Blood And Rocks

Chapta 15

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Blood And Rocks

Prologue

Chapta 1

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Chapta 21

Epilogue


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As he waited for Mayleth to reach Two Heads and the rest of the warband that had remained with the vehicles to arrive Hazug took stick and scratched lines into the dirt.

“Wot’s dat?” Thuggrim asked as he and the other madboys stared at the ground.

“Its da human camp.” Hazug replied and the madboys looked at one another with looks of confusion on their faces.

“But I thought ya said dat it was on da other side of da woods.” Thuggrim commented, “So ‘ow is it ‘ere?” and Hazug paused.

“Plus it don’t look very big.” Another of the madboys pointed out, “Ya won’t get many gits in somethin’ dat size.”

“Yeah, good point Nuruk.” Thuggrim said.

“Its just a map.” Sophie said, looking up from the small fire that had been lit to allow her and Salia to cook several squigs of various breeds that the madboys had caught while Hazug had been gone.

“Less talkin’ more cookin’.” Drazzok said, glaring at the squigs impaled on sticks that the two human women held over the flames and he licked his lips.

“Here you go.” Salia said and she held out her stick towards him, “If you pick the one you want I’ll-“ but before she could get any further the weirdboy snatched the entire stick from her and took a bite that tore meat from three of the squigs on it.

“Wot?” he asked, spitting food as he chewed at the same time and Salia flinched.

“There won’t be enough to go round now.” Salia said, looking towards her sister.

“Never mind dat now.” Hazug said as a low rumble filled the air, “Da others is ‘ere.” And led by Two Heads’ battlewagon the warband’s surviving vehicles arrived. Gorgoga’s truck was not amongst these, Mek Batrug obviously having failed to repair it yet so the remaining Goff hardboys were instead riding in Hazug’s vehicle with Batrug driving it. Some of them did not seem happy about this, the green on grey camouflage pattern it was painted with obviously offending them. When the choice was failing to arrive in time to take part in the attack though, they had chosen riding in the vehicle with its distinctly un-orky paint scheme instead. However, as soon as Batrug brought the truck to a halt they immediately disembarked and marched towards Hazug with Gorgoga himself in the lead and Batrug following only when he had turned off the engine.

“Ready to go.” He announced.

“Me an’ all.” Krorden added as he too walked up to Hazug.

“Good.” Hazug replied and then he looked towards the battlewagon where Two Heads was approaching with Mayleth.

“Come take a look at dis.” Hazug said and he pointed to the crude map with the same stick used to create it, “Dis is da layout of da camp.” And he began to wave the stick at individual places, ”Now dare’s a river ‘ere and I saw another trail leadin’ off dis way.” Hazug then looked up at Krorden, “I’ll want ya to block dat with ya buggy to stop ‘em runnin’ off down it.”

“Wot parked?” Krorden responded, frowning. As one of the sub-group of Evil Suns known as speed freaks he was only really happy when moving at high speed aboard a vehicle that ideally allowed him to feel just how fast he was moving.
”Ya’ll ‘ave to get dare pretty quick.” Hazug said, “Cause most of da rest of us aint gonna be dare till later.”

“’Ow come?” one of Two Heads asked.
”Because dare’s guards bout ‘ere.” Hazug replied and he drew another line in the dirt to represent the trail that he had moved alongside while he scouted out the camp and dey’ll warn da camp da moment dey sees us.”
”Can’t you kill them all without them noticing?” Salia asked from behind the huddle of ork nobs and Hazug shook his head.

“Can’t risk it.” He replied, “Da guards by da trail is watchin’ one another an’ all. If I kills any of ‘em den dey might see.” Then after a moment’s pause Hazug made another mark in the ground not far from that representing the trail, “But dare are some more right ‘ere wot’ll try and ‘elp. I’ll take dem out and den I wants all da lads from Two Heads and Gorgoga’s mobs to deal with da ones right by da trail while Krorden just ‘eads for da camp as fast as ‘e can manage. Den once we’ve dealt with da guards we’ll follow ya. Two Heads lads can keep goin’ along da trail while Gorgoga’s ‘ead round dis way to stop anyone wot thinks dat dey can make a run for it through da forest over dare. Drazzok, Thuggrim’s lads and Mayleth will come with me through da forest on da other side of da trail.”

“That leaves only the forest on the far side of the camp and the river as ways of escape.” Mayleth said and Hazug grinned.

“Dat’s da idea.” He said, “We’ll push through da camp to dis tent ‘ere.” And he indicated the representation of the larger tent, “I reckon dat dis is where dare boss is, so once we’ve dealt with ‘im we’ll ‘unt down any of da humans wot managed to make it into da woods.”

 

Hazug filled a sack with loose dirt he scooped up from the ground and tied it against Two Heads’ battlewagon. Then he took his blade and jabbed it into the bottom of the sack to produce a stream of dirt pouring out onto the ground.

“Give us until da dirt runs out.” Hazug said. Then he glanced down to Ratish, “Come on,” he said, “Let’s get goin’.”

Ratish grinned as he drew his own pistol and knife from his belt and then he looked at where Salia and Sophie stood with Cuddles and stuck out his tongue. Before either could say anything Ratish suddenly noticed that Hazug was already heading into the trees and he rushed after him.

Hazug headed directly towards where he had seen the human troops erecting their auto cannon earlier, working on the assumption that the heavy weapon and the usual two-man crew would still be in the same place.

Hazug halted a short distance from the auto cannon and took out the tau viewing device so he could take a better look. The humans had not only completed setting up their weapon but had also constructed a screen out of pieces cut from the surrounding vegetation to help conceal its location to observers on the trail. As a Blood Axe, Hazug appreciated the idea of such camouflage and he grinned.

“Stay behind me.” He said softly and as he put the viewing device away he drew his blade.

One of the two human gunners suddenly stood up and walked away from the hide, moving further away from the trail. He halted facing a tree and began to open his trousers. A moment later a stream of fluid began to splash against the tree. Hazug headed towards the man relieving himself while his attention was focused on what he was doing. At the last moment the man heard the movement from behind him, but it was too late and as he began to look over his shoulder Hazug plunged his blade into the man’s back. Without making a sound the man collapsed, supported only briefly by the blade impaling him. This gave Hazug enough time to catch him and lower him to the ground so that the falling body did not produce enough sound to alert the second gunner.

Hazug double-checked that the other man was still with the auto cannon, apparently oblivious to the ork’s presence. Once again Hazug crept forwards, beckoning to Ratish to follow him. The human remained in position with both hands on the grip of the auto cannon and he gave no indication of hearing Hazug’s approach. However, as the two greenskins drew closer the gunner noticed a scent in the air. Regular bathing was not a common ork trait and even Hazug did so only occasionally while Ratish never voluntarily cleaned himself, hence his second name of Brownskin.

“Throne!” the man hissed, still assuming that it was his comrade returning, “I though you only needed to take a piss. You stink like-“ and at that moment he looked around, right into the face of Hazug.

Hazug lunged forwards, hoping to stab the man as he had done to the other one currently lying dead behind him. But his opponent was able to roll aside and as Hazug’s blade passed by him he lashed out with his foot and kicked it from Hazug’s grip. Neither Hazug nor the human now held a weapon, but it was obvious the human that it was far from a fair fight. Hazug was far more massive and muscular than he was and the man knew that he was unlikely to survive a fight one-on-one. Drawing in breath the man prepared to shout for help from the other sentries, but before he could call out Hazug dived at him again and clamped one hand over his mouth while he used the other to pin the man down on the ground.

There was a ‘crack’ and Hazug felt the hand resting on the prone human’s chest shift as a rib broke beneath it. The man reacted by attempting to scream, but Hazug’s other hand kept him silent. Instead the human desperately lashed out with his arms and legs in a vain attempt to push the ork nob off him. Hazug responded by applying more pressure with the hand covering the human’s mouth and he forced his opponent’s head to turn side on. Then there was a tearing sound and the man’s head suddenly completed it’s turn at the same time as his limbs went limp and dropped to the ground, his neck broken.

Hazug paused and looked around, peering through the gaps in the camouflage screen and searching for any signs that the other sentries had been alerted to his presence. However, there were no signs of movement and Hazug grinned.

“Ratish.” He whispered.

“Yes master?” Ratish replied.

“Give us an ‘and with dis kannon.” Hazug told him and he slid to the auto cannon on its tripod mount. Hazug was familiar enough with the weapon to be able to know how to render it safe and remove it from the tripod, “’Ere, kop ‘old of dis.” Hazug then told Ratish and he handed him the auto cannon. Ratish tucked his weapons back into his belt and then accepted the one offered to him, visibly straining under the weight.

“Wot should Ratish do with a kannon master?” he asked.

“Go ‘ide it somewhere.” Hazug told him, “Den come back ‘ere for dis other stuff. I aint gonna use it now and I don’t want no one else nickin’ it while when we is gone. Dis is our loot.”

 

Standing in a tight group around the bag of dirt the madboys stared at it intently and waited for the last few grains to empty out. Meanwhile a forlorn looking Thuggrim sat on the ground some distance away with his head in his hands.

“Would a squig cheer you up?” Sophie asked, holding out one of the cooked animals but Thuggrim didn’t look up. Sophie then looked at Salia who was stood beside her, “You try.” She said.
”Me?” Salia asked, “But how do I cheer up an ork who’s convinced he just lost a staring competition with a bag of dirt?”

“Is no one eatin’ dat?” Drazzok’s voice said suddenly as the weirdboy approached from behind the two humans and before either could respond he reached out and snatched the squig from Sophie’s grasp, cramming it into his mouth. Then he looked at Thuggrim, “Is ‘e still sulkin’ like a grot?” he asked and both Salia and Sophie smiled nervously.

All of a sudden there was a cheer from the madboys and the other ork nobs began to rush towards their vehicles as there was the sound of engines starting up.

“Mon keigh!” Mayleth called out as she stood on the ramp of the battlewagon, “Hurry, we must leave now.”

“There, did you hear that?” Sophie said to Thuggrim, “We’re off to battle.”

Thuggrim suddenly looked up, smiling.
”Battle?” he said, “Count me in den.” And he leapt to his feet, scooping up his rifle.

Salia and Sophie rushed to the battlewagon and up the ramp. Once inside the vehicle one of Two Heads’ mob pulled the ramp shut.

“We’s ready!” he called out and the battlewagon lurched as Gorrid accelerated. The heavily armoured vehicle led the way as the warband proceeded down the trail. Behind this came Krorden and his warbuggy, then Gorgoga’s unit on foot. A pair of Two Heads’ Evil Suns cam next in Hazug’s truck, one driving and the other taking the gunner’s position that Thuggrim normally took when he rode in the vehicle. This time however Thuggrim rode along with the rest of the madboys and Drazzok in the transport area. Finally the looted rhino brought up the rear, the main gun of this vehicle pointed directly ahead. In the confines of the woods the orks planned on getting up close to their opponents quickly and in such circumstances the weapon and it powerful explosive ammunition would be next to useless.

In keeping with ork behaviour the warband made no attempt to conceal their advance. Under normal circumstances Krorden would have taken his warbuggy on ahead to act as a scout, putting his Evil Sun obsession with speed to practical use. But since it was already known that there was a group of humans lying in wait the lightweight buggy stayed behind the battlewagon, ready to rush past it and on to the camp while the heavier armoured vehicle drew fire.

Therefore, when the warband approached the position of the sentries the humans had plenty of warning that they were coming. The sentries lifted their weapons and took aim along the trail, expecting ork scouts to appear first. But when the heavily armoured front of the battlewagon lumbered towards them instead they held their fire and remained hidden until Gorgoga’s infantry appeared. Though they wore armour all over their bodies the infantry were still vulnerable to the sentries small arms if a weak point could be hit.

All of a sudden there was a sharp ‘Crack!’ as one of the nervous rifle armed sentries accidentally discharged his weapon and almost immediately the others reacted by also opening fire. The gunfire was well aimed and there were sparks as the bullets and shot rounds bounced off the hardboys’ armour. Towards the back of the unit one of Gorgoga’s troops cried out briefly as a bullet clipped his neck. Instinctively the ork reached for his throat, but the bullet had struck an artery and before he could even attempt to stem the bleeding he dropped to his knees and fell forwards.

The orks reacted to this assault in the same way they reacted to all situations like this. They opened fire. Most of the vehicles in the convoy came to a halt and their gunners began to lay down continuous streams of fire with the automatic weapons they carried while their ork passengers disembarked.

While all this was happening Krorden pressed his foot down on his buggy’s gas pedal and the engine roared as he pulled out from behind the battlewagon and raced ahead, his gunner firing a few short bursts into the trees at where he thought he human sentries might be hiding before they were out his field of fire.

 

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