| abstract | - After the end of the Horus Heresy, Magnus the Red was determined to have his revenge for the devastation of his homeworld of Prospero at the hands of his former brother-Primarch Leman Russ and his Legion. He devised a cunning plan to lure the Space Wolves into a trap in order to enact his final vengeance against them. All enemies of the Allfather engendered hatred in the Sons of Fenris, but Magnus was placed in a different category of loathing. It had always been that way with the Thousand Sons. The sagas still recounted in the caverns of the Aett told of the sorcerers’ betrayal, their condescension, and – worst of all – their escape. The Legion had not been destroyed during the Burning of Prospero, only crippled. That shame had hung over the Space Wolves for over a thousand standard years by the time of the 32nd Millennium, staining whatever deeds they had accomplished since and marking their failure like spoor-trails in the snow. Perhaps, if the Traitor Magnus had disappeared into the Eye of Terror and never re-emerged, the shame might have been bearable. But he had returned over the following centuries, leaving devastation in his elusive wake. Precision strikes on Imperial worlds had continued, each aimed at retrieving some valuable piece of knowledge or esoterica. Despite the grievous damage Russ had inflicted on them, the Thousand Sons still had the potential to launch raids into protected space, and the knowledge of that burned at Ironhelm. It had burned within Ironhelm for decades, until nothing else seemed important. Despite all the resources he devoted to hunting Magnus, the chase had always come up short. There were always signs left behind for them to find, mocking hints, challenges to catch the originator of the ruin and bring him in. On Pravia, on Daggaegghan, on Vreole, on Hromor. The Traitor had left his calling cards behind, taunting the Wolves who ever snapped at his heels. After many fruitless efforts to catch up with the Thousand Sons, Harek became obsessed, and took to searching worlds along the edge of the Eye of Terror itself. Eventually he found what he believed to be the Thousand Sons' secret base on the world of Gangava and launched a full-scale attack against it. In this he was deceived, for though Gangava was held by a strong garrison of the Forces of Chaos allied to Magnus, they were but a distraction. Even as Harek attacked Gangava, the fleet of the Thousand Sons and their Chaotic levies appeared in orbit over Fenris. The Fang was held only by a skeleton force of Space Wolves and their feudal thralls. For forty days and forty nights the Thousand Sons assaulted the mighty citadel. Bjorn the Fell-Handed, most ancient of the Space Wolves' Dreadnoughts, was awoken from his long slumber and took charge of the Chapter's defences. Under Bjorn's direction the Space Wolves fell back to the innermost chambers of The Fang, collapsing the tunnels as they went. Simultaneously, a force of Scout Marines, under Haakon Blackwing, managed to escape from the citadel and take ship to Gangava, bringing word of the siege to Harek. During the battle that ensued, Ironhelm discovered that some of these Renegades were actually Wolf Brothers -- remnants of the only known Second Founding Successor Chapter created from the gene-seed of the Space Wolves. The Chapter was eventually forcibly disbanded by the Inquisition as a result of rampant genetic instability and the resulting mutation that appeared in the Wolf Brothers' Astartes. Though Ironhelm wished to destroy them personally, he had received word of the Thousand Sons' treachery being perpetrated against the Space Wolves' homeworld, and so he destroyed the Renegades from orbit. The Great Wolf then left behind an Escort squadron to ensure that the devastation was complete. Magnus knew that Ironhelm would not refuse combat with corrupted Astartes. Had news not come of the battle on Fenris, Ironhelm and his Space Wolves would have hunted the last of the corrupted Wolf Brothers for many days, and The Fang would have fallen in their absence. Overcome with fury and shame at his folly, the Great Wolf immediately took ship to Fenris, bringing the might of the Space Wolves with him. Finally, on the upper slopes of The Fang itself, the Great Wolf met Magnus in battle on the final day of the siege. The Great Wolf's violence against the sorcerer was stoked by rage, the rage he had cultivated ever since leaving Gangava. The faces of the Wolf Brothers clustered in his mind, still howling their horror and pain. The faces of the slain on Fenris were amongst them too, growling in accusation. The dead had all been sacrificed on the altar of his hubris, and now they demanded retribution. Ironhelm intended to deliver it. The Great Wolf pummeled the injured Daemon Primarch with his Power Fist, hitting him again, and again, pummelling him against the rocks of The Fang’s flanks. Magnus cried out then, a cry of pain that had not been heard since Leman Russ had destroyed his first body on Prospero a thousand years before. For a moment, it looked like Magnus had lost the will to fight. He absorbed the punishment, his back arching against the cliffs. But then, he began to remember himself. Even now, even after enduring so much, having absorbed so much pain, his essential strength, the core of fire that fuelled him, remained inviolate. The Great Wolf was driven back toward the edge and beaten down to his knees. The Daemon Primarch had proved to be too powerful for him and slew Harek, but not before taking a terrible wound himself. Before dying, the Great Wolf took solace knowing that his Wolves had already penetrated the Aett. His Wolves would hunt down every invader in those halls, one by one, driven by the remorseless focus that had always been their badge of honour. The fact that they would come too late to save him was unimportant. The Fang endured.
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