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The Lion (Novella)

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The Lion
The-Lion.jpg
Author Gav Thorpe
Performer Gareth Armstrong
Publisher Black Library
Series Horus Heresy Series
Pages 95
Collected in The Primarchs

The Lion is a novella in the Horus Heresy Series written by Gav Thorpe. It was included as part of the "Nine Loyal Primarchs" set for 2016 12 Days of Christmas: Day 9.[1]

Cover Description

Fighting a daemonic incursion within their fleet, the Dark Angels stumble into a conflict between the Iron Hands and Death Guard. Which side will they choose in the coming battle?[1]

Dramatis Personae[2a]

Synopsis

Spoiler!
The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: The Lion (Novella)

Eighty-two days after his battle with Konrad Curze at Tsagualsa, a recovering Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels, sits aboard the Invincible Reason pondering Curze's claims that some of the Dark Angels have turned traitor. This concerns the Lion because communication with Caliban has been interrupted for two years due to the warp. He cannot trust anyone, even his own legion, and believes it possible that the Thramas Crusade is a distraction while Horus converts the other Dark Angels. Curze's unwillingness to fight a direct battle concerns the Lion further, and he wants to leave the crusade and return home as soon as possible. Corswain, newly appointed Seneschal, interrupts the Primarch's meditation with Stenius, captain of the ship and Tragan, captain of the Ninth Order. Among the reports is an astropathic message mentioning the appearance of a small fleet of Death Guard and some members of the Iron Hands at a small research facility in Perditus. The location is known to the Lion, as it was he and the Death Guard that originally claimed it. The facility is researching a secret technology, and he orders that a task form be formed at Balaam that can defeat any Death Guard or Iron Hands. Corswain responds with worry that this will leave their other forces unprotected, but the Lion is willing to risk it.[2b]

Navigator Theralyn Fiana guides the Invincible Reason from Balaam relying on small warp-beacons, and is concerned by the growing tempestuous nature of the warp and reflects on the Daemons that dwell there. Several days after translation, she and Stenius request an audience with the Lion, informing him that a ship is following after them, an almost impossible feat especially since they changed streams in the warp multiple times. This concerns the Lion, who thinks of the Nephilla warp-monsters that he experienced in his youth on Caliban. The primarch tells them to assume they are followed by the Night Lords and they should take evasive measures. He gives them two days and orders that weapons be ready for an attack. After failing to lose the ship, Fiana mentions they could risk diving into the Morican Gulf, surrounded by a maelstrom, where they could ride around the edge and mask their route, although that entails the risk of the flagship being becalmed. There remains the possibility to drop from the warp, an easily identifiable manoeuvre that may lead to a fatal collision, but the Lion comes up with a way to catch their foe unawares in the Materium. Once they are gone, he privately then tells Corswain of his suspicions regarding Stenius's loyalty, and Corswain says he will send Nemiel to speak to the Primarch.[2c]

The navigators gather to enact the Lion's difficult plan. Fiana takes direct control of the ship and manoeuvres it into position, translating them back into real space. On the bridge, the Lion watches Stenius throughout the translation, which concerns Corswain that he either missed a flaw with Corswain or that the Lion is becoming paranoid and brooding. Detecting the Night Lords Eclipse Class Light Cruiser Avenging Shadow, the Invincible Reason launches torpedoes and readies boarding parties. As torpedoes launch, Fiana reports that she can see something happening to the enemy warp engines, as if there was warp space within them. The enemy ship hails the Dark Angels, praising the manoeuvre and stating they would meet in Slathissin, Nostramo's equivalent of hell. They activate their warp engines with the shields on, causing a warp breach. The torpedoes hit the warp energy surrounding the ship, and a breach expands, causing the Night Lords' vessel to implode, and the Dark Angels to translate into the warp.[2d]

Unable to raise their Geller field because of the incomplete transition, the flagship is beset by fighting in several. The Lion orders that they try to get fully back into the warp, and Nemiel orders 15 Terminators to guard the bridge. On gun deck nine, Corswain and 10 legionaries, come upon a creature with a head in its torso and spewing fire. His weapons ineffective, Corswain has no choice but to hit the emergency release for the bulkhead that separates them from the daemons, and even that is only a temporary measure. In the Navigator's chamber, Fiana successfully uses her third eye to attack a slug-like creature before Coiden and Aneis blast gargoyle-like beasts attacking Kiafan. They leave as a cyclopean creature begins to form, heading to the bridge. They are met and escorted by Sergeant Ammael, joining with Corswain on the way. The bridge is clear of fighting but Nemiel's forces hold a brother at gunpoint. Corswain enters alone, and the Lion explains he is faced with a dilemma. According to Nemiel, the former Librarius, Brother Asmodeus, needs to be punished for breaking the Edict of Nikaea and using psychic powers to battle the daemons. Corswain asks if the use of psychic powers worked, and Asmodeus nods in response. Fiana explains that the creatures are from the warp, and so they were harmed by their third eye because it relied on the same powers. Nemiel insists that the Edict is incontrovertible, and refuses to follow Jonson's order that the Librarians use their powers to fight the daemons. The Lion beheads Nemiel and states the Edict of Nikaea is no longer in effect.[2e]

Eight groups go through the ship: 4 led by navigators, 3 led by librarians, and the last by the Lion. The Lion goes to his arming chamber and chooses the Calibanite swords Hope and Despair, edged in a crystalline compound. He then leads his men to the reactor room where fighting is fierce, and he is soon joined by 250 of his legionaries. Eight horned and dog legged monsters attack, and the Lion quickly destroys them. The Lion then orders the engineers to return to the warp chamber so they could finish entering the warp, and runs off to meet them. Corswain approaches the warp chamber and his group is assaulted by all manner of daemons. As he nears the chamber, he can see corpses strewn about but no source for the attack. The group is beset by pink and blue creatures, with Fiana having the only real effect. Corswain proceeds forward to find the pink and blue creatures trying to breach the core. Before they can attack, a large two-headed bird-like creature blasts them with lightning. It then turns Fiana's attack on her, leaving her unconscious. The creature turns to Corswain, forcing him to contact the Lion to speak with him. The Lion arrives, the creature threatening to kill Corswain if attacked. The creature states having devoted a great effort to find him just as it came to the primarch before. It offers the Lion freedom, saying Chaos always wins in the end. The Lion responds that the Emperor of Mankind has shown a new way, and the creature mocks the Emperor as an ambitious impostor. This only brings hope to the Lion, as it means that the Emperor still lives, and he uses a small distraction to attack the creature, grabbing one of its necks and stabbing it with Despair. The Lion mocks it as he attacked further, causing it to burst and return to the warp.[2f]

The last of the daemons are defeated once the Geller field denies them power. When they reach Perditus, and Fiana met with the Lion with Stenius and Corswain: there is something wrong with the location because of how calm the warp is in the area. The Lion admits that it was to be expected and dismisses them. When the Invincible Reason arrives, they find four of their fleet already there but a dozen others had not yet arrived. The Lion proceeds and approaches the Iron Hands and Death Guard ships. The Dark Angels move between the two fleets to enforce a truce. Corswain suggests to destroy the Death Guard outright, but the Lion wants to establish the loyalty of both forces before engaging. Upon the Dark Angels' arrival, the Iron Hands prepared to intercept the Death Guard ships in orbit while launching an assault to take advantage of the situation, breaching the Death Guard's ground defences and taking one of their positions. As the fighting intensifies, they are stopped by the command of the Lion who declares the planet to be under his protection and for everyone to leave. Typhon determines that the Dark Angels were using their librarians to cower the forces and so he used his own to protect the minds of his Grave Wardens. The Lion responds by ordering torpedoes to be launched.[2g]

This prompts Typhon to order a withdrawal, and contact the Dark Angels via vox. The Lion orders the Death Guard to pull back except for Typhon and an honour guard and await a parlay. The Lion lands, speaking to High Magos Khir Doth Iaxis, Overseer of Magellix and Custodian of Tuchulcha, who welcomes the Lion to the planet and asks him to follow him into the facility. The Lion has Midoa and Typhon escorted elsewhere then proceeds to Tuchulcha's chamber. On the way, the Lion notices that Iaxis had an electoo of an Ouraboros dragon eating its own tail, which Iaxis says was for the Order of the Dragon, a now-defunct organisation. Inside the chamber, the Lion is surprised at the engine's ability to communicate through a Servitor, and that it recognizes him. The machine says it is "the everything," is "everywhere," and "once Servant of the Deadly Seas" before becoming "Friend of the Mechanicum." The Lion declares the machine to be dangerous, but Tuchulcha reckons it cannot be destroyed because the primarch does not truly desire to destroy the machine. The Lion questions Iaxis as to the machine's use and why it has been spared. Tuchulcha then demonstrated its teleportation power, shifting into the throne room of the Invincible Reason and translating the whole ship into the warp. The Lion asks Tuchulcha how the translation was possible so close to the system's star, and Iaxis responds that the machine does not have to worry about such concerns. The Lion decides that he had better be "friends" with the machine, and politely asks it to return them to real space around the planet.[2h]

The Primarch meets with the Typhon and Midoa, questioning them about their purpose. Typhon responds that he came for the warp device to give to Horus, and then stats that it was expected that the Dark Angels would battle the Night Lords but will eventually come to Horus. The Lion responds by pointing out that Typhon does not mention Mortarion, and that Typhon serves his own ambition. Additionally, it is not Horus who ordered Typhon there, and Horus does not wish for a direct war with the Dark Angels. Midoa explains that he was part of the 406th Expedition Fleet and not present at the Drop Site Massacre. Six months ago, they met with Ultramarines at Ojanus and were dispatched by Roboute Guilliman to protect Perditus and the device from traitors, possibly taking it to Macragge. Having heard both sides, the Lion orders that the planet be destroyed, pointing out that he too received a summon from Guilliman but does not trust the other primarch before sending the commanders off.[2i]

Midoa leaves for the Fastidious Prosecutor and Typhon for the Terminus Est. Fiana feels something burrowing through the warp to the planet, and the Invincible Reason prepares for combat as Typhon warps from the Terminus Est down to Tuchulcha's chamber. He is about to kill a robed adept when the puppet asks him not to do so. Typhon offers Tuchulcha freedom but is laughed at in response, the machine waiting for the Lion's return before forcing Typhon to be teleported back to the Terminus Est with his remaining men. Once alone, Typhon realizes that he did succeed when he notices that he has received a 3-blister mark of favour. On the Iron Hands' ship, Midoa tells Lorramech that the Lion has a message for Guilliman: "I am coming." Jonson has secured Tuchulcha and Iaxis aboard the Invincible Reason and the planet destroyed. He now has a power that will turn the tide of the Thramas Crusade, and speaks to a shadow that cannot be heard in response, with which he shares his concern that Guilliman is either misguided or a traitor, and that none can inherit the title of Emperor. Ultimately, only mutual annihilation of the Legiones Astartes can prevent further war, and the Lion deems it more important to do so than fix what is happening on Caliban.[2j]

Setting

The story takes place 82 days after the Battle of Tsagualsa, as described in Savage Weapons, and more than 2 years since the beginning of the Thramas Crusade. The events precede the continuation/end of the Thramas Crusade as described in Prince of Crows.

See also

Sources

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