Kor Phaeron and friends - another amazing cover by the very talented Neil Roberts.
Happy New year! Wow, 2016 went by bloody fast, didn't it?
Something that almost slipped by without me mentioning it, was that the end of 2016 saw the physical release of my Horus Heresy audio drama Children of Sicarus, together with Laurie Goulding's audio, The Heart of the Pharos.
While Laurie's story is focused on the Ultramarines (curse them), Children of Sicarus focuses on everyone's favorite faithful nut-job Legion, the Word Bearers.
The story takes place directly after the end of Dan Abnett and Neil Roberts' graphic novel, Macgragge's Honour (which itself takes place directly after Dan's Know No Fear, and my short story Dark Heart).
Kor Phaeron, clinging desperately to life, has cut his way through reality to escape the destruction of the Infidus Imperator, and found himself on the daemonworld that would later become known as Sicarus. However, it is not the safe harbour he hoped it was, and along with a dwindling coterie of warriors and faithful servants, he must fight desperately against the various warbands and daemonic entities that claim dominance there just to survive.
It was a fun story to write, and it was great to come back to some of the characters from my Word Bearers series, including Marduk.
Actually, this story shows glimpse of the fate that could have been Marduk's - except that the self-serving bastard Kor Phaeron would never let it come to pass. While this prophecy would have benefited the Legion as a whole had it been allowed to come to pass, and could possibly have altered the outcome of the final battle on Terra, it required something of Kor Phaeron that he was never truly willing to sacrifice.
Poor old Marduk. It's probably for the best that he hasn't (yet...) realized just how much the Dark Cardinal screwed him over.