Chapter 5(orphan)

Night Lords Chaos Raptor Augusta Antony Sevenson snarled through his razor sharp warp mutated teeth, as he tore through the rain lashed sky with his roaring jump pack. Around him his squad of fellow raptors flanked him in loose formation.

Below them was a road, the only road for 200 miles, twisting and turning through the rough hills and terrain of the dark and endless forest.

Somewhere on this road was their quarry, his little brother Franklin, beloved son of Chaos Lord Luke Sevenson and Chaos Champion Wendy Sevenson. Somewhere on this road was the armoured prisoner bus that carried him.

Augusta tore down to the ground, his ceramite power armour boots stabbing into the tar aggregate road surface from the jarring impact of landing. He tore his boots out of the craters they had formed in the now cracked road surface, and sniffed the air through his helmet grate, smelling for his quarry as the other raptors slammed down around him.

"An engine exhaust, ten minutes ago. They are still ahead," Augusta rumbled in his warp altered deep voice as he smelled the air.

The raptors all gunned their jump packs and took off in roaring plumes of warp flames, demonic jump pack engines screaming.

A few hundred meters later they slammed down on the road again, and sniffed yet again. Every few hundred meters they did this, lest their quarry try to split up to trick them. The bus exhaust was still fresh, and all were still aboard the vehicle.

Augusta thrilled at this excellent sport their prey was proving to be. This was far more interesting than they had anticipated, almost a genuine challenge even. He should have expected no less from his own brother.

The original plan had been to slowly and stealthily pick off the nuns one by one in the orphanage, toying with their minds, slowly driving them mad with terror.

They had been hiding in the shadows as the nuns discovered the first body, in the very room with them the entire time, watching, relishing the fear. They were Night Lords, lords of combat in the dark. No other space marine could hide in the dark so well as the children of The Night Haunter, they were unseen death in the dark.

Augusta himself had gutted the nun, and left her for the others to find. Augusta had left the message for his brother. And Augusta had watched as something happened that he did not expect.

Augusta had seen an act of heroic and selfless valour from lowly orphan boys!

Augusta smiled with genuine pride for his little brother's bravery and honour. Even precious few grown men could stand their ground so fearlessly in the face of Night Lord terror tactics, the child had merely flinched for but a moment before standing tall again, it was extremely impressive. Few mortals were so heroic.

With the boys forming an impenetrable human shield around the nuns, the original plan had been ruined. Even a Night Lord could not sneak unseen to nab a nun from this dense huddle.

The hidden Night Lords had quickly lost sight of Franklin's location in the mass of boys, were no longer sure which boy was him, so they could not risk opening fire on the group for fear of accidentally killing him.

The Night Lords had been all around the boys in the dark, always just out of their sight. They had been caught off balance by the tactics of these boys, had paused in revealing themselves, still deciding on what strategy to use in the unfamiliar layout of the orphanage.

The boys had had the home advantage, had known the layout far better than the newly arrived Night Lords, and had outfoxed them all the way to the drawbridge. The Night Lords had been unbalanced, confused in trying to guess what the boys would do next.

The boys had found the artistic redecorating of the Battle Sister's barracks, as Night Lords closed in all around them in the dark.

But the boys had kept moving before they could be surrounded, had entered another nearby building, and the Night Lords had thought to hunt them inside.

The Night Lords had just entered into the building through a side door, when they saw an armoured prison bus driving out of another exit. The cunning prey!

The entire Night Lord strike force had trained their weapons on the bus, but couldn't risk killing Franklin. They wanted him alive, and feared that if they shot out the tyres at such high speed, the bus might crash and kill Franklin in the collision. They had held their fire.

And ever since then the Night Lords had been chasing them in hot pursuit.

The raptors continued their methodical pursuit, voxing their new intelligence updates to the rest of the strike force further behind them. The Night Lords were not going to be outfoxed again, the boys only had one direction they could safely move in, and would be hard pressed to outmanoeuvre them again.

The prey would be caught.

Fool us once, shame on you little boys. But fool us twice, and the shame is solidly ours.

And the Night Lords would not be shamed by little boys. The Night Lords would never be fooled again.

***...

Franklin swayed slightly as he attempted to stand at attention in the back of the bus as it moved, disciplined as ever even in this situation. The bus did not have enough seats for the entire surviving population of the Orphanage to sit, so the boys naturally let the nuns have all the seats and stood crammed together in the walkway at perfect attention.

The bus went around a sharp corner, and Franklin felt his momentum threaten to knock him off his feet onto the lap of Sister Mary who was sitting beside him. The boys all shifted their postures slightly, trying desperately to regain their balance, but the turn was too sharp, and Franklin and a number of other boys sprawled onto the nuns!

"Ouch! Franklin! Oh this is ridiculous! Sit on my lap before you break your neck, there's a good boy," Sister Mary hissed in pain.

Franklin could only obey her every command, and sat on her lap as ordered, back straight at attention. He felt her arms wrap around his waist and hold him tightly. She was very tense, and holding him as though she feared to lose him.

"I won't let those monsters take you away Franklin. I won't let him take you, I won't, I won't you hear!" Sister Mary whispered urgently, sounding deeply afraid for his safety.

"Sweet little boy, MY sweet little boy, no hell spawned monster is going to take you away from me! I won't let them get you Franklin! They won't take you away!" Sister Mary whispered in a sobbing voice.

Franklin felt her hold her face against his straight back, and heard her weep into his back. The back of his robes became wet with her tears.

Franklin felt a storm of emotions, he felt so many different things all at once right now, so much that his thoughts were nearly deafening him with their clamour. He had barely even begun to process so much that had happened tonight.

One of his beloved nuns was dead! One of HIS nuns! It was the most horrible thing that had ever happened! To kill one of these women that he loved so much was not something that Franklin could forgive, it was the worst thing anyone could ever do to hurt him!

Not only was one of his treasured stern nuns dead, but his own family had killed her!

Why!? WHY!?

Why had they done this? If it was him they wanted then why kill a nun? What possible reason had made them kill his nun!

If they had thought to make him feel anything but hatred for them, then killing one of his nuns was the LAST thing they should have ever done!

Franklin had adored Sister Martha, just as he adored all the nuns. For his entire life he had enjoyed the punishment and discipline she had given him, had felt so utterly peaceful and cleansed under her strict domination. She had been a cherished treasure, an angel of delight that made his life such a heavenly paradise, and these monsters had so callously killed her as though her priceless life meant nothing!

Terrible rage filled him, the most terrible terrible rage! He wanted so badly to kill the ones who had done this terrible crime! He wanted to hang them by their own guts just like they had done to her!

But as well as rage, he felt terrible fear, not fear for himself, but fear for his remaining treasured nuns. He was almost sick with fear for their safety, the thought of all of these profoundly treasured women that he loved so deeply, all hanging dead from their own guts! This MUST not happen!

He would die without a second thought to save his precious nuns, he would stand single handed against all the forces of hell to keep his precious women safe! He wanted to fight, but what could he do? He was a 12 year old boy without any weapons, his enemies were space marines! He had no idea how he could hurt such fell foes.

He felt Sister Mary hug him tighter, and his fear for her safety grew. His fear for her was so terrible that he almost wanted to vomit. He loved her most of all his precious nuns, he would lay down his life a thousand times if it would keep her safe!

Mother Superior called out from the driver seat, interrupting Franklin's dark thoughts.

"I see the listening gargoyle for the first checkpoint up ahead!"

Franklin turned his eyes to look out the armoured windshield, and saw a baroque metal statue covered in sensors looming beside the road ahead. As he watched, the sensors lit up with a bright red light, and a blaring warning hymn blasted out of organ pipes on it's back, the sound echoing back throughout the dark forest.

"Our presence has been noted. The Sisters of Battle are alerted to our presence now," Mother Superior announced with a sigh.

"Thank the Emperor!" One of the nuns exclaimed in relief.

"Let us say the prayer of thanksgiving number 485, in thanks for the Emperor giving us this deliverance," Mother Superior commanded.

Franklin and everyone else in the bus instantly began piously chanting in high gothic, thanking the Emperor for guiding mankind in the darkness with the pyres of burning heretics. No matter how deep the darkness, the immolation stakes of the unclean could illuminate the way to deliverance.

They were just finished the prayer when a concrete checkpoint gatehouse and bunker came into view ahead around the corner, brightly illuminated by glaring floodlights in the pelting rain. Sisters of Battle in sacred power armour stood in set positions all over the facility, bolters trained on this bus that was traveling without authorisation.

The armoured metal gate of the gatehouse was securely closed, blocking their way, and a Battle Sister stood on the road in front of it, waving them to pull up in front of her and explain their business.

Mother Superior slowed the bus right down, and gently pulled up and parked in the spot the Battle Sister was directing them to. Mother Superior opened the armoured driver side window to talk.

"Mother Superior of the Orphanage? What are you doing here?" The Battle Sister asked in surprise, recognising her instantly.

"Night Lords! Attacked the Orphanage! They killed the entire garrison! We are the only survivors! They are right behind us!" Mother Superior explained frantically.

"WHAT!" The Battle Sister squawked in alarm.

"They are Sevensons! They are seeking Franklin! They are right behind us I think!" Mother Superior exclaimed frantically.

"By the Emperor! This heresy will be purged with flame! Sisters beware! Foul Night Lords approach in pursuit of this bus! Ready yourselves!" The Battle Sister commanded.

The Sisters of Battle yelled battle cries of obedience and stood at the ready with weapons poised.

"Open the gates! Mother Superior let me in the bus, I will provide protection the rest of the way." The Battle Sister commanded.

Mother Superior opened the door, and the Battle Sister entered immediately, closing the door again behind her. The armoured gate gave a metallic rumble and started to slowly lower into the floor of the gatehouse. Mother Superior moved the bus near the gate, and waited for it to lower.

A demonic roar of triumph sounded in the sky behind them, and Franklin tore his gaze around, the need to protect the nuns in this emergency overriding the need to stay still at attention.

10 hulking dark blue giants with metal wings slammed down into the road a few dozen feet behind the bus, smashing into the tar surface like baroque meteorites! The nuns all screamed.

The huge armoured figures rose from their landing crouches, rain dripping off the ornately carved demonic visages carved all over their baroque power armour. At their head was a giant bigger than the others, easily fully 9 feet tall, with terrible lightning arcing all over the bladed fingers of a giant metal glove.

The hulking giant wore an ornate helmet, as did all the others, but Franklin got the feeling that this monster was looking him right in the eye for a moment.

The giant spoke in a hell altered snarl.

"Give me my little brother, Franklin Sevenson, give him to me now, and your lives will be spared!"

The Sisters of Battle replied by simply opening fire on the armoured monsters.

The huge monster snarled deafeningly with rage as bolts exploded off his armour, and an instant later a terrible magenta fire erupted from his metal wings, launching him with shocking acceleration at the nearest Sister of Battle!

The monster grabbed the holy maiden around the waist with his lightning glove, and his bladed fingers sliced through her sacred power armour like air!

The top half of her body fell away from the bottom half, she was completely cut in half!

The other monsters were attacking other Sisters of Battle, ripping arms out of sockets and caving in heads with terrible strength!

Two of the monsters were bleeding on the ground, wounded by the initial fire from the Sisters of Battle, huge holes blasted through the joints of their armour, but the other 8 were unharmed, and quickly ripping the Sisters of Battle apart!

The gate ahead opened fully into the floor of the gatehouse, and Mother Superior sped through it while the monsters were distracted.

They picked up speed, the sounds of fighting still raging behind them.

They had to escape!

"FRANKLIN! I AM YOUR BROTHER! HARKEN TO ME, YOUR MOTHER AND FATHER AWAIT YOU!" The voice of the 9 foot tall giant roared out behind them.

"Stay away from him you monster!" Sister Mary was yelling with hysterical fear, hugging him tighter than ever in her lap.

The bus sped off at top speed.

The roar of the metal wings sounded, and Franklin turned to see the giant who claimed to be his brother, flying horizontally just above the road, with a wide trail of magenta fire shooting out behind him from his wings!

The giant slammed into the back of the bus, jolting it forward and denting the armoured rear wall terribly, making long hairline cracks in the bulletproof glass!

The lightning covered glove punched through the glass, liquefying it bright orange as it pushed through it!

The onboard Battle Sister was at the back of the bus in an instant, firing into the monsters armoured helmet through the hole in the glass!

The monster roared and shifted to avoid the gunfire, and the motion unbalanced the angle of his fire wings!

He was spinning out of control in an angry contrail of fire!

He spun off to one side suddenly and slammed into the trunk of a tree!

Huge splinters of wood flew everywhere as the tree exploded from the force of the impact!

The monster was tangled up in the mangled mess of timber!

The bus sped on, turning around a corner and leaving the tree out of sight!

They had gotten away!

The bus sped on away, off into the night.

The loud voice shouted in rage from far behind.

"FRANKLIN!" It roared.

The bus just kept driving.

***...