The new extract for Priests of Mars has been released.
‘No, please! Don’t!’ he cried, but the men holding him gave his pleas no mind. A bulked-out servitor with piston-driven musculature hauled him inside the iron-hulled vehicle, where at least thirty other men were shackled in various states of disarray. Abrehem saw Coyne and Ismael trussed like livestock ready for slaughter. The ogryn sat with its back rest¬ing against the interior of the confinement compartment with a bemused smile on its face, as though this were a mild diversion from its daily rou¬tine instead of a life-changing moment of horror.
‘No!’ he screamed as the steel doors slammed shut, leaving them sealed in dim, red-lit darkness.
Abrehem wept as he felt the engine roar and the heavy vehicle moved off. He kicked out at the doors, almost breaking bone as he slammed his heels into the metalwork again and again.
‘Won’t do you any good,’ said a voice behind him.
Abrehem turned angrily to see the man who’d threatened Ismael with the knife. He no longer had his weapon, and his hands were bound before him with plastek cuffs. Like the ogryn, he seemed unnaturally calm, and Abrehem hated him for that.
‘Where are they taking us?’ he said.
‘Where do you think? To the embarkation platforms. We’ve been col¬lared and we’re on our way to the bowels of a starship to shovel fuel, haul ammunition crates or some other ****** detail until we’re dead or crippled.’
‘You sound pretty calm about it.’
The man shrugged. ‘I reckon it’s my lot in life to get **** on from on high. I think the Emperor has a very sick sense of humour when it comes to my life. He puts me through the worst experiences a man could have, but keeps me alive. And for what? So I can go through more ****? Damn, but I wish He’d have done with me.’
Abrehem heard the depths of the man’s anguish and an echo of some¬thing so awful that it didn’t bear thinking about. It sounded like the truth.
‘Those things you told the regimental commanders really happened, didn’t they?’ said Abrehem.
The man nodded.
‘And all that stuff on Hydra Cordatus? It was all true?’
‘Yeah, I told the truth. For all the good it did me,’ said the man, holding out a cuffed hand to Abrehem. ‘Guardsman Julius Hawke. Welcome to the ****.’
This book just shot into the Top 5 of my books for this year, and all because of the last name said in the extract.
SH
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Originally Posted by Rick Blaine
