Chris Wraight - JAGHATAI KHAN WARHAWK OF CHOGORIS

BACKLIST

The Primarchs FERRUS MANUS: GORGON OF MEDUSA FULGRIM: THE PALATINE PHOENIX LORGAR: BEARER OF THE WORD PERTURABO: THE HAMMER OF OLYMPIA MAGNUS THE RED: MASTER OF PROSPERO LEMAN RUSS: THE GREAT WOLF ROBOUTE GUILLIMAN: LORD OF ULTRAMAR The Horus Heresy series Book 1 HORUS RISING Book 2 FALSE GODS Book 3 GALAXY IN FLAMES Book 4 THE FLIGHT OF THE EISENSTEIN Book 5 FULGRIM Book 6 DESCENT OF ANGELS Book 7 LEGION Book 8 BATTLE FOR THE ABYSS Book 9 MECHANICUM Book 10 TALES OF HERESY Book 11 FALLEN ANGELS Book 12 A THOUSAND SONS Book 13 NEMESIS Book 14 THE FIRST HERETIC Book 15 PROSPERO BURNS Book 16 AGE OF DARKNESS Book 17 THE OUTCAST DEAD Book 18 DELIVERANCE LOST Book 19 KNOW NO FEAR Book 20 THE PRIMARCHS Book 21 FEAR TO TREAD Book 22 SHADOWS OF TREACHERY Book 23 ANGEL EXTERMINATUS Book 24 BETRAYER Book 25 MARK OF CALTH Book 26 VULKAN LIVES Book 27 THE UNREMEMBERED EMPIRE Book 28 SCARS Book 29 VENGEFUL SPIRIT Book 30 THE DAMNATION OF PYTHOS Book 31 LEGACIES OF BETRAYAL Book 32 DEATHFIRE Book 33 WAR WITHOUT END Book 34 PHAROS Book 35 EYE OF TERRA Book 36 THE PATH OF HEAVEN Book 37 THE SILENT WAR Book 38 ANGELS OF CALIBAN Book 39 PRAETORIAN OF DORN Book 40 CORAX Book 41 THE MASTER OF MANKIND Book 42 GARRO Book 43 SHATTERED LEGIONS Book 44 THE CRIMSON KING Book 45 TALLARN Book 46 RUINSTORM Book 47 OLD EARTH Book 48 BURDEN OF LOYALTY Book 49 WOLFSBANE Book 50 BORN OF FLAME More White Scars from Black Library BROTHERHOOD OF THE STORM SCARS THE PATH OF HEAVEN THE LAST HUNT RESTORER STORM OF DAMOCLES OVERFIEND

CONTENTS

THE HORUS HERESY

It is a time of legend. Mighty heroes battle for the right to rule the galaxy. The vast armies of the Emperor of Mankind conquer the stars in a Great Crusade the myriad alien races are to be smashed by his elite warriors and wiped from the face of history. The dawn of a new age of supremacy for humanity beckons. Gleaming citadels of marble and gold celebrate the many victories of the Emperor, as system after system is brought back under his control. Triumphs are raised on a million worlds to record the epic deeds of his most powerful champions. First and foremost amongst these are the primarchs, superhuman beings who have led the Space Marine Legions in campaign after campaign. They are unstoppable and magnificent, the pinnacle of the Emperors genetic experimentation, while the Space Marines themselves are the mightiest human warriors the galaxy has ever known, each capable of besting a hundred normal men or more in combat. Many are the tales told of these legendary beings. From the halls of the Imperial Palace on Terra to the outermost reaches of Ultima Segmentum, their deeds are known to be shaping the very future of the galaxy. But can such souls remain free of doubt and corruption forever? Or will the temptation of greater power prove too much for even the most loyal sons of the Emperor? The seeds of heresy have already been sown, and the start of the greatest war in the history of mankind is but a few years away...

With many thanks to Nick Kyme and Laurie Goulding
for their sterling editorial guidance.

PREFACE

On Chogoris, a tale is told from the time before discord came.

A sage of Golden Terra made his lifes work the study of the Eighteen. As each son of the Emperor was found, he travelled the stars to seek accounts of their deeds and nature. He collected testimony and submitted many scrolls to the Throneworld for safekeeping. Some of them are still there, they say. Some are lost. Such is the way of things.

It is said that this sage was sufficiently venerable that he had the ear of the Emperor Himself. One night, before the advent of strife, the two of them walked the Palace walls together. Birds sang in those days, there were still birds alive on Golden Terra.

The Emperor, whose face was hidden by splendour, asked the sage how his work was progressing.

Very well, my liege, the sage replied, just as ever unable to look his master in the eye. I have created an archive for you, so that your achievement may be recognised for posterity the Library of the Primarchs.

The Emperor said nothing. On the few occasions when they had spoken together, the sage had rarely known what the Emperor thought, or even if He were truly listening at all. In this, he was not alone, for the thoughts of the Emperor were beyond the thoughts of all mortals.

It will be a valuable addition, I hope, the sage went on, feeling the need to fill the silence with words. Except that it has been easier to study some of your sons than others.

Still the Emperor said nothing.

I do not pretend to understand your plans fully, the sage said, and I do not presume to question the nature of those, such as the Lord of the Red Sands, into whom enquiry has been challenging. They are all so different that, I suppose, is the genius of them. Each has his nature. Each has his gift.

The Emperor stopped walking. He looked up into the starry heavens in those days, the skies of Golden Terra still had stars.

But then there is the Warhawk, said the sage, shaking his head. The Great Khan of the Fifth. Of all of them, I have never come close to him. Whatever his gift is, I remain ignorant of it.

It is here that accounts diverge. Some say that the Emperor smiled; others say that the Emperor never smiled. Still others maintain that the Emperor had no human features at all, but was like the light of the sun at noon in an empty sky.

You wish to know what gift Jaghatai possesses, the Emperor said.

Yes, my liege, said the sage. Very much. But nothing is known. Nothing is settled. His entry in the library will be slender, and even that will be supposition and hearsay. Sometimes I wonder if he is real at all, or just the rumour of a savage people. With him, with this Great Khan, there is only confusion.

The Emperor began to walk again.

There is your answer, He said.

TERRA
M30.879

ONE

The door shivered, its onyx panels already cracked and its carved jambs cracking. A storm blew through it, a roar of gold and white, as elemental as the summer gales on the Altak. A window pane shattered, sending teardrops of glass bouncing.

Courtiers scattered, hitching up heavy brocade robes and tottering like birds. A woman screamed, while a man stumbled and scrabbled on all fours towards the stairwell.

The storm paid them no heed. He strode through the crowd, eyes bright with a vital anger, towering over even the greatest and making them appear insignificant. In his wake came two armoured giants, clad in ivory and jasper, their heavy tread resounding on hard floors. All three titans glittered under the wheeling light of disturbed suspensors that set their scabbards and blade-pommels flashing.

His neck, said the Khagan of Chogoris, the Great Khan of the Fifth Legion Astartes, his long black hair flying loose. If He does not learn to bend it, one day it will break.

The primarch swept through the antechambers of the Imperial Palace, his cloak hem snapping like a whip about his heels. With him came the twin masters of his young army, Hasik and Giyahun, their bronze faces impassive.

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