|
Chapta 2 | |
|
Da Raiders From Da Shadows Chapta 2 |
Hazug Throatslitter of the Blood Axe clan ignored the gunfire around him to take a bite from the pie he had just been handed by his human servant, Sophie. “’Ave ya added somethin’ different to dis?” he asked as another shell flew overhead and detonated inside a building further down the street. But rather than answer Sophie instead ducked beneath Hazug’s truck for cover. Hazug shrugged and turned towards the larger armoured vehicle parked beside his own. “Oi! Two Heads!” he bellowed, “Any chance of a moments peace while I eats?” There was silence from the armoured vehicle for a few seconds before a hatch on the turret opened and a large two-headed ork appeared from it. This was Two-Heads Smasha Butt Face of the Evil Suns clan. Like all of his clan he was obsessed with speed and though his deformity had caused many orks to shun him in the past there was no denying the fact that the extra teeth he grew had made him wealthy enough to purchase his battlewagon sooner than many owners of similar vehicles. Plus the fact that he had been attacked for being different had caused him to become an experienced and formidable opponent. “Is dare food?” one of the heads asked as the other one just grinned and licked its lips. Hazug reached into the back of his truck. “Yeah.” he said as he lifted up a large basket, “Pies. Sophie made ‘em. Dey is good.” Two Heads looked back down into the vehicle with both heads. “’Old ya fire lads!” one head shouted before the other added, “Grubs up!” Two Heads then climbed back down into the battlewagon. There was the sound of orks moving about inside the vehicle for a short while before the main access ramp at the rear dropped open with a loud ‘clang’ as it hit the concrete road. Two Heads entire mob then cam rushing out of the open hatchway, lead by the nob himself and gathered around Hazug. The Blood Axe nob lowered the basket and looked beneath his vehicle. “Come on Sophie,” he said, “get ya self out ‘ere and serve." Sophie crawled out from beneath the truck and took the basket from Hazug while the Evil Suns orks jostled to get closer. Most humans would find be in such close proximity to orks unnerving, but Sophie had spent most of her life around the creatures and had become used to their ways. Being a Blood Axe, the clan known for its open dealings with human civilisation, Hazug was a much better master to her than others and the fear of offending him caused other orks to treat her better also. One at a time she took the pies from the basket and handed them out, remembering to start with Two Heads. He was the largest of the orks present and that brought him first go at anything he wanted. “Be careful.” Sophie said as she passed out the food, “I found some chillis at the market. They’re hot.” One of the Evil Suns snorted. “Bah!” he exclaimed, “Gits aint got no stomach.” And he inserted the pie he had just been given into his mouth whole and crushed it between his teeth. The other orks watched him carefully and were rewarded as his eyes opened wide and his bulging cheeks began to turn from dirty green to dull red. “Yearh!” he yelled, spitting out the remains of pie as he did so. Then, as the other orks roared with laughter he forced his way between them and rushed back towards the battlewagon. Just inside the open hatchway a container of liquid could be seen and the ork grabbed it and lifted it up. “’Ere Hodrug,” one of Two Heads began, “be careful cos dat aint water-” But before he could finish Hodrug had open the container and tipped up over his open mouth, “-its extra fuel.” Hodrug screamed again before dropping the container on his foot. This produced another yell and he grabbed his foot and began to hop about. All the while the other orks just stood back and watched. “Look at dat!” another of the Evil Suns shouted as he pointed at his comrade, “Hodrug can’t even ‘andle git cookin’!” Suddenly, above the laughter Hazug made out a high pitched voice. “Master! Master!” it called and Hazug looked towards the source to see a grime covered gretchin running down the street towards him. He was waving a parchment that it clutched in one grubby hand. “Master, Ratish bring news for ya.” Ratish added and he passed the parchment to Hazug then it looked at Sophie, “See, I do more for ya dan da git.” He then hissed. “Bad news?” one of Two Heads enquired while the other chewed. “Its from Koruk. ‘E says dat one of ‘is wagons just got crushed by a buildin’ fallin’ on it.” “Lot of dat ‘appenin’.” Two Heads replied, “Da gits around ‘ere didn’t build ‘em too well. Dey just keeps fallin’ down.” “Yeah, well dat makes four wagons we’ve lost so far,” Hazug said as he glanced at several other parchments he had been given earlier, “plus about a dozen bikes and fifty or so lads.” “Has anyone actually seen any of the rebels yet?” Sophie asked. The area of the city they were currently in was located on the opposite side of the riverbank to that occupied by the orks and the enclave of humans that served them. This place had been ignored for much of the thirty or so years since the orks had invaded this world and they were only interested in it now because a group of humans had used it as a base of operations for their plans to attack the orks and return the old Imperial Governor to power. Hazug looked down at Ratish and the gretchin shook his head. “No one’s said anythin’ master.” Ratish replied. “Doesn’t look like it den.” Hazug said as he looked back at the parchments. “So we’ve lost fifty troops without even seeing any signs of the enemy?” Sophie said and Hazug nodded. “Could be
worse.” Two Heads commented. A low rumbling sound interrupted the orks and as one they turned to see a massive armoured vehicle lumbering down the street towards them, its heavy tracks ripping up the poorly maintained road surface. “Da boss.” One of Two Heads said, before the other one added, “Everyone look busy.” The enormous vehicle ground to a halt near the cluster of orks and a massive example of the species climbed out of a side hatch. This was Warlord Kazkal Kromag, the largest and thus most powerful ork on the planet. “Hazug,” he said with a smile, “’ow’s da battle goin’?” “It aint a battle yet boss.” Hazug replied before the noise of a volley of artillery fire in the distance interrupted him, “We aint seen any of da humans yet.” “Wot about dis one?” Kazkal asked, pointing at Sophie. “Dat’s Sophie boss.” Hazug answered, “ya ‘ave met ‘er before.” Kazkal leaned closer to Sophie, towering over her. “Hmmm.” He said, scratching his chin, “Maybe I ‘ave. Gits all looks da same to me.” Then he saw the basket, “Wotcha got dare?” he asked. “Pies.” Sophie replied, “Would you like one?” Kazkal smiled and reached into the basket. When he withdrew his massive hand there were several pies all mashed together in it. “Now Hazug,” Kazkal said, turning towards the Blood Axe, “’ave ya ‘eard anythin’ from Dugrut recently?” “Dugrut? No boss. Why?” “Well no-one’s ‘eard from ‘im at all since I sent ‘im to blow up dat pansy portal thingy dat ya found.” “No one?”
Hazug repeated, “But ya sent ‘im ages ago.” “Your neck or ours?” one of the Evil Suns orks asked, noting that the warboss’s neckline was significantly higher off the ground than his own was. Without looking the warboss reached out a hand and poked the ork in the eye. “So anyway Hazug,” he went on, “I wants ya to go now and make sure dat da portal ‘as been blown up properly. I’ll look after things ‘ere. Wot d’ya say?” “Yes boss.”
Hazug replied, knowing that it was the only answer he could safely
give. “Lord, we cannot stay here.” Velurill spoke, kneeling before Lord Shraycht. He was not alone, two other dracons knelt beside him and Velurill was well aware that they were watching for any sign of weakness from him, just as he was watching them. He knew that his rivals would be hoping to twist his words to indicate that he had no confidence in Lord Shraycht but what he said was true. The denizens of Commorragh did not dig in and fight static, defensive battles. Their powerful yet fragile technology was optimised for hit and fade tactics and keeping the entire raiding force camped around the webway gate invited disaster if the orks discovered them. “He speaks truth oh great one.” A female voice added and Velurill glanced upwards to see Lord Shraycht’s pet succubus place a hand on the archon’s shoulder as she spoke softly into his ear. Shraycht obviously trusted this woman greatly. Most eldar who would get so close to the archon that they were able to touch him would die painfully. But as it was the archon’s courtiers did not react, even the pair of lhamaean poisoner-courtseans who shared his bed did no more than merely keeping a close watch on the succubus for any signs of betrayal. Velurill looked back at the ground before she could turn and see him looking at her. “Haemonculus Varian has already reminded me of this.” Lord Shraycht replied, “Though it is good to see that at least some of my underlings are keeping themselves aware of our position instead of simply waiting for me to think of everything.” Velurill smiled. Though the other dracons kneeling with him would have been well aware of the tactical situation, neither of them had been the ones to voice an opinion. “We will relocate the force immediately.” Lord Shraycht went on, “Dracon Hynor’s squad shall remain here to watch over the webway gate. Should the orks appear in large numbers then you are to summon the razorwings from within the webway to destroy them. We must not loose the gateway. The rest of you will accompany me.” Then, without waiting for any of his subordinates to respond Lord Shraycht strode away from them towards his personal raider transport. “Enjoy yourself Hynor.” Velurill said as he stood up straight, “I’ll be thinking of you waiting here while we harvest the souls we came for.” “Be careful Velurill.” Hynor responded, “Our lord will have you close by if he needs someone to blame for anything that goes wrong.” The two dracons stared at one another for a moment before the last of them interrupted the silence. “Lord Shraycht awaits us Velurill.” He said, “Perhaps you should worry less about Hynor’s opinion than our lord’s impatience.” Sophie did her best to hang on as Hazug drove his truck over the uneven terrain. The chair in which she sat was meant for a being bigger and heavier than she was and orks were not given to installing luxuries such as seatbelts to their vehicles. “Faster master!” Ratish called out from the rear of the truck. He had seen how Sophie was not enjoying the ride and hoped to make it even more uncomfortable for her. But rather than accelerate, Hazug put his foot on the brake. Hard. The sudden reduction in speed was felt by all of the occupants. In the front of the vehicle Hazug and Sophie used their grip on its superstructure to keep themselves in their seats, but in the back Ratish found himself suddenly hurtling forwards. He tried to grab hold of any part of the truck that he could, but he was too slow to react and instead he bounced over the truck’s engine and then again when he landed on the soft ground in front of it. “Ratish is alright master.” The gretchin groaned as he picked himself up slowly. Shaking his limbs one at a time to make sure that they were all still working. “Nobody asked.” Sophie snapped back. The she looked at Hazug, “Why have we stopped?” she asked. “We walks from ‘ere.” He replied as he dismounted from the truck and walked to where his weapons were stored in the back, “At least me and Ratish do.” “What about me?” Sophie asked. “Wait ‘ere.” Hazug told her, “I wants to be able to sneak up dat portal and I can’t do dat as good with ya followin’ me.” “Yeah.” Snarled Ratish, “Ya makes too much noise and is too big.” “I is da biggest.” Hazug said sternly, “Never forget dat grot.” And he tossed a pistol to Ratish. The gretchin fumbled as he tried to catch the weapon but it dropped to the ground and he had to bend down and pick it up. “But what about me?” Sophie asked, “You’re not leaving me here are you?” “Yep.” Hazug answered, “If ya see any pansy eldar about just keep out of sight. Don’t go shootin’ at ‘em just cause ya can. Wait for us to get back and I’ll sort ‘em out. Goddit?” Sophie nodded, but the look on her face told Hazug that she was not happy about what he had told her. Ignoring Sophie’s displeasure Hazug took his rifle from the truck, checked that it had a round chambered and began to walk off. “Come on grot. Keep up.” He said. Ratish smiled at Hazug as he began to follow the ork. Then he paused, turned around to face Sophie and stuck his tongue out at her before rushing off to catch up with Hazug once more. The webway gate was some distance away from where Hazug had halted his truck. He had done this deliberately to cover the noise of their approach from anyone who may be waiting for them there. The last time that Hazug had crept up on the site of the webway gate he had made his way through a wood. But on that occasion he had been following a convoy of human vehicles that had kept to the roadway that meandered its way around the hills in the area and then had been drawn towards a farm building that had had a sniper concealed inside it who had made their presence known by picking off several of the armoured giants that Hazug had fought against that day. Today however, he travelled in a straight line. Approaching the crest of the first hill, the one that he had parked his truck behind, Hazug ducked low. Behind him, Ratish mimicked his master’s stance even though the ork still towered over Ratish’s full height when stooping. Hazug paused to survey the valley below for just long enough to confirm that it was empty. He did not want to be seen approaching the strange eldar structure. “Move!” he snapped at Ratish before rearing up to his full height once more and rushing down the opposite side of the hill. Hazug barely noticed as Ratish lost his footing on the way down and completed the descent by tumbling head over heels beside the ork. “Ow! Ooh! Ow!” the gretchin cried out as he bounced. Hazug ignored his servant’s cries, well aware that gretchin bounced rather well. So long as there were not any sharper cracks that indicated broken bones he knew that Ratish would be fine and so long as his gun did not go off he was not making enough noise to attract unwanted attention from beyond the next hill. At the base of the hill Ratish picked himself up and shook clumps of dirt from his ears and nose. Hazug ignored this; instead he kept on running straight up the next and final hill lying between the two greenskins and the gateway. Ratish was about to call for his master to wait for him to catch up when he remembered that this was supposed to be a stealthy approach. If the was one thing that gretchin could be counted on to do it was sneak around behind the backs of others and he ran after Hazug. Hazug dropped low again as he neared the top of the hill. This time lying flat on the ground and pulling himself to a point only just behind the crest of the hill. Slowly Hazug lifted his head so that he could over the hill and look down into the valley where the gateway was located. From this distance he could make out the smooth arch like structure of the eldar construct and he could also see the far cruder outlines of a pair of ork transport vehicles parked a short distance away from it. But he could not see any signs of the orks that would have driven here in the vehicles and there was no indication of why they had failed to blow up the gateway as they had been ordered to do by Warboss Kromag. Hazug frowned. “Wot is it master?” Ratish whispered from beside him, “Is dare pansies dare?” and he stood up to take a look for himself. “Down!” Hazug hissed and he pulled Ratish back from the top of the hill. Then he reached for a pouch at his belt and took a compact alien device from inside. The device had been made and brought to this world by soldiers of the neighbouring tau empire and was capable of impressive feats of visual magnification as well as recording images that were viewed through it. It had come into Hazug’s possession when it had been discovered on the body of an ork killed by the invaders. Since then Hazug had been given instruction in how to use the device for himself and had found it to be very useful in situations such as this. He activated the tau viewing device and held it up to his eye and pointed it towards the gateway below, closing the other one for better focus. Now instead of just basic outlines he could make out every detail of the arch and the nearby trucks. “Hmmm.” Hazug said to himself as he still failed to see any signs of the orks sent here. He swept the viewing device around and saw that the ground all around the gateway and the trucks was churned up. That was to be expected however. Hazug himself, along with Two Heads’ mob and some others had fought against heavily armoured human warriors here only a few days earlier. Warriors that had also brought their own vehicles much heavier than the lightweight ork ones now present. Then Hazug realised that there was more than just orks missing from the scene he looked at. The orks would have brought with them large amounts of explosives to destroy the gateway, but there was no sign of these either. Having been ordered to destroy the gateway, the orks would have blown it up first even if they had discovered something else to destroy. Plus if they had found something that caught their interest they would never have left their vehicles unguarded for long, no ork would. Even a single gretchin would be enough to dissuade another ork that came along from deciding that the vehicle had been abandoned and invoking the ancient tradition of ‘finders keepers’, but the area was completely deserted. “Dis aint good.” Hazug said. “Wot’s dare master?” Ratish asked. “Nothin'. Dat’s just it, dare should be an ‘ole load of lads down dare blowin’ up dat portal thingy like da boss told ‘em to. But dey aint dare.” Then Hazug spotted something. A large rut not far from the arch of the gateway, one that had all the hallmarks of being caused by something big and heavy scrapping across the ground. Something like one of the floating vehicles that the eldar used if it had lost power in mid flight. He focused the viewing device on the rut and wound its magnification up to maximum. Then he smiled as he saw what he was looking for. It seemed that the eldar had done a good job of picking up the bits of whatever vehicle of theirs had crashed there, but they had not entirely covered their own traces and Hazug could just about make out long narrow footprints all around the rut made by the eldar themselves. “Gotcha.” He said. Then, as he switched off the viewing device and returned it to his belt he looked at Ratish, “We got wot we needs grot.” He said, “Now let’s get outta ‘ere.” |
|
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