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Blood And Rocks Chapta 8 | |
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Chapta 8 |
Drazzok insisted on travelling to see Warboss Kazkal Kromag separately from Hazug while he still had he mysterious stone in his possession. So while Hazug drove to the warboss’ personal fortress Drazzok as instead carried aloft in his chair by his entourage of madboys. Waiting for Drazzok outside the fortress’ main gates Hazug became aware of his approach when he first heard Thuggrim’s voice above the crowds of orks and traffic in the street. “Make way for da great Drazzok!” he bellowed, “Da great Drazzok, mightiest of all da weirdboys is comin’! Make way for da great Drazzok” The reaction from the ork crowds was immediate. Under normal circumstances most orks would respond to a request to move by staying exactly where they were, but the combination of Thuggrim’s larger size combined with the warning that they were being approached by an ork who could make their heads explode without even trying particularly hard caused panic to set in. “Weirdo!” the cry went up as they not only heard the warning but also saw Drazzok being carried by the madboys, glaring angrily at the crowd as he went and they got out of his way as quickly as they could. “We needs to speak with da boss.” Hazug told the largest of the guards on the gate and he pointed at himself and at the approaching Drazzok. “Err, sure.” The guard answered, stepping aside to allow the madboy-carried chair to pass unhindered. Then he looked inside the gate to where several of Kazkal’s human servants waited, “Oi! One of ya gits can earn ya keep and take ‘em to da boss.” He ordered. The passageways of the fortress were not large enough to allow Drazzok to be carried in his chair all the way to Kazkal’s throne room and so much to his disgust he had to walk instead. However, the loyal madboys still came with him, forming a barrier between him and Hazug ho still carried the stone that the weirdboy found so discomforting. “Hazug Throatslitter of the Blood Axe clan and Drazzok Headbanga of the Snake Bite clan to see you my lord.” The human announced upon their entry to the throne room and Kazkal looked up from the tray of food he was in the middle of gobbling up. “Hazug, why does I get da feelin’ dat ay is bringin’ me bad new?” Kazkal asked when he saw the pair approach. “And why is ya bringin’ a mob of dese loonies with ya?” one of the assembled nobs asked, looking at the madboys. “Dey got more brains dan ya ‘ave.” Drazzok replied. “Tell ‘em about da stone wot Ratish found master.” Ratish said quietly, cowering behind Hazug just in case Kazkal decided he wanted to eat something fresher than the food being offered to him on the tray. Reaching into
his bag Hazug produced the stone and held it out towards Kazkal. A few of
the assembled crowd of orks also leaned in for a closer look. “I was attacked by big daemon flies at da spoils.” Hazug explained, “I reckon dat dey came from stones like dis one. I got more wot is all bust up and cracked. Dis was da only one left intact. I reckon dat dare was more stones like dis one at da farm and da daemons wot came out of ‘em is wot killed all da lads dare.” Kazkal frowned and leant back in his throne again. “’Ow does dat work den?” he asked and Hazug looked at Drazzok. “Tell ‘im wot ya felt.” He said. “Da rock is pickin’ up on stuff wot’s rottin’ around it.” Drazzok said, “I guess dat when enough stuff’s rotted da rock bursts open and da daemon comes out.” “So ya’ve seen dis den?” Kazkal asked Drazzok. “Nah.” Drazzok told him, “But I can feel da rock and its given me an ‘eadache.” There was the nervous intake of breath from the other orks present and they began to back away from Drazzok while trying not to make it look as if that was what they were doing. While no ork wanted to be near a weirdboy whose head may be about to explode, no ork wanted to admit to the fact either. “Ya say da other rocks is all bust.” Kazkal said, looking back in Hazug’s direction, “So why aint dis one?” and Hazug paused, this being something he had not yet thought about. “Master, da river.” Ratish whispered and Hazug smiled. “Dis rock was in da river.” He said out loud, “Da water washed it clean before it could bring a daemon.” “Well den,” Kazkal said, “now da only question is where is dese rocks comin’ from? Is dey comin’ form Git Town?” Hazug shrugged. “Dunno exactly boss.” He said, “Dare’s some of da humans wot worked for dare old boss left, dat’s for sure and dey is da ones with dese rocks. But I don’t know ‘o many dare is left or where dey is. I don’t know ‘ow many more of ‘em dey got either.” “Den dare’s only one thing for it” Kazkal announced, “Hazug Throatslitter, I wants ya to get together a warband and ‘ead back into Git Town. Find out where dese gits with da rocks is an ‘ow many dey got. Den kill da lot of ‘em and make sure dat dese rocks is all smashed. I’ll let ay ‘ave enough for four mobs and any wagons wot ya need to move ‘em, now get goin’ because I is done waitin’. Understood?” and Hazug smiled and nodded slowly. Hazug thought it highly unlikely that the rebel humans he was hunting would be hiding out in Git Town but at the same time he knew for certain that there was at least one more rebel that frequented the area, the individual known as Hal. Therefore as the sun rose the next day he led his force into Git Town, heading to the one place he believed that he could find someone to help in his search. The guards on the door of the constabulary headquarters watched in horror as the motorised force headed towards them. At the front of the column was Hazug’s truck and this was followed by not only Two Heads’ two armoured vehicles, with Mek Batrug riding in the battlewagon itself, but also another truck filled with heavily armoured infantry and also a trio of lightweight buggies that mounted heavy weapons on pintle mounts. Batrug had seemed eager to join the warband when Hazug approached him, claiming that it would be the perfect opportunity to try out his latest invention. Hazug had not bothered to ask what the cumbersome device was since he doubted he would understand the technical explanation, but he guessed that its operation would be loud and spectacular enough that he would not miss it when it was used. Hazug brought
his truck to a halt right in front of the building and disembarked before
striding towards the guards with Ratish following him. Meanwhile Drazzok
and the madboys remained in his truck. “Of course sir.” A guard replied as he looked up at the ork who towered over him, “He’s in his office. I’ll show you in.” Hazug just nodded and followed the guard into the building, leading him through the reception area to where Thayne’s office was located. “What is it?” Thayne asked as the door was opened and then when he looked around his eyes widened, “Hazug.” He said, “What are you doing here?” “I is lookin’
for some of dem lads wot worked for dat Highbalt.” He said. “Dat’s right.”
Hazug replied. Hazug looked down at Ratish. “Go ‘ave Rhia
brought in.” he said, switching back to orkish so that the gretchin would
understand him. The next figure to enter the office was not Rhia. Instead it was the nob in charge of the mob of armoured infantry, a goff known a Gorgoga Ironface. Gorgoga’s body was covered in thick plates of metal armour that he combined with a thick shield mounted on his left arm that included a hole cut in it for him to look through while using it to shield his body. Meanwhile his other arm from the elbow down was encased in a massive gauntlet that was fitted with massive power assisted claws. Behind Gorgoga came one of his troops, an ork wearing similar armour but lacking the heavy power claw and it was this ork that held the control chain attached to Rhia’s collar. “Come on git!” the ork snapped, “Keep up!” “I’m going as fast as I can.” Rhia replied, hobbling through the doorway. The ork gave a sharp tug on the chain and she fell forwards, screaming. “She turned up
at me ‘ome while I was out.” Hazug explained to Thayne, “Den after killin’
dat Cutter we figured dat ‘e’d been down by da river so I went down dare
with a couple of lads and found dis.” And he held out his hand to Ratish,
“Da stone.” He said in orkish. “What are these carvings?” he asked as he examined the markings on both sides of the stone. “Dunno.” Hazug replied, “I was ‘opin’ dat ya might know dat.” “Have you
tried asking her?” Thayne asked and he glared at Rhia. “Only tried?” Thayne commented, ”Pity.” Then he looked back at Hazug, “As it happens I did ask one of my people to make some enquiries about what any of the governor’s old associates may be doing. But so far we’ve not found anything, we know of a few individuals who harboured sympathies with the governor but that’s about it.” Then he looked back down at Rhia briefly, “She was one of them of course.” “This is serious Thayne.” Rhia hissed, “My loyalty to Venris Highbalt ended when he me imprisoned. Can’t you get that into your thick sk-“ and then she gave out a yelp as he struck her face with the back of his hand. “The Traders’ Association may be able to help you.” Thayne told Hazug. The Traders’ Association was a collection of human businessmen that were the closest thing to a government that Git Town possessed and it was they that Warboss Kromag held ultimately responsible for what happened there, “If you’re going to be staying here for any length of time then I’m guessing that you’ll be needing translators for the rest of your force and they can provide them.” Hazug nodded slowly. “I’ll be pickin’ up Salia and Sophie but I could do with a couple of more of ya wot speaks orkish.” He agreed. Thayne glanced at the timepiece on his wall. “They’ll be just starting a meeting now.” He said, “Perhaps we should get over there.” |
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