Brothers of the Snake

Brothers Of The Snake is a Warhammer 40,000 novel by Dan Abnett, the adventures of Priad, a brother and then sergeant of the Iron Snakes Space Marine chapter.

""Damocles, form and cover, Hades spread!""
 * After-Action Patchup: Priad explains something to Petrok while being patched up after a battle.
 * Angry Guard Dog: Priad has to calm one.
 * Attack Pattern Alpha

"Salt-water ran from his eye corners. The Rite had begun. Removing his glove, Priad wiped the tears from his eye and marked the emblem of the Iron Snakes on the bulkhead. His men watched him do it. Sometimes the Rite was special. Sometimes, you didn't need the flask."
 * Because Destiny Says So: Why Petrok insists on bringing the squad to battle
 * Blood From the Mouth: As always a sign of chaos
 * Booby Trap: Some dark eldar mine a location before withdrawing.
 * Come to Gawk: Khiron objects.
 * Dude in Distress: Khiron
 * Dreaming of Things to Come: Petrok
 * Ermine Cape Effect: Antoni inverts this, putting away her official portrait for being too good.
 * The Evil Prince: Priad concludes this too quickly.
 * Fearless Fool: Khiron observes that folly and courage are not always distinguishable.
 * Fire-Forged Friends: Antoni and Princeps
 * First-Name Basis: Petrok insists on this with Priad, who doesn't always obey,
 * Flashed Badge Hijack: The inquistor does this on their behalf.
 * Glamour Failure: Seeing the chaos beast with the naked eye among the cultists. Also, the one that inflitrated the Chapter.
 * Heroic Bystander: Antoni
 * Heroic Dog: Princeps;
 * Human Sacrifice: Some cultists catch and try to sacrifice an Iron Snake.
 * In Harm's Way: Like all Space Marines
 * Intro-Only Point of View: The first story is from the POV of the human on the world he visits.
 * Law of Inverse Fertility: Antoni never had children
 * Manly Tears


 * The Medic: Khiron.
 * Mobile Maze: Under Chaos, a labyrinth can't be trusted
 * The Mole: A Chaos thing
 * Morton's Fork: An ordeal will prove Khiron's innonence if it kills him
 * Nice to the Waiter: A princess who tries to order the Space Marines around also strikes her guard for disagreeing with her.
 * Our Mermaids Are Different: Aekon hallucinates, briefly of one, before realizing it's Khiron.
 * The Power of Friendship: Petrok urges Priad to consider this in his squad's wrong doing.
 * The Promise: Priad promises to protect some civilians
 * Reality Ensues: Even though they have good reasons to fight with their faceplates up in one fight, it still kills one of them.
 * Royal Brat: One princess at the coronation, who tries to shoot the Sergeant with a lasgun built into her ring when he refuses to cowtow to her. The marine's response can be summed up as "Did you really just do that?"
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: The regalia was meant to contain this; they managed to seal it up before it escaped.
 * Staff of Authority: One of the coronation regalia
 * Take Up My Sword: Priad's becoming sergeant.
 * Weather Dissonance: At first rain on a desert world is taken as a good omen, but it soon becomes clear that something is wrong.
 * We Do Not Know Each Other: An inquistor appears in two stories. In the second, he alerts Priad to his concealed identity.
 * With Due Respect: Priad, arguing with Petrok.
 * Would Not Shoot a Civilian: They try to protect the farmers.
 * Youth Is Wasted on the Dumb: Diving for the trench.