Baphomet by Night – Peter McLean Read online

  They climbed the last stair over a mound of smoking bodies and pushed their way into the vox control room. There was still power there, and the room was lit with glow-globes and the flickering lights of the array of communications gear. Cully went to the control desk and flicked switches, listening as the wail of static died down to something approaching an open band. He turned a dial slowly, scanning for the HQ channel.

  That was when Rachain finally succumbed to the taint within him.

  ‘They don’t need to know, Cully,’ he said.

  He put his gun down and tore the bandage from his left arm, showing Cully the blasphemous mark of Chaos he had carved into the meat of his arm.

  ‘Baphomet, Cully. It’s special, don’t you see that?’ he went on. ‘Don’t you feel it? Feel the power in the air? Come on, man, cut yourself a mark and join us. Share in the power of the Dark Gods!’

  Cully looked at the sergeant, and he felt nothing but disgust. Disgust for the taint of the Ruinous Powers, and what they had done to his friend. Sorrow, too, for Kallek and all the others who had fallen in this vile place.

  ‘I only answer to one power, Rachain,’ Cully said. ‘The Emperor protects those whose faith is strong.’

  He raised his stubber, pointed it at Rachain. They had survived the Vardan campaign together, fighting shoulder to shoulder against the worst the galaxy could throw at them. They had been friends for years, and how many Guardsmen lived long enough to say that?

  He swallowed.

  She had been good with a power-loom, he remembered, and felt his eyes fill with tears.

  Rachain grabbed for his bayonet and made to leap.

  ‘The Emperor protects,’ Cully said again, and he pulled the trigger.

  Cully was a long time alone with Rachain’s corpse.

  He voxed HQ, got the warning through to them eventually. It took a long time before he reached someone who would believe him, but in the end he found himself patched through to Colonel Noriego himself. Wyman’s squad were Chaos tainted, he told the colonel, they had to be executed or dragged before the Inquisition at once, wherever they were now. Everyone but him was dead. Beleth was a trap – never mind rebuilding, send a division of Leman Russ battle tanks to flatten it. Please, please, just destroy it all.

  The colonel’s voice was understanding, even soothing. A marvellous leader. He would be Warmaster one day, Cully thought.

  Yes, they would find and arrest Wyman and her men. Just sit tight, Noriego told him, a Valkyrie was on its way to evacuate him for a thorough debriefing. Just sit tight, corporal.

  Cully put the vox handset down and sagged into the operator’s chair.

  He drew his bayonet, and rolled up his left sleeve, but he was no artist. Eventually he reached into his shirt and pulled out the old silver aquila he wore around his neck, and laid it on the pale skin of his forearm.

  He dug the bayonet into his skin and began to cut around it.

  This, he thought, is my Mark of Baphomet.

  The Emperor protects.

  About the Author

  Peter McLean was born near London in 1972, the son of a bank manager and an English teacher. He went to school in the shadow of Norwich Cathedral where he spent most of his time making up stories. By the time he left school this was probably the thing he was best at, alongside the Taoist kung fu he had been studying since the age of 13. He grew up in the Norwich alternative scene, alternating dingy nightclubs with martial arts and practical magic. He has since grown up a bit, if not a lot, and spent 25 years working in corporate IT. He is married to Diane and is still making up stories. Baphomet by Night is his first story for Black Library.

  The opening trilogy of the Gaunt’s Ghosts saga returns! From the destruction of their world to their deadliest battle in the shattered hives of Verghast, this is the first act in the long-running fan favourite series.

  A Black Library Publication

  This eBook edition published in 2018 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd,

  Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

  Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.

  Baphomet by Night © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2018. Baphomet by Night, GW, Games Workshop, Black Library, The Horus Heresy, The Horus Heresy Eye logo, Space Marine, 40K, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000, the ‘Aquila’ Double-headed Eagle logo, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world.

  All Rights Reserved.

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978-1-78572-973-7

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

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