Ku’gath nodded dolefully. ‘You are right! I am unworthy. So unworthy. I cannot help it.’

‘All Ku’gath cares for is setting right the loss his birth caused,’ said Typhus. ‘He at least desires to honour Nurgle through his efforts, and so can be forgiven. You seek to honour yourself. You do your own work with this fool’s errand. Give him a day too many, and Roboute Guilliman will defeat you, and we shall lose all hope of bringing Ultramar within the walls of Nurgle’s manse.’

‘You will obey me. You will follow our plan,’ said Mortarion. ‘I require your vectorium at Espandor, when the time comes.’

Typhus snorted. ‘You cannot command me as you once did. I am high in the favour of the Plague God – equal to you in his eyes, if not higher. Who was it who delivered him the Death Guard? It was I, not you. You still do not understand the true nature of Chaos. I do. I am following our plan as originally formulated. The blessing of the Great Father was on that strategy, not on this quest for vengeance. You deceived me, Mortarion. You intended to play with your brother all along. This will displease the Plague God. I will continue as we originally agreed. I will have no part in this folly.’

‘If you will not come to Espandor, you will be at Parmenio. The numbers do not lie, my son. It is calculable. Great Nurgle will command it is so. It is preordained.’

‘Maybe there is hope for you,’ said Typhus. ‘More and more you dabble with the warp’s true power. Perhaps one day you will master it, and leave your bitterness against your Barbaran father behind you. But you are wrong if you believe that I will fight at your side. You have no real foresight. I will not be there to help you, no matter what your numerology says. And now I go. Be warned, little father – I have the ear of the Great Father himself.’ Typhus’ image blurred and vanished. The part of the mycelium mat supporting his warp ghost twitched and decayed into putrid slime.

Mortarion stared long and hard at the space where his wayward son had been.

‘And you, Ku’gath,’ said Mortarion. ‘Are you against me also?’

‘I stand with you, favoured son of the Great Father,’ said Ku’gath. ‘You see the chance for revenge, I for redemption. Together we may serve ourselves, and the will of Papa Nurgle.’

In the main, daemons were beyond the comprehension of men. Many were bizarre things, their motives inexplicable even to Mortarion, who was now more daemon than human himself.

Ku’gath was different. His profound regret made him relatable. The misery he wallowed in was something mankind knew only too well, and Mortarion knew misery best of all.