The Emperor's Legion (Watchers of the Throne #1) - Chris Wraight Page 0,101
Administratum in the eye, knowing that it was now a lie and unable to feel a shred of guilt.
Valerian
In the days after that, we counted the cost.
Close to four thousand of my brothers had been committed to the fighting at the Lion’s Gate, and more than half of them had perished. Those were staggering losses for us. We had not absorbed such pain since the Secret War of ancient memory, and I remember reading the tally of the fallen with astonishment. Tribune Italeo was one of those who had perished, falling even as he slew one of the greater daemons. Other names I knew well were on those lists, some I mourned greatly for in the months that followed. A few of the gravely wounded were taken to the Tower of Hegemon to be interred into Dreadnought sarcophagi, though the practice had become so rare for us that there were not enough chassis for all those who needed one, and thus we lost souls who might have still served.
The grief was real, but our capacity to fight, as well as our resolve for it, was undiminished. In this we were not like the Adeptus Astartes – we did not have settled companies and Chapters that were led by irreplaceable individuals. To a certain extent we were islands, able to work together when the war demanded but otherwise entirely self-sufficient. We retrieved the armour of our fallen comrades, we gave them honour as we took the bodies down into the hallowed tombs of remembrance, and then we turned our minds to what came next.
I recalled the exchange I had had with Chancellor Tieron. Those old debates had felt esoteric at the time, a distraction from our ancient duties and rituals, but they preyed on my mind now. We all knew that the Captain-General had taken a place on the High Council, something that bound us more closely to their deliberations than before, but we did not know where that would lead us. So much was changing, and it seemed inevitable that we would be caught up in it somehow.
By then I had also heard about the Lord Guilliman. News of his return had spread through the Palace quickly, first in hushed whispers, then in increasingly confident tones from the mouths of those who knew the truth. Few had laid eyes on him since his triumphal entry to the Sanctum, and it was widely believed that Valoris had now taken him to the Throneroom, where the two of them remained closeted for many days. An adjutant had been assigned to him, the new tribune Colquan, Italeo’s replacement, who would act as liaison between him and the Captain-General, but otherwise he served as little more than a background presence, a legend that had not yet stepped fully into the light.
Some of my brothers had witnessed him fight during the height of the battle of the Lion’s Gate, of course, though they said little about it, and I had little interest in finding out more.
A primarch was a primarch. We preceded them, just as the Sisters of Silence preceded them. We knew the truth of what they had done for the Imperium, both for good and for ill, and also we understood what role our Master had intended for them in the beginning, as well as what He had hoped for following the apocalypse of the Siege. If one of that fraternity had indeed returned to bolster our flagging defences then that could be welcomed. Our duty would remain as it had always been – as it had been before the Legions had been created, and as it had been after they were dissolved.
For myself, I had other priorities. Once my wounds had healed and my armour was repaired, I did what I had sworn I would do, and sought out Tanau Aleya.
I found her in quarters set aside within the Palace specifically for the returned Sisters of Silence. They were ancient buildings, once used to train and garrison the thousands of null-maidens of the Imperium, but more recently used as a fortress for the Inquisition. There was talk of reinstating the archaic Somnus Citadel on Luna in due course, but that was not something that could be done quickly, and so for the time being the new arrivals were herded together here, where the need was greatest.
It took me some time to locate her cell within that huge and ramshackle edifice. The Inquisition had burned all their records on leaving, as well as