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Chapta 12 | |
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Da Raiders From Da Shadows Chapta 12 |
The cold water hurled into Mayleth’s face brought her back to consciousness. She would have yelled insults at whoever had the nerve to do such as thing to her but it was immediately apparent to her that her mouth had been filled by a rag stuffed inside. She found herself dangled from one of the ork vehicles. Her arms had been bound to the roll cage of the lightest vehicle, stretched out either side of her. Her hair now hung loose instead of being braided. It seemed that the orks had taken the wire that she threaded through it. This was typical of the creatures; she thought to herself, they would steal anything. Her armour was gone also, though she had worn little of it to begin with. Apart from the tight fitting coverings at her waist and chest the orks taken everything from her. Looking down, Mayleth saw a group or orks along with the human she had attacked standing there. She tried to lash out at them with her legs, but all that did was demonstrate that they had been tied to the ork vehicle also and she was totally helpless. “She’s awake Hazug.” Sophie said as she put the bucket down. “She?” Two Heads said. “Yeah, it’s a she.” Hazug said at da shape of ‘er. It’s a bit like Sophie dontcha think? So it’s a she.” Of course for ‘she’ and ‘her’ Hazug had to mix in Gothic pronouns as he always did in such circumstances, there being no direct equivalent in the ork language. The other orks gathered looked closely at the bound eldar and then turned to Sophie and stared. “Stop staring.” Sophie said self-consciously. “Get it to
answer some questions den.” One of Two Heads said. “Wot makes ya so sure?” the other one of Two Heads asked. “Well cos its got dat rag in its mouth of course.” Drazzok replied and he shook his head, “Orks today. Dey is well thick.” He muttered. “Ratish, do somethin’ about dat.” Hazug said and Ratish quickly climbed up onto the truck’s roll cage and plucked the rag from Mayleth’s mouth. Immediately she began to scream insults at the orks. “Wot’s it sayin’?” one of Two Heads asked, then the other one snorted and added, “Yeah, aint no good if we don’t know wot its sayin’.” “Dat’s wot I reckon dis is for.” Hazug said and he held up the tiny box he had taken from around Mayleth’s neck. From it hung not only the strap that had held it in place but also a short length of springy wire that led to an oddly shaped plug that had been in her ear, “Wotcha reckon Batrug?” “I reckon ya is right Hazug.” The mekboy replied, “I’ve opened up one of ‘em and dey looks a bit like talkin’ machines but wot ‘as got some extra gubbins.” Hazug stepped closer to Mayleth and fastened the device back around her neck before inserting the plug into her ear. “Release me!” The statement came from the tiny box now around Mayleth’s neck and was delivered without emotion, but the way in which the wych had yelled in her own tongue immediately before suggested she was not so calm, “I will kill you all!” “Dare ya go.” Hazug said, “Now we can all ‘ave a nice little chat.” Mayleth screamed and shook her head. “She aint ‘appy is she?” Two Heads said and he prodded her, “Skinny too. No muscle.” Hazug held up the webway portal device and Mayleth suddenly went quiet. “So dis is significant to ya den.” Hazug said smiling, “Wot is it?” Mayleth just glared down at Hazug. Hazug tossed the device into the air and caught in one hand. Then he began to throw it from hand to hand and Mayleth snarled. “Is it fragile?” Hazug asked then he looked over his shoulder to where Cuddles was chewing on an eldar’s leg, “Cuddles! Come ‘ere!” The squig looked around then went back to chewing on the leg. “Ratish, go get ‘im.” “Yes master.” Ratish replied and he ran to the squig. The orks standing beside the truck all watched as the gretchin attempted to coax the creature to them. Frustrated at his lack of success Ratish instead grabbed hold of the leg that the squig was chewing and began to drag it towards Hazug. Cuddles dug his feet into the ground and growled, but did not let go of the leg. “Ratish bring ‘im master.” Ratish said, out of breath when he finally reached Hazug. “Good.” Hazug said and he then grabbed hold of the leg himself and wrenched it from Cuddles’ mouth. Then he looked back at Mayleth, “Dey say dat ya ‘as to teach tricks to squigs while dey is still young,” He said, “and today I feels like teachin’ ‘im to fetch.” At which point he spun around and raised the arm in which he held the webway portal. “No don’t!” Mayleth snapped. “So,” Hazug said turning back around, “ya really don’t want dis thing breakin’ do ya?” “It is essential.” Mayleth said, “Release me and let me take it. Then we will be gone from this world.” “Ya needs it to leave?” Hazug asked, “Why?” “It opens the
way to the webway. With the primary gate destroyed by your aircraft it is
our only way off this world. As long as you have it Lord Shraycht will be
coming for you. He will see that you suffer for taking it.” In response the Evil Suns cheered and Two Heads held his heads aloft and let out a cry of, “Waaargh!” with them both. “Looks like da lads aint too bothered about dat.” Hazug said to Mayleth as the Evil Suns cheered, “Still, it was good of ya to tell us just ‘ow vital dis thingy is.” Mayleth
screamed and tugged at her bonds. “Shut ‘er up grot.” Hazug said and Ratish climbed back up onto the trucks roll cage and stuck the rag back into Mayleth’s mouth. The mandrakes had returned alone Velurill knew this. But Lord Shraycht was still in the chamber he had taken over as his personal quarters and had left instructions not to be disturbed. Still, even though the mandrakes refused to discuss exactly what had transpired it was obvious to Velurill that the wyches had failed to recover the webway portal from the orks. This was all Lord Shraycht’s fault, Velurill reasoned. He brought the kabal to this world and had now stranded them here. What was needed was new leadership. His leadership. So with his squad of four trueborn warriors behind him, Dracon Velurill made his bid for power. “Just one guard.” The warrior said having taken a quick glance round the corner at the single sslyth bodyguard that stood guard over the doorway to the archon’s quarters. The four-armed snake creature could not be bribed or reasoned with, even after the archon’s death. It would have to be killed. “There will be more inside. The archon will not be without t least one of his whores. This must be done quickly.” Velurill whispered to his men, “We do not have the time for the poisons of our splinter rifles to take effect. Lhastur, bring forth the shredder.” Quickly and quietly Lhastur moved to the corner and brought the bulky weapon she carried to her shoulder. Velurill nodded at her and without a word she stepped out from behind the corner and fired at the sslyth. The cloud of monofilaments launched from the weapon expanded to rapidly fill the entire cross-section of the corridor so there was no way that the attack could miss. Some of the filaments caught up in the armour that protected the sslyth’s vital organs, but before the massive alien could react the remainder of the deadly sharp filaments sliced through his flesh and reduced him to nothing but a pile of diced meat and bone fragments on the floor. Velurill beckoned for his troops to follow him and ran down the corridor to the doorway to Lord Shraycht’s quarters. Like everything else in the structure the dark eldar had claimed as their headquarters, the door and its locking mechanism were of human construction. In other words they were primitive. Velurill pressed a tiny metal tube against the door where its lock was located then stepped back and drew his sword. There was a ’crack’ and a ‘fizz’ as the tube broke open and forced a highly corrosive chemical into the lock. Velurill delivered a single sharp kick to the door at this point and it flew open. Velurill was not the first one through the door; instead two of his trueborn had that honour. As soon as they burst into his private bedchamber, Lord Shraycht rolled out of bed naked and reached for a weapon. The two trueborn were about to open fire when one of the lhamaeans that shared his bed flew towards them, her fingers outstretched. The nearest trueborn battered the female aside with the butt of his gun, but not before she scratched his face with her fingernail. The scratch was tiny, not even breaking his skin fully. But it was enough to allow the poison from beneath her nails into his system and the trueborn dropped his gun immediately, then collapsed in agony. The second trueborn whirled around and fired at the lhamaean, putting a cluster of holes between her breasts. Before he turn back to face Lord Shraycht, the archon had reached his weapon and there was a sharp ‘crack’ as the whip-like agoniser wrapped itself around the trueborn’s legs then pulled them out from under him. The energy infused weapon burnt the trueborn’s flesh away in moments, the damage spreading up his legs and torso until he was consumed by it. The element of
surprise now lost, Velurill decided that brute force was called
for. The last two of the trueborn warriors under Velurill’s command followed him into the room to support their leader. Lhastur cast aside her shredder and instead reached for one of the fallen trueborn’s rifles. Before she could lay a hand on it she heard a hissing form above and she glanced up just in time to see the second of Lord Shraycht’s sslyth bodyguards dropping from amongst the pipes that criss-crossed the ceiling. She opened her mouth to yell a warning, but before she could make a sound the sslyth rammed his sword down her throat. Velurill and his final trueborn both turned their attention to this new threat from above. Velurill reacted the quickest and fired a shot from his splinter pistol at the sslyth, only to see it ricochet off his armour. The sslyth himself landed on top of Lhastur’s corpse and wrenched his sword free, spilling her innards across the floor. Then he swung the heavy blade towards the last of Velurill’s trueborn warriors. The dark eldar leapt backwards out of reach, but the sslyth then used a pair of its limbs to raise a short carbine and fired. The rapid burst of crystal shards ripped through the trueborn’s throat and he was dead before the toxins they carried could even take effect. Velurill prepared to fire a second shot into the back of the sslyth’s head when he felt a blade at his throat. The second of Lord Shraycht’s lhamaeans had slid from beneath the covers of the bed and was ready to spill his blood. Velurill stood still as the sslyth slithered across the floor towards him and ripped his weapons from his grip. “Why?” Lord Shraycht said as he began to dress. “Why not?” Velurill replied before his throat was cut. A drop in temperature made Lord Shraycht spin around to witness a mandrake materialise. Suspecting another attack, his bodyguards moved in. “Lord archon.” The shadowy creature hissed and Lord Shraycht gave the signal for his protectors to halt. “What is it mandrake?” he asked. “The wyches failed.” “What?” Lord Shraycht bellowed with rage. Then he turned to his bodyguards, ignoring the fact that he was leaving his back exposed to the mandrake, “Find Lyanil,” He ordered, “and gather everyone. I want them to witness this.” The dark eldar gathered together in one of the larger chambers of the complex. Lyanil found that she was actually the last to arrive. It seemed that the archon had planned it that way. As she made her way towards the front of the crowd she noticed that none of the dark eldar made eye contact with her, instead they averted their gazes and grinned. She did not like this. At the far side of the chamber was a stage on which Lord Shraycht sat with his courtiers around him and Lyanil noticed that two were missing. When she reached the very front of the crowd of dark eldar standing before their archon she saw a row of five severed heads at the edge of the stage. She recognised them immediately, Velurill and his trueborn. It seemed that there had been an attempted coup. A sloppy one. Surely the archon could not blame her for this? “Your wyches failed Lyanil me.” Lord Shraycht said, staring her directly at her, “You failed me.” In her mind Lyanil pictured a sixth head on the stage. Her own. “Come closer.” Lord Shraycht said and he stood up form his seat and walked to the edge of the stage. He reached down and scratched Lyanil’s face, drawing blood. Lyanil’s heart pounded as she covered the scratch with her hand. She felt nothing from the scratch. If the archon had placed poison on his nails then she would be feeling the effects by now. Unless of course the surviving lhamaean had come with something more insidious for her master. Lord Shraycht crossed the stage to where one of his courtiers stood. The creature was not a dark eldar; in fact it did not even appear to be sentient. But Lyanil knew otherwise. The eyeless creature sniffed at the air as Lord Shraycht approached him and held out the finger that had her blood on it for the thing to examined. “You have one hour Lyanil.” Lord Shraycht said without looking at her, “Then I release the ur-ghul. Bring me back my portal.” Turning on her heels, Lyanil fled ran from the chamber, forcing her way through the crowd that sought to slow her down out of spite. |
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