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== Plot Summary ==
=== Part One: The Betrayer ===
The [[63rd Expeditionary Fleet]] under the command of [[Warmaster]] [[Horus Lupercal]] rendezvous with elements of the [[Word Bearers]] [[Legion]] under [[First Chaplain]] [[Erebus]] on the planet [[Davin]], which their Legions jointly brought into compliance six decades ago. They are joined by [[Petronella Vivar]], scion of a [[Terran]] noble house who becomes Horus's documentarist. A War Council is convened on Davin's surface where Erebus reveals his reason for summoning the Warmaster to the planet: its planetary governor, [[Eugan Eugen Temba]], has turned against the [[Imperium]] and betrayed Horus after taking his forces to the planet's moon to put down a rebellion by the Davinite tribes there. Enraged, Horus orders an immediate attack on the moon. [[Remembrancer]] [[Ignace Karkasy]] reports back on the meeting to his sponsor, [[Captain]] [[Garviel Loken]], revealing that Erebus manipulated Horus into becoming enraged at Temba and must have an ulterior motive for wanting Horus to go to the moon. [[First Captain]] [[Ezekyle Abaddon]] interrupts the pair, angrily rebuking Karkasy for impugning Erebus's reputation and scorning Loken for keeping company with remembrancers. When Karkasy questions Abaddon about a silver coin he handed to Erebus at the start of the meeting Abaddon tries to kill him, but Loken holds him off long enough for Karkasy to escape. Later, Loken finds Karkasy and swears him to silence.{{Fn|1a}}
The [[Sons of Horus]] 1st, 2nd, 5th, 10th, 13th and 19th companies form the 'speartip' that will land on Davin's moon accompanied by the [[Byzant Janizars]], three [[Titans]] of the [[Legio Mortis]] and Erebus's Word Bearers. During the approach they are unable to detect any of Temba's ships but pick up a ship's broadcast extoling the power of [[Nurgle|Nurgh-leth]], reminding Loken uncomfortably of [[Horus Rising (Novel)|the Whisperheads incident]]. Upon landing the speartip step out into a stinking, rotted swamp where a dry forest should be, and Loken declares to [[Tarik Torgaddon]] that something is very wrong.{{Fn|1b}}
=== Part Four: Crusade's End ===
As the 63rd Expedition moves on Horus and the lodge begin working towards their new goals. The expedition encounters the [[Auretian Technocracy]], an advanced human civilisation with many similarities to the Imperium, but Horus slaughters their ambassadorial party on the pretext of an assassination attempt and declares war on their society in order to seize their highly valuable [[STCsSTC]]s, which he promises to Adept [[Regulus]] in exchange for the [[Mechanicum]]'s support. The lodge summon Torgaddon to a meeting and lay out a plan to hand over Loken for execution to appease [[Hektor Varvarus]], who has been lobbying for justice for the victims of the embarkation deck incident, which will also allow them to silence Ignace Karkasy and his poems. Torgaddon refuses to go along and quits the lodge, declaring his opposition to them.{{Fn|1g}}
The Sons of Horus are joined by [[Angron]] and the [[World Eaters]] for the war on the Auretian Technocracy, which drags on for a brutal and violent nine months. A delegation from the [[Emperor's Children]] pays the expedition a brief visit during which [[Fabius Bile]] appropriates the anathame and hands it over to [[Fulgrim]]. 2nd and 10th companies follow the World Eaters through the breach for the final assault on the Auretian fortress but an explosive trap is detonated that buries Angron beneath tonnes of rubble. Loken and Torgaddon charge into the courtyard, barely holding back from a slaughter, and the last of the Auretian defenders muster to surrender to Hektor Varvarus. At that moment Angron bursts from beneath the rubble and attacks, forcing the Sons of Horus to massacre the last of the Auretians, and Varvarus is killed in the firefight.{{Fn|1h}}
