|
Chapta 7 | |
|
Da Raiders From Da Shadows Chapta 7 |
Kobar of the Bad Moon clan had stopped at this farm for as long as he could remember, even before he had taken the place of the caravan’s previous leader. It was perfectly located between the capital and the hillside mines to be used as a place were the orks of his caravan could rest and obtain food to feed themselves and the squiggoths they rode. Humans ran it of course, all of the farms scattered over the continent were. But the humans never dared complain about the orks camping near their homes. Indeed the occupants of this farm welcomed them and their trade. The surrounding woods were prime locations for ork spores to settle and grow and when they hatched out someone had to gather them up and lead them to civilisation. Before that happened they tended to attacking everything that crossed their paths. Such as human farmers. But today the farmers were gone. Kobar would have broken down the front door of the farmhouse to search the building if someone hadn’t beaten him to it. His initial thoughts were that the farm had been attacked by feral orks, but then he thought again. It seemed that the humans had simply disappeared leaving behind them all of their belongings, belongings that greenskins were now rummaging through to see if the re was anything that caught they eye. But for some reason all of their animals remained in their pens. This was not the work of orks. Even feral orks knew enough to kill and eat livestock and loot a building of everything of value. Especially weapons. The farmers had only a few weapons that they kept hidden in case it provoked a passing caravan to attack instead of trade, but these had been found scattered about on the floor. Some were empty of ammunition while others were unfired. But no matter what, an ork would have taken them. Then there was the blood. Or rather the lack of it. As far as Kobar could tell the humans had just walked away of their own accord. There was not one drop of blood to be found. Then a sensation is Kobar’s abdomen caught his attention and eh looked around the members of his caravan. “Grot!” he called out, “Light!” “Comin’ master!” a gretchin called out and the creature came running towards Kobar holding a candle that, in spite of it being daytime was lit. The gretchin held a hand around the flame as he ran to prevent it going out. Bad Moon orks were known for their great wealth and they found various ways to flaunt this. Some commissioned expensive custom weaponry or armour, while others purchased vehicles and had them modified to their exact specifications. Kobar had found another way of flaunting his wealth however; he paid the gretchin now rushing towards him to follow him around with a lighted candle to ignite his bodily emissions. “Where ya bin Loggi?” Kobar demanded, “I is about to burst ‘ere.” “Sorry master.” Loggi replied and he knelt down behind Kobar and held the candle close. Kobar broke wind loudly. “Nice one master.” Loggi said, “A good green flame dare.” “When I wants ya opinion I’ll ask for it!” Kobar snapped and he slapped Loggi. Suddenly the
voices of the orks outside changed from general conversation to shouts of
alarm and Kobar rushed out to see what was going on. “Look over dare boss.” The ork replied, pointing into the distance. Kobar looked at where the ork was pointing to and he saw a cloud of dust that was getting larger. Kobar knew what that meant, there were vehicles approaching. “Get ready lads!” he shouted and he drew his pistol. Raids on trade caravans were common, especially if the raiders could surprise a caravan that had already halted. The orks of the caravan prepared for battle. They grabbed whatever weapons they could and took cover, aiming at the approaching dust cloud. Meanwhile the horde of gretchin that accompanied the caravan scattered. Few of them had any weapons so instead they sought whatever hiding places they could find. Only Loggi remained faithfully by his master’s side. “Get ready lads.” Kobar called out. The dust cloud was getting ever closer. Kobar had no idea who was approaching or why, but he decided that it was better to be cautious and kill them as soon as they came within range rather than risk them being able to fire first. Still watching the dust cloud, Kobar could now make out a dark shape ahead of it. It was a shape he knew well, a truck. Such vehicles were popular with raiders, fast enough to catch up with a slow moving caravan and large enough to carry troops and loot. But with the number of orks that Kobar had available a single truck would not be enough. “Wait for it lads.” Kobar said. He knew that the truck was not in range yet and to open fire too soon would allow it to veer off and escape. Then something else caught Kobar’s attention. There was a second shape behind the truck in the cloud of dust being thrown up, one larger than the truck. Kobar stared at it until he could make out what it was. A battlewagon. “’Old ya fire lads!” Kobar shouted. A battlewagon was heavily armoured, too heavily armoured for any of the weapons carried by Kobar’s troops to damage it at anything other than point blank range. Additionally a battlewagon could be guaranteed to carry an arsenal of weapons. If Kobar’s troops opened fire then the battlewagon would kill them all. “Wot should we do boss?” an ork asked nervously as the shape of the battlewagon became clearer. Kobar tucked his pistol into his belt and stood up straight. “We finds out wot dey wants.” He said, knowing that if it was a fight then his troops would be badly outmatched. “Hazug look!” Sophie called out from behind him as he drove the truck along the dirt track and she pointed ahead of them. There, in the distance a group of gigantic squiggoths could be seen standing beside a cluster of buildings. “Bah!” Drazzok exclaimed, “Its just a bunch of Bad Moons seein’ wot dey can swap with gits.” “Den dey is just wot we needs.” Hazug replied, “Dey’ll ‘ave been wanderin’ around ‘ere for days. Dey might ‘ave seen da fighta flyin’ over.” “Err, Hazug,” Sophie said as she stared at the figures she could make out near to the squiggoths, “Are they pointing guns at us?” “I reckon dey is.” Hazug said. Then he added, “Thuggrim, get da big shoota ready.” Thuggrim clambered from his seat up to the automatic weapon mounted on the truck’s roll cage. He braced the weapon against his shoulder and chambered a round. “Da gun is ready.” He said and he took aim at the Bad Moons. Kobar strode forwards from the positions taken up by the other orks of the caravan and raised his fist in greeting. Fearing the wrath of his master more than the guns mounted on the approaching vehicles, Lokki followed behind him still shielding the candle flame. “Wotcha.” He said as Hazug brought his truck to a halt in front of Kobar and clambered down. He reached back into the vehicle for his blade before he approached Kobar and replied. “Wotcha.” He said. Kobar looked disappointed. “A soddin’ git lover.” He said as he looked at Hazug’s clothing. The disruptive patterned cloth he wore marked him out as a member of the Blood Axe clan. Hazug ignored the insult. He couldn’t see any exceptionally heavy weapons evident in the caravan, so it was likely that Two Heads troops could easily handle the situation but Hazug did not want to put that to the test. Especially since he was not safely inside the battlewagon. “We is lookin’ for eldar.” Hazug said, “One of dare fightas was seen ‘eadin’ dis way. ‘Ave ya seen ‘em?” “Pansies?” Kobar asked, “Nah. Aint seen none. Dare’s just us greenskins ‘ere.” Then he added, “’Ang on a mo, gotta do dis.” And he called out to Lokki, “Grot. Light.” The gretchin stepped forth with the candle and held it out just in time to produce another green flame. “Ahhh. Dat’s
better. Too much spice in me squig dis mornin’.” Hazug nodded in agreement. “Holy throne.” Sophie said from the truck, “That’s disgusting.” “Bah!” Drazzok exclaimed as he too smiled, “Yah don’t know wot ya is talkin’ about. Dat was a well good ‘un.” “Yeah. Shuddup git.” Ratish added and he slapped Sophie. “Ow!” Sophie cried out, “He hit me.” “So ‘it ‘im back.” Drazzok suggested, “Does I ‘ave to think of everythin’ today?” Meanwhile, ignoring the sounds of fighting coming from behind him, Hazug continued to question Kobar. “So where is da humans from dis place?” Hazug asked. This question worried Kobar. He knew that there was only one Blood Axe left on the planet and that warboss Kazkal Kromag himself sometimes listened to him. If Hazug went to the warboss with a tale of how Kobar had violated the recent edict about not killing humans then the Bad Moon would most likely find his face nailed to the sweaty end of a squiggoth in short order. “Dey was gone when we got ‘ere.” He replied, “Dey was ‘ere last time we passed, but dey is gone now.” “Wild boys?” Hazug asked. He too was well aware that an isolated settlement such as this would be vulnerable to a group of less civilised orks. “Nah. Dare’s no blood, no bits of chewed bones and all of da gits’ weapons and animals is still ‘ere. Dey just went away.” Hazug had seen abandoned farms before. On each occasion it had been the fault of anti-ork human troops punishing those humans that accepted ork protection. But those incidents did not match Kobar’s description of this place. The human troops did not leave anything useful behind, but they did leave blood and bodies as warnings to others. “Show me.” Hazug said to Kobar then he looked back at the truck, “Sophie!” he called out, “Stop playin’ with Ratish and get down ‘ere and do some work. I wants ya to take a look at dis buildin’ and see wot’s wrong with it.” “Can Ratish come too master?” Ratish asked. “If ya wants.” Hazug said, “But don’t get in da way.” “He’s always in the way.” Sophie said, but Hazug ignored her. “Well I aint goin’.” Drazzok said and he folded his arms and closed his eyes. Still keeping the truck’s weapon trained on the orks of the caravan, Thuggrim remained silent. Kobar led the way towards the human farm building and guided Hazug and his servants in through the front door. “I bin ‘ere loads of times.” Kobar said, “Dare was about a dozen or so gits last time I reckon. Now none.” “Well?” Hazug said to Sophie, “Anythin’ not right?” Sophie looked around the room. There was upturned and broken furniture everywhere and drawers and cupboards had been opened and their contents scattered. “This place is a mess.” She said. “Yeah. Dat was me lads.” Kobar said, “Some of ‘em ‘ad a look for anythin’ left behind dat we could take. Dat’s ‘ow come we found da guns. Da gits never showed ‘em to us when we came around before.” “Dey didn’t want to risk bein’ shot.” Hazug said and the two orks nobs nodded in agreement. “Wait.” Sophie said suddenly and held up her hand. “Who is ay to tell me to wait ya git?” Kobar demanded and he put his hand on the hilt of his blade. “Shuddup and wait.” Hazug said and he put his free hand on the grip of his pistol, “Go on.” He then said to Sophie. “Do you hear something?” she asked. Hazug listened. Sophie was right, there was a noise that seemed to be coming from the upper floor of the building. A wailing sound, similar to the noise made by gretchin when they were hit, but constant. “Upstairs!” Hazug shouted and everyone rushed for the stairs. They followed the sound to a room that had not yet been trashed by the orks, where a large wooden cupboard stood in the corner. “Wait ‘ere.” Hazug said and he cautiously advanced on the cupboard. He reached out for the door handle and turned it slowly. Then with a single swift motion he pulled the door open and raised his blade as if to strike. The cupboard was stacked full of neatly folded blankets on several shelves and the sound seemed to be coming from behind one of them. Hazug grabbed hold of that particular stack of blankets and yanked it towards him. “Wot da ‘ell is dis?” he said is puzzlement as he stared down at the woven basket and the tiny screaming human that it contained. “Hazug wait!” Sophie yelled and she rushed forwards, pushing her way past the confused Blood Axe. She reached into the cupboard and pulled out the basket “You’ll scare him.” She added and she took the infant from the basket, lifting it to her shoulder, “There, there.” She said softly, “You’re safe now.” She cradled the infant and it stopped its wailing. “Wot is it?” Kobar demanded. “It’s a runt master.” Lokki said using the term that orks used to describe both gretchin and the even smaller snotlings collectively, “A git runt.” “No its not.” Sophie said, “It’s a… It’s a…” and she paused. The reproductive process of all orkoid species used was radically different to that of humans. They released spores that grew like fungus in secluded places. The snotlings, gretchin and orks that eventually crawled up from the ground were already mature. Only the orks would grow further and that growth would only be triggered by success in combat. As such they had no word for ‘baby’. “It’s a baby.” She said, instead using the gothic word. “Wot’s a bay be?” Kobar asked. “It’s a human word.” Hazug said, “I ‘eard it a few times, but I never knew wot it meant. Dey got other words like it. Child. Kid.” “Gits got too many words.” Kobar said, “Dey should just all speak orkish, its better.” Then he turned towards Sophie, “But it’s like a runt yeah? It does da carp jobs da bigger gits don’t wanna. Dat’s why it’s in da cupboard. Dey keep it dare until dey needs it.” “No!” Sophie said, “You don’t keep a baby in a cupboard and it doesn’t work.” “Den wot good is it?” Ratish asked, “Kill it.” “We aint killin’ no humans.” Hazug said sternly. “Hazug this is bad.” Sophie said, “The people here would never put their baby in the cupboard unless they were really scared of something and they would never leave it behind voluntarily.” “Right den,” Hazug said, “It’s comin’ with us.” Returning to Hazug’s truck, the group found that Two Heads had now arrived with his troops and the Evil Suns seemed to be engaged in bartering with the Bad Moons of the caravan for ammunition and beer. Drazzok was
turned his head and opened an eye when he felt the truck shift. There he
saw Ratish pushing a large box into the rear of the vehicle. “Its for da new git.” Ratish replied, “So is all of dis.” And he pointed to where a group of gretchin from the caravan were approaching with more boxes. Drazzok counted five of them. “Bleedin’ ‘eck.” The weirdboy exclaimed as he opened his other eye, “’Ow big is dis git dat ‘e needs all dis stuff?” “Dat’s ‘im.” Ratish answered and he now pointed to the other side of the truck where Sophie was stood with Hazug, the basket containing the baby in her arms. “Dat?” Drazzok said as he leaned in for a closer look, “I’ve found bigger stuff in me dinner. Hazug, wot’s ‘appenin’?” “Dunno.” Hazug replied, shrugging his shoulders, “But Sophie says dat dis little human is well important to da others wot was ‘ere so it proves dat somethin’ bad ‘appened.” “Ya reckon it was da pansies?” Drazzok asked. “Dare was guns and animals left all about. Wildboys would ‘ave taken ‘em. Whoever did dis just took da humans. Didn’t leave a trace of ‘em apart from dis little ‘un wot got put in a cupboard.” Hazug explained, “We needs to find out where dey went. Can ya do somethin’ about dat for us?” “Da great Drazzok can do anythin’!” Thuggrim suddenly yelled and a wide grin spread across his face. “Well gits is property and I doesn’t do lost property,” Drazzok said, “Besides, to track ‘em properly I needs to make a link to ‘em. Dat needs somethin’ from ‘em like blood or dat fluff on dare ‘eads. If da pansies didn’t leave anythin’ behind den dare aint nowt for me to use.” “I may ‘ave da answer to ay problem,” Kobar interrupted, “and for a right reasonable cost an all. Follow me.” “Da rest of ya stay ‘ere.” Hazug said and he followed Kobar towards the squiggoths. “Thuggrim could you help me please?” Sophie asked and she held up the basket containing the child for Thuggrim to take while she clambered back into the truck. The big ork looked down into the basket and the child looked back at him. He had been here before, a small human staring him down. This human was smaller than the previous one but he did not have a mob of madboys to back him up. “Oh no ya don’t.” he said to the child, “Ya aint beatin’ me this time.” And he continued to stare the child in the eyes. As he and Kobar approached the squiggoths Hazug could hear grunts and snarls coming from behind them. These were noises he had heard many times before; they came from a particular bred of squig that the orks trained for specific purposes. Sure enough, as they rounded the massive bulk of the squiggoths Hazug saw a row of squigs chained together being tended to by a handful of gretchin. All of the creatures possessed a similar appearance; they were roughly spherical, bright red and had mouths full of large teeth. In fact they looked to be little more that gaping fanged maws with a pair of legs each. “’Ere ya go.” Kobar said, “Every one of dese is a highly trained beast and dey is good with grots. Just ask Knibby, me chief squig ‘andlin’ grot.” And both orks looked around. “Oi!” Kobar then bellowed to the nearest gretchin, “Where’s Knibby?” The gretchin pointed at one of the squigs and both Hazug and Kobar saw that it had a gretchin’s leg protruding from its mouth as it chewed. “Well if ‘e ‘adn’t just been eaten, Knibby would tell ya ‘ow good for findin’ and killin’ stuff dese squigs is. Just let it get da smell of wot ya wants and it’ll be off like a rokkit after it.” “’Ow is I supposed to get a scent of da humans? Dey is missin’.” “Ya got two of ‘em don’t ya? Da skinny one and da little ‘un in da basket. Dey’ll do. Da squig will find ya da nearest things wot smell like dey does.” Hazug smiled. “So I just needs to get near to ‘em and da squig will point da way?” he asked. “Dat’s right. Works best if ay is downwind of ‘em of course.” “’Ow much?” Hazug asked. “Well normally I does ‘em at seven teeth each. But ya is a Blood Axe, so I’ll charge ya nine.” Hazug head butted Kobar and the Bad Moon’s head jerked back under the impact. “Okay.” He said, “I sees ya is an ork wot knows ‘ow to ‘aggle. Seven it is. But ya’ll need an ‘arness and dey is a extra tooth each.” Hazug head butted Kobar again and there was a sharp ‘crack’ as a tooth was knocked loose. It fell to the ground where Hazug bent down and picked it up. “’Ere ya go. Dat’s for da ‘arness.” He said, then he reached for pouch he kept his money in and counted out seven more teeth, “Den its seven for da squig.” “Pleasure doin’ business with ya.” Kobar said as he took the money and wiped the blood from below his mouth, “I ‘opes ya remembers Kobar’s Bloody Great Bargains when ya next needs anythin’. Now which one d’ya want? Dey is all da same price.” “I’ll take dat one.” Hazug said, extending a finger towards the squig that had just devoured its unfortunate handler, “I knows its just been fed.” “Excellent choice.” Kobar said, placing a hand on Hazug’s shoulder, “D’ya want it gift wrappin’?” and some of the nearby grots turned towards Kobar and looked at him nervously. “Nah, I’ll take it as it is.” With the squig harnessed, Hazug led it back towards his truck. “Oi Two Heads!” he bellowed, “Get ya lads together, we is movin’ out!” Two Heads looked towards Hazug and both of him nodded. “Geddin.” Hazug said to the squig and the creature leapt into the back of his truck. “Hazug, what’s this?” Sophie asked nervously. “Dat’s our sniffin’ squig.” Hazug replied as he went around to the driver’s seat and climbed in, “Let it get da scent of ya and ‘e’ll ‘elp find da humans wot lived ‘ere.” “Oh I think it’s getting my scent.” Sophie replied as she tried to push the squigs nose away from her waistline, “But why can’t it just smell my hands?” Hazug started the engine of the truck, using the spanner beside his seat to assist the procedure when it failed the first time. “What’s it called anyway?” Sophie asked as the squig moved on from her and began to sniff at everything else in the back of the truck. “I dunno.” Hazug replied, “Kobar never said dat it ‘ad a name. Ya can think one up for it.” Sophie looked at the angry looking creature and thought carefully. “How about
Cuddles?” she suggested. “He said I could.” Sophie replied then she looked at the squig, “You like Cuddles don’t you?” The squig belched and a saliva covered gretchin’s arm dropped from its mouth and landed on Thuggrim’s foot. “Cuddles it is den.” Hazug said and Ratish scowled at the smiling Sophie. His staring contest with the baby forgotten suddenly, Thuggrim looked down at the gretchin’s arm. “Is anyone else goin’ to eat dat?” he asked. The eldar had undergone extreme surgical modifications to its body. Its bone structure had been lightened and great, feathered wings grafted to its spine. But the cost and pain involved had been worth it. As a scourge, the eldar was part of a protected class of Commoragh. Few would dare raise a hand to one of the message carriers so vital to live in the dark city. On this occasion though the scourge was not acting a courier, instead it was a scout for one of the raiding groups sent out by Lord Shraycht. As it watched the small group of ork vehicles driving away from the human settlement the scourge let out a screech and took to the air. |
|
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