Daemon Gates Trilogy (12 page)

Then two figures charged him out of the fog: a pair of warriors astride massive armoured chargers. Their armour, heavy plate ornately inscribed, the shoulder pieces shaped like lion heads and the gauntlets like massive paws, matched descriptions and even drawings that Alaric had seen in old tapestries. Yet here these men were, galloping across the plain, their great swords in their mailed hands, their heavy shields strapped to their forearms, bellowing as they surged forward.

Startled, Alaric threw himself to the ground, gasping as the impact slammed the breath from his lungs. He curled up into a ball, arms raised over his head, tensing for the weapons to fall... and glanced up when they didn't.

The men had galloped on past without stopping. Puz­zled, Alaric got to his feet, wincing at the new bruises he had acquired. If he wasn't their target, who-

Dietz!

Alaric leapt after them. He wasn't sure if he could catch them, much less do anything against such powerful fig­ures, but he wouldn't let them attack Dietz without at least trying to intervene.

'Dietz,' he shouted as he ran. 'Dietz, look out!'

Suddenly Alaric felt a sharp pain in his right eye, and stopped short, rubbing at it fiercely. He had shut both eyes automatically and opened them again, only to gape at the sight before him, for the fog was melting away, revealing the plain he had been walking through a moment before, only not as he had ever seen it.

The grass was thicker than it had been earlier, and greener. It looked smoother as well, lacking the strange bumps and protrusions he had felt along his path. At the same time, much of the grass was flattened by the weight of the creatures moving across it, and there were a great many creatures.

Alaric stumbled back to avoid being trampled by more warriors, armed and armoured like the first pair he had seen. They ignored him, however, and swept across the field, weapons raised, shouting as they rode in to confront their foes.

And the foes: the sight of them made Alaric stagger and drop to one knee, one hand going to his sword, although he knew it would not be enough to fend off the approach­ing onslaught. A wave of creatures swept towards him, loping and bounding, and shambling and crawling across the broad valley. He saw creatures he recognised, beastmen with their shaggy coats, goat-like legs and heavy horned heads, and ratmen with their scuttling gait and long whip­like tails. But there were other creatures in the horde, things he had only heard about, things he had successfully

managed never to imagine, now before him in the twisted, mutated, diseased flesh: enormous beasts with twinned heads, glowing eyes, and writhing tentacles instead of hair: giants, three times the size of a man, with crude features that seemed only half-formed, and rough limbs and hands as large as their heads: centaurs, their lower halves four- legged and hoofed, the upper halves humanoid, but covered in scales or ridges or thick fur. It was an army, an army of Chaos.

The figure that led them from atop a monstrous, mutated Chaos steed was truly terrifying, for he was clearly human, clearly unmutated. That meant he marched at the head of this army of his own free will. He had willingly given himself to Chaos, and it had made him its champion.

He was tall and broad, this man, and powerfully built, and his movements were those of a warrior, heavy yet lithe. His armour was thick, red plates warring with bronze and black for dominance, and every possible surface was cov­ered with barbs and hooks, or decorated with runes and tiny screaming skulls. Chains hung everywhere, barbs at their ends, and even the links seemed sharp. His helm was high-crested and bore at its top a plume of some dark, coarse fur that seemed almost to writhe of its own accord. In his hands, he held a massive battle-axe, its twin blades stained a permanent crimson that seemed to shimmer, like the stains and smears Alaric had seen so many times since Hralifs shop in Middenheim.

Alaric knew what he was looking at, at least roughly. Men had been fighting Chaos ever since the Great War, when the forces of Chaos rose up and swept across the Empire, and indeed all the nations of the world. Men had united to battle them, as had the elves and the dwarfs, and eventually they were victorious, although at a steep price. He was somehow witnessing one such battle, the one that had taken place upon this plain, and had left the bones and other remnants he had stumbled across earlier.

Yet the warriors and their twisted opponents were not ghosts, nor figments of the fog. They had substance and colour, as if they were real, as real as anything. Alaric could hear the men groaning, the beasts growling and snarling, and the horses whinnying. He could smell the bitter tang of fresh blood, the sour scent of sweat, and the over-ripe smell of decayed flesh. He was not just watching the bat­tle, he was experiencing it, and he crouched down, doing his best to avoid notice. He was not sure he could be seen or touched by these long-dead fighters, but he did not want to take that chance.

So, he stayed low and watched, as Chaos beast collided with human warrior, as the men fought against abomina­tions. One warrior in particular caught Alaric's attention, a sturdy fellow of average height, but broad of build, with a thick red beard and heavy brows over piercing blue eyes. The man wore armour chased in silver, and it gleamed like moonlight, casting a cool white light upon the battlefield. The heavy plates had been carved into patterns, and although most of them were abstract swirls and loops, Alaric recognised the symbol of Sigmar's hammer woven into each piece. The same powerful sigil was emblazoned upon the man's shield and etched into every side of his massive war hammer.

Alaric knew at once who, or at least what, the man was. He was a member of the Order of the Silver Hammer, one of Sigmar's holy warriors, part priest and part fighter. The man moved easily, as if he were well used to his own armour's ponderous weight, and even as Alaric watched, he lashed out with his hammer, catching a frightening mutated dwarf in the head, and crushing his skull with one blow, before knocking the body into two others and sending them all to the ground. A glow seemed to surround the Sigmarite warrior, and several of the Chaos beasts charging him had to turn away, shielding their eyes and hesitating just long enough for the warrior to cut them down.

The two leaders, the Sigmarite and the Chaos Cham­pion, were moving inexorably towards one another, circling as they closed the distance, dispatching lesser foes along the way. Just as a clean white glow sur­rounded the Sigmarite, so a strange, unwholesome feeling emanated from his rival, and the air around the dark figure seemed filled with soot and shadow, and the sound of a hundred voices screaming in terrible pain. Alaric shuddered. He had heard such cries and seen such distortions before. A daemon had laid his mark upon the Chaos champion.

Finally, after what seemed hours of bloody, savage battle, the two leaders confronted one another. Bodies lay all around them, and the carnage continued unabated, men hacking and slashing at beasts and creatures, which slashed and bit, and tore at them in return. There was blood everywhere, the ground was slick with it, the grass flattened and stained. Some small part of Alaric's mind noted that he had not been spattered, that somehow the gore filling the air had missed him entirely, which proved that he was not really on this battlefield. He took some small comfort from that, but the larger part of him was focused upon the epic confrontation unfolding before him.

'I know you, Deathmaul,' the Sigmarite shouted, his voice cutting through the mayhem. 'Your foul stench has stained this good land for far too long. That ends today, and your master's taint with it.'

'You boast too quickly, Reinhardt Talbek,' the man called Deathmaul snarled, idly swinging his heavy axe and shear­ing a man's head from his shoulders in the process. 'Yes, I know you as well, Sigmarite fool, cowering behind your weak little warrior-god. The Blood God laughs at your pathetic would-be deity. He was ancient when Sigmar was still a mewling babe, and will continue long after that fool and his weak exploits have faded from memory!'

'Sigmar may be young compared to your twisted daemon-god/ Talbek replied sharply beard bristling, and eyes almost sparking with rage, 'but his virtuous might will wipe away the filth of your dark master's touch.' He leapt forward, his hammer raised high and gripped tightly in both hands, its gleaming silver head catching the early morning light.

'For Khorne!' Deathmaul bellowed in reply, his axe sweeping forward as he too charged to close the distance. Everyone else on the battlefield seemed to fade into the background, and many paused in their combat to witness the clash of these two mighty titans, each backed by the power of a god.

Talbek's hammer struck first, crashing, not into the Chaos Champion, but into his steed, striking the beast's horned head with enough force to shatter a mountainside. The Chaos steed staggered back a step, blood streaming from its ruined brow, and toppled to the ground. Its mas­ter pulled himself free just before the creature's side struck the earth, leaping forward, and the blades of his axe moaned as they sliced the air, to slam down against the Sigmarite's upraised shield. Talbek sank to one knee from the force of the blow, but his shield was undented, and in an instant he was upright again, his hammer swinging up from his side to slam hard into his foe's midsection. Deathmaul retaliated by backing away a step and lashing out with his axe, which would have removed Talbek's head if he had not blocked the blow.

They traded blows back and forth, each one denting the other. Blood flowed freely, but neither fell nor even stag­gered for long, and the force of their impacts was enough to send those near them scurrying to safety. Alaric could feel the blows, shaking his body and ringing through his blood, and he winced each time a strike connected.

Then he noticed something that made him shiver. Deathmaul turned to grapple Talbek, removing one hand

from his axe to grab the Sigmarite's forearm just past the haft of his hammer, and as he did so the Chaos champion turned. The side of his helmet, where an earlier blow had nearly felled him, was no longer crumpled. It was dented, true, but no more than that, as if the blow had been less than it was. Alaric had seen the damage when it had first been inflicted and knew he had not imagined its extent.

Deathmaul was healing, and his armour was healing with him.

If Talbek noticed, he did not comment, being too busy freeing his hammer from his rival's grasp, but Alaric could see the signs. Talbek was still wounded, blood seeping from several minor gashes, his shield and breastplate dented, but Deathmaul was strong again, his body undamaged, and that gave him a clear advantage in the conflict.

Nor was the Chaos Champion slow to press the advan­tage. His next attack struck Talbek hard in the chest, driving the air from the Sigmarite's lungs, and as he dou­bled over, Deathmaul stepped in again. He caught the hammer arm once more, this time in an unbreakable grip, and wrenched back hard. Even from his safe vantage point Alaric could hear the snap as bones broke and ligaments tore, and he heard Talbek's cry of pain. The hammer dropped from his shattered grip, and Deathmaul loomed over him, gloating in his imminent victory.

But the Chaos champion had underestimated his foe, and Talbek was not yet defenceless. His embossed shield was battered, but intact, and as he rose to a crouch, Talbek swung it like a weapon, its gleaming edge arcing upward like a scythe. It took Deathmaul in the neck, where only chain protected the gap between breastplate and helmet, and the Sigmar-blessed shield sliced through that tainted metal as if it were paper. Blood gouted from the wound, and Deathmaul lurched away, hands flying to his ruined throat as a gasp spread through his army.

'May the touch of Sigmar destroy you!' Talbek gasped out, rising to his feet. He reached down with his good hand and grasped his hammer where it rested beside him, intending to finish the battle at last.

This time, however, it was he who had misjudged his opponent. Deathmaul's wound was grave, and surely fatal to any mortal, but the Chaos champion was no longer strictly mortal. Even as Talbek raised his weapon, Death­maul staggered back towards him, his massive axe clutched in both hands, and swung. The blades described a bloody arc, seeming almost to cut the air, and with the hammer in that hand, Talbek could not raise his shield in time. The axe caught him full in the neck and sliced cleanly through, sending the Sigmarite's head flying as his body toppled, fountaining blood from its severed neck.

'Die for my master's pleasure,' Deathmaul gasped, his voice thick and guttural from the wound.

A great cheer rose from the Chaos army as they saw their leader victorious, and the beasts turned on their oppo­nents with renewed enthusiasm. The men, for their part, were demoralised by Talbek's death, and the tide quickly turned against them. The battlefield was filled with the sounds of rending and chewing as the beasts began to devour their fallen foes.

Deathmaul watched the devastation, but did not partic­ipate. Instead, after a moment, he crouched and lifted Talbek's head by the hair, raising the fallen warrior's ham­mer in his other hand. Blood still spilled from his neck, but he ignored it.

The Chaos champion spat a dark name into the air, the strange sounds dripping from his tongue. 'Hear me, my master!' The Chaos champion growled out, unable to shout from his injury. 'Hear my cries and receive my wor­ship. I offer you the head and lifeblood of an enemy, anointed of the accursed Sigmar, and his hammer that has been steeped in the aura of that usurper-god.' He held both

grisly trophies high, and Alaric's breath caught as he saw the air darken between them.

The darkness whirled, forming a vortex of shadow, and the shrieking and moaning in the air intensified, but with a strange echo, as if thousands of people were crying a great distance away. The vortex, too, had a sense of dis­tance to it, and the air seemed somehow to recede, forming a shifting tunnel of flickering light and shadow. It was the colour of blood and ash, the consistency of oil and sludge, and they mixed together, mingling and writhing, and whirling as if alive.