An Army of Chaos

Chapter two: The Bell of Ambush By Sora21

Disclaimer: I do not own Warhammer 40k, the guys at Games Workshop wouldn't let me buy it from them for $20.

Special thanks to Warsmith and shinbusta mk3a for giving me their thoughts and suggestions thus far in my stories. By the way, to answer your question shinbusta, I play with Chaos Undivided.

Mathayus turned to face the forest and saw a figure appear from the bushes and was running towards them. It was indeed their scout Procane. And although Mathayus had very little patience left, he could not help but bring a wicked smile to his lips. The only time Procane gave gleaming smiles and short-skipping motions as he ran was when he had good news…. very, good news.

Procane came running up and stopped a few paces away from his lord, panting hard. "Report!" demanded Mathayus. Procane, still panting, gave a quick salute and answered in between breaths, "The enemy has been expecting us, but they've gotten so tired that even their night watch has gone to sleep."

Mathayus forced himself not to bellow out his wicked glee for his army was no more then a mile away from the enemy's base. So he settled with an evil sneer instead which unsettled the scout in front of him.

"Excellent. Return to your post." Mathayus watched Procane scamper off towards his squad of berzerker brethren. Mathayus turned to his commanders. For three days the daemon prince has waited for his enemy to lower their defenses. Now was his chance to unleash his army.

"This is what I want you all to do." Said Mathayus, now more seriously then ever. "The defiler only has two shots left in its battle cannon, so I want those shells to be the bell of our ambush…. Espantoso." Mathayus faced the berzerker and looked into the commander's beetle-black eyes. "I want you and your men to run in there and see what and who you can destroy."

Espantoso gave a smirk at the thought of causing mayhem and destruction once again.

"Vladimir," continued Mathayus, turning to look at the distorted face of the marine. "I want you to be right behind him." Vladimir's possessed left arm gave a playful thrash at his side.

"And the rest of us my lord?" said Creatore, his face hidden behind his horned helmet.

"Search and destroy." Replied the daemon prince.

Hector walked out and around his tent, his trusty bolter in his hands. He had just gotten off guard duty, but still the young guardsman was afraid of a surprise attack.

He knew there was a chaos army out there somewhere… lurking behind the bushes, staring at him, laughing at him and at his regiment.

Once Hector had returned to the barracks he tried to explain his fears to the other guardsmen, but to no avail. No one believed him. Hectors entire crew had come to the conclusion that the chaos spawns acted as their gods bid, and that some other poor souls are suffering their wrath, that there was truly nothing to be worried about.

Not this hour, thought Hector. Not this minute.

But still the young solider paced around his tent. Fatigue had no affect on the youth this night, so he had to do something to occupy his thoughts.

Footsteps that were not his own came from behind, and Hector spun about with his bolter raised and ready.

"Easy there soldier." It was a higher-ranking officer that Hector recognized but didn't know. "Evening sir." Hector saluted the officer. The officer saluted back and continued, "The captain wants to see you." The officer pointed towards one of the larger tents where the captain was stationed.

In his loss for words, Hector smiled weakly, saluted the officer in dismissal and started to walk stiffly towards the captains quarters.

A million questions flooded Hectors mind. What did I do? What's going on? Why would the captain want to see me Then the answer hit him… Hector had been out of his tent after hours.

"But I was on night watch!" Hector blurted. But the voice in his head had a possible answer for that too. What if it was the captain that gave the order to sleep? Hectors stomach gave a nauseous lurch at the thought of being thrown out of the regiment for such a small offense. Or was it?

Hector looked up to find himself in front of the captain's tent. With a heavy sigh Hector walked inside.

The tent's interior was plain; the only furniture that was visible was one long table surrounded by high-backed chairs. And on the farthest end sat Captain Victor Malilser of the seventy-fifth regiment.

Hector saluted his captain and said, "You wanted to see me sir?" Without looking up from the paperwork that was in front of him, Captain Malilser replied, "Indeed solider. I am aware that you have been…. Unable to sleep?"

Although the captain had made it a question, Hectors stomach gave another nauseous lurch. "I'm sorry sir, it wo-" The captain interrupted the youth with a stiff cough.

After a moment of silence, Captain Malilser said, "No it will not." The captain's rough accent made the last word sound threatening. "But," the captain continued, "that is not the reason I have requested your audience." Hector released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

The captain continued his speech.

"Something has caught my attention that is more important than a soldier with insomnia." Captain Malilser stood then and walked towards Hector, stopping just short of a few feet, his hands clasped firmly behind his back. Another moment of silence passed. The little voice inside Hectors head told him that something bad was going to happen.

The captain broke the silence with a heavy sigh. "There is no easy way to say this so I'll just say it. I guess you could place the blame on our faulty, second-hand scanning equipment, but nonetheless that chaos army is closing in on us as we speak." Hector opened his mouth to say something but the captain cut him off again with another stiff cough. The captain continued, "What matters right now is that you must leave this camp and deliver this letter as soon as you get the chance." The captain dug into his shirt pockets and pulled out a small envelope.

Hector took the letter with a cold and shaky hand. He couldn't believe that he was being given such an important task so quickly unexpected.

After Hector had safely tucked the letter away in his own coat pocket, Captain Malilser added in a stern voice, "And don't you dare die."
Before he could stop himself, Hector asked in a voice that he didn't recognize as his own, "When will the enemy arrive sir?" and as if to answer the soldiers question a loud whistling cut through the air.

Hector heard the captain yell the words 'get down' but before he could react, the impact of the missile was so forceful that it dislodged half of the tent, leaving the half that was still intact leaning at an odd angle.

Hector found himself and the captain on the ground, but before either of the two could say a word, a second missile struck the camp, but a little further away this time, now causing the captains tent to sage a little lower with the impact.

Hector was in a daze, too many things were happening too quickly for his brain to believe that it was real. Such a daze he was in, Hector almost didn't realize that Captain Malilser grabbed him by his uniform collar and roughly pulled him to his feet. Captain Malilser then shook Hector until he had his full attention.

Looking into the stunned eyes of the young guardsmen, Captain Malilser said again in his cold stern voice, "Don't you dare die!" and with that said, Captain Malilser let go of Hector and turned to leave.

"Wait!" pleaded Hector, the captain stopped just short of the demolished tents entrance. "How do I know where to go?"

Without turning around, the captain said plainly, "It's all in the letter boy." And then the captain was gone. Hector knew that would be the last time he would ever see Captain Victor Malilser of the seventy-fifth regiment ever again.

A/N: another good chapter finished. Okay, it's good enough for me. But any ways, there is only one name that you really need to know about and that is Malilser. Now I'm an avid bookworm like my father and I had read one of the Magic: the Gathering books and one of the characters in it was named Malil. Sooooo, all I really did was added s-e-r at the end thus creating the name Malilser! (Aren't I brilliant…. Don't answer that) and if you must know it was the Mirrodin cycle book two, the Darksteel Eye. So, with that said, I recommend that everyone R/R, because it's a polite thing to do and I love reading other peoples comments, both good and bad.

Sora21