William King

Deathwing

Chapter I

Cloud Runner gazed on the wreckage of his home and felt like weeping. He closed his eyes and took three breaths, but when he looked again nothing had changed. He turned back towards the dropship Deathwing. Weasel-Fierce had just descended from the ramp. He gazed round ferally at what once had been Cloud Runner's village and brought his storm Bolter into attack position. A grin split his skull-White face. "Dark Angels, be wary. Death has walked here," he said. The sun glistened off Weasel-Fierce's black Terminator armour. With his white hair and y-shaped scar-tattoos, he looked like the Eater of Bones come back to claim the world.

Cloud Runner shook his head in disbelief. For two hundred years he had held the memory of this place in his mind. Although the Chapter was his home and the Battle Brothers were his family, he had always felt his spirit would return here when the Emperor granted him rest. He glanced in the direction of the burial mounds. They had been broken open. He made his way to the entrance. He could see that the bones had been broken and mangled. It was a blasphemy that only the bitterest of foes would perform. It marked the ending of his clan. "The ghosts of my ancestors wander homeless." he said. "They will become drinkers of blood and eaters of excrement. My clan is dishonoured." He felt a heavy, gauntleted hand on his shoulder and turned to see Lame Bear gazing down on him. Two centuries ago Cloud Runner and he had belonged to enemy clans. Now the clansmen who they had fought alongside were dead, and the old rivalry had long ago become fast friendship.

"The Dark Angels are your people now." said Lame Bear in his soft voice. 'If necessary we will avenge this dishonour" Cloud Runner shook his head. "That is not the Way. The Warriors From The Sky are above the squabblings of the clans. We choose only the bravest of the mains People. We take no sides." "Your words do honour to the Chapter. Brother Captain," said Lame Bear. stooping to pick up something that lay in the grass. Cloud Runner saw that it was a metal axe-head. Sorrow warred with curiosity and won. "This was not the homecoming I had imagined." Cloud Runner said softly. "Where are children gathering flowers for the Autumn Feast? Where are the young bucks racing out to count coup on our armour? Where are the spirit-talkers who wish to commune with us? Dead. All dead." Lame Bear limped away leaving Cloud Runner alone with his grief.

Two Heads Talking studied the desiccated bodies within the lodge. One had been an old warrior. His shrivelled hand still clutched a stone axe inscribed with the thunderbird rune. The other had been a squaw. Between her skeletal fingers was the neck of an infant. "She strangled the child rather than let her fall into the hands of the enemy." said Bloody Moon. The Librarian noticed the undercurrent of horror in the Marine's voice. He took a deep breath, trying to ignore the musty stench that filled the long house.

"Something evil happened here, but it happened decades ago," Two Heads Talking replied seeking to relieve Bloody Moon's superstitious fear. He wanted time to consider, to probe the events of the past. The aura of old terror almost smothered him. Shadows lay over this lodge. Something was ominously familiar about the psychic aura of the area.

"Lord Shaman... " said Bloody Moon. The Librarian almost smiled, the habits of the; ancient former lives had returned in strength now that they once more walked the soil of their homeworld. "Brother Librarian is my title, Bloody Moon. You are no longer my honour guard. We are both Marines." "Lord - Brother Shaman," Bloody Moon continued. "No warriors of the Plains would have wrought such havoc. Do you think…?"

"We shall have to investigate, old friend. We must visit the other lodgetowns and speak with their chieftains. If