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Da Cybork Menace Chapta 11 | |
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Chapta 11 |
In the tunnels beneath
the ork city, Hazug and his servants heard the sound of movement in the
darkness ahead. “Is this it? The place
we’re looking for?” Rhia whispered. “Not necessarily,” Sophie
whispered back, “any gretchin could come down
here.” “Yeah,” Ratish added,
“dese tunnels is ours git.” “Dare could be more dan
just grots about. Wild squigs can wander in sometimes, or orks may decide
to take a short cut down ‘ere. Now either of dem could decide to attack
us, especially you humans, so watch out,” warned Hazug. Then as Rhia and
Sophie readied their own weapons, he advanced towards the source of the
sound with his rifle held at the ready. “Keep up grot,” Hazug
said as he moved ahead of the group, “I need dat
light.” “Yes
master.” There was the sound of
splintering wood from the tunnel ahead, followed by a scream and cursing
in the ork language from more than one voice. Hazug stopped, the voices
had been higher pitched and not as loud as he would expect from
orks. “Come out where I can se
ya grots!” he yelled into the darkness. There was the sound of voices
again; barely audible as if the speakers were trying to remain hidden,
then there was silence once more. Hazug snatched the
trigger of his rifle twice, and the booming of the gunfire echoed down the
tunnel. “I said come out where I
can ya!” he yelled, “Or I’ll make ya pay for makin’ me come get ya
meself!” A pair of gretchin
suddenly ran out of the darkness into the area illuminated by the torch
carried by Ratish. “Don’t shoot us!” one of
them yelled as they dropped to their knees in front of
Hazug. “Dare just da two of ya
den?” Hazug asked. “Yes lord, just us,” one
of the cowering creatures replied, “we is
alone.” “Good,” Hazug said,” cos
for every one still ‘idin’ back dare I’m goin’ to kill ya, which is
especially bad if dare’s more dan one cos I can’t kill ya more dan once so
I’ll ‘ave to make it slow instead,” and he thrust the muzzle of his rifle
closer to the gretchin. “Oo wait,” one of them
said, “dare’s still Nokki, but ‘e’s stuck under da
box.” “Right,” Hazug said,
“let’s take a look at dis box den,” and he advanced down the tunnel,
kicking at the prone gretchin as he did, “Get up ya grots!” he snapped,
and they scrabbled back to their feet. Further down the tunnel
was a long wooden crate, broken open at one end. Beside the crate lay a
gretchin whose leg was caught beneath it, and blood was seeping out from
under the crate, forming a puddle in a nearby dip in the tunnel
floor. Hazug looked at the open
end of the crate. Visible through the gaping hole and the straw used for
packing was a large metal claw. “Wot’s dis den?” he
asked. “It belongs to our
master,” a gretchin replied, “we was takin’ it to ‘im when we dropped
it.” “Ya dropped it on me on
purpose an’ all!” Nokki shouted from his prone
position. Cradling his rifle with
just one hand, Hazug reached down and pulled the claw from the crate. With
most of the weight pinning him in place released, Nokki swiftly pulled his
leg free and began to pull splinters of wood from his
wound. The claw was attached to
a cybernetic arm that, by ork standards, was very well built and was
probably worth twenty teeth or more. “Where did ya get dis?”
Hazug demanded. For a moment none of the
gretchin replied, but when Hazug turned around to face the two cowering
behind him one of them broke his silence. “Err, it belongs to our
master,” he said, “we wos carryin’ it to
‘im.” Hazug studied the
mechanical arm for a moment, then he spoke again, “So who’s ya master
den?” he snapped. “Err, Dok Gutstitch,” the
same gretchin answered, while the second one just trembled and lost
control of his bladder. Rhia and Sophie both winced and stepped back as a
strong smell of fresh urine filled the
tunnel. “Ya wasn’t supposed to
tell dat,” the urine soaked gretchin whispered as he elbowed the one who
had spoken. “Well dat’s very
interestin’,” Hazug said, “cos dare’s writin’ on dis arm wot says it was
made by Mek Krudger Bighammer for Dok Hukka. Now where did ya get
it?” The two gretchin just
stood trembling, not sure of whether to be more afraid their master’s
wrath if they answered Hazug’s questions, or of Hazug’s wrath if they kept
silent. “Sod dis,” Hazug said as
he grew impatient, and he placed the muzzle of his rifle between the eyes
of the gretchin who had wet himself and fired. The shot echoed about the
tunnel as the unfortunate creatures skull burst open, spraying blood and
flesh around the immediate area. Rhia and Sophie both
squealed and leapt backwards in an attempt to avoid the spray, while
Ratish just grinned. “Nice shot master,”
Ratish said, “kill ‘em all.” Wide eyed, the other two
gretchin just looked on in terror as the headless body of their associate
fell to the floor. Hazug swung his rifle towards to the other gretchin
standing in front of him. But before he could question him further, the
creature also lost control of his bodily functions and fainted. Disgusted,
Hazug fired a shot into the chest of the unconscious
gretchin. “Well,” Hazug said as he
turned to face Nokki, “I guess dat just leaves you
den.” “If ya kill me I can’t
tell ya anythin’!” Nokki shouted. “I aint askin’ ya to tell
me anythin’,” Hazug said, “but I reckon dat Warboss Kromag’s goin’ to ‘ave
plenty of questions for ya,” and he knocked the gretchin out cold with a
single blow. Nokki awoke when the
bucket of icy water was hurled into his face. He spluttered and waved his
arms around for a moment before taking in his surroundings. What he saw
confused him, he was not alone in the room but it appeared that he was the
only one not standing upside down on the ceiling. Then Nokki noticed the
pressure around his ankles and belatedly realised that he was in fact
hanging upside down from the ceiling. The rope around his ankles passed
through a pulley and to a hook on the floor where it was tied in place.
Nokki saw that he was dangling over a large, empty pit in the floor and in
front of him stood a group of orks of various sizes plus a pair of humans.
He recognised one of the orks a gretchin and the humans as those he had
encountered in the tunnel beneath the city, while the largest of the orks
was obviously Warboss Kazkal Kromag himself. Nokki knew he was in real
trouble now. “’E’s awake boss,” one of
the orks in front of Nokki said to Kazkal. “Good,” Warboss Kromag
said, then he gave an order, “Fill da pit,” he
said. Nokki did he best to look
around as he heard the sound of movement behind him. He could just make
out several other gretchin opening barrels and tipping the contents into
the pit beneath him. Each of the barrels contained a large number of small
squigs, that when they were tipped into the pit leapt up towards Nokki
with their mouths wide open to reveal vicious looking
teeth. “It looks like me jumpin’
squigs likes ya,” Warboss Kromag said, “and if ya don’t tell me wot I
wants to know den I’ll make sure dat ya gets a closer look at
‘em.” “I aint to say anythin’!”
Nokki yelled as a squig came close to biting the top of his
head. “Dat’s a shame,” Kazkal
said before nodding to one of the orks beside him. The ork walked to the
end of the rope holding Nokki over the pit and untied it from the hook.
Keeping hold of the rope he lowered Nokki slightly. The gretchin screamed
as a squig was able to leap high enough to graze
him. “Lift ‘im up a bit,”
Warboss Kromag told the ork holding the rope, “I don’t wants ‘im eaten
before ‘e talks,” then he turned back to
Nokki. “Now Hazug ‘ere tells me
dat ya claim to be workin’ for Dok Gutstitch,” he said, “is dat
true?” Aware of the squigs
leaping up at him from the pit below Nokki
answered. “I supposed to
say!” “Well den I suppose me
pets is goin’ to get fed now den,” Warboss Kromag said, and he turned to
face the ork holding the rope. “Alright!” Nokki yelled,
“It’s true! ‘E sent us to find ‘im some bionics cos ‘e killed Mek Badcog
wot was makin’ ‘em for ‘im. We saw a box with an arm in it with no one
around so we took all fair and square!” “That’s better,” Warboss
Kromag said, and he waved his arm to indicate that the ork with the rope
was to lift the gretchin higher. As Nokki was lifted further from the pit
Kromag spoke with some of the other assembled
orks. “So does anyone know dis
Dok Gutstitch den?” Most of the orks just
shook their heads, but Dok Fangpulla answered the
warboss. “’E was with us when we
did in Zhalrad boss,” he said, “but after dat ‘e cleared out of ‘is
surgery and buggered off somewhere. I aint seen ‘im
since.” “I reckon dat ‘e’s
outside of da city,” Hazug said, “Rhia saw ‘is grots diggin’ stuff up near
‘er farm, and I reckon dat dey wouldn’t want to travel very far, grots is
too lazy.” At this comment Sophie
glanced at Ratish and smirked. Ratish scowled back and stuck out his
tongue at her. “Dat’s right,” Nokki
said, hearing Hazug’s comment. “I know dat grots is
lazy,” Warboss Kromag replied. “Not dat, about where Dok
Gutstitch is. ‘Im and Badcog found a bunch of old git buildings wot is
underground in da woods. Da gits ‘ad left loads of stuff dare, but da dok
chucked most of it out. I don’t remember no farms though, all da buildings
above ground was ruined already.” “’Ow many of dese lads
with squig brains ‘as da dok got out dare?” Warboss Kromag asked, staring
Nokki straight in the eyes. For any ork to make eye contact with a
gretchin was unusual, and for the warboss himself to stare directly at the
much smaller Nokki would have made him uneasy even without his hanging
over a pit full of ravenous flesh eating squigs, and he didn’t
answer. “Lower ‘im down a bit,”
Kromag said, and the rope holder let out a bit of rope. This brought Nokki
rapidly back to his senses. “Wait!” he yelled as a
squig leapt past his head, “Pull me up and I’ll tell
ya!” Warboss Kromag nodded at
the ork with the rope and Nokki was pulled higher once
more. “Now answer da question
grot, and den we can let ya go.” “Da dok’s put squig
brains in loads of orks,” Nokki said, “’e’s been doin’ it since we got
back from fightin’ Zhalrad. But dare’s still some of ‘em wot aint got
enough bionics to make ‘em work right.” “And ‘ow many are in mega
armour?” Hazug asked, remembering how difficult to kill the first cybork
he had encountered had been. “Just a few,” Nokki said,
“Mek Badcog ‘ad never made any before, and it took ‘im ages to make enough
suits for a single mob.” “Well dats somethin’ at
least,” Hazug said to Kromag, “Dem cyborks is tough enough even without
it, if ‘e ‘ad a large force in mega armour e’d be
unstoppable.” “So ya know where dese
underground buildin’s are den?” Warboss Kromag asked
Hazug. “I know where da ruins
are near ‘em,” Hazug said, “and it shouldn’t be too ‘ard to find da one’s
underground if ya give me enough lads.” “I aint givin’ ya any,” Warboss Kromag said, “dis dok reckons dat ‘e can take me down, I is goin’ dare meself.” “Wot
about me?” Nokki asked, “Ya said ya would let me go.” |
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