As Kjarlskar spoke, he looked up at the stars, mild tedium playing across his dark features. Ceremonies bored him, though he’d been satisfied by his manoeuvre over Fenris being placed in the sagas. It was some compensation for losing the Nauro, the only element of his life on Fenris he’d ever felt much affection for, and the only element he ever would.
‘We will rebuild,’ said Kjarlskar. ‘The Aett will be restored and made even greater. The last taint of the enemy will be scrubbed from the ice, and the remnants of his forces on other worlds hunted down and destroyed. The Twelfth Great Company will be rebuilt, its honour intact and its packs restored.’
The Great Wolf swept his golden eyes across the assembled companies.
‘No recovery will take place for our enemy. We have broken them. Never again will they mount such an operation, for they have been reduced to petty warbands of knowledge-thieves, roaming the galaxy for scraps of hidden trinkets. Their shame knows no limit, and their poverty knows no equal. They have come here, led by their primarch, and failed.’
Kjarlskar’s eyes blazed then.
‘Remember that, brothers!’ he cried. ‘They failed. This will be the greatest lesson of all, the truth we will carry with us as we march once more to war in the sea of stars. Our faith defines us. Our loyalty defines us. Our hatred defines us. So it is that we endure while the Traitor falters.’
His voice shook with fervour.
‘In a thousand years men will still speak of this battle. For as long as the Imperium of Man stands, skjalds will tell of the Battle of the Fang, and hope will flare in the hearts of the loyal. Whenever the flames of war return, they will remember what we have done here, and find the strength to rise up and accept the test.’
Kjarlskar thudded a fist against his breastplate.
‘This is our legacy. This is our purpose. This is why we fight.’
Then he lifted the clenched gauntlet in a gesture of defiance, pride and acclamation.
‘For the Allfather!’
And across the summit of the Krakgard, two thousand warriors of the Vlka Fenryka, the Space Wolves of fearsome repute, slammed their fists on their battle-plate and raised them up to the heavens. The roar of their massed response rose high into the darkening sky, a war-cry that was already ancient, already feared, and as bold and exuberant as the dawn across unbroken snow.
For the Allfather. For Russ. For Fenris.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHRIS WRAIGHT is a writer of fantasy and science fiction, whose first novel was published in 2008. Since then, he’s published books set in the Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40K and Stargate: Atlantis universes. He doesn’t own a cat, dog, or augmented hamster (which technically disqualifies him from writing for Black Library), but would quite like to own a tortoise one day. He’s based in a leafy bit of south-west England, and when not struggling to meet deadlines enjoys running through scenic parts of it.
Read more about his upcoming projects at www.chriswraight.wordpress.com
For brothers. For Richard and Anthony, and for Paul, Mike and Kev – brothers in spirit, if not by blood...
A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION
Published in 2011 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK
Cover illustration by Jon Sullivan
Internal illustration by John Blanche.
Maps by Chris Wraight and Adrian Wood.
© Games Workshop Limited, 2011. All rights reserved.
Black Library, the Black Library logo, Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo and all associated marks, names, characters, illustrations and images from the Warhammer universe are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2011, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All rights reserved.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-85787-156-5
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Warhammer 40,000
Maps
Prologue
Part I: Old Scores
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Part II: Waking The Dead
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Part III: The Closing Noose
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Part IV: The Crimson King
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
About The Author
Legal
eBook license
Battle Of The Fang Page 38
