Guilliman paced the length of the iron table. He tapped its surface as he walked, striking a rhythm on hard, unyielding reality. ‘The case for Davin is a strong one,’ he said.

‘Then we should accept the truth that Davin is the key to Terra and that it is a trap,’ said the Lion. ‘What better place to prepare an ambush than on the route a foe has no choice but to take?’

Guilliman stopped pacing. He tapped the table with his index finger, more slowly this time, more deliberately, as if counting off strategic postulates. ‘If our fleets are destroyed, the galaxy falls,’ he said.

‘But if we break our foes where they are strongest, then it is our victory that becomes the critical one,’ said the Lion. ‘How better to storm that stronghold than with our combined fleets?’

‘True,’ Guilliman said, still visibly uneasy.

‘This is where our path takes us,’ Sanguinius told him.

‘I believe you,’ said Guilliman, but the admission appeared to worry him. ‘The question remains whether we can reach Davin. It may be as closed to us as Terra.’

‘I don’t think it will be.’ Davin is inevitable, Sanguinius thought. He could almost see the world rising above his temporal horizon. The Blood Angels had come to Thrinos through no choice of their own. Davin’s pull would be even stronger. He was finding it difficult not to fall into a blank fatalism. His steps were predestined. Destiny was not negotiable. If he threw his fleet to the mercy of the warp, he would wash up on the threshold of Davin.

He turned his mind away from the lunacy of that impulse. There was a difference between arriving at Davin in force and arriving as a shipwreck victim.

You know your end, he reminded himself. You don’t know its meaning. That might still be under his control.

‘My Navigators have a fix on the trajectory we must take,’ the Lion said.

‘Impressive,’ said Guilliman. ‘I presume it would be futile to ask how they managed this feat.’

‘We have our means,’ the Lion said.

Guilliman sighed, but did not press the point.

‘It will take more than one jump,’ the Lion went on. ‘I would suggest our best strategy is as tight a formation as possible, with your Navigators keyed to follow ours. We will be your beacon.’

‘Agreed,’ Sanguinius said, and the shadow came a bit closer. He looked out of the window. The afternoon was fading into evening. Thick clouds covered the sky, the narrow breaks between them limned by the cold, golden light of the setting sun. The shadow he sensed came from something darker than approaching night. It overlaid everything he saw, yet was invisible to the eye.

‘Agreed,’ Guilliman said too, after a pause.

‘Your ships have taken damage,’ the Lion said. ‘How long before you can depart?’