There Is Only War

by Various

  ‘What?’ asked DaRolle.

  ‘Yeah, what?’ Carl squeaked in frozen terror.

  ‘One last stick? For a condemned man?’

  DaRolle shrugged. ‘Go on.’

  Frauka took out his lack, set a lho-stick to his lips and lit it with his igniter. He breathed in the smoke and smiled. ‘Oh, tastes good. Real mellow. Want one?’

  ‘No,’ said DaRolle.

  ‘Real smooth,’ said Frauka, inhaling a long drag. ‘These things’ll kill you, you know.’

  ‘I wouldn’t worry about that,’ DaRolle smiled.

  ‘I don’t frigging believe this!’ Carl whined.

  ‘Hey,’ said Frauka, glancing over his shoulder. ‘Why don’t you do him now while I’m smoking this baby? Save time. I never did like him.’

  ‘Oh Throne!’ Carl cried out and fell into a foetal position under the console.

  ‘Frig, what a baby!’ DaRolle laughed.

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Frauka said. He stubbed out his smoke. ‘Okay, ready.’ He held up the squashed butt. ‘Know what that was, my friend?’

  ‘Don’t tell me,’ smirked DaRolle. ‘Best smoke of your life?’

  ‘No,’ said Frauka quietly. ‘It was delaying tactics.’

  DaRolle swung round. The hulking shape of Harlon Nayl filled the hatch behind him. Nayl’s Hecuter 10 boomed once.

  ‘Everyone alive?’ Nayl asked, stepping in over the twisted body of the ginger-haired man.

  ‘Saw you approaching on the scanners,’ Frauka said. ‘Thought I’d keep him talking.’

  Carl Thonius got to his feet, shivering with anger and fright. ‘You’re unbelievable, Frauka,’ he hissed.

  ‘Thank you, Carl,’ Frauka smiled, and sat down with his book again. ‘See? Now you’re team building too.’

  XXII

  I led the girl back to the gig, where the others were waiting.

  ‘Hello, Patience, I’m Kara,’ Kara said.

  ‘Good to know you,’ Patience replied.

  By the time we raided Loketter’s manse, backed up by a full squad of magistratum troopers, the narcobaron and his cronies had cleared out. There are warrants out for all of them. I understand Loketter is still on the run.

  We returned to the Kindred Youth Scholam, and resumed the interrogations. It took several weeks, but by the end of it, I’d wrung some precious facts out of Cyrus and his staff.

  There wasn’t much. No, that’s a lie. There was enough to ensure that Cyrus would face further interrogation at the Inquisition facility on Thracian Primaris, and enough to make sure the scholam’s tutors and rigorists would remain incarcerated in the penitentiaries of Urbitane for the rest of their natural lives.

  And a lead. Not much, but a start. From Cyrus, just before his mind finally snapped, I learned that Molotch was heading for the outworlds. Sleef, perhaps. Maybe even deeper than that. I instructed Nayl and Kara to provision for what could be a long, dangerous pursuit.

  The day before we were due to leave Sameter, I met with Carl in one of the scholam’s old, faded classrooms. Most of the staff had been shipped out by then, in magistratum custody.

  ‘Did you trace what I wanted?’ I asked.

  He nodded. ‘It’s very little. With the records wiped–’

  ‘What have you got?’

  ‘Pupils Prudence and Providence were sold to a free trader who called himself Vinquies. The name was false, of course. No other records remain, and the name doesn’t match any excise log I can get from Sameter Out Traffic.’

  ‘The man himself?’

  ‘There was a picture in Cyrus’s mind, and in the minds of several of the other tutors present at the supper, but they’re not reliable. I’ve fed them through both the local magistratum files and the officio itself. Nothing.’

  ‘So… so, they’re lost?’

  Carl nodded sadly. ‘I suppose, if we dedicated the rest of our careers to trying to find them, we might turn up some clue. But in all reality, they’re long gone.’

  ‘I’ll tell her,’ I said, and slid out of the room.

  Patience was in the oubliette. By choice. The hatch was open. She sat inside, in the semi-dark, sliding her hands over the stones. She was still wearing her torn and filthy uniform. She’d refused to take it off.

  ‘Patience?’

  She stared out at me. ‘You can’t find them, can you?’

  I thought for a moment, and decided it was better to lie. Better a lie now than a lifetime of hopeless yearning.

  ‘Yes, Patience, I found them.’

  ‘They’re dead, aren’t they?’

  ‘Yes.’

  She coiled up, and I felt her hold onto that small black nugget in her mind again.

  Patience.+

  ‘Yes, Gideon?’

  I’m sorry. I truly am. We have to leave soon. I’d like you to come with us.+

  ‘With you? Why?’

  I’ll be honest. I can’t leave you here. You know about your gift? What it means?+

  ‘Yes.’

  You’re a psyker. A telekine. You can’t be allowed to remain in public. But I can look after you. I can train you. You could come to serve the God-Emperor of Mankind at my side. Would you like that?+

  ‘Better than an apprenticeship to a mill,’ she said. ‘Will Kara be there?’

  Yes, Patience.+

  ‘All right then,’ she said, and stepped out of the oubliette to join me.

  If you follow me, it will be hard at times. I will demand a lot of you. I will need to know everything about you. What do you think to that?+

  ‘That’s fine, Gideon.’

  I’ll be asking you questions, probing you, training your gift, unwrapping who you are.+

  ‘I understand.’

  Do you? Here’s a test question, the sort of thing I’ll be asking you. What was it that you held on to? When the hunters were closing. I felt it as a dark secret part of you, something you wouldn’t let go.+

  ‘It was my name, Gideon,’ she said. ‘My true name, my real name. It was always the single thing my mother gave me that I didn’t ever give away to the bastards in this place.’

  I see. That makes sense. Good, thank you for being so honest.+

  Gideon, do you want me to tell you my real name? I will, if you want.+

  ‘No,’ I said. ‘No, not now, not ever. I want you to hold onto it. It’s your secret. Keep it safe and it will keep you sane. It’ll remind you what you’ve come through. Promise me you’ll keep it safe.’

  I will.+

  ‘Patience is a fine name. I’ll call you that.’

  ‘All right,’ she replied, and started to walk down the hallway at my side.

  ‘I’ll need a surname, though,’ she said at length.

  ‘Choose one,’ I replied.

  She looked down at the monogram embroidered on her ragged scholam-issue clothes.

  ‘Kys?’ she suggested. ‘I’ll be Patience Kys.’

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  Dan Abnett is the author of the hugely successful Gaunt’s Ghosts, Eisenhorn and Ravenor series, along with several Horus Heresy novels, most recently The Unremembered Empire, which follows on from the New York Times bestselling Know No Fear.

  David Annandale wrote the Space Marine Battles novel The Death of Antagonis and the novella Yarrick: Chains of Golgotha. He is currently working on more tales of Commissar Yarrick.

  Barrington J Bayley (1937-2008) was a British science fiction author. His Black Library work included the novel Eye of Terror and several short stories.

  Braden Campbell’s Black Library credits include a number of short stories and the novella Shadowsun: The Last of Kiru’s Line.

  Author of The Gildar Rift, Accursed Eternity and Valkia the Bloody, S P Cawkwell continues to write about the Silver Skulls and the Gorequeen.


  Andy Chambers is the author of the popular dark eldar series, consisting of Path of the Renegade, Path of the Incubus and the forthcoming Path of the Archon, along with a number of short stories and the novella The Masque of Vyle.

  Ben Counter is best known for the Soul Drinkers and Grey Knights series, but has recently been busy telling tales of the Imperial Fists, such as Malodrax and Seventh Retribution.

  Aaron Dembski-Bowden wrote the Night Lords trilogy, the Space Marine Battles book Armageddon and the Horus Heresy novels The First Heretic, which was a New York Times bestseller, and Betrayer.

  Matthew Farrer lives in Australia. He has written several Warhammer 40,000 novels, including the Enforcer series, and the Horus Heresy short story ‘After Desh’ea’.

  By day, John French licenses products for Games Workshop. By night, he writes. His credits include Ahriman: Exile and the Horus Heresy novella The Crimson Fist.

  Jonathan Green has been writing for Black Library since its inception. He is the author of the Black Templars Armageddon novels and a pair of Path to Victory gamebooks, amongst many other credits.

  Andy Hoare is the author of the Space Marine Battles novel Hunt for Voldorius as well as the Imperial Guard novel Commissar and several tales set in the Damocles Gulf.

  Paul Kearney is a fantasy and science fiction author from Northern Ireland. His works for Black Library are the short stories ‘The Last Detail’ and ‘Broken Blood’.

  William King is the author of the Tyrion and Teclis trilogy and the Macharian Crusade series. He wrote the first seven books in the long-running Gotrek & Felix series as well as the first four tales of Ragnar Blackmane.

  Nick Kyme is the author of the Salamanders series, the Space Marine Battles novel Damnos, several Warhammer 40,000 audio dramas, including Perfection and Veil of Darkness, and the Horus Heresy novel Vulkan Lives.

  Mike Lee wrote the Time of Legends trilogy The Rise of Nagash and the Horus Heresy novel Fallen Angels. He also co-wrote the five-volume Darkblade series with Dan Abnett.

  George Mann’s Black Library work focuses on the Raven Guard and Brazen Minotaurs and includes the novella The Unkindness of Ravens and the audio dramas Helion Rain and Labyrinth of Sorrows.

  Graham McNeill writes the long-running Ultramarines series and is a regular contributor to the Horus Heresy. His novel A Thousand Sons was a New York Times bestseller.

  Writer of the long-running Ciaphas Cain series, Sandy Mitchell has also worked on various other novels and short stories for Black Library, including the tale ‘A Good Man’ in the Sabbat Worlds anthology.

  Author of the novels Gunheads and Deathwatch, Steve Parker sleeps, eats, trains and writes in Tokyo, Japan. He is working on more tales of the Deathwatch.

  Hailing from Australia, Anthony Reynolds is best known for the Word Bearers and Bretonnian Knights series. He has also contributed to the Horus Heresy.

  Rob Sanders wrote the Space Marine Battles novel Legion of the Damned, along with Atlas Infernal and Redemption Corps. He has also written short stories and a novella for the Horus Heresy.

  Andy Smillie is the author of numerous tales of the Flesh Tearers, including the Space Marines Battles novella Flesh of Cretacia and audio drama Blood in the Machine.

  James Swallow is the author of the Blood Angels and Sisters of Battle series and the New York Times bestselling Horus Heresy novels Nemesis and Fear to Tread.

  Gav Thorpe is currently writing the Dark Angels: Legacy of Caliban series, which began with Ravenwing, and a series of Horus Heresy novellas featuring the primarch Corax.

  Author of the Space Marine Battles novel Siege of Castellax, C L Werner also wrote the Time of Legends series The Black Plague and the Thanquol and Boneripper novels.

  Richard Williams penned the novels Relentless and Imperial Glory. He is also a theatre actor and director.

  Chris Wraight is currently writing the Space Wolves series, including Blood of Asaheim and Stormcaller, co-writing the Time of Legends series The War of Vengeance and penning the serialised Horus Heresy novel Scars.

  Henry Zou is the author of the Bastion Wars novels Flesh and Iron, Blood Gorgons and Emperor’s Mercy.

  A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION

  All stories in this book have been previously published in print, eBook or audio drama formats

  This edition published in 2013 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK

  Cover illustration by Hardy Fowler

  © Games Workshop Limited 2013. All rights reserved.

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  ISBN 978-1-78251-339-1

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