by Warhammer
Good-good! See that you do and you will be well rewarded! Fail me and–
‘Say no more, most persuasive of pontificators. I will not fail you.’
Now answer my questions! Are there many dwarfs on board?
Lurk answered the catechism, being careful to overstate the strength of the dwarfs in every respect. It was as well to have your excuses prepared in advance with Grey Seer Thanquol. It was something he had learned from the master himself.
Felix peered down at the mansion. It was as bad as he had feared. There was no sign of life. No! Wait! What was that? Was it movement at the window? He focussed the spyglass on it but by the time he had done so it was gone.
‘I suppose we had better go down and investigate,’ said Gotrek testily, pulling the sling from his arm and flexing the muscles experimentally.
‘What if it’s a trap?’ Felix asked.
‘What’s your point, manling? What if it is a trap?’
Felix considered his words carefully. The Slayer was still determined to seek his doom, that much was obvious. But for once Felix was keen to accompany him. He needed to find out what had happened here. He desperately needed to know what had become of Ulrika. And her people, he added as a guilty afterthought, though he admitted to himself there was only one person down there whose fate he really cared about.
‘We’ll go down together,’ Felix said.
‘Snorri will come with you,’ said Snorri.
‘I think the rest of us should stay with the airship,’ Borek said. ‘No sense in risking everything and everyone at this late stage.’
The old scholar at least had the grace to look embarrassed as he said it. Not that Felix blamed him. If he had been in command of the ship he would have forbade any of the crew except the Slayers to go down. And the only reason he would not have forbade them was because he would have known it was useless to give them orders anyway.
‘We’ll dock at the tower,’ he said. ‘And you can make your way down. At least the thing is still standing, and it looks completely undamaged too. That’s a stroke of luck.’
‘Is it?’ Felix asked, drawing his dragon-hilted sword. ‘I wonder if luck has anything to do with it.’
Grey Seer Thanquol chuckled malevolently. It was all coming together perfectly. All the pawns were in position. He had even managed to recontact that imbecile Lurk. Perhaps the little runt might still prove to be of some use, Thanquol thought, though he did not have high hopes. Lurk had not proven to be that great a minion in the past. Still, you could never tell.
He looked at the blond-furred breeder he had ordered brought up from the cellar. He guessed she was attractive by the strange standards of the humans, and you never knew, he might be able to use her as a negotiating chip. Human males were strangely protective of their breeders, the Horned Rat alone knew why.
He showed her his fangs menacingly, and to his surprise she showed neither fear nor awe. Instead she spat on his face. Thanquol licked away the spittle with his long pink tongue and flexed his claws menacingly. Once again, the breeder surprised him. She reached for the hilt of the sword that was no longer scabbarded at her waist, and Thanquol was suddenly glad it was not there. It seemed that this breeder might actually be dangerous.
‘Be very quiet!’ he chittered softly and menacingly. ‘Or your life will be forfeit. Grey Seer Thanquol has spoken.’
If she recognised his name she gave no sign. ‘It’s always nice to know the name of the rat you intend to kill,’ she said.
Thanquol opened his eyes a fraction and let her see the power burning there. This time she did quail a little, as almost anyone would when confronted by the supernatural glow.
‘Do not be stupid, breeder. Kill me you will not. Live you only at my pleasure. Die you will if you annoy me.’
‘You are the skaven sorcerer of whom Felix spoke,’ she murmured to herself, so low that Thanquol almost did not hear. Almost.
‘Know you the accursed Felix Jaeger?’ he demanded.
She seemed to realise her mistake for her mouth snapped shut, and she said nothing more. Thanquol bared his fangs in a grin. ‘Interesting. Very-very.’
He turned this knowledge over in his head, wondering what he might do with it, wondering what the nature of the relationship between this breeder and Felix Jaeger was. Had they mated? A possibility. Humans always seemed to be in heat. It was their way. Did they have runts? No. Not enough time. Thanquol cursed. If only he had found this out earlier, he might have been able to do something with the knowledge. Now, he no longer had the time. He needed to prepare his mind for the great spell of binding.
‘Boneripper!’ he commanded. ‘Watch this breeder. Do not let her escape.’
He sensed other eyes on him, and noticed the nearest Moulder clawleader was watching him closely. How much of the exchange between Thanquol and the breeder had he followed, Thanquol wondered? Not that it mattered. There would be time soon enough to get to the bottom of all this. His enemies were almost within his grasp.
Felix watched as the airship nosed into position near the tower. The dwarfs dropped their grapnels then pulled the ship gently into place. The boarding ramp was extended between the tower and the ship. Felix drew his dragon-hilted sword and got ready to make the long descent to the ground below. He was nervous. He sensed evil eyes watching him. Just your imagination, he told himself, but he knew it was not.
‘Ready, manling?’ Gotrek asked.
‘As I’ll ever be.’
‘Snorri’s ready too,’ said Snorri Nosebiter.
‘Then let’s go.’
As they strode across the ramp, Felix was once more uncomfortably aware of how it flexed beneath their weight and how high up they were. The wind whipped his long red cloak and tugged at his hair. It was cold and chill as only a wind from the northern steppes could be.
Gotrek and Snorri would have looked almost comical, swathed as they were in bandages, had they not been so serious. Felix doubted that anybody in his right mind would laugh at two Slayers when this mood was upon them. He did not feel much like laughing himself. He could not help but notice that both Gotrek and Snorri were moving slowly and favouring their wounded sides. He hoped nothing was down there to attack them. When fully fit he knew Gotrek was a match for just about anything that walked on two legs, and nearly anything on four, but right now he was heavily wounded, and that would count sorely against him if there was fighting.
‘I’ll go first,’ Felix said, moving to the ladder. He doubted that the elevator cage would work right now, and anyway he did not want to be caught in it if they were attacked. It was too much like a death trap.
‘In your dreams, manling,’ Gotrek said.
‘Snorri has a doom to find too,’ said Snorri. ‘Your job is to record it, young Felix.’
‘I only agreed to do that for Gotrek,’ Felix said touchily.
‘Well, if Snorri happens to be there when I find mine, you can surely give him a few lines, manling.’
Felix looked at the ground below. He was fairly certain he saw movement within the windows of the manor. ‘Is there anybody alive down there?’ he shouted. There was no sense in being subtle. Any enemies would already have seen and heard the Spirit of Grungni arrive.
‘There certainly is, manling,’ Gotrek said. ‘I can hear them.’
‘Snorri smells skaven,’ said Snorri.
‘Great,’ Felix said. ‘That’s just what we needed.’
‘I’m glad you think so, young Felix,’ said Snorri. ‘Snorri thinks so too.’
‘I have a few scores to settle with those ratmen,’ Gotrek said.
‘I’m pretty sure they have a few to settle with us, Gotrek,’ said Felix. After Nuln, he was sure that the skaven would not be in the slightest disposed to talk with them. That was for sure. He forced himself to keep climbing down.
Lurk padded through the great balloon. He knew the airship had come to a halt. He had heard the engine noise fade and die. He had felt the ship shudder as it nudged against someth
ing, felt the faint sideways movement as it was tied up. He knew it was time to be about his business. His business, not Grey Seer Thanquol’s. He knew that if ever he was to escape from this accursed vessel full of stunties there would never be a better time than during Thanquol’s attack. That would keep the crew busy while Lurk made his getaway. There would be time to make his excuses to Thanquol later. Lurk poised himself in readiness to spring into action.
Ulrika watched the small figures step out onto the platform above. One of them, she could see, was Felix. Her heart sank. She had not felt this bad since the skaven assault force had swarmed over the walls and began slaughtering her people. She consoled herself with the thought that she had at least killed half a dozen of the scuttling monsters before she was clubbed down from behind.
Not that it had made much difference; there had been just too many of the things. Still, she calculated that her force had taken out a good half of the skaven. She felt sick with worry. All day she had been locked up in the cellars, part of her home turned into a cell, not knowing whether her father or her friends were still alive and now she was being forced to watch while this gloating, horned-headed albino sorcerer stood ready to ambush Felix and his crew. She had no hopes that they could drive off the ratmen. There were not enough of them aboard the airship to withstand the chittering hordes.
She looked around and wished she still had her weapons. Not that she fancied her chances much against the huge rat-ogre that acted as Grey Seer Thanquol’s bodyguard even fully armed but she might have stood some chance. As it was, there was no hope at all. She wished she possessed Max Schreiber’s sorcerous powers, then it would not have mattered if she was armed or not. What havoc the mage had wrought last night before being blasted by some spell of the mad ratman before her. Schreiber alone must have killed fifty of the skaven.
Such thoughts were getting her nowhere. If wishes were horses we’d all ride chargers, as her father used to say. There had to be something she could do, some way she could warn Felix and the others and still escape. She thought about it. Even if there was no escape she could still warn them. She was the hard daughter of a hard land. If her life was forfeit then so be it.
She glanced around at the hall and the seething sea of rat-like faces. It was a pity they were the last thing she was going to see in this life, she thought, as she hesitated for a moment, then opened her mouth and prepared to shout a warning.
Grey Seer Thanquol felt the power surge within him. His moment was almost here. Gurnisson, Jaeger and the beautiful, beautiful airship were almost within his grasp.
He reached into his pouch and found the necessary components. A piece of magnetised warpstone. A sliver of rune-encrusted metal. The thirteen-sided amulet inscribed with the thirteen fatal runes sof utter power. He had everything he needed. He was ready to begin. There would be no escape for his enemies this time. He was certain of that.
He flexed his paws, reached out with his spirit, drew power from the winds of magic and prepared to unleash his spell.
TWO
AMBUSH AT STRAGHOV MANSION
Felix looked down. He was not happy. Of the many things he hated and feared in this life, skaven came close to the top of the list. He had loathed the vile vermin ever since he and the Slayer had first encountered them in the sewers of Nuln. What was worse, the awful creatures seemed to have dogged their footsteps ever since, even assaulting the Lonely Tower before their expedition to the Chaos Wastes. Who would have thought they would have shown up here, though? The northernmost provinces of Kislev were a long way from anywhere. Was the reach of the Horned Rat so long?
Still, why should he be surprised by anything in this life? It sometimes seemed to him that he and the Slayer were the most unlucky creatures ever to walk the face of the world. Everywhere they went, they encountered the servants of Chaos. Everywhere they went, they met with disaster and destruction. Another, worse, thought pushed that idea from his mind. Was it possible that Ulrika was alive and down there in the clutches of the ratmen? It was something that did not bear thinking about.
‘Should we go on down?’ Felix asked. They were half way down the ladder, on the fifth platform.
‘Why not?’ Gotrek replied. ‘You wanted to find out what happened to the Kislevites.’
‘Under the circumstances, I’m pretty sure I can guess.’
‘Guessing isn’t good enough, manling. There may be some humans alive down there, and they granted us fire and shelter.’
‘Fire and shelter and a bucket of vodka for Snorri,’ added Snorri helpfully.
‘That settles it then,’ Felix said sourly. ‘I’ll gladly sell my life for a bucket of vodka.’
Felix knew he was just grumbling for the sake of form. Even if the two Slayers had not been there, he liked to think he would continue anyway to find out the fate of Ulrika and her family. Flanked by Gotrek and Snorri there was no turning back. He consoled himself with the thought that if there were skaven down there, a lot of them were going to die.
Unless they have some of those terrible sharpshooters, Felix thought. Or even some with crossbows. Easiest thing in the world to pick us off from a distance. Or maybe not. Not in this light. Not with all these wooden crossbars around. And Snorri and Gotrek were short; they would not make good targets. Of course, that left one obvious target for any sniping. He tried to push the thought from his mind as he put his weight on the rungs of the ladder once more.
A glow surrounded Grey Seer Thanquol. For a moment Ulrika stood frozen, wondering what new horror the skaven sorcerer was about to unleash. The aura of power that surrounded the creature was almost overwhelming. The skaven raised two objects it had taken from its pouch and began chanting something in its own high-pitched tongue. All skaven eyes in the room were upon it. The rat-ogre growled as it sensed the gathering of power. Ulrika decided that it did not matter what the skaven was up to. This was her best chance to do something. Whatever wickedness Thanquol was about to commit, she would put a stop to it.
She sprang forward and sent her booted foot crashing into Grey Seer Thanquol’s groin. The skaven gave a squeal of pain and bent over double, dropping his sorcerous adjuncts. A strange smell of musk suddenly filled the air. The rat-ogre roared and reached for her. She dived forward, below its outstretched claws. They missed her by inches as she passed between its columnar legs and headed for the door.
The skaven shrieked in confusion. Ulrika threw the bar on the door and dashed into the next chamber. The rat-ogre bellowed its rage behind her. She saw a surprised skaven in front of her. Desperation gave her strength. She punched it on the snout. It shrieked in pain and dropped its sword. Ulrika stamped on its lower paw, and while it hopped away reached down to pick up its scimitar. It wasn’t quite what she was used to, but she felt better with a weapon in her hand.
She looked around: to her left were the stairs down into the cellars where her people were imprisoned, to the right was a long corridor full of skaven. No choice as to direction then. With luck she might be able to free a few of her folk. Failing that a narrow corridor was a much better place to make a last stand than an open hallway.
Under the circumstances, she had no choice at all.
‘What was that?’ Felix asked, hearing a distant roar that was all too familiar. It came hot on the heels of a high-pitched squeal of pain.
‘Sounds like one of those big rat monsters to me,’ said Gotrek. ‘Whatever it is, it’s mine.’
‘Can Snorri have one too?’ asked Snorri plaintively.
‘You can have mine,’ Felix said, pausing on the lowest platform and getting ready to fight.
‘Thank you, young Felix,’ said Snorri. He sounded grateful.
Grey Seer Thanquol clutched his tender bits and cursed. That foolish breeder would pay for this indignity, he swore. She had dared to lay her filthy paws on the greatest of skaven sorcerers. Worse yet, she had interrupted him just as he was about to unleash his spell, the one that would make the ambush foolproof, a spell of compelling pot
ency that would bind the airship until he released it.
Not to worry, there was still time. The element of surprise was still his.
Only at that moment, as the tears of agony cleared from his eyes, did he realise the full outrageous folly of his underlings. They had mistaken his scream of pain for the signal to attack and had come surging out of the buildings to attack Gotrek Gurnisson, Felix Jaeger and the other Slayer.
Would these minions never learn to follow orders? Thanquol wailed.
Then he realised that the worst had come to pass. Seeing the horde of ratmen surging towards the base of the tower, the cowardly dwarfs had already cast off. Even as he watched, the airship was gaining height above the battlefield. Perhaps it would escape before he could use his magic. It was an awful thought.
Thanquol swore that the human breeder was really, really going to pay when he got his paws on her. Right now, though, he had another problem. He had to take charge of this attack before it became a complete fiasco.
Lurk Snitchtongue felt the airship suddenly gain altitude. He heard the engines roar. His keen ears could hear the dwarfish bellow of orders through the speaking tubes in the ship. Just for a moment, he wished that he understood that foul guttural tongue, but then he realised that he did not have to. It was quite obvious what had happened. The dwarfs had spotted the ambush Grey Seer Thanquol had set for them, and were busy escaping from it. Just one more proof, if any were needed, of Thanquol’s gross incompetence.
Not that it would do Lurk much good. He was still stuck on the ship and his chance of escape was all but gone. He could hear dwarfs clambering up the ladders within the gasbag to reach the turrets mounted on top of the airship. It seemed that they were preparing themselves for a fight.
Unreasoning rage filled Lurk’s brain for a moment, threatening to swamp every rational thought. He would clamber up there and tear them limb from limb and then he would feast on their warm bleeding flesh. He would cave in their skulls then scoop out their brains to make a tasty morsel to satisfy his hunger. He would stick his snout in their entrails and suck out their intestines while they squealed in pain.