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Viduity – Extract

A Black Library Publication

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Viduity

Nik Vincent

The Highness Ser Armaduke, six days out from Salvation’s Reach, 782.M41 (the 27th year of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade)

I

Elodie passed Gol Kolea on the companionway a couple of hundred metres from Tona Criid’s compartment. His head was down, and when she tried to greet him, he appeared not to notice her. She kept walking. He probably had stuff on his mind. She did too. Everyone did.

Elodie had spent the afternoon sitting with Ban for as long as Curth and Lesp would allow. It had been six days since he’d been carried out of Salvation’s Reach. Six days since the surgeries to his legs and abdomen that had saved his life.

Today, Ban had walked for the first time. It had felt like a miracle. Ana Curth had also told Elodie that there had been other damage. Ban Daur would be a soldier again; he would fight with the Guard for as long as they wanted him or until he died for the Emperor. There was only a very small chance that Elodie’s husband would ever be a father. There was only a very small chance that Ban would ever be able to give her a child.

Elodie knocked gently on Tona Criid’s compartment door. Dalin opened the hatch.

‘Mum,’ he called, stepping aside to let Elodie in. ‘Someone to see you.’

‘Who is it?’ asked Tona, impatient. She was doing pull-ups, hanging from a maintenance duct that ran the length of the narrow living quarters. She swung one arm free so that she turned in the air to catch a glimpse of the woman entering. She flexed her single supporting arm when she saw Elodie and dropped to the floor.

‘Elodie,’ she said, surprise and regret in her voice. ‘Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you.’

‘No, I’m sorry,’ said Elodie. ‘I shouldn’t have come. You’re busy and it’s late.’

‘I’m glad you did. Sit down.’ She picked up the bottle of amasec that Gol had brought to supper and tilted it. ‘I think the Guard owes you a couple of drinks. I know it owes me.’

‘Thanks,’ said Elodie, smiling for the first time.

‘I’ll get glasses,’ said Dalin, ‘and then I should get back to my bunk.’

‘Are the accommodation decks as bad as they say?’ asked Elodie.

Dalin laughed. ‘We’re Guard,’ he said. ‘Are the non-com hab decks as bad as they say?’

‘Don’t tell Ban, but if I’d had to live there I wouldn’t have waited for him to ask me to get married, I’d have got on my knees myself,’ said Elodie.

‘And they call me mercenary,’ said Tona.

Dalin said goodnight and left the women to talk.

‘How is Ban?’ asked Tona.

‘He walked today,’ said Elodie.

‘That’s good news,’ said Tona. ‘Good for us, anyway.’

‘It is good,’ said Elodie. ‘Good for all of us. Good for him. I wanted to talk about something else, though. If that’s all right?’

‘What’s going on, Elodie?’ asked Tona, aware of a tone in the other woman’s voice.

‘That’s just it,’ said Elodie. ‘I’m not sure. I don’t really know. Except that I know something’s going on.’

‘And you can’t talk to Ban because he’s in recovery?’

‘I can’t talk to Ban because he’s a man… and because he’s Guard.’

‘I’m Guard,’ said Tona.

‘Yes,’ said Elodie. ‘Can we forget that, just for now?’

‘Something’s obviously bothering you, Elodie. I think you’d better start talking,’ said Tona.

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A Black Library Publication

First published in Sabbat Crusade in Great Britain in 2014.
This eBook edition published in 2019 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.
Cover illustration by Raymond Swanland.

Viduity © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2019. Viduity, 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.
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ISBN: 978-1-78030-801-2

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