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Da Isle Of Doom Chapta 3 | |
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Chapta 3 |
“Are we going on a trip?” Sophie asked when she saw Hazug unrolling the map. “Master and Ratish is.” Ratish snapped, “No need for useless gits or pansies. Ya can stay ‘ere and-” “I is takin’ ya all.” Hazug interrupted without looking up from the map, “I’ll be takin’ a warband to dis place and I don’t wants to be worryin’ about cookin’ and dat sort of stuff.” “So why are we going?” Salia asked. “Because da boss dare aint done wot dey was supposed to.” Hazug replied, “I needs to find out if ought’s ‘appened to ‘em or if dey just reckons dat dey don’t need to be followin’ da boss’s orders no more. Either way dare’s likely to be some fightin’ to be ‘ad so I needs to figure out wot I needs and get da boss to let me ‘ave it.” “Do you think its more necrons?” Sophie asked. “But we destroyed them all didn’t we?” Salia then asked, looking at her sister. “Master killed ‘em all.” Ratish said. “That’s what we thought the last time.” Sophie pointed out, “Maybe there are more of them buried here. Look, the map says that the orks were drilling. Perhaps the drills woke something up.” “Master beat da metal lads twice, master will do it again.” Ratish announced. “We don’t know its necrons.” Hazug said, “But just in case I’ll be askin’ for some battlewagons. We’d need ‘em anyway if it turns out dat Boss Grath ‘as decided to take on da big boss.” “What about Two Heads?” Sophie asked, referring to a member of the Evil Suns clan that Hazug had often worked with. “Aye, we’ll
ask ‘im.” Hazug said, “But we’ll need more dan just one wagon for dis.
Plus meks.” “But I don’t think he likes me.” She said. “Drazzok don’t like anyone.” Hazug replied. “Just make sure you take him something to eat.” Sophie said, “He’ll be nice enough to you if you just feed him.” “And remind ‘im dat ‘e’ll get paid.” Hazug added, “Drazzok likes ‘is teeth as much as ‘e likes ‘is grub. Tell ‘im da boss is payin’.” Then he looked into the corner of the room where Mayleth sat in the shadows, “Wot about ya?” he said, “Aint ya got nought to say about dis?” “I will go where my master commands me.” Mayleth replied, smiling. “Aye. Dat ya will.” Kazkal read down the list of troops and equipment Hazug wanted to take to Selus. “Coptas? Wotcha want coptas for?” he asked. “Because Grath ‘ad some boss. I wants to be able to fight anythin’ dat ‘e ‘ad, so dat means takin’ so of everythin’ meself. Plus I wants to use ‘em to get ashore.” Kazkal frowned. “But ya’s takin’ wagons.” He said, pointing to the list where Hazug had written ‘Battlewagons’. There was no quantity written beside this, there were no quantities on the list at all. Hazug considered it likely that no matter what quantity he wrote down the warboss would give him less so instead he was asking for as many as could be made available, “’Ow is ya plannin’ to lift wagons with coptas? Ya’d need three or four just to lift one wagon.” “I aint gonna go ashore at just one place boss.” Hazug said, “I wants to send da wagons ashore on boats while I takes some lads further inshore to take a look around.” “Is dis one of ya sneaky Blood Axe plans?” Kazkal asked and Hazug smiled. Kazkal continued to look down the list and when he got near the bottom it changed from listing weapons and equipment to the names of two specific orks, both members of Kazkal’s inner circle, “Gorgoga and Nuzzug?” he asked and both orks looked directly at the warboss when they heard their names called out. “Gorgoga knows minin’ boss.” Hazug said, “I reckon dat if dares any fightin’ to be done near da drills den wot ‘e knows may come in ‘andy.” “And wot about me?” Nuzzug asked as he pushed his way to the front of the assembled orks. Nuzzug was a large mekboy, one of the orks’ technical caste. “Ya made me dat liftin’ gas bomb.” Hazug said, turning to look at the big mek, “Dare’s a chance dat another load of necrons ‘as woken up. If dey ‘as den I’ll need another bomb makin’ so we can blow up dare fort.” Nuzzug scowled. He knew that now the possibility of a necron attack had been raised it was inevitable that the warboss would send him with Hazug and that meant that he would have to take orders from the hated Blood Axe. Kazkal produced a low growling sound as he looked back at the list. Hazug’s demands were not ridiculous. Certainly he was asking for a sizeable force to be placed at his disposal, but the warboss had to admit that Hazug was correct when he said that he needed a strong enough force to defeat Grath Da Bludgeoner should it turn out that the junior warboss had rebelled and the threat of the necrons was too great to ignore. “Alright den.” Kazkal said, handing the list to the human servant standing beside him, “Be at da docks first thing tomorrow. I’ll make sure dat dis stuff is dare waitin’ for ya. Frurgen’s boat’ll take ya to Selus. ‘E knows da way.” The next morning the docks were a hive of activity, with panicked gretchin rushing about trying to get everything loaded onto Frurgen’s vessel before either the ship’s owner or any of the passengers, displeased with not being further ahead in the queue to be loaded decided to take out their frustrations on them. “Move!” Hazug yelled from the driver’s seat of his truck at a mob of orks who were stood back watching. Hazug noticed teeth being exchanged and he guessed that they were not hare as part of his force, but were instead entertaining themselves by betting on what would get broken next and how many gretchin would be crushed beneath it. Hazug scowled. He was in charge of this expedition and if such betting was going on he should be getting a cut of the winnings, “Ratish, clear a path.” He said, his scowl turning to a grin and he pointed up to the top of the truck’s roll cage were a belt fed weapon was mounted. “Yes master.” The gretchin replied and he began to climb up to the gun. “Oh no.” Salia said and she clamped her hands over her ears and closed her eyes just before Ratish fired a short burst over the heads of the orks in front of the truck. “Stupid grot.” Hazug muttered. “What do you mean?” Sophie asked. “Well ‘e missed, didn’t ‘e?” Hazug replied. The gunfire did however attract the attention of every greenskin at the docks, with orks reaching for weapons and gretchin diving for cover. There was a crash as a pallet of ammunition being lifted aboard Frurgen’s vessel was dropped and split wide open, spilling bullets all over the dock. “Out of me way or I’ll flatten ya!” Hazug yelled at the orks still blocking his way and he took his foot off the brake, allowing the truck to lurch forwards. Immediately the orks moved aside, more concerned that Ratish had now lowered the angle of the truck’s weapon towards them. Hazug accelerated sharply and drove through the gap in the mob of orks. As he went past he took hold of the large spanner that he kept handy to assist in starting the temperamental vehicle and swung at the head of one of them, “Never get in me way!” he snapped as the orks staggered, clutching at his bleeding head. “Look!” Sophie exclaimed, pointing, “There’s Two Heads and Mek Batrug.” Turning his
head Hazug saw a pair of armoured vehicles painted bright red. One was
clearly human built despite its extensive modifications since falling into
the hands of the orks, while the larger one was a heavily armed half-track
of purely ork construction. Beside these stood a group of orks led by a
large nob with two heads; this was Two Heads Smasha Butt Face himself.
Right now one of the heads looked to be giving orders to one of the ork
mob while the other was talking to the mekboy standing beside him. Hazug
drove straight for Two Heads and pulled up nearby. “Hi dare Hazug.” One of Two Heads replied as the other turned to face him also and added, “So wot can ya tell me den? Ya git just said dat dare was fightin’ and lootin’ to be done.” Hazug glanced at Sophie as she and Salia disembarked from the truck. “Lootin’?” he asked. “Well I told him he’d be paid.” She replied. “Up front.” One of Two Heads said and he held out a hand expectantly. “When we is on da boat.” Hazug said, “If I starts payin’ everyone now den ‘alf of ‘em’ll scarper dare an’ den.” “Good point dat.” Batrug said, “Too many thievin’ Death Skulls about.” And he glared at the nearest ork with blue warpaint on his face, “Yeah, I is watchin’ ya.” He said. Then he turned back to Hazug, “I rounded up some of da younger mek lads an’ all.” He said, “I figured takin’ some burnas along would ‘elp out. But ‘ow come Nuzzug’s goin’ with us? ‘E went aboard just before ya got ‘ere with a bunch of runts carryin’ ‘is stuff.” “Didn’t even stop to say ‘ello.” One of Two Heads commented forlornly. “Because we may need another of dem liftin’ gas bombs.” Hazug replied. “It could be necrons.” Salia said and both of Two Heads and Batrug frowned. “So dat’s why
ya is takin’ all dese wagons.” Batrug said. “I seen two
other battlewagons other dan mine.” Two Heads said before the other added,
“Plus dare’s some big trakks an’ all. One of ‘em looked to ‘ave a really
big kannon on it.” “Den ya got plenty of lads to rush in and start kickin’.” One of Two Heads then said, “More dan an ‘undred by my count. But dare is one thing ya may need to watch out for.” “Wot?” Hazug asked. “Dem.” The other one of Two Heads answered and both of him nodded towards a cluster of large orks standing around a truck that looked to be in a poor state of repair, even for an ork vehicle. From their size they were clearly nobs and from the feral look of their clothing as well as the numerous totems they had hanging from themselves they were obviously Snake Bites. The Snake Bite clan was the most socially conservative of all orks, tolerating technology only so far as it allowed them to kill things and their tolerance for aliens, humans in particular, was next to nil. Given their history of dealings with humans orks from the Blood Axe clan, such as Hazug, were regarded as being little better. However, Hazug did have a couple of things going for him. Firstly he was acting under the direct orders of Warboss Kazkal Kromag and every ork here knew it, so to challenge him would be seen by some as challenging the authority of the warboss. Secondly Snake Bites held their weirdboy shamans in very high regard, seeing them as touched by the gods Gork and Mork and Hazug’s plan included bringing such an individual along with him. However, as Hazug looked around there was no sign of him. “Where’s Drazzok?” he asked, “Aint ‘e ‘ere yet?” “Drazzok?” Batrug snapped, “Aw, dat runt never said ‘e was comin’ an’ all.” It was at that point that the air was filled with a bizarre droning sound. “I believe the psyker is here my master.” Mayleth said from the back of the truck as she looked back the way they had come. As Hazug also turned to look that way he saw an approaching mob that was unconventional even for orks. Whereas ork mobs were almost universally drawn from a single clan and thus wore clothing of a similar pattern and colour this group wore a mix of colours and in some cases individual orks wore items that could have belonged to multiple clans. At the head of this group marched a one-eyed ork, his other covered with a leather patch. Behind him came a pair of orks carrying banners high above their heads. One of these was crudely written in the orkish script and read ‘DA MOST WISE AND POWERFUL DRA’ before running out of room while the other was faded from age and in the human language it read ‘BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE.’ Upon seeing this both Salia and Sophie smiled at one another. After the banner bearers came the source of the sound where two more strangely dressed orks each carried what looked like an inflated animal skin with several tubes protruding from it. Squigpipes. The musicians were blowing into one of the pipes and moving their fingers seemingly at random over holes in one of the others in their effort to play them. But it was in the middle of this group that the strangest figure of all walked along, leaning on a log copper staff that like his clothing was decorated with totems and small bells to warn of his approach. Of course at the present time there was no need for such a warning, the poor playing of the squigpipes by his escorts was probably letting every ork for half a mile know exactly where he was. “Hazug!” Drazzok called out, waving from behind the wall of oddly dressed orks, “Dis bunch of loonies turned up after ya git left last night. I ‘opes ya don’t mind ‘em taggin’ along cos I couldn’t get ‘em to sod off.” The orks were madboys, orks whose sensitivity to their species’ natural gestalt psychic field had resulted in serious psychological problems, often presenting themselves as random personality and behavioural traits. Because of their heightened sensitivity to the orkish psychic field they tended to gather around weirdboys, just as this group had done with Drazzok, whether the weirdboy appreciated it or not. Of course they were also inclined to simply wander off again at random, again regardless of what the weirdboy had to say about it. “Unit ‘alt!” Thuggrim Da Mad, the one-eyed ork leading the madboys bellowed and he immediately came to a stop. Behind him the others were slow in processing the order and continued marching. “Dat looks nasty.” One of Two Heads commented as the marching orks topped over one another, landing in a disorganised heap. Ignoring this Drazzok calmly walked over the pile of fallen orks, sudden surprised yelps coming from those whose faces he trod on. “Like I says,” Drazzok said upon reaching Hazug, seemingly oblivious to the distress of the madboys who were now attempting to pick themselves up. A process not made any easier by the banner bearers wanting to keep their banners held vertically and the pipers attempting to keep playing, “Dey showed up last night and Thuggrim went and organised ‘em into a proper mob. Now dey is followin’ me about everywhere.” “But isn’t this the first place you’ve been since they showed up?” Salia asked and Drazzok glared at her. One of the
madboys suddenly came rushing up to Drazzok, jogging on the spot when he
reached him. Sophie looked
in the direction the ork was aiming. “If I moves, da squig’ll get us all.” The ork mumbled from the side of his mouth, keeping his lips as still as he could. “What squig?” Salia asked, “Cuddles is in the truck still.” “Dare aint no squig.” Drazzok said, “I’d ‘ave been ‘ere ages ago if we didn’t ‘ave to keep stoppin’ while dey was doin’ dis.” Then he looked back at the madboys, “Oi, Thuggrim! One of ya loonies is doin’ it again.” “Don’t worry oh great one.” Thuggrim replied as he rushed forwards with two other madboys, “We’ll get ‘im sorted.” And with a wave from Thuggrim the other two madboys simply lifted the frozen one off the ground and began to carry him towards the boarding plank. As the madboys boarded the ship, Frurgen came striding back down the plank. “’E don’t look ‘appy.” One of Two Heads said as the ship’s owner came closer. “Too right I aint ‘appy.” Frurgen responded sharply, “Look at all dis stuff. Once its loaded dare won’t be any room for payin’ cargo.” Then he looked at Salia and Sophie and added, “Da boss never said ought about gits. Or a pansy.” And he glanced at Mayleth. “Yeah well da boss said ya was to take me and all of da warband to Selus. So dat’s just wotcha gonna do.” Hazug replied. “And if I says no?” Mayleth
suddenly go to her feet and leapt from the truck to land beside Frurgen, a
long curved dagger in her hand before she landed. Before Frurgen could
react the blade was pressed up against his throat. “Good aint she?” he said, “Ya ought to see all da teeth she’s won in da pits. Best thing is since I owns ‘er I gets to keep ‘em all. Now is ya gonna shut up and let us get our stuff loaded or shall I start pluckin’ da teeth from ya ‘ead after she’s cut it off?” Frurgen’s frown deepened. “Ya pets stays with ya at all times.” He said, “If finds ‘em alone dey is getting’ chucked overboard.” Mayleth looked from Frurgen to Hazug and when Blood Axe nodded she withdrew the blade and stepped back. Frurgen ran his fingers over his throat, checking to see if Mayleth had cut him and then he stormed off. |
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