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The Deeper Shade – Extract

A Black Library Publication

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The Deeper Shade

C L Werner

Mighty waves crashed against the craggy shore, splashing the luminescent boulders with a briny spray. Steam rose from the rocks as the salt evaporated, repulsed by the strange stones. Dun-coloured surf-spiders cast webs across the vapour, greedily drawing the dissolved mineral into their maws with clawlike mandibles. Overhead, flocks of winged lizards circled in search of the squamous molluscs cast up by the tide. Plantlike anemones slowly slithered along the beach, their stinging tendrils ready to stun any lizard that flew too near and their foot-stomachs ready to consume anything left helpless on the sand.

The shores of Gharn were vibrant with strange life. All except one place. A great finger of luminescent stone that projected far out into the bay, curling in upon itself like the horn of a mighty ram. Such was the atmosphere of nameless dread that clung to the spot that not even the surf-spiders were witless enough to trespass there. Only men had so little regard for their own lives.

Thalinosh of Charr ran his fingers through the turquoise feathers that coated his arms and studied the grim outcropping. The curving mass of rocks was just as he had seen it when he had cast the rune-bones and made his auguries. It was always a risk to seek wisdom from daemons, for there was invariably a maliciousness in such transactions, lies hidden inside truth and truth woven within a skein of lies. To gain power, a sorcerer had to quickly learn what to believe and what to reject.

‘There it is, my lord. The Claw of Mermedus.’ The words came in a low whine from the tortured wreck that had been Thalinosh’s apprentice until a few weeks ago. He tried to give his master an ingratiating smile, but his face was too mangled to manage the effort. ‘That is where I was attacked. I was fortunate to escape with my life.’

‘Yes,’ Thalinosh hissed. ‘Most fortunate. Even more fortunate that I found you before Carradras.’ The sorcerer’s hands tightened into fists as he spoke his rival’s name. Gratz had grown impatient and ambitious, seeking a master who would advance his knowledge of the black arts more swiftly than Thalinosh. Carradras had promised to meet those desires… for a price.

‘The dogs of Chaos always bite their own!’ A bitter laugh wracked the battered old man who lay prostrate in the sand at Thalinosh’s feet. His face was a mash of bruises and cuts, his once pristine robes now tattered and torn. There was a jewelled chain around his neck, but the symbol that had once hung from it was gone, stamped underfoot by Thalinosh’s followers. The Hammer of the God-King was not exactly held with fondness by the disciples of Tzeentch.

The old man’s speech brought an angry snarl from the creature that stood over him. The fur-covered brute stamped down with his iron-shod hoof and smashed the captive’s thigh. Sharga grunted in amusement when the priest cried out in pain. The rest of Thalinosh’s warband echoed the beastman’s savage laughter.

‘No more games,’ Thalinosh said, raising one of his feathered hands and commanding his followers to silence. Human and beastkin alike, they knew better than to question the sorcerer’s orders. They had the recent example of the priest’s torture to remind them of what happened to those who defied Thalinosh.

Thalinosh knelt beside the old man. His touch was almost gentle when he reached out and lifted the priest’s face from the sand so they might look one another in the eye. ‘This is the place I am meant to be. The place the Changer has sent me to find.’ The sorcerer’s sallow features drew back in a cold smile. ‘Tell me again why your people will not fish in this bay. Why they will not hunt along this shore.’ He looked out to the outcropping. ‘Why is it that nothing will dare those rocks?’

The old priest returned Thalinosh’s gaze. For just an instant, through the mien of defeat and subjugation, the sorcerer detected a glimmer of triumph. The prisoner had let his guard down and now the captor would wrest the truth from his mind.

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A Black Library Publication

First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.
Cover illustration by Christian Byrne.

The Deeper Shade © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2018. The Deeper Shade, GW, Games Workshop, Black Library, Warhammer, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Stormcast Eternals, 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.
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ISBN: 978-1-78030-772-5

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