# Prince of Crows Extract



## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

“Sevatar hadn’t lied when he told Trez he was Eighth Legion to his core. Just like his brothers, he’d never cherished a fair fight. Sport was one thing, but it hardly compared to hunting prey. In that, at least, he was made in his primarch’s image.

He risked a glance around the corner, pulling back as a shell detonated close to his faceplate, showering him in debris.

‘It’s Sevatar,’ he could hear them shouting to each other. ‘It’s the First Captain. I saw him.’

He grinned as he imagined the silhouette he cast in his armour, with the sweeping dark-iron wings rising from his helm. This accursed helmet crest, he thought. His enemies always recognised him by it.

The gunfire fell silent. He heard strangled grunts and the clanging wallops of weapons striking ceramite. Emerging from cover, he broke into a run, joining the melee.

Alastor Rushal, clad in the same black as the Dark Angels he was killing, nearly died first. Sevatar’s retinal display locked onto him with the Nostraman rune for Threat blinking bright, registering his Raven Guard armour and the thundering meteor hammer spinning in his fists. The First Captain turned, lancing his glaive through the last Angel’s back, letting the hungry teeth do their work. He ended the downed warrior with a boot stamped onto the Angel’s throat.

The blood patterning his armour went ignored, as did the bodies at his feet. One of them reached a weak hand to scrape strengthless fingers along his boots. Sevatar drew his bolter and fired downwards, without even bothering to look.

‘You won’t believe how I got here,’ he said to Rushal.”



Slightly confused, is Rushal a traitor Raven Guard?


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

No I think ADB meant that Sevatar was killing the Dark Angel.


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

"Alastor Rushal, clad in the same black as the Dark Angels he was killing, nearly died first. "

‘You won’t believe how I got here,’ he said to Rushal.”

Why would he say that to Rushal, how would he know his name, to me it reads as if the Raven Guard is on Sevatars side.


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## Marcoos (Sep 26, 2010)

Potential spoiler. It's relevant to the question being asked, but I don't want to ruin it for anyone who doesn't want to know.


Yes he is a traitor Raven Guard. It's not expanded at to why, but he definitely is.


I've read Prince of Crows and it's a brilliant story, well worth getting. Get it, get it now, you won't regret it.


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## forkmaster (Jan 2, 2010)

Oh this was interesting!


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Marcoos said:


> I've read Prince of Crows and it's a brilliant story, well worth getting. Get it, get it now, you won't regret it.


It's not up for preorder yet.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

_Prince of Crows_ is a fantastic novella and imo the best one available from Black Library atm. And of course Sevatar proves in every single page why he is awesome and CANNOT DIE AT TERRA!!

And regarding Rushal,




He is a Raven Guard who defected to the Night Lords at the Drop Site Massacre, and is now one of the seven Kyroptera (The leaders of the Night Lords).




LotN


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

How do you defect at the drop site massacre, just seems a weird time to do it. Although, now I come to think of it, Raven Guard where recruited from prisoners so there's probably some who share in the Night Lords ideals.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Words_of_Truth said:


> How do you defect at the drop site massacre, just seems a weird time to do it. Although, now I come to think of it, Raven Guard where recruited from prisoners so there's probably some who share in the Night Lords ideals.


That is exactly it, and it's how Sevatar defines it as well.

Think about Variel the Flayer, he joined the Night Lords because he was friends with Talos but he also shared their ideals. But after _Void Stalker_ why is it that the wider Legion accepts him so easily, because to the VIIIth Legion there is more to being a Night Lord than your gene-seed. It's about being a certain type of person, like Rushal and Variel, which is why not only do the Night Lords accept Rushal but make him one of their commanders.

Though as to Rushal's past we have no idea, and he isn't going to be revealing it anytime soon.




For some reason Sevatar tortured him after his defection and cut out his tongue. Rushal is a mute.




LotN


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

Mutes make the best partners, just look at penn and tellar and their double act. With Sevatar being so funny, you can just imagine the expressions on Rushal's face.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Words_of_Truth said:


> Mutes make the best partners, just look at penn and tellar and their double act. With Sevatar being so funny, you can just imagine the expressions on Rushal's face.


Sevatar says a hell of a lot of other funny stuff in the novella, he's practically a deadpan dark comedian. This one is one of my favourites,

(When told that a Naval Commodore has survived an ambush and is now the highest ranking surviving officer of the fleet.)
_"That makes him the new fleet admiral. Offer him my insincere congratulations on a rank he earned purely by being the last naval officer standing."_​
Lol, I was a fan when he coined the phrase "Death to the False Emperor!" Now he's one of my Top 5 Favourite Warhammer Characters.


LotN


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## MontytheMighty (Jul 21, 2009)

ADB's prose really is a *huge* step up from Swallow's (just finished a disappointing _Fear to Tread_)

I do hope the loyalists will be more than just hapless punching bags


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## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

Yeah I'd like it if we had more funny and loveable Loyalists, The Flesh Tearer and the Ultramarine insubordinate, was a step in that direction, but that truly up to the standards of the funny traitors.


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