Bellathonis and the Shadow King

Path of the Dark Eldar #Short

by Andy Chambers

Master Haemonculus Bellathonis is sent by his master, the mad Archon Malixian, on an important mission - to retrieve a rare bird for his collection of avians. But the bird is in the possession of one of the secret masters of Bellathonis's coven, and so the haemonculus enacts a daring plan to break into the master's hidden chambers, deep in the heart of the dread city of Commorragh. Read it because

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Short Stories

20 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 11, 2013

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haemonculus fleshed out neatly in quaint fashion. The backstabbing, capricious nature of Dark Eldar is on full display here. Bellathonis and the Shadow King spices up the final book in the Deldar omnibus, I did not read this before Path of the Archon and it doesn’t take away from the experience, but it might have something to offer.

I personally like the idea that Bellathonis won favors off pages and we are reaping the rewards on them, reading it afterwards was icing on the cake.

[Octa · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lol", said Malixian the mad.

"LMAO, even."

[Stephan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chambers does an amazing job when he fleshes out the Dark Eldar in these shorter stories. This must be one of my favourites, along with Midnight on the Street of Knives. You can really feel the evil, the cruelty and the individuality in the Dark Eldar. How they form alliances with and against each other.
That the story has a rather fun end makes it even better!

[Zaphied · Rating 4 out of 5]

All that effort to impress an avid bird fancier.

[Ulzeta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Dark Eldar torturer wants to please his new exotic bird loving patron so he steals an exotic bird from his patron's rival. The patron is very well pleased and feeds the stolen bird to his other, more carnivorous birds. The end. Seriously.