|
Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 16 | |
|
Waaargh! Hazug! Chapta 16 |
From
the air none of the ork settlements or wandering warbands looked out of
the ordinary even when magnified using the tau viewing
device. “Why
not just ask ‘em master?” Ratish asked. “Because
dat’d waste too much time.” Hazug replied, “Two Heads can stop and ask if
anyone’s seen anythin’ odd. We’ll just check out da biggest area we
can.” “Boss
I think I just saw shootin’.” Garkot then said, “Over
dare.” Hazug
turned around and looked through the viewer. But rather than the swarm of
genestealers he had hoped for, all he saw was the ground element of the
warband that he had left Two Heads in charge of. This was at the very
limit of the viewer’s effective range and Krorden’s warbuggies were the
smallest things he could clearly make out. “Dat’s
just Two Heads.” He said. Then he noticed something that was unusual,
“’Ang on.” He added, “Dey’s stoppin’.” The
crippled ork was dragged in front of Two Heads by a pair of Gorgoga’s
armoured troops and thrown back to the ground. “So
dis lad’s one of dem dat da genestealers is controllin’ is it?” he
asked. “Kill
‘im boss.” One of Two Heads mob suggested. “Not
just yet.” Two Heads replied and then the other added, “We needs answers
first.” “He
will not talk.” Claudius said in orkish as he, Rell, Torris and one of the
servitors approached from the battlewagon to observe what was
happening. “The
captain is correct.” Rell added, his servitor translating his words for
the orks, “The genestealer infection instils fanatical loyalty to the
brood.” “Den
I best be more persuasive ‘adn’t I?” one of Two Heads said, looking at
Rell as the other snarled at the captive ork before punching him in the
face, knocking out more teeth. “Dey
said dey was after a runt boss.” Daggot said. Two
Heads then both looked at Mayleth. “Ya
is good at inflictin’ pain aint ya?” one of him asked her before the other
followed with, ”Without killin’ right?” and she
nodded. “It
sustains me.” She replied, “The longer my victim remains alive the better.
The pain is so much sweeter with time.” Two
Heads both smiled. “Go
on den.” He said and he stepped back from the captive
ork. Mayleth
stepped forwards, drawing one of her knives again and running her tongue
along the blade. Then
the sound of rotor blades attracted the warband’s attention to the sky and
they saw the two warcopters descended towards them. Hazug leapt down from
his before it had even set down properly and he was followed by Ratish who
was dragged off by an excited Cuddles. “We
got one of ‘em.” One of Two Heads replied, “Ya pansy gave ‘im a beatin’
and now she’s tryin’ to get some answers out of
‘im.” “And
‘ow ya doin’?” Hazug asked. “Nought
so far.” Gorgoga commented from behind the ork. “Those
under genestealer control are frequently resistant to interrogation.” Rell
pointed out, his words translated by a servitor once
more. “’Ow’d
ya catch ‘im Mayleth?” Hazug said, turning towards the eldar. “Batrug’s
burna boys lit ‘em up nice.” One replied. “D’ya
know wot dey was out ‘ere for?” Hazug then asked. “Dey
was after a runt.” Drazzok said, ” Waste of time if ya asks me. Three
bikes for a runt? Sod dat. Bleedin’ runts everywhere if ya look ‘ard
enough.” Hazug
smiled. “I
don’t need ya for dis.” Hazug replied, “I got all I needs right ‘ere.” And
he looked down at Ratish and Cuddles. Thanks
to the keen hearing possessed by all gretchin Gruggi had heard the sound
of the warbikes coming after him from a significant distance away and he
headed for the nearest cover, which in this case was a river with
overgrown banks. The river was too deep and fast flowing for him to be
willing to cross but the amount of vegetation on his side of the river
still looked like it would offer him somewhere to hide. Crouching right by
the water he peered back out of his hiding place, wiping blood from his
beneath his nose where he had struck it falling over during the chase and
hoping that he would soon see the warbikes racing past. However, rather
than watching his pursuers pass him by he heard the sounds of
battle. At
first the engine noise from the warbikes died off as if they had slowed
down or stopped for some reason. This followed by gunfire, specifically
the distinctive rattle of the twin automatic weapons often mounted to ork
vehicles and this was accompanied by an almighty crashing sound before
there was silence and the ork warbikes that Gruggi had been waiting for
never appeared. Taking
one last look in the direction he had come from and sticking to the cover
offered by the riverbank Gruggi continued to flee away from the mine,
wading along the shallows at the edge of the water. The
ground around the area where the warband had encountered the warbikers was
churned up too badly to be able to get any idea of whether a single
gretchin had pass that way recently. But given that his servants had been
able to point him in the direction that they had come from Hazug chose to
try retracing their route until he was able to find some sign of the
gretchin that Cuddles could then be convinced to follow. A vehicle would
be of no use in this so Hazug travelled on foot instead, taking with him
his commando force and servants. As an expert tracker himself Jarr also
accompanied them, bringing along with him his sniper rifle. In the mean
time the rest of the warband and human troops were left where they were,
setting up a basic camp while Batrug and his apprentices saw to refuelling
the warcopters and repairing Krorden’s warbuggy. The
problem in trying to find tracks left by the gretchin was that the cloud
of dust thrown up by warbikes inevitably had to come back down to the
ground somewhere and that had the effect of obscuring any tracks left
behind. But even though they were hidden beneath the settled dust the
gretchin had left more than just footprints behind him and it was Krask
that first found a sign of his passing. “Boss!”
he shouted, “Over ‘ere!” and the rest of the group rushed to see what he
had found. The
ground here was broken by numerous large irregular shaped rocks whose
sharp edges suggested that they were fairly recent additions to the
landscape, perhaps dumped there by a passing ork vehicle, that the weather
had not yet been able to wear flat. The gretchin had clearly attempted to
fool his pursuers by cutting through the rocks where they could not
follow. However, at some point he had lost his footing and slipped down
between two of the rocks and cut himself open. Now there was a smear of
blood on the side of one the rocks and a short trail of blood that lead
back towards the rough trail left by the warbikes. “Blood.”
Hazug said, grinning, “Nice one lad. ‘Err, ‘ave a tooth.” And he tossed a
tooth from his money pouch to the young ork. Then he looked around,
“Alright Ratish, let’s be ‘avin’ Cuddle up ‘ere.” “How
do you know it comes from the gretchin we’re looking for?” Salia
asked. “Stupid
git.” Ratish replied before Hazug could, “Who else would it
be?” “That’s
no answer.” Sophie said, leaning on her lasgun as she glared at
Ratish. “Yeah
it is.” Hazug said as he followed the trail, “Look, da blood ‘eads back to
where da bikes went and den vanishes. Dat means dat whoever left it den
‘eaded in da same direction as da warbikes went and dey was followin’ da
runt.” Meanwhile
Ratish led Cuddles to where the trail started with the smear on the side
of the rock that suggested the gretchin had injured itself there before
running off. “Look,
look, find.” Ratish said tapping the rock beside the smear but the squig
just sniffed and scraped around the ground nearby. “You
need to use his name.” Sophie said and Ratish
scowled. “Stupid
git name.” He hissed, “Squig needs proper name.” “He
has one.” Sophie replied and she walked up to the rock herself and placed
her hand on it,” Cuddles!” she exclaimed and the squig suddenly stopped
what it was doing and looked up at her, ”Cuddles follow this.” Sophie
added, slapping the rock. Cuddles
sniffed at the rock, then began to lick the blood. “That
creature isn’t going to eat the rock is it?” Jarr asked Salia softly and
she shrugged. “It
wouldn’t surprise me.” She replied. Then
Cuddles spun around, facing back towards the warbikes’
trail. “I
knew it.” Hazug said, “Da footprints is gone, but dare’s still da scent
left under all da muck.” Then
Cuddles launched into a run, dragging Ratish along behind
him. “Argh!
Slow down squig!” Ratish yelled as he struggled to keep
up. Meanwhile
Hazug looked round at his troops and servants. “Come
on den.” He said calmly, “Follow dat squig.” Naturally
enough the trail led back past the temporary camp of the remainder of the
warband. “So
where’s da runt den?” Drazzok called out to Hazug. “Dat
way.” Hazug replied. “Ya
mean ya went da wrong way?” Drazzok asked, “Pah! Waste of time. Like I
says ya can find runts anywhere.” “Not
the one we’re after.” Sophie pointed out, prompting a scowl from
Drazzok. “Dare’s
a runt now.” One of the madboys gathered around Drazzok promptly added
excitedly and he pointed to where one of the gretchin that the warband had
brought with it was sat scooping food from a jar and stuffing it into his
mouth. “Perhaps
we ought to keep an eye on it.” Thuggrim commented. “Aye,
go dat. Sod off and leave me in peace for a bit.” Drazzok replied before
turning back to where he had seen Hazug and his commandos but by this time
they were already heading away from him. Cuddles
led the Blood Axes straight to the river where he began to sniff about in
the vegetation by the bank. “Will
he be able to follow the trail if the gretchin’s crossed the river?” Salia
asked. “Water
can carry a scent every bit as well as the air mon’keigh.” Mayleth
replied. Since she was directing her reply at Salia she had her translator
convert her words into gothic, meaning that Jarr also understood the reply
and guessed what Salia had asked. “I’ve
pursued plenty of targets who thought that they could escape by wading
along a river.” He said, “In fact they often end up getting caught quicker
because the water tires them and slows them down.” Cuddles
leapt into motion again, pulling Ratish along the
riverbank. “Master!
‘E’s found somethin’!” Ratish exclaimed. “Right
den lads.” Hazug said to his commandoes, “Let’s go. And watch out, dat
runt could be anywhere around ‘ere and I don’t want any of ya shootin’ ‘im
by accident.” The
Blood Axes nodded in return and the party began to follow Cuddles along
the riverbank. Periodically Hazug reached out with his warscythe to slice
through some of the vegetation and see if the gretchin had left any more
clues to its passing, but he found nothing. All
of a sudden Jarr came to a halt as he thought he spotted a movement ahead
of them. Then he crouched down and removed his rifle from its case and
lifted it to his shoulder, peering down the optical sight. “I
can see something moving.” He replied, “Something in the
reeds.” Hearing
this, Hazug stopped as well and took out the viewing device. “Directly
ahead.” Jarr answered, “Where the river forks.” Hazug
focused on the bank at this point and zoomed in for a closer look.
Instantly he saw that the former assassin was correct, there was something
moving about in the vegetation. Significantly although the effect it was
having on the plants was visible, causing them to move as whatever it was
forced its way between them, it remained out of sight. That meant that
whatever was there had to be smaller than an ork or full-grown human,
suggesting either a squig or a gretchin or snotling. “Wot
is it boss?” Thrak asked. “Dis
could be our runt.” Hazug replied. Hazug
was about to give the order to do just that when he reconsidered it. The
last thing he wanted to do was panic the gretchin into doing something
stupid like diving into the river where it could be washed
away. “Nah.”
He said, “We needs to be careful about dis.” “So
wot’re we gonna do den boss?” Drogon asked. “We’s
gonna ‘ave to split up.” Hazug replied, “Into three groups. I wants Garkot
and Kuruk to come with me, Thrak’ll take da rest of da lads and Ratish and
Cuddles while Mayleth, Salia, Sophie and Jarr will be da last
group.” “Why
are you splitting us off?” Sophie asked, “Can’t we
help?” “Of
course ya can.” Hazug said, “In fact ya is gonna be key to dis.” “Ah,
I think I understand my master.” Mayleth said with a smile, “The creature
will retreat from us due to our numbers and you expect him to continue to
follow the river right to where you are waiting for him.” “And
if ‘e does den we just jump out and grab ‘im right?” Thrak asked and Hazug
nodded. “Den
ya can count on me boss.” Thrak replied. The
orks moved quickly while still keeping out of sight. This came naturally
to members of the Blood Axe clan and soon a perimeter had been formed
around where the gretchin was believed to be, but just out of sight.
Meanwhile Hazug and the pair of commandoes he had chosen to join him
continued as far as the riverbank, carefully wading into the water at the
edge of the river and crouching down so that they were hidden by the
vegetation all around them. This was harder for Hazug who normally towered
over the younger orks but he was experienced enough to be able to find
somewhere that he could hide and wait. Taking out his viewing device again
he the peered through the reeds to where his servants were now beginning
to approach the river. Satisfied that his plan was being followed
correctly, Hazug put the viewing device away and
waited.
|
|
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