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Blood And Rocks Chapta 17 | |
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Chapta 17 |
Krorden’s warbuggy burst into the camp suddenly. The sound of its engine had given the occupants some warning of its approach, but the speed of the vehicle meant that they had little time to do anything about it as it raced through the camp. Krorden himself just laughed as he drove the buggy directly through the tents between the two trails, seeing no reason to divert around such flimsy structures. The Evil Sun’s instructions had been quite clear, he was to make his way to the rebel camp and then set up in a position where he could prevent the humans from fleeing along the other trail. However, as a member of the cult of speed Krorden had other ideas and he continued speeding around the camp, at time weaving between the tents and at others simply ploughing right through them. “Come on lads get a move on!” Two Heads yelled as he waved his troops back into the battlewagon. Then the second head looked at Salia and Sophie and added, “Ya both can sit up front with Gorrid. Hazug ants ya both kept safe and dat’s about da safest place dare is.” Gorgoga and Hazug had already gone on ahead since their units were travelling by foot and Hazug hoped that this would allow them to all arrive at about the same time. Seeing the chaos that he had been able to cause in the camp Krorden finally steered his warbuggy towards the trail he had been supposed to head for all along while his gunner fired short bursts seemingly at random. Reaching the start of the trail Krorden suddenly slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel sharply, producing a massive cloud of dirt and dust as the vehicle skidded to a halt turned almost exactly one hundred and eighty degrees in the process. The gunner continued to fire, aiming bursts at wherever he saw the largest number of humans in one place. This served to keep them separated from one another as they sought cover either individually or in small groups. “Get the heavy stubbers!” Yale shouted as he burst from his tent, “And stay low for throne’s sake.” At Yale’s command several of the rebels headed for what remained of the supply tents, where their comrades were already rushing to unpack a pair of heavy belt fed weapons from a stack of containers that had been knocked over at some point during Krorden’s rampage. Though nowhere near as powerful as the auto cannon that was supposed to have destroyed the ork vehicles on the trail, they still had considerably more stopping power than the rifles and shotguns more commonly carried by the rebels. However, before they could get the weapons outside there was the sound of another engine as Two Heads’ battlewagon arrived in the camp. Upon seeing the massive armoured vehicle lumbering into the clearing a pair of humans attempted to slip away unnoticed. They headed into the woods in the hope that they could get around behind the orks without being seen and escape. Their plan may have succeeded had the entire ork force been advancing down the trail but they had the misfortune to run right into Hazug and his part of the warband. There was a
sudden snarling as Cuddles caught the scent of the humans and Ratish let
go of his leash. The excited squig bounded forwards and jumped on top of
the first human it came to. The man fell back, screaming as Cuddles bit
into his flesh. “Where ya goin’?” Hazug said, staring at the man as he ground to a halt when he came upon the rest of the group. The human just stood still and stared at the orks, in particular at Drazzok who’s more primitive appearance made him look even more ferocious than he could be. “And watch looking’ at ya get?” Drazzok added and he swung his staff around. Without even trying to force any of the psychic energy he collected there was a flash of light as the staff struck the human on the side of his head and he flew sideways into the undergrowth, landing in a heap. “Ratish, go get Cuddles back.” Hazug then said, “We ‘as a camp to attack.” Gunfire up ahead told the group that they were close to the camp and as they approached the edge of the clearing they saw that Two Heads already had most of his troops dismounted from the battlewagon. Understandably he had been reluctant to simply drive the vehicle right into the midst of the camp without his troops to keep the rebel humans away from it just in case they had any explosives that could cause it damage or possibly even destroy it. However, the rebels seemed to be equipped with at least two belt fed weapons that had been set up behind barriers improvised from whatever the rebels could manage to pile up in front of them. These were both lighter than the auto cannon that Hazug had already captured, but their rate of fire combined with their hitting power was keeping the Evils Suns pinned down, with two of them lying dead in front of the battlewagon where they had attempted to charge the human weapon emplacements. From inside the battlewagon there were several flashes of light from one of the forward looking viewports and Hazug smiled as he realised that Salia and Sophie were joining the vehicle’s gunners in laying down fire. Hazug unslung
his rifle. ”Sure.” Thuggrim replied as he opened up the pouch around his neck, “But dis’ll be a job for me good eye.” While Thuggrim was setting up Hazug took aim with his own rifle and fired, first firing a handful of individual rounds to try and get the rang of the heavy weapon that was most exposed from his location. However, then he switched the weapon to its turbo-dakka mode and sprayed the area with bullets. At first Hazug smiled as the two-man gun crew ere both hit and slumped over their weapon. But then another pair of humans simply crawled forwards to take the place and the gun was soon shooting once more. Then Thuggrim fired twice, each bullet taking out a crewman of the other weapon. As happened with the first gun crew more rebels moved to take their place, but by now Two Heads had lost his patience. “Norgut!” he bellowed, banging a fist on the side of the battlewagon, “Let ‘em ‘ave it.” “Right boss.” Norgut responded from inside the vehicle and he clambered down from his seat in the turret to where the ammunition for the main gun was kept. Selecting an explosive shell he climbed back up to the turret and loaded into the cannon before turning the turret to face one of the human gun emplacements and depressing the barrel as far as it would go. “Kop dis.” He hissed. “Are you still in here?” Yale called out as he rushed into The Mason’s tent. “I am uninjured.” The Mason responded from behind the simple bed he was hidden behind s he pulled himself up, “But we have a problem.” “What?” Yale asked, rushing to The Mason’s side. “The stones.” He replied, pointing to some of the boxes piled up close by. “What about
them?” “No!” The
Mason cried out, “My gifts allow me to channel the power necessary to
summon the denizens of the warp, but I cannot control them. Summon them
here and they will kill us all.” “Then we should get out of here.” Yale said, “Come on, I’ll help you.” But then there was the sound of an explosion from outside the tent. The shell had exploded just behind the heavy stubber team, close enough that the shrapnel tore both men to pieces and destroyed their weapon in the process. Seeing this the orks gave a cheer. Hazug fired at the surviving team again, not hitting either of them but forcing them to cease fire temporarily while they took cover behind their crude barricade. “Now’s our chance lads!” Hazug shouted as he stood up and then he gave out a sudden yell, ”Waaargh!” “Waaargh!” the others in the warband yelled, repeating the traditional ork warcry and all of them began to surge forwards. Even Gorgoga’s unit came rushing out of the woods on the far side of the trail where the armoured orks surprised a group of humans attempting to remain hidden from both the battlewagon and the warbuggy there. “Smash ‘em lads!” Gorgoga shouted making use of his power claw to reduce the skull of a man to pulp. There was the sound of a nearby shotgun blast and Gorgoga felt the impact on his shield. Turning to face this new opponent Gorgoga saw that he was stood just a few paces away and Gorgoga charged, holding his shield up in front of him to absorb a second blast from the shotgun. Upon reaching the human gunman he did not even bother with his power claw, instead just roaring as he swatted he man aside with his shield and then brought a foot down, burying it in the man’s chest, “Come on lads! Dare’s still loads more of ‘em to go around!” Exiting the tent as quickly as they could, Yale helped he The Mason along. Nearby there was a unit of his best men, just waiting for their orders from him. “You there!”
Yale shouted, “We’re getting out of here.” A short distance away Mortel witnessed this as he cowered beneath the remains of a wooden table. “Wait!” he called out, crawling out from his hiding place, “You have to take me with you. If the orks find me here they’ll-“ but then his pleas were silenced as Yale just nodded to the trooper standing closest to Mortel and he slammed his rifle butt into the man’s stomach. As Hazug’s group continued to advance through the camp he guided them towards the largest tent where he believed that the rebel leader would be found. “Ack!” Drazzok exclaimed and he clutched his head with his free hand as he came to a sudden stop. “Da great
one!” Thuggrim called out in alarm. “Dat tent.” He said, “Da rocks. Dat tent is full of da rocks. I can feel ‘em.” Then there was a sound like a thunderclap and the tent was ripped wide open as a pack of daemonic looking hounds with skins covered in blood red scales broke into the material universe. Already being
pushed back by the orks the remaining human rebels now found themselves
facing a pack of charging daemons that fell upon them savagely. “Oh yeah?” Hazug replied, “Well I thought dat ya was an’ all.” And Mayleth smiled before charging ahead. Meanwhile Hazug slung his rifle back over his shoulder and instead drew his warscythe, flicking the switch to activate the blade, “I reckon dat dis’ll be more use dan me shoota.” And then he ran after Mayleth. Initially the rest of the warband paid the flesh hounds little attention, but as they tore through the humans they continued towards the orks. They reacted to this as they would to any other threat and shot the flesh hounds. But as with the previous daemons they had encountered the wounds they inflicted seemed to heal over straight away. Only when one of the battlewagon’s gunners focused his fire on one of the flesh hounds did the daemonic beast seem to combust as it returned to the warp. “Back to da wagon lads!” Two Heads shouted as three of the beasts pounced on one of his troops and ripped him apart before he could even cry out for help. At the same time Krorden decided that he had had enough of sitting about and waiting. Only a few humans had tried to escape past him and now the flesh hounds seemed to be heading only towards the orks on foot. “’Ang on Trokken. We is goin’ in.” he said to his gunner, snarling and then he slammed his foot down on the accelerator. The warbuggy’s wheels spun, unable to gain traction for just a moment until the vehicle suddenly lurched forwards and raced into the centre of the camp again. Trokken fired as the warbuggy sped on and another flesh hound vanished in a sudden burst of unnatural fire. There were still a few of the human rebels left ahead of them, those that had been able to avoid both getting shot by the orks and mauled by the flesh hounds but these scattered as the buggy bore down upon them and were ignored by its crew. The buggy then ploughed into the first of the pack of flesh hounds. Like the humans before them many of the daemonic beasts were able to leap aside, thanks for the most part to the unnatural speed and agility that this particular type of daemon possessed. Not all of the flesh hounds were able to avoid getting caught beneath the wheels of the warbuggy however and there were bright flashes of warp flame as they were returned to their own dimension. Peering through one of the vision slits in his battlewagon one of Two Heads grinned as he saw this. “Is ya thinkin’ wot I is thinkin’?” the other one asked, ”I reckon so.” The first replied then both looked at Gorrid as he sat waiting in the driver’s seat, “Gorrid.” One head said and then the other added, “Roll.” Gorrid laughed as he turned to face forwards again and then the battlewagon accelerated suddenly. Once again the flesh hounds began to scatter as the massive bulk of the battlewagon threatened to crush them. Meanwhile
Hazug was hacking his way towards his target. As expected his warscythe
sliced through the bizarre matter that made up the bodies of the flesh
hounds, inflicting injuries that did not heal and sending several back to
the warp. Behind him Drazzok found himself targeted by quite a number of
the beasts. Fortunately the energy that built up in his staff appeared to
be just as effective against the flesh hounds as Hazug’s warscythe
was. “They sense your connection to the warp.” Mayleth called out just as she was forced to roll put of the way of one of the flesh hounds, firing several shots into its side as she came to a halt in a kneeling position, “To the Blood God such powers of the mind are an affront and his servants will attempt to destroy those who possess them.” “Ya ‘eard da pansy lads!” Thuggrim then bellowed, “Protect da great one.” And the remaining madboys all rushed towards Drazzok, crowding around him. “Aaargh! Gimme some room to breathe ya loonies!” the weirdboy exclaimed. “We’ll carry ya.” A madboy suggested and as one the others reached out and lifted Drazzok off the ground, severing the path that as discharging his excess store of power. “Put me d-“ Drazzok began, his eyes glowing brightly, but before he could finish there was a massive discharge of energy that enveloped not only him but also all of the madboys clustered around him and when it cleared they were nowhere to be seen. “Master!” Ratish yelled as he looked around, ”Where’s da weirdo?” “Ya bunch of loonies! Now se wot ya done!” Drazzok’s voice then sounded from the woods behind them. The unpredictable psychic discharge having obviously teleported them back to where they had started. Sure enough Drazzok then emerged from the woods with the madboys flanking him. Drazzok’s unplanned teleportation had a noticeable effect on the flesh hounds, with even more of their number turning away from the rest of the warband and heading towards him and his entourage. At the same time both the warbuggy and battlewagon were prevented the hounds from gathering in large groups by simply driving at and scattering such groups while they were still forming. This left only Gorgoga’s hardboys and for now at least they seemed to be facing only a handful of the daemonic beasts. “Quick!” Hazug snapped at Mayleth and Ratish, “While dem ‘ounds is distracted we’ll make a break for da tent.” And he broke into a run, casually swatting a nearby flesh hound with his warscythe with a blow that cut it in half before its remains combusted. As he ran for the large tent Hazug also noticed signs of surviving human rebels, those who had been lucky enough to escape the flesh hounds by chance. One or two of them reacted to the charging ork by pointing weapons at him, but Hazug continued on regardless never having to do more than deliver a kick or blow from the grip of his warscythe to spoil their attack before Mayleth finished them off for him. The only real opposition to Hazug appeared right as he reached the tent just as a humanoid figure stepped out into the open and hissed at him. The daemon was a horned humanoid identical to the two that had operated the skull cannon and like them this one carried a viscous looking sword. “Geddout me way!” Hazug bellowed, swinging his warscythe in an arc that would have cut the daemon in half vertically had it not dodged aside at the last moment. The daemon struck back with a sword thrust that Hazug parried with his warscythe. Normally he would have expected the alien blade to shatter the weapon of any opponent, but in this case the two weapons simply became locked together as the combatants struggled to gain the advantage. It was Mayleth that broke the stalemate by dashing around Hazug and when the daemon looked at her she pressed the muzzle of her pistol to its temple and blew off the back of its head. “Quickly my master.” She said, “We must prevent any more from emerging.” And then she disappeared into the tent ahead of Hazug. Following his
servant into the tent Hazug found himself facing stacks of familiar
appearing stone tablets. Some of them were still blank while others
carried an assortment of carvings. Of these carved stones some were
charred and broken, indicating that they had already summoned daemons
while others remained intact. Of more concern however were those that
although intact had carvings that were glowing brightly. “I am
unfamiliar with the process used to create these artefacts my master.” She
replied, “But I expect that the glowing stones are in the process of
establishing a doorway to allow a daemon to enter our universe.” The stones shattered under the impact of the warscythe’ blade with brief bursts of fire accompanying the fragments of stone that flew about as the partially charged ones were broken. Hazug roared and brought his warscythe down again and again until there was a sudden ‘Fizz!’ and he stared at the blade frowning as he realised that his excessive use of the weapon had drained the power cell. “It dos not matter my master.” Mayleth said, “I believe that they are all destroyed.” “Yeah, well I’ll wait for Drazzok to confirm dat. “Hazug replied as he studied the wreckage all around him, “If dese things give ‘im an ‘eadache den ‘e should be able to let us know if dare’s any more of ‘em left.” Ratish suddenly turned his head to look out of the tent. “Master.” He hissed as he raised his pistol, “Ratish ‘ear gits.” “Your mon keigh slaves perhaps?” Mayleth suggested to Hazug. “Nah, stupid pansy.” Ratish replied with a snarl, “Ratish know wot dey sound like. Dese different.” Swapping his warscythe for his rifle Hazug stepped towards the tent flap where Ratish was peering outside, “Lead da way grot.” He said, then he looked at Mayleth and added, “Ya stay beside me. Make sure no one tries sneakin’ up behind us.” Mayleth just nodded as they stepped back out of the tent. The last of the flesh hounds were gone now and the rest of the warband was starting to pick through what was left of the camp, searching fro anything that looked valuable. Ratish led
Hazug and Mayleth towards a tent that had collapsed at some point during
the fight and as they drew closer Hazug heard a whimpering from beneath it
and Cuddles tried to rush them, growling as Ratish held him back by his
leash. “Three of them my master.” Mayleth said, “They are terrified.” And an evil smile spread across her face. Hazug simply reached down and pulled the tent off the ground to expose the trio of humans hiding beneath it. Immediately there were screams from the humans and the rest of the warband all turned to look.
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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. |
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