Vulkan He’stan is back in miniature form – we’ve already seen what he’s up to as Forgefather of the Salamanders, and the Warhammer 40,000 studio have been kind enough to write us the first piece in a series of short fiction on all the forthcoming Space Marine characters.
The Drake and the Hydra
Bitter winds howled through the chasm, tearing at Vulkan He’stan’s drakeskin cloak. The scaled garment whipped around his form like a living serpent. Before him, scrambling out of the shadows, came a screaming torrent of heretics. Wild autogun fire smashed into the walls of the mountain cleft and deflected from his ceramite plate. Infernus Marines clad in the colours of the Covenant of Fire formed up around him. They unleashed a wall of flaming promethium into the cultists. Consumed by the torrent of flame, the rabid heretics screamed wildly. The hardiest staggered through the inferno, flesh sloughing away, eyes wild with zeal and agony, only to be bludgeoned to death by ceramite fists.
He’stan strode on through the flame, the cultists’ blackened bones cracking and splintering beneath his ceramite tread. A snarling survivor lunged towards him, stabbing wildly with an onyx dagger. The Forgefather swatted the assailant aside with a backhand strike from his gauntlet. The blow shattered the traitor’s skull and propelled their limp corpse into the wall of the ravine. On He’stan went, skewering another foe on the burning tip of the Spear of Vulkan before shaking the writhing, burning body loose. The mass of heretics had begun to thin now, turned back by the heat of the searing inferno sweeping towards them.
Ahead, the pass widened slightly, terminating in an obsidian doorway wrought from the igneous rockface. Dark figures emerged from within, pushing their way past the lesser cultists fleeing for safety. The burnished silver trim of their armour glowed, dancing flames reflected upon polished metal. The leader of the Traitor Space Marines paused before He’stan. His baleful gaze settled upon the Forgefather. Witchlight danced across the Traitor’s palm. A cruel, sharp-toothed smile spread across his face.
‘Such persistence,’ the Sorcerer hissed, ‘and yet such wasted effort. The Unbound Flame shall never be yours. The Lord of Drakes will not return.’
He’stan broke into a run, hefting the Spear of Vulkan, ordering his Infernus Marines to advance with him. The Chaos Space Marines opened fire. Bolter rounds detonated against Kesare’s Mantle, barely scratching the toughened drakescale hide. Two of He’stan’s battle-brothers fell to the ground, wounded or dead. The Sorcerer pointed his staff at the Forgefather. Tendrils of empyric energy lanced from its tip and ensnared him, taking the form of a coiling, many-headed serpent. The Forgefather struggled to free himself from the infernal bonds, gritting his teeth as reptilian maws snapped and hissed.
The Forgefather roared and flexed his muscles, empowered by his burning rage, unshackling himself from the psyker’s spell by sheer force of will. The hydra’s coils shattered, and he was free.
The Sorcerer scowled, already working another hex as his bodyguard opened fire again. Bolt shells slammed into He’stan’s armour.
The Infernus Marines responded in kind.
A torrent of liquid fire washed over the Traitor Legionaries. With transhuman resilience, they pressed forward through the onslaught, continuing to fire until the liquid flame ate its way through the seams of their armour and cooked their flesh. The stench of burning meat filled the air as the Legionaries finally toppled. Wisps of smoke and burning embers trailed from their ruptured armour. Only the Sorcerer remained standing, charred but unbowed. An unclean aura spilt from his armoured form, some form of warding spell that had shielded him from the inferno.
He’stan lunged forward, thrusting the Spear of Vulkan towards the Traitor. Its flaming tip bit deep, driven into one of the Sorcerer’s corrupted hearts.
The heretic’s spell died on his lips, and his mouth opened in a silent scream. Wisps of smoke escaped from his throat as he fell.
‘Now we search this place,’ the Forgefather rumbled to his battle-brothers, gesturing to the doorway, ‘and let nothing escape our notice.’
Vulkan He’stan is available to pre-order this weekend, alongside a new Salamanders Combat Patrol and dice set.
