A thundering roar was what brought Ragnor out of his trance. The roar of one hundred blood thirsty Orks. Picking up his bolter he climbed out of the ruined tank and look around, every pack was ready to fight, most standing behind the tanks for cover, behind them stood all those who were to fight in close combat. Why had no one told him about this, not important at the moment. They needed to hold this position. 'Where's my Blood Claw pack?' He bellowed as he stood to full height. Fourteen warriors came to his side; they were ready for close combat. 'Keep you eyes on me brothers and you will live to another day.' They nodded and went back to their original spot and waited. Ragnor turned and climbed onto the tank and crouched down and used the turret as a defence. Behind him many Space Wolves offered their prayers to Russ and the Emperor. Now the Orks were moving in, the wind carried the scent. Soon they would be in charging distance and even sooner they would be in range of the guns. Still the walked slowly towards them, where they trying to scare us? An intimidation tactic, trying to thin our numbers before they struck. Clearly these Orks had never dealt with the Wolves of Russ before, fore they loathed giving a single inch to the enemies of the Emperor, they would rather die. Finally the Orks charged, roaring as they did so. Many times Ragnor had found himself at the receiving end of the Ork charge. He unhooked his axe and placed it by him on top the tank. Finally the Orks were close enough to shoot. The first volley slew many Orks, they were just trampled under foot. The second wave of fire had the same effect.
'Fire at will.' The sudden roar of gun fire was deafening, around half the Orks had fallen but now what remains were nearly on top of them.
'Blood Claws with me!' Roared Ragnor over the gun fire. Seconds later they were by his side, picking up the axe, he divided into the Orks. The movement and noise was disorienting at first but he soon gathered his bearings and began to swing his axe wildly into all those around him. Finally his axe was stopped, it had struck the neck of a huge Ork killing it but his blade was stuck. A near by Ork pushed the advantage and struck Ragnor's head knocking the helmet clean off. A second blow by the Orks fist broke Ragnor's nose. Pulling hard he freed his axe and arced down into the head of his Ork attacker. Out the corner of his eye he saw other Space Wolves fighting, pushing their way forwards. A loud rumbling from behind caught Ragnor's attention, he recognised the noise. It was a land raider. What was left of the Orks spirit was broken when they saw this and they turned to run, taking advantage of this the Space Wolves sprang forwards and cut down what remained of the Orks. The metallic taste of blood filled his mouth. The Battle Lord walked over to the Land Raider.He walked back to the group.
'Listen up, we are being taken off the front line. We are being relocated.' With that Ragnor smiled. He hated being on the line, just holding this position was boring him. He picked up his helmet. The road was littered with the dead, Orks and Space Wolves. Twenty-two were left. Out of the fifty that went in, twenty-eight had died in battle. So far from the Fang, such a cold and unrewarding place to die. Taking in a deep breath he could taste the blood and smoke. The bodies of the Space Wolves would be stripped, and there names recorded in the Fang, forever remembered as those who died in the name of the Emperor. As the sun began to set, they walked back to the landing zone. Passing the faceless warriors of the Imperial guard, Ragnor felt a deep sadness in the heart. As they climbed into the Rhino he closed his eyes, he shed a tear for his fallen comrades.
An explosion came from behind the Rhino, Ragnor jumped up and smashed the top hatch open and looked with disbelief at the sight of a burning Rhino, the one Gilianum had been in. The symbol for Gilianum in Ragnor's helmet went black, he was dead. 'Stop, we need to collect their bodies.' As the words passed his lips the Orks opened fire, they were determined to keep the prize they had earned. Another rock flew from the tree but bounced off the armour which sent it upwards before it exploded twenty feet up. The Rhino reversed the wreckage with its bolters ripping the forest apart. The hatch opened and Ragnor jumped out and used his fist to punch a whole in the side of the wrecked tank. Looking up he saw the other Rhino had turned round and was concentrating fire on where they believed most the Orks were. Ragnor dragged six bodies from the burnt wreck, their armour was severely damaged, the rocket had clearly exploded inside the tank. He passed the bodies into the tank and jumped on top of it. The engines roared as the accelerated away. He pulled open the top hatch and climbed in. Damn it, Gilianum was a good leader. Ragnor had no doubt that the responsibility would fall to him now.