Ben Counter’s short story Rise is a modern Black Library tale with an old-school feel, a quest story where the final goal isn’t necessarily what the protagonist thinks it’s going to be. Skanis is a kabalite down amongst the blood and darkness of Commorragh, who commissions a haemonculus to sculpt him into a new form – that of a winged Scourge – so that he can rise above his old life and start again. Waking to an unfamiliar body, he ascends through the myriad dangers of a Commorite spire intending to reach the pinnacle and leap into the unknown, free and complete.
It’s a story dealing with the here and now – we don’t learn much about Skanis’ past other than that he’s a capable warrior who somehow betrayed his kabal, and his journey, both physical and psychological, is all about achieving a single goal. There’s an enjoyable sense of focus as he makes his way through the spire, meeting – and battling – various darkly disturbing characters and creatures. There’s no grand depiction of Commorragh or or drukhari society, but rather glimpses of it with Skanis just as unfamiliar, possibly more so than the reader with what he’s seeing. It all resolves into a sort of dark, twisted morality tale that perfectly suits the conniving drukhari – grim, but satisfying.
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I’ve been wondering if Counter would be doing any more BL stories.