The Skull Forge by Danie Ware

Author:Danie Ware
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2022-11-01T15:48:57+00:00

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Danie Ware is the author of the novel The Triumph of Saint Katherine, the novellas The Bloodied Rose, Wreck and Ruin, The Rose in Anger and several short stories all featuring the Sisters of Battle. She lives in Carshalton, South London, with her son and two cats, and has long-held interests in role-playing, re-enactment, vinyl art toys and personal fitness.

An extract from The Rose at War.

The great ship groaned.

She hung in the void like a thing dead: a steel shell, gutted and creaking. No life stirred upon her gantries or gunnery decks, no figures knelt within her silent chapel.

Her levels were dark, her lumens exhausted.

And yet, somewhere in her cavernous depths, there glimmered suitlights. Six shifting circles of pale visibility shone out like search beams, glittering from the frost-cold steel of the walls.

A squad of armoured warriors followed a walkway, single file. Though they walked slowly, their steps echoed in metallic ripples from the endless, empty mazes of corridors and conduits.

And with them, there came the faintest glimmer of song.

Domine, libra nos…

Holding her place in the centre of the line, both hands on her bolter, Augusta Santorus raised the Litany of Battle alongside her Sisters, their harmonics like tendrils, unfurling through the chill. Ahead of her, Sister Superior Veradis moved at the front of the exploring squad, her bolt pistol in one hand and her auspex, its screen shimmering a dull green, in the other.

From the lightning and the tempest…

The litany was familiar, steadying. It flowed like shared strength between the six figures, their blood-scarlet armour all ceramite and plasteel, their cloaks black and white. Each one bore the embroidered symbol of the Bloody Rose, the Order Militant of the Adepta Sororitas dispatched to scout this floating corpse. Their mission, to look for survivors – and to protect the interests of the Ecclesiarchy, to whom this ship belonged.

But, search though they might, the cruiser Santa Xenia hung silent, her carcass already rotting.

‘Keep the line tight.’ Veradis’ orders sounded quietly in the squad’s vox-beads. Amid the flow of the litany, the Sister Superior was listening.

Our Emperor, deliver us…

Behind Veradis, Augusta continued to sing, her voice weaving in with that of her Sisters. In the chapels and cathedrals of the schola on Ophelia VII, it was easy to perceive Him, standing stern and patient at prayer, or overseeing their combat training as they battled beneath His gaze.

But here–

The thought was unworthy and she silenced it, concentrating on the hymn.

From plague, temptation and war…

The litany was absolute: He was everywhere. As the squad moved down another metal stairway, past another layer of hatches and vents, so they raised His name, and His presence walked with them.

Our Emperor, deliver us…

Even here, down in the depths of this great, steel sepulchre.

‘I fear the spirit of this vessel is fading,’ Veradis said, her tone still quiet. ‘Yet the retention of her atmosphere and grav-field suggests that she may still be occupied. We will proceed along the lowest gantries, down towards the fusion reactor. If any spark of life remains, I suspect that is where we shall find it.

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.