Gotrek & Felix- the Third Omnibus - William King & Nathan Long

by Warhammer

  ‘If you attacked without our signal,’ said Gotrek, ‘you have a lot to answer for.’

  ‘We did not attack!’ cried Hamnir. ‘We were attacked! The greenskins raided our position while we waited to hear the horn – archers in the hills that we could not engage, skirmishers who struck and ran, wolf riders. We dared not pursue, for fear of scattering our force, and so we sat, waiting, for a signal that never came, while they picked us off in ones and twos, and we killed one for every five they slew.’

  ‘Prince,’ said Thorgig, his young face pale behind his beard. ‘Forgive us, we had no–’

  ‘Indeed, I do have a lot to answer for,’ continued Hamnir, hotly, interrupting him. ‘For when Gorril and the others begged me to withdraw and give the day up for lost, I would not, for I had faith in my old companion, Gotrek Gurnisson. Surely the great Slayer would not fail. Surely it would only be a matter of a few more minutes before we heard the horn.’ He hung his head. ‘For my foolishness, I lost another fifty noble dwarfs.’

  Gotrek sneered. ‘You blame me because you’re a bad general?’

  Gorril and Thorgig bristled at that, but Hamnir waved them down with a tired hand. ‘I am no general at all, as you well know. I am a trader, a seller of sharp steel, fine ale and precious gems. It is fate and duty that have brought me to this pass, not inclination. I can only do my best.’ He turned hard eyes on Gotrek. ‘Just as you vowed to do your best.’

  ‘You think I have not?’ Gotrek growled.

  ‘You are alive and the door remains closed. Can you say you gave your all?’

  ‘Our deaths would not have won the door, Prince Hamnir,’ said Narin. ‘The grobi were alerted to our presence when poor old Matrak tripped a new trap, which killed him and Kagrin, and Sketti Hammerhand. They came through the secret door and attacked us, and even had we defeated them–’

  ‘New traps?’ interrupted Gorril, his voice sharp. ‘What do you mean, new traps?’

  Hamnir moaned. ‘Matrak and Kagrin dead?’

  ‘There were traps in the passage that Matrak did not know of, my prince,’ Thorgig explained. ‘Dwarf work, he said, and built within the last week, by the smell of the new-cut stone. He found and disarmed all but the last.’

  ‘The orcs opened the secret door and touched the secret levers that disarmed all the traps as if they had built them themselves,’ said Narin.

  ‘Impossible,’ said Hamnir, ashen-faced.

  ‘Aye,’ continued Leatherbeard, ‘but true nonetheless. We all saw it.’

  ‘Even had we defeated the orcs who came through the secret door,’ continued Narin, ‘the alarm had already been raised. There would have been an entire hold of angry greenskins to fight through. Perhaps Slayer Gurnisson might have made it, but the rest of us would not have lived to help him open the doors.’

  Hamnir’s head drooped. He stared at the ground for a long while, and then, at last, looked up at Gotrek. ‘If this tale is true, then I suppose I must believe that you have done what could be done.’

  Gotrek sneered, unappeased.

  ‘But how can these things be?’ Hamnir continued, almost to himself. ‘How can there have been traps that Matrak did not know of? How could the grobi know their use? It makes no sense.’

  ‘I fear we may only learn the answers to these questions once we have retaken the hold, my prince,’ said Gorril.

  ‘Aye,’ said Hamnir, his jaw tight with frustration. ‘Aye, but how are we to do it? They seem to have counters for our every move! We thought this the only way possible. Can we find another?’

  ‘Maybe you can convince them to trade the hold for some fine ale or precious gems,’ Gotrek growled.

  Hamnir’s fists clenched. ‘If there was a chance that it would work, I would do it,’ he said. ‘Would you, Slayer? Or would you leave the hold to the grobi because you found the winning of it lacking in glory?’ He moved pointedly away from Gotrek, and began talking in low tones with Gorril.

  Gotrek glared at Hamnir for a long moment, then grunted and looked away.

  The Slayer and the prince remained silent and sullen for the rest of the march. Felix wondered again what it was that had made them hate each other so. Even among dwarfs, the grudge between them seemed particularly malignant. One usually only saw this sort of intense hatred between brothers who had fallen out. Gotrek had said it had been over a broken vow, but what had the vow been? Did it have something to do with Gotrek taking the Slayers’ oath? An insult? A woman? As tight-lipped as the Slayer was, Felix might never know.

  The next day, after a deep and well-deserved sleep, Felix joined Gotrek as he reconvened with Hamnir, Gorril, old Ruen, and the prince’s other counsellors in Hamnir’s quarters. It seemed that, however much enmity there was between Gotrek and the prince, Hamnir still wanted his advice.

  Before the meeting, Felix was seen to by a dwarf physician, a white-haired long-beard with gold rimmed spectacles, who ignored all Felix’s yelps, gasps and curses as he unmercifully prodded and twisted his swollen ankle. It felt as if the old mumbler was breaking what had only been a sprain, but to Felix’s surprise, after the dwarf had smeared it with vile-smelling unguents and wrapped it in bandages, the swelling actually went down and he was able to walk on it almost without wincing.

  Felix and the other members of the party who had attempted to penetrate Birri’s secret passage were invited to attend so that they could relate everything that had occurred: every trap and every trigger they had found, every encounter with the strange orcs. As they finished, the assembled dwarfs shook their heads, bewildered.

  ‘There are only two possibilities,’ said Hamnir, ‘and neither of them is possible. It can’t be the greenskins, they haven’t the skill, and it can’t be the dwarf survivors, because they would never ally themselves with grobi.’

  ‘Forgive me for speaking out of turn,’ said Felix, ‘but I can think of a few other possibilities.’

  ‘Go on,’ said Hamnir.

  ‘Well,’ said Felix, ‘perhaps some covetous group of dwarfs has decided to overthrow your family, prince Hamnir, and take the hold for themselves, and are using enslaved orcs as a cover.’

  The dwarfs laughed.

  Hamnir made a face. ‘This is a thing a dwarf would never do. Dwarfs do not war upon each other. We are too few to thin our ranks this way, and even if we did, no dwarf would send our most hated foes against his fellows, no matter what the provocation.’

  ‘Are there not dwarfs that worship the Chaos gods?’ asked Felix. ‘From what I have seen of them, they would not scruple to use any weapon.’

  ‘Aye,’ said Hamnir, ‘but their realm is far from here, beyond the Worlds Edge Mountains, and north. It would be extremely strange to find them so far south.’

  ‘They have been known to enslave grobi,’ added Gorril, ‘but this is done with the whip and the club. Left alone, the greenskins rebel and do what they will. If the grobi we encountered had been slaves, there would have been Dawi Zharr overseers with them, driving them into battle.’

  ‘Then what about sorcerous enslavement?’ asked Felix. ‘What if some wizard is bending them to his will?’

  Hamnir frowned, thinking it over. ‘A sorcerer might possibly enslave grobi this way, though so many, and at such great distances? I don’t know. Dwarfs are resistant to magical influence, so it would take a very great sorcerer indeed to turn dwarf minds while at the same time maintaining a hold over all those grobi. I don’t believe such a one exists in the world today.’

  ‘Sketti Hammerhand suggested the elf mage, Teclis,’ said Thorgig.

  Gotrek snorted. ‘Teclis may be as twisty as the next elf, but even he wouldn’t stoop to using grobi.’

  Hamnir sighed and looked off into the middle distance for a moment, lost in thought. ‘Sorcery, treachery or enslavement, we must retake the hold regardless,’ he said at last, ‘and immediately! My worst fear was that the dwarfs of the Diamondsmith clan were murdered or starving to death, but Herr Jaeger has made me fear that even worse has befallen th
em. No dwarf would succumb to torture, but that does not mean the grobi wouldn’t try it. If there is indeed sorcery involved, their fate may be more terrible even than that. I can’t bear the thought that Ferga–’ He broke off, embarrassed. ‘I’m sorry, but we cannot allow them to suffer one more day than necessary.’

  ‘Agreed,’ said old Ruen. ‘Their fate is a shame to us all.’

  ‘The question remains,’ said Narin, idly twisting the sliver of wood in his beard, ‘how do we reach them? How do we retake the hold with all entrances watched and trapped?’

  The dwarfs sat in silence, pondering the question morosely.

  After a long interval, Hamnir put his head in his hands and groaned. ‘There may be another way,’ he said at last.

  Gotrek snorted. ‘Another “secret” door that the grobi know all about?’

  Hamnir shook his head. ‘They cannot know about this door, for it does not yet exist.’

  The dwarfs looked up, frowning.

  ‘What’s this?’ asked Lodrim, the thunderer.

  Hamnir hesitated for so long that Felix wondered if he had fallen asleep, but then he sighed and spoke. ‘I did not mention this way before, for two reasons. One, it requires going overground to Duk Grung, and then returning on the deep road to our mines. I had feared our trapped brethren would die during the week this journey would take, but if the alternative is never getting in, then a week it must be. Second…’ he paused again, and then continued. ‘Second, this is a secret that I have sworn to my father never to reveal, under any circumstances, a secret that only three dwarfs in this world know about – myself, my older brother and my father. Even though I may save the hold by revealing it, I doubt my father will ever forgive me. I may never be allowed to live in Karak Hirn once it is recovered, but I can think of no other way.’

  Gorril looked pale. He stroked his beard nervously. ‘My prince, perhaps we can discover another way. I would not wish to see you banished from your home. Nor do I want to anger King Alrik.’

  ‘I am open to suggestions,’ said Hamnir. ‘If there is another way, I would gladly take it. This is not a step I wish to make.’

  The dwarfs thought, mumbling one to another.

  ‘Perhaps…’ said Gorril, after a while. Everyone looked up, but he trailed off, shaking his head.

  ‘If there were only a way to…’ said Thorgig a moment later, but he too left his sentence unfinished.

  ‘We might…’ said Narin, and then frowned. ‘No, we mightn’t either.’

  At last Hamnir sighed. ‘Very well,’ he said. ‘Then I must do what must be done.’ He sat up and looked around the table, meeting the eyes of all his councillors. ‘My father is a true dwarf, and takes a true dwarf’s pride in keeping his personal wealth safe from all prying eyes and grasping hands. In pursuit of this goal, he built, with help from only myself and my brother, a vault of which no one else knows the existence.’

  ‘Your father’s vault is in the third deep of his clanhold,’ said a long beard. ‘All know…’

  ‘That is the vault he shows the world,’ said Hamnir, ‘where he keeps the majority of his gold and his common treasures. But you will not find the Maul of Barrin there, or the Cup of Tears, or the War Standard of old King Ranulf, our clanfather, or the twenty ingots of blood-gold that could buy all the other treasures of the clan vault. They are not to be shown. They are for his eyes alone, as it should be.’

  The dwarfs of Karak Hirn stared, amazed.

  ‘Blood-gold,’ murmured old Ruen.

  ‘So,’ asked Gorril, involuntarily licking his lips. ‘So, where is it?’

  Hamnir smiled slyly. ‘That I will not tell more than those who need to know. Suffice to say that the entrance is hidden near my father’s quarters, and from it, a small company might reach the front doors.’

  ‘From it?’ said Thorgig, confused, ‘But, prince, how do we reach the vault to exit it? Does it have more than one door?’

  ‘No, it does not,’ said Hamnir, ‘but there is still a way that we might enter. You see, the vault is an old exploratory shaft, from the first King Ranulf’s time – sunk, then abandoned, when it struck no ore. My father found it in his youth, and kept the knowledge secret until he had sons to help him make a vault of it. He did everything in his power to erase any record of the shaft, destroying all the old maps and texts he could find.’ His hands clasped each other nervously. ‘While secret, the vault is not properly secure. We three were not able to reinforce its walls, nor inscribe them with protective runes. The treasures merely sit at the bottom of the shaft, reachable by the steps we cut into its walls, and surrounded by raw rock. The vault’s strength was that no one knew its location, or that it existed at all.’ He hung his head. ‘With this admission, that strength has now vanished.’

  ‘Er, you haven’t yet told us how we are to enter it, my prince,’ said Gorril gently.

  Hamnir nodded. ‘I am avoiding it. I apologise. Here it is. The shaft sinks to the level of the mines, near the diggings my great grandfather abandoned when they kruked out unexpectedly fifteen hundred years ago. One of the kruk’s tunnels passes within ten feet of the vault shaft.’

  The dwarfs looked at him silently.

  ‘So we dig from the tunnel to the vault? Is that it?’ asked old Ruen finally.

  ‘Then we climb the shaft and exit the vault within the hold. Aye,’ said Hamnir.

  ‘You’re right,’ said Gorril. ‘You father would not approve. Not only do you lead a party to the location of the vault, you open a door to it that cannot quickly be shut. The king’s treasures could be stolen from below while we are busy trying to retake the hold.’

  ‘What about the grobi? Won’t they hear you?’ asked Gotrek. ‘They hold the mines too. Or do you expect me to hold them off for you while you mess about with picks and shovels?’

  ‘The kruk is far removed from the active mines,’ said Hamnir. ‘There are leagues of tunnels and a stone door between them. The grobi haven’t dwarf senses. They won’t hear us.’

  Gotrek snorted, ‘Wouldn’t surprise me if they’re waiting for us inside the vault once we dig through the walls.’

  ‘That is impossible,’ said Hamnir, angry. ‘Only three dwarfs knew of the vault before tonight, my father, my older brother, and myself, and none of us were in the hold when the grobi took it. They cannot know!’

  ‘A lot of impossible things’ve been happening lately,’ said old Ruen, thoughtfully.

  The dwarfs considered Hamnir’s plan in silence, puffing on their pipes and glowering. It was clear they didn’t like it. A dwarf hold that lost its treasure lost its honour. They would be seen as weak: poor builders who couldn’t protect their possessions. If Hamnir won the hold, but lost his father’s treasure, many dwarfs would consider his victory a loss.

  At last Gorril sighed. ‘It seems it is our only option.’

  ‘We could wait for King Alrik to return with his seven hundred warriors,’ said the thunderer. ‘He would know what to do.’

  Felix heard Hamnir’s knuckles crack. His face was rigid. ‘That… will not do. In the first place, our cousins who are trapped in the hold cannot wait that long. In the second, to allow the grobi to occupy our home for a day longer than is necessary is intolerable. Third, I will not have my father return to find such a tragedy unresolved. It would break his proud heart.’

  Not to mention making you look a worthless fool in his eyes, thought Felix. It looked like the rest were thinking the same thing, but no one said anything.

  ‘Right then,’ said Gorril. ‘Who will go?’

  ‘I will,’ said Thorgig immediately.

  ‘As will I,’ said Gorril, ‘and we’ll need some skilled diggers.’ He laughed. ‘The trouble will be stopping every dwarf in the castle from volunteering.’

  ‘You will not go, Gorril,’ said Hamnir.

  Gorril looked stricken. ‘But, my prince…’

  ‘No,’ said Hamnir. ‘You proved yesterday that you are a more able general than I. Had you been in command, ma
ny dwarfs would be alive today. You will stay and lead the assault on the main door. I will lead the party to the mine. I can burden no one else with the knowledge of the vault’s location. Its opening must be on my head alone. No other will suffer my father’s wrath.’ He turned to Gotrek. ‘You, Slayer, may stay here, or go north to fight Chaos if you wish. You have already come perilously close to dying while honouring your vow to me. I free you from further obligation. I have no wish to force my unwelcome company upon you for the duration of our journey.’

  Gotrek glared at Hamnir for a long moment. ‘You must not think much of my honour, Ranulfsson,’ he said finally, ‘I swore to help you retake Karak Hirn. Unlike some I could name, I don’t break my vows. I’ll leave once you’re sitting in your father’s chair in the feasthall. Then, we’ll talk about another vow we made once. Until then, I’m sticking by your side. If you’re going to Duk Grung and back, I’m coming with you.’

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ‘This isn’t right,’ muttered Thorgig.

  Felix, Gotrek, Hamnir and the others lay flat in a ditch, watching as the vague silhouettes of an orc patrol passed by not twenty paces away in a thick predawn fog. The party had left Rodenheim Castle not half an hour before, slipping quietly through the postern gate without lantern or torch, heading down out of the foothills towards the green plains of the Badlands. In addition to Hamnir, four had been added to those who had survived the journey to Birri’s door and back – three brothers from Karak Hirn who had mined Duk Grung in their youth, and another dwarf of the Stonemonger clan, who was a skilled mine engineer.

  ‘Woe if any other Slayer ever learns that I twice hid from orcs,’ agreed Leatherbeard.

  ‘And ran from them as well,’ whispered Narin, helpfully.

  ‘Quiet, curse you!’ said Hamnir.

  The orcs had been watching Rodenheim Castle ever since Hamnir’s army had returned to it. They patrolled around it endlessly, watching every road and goat path. This was more proof of their strangeness. They should have been pouring out of the captured dwarf hold in a frenzied, futile attempt to come to grips with their ancestral enemies. The dwarfs could have wished for nothing more. If the orcs had thrown themselves against the walls of the castle, they could have gunned them down at their leisure, thinning their ranks and making their eventual raid on Karak Hirn all the easier. But the orcs came in skulking squads, observing, not attacking, and staying well away from the walls. It was eerie.