Contents

Cover

The Rose in Darkness – Extract

A Black Library Publication

eBook license

i

THE STAR OF VICTORY

The freighter hung still, a tiny silhouette against the vast, striped curve of the planet’s ring. Along both sides of her underbelly, glitters of lumens showed her saviour pods, their rail-gun launchers silent. In rows above, the hydraulic doors of her gunnery decks were sealed tight against the void. The light of Denar Alpha caught her vox-antennae and flashed briefly from her oculus deck, revealing the scarred and serious face of her captain. Had it penetrated further, following the patient thrum of the frigate’s engines, gliding smoothly along her access tunnels and companionways, down past her hatches and ladders, it may have reached the deepest, darkest recesses of her belly. Not her fusion reactor, burning still as it blessed the great ship with life, not her chapel and its holy statues, but the dark bilge of her inner hull, and the things that floated within.

Here, it might even have paused, touching the marching ranks of ferrocrete pillars, the rusted walkways, the broken wires and tumbling sparks. And it may have stopped completely at the sound of a sacred hymnal, echoing harmoniously out across the water.

‘A spiritu dominatus

‘Domine, libra nos…’

Wading through the icy stillness, there came an arrowhead of five red-armoured figures, each with weapon in hand. Five suit-lights shone outwards, angled through the darkness, and at their head, a single auspex glimmered green. Black-and-white robes trailed behind each one, making ripples upon the water’s surface and soaking up the filth. It had been twenty-five Solar years since the schola, but still Sister Superior Augusta Santorus felt a fierce and holy joy at the advance of her squad, and at the purity of the Sisters’ battle-hymn.

‘From the lightning and the tempest…’

Around them, almost too deep to hear, hummed the chest-shuddering echoes of the ship’s void-engines. The Star had travelled safely from the Convent Sanctorum on Ophelia VII and Augusta thanked Him for the frigate’s strength and spirit.

And for the blessing of this, their newest mission.

‘Our Emperor, deliver us.’

A flare of excitement, a prayer of pure wonder. For the first time in over a decade, the Star carried her not outwards, to planets of invading xenos or the heave and slobber of the Foe, not to worlds of chemical darkness and death all overgrown, not even to ruined cathedrals and their horrific and bloodstained depths. Not this time.

This time, He called her inwards, to the closest outskirts of Segmentum Solar and to Opal, a world of shrines and light.

‘In His name, Sister Superior,’ her canoness had said, ‘you have striven hard, and well. You have fought His enemies in every segmentum, and you have returned with honour. You have faced loss, and grief, and bloodshed, and horror. And now, He has a different task for you.’

Elvorix Ianthe had a soul of pure courage, and the austere restraint of the lifelong warrior. But – unless Augusta had imagined it – she had almost been smiling.

‘A task,’ she had said, ‘that will surely speak to your heart.’

The Star’s engines rumbled as she shifted slightly, aligning herself with the planet’s orbit, and settling to her place. Soon, the Sisters would disembark, attaining planetfall by mid-afternoon. Their mission was brief, and should conclude within the day; they would find few enemies here.

No, here, they would find only Him – and the skull of Saint Veres, most blessed hero and martyr. He who had cast down the traitor ecclesiarch, and saved his world of Opal. The skull dated to the Age of Apostasy itself, and, due to reports of rising unrest in the planet’s Capital, Augusta must retrieve it for safekeeping.

On the other side of the formation, Sister Viola Taenaris, always the hothead, muttered an unseemly curse.

‘Where are they?’ she said, over the vox. Her thrice-blessed heavy bolter, its barrels inscribed with a filigree of sacred prayers, glimmered in the dying sparks’ light.

On point, Sister Caia de Musa shook the auspex, and twitched a shrug. ‘They are staying low, I think.’

The air was cold and dark and bitter, frosting like crystals on Augusta’s pauldrons. It creaked with titanic emptiness, with odd, cold resonances that made her skin prickle. Things bumped at her legs: rotting things, eyeless things. In places, the dripping sparks spat like irregular rainfall, each one glinting briefly then fizzling to a soaking end. Some struck her scarlet armour, flashing brilliantly as they died. Others hit her bolter, the chainsword at her hip, or made tiny char-marks on the roses of her robe.

‘They will be ahead of us,’ Augusta replied. ‘If they came down the delta quadrant ladders, then the auspex will pick them up.’

‘Maintain your vigilance, my Sisters,’ said Sister Alcina Leiva, the squad’s second. From Viola’s far side, she sounded curt and wary. ‘They cannot be far.’

‘Sister Melia,’ Augusta said. ‘Watch the rear.’

‘Yes, Sister.’ Next to the Sister Superior, Sister Melia Kaliyan gripped her flamer, and turned her suit-light to the darkness behind.

Caia moved forwards slowly, Augusta and the squad following. The water dragged at the Sister Superior’s shins and her mag-fastened chainsword, but her hands on the bolter were steady.

‘From plague, temptation and war…’

‘Hold.’ Caia stopped, the light of her auspex glinting. Exposed and with no cover, Augusta dropped to one knee, ordered the others to do the same. The five of them knelt in silence as the thick bilge stirred and slapped.

‘Our Emperor, deliver us.’

Things turned to the surface, bobbing and bloated things, but they were dead – they were of no matter, and Augusta took a full three seconds to scan her surroundings. The space was almost incomprehensively huge: a monstrous hollow, its walls and roof unseen. Grey pillars stood soldier-like, endless ranks of them, dwindling into the distance. Some still spilled light, tiny pools from half-broken lumens that reflected in the water; others had shattered panels, or broken screens. Still more had rusting ladders and sagging metal gantries.

Ideal lines of sight for the undetected foe.

‘Sister Caia,’ Augusta said. ‘What is our situation?’

Caia moved her auspex through a one-eighty scan. ‘Nothing, Sister. Nothing that looks like the enemy, and no sign of an incoming threat.’

‘Scan again,’ said Alcina, her tone grim.

Caia repeated the action, with the same result.

‘Still nothing, Sisters,’ she repeated. ‘And the spirit of the auspex works truly. I can only assume that they are out of range–’

‘Or they are stationary,’ Viola said.

Alcina gave a faint, thoughtful snort. ‘We know they are here,’ she said across the squad-vox to Augusta. ‘But we do not know how they are deployed. Or how they will attack.’

Augusta did not respond. Under her helm, sweat itched on her fleur-de-lys tattoo.

‘From the scourge of the Kraken…’

She tightened her grip on her bolter. Its weight felt good, like strength and reassurance. The weapon was as much a part of her as her prayers, her faith. It was His presence in the darkness, waiting to thunder its song.

‘Our Emperor, deliver us.’

Flicking on her preysight, she watched the gantries, but there was nothing. No heat, no warmth. No tell-tale ruddy shimmer to show the enemy’s location. The sparks flashed brief and glorious, dazzling, but the great ship’s belly was empty, an endless stretch of almost uniform cold.

Viola made an impatient noise. ‘Your orders, Sister?’ she asked. ‘May we continue the advance?’

Still Augusta said nothing, only continued to pray, and to scan. The enemy could still be anywhere, down here, lurking silent and unseen. They could have taken cover behind a pillar. They could be watching the Sisters’ advance, tracking the faint glitter of the auspex, measuring the moving ripples. They may even be under the water, still and silent, their heat concealed.

Eyes seemed to watch them, from every angle and shadow.

‘Sister Superior.’ Viola had the heavy bolter at her shoulder, was moving it through watchful arcs. ‘Your orders?’

‘We know that they are clever, and well aware of our armaments,’ Alcina said, still thoughtful. Her voice was quiet, but all warning, bleak and considered. ‘They also outnumber us.’ She paused, let out her breath, then said, ‘Sister Augusta, may I recommend that we proceed?’

‘Sister Caia,’ Augusta said. ‘You have the location of the target?’

‘Yes, Sister.’ The auspex glinted again. Sparks fizzled and fell, dripping like orange raindrops on Augusta’s armour. One struck her robe, and there was a tiny curl of smoke.

‘We will follow your lead,’ Augusta said. ‘But be watchful. Under no circumstance do we allow the enemy to get behind us. Viola, take point.’

‘Yes, Sister.’

‘From the blasphemy of the Fallen…’

The ancient battle-prayer swelled once more, and Sister Viola rose to her feet, wading forwards through the bilge and allowing Caia to fall back. Augusta and the squad moved out, still in arrowhead formation. Their motion stirred the swollen things, blue and white and rotted. Despite herself, the Sister Superior glanced down, remembering her very first mission from the schola, when she’d been an unblooded novice. Just like they had been then, the things were lost, bloated and half-eaten, or rusted to pure corrosion. Some of them still had eyeholes, and they stared reproachfully; others had mouths ever-open, now flooded with filth.

But she was Augusta Santorus, and she had seen worse.

Seen worse, and slain it.

‘Our Emperor, deliver us.’

Alcina’s strong contralto sang out, both faith and focus. The squad sang with her, and moved steadily forwards.

Still, they saw nothing.

The darkness loomed massive, filling with phantom sound. The faint, distant rumble of the ship’s engines, like some great, slow heartbeat; the soft creaks of her life and movement. Down here, the Sisters were away from her metal veins, her walkways and tunnels; they were below even her gunnery decks, and those ever-patient saviour pods. The Star seemed almost like some huge living, breathing thing, groaning as she settled into place.

‘Hold,’ Caia said again. The auspex was still in her hand, though it showed no motion. ‘Sisters, we have reached a crux-point. Pillar two-four-seventy is a marker, and shortest route to our target means moving straight ahead. Or, we can turn left and follow the hull, but the route is longer. Sister Augusta, what is your direction?’

‘We will take the shorter route,’ Augusta replied. ‘We have left Sister Akemi alone, and we are running out of time. Akemi, do you have line of sight on the enemy?’

‘No, Sister.’ From the far end of the empty hull, the voice of the youngest Sister, Akemi Hirari, was firm in Augusta’s ear. ‘Should He bless me with such a sighting, I will raise the alarm.’

‘Very well,’ Augusta said. ‘Then, in His name, we will proceed. Shortest route.’

‘Sister.’ Following Caia’s auspex, the squad moved on, walking under the towering pillars like tiny, scarlet specks.

Still they saw nothing. Only the pools of the pillars’ light. Only the sockets of the floating dead, as the Sisters kicked the corpses from their way. Augusta flicked her preysight in and out, scanning as she moved. She was sure that she was missing something. In the great and echoing space, their movement was loud, they sang, and they made splashes that resonated like bugle-calls: Fear us, for we are here! Why had they not been assailed? Had the enemy gone for Akemi, after all?

‘From the begetting of daemons…’

She waded onwards, taking cover by the pillars where she could. Her mission was clear – and, as ever, failure was not an option. If they did not gain their target and bring down their enemy, then they would damage the honour of the squad, their reputation, and the reputation of the Order of the Bloody Rose…

‘Our Emperor, deliver us.’

Caia said, ‘Still nothing.’

In her gauntlets, Augusta’s hands were starting to sweat. She gripped the bolter like her faith, like strength and retribution. She knew the enemy was down here, knew the Sisters had to locate them. She had made the decision to leave Akemi alone, rather than further compromise their advancing strength. Was that enemy, even now, laying an ambush in the darkness, and waiting for the Sisters to come closer?

‘Sister Melia?’ Sister Alcina was still softly spoken, but there was a crack of command to the word. Her tension, too, was palpable, even over the vox.

‘From the curse of the mutant…’

‘Still nothing, Sister,’ Melia said. ‘I suspect they have gone to ground. Finding them, in this–’

‘He is with us,’ Augusta responded, undaunted.

‘Wait!’

The voice was Caia’s, a soft bark of urgency. The green glow of the auspex was clear, now, far brighter than it had been. A myriad flickers winked on its surface – a distance away, but clearly not things floating.

‘Lights out!’ Alcina’s order was sharp.

Instantly, the suit-lights shut off, and Caia dropped the auspex into its mag-fastened case at her belt. The hymnal paused, hung on a breath, as the five of them stopped as one.

Listening.

For a long moment, Augusta could hear nothing – nothing that sounded like movement. The vox seemed to fill with an unfelt wind, the hull’s slow, metallic creaks were almost musical, gentle as the great ship settled. The thrum of her engine had softened, now, to a faint and beating pulse.

There – was that a splash?

Something out there was moving. Searching. It was creeping forwards, almost silent despite the water.

Into the squad vox, Caia said, ‘I can see lights. Distance five hundred and fifty yards. Heading one-six-five degrees… They are behind us.’

‘Throne!’

Viola cursed, but Augusta said only, ‘Caia, the pillar to your left. Up the ladder, out onto the gantry. I want a clear heading, numbers, trajectory. Tell me exactly where they are.’

‘They are heading for Akemi’s location,’ Viola said. Augusta had ordered Akemi to hold the rearguard position – needing a strong spearhead attack to secure the target.

‘I would agree,’ Augusta said. ‘But we must be sure. I want a full sweep, and a full head count. I want to know where every single one of them is, what they are armed with, and precisely where they are going.’

‘Sister.’ Caia ran for the ladder. It was rusting where the water lapped at it, but she grabbed the higher rungs and pulled herself up until her feet could rest on solid metal. A moment later, she was up on the gantry, which creaked at the weight of her boots.

‘Sister Akemi,’ Augusta said. ‘You have incoming.’

‘Understood, Sister. Direction?’

‘Straight ahead of you,’ Caia said. ‘Two minutes. With the Emperor’s blessing, we shall achieve the objective first.’

Akemi’s sung prayer chimed in response.

‘Our Emperor, deliver us…’

Metal graunched and ripped, and Caia loosed a curse – the platform was tearing free. She scrambled, got back on a solid footing. Sparks tumbled past her, making her scarlet armour flash like some erratic beacon.

‘Your scan, Sister,’ Augusta said.

Caia said, ‘Sightings confirmed – three locations. A guard at the target, four of them. And there are two moving patrols, one behind us, stretched out to cover the ground. The other is waiting at an ambush point, right on the edge of my scan.’ She paused. ‘It is a good location, but they have made their mistake. They expected us to follow the hull. I suggest we do not engage – we should round them, and achieve the objective.’

‘How many?’

‘Six in each patrol.’

‘Very well,’ said Augusta. ‘Caia, Viola, with me. We will continue forwards. Avoid the scout patrol and go straight for the target. Keep the auspex hidden unless you have no other option. Melia and Alcina will go back, and eliminate the patrol behind us.’

‘Is it wise to split our strength that much, Sister?’ Alcina asked. ‘Akemi is already alone.’

‘We are Adepta Sororitas,’ Augusta responded flatly. ‘He walks with us, and we are enough.’

‘Understood.’

Swinging down from the ladder, Caia landed with a splash, her bolter in hand. ‘We should shift heading by another ten degrees,’ she said. ‘Just to be sure. Quiet as we can, and follow the pillars. They are His markers and they will show us the way.’ Augusta could almost hear her grin. ‘And four guards? They should have posted twenty.’

The Sisters moved quietly.

‘A morte perpetua…’

Their hymnal was outwardly silent, now, but the music still flowed over the vox, bringing coordination, devotion and unity. Pushing onwards through the water, Augusta moved with an alert smoothness, Caia and Viola with her.

They passed a rusting servitor, still upright, its sensor array twitching and broken. One of its eyes was half-alight, an eerie glimmer of sentience. A maddened mutter came from the thing, repeated over and over. They passed a shattered grav-tray, more hole than steel. They passed a slumping body, faceless and half-eaten. And the pillars marched ever onwards, like endless ranks of Titans.

Slowly, the ship’s creaks faded to nothing, and there was quiet. Even the engine noise had gone. There was only the sloshing of their legs through the water. Only the vox-borne prayer.

‘Domine, libra nos…’

Augusta was about to order another scan, when Akemi suddenly barked, ‘Contact! Six of them, incoming on my location. They are moving slowly, but they know exactly where I am.’

The three Sisters paused.

From a distance, Alcina responded, ‘We have them, Akemi. Your incoming patrol is in our sights.’

With the suddenness of a thunderclap, a single bolter shot roared through the darkness. There was the sound of it striking ferrocrete, a detonation of rubble and dust. Across the vox, Akemi’s voice bawled prayers.

Augusta said, ‘We must secure the target. Run!’

The three of them ran, splashing through the water’s drag, kicking the floating monstrosities out of their way. To one side of them, there came sudden shouts, but the Sisters’ heading had been good and they’d missed the scouts completely. Caia tripped, lurched, kept running. Viola’s ammo belts rattled.

Across the vox came Alcina’s contralto bellow: ‘That thou wouldst bring them only death!’

‘There!’ Caia extended an arm, her vambrace gleaming red.

And there it was, ahead of them: their objective. Tiny, and visible only in the circle of light that tumbled from the pillar above…

A flag.

The blazing-sword flag of the Star, only the size of a pennon, but proudly and defiantly placed. Before it, four Naval guards, each one with rifle in hand. Skirting the light-pool, the three Sisters spread out, Viola at the centre.

Behind them, more noise erupted. The slashes of scarlet were more frequent, now, blazing across the darkness like some night-time celebration, some festival of His light. Akemi shouted again, the clarion courage of a prayer. Alcina snapped orders.

But Augusta and the others were there, right on the edges of the light that barred their way…

Then one of the guards pointed downwards. The Sisters’ ripples were visible, like arrows, indicating clearly their positions and headings. Well disciplined, the guards raised their rifles.

Akemi was still shouting.

Augusta said, ‘Viola. Cover me.’

Not waiting for Viola’s response, she leapt into motion, rolling fast through the water on one shoulder and coming up in the soldiers’ midst like some bright red manifestation. The guards started, yelled, but she’d had the sheer force to send them tumbling.

One, the lieutenant by the pip on his shoulder, retained enough discipline to bring his rifle up to bear, but confronted by the muzzle of the bolter, by the faceless, Sabbat-style mask of a Sister of Battle, he fell back, dropping the weapon and raising his hands. His fellows, white as ghosts, did likewise.

‘We have the flag,’ Augusta said. ‘Time check, oh-nine-thirty-two, Solar time. In His name, that is a victory.’

Click here to buy The Rose in Darkness.

A Black Library Publication

First published in Great Britain in 2023.
This eBook edition published in 2023 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.
Cover illustration by Jan Drenovec.

The Rose in Darkness © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2023. The Rose in Darkness, 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: 978-1-80407-506-7

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.