The wind on Sotha swept in from the horizon, battering Fulgrim's purple-and-gold armor.
He stood in the open ground beneath the Pharos, a thin haze of dust coating his purple-and-gold armor.
He gazed up at the lighthouse, so enormous it seemed almost to burst through the sky. The ancient metal structure stood silently and arrogantly on the planet's surface.
He felt a faint pulse throbbing deep underground, traveling through thousands of meters of rock to reach his feet, and his eyes narrowed involuntarily.
Footsteps reached him from behind, cutting through the howling wind.
Fulgrim did not turn around. He merely tilted his head, catching a towering figure approaching from a newly landed assault craft out of the corner of his eye.
Jaghatai Khan's white armor stood out sharply. The end of his cloak dragged a long trail through the dust, and several fresh marks scarred his armor.
Fulgrim turned and watched Jaghatai come to a stop beside him. His voice was low, touched with a faint smile. "You're back, Jaghatai Khan."
Jaghatai did not answer immediately.
He stood beside Fulgrim, gazing with him at the silent Pharos. Only after a moment's silence did he speak.
His voice was calm, but beneath that calm, currents churned. "The intelligence was wrong."
He stopped there, then continued after a long pause. "Everything those Dark Angels traitors told me wasn't enough to break through Lion El'Jonson's defenses. I staked too much on their intelligence."
Jaghatai said no more, but he did not need to. Both he and Fulgrim understood the cost and bitterness behind those few words.
The traitors of the Dark Angels, led by Luther, had sold Jaghatai their Legion's secrets.
Jaghatai had devoted enormous effort to studying that mass of data, repeatedly working through countless attack plans and incorporating every piece of