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Chapta 13 | |
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Da Raiders From Da Shadows Chapta 13 |
“So den,” one of Two Heads began, “Wot d’ya want to do now?” Aside from Cognailer who seemed oblivious to everything, the others around the truck looked at Hazug also. “Well we can’t keep on like dis.” Hazug said, “So far da only way we’ve found da eldar is to wait for dem to find us. We needs to start goin’ on da offensive. I reckon dat we is ‘eadin’ da right way, dat’s why we’ve run into ‘em twice so fast. But we needs more info, so I reckon dat we needs to beat it out of da prisoner.” Two Heads both smiled. “Now dat’s a
plan.” One of him said, “But dare’s more dan dat to think about.” “Like we ‘as lost some boys ‘ere and some of da other’s is ‘urt. One of ‘em could with findin’ a new arm. More importantly I reckon dat we needs new parts to fix dat beaky wagon.” “So where’s da nearest place wot we can get ‘em?” Hazug asked. “Nearest settlement detected north west of dis location.” Cognailer said. Two Heads looked at Hazug who looked first at Drazzok who just shrugged then Batrug who did the same. “’Ow does ya know dat?” Mek Batrug asked. “Emanations detected indicate distance of approximately forty-five thousand paces.” “Ema-wot-now?” Hazug asked then he looked at Batrug, “Wot did ‘e say. Ya knows I don’t speak mek.” “Emanations.”
Mek Batrug replied, “Stuff wots let out.” Sophie placed her hands over her nose and mouth and stepped away. “It means dare’s machines dare.” Batrug went on as he tried not to inhale too deeply. “Dat’s well out of da way.” Hazug said, “Can we get dare with da rhino in da state its in?” “We can tow it with da battlewagon.” Two Heads replied. “A temporary repair may be possible in da field.” Cognailer said, “Da vehicle is equipped with secondary motive controls.” “Ow long?” Hazug asked. “Less than an hour.” Cognailer replied. Hazug looked at Two Heads who shrugged. “May as well let ‘im try.” He said then the other one looked at Cognailer and said, “Go ‘ave a go. Ya got an hour.” “Interestin’ ‘ow ‘e knows all about git vehicles.” Batrug said, “Though I suppose dare is quite a lot on da other continent.” “Dat ain’t all wot’s interestin’ about ‘im.” Hazug said, “I learnt about markin’ time in hours from humans and ya all learnt ‘em from me. But where did ‘e learn ‘em from? Aint no humans where ‘e came from.” The orks looked at Cognailer as he calmly walked towards the damaged rhino. Silent until Drazzok broke wind again. “Dat lad aint right.” The weridboy said. “For once I agrees with ya.” Batrug replied. Mek Cognailer was as good as his word and in under an hour the rhino was running once more. “Top speed will be slower dan normal.” He said, “A result of sharin’ power between da tracks.” “So long as it
runs.” Hazug replied then he walked away from the rhino and towards his
truck. “Nah.” Hazug replied as he kicked the truck to life, “Since Cognailer knows where dis settlement is, we is followin’ ‘im for a change.” Lyanil had moved as quickly as she could across the uneven terrain, but she knew she had not been fast enough. Lord Shraycht would have released his ur-ghul tracker long before now and the sightless assassin would be on her trail. But Lyanil was confident that she was faster than her hunter and therein lay her salvation. All she had to do was keep ahead the ur-ghul long enough to reach the orks, retrieve the webway portal and return it to Lord Shraycht. Hopefully he would then be true to his word and call off the ur-ghul. The problem was that Lyanil was now where the orks had last been reported and they were gone. All that was left here were the broken remains of her wyches. Lyanil looked down at one of the corpses, mangled almost beyond recognition she saw that something large had been chewing on it. “Ignorant beasts!” she hissed. With the orks gone Lyanil instead began to search for any signs of where they had gone and it did not take long. The heavy ork vehicles had left deep furrows in the ground as they went and the tracks from all three led off in the same direction. Lyanil smiled. She was about to set off following the tracks when a she heard a sound on the wind, a mournful howling in the distance. The ur-ghul. Lyanil ran. It became obvious that Mek Cognailer had led the orks in the right direction when a glow over the horizon became visible in the darkening sky. “Is we dare yet master?” Ratish asked. “Nearly I reckon.” Hazug replied. After the glow came the noise. Even before the settlement was in sight the sound of machinery could be heard in the distance, a dull repetitive pounding. That was accompanied by something else, hard to pick out at first but it became clearer as the convoy went on. It was the sound of orks. “Dat nutter done good.” Said when Hazug’s truck crossed the peak of a hill and in the valley below them the settlement finally came into view. Like many ork population centres on the planet this one had clearly been built by the humans that ruled the planet before the invasion and in keeping with ork tradition the greenskins had taken what they wanted and let the rest to rot. Massive holes in the hillside surrounded by piles of dirt and rubble revealed this place to be a mining camp. The rhythmic mechanical pounding was the sound of great machines that took in what the orks and their gretchin workers dug from their mines and sorted out the heavier metals from the rubbish. Even at this distance gretchin could still be seen moving around the machines, but the orks were elsewhere. A cheer was heard. It came from a massive group of orks that was gathered in an open area near the centre of the settlement. “’Ang on a mo.” Hazug said, bringing his truck to a halt, “I wants to see wot we is dealin’ with ‘ere.” And he produced the tau viewing device. Through it he looked down at the crowd of orks. He saw that at the centre of the crowd was a hole the orks were all facing and in this hole were just two orks fighting one another. Each of them wielded a simple melee weapon that looked a lot like it was intended for breaking rocks and on their other arms each one had a thick metal plate that he used to parry their opponent’s strikes. Hazug scanned over the crowd that watched the combat and he saw that several others were equipped in the same way as the combatants, obviously waiting their turn to do battle with one another. One ork in particular caught his attention. Bigger than the others, he did not stand but sat on a large chair. This larger ork wore a metal mask over much of his face and on one of his arms he carried a massive power assisted claw. “I found da boss ‘ere.” Hazug said as he put the viewer away. Gorgoga Ironface smiled as he watched one of his boys knock his opponent to the ground and give him a good kicking. He had three teeth on that lad to win after all and if he did not perform as well as the nob wanted him to then Gorgoga would have words with him about how he was going to pay back those teeth. The sound of a horn blowing made Gorgoga turn his head and he looked up at the watchtower where he saw a gretchin frantically pointing to the hills. “Wot’s dat grot sayin’?” Gorgoga asked the ork beside him. “Dunno boss.” The ork replied. “Well go find out, I is watchin’ da fight.” Disappointed at having to miss out on the entertainment himself the ork nevertheless pushed his way through the crowd and ran to the watchtower. He clambered up and began to talk to the gretchin. The gretchin pointed again and the ork turned in that direction, then both the ork and the gretchin turned towards Gorgoga and began pointing into the hills. “I still can’t tell wot’s goin’ on.” Gorgoga said to himself and he stood up, “”Shuddup!” he bellowed and the crowd went silent and stared at him. Even the orks fighting stopped what they were doing, freezing in place with one of them with his tee poised to bite off one of his opponent’s ears. “Does anyone
know wot dey is sayin’?” Gorgoga asked as he still struggle to make out
what was being shouted at him from the tower. “Wot is it Spannerz?” Gorgoga asked. “Well it’s just dat we is all stood ‘ere tryin’ to ‘ear wot dey is sayin’ right?” “Yeah. So wot?” “Well since we can’t ‘ear ‘em from down ‘ere wot with all da noise of da rock smashas-“ “If dare’s a point ‘ere it better be good.” “Why don’t we just turn and look where dey is pointin’ boss?” Gorgoga considered this. “Good idea mek.” He said and in unison the crowd of orks turned to look where the lookout gretchin had been pointing all along. “Wagons!” Gorgoga yelled when he saw the vehicles making their way down the trail from the hilltops, “Get to ya stations lads! We’ll show ‘em!” “Dis don’t look good.” Hazug said when he saw the ork crowd break up and rush towards the perimeter wall of the settlement. A she watched many of the orks clambered onto the wall and readied weapons. Here and there small groups of gretchin, encouragingly whipped by orks dragged larger weapons into place, “Dis don’t look good at all.” Hazug
accelerated. “For dad fight
stupid git!” Ratish snapped. “Wot for?” Drazzok asked, “Let dem blow up first.” Hazug ignored the weirdboy and swerved wildly. Using his truck’s superior speed he easily drew level the rhino and as he came up alongside the vehicle he waved wildly to the gunner sticking out of the top of the vehicle. “Stop!” he yelled. The gunner looked back at him and frowned. “I said stop!” Hazug shouted. The rhino’s gunner looked down into his vehicle and said something to the driver. Then he looked back at Hazug and raised his hand in an insulting fashion. “Snotling brained wazzok!” Hazug snapped, “I’ll shove dem fingers somewhere ‘e won’t like it.” And he put his foot down on the gas pedal. The truck increased its speed and easily drove past the rhino. The gunner of which began gesticulating his displeasure. “’Ang on!” Hazug yelled at his passengers and he slammed his foot down on the brake and spun the steering wheel. With sparks flying from the brakes the truck spun around, throwing up a great cloud of dirt from the trail. Behind the truck the rhino ground to a halt also and behind that the battlewagon did the same. A hatchway on the battlewagon opened and Two Heads and Mek Batrug emerged and approached Hazug. “Wot’s ‘appenin’?” Two Heads demanded, Why ‘as we stopped?” “Because dey is getting’ ready to shoot at us.” Hazug replied, pointing towards the settlement below. By this time it’s fortification appeared fully crewed by orks and numerous artillery pieces could be seen poking out of holes in the wall, “Dat aint no poxy caravan wot aint got da firepower to dent ya wagons, dat's a fort. I just reckoned dat it would be a good idea if some of wandered down and ‘ad a word with ‘em before we was killed.” “Does sound like quite a good idea.” Mek Batrug said. “Yeah it does don’t it?” Two Heads replied, “Go on den Hazug, it’s your idea. Ya may as well do it yaself. I’ll stick with me wagons.” “Right den.” Hazug said, “Batrug get in me truck. When I waves ya can all follow me down dare.” “’Ang on a mo.” Drazzok said suddenly and he began climb down from the truck, “I is comin’ with ya Hazug.” “Wot?” Hazug said. It was not like the weirdboy to volunteer for anything. “Well I aint bein’ in no truck driven by ‘im.” Drazzok replied, pointing at Batrug. “I shall clear da way master!” Thuggrim called out from the gun mount and he too disembarked from the truck. As soon as his feet hit the ground he began to stride confidently down the trail towards the settlement, “Make way!” he yelled, even though the trail was empty, “Da great Drazzok approaches! Make way for da greatest of all weirdoes.” “We best get after ‘im.” Drazzok said, “’E’ll be upset if ’e ‘as to run back ‘ere and start over.” Gorgoga watched the trio of orks that now approached the gatehouse of his fort. As a far as he could tell in the poor lighting all three were of different clans, though all of them seemed larger than regular boys, at least two of them were fully-fledged nobs. The one in front that was yelling something unintelligible at this distance wore the blue and yellow of the Bad Moons. Bad Moons often visited the fort to trade, but they tended to come on squiggoths and neither of the other two was of this clan. One of them wore clothing that was simple even by ork standards, indicating a Snake Bite. Worryingly he carried a metal staff and was covered in totems. The last thing Gorgoga wanted was for some weirdboy to come here and cause of his lads’ heads to explode. But it was the clothing of the final ork that Gorgoga stared at the hardest. The dull colour and random pattern made him more difficult to pick out in the gloom and that meant only one thing. A Blood Axe. “Git lover.” Gorgoga said, snarling. Climbing down from the top of the wall, Gorgoga walked up to a group ork his orks. All of them were dressed in the same dark colour as he was and most of them carried a large shield in addition to the armour plates on their bodies. “Come on me lads.” Gorgoga said as he picked up a shield of his own, “Let’s go see wot dey wants.” Then he walked towards the gate and shouted, “Open up, I is goin’ outside.” |
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