|
Blood And Rocks Chapta 3 | |
|
Blood And Rocks Chapta 3 |
Rhia paused at the corner of the street and looked ahead at the building that was her destination. Inside that building was the one man she could think of that could deal with Cutter and Hal as well as anyone else who was involved with their scheme. Rhia doubted that they were acting alone. The one problem was that she did not know exactly what sort of reception she would get. Since the death of Governor Highbalt she had spent her time avoiding the constabulary of Git Town as much as possible, many of them had been killed by her fellow followers of the former Imperial governor and the survivors undoubtedly held a grudge. However if Rhia was to really try and stop her former associates from completing their plan, whatever it was, then she had to do this. Taking a deep breath she crossed the street and walked towards the constabulary headquarters. There were two of Chief Constable Thayne’s men standing guard just outside the door. One was armed with a shotgun that looked as if it had been built in one of Git Town’s workshops while the other carried a more advanced lasgun, the standard issue weapon of most human forces across the galaxy. The origin of that weapon Rhia knew for certain, it had been the seizure of a large shipment of them along with numerous heavier weapons that had prompted the governor to send Rhia to infiltrate the ork hierarchy and ultimately led to her current situation. Since the agreement between the ork warboss and the humans some of these weapons had been provided to the humans so that they could maintain order on his behalf. “You!” one of the men barked as Rhia approached and he took his shotgun from, “I know you.” “I just need to see Thayne.” Rhia said as she came closer and the guard brought his shotgun to his shoulder while the second, younger man also readied his lasgun. For now at least it seemed that this man did not recognise Rhia, but he was following the lead of his older comrade. “Well Chief Thayne doesn’t want to see you. Get back to earning a living lying on your back.” Rhia halted. “Please, I need to see him. Its important.” And then she took another step forwards. The younger guard stepped into her path, using his lasgun to block it while the other reached out to grab hold of her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Rhia tried to slip loose, but as she did so her pistol dropped from her pocket and fell to the pavement with a clatter. “Gun!” the younger guard shouted and he brought the stock of his lasgun up under Rhia’s chin. His hand still on Rhia’s shoulder the other guard dragged her closer to him, away from the pistol and then he pushed her to the ground and pressed the muzzle of the shotgun to her head. “Okay lady you got your wish.” He said, scowling, “You’re going to see the chief.” Chief
Constable Dariel Thayne counted the bullets from the magazine of Rhia’s
weapon. “I just came to see you.” Rhia replied, “Please, I don’t mean any harm, I’m here to help.” “Help?” Thayne replied. “Yes help.”
Rhia said, “Look, two of the men who used to work with the
governor-“ “Yes they worked with me then. But I’ve not had anything to do with them since Highbalt and his allies tried to kill me. But they’re up to something and you have to stop them.” Thayne grinned. “That’s a very interesting story.” He said, “But the thing is you went to the orks claiming that you wanted to help them when in fact you were working for Venris Highbalt, the tyrant who turned this world into a slave camp. The people here regarded the ork invasion as a liberation from your old employer.” “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m not a part of the resistance any more? Now are you going to do something about Cutter and Hal or not?” Thayne approached Rhia, crouching down and grabbing her by the chin. “Look you traitorous little bitch, I don’t give a feth about your squabbles with any of your old friends. Now I suggest you get out of here and go back to being a good little joy girl, tell your customers ho great their performance is and hope none of them decide to beat you up instead of paying you. Because I can tell you now that none of my men will lift a finger to help you after how many of us murdered by you and your friends.” Then he stood up and looked at his men, “Get her out of here.” He said, “Before I turn her over to the orks to stick in the pits.” “Hey! What about my gun?” Rhia called out as she was being lifted back to her feet. Thayne paused and looked at the three small calibre rounds in the palm of his hand and then at the compact pistol on a nearby desk. Walking to the desk he picked up the weapon and then turned to one of his men and held out both it and its ammunition. “Give them back to her when she’s outside.” He instructed the man, “But you see her loading it before she leaves then shoot her.” “Yes sir.” The constable replied as he took hold of the pistol, smiling in a manner that suggested he was hoping that Rhia would try loading the bullets back into the gun right in front of him. Thayne then just stood and watched as Rhia was escorted back outside the building. For a brief moment he wondered whether he should have listened to her, but then he shook his head. After all, what possible trouble could a pair of Highbalt’s old thugs cause now? Then he looked at one of his men that was still present. “Find out everything you can about this Cutter and Hal.” He said, “If we’ve got some of the tyrant’s men still thinking they’ve some divine right to rule then I want them swinging on a rope. Understood?” “Yes chief.” The man replied, a smile appearing on his face. Rhia hurried from the constabulary building, aware that she was being watched and being careful not to give the watchers the excuse to open fire on her. Fortunately there were other people in the street at this hour and so there was no chance of her being shot anyway and the perpetrator simply claiming she had readied her gun. As soon as she was out of sight of the building however the first thing she did was find somewhere quiet to load her pistol again, to do otherwise ran the risk of not having the weapon available should she need it. Once again armed, if only lightly Rhia considered her next move. She still had to warn someone about Cutter and Hal, but there was no one left with any authority in the human part of the city that also had the resources to deal with them. But there was still the ork part of the city and Rhia knew of an ork who excelled at dealing with secret plots. She took a quick look around to see if she had been followed from the constabulary headquarters and then headed for where she could find Hazug Throatslitter. Sophie stitched the extra panel into the trousers. It had taken some doing to dye the new material to match the old, but she wanted to do the best job she could for Hazug. There was no doubt about it; the Blood axe nob was now much larger than when Sophie had first encountered him almost three years earlier. Had he been human then she would have assumed that he was simply putting on weight and needed to diet, but in the case of orks his weight gain was a result of the extra muscle mass added after each victory he scored and Hazug had scored a great many of them now. “Ah there you are mon keigh.” Mayleth said as she entered the kitchen and she tossed one of her tight fitting garments at Sophie, “This was damaged in the arena last night. Fix it.” “What did your last slave die of?” Sophie replied as she placed the garment on the table beside her and turned her attention back to Hazug’s trousers. “Blood loss.” Mayleth replied calmly. Or least it seemed calm to Sophie. In the months she and Salia had spent trying to teach the dark eldar woman Gothic they had yet to get her to master the tone of voice she should use at any given time. Mayleth appeared not to care about this, she believed that humans were little more than upstart apes and was only learning their language because Hazug had ordered it and she believed that he was her owner. “Well it’ll have to wait.” Sophie said, “Unless you want me to tell Hazug that you’re the reason he doesn’t have an extra pair of trousers that fit.” That did it Sophie noticed, Mayleth would do nothing that would make her appear disrespectful to her master. But before Mayleth could say anything Salia appeared, poking her head through the door. “I can’t find the cleaning fluid.” She said, “Have you seen it?” “Why would I have seen such a thing mon keigh?” Mayleth replied, “I’m not a handmaiden like you two.” “I was talking to Sophie.” Salia said, frowning. “I think there’s some in the cellar.” Sophie told her sister, “Near where Hazug keeps the beer.” “Thanks.” Salia said and she headed down into the cellar. Mayleth then turned back to Sophie. “So mon keigh, when will my clothes be ready? I and scheduled to fight again in two days and you always complain when I go out naked.” Meanwhile down in the cellar Salia searched through the rows of shelves. Prior to it being given to Hazug by Kazkal Kromag himself the house had been home to a large mob of orks who had all been killed and they had constructed their own private version of the fighting pits beneath it. Now however it was used for storage, particularly for items that were best kept cool since the temperature down here was lower than elsewhere in the house. Beyond that the cellar also had another purpose. Like all ork settlements of any real size the city had a myriad of tunnels running beneath it. These had been dug by gretchin and were primarily used by the orks’ smaller cousins to move about the city quickly and in safety. One such tunnel ran very close to the cellar and one of the first things Hazug had had Ratish do after moving in was dig a passageway that connected the cellar to the tunnel network, thus allowing him to access it without anyone noticing above ground. Of course Hazug was smart enough not to simply let every gretchin in the city have unrestricted access to his home and so a stout wooden door fitted with the best lock that Hazug could obtain blocked the passageway. It was from this door that Salia heard a rattle as she searched for the cleaning fluid she wanted. Salia stopped her search and looked at the door, wondering if perhaps a strong draught in the tunnel on the other side had caused the noise. But then there was another rattle, accompanied by a knocking and Salia knew that it was no draught causing the sound. Someone was trying to get in. Quickly she rushed back up the stairs to the kitchen where Mayleth and Sophie were arguing about the repairs to Mayleth’s clothing. “I can’t just
stitch it anyway.” Sophie pointed out, “I need that special cloth they’re
made of.” “Someone’s
trying to break in!” Salia exclaimed suddenly, interrupting the
argument. “Downstairs.” Salia said, “There’s someone trying to get in from the tunnels.” “Gretchin?” Sophie asked. “I don’t know.” Salia said. “Perhaps now would be a good time to arm ourselves mon keigh.” Mayleth suggested. “I agree.” Sophie added and she put the trousers on the table beside the eldar’s clothing. All three then rushed up the stairs to the upper floor where each of them had a room of their own. Hazug allowed all of his servants to keep weapons in their rooms, a pistol and a knife of some sort each while the more powerful weapons remained locked away in an armoury that adjoined Hazug’s own room. Both Salia and Sophie had rapid firing automatic pistols fitted with sliding stocks that allowed them to be turned into a light carbine in seconds, while Mayleth instead had one of the splinter pistols favoured by her people that fired poison coated crystalline rounds. Thus armed they then rushed down into the cellar when they found the door leading to the tunnels still shut but with someone, or something banging on the other side. Mayleth pressed herself up against the wall beside the door. She took the key to the door from the hook on which it hung and held it out, looking at Salia and Sophie who were both aiming their weapons directly at it. “Perhaps one of you mon keigh should open the door.” She suggested, “Unless you wish to explain to our master why it got broken open.” Salia and Sophie looked at one another nervously, neither really wanting to be the one to open the door. But then Sophie took a deep breath and stepped forwards, taking the key form Mayleth. Carefully she inserted it into the lock and turned it slowly, not wanting to alert whoever was out there in the tunnel. With the door unlocked she then pulled it open suddenly and leapt back just as Rhia tumbled through the doorway into the cellar. “Oh thank the Emperor!” Rhia exclaimed as she saw Sophie, but before she could get any further Mayleth stepped forwards and wrapped an arm around Rhia’s throat and pressed the muzzle of her splinter pistol against the side of her head. “Who is this mon keigh?” she asked, looking at Salia and Sophie. “Beats me.”
Salia answered, “I’ve never seen her before.” “No wait please!” Rhia yelled and Mayleth held her fire. “This mon keigh does not want to die it would seem.” She said, “But who is it and why has it come to a place where it seems that it is not welcome?” “She’s a spy and a traitor.” Sophie said, still staring sternly at Rhia, “She kidnapped me on the orders of the former Imperial governor.” “I didn’t know what he was doing.” Rhia pleaded, “Remember it was me they tried to sacrifice.” “Only after Hazug rescued me.” Sophie responded, “Why aren’t you dead anyway? We left you by that eldar portal.” “Hazug didn’t
kill me.” Rhia said, “Please, I need to talk to him. Its
important.” “Some of the
governor’s men are up to something. They’ve got some secret weapon or
something and they’re trying to figure out how to use it. They’ve already
done it once. I heard them talking about it.” “They didn’t know I was there. The one doing the talking at any rate.” Rhia explained, “Look, can you just go and get Hazug? He needs to know about this.” Mayleth looked back at Sophie. “You know this mon keigh.” She said, “What do you think our master would want.” “He’ll want to
kill her.” Sophie replied. “Perhaps we should leave that to Hazug.” Salia suggested, “We can keep her down here until he gets back.” Sophie stared
at Rhia. Mayleth released her grip on Rhia, but rather than simply letting her go the eldar slid her hands over her body, searching all the places where a weapon could be concealed. “What is this mon keigh?” Mayleth asked as she found the pistol in Rhia’s pocket. “I need to
protect myself.” She replied. “Pain.” Mayleth hissed, “So delightful.” “I’ll get some rope.” Salia said,” We can tie her to that support over there.” And she pointed to a wooden support that helped to hold up the ceiling. As Salia fetched a length of rope Mayleth pulled Rhia over to the support and shoved her up against it, lifting her hands up above her head. “Give me the rope.” Mayleth said, tucking her pistol into her belt and holding out her hand. “This s one of
times you should say ‘Please’.” Salia said as she gave her the rope, but
Mayleth ignore her, “’Thank you’ would be good as well.” Salia added as
Mayleth began to bind Rhia’s wrists to the support over her head and then
wrapped the rope around her body to secure her firmly against it. As she
did this Sophie just glared at Rhia angrily. “Sure, Sophie let’s go.” Salia said, and she reached out and took her sister by the arm. Without speaking Sophie accompanied Salia back up the stairs, but she paused half way up and turned to face Mayleth. “Mayleth?” she
said. “You know that thing you do where you mess with people and hurt them just for kicks?” “Yes.” “Feel free.”
|
|
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