|
Da Boss Of Da Dead Chapta 10 | |
|
Da Boss Of Da Dead Chapta 10 |
On the street outside Kazkal’s palace Two Heads sat in his battlewagon, waiting. “What do you think is happening in there?” Sophie asked from the back of the vehicle where she and Mayleth had been told to sit. “Nought interestin’.” One of the orks replied. “I was asking Two Heads.” Sophie said. “Nought interestin’.” One of Two Heads replied, but then the other one looked through one of the battlewagon’s viewports and noticing the lightning on the palace roof, “’Ang on a mo.” He said, “Wot’s dat?” and he pointed. The orks crowded around the viewports to try and see, reaching them just in time to observe Mazakatek’s command barge lifting off. “’E shouldn’t be leavin’ yet.” One of Two Heads said and the other added, “Let rip!” Outside in the streets orks whirled around as first the gunners on Two Heads’ battlewagon and then the rhino that was waiting beside it seemingly opened fire on the palace. The automatic weapons on both vehicles sent streams of high calibre bullets into the air around the command barge, but failed to hit it as it increased its altitude. In addition as the orks in the street came to realise that they were not witnessing an attempted coup many of them began firing at the fleeing necron overlord’s transport also. Meanwhile the ork operating the main turret of the battlewagon loaded a shell and tried to take aim at the fast disappearing vehicle. “’Old ya
fire!” one of Two Heads shouted as he realised the necron’s vehicle was
out of range, a frustrated moan coming from the main turret that had not
yet fired. Two Heads was just about to suggest that the gunner should not
complain about being given the honour of operating Two Heads’ most
powerful weapon, even if he did not get to fire it when there was a
‘crash’ from above and bits of rubble fell into the street. There, standing on the edge of the palace roof he saw the towering form of the Huntsman, just as he let out a howl. “Kannon!” one of Two Heads yelled before the other one finished with, “Shoot da big ‘un!” Without needing any further prompting the turret gunner aligned the battlewagon’s main gun with the Huntsman and fired, sending an explosive shell slamming into his chest. “Yeah lad!” Two Head both bellowed, “Ya got ‘im!” but as the smoke from the explosion cleared the Huntsman was still stood of the edge of the roof, now staring directly at the battlewagon, “Or maybe not lad.” One of Two Heads added. The Huntsman howled again and leapt from the roof of the palace to land in the street in front of the battlewagon. “Go!” both of Two Heads bellowed and Gorrid slammed his foot down on the gas pedal. Throughout the interior of the battlewagon orks yelled curses as they were thrown backwards, safety features such as seatbelts or harnesses not being a design feature found often, or even ever on ork-built vehicles. Only Mayleth and Sophie at the rear had the forethought to grab hold of something. The Huntsman stood his ground as the battlewagon lurched forwards and drove straight at him. The heavily armoured ram mounted at the front of the battlewagon smashed into the giant alien and he was flung over the roof of the vehicle. As he rolled over the turret and down the back of the battlewagon the Huntsman reached out and caught hold of the top edge of the main access ramp and his weight ripped the ramp open. The dropping of the ramp sent the Huntsman sprawling on the road behind the battlewagon while inside Sophie lost her grip on her seat and slid out through the now open hatchway. Mayleth
reacted quickly and keeping one hand clamped firmly on the side of the
hatchway she reached out and caught hold of the screaming Sophie by her
hand before she too could be swept down onto the road. Two Heads stood in the hatchway flanked by a pair of his troops and yelled, “Let rip!” and all three fired their weapons over he heads of Mayleth and Sophie and at the Huntsman who once again was getting back to his feet, their bullets bouncing off his alien hide harmlessly. Heavier rounds slammed into the Huntsman’s back and the alien turned to face the rhino now approaching it from behind. This time the Huntsman leapt out of the path of the oncoming vehicle and the ork gunner turned his weapon to keep it pointed at the alien. Ignoring the hail of bullets, the Huntsman reached out as the rhino drove past and with what seemed to be very little effort at all he lifted up the side of the armoured vehicle and flipped it over. Two Heads was furious. He had looted that vehicle fair and square from a force of astartes, the most prized opponent of orks for thousands of years and now this alien had the nerve to try and destroy it. Watching as the rhino rolled sideways across the road Two Heads saw the ground go red where the gunner was flattened between it and the roof of the rhino and then saw the vehicle come to a halt when it slammed into the thick walls of the palace. “Gorrid! Stop!” Two Heads yelled. The Huntsman was a powerful foe, but the Evil Suns nob had no intention of leaving his precious rhino behind to be looted by someone else. Gorrid obeyed and now slammed on the battlewagon’s brakes, skidding forwards until it came to halt. Once again the orks riding as passengers were thrown about and this time Mayleth and Sophie were also propelled forward and back inside the vehicle. “Turn!” Two Heads shouted, “Gunners fire! Everyone else get out and start shootin’ dat thing an’ all!” A dozen orks rushed down the battlewagon’s rear ramp, making use of the open hatchway and firing at the Huntsman as they emerged. Four stayed to operate the vehicle and its weapons while the remaining member of the mob was still trapped inside the rhino. Behind the orks Hazug’s servants followed, also firing at the Huntsman though to even less effect that the orks. There was a massive booming as the battlewagon’s cannon fired again. Having seen the lack of damage caused to the Huntsman by an explosive round the gunner had this time chosen an armour-piercing round designed for use against tanks. The Huntsman shrieked as the projectile struck his shoulder and spun him around before turning back towards the Evil Suns and snarled. Where the powerful cannon round had struck him, the huntsman’s hide was now quite clearly cracked and a pale golden light was seeping from within, giving Two Heads the impression that his gunner had hurt the alien badly this time. Just then the palace doors were flung open. “Dare ‘e is!” Warboss Kromag bellowed, pointing at the Huntsman, “Get ‘im lads!” and then just to emphasis his point he added a cry of, “Waaagh!” as he charged forwards, his powerclaw held high. Hearing the shouted order of their warboss, every ork in the street turned their weapons on the Huntsman and he was sprayed with fire from more than a hundred guns. Howling with rage and pain the Huntsman leapt into the air, landing amongst a clump of orks that had been watching from further down the street. With a single swing of his arm the Huntsman cut through them all, turning them to flames that died away rapidly to leave no trace that they had ever existed. Then the Huntsman turned and looked for his next victims. He selected a handful of orks firing at him from a row of parked vehicles further down the street from the palace that seemed to be undergoing refuelling, with gretchin scurrying about between the vehicles pushing barrels of fuel while their ork masters bellowed at them to hurry up. The Huntsman moved towards the vehicles, not running but instead simply rising up into the air and floating over the heads of the orks between him and his target. Here and there the Huntsman reached out and plucked up and random ork, hurling him through the air or simply dismembering him with his bare hands and dropping the carcass to the ground. Gretchin screamed and ran when the Huntsman landed in front of the row of vehicles, leaving upturned fuel canisters leaking out onto the ground at his feet. The Huntsman brought a fist down on a ork shooting at him from point-blank range with a truck mounted gun, smashing first the ork and then the weapon and causing the other orks standing on the back of the vehicle to jump down and fall back. To complete his attack the Huntsman kicked the side of the truck hard enough to push it sideways into the adjacent vehicle and reducing both to a large pile of mangled metal. “Come on lads!” Kazkal bellowed as he ran down the street towards the Huntsman, intent on putting an end tot eh alien’s rampage through his city, “We’ll ‘ave ‘im!” But for now the Huntsman remained out of reach of the warboss and the large crowd of orks accompanying him and the alien remained focused on the parked vehicles and their occupants. A large ork
nob leapt onto the roof of a enclosed truck, roaring with anger and
swinging a heavy chain above his head. “’E got da boss!” an ork yelled as he saw the headless corpse of his superior, “Let’s get outta ‘ere!” and he turned to run. But as he tried to flee he ran into a pair of larger orks carrying massive axes coming the other way. “Cowardly runt brain!” one of them yelled and he grabbed the ork by the collar and slammed his head into the side of the nearest truck, leaving a dark stain of blood. The two large orks then continued to approach the Huntsman with their weapons held out in front of them. As they reached him the Huntsman had his back to them, busy tearing the engine from a buggy that he then threw through a nearby window. The orks swung their axes at the stump of the Huntsman’s tail, hoping that the injury was something their could exacerbate further. Sure enough as their axe blades fell the hide around the wound splintered and the Huntsman roared in pain. But now he knew that the two orks were behind him. Turning on the spot the Huntsman reached out and grasped both orks, wrapping his hands around their heads and lifting them from the ground. Both orks let out muffled screams and their arms and legs flailed about as they dropped their weapons and tried to get free of the alien’s grip. With one ‘crunch’ after another both orks’ skulls were crushed in the Huntsman’s grip and they ceased their struggling. With a roar of defiance the Huntsman flung his arms apart and hurled the remains of the two orks in opposite directions, not caring where they landed. The Huntsman now looked back down the street towards where Warboss Kromag was charging towards him at the head of a massive horde of orks. Letting out a low growl, the Huntsman now reached to his back and drew the giant bow. From his place in the charging ork horde beside the warboss Hazug saw the Huntsman take load his bow and take aim. It seemed odd to Hazug that such an undeniably advanced alien would make use of such a primitive ranged weapon. In greenskin society bows were only by feral, uncivilised orks and gretchin. But when the arrow was fired Hazug saw that this was no ordinary weapon. Almost as soon as it left the bow, the arrow that was a long as an ork was tall exploded into a sheet of golden fire that spread out as it sped towards the ork horde. “Down!” Hazug yelled and he dived to the ground just in time to avoid the fire striking him. Most of the orks followed his advice and the sheet of fire passed over them, strangely giving off no heat but those few that were too slow or arrogant to get down were consumed by the fire, turned into torches that burned brief and strong before leaving nothing behind. Hazug lifted his head from the ground to see the Huntsman slowly drifting forwards to the orks. He also noticed that the alien’s path would take it over an upturned fuel drum that was leaking out its contents and a smile spread across his face. Still lay on the ground, Hazug brought his rifle up to his shoulder and aimed it at the leaking drum and waited. Then, just as the Huntsman began to drift above the drum Hazug fired the rocket mounted beneath his rifle. With a ‘whoosh’ the motor ignited and sent it speeding just above the ground towards the drum, trailing fire behind it. Hazug’s aim was slightly off and the rocket passed over the drum. But as the flames of its motor passed through the fumes given off by the leaking fuel there was a sudden ‘whumph!’ and the fuel ignited. A moment later the expanding fireball engulfed both the rocket and the Huntsman and there was an explosion as the projectile detonated beside the alien. Burning and howling in rage the Huntsman lurched forwards, getting clear of the fire and Hazug saw that parts of its hide were now starting to peel away, revealing a glow form beneath. “Now boss!” Hazug shouted, “Smack ‘im!” Kazkal needed no further prompting and the warboss got his feet. “Waaagh!” he bellowed, charging down the street at the weakened Huntsman. He swung his powerclaw at the giant and knocked the bow from his grasp, the alien weapon shattering as it hit the ground. Then he swung again, landing a blow on the side of the Huntsman’s head and the Huntsman was knocked sideways. “Now kop dis!” Kazkal yelled and he thrust his powerclaw forwards into the Huntsman’s chest. This time the powerful close combat weapon’s energy field smashed through the Huntsman’s armoured hide and golden light poured out from the wound. Not knowing what may be inside the alien Kazkal clenched his fist to close the power claw and then pulled it back towards him, ripping out whatever was there. Which turned out to be nothing, the Huntsman was a hollow shell. But that shell was designed to confine the massive energies of what had once been a being that fed on the stars themselves and now it could no longer hold those energies in check. The Huntsman shuddered and let out a final howl before his body burst open. Kazkal was thrown backwards as the energy inside the Huntsman’s shell was uncontrollably released, sending a pillar of brilliant golden light straight up. From his position above the city, Mazakatek watched the events below as they unfolded. He witnessed the flash of light that marked the destruction of the Huntsman’s physical form and he held the tesseract labyrinth that been the powerful being’s prison for millions of years out in front of him. The vertical shaft of light scattered in front of the command barge and formed a sparkling cloud that flowed towards Mazakatek and into the tesseract labyrinth he held out towards it. Then, when the device ah completely consumed the cloud he returned it to his waist. “That could have gone better.” He said to himself then looked at the pilot, “Take us back.” He said flatly. Back on the ground Hazug looked up into the sky and saw the command barge as it darted way, carrying with it Mazakatek. “’E’s getting’ away!” Hazug exclaimed and he turned and began to force his way through the crowd of orks behind him, heading back towards the palace. “Hazug! Where ya goin’?” Kazkal Kromag called out to him. “After dat Mazakatek!” Hazug shouted back without bothering to stop or turn around, “If ‘e’s runnin’ den I reckon dat’s ‘e’s ‘eadin’ for ‘is fort and I wants to follow ‘im dare!” Behind the orks still crowding the street Hazug met his servants, all stood with weapons in their hands. But rather than stop to speak to them he continued to head for his truck at the fasted pace he could manage. “Hazug wait!” Sophie called out as she, Mayleth and Ratish followed after him, only Mayleth able to keep up. “No time.” He replied without looking at her, “If ya is comin’ too den just wait dare and I’ll pick ya up on da way out.” Ratish and Sophie immediately stopped running, though Ratish was dragged further forwards in the few seconds it took Cuddles to figure out that he was suppose to stop as well. Hazug’s truck was still parked just inside the doors of Kazkal’s palace. Though it had not been specifically guarded Hazug was not surprised to find that nothing had been taken from it. Even even the most kleptomaniac member of the Death Skulls clan did not consider stealing from the warboss’ palace a wise option. What did surprise Hazug however, was that Drazzok and Thuggrim were both waiting for him in the truck. Thuggrim had climbed up to the weapon mount and was braced to fire the gun even though the way the truck was pointed he was aiming at a solid wall. Drazzok on the other hand was sat in the front passenger seat, his head bowed forwards as he slept. “Get in da back.” Hazug said to Mayleth as he threw his weapons into the truck and climbed into the drivers seat. Then, without waking Drazzok he started the engine and backed the truck out into the street. He drove in the direction hat Mazakatek had fled, pausing only briefly to allow Ratish and Sophie to climb aboard then accelerated away as fast as he could, driving down a side street to avoid the crowd of orks ahead. Mazakatek pondered how much damage the Huntsman had inflicted before the c’tan shard had been shattered. Though the ancient being had proven himself capable of inflicting great damage before he was overwhelmed the resources necessary to construct another living metal shell for him had been located at the heart of the complex on this planet’s other primary continent, which meant that according to Izzatek it had already been destroyed. That the orks had managed such a feat was in itself worrying. If nothing else had come of it, Mazakatek’s trip to the ork city had proven to the overlord the strength of their numbers and the power of the weapons available to them. If Mazakatek wanted to fight the orks then something would have to be done to drastically reduce their numbers first. “My lord.” The co-pilot said flatly, interrupting Mazakatek’s train of thought, “We are being followed.” Mazakatek turned around and looked down to the ground. The city was far behind them now, but down below was a cloud of dust that indicated a vehicle was travelling across country in a course that matched their own. This was a problem. Though crude, the ork vehicle had been able to catch up with Mazakatek’s command barge despite both its head start and ability to travel above terrain. Clearly the ork vehicle was fast, despite it design and if Mazakatek returned directly to his palace then he ran the risk of revealing its location to the orks. There was only one course of action open to Mazakatek. Attack. “Destroy the vehicle.” He said, “I want no survivors.” Obeying without question the pilot of the command barge adjusted the vehicle’s heading, turning towards Hazug’s truck and diving down upon it. “Hazug look!” Sophie called out and she pointed up into the sky where the dark shape of Mazakatek’s command barge was getting larger. “I see it.” Hazug replied, “Looks like dey don’t like us followin’ ‘em.” Then he added, “Thuggrim, let ‘em ‘ave it.” Thuggrim swung the gun around and pointed it upwards. Then he pulled the trigger back and held it down. “Dakka, dakka, dakka.” He said, repeating the word over and over again as he went through the entire belt of ammunition. Given the amount of bullets Thuggrim was firing it was inevitable that at least some would hit the rapidly descending command barge. But the vehicle had a shield like the one that had protected the necron transport vehicle the orks had encountered earlier and instead of tearing through the vehicle the bullets just bounced off the invisible barrier. Thuggrim reached the end of the belt, but he appeared not to notice and continued to repeat, “Dakka, dakka, dakka.” Over and over as somehow making the noise himself would cause bullets to come out of the gun. There were more belts of ammunition of course; Hazug had learned to keep several spares handy. But since the necron craft seemed immune to the truck’s only gun continuing to fire at it would be just a waste of ammunition so Hazug said nothing. Instead he began to turn the steering wheel suddenly and at random, swerving the truck. His action was just in time as well. The diving necron vehicle opened fire just as Hazug performed the first of his sudden manoeuvres and a bolt of lightning tore up the ground where the truck would have been had he not. Drazzok’s eyes fluttered open suddenly. “I is awake.” He said and then he frowned as he looked around, “’Ere,” he said, “ wasn’t we in da boss’ fort a mo ago?” There was a thunderclap as another bolt of lightning struck a nearby rock and split it in two, sending tiny fragments of stone flying in all directions. “Bleedin’ ‘ell dey is shootin’ at us!” Drazzok exclaimed as he looked up for the source of the attack, “’Ow come our big shoota aint stoppin’ ‘em?” he then asked, looking around at Thuggrim who was still doing his best impersonation of the sound made by the truck’s automatic weapon, “Oh, right.” He said in answer to his own question as he realised what Thuggrim was doing and with a shake of his head he added, “Looney.” “Hazug! Be careful!” Sophie screamed as the truck began to tilt when he made a particular violent manoeuvre that sent those sat in the rear of the vehicle sliding across it. “We needs somewhere to ‘ide.” Hazug said, “Keep ya eyes open for somethin’.” “’Ide?” Drazzok repeated with contempt, “Wot sort of stupid Blood Axe thinkin’ is dat?” Another lightning bolt cut a grove in the ground alongside the truck as Mazakatek’s command barge swooped low over the ork vehicle. “I sees ya point.” Drazzok said with a shrug then he turned to look into the back of the truck, “Well wotcha waitin’ for? Find us somewhere to ‘ide!” he shouted. “Can’t you do anything about them?” Sophie asked as she clung onto the truck’s roll cage, “I’ve seen you destroy vehicles bigger than that before.” “Da great Drazzok is invincible!” Thuggrim bellowed, taking a brief pause from making shooting noises. “Not enough juice!” Drazzok replied, steadying himself on the dashboard as Hazug swerved again, “Only two nobs and a runt aint gonna provide enough power to roast a squig. Gits, pansies and squigs just don’t cut it.” “Yeah, gits is
crap!” Ratish added and then he screamed as the truck tilted again and he
was sent flying across it, only being saved from being thrown clear of the
vehicle by Cuddles’ leash getting caught on the roll cage as the squig
also slid towards the edge of the truck. “Reel ‘im in someone.” Hazug shouted, “We can’t stop.” Reaching hand over hand, Mayleth pulled herself across the truck using the roll cage before reaching out and grabbing hold of Ratish by the easiest means possible. “Be dose!” the gretchin screamed as she gripped his large nose tightly. Mayleth gave Ratish’s nose a single sharp tug and dragged him back into the truck. She let go of Ratish and the gretchin tumbled to the floor. Then Mayleth scowled as she looked in disgust at the sticky mess now coating her hand. “Vile creature.” She muttered, then the truck lurched again and she was forced to use both hands to hold onto the roll cage once more, mucus covered or not. “’Ang on!” Hazug bellowed as he saw a sudden dip ahead and thinking that it may over some cover from the necron vehicle he drove straight for it. But the dip was steeper then he had first thought and he gasped as the front of the truck suddenly dropped and the vehicle slid down the near vertical slope. Ratish and Sophie both screamed in terror as they hung onto the falling truck. Fortunately the though steep the drop was not very deep and the truck soon came to a sudden halt nose down in the mud at the bottom, sending passengers and cargo tumbling towards the front and spilling out onto the ground. “Everyone out!” Hazug shouted, “Grab wot ya can and run for it!” |
|
Copyright Notice The Warhammer 40,000 universe is the intellectual property of Games Workshop Ltd. The fiction presented here is a derived work. It is completely unofficial and Games Workshop Ltd has not endorsed any of it. |
Background image miniature design copyright Games Workshop Ltd
This Web Page Created with PageBreeze Free HTML Editor