What moved you, the reader?

[Tarvek Val]

Good morning, everyone.
 
The sign of a good book, movie, audio-book, drama, poetry recitation, etc., is that it draws in the audience and makes them truly care about the art they are witnessing. When the audience is fully invested in the lives of the characters they have been introduced to, it makes the experience far better than it would be otherwise. In my humble opinion, this is what keeps "decent" books from being "amazing" books. 
 
With this in mind, what are the moments in the Horus Heresy / Warhammer 40,000 universe that moved you the most, as a reader? What were the moments when you thought "man, I can't believe the author just killed off X" or "wow, I want to be this guy someday"?
 
I imagine this topic will be rife with spoilers for any number of Black Library books, so please try to be courteous and introduce the book / audio-book / short story / movie (hey, maybe one of you likes the Ultramarines movie a lot!) you will talk about before discussing it, and please do use Spoiler coding.
 
 

[bluntblade]

Path of Heaven on two counts, for me.

[Tarvek Val]

Here are a few of the moments that moved me the most:
 
1. The Guns of Tanith (Guant's Ghosts book 6)
I am a huge fan of Dan Abnett's Ghosts series, and I am forever impressed by the time he spent on the series. I think he did a wonderful job of writing his characters and giving them each distinct personalities, despite how many characters there are in the series. In the first trilogy of books, most of the main characters (somehow) come out of each major scrape alive, and in his preface to the second omnibus, Abnett warns the reader that "you'll start to learn to say goodbye... this is where people begin to die."

 

In this series, I really liked "Try-Again" Bragg, one of the original Ghost troopers. He is a kind, likable character who risks his life multiple times for his friends, and who would never let his comrades down. However, he is unexpectedly murdered at the end of the book and the suddenness caught me very much off guard. I think this scene, where Bragg is murdered by one of his own (psychotic) comrades, moves me because you aren't allowed the chance to say goodbye, per se. Oftentimes, a main character will be mortally wounded and you can see their death coming a mile off; not so with Bragg. On one page he is alive and healthy, the next he is gone.

 

2. The First Heretic

I absolutely love the relationship between Argel Tal and Cyrene Valantion, the Blessed Lady of the Word Bearers. It is so rare to see a genuine relationship between an Astartes and a mortal (especially in the darker setting of the 41st Millennium), and I find their connection rather heartwarming. 

I was very upset when Cyrene was murdered by the Custodes assigned to the Word Bearers fleet, I think her death was a pivotal moment in Argel Tal's character development and it was a necessity but still...

 

3. Betrayer

Argel Tal is one of my favorite characters in the Horus Heresy...

I was livid when Argel Tal died. I don't think I've ever been angrier about a character dying in my entire life. I sincerely wish Khârn had killed Erebus after!

 

4. Night Lords trilogy

It's the little details in this series that get me. This series was a good reminder that the villains aren't always all that evil, and the good guys aren't necessarily all that good. There are plenty of moments that I really enjoyed throughout the exploits of Talos and first Claw, but one would be 

when Talos avenges the death of the Voidborn. The Voidborn is a mortal girl who was born on one of the VIII Legion's warships, hence the name. When the warship is boarded by loyalist Space Marines, the Voidborn is killed. Prior to her demise, she carried a Legion token, which amounts to the personal protection of the Astartes named upon the token. When Talos discovered her demise, he personally hunted down and slew the Voidborn's murderer, and even went so far as to apologize to her father for failing to protect her.

[m_r_parker]

Honestly, when I think about moments in Black Library books that really moved me, I tend to gravitate towards A-D-B and in particular the Night Lords trilogy. Truly it's a masterclass in how to write sympathetic anti-heroes (they're the protagonists but they're not the "good" guys, and they're certainly not antagonists), because I had moments for those heretics that I've never really felt for any loyalist Astartes.

If I had to pick only one, then I would put the following forward:

 

Void Stalker:

Throughout the first two novels of the trilogy Uzas is seen as a Khorne Bezerker in all put name, he is reckless and prone to bouts of extreme brutality with little obvious knowledge of his actions. By the beginning of this novel he has initiated a conflict with another squad aboard the Echo of Damnation, forcing Talos' hand in siding with him and First Claw in wiping out this other squad. For his actions, and many others before, Talos hands Uzas the punishment of the Red Gauntlets - an edict from the time of the Night Haunter, where a legionnaire would be condemned to death with the execution postponed until the legionnaire is of no further use to the Primarch. His gauntlets would be painted red to allow all others to know of his crimes and fate, and Uzas is left wondering in a moment of clarity where in the Echo of Damnation he is to find red paint. During the events of the novel Talos tries to reconnect with Uzas before he fell to Khorne, reminding him of the time during the Heresy where he was a squad sergeant of note, reminding him that he doesn't need to power that is being offered by the Chaos gods.

By the time we reach the end of the novel, and the Eldar have slaughtered the majority of the Night Lords, Uzas is gifted another moment of clarity about his actions over the years. He comes to realise that he has been punished for murders and slaughters that were not committed by his hand, that another within his squad has been using Uzas as an excuse to cover their own depravities. The only other within the squad with the capacity for those acts is Cyrion, who has been secretly indulging in his feeding of fear in humans - a gift from Slaanesh, and who is the only squad member who is present with Uzas. As he's confronted, Cyrion admits his actions and pinning the blame of Uzas' mannerisms, which leads Uzas to attack Cyrion for vengeance. Talos walks in on the two fighting, with Uzas in a bezerker state and Cyrion telling Talos that Uzas has gone mad and attacked him. Talos is forced to step in and assist in killing Uzas and defending Cyrion, with Cyrion's secret remaining hidden with Uzas' death.

 

Never before have I felt so sorry for a Khorne worshipping bezerker with a pachant for skinning humans, who is fundamentally betrayed by someone who he calls 'brother'. Most of his violent actions are carried out in a fugue, but during his moments of clarity it's clear that he want's to remain in control whilst taking the power that Khorne is offering. He deserves his fate for what he has done, for what he's done is barbaric and evil, but he's taking the punishment of others with no way of defending himself and has no choice but to accept that judgement. Finally he figures it all out, that he's taking the blame for someone else, and in the rage of discovering this he is betrayed one final time.

[Fire Golem]

Path of Heaven:

Yesugei’s sacrifice to allow the WS to reach Terra... I think that was the first time in the Heresy series I cried actual tears. When he projects himself to Ilya, Arvida and the Khan, just broke me. Was just as impactful on the reread, too.

 

The Magos:

The part where Eisenhorn has his vision with like everybody he’s worked with who’s died in his service, something about that scene really got to me. I’d have to reread to pinpoint exactly why because I can’t really remember the specifics of the scene, but I remember it Argalbeing emotional.

 

Tallarn:

Mainly because I just read the bit about 30 minutes ago, but the Silence sacrificing itself against the Titan to allow the Lantern to escape. Self sacrifice is something I always find emotional.

 

Betrayer:

Argal Tal. He’s possibly my favourite Heresy character (he definitely was when I read it), and I was gutted at his death.

 

I’m sure there’s more, but I can’t think off the top of my head.

[bluntblade]

Also in Path of Heaven:

Torghun Khan's sacrifice isn't as immediate as Yesugei's, but it caps his arc beautifully. The White Scar who was never comfortable in his own Legion, who was deceived into almost serving the Warmaster, saves the Legion. Not only that, but he meets his end commanding the Legion's flagship and defying Mortarion himself. And he's laughing.

 

It also helps that the ensuing daemon battle offers several tons of catharsis.

[RikuEru]

Path of Heaven:

Yesugei’s sacrifice to allow the WS to reach Terra... I think that was the first time in the Heresy series I cried actual tears. When he projects himself to Ilya, Arvida and the Khan, just broke me. Was just as impactful on the reread, too.

 

 

I may lead this further...

I have to add, I only got it in the printed Black Library Celebration Book - and I hadn't read the needed books fof this, before reading the story.

 

"Last Son of Prospero"

The way you see the declining, stressed Malcador, who puts so much effort into this effort.

The Khan who gives ZERO :cuss about Malcador's command/advice, only caring for the friend he once knew and the debt he owes to his deeds.

The remnant of Arvida and the splinter of Magnus that try to cope with their state - and the mayhem this causes.

 

And then Ianius... who is not what Malcador expected, not the friend or brother the Khan would have liked to save.

 

 

It was a short-story, but it really got to me in an amazing way. And after that I really wanted to read the full-Arc of Arvida and the White Scars/Khan.

It really sold the agony and tragedy of the Heresy.

And it really added to the mystery of the Imperial Palace. Imagine what other things are being worked on or contained in the Vaults below it.

[Scribe]

I came for Mr. Parker's example. I still get a rush of emotions over that character arc and how it ended.

 

I think honestly when all is said and done, that series more than anything else I've read from BL transcends the setting, to a point of artistic expression.

[Tarvek Val]

I concur with you, Scribe. That character arc was wholly unexpected, but what a twist at the end! I never saw it coming at all. 

 

 

"I think honestly when all is said and done, that series more than anything else I've read from BL transcends the setting, to a point of artistic expression."

 

I couldn't agree with you more. I especially liked the portrayal of the Night Haunter from Talos's point of view. You get a very real sense of the Night Haunter's melancholic viewpoint and it really hits home with the reader as to why he accepts his fate. He admits that he could change the future that was foreseen, but doing so would make him just as hypocritical as his own father. The description of his last meeting with his sons was simply beautiful, and I think these novels did a better job of fleshing out Curze's character more than some of the Heresy books themselves (Vulkan Lives, anyone?).

[Scribe]

Yeah I've spent a lot of time lately looking at various forms of media, their impacts on not just embedded or dedicated fans, but wider fandom's that may be unrelated and I looked at this setting that I've probably spilt the most blood for and to be honest, its a bit thin to me. The NL Trilogy remains true to the setting, checks off the tropes that it should, but also looks a lot deeper at concepts that you wouldnt expect. 

 

I love ADB's stuff, massive fanboy, but upon further introspection, I think this is still his best stuff, and there's nobody in the BL stable that's held a candle to it, for my dollar.

[Commander Dawnstar]

The Master of Mankind:

 

Perhaps a bit of an odd one because it involves a very minor character rather one we follow for some time and see grow and change, but the chapter from the perspective of the Warlord Titan, the Scion of Vigilant Light, towards the end of the novel really gets to me. It's a major paradigm shift on how we've traditionally seen titans presented, with the focus normally falling on how communion with the machine bleeds into their crew and makes them at once something greater and less than human, and I feel it manages to wring a massive amount of pathos out of a character who typically wouldn't even be a character in her own right.

[Lord_Caerolion]

The Night Lords trilogy definitely had a few of these moments, like the fate of the Exalted, or what m_r_parker mentioned above. I've never seen such a band of objectively horrific characters evoke such emotional ends (other than "haha! Screw that guy! He deserved worse!", of course). Or what happens to Hound. Just remembered that poor guy.

 

So many other portrayals of the Night Lords just show them as mustache-twirling cartoon villains straight out of tying a damsel to the train-tracks, after having kicked some puppies. The Night Haunter gets turned into "lol I just wanna butcher people for fun lol", rather than a psychotic Batman who has gone too far, but understands this, and is using his own fall to show why his tactics were necessary, and therefore that the Emperor is a hypocrite for wanting him dead. The portrayals in the Night Lords series almost show him as like having Alzheimers, so broken by the choices he's made, having become the ultimate cautionary tale to show why he did what he did (at least initially), that the glimpses of the brilliant mind underneath it all just seems tragic. He's so lost underneath the bloodshed, under the corruption of what he has done, and he hates himself so. Very. Much. He's the antithesis of what he wants to be, what he should be, but he has to show what needs to be done to save the Imperium.

[Roomsky]

Toss up for me between the end of Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia and Angron's tirade in Betrayer:

 

"You kept that mule Kor Phaeron. Russ kept his kin-friends. The Lion kept Luther. Humans - brothers and foster fathers - saved and raised into Legion ranks. But not me. Not Angron, no. Did the Emperor teleport his gold-wrapped Custodians down to help me and my army? No. Did he free the War Hounds and order them to battle, fight alongside me? No. Did he save my brothers and sisters the way he spared and honoured the Lion's closest kin? The way he honoured Kor Phaeron? No, no and no. No mercy for Angron. Angron the Oathbreaker. Angron the Betrayer"

 

ADB is, of course, predictably a win in this regard. Extra props to Haley for surprising me, considering I'm usually luke-warm on him. Probably the saddest ending to a BL work I've yet read.

[Manchu warlord]

The story of the Unfleashed from the Uriel Ventris chronicles were probably the saddest moments in BL books that I've read.  Their tale was absolute tragedy from the start to the end . 

Little boys being transformed into horribly failed-mutated monsters that the Iron Warriors couldn't even look at, and just threw them away.  They were eventually offered a chance of vengeance by Exiled Ventris and to also serve the Emperor.  But as they seem to have gained a wee amount of humanity, they were possessed by vengeful spirits/ghosts and began terrorizing and slaughtering people.  In the end, they were all put down, for the crimes and monstrous acts that they would never willingly do.   

 

As Mr. fire golem says:

The Magos:

The part where Eisenhorn has his vision with like everybody he’s worked with who’s died in his service, something about that scene really got to me. I’d have to reread to pinpoint exactly why because I can’t really remember the specifics of the scene, but I remember it Argalbeing emotional.

 

That particular above-average chapter known as "The Torment", was probably the single most badass chapter in all of the BL books I've read.  I had goosebumps throughout the entire length .

 

The death of Tarik Torgaddon was another tragic moment; as well as Saul Tarvitz's noble deed of flying down to the planet to bring news to the betrayed loyalists below.

 

By the way, brother Tarvek, I was really happy when Argel Tal and Cyrene died ; one of the happiest moments infact.

[m_r_parker]

I've actually been giving this topic a bit of thought overnight, and I'd like to throw another hat into the ring - but one that's a bit more off-centre in terms of being moving. There aren't many times in Black Library where fear and horror creep into the stories, and from what I understand there was always a trade-off that if character X does something "bad" then X must face some degree of comeuppance, but there is one where instance where I truly get chills from the actions the characters perform. The event specifically comes from The Purge, written by Anthony Reynolds, and is one of the few instances where the Word Bearers appear to be truly, irredeemably, evil. Very few authors seem to get this take on them right, a lot of others play it a bit safe and go with generic blood sacrifices or chants to gain 'magic powers' or summon daemons to their cause, but this instance really touches on something more than that. Here we see the 'ritual' combined with elements of betrayal, sadism, and sheer horror to put in place something terrible that is yet to come to fruition:

 

The timeline of the main plot line of the novel is during the invasion of the 500 worlds by Angron and Lorgar's fleet, specifically a battle on a single Ultramarine held world. However, the incident I mention above happens a lot earlier in the timeline, back to between the Istvvan III and V massacres, when the Imperium was sending out a retribution fleet to the Istvvan system to bring the Warmaster to heel. The focal character of the novella, Sol Talgron is acting as Lorgar's representative on Terra, and is summoned back to the palace to Dorn. The Word Bearer presence on Terra is to be sent out to Istvvan, including Volkhar Wreth - the Word Bearer presence in the Crusader Host. Being released to Sol Talgron the two make their way to their shuttle to leave the palace, but find themselves going deeper into the old foundations from before the time of Unification, to a waiting Jarulek.

Quickly Jarulek and Sol Talgron overpower Wreth, and they begin to explain the situation that he is in. Wreth is the last remaining Terran within the Legion that hasn't accepted the new direction that Lorgar has seen. As such he needs to be removed, but he can be used for something much more useful. A blade is stabbed in his neck, severing his spine and paralysing him. His chest is cracked open, his primary heart removed and placed in a ritual jar, whilst a second jar is placed in the resulting cavity and smashed before the wound is sewn up. It is clear that there is something daemonic in that jar, and is now in the process of incubating itself within the body of Wreth. His tongue is cut out and his mouth sewn shut, and his eyelids sewn open. He is dropped into a narrow deep pit, narrow enough to keep him upright, and rock are thrown back into the hole to cover up the pit. There Wreth is left; paralysed, in the dark, unable to move, unable to scream, and with a daemonic entity within him knowing that eventually his body will be used to assist the traitor fleet when it reaches Terra.

 

How many times can you truly say you've seen something so sadistic done to a character in a Black Library novel? Plenty of times we see chaos aligned characters use spells to gain powers, or use sacrifices to summon daemons, but this is truly on another level. This strips away a characters primary strengths (literally his strength) and leaves him in a situation he is unable to control, and will likely break him mentally before the Siege. For years he will be isolated, in the dark, unable to call for help or alert anyone to his plight, fighting off against this entity that is birthing itself within him. This goes beyond simple spells and incantations, this is Saw level horror in the 31st millennium. This is one of the most shockingly brutal actions I've seen, where even destruction of planets doesn't compare to it - as that level of violence is done at an impersonal level, where as this is massively personal and directed.

[Lord_Caerolion]

I think there's a part of Void Stalker that touches on that as well.

 

The part in which Talos uses Octavia to kill the tortured astropaths, killing them in basically the most painful way possible, annihilating their souls. When Octavia becomes catatonic from the strain of doing this, he holds her head, forcing her eye open, using her as a literal tool to ritualistically kill dozens in utter agony.

Up until this point, we've known Talos and pals were bad guys, but we'd never quite had it shown. This really showed just how sadistic the Night Lords, even our vaunted Talos who sees himself as better than his brothers, really are.

[Fedor]

Argel Tal's thoughts at the Drop site Massacre, right before he orders his men to open fire on the loyalists. That was a very powerful passage, a culmination of everything he had been through in the book.

[DarkChaplain]

Toss up for me between the end of Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia and Angron's tirade in Betrayer:

 

Perturabo for me. That final scene between Pert and Calliphone. It is just so on point and encapsulates Perturabo's tragedy perfectly, and hits somewhat close to home.

 

"Always you do things the most difficult way, and in the most painful manner. You cultivate a martyr’s complex, lurching from man to man, holding out your bleeding wrists so they might see how you hurt yourself. You brood in the shadows when all you want to do is scream, ‘Look at me!’ You are too arrogant to win people over through effort. You expect people to notice you there in the half-darkness, and point and shout out, ‘There! There is the great Perturabo! See how he labours without complaint!"

[grand_master85]

"Then darkness fell at last, and Loken felt nothing else."

 

I know Galaxy in Flames had it's moments but damn, having followed Garviel Loken's story for 3 books...it was hard not to feel heartbroken as he gave his life to defend the Emperor's dream.

 

As mentioned by Bluntblade and DarkChaplain, the arcs of both Torghun Khan (from BotS, to Scars and Path of Heaven) was just beautiful, and Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia showed more than any other book just how tragic a character 'Bo actually was; a genius too consumed by his own foibles and how everyone else was (in his eyes) at fault, not he.

[Indefragable]

I've actually been giving this topic a bit of thought overnight, and I'd like to throw another hat into the ring - but one that's a bit more off-centre in terms of being moving. There aren't many times in Black Library where fear and horror creep into the stories, and from what I understand there was always a trade-off that if character X does something "bad" then X must face some degree of comeuppance, but there is one where instance where I truly get chills from the actions the characters perform. The event specifically comes from The Purge, written by Anthony Reynolds, and is one of the few instances where the Word Bearers appear to be truly, irredeemably, evil. Very few authors seem to get this take on them right, a lot of others play it a bit safe and go with generic blood sacrifices or chants to gain 'magic powers' or summon daemons to their cause, but this instance really touches on something more than that. Here we see the 'ritual' combined with elements of betrayal, sadism, and sheer horror to put in place something terrible that is yet to come to fruition:

 

The timeline of the main plot line of the novel is during the invasion of the 500 worlds by Angron and Lorgar's fleet, specifically a battle on a single Ultramarine held world. However, the incident I mention above happens a lot earlier in the timeline, back to between the Istvvan III and V massacres, when the Imperium was sending out a retribution fleet to the Istvvan system to bring the Warmaster to heel. The focal character of the novella, Sol Talgron is acting as Lorgar's representative on Terra, and is summoned back to the palace to Dorn. The Word Bearer presence on Terra is to be sent out to Istvvan, including Volkhar Wreth - the Word Bearer presence in the Crusader Host. Being released to Sol Talgron the two make their way to their shuttle to leave the palace, but find themselves going deeper into the old foundations from before the time of Unification, to a waiting Jarulek.

Quickly Jarulek and Sol Talgron overpower Wreth, and they begin to explain the situation that he is in. Wreth is the last remaining Terran within the Legion that hasn't accepted the new direction that Lorgar has seen. As such he needs to be removed, but he can be used for something much more useful. A blade is stabbed in his neck, severing his spine and paralysing him. His chest is cracked open, his primary heart removed and placed in a ritual jar, whilst a second jar is placed in the resulting cavity and smashed before the wound is sewn up. It is clear that there is something daemonic in that jar, and is now in the process of incubating itself within the body of Wreth. His tongue is cut out and his mouth sewn shut, and his eyelids sewn open. He is dropped into a narrow deep pit, narrow enough to keep him upright, and rock are thrown back into the hole to cover up the pit. There Wreth is left; paralysed, in the dark, unable to move, unable to scream, and with a daemonic entity within him knowing that eventually his body will be used to assist the traitor fleet when it reaches Terra.

 

How many times can you truly say you've seen something so sadistic done to a character in a Black Library novel? Plenty of times we see chaos aligned characters use spells to gain powers, or use sacrifices to summon daemons, but this is truly on another level. This strips away a characters primary strengths (literally his strength) and leaves him in a situation he is unable to control, and will likely break him mentally before the Siege. For years he will be isolated, in the dark, unable to call for help or alert anyone to his plight, fighting off against this entity that is birthing itself within him. This goes beyond simple spells and incantations, this is Saw level horror in the 31st millennium. This is one of the most shockingly brutal actions I've seen, where even destruction of planets doesn't compare to it - as that level of violence is done at an impersonal level, where as this is massively personal and directed.

 

I was randomly thinking about that short the other day, for some weird reason.

 

Others have said them already, but moments that stand out to me:

 

-Perturabo's moment of self-recognition and clarity at the end of Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia

-Leman Russ: The Great Wolf

--Lion El'Jonson's reply to the Tyrant of Dulan

--Russ's genuine emotion when describing his last meeting with the Lion

 

-pretty much anything in Path of Heaven

 

-Know No Fear

Narrator counting chrono log: Mark 0.0

Guilliman: "...and now we fight back."

 

<shiver>

...and...

"...and then it started raining Baneblades."

 

<biggest delayed reaction ?!?!?? moment I've had reading in a LONG time>

 

-so much in Betrayer:

-the quotes from Angron about not getting any mercy from the Emperor

-when Angron goes to the spot where his fellow rebel gladiators were slaughtered

-When Guilliman confronts Angron and Lorgar 1v2, knowing that he has committed a grave strategic flaw, but doesn't care because he must look them each in the eye and simply ask: "Why?"

 

-Fear to Tread: THE speech by Sanguinius

"If you truly do hail from the realm that men once called hell, when you return there, tell your kindred it was Sanguinius who threw you back."

-Sanguinius upon defeating a greater daemon

 

This one is a bit personal to me, since it encapsulates why I am into 40k. First, the setup that brings us to this moment: the entirety of the Signus Prime campaign (I mentioned in another thread about how to put that in context:    ) leading up to this...short version Sanguinius has been told his entire life that daemons don't exist...and then he faces two of the most powerful kind possible...AND manages to not only keep (somewhat) of his cool, but defeat both of them...AND he delivers such a one-liner, which, considering how important True Names are when dealing with all things Warp, for Sangy to brand his true name to the act adds to the badassery of the moment.

 

All-in-all, it is a - yea! BAMF moment that sums up the "thesis" of 40k which--to me-- is best embodied by Sanguinius:

 

"Fairy tales do not give the child his first idea of bogey. What fair tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey. The baby has known  the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon."

 

-G.K. Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles

[Bluedoo]

Probably the Black Legion series so far. 

 

It came at a time of huge transition for myself in a job I was incredibly unhappy in. I felt as though Khayon was written exclusively for me, and his journey was my own. 

[b1soul]

Nothing in BL has truly "moved" me. I find a lot of stuff well-written and entertaining though.

 

I was moved by Pressfield's Gates of Fire. Have yet to find that level of emotional engagement in BL.

[mc warhammer]

end of HR when horus and loken fight back to back

 

TFH when argel tal breaks down in cyrene’s arms

 

perturabo from beginning to end

[EdT]

For me, the bit that sticks in my mind is the bit in Flight of the Eisenstein when the Virus bombing hits and Huron-Fal of the XIV goes out wih dignity.

 

 

'We'll go together then, shall we?' Huron-Fal asked, embracing Temeter's body to him, moving swiftly away from the bunker.

It took every last effort from Temeter to nod. Blinded now, he could feel the tissues of his eyes burning and shrivelling in his head, the soft meat of his lips and tongue dissolving.

Huron-Fal's systems were on the verge of shutdown as he stumbled to a safe distance, skidding to a halt. This death,' rasped the voder, 'this death is ours. We choose it. We deny you your victory.'

 

With a single burning nerve impulse, the mind of the warrior at the heart of the dreadnought uncoupled the governor controls on his compact fusion generator and let it overload. For a moment there was a tiny star on the battered plains outside the Choral City, marking two more lives lost within a maelstrom of murder.

 

[karden00]

I forget which novel this was from, but I loved a little scene where some Sons of Horus in the original trilogy were mucking about and at one point one of them was holding the murder sword and he spoke his comrades name and there was this sense of dread that overcame the room. I dunno why but that scene has stuck with me since I first dove in to the fiction.