Collections THE REALMGATE WARS: VOLUME 1 Various authors Contains the novels The Gates of Azyr, War Storm, Ghal Maraz, Hammers of Sigmar, Wardens of the Everqueen and Black Rift THE REALMGATE WARS: VOLUME 2 Various authors Contains the novels Call of Archaon, Warbeast, Fury of Gork, Bladestorm, Mortarch of Night and Lord of Undeath LEGENDS OF THE AGE OF SIGMAR Various authors RULERS OF THE DEAD Josh Reynolds & David Annandale Contains the novels Neferata: Mortarch of Blood and Nagash: The Undying King WARCRY Various authors An anthology of short stories CHAMPIONS OF THE MORTAL REALMS Various Authors Contains the novellas Warqueen, The Red Hours, Heart of Winter and The Bone Desert Coming soon TRIALS OF THE MORTAL REALMS Various authors Contains the novellas Code of the Skies, The Measure of Iron and Thieves’ Paradise Coming soon GODS & MORTALS Various authors An anthology of short stories MYTHS & REVENANTS Various authors An anthology of short stories OATHS & CONQUESTS Various Authors An anthology of short stories Novels • HALLOWED KNIGHTS • Josh Reynolds Book One: PLAGUE GARDEN Book Two: BLACK PYRAMID EIGHT LAMENTATIONS: SPEAR OF SHADOWS Josh Reynolds • KHARADRON OVERLORDS • C L Werner Book One: OVERLORDS OF THE IRON DRAGON Book Two: PROFIT’S RUIN SOUL WARS Josh Reynolds CALLIS & TOLL: THE SILVER SHARD Nick Horth THE TAINTED HEART C L Werner SHADESPIRE: THE MIRRORED CITY Josh Reynolds BLACKTALON: FIRST MARK Andy Clark HAMILCAR: CHAMPION OF THE GODS David Guymer SCOURGE OF FATE Robbie MacNiven THE RED FEAST Gav Thorpe GLOOMSPITE Andy Clark GHOULSLAYER Darius Hinks BEASTGRAVE C L Werner NEFERATA: THE DOMINION OF BONES David Annandale THE COURT OF THE BLIND KING David Guymer LADY OF SORROWS C L Werner REALM-LORDS Dale Lucas WARCRY CATACOMBS: BLOOD OF THE EVERCHOSEN Richard Strachan COVENS OF BLOOD Anna Stephens, Liane Merciel and Jamie Crisalli Novellas CITY OF SECRETS Nick Horth Audio Dramas • REALMSLAYER: A GOTREK GURNISSON SERIES • David Guymer Boxed Set One: REALMSLAYER Boxed Set Two: BLOOD OF THE OLD WORLD THE BEASTS OF CARTHA David Guymer FIST OF MORK, FIST OF GORK David Guymer GREAT RED David Guymer ONLY THE FAITHFUL David Guymer THE PRISONER OF THE BLACK SUN Josh Reynolds SANDS OF BLOOD Josh Reynolds THE LORDS OF HELSTONE Josh Reynolds THE BRIDGE OF SEVEN SORROWS Josh Reynolds WAR-CLAW Josh Reynolds SHADESPIRE: THE DARKNESS IN THE GLASS Various authors THE IMPRECATIONS OF DAEMONS Nick Kyme THE PALACE OF MEMORY AND OTHER STORIES Various authors SONS OF BEHEMAT Graeme Lyon CONTENTS Cover Backlist Title Page Warhammer Age of Sigmar Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen About the Author An Extract from ‘The Court of the Blind King’ A Black Library Publication eBook license From the maelstrom of a sundered world, the Eight Realms were born. The formless and the divine exploded into life. Strange, new worlds appeared in the firmament, each one gilded with spirits, gods and men. Noblest of the gods was Sigmar. For years beyond reckoning he illuminated the realms, wreathed in light and majesty as he carved out his reign. His strength was the power of thunder. His wisdom was infinite. Mortal and immortal alike kneeled before his lofty throne. Great empires rose and, for a while, treachery was banished. Sigmar claimed the land and sky as his own and ruled over a glorious age of myth. But cruelty is tenacious. As had been foreseen, the great alliance of gods and men tore itself apart. Myth and legend crumbled into Chaos. Darkness flooded the realms. Torture, slavery and fear replaced the glory that came before. Sigmar turned his back on the mortal kingdoms, disgusted by their fate. He fixed his gaze instead on the remains of the world he had lost long ago, brooding over its charred core, searching endlessly for a sign of hope. And then, in the dark heat of his rage, he caught a glimpse of something magnificent. He pictured a weapon born of the heavens. A beacon powerful enough to pierce the endless night. An army hewn from everything he had lost. Sigmar set his artisans to work and for long ages they toiled, striving to harness the power of the stars. As Sigmar’s great work neared completion, he turned back to the realms and saw that the dominion of Chaos was almost complete. The hour for vengeance had come. Finally, with lightning blazing across his brow, he stepped forth to unleash his creations. The Age of Sigmar had begun. PROLOGUE Bron vynne Karro beth put one foot in front of the other as she tried very hard not to die. She didn’t look at the mountain road winding up towards the storm-lashed peak above. To do so would rob what little strength her elderly body had left. She didn’t look down at her feet either, lest the ragged remains of her boots and the crimson stains left in her wake remind her how she had walked them bloody these past days. Not walked, limped, came a vague thought, tinged with the ghost of her usual impatience. Bron vynne looked at the battered leather tome she clutched to her chest with spindly, bandaged arms. That was what this was all about, what all this effort and pain was for. She held it close, striving to keep it from the grasp of howling wind and lashing, faintly acidic rain. Dying would most certainly have been the easier choice, but it wasn’t the right one. Lief was relying on her, after all. Wherever he was. Bron vynne started as she realised that, in her delirium, thoughts of her brother had almost led her straight off the side of the mountain road. The drop wheeled beneath her, green-lit chasms yawning like maws far below. One bloodied foot skidded on loose gravel and for a horrible moment the old cryptoscholar’s heart slammed to a halt in her chest. She staggered back from the edge and by a supreme effort of will managed to stay on her feet. Beyond the lip of the ledge, the chasm-split plains marched away into a grey haze and lightning reached down from the clouds to blacken them with its touch. Fall now and you won’t get up, you stupid old woman, she scolded herself. She couldn’t allow that to happen. Too many lives were at stake. Maybe Lief’s. It was hard, though, so hard to keep pushing on. It wasn’t as though she were young and strong, not any more. Her vitality was not what it once had been. Much of Bron vynne’s body was numb from shock, blood loss and exposure. Those parts that could feel sang a dirge of agony that she ignored only by dint of focusing instead upon her fear of failure. The wound in her midriff was bleeding again; she could feel blood oozing through the filthy bandages and trickling down her legs. She shook with cold, or maybe fever. It was hard to tell any more and really what did it matter? If she didn’t make it to the mountaintop she’d be dead one way or another. In a moment of weakness, Bron vynne looked up and felt the last wisps of strength ebb from her body. Miles to go yet, miles of switchback roadway flanked by looming bladepines, lashed by screaming winds and scattered with jagged rocks. Stern faces graven into vast boulders and outcroppings stared down at her, judgement welling in the shadows of their eroded sockets. Lightning flashed again and she saw it for a moment, the Stormkeep silhouetted against the divine light of Sigmar’s wrath. The structure was huge, imposing. It promised merciless might to its enemies and blessed sanctuary to its friends. It was a sanctuary she would never reach. Bron vynne swore weakly as she thought of the miles she had crossed to get this far, the Realmgate she had braved and the dangers endured. To die now, in sight of her goal, seemed desperately unfair. Yet Sigmar has a plan for all of us, she thought as her knees buckled and she fell painfully to the unforgiving stone. Her temple struck the ground and the world spun. She felt tears prick her eyes. She reas oned there was no sense holding them in any longer. Leif wouldn’t see, and if somehow he did, well, he would understand. He was her brother, after all. Sigmar has a plan for us all, and my part was to come as far as I have come, she thought as she listened to the howl of the wind and the creak of the trees. I got the tome this far. Perhaps they will find it. Perhaps they will do the rest. They must… Sound became distant, as though she had fallen down a deep well. Lightning flashed, a muted glare that offered cold comfort. For a moment, Bron vynne imagined that she saw angelic figures framed in that glare, winged servants of the God-King come to snatch her up and bear her soul away to the Underworlds in honour. She hoped that it was true. Perhaps Leif would be there. Then darkness. Kaly ani Thunderblade strode down the corridor towards the healers’ sanctum. Her armoured footfalls echoed from walls adorned with trophies: severed heads and fallen banners and captured blades of myriad foes. She and her warri ors had earned those trophies across the span of a half-hundred battles and more. They had paid for them in blood.