The Astartes made the sign of the aquila, his oversized gauntleted hands banging against the carved white stone of the Imperial eagle on his breastplate. A Hadris Rift captain flinched at the loud snarl of servos from the gianta's armour joints.

a"I am Brother-Captain Corvane Valar,a" the giant said. His helmet speakers, mounted into the muzzle of his relic helm, rendered his voice distorted and harsh. a"Commander of the Fifth Battle Company of the Adeptus Astartes Raven Guard Chapter.a"

Matters of rank and seniority between the Imperial Guard and the Astartes were far from straightforward. The Astartes Chapters were autonomous servants of the Imperium, and answered to no authority but their own. And yet technically, the lord general held rank here. It was a tension repeated countless times across millennia. The Adeptus Astartes operated under a mandate from the G.o.d-Emperor a- their genhanced bodies marked them as his chosen sons, living on as shadows of his image. Yet the Imperial Guard answered to Segmentum Command and, in turn, the High Lords of Terra. Cooperation was common between the Guard and the Astartes, but conflict was hardly unheard of.

The Cadians, as if on cue, returned the sign of the aquila immediately. Tionenji was a moment behind them, as were the Hadris Rift officers. Overseer Maggrig bowed his head in a shallow nod, made the sign of the aquila himself, and smiled in what he hoped was a superior, yet warm, expression. He a.s.sumed it hid his nervousness to be before one of the Emperora's chosen. In that, he was wrong.

a"Welcome to the war council, brother-captain.a"

a"Good to see you again,a" said Colonel Lockwood. The giant in black nodded, taking several moments to stare before replying. Thade wondered if the Astartes was scanning the colonel.

a"Cadia. The siege of Kasr Vallock. Colonel Josuan Lockwood, Cadian 88th.a"

a"Good memory, brother-captain,a" smiled Lockwood. a"And I thank you again for your Chaptera's a.s.sistance in the defence of my home world.a"

a"Dark days. I remember them well. But not fondly. Much of my Chaptera's strength is still garrisoned there. My own force will be returning as soon as we are finished with our duties here.a"

a"Thata's good to know, captain.a"

That seemed to be the end of the conversation. Maggrig continued discussing his plan. The Astartes was content to listen, standing still as a statue but for the occasional turn of his helmeted head to regard another part of the cityscape map.

a"There.a"

Several of the officers started at his sudden voice.

a"Brother-captain?a" Maggrig asked. Hea'd been pointing at a district towards the centre of Solthane, housing the great Cathedral of the Archpriest. It was there that the bones of Saint Kathur were laid to rest.

a"There,a" the Astartes repeated. a"That is where the Raven Guard will focus its efforts. I will dispatch scouts immediately to prepare the a.s.sault. The Fifth Battle Company will link its intelligence with yours, lord general.a"

a"We would be honoured,a" Maggrig said. He was flushed with pleasure and pride to see an Astartes officer showing such respect to him before his own men. This would surely spread through the ranks a"It is the disposition of your own forces that necessitates our deployment.a" The giant pointed a brutish hand at two points in the cityscape. a"The Cadians and Vednikans are your princ.i.p.al source of veteran strength. They are here and here, respectively.a"

Here, the Astartes turned to look at Captain Thade and his command team.

a"The Raven Guard Fifth has served with the Vednikans and the Cadians before. We have judged their characters as a planetary people, and a.s.sessed their prowess as regiments in service to the Emperor.a"

He turned to Maggrig, those blood-red eyes staring without mercy. a"They are the claws of your plan. They are the killing talons sharper than all others at your disposal. Therefore, we will unleash our fury and the anger of our weapons elsewhere, where they will most a.s.suredly be more needed.a"

Silence greeted this. Thade and several of the Cadians nodded in respectful thanks.

a"Whatever you see fit,a" Maggrig murmured.

a"Then I am done here,a" the giant said. Someone cleared their throat at that moment. Unseen servos growled in the joints of the Astartesa' armour as he inclined his head to Seth.

a"You. Sanctioned psyker. You would speak with me?a"

a"Yes, lord.a" Setha's voice was a wet whisper.

a"Brother-captain.a"

a"Yes, brother-captain.a" A little more strength to his tone this time. Thade noticed Tionenjia's hand inching towards his own holstered laspistol as Seth spoke. He read caution in the gesture, not aggression, and said nothing. But it still aggravated him.

a"Speak. I have no wish to seem rude, but my time is limited.a" The eyes of every man present fell on Seth now. What in the h.e.l.l was he thinking?

a"I am given to understand the Adeptus Astartes have individuals that share my talent.a"

a"It is so. We name them Codiciers and Epistolaries, depending on rank. Again, forgive the implied insult, but their powers eclipse those of an unenhanced human psyker by a great degree.a" The Astartes paused here and Thade, for some reason, imagined him smiling behind the impa.s.sive muzzle.

a"You delay the deployment of the Emperora's finest to question me on trivia?a" asked the giant. His voice was different now: less stern, despite the vox-speakers distorting his tone. Maybe he had been smiling, after all.

a"No, sir,a" Seth said. a"I would ask if you have one of these men among your force here.a"

a"I do.a"

a"May I speak with him?a"

The Guard officers stared in silence. Was this an affront? An insult? A breach of decorum, certainly. Thade tongued his teeth, trying to think of something to say should the Astartes take offence. Looking up at the towering black figure with its snarling joints and red-eyed mask, absolutely nothing came to mind. Not a Throne-forsaken thing. Tionenjia's pistol had cleared its holster now.

a"Tell me why,a" the giant said, his tone still neutral.

a"Matters of the Emperora's Tarot.a"

The awkward silence returned, intermittently broken by a curious addition. A series of muted clicks came from within the Astartesa' helm. Vox-clicks, Thade realised. He was using his suita's internal vox to speak with someone.

a"It is done,a" the Astartes said only a moment later. a"Brother-Codicier Zauren is aboard our strike cruiser, The Second Shadow. He will make planetfall in fifteen minutes to attend to your request.a"

Seth bowed deeply. a"A thousand thanks, brother-captain.a"

The Astartes made the sign of the aquila to all present. Once more, his oversized gauntlets banged on the stone eagle across his breastplate.

a"I will leave you to your planning. We will meet again, should the Emperor will it.a"

a"Victory or Death,a" said Lockwood. That made the giant pause.

a"A very fine memory, Colonel Lockwood.a"

The colonel smiled. Without another word, without even waiting for their replies or salutes, the giant in black stalked from the room, parting the cl.u.s.ters of busy headquarters staff before him like a curtain. They scattered from the doorway as he neared.

Seth leaned on his staff in the silence after the Astartes had departed. a"If you will excuse me, lord general?a" He addressed the Overseer but his watery eyes were locked on Thade, almost bleeding significance with an intensity that would be comical if it were any other soldier in his unit. Thade gently inclined his head. Message received. You still need to speak with me.

It was obvious to all of them that Maggrig had no idea what to say. The Overseer just nodded, and Seth left to keep his curious appointment. Only then did Tionenjia's laspistol find its home back in its brown leather holster.

a"The psyker,a" Lord General Maggrig said with narrowed eyes. a"He must be watched.a"

a"He is,a" replied the commissar.

a"He always was,a" added Thade.

The gunship was the same deep and glossless black as the armour worn by Brother-Captain Valar. It came in low, throwing up a storm of dust as its thrusters howled and belched fire. Landing claws extended in a smooth dance of well-oiled technology, biting into the gra.s.sy soil as the Thunderhawk gunship came to a rest. The roar of the great turbines and engines faded as they cycled down.

Setha's eyes fell upon the great white symbol painted along the gunshipa's flank, repeated in smaller relief on the wings. A stylised white raven, wings outstretched. Heavy bolters trained left and right from the Thunderhawka's cheeks and wingtips. Seth was put in mind of a great bird of prey, powerful beyond words but sitting uneasily, alert to the possibility of foes even within the sanctuary of its nest.

And this was not its nest, of course. That was back in the cold of orbit: an Astartes strike cruiser named The Second Shadow, Seth recalled. Poetic, he thought, and marvelled at the notion of such brutish, war-bred men being able to choose a name with such nuance. He admired (or at least respected) the Astartes for the living weapons they were, but pitied them their lack of culture and humanity. Of course, it did not escape his attention that most Imperial citizens thought the exact same of the Cadians. That thought made him smile.

It humbled Seth for a moment to look upon this huge, dark instrument of war. It was almost certainly thousands of years old, still flying, still fighting, still shedding blood in the name of the G.o.d-Emperor. So much of Cadiaa's technology was forever new. New soldiers bearing new rifles and driving new tanks a- all to replace men, weapons and resources lost in the planeta's endless wars against the raiders that spilled from the Great Eye like unholy tears.

The Thunderhawka's mouth opened, the gang-ramp several metres under the c.o.c.kpit lowering on whining pistons. Setha's mouth was suddenly dry. Hea'd had no idea if the psykers of the Astartes read the Emperora's Tarot, but rather than feel rea.s.sured by the brother-captaina's answer, he now found himself worried. What if this codiciera's own readings were so strong, so accurate, that Setha's visions were disregarded entirely? He had never fully trusted his erratic talent, but it was one of his senses as surely as the capacity to see and touch. If the Astartes psyker banished Setha's faith in his own abilities, it would be like living half-deaf and never being able to trust what he heard.

The thought made his skin crawl. Maybe this was a mistake. Yes, h.e.l.l yes, this was all a mistake, and it took all Setha's resolve to remain where he was.

The Astartes psyker, Brother-Codicier Zauren, walked down the sloped gang-ramp. His armour was as dark as Valara's had been, but instead of the off-white helm sported by the brother-captain, this Astartes warrior wore a helm of midnight blue with a mouth grille. Seth was no expert on the armaments of the n.o.ble Astartes Chapters, but he recognised the shape of the helm as a newer mark of armour, perhaps only several hundred years old.

The giant approached, his heavy armoured boots crunching soil and gravel underfoot. Sheathed across his back was a two-handed blade as long as Seth was tall. The Cadian doubted he could lift it unaided. He doubted even Ban Jevrian could fight for long with that beast in his hands.

a"You are the sanctioned psyker attached to the Cadian 88th Mechanised Infantry, are you not?a" The Astartesa' voice came in the same toneless vox-speech as the brother-captaina's had.

a"I am.a" Seth looked up at the gianta's helm. The eye lenses staring back down at him were golden.

a"Excellent,a" the giant said. a"I am Brother-Codicier Zauren Kale. You may call me Zaur, if it is not uncomfortably familiar for you to do so.a"

a"I I a".

a"A moment, please,a" the Astartes said, and reached up to do the very last thing Seth had been expecting.

He removed his helmet.

a"Where are you going?a" the commissar asked as they emerged into the dim daylight.

a"Maintenance,a" said Thade. He clenched and unclenched his bionic hand as he walked, and Tionenji wondered if the Cadian even knew he had that habit.

a"Overseeing the honoured enginseera's work?a"

a"Osiron? Hea'd never put up with that. This is pleasure, not business.a"

a"Pleasure? In maintenance?a" Tionenji fixed him with a bewildered look that perfectly matched the incredulity in his flowing Garadeshi accent. a"I am relatively well-informed, culturally speaking, on the Cadian people. I understand that you regard rifles as more precious than your wives, youa'd rather kill someone than make love, and that youa're only happy when bragging about the most recent time you remained awake for five days straight to win a war with your hands tied behind your backs.a"

a"You know us well.a" Thade grinned, his violet eyes bright below the black widowa's peak of his hair. a"But not that well. Seventy-five per cent of the planeta's adults and children are under arms, and most Cadians dona't marry. We have breeding programs to maintain the population.a"

a"Is that a joke?a"

Thade kept grinning. He didna't answer.

a"Even so, captain, never in my most uninspired dreams did I imagine your idea of leisure would be to watch tech-servitors repair your tanks.a"

a"You dona't have to follow me,a" said Thade, knowing that was a lie. Tionenji smiled.

a"And miss entertainment of such magnitude? Never.a"

a"I knew youa'd be game. And no, wea're not going to watch them repaint the tanks and tune the engines. Wea're going because Ia've been getting word since last night that Rax was ready.a"

a"Who, or indeed what, is Rax?a"

Thade smiled again as he neared the towering form of the Cadian bulk lander. Machine sounds of maintenance and repair echoed out from the open bay doors.

For a moment, he looked on the edge of boyish. No easy feat for a man whoa'd been fighting the Archenemy since he was fourteen. Thade wasna't quite thirty. Tionenji felt the captain could all too easily pa.s.s as a man nearing forty.

a"Rax,a" Thade said, still smiling the rare, warm smile, a"is my dog.a"

Zaur was pale, the pale of pristine marble. Not that Seth had been expecting much overt humanity in the oversized body and face of an Astartes warrior, but the ice-white skin tone was another layer of surprise. And his eyes were black. That unnerved Seth to no small degree. Hea'd never heard of such an alteration.

Zaura's scalp was shaved bare a- so bare that the Cadian was sure the Astartes had either shaved only hours before, or was genetically modified so that no hair would grow. A few sockets stood out on the white skin, polished chrome showing an edge of redness where they aggravated the surrounding skin: the implants for the codiciera's psychic enhancing technology. Seth had no idea what equipment the Astartes psykers used and wasna't about to ask, no matter how fiercely his curiosity burned.

The amplifying band of psychoactive metal implanted across his forehead suddenly itched abominably. He kept his augmentations clean and disinfected them twice daily, but they were the fruits of crude surgeries. Sanctioned psykers deserved no better in the eyes of the Guard; the majority were destined for a messy death before they earned any long-service medals. The polished bionics punctuating the Astartesa' skull were almost artistic in comparison to the cheap bronze plugs that bored into Setha's flesh and bone.

a"You seem discomforted,a" Zaur said. His real voice resonated, deep as distant thunder, but wasna't unkind.

a"I have never seen an Astartes without his helm. Not once.a"

a"Ah,a" Zaur smiled. That unnerved Seth even more. Even the Astartesa' teeth were overlarge, though everything about Zaur was in proportion to the gianta's physique. a"You wished my counsel?a" the codicier reminded him.

a"Yes. Yes, over matters of the Emperora's Tarot. Do you read the cards?a"

a"Are you asking if the Astartes as a whole practice the tradition, or are you asking if I do?a"

a"Both.a"

a"I suspect our methods are not dissimilar, Cadian. But come, this is not a matter to be discussed on a landing zone. Even in the shadow of my Thunderhawk, some ears are not to hear of what we speak.a"

Zaur led Seth into the waiting maw of the gun-ship, clanking up the gang-ramp. Once inside the internal hangar, Seth scanned the rows of chained combat cycles and archaic thruster backpacks that waited in secure wall housings for use by the Astartes. Zaur thumped a black fist against the door lock panel, and the gang-ramp whined closed, ending with a metallic slam.

a"Now,a" said the codicier, his voice echoing eerily around the empty hangar. a"What are the cards saying to you, Cadian?a"

Seth took a deep breath. a"The Archenemy is not done with Kathur.a"

a"And what if I told you I had seen the same?a"

a"I would be rea.s.sured. Rea.s.sured that my talents were not flailing wildly. But if you are seeing the same, then perhaps we cana-a"

a"Be at ease,a" the Astartes said, cutting the air with his hand. a"I have seen dark portents, but the specifics matter above all. And I wonder if they align. Speak clearly.a"

a"A grave threat, as yet unmet,a" Setha's eyes unfocused, losing their strained intensity, and his voice took on a dreamlike quality. a"The echoes of heresy ring out across the shrineworlda's sky. Something is coming. Some resurgence of the Archenemy. Something familiar.a"

a"I have read the same fate in the tarot. And yet what is familiar to both the Cadians and my Chapter? I am not as gifted as many of my brethren among the Librarium of the Raven Guard, but I know to trust my talent. The evil that draws near is utterly familiar. The hatred that rushes to eclipse us is personal. I felt that surging from the cards, and it is in no doubt. The only answer that fits is, of course a"

a"The Death Guard.a"

a"The Death Guard.a" Zaur nodded. a"The traitorous XIV Legion. The scourge of Scarus, at the Despoilera's right hand. They carve wounds that take decades to heal, if they will ever seal at all. The infection. The taint. How many worlds in this segmentum have been lost to the Curse of Unbelief in Abaddona's thirteenth war?a"

The question was obviously rhetorical. Seth nodded slowly, his thoughts coalescing.