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Chapta 4 | |
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Da Raiders From Da Shadows Chapta 4 |
Captain Squigbeard opened his eyes. The upturned boat that he had been clinging to was no longer bobbing up and down on the open sea and for that matter neither was he. Instead he and the boat seemed to have been washed ashore at last. At first he though that he was alone and he guessed that the mekboy had fallen off the boat and drowned during the night. But then he spotted his only companion for the last day lying in the sand further up the beach. Slowly, Squigbeard got to his feet. Even at the best of time he didn’t like being on dry land, it didn’t move right. It was either stationary or occasionally it would lurch suddenly and buildings would fall down. “Geddof me bag!” Squigbeard looked around when he heard the shout. He could tell be the voice that it was the mekboy, but this was the first time he had ever heard him raise his voice. Along the beach Squigbeard now saw the mekboy trying to get to his feet. He was surrounded by a group of gretchin, one of whom had grabbed hold of the bag that the mekboy had clung to throughout their time adrift. It was obvious what the gretchin were doing, they had seen the mekboy lying at the water’s edge, decided that he was either dead or too weak to resist and come to steal everything he owned. What they hadn’t counted on was him waking up and fighting back. “Give it us!” another gretchin shouted and the creature dashed at the mek and sank his teeth into his leg. The mek roared and brought himself up to his full height. Still clutching his precious bag, he swung it around by the strap towards his assailant. The gretchin that had been trying to take the bag also still clung to it and he screamed as he too was swung through the air. There was a ‘thunk’ as the two gretchin collided and collapsed in a heap on top of one another. Then one of the other gretchin picked up a rock and hurled at the mekboy’s head. Dazed, the mekboy dropped his bag and a gretchin grabbed it as soon as it hit the sand. “Get da bag!” one of the gretchin shouted and another of the group lunged for it. Though Squigbeard could just as easily have stayed by the boat watching the fight, he instead decided that he didn’t want to be left out of the fun. “Waaargh!” he bellowed as he charged up the beach, kicking up sand as he ran. Hearing the war cry the gretchin looked towards Squigbeard and their eyes widened in fear. What they had initially thought was one helpless ork had turned out to be two very angry ones and the ork currently charging at them looked big enough to be called a nob. “Run away!” a gretchin screeched, but before the group could act on his suggestion Squigbeard reached them. After years of practice aboard ship, Squigbeard had learned the proper way to del with unruly grots. You kicked them. Hard. If done properly this would result in the offending creature being propelled over the side of the ship where it would either have to swim for shore or drown. What it required of course was a good long run up. Just like Squigbeard had now. The impact of Squigbeard’s boot against the nearest gretchin’s skull produced a ‘crunch’ and it broke bone and the gretchin was lifted clear up off the ground and propelled through the air, just as Squigbeard had hoped. At the same time the mekboy brought his fist down on the gretchin currently holding his bag. “Gis it back!” he shouted, even though the blow had knocked out the gretchin instantly and he took back his bag. With several of their number either dead or seriously injured there was no point in the gretchin trying to fight two larger and more powerful opponents. So they did what came to them naturally in such situations. They fled. “Did dey get anythin’?” Squigbeard asked. “Nah.” The
mekboy said, clutching the bag close against his chest. “It told me to.” The mek replied looking at his bag. Hazug slurped his fungus beer down as he waited for his lunch to be brought to his table. “Grot!” he bellowed, “Wot’s takin’ so long?” “So sorry
lord.” A nervous gretchin replied, “But we is ‘avin’ trouble with da squig
ya ordered.” “Well it just bit da arm of da gretchin wot was supposed to cook it for ya and we is tryin’ to get it to let go of ‘im.” “’Ave ya tried stickin’ da grot’s arm over da fire?” Hazug suggested. A smile spread across the gretchin’s face. “Thank you lord, we’ll try that now.” And the creature dashed back into the kitchen. A moment later there was a shriek of pain a chorus of cheers. Hazug shrugged as he gulped down another mouthful of beer. That was the thing about gretchin; he thought to himself, you had to explain everything to them. Then a squelching sound caught his attention and he turned around. “Ya is Hazug right?” the larger of the two water soaked orks standing there asked. “Yeah, I is Hazug. Wot of it? Squigbeard right?” Hazug replied. The previous year Hazug had booked passage on Squigbeard’s vessel. “Aye, I is Squigbeard,” Squigbeard said and he took the long trails of hair squigs stuck to his chin in his hands and wrung them out, “and dem gits wot ya is supposed to be keepin’ an eye on just sank me ship.” “Sit down.” Hazug said and he indicated the empty chairs at his table, “And who is ya mate?” he asked. Squigbeard suddenly realised that he did not know the mekboy’s name, so he just turned to him and let him answer for himself. “I is Mek Cognailer.” The mekboy replied without any hint of emotion. “Yeah, and if it wasn’t for ‘im I’d be at da bottom of da sea with me ship.” Squigbeard added. “So tell em ‘ow humans managed to sink dat ship of yours.” Hazug said and he lifted his mug of beer to his lips again. “Well it was a couple of nights ago. We ‘ave been floatin’ about on a dingy since then. Dey ‘ad dese floatin’ sailin’ ship thingies-“ Squigbeard began and Hazug almost choked on his beer. “Floatin’?” Hazug asked, “As in floatin’ in da air instead of on da water?” “Yeah, dat’s right. I though da boss told ya to keep da gits in check.” “It wasn’t da humans.” Hazug replied as he stood up, “Wagons wot float’ in da air is eldar wagons. Now lets go.” “Where?” Squigbeard asked. “To see da boss,” Hazug replied, “’e needs to ‘ear about dis.” “Ya food lord.” A gretchin suddenly said and he placed the charred remains of a squig on the table in front of Hazug. “I’ll ‘ave it to go.” Hazug replied. Warlord Kazkal Kromag frowned as he listened to the tale of how Captain Squigbeard’s vessel had been destroyed. It was Squigbeard himself who did most of the talking; Mek Cognailer only seemed to speak in response to direct questions and then saying just enough to answer the question. This was most unusual for mekboys who were well known for offering their opinion on just about everything, especially if they could then explain to you how they could improve something by adding a few extra nails for a very reasonable price. Clearly his brain had been adversely affected by the bionics someone, possibly himself, had added to it. “Sounds like pansies alright boss.” One of the assembled nobs said when Squigbeard had finished speaking. “Well dat’s aright den innit?” Warboss Kromag said. “Ow so boss?” Hazug asked. “Cos we already blown up dare portal thingy, so dey aint comin’ back.” The warboss replied and the other nobs nodded in agreement, some adding muttered insults about the git-loving Blood Axe time waster. “But dare could still be some stuck ‘ere boss.” Hazug pointed out, “Knagglod said dat one of dare fightas got away.” “Exactly, one.” Kromag answered, “One pansy aint goin’ to cause us any trouble. Dare fighta will ‘ave run of fuel by now an all.” “But wot is da fighta was flyin’ off to meet up with more of ‘em?” Hazug asked, “Ya should send some lads out to see where it landed.” Kazkal Kromag leant back in his throne and reached out for some food from one of the trays laid out either side of him. “Wot d’ya reckon lads?” he asked out loud. There was a shuffling of feet from the nobs of the warboss’s court. Then the sound of one of them breaking wind. “Is dare a second?” the warboss asked and there was another sound of escaping bodily gases. “Well dat settles it.” Kromag said as he chewed, spitting food out over the floor in front of his throne, “Dare aint no need to go lookin’ for pansies. Dey is long gone.” For a moment Hazug thought about protesting, but he quickly came to the conclusions that it would do him no good. It was a double farter; the assembled ork leadership had passed judgement, wind and from the way that some of the nobs were slowly sidestepping away from one of their number something rather more unpleasant had also been passed. But Hazug still did not think it wise to ignore the potential danger from the raiding eldar. He would just have to do something about it himself. |
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