Death of a Silversmith (Short Story)
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| Author | Graham McNeill[1] |
| Publisher | Black Library |
| Series | Horus Heresy series |
| Collected in | Games Day Anthology 2011/2012 Shadows of Treachery Crusade's End |
Death of a Silversmith is a short story by Graham McNeill in the Horus Heresy series. It was first published in Games Day Anthology 2011/2012, and later in Shadows of Treachery (Anthology), as well as online.[1]
Contents
Cover Description
In what should have been the pinnacle of his career, a lone remembrancer meets an unfortunate end at the hands of the Luna Wolves. So close to the heart of the Warmaster's emerging powerbase, were the signs of Horus' fall apparent from the beginning, yet heeded by no one?[1]
Summary
On the floor of his workshop aboard the Vengeful Spirit, a remembrancer is dying. As his life slips away, he reflects on the many honours he has received. A silversmith by trade, he has created wondrous artworks and gained fame from the display box for an Iron Hands armoured gauntlet, gifted upon a regiment of the Imperial Army.[2a] This attracted the attention of a stranger gathering creative individuals to commemorate the Great Crusade. While initially reluctant, the Silversmith gave in and journeyed to the Imperial Palace, and then onwards to outer space.[2b]
He was assigned to the Luna Wolves and the 63rd Expeditionary Fleet, practicing his art for the officers. After the Ullanor Triumph and the official founding of the Order of Remembrancers, he was commissioned by Captain Hastur Sejanus to craft four silver rings, depicting the phases of the moon, to be worn by Sejanus and the three other members of the Mournival.[2b] He completed the work but the demands of the Crusade prevented Sejanus from ever coming to collect the rings. Among the other commissions he set out to complete, the silversmith was visited by another Captain who asked him to craft the mold for a series of wolf medallions - a crude and insignificant task by comparison.[2c]
Moments ago, the Captain arrived, inspected the finished mold and pronounced it perfect... then crushed the silversmith's throat. Now, in the final moments of his life, the silversmith is aware of Captain Sejanus rushing to his side, overturning his worktable and inadvertently crushing one or more of the Mournival rings beneath his boot. Sejanus calls for medics, while urgently asking the silversmith who attacked him. With his last breath, the craftsman can only whisper the same words his killer said, when the silversmith chokingly asked why: "I can't say."[2c]
See also
Sources
- 1: Black Library - "Death of a Silversmith" (saved archive page, dated 10 July 2017, last accessed 12 September 2024, original link: https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/quick-reads/death_of_a_silversmith.html)
- 2: "Death of a Silversmith" (Short Story):
- 2a: ~first third, "I am dying, that much I know."
- 2b: ~middle third, "A man, noble in bearing but unassuming in mien, entered my workshop in the foothills of the Sahyadri Mountains and politely awaited my attention."
- 2c: ~last third, "For weeks I laboured, shaping each ring with all the skill I possessed."
