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Da 'Ole Of Death Chapta 20 | |
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Chapta 20 |
At about the time that mek Garspark delivered the bomb to Hazug, the last of the spectral aliens warboss Zhalrad had been fighting had finally faded away for good, and Zhalrad was now looking for another opponent when he realised that he was now alone behind the enemy line, the rest of his army was still engaged much closer to the city than he was. While he had been fighting the serpent like necrons that could cause his weapons to pass straight through them the battle line had shifted dramatically. As far as he could tell the aliens were continuing to drive the orks back slowly but surely, and though more orks continued to pour from the city gates their numbers appeared to too few to hold the aliens back here. It would likely not be much longer until the necrons were inside the city itself and the fighting would have to take place in the streets and buildings there. He caught sight of a small group of gretchin who had also wound up behind the enemy’s lines. Their handler was presumably dead, and they were picking over the remains of some orks whose position had been over run by the necrons. Zhalrad ran over to them. “Grots!” he yelled, and the creatures looked up in terror as they recognised the warboss approaching them rapidly, “Get back to da city now!” Zhalrad shouted, “Tell whoever’s left dat we need da wagons out ‘ere quick, and I don’t care about ‘ow much fuel dey got.” The gretchin just stared at Zhalrad. “Move!” he yelled, and the gretchin ran off towards the city, scattering and each taking a different route. As the creatures disappeared from view Zhalrad got back to the important business of searching for someone to fight. The river that Hazug and his kommandoes were heading for entered the city through a short tunnel under the city wall some distance away from the command post, and without Hazug’s truck the Blood Axes had to walk the entire way there. Even with the weight of the bomb and both his rifle and the alien weapon he carried on his back, Hazug found himself easily able to keep pace with the other orks. In spite of the battle raging outside of the city there were still plenty of greenskins about. Many gretchin darted from street to street passing messages and running errands for orks keen to join the fighting, while orks sought out sellers of weapons and ammunition that they needed. As they drew closer to the river there was a rumbling sound that grew in intensity. Hazug knew what this was cause by but the other Blood Axes were not yet used to the hazards of civilisation. “Lookout lad!” he shouted at Nizz before the young ork could run straight out of the side street they were running along and get crushed by the stream of vehicles that was approaching. Apparently the fuel shortage was not preventing warboss Zhalrad from deploying his mechanised units, and they were all being deployed in one go. Hazug’s kommandoes stared in wonder at the convoy moving past them, since joining with Hazug they had seen a handful of vehicles here and there, mainly bikes, buggies and trucks, and also seen the stompas from in the command post but this was different. There were many dozens of vehicles, a large number of which were large and heavily armed and armoured. These were not the mere transports and light raiding vehicles they had become used to, they were powerful weapons of war. “Come on lads,” Hazug shouted when a gap appeared in the procession of vehicles, and they sprinted across the road and continued on their way to the river. The river itself entered the city at the location of one of the gretchin shantytowns that were dotted around the settlement. This was much quieter than the areas inhabited by the orks themselves, it having been cleared by runtherds looking for cannon fodder for the battle still raging, but the Blood Axes still caught sight of some of the creatures moving around but trying to avoid being noticed in case they too were forced to go and fight. Hazug jumped down into the river, water and mud splashing upwards as he did so. Then he reached down and picked up a handful of mud, which he then proceeded to rub onto his skin and equipment. “Do wot I is lads,” he said, “It’ll make it ‘arder for anyone to see us comin’.” One after another the other orks jumped into the river and took mud from the bank to camouflage themselves with. Only Ratish, who was already covered in a layer of muck did not rub any more onto him. It didn’t take long for one of the orks, this case Ubgrub, to hurl a handful of mud at one of the others, Nizz, and for him to throw some back. “Cut dat out!” Hazug shouted, and he grabbed each of them by their collars and slammed theirs heads together, “We aint got time for messin’ about.” With his force covered in mud to help them blend in with their surroundings, Hazug began to lead them through the tunnel that allowed the river access through the city walls, and up the river towards the necrons. “Careful not slip into da river,” he warned the others, “it’ll wash all da mud off ya and dem metal lads’ll be able to see ya. Understand?” The other orks nodded to indicate that they did, and Hazug continued to lead the way towards the battle. They kept low as they moved, the bank was not quite as tall as Hazug even at its tallest so he had to duck down, but the others did it just to copy him even when there was no real need for them to do so. The booming of large calibre guns and the explosions of the shells they fired heralded the arrival of the ork armour on the battlefield. Orks cheered as their metal opponents were blasted limb from limb, and few of those caught in the blasts rose to their feet again. But even as the necron warriors already fighting were being devastated by this sudden onslaught another wave of them began to emerge from the portals of their own pyramid vehicles. Some of the faster moving ork vehicles streaked towards the opposing armour and launched a barrage of rockets and automatic weapons fire at the pyramids and the necron warriors they disgorged. Some of the infantry fell as soon as they could step from their portals but even the rockets, specifically designed to knock out tanks, failed to make any impact on the silent hovering pyramids. Now the orks found their vehicles engaging both armour and infantry at point blank range. The necron infantry fired their rifles as the ork vehicles bore down on them, and even though they were not dedicated anti-armour weapons the strange green energy beams fired by the necron weapons appeared able to damage targets protected by even the thickest armour. Individually the hits were nothing more than a nuisance, but the weight of fire was so heavy that many ork vehicles began to suffer more serious damage. As the surviving vehicles were about to crash through the alien infantry storms of green lightning struck out from the pyramids, striking every ork vehicle that was close to them. Operating on the same principles as the necron rifles this lightning ripped apart its targets, and all that reached the necron lines was burning wreckage. With the lighter, fast moving vehicles dealt with the alien pyramids prepared to face off against the heavier tanks and stompas. Hazug heard the sounds of the ork vehicles joining the battle, and he chanced a quick look over the top of the riverbank. The ground immediately around the necrons was littered with the burning remains of lightweight ork raiding vehicles, and the alien pyramids now appeared to be duelling with the heavier ones. Wot’s goin’ on boss?” Ghukil asked. “Zhalrad’s got ‘is wagons ‘avin’ a go at da pyramids.” “Who’s winnin’?” As Hazug watched a group of battlewagons was reduced to piles of burning scrap by a series of massive energy blasts from the pyramids and further away he could make out the wreckage of another destroyed stompa. “Da pyramids looks like,” he said bobbing his head up once again, “but da metal lads aint got to da city yet and dare’s still plenty of stompas and wagons in dare way.” “Wot about da lot we is after boss?” Nizz asked, and Hazug took a look along the length of the riverbank. There he saw a small group of necron foot soldiers holding back from the fighting. “Dey is still right where we wants ‘em to be. Looks like dey is lookin’ out for anyone else turnin’ up from out in da desert so dey aint goin’ to be ready for us.” Hazug ducked back below the level of the riverbank and continued on his way, followed by the other orks. Ratish ran along side him, able to move more quickly because his shorter stature kept him out of sight even when standing straight up. Warboss Zhalrad found fighting his way back to his own troops easier than going the other way had been. The few necrons he encountered were easily surprised, and he soon found himself approaching a large group of ork nobs engaged in combat a variation of the standard necron warriors but which were armed with vicious looking blades protruding from their hands rather than the rifles than most of them carried. Amongst these necrons he saw one that stood slightly taller than the others and carried a staff that shot rapid pulses of light that were powerful enough to stop even an ork nob in his tracks. Zhalrad had found another opponent. He raised his weapons above his head and charged towards the necron leader. “Waaargh!” Upon reaching the melee, Zhalrad shoved orks and necrons alike out of his way until he reached the leader he was aiming for. The mysterious figure turned as he approached and attempted to fire at him with its staff, but Zhalrad was ready for this and he used his massive strength to grab the staff and push it aside just as another burst of energy was released from it, causing the attack to pass harmlessly overhead. With his other hand, Zhalrad swung his blade upwards in an arc that connected with his opponent at the shoulder and smashed through the metal joint, severing its arm. With one arm on the ground fading into nothing, and the other held fast by Zhalrad’s vice like grip the necron was helpless, and the ork warboss brought his blade down again, this time smashing it into the necron’s head. The alien sank to its knees, and Zhalrad pressed his weapon to its chest and pushed with all his might. The tip of the blade broke off against the necron’s chest plate, but Zhalrad continued to push and the alien’s armour gave way, the blade suddenly sinking into its body. The red glow of the alien’s eyes died, and Zhalrad knew what was coming. Hazug had taken a weapon from an alien leader before it could fade away and now Zhalrad intended to do the same. But as he let go of the lifeless necron’s arm the entire thing faded away before he could grab the staff it held. Zhalrad was furious. The trophy he desired had literally escaped his grasp and now he was going to make someone pay. Fortunately there were plenty of choices to hand. Ratish crawled up the side of the muddy riverbank, keeping his stomach to the ground. Slowly he pulled himself to the top and looked at the group of skeletal metal warriors standing motionless nearby. Then he pushed himself back down the bank and ran back to Hazug. “Dey is right dare master,” he said excitedly, “ Ratish saw ‘em just like master said I would.” “Nice work grot,” Hazug said, patting the gretchin on his head. Then he turned to his troops. “Dis is it lads. We is goin’ in. We’ll lob some stick bombs in first, I don’t think dat dey will take many of ‘em but dey should shake ‘em up a bit. Den we jump out at ‘em and ‘it ‘em with our choppas till dey disappear. But when dey stop movin’ make sure ya grab on to ‘em real tight so dey take ya with ‘em when dey do.” “Wot den boss?” Nizz asked. “When we is all in dare base we’ll find somewhere safe to stash da bomb, set da timer and den get out of dare. Any more questions?” The other orks shook their heads. “Good, cause I aint got no more answers. Now lets go.”
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