Patience (Short Story)
Author | James Swallow |
Publisher | Black Library |
Series | Horus Heresy |
Released | January 2016 |
Collected in | The Silent War |
"Patience" is a short story in the Horus Heresy Series. It was written by James Swallow, and released as an double e-book on 29 January 2016 with "Ghosts Speak Not" as part of the "Tales of the Knights Errant" week.
Cover Description
A former Sister of Silence and a Legionary once of the Death Guard embark on a vital mission for the Sigillite... one that will lead the former XIV Legion warrior back into battle alongside his old captain, Nathaniel Garro...
When Nathaniel Garro carried word of the Warmaster’s treachery to Terra, he also brought with him seventy loyal sons of the XIV Legion. Distrusted by their kinsmen, they languished in seclusion on Luna... until now. Amendera Kendel, once a Sister of Silence but more recently in service to the Sigillite, gives Helig Gallor of the Death Guard a new purpose, and a new duty – one that will ultimately see him reunited with his former battle captain on the field of war.
Story
During the pacification of the traitor turned world of Nolec Trinus, the Imperial forces bombarded the northern continent with twenty thousand artillery batteries. This was able to stop most of the enemy forces, but some hid in deep bunkers. Finding a demon in the form of a twisted dragon with tentacles, Knight-Errant Nathaniel Garro traveled alone through the bombardment to battle it. After Garro disappeared and broke vox contact, Fellow Knight-Errant Helig Gallor and a squad of regular soldiers serving Malcador the Sigillite went in search of him. They found Garro resting upon his sword next to a destroyed basilica once built by the Word Bearers. Behind Garro was the corpse of the demon, dead. Gallor tried to speak to Garro, but Garro rebuffed him, listening for something.[1]
Being ignored upset Gallor, and he pushed Garro further into speaking, saying that he was told by the Sigillite to determine why Garro did not respond. Garro explained that his helmet was ruined by acid, and that he could not. The moment became tense, and Gallor thought of the difference between Garro, born on Terra, and he, born on Barbarus, and how the loss of the Death Guard removed any unity between the two. Gallor then chaffs at Garro's actions and expresses his displeasure that Garro alone of The Seventy was taken to serve as a Knight-Errant. Garro responded by pointing out that Gallor was brought in, which prompted Gallor to ordered the soldiers to summon a stormbird to pick them up. It was then that Gallor heard what Garro was listening for: the sound of the beast coming back to life. Garro explained that the demon needed blood, and would only inhabit the flesh form if there was enough to feast upon. He needed the others to arrive to re-summon the beast so he could then defeat it, and Garro then asked Gallor to join them, and together they destroyed the demon.[1]
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