Prologue

Sealed vials of spectral fire glowed blue and red on the working stall among neat boxes of cogitator spare parts. Warsmith Aspersum took one with suspicion. Madness and malice bound within stung his mind, and he suppressed the desire to crush it with his gauntlet. Company serfs had chosen a suitable chassis from the large stocks of his fortress and installed all minor parts but Aspersum didn't trust mortals to let them build the processing units. When he prepared to fix the bound daemon in the socket, heavy steps thudded on the metal floor.

'I've arrived, m'lord.' Limax, his newly appointed subordinate Warsmith, walked around the stall panting and clearing his throat. When Limax stopped before Aspersum, he looked down at his boots, his gauntlets clasped on his belly.

'Let's see what you can do here.' Aspersum frowned at the gawky man in corroded dirty armour. He had seen Limax only once or twice until Limax's predecessor, Warsmith Helix, got killed at the failed siege of Forge World Hemicycla along with his trusted lieutenants. Limax, an unremarkable sergeant, had managed to reach the veteran age only because no one cared about him. For most of his service, he had been carrying cargoes and ammo between Medrengard and pirate worlds in and outside of the Eye. But for the attrition, he'd never become a company captain. His own legionnaires mocked Limax behind his back, openly laughing at another of his fails or paranoid antics.

'The navigator server?' Limax tapped on the dataslate fixed on his vambrace to avoid Aspersum's mocking stare. 'I've got manuals here, m'lord.'

'Don't you dare to break the glasses. We've got to finish it in time lest our wanker of a daddy will be pissed off and shit his metal pants.'

Limax sniffed and dropped a cable to the floor. 'He will hear us. Through the warp. How can you...'

'Watch out, you ham-handed wimp!' Aspersum bellowed reaching for another vial. 'He's a damn sissy just like you.'

'I heard he had torn off your arm, m'lord.'

'He's always been afraid his legionnaires find out he's nothing but a whiner under his awesome armour. That's why he would stomp his feet and jump in our faces like a cornered rat. His adopted dad tried to make him a real man but failed.'

Limax didn't answer. He crouched over the chassis, trying to solder capacitors to the motherboard but the tiny parts kept slipping out of his stiff fingers. Aspersum sneered at his efforts and took the motherboard from him.

'I bet you're even worse at fighting, milksop.'

Limax blinked his watering eyes. Even his face remained boyish through the long centuries. He'd been no soldier before he was chosen to serve in the legion. An apprentice at a small manufacture in Lochos. 'I was responsible for technical supplies in late Lord Helix's company.'

'Soon we'll see your talent for war. This server was commissioned by the Warmaster himself. He arrived to our daddy's fortress in person, and the damn nerd didn't even get out to say hello. How did the Warmaster speak to us gathered Warsmiths, like Perturabo had never done. About power and victory, about the Crimson Path that would lead us out of our disgraceful exile to the shining future of a new Imperium united under the true heir of Horus.'

Aspersum clenched his fist, his hearts beating quicker with the anticipation of coming battle. He burst out laughing when Limax instinctively humped his shoulders. 'Soon we'll sail out of the Eye when the cogitators calculate the road to Medusa. The Iron Hands are decent foes. Our pops would be glad to shit at their doors. He's always envied old headless Uncle Ferrus. But what I can say, I'd better have him as a gene-sire. At least I'd have been sure his gene-seed doesn't make me a sissy one day.'

'Another campaign before a Black Crusade?' Limax fixed another bound daemon on the motherboard.

'Better, milksop! I asked many questions to scoundrel Kibre when we were discussing the commission details. The Warmaster himself will lead us. Nine times he has already attacked wimpy Imperial scum, but the tenth Black Crusade will bring him the Throne of Terra.'