Originally published in the 2001 reprint of the Deathwing anthology, Dan Abnett’s short story Pestilence is a slowly-unfurling mystery set to the backdrop of an astonishingly virulent plague wracking Imperial worlds. As Uhlren’s Pox rampages through the Genovingia system, Lemuel Sark – a recollector, tasked with researching long-buried medical knowledge – is one of many sent out to look for a cure. Travelling to an isolated hospice in search of a survivor of a similar contagion – ominously named the Torment – Sark gradually uncovers the horrifying truth of what happened amidst the broken remnants of so many shattered lives.
Published the same year as Xenos this feels almost like a proto-Inquisition story; Sark is more Aemos than Eisenhorn, but it’s a similar style overall. It’s a dark little story, as the title suggests, complete with an equally grim portmanteau as Sark hears the tale of the poor, damaged survivor of the Torment. It’s full of trademark Abnett world building, little touches that add familiarity to new characters and settings, and the prissy Sark feels believable and well-drawn. Whether considered as a standalone story or as a thematic partner to the Eisenhorn stories, this is quietly satisfying, and well worth checking out.
Click here to see how this fits into the wider Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin arc.
Check out Pestilence on Amazon as an individual e-short, or as part of The Magos & The Definitive Casebook of Gregor Eisenhorn (which is also available as an audiobook on Audible). If you buy through any of these links you’ll be helping to support Track of Words as well.