On the twentieth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…an Imperial Fists short story by Rob Sanders. The Dread Sentinels of Dorn sees Captain Kontrador of 5th Company investigating the unexplained silencing of one of the Imperial Fist-manned star forts on the border of Segmentum Solar. When the fate of the star fort and its garrison becomes clear, as a tyranid hive ship threatens his own vessel, Kontrador realises that far more is at stake than just the lives of him and his warriors.
On the nineteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Dark Angels audio drama by Gav Thorpe. Another twenty-minute audio, Holder of the Keys sees an unnamed member of the Fallen offering his recollection of events that took place on and around Caliban 10,000 years previously, as he suffers under psychic interrogation by the titular Holder of the Keys. His confession, drawn out of him under duress, paints a very different picture of events to those held to be true by the Dark Angels Inner Circle.
On the eighteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy audio drama by Andy Smillie. Set amidst the turmoil of the newly-founded Imperium Secundus, Herald of Sanguinius sees Commander Azkaellon making some difficult decisions regarding the safety of his primarch, the new Emperor Sanguinius. Tensions are running high amongst the gathered Space Marines, and the future of Imperium Secundus weighs heavily upon both Sanguinius and his sons.
On the seventeenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Horus Heresy short story by Gav Thorpe. A 1000-or-so word micro short, The Value of Fear features the Raven Guard as they fight to quell an Alpha Legion-led rebellion alongside an unlikely ally in the shape of a still-loyal Night Lord. Striking as ever from the shadows, as the mission progresses Sergeant Ashel has cause to question the methodologies of his ally, compared to those of the Raven Guard.
[This short story was originally released as part of the 2014 Black Library Advent Calendar]
On the sixteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Marines Malevolent short story by Nick Kyme. Continuing the thread started in Bitter Salvage (in the Angels of Death anthology), Vengeful Honour sees Ballack and his unloved brothers in the Malevolents embroiled in the fighting on Armageddon. Faced with the prospect of fighting alongside the already antagonised Black Templars, and conscious of his own reduced capabilities, Ballack becomes increasingly aware of his own mortality. When some unwelcome faces appear, things seem to be looking bleak for the Malevolent.
Overlapping slightly with the events of Ahriman: Sorcerer, and following on from several of the other short stories in the series, John French’s Ahriman: Gates of Ruin once more tells a tale of Thousand Sons sorcerer Ctesias. Here the weary daemonologist is looking back from a point far in the future, recalling the part he played in leading Ahriman and his followers out of the Eye of Terror. Ctesias’ knowledge of daemons is put to good use as he seeks the location of the Gates of Ruin, but can a daemon ever really be trusted?
Released on day fourteen of the 2014 Black Library Advent Calendar.
A standalone story, but also the prequel to the novel Legacy of Dorn, Mike Lee’s Crimson Fists short story None More Loyal follows Veteran Sergeant Galleas and his squad as they respond to an Inquisitorial request for aid and lay a trap for an infamous enemy of their chapter. Galleas prepares as well as he can for the coming conflict and the opportunity to exact revenge in the name of lost brothers, but as ever with the Inquisition, things are not quite what they seem.
On the thirteenth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Shield of Baal short story by L J Goulding. In preparation for events taking place within the Shield of Baal campaign, The Word of the Silent King looks back to an unusual moment in the history of the Blood Angels. As Dante and Tycho lead them in battle against the necrons on Gehenna, a tyranid splinter fleet threatens both forces and leads to an unlikely alliance. Seen through eyes on both sides of the alliance this looks at some of the justifications each had for forming the alliance, and some of its implications.
John French’s Ahriman series continues with the second novel, Ahriman: Sorcerer, in which the exiled Thousand Son sorcerer is still searching for knowledge, looking for a way to save his legion and repair the mistakes he has made in the past. Now firmly on this path after the events of Ahriman: Exile, he has gathered a vast warband to his banner as he seeks the Athenaeum of Kalimakus, a record made by Magnus the Red’s personal remembrancer, hoping to find a clue to where his rubric went wrong. A range of foes bar his path or dog his heels, from the Inquisition and the Grey Knights to a tireless pack of Space Wolves, not to mention his own treacherous allies.
On the twelfth day of Christmas, Black Library gave to us…a Space Marine Battles audio short by Phil Kelly. Brethren looks back to an early conflict between the Imperium and the Tau Empire and offers a comparison of sorts between the two. As the Ultramarines descend upon the world of Vespertine and battle the tau, sergeants Numitor and Sicarius lead their assault squads in vicious close-quarters fighting against the disciplined and technologically advanced xenos.