Cauldron of Blood by Chris Thursten

Author:Chris Thursten
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2022-04-21T12:34:32+00:00

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Thursten is a writer and video game developer from Bath, UK. ‘Cauldron of Blood’ is his first story for Black Library.

An extract from Covens of Blood.

Morathi, High Oracle of the aelven war-god Khaine and Grand Matriarch of the Daughters of Khaine, rose from Mathcoir’s crimson depths, blood and magic dripping from her. She stepped from the great iron cauldron with a shiver of delight, the rejuvenation of her body and spirit complete. Strong, lithe and long-limbed, Morathi’s beauty was as cold and magnificent as ice and as deadly, too – not just to the unwary but to all those on whom she turned her formidable charms.

Three handmaidens, powerful warriors and sorcerers in their own right, hurried to dry and dress her, while a fourth was tasked with brushing out her luxurious hair until it shone like moonlight. Her magic swirled around her, as potent as an aphrodisiac. It, too, had been replenished in the cauldron’s sacred blood-waters. Dressed and filled with the boundless energy of Mathcoir, Morathi took her spear, Heartrender, from its bracket on the wall and paced through the corridors of the grand temple in the citadel of Hagg Nar. All who encountered her progress prostrated themselves and she passed without a glance or a murmur. She barely noticed them unless they failed to offer her the correct respect.

Encircling Hagg Nar like a translucent wall writhed the shadow-magics that made the Realm of Ulgu impenetrable to those who had not the knowledge to navigate its ways. Shadows that confused and waylaid wanderers also gave succour to the Daughters of Khaine, whose own magic was attuned to it, but those same coils of mist hid the stealthy incursions from the unholy minions of Slaanesh and Nagash, who had learnt many of the secrets of Ulgu and exploited them for their own evil purposes. The realm’s earth these days ran with blood and her mountains echoed with screams as the Daughters of Khaine defended their sacred home from the Forces of Chaos.

No, Ulgu was not a peaceful realm, but then Morathi had rarely craved peace in her long, extraordinary life. It certainly did not serve her purposes now. The Shadow Realm’s magic, and the blood spilt within it, was both blessing and curse: power that gave and also took away. Morathi was intimately familiar with such a seeming contradiction. Her life and purpose had alike been forged in such extremes, in horrors such as none living could ever begin to comprehend. Horrors Morathi herself refused to dwell on or allow to be spoken. And yet now, thanks to Khaine and the she-aelves who so zealously worshipped him and worked for his return, her strength grew and her power with it.

Morathi ascended the spiralling walkways from deep within the temple until she came to a wide balcony overlooking an arena of black sand. Slabs of jagged stone stood here and there within the oval pit, and surrounding it was row upon row of tiered seating, filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of her Daughters, eager for the contest to begin.

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