The Last Wolf
Chapter 2: Signs of War
The cart ride back was a welcome reprieve after their ordeal in the caves. A cart had come by at noon. It was explained by the driver that had arrived that he'd run his last delivery for the day, and so was happy to pick them up. However, he wasn't so certain about the golem they had with them. Loken hadn't taken to kindly to being likened to a mindless automata, but held his tongue regardless. Loken chose to walk, doubting the carts ability to hold his weight, and the horses ability to pull him along.
The planet looked pleasant enough with green grass and snow capped mountains; but anywhere would look good compared to many of the worlds he'd been to. Istvaan III would always stand out in his mind as a nightmare of a planet after the virus bombing. Not only had the world been scorched in the fires of war, first by the legions and the planet's population, but then by the legions between themselves. Rubble and the dead intermingled into a mix of permacrete and gore, with the colours of Astartes power armour mixed somewhere in between. He remembered having no choice but to walk over the dead as the ground beneath them had been completely engulfed by the corpses of humans and Astartes. The death toll was simply that high.
As time passed, the landscape began to change. Slowly, green fields and blue skies turned to mud and black, smoke choked clouds. Then the signs of war showed themselves. Soldiers of all races; human, elf, dwarf, Lizardman, Padfoot, and many more in the united front lay scattered about the battlefield, many half buried in mud. Flags flew tattered and burned as their mountings sat slanted and broken. Defences still stood, though the evidence suggested they did little to stop the enemy. Rows upon rows of spiked walls made of sharpened logs sat raised from the ground.
Flies swarmed this place and the stench of rot was overpowering. Many of the allied fronts dead were in varied stages of decay. Crows cawed up above, circling the battlefield like a black cloud of ill omen.
"We'd best be gone from here. The only other route to the Water Town is through an active battlefield last I heard. The sooner we get through here the better." The driver said, a quiver in his voice.
"This battlefield. What caused this?" Loken asked. The driver looked at him with shock.
"The golem speaks?" He questioned loudly.
"Answer the question."
"Er, well, the Demon Lord's armies have been seizing territory across the country side. The main force is besieging the Capital, but I've heard from my cousin that he's got a armies coming out of reserve to establish another power base." The driver said.
"You seem awfully knowledgeable for a cart driver. Former soldier?" Loken asked.
"Aye sir, that I am. Cousin is a captain of the 108th infantry regiment fighting at the Capital. I tell you, you see weapons in the Capital that just don't make their way out into the frontier. Gunpowder weapons, loudest thing you'll ever hear next to cannons." He explained.
"And what of you?"
"Oh, well I'm formerly 112th cannoneers. Served 15 years. Even fought in the previous Demon War. Retired after that."
"These Demons, they don't bare any specific markings do they?" Loken asked, suddenly very serious.
"None that I know of. Only markings I see on them are scars from bullets and blades, sir."
"I'd have thought you'd have faced Demons before." Female Paladin spoke up.
"I have. But the ones I have faced typically bear markings. I may be worrying about nothing, in which case you should consider yourselves very fortunate." Loken said grimly.
"I have seen many sights just like this," he said referring to the muddy field of death surrounding them, "and the sooner I can stop seeing them the better. However, my purpose calls me to die on the battlefield."
"Just where have you come from, Grey Knight?" Bargirl asked. She sheltered herself from the sight and smell of the battlefield beneath a large piece of cloth.
"Somewhere far from here." He replied curtly.
"Seen too many sights like this myself. Part of the reason I retired if I'm honest. " the cart driver said.
After an hour the field of rot was behind them, though it troubled Loken. There were no Demon corpses that he could see, meaning the battle was either not a battle at all, but an ambush. The other possibility was that the Demon army that attacked was simply overwhelmingly powerful. From the state of the corpses, the battle had been over for at least three weeks. So then why hadn't anyone come to retrieve the dead? Was someone or something stopping the efforts to do so?
"Why hasn't anyone collected the dead? The battle looks to be three weeks done." Loken inquired.
"Something evil hangs over that battlefield, Grey Knight." Female Paladin answered. "I felt it. Like a cloud of malevolence. But even without that, there's no one to do it. All resources at the Capital's disposal are solely focused on fighting the siege."
Just like Istvaan III. That world was one of Nurgle's domains now. The dead couldn't be collected as the Life Eater Virus released by the virus bombs killed 8 billion people, reducing those who didn't find cover to liquefied meat and bones. Even then, those amongst the living were in the midst of reanimated corpses, given un-life by the God of entropy.
"Given the lack of enemy dead, I'd say this new offensive from the Demon Lord is working." Loken said.
"Aye. Can't say I disagree. We're having to rely on adventures to make any real difference." The cart driver said.
"Adventurers? I've heard that term before. What are they?"
"Hired blades to be blunt about it. Powerful though. The one who's dealing with the Demon Lord's generals is such a one."
"So you leave the fate of your nation to mercenaries!" Loken spat.
"Aye, sir. Don't like it myself, but they get the job done. It was an adventurer who slew the last Demon Lord a decade ago."
"Do not be so quick to dismiss us as mere sell-swords. Many of us do it for the mobility it gives us to be of better aid to the people. My allegiance lies with the Temple, but the guild allows me to move freely." Female Paladin said defensively.
"I've spoken to a lot of adventurers looking for revenge too. Goblin Slayer is one of those." Bargirl said.
'Does no one have names on this planet?' Loken thought. Though he supposed it made for more efficient communication. No need for questions as to what someone does. They are what they do. It reminded him of how Adeptus Astartes was synonymous with being death incarnate, so he supposed it worked.
Night fell and Water Town was on the horizon. The others had fallen asleep, with the only ones still awake being Loken and the cart driver. There were no longer open plains surrounding them, but a dense wood that blotted out the moonlight. There was no breeze, rendering the trees silent and still, as only the rolling of wheels, clopping of hooves, and the thudding of power armoured feet filled the air.
Something wasn't sitting well with the Grey Knight. Over centuries of active combat duty, he had honed what was akin to a sixth sense for battle. He knew when he had eyes on him, and knew what they intended.
"Driver, pick up the pace. We're not alone out here." Loken said. He readied his sword; the power field crackled around the adamantine blade in small arcs of lethal energy before steadying into a thin white corona, lightly buzzing with the flow of power.
"You're sure?" He wasn't asking out of ignorance, but concern if the Grey Knight would be alright by himself. The driver might have been a retired soldier, but he was still far from useless.
"Yes. Now go!" Loken ordered.
"Aye, sir. Yah!" The driver yelled as he lashed the reigns, prompting the horse into a gallop. Loken gripped his sword with both hands. For several tense minutes he waited, never dropping his guard as the feeling of eyes on him had not gone away. Then he heard it; the revving of a chain weapon.
Out of the shaded woods preceded by the fiery red of a visor, came what he least expected. Rushing at him with chain axe raised, in the familiar white and blue colours of the twelfth was a raging, blood thirsty warrior of the World Eaters Legion. The bulk of the World Eater crashed into the surprised Grey Knight, knocking him back.
The World Eater was drenched in blood from fresh kills. The adamantine teeth of his chain axe dripped with gore, and severed heads, still with colour in their faces hung from their hair from his belt.
The animal snarl of the chain axe rushed past Loken's head as he narrowly dodged the horizontal strike. He rushed at Loken with wild swings, each narrowly dodged as the teeth of the weapon nicked his armour sending sparks into the darkness.
"I don't recognise your armour. But you will die all the same." The World Eater snarled. He back-stepped away from from a flourish of Loken's blade.
"But I recognise yours, traitor." Loken hissed.
"Ah, loyalist scum. Your skull is mine!" The chain axe roared as it was swung. Loken batted it aside with his free hand, and kicked the traitor Astartes in the breastplate, knocking him to the ground. He rolled and avoided a downward swing and got back to his feet.
"Grey Knight!" Loken heard the voice and recognised it as Female Paladin. He didn't dare look away from the World Eater. He cursed under his breath. Why did she have to try and come back for him? She would stand no chance against a sane Astartes, much less a crazed World Eater.
"Stay back!" Loken roared. "This isn't a foe you can hope to best." Female Paladin froze in her tracks as the two resumed their battle. The roar of the chain axe was nearly deafening and filled her with a primal fear she hadn't yet experienced. The two colossal warriors were mere blurs in motion as they attacked, countered, flourished, and parried.
She was beginning to question what she thought she could do in a battle between such combatants. Each blow of the chain axe that clashed with the power swords edge made her flinch instinctively as the product was a horrific roaring screech. Truly what the Gray Knight said was true. That mad warrior was not an opponent she could face and win against. There was so much raw physical power behind each of their attacks that she knew that even a glancing blow would shatter her bones even in her full plate armour. Even without their supernatural strength and speed, her injuries would only hinder her.
And the speed. The speed was unreal. She thought the Gray Knight was fast facing the goblins, but now she realised he wasn't even taking the goblins seriously. Now when faced with an opponent who was his equal, he pulled out all stops and showed her just how marvellous and terrifying an Astartes in motion could be.
She failed to notice when the World Eater was coming at her as the speed of his charge was blinding. She could only watched as the chain axe was raised high, ready to chew through body. She was startled by the sound of metal crashing into metal as the World Eater was sent crashing to the ground with Loken on top of him.
"Your fight is with me, traitor!" Loken bellowed as he stabbed down at the blood-crazed Astartes. The World Eater evaded the stabs, and before Loken could swing the sword across his throat, the traitor kicked him off and leapt to his feet as Loken stumbled back.
Loken caught the axe by the shaft and the World Eater caught his sword arm by the wrist. The two struggled against each other; the crazed Astartes pushed his arm further down, bringing the roaring teeth of the chain axe closer to Loken's armoured head with his Chaos enhanced strength.
Once more, the chem injectors in Loken's breastplate injected him with a shot of adrenaline, making his muscles release an incredible burst of strength. Loken tore his wrist from the traitor's grip and swung his blade across his body, cutting the World Eater's axe arm off at the elbow, leaving a glowing orange circle of super heated metal and sizzling cauterised flesh. Loken followed up with a slash across the stomach, spilling the traitor's guts down his legs and onto the ground.
The World Eater fell to his knees, laughing and growling to himself. He looked up at Loken.
"Do it. Finish me off. My skull will join countless others on the throne of Khorne. My death… is a blessing." He snarled, sounding happier than one should in his position.
"Why are you here traitor? Surely there are more of you." Loken demanded. The traitor Astartes laughed harshly and coughed.
"Many, many more. Though those creatures are terrible summoners. Astartes are… surprisingly hard to call from the Warp." He coughed once more. "Might I know the name of my slayer?"
"Garviel Loken. The last loyal son of Cthonia." The mad Astartes flew into raucous laughter when Loken said his name, confusing the Gray Knight.
"Oh this is brilliant. Kharn spoke of you, and he wants a rematch."
"What? I killed him. I impaled him on those dozer blades at the siege of Terra. They tore through his chest! I watched him die!"
"Seek out the Dark Apostle, and you will find him. I care not for the yammering zealot, so kill him if you wish."
"Very well. I will hunt you to the last, just as we did during the Great Scouring. Now die, traitorous scum." Loken spat with contempt before delivering the death blow, separating the traitor's helmeted head from his neck. The body slumped forward and hit the ground with a metallic thud.
Loken stood over the body in contemplative silence. His power sword disengaged and its white corona ebbed and dissipated. He would need to move the body. There was no telling what would happen if ordinary people got their hands on advanced technology. Power armour could possibly be reverse engineered, but that was unlikely. However, weapons were much easier to reverse engineer. It seemed like a universal rule sentient species were far more adept at crafting weapons to kill than armour to protect. If the goblins were anything like their Ork cousins, then letting them find the chain axe especially wasn't an option.
"What was that?" Female Paladin asked, breaking Loken from his thoughts.
"A traitor. Someone I'd have called brother once." He replied sullenly. He looked at her as he mag-locked his sword to his hip. "Why did you follow me?"
"I came to help you. It's quite common to find bandits on these roads nowadays. With the army away and only the city guard remaining, brigands have free reign of the roads." She said.
"The others?"
"Still on the cart. They should be at the Water Town by now."
"Good. We should hurry and join them, but first I must dispose of the corpse and his weapon."
Deep beneath the Water Town, in the labyrinthine chambers and canals of the sewers, the Dark Apostle had taken his convent to spread the word of Chaos. Barial had heard from one of his followers, a former resident of the Water Town, that goblins had made a nest for themselves in the sewers. To the Apostle's surprise, the goblins were very, very receptive to the teachings of Chaos. It wasn't that they understood what he preached, but they understood the root meaning of his words, as if the Warp was trickling into their minds with his words as the vessel. With this in mind, he and his convent had slipped into the sewers to share the tenants of the gods.
Unfortunately, goblins made for terrible summoners, and even worse sacrifices. Their minds, even infused with Chaos, were still only just beyond sapient. Intelligent animals really. Their understanding of the rituals of the Dark Apostle were therefore limited. Only a small handful of traitor Astartes had been summoned, mostly World Eaters, and one Thousand Sons sorcerer. However, much to Barial's delight, one of the said World Eaters summoner was Kharn the Bloody, now the Betrayer.
"What value do these frail Green-skins have, Apostle? What whispers have driven you to this?" Kharn questioned. His voice was a deep, accented purr outside of combat. That was lost when the Butchers Nails began firing kill signals into his brain.
"Oh, much value Kharn. These creatures take in The Word like no other creature I've seen. Where humans will question, goblins will learn. With their numbers and varied morphology, I could create an army of expendable, near limitless soldiers. No whispers drive me to this, World Eater. No. It is only the will of the Gods." Barial replied.
He and Kharn, and several of his devoted followers walked the pathways beside the canals. Several followers carried Barails dark tomes, while some held lanterns.
One of them stopped, his position at the back leaving him unnoticed by the others. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something glide just beneath the surface of the water. With his arm extended, he lit the surface of the water with his lantern. Nothing. He tried to look deeper, scanning for any movement or disturbance.
Kharn, more aware of his surroundings due to centuries of fighting in frenzied melees, having to react to blows from barely a metre away out of his field of vision, turned as he felt something was wrong. The followers barely had the time to stop at the suddenness of Kharn's cease in movement.
"You! What are you doing, get moving!" He ordered, his voice scratched and rumbled through his helmets vox-grill. The stray follower turned, startled by Kharn. He took two step before the water seemingly exploded. From the canal, a great beast of white scale and gnashing teeth launched itself up and snapped its immense jaws down on the follower, its steak knife teeth ripping into his flesh. As quickly as it came, it sunk beneath the murky surface of the water, leaving only a red trail which quickly faded as it went deeper.
Kharn revved his immense chain axe, one of the old twin weapons of his Primarch, Angron. Gorechild. The members of the dark convent raised whatever weapons they had. Some had swords, others wood splitting axes, and weapons made of bone amongst the Lizardmen.
"Calm yourselves and keep moving. That thing seemed to only respond to light. Keep your lights away from the water." Barial said in a hushed voice. He had nothing to base that claim on, but he decided it was a better explanation than nothing. He himself gripped his Accursed Crozius tighter.
They wandered for some time thorough large, hallowed chambers and secluded tombs. He knew there were goblins down here, but they were seemingly trying not to be found. Kharn cut his way through a large wooden door that was around two feet thick with a large timber bar keeping it locked. The Mica Dragon teeth of Gorechild tore through the door like a blade through paper. He kicked it open, sending wood dust and splinters flying. He beckoned the others forward with a tilt of his head.
They stepped into a large chamber with columns stretching up high and lining the room. The columns each had lit torches on them, strange for a seemingly abandoned crypt. Stone coffins were arranged in the corners of the chamber.
"A trap." Barial observed. In the centre of the room was a figure suspended by its wrists with rope. It stood with bent knees and its head bowed with blonde hair spilling down, obscuring it's face. It's clothes were baggy and ill fitting. The bio readings in his visor told him he was looking at a corpse, an old one at that.
The bio readings began to multiply, and he grinned. The goblins had come to greet them. From the far end of the burial chamber a large goblin stepped forward into the torch light. It towered over its lesser kin, roughly the size of an Astartes in Terminator armour. It was armoured and carried a large club of solid black iron.
The goblins seemed weary of them, just as the first lot of goblins were. The large goblin huffed and grunted at them as if it were sizing them up. Barial has come to find that like Orks, goblins were hierarchical by nature, with the largest and strongest taking on leadership roles, as well as having the most breeding rights. If this was their leader, then breaking him would make the others much more compliant.
He looked at Kharn and the World Eater knew what was being asked of him. He was all too happy to oblige. He set Gorechild down against one of the pillars, but kept his plasma pistol mag-locked to his thigh. The nails bit, sending jolts of electricity into the aggression centres of his brain. His stride took on one of a stalking predator as he neared the large goblin. He stared up at it as it had half a foot of height on him, but he was undaunted, in fact relishing the chance to fight the creature.
"Only break him, Kharn. He will be valuable." Barial said. Kharn snarled his affirmation, but kept his eyes on the Goblin Champion.
The Champion gave no warning as it swung the club at Kharn. Kharn ducked, his Astartes reflexes far surpassing the Goblin Champion's. He threw a straight punch into the Chapion's gut, knocking it back. It snarled and drooled as it held its stomach, winded.
It blocked a kick with its forearm, the radius and ulna shattering against the ceremite boot. It countered with a swing of its club as it roared to ignore the pain of shattered bone and crushed flesh. Kharn had it glance off of his armoured forearm, its rounded surface serving to deflect the weapon. He threw another punch; a cross to its jaw. Teeth flew from its mouth in a shower of blood, spit, and chips of tooth.
He was about to mount it and deliver a brutal beat down before Barial called to him.
"Kharn, that's enough!" He barked harshly. Kharn was losing himself to the pulses of pleasure delivered by the Butchers Nails through acts of violence. However, he had learned to steel his mind against losing himself, and managed to pull himself free of the Nails, and remove himself from the Goblin Champion's battered body.
Kharn stepper back and walked back to Gorechild, picking it up and resting in over his right shoulder.
"Heed my words, creatures." Barial called, getting the attention of the gathered goblins. "Come! Hear the word of the Powers. I bring you enlightenment. I bring you strength!"
"Here we are, the Temple of the Supreme God. What do you think?" Female Paladin said with a smile. She and Loken stood before the Temple. The priestesses has already taken the two less fortunate women into the Temple. He looked up at the white stone building. It was impressive he supposed, but he'd seen edifices like the Imperial Palace on Terra. Something like this just doesn't come close.
"It has its own majesty." He said noncommittally. Female Paladin pouted at him, much to his confusion. "What?"
"Hmph. Nothing. Let's go, I'm sure the Arch Bishop would be glad to see you." She said huffily. Loken bristled at the prospect of meeting a religious leader, but if he was glad of anything he inherited from Horus, it was his patience and skills at diplomacy. After all, it was Lunar Wolves doctrine to attempt diplomacy first, then if that failed, initiate their signature spear tip assault strategy.
He followed her inside the Temple, finding it to be well lit and very clean. It was a pleasant change from the dark sanctums, corrugated metal, and luminous globes. There were no Servitors, Mechanicum symbols, or Servo Skulls. Overall, he liked it.
They entered a large chamber at the end of a long corridor, seeing who Loken presumed was the Arch Bishop seeing the priestesses away after finishing an exchange. Female Paladin bowed before her, and she beckoned the Paladin to rise.
"Your holiness, I bring news of a successful quest. Though the task was done, I couldn't have done it without help." She reported. The woman stood by the altar smiled down at the Paladin.
"Please rise. I'm sure your injuries make it hard to bow, so please, sit and relax." She said, her voice was soft and kind. Often the voice of manipulators. Loken was weary of her.
"Is this the one who helped you?" She asked. While blind, she could determine his location by the quiet hum of his power pack's sub atomic fusion reactor.
"That I am. I am Gray Knight. It is fortunate that I have a particular dislike of goblins." He said, opting to use this world's naming conventions.
"He came at a most fortuitous time. Without him, none of us would have come back to the Temple. Shamefully, I too had been captured." Female Paladin admitted.
"You fought when most others would have laid down and died. Do not sell yourself short, Paladin." Loken said sincerely.
"But it was you who annihilated them singlehandedly. I killed some, yes, but their destruction came by your hand." She insisted.
"All I am saying is that you should be proud of what you did in your position. I can't think of many women I've encountered who'd have done what you did." Lotara Sarin came to mind. Before the Heresy, Kharn had joked about Captain Lotara Sarin, Captain of the Gloriana class ship 'The Conqueror', being able to put Angron back in line. He didn't doubt it. She bore the bloody hand upon her uniform, a sign of respect and acceptance amongst the World Eaters. If anyone could have made a Primarch behave, she could. A formidable woman indeed.
"Please, go and get some rest and get your wounds tended to. I wish to speak with sir Gray Knight." The Arch Bishop said. Female Paladin looked from her to Loken, but obeyed. She exited the chamber and then only Loken and the Arch Bishop remained.
"You have a powerful presence. Though blind, I can see the great strength you possess. I am the Sword Maiden, the Arch Bishop of this Temple. You have my gratitude for bringing them back to me." She said warmly.
"I did nothing but my duty." Loken replied.
"Indeed. While I wish to properly reward you, there is a problem I would like you to observe. I have one other I have requested to do this, so if you would, I would like you to wait for them. It is of the utmost importance."
"Goblins?" He aksed. She nodded silently. "Of course. Outside of Demons, the people's main concern is goblins, it seems. Very well, wherever Green-skins may be, my blade will find them."
"I'm glad. Please, make yourself at home in this town. There is a Guild, an inn, and a smithy. I'm sure you will make good use of them."
"No need. I will wait. However, I will go to the Guild to see what work needs doing in the meantime."
The Goblin Champion was exceedingly happy with his find. The little whelps has fished a corpse out of the canal in the sewers. It took him getting involved in the recovery to pull the corpse out, but it was worth it. It was a large, headless corpse clad in armour, with an exotic weapon chained to its back. It was very large axe with teeth that gleamed wickedly. He had taken a particular liking to that.
He loved the sound it made, and with his newfound strength thanks to the strange preacher, he could swing it around like it weighed nothing. The name of Khorne roared in his mind, demanding blood. While he didn't understand what the words meant, what he did know was that Khorne cared not from where the blood flowed.
And that's that chapter done. So what did you think? This is just a bit of set up before we see the GS and the crew. They're gonna need a bit of help against... CHAOS GOBLINS! Remember to review, follow, favourite and all that good stuff. BrutalAftershock out.