Ceramite slammed into plasteel as the Rout made use of the junction's meagre cover. With Russ caught between the bridge and the safety of the deeper ship, two more groups of traitors moved in. They came head on, one straight down the corridor towards the bridge, the other taking up position in a high transitway opposite so they could fire down on the Rout. Boltgun fire exploded all around Leman Russ' position, blasting shiny craters into the corroded walls. The primarch wrinkled his nose at it like a wolf scowling at the rain. The noise of heavy guns joined the racket as their operators got them set up and aimed. Russ still did not retreat.

'My jarl! Get back!' said Grimnr.

'They will try to break us up and deal with us piecemeal,' said Russ. 'Fall back and consolidate.'

'They're trying to isolate you,' said Grimnr. 'We are ambushed!'

'I was counting on it.' Russ hefted the Emperor's Spear. 'I'll not be nursemaided by you, Blackblood. This is what I wanted. Horus has taken the bait.'

'We are the ones in the trap, my lord!'

'That is what he thinks. Varagyr, form up on me.'

Russ' Wolf Guard drew closer to him. Bullets and las-beams screamed off the energy fields of their Cataphractii armour. Howling and the firing of heavy weapons boomed up the transitway leading to the bridge. A fire support team had moved up, taking casualties in the process. The dead lay in scattered, broken pieces around the junction, but many others had survived and were ensconced in heavy cover. Among the howling Vlka were two warriors readying multi-meltas to fire on the Dreadnoughts.

The giant war machines broke into a run, thundering up the transitway towards the junction. The melta-gunners would not be ready in time. Behind the Dreadnoughts came dozens of Horus' sons, snapping off opportunistic fire as they pelted towards the Rout. Warriors, Bjorn among them, threw themselves into the corners where bridge met wall and aimed upwards at the groups occupying the higher ground on the canyon's other side.

'You must fall back, my lord,' shouted Grimnr over the roar and boom of incoming bolts. 'We are trapped. I will summon reinforcements from Sepp and Tra, they are near enough - in greater numbers we can take the fight to them.'

Russ cut Grimnr off with a chop of his hand. 'Do what you want, Grimnr. I will fight them now. I will not wait. I will kill them. I will not relent - not until the slaughter brings Horus out.'

'That is no plan, my lord!' snarled Grimnr. He shot a burst of three rounds upwards. A Sons of Horus legionary fell screaming to his death.