Wolfsbane Read online

  Backlist

  Book 1 – HORUS RISING

  Book 2 – FALSE GODS

  Book 3 – GALAXY IN FLAMES

  Book 4 – THE FLIGHT OF THE EISENSTEIN

  Book 5 – FULGRIM

  Book 6 – DESCENT OF ANGELS

  Book 7 – LEGION

  Book 8 – BATTLE FOR THE ABYSS

  Book 9 – MECHANICUM

  Book 10 – TALES OF HERESY

  Book 11 – FALLEN ANGELS

  Book 12 – A THOUSAND SONS

  Book 13 – NEMESIS

  Book 14 – THE FIRST HERETIC

  Book 15 – PROSPERO BURNS

  Book 16 – AGE OF DARKNESS

  Book 17 – THE OUTCAST DEAD

  Book 18 – DELIVERANCE LOST

  Book 19 – KNOW NO FEAR

  Book 20 – THE PRIMARCHS

  Book 21 – FEAR TO TREAD

  Book 22 – SHADOWS OF TREACHERY

  Book 23 – ANGEL EXTERMINATUS

  Book 24 – BETRAYER

  Book 25 – MARK OF CALTH

  Book 26 – VULKAN LIVES

  Book 27 – THE UNREMEMBERED EMPIRE

  Book 28 – SCARS

  Book 29 – VENGEFUL SPIRIT

  Book 30 – THE DAMNATION OF PYTHOS

  Book 31 – LEGACIES OF BETRAYAL

  Book 32 – DEATHFIRE

  Book 33 – WAR WITHOUT END

  Book 34 – PHAROS

  Book 35 – EYE OF TERRA

  Book 36 – THE PATH OF HEAVEN

  Book 37 – THE SILENT WAR

  Book 38 – ANGELS OF CALIBAN

  Book 39 – PRAETORIAN OF DORN

  Book 40 – CORAX

  Book 41 – THE MASTER OF MANKIND

  Book 42 – GARRO

  Book 43 – SHATTERED LEGIONS

  Book 44 – THE CRIMSON KING

  Book 45 – TALLARN

  Book 46 – RUINSTORM

  Book 47 – OLD EARTH

  Book 48 – THE BURDEN OF LOYALTY

  More tales from the Horus Heresy...

  CYBERNETICA

  SONS OF THE FORGE

  WOLF KING

  PROMETHEAN SUN

  AURELIAN

  BROTHERHOOD OF THE STORM

  THE CRIMSON FIST

  PRINCE OF CROWS

  DEATH AND DEFIANCE

  TALLARN: EXECUTIONER

  SCORCHED EARTH

  BLADES OF THE TRAITOR

  THE PURGE

  THE HONOURED

  THE UNBURDENED

  RAVENLORD

  Many of these titles are also available as abridged and unabridged audiobooks. Order the full range of Horus Heresy novels and audiobooks from blacklibrary.com

  Audio Dramas

  THE DARK KING & THE LIGHTNING TOWER

  RAVEN’S FLIGHT

  GARRO: OATH OF MOMENT

  GARRO: LEGION OF ONE

  BUTCHER’S NAILS

  GREY ANGEL

  GARRO: BURDEN OF DUTY

  GARRO: SWORD OF TRUTH

  THE SIGILLITE

  HONOUR TO THE DEAD

  WOLF HUNT

  HUNTER’S MOON

  THIEF OF REVELATIONS

  TEMPLAR

  ECHOES OF RUIN

  MASTER OF THE FIRST

  THE LONG NIGHT

  IRON CORPSES

  RAPTOR

  Download the full range of Horus Heresy audio dramas from blacklibrary.com

  Also available

  MACRAGGE’S HONOUR

  A Horus Heresy graphic novel

  Contents

  Cover

  Backlist

  Title Page

  The Horus Heresy

  Dramatis Personae

  Prologue

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Afterword

  About the Author

  An Extract from ‘Wolf King’

  A Black Library Publication

  eBook license

  The Horus Heresy

  It is a time of legend.

  The galaxy is in flames. The Emperor’s glorious vision for humanity is in ruins. His favoured son, Horus, has turned from his father’s light and embraced Chaos.

  His armies, the mighty and redoubtable Space Marines, are locked in a brutal civil war. Once, these ultimate warriors fought side by side as brothers, protecting the galaxy and bringing mankind back into the Emperor’s light. Now they are divided.

  Some remain loyal to the Emperor, whilst others have sided with the Warmaster. Pre-eminent amongst them, the leaders of their thousands-strong Legions are the primarchs. Magnificent, superhuman beings, they are the crowning achievement of the Emperor’s genetic science. Thrust into battle against one another, victory is uncertain for either side.

  Worlds are burning. At Isstvan V, Horus dealt a vicious blow and three loyal Legions were all but destroyed. War was begun, a conflict that will engulf all mankind in fire. Treachery and betrayal have usurped honour and nobility. Assassins lurk in every shadow. Armies are gathering. All must choose a side or die.

  Horus musters his armada, Terra itself the object of his wrath. Seated upon the Golden Throne, the Emperor waits for his wayward son to return. But his true enemy is Chaos, a primordial force that seeks to enslave mankind to its capricious whims.

  The screams of the innocent, the pleas of the righteous resound to the cruel laughter of Dark Gods. Suffering and damnation await all should the Emperor fail and the war be lost.

  The age of knowledge and enlightenment has ended.

  The Age of Darkness has begun.

  ~ Dramatis Personae ~

  The Emperor

  Rogal Dorn, Primarch, Imperial Fists

  Jaghatai Khan, Primarch, White Scars

  Malcador the Sigilite, Regent of Terra

  Sanguinius, Primarch, Blood Angels

  Constantin Valdor, Custodian Guard

  Ezekyle Abaddon, First Captain, Sons of Horus

  Horus Lupercal, Primarch, Sons of Horus

  Knights Errant

  Garviel Loken

  Bror Tyrfingr

  Space Wolves

  Leman Russ, Primarch

  Bjorn the One-Handed

  Ogvai Ogvai Helmschrot, Jarl of Tra

  Lufven Close-Handed, Jarl of For

  Amlodhi Skarssen Skarssensson, Jarl of Fyf

  Skunnr, Jarl of Sesc

  Hvarl Red-Blade, Jarl of Sepp

  Baldr Vidunsson, Jarl of For-Twa

  Sturgard Joriksson, Jarl of Tra-Tra

  Laughing Jaurmag of Tolv, Previous Jarl of Tolv

  Scarred Oki, Jarl of Tolv

  Jorin Bloodhowl, Jarl of Dekk-Tra

  Kva, 'Who-is-Divided', Rune Priest

  Grimnr Blackblood, Huscarl

  Freki and Geri, Wolf-brothers of Leman Russ
<
br />   Fith Godsmote, Battle-brother to Bjorn

  Denizens of the Underverse

  The Erlking, Malevolent psychic echo

  Amarok, Guesting daemonkin

  Bror Tyrfingr's pack

  Blind Ragner

  Himmlik

  Enrir the Fat

  Chattering Flokr

  Gren the Happy

  Mechanicum

  Friedisch Adum Ship Qvo, Tech-Acolytum

  Belisarius Cawl, Tech-Acolytum

  Hester Aspertia Sigma-Sigma, Magos Domina of the Trisolian Taghmata

  Tez-Lar, Cawl's pet servitor

  Benician Mendoza, Viceroy Extractatorian of the Trisolian Forge World

  Sota-Nul, Emissary of the True Mechanicum

  Kelbor-Hal, Fabricator-General, Martian faction

  Diort, A skitarii

  Prologue

  Firstborn Child

  'I have something for you, Horus.'

  That was the message the Emperor sent to Horus Lupercal. That was the beginning of the end of his solitude.

  Soon after, Horus found he had a new brother.

  Horus guessed something momentous was coming. The Master of Terra had disappeared on a mysterious errand He would not speak to His first son about. Horus knew the Emperor had made twenty sons. It did not take a man of Horus' genius to put together the pieces, but he had only known with certainty that the first of the others had been found when the Emperor's fleet broke warp and approached his own. He felt it then. He could feel him.

  The Emperor greeted Horus in an annular observation gallery circling the dome of a refectorum. The gallery was an architectural fancy, a self-conscious mimicking of the cathedrals of Old Earth. To Horus' critical eye it was a weakness in the ship, and should not have been included. There should have been a firmer divide between utility and beauty. The Emperor disagreed.

  That day, however, the gallery served a useful purpose.

  Father and son looked through curved armourglass at the group of feral men occupying the refectorum tables sixty metres below. Amid the opulence of the Emperor's ship the newcomers were incongruous. They were shaggy-maned, draped in filthy pelts, armoured in leather and iron-ringed byrnies over clothes whose rough weave appeared shockingly primitive under the even, artificial light. Their muscles were as big as mortal man's could be; they were hard men, warriors born, but unsophisticated. Their tattooed skin was dirty, their hair was filthier still. Their scent was kept from Horus, but they looked like they stank, and he wrinkled his nose as if he could smell them.

  They behaved like children, toying with the glassware and the lamps that adorned the tables. They laughed like fools when they worked out how to activate a lumen; they laughed louder when the primitive playing with it dropped and broke it. They sniffed at fine wine and expensive foods with suspicious faces, laughed again at the fussy dishes of delicacies presented to them by servers they delighted in harassing. They were insolent, unworthy, scoffing at the Emperor's largesse. Horus glanced at his father, but the Emperor did not share his affront, His perfect, luminous face radiating nothing but pride.

  The Emperor's eyes were fixed on their leader, the greatest of them all. He was a giant almost as massive as Horus himself. Though he was draped in the same rude skins and armour as his followers; though his long, blond hair was dressed in similar backward style to theirs; though he hunched over the table and picked at the kingly food with grubby fingers, ignoring the cutlery provided, it was clear as day is from night that he was not the same as his followers.

  He was the same as Horus. This was the presence he felt.

  This savage was his brother.

  Horus stared at the barbarian king. No fraternal feeling came to him. Instead he was flooded with dismay. By his brother's feet lay two enormous animals one a grey so glossy it was almost silver, the other black. They appeared to have no difficulty accepting their new environment and slept easily on the floor.

  'Are those actual wolves?' Horus said, fascinated despite himself.

  'After a fashion,' said the Emperor. He spared His son a brief, benevolent look. 'They resemble the animals of Old Earth, though l think you would find the Terran species disappointingly small if you ever saw one.'

  'They look like wolves,' said Horus. He thought of his own Legion's badge, and his warriors' lupine affectations. They seemed trite and false by comparison to the men below. They were human wolves, walking on two feet. 'They live with wolves?' he said.

  'They believe themselves kin to them. Wolves are important to their culture,' said the Emperor.

  'These men are primitives,' said Horus guardedly. He tried to look past his prejudice to their potential. They were strong, and if they were as proficient in combat as they looked, would make excellent recruits for the Legions. At the same time, the idea of these brutes let loose in the stars appalled him. He tried to smother the emotion, but it squirmed in his mental grip and would not die. Of course his father read his mind. Of course.

  The Emperor smiled, an expression felt more than seen. 'Are the gangs of Cthonia more civilised than these men? Are the techno-barbarians of Terra who fight in my name?'

  One of the warriors was tapping at a decanter with a dirty fingernail, puzzled by the glass. A roar of laughter went up from his fellows as he accidentally pushed it from the table and it shattered on the marble floor. Glass skittered across the hall. Priceless purple amasec soaked into irreplaceable rugs.

  'They know of war with guns,' said Horus. 'The Cthonians know technology. The stars were no mystery to us. These men carry swords of plain steel.' He avoided saying the word savages aloud, only just.

  'Their highest art is the forging of steel,' admitted the Emperor. 'Their world has regressed to a pre-technological state, and if you saw it you would not be surprised why. It is a beautiful, savage place of ice, fire and monsters. A charming experiment in reconstructed mythologies.'

  'What do you mean?'

  'Fenris is a relic from the days before Old Night.'

  Rarely did the Emperor refer to the past, even so obliquely as that. 'Are they fit to serve you, my lord?' asked Horus. He hurried on before the Emperor could reply. 'They will take much training. Think of the acclimatisation period. We have wiped out cultures more sophisticated than theirs. We should do the same to them.' It was a plausible lie. His objections to these wolf-kin were rooted elsewhere entirely, and he was ashamed of that.

  'We have killed many similar societies, but we have welcomed hundreds more worlds like theirs into the Imperium. Fenris has complied. There will be no purge.'

  Horus was bereft. He was no longer alone. He should not care, but he did. He was embarrassing himself.

  Sensing his son's resentment the Emperor rested a hand on Horus' shoulder. The touch sent shivers into Horus' soul. Loving devotion welled in his hearts that he could not deny, try as he might.

  'I understand your disappointment,' the Emperor said, amused. 'You and I have fought side by side for years. It is natural for you to feel this…' The Emperor's humour grew. Horus basked in it like he would the sunlight, even as it burned him. '…sibling rivalry. But I need him. We need him. He was made by me as you were. He is a brother for you, if you like. Brotherly competition is to be encouraged, because it will drive you on to greater efforts.'

  The Emperor required Horus to look at Him, so Horus did.

  'I know he is a little rough around the edges. Would you believe he challenged me to an eating contest?' The Emperor laughed softly. 'But I will tolerate no dissension between you. You are to cooperate. You must learn to make war together. I am relying on you to help me civilise him.'

  'Impossible. He is a savage,' said Horus, unable to keep the word to himself any longer.

  'I advise you not to underestimate him, Horus,' said the Emperor. 'He is woven from the same genetic threads that you are. He has conquered half a world a hundred times more savage than Cthonia. Had I not found him and taken him from his peop
le, all of Fenris would have been his. The feat that would have been.' Once more, he smiled. 'Impressive. Do not underestimate him,' he repeated.

  Horus' will buckled under the force of the Emperor's attention, but his misgivings would not retreat. He looked into his father's face. Few could do that. A poisonous worry gripped him that this new warrior would be able to do the same, that he was no longer unique. He was jealous, he realised. He would have to share the golden attentions of his father with another. The years they'd shared seemed reduced to an eye-blink. He thought they would last for all time, and just like that they were done. In that moment, everything changed forever.

  'He could turn against you.' Horus suppressed a tremble in his voice.

  'He will not,' said the Emperor with certainty. 'He will be as loyal as you are. His efforts will multiply yours, when he takes command of his Legion. Two of you, striding the heavens!' The Emperor was pleased. 'This is a propitious day.'

  'You are going to give him a Legion?' said Horus. 'Forgive me, father, but is that wise?'

  'I gave the gang lord of Cthonia his. It was your birthright, as it is his.'

  Horus dropped his eyes. The Emperor radiated a sense of such wisdom. Once more, Horus was ashamed to have questioned Him.

  'You are entitled to your misgivings, Horus,' said the Emperor. 'But you must make this work. He is only the first.'

  I am the first, thought Horus before he could stop himself.

  'If I can find him, and you, then the others will be located eventually. You must grow used to the idea that you are no longer alone.' His father was pleased by that thought. Horus could not be.

  'If I cannot trust you to learn how to work with the others, and lead them as the first of my sons, then I have overestimated you,' the Emperor said.

  He said it blandly, but the thought of disappointing his father struck Horus with a panicked dread. 'I will not fail you, father,' he swore. 'I shall befriend him. I shall help you teach him.'

  The servers providing meat and drink to the warriors were mocked and chased about by the barbarians. They were frightened, and no threat whatsoever to the burly primitives. When a high-ranking warrior of the VI Legion entered the hall the situation was different. The warriors ceased their clownish antics the instant the door opened. They went from tribal buffoons to battle-ready warriors in the space of an eye-blink.

  Horus leaned forwards. 'Now that,' he breathed, 'is remarkable.' The Emperor nodded. 'Enoch Rathvin meets his gene-father. It is only fair that he be the first to greet him. I hope you are not offended that you will be second.'