Contents

Cover

Confession of Pain – Extract

A Black Library Publication

eBook license

CONFESSION OF PAIN

Jon Flindall

From high above the plain, the broken landing craft looked like the skeleton of some vast monster. Blackened macro-containers formed the vertebrae of a titanic spine, flanked by sprawling landing struts and spent atmospheric engines. A broad, spiked bridge lay at one end, altitude thrusters stabbing backwards like monolithic horns.

Lieutenant Orghun stood on a ridge above the scarred plain, buffeted by the rising winds. He viewed the vista through the visual feed of his berkut, Tuyaa, which soared high above. From the cybernetic hawk’s lofty viewpoint Orghun saw the Chogorian plains stretching out on every side, pockmarked by the ruins of spacecraft and the scars of orbital weaponry. Twisting plumes of blue-black smoke rose from the torn wreck below and were snatched by the hungry wind. At the base of these plumes, Tuyaa’s keen eye saw flickering magenta-tinged flames, the unnatural fires still burning months after the ship’s descent.

The hawk swept along the length of the fallen ship, seeking any other hint of movement amidst the ruin, any sign that one of the vessel’s inhabitants still cowered in the wreckage. When her search brought her to the lander’s far end, she wheeled on a thermal, turning back towards her master.

Orghun ground his teeth and cancelled the feed with a blink. Removing his gold-traced helm, he spat in the dirt at his feet. The wind cooled his bare scalp and pulled at the plait of hair that hung behind his ear. He moved to the combat bike waiting nearby and keyed the next location in his search into the control cogitator.

As he climbed into the saddle, a melodic chime sounded in Orghun’s ear. He scowled at the rune blinking on the bike’s screen and gunned the engine.

Summoning Tuyaa with a whistle, he headed for the White Scars’ fortress-monastery.

The gathering hall at the heart of Quan Zhou echoed to the singing of Chapter-serfs. Two dozen of Lieutenant Orghun’s warriors were mustered within, their warplate gleaming. The remainder of the forces he led had been summoned from their sparring and would be preparing to depart Chogoris. Orghun strode through a throng of his brothers, acknowledging their greetings but not stopping. He sought the one who had summoned him at the far side of the room, standing before a wall of brass etched with Korchin characters, an epic verse describing the primarch’s early years.

‘Orghun, you return to us at last. How fared your hunt?’ Chaplain Ghabesh’s face was heavily scarred and wrinkled by his many years, but his eyes gleamed with humour.

‘I found nothing, master,’ Orghun said, keeping his voice neutral. ‘The Empty Quarter is well named. Why did you call me back?’

‘Tuslakh,’ said Ghabesh, using the Korchin presentation of Orghun’s rank. ‘The path of fate has provided us with an opportunity. Follow me.’

The two warriors stepped into an antechamber thick with ritual incense. The briefing room was lit only by the crimson glow of a hololithic display projected from a wide disc in the floor. A shadowed figure stood across from Orghun, studying the hololith. From the psychic hood projecting above the figure’s shoulders and the hawk-like cast of his brow, Orghun recognised Stormseer Otagai.

‘Welcome, tuslakh,’ came Otagai’s voice from the shadow. ‘Duty drives us to war once more. Much is made clear to we seers of the zadyin arga. We have identified… a fortuity.’

‘A rare chance indeed,’ Ghabesh added, moving to the Stormseer’s side.

‘Following the thread we had pulled, a scouting force was sent to the Gartuli System,’ Otagai continued, operating the hololith’s controls. The star map circled, the red light recreating a planetary system within the Yasan Sector. ‘Do you know of Helaka?’

‘One of Gartuli’s moons, fortified like its parent,’ Orghun said, pointing at the map. ‘And held in the grip of the Tyrant, may hawks take his eyes.’

‘May it be so.’

The hololith shifted again, focusing upon the moon in question. Strings of Korchin characters spun out around it, indicating its status, defences and key locations on the surface.

‘Our scouts in-system have identified Helaka as the source of a great number of corrupted war engines,’ Otagai continued. ‘These mechanical abominations are one of the reasons Gartuli itself remains beyond our reach for now. Although the moon is well equipped to survive a siege, a traitor warship recently departed Helaka to raid elsewhere in the system, leaving a reduced garrison. We will have no better opportunity than this to destroy the dark forges concealed on Helaka and slay their master.’

Otagai looked up from the map, his eyes seeking Orghun’s.

‘Vox intercepts have confirmed the identity of this corrupter of machines. It is Lugor Vask, one of those who despoiled Chogoris and lived to tell the tale, until now. You will lead this hunt, tuslakh.’

Orghun’s jaw tightened. ‘You honour me, master. I will claim his head, destroy his furnaces and cut down those who defile Helaka by their presence.’

‘The brotherhoods ride across the sea of stars – the Imperium needs us more than ever. We do not have the strength, or the time, to reclaim the moon,’ the Stormseer said, amulets tinkling as he shook his head. A rune appeared on the hololithic planetoid, marking Vask’s stronghold, a mountain of ferrocrete lined with bunkers and defensive walls, with refinery towers emerging at its peak. ‘You will kill this stain upon our honour, burn his lair and leave Helaka before the enemy know you are there.’

Orghun rotated the hololith with a gesture, studying the stronghold’s defences. ‘I will lead half of my force in a strike here,’ he said, stabbing at an armoured culvert on the slope at the mountain’s base. ‘We will be as the breeze, swift and silent. As we approach, our supporting elements will launch a direct assault here by drop pod and gunship.’ Another rune appeared near the stronghold’s nadir, among armouring yards and alchomite stacks. ‘As the traitor moves against our feint, I will land the true blow and end him. I will have revenge for Chogoris.’

‘And deal a heavy blow to the Tyrant at the same time,’ mused Ghabesh. ‘A wise strategy. Come, tuslakh, I would share some wisdom with you before you depart.’

The two exited the chamber through a gleaming brass-bound door, bowing to the Stormseer as they left. They stepped from the darkness into a long hallway with a high ceiling. On one side of them hung row upon row of the White Scars’ trophies – the heads of notable enemies, masked in silver. Those of Chaos warlords were set alongside the skulls of alien monstrosities and mutant witches, each standing proudly upon the point of a hunting lance. On the other side of the hallway, long windows looked onto the Chogorian plains. Orghun knew blast mantlets were cleverly concealed in the windows’ elaborately worked frames, ready to be deployed if Quan Zhou was attacked. He had seen them used.

Ghabesh began to lead the way along the hall.

‘You did not come by this mission by chance, Orghun. I spoke on your behalf. You have more reason than any of us to hate this warpson bastard Vask. I know what drives you – the weight you bear. After the defence of Chogoris, I saw the promise in you, and I recommended you be made tuslakh, as you know.’

The Chaplain turned to Orghun, his eyes alight.

‘This is a chance, but also a choice. You have vindicated my trust a hundred times over, Orghun, but still your rage defines you. You must rise above it. Become more than vengeance. I believe a mighty destiny lies before you, but your path is shrouded by your anger.’

Ghabesh pointed at a nearby relic, the head of a gargantuan ork chased in silver turned dark with age. It was one of the most ancient artefacts in this place, claimed by the primarch in a distant age.

‘Remember the fate of the Khagan himself, our Chapter’s greatest warrior. He won so many victories, took so many trophies, but in his headlong pursuit of a foe he was lost to us. Perhaps, given the choice, he would make the same decision again – we cannot know. But the choice was his.’

Orghun stared out across the sunlit steppe. ‘The Great Khan Jubal also suffered for his zeal.’

Ghabesh gave Orghun a long look. ‘The Great Khan’s path is different again. Though he’s now confined to his chambers, his eye sees everything his warriors do and his arm is strong – as strong as the ordu! Sometimes victory cannot be achieved without blood, as Jubal knew.’

‘You are a wise teacher, master. I will not be a slave to my need for vengeance.’

The two walked on in silence, reaching the great door which led to the armouring chamber.

‘Take these words,’ said Ghabesh. ‘Remember them in the moments to come. Where revenge is a confession of pain, duty is its own reward.’

‘Thank you, brother,’ said Orghun. ‘I will keep them close.’

Click here to buy Confession of Pain.

A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION

This eBook edition published in 2022 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

Represented by: Games Workshop Limited – Irish branch, Unit 3, Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1, D01 K199, Ireland.

Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.

Confession of Pain © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2022. Confession of Pain, GW, Games Workshop, Black Library, The Horus Heresy, The Horus Heresy Eye logo, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world.
All Rights Reserved.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978-1-80407-395-7

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

See Black Library on the internet at
blacklibrary.com

Find out more about Games Workshop’s world of Warhammer and the Warhammer 40,000 universe at
games-workshop.com

eBook license

This license is made between:

Games Workshop Limited t/a Black Library, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, United Kingdom (“Black Library”); and

the purchaser of a Black Library e-book product (“You/you/Your/your”)

(jointly, “the parties”)

These are the terms and conditions that apply when you purchase a Black Library e-book (“e-book”). The parties agree that in consideration of the fee paid by you, Black Library grants you a license to use the e-book on the following terms:

* 1. Black Library grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to use the e-book in the following ways:

o 1.1 to store the e-book on any number of electronic devices and/or storage media (including, by way of example only, personal computers, e-book readers, mobile phones, portable hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs or DVDs) which are personally owned by you;

o 1.2 to access the e-book using an appropriate electronic device and/or through any appropriate storage media.

* 2. For the avoidance of doubt, you are ONLY licensed to use the e-book as described in paragraph 1 above. You may NOT use or store the e-book in any other way. If you do, Black Library shall be entitled to terminate this license.

* 3. Further to the general restriction at paragraph 2, Black Library shall be entitled to terminate this license in the event that you use or store the e-book (or any part of it) in any way not expressly licensed. This includes (but is by no means limited to) the following circumstances:

o 3.1 you provide the e-book to any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;

o 3.2 you make the e-book available on bit-torrent sites, or are otherwise complicit in ‘seeding’ or sharing the e-book with any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;

o 3.3 you print and distribute hard copies of the e-book to any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;

o 3.4 you attempt to reverse engineer, bypass, alter, amend, remove or otherwise make any change to any copy protection technology which may be applied to the e-book.

* 4. By purchasing an e-book, you agree for the purposes of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 that Black Library may commence the service (of provision of the e-book to you) prior to your ordinary cancellation period coming to an end, and that by purchasing an e-book, your cancellation rights shall end immediately upon receipt of the e-book.

* 5. You acknowledge that all copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights in the e-book are, shall remain, the sole property of Black Library.

* 6. On termination of this license, howsoever effected, you shall immediately and permanently delete all copies of the e-book from your computers and storage media, and shall destroy all hard copies of the e-book which you have derived from the e-book.

* 7. Black Library shall be entitled to amend these terms and conditions from time to time by written notice to you.

* 8. These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law, and shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of the Courts in England and Wales.

* 9. If any part of this license is illegal, or becomes illegal as a result of any change in the law, then that part shall be deleted, and replaced with wording that is as close to the original meaning as possible without being illegal.

* 10. Any failure by Black Library to exercise its rights under this license for whatever reason shall not be in any way deemed to be a waiver of its rights, and in particular, Black Library reserves the right at all times to terminate this license in the event that you breach clause 2 or clause 3.