Hereticus (Novel)
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This article is about the novel by Dan Abnett; for the Inquisitorial Ordo, see Ordo Hereticus. |
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| Author | Dan Abnett | |
| Performer | Toby Longworth[1] | |
| Publisher | Black Library | |
| Series | Inquisitor, Eisenhorn | |
| Preceded by | Malleus | |
| Followed by | Ravenor | |
| Released | June 2002 | |
| Pages | 320 | |
| Length | 9 hours 49 minutes[1] | |
| Editions | 2001 softcover: ISBN 1-84154-236-9 2011 ebook: | |
Hereticus is the third novel in the Eisenhorn novel series by Dan Abnett.[1]
The eBook and paperback editions also include the short story Backcloth for a Crown Additional.[1]
Contents
Cover Description
Hunted by his former allies as a radical and enemy of the Imperium, Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn must fight to prove that he remains loyal as he tracks down a dangerous heretic whom the Inquisition believes dead, the dread former Inquisitor Quixos. As he grows more desperate for victory, Eisenhorn uses ever darker means to achieve his goals, but how far can he go using the weapons of the enemy until he becomes that very enemy, and no different to the traitor he hunts?[1]
Plot Summary
386.M41. Due to health concerns, Lord Inquisitor Plebas Alessandro Rorken is unable to supervise the trial of heretics on Durer, and Eisenhorn must conduct the examination in his stead, shadowed by newly elevated inquisitor Bastian Verveuk.[2a]
Part One: Durer
Eisenhorn abruptly suspends the Court of Examination at Durer to go after Fayde Thuring, who killed Midas Betancore 80 years earlier.[2b] Joined by Poul Rassi of the Ordo Malleus and, to his dismay, Verveuk, Eisenhorn boards his gun-cutter where he and members of his retinue are briefed by Godwyn Fischig, who found a trail leading to a disused PDF listening station on one of Durer’s polar islands.[2c]
Investigating the station, the inquisitorial team prevails in a firefight but is incapacitated by a psychic resonance as Thuring reveals the object of his machinations: a functional Chaos Warlord Titan named Cruor Vult.[2d] Evading the god-engine as best as they can, the inquisitors come up with a plan: to establish a psychic link with Cruor Vult and channel the null power of Alizebeth Bequin into the enemy's mind to annihilate it.[2e] However, Bequin is grievously wounded by the backlash, and the gun-cutter brought down by the Titan's weapons; Eisenhorn then resorts to using the Malus Codicium he purloined from the renegade Quixos forty years earlier.[2f] He unleashes Cherubael, which destroys the Titan before turning on the inquisitor, who manages to bind the Daemon to the body of the dying Verveuk.[2g]
Part Two: Gudrun
On the way back to Gudrun, Eisenhorn contends with Cherubael’s mind tricks and his own fear of straying from the path of the Emperor. At his estate, he organises an auto-seance so Medea Betancore can commune with the psy-memory of her father, but realizes the house is under attack.[2h] Faced with a carefully planned attack and resourceful foes, Eisenhorn manages to escape with Eleena Koi of the Distaff and Uber Aemos.[2i] They reach a hidden turbofan flier and go back to the House, rescuing Medea and getting shot down in the ensuing chase.[2j]
Eisenhorn hijacks an enemy speeder and makes the surviving mercenary a prisoner before heading to Ravello, where Dr. Crezia Berschilde takes the team in and tends to a wounded Medea. The inquisitor then convinces her to help him interrogate the mercenary, who turns out to be a Vessorine Janissary by the name of Vammeko Tarl, hired along with others by one Marla Tarray on behalf of Khanjar the Sharp.[2k] While researching these new threads, they learn that the raid on Gudrun was only one in a series of simultaneous attacks on Eisenhorn’s assets—and Tarl escapes.[2l]
Once more on the run, Eisenhorn’s team—along with Berschilde—boards a luxury train to New Gevae, Gudrun’s southern capital. Contacted by one of his surviving agents whom he'll meet there, Eisenhorn goes through the evidence once again and has a break in the case of Tarray's identity.[2m] Aemos and Eisenhorn discuss the new evidence that Pontius Glaw is the mastermind behind their misfortunes. Medea regains consciousness, and is brought up to date; soon after, the train abruptly stops and armed figures board it.[2n] Eisenhorn dispatches the Janissaries and their leader, and asserts his inquisitorial status to deflect the local authorities’ investigation. Once in New Gevae, he finds out his agent’s message was a fake and sets a trap of his own through a thrall, unleashing a warp vortex that annihilates Tarray, daughter to Pontius Glaw.[2o]
Part Three: Ghül
Aboard the Essene, discomfort with Eisenhorn’s new methods is growing. At Hubris, Fischig learns of the recent events and has a fall out with the inquisitor, who moves on without him.[2p] On Promody, the team reunites with Kara Swole and Harlon Nayl, who were extracted by Gideon Ravenor. Eisenhorn’s former Interrogator informs him that, thanks to pacts made with the Aeldari, he has perfected his divination skills and found that there was no future to divine six months from now.[2q]
Promody was one of seven planets conquered by Daemons long before the birth of Humankind, and Glaw has been looking for the capital of this empire: Ghül, known to the Imperium as 5213X. An enlarged auto-seance reveals eldritch writing that Aemos sets to translating. Using the Malus Codicium, the savant receives the help of Cherubael and tells Eisenhorn of the Daemon-King Yssarile, whose ship lies on Ghül.[2r]
While the Essene is serviced at Jeganda, Eisenhorn stumbles upon Fischig, who is being used by Inquisitors Heldane and Osma to catch Eisenhorn. Cherubael intervenes, allowing Eisenhorn to escape, and gets bound in Fischig’s body.[2s] On Ghül, Eisenhorn finally faces Pontius Glaw who now occupies a mechanical body constructed by Geard Bure. Distracting his opponent by setting the Malus Codicium ablaze, the inquisitor dispatches him with Barbarisater.[2t]
Ghül is subjected to Exterminatus in 392.M41. Eisenhorn’s continued service to the Inquisition is a matter of speculation.[2u]
Images
Trivia
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Inaccuracies in Cover Description
Despite stating that Eisenhorn is hunting Quixos, that does not occur in this book; rather, it occurs in the previous book Malleus. Hereticus details Eisenhorn's hunt to bring down a resurrected Pontius Glaw who has gained a body and now seeks to achieve godhood.
See also
Sources
- 1: Black Library
- 2: Hereticus (Novel)
- 2a: Prologue – Sequestered Imperial Dossiers
- 2b: ch. 1 – The case of Udwin Pridde. Small talk with Verveuk. Something like vengeance.
- 2c: ch. 2 – Betancore, blood up. Fischig’s briefing. Arming for battle.
- 2d: ch. 3 – Miquol. Durer PDF listening station 272. The turnabout.
- 2e: ch. 4 – Cruor Vult. Fleeing the giant. A terrible long shot.
- 2f: ch. 5 – My plan fails. Damn Verveuk all to hell. The unthinkable.
- 2g: ch. 6 – Chaos against Chaos. The price. The consequence.
- 2h: ch. 7 – Taking leave of Miquol. Gudrun, sanctuary. Her heart’s desire.
- 2i: ch. 8 – The fall of Spaeton House. For our lives. Sastre, loyal Sastre.
- 2j: ch. 9 – The Storm Oak. Going back. Making Midas proud.
- 2k: ch. 10 – Down. Doctor Berschilde of Ravello. Khanjar the Sharp.
- 2l: ch. 11 – Adept Cielo. Death notices. Dangerous kindness.
- 2m: ch. 12 – Into the night, into the mountains. The Trans-Atenate Express. A prompt from the dead.
- 2n: ch. 13 – Locastre. Full stop. End of the line.
- 2o: ch. 14 – Barbarisater versus the janissaries. Etrik, blade to blade. Lunchtime drinks in New Gevae.
- 2p: ch. 15 – Sanctum, Catharsis and Fischig. Teht uin sah. Promody.
- 2q: ch. 16 – Surviving Messina. Gideon’s omen. Nothing lasts forever.
- 2r: ch. 17 – Psychoarchaeology. Ghül. The Barque of the Daemon.
- 2s: ch. 18 – Meeting at Jeganda. Misplaced loyalties. To the last, to the death.
- 2t: ch. 19 – In the Halls of Yssarile. Leaves of Darkness. In the name of the Holy God-Emperor.
- 2u: Epilogue – Dossier Addendum
