Guilliman staggered out of the crater. He returned to the armorium and took the Arbitrator from its bronze case. Then he crossed to the chamber’s entrance. The frame of the doorway was warped and cracked, holding the door shut. One blow with the Hand of Dominion knocked the door free and smashed it against the far wall. Gorod and a squad of Invictus were running down the corridor. They halted when Guilliman emerged.

‘My Lord Guilliman?’ Gorod asked.

‘I am well, Drakus.’ Well enough, at least.

‘What happened?’

‘I fought our first battle of this campaign. I was victorious.’ He would hold to this position until forced to relinquish it. ‘It is time we descended to Davin,’ he said, ‘and stood by the side of my brothers.’

Fourteen

Fourteen

Delphos

On the cracked esplanade of the temple, before its huge gates, Sanguinius said, ‘This is, truly, the eye of the storm.’

Guilliman and the Lion looked sceptical.

Curze smiled, reptilian. ‘You are feeling lyrical,’ he said. ‘Does that mean you’re ready to be swept away by the winds of fate?’

‘We will defeat the storm,’ Sanguinius told him.

‘Nothing will be defeated,’ the Lion said, ‘because there is nothing here.’ He spread his arms wide, taking in the temple, its grounds, and the entire crater. ‘This is what you risked so much for, Sanguinius. Is it worth it?’

‘Not yet,’ said the Angel. He felt serene. He had since the moment he and Curze had set foot on the soil of Davin. He felt more certain, more eager for the future than at any time since he had first known how he would die. He and his brothers were standing on the threshold of culmination, and he was ready.

Even though the Lion was right. There was nothing. The landscape appeared to be beyond calm. It was as dead as the necrosphere.

The drop pods of all three Legions had come down in the crater, and hundreds of Legiones Astartes had taken up positions at the end of the causeway leading to the Delphos. Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Dark Angels surrounded the esplanade. With no sign of threat, they did not know if they came as invaders or defenders. Half the guns pointed towards the crater rim, ready for a foe to come over the peaks of red stone, or through the valley that led to the crater. The other half were trained on the temple. Squadrons of Thunderhawks and Stormravens flew above the crater on escort missions for the columns of heavy armour rumbling through the valley. Big as the crater was, it was too narrow to land the larger transports. They came down in the plains to the south, disgorging the tanks and thousands more troops. The first vehicles were arriving now, and the bowl of the crater was slowly filling with the might of three Legions.