‘Will it work?’ asked Sanguinius, lightly.

Su-Kassen paused.

‘It can work. In the end, my lord, they have numbers and mobility. It is just a question of time.’ She paused, then decided to give voice to her suspicion. ‘But you all know this just as well as I do. The enemy know that others are at their heels, that they do not have time. This battle for them must be swift, and our greatest defence is to slow them, to make them have to grind through every step they take forwards. This… manoeuvre is much further in-system than we would expect. It is extraordinary, but it is not enough. It will not work quickly enough.’ She looked up and met Rogal Dorn’s gaze. ‘And they will know that. They will know that we can defeat them with time even if we lose these battles. So the question is – what are they doing that we cannot see?’

Dorn nodded.

‘They are either blind or desperate, or there is another dimension that we do not see,’ said the Praetorian. ‘That I do not see.’

‘The warp,’ said Malcador simply, and Su-Kassen could not miss the weariness in the word. They all looked at the Regent. ‘This has always been a war fought on two fronts. One in the physical world, the world of guns and bullets and flesh. The other a war in the realm beyond the physical, a world of things that dream they were gods, and where power has different dimensions.’

‘The wall without,’ said Dorn, ‘and the wall within.’

‘Indeed,’ said Malcador, ‘and you have always known that, Rogal. But now Horus comes here not just in the physical realm, but in the warp…’ He broke off, and closed his eyes for a moment. ‘I can feel it, and see it. Just as you all can, just as every soul in the circle of the sun can. Fear and despair grow stronger, and feed the storm that rides at Horus’ back. This is just the prelude, the beginning. The storm builds still and has yet to break…’

Sanguinius moved next to the old man, and placed a hand on his thin shoulder. Malcador let out a breath and closed his eyes again as something spasmed across his cheeks.

‘And everything that happens here,’ said the Angel, ‘has an echo in the warp, in the beyond. In war, one might unleash terror to break the will of the enemy, or sow confusion. In this war that terror is the end in itself. Everything they do must be seen as having two purposes, one we can see and one we cannot.’

‘Can you not look?’ Su-Kassen asked, looking at Malcador. ‘Forgive me, but like the beloved Emperor you are–’

‘I cannot see. There is a… a darkness in the warp, screaming, blinding and growing deeper. It is a constant pressure and with every moment the pressure becomes greater… I cannot see.’

‘The Emperor–’ began Su-Kassen,