The Sands of Grief - Guy Haley Read online

  It seemed as if the great stag flew. The wraiths were outpaced. Their dark shapes were left behind. No more came from the wastes.

  Aelphis ran on. Light grew ahead. The vastness of the Sands of Grief were coming to an end. Desert of a more ordinary sort blended into its edges. At last, Maesa came to a place where dawn stood still upon the edge of the world, and pale sun lit upon his face. At the margins of a wadi, dry grasses rattled in the wind – life had returned. They had gone far from the lines of skeletons and their ghoulish mines. Maesa brought Aelphis to a stop.

  The stag snorted. Froth lathered its skin. He shuddered from antlers to tail, spraying foam across the rocks, then settled, and blared out his throaty call in pleasure at their escape.

  Maesa held up the hourglass. He looked with wonder at the indigo sand within.

  ‘The first part of the task is done,’ he said. ‘With this, when Ellamar returns, she will not age. She will be forever at my side.’

  ‘Yes, my master,’ said Shattercap. ‘But the lord of undeath will not rest until he has brought you to account for your crime, and we must find a way to steal her back from whatever place she languishes within first.’

  ‘Let Nagash’s servants come,’ said Maesa. He sheathed the Song of Thorns. It vibrated with strange warmth from its feast, passing its strength into him. ‘I will be ready. You did well, Shattercap. You are learning.’

  ‘Learning to be good?’

  ‘Learning to be useful. Goodness comes later.’

  ‘Thank you, kind prince,’ said the spite. He snuggled down into Maesa’s hood. But though his words were fawning, his heart retained a little flinty wickedness. His tiny fist was clenched. In it he held a single grain of Ellamar’s soul dust, kept for himself.

  Unaware of his companion’s thievery, Maesa set his joyous face into the dawn, and rode out full of hope.

  About the Author

  Guy Haley is the author of the Horus Heresy novels Wolfsbane and Pharos, the Primarchs novel Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia and the Warhammer 40,000 novels Dark Imperium, The Devastation of Baal, Dante, Baneblade, Shadowsword, Valedor and Death of Integrity. He has also written Throneworld and The Beheading for The Beast Arises series. His enthusiasm for all things greenskin has also led him to pen the eponymous Warhammer novel Skarsnik, as well as the End Times novel The Rise of the Horned Rat. He has also written stories set in the Age of Sigmar, included in War Storm, Ghal Maraz and Call of Archaon. He lives in Yorkshire with his wife and son.

  For an age, the Realm of Life has languished in the grip of Nurgle, the god of pestilence and decay. Now, the Queen of the Radiant Wood has awoken in her war aspect, and the sylvaneth heed her call to reclaim their forest kingdoms in all the Mortal Realms. Now is the season of vengeance.

  A Black Library Publication

  First published in Great Britain in 2018.by Black Library,

  Games Workshop Ltd, Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK.

  Produced by Games Workshop in Nottingham.

  Cover illustration by Yusen Song.

  The Sands of Grief © Copyright Games Workshop Limited 2018. The Sands of Grief, GW, Games Workshop, Black Library, Warhammer, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, Stormcast Eternals, and all associated logos, illustrations, images, names, creatures, races, vehicles, locations, weapons, characters, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are either ® or TM, and/or © Games Workshop Limited, variably registered around the world.

  All Rights Reserved.

  A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN: 978-1-78572-923-2

  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

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