Today, His Majesty had made a rare trip back to the rear.
He was still mid-conversation with Malcador inside the room when a shout reached them from somewhere down the corridor.
“Father—”
A sturdy young figure came sprinting in, and the Emperor of Mankind smiled and pulled him into an embrace, one hand resting gently on his head.
“It’s been a while.
Have you been listening to Grandfather Malcador?”
“No — I’ve been carefully completing every task Father assigned me.”
Malcador laughed warmly at that.
“The child is very sharp.
He can already help me take some of the lighter work off my hands.”
“Oh, well done,” the Emperor of Mankind said, satisfaction in his smile.
Bonar stood a little straighter.
“I’ve been putting in the effort, Father.”
“I can last three rounds against Uncle Malak now, does that mean you’ll take me to the front?”
“Oh, well done.”
The Emperor of Mankind had long since heard about Bonar’s demands to train in the rear, and to be precise, it had happened with his blessing.
Bonar’s progress genuinely surprised him.
Bonar’s body was at the level of a frail mortal, any randomly selected gene-enhanced human on the planet would be physically superior.
And yet, at that level, he could last three rounds against the Adeptus Custodes that the Emperor of Mankind took such pride in.
Even so, allowing Bonar to train had never been about sending him into battle.
It was only to toughen his body and build his courage.
“Child, the battlefield is out of the question.
It’s far too dangerous.”
Bonar’s eyes filled with disappointment.
It passed quickly.
“Father, I would be very well-behaved on the battlefield.
I only want to learn about war.”
“I won’t fight, I just want to observe.
At the very least I could help you manage logistics.”
“Please.”
The Emperor of Mankind found himself at a loss.
Or rather, he had simply never learned how to handle matters of family, not in all his tens of thousands of years.
He looked toward Malcador for help, only to find Malcador smiling cheerfully.
“I think it’s a fine idea.
There’s only so long the child can stay in the rear before I run out of things to teach him.”
With Grandfather Malcador’s support secured, stars practically shone in Bonar’s eyes as he turned that look of intense eagerness on the Emperor of Mankind.
The Emperor of Mankind was utterly helpless.
He had no choice but to trust Malcador.
“Then…
all right.
But you must behave yourself.”
“Yes!—”
Bonar ran off happily to pack his things.
He left the Emperor of Mankind and Malcador alone.
“Old friend, why did you do that?” the Emperor of Mankind said, resigned.
“Heh.
A child growing up always needs his father nearby.
The child has never said a word about it, but he prays for you every single night.”
The Emperor of Mankind fell silent.
He didn’t know what to say to that.
“Besides, Bonar’s psychic power is growing stronger.
Suppressing it is becoming increasingly difficult for me.”
The Emperor of Mankind was mildly startled, then composed himself.
“Very well.”
“How is the project beneath the mountains progressing?”
“Very smoothly.
With Bonar’s gene material, we’ve avoided a great many detours.”
The Emperor of Mankind gave a slight nod.
“You’ve worked hard.
The last enemies on Terra will be eliminated before long, humanity’s great work has advanced by a considerable stride.”
“Mm.”
…
Bonar had finally gotten his wish and followed his father to the front.
The atmosphere there could only be described as tense.
All along the road, wounded soldiers were being carried to the rear while supply convoys raced past at full speed.
Bonar had none of that to worry about.
The number of guards at his side had been doubled outright.
The moment they arrived, a cluster of military advisers and legion commanders descended on the Emperor of Mankind with urgent battlefield reports.
“Child, you may walk around as you like.
But don’t leave the camp.”
With that, the Emperor of Mankind walked straight into the Command Center.
Bonar looked around.
He felt like an anomaly here.
Passing Astartes, Thunder Warriors, and even ordinary soldiers all watched him with strange looks in their eyes.
Was there anything he could actually do?
Then, suddenly, he felt it, an intense wave of emotion crashing into him.
Searing pain.
The kind of pain that could shatter a mind.
Laced with bitter unwillingness, roaring as though directly into his ear.
Bonar clapped his hands over his ears.
The gut-wrenching howl kept echoing anyway.
Where was it coming from?
He followed the trail of that despairing presence forward, until he arrived at a…
Wounded ward.
Not just any wounded ward.
The Thunder Warriors’ wounded ward.
Even standing outside, the cries were audible.
Injured soldiers sat crowded around the outside of the tent, and inside he could see several warriors pressing down hard on a man strapped to a cot.
Bonar found it strange.
Even gravely wounded men didn’t normally go this frenzied.
The Thunder Warriors clearly didn’t welcome the arrival of the Adeptus Custodes.
They rose to their feet, and even those missing limbs pulled themselves upright with a comrade’s help.
Bonar spotted a sergeant.
Both hands were clenched tight around a bundle of identity tags, eyes fixed hard on them.
The Thunder Warrior strapped to the cot was struggling frantically.
He threw off one of the men holding him down, and two more rushed in to pin him again.
“What happened to him?
Why is he in such agony?”
The sergeant gave a light wave.
One of the warriors picked up a weapon and walked inside.
Clean.
No hesitation.
He pressed the barrel against the raving man, and in front of Bonar’s stunned eyes, leveled it at his delirious comrade’s forehead.
PONG,
In an instant, an enormous wave of regret, fury, and release surged into Bonar all at once, as if he were that frenzied warrior himself.
In the span of a single second, he seemed to live through that warrior’s brief and glorious life.
The sound of a regretful sigh lingered in his ears.
The flood of emotion nearly overwhelmed him entirely.
Bonar sank to his knees in pain.
The Adeptus Custodes guards and the Sisters of Silence erupted.
They surrounded Bonar in full arms, layer upon layer, designating every person in the vicinity, including the Thunder Warriors, as a potential threat.
Bonar struggled back to his feet and pushed his way through, shouting in something close to a roar:
“Why did you kill him!”
The sergeant only looked at him in silence.
Behind the visor, his face was expressionless.
“This is our business.”
He left.
But Bonar felt he could see the despair and helplessness in those eyes.
“Second Company — move to the next assignment!”
The Thunder Warriors departed.
Leaning on one another, they walked away into the unknown beneath the setting sun.
Bonar wanted to say something.
The words wouldn’t come.
So he left.
He went to find his father, to see if there was anything that could be done about it.
But the moment he stepped inside, he heard the Emperor’s roar.
“I want to know right now why the northern region’s legion broke!” The Emperor of Mankind slammed his fist against the table, voice raw.
The staff officers beside him had gone pale.
“Your Majesty, the enemy deployed the Reaper.
The Thunderhawk Fifth Company and the Kant Fifth Legion stationed there were nearly annihilated.”
“I don’t care about that.
Our flank is almost completely exposed to the Nordics right now.
What forces do we have anywhere?”
The staff officers fell silent.
They all understood that the entire front line was locked in fierce combat.
Pulling together any decent unit would be very difficult.
“Perhaps…
there is a mortal legion in the rear that is currently being reorganized.”
“Send them up immediately,” the Emperor of Mankind said.
“They’ve had very little training.
Throwing them against the Reaper unprepared could cause an immediate rout.”
The Emperor of Mankind was about to give a sharp rebuke when a soft voice cut through the room.
“Father.”
He looked.
Bonar was standing in the doorway.
One hand pressed to his chest, eyes steady.
“We still have a unit, don’t we?”
The Emperor of Mankind knew exactly which unit he meant, the escort assigned to Bonar himself: eighteen Adeptus Custodes, and among them Malak, battle-hardened and proven.
There were also around thirty Sisters of Silence, but their strengths didn’t lie in facing this kind of purely physical adversary.
“All right.
Stay at my side, go and call Malak in for me.”
But Bonar didn’t move as he usually would have.
The Emperor of Mankind looked back at him, puzzled.
“Father, I know you can’t leave.
Someone needs to go there and steady the men.”
“Damn it, you are not going.
Do you hear me?”
Bonar shook his head.
The atmosphere inside the Command Center froze.
The Emperor of Mankind stepped toward him.
Outside, some kind of heavy shell screamed across the sky and struck somewhere in the rear.
The small Command Center trembled.
“Child.
You cannot go.”
“You know this can’t be resolved by eighteen Adeptus Custodes alone.
Even if the Custodes uncles can deal with that Reaper, they can’t rally the scattered troops.
We’ll still lose.”
“You don’t understand, this, ”
“I understand perfectly.”
Bonar’s eyes burned.
It reminded the Emperor of Mankind of something from ages long past, those young soldiers who had rushed onto the battlefield before they had even properly gripped their rifles.
They had gone anyway.
Spent their lives to slow the invaders’ advance.
He let out a long, helpless breath.
“Child, go.”
The Emperor of Mankind turned and walked back into the Command Center.
Bonar saluted.
Then he turned and left without hesitation.
The Emperor of Mankind raised his head, his thoughts unreadable.
But in the end, he did not look back.
➤ Next: The First Battle