scrambling through shattered tombs and burning ruins. He remembered fighting through men he had once called brother towards the great gates of the Sirenhold, and he had not stopped until he had his first proper sight of the Precentor's Palace and its magnificent rose-granite petals.

'They'll hit within the hour,’ said Tarvitz. Til move men over to the defences,’

'It could be a feint,’ said Loken, vividly remem­bering the first days of the battle for the palace. 'Angron hits one side, Eidolon counter-attacks,’

His first sight of Tarvitz's warriors in battle had resembled a great game with the Emperor's ChilВ­dren as pieces masterfully arranged in feints and counter-charges. A lesser man than Saul Tarvitz would have allowed his force to be picked apart by

them, but the captain of the Emperor's Children had somehow managed to weather three days of non-stop attacks.

"We'll be ready for it,’ said Tarvitz, looking down into the depths of the palace.

Loken and Tarvitz had climbed into the structure of a partially collapsed dome, one of the many secВ­tions of the Precentor's Palace that had been ruined during the firestorm and fighting.

Sheared sections of granite petals formed the cover behind which Loken and Tarvitz were shelterВ­ing, while in the rubble-choked dome below, hundreds of the survivors were manning the defences. Luna Wolves and Emperor's Children manned barricades made of priceless sculptures and other artworks that had filled the chambers beneath the dome.

Now these monumental sculptures of past rulers lay on their sides with Astartes crouched behind them.

'How much longer do you think we can hold?' asked Loken.

'We'll stay until it's over,’ said Tarvitz. 'You said so yourself, every second we survive, the chance grows that the Emperor hears of this and sends the other Legions to bring Horus to justice,’

'If Garro makes it,’ said Loken. 'He could be dead already, or lost in the warp,’

'Perhaps, but I have to hope that Nathaniel made it out,’ said Tarvitz. 'Our job is to hold them off for as long as we can,’

That's what worries me. This probably all started when Angron slipped the leash, but the Warmaster could have just pulled his Legions out and bombed this city into dust. He would have lost some of them, but even so… this planet should have been dead a long time ago,’

Tarvitz smiled. 'Four primarchs, Garviel. That's your answer. Four warriors not given to backing down. Who would be the first to leave? Angron? Mortarion? If Eidolon's leading the Emperor's ChilВ­dren then he's got a lot to prove alongside the primarchs, and I have never known Horus show weakness, not when his brother primarchs might

see it,’

'No,' agreed Loken. 'The Warmaster does not back down from a battle once he's committed,’

Then they'll have to kill us all,’ said Tarvitz.

'Yes, they will,’ said Loken grimly.

The vox-beads in both their helmets chimed and Torgaddon's voice sounded.

'Garvi, Saul!' said Torgaddon. 'I've got reports that the World Eaters are massing. We can hear them chanting, so they'll be coming soon. I've rein­forced the eastern barricades, but we need every man down here,’

'I'll pull my men back from the gallery dome,’ voxed Tarvitz. 'I'll send Garviel to join you,’

'Where are you going?' asked Loken.

'I'm going to make sure the west and north are still covered and to get some guns on the chapel too,’ said Tarvitz, pointing through the ruins of

the dome to the strange organic shape of the Warsingers' Chapel adjoining the palace comВ­plex.

The survivors had instinctively avoided the chapel and few of them had even seen inside it. Its very walls were redolent of the corruption that had conВ­sumed the soul of the Choral City.

'I'll take the chapel and Lucius can take the ground level,’ continued Tarvitz, turning back to Loken. 'I swear that sometimes I think Lucius is actually enjoying this,’

'A little too much, if you ask me,’ replied Loken. 'You need to keep an eye on him,’

A familiar dull explosion sounded and a tower of rubble and smoke burst from the Choral City's torВ­tured cityscape to the north of the palace.

Amazing,’ said Tarvitz, 'that there are any Death Guard left alive over there,’

'Death Guard are tough to kill,’ replied Loken, heading for the makeshift ladder that led down to the remains of the gallery dome.

Despite his words, he knew that it really was amazing. Mortarion, never one to do things with finesse, had simply landed one of his fleet's largest orbital landers on the edge of the western trenches and saturated the defences with turret fire while his Death Guard deployed.

That had been the last anyone had heard of the Death Guard in the Choral City.

Though from the haphazardly aimed artillery shells that landed daily in the traitors' camps, it was

clear that some loyal Death Guard still resisted Mortarion's efforts to exterminate them.

'I only hope we live as long,' said Tarvitz. We're running low on supplies and ammunition. Soon we'll start running low on Astartes,’

'As long as one is alive, captain, we'll fight,' promised Loken. 'Horus picked some unfortunate enemies in you and me. We'll make him regret ever taking us on.'

'Then we'll speak again after Angron's been sent scurrying,’ said Tarvitz.

'Until then.'

Loken dropped down into the dome, leaving Tarvitz alone for a moment to look across the blasted city. How long had it been since he had been surrounded by anything other than the nightВ­marish place the Choral City had become? Two months? Three?

Ashen skies and smouldering ruins surrounded the palace for as far as the eye could see in all direcВ­tions, the city resembling the kind of hell the Isstvanians themselves might once have believed in.

Tarvitz shook the thought from his mind.

'There are no hells, no gods, no eternal rewards or punishments,’ he told himself.

Lucius could hear the killing. He could read die sound of it as though it were written down before him like sheet music. He knew the difference between the war-cries of a World Eater and those of

a Son of Horus, and the variance between the tonal quality of a volley of bolter fire launched to support an attack or to defend an obstacle.

The chapel Saul had tasked him widi defending was a strange place to be the site of the Great CruВ­sade's last stand. Not so long ago it had been the nerve centre of an enemy regime, but now its makeshift defences were the only thing holding off the far superior traitor forces.

'Sounds like a nasty one,’ said Brother Solathen of Squad Nasicae, hunched down by the sill of the chapel window. 'They might break through,’

'Our friend Loken can handle fhem,’ sneered Lucius. Angron wants to get some more kills. That's all he wants. Listen? Can you hear that?'

Solathen cocked his head as he listened. Astartes hearing, like most of their senses, was finely honed, but Solathen didn't seem to recognise Lucius's point. 'Hear what, captain?'

'Chainaxes. But they're not cutting into ceramite or other chainblades; they're cutting into stone and steel. The World Eaters can't get to grips with the Sons of Horus over there, so they're trying to hack through the barricades,’

Solathen nodded and said, 'Captain Tarvitz knows what he's doing. The World Eaters only know one way to fight. We can use that to our advantage,’

Lucius frowned at Solathen's praise of Saul Tarvitz, aggrieved mat his own contributions to the defences appeared to have been overlooked. Hadn't

he killed Vardus Praal? Hadn't he managed to get his men to safety when the vims bombs and the firestorm had hit?

He turned his bitter expression away and stared through the chapel window across the plaza still stained dark with charred ruins. Amazingly the chapel window was still intact, although its panes had been distorted by the heat of the firestorm, bulging and discoloured with vein-like streaks that reminded Lucius of an enormous insectoid eye.

The chapel itself was more bizarre inside than out, constructed from curved blocks of green stone in looming biological shapes that looked as though a cloud of noxious-looking fumes had suddenly petrified as it billowed upwards. The altar was a great spreading membrane of paler purple stone, like a complex internal organ opened up and pinned for study against the far wall.

The World Eaters aren't the ones you should be worried about, brother,’ continued Lucius idly. 'It's us.' 'Us, captain?'

'The Emperor's Children,’ said Lucius. 'You know how our Legion fights. They're the dangerous ones

out there,’

Most of the surviving loyalist Emperor's Children were holding the chapel. Tarvitz had taken a force to cover the nearest gate, but several squads were arrayed among the odd organ-like protrusions on the floor below. Squad Nasicae had only four memВ­bers left, including Lucius himself, and they headed

the assault element of the survivors' force alone with Squads Quemondil and Raetherin.

Tarvitz had deployed Sergeant Kaitheron on the roof of the chapel with his support squad as well as the majority of the Emperor's Children's remaining heavy weapons. Astartes from the tactical squads were at the chapel windows or in cover further inside. The rest of Lucius's troops were stationed in cover outside the chapel, among the barricades of fallen stone slabs they had set up in the early days of the siege.

Two thousand Space Marines, enough for an entire battle zone of the Great Crusade, were defending a single approach to the palace with the Warsingers' Chapel as the lynchpin of their line

Movement caught Lucius's eye and he peered through the distorted window into the blackened buildings across from him. There! A glimpse of gold.

He smiled, knowing full well how the Emperor's Children fought.

'Contact!' he announced to the rest of his force. Third block west, second floor,’

'On it,’ replied Sergeant Kaitheron, a no-nonsense weapons officer who treated war as a mathematical problem to be solved with angles and weight of fire. Lucius heard the squads moving on the roof, train­ing weapons on the area he had indicated.

'West front, make ready!' ordered Lucius. Several of the tactical squads hurried into firing positions along Lucius's side of the chapel.

The tension was delicious, and Lucius felt a surge of ecstatic sensation crawling along his veins as he heard the song of death building in his blood. A raw, toe-to-toe conflict meant opportunities to exerВ­cise perfection in war, but to make it truly memorable it needed these moments of feverish anticipation when the full weight of potential death and glory surged around his body.

'Got them,’ called Kaitheron from the chapel roof. 'Emperor's Children. Major force over several floors. Armour too. Land Raiders and Predators. Lascannon, to the fore! Heavy bolters, cover the open ground mid-range and overlap!'

'Eidolon,’ said Lucius.

Lucius could see them now, hundreds of Astartes in the purple and gold of the Legion he idolised, gathering in the dead eyes of ruined structures.

'They'll get the support into position first,’ said Lucius. 'Then they'll use the Land Raiders to bring the troops in. Mid– to close-range the infantry will move in. Hold your fire until then,’

Tracks rumbled as the Land Raiders, resplendent with gilded eagle's wings and frescoes of war on their armour-plated sides, ground through the shatВ­tered ruins of the Choral City. Each was full of Emperor's Children, the galaxy's elite, primed by Eidolon and Fulgrim to treat the men they had once called brothers as foes worthy only of exterВ­mination.

To Eidolon, the survivors of the first wave were ignorant and mindless, deserving only death, but

they had reckoned without Lucius. He licked his lips at the thought of once again facing the warriors of his Legion; warriors worthy of the name. Ene­mies he could respect. Or earn the respect of…

Lucius could practically see the enemy squads deploying with such rapid confidence that they looked more like players in a complex parade-ground move than soldiers at war.

He could taste the moment when the battle would really begin.

He wanted it right there and then, but he also knew how much more delicious the taste of battle was when the timing was perfect.

Windows shattered as fire from the tanks ripped through the chapel, kicking up shards of marble and glass.

'Hold!' ordered Lucius. Despite everything, his Astartes were still Emperor's Children and they would not break ranks like undisciplined World Eaters.

He risked a glance through the splintered glass to see the Land Raiders churning up the marble of the plaza. Predator battle tanks followed them, . acting as mobile gun platforms that blew great shuddering chunks from the chapel's battlements. Lascannon fire streaked back and forth, Kaitheron's men attempting to cripple the advancВ­ing vehicles and the Land Raiders' sponson-mounted weapons trying to pick off the Astartes on the roof.

A Predator tank slewed to a halt as its track was blown off and another vehicle burst into multiВ­coloured flames. Purple-armoured bodies tumbled past the window; corpses served as an appetiser to the great feast of death.

Lucius drew his sword, feeling the music build inside him until he felt he could no longer contain it. The familiar hum of his sword's energy field became part of the rhythm and he felt himself slipВ­ping into the duellist's dance, the weaving stream of savagery he had perfected over centuries of killing. How many men were in the assault? Certainly a large chunk of Eidolon's command.

Lucius had fewer men, but this battle was all about winning glory and spectacle.

A tank round shot through a window and burst against the ceiling, showering them in fragments and smoke.

Lucius saw streaks of bolter fire from the palace entrance – Tarvitz was drawing Eidolon in and Eidolon had no choice but to dance to his tune. He heard a musical clang and saw the assault ramps of the Land Raiders slam open and Lucius glimpsed the close-packed armoured bodies within.

'Go!' he yelled and the jump packs of the assault units opened up behind him, catapulting the warВ­riors into battle. Lucius followed in their wake, vaulting through the chapel window. Squad Nasi-cae came after him and the rest of his warriors followed in turn.

Battle: the dance of war. Lucius knew that against an enemy like Eidolon, there would be no time for anything but the most intense applicaВ­tions of his martial perfection. His consciousness shifted and everything was snapped into wonВ­drous focus, every colour becoming bright and dazzling and every sound blaring and discordant along his nerves.

The duellist's dance took him into the enemy as battle erupted in all its perfectly marshalled chaos around him. Heavy fire streaked down from the roof and Land Raiders twisted on their tracks to bring their guns to bear on the Emperor's Children charging from the chapel.

The Space Marines outside the chapel charged at the same instant, and Eidolon's force was attacked from two sides at once.

Lucius ducked blades and bolts, his sword lashВ­ing like a serpent's tongue. Eidolon's force reeled. Squad Quelmondil battled ferociously with the enemy warriors emerging from the nearest Land Raider. He danced past them, savage joy kicking in his heart and he rolled under a spray of bolter fire to come up and stab his blade through the abdomen of an enemy sergeant.

Death was an end in itself, expressing Lucius's superiority through the lives he took, but he had a higher purpose. He knew what he had to do, and his strangely distorted senses sought out the glint of gold or the flutter of a banner, anything indicating the presence of one of Fulgrim's chosen.

Then he saw it; armour trimmed in black instead of gold, a helmet worked into a stern, grimacing skull: Chaplain Charmosian.

The black-armoured warrior stood proud of the top hatch of a Land Raider, directing the battle with sharp chops of his eagle-winged crozius. Lucius grinned manically, setting off through the battle to face Charmosian and slay him in a fight worthy of the Legion's epics.

'Charmosian!' he yelled, his voice sounding like the most vibrant music imaginable. 'Keeper of the Will! I am Lucius, once your brother, now your

nemesis!'

Charmosian turned his skull helmet towards Lucius and said, 'I know who you are!'

The chaplain clambered from the hatch and stood on top of the Land Raider, daring Lucius to approach him. Charmosian was a battlefield leader and to fulfil that role he needed the respect of the Legion, respect that could only be earned fighting from the front.

He would be a worthy foe, but that wasn't why Lucius had sought him out.

Lucius leapt onto the Land Raider's track mountВ­ing and charged up its glacis until he was face to face with Charmosian. Bolter fire flew in all direcВ­tions, but it was irrelevant.

This was the only battle in Lucius's mind.

'We taught you too much pride,’ said Char­mosian, bringing his lethal crozius around in a strike designed to crush Lucius's chest. He brought

his blade up to deflect the crozius, and the dance entered a new and urgent phase. Charmosian was good, one of the Legion's best, but Lucius had spent many years training for a fight such as this.

The chaplain's crozius was too heavy to block full-on, so the swordsman let it slide from his blade as Charmosian swung at him time and time again, frusВ­trating him into putting more strength into his blows. A little longer. A few more moments, and Lucius would have his chance.

He loved the way Charmosian hated him, feeling it as something bright and refreshing.

Lucius could read the pattern of Charmosian's attacks and laughed as he saw the clumsy intent written over every blow. Charmosian wanted to kill Lucius with one almighty stroke, but his crozius rose too far, held too long inert as the chaplain gathered his strength.

Lucius lunged, his sword sweeping out in a high cut that slashed through the chaplain's upraised arms. The crozius tumbled to the ground and CharВ­mosian roared in pain as his arms from the elbows down fell with it.

The battle raged around the scene and Lucius let the noise and spectacle of it fill his over-stimulated senses. The battle was around him, and his victory was all that mattered.

You know who I am,’ said Lucius. 'Your last thought is of defeat,’

Charmosian tried to speak but before the words were out Lucius spun his sword in a wide arc and

Charmosian's head was sliced neatly from his shoulders.

Crimson sprayed across the gold of the Land Raider's hull. Lucius caught the head as it spun through the air and held it high so the whole batВ­tlefield could see it.

Around him, thousands of the Emperor's ChilВ­dren fought to the death as Eidolon's force, hit from two sides, reeled against the palace defences and fell back. Tarvitz led the counter-strike and Eidolon's attack was melting away.

He laughed as he saw Eidolon's command tank, a Land Raider festooned with victory banners, rise up over a knot of rubble as it retteated from the fighting.

The loyalists had won this battle, but Lucius found that he didn't care.

He had won his own battle, and pulling CharВ­mosian's head from the skull faced helmet and throwing it aside, he knew he had what he needed to ensure that the song of death kept playing for him.

The Warsingers' Chapel was quiet. Hundreds of new bodies lay around it, purple and gold armour scorched and split, runnels of blood gathering between the stained marble tiles. In some places they lay alongside the blackened armour of the World Eaters who had died in the initial assaults on the Choral City.

The palace entrance was heavily barricaded and in the closest dome of the palace, the few

apothecaries in the loyalist force were patching up their wounded.

Tarvitz saw Lucius cleaning his sword, alternating between wiping the blade and using its tip to carve new scars on his. face. A skull-faced helmet sat beside him.

'Is that really necessary?' asked Tarvitz.

Lucius looked up and said, 'I want to remember killing Charmosian.'

Tarvitz knew he should discipline the swordsВ­man, reprimand him for practices that might be considered barbaric and tribal, but here, amid this betrayal and death, such concerns seemed ridicuВ­lously petty.

He squatted on the ground next to Lucius, his limbs aching and his armour scarred and dented from the latest battle at the entrance to the palace

'Fair enough,’ he said, jerking his thumb in the direction of the enemy. 'I saw you kill him. It was a fine strike.'

'Fine?' said Lucius. 'It was better than fine. It was art. You never were much for finesse, Saul, so I'm not surprised you didn't appreciate it,’

Lucius smiled as he spoke, but Tarvitz saw a very real flash of annoyance cross the swordsman's feaВ­tures, a glimpse of hurt pride that he did not like the look of.

Any more movement?' he asked, changing the subject.

'No,’ said Lucius. 'Eidolon won't come back before he's regrouped,’

'Keep watching,' ordered Tarvitz. 'Eidolon could catch us unawares while our guard's down.'

'He won't breach us,' promised Lucius, 'not while I'm here.'

'He doesn't have to,' said Tarvitz, wanting to make sure Lucius understood the reality of their position. 'Every time he attacks, we lose more warriors. If he strikes fast and pulls out, we'll be whittled down until we can't hold everywhere at once. The ambush from the temple cost him more than he'd like, but he still took too many of us down.'

'We saw him off though,’ said Lucius.

'Yes,' agreed Tarvitz, 'but it was a close run thing, so I'll send a squad to help keep the watch,’

'So you don't trust me to keep watch now, is that it?'

Tarvitz was surprised at the venom in Lucius's voice and said, 'No, that's not it at all. All I want is to make sure that you have enough warriors here to fend off another attack. Anyway, I need to attend to the western defences,’

'Yes, off you go and lead the big fight, you're the hero,’ snapped Lucius.

'We will win this,’ said Tarvitz, placing his hand on the swordsman's shoulder.

Yes,’ said Lucius, 'we will. One way or another,’

Lucius watched Tarvitz go, feeling his anger at his assumption of command. Lucius had been the one earmarked for promotion and greatness, not Tarvitz. How could his own glorious

accomplishments have been overshadowed by the plodding leadership of Saul Tarvitz? All the glories that he had earned in the crucible of combat were forgotten and he felt his bitterness rise up in a choking wave in his gullet.

He had felt a moment's guilt as he had formed his plan, but remembering Tarvitz's patronising condeВ­scension, he felt that guilt vanish like snow in the sunshine.

The temple was quiet and Lucius checked to make sure that he was alone, moving to sit on one of the outcroppings of smooth grey-green stone and lifting Charmosian's helmet.

He peered into the bloodstained helmet until he saw the glint of silver, and then reached in and pulled out the small metallic scrap that was CharВ­mosian's helmet communicator.

Once again he checked to see that he was alone before speaking into it.

'Commander Eidolon?' he said, his frustration growing as he received no answer.

'Eidolon, this is Lucius,’ he said. 'Charmosian is dead,’

There was a brief crackle of static, and then, 'Lucius,’

He smiled as he recognised Eidolon's voice. As one of the senior officers among the Emperor's Children, Charmosian had been in direct contact with Eidolon, and, as Lucius had hoped, the channel had still been open when the chaplain had died.

'Commander!' said Lucius, his voice full amuse­ment. 'It is good to hear your voice,’

'I have no interest in listening to your taunts, Lucius,’ snarled Eidolon. 'You must know we will kill you all eventually,’

'Indeed you will,’ agreed Lucius, 'but it will take a very long time. A great many Emperor's Children will die before the palace falls. Sons of Horus and World Eaters, too. And Terra knows how many of Mortarion's Death Guard have died already in the trenches. You will suffer for this, Eidolon. The War-master's whole force will suffer. By the time the other Legions get here he may have lost too many on Isstvan III to win through,’

'Keep telling yourself that, Lucius, if it makes it easier,’

'No, commander,’ he said. *You misunderstand me. I am saying that I wish to make a deal with you,’

'A deal?' asked Eidolon. 'What kind of deal?'

Lucius's scars tightened as he smiled. 'I will give you Tarvitz and the Precentor's Palace,’

FIFTEEN

No shortage of wonders

Old friends

Perfect failure

The strategium was dimly lit, the only illuminaВ­tion coming from the flickering pict screens gathered like supplicants around the Warmaster's throne and a handful of torches that burned low with a fragrant aroma of sandalwood. The back wall of the strategium had been removed during the fighting on Isstvan III, revealing a fully fashВ­ioned temple adjoining the Vengeful Spirit's bridge.

The Warmaster sat alone. None dared disturb his bitter reveries as he sat brooding on the conflict rag­ing below. What should have been a massacre had turned into a war – a war he could ill afford the time to wage.

Despite his brave words to his brother primarchs, the battle on Isstvan HI worried him. Not for any fear that his warriors would lose, but for the fact

that they were engaged at all. The virus bombing should have killed every one of those he believed would not support him in his campaign to topple the Emperor from the Golden Throne of Terra.

Instead, the first cracks had appeared in what should have been a faultless plan.

Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children had taken a warning to the surface…

And the Eisenstein…

He remembered Maloghurst's fear as he had come to tell him of the debacle with the rememВ­brancers, the fear that the Warmaster's wrath would prove his undoing.

Maloghurst had limped towards the throne with his hooded head cast down.

'What is it Maloghurst?' Horus had demanded.

'They are gone,' said Maloghurst. 'Sindermann, Oliton and Keeler.'

What do you mean?'

'They are not amongst the dead in the Audience Chamber,’ explained Maloghurst. 'I checked every corpse myself

"You say they are gone?' asked the Warmaster at last. 'That implies you know where they have gone. Is that the case?'

'I believe so, my lord,' nodded Maloghurst. 'It appears they boarded a Thunderhawk and flew to the Eisenstein!

They stole a Thunderhawk,’ repeated Horus. 'We are going to have to review our security procedures regarding these new craft. First Saul Tarvitz and

now these remembrancers; it seems anyone can steal one of our ships with impunity,’

They did not steal it on their own,’ explained Maloghurst. 'They had help,’ 'Help? From whom?'

'I believe it was Iacton Qruze. There was a strug­gle and Maggard was killed,’

'Iacton Qruze?' laughed Horus mirthlessly. 'We have seen no shortage of wonders, but perhaps this is the greatest of them. The Half-heard growing a conscience,’

'I have failed in this, Warmaster,’

'It is not a question of failure, Maloghurst! MisВ­takes like this should never occur. More and more of my efforts are distracted from this battle. Tell me, where is the Eisenstein now?'

'It attempted to break through our blockade to reach the system jump point,’

'You say "attempted",' noted Horus. 'It did not succeed?'

Maloghurst paused before answering. 'Several of our ships intercepted the Eisenstein and heavily damaged it,’

'But they did not destroy it?'

'No, my lord, before they could do so, the Eisen-stein's commander made an emergency jump into the warp, but the ship was so badly damaged that we do not believe it could survive such a transla­tion,’

'If it does, then the whole timetable of my designs will be disrupted,’

'The warp is dark, Warmaster. It is unlikely that-'

'Do not be so sure of yourself, Maloghurst,’

warned Horus. The Isstvan V phase is critical to our

success and if the Eisenstein carries word of our

plans to Terra, then all may be lost.'

'Perhaps, Warmaster, if we were to withdraw from the Choral City and blockade the planet, we could ensure that the Isstvan V phase proceeds as planned,’

'I am the Warmaster and I do not back down from a battle!' shouted Horus. 'There are goals to be won in the Choral City that you cannot compre­hend,’

Horus was shaken from his memories by the chiming of the communications array fitted into the arm of his throne. This is the Warmaster,’

A holomat installed beneath the floor projected a large square plane on which swirled an image, high above the Warmaster's temple. The image resolved into the face of Lord Commander Eidolon, eviВ­dently inside his command Land Raider. The sound of distant explosions washed through the static.

Warmaster,’ said Eidolon. 'I bring news that I feel you should hear,’

'Tell me,’ said Horus, 'and it had better be good news,’ 'Oh, it is, my lord,’ said Eidolon. 'Well, don't drag this out, Eidolon,’ warned Horus. 'Tell me!' We have an ally inside the palace,’

'An ally? Who?' 'Lucius,’

The aftermath of a battle was the worst part.

An Astartes warrior was used to the tension of waiting for an attack to come, and even the din and pain of battle itself. But Loken never wished for a time without war more than when he saw what was left after the battle had finished. He didn't experiВ­ence fear or despair in the manner of a mortal man, but he felt sorrow and guilt as they did.

Angron's latest attack had been one of the fiercest yet, the primarch himself leading it, charging through the ruins of the palace dome towards Loken's defences. Thousands of blood covered World Eaters had followed him and many of those warriors still lay where they had fallen.

Once this place had been part of the palace, a handsome garden with summer-houses, ornamenВ­tal lakes and a roof that opened up to the sun. Now it was a rubble-strewn ruin, its roof collapsed and only an incongruous decorated post or the splinВ­tered remains of an ornamental bridge remaining of its finery.

The bodies of the World Eaters were concenВ­trated on the forward barricade, a line of heaped rubble and metal spikes constructed by the Luna Wolves. Angron had attacked it in force and Tor-gaddon had relinquished it, letting the World Eaters die for it before his Astartes fell back to the defences at the entrance of the palace's central

dome. The ruse had worked and the World Eaters had been strung out as they charged at Loken's position. Many had died to the guns Tarvitz had stationed above the barricades, and by the time Loken's sword had left its sheath it was only momentum that kept the World Eaters fighting –victory was beyond them.

Luna Wolves were mixed in with the World Eaters' dead, warriors Loken had known for years. Although the sounds of battle had faded, Loken fancied he could still hear echoes of the fighting, chainblades ripping through armour and volleys of bolter rounds splitting the air.

'It was a close run thing, Garviel,’ said a voice from behind Loken, 'but we did it,’

Loken glanced round to see Saul Tarvitz emerging from the central dome. Loken smiled as he saw his friend and battle-brother, a man who had come a long way from the line officer he had been back on Murder to command the survivors of Horus's treachery.

'Angron will be back,’ said Loken.

'Their ruse failed, though,’ said Tarvitz.

They don't need to break in, Saul,’ said Loken. 'Horus will whittle us down until there's no one left. Then Eidolon and Angron can just roll over us,’

'Not forgetting the Warmaster's Sons of Horus,’ said Tarvitz.

Loken shrugged. There's no need for them to get involved yet. Eidolon wants the glory and the World Eaters are hungry for blood. The Warmaster

will happily let the other Legions wear us down before they strike,’ 'That's changed,’ said Tarvitz. What do you mean?'

'I've just had word from Lucius,’ explained Tarvitz. 'He tells me that his communications specialists have broken the Sons of Horus communiques. Some old friends of yours are coming down from the Vengeful Spirit to lead the Legion,’

Loken turned from the battlefield, suddenly interВ­ested. 'Who?'

'Ezekyle Abaddon and Horus Aximand,’ said Tarvitz. 'Apparently they are to bring the Warmaster's own wrath down upon the city. The Sons of Horus will be playing their hand soon enough, I think,’

Abaddon and Aximand, the arch-traitors, men Loken had admired for so long and the heart of the Mournival. Both warriors stood at Horus's right hand and possibilities flashed through Loken's mind. Deprived of the last of its Mourni­val, a crucial part of the Legion would die and it would start unravelling without such inspira­tional figureheads. 'Saul, are you certain?' asked Loken urgently. 'As sure as I can be, but Lucius seemed pretty excited by the news,’

'Did this intercept say where they would be landВ­ing?' demanded Loken.

'It did,’ smiled Lucius. The Mackaran Basilica, just beyond the palace. It's a big temple with a spire in the shape of a trident,’

'I have to find Tank,’

'He is with Nero Vipus, helping Vaddon with the wounded.'

'Thank you for bringing me this news, Saul,’ said Loken with a cruel smile. 'This changes everything.'

Lucius peered past the bullet-riddled pillar, scanВ­ning through the darkness of one of the many battlefields scattered throughout the ruins of the palace. Bodies, bolters and chainaxes lay on the shattered tiles where they had been dropped and many of the bodies were still locked in their last, fatal combat.

It had not been difficult for Lucius to slip out of the palace. The biggest danger had been the snipers of the recon squads the Warmaster's forces had deployed among the ruins. Lucius had spied moveВ­ment in the ruined buildings several times and had taken cover in shell craters or behind heaps of corpses.

Squirming through the filth and darkness like an animal – it had been humiliating, though the sights, sounds and smells of these battlefields still filled his senses in an arousing way. He stepped warily into the courtyard. The bodies that lay every­where had been butchered, hacked apart with chainblades or battered to death with fists.

It was an ugly spectacle, yet he relished the image of how intense their deaths must have been.

'No artistry,’ he said to himself as a gold and pur­ple armoured figure detached from the shadows. A

score of warriors followed him and Lucius smiled as he recognised Lord Commander Eidolon.

'Lord commander,’ said Lucius, 'it is a pleasure to stand before you once more,’

'Damn your blandishments!' spat Eidolon. 'You are a traitor twice over,’

That's as maybe,’ said Lucius, slouching on a fallen pillar of black marble, 'but I am here to give you what you want,’

'Ha!' scoffed Eidolon. What can you give us, traiВ­tor?'

Victory,’ said Lucius.

Victory?' laughed Eidolon. You think we need your help to give us that? We have you in a vice! One by one, death by death, victory will be ours!'

'And how many warriors will you lose to achieve it?' retorted Lucius. 'How many of Ful-grim's chosen are you willing to throw into a battle that should never have been fought at all? You can end this right now, right here, and keep all your Astartes alive for the real battle! When the Emperor sends his reply to Horus's treachery you will need every single one of your battle-brothers and you know it,’

'And what would be your price for this invaluable help?' asked Eidolon.

'Simple,’ said Lucius. 'I want to rejoin the Legion,’

Eidolon laughed in his face and Lucius felt the

song of death surge painfully through his body,

but .he forced its killing music back down

inside him.

Are you serious, Lucius?' demanded Eidolon. 'What makes you think we want you back?'

'You need someone like me, Eidolon. I want to be part of a Legion that respects my skills and ambiВ­tion. I am not content to stay a captain for the rest of my life like that wretch Tarvitz. I will be at Ful-grim's side where I belong.'

'Tarvitz,’ spat Eidolon. 'Does he still live?'

'He lives,' nodded Lucius, 'although I will gladly kill him for you. The glory of this battle should be mine, yet he lords over us all as if he is one of the chosen.'

Lucius felt his bitterness rise and fought to maintain his composure. 'He was once happy to trudge alongВ­side his warriors and leave better men to the glory, but he has chosen this batde to discover his ambition. It's thanks to him that I'm down here at all.'

'You ask for a great deal of trust, Lucius,’ said Eidolon.

'I do, but think what I can give you: the palace, Tarvitz,’

"We will have these things anyway,’

*We are a proud Legion, lord commander, but we never send our brothers to their deaths to prove a point,’

'We follow the orders of the Warmaster in all things,’ replied Eidolon guardedly.

'Indeed,’ noted Lucius, 'but what if I said I can give you a victory so sudden it will be yours and yours alone. The World Eaters and the Sons of Horus will only flounder in your wake,’

Lucius could see he had caught Eidolon's interest and suppressed a smile. Now all he had to was reel him in.

'Speak,’ commanded Eidolon.

'I'm coming with you, Garvi,’ said Nero Vipus, walking into the only dome of the palace not to be ruined by the siege. It had once been an audi­torium with a stage and rows of gilded seats, where the music of creation had once played to the Choral City's elite, but now it was moulder­ing and dark.

Loken rose from his battle meditation, seeing Vipus standing before him and said, 'I knew you would wish to come, but this is something Tarik and I have to do alone,’

'Alone?' said Vipus. That's madness. Ezekyle and Little Horus are the best soldiers the Legion has ever had. You can't go up against them alone,’

Loken placed his hand on his friend's shoulder and said, 'The palace will fall soon enough with or without Tarik and me. Saul Tarvitz has done unimaginable things in keeping us all alive as long as he has, but ultimately the palace will fall,’

Then what's the point of throwing your life away hunting down Ezekyle and Little Horus?' demanded Vipus.

We only have one goal on Isstvan III, Nero, and that's to hurt the Warmaster. If we can kill the last of the Mournival then the Warmaster's plans suffer. Nothing else matters,’

'You said we were supposed to be holding die traitors here while the Emperor sent the other Legions to save us. Is that not true any more? Are we on our own?'

Loken shook his head and retrieved his sword from where he had propped it against the wall. 'I don't know, Nero. Maybe the Emperor has sent the Legions to rescue us, maybe he hasn't, but we have to assume that we're on our own. I'm not going to fight with nothing but blind hope to keep me going. I'm going to make a stand.'

'And that's what I want to do,’ said Vipus, 'at my friend's side.'

'No, you need to stay here,’ said Loken. 'Your stand must be made here. Every minute you keep the traitors here is another minute for the Emperor to bring the Warmaster to justice. This killing is Mournival business, Nero. Do you understand?'

'Frankly, no,’ said Nero, 'but I will do as you ask and stay here,’

Loken smiled. 'Don't mourn me yet, Nero. Tarik and I may yet prevail,’

You'd better,’ said Vipus. 'The Luna Wolves need you,’

Loken felt humbled by Nero's words and embraced his oldest friend. He dearly wished he could tell him that there was yet hope and that he expected to return alive from this mission.

'Garviel,’ said a familiar voice from the entrance to the dome.

Loken and Nero released each other from their brotherly embrace and saw Saul Tarvitz, framed in the wan light of the auditorium's entrance. 'Saul,’ said Loken.

'It's time,’ said Tarvitz. 'We're ready to create the diversion you requested,’

Loken nodded and smiled at the two brave warriors, men he had fought through hell for and would do so a hundred times more. The honour they did him just by being his friends made his chest swell with pride. 'Captain Loken,’ said Tarvitz formally. 'It may be that this is the last time we will meet,’

'I do not think,’ replied Loken, 'there is any "maybe" about it,’ Then I will wish you all speed, Garviel,’ 'All speed, Saul,’ said Loken, offering his hand to Tarvitz. 'For the Emperor,’ 'For the Emperor,’ echoed Tarvitz. With his farewells said, Loken made his way from the auditorium, leaving Tarvitz and Vipus to organ­ise the defences for the next attack.

Surviving tactical maps indicated that the Mackaran Basilica lay to the north of their position and as he made his way towards the point he had selected as the best place to leave the palace he found Torgaddon waiting for him. You saw Vipus?' asked Torgaddon. 'I did,’ nodded Loken. 'He wanted to come with us,’ Torgaddon shook his head. 'This is Mournival business,’ That's what I told him,’

Both warriors took deep breaths as the enormity of what they were about to attempt swept over them once again.

'Ready?' asked Loken.

'No,’ said Torgaddon. 'You?'

'No.'

Torgaddon chuckled as he turned to the tunnel that led from the palace.

'Aren't we a pair?' he said and Loken followed him into the darkness.

For good or ill, the final battle for Isstvan III was upon them.

'You dare return to me in failure?' bellowed Horus, and the bridge of the Vengeful Spirit shook with the fury of his voice. His face twisted in anger at the wondrous figure standing before him, strugВ­gling to comprehend the scale of this latest setback.

'Do you even understand what I am trying to do here?' raged Horus. 'What I have started at Isstvan will consume the whole galaxy, and if it is flawed from the outset then the Emperor will break us!'

Fulgrim appeared uncowed by his anger, his brother's features betraying an insouciance quite out of character for the primarch of the Emperor's Children. Though he had but recently arrived on his flagship, Pride of the Emperor, Fulgrim looked as magnificent as ever.

His exquisite armour was a work of art in purple and gold, bearing many new embellishments and

finery with a flowing, fur-lined cape swathing his body. More than ever, Horus thought Fulgrim looked less like a warrior and more like a rake or libertine. His brother's long white hair was pulled back in an elaborate pattern of plaits and his pale cheeks were lightly marked with what appeared to be the beginnings of tattoos.

'Ferrus Manus is a dull fool who would not listen to reason,’ said Fulgrim. 'Even the mention of the Mechanicum's pledge did not-'

You swore to me that you could sway him! The Iron Hands were essential to my plans. I planned Isstvan III with your assurance that Ferrus Manus would join us. Now I find that I have yet another enemy to contend with. A great many of our Astartes will die because of this, Fulgrim,’

'What would you have had me do, Warmaster?' smiled Fulgrim, and Horus wondered where this new, sly mocking tone had come from. 'His will was stronger than I anticipated,’

'Or you simply had an inflated opinion of your own abilities,’

'Would you have me kill our brother, Warmaster?' asked Fulgrim.

'Perhaps I will,’ replied Horus unmoved. 'It would be better than leaving him to roam free to destroy our plans. As it is he could reach the Emperor or one of the other primarchs and bring them all down on our heads before we are ready,’

Then if you are quite finished with me, I shall return to my Legion,’ said Fulgrim, turning away.

Horus felt his choler rise at Fulgrim's infuriating tone and said, 'No, you will not. I have another task for you. I am sending you to Isstvan V. With all that has happened, the Emperor's response is likely to arrive more quickly than anticipated and we must be prepared for it. Take a detail of Emperor's ChilВ­dren to the alien fortresses there and prepare it for the final phase of the Isstvan operation.'

Fulgrim recoiled in disgust. 'You would consign me to a role little better than a castellan, as some prosaic housekeeper making it ready for your grand entrance? Why not send for Perturabo? This kind of thing is more to his liking.'

'Perturabo has his own role to play,' said Horus. 'Even now he prepares to lay waste to his home world in my name. We shall be hearing more of our bitter brother very soon. Have no fear of that.'

'Then give this task to Mortarion. His grimy foot­sloggers will relish such an opportunity to muddy their hands for you!' spat Fulgrim. 'My Legion was the chosen of the Emperor in the years when he still deserved our service. I am the most glorious of his heroes and the right hand of this new Crusade. This is… this is a betrayal of the very principles for which I chose to join you, Horus!'

'Betrayal?' said Horus, his voice low and dangerВ­ous. 'A strong word, Fulgrim. Betrayal is what the Emperor forced upon us when he abandoned the galaxy to pursue his quest for godhood and gave over the conquests of our Crusade to scriveners and bureaucrats. Is that the charge you would level

at me now, to my face, here on the bridge of my own ship?'

Fulgrim took a step back, his anger fading, but his eyes alight with the excitement of the confrontaВ­tion. 'Perhaps I do, Horus. Perhaps someone needs to tell you a few home truths now that your preВ­cious Mournival is no more.'

That sword,’ said Horus, indicating the venom-sheened weapon that hung low at Fulgrim's waist. 'I gave you that blade as a symbol of my trust in you, Fulgrim. We alone know the true power that lies within it. That weapon almost killed me and yet I gave it away. Do you think I would give such a weapon to one I do not trust?'

'No, Warmaster,’ said Fulgrim.

'Exactly. The Isstvan V phase of my plan is the most critical,' said Horus, stoking the dangerous embers of Fulgrim's ego. 'Even more so than what is happening below us. I can entrust it to no other. You must go to Isstvan V, my brother. All depends on its success,’

For a long, frightening moment, violent potential crackled between Horus and the primarch of the Emperor's Children.

Fulgrim laughed and said, 'Now you flatter me, hoping my ego will coerce me into obeying your orders,’

'Is it working?' asked Horus as the tension drained away.

Yes,’ admitted Fulgrim. Very well, the Warmas-ter's will be done. I will go to Isstvan V,’

'Eidolon will stay in command of the Emperor's Children until we join you at Isstvan V,’ said Horus and Fulgrim nodded.

'He will relish the chance to prove himself fur­ther,’ said Fulgrim.

'Now leave me, Fulgrim,’ said Horus, 'You have work to do,’

SIXTEEN

Enemy within

The Eightfold Path

Honour must be satisfied

Apothecary Vaddon fought to save Casto's life. The upper half of the warrior's armour had been removed and his bare torso was disfigured by a gory wound, flaps of skin and chunks of muscle blown aside like the petals of a bloody flower by an exploding bolter round.

'Pressure!' said Vaddon as he flicked over the setВ­tings on his narthecium gauntlet. Scalpels and syringes cycled as Brother Mathridon, an Emperor's Children Astartes who had lost a hand in the earlier fighting and served as Vaddon's assistant, kept presВ­sure on the wound. Casto bucked underneath him, his teeth gritted against.pain that would kill anyone but an Astartes.

Vaddon selected a syringe and pushed it into Casto's neck. The vial mounted on the gauntlet

emptied, pumping Casto's system with stimulants to keep his heart forcing blood around his ruptured organs. Casto shook, nearly snapping the needle.

'Hold him still,' snapped Vaddon.

'Yes,' said a voice behind them. 'Hold him still. It will make it easier to kill him.'

Vaddon's head snapped up and he saw a warrior clad in the armour of an Emperor's Children lord commander. He carried an enormous hammer, purple arcs of energy playing around its massive head. Behind the warrior, Vaddon could see a score of Emperor's Children in purple and gold finery, their armour sheened with lapping powder and oil.

Instantly, he knew that these were no loyalists and felt a cold hand clutch at his chest as he saw that they were undone.

'Who are you?' demanded Vaddon, though he knew the answer already.

'I am your death, traitor!' said Eidolon, swinging his hammer and crushing Vaddon's skull with one blow.

Hundreds of Emperor's Children streamed into the palace from the east, on a tide of fire and blood. They fell upon the wounded first, Eidolon himself butchering those who lay waiting for Vaddon's ministrations, taking particular relish in killing the loyalist Emperor's Children he found there. The warriors of his Chapter swarmed through the palace around him, the defenders discovering to their horror that their flank had somehow been

turned and that more and more of the traitors were pouring into the palace.

Within moments, the last battle had begun. The loyalists turned from their defences and faced the Emperor's Children. Assault Marines' jump packs gunned them across ruined domes to crash into Eidolon's assault units. Heavy weapons troopers and scout snipers amongst the ruined battlements shot down into the enemy, swapping tremendous volleys of fire across the shattered domes.

It was a battle without lines or direction as the fighting spilled into the heart of the Precentor's Palace. Each Astartes became an army of his own as all order broke down and every warrior fought alone against the enemies that surrounded him. Emperor's Children jetbikes screamed insanely through the precincts of the palace and ripped crazed circuits around the domes, spraying fire into the Astartes battling below them.

Dreadnoughts tore up chunks of fallen masonry with their mighty fists and hurled them at the loyВ­alists holding the barricades against which so many of their foes had died only a short while before.

Everything was swirling madness, horror and destruction, with Eidolon at the centre of it, swingВ­ing his hammer and killing all who came near him as he led his perfect warriors deeper into the heart of the defences.

Luc Sedirae, with his blond hair and smirking grin, looked completely out of place among the rusting

industrial spires of the Choral City. Beside him, Serghar Targhost, Captain of the Seventh Company, seemed far more at home, his older, darker skin and heavy fur cloak more in keeping with a murВ­dered world.

Sedirae stood on top of a rusting slab of fallen machinery before thousands of Sons of Horus arrayed for war. War paint was fresh on their breastВ­plates and new banners dedicated to the warrior lodges flapped in the wind.

'Sons of Horus!' bellowed Sedirae, his voice brimВ­ming with the confidence that came to him so easily. 'For too long we have waited for our brother Legions to open the gate for us so we can put the doubters and the feeble-minded to the sword! At last, the hour has come! Lord Commander Eidolon has broken the siege and the time has come to show the Legions how the Sons of Horus fight!'

The warriors cheered and the lodge banners were raised high, displaying the facets of the beliefs underВ­pinning the lodge philosophies. A brazen claw reached down from the sky to crush a world in its fist, a black star shone eight rays of death upon a horde of enemies and a great winged beast with two heads stood resplendent on a mountain of corpses.

Images from beyond, conjured by the words of Davinite priests who could look into the warp, they displayed the Sons of Horus's allegiance to the powers their Warmaster embraced.

The enemy is in disarray,’ shouted Sedirae over the cheering. 'We will fall upon them and sweep

them away. You know your duties, Sons of Horus, and you all know that the paths you have followed have led you towards this day. For here we destroy the last vestiges of the old Crusade, and march towards the future!'

Sedirae's confidence was infectious and he knew they were ready.

Targhost stepped forward and raised his hands. He bore the rank of lodge captain himself, privy to the secrets of the Davinite ways and as much a holy man as a commander. He opened his mouth and unleashed a stream of brutal syllables, guttural and dark, the tongue of Davin wrought into a prayer of victory and blood.

The Sons of Horus answered the prayer, their voices raised in a relentless chant that echoed around the dead spires of the Choral City.

And when the prayers were done, the Sons of Horus marched to war.

Fire stormed around Tarvitz. Emperor's Children TerВ­minators raked the central dome with fire and the sounds of bmtal hand-to-hand combat came from the shattered gallery. Tarvitz ducked and ran as bolter fire kicked up fragments around him, sliding into cover beside Brother Solathen of Squad Nasicae

Solathen and about thirty loyalist Emperor's Children were pinned down behind a great fallen column, a few Luna Wolves among them.

'What in the Emperor's name happened?' shouted Tarvitz. 'How did they get in?'

1 don't know, sir,’ replied Solathen. They came from the east.'

"We should have had some warning,' said Tarvitz. That's Lucius's sector. Have you seen him at all?'

'Lucius?' asked Solathen. 'No, he must have fallen.'

Tarvitz shook his head. 'Not likely. I have to find him.'

"We can't hold out here,’ said Solathen. We have to pull back and we won't be able to wait for you.'

Tarvitz nodded, but knew that he had to try and find Lucius, even if it was just to recover his body. He doubted Lucius could ever really die, but knew that, amid this carnage, anything was possible.

"Very well,’ said Tarvitz. 'Go. Fall back in good order to the inner domes and the temple, there are barricades there. Go! And don't wait for me!'

He put his head briefly over the pillar and fired his bolter, kicking a burst of shots towards Eidolon's Emperor's Children swarming all over the far side of the dome. More covering fire sprayed from his warriors' guns as they began falling back by squads.

The dome between him and his goal was littered with bodies, some of them chewed into unrecogВ­nisable sprays of torn flesh. He waited until his warriors had put enough distance between them and the enemy and broke from cover.

Bolter shots tore up the ground beside him and he rolled into the cover of a fallen pillar, crawling as fast as he could to reach the passageway that led

from the dome and curved around its columned circumference towards the east wing of the PrecenВ­tor's Palace.

Lucius was somewhere in these ruins and Tarvitz had to find him.

Loken ducked and threw himself to the floor, skidВ­ding along the fire-blackened tiles of the plaza. The palace loomed above him, whirling as Loken spun on his back and fired up at the closest World Eater. One shot caught the warrior in the leg and he colВ­lapsed in a roaring heap. Torgaddon leapt upon him, plunging his sword into the traitor's back.

Loken climbed to his feet as more fire stuttered across the plaza. He tried to get a bearing on the enemy among the heaps of the dead and the jagged slabs of marble sticking up from the edges of shell craters, but it was impossible.

The plaza between the chaos of the palace and the dark mass of the city was infested with World Eaters, charging forwards to exploit the breach made by the Emperor's Children.

There's a whole squad out here,’ said Torgaddon, wrenching his sword from the World Eater. We're right in the middle of them,’

Then we keep going,’ said Loken.

Back on his feet, he reloaded his bolter as they hurried through the wreckage and charnel heaps, scanning the darkness for movement. Torgaddon kept close behind him, sweeping his bolter between chunks of tiling or fallen masonry. Fire

snapped around them and the sounds of battle coming from the palace became ever more terrible, the war-cries and explosions tearing through the violent night.

'Down!' yelled Torgaddon as a burst of plasma fire lanced from the darkness. Loken threw himself to the ground as the searing bolt flashed past him and bored a hole in a slab of fallen stone behind him. A dark shape came at him and Loken saw the flash of a blade, bringing his bolter up in an instinctive block. He felt chainblade teeth grinding against the metal of his gun and kicked out at his attacker's groin.

The World Eater pivoted away from the blow easВ­ily, turning to smash Torgaddon to the ground with the butt of his chainaxe. Torgaddon's attack gave Loken a chance to regain his feet and he threw aside the ruined bolter to draw his own sword.

Torgaddon wrestled with another World Eater on the ground, but his friend would have to fend for himself as Loken saw that his opponent was a capВ­tain, and not just any captain, but one of the World Eaters' best.

'Kharn!' said Loken as the warrior attacked.

Kharn paused in his attack and, for the briefest moment, Loken saw the noble warrior he had spo­ken with in the Museum of Conquest, before something else swamped it again – something that twisted Kharn's face with hatred.

That second was enough for Loken, allowing him to dodge back behind a fan of broken stone jutting from the edge of crater. Bullets still carved through

the air and somewhere beyond his sight, TorgadВ­don was fighting his own battle, but Loken could not worry about that now.

'What happened, Kharn?' cried Loken. 'What did they turn you into?'

Kharn screamed an incoherent bellow of rage and leapt towards him with his axe held high. Loken braced his stance and brought his blade up to catch Kharn's axe as it slashed towards him and the two warriors clashed in a desperate battle of strength

'Kharn…' said Loken through gritted teeth as the World Eater forced the chainaxe's whirling teeth towards his face. 'This is not the man I knew! What have you become?'

As their eyes met, Loken saw Kharn's soul and despaired. He saw the warrior who had sworn oaths of brotherhood and pledged himself to the Crusade as he himself had done, the warrior who had seen the terrors and tragedies of the Crusade as well as its victories. And he saw the dark madness that had swamped that in bloodshed and betrayals yet to be enacted.

'I am the Eightfold Path,’ snapped Kharn, his every words punctuated by a froth of blood.

'No!' shouted Loken, pushing the World Eater away. 'It doesn't have to be this way'

'It does,’ said Kharn. 'There is no way off the Path. We must always go further,’

The humanity drained from Kharn's face and Loken knew that the World Eater was truly gone and that only in death would this battle end.

Loken backed away, fending off a flurry of blows from Kharn's axe, until he was forced back against a slab of rubble. His foe's axe buried itself in the stone beside him and Loken slammed the pommel of his sword into Kharn's head. Kharn rode the blow and smashed his forehead into Loken's face, grabbing his sword arm and wrestling him to the ground.

They struggled in the mud like animals, Kharn trying to grind Loken's face into the shattered stone and Loken trying to throw him off. Loken rolled onto his back as he heard the rumble of an engine like an earthquake and the glare of floodlights stabbed out and threw Kharn's outline into silhouВ­ette.

Knowing what was coming, Loken hammered his fist into Kharn's face over and over again, pushing him upright with a hand clasped around his neck. The World Eater struggled in Loken's grip as the light grew stronger and the roaring form of a Land Raider crested the ridge of rubble behind them like a monster rising from the deep.

Loken felt the huge impact as the Land Raider's dozer blade slammed into Kharn, the sharpened prongs at its base punching through the World Eater's chest. He released Kharn's body and rolled to the edge of the crater as the Land Raider rose up, carrying the struggling Kharn with it. The mighty tank crashed back down and Loken pressed his body into the mud as it ground over him, the roarВ­ing of its engine passing inches above him.

Then it was over, the tank rumbled onwards, carВ­rying the impaled World Eater before it like some gory trophy. Tanks were all around him, the Eye of Horus glaring from their armoured hulls, and Loken recognised the livery they were painted in. The Sons of Horus.

For a moment, Loken just stared at the force surgВ­ing towards the palace. Gunfire flared as they drove towards their prize.

A hand reached down and grabbed Loken, dragВ­ging him, battered and bloody, into cover from the guns of the tanks. He looked up and saw Torgad-don, similarly mauled by the encounter with the World Eaters.

Torgaddon nodded in the direction of the Land Raider. 'Was that-?' 'Kharn,’ nodded Loken. 'He's gone,’ 'Dead?'

'Maybe, I don't know,’

Torgaddon looked up at the Sons of Horus speartip driving for the palace. 'I think even Tarvitz might have trouble holding the palace now,’ Then we'll have to hurry,’

'Yes. Stay low and let's keep out of any more trou­ble,’ said Torgaddon, 'unless Abaddon and Little Horus aren't challenging enough on their own,’

'Saul will make them pay for every piece of rub­ble they capture,’ said Loken, pulling himself painfully to his feet. Kharn had hurt him, but not so much that he couldn't fight. 'For his sake, let's make that count for something,’

The two friends forged through the rubble once again, towards the Mackaran Basilica.

Where lay one last chance of a victory on Isstvan III.

The sounds of battle echoed from all around him and Tarvitz hugged the shadows as he made his careful way through the ruins of the east wing of the palace. Squads of Emperor's Children swarmed through the palace grounds, sweeping through the shattered domes and gunfire riddled rooms as they plunged the knife of their attack into the heart of the defences.

Here and there he saw squad markings he recogВ­nised and had to fight the ingrained urge to call out to them. But these warriors were the enemy and there would be no brotherly embrace or comradely welcome were they to discover him.

The very obsessiveness of their attack was workВ­ing in Tarvitz's favour as these warriors possessed the same single mindedness as Eidolon, fixated on the prize of the palace rather than proper battlefield awareness. For once, Eidolon's flaws were working in his favour, thought Tarvitz, as he ghosted through the strobe lit wasteland of the palace.

'You're going to need to tighten up discipline, Eidolon,’ he whispered, 'or someone's going to make you pay'

The eastern sectors he had assigned Lucius and his men to watch over were bombed out ruins, the frescoes burned from the walls by the firestorm,

and the mighty statue gardens pulverised by conВ­stant shelling and the battles that had raged furiously over the past months. To have held out this long was a miracle in itself and Tarvitz was not blind enough to try and fool himself into thinking that it could last much longer.

He saw dozens of bodies and checked every one for a sign that the swordsman had fallen. Each body was a warrior he knew, a warrior who had folВ­lowed him into battle at the palace and trusted that he could lead them to victory. Each set of eyes accused him of their death, but he knew that there was nothing more he could have done.

The further eastward he went the less he encounВ­tered the invading Emperor's Children, their attack pushing into the centre of the Precentor's Palace rather than spreading out to capture its entirety.

Trust Eidolon to go for the glory rather than stanВ­dard battlefield practice.

Give me a hundred Space Marines and I would punВ­ish your arrogance, thought Tarvitz.

Even as the thought occurred to him, a slow smile spread across his face. He had a hundred Space Marines. True, they were engaged in batde, but if any force of warriors could disengage from battle in good order and hand over to a friendly force in the middle of a desperate firefight, it was the Emperor's Children.

He crouched in the shadow of a fallen statue and opened a vox-channel. 'Solathen,’ he hissed. 'Can you hear me?'

Static washed from the vox bead in his ear and he

cursed at the idea of his plan being undone by

something as trivial as a failure of communications.

'I hear you, captain, but we're a little busy right

now!' said Solathen's voice.

'Understood,’ said Tarvitz, 'but I have new orders for you. Disengage from the fight and hand over to the Luna Wolves. Let them take the brunt of the fighting and gather as many warriors as you can rally to you. Then converge on my position,’ 'Sir?'

Take the eastern passages along the servants' wing. That should bring you to me without too much trouble. We have an opportunity to hurt these bastards, Solathen, so I need you to get here with all possible speed!' 'Understood, sir,’ said Solathen, signing off. Tarvitz froze as he heard a voice say, 'It won't do any good, Saul. The Precentor's Palace is as good as lost. Even you should be able to see that,’

He looked up and saw Lucius standing in the cen-tte of the dome in front of him, his shimmering sword in one hand and a shard of broken glass in the other. He raised the glass to his face and sliced its razor edge along his cheek, drawing a line of blood from his skin that dripped to the dome's floor.

'Lucius,’ said Tarvitz, rising to his feet and enter­ing the dome to meet the swordsman. 'I thought you were dead,’

Bright starlight filled the dome and Tarvitz saw it was filled with the corpses of Emperor's Children.

Not traitors, but loyalists and he could see that not one had fallen to a gunshot wound, but had been carved up by a powerful edged weapon. These warВ­riors had been cut apart, and a horrible suspicion began to form in his mind.

'Dead?' laughed Lucius. 'Mel Remember what Loken said to me when I humbled him in the pracВ­tice cages?'

Wary now, Tarvitz nodded. 'He said there was someone out there who could beat you,’

'And do you remember what I told him?'

'Yes,’ replied Tarvitz, sliding his hand to the hilt of his broadsword. 'You said, "Not in this lifetime," didn't you?'

'You have a good memory,’ said Lucius, dropping the bloody shard of glass to the floor.

'Who's that latest scar for?' asked Tarvitz.

Lucius smiled, though there was no warmth to it.

'It's for you, Saul,’

The great forum of the Mackaran Basilica was a desert of ashen bone, for as the virus bombs had dropped, thousands of Isstvanians had gathered there in the hope that the parliament house at one end of the forum would receive them. They had thronged the place and died there, their scorched remains resembling an ancient swamp from which rose the columns that bounded the forum on three sides. On the fourth was the parliament house itself, befouled by black tendrils of ash that reached up from the forum.

The building had been the seat of the Choral City's civilian parliament, a counterpart to the nobles who had ruled from the Precentor's Palace, but the promiВ­nent citizens who had taken shelter inside had died as surely as the horde of civilians outside.

Loken pushed through the sea of black bones, his sword ready in his hand as he forged through the thicket of bone. A skull grinned up at him, its burned and empty eye sockets accusing. Behind him, Torgaddon covered the forum beyond them.

'Wait,’ said Loken quietly.

Torgaddon halted and looked round. 'Is it them?'

'I don't know, maybe,’ said Loken, looking up at the parliament house. Beyond it he could just see the lines of a spacecraft, a stormbird in Sons of Horus colours. 'Someone landed here, that's for sure,’

They continued onwards to the edge of the parВ­liament building, climbing the smooth marble steps. Its great doors had been thick studded oak, but they had been eaten away by the virus and burned to ash by the firestorm.

'Shall we?' asked Torgaddon.

Loken nodded, suddenly wishing that they had not come here, as a terrible feeling of doom settled on him. He looked at Torgaddon and wished he had some fitting words to say to him before they took these last, fateful steps.

Torgaddon seemed to understand what he was thinking and said, 'Yes. I know, but what choice do we have?'

'None,’ said Loken, marching through the arch­way and into the parliament house.

The interior of the building had been protected from the worst of the virus bombing and firestorm, only a few tangled blackened corpses lying sprawled among the dark wood panels and furВ­nishings. The walls of the circular building were adorned with faded frescoes of the Choral City's magnificent past, telling the tales of its growth and conquests.

The benches and voting-tables of the parliament were arranged around a central stage with a lectern from which the debates were led.

On the stage, in front of the lectern, stood Ezekyle Abaddon and Horus Aximand.

'You betrayed us,' said Tarvitz, the hurt and disapВ­pointment almost too much to bear. You killed your own men and let Eidolon and his warriors into the palace. Didn't you?'

'I did,’ said Lucius, swinging his sword in loops around his body as he loosened his muscles in preparation for the fight Tarvitz knew must come next. And I'd do it again in a heartbeat,’

Tarvitz circled the edge of the dome, his steps in time with those of the swordsman. He had no illuВ­sions as to the outcome of this fight, Lucius was the pre-eminent blade master of the Legion, perhaps all the Legions. He knew he could not defeat Lucius, but this betrayal demanded retribution.

Honour must be satisfied.

'Why, Lucius?' asked Tarvitz.

'How can you ask me that, Saul?' demanded Lucius, drawing the circle closer and, step by step, the distance between the two warriors shrank. 'I am only here thanks to my misplaced acquaintance with you. I know what the lord commander and Fabius offered you. How could you turn such an opportunity down?'

'It was an abomination, Lucius,’ said Tarvitz, knowing he had to keep Lucius talking for as long as he could. 'To tamper with the gene-seed? How can you possibly believe that the Emperor would condone such a thing?'

The Emperor?' laughed Lucius. 'Are you so sure he would disapprove? Look at what he did to create the primarchs? Aren't we the result of genetic manipula­tion? The experiments Fabius is conducting are the logical next link in that evolutionary chain. We are a superior race and we must establish that superiority over any lesser beings that stand in our way,’

'Even your fellow warriors?' spat Tarvitz, gesturing to the corpses around the dome's circumference with the blade of his sword.

Lucius shrugged. 'Even them. I am going to rejoin my Legion and they tried to stop me. What choice did I have? Just like you are going to try and stop me,’

'You'll kill me too?' asked Tarvitz. 'After all the years we've fought together?'

'Don't try and appeal to my sense of fond remi­niscences, Saul,’ warned Lucius. 'I am better than

you and I am going to achieve great things in the service of my Legion. Neither you or any foolish sense of misplaced loyalty are going to stop me.'

Lucius lifted the blade of his sword and dropped into a fighting crouch as Tarvitz approached him. The dome seemed suddenly silent as the two comВ­batants circled one another, each searching for a weakness in the other's defences. Tarvitz drew his combat knife in his left hand and reversed the blade, knowing he would need as many blades between him and Lucius as humanly possible.

Tarvitz knew there were no more words to be spoВ­ken. This could only end in blood.

Without warning, he leapt towards Lucius, thrustВ­ing with the smaller blade, but even as he attacked he saw that Lucius had been expecting it.

Lucius swayed aside and swept the hilt of his sword down, smashing the knife from his hand. The swordsman ducked as Tarvitz turned on his heel and slashed high with his sword.

Tarvitz's blade cut only air and Lucius hammered his elbow into his side.

He danced away, expecting Lucius to land a blow, but the swordsman merely smiled and danced around him lightly on the balls of his feet. Lucius was playing with him, and he felt his anger mount in the face of such mockery.

Lucius advanced towards Tarvitz, darting in with the speed of a striking snake to thrust at his stomВ­ach. Tarvitz blocked the thrust, rolling his wrists over Lucius's blade and slashing for his neck, but

the swordsman had anticipated the move and nimВ­bly dodged the blow.

Tarvitz attacked suddenly, his blade a flashing blur of steel that forced Lucius back step by step. Lucius parried a vicious slash aimed at his groin, spinning with a laugh to launch a lightning riposte at his foe.

Tarvitz saw the blade cut the air towards him, knowing he was powerless to prevent it landing. He hurled himself back, but felt a red-hot line of agony as the energised edge bit deep into his side He clamped a hand to his side as blood spilled down his armour, gasping in pain before his armour disВ­pensed stimulants that blocked it.

Tarvitz backed away from Lucius and the swordsВ­man followed with a grin of anticipation.

'If that's the best you've got, Saul, then you'd best give up now,’ smirked Lucius. 'I promise I'll make it quick.'

'I was just about to say the same thing, Lucius,' gasped Tarvitz, lifting his sword once again.

The two warriors clashed once more, their swords shimmering streaks of silver and blue as coruscatВ­ing sparks spat from their blades. Tarvitz fought with every ounce of courage, strength and skill he could muster, but he knew it was hopeless. Lucius parried his every attack with ease and casually landed cut after cut on his flesh, enough to draw blood and hurt, but not enough to kill.

Blood gathered in the corner of his mouth as he staggered away from yet another wounding blow.

'A hit,' sniggered Lucius. 'A palpable hit.'

Tarvitz knew he was fighting with the last of his reserves and the fight could not go on much longer. Soon Lucius would tire of his poor sport and finish him, but perhaps he had held him here for long enough.

'Had enough?' coughed Tarvitz. 'You don't have to die here.'

Lucius cocked his head to one side as he advanced towards him and said, 'You're serious, aren't you? You actually think you can beat me.'

Tarvitz nodded and spat blood. 'Come on and have a go if you think you can kill me,’

Lucius leapt forwards to attack and Tarvitz dropped his sword and leapt to meet him. SurВ­prised by such an obviously suicidal move, Lucius was a fraction of a second too late to dodge Tarvitz's attack.

The two warriors clashed in the air and Tarvitz smashed his fist into the swordsman's face. Lucius turned his head to rob the blow of its force, but Tarvitz gave him no chance to right himself as they fell to the floor, and pistoned his fist into his former comrade's face. Lucius's sword skittered away and they fought with fists and elbows, knees and feet.

At such close quarters, skill with a blade was irrelВ­evant and Tarvitz let his hate and anger spill out in every thunderous hammer blow he landed. They rolled and grappled like brawling street thugs, Tarvitz punching Lucius with powerful blows that

would have killed a mortal man a dozen times over, the swordsman struggling to push Tarvitz clear.

'I also remember what Loken taught you the first time he brought you down,’ gasped Tarvitz as he saw movement at the edge of the dome. 'Under­stand your foe and do whatever is necessary to bring him down.'

He released his grip on Lucius and rolled clear, pushing himself as far away from the swordsman as he could. Lucius sprang to his feet in an instant, scrambling across the floor to retrieve his weapon.

'Now, Solathen!' shouted Tarvitz. 'Kill him! He betrayed us all!'

He watched as Lucius turned towards the dome's entrance, seeing the warriors Solathen had rallied and brought to him. Solathen obeyed Tarvitz's command instantly, as a good Emperor's Children should, and the dome was suddenly filled with the bark of gunfire. Lucius dived out of the way, but even he wasn't quick enough to avoid a volley of bolter shells.

Lucius jerked and danced in the fusillade, sparks and blood flying from his armour. He rolled across the floor, scrabbling for a hole in the wall blasted by the months of battle as the gunfire of the loyalВ­ist Emperor's Children tore into him.

'Kill him!' yelled Tarvitz, but Lucius was faster than he would have believed possible, diving from the dome as shells tore up scorched frescoes around him.

Tarvitz pushed himself to his feet and staggered over towards where Lucius had escaped.

Beyond the dome, the outer precincts of the palace were a nightmarish landscape of craters and blackened ruins. A pall of smoke hung over the batВ­tlefield the palace had become and he smashed his fist into the wall in frustration as he saw that the swordsman had vanished.

'Captain Tarvitz?' said Solathen. 'Reporting as ordered.'

Tarvitz turned from his search for Lucius, pushing his frustrations aside and focusing on the more immediate matter of counter-attacking Eidolon's warriors.

'My thanks, Solathen. I owe you my life,’ he said.

The warrior nodded as Tarvitz picked up a fallen bolter and checked the magazine to make sure he had a full load.

'Now come on,’ he said grimly. 'Let's show these bastards how the real Emperor's Children fight!'

SEVENTEEN

Winning is survival

Dies Irae

The end

'Betrayer,’ said Loken, stepping into the parlia­ment house.

There was nothing to betray,' retorted Abaddon.

Even after all mat had happened on Isstvan III, the word betrayal had the power to ignite the ever-present anger inside him.

'I envy you this, Loken,’ continued Abaddon. To you the galaxy must seem so simple. So long as there's someone you can call enemy you'll fight to the death and think you are right,’

'I know I am right, Ezekyle!' shouted Loken. 'How can this be anything but wrong? The death of this city and the murder of your brothers? What has happened to you, Abaddon, to turn you into this?'

Abaddon stepped down off the stage, leaving Aximand to stand alone at the lectern. In his

Terminator armour Abaddon was far taller than Loken and he knew from witnessing the first capВ­tain in battle that he could still fight as skilfully as any Astartes in power armour.

'Isstvan III was forced upon us by the inability of small minds to understand reality,’ said Abaddon. 'Do you think I have been a part of this, and that I am here, because I enjoy killing my brothers? I believe, Loken, as surely as you do. There are powers in this galaxy that even the Emperor does not understand. If he leaves humanity to wither on the vine in his selfish quest for godhood then those powers will swamp us and every single human being in this galaxy will die. Can you understand the enormity of that concept? The whole human race! The Warmaster does, and that is why he must take the Emperor's place to deal with these threats.'

'Deal with them?' said Torgaddon, shaking his head. 'You are a fool, Ezekyle, we saw what Erebus was doing. He has lied to you all. You have made a pact with evil powers.'

'Evil?' said Aximand. 'They saved the Warmaster's life. I have seen their power and it is within the War-master's ability to control them. You think we are fools, that we are blind? The forces of the warp are the key to this galaxy. That is what the Emperor canВ­not understand. The Warmaster will be lord of the warp as well of the Imperium and then we will rule the stars.'

'No,’ replied Loken. 'The Warmaster has become corrupted. If he takes the throne it will not be

humanity that rules the galaxy, it will be something else. You know that, Little Horus, even if Ezekyle doesn't. He doesn't care about the galaxy; he just wants to be on the winning side,’

Abaddon smiled, slowly approaching Loken as Torgaddon circled towards Horus Aximand. 'Win­ning is survival, Loken. You die, you lose, and nothing you ever believed ever meant anything. I live, I win, and you might as well have never existed. Victory, Loken. It's the only thing in the galaxy that means anything. You should have spent more time being a soldier, maybe then you would have ended up on the winning side,’

Loken held up his sword, trying to gauge Abad­don's movements. 'There is always time to decide who wins,’

He could see Abaddon tensing up, ready to strike, and knew that the first captain's taunting was just a cover.

'Loken, you have come so far,’ said Abaddon, 'and you still don't understand what we're doing here. We're not so far from human that we're not allowed a few mistakes, but to fight us instead of realising what the Warmaster is trying to achieve… that's unforgivable,’

Then what's your mistake, Ezekyle?'

'Talking too much,’ replied Abaddon, launching himself towards Loken with his bladed fist bathed in lethal energies.

S * S

Torgaddon watched as Abaddon charged towards Loken, taking that as his cue to attack Little Horus. His former comrade had seen the intent in his eyes and leapt to meet him as Loken and Abaddon smashed apart the pews along the nave.

They met in a clatter of battle plate, fighting with all the strength and hatred that only those who were once brothers, but are now bitter enemies, can muster. They grappled like wrestlers until Aximand flung Torgaddon's arms wide and smashed his elbow into his jaw.

He fell back, blocked the right cross slashing for his face, and closed with Aximand, cracking an armoured knee into his opponent's midriff.

Little Horus stumbled and Torgaddon knew that it would take more than a knee in the guts to halt a warrior such as Aximand. His former brother was powerfully built, his strength, poise and skill the equal of Torgaddon's.

The two warriors faced one another, and TorgadВ­don could see a look of regret flash across Little Horus's face.

'Why are you doing this?' asked Torgaddon.

'You said you were against us,' replied Aximand.

'And we are.'

Both warriors lowered their guards; they were brothers, members of the Moumival who had seen so many battles together that there was no need for posturing. They both knew how the other fought.

Tarik,’ said Aximand, 'if this could have ended another way, we would have taken it. None of us would have chosen this way,’

'Little Horus, when did you realise how far you had gone? Was it when the Warmaster told you we were going to be bombed, or some time before?'

Aximand glanced over to where Loken and AbadВ­don fought. 'You can walk away from this, Tarik. The Warmaster wants Loken dead, but he said nothing about you.'

Torgaddon laughed. 'We called you Little Horus because you looked so like him, but we were wrong. Horus never had that doubt in his eyes. You're not sure, Aximand. Maybe you're on the wrong side. Maybe this is the last chance you've got to end your life as a Space Marine and not as a slave,’

Aximand smiled bleakly. 'I've seen it, Tarik, the warp. You can't stand against that,’

'And yet here I am,’

'If you had just taken the chance the lodge gave you, you would have seen it too. They can give us such power. If you only knew, Tarik, you'd join us in a second. The whole future would be laid out before you,’

You know I can't back down. No more than you can,’

Then this is it?'

Yes, it is. As you said, none of us would have cho­sen this,’

Aximand readied himself. 'Just like the practice cages, Tarik,’ 'No,’ said Torgaddon, 'nothing like that.'

The energised claw swung at Loken's head, and he ducked, too late seeing it for the feint it was. AbadВ­don grabbed him by the edge of his shoulder guard and drove his knee into Loken's stomach. Ceramite buckled and Loken felt pain knife into him as bones broke.

Abaddon released him and punched him in the face. He was thrown against the wall of the parliaВ­ment, scorched plaster and brick falling around him.

The Warmaster wanted me to bring the Justaerin, but I told him it was an insult,’

Loken saw his sword lying on the floor beside him and slid down the wall to grab it. He pushed off the wall, pivoting past Abaddon's slashing fist, swinging the blade towards the first captain's face.

Abaddon blocked the blow with his forearm, reaching out to pluck Loken from his feet and hurl him towards the parliament building's wall. The world spun away from him and suddenly there was pain.

His vision blurred as he smacked into the ground and shards of stone flew up around him. The pain within him felt strange, as if it belonged to someВ­one else. It felt as if his back was broken and a treacherous voice in his mind whispered that the pain would go away if he just gave up and let it all

go away in a fog of oblivion. His grip tightened on his sword and he let his anger fuel his strength to fight against the voice in his head that told him to give up.

A long time ago, Loken had sworn an oath to his Emperor, and that oath was never to give up, even as the moment of death approached. His vision swam back into focus, and he looked up to see the hole in the parliament house's wall his body had smashed.

Loken rolled onto his front as Abaddon's massive armoured form charged towards him, smashing aside the blackened remains of the breach.

He scrambled to his feet and backed away, letting Abaddon's fist swing past him. He darted in, stabВ­bing with his sword, but the thick plates of his enemy's armour turned the blade aside. He scramВ­bled back up the steps of the parliament house, hearing Torgaddon and Little Horus fighting within and knowing that he needed his brother's strength to triumph.

РўРѕР№ can't run forever!' roared Abaddon as he turned to follow him, his steps ponderous and heavy.

Saul Tarvitz grinned like a hunter who had finally run his prey to ground. The warriors he and Sola-then led cut a bloody swathe through Eidolon's warriors, killing them without mercy as they themВ­selves had been killed so recently. What had once been an attack that threatened to overwhelm them

utterly was now in danger of becoming a rout for the traitors.

Gunfire echoed fiercely through the palace as the loyalists unleashed volley after volley of gunfire at anything that moved. Loyalist Space Marines surВ­rounded Eidolon's assault force and, attacked on two fronts. The lord commander's force was buckВ­ling.

Tarvitz could see warriors with missing limbs or massive open wounds struggling in the desperate fight, jostling to get a position where they could kill the traitors who had so nearly overrun them. His own sword reaped a bloody tally as he killed warВ­riors he had once fought with and bled alongside, each sword blow a cruel twist of fate that brought aching sadness as much as it did cathartic satisfacВ­tion.

He saw Eidolon in the centre of the battle, smashВ­ing warriors to ruin with each swing of his hammer and fought his way through the battle to reach the lord commander. His own body ached from the duel with Lucius, but he knew that there was no point in calling for an apothecary. Whatever wounds he was suffering from would never have a chance to heal. It would end here, Tarvitz knew, but it would be a hell of a fight and he had never felt more proud to lead these brave warriors into battle.

To have such noble fighters almost undone by a supposedly loyal comrade's betrayal was a galling, yet somehow fitting end to their struggle. Lucius had very nearly cost them this battle and Tarvitz

swore that if he lived through this hell, he would see the bastard dead once and for all.

The lord commander was almost within his reach, but no sooner had Eidolon seen him than the traitors began falling back in disciplined ranks. Tarvitz wanted to scream in frustration, but knew better than to simply hurl himself after his foe.

'Firing line across the nave!' shouted Tarvitz at the top of his voice and instantly, a contingent of Astartes formed up and began firing disciplined volleys of bolter fire at the retreating enemy

He lowered his sword and leaned against the broВ­ken wall as he realised that, against all odds, they had held once more. Before he had a moment to savour the unlikeliness of their latest victory, the vox-bead chimed in his ear.

'Captain Tarvitz,' said a voice he recognised as one of the Luna Wolves,

'Tarvitz here,' he said.

'This is Vipus, captain. The position on the roof is sound but we've got company'

'I know,’ replied Tarvitz. 'The Sons of Horus.'

'Worse than that,' said Vipus. 'To the west, look up.'

Tarvitz pushed through the remains of the battle and scanned the sky above the crumbling, smoke wreathed ruins. Something moved towards the palace, something distant, but utterly huge.

'Sweet Terra,’ he said, 'the Dies Irae.'

'I'll make the Titan our priority target,’ swore Vipus.

'No, you can't hurt it. Just kill enemy Space Marines.'

Yes, captain.'

'Enemy units!' a voice yelled from near the temВ­ple entrance. 'Armour and support!'

Tarvitz pushed himself from the wall, drawing on his last reserves of energy to once again muster his warriors for the defence of the palace. 'Assault units by the doors! All other Astartes, fire at will!'

Tarvitz could see a huge strike force of enemy forces, boxy Land Raiders and Rhinos massing on the outskirts of the Precentor's Palace. Beyond them, Sons of Horus, World Eaters and Emperor's Children set up fields of fire to surround the temВ­ple.

The Dies Irae would soon be in range to blast them with its enormous weaponry.

'They'll be coming again soon,' shouted Tarvitz, 'but we'll see them off again, my brothers! No matВ­ter what occurs, they will not forget the fight we've given them here!'

Looking at the size of the army arrayed for the final assault, Tarvitz knew that there would be no holding against it.

This was the endgame.

Terminator armour was huge. It made a man into a walking tank, but what it added in protection, it lost in speed. Abaddon was skilful and could fight almost as fast as any other Astartes while clad in its thick plates.

But 'almost' wasn't good enough when life or death was at stake

Chunks of rubble spilled into the parliament house as Abaddon battered his way back inside, the brutal high-shouldered shape of his Terminator armour wreathed in chalky plaster dust. As AbadВ­don smashed his way back inside, he passed beneath a sagging portico that supported a vast swathe of sculpted marble statuary above. Loken struck out at one of the cracked pillars supporting the portico, the fluted support smashing apart under the power of the blow.

The parliament filled with dust as the huge slabs above came down on Abaddon, the entire weight of the statuary collapsing on top of the first captain. Loken could hear Abaddon roaring in anger as the stonework thundered down in a flurry of rubble and destruction.

He turned away from the avalanche of debris and fought his way through the billowing clouds of dust towards the centre of the parliament building.

He saw Torgaddon and Horus Aximand upon the central stage.

Torgaddon was on his knees, blood raining from his body and his limbs shattered. Aximand held his sword upraised, ready to deliver the deathblow.

He saw what would happen next even as he screamed at his former brother to stay his hand. Even over the crash of rubble being displaced as Abaddon forced himself free of the collapsed statues, he heard Aximand's words with a terrible clarity.

'I'm sorry,’ said Aximand.

And the sword slashed down against Torgaddon's neck.

The plasma bolt was like a finger of the sun, reachВ­ing down from the guns of the Dies Irae and smashing through the wall of the Warsingers' TemВ­ple, the liquid fire boring deep into the ground. With a sound like the city dying, one wall of the temple collapsed as dust and fire filled the air and shards of green stone flew like knives. Warriors melted in the heat blast or died beneath the heaps of stone that collapsed around them.

Tarvitz fell to his knees on the winding stairway that climbed to the upper reaches of the temple. A choking mass of burning ash billowed around him and he fought his way upwards, knowing that hunВ­dreds of the last loyalist Space Marines were dead. The sound was appalling, the roar of the collapsing temple stark against the silence of the traitors that surrounded the temple on all sides.

A body fell past him, one of the Luna Wolves, his arm blown off by weapons fire hammering the upper floors.

'To the roof!' ordered Tarvitz, not knowing if anyВ­one could hear him over the cacophony of the Titan's guns. Abandon the nave!'

Tarvitz reached the gallery running the length of the temple, finding it crammed with Space Marines, their Legion colours unrecognisable beneath layers of grime and blood. Such distinctions were

irrelevant, Tarvitz realised, for they were one band of brothers fighting for the same cause.

Above this level was the roof, and Tarvitz spotted Sergeant Raetherin, a solid line officer and veteran of the Murder campaign.

'Sergeant!' he yelled. 'Report!'

Raetherin looked up from the window through which he was aiming his bolter. He had caught a glancing blow to the side of his head and his face streamed with blood

'Not good, captain!' he replied. 'We've held them this long, but we won't hold another attack. There's too many of them and that Titan is going to blow us away any second,’

Tarvitz nodded and risked a glance through a shatВ­tered loophole to the ground far below, feeling his hate for these traitors, warriors for whom notions of honour and loyalty were non-existent, swell as he saw the multitude of bodies sprawled around the palace. He knew these dead warriors, having led them in batВ­tle these last few months and more than anything, he knew what they represented.

They were the galaxy's best soldiers, the saviours of the human race and the chosen of the Emperor. Their lives of heroic service and sacrifice had been ended by brute treachery and he had never felt so helpless.

'No,’ he said, as resolve filled him. 'No, we will not falter,’

Tarvitz met Raetherin's eyes and said. The Titan is going to hit the same corner of the temple again,

higher up, and then the traitors are going to storm us. Get the men back and make ready for the assault.'

He knew the traitors were just waiting for the temple to fall so they could storm in and kill the loyalists at their leisure. This was not just a battle; it was the Warmaster demonstrating his superiority.

Massive calibre gunfire thundered from the Dies Irae, an awesome storm of fire and death that smashed the plaza outside the temple, blasting apart loyalists in great columns of fire.

Infernal heat battered against the temple, and a hot gale blew through the gallery.

'Is that the best you've got?' he yelled in anger. 'You'll never kill us all!'

His warriors looked at him with savage light in their eyes. The words had sounded hollow in his ears, spoken out of rage rather than bravado, but he saw the effect it had and smiled, remembering that he had a duty to these men.

He had a duty to make their last moments mean something.

Suddenly, the air ripped apart as the Titan's plasma gun fired and white heat filled the gallery, throwing Tarvitz to the floor. Molten fragments of stone sprayed him and warriors fell, broken and burning around him. Blinded and deafened, Tarvitz dragged himself away from the destruction. Hot air boomed back into the vacuum blasted by the plasma and it was like a burning wind of destruction come to scour the loyalists from the face of Isstvan III.

He rolled onto his back, seeing that the bolt had ripped right through the temple roof, leaving a huge glowing-edged hole, like a monstrous bite mark, through one corner of the temple. Fully a third of the temple's mass had collapsed in a great rockslide of liquefied stone, flooding out like a long tongue of jade.

Tarvitz tried to shake the ringing from his ears and forced his eyes to focus.

Through the miasma of heat, he could hear a war-cry arise from the enemy warriors.

A similar clamour rose from the other side of the temple, where the World Eaters and the Emperor's Children were arrayed among the ruins of the palace.

The attack was coming.

Loken dropped то his knees in horror at the sight of Torgaddon's head parting from his shoulders. The blood fountained slowly, the silver sheen of the sword wreathed in a spray of red.

He screamed his friend's name, watching as his body crashed to the floor of the stage and smashed the wooden lectern to splinters as it fell. His eyes met those of Horus Aximand and he saw a sorrow that matched his own echoed in this brother's eyes.

His choler surged, hot and urgent, but his anger was not directed at Horus Aximand, but at the warВ­rior who pulled himself from the rubble behind him. He turned and forced himself to his feet, seeing Abaddon pulling himself from under the collapsed

portico. The first captain had extricated himself from beneath slabs of marble that would have crushed even an armoured Astartes, but he was still trapped and immobile from the waist down.

Loken gave vent to an animal cry of loss and rage and ran towards Abaddon. He leapt, driving a knee down onto Abaddon's arm and pinning it with all his weight and strength to the rubble. Abaddon's free hand reached up and grabbed Loken's wrist as Loken drove his chainsword towards Abaddon's face.

The two warriors froze, locked face to face in a battle that would determine who lived and who died. Loken gritted his teeth and forced his arm down against Abaddon's grip.

Abaddon looked into Loken's face and saw the hatred and loss there.

'There's hope for you yet, Loken,’ he snarled.

Loken forced the roaring point of the sword down with more strength than he thought could ever inhabit one body. The betrayal of the Astartes – their very essence – flashed through Loken's mind and he found the target of his hatred embodied in Abaddon's violent features.

The chainblade's teeth whirred. Abaddon forced the point down and it ripped into his breastplate. Sparks sprayed as Loken pushed the point onwards, through thick layers of ceramite. The sword judВ­dered, but Loken kept it true.

He knew where it would break through, straight through the bone shield that protected Abaddon's chest cavity and then into his heart.

Even as he savoured the idea of Abaddon's death, the first captain smiled and pushed his hand upwards. Astartes battle plate enhanced a warrior's strength, but Terminator armour boosted it to levВ­els beyond belief, and Abaddon called upon that power to dislodge Loken.

Abaddon surged upwards from the rubble with a roar of anger and slammed his energised fist into Loken's chest. His armour cracked open and the bone shield protecting his own chest cavity shatВ­tered into fragments. He staggered away from Abaddon, managing to keep his feet for a few secВ­onds before his legs gave out and he collapsed to his knees, blood dribbling from his cracked lips in bloody ropes.

Abaddon towered over him and Loken watched numbly as Horus Aximand joined him. Abaddon's eyes were filled with triumph, Aximand's with regret. Abaddon took the bloody sword from AxiВ­mand's hand with a smile. 'This killed Torgaddon and it seems only fitting that I use it to kill you.'

The first captain raised the sword and said, 'You had your chance, Loken. Think about that while you die.'

Loken met Abaddon's unforgiving gaze, seeing the madness that lurked behind his eyes like a mob of angry daemons, and waited for death.

But before the blow landed, the parliament building exploded as something vast and colosВ­sal, like a primal god of war bestriding the world smashed through the back wall. Loken had a

fleeting glimpse of a monstrous iron foot, easily the width of the building itself crashing through the stonework and demolishing the building as it went.

He looked up in time to see a mighty red god, towering and immense striding through the remains of the Choral City, its battlements bristling with weapons and its mighty head twisted in a snarl of merciless anger.

Rubble and debris cascaded from the roof as the Dies Irae smashed the parliament building into a splintered ruin of crushed rock, and Loken smiled as the building collapsed around him.

Tremendous impacts smashed the marble floor and the noise of the building's destruction was like the sweetest music he had ever heard, as he felt the world go black around him.

Saul Tarvitz looked around him at the hundred Space Marines crammed into the tiny square of cover that was all that remained of the Warsingers' temple. They had sat awaiting the final attack of the traitors for what had seemed like an age, but had been no more than thirty minutes.

'Why don't they attack?' asked Nero Vipus, one of the few Luna Wolves still alive.

'I don't know,’ said Tarvitz, but whatever the rea­son I'm thankful for it,’

Vipus nodded, his face lined with a sadness that had nothing to do with the final battles of the PreВ­centor's Palace.

'Still no word from Garviel or Tarik?' asked Tarvitz, already knowing the answer.

'No,’ said Vipus, 'nothing,’

Tm sorry, my friend,’

Vipus shook his head. 'No, I won't mourn them, not yet. They might have succeeded,’

Tarvitz said nothing, leaving the warrior to his dream and turned his attention once again to the terrifying scale of the Warmaster's army. Ten thouВ­sand traitors stood immobile in the ruins of the Choral City. World Eaters chanted alongside Emperor's Children while the Sons of Horns and the Death Guard waited in long firing lines.

The colossal form of the Dies Irae had thankfully stopped firing, the monstrous Titan marching to tower over the Sirenhold like a brazen fortress.

'They want to make sure we're beaten,’ said Tarvitz, 'to plant a flag on our corpses,’

'Yes,’ agreed Vipus, 'but we gave them the fight of their lives did we not?'

That we did,’ said Tarvitz, 'that we did, and even once we're gone, Garro will tell the Legions of what they've done here. The Emperor will send an army bigger than anything the Great Crusade has ever seen,’

Vipus looked out over the Warmaster's army and said, 'He'll have to,’

Abaddon surveyed the ruins of the parliament house, its once magnificent structure a heaped pile of shattered stone. His face bled from a dozen cuts

and his skin was an ugly, bruised purple, but he was alive.

Beside him, Horus Aximand slumped against a ruined statue, his breathing laboured and his shoulder twisted at an unnatural angle. Abaddon had pulled them both from the wreckage of the building, but looking at Aximand's downcast face, he knew that they had not escaped without scars of a different kind.

But it was done. Loken and Torgaddon were dead.

He had thought to feel savage joy at the idea, but instead he felt only emptiness, a strange void that yawned in his soul like a vessel that could never be filled.

Abaddon dismissed the thought and spoke into the vox. 'Warmaster,’ he said, 'it is over,’

'What have we done, Ezekyle?' whispered AxiВ­mand.

What needed to be done,’ said Abaddon. 'The Warmaster ordered it and we obeyed,’

'They were our brothers,’ said Aximand and Abad­don was astonished to find tears spilling down his brother's cheeks.

'They were traitors to the Warmaster, let that be an end to it,’

Aximand nodded, but Abaddon could see the seed of doubt take root in his expression.

He lifted Aximand and supported him as they made their way towards the waiting stormbird that would take them from this cursed place and back to the Vengeful Spirit.

The traitors within the Mournival were dead, but he had not forgotten the look of regret he had seen on Aximand's face.

Horus Aximand would need watching, Abaddon decided.

The viewscreen of the strategium displayed the blackened, barren rock of Isstvan V.

Where Isstvan III had once been rich and verdant, Isstvan V had always been a mass of tangled igneous rock where no life thrived. Once there had been life, but that had been aeons ago, and its only remnants were scattered basalt cities and fortificaВ­tions. The people of the Choral City had thought these ruins were home to the evil gods of their reliВ­gion, who waited there plotting revenge.

Perhaps they were right, mused Horus, thinking of Fulgrim and his complement of Emperor's ChilВ­dren who were preparing the way for the next phase of the plan.

Isstvan III had been the prologue, but Isstvan V would be the most decisive battle the galaxy had ever seen. The thought made Horus smile as he looked up to see Maloghurst limping painfully towards his throne.

What news, Mai?' asked Horus. 'Have all surface units returned to their posts?'

'I have just heard from the Conqueror,' nodded Maloghurst. 'Angron has returned. He is the last,’

Horus turned back to the gnarled globe of Isstvan V and said, 'Good. It is no surprise to me that he

should be the last to quit the battlefield. So what is the butcher's bill?'

ЛҐе lost a great many in the landings and more than a few in the palace,’ replied Maloghurst. The Emperor's Children and the Death Guard were sim­ilarly mauled. The World Eaters lost the most. They are barely above half strength.'

'You do not think this battle was wise,’ said Horus. 'You cannot hide that from me, Mai,’

'The battle was costly,’ averred Maloghurst, 'and it could have been shortened. If efforts had been made to withdraw the Legions before the siege developed then lives and time could have been saved. We do not have an infinite number of Astartes and we certainly do not have infinite time. I do not believe there was any great victory to be won here,’

You see only the physical cost, Mai,’ said Horus. 'You do not see the psychological gains we have made. Abaddon was blooded, the real threats among the rebels have been eliminated and the World Eaters have been brought to a point where they can­not turn back. If there was ever any doubt as to whether this Crusade would succeed, it has been banished by what I have achieved on Isstvan III,’

'Then what are your orders?' asked Maloghurst.

Horus turned back to the viewscreen and said, 'We have tarried here too long and it is time to move onwards. You are right that I allowed myself to be drawn into a war that we did not have time to fight, but I will rectify that error,’

'Warmaster?'

'Bomb the city,' said Horus. 'Wipe it off the face of the planet.'

Loken couldn't move his legs. Every heartbeat was agony in his lungs as the muscles of his chest ground against splinters of bone. He coughed up clots of blood with every breath and he was sure that each one would be his last as the will to live seeped from his body.

Through a crack in the rubble pinning him to the ground, Loken could see the dark grey sky. He saw streaks of fire dropping through the clouds and closed his eyes as he realised that they were the first salvoes of an orbital bombardment.

Death was raining down on the Choral City for the second time, but this time it wouldn't be anything as exotic as a virus. High explosives would bring the city down and put a final, terrible exclamation mark at the end of the Battle of Isstvan III.

Such a display was typical of the Warmaster.

It was a final epitaph that would leave no one in any doubt as to who had won.

The first orange blooms of fire burst over the city. The ground shook. Buildings collapsed in waves of fire and the streets boiled with flame once more.

The ground shuddered as though in the grip of an earthquake and Loken felt his prison of debris shift. Hard spikes of pain buffeted him as flames burst across the remains of the parliament building.

Then darkness fell at last, and Loken felt nothing else.

A hundred of Tarvitz's loyalists remained. They were the only survivors of their glorious last stand, and he had gathered them in the remains of the Warsingers' Temple – Sons of Horns, Emperor's Children, and even a few lost-looking World Eaters. Tarvitz noticed that there were no Death Guard in their numbers, thinking that perhaps a few had sur­vived Mortarion's scouring of the trenches, but knowing that they might as well have been on the other side of Isstvan III.

This was the end. They all knew it, but none of them gave voice to that fact.

He knew all their names now. Before, they had just been grime-streaked faces among the endless days and nights of battle, but now they were brothВ­ers, men he would die with in honour.

Flashes of explosions bloomed in the city's north. Shooting stars punched through the dark clouds overhead, scorching holes through which the glimВ­mering stars could be seen. The stars shone down on the Choral City in time to watch the city die.

'Did we hurt them, captain? asked Solathen. 'Did this mean anything?'

Tarvitz thought for a moment before replying.

'Yes,’ he said, 'we hurt them here. They'll remem­ber this,’

A bomb slammed into the Precentor's Palace, finally blasting what little remained of its great

stone flower into flame and shards of granite. The loyalists did not throw themselves into cover or ran for shelter – there was little point.

The Warmaster was bombarding the city, and he was thorough.

He would not let them slip away a second time.

Towers of flame bloomed all across the palace, closing in on them with fiery inevitability.

The batde for the Choral City was over.

The temple was nearly complete, its high, arched ceiling like a ribcage of black stone beneath which the officers of the new Crusade were gathered. Angron still fumed at the decision to leave Isstvan III before the destruction of the loyalists was comВ­plete, while Mortarion was silent and sullen, his Death Guard like a steel barrier between him and the rest of the gathering.

Lord Commander Eidolon, still smarting from the failures his Legion had committed in the eyes of the Warmaster, had several squads of Emperor's Children accompanying him, but his presence was not welcomed, merely tolerated.

Maloghurst, Abaddon and Aximand represented the Sons of Horus, and beside them stood Erebus. The Warmaster stood before the temple's altar, its four faces representing what Erebus called the four faces of the gods. Above him, a huge holographic image of Isstvan V dominated the temple.

An area known as the Urgall Depression was highlighted, a giant crater overlooked by the

fortress that Fulgrim had prepared for the Warmas-ter's forces. Blue blips indicated likely landing sites, routes of attack and retreat. Horus had spent the last hour explaining the details of the operation to his commanders and he was coming to an end.

'At this very moment seven Legions are coming to destroy us. They will find us at Isstvan V and the battle will be great. But in truth it will not be a batВ­tle at all, for we have achieved much since last we gathered. Chaplain Erebus, enlighten us as to matВ­ters beyond Isstvan.'

'All goes well at Signum, my lord,’ said Erebus stepping forward. New tattoos had been inked on his scalp, echoing the sigils carved into the stones of the temple.

'Sanguinius and the Blood Angels will not trouВ­ble us, and Kor-Phaeron sends word that the Ultramarines muster at Calth. They suspect nothing and will not be in a position to lend their strength to the loyalist force. Our allies outnumber our eneВ­mies.'

'Then it is done,’ said Horus. 'The backs of the Emperor's Legions will be broken at Isstvan V.'

And what then?' asked Aximand.

A strange melancholy had settled upon Horus Aximand since the battles of the Choral City, and he saw Abaddon cast a wary glance in his brother's direction.

'When our trap is sprung?' demanded Aximand. 'The Emperor will still reign and the Imperium will still answer to him. After Isstvan V, what then?'

'Then, Little Horns?' said the Warmaster. 'Then we strike for Terra.'

TIMELINE

MillenniaAgeNotes

1-15 Age of Terra Humanity dominates Earth. Civilisations come and go. The Solar system is colonised. Mankind lives on Mars and the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune.

15-18 Age of Technology Mankind begins to colonise the stars using sub-light spacecraft. At first only nearby systems can be reached and the colonies established on them must survive as indeВ­pendent states since they are separated from Earth by up to ten generations of travel.

18-22 Age of Technology Invention of the warp-drive accelerates the colonising of the galaxy. Federations and empires are founded. First aliens encountered and first Alien Wars are fought. First human psykers scientifically proved to exist. Psykers begin to appear throughout human worlds.

22-25 Age of Technology First Navigators are born allowing human spaceships to make even longer, quicker warp-jumps. Mankind enters a golden age of enlightenment as scientific and technological progress accelerates. Human worlds unite and non-aggresВ­sion pacts are secured with dozens of alien races.

25-26 Age of Strife Terrible warp-storms interrupt interstellar travel. Sporadic at first, the storms eventually prevent any warp-jumps being made. The incidence of human mutation increases rapidly. Mankind enters a dark period of anarВ­chy and despair.

26-30 Age of Strife Human worlds ripped apart by civil wars, revolts, alien predation and invasion. Human psykers and other mutants dominate some . worlds and these rapidly fall prey to warp-creatures. Humanity is on the brink of destruction.

30-present Age of Imperium Earth is conquered by the Emperor and enters an alliance with the Mechan-icum of Mars. Finally the warp-storms abate and interВ­stellar travel is possible again. The Emperor builds the Astro-nomican and creates the Space Marine Legions. Human worlds reunited by the Emperor in a Great CruВ­sade that lasts for two hundred years.

About the Author

Ben Counter is fast becoming one of the

Black Library's most popular authors. An

Ancient History graduate and avid miniature

painter, he lives near Portsmouth, England.

His previous novels include the Soul Drinkers

series and Daemonworld.