Following on from the fantastic Execution, Rachel Harrison’s short story A Company of Shadows sees the 11th Antari Rifles evacuating a city besieged by the forces of Chaos. When the Valkyrie carrying Commissar Severina Raine, a handful of troopers and an important military advisor is shot down before they can reach safety, it’s up to Raine and the decidedly untrustworthy Antari Sergeant Wyck to find a way to survive. With all of them carrying injuries, enemies all around, and Wyck twitchy at having cheated death for a second time, things look bleak for Raine and the Antari.
We all love a good Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum story, but there’s just something about Raine and the Antari that feels fresh and exhilarating. There’s much more to them than the usual Guard stereotypes, and Harrison reveals just enough to hint at what lies beneath the surface as she weaves a smart, gripping story of pain and stubborn heroism. There’s no glory here, just grit and determination, and an intriguing layer of strangeness and mystery. Like Execution it’s the characters and the glimpses of their hidden depths that really makes this work, but while Raine is the main protagonist there’s enough attention paid to Wyck to set him up as a fascinating character in his own right, and clearly one to watch out for in future stories. Here’s hoping there will be plenty more of those.
