Dorn shook his head. 'Whatever your intentions on Fenris may be, they are unimportant to the defence of Terra. What concerns me is that you will not be here where father needs you.'

'If it is for father to decide where I should be and where I should not, why isn't He here?' Russ looked around, as if the Emperor of Mankind might be hiding behind the drapes. 'What is He doing in the Dungeon?'

Dorn hung his head. 'I do not know.'

'I think perhaps you might,' said Russ. 'You do. And you do too, don't you, Malcador?'

The regent said nothing.

'You won't tell us. I tell you what,' said Russ, 'if our father Himself comes forth and commands me to remain, and tells me that my decided course will end in disaster, then I will stay.' Russ stood up, threw his arms out and shouted to the ceiling. 'Do you hear that, father? Can you hear me? I plea for guidance!' He cocked his head dramatically to one side, then let his arms drop.

'Nothing,' Russ whispered. 'He says nothing. So I will go. Forgive me, my brothers, I have preparations to make. I wish you good fortune with your Great Muster at Beta-Garmon.'

Russ took up his spear and strode from the room.

'Leman!' shouted Dorn, his face turning red. 'Leman, come back!' He launched himself upwards, scattering data-slates, cups and refreshments in his haste to catch his brother.

Sanguinius grabbed him by the arm. The charms on his wings rattled as his feathers shifted and settled.

'Let him be. There are many ways to serve our lord in this war,' said Sanguinius.

Malcador stood, sighing at the cracking in his joints. 'Listen to Sanguinius, Dorn. Let Russ tread his own path,' said Malcador. He looked through the door Russ had left by. 'It is different to yours.'

Brother primarchs unite on Terra as Sanguinius returns.

Five

Five

Trisolian

There were windows along part of Cawl's route that looked down at the vast, milky ball of Trisolian A-2. Someone, somewhen a long time ago had marked its name as Etrian upon the star charts. Nobody knew quite why, but if the name meant cold, small and unimpressive, it wouldn't have surprised Cawl.

Trisolian was a three-star system. At the system core was the primary, Trisolian A, a large blue-white star in the mid-stages of life with a solar output several million times that of Sol. The other two stars were a pair of tidally locked red dwarfs that orbited Trisolian A at a distance a thousand times further than Neptune was from Sol.