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Blood And Rocks Chapta 12 | |
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Chapta 12 |
It took only seconds for the skull cannon to return fire and in keeping with its name the flaming skull of a previous victim of the daemon engine was hurled from the muzzle of its weapon. However, the speed at which Darket was driving, combined with the sharp turn he performed at the last moment as he tried to get the skull cannon back into the arc of fire of the buggy’s weapons meant that the unnatural projectile streaked past and did nothing more than provoke terrified squeals from the gretchin. The skull then impacted in the ground and there was a thunderclap as the warp energy store within it was released in an explosion that hurled debris over a wide area. “Now dat’s some serious dakka!” Grudden yelled, impressed at the serious firepower possessed by the enemy vehicle. Then as the two vehicles rapidly closed with one another he fired again. Once again however the armour of the daemon engine proved to be too strong and the skull kept on coming. The two vehicles passed close by each other, close enough for the orks to get a close look at the riders of the skull cannon. Each appeared vaguely humanoid, but possessing elongated skull with large horns either side. Most significantly though each of the two bright red riders carried a long sword and as the skull cannon passed by the warbuggy the nearest rider suddenly extended his sword arm and with a single swing chopped the head off one of the gretchin. The second gretchin screamed and attempted to scrabble out of the daemon rider’s reach. But as he climbed past Darket he slipped and tumbled onto the driver. Travelling at high speed Darket needed all his concentration to keep the buggy under control and so when the panicked gretchin landed in his lap the distraction proved disastrous. One of the front wheels struck a rock and the tyre exploded, shards of rubber flying outwards. Then as the front of the buggy collapsed at one side the wheel rim dug into the ground and the entire vehicle was thrown into an uncontrolled spin that sent the surviving gretchin flying from it. “Get us movin’!” Grudden yelled when the buggy finally came to a halt and he looked around to see the skull cannon turning to come round for another pass. “I’s workin’ on it!” Darket replied, dragging himself out of the buggy and rushing to where the spare tyre was stored,” Aw crap!” he then snapped as he saw that this too was flat, “Useless bleedin’ runts aint fixed it after last time.” “Quick, give
us an ‘and with da big shootas.” Grudden said and he cut himself loose
from his tether and began struggling to pull the warbuggy’s weapon free.
The pair of orks worked as quickly as they could, detaching the automatic
weapon from its mounting and dragging it around to face the skull cannon.
But by the time they had it set up and ready to fire the daemon engine was
almost on top of them. But as the two orks dropped the weapon and turned to run the skull cannon simply drove right over them. Grudden died instantly, his body impaled and smashed by the spiked front wheel, but enough of Darket remained to be drawn up into the workings of the daemon engine itself where the flesh was ripped from his still living body before being spat out of the back of the vehicle. A shower of bones joined this as his skeleton was broken apart and ejected with only the skull being retained and placed with the rest of the cannon’s ammunition. The other two warbuggies were the first to come over the crest of the hill that had concealed the duel between ork and daemon from the rest of the warband and both vehicles immediately opened fire on the skull cannon, sending streams of heavy bullets into the unnatural machine. However once again the skull cannon’s armour proved to be too thick for the bullets to do any damage. Next, just as the warbuggies were passing by the skull cannon on either side Hazug brought his truck tearing over the hill and opened fire to no more effect than the buggies had managed. “That daemon engine is well protected my master.” Mayleth called out. “Don’t it ‘ave no weak spots?” Hazug asked as he swerved the truck to avoid presenting an easy target to the large gun that he could see mounted on the daemon engine. “Yes my master. The rear armour is thinner and may be more vulnerable.” Mayleth replied, “Plus there is the crew.” And Hazug grinned. “Thuggrim! Sod da big shoota. Dis is a job for ya custom snazzgun.” He shouted and after a moment’s pause he added, “Oh yeah and break out ya good eye an’ all.” “Fruggit! Pass us me shoota!” Thuggrim yelled as he removed his bionic eye from the pouch around his neck. Lifting his eye patch out the way he then inserted the eye into the empty socket and there was a glow from within it as it came online, “Ya’ll ‘ave to stop.” He told Hazug as he attempted to line his rifle up on one of the skull cannon’s to riders and Hazug slammed on the brake, bringing the truck to a sudden halt, “Bang!” Thuggrim shouted and Drazzok, Hazug and all of the non-ork passengers in the truck looked up at him. “Oi!” one of the madboys yelled in the direction of the skull cannon, pointing up at Thuggrim, “’E shot ya. Dat means one of ya is dead. We won’t play if ya gonna die.” “Wot da bleedin’ ‘ell was dat ya loony?” Drazzok demanded. “A bullet
would ‘ave ‘elped.” Hazug added with a frown. “Two more
great shots boss.” A madboy said and the rest all nodded in
agreement. “Well ‘e can’t ‘ave missed can ‘e?” a madboy replied, “If ‘e ‘ad den da bullet would ‘ave ‘it da ground and we’d ‘ave seen da mud fly up. We didn’t so ‘e must ‘ave ‘it wot ‘e shot at.” And he looked round at the other madboys for support. “Stupid git.” One of them muttered. “Just give ‘im some bullets.” Hazug ordered and Sophie rummaged through Thuggrim’s pack until she found a magazine that felt heavy enough to be full and passed it up to him. “I hope it alright.” She said, “I think something’s spilled in there.” “Bugger.” Thuggrim said as he loaded his rifle, “It better not ‘ave got all over me bogey collection.” “Bogey collection?” Sophie repeated and she looked down at her hand and gave a scream. “Thuggrim hurry!” Salia called out, “It’s coming right for us.” Sure enough the skull cannon had noticed that Hazug’s truck had come to a halt while the two warbuggies continued to move rapidly in a bid to avoid being shot at. However as the daemon engine began to head towards Hazug’s truck and the two daemon gunners readied the weapon for use the truck that held Gorgoga’s mob came tearing over the hill. Unlike Hazug’s truck or the warbuggies this vehicle was equipped to deal with armoured targets like the skull cannon and there was a flash as its gunner fired a rocket towards the skull cannon. This flew past its intended target, missing it only narrowly before blasting a small crater in the hillside behind it. What it did do however was attract the attention of the skull cannon just as its crew was ready to fire. Swinging around the skull cannon fired and another of the burning projectiles was sent hurtling towards Gorgoga’s truck. The driver attempted to swerve out of the way at the last moment, but all that he achieved was to cause the shot to strike the side plating of the truck rather than hitting it head on. The blast ripped the rear wheels from that side and sent the truck rolling over. “Hazug! Gorgoga’s been hit!” Sophie cried out as she saw orks tumbling from the burning truck. Two of them were obviously dead before they were even thrown from the wrecked vehicle, while a third was just staggering to his feet when the skull cannon passed by and he as cut down by a sword stroke that sliced right through his heavy armour. Then there was a single sharp ‘crack!’ from overhead as Thuggrim finally fired for real. His aim was good and one of the daemon gunners fell backwards from their platform. The combination of gunshot to the back of the head and fall at high speed would have killed almost any mortal opponent Hazug had ever faced, but the bizarre nature of the daemon meant that its essence remained strong and the creature simply picked itself up and turned to face the orks still trying to get free of the wrecked truck. “Mayleth! Go!” Hazug yelled as he saw this, knowing that if the daemon reached the orks before they could get free then it would slaughter them all. Mayleth leapt from the truck just as Hazug accelerated again, not wanting to risk giving the skull cannon a stationary target for a second time. The eldar gave out a shriek as she ran headlong towards the daemon, a dagger in each hand. This was deliberate, her cry turned the daemon’s attention from the helpless orks to her instead and it spun around to meet her charge. Mayleth moved with inhuman speed and grace as she slashed at the daemon with both daggers. But ach time she sliced into its flesh the wound sealed over and it was only her continued rapid movements that prevented the daemon from slicing her in two with its own sword. Then Mayleth saw movement from the truck and she reacted by somersaulting backwards away from both the daemon and the vehicle. Still in the air she returned her daggers to her belt and instead drew the pair of splinter pistols she kept there. Then as soon as she landed she fired both of them into the daemon’s chest. Once more the poisoned crystal rounds proved ineffective against the daemon, provoking nothing more than a hiss of defiance. But Mayleth had not counted on her shots inflicting fatal wounds, they had just been intended to stop the daemon looking back towards the truck and seeing what else was coming right for it. “Dat was me new trukk!” Gorgoga snapped as he brought his power claw down on the back of the daemon’s skull with a blow that would have shattered any mortal skull. To the daemon the blow was still serious though and the creature struggled to keep a hold of its presence in the real world. The daemon turned to face Gorgoga and lifted its sword, ready to strike. But the Goff nob was ready for this and he swung his heavy shield upwards to knock the sword aside before delivering a punch from his power claw that tore the daemon’s head from its shoulders. Dissolving as it collapsed, the daemon’s corpse was gone before it even hit the ground. The belt fed weapons mounted on the two remaining warbuggies fired in unison at the skull cannon as it turned for another pass. The surviving daemon gunner pivoted his cannon towards one of the buggies and fired, sending the burning remains of what had once been Darket hurtling towards one of them. The driver’s jaw dropped as he saw the projectile heading right towards him and he hesitated just long enough for the skull to slam into the engine at the front of the warbuggy. Flames washed over the vehicle, engulfing it crew and the ruined remains of the buggy flipped end over end until coming to a halt upside down and still burning. As more bullets from both the final warbuggy and Hazug’s truck continued to bounce off the skull cannon the daemon engine turned to face the warbuggy head on. But at that moment there was the rumbling of powerful engines as Two Heads’ armoured vehicles finally arrived on the scene. There was a
booming sound that seemed to echo as both the battlewagon and the looted
rhino opened fire with their main guns and a pair of heavy shells shot
towards the skull cannon. However, the combination of the vehicles’
movement and the eagerness of the ork gunners to get a quick shot in meant
that neither had lined their weapon up on the target properly and both
rounds missed it, instead blasting more carters in the
hillside. There was the sound of another cannon shot as the skull cannon rounded on Two Heads’ battlewagon, having identified it as the most serious threat and fired. But this time it was the turn of the daemon engine to see its attack fail. The flaming projectile struck the heavily armoured ram mounted on the front of the battlewagon and exploded, producing the usual fireball. Seeing this from Hazug’s truck both Salia and Sophie gasped, fearing that the battlewagon had been destroyed just as easily as the lighter buggies and truck had been. But just a moment later the familiar shape of the battlewagon burst out of the flames and continued towards the skull cannon. Norgut fired again, helped his time by the fact that the two vehicles were heading right for one another and his shell struck the skull cannon just beneath the gaping maw where its forward wheel was mounted and it skidded to a sudden halt. The daemon engine wound up facing at an angle to the battlewagon, the daemon gunner unable to turn the cannon itself far enough to engage the heavily armoured vehicle that showed no signs of slowing down. “Fasta Gorrid!” one of Two Heads yelled and then the other one added, “We is gonna ram dat thing!” “Give it some noise!” one of the Evil Suns carried within the battlewagon yelled as he peered out of one of the vision slits and saw the immobile skull cannon ahead. “Ya asked for it.” Gorrid said from the driver’s seat with a grin and he reached up for a length of rope that dangled from the ceiling and pulled on it hard. A loud blaring sound filled the air as Gorrid sounded the battlewagon’s horn and even the daemon gunner looked around at the sudden noise. Then, before the gunner could jump clear the battlewagon smashed into the helpless skull cannon. The reinforced ram struck the daemon engine centrally at its narrowest point and broke it in two. The daemon gunner let out a hiss as it was thrown from its platform only to land right in the path of the battlewagon as continued to hurtle onwards. Dragged under one of the front wheels the daemon’s physical body was ground into the dirt and simply evaporated while all that remained of the skull cannon itself was a pile of lifeless scrap metal. Gorrid let the battlewagon come to a stop and turned around, heading towards Hazug’s truck. The two vehicles halted beside one another and their occupants began to disembark. “Let me through!” Batrug snapped as he pushed his way out of the battlewagon and looked in the direction of Gorgoga’s wrecked truck. “Well?” Gorgoga himself called out as he strode towards the battlewagon in the company of his surviving troops and Mayleth,” Can ya fix it?” Batrug drew in
breath sharply and frowned. The final
warbuggy suddenly pulled up close by as well and as Krorden was climbing
from the driver’s seat he looked at Hazug. Hazug looked at Mayleth. “Any ideas?” he asked her. “A daemon
engine my master. A skull cannon of Khorne the Blood God.” She replied,
“The denizens of the immaterium are not strangers to technology, they jut
apply it in ways that are – different.” “Possibly.” Mayleth answered. “Da problem is
dat we aint got enough space in da wagons for all of us now.” Hazug said
and then he turned to Batrug, “Unless ya reckons dat ya can get Gorgoga’s
truck fixed any time soon. Like before it gets dark.” “Oi!” Krorden exclaimed, “Dem is mine.” “Pah!” Batrug
responded, “If ya can’t load it on ya buggy den it don’t to ya no
more.” “Ya see dis is why ay can’t trust meks.” Drazzok commented, “Dey’ll nick anythin’ dat nailed down. And if it is nailed down ya better glue da nails in to stop a mek nickin’ dem an’ all. Dey is as bad as dem thievin’ Death Skulls.” “Hazug!” Sophie suddenly called out, “Look at Cuddles. I think he’s found something.” And the orks turned to see her pointing at where Ratish was desperately trying hold back the growling Cuddles as the squig strained at his leash. “Let’s ‘ave a look at dis.” Hazug said as he walked up to Ratish and took the leash from him, “Go on den Cuddles.” He added, drawing his pistol as he let his squig lead him down a narrow gully. Behind him the rest of the warband began to follow, weapons at the ready. “Master look!”
Ratish called out as he climbed up the side of the gully and looked ahead,
“It’s a git.” “Recently.” Mayleth commented, “I still smell her fear.” Hazug saw that the ground close to the body was blackened and burned and as he drew closer he spotted the remains of a rectangular piece of stone. “Dare it is.” He said, reaching down to pick up the stone while Cuddles began to bite chunks of flesh from the dead body and he lifted it up and studied it. The entry into the material universe of the daemon engine had scorched and pitted the stone badly, but the markings on each side were just about visible, “’Ere ya go.” He said to Mayleth, “Wot d’ya reckon to dis?” “The symbol of
Khorne.” Mayleth replied as she ran her fingers over the groves in the
stone, “This was probably the artefact used to summon the daemon
engine.” Gorgoga
snorted. “Den we is
getting’ close.” He said and he turned to the other orks, “Right den,” he
announced, “we is splittin’ up. Two Heads, I wants ya to stay ‘er with ya
lads and Batrug while ‘e tries to fix da truck. If we finds da humans
we’ll send for ya. Krorden ya stay with ‘im an’ all. Da rest of ya is
comin’ with me. Now dat we know da humans is close we’ll use Cuddles to
track ‘em.” “We take ‘er an’ all.” Hazug replied, “If we does find any humans we needs ‘er to tell us if dey is da ones we is after.”
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