Lords of Caliban (Warhammer 40,000) by Gav Thorpe

Author:Gav Thorpe [Thorpe, Gav]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2015-04-30T00:00:00+00:00

The tread of footfalls echoes from the broken buildings. In the distance artillery pounds other city districts, but close to the waterfront the fighting has moved on, the area secured by Belial and his Deathwing.

Hundreds of dead orks litter the streets, but the Commander of the First Company does not see them. He sees the human carcasses, left to the elements for far longer. Thousands, piled against buildings and walls like snowdrifts, emaciated, dead of hunger and trampling, the crowds that waited for megatrawlers that never returned. Killed by their own kind in food riots long before the orks had returned to the city.

He moves his gaze to his companion, Chaplain Asmodai. Nothing can be seen of the other Space Marine’s expression behind his skull-masked helm, but experience tells Belial that it will be a grim sneer of equal hate and disgust. Belial asks the question that has been nagging him ever since the Chapter returned to Piscina IV, several years after they had thought the orks defeated.

‘How could the Piscinans allow such a thing?’

‘They are only human.’ Asmodai’s assessment is as true as it is brief, but the Chaplain expands on his point. ‘They were weak. It was a mistake to leave the task of eradicating the orks to lesser warriors. They vacillated, became distracted, and did not finish the task at hand.’

‘You might cast such an accusation with a clear conscience, but I was here at the start. I am just as responsible for not ending the threat of the orks.’

‘I did not intend the criticism, but if you feel you should share similar blame I am happy for you to accept it.’

‘Then I shall take it as such. I am aware of any deficiencies in my past conduct, and make no attempt to avoid or excuse them. I am grateful that we have returned to Piscina so that I can rectify shortcomings in my leadership and personal performance. It is to my shame that the Beast escaped retribution to wreak such havoc upon the Emperor’s domains, but its spawn shall be eradicated.’

‘As they should have been at first encounter.’

The orks, their remains, lay scattered across the road, felled by my fury. I stood amongst the ruin left by pistol and powered blade, alone, my dark green armour splashed with the congealing blood of my foes.

Upon the left shoulder guard of my green battleplate I wore the symbol of the Dark Angels, which I prized as an award above all other merit. My right shoulder was marked with my personal heraldry – black to denote the time I had spent in the Ravenwing, slashed diagonally with a red band from lower left to upper right for the killing of Furion, an inverted blade above as the swordsman’s honour and the commander’s icon of the iron halo below.

Honours that I had earned in fierce battle, but none of those encounters had been more closely contested than the fight that had just ended.

Amongst the dismembered and decapitated bodies of the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.