Chapter 8: The Battle of the South Gate
Martellus, and Russ were supervising the construction of the landing zone for the resupply ship, taking advantage of the lull in the battle after they killed all but one of the archers. The Marines were simply knocking over statues, fountains and ripping up trees and other shrubs so they could create a space big enough for the Thunderhawk to land in the courtyard,
"Primarch the Red, this is Thunderhawk 10 ETA is 1 minute do you copy?" The pilot said,
"Roger that Thunderhawk, we put a big red circle on the North side of the compound along with the radar beacon on autocycle, the LZ is clear and ready, copy?" Martellus replied as he could see the Thunderhawk fly overhead and roll down and the hover fifty feet up.
"Copy that Lord Primarch coming in on final approach, the Emperor Protects!" The pilot voxed.
The Thunderhawk slowly descended, as it did Martellus caught himself holding his breath to see if it drew any enemy fire. Nothing came from the mage corps as he suspected the Republic was just as surprised to see a flying ship as they were when a Chapter of space Marines snuck into the midst of their camp last night. The Thunderhawk set down inside the Temple compound and let down its ramp. The company that was not on guard duty, ran aboard the ship and began unloading weapons, ammo, and explosives by the ton. Due to the enormous strength of the Marines it only took about ten minutes until the ship was empty. Martellus ran up the ramp and through the hold to the pilot to see if he could get any news.
"Sorry, sir all I know is that another chapter is heading your way from Tempest on the fleet and I am to go on a repeat supply run, as for the Imperial guard all I know is that they have been slowed down by fighting further south by hired Mercenaries and adventures that had been conscripted. The news I heard is they are highly paid and also highly trained, many of the adventures a Gold level and up and since the Adventures hate the Imperial Guard they are taking heavy losses even though they they are advancing it is a a much slower pace than anticipated. I am sorry to say it Sir but it looks like your Marines will have to take the entire Central Army!." The pilot said.
Martellus thought that with another Chapter on its way they could open up a second front dividing their troops, and with air support with bolter turrets and possibly ground pounder bombs they had been developing they could win this without the Imperial guard but they would have to hold out until reinforcements came.
"Thanks, I will let you get out of here, The Emperor Protects!" Martellus said deep in thought.
The Pilot nodded and said, "The Emperor Protects and Praise the Grand Primarch!" The pilot had never seen a man with such a calming presence in the middle of complete chaos, if he were his commander, he would follow him to the edge of hell and in it if he asked. With that in mind he give the Primarch the best thing he could think of and gave Martellus a salute and turned back around and started to flip switches and get the ship ready to take off.
When he started to walk back through the cargo hold he saw four Inquisitors with the Emperors items in a box at the Head Inquisitors feet. When he made eye contact with them they all looked down immediately.
"Well at least you did not try to sneak on like I thought you would, but I must say Inquisitors your faith in us leaves something to be desired!" Martellus said with a booming laugh
The Head Inquisitor said, "We are under orders to get these items to the Emperor at once, besides we are not warriors but made for espionage and political intrigue, I will tell the Lord Inquisitor of your bravery," He replied.
"Ey, and I will tell Malcador of yours!" He said with a smile and started to walk down the ramp of the ship without even looking back to say goodbye. "Little filthy cowards, they hide behind the crest of the Emperor when things get tough. Would it not be more of risk to put all the artifacts on one ship in the middle of a warzone where is could be shot down and not recovered for some time?" Marcellus thought as he watched the ship start to take off, at around fifty feet, fireballs and magic missiles started to bombard it as the Republic mages were firing on the ship but not close enough to do any damage. The mages were twice the distance than the archers to avoid death and so their accuracy and potency of their spells weakened They only made one or two direct hits that made a dent or two, then the ship's engines went full throttle and speed out of sight into the clouds.
"Well there go out brave Inquisitors! They will probably get a medal for fetching the artifacts that the Emperor wanted like good little dogs!" Russ said with a echo of laughter booming all around him."
Martellus was glad for once of Russ's rash nature because he could not say such things himself but wanted to. The actions of those Inquisitors began a never ending distrust between the Inquisitors and the Wolf Chapter. To be fair though no one except Malcador and the head Inquisitor knew the significance of one of the artifacts, as it was an integral piece of the golden throne, and the head Inquisitor and Malcador both had their minds wiped of the information, If they had all known this, none would have blamed the Inquisitors for leaving with the artifacts. So later on during the victory parade, when the Inquisitors were allowed to be a part of it and given a place of honor a fight broke out in the staging area and stand ins were used as all four inquisitors as they were all sent to the hospital.
"Grand Primarch your might want to see this." Martellus told Russ to come with him and then left to the North wall that face the Republic encampment.
A they came to the Top they saw all the Demihuman Tribes packing up and going, they did not know what to make of it.
"Do you think this has something to do with our Bolt guns and how we massacred the archers. Russ said.
"We did see that strange Demon floating above the command tent, he was screaming something, possibly that was one of the Demihuman tribes angry with the loss of life" Timore suggested.
"This could be a possible trap as well, that would be the most likely scenario, tactically speaking of course, but I do not think that is right. Something else is going on here, remember when we learned about how convoluted this nation's laws are and how each group had their own nations within nations. I think this has something to do with something of political or cultural nature." Martellus said.
"You might be right if I remember my briefings we are technically in their land, look at that it seems as almost a quarter of the army is leaving, maybe more!" Russ exclaimed as he was looking through his binos
"If I would have to guess I would say 30,000 to 35,000 demihumans maybe more it's hard to tell as some of them are flying and some are not forming up in military formations. Martellus said.
Then they all heard a crackling of lighting and turned around, in the middle of the Temple complex that they had converted into a fortress, in the courtyard a Black hole started to appear, Martellus knew exactly what it was it was a transportation spell, he had seen the God Emperor just use it the other day even though this one seemed to be nowhere near as powerful.
"Men at arms, everyone in the rotation unit surround that strange energy, but not to close it is a teleportation spell, anything can come through there so draw your weapons, everyone else man the walls, 100 marines should be able to take care of whatever comes through the other side!" Martellus yelled over the vox while everyone got into position.
Martellus jumped down off the wall and ran over to where the beast or monster or dragon, the Republic had for them would exit, He drew his Hammer as is could be a mythical beast and his bolter for good measure, HIm and the other 100 Marines were ready to slay whatever horror was about to exit, tensions were high, young Marines had adrenaline pumping through their veins anticipating the fight to come. Then it emerged it was a old bunnyman bent over double with a walking cane and a scroll.
He looked around and said, "My, goodness I do not know what you were expecting but I am sorry to disappoint you boys!" The old Bunnyman said as he began to cough uncontrollably.
"Stand down, repeat stand down, it is an Emissary from the Demihuman council!" Martellus said over the vox.
"My lord it might be a trap remember the Trojan horse from our lessons!" Russ said.
"No, I should have seen this coming the demihumans are leaving they don't want to fight and now they have sent an emissary to talk terms, plus they sent the most un-intimidating demihuman possible to try and not provoke us, image what would have happened if a minotaur came through we would have shot it one site, no this makes perfect sense, it is time for your to learn about politics Russ and I fear you have no aptitude for it but we shall see." Martellus said as he slapped him on the shoulder and motioned him to follow.
Leman Russ was amazed that Martellus was able to process such a complex situation in such a short time, he realized he had a lot of studying to do, because he would have told the Marines to kill anything that came out of that portal thus single handedly shattering any peace he could have made with the Central Republic. A they walked toward the old man the portal behind him closed putting both of them at ease, Russ holstered his Bolt gun and chainsword while Martellus put his weapons away as well. When they reach the old Bunnyman they towered over him like giants,
"What do they feed you boys, my, my, or is it that I am getting smaller!" He waited for a bit then the old man whacked Russ in the shin with his cane.
"That was a joke boy! Do you guys ever laugh I have never seen so many sour faces in one place, except at ZIlwat( a Zilwat was a sour fruit that tasted much like a lemon but was in the shape of a pear) eating contest!" The old man chuckled
This time he whacked Martelles in the shin, "That was another joke, geez you men really do not laugh do you." The old man grumped, looked down and kicked the dust.
Russ and Martellus looked at each other and shrugged, they both silently wished that one of the Inquisitors had stayed as this was in their job description.
"Esteemed Emissary let me introduce myself, I am Grand Primarch Martellus and this is the Chapter leader of the Marine unit you see around your Lord Wolf Leman Russ." Martellus dredged him brain for every bit of protocol he could remember.
"Glad to meet your acquaintances I am Lepus go Derveld, one of the elders of the High Council of Demi-humans in the Republic!" He replied.
"Let us go into the Temple so that we may sit and talk." Martellus said as he motioned to the Temple.
"No, no, what I have to say will not take much time, the demihuman tribes moved to the Republic in fear of the Slane's" he spat on the ground and so did everyone else did in the sound of his voice. "So with that threat gone we wish to go back to our ancestral lands that are in the Imperium, all of which are forest and mountains that are uninhabited and will cause not problems to the local populaces." Lepus said and then paused as if in deep contemplation and then began to snore.
"SO!" Martellus shouted, "You wish to go back to your lands and are packing up to defect to the Imperium? Martellus asked.
Lepus head shot up and shook his head, "Not exactly, many demihuman tribes fear that if we defect right now we will be conscripted due to their special skills and attributes, you may not know this but a Tribe of Medusa's lives in the Republic and have many magical skills one would deem advantageous for war. But they live to be very long and reproduce very slowly so a loss of even 50 of the male malita would be the end of the tribe!" The old bunnyman said shaking his head.
Russ with wide eyes said, "Madusa, your mean turn your into stone with a look, I thought the last one died out during the time of the 8 geed kings!"
"Yes, but a secret tribe survived and have slowly been growing their numbers, so anyways that leave us to this!" Lepus pointed to the document. "It is a non aggression pact with the Imperium, as you have probably noticed our forces are leaving, we will remain neutral until the war is over and then we will side with the victor, which from what I have seen and what the council is hoping will be you." Lepus said.
"Alright, luckily for you I am high enough in the command to accept those terms but on one condition, you say you want us to win, so will you give us strategic information on the Republic Army?" Martellus replied.
"Of course, the first question your probably have is how many demihuman soldiers are leaving and the answer is 40,000 you killed the entire archer corps of 10,000 men, so that leaves the Republic Army at 100,000 men." Lepus stood smiling
"Good, how many magicians, cavalry and infantry?" Martellus asked
"There are 5 companies of magicians of 1000, there are 35 companies of cavalry at 1000 and there are 60 companies of a 1000 of light infantry for a total of 100,000 men." Lepus said with a smile.
"Thank you very much Lepus you have done us a great service! Give me the pact and I will sign it and promise your protection, our Armies will go around your Tribes provinces and you shall be able to return to your ancestral lands after the war." Martellus said as he handed him the document.
Martellus read the document as a whole had a it looked over for any magic and it nothing turned up and he signed it as Lepus eagerly watched. Martellus had another copy made for him to keep, then Martellus rolled up the original scroll and handed it to Lepus.
Lepus grabbed the scroll and placed it in his pouch, he smiled and then said, "I had to wait until you signed this to tell you this information, tomorrow they are going to surround the Temple and then attack the south gate with 75,000 or more men while the rest will serve as a diversion. The Magicians will start the attack with an assault, they will cast fly and bombard you with everything you got to keep you confused. After that they will strike with the real force on the South Gate, to break in and then kill you all," He finished saying shaking his head.
Martellus place his hand on the old man's shoulder, "Thank you, without you telling us we would not have stood a chance. I am truly grateful" Martellus said as the old man stuck out a hand and they both shook, a portal started to form behind him.
Then Lepus started to walk into the portal then turned around and said, "One more thing, I heard rumors that if everything else fails a dragon Lord is on its way to finish the job, it might just be a rumor but I would not count on it. Oh it's starting to close, if I miss this I will miss my ride back home best of luck to you!" The Bunnyman said as he walked into the blackness of the portal and disappeared.
"Do you think we can trust a word he said?" Martellus asked Russ fully aware of his abilities.
"Well the nose does not lie and neither was he, the old man was telling the truth or thought he was telling the truth is all I can say." Russ replied.
"Lets just hope that the other Chapter gets here before the Dragon Lord gets here or it's going to be a free for all! Martellus said,"
NIghtfall was coming and the North gate attack was coming most likely around dawn, because that what he would do, Martellus thought.
"Russ let's get all the company captains in the Temple for a meeting in 20." Martellus told russ as he headed toward the temple,
"Roger that, Emperor Protects!" Russ replied,
As Martellus walked up the stairs he met Canetis who was manning the coms just as he had been told, "Canetis I need you to send an encrypted code that say that we are now fighting a force of 100,000 with 10,000 killed and the demihumans have signed a pact of neutrality and to circumvent all of their tribal lands. Also most important we have a possible dragon lord in enroute, can you do it? Martellus asked with as smile.
"Yes Sir I can get it all the way to Traverser with these booster packs we got with the resupply ship!" The young Tech-Marine said.
"Here is a copy of the signed pact with the demi-humans, it has the locations of the tribes along with the deal I signed, they wish to join the imperium but fear reprisal understand, sent it in a pictocast?" Martellus said.
"Roger that, Grand Primarch I will make sure they fully understand to prevent any kind of misunderstandings!" Canetis replied!
"Good man!" Martellus said as he walked further back into the Temple were he would see a pile of dead bodies stacked in a corner out of the way. He followed the map in his mind to the head priest's room that was lined with copper and all sorts of other wards to shield any mage that can cast higher that level 7 information magic from hearing. They threw out the desk and all the furniture in the room and moved in a large table with 11 chairs. Martellus sat at the head of the desk and thought about the problem at hand, if the Emperor wanted to he could just obliterate the entire army before anyone knew? But yet he refused to get directly involved and used normal men to do his will, was that what a God did? Or was it just a game for him, he must wipe such thoughts out of his head his will is absolute and he had no right to judge it.
Slowly the 10 Captains all filed in plus Russ and Martellus, he told the of the situation and how he planned to place just enough men on the east, north, west, gate to make it look like they were fully guarded. Then he would have 400 marines ready hidden in the courtyard, ready to shoot the magicians out of the sky, they would be armed with the latest high explosive round anti-personnel that would blow on impact or preset height sending shrapnel bypassing any type of magic barrier from the initial blast as well a injuring any other nearby magicians. All the best markman will be picked for the job. Next the enemy has not seen the flamers in action yet, five will be used through the murder holes in the wall while five will be used on top of the wall to kill anyone climbing up, burning siege towers, they will not have to worry about the enemy below because the lower flamers will take care of that,
The rest of the 300 marines will be firing non stop while 100 marines will be rotating in and out, When the Magicians are taken care of they will support the Marines of the north wall by running ammo and grenades to them as well as switch out when necessary.
"Does anyone have any questions?" Martellus asked.
"What happens if they attack another wall?" One of the captains asked.
"Then we swing over to that wall and adapt or die!" Martellus screamed.
The room when quite, "Dismissed and try to get some sleep, it all starts at dawn, remember, The God Emperor Protects!"
"The Emperor Protects" They all replied as they got up and left.
"Why did you not tell them about the Dragon Lord?" Russ said.
"Well, if it is true then we will have to deal with it as it comes." Martellus said with a sigh.
"You have not slept for three days on my count why don't you get some sleep." Russ said.
Martellus nodded and found a bed in the temple and as soon as his head hit the pillow he fell asleep. He had a dream about four figures of unimaginable power all had a grip on one of his arms or legs, they all were pulling in different directions and yelling a fighting of him, one was screaming at him and started to shake him. The next thing he realized Russ was shaking him awake.
"Grand Primarch it's time!" Russ said.
Martellus grabbed his helmet and started to run to the South wall, he took through his binos and walked around the premises of the wall. They had around 5,000 infantry split up between the east, west and north wall at just three hundred meters out with 10,000 decoy cavalry set up as well. The South gate had just as the old man said 50,000 light infantry units with 25,000 calvary set up behind a hill so they would never know they were there. Fortunately their helmets had infrared sensors that can detect the unit hidden in the valley. Martellus had to admit if he did not know ahead of time this plan would have possibly worked.
The first wave started from the north the first company of magicians took flight and made their way to the Temple. The the second company took of from the south, then third from the west and fourth from the east. All of the magicians were all flying at 100 feet and were instructed to bomb the south wall to rubble, As they got closer and pass the mound of dead archers nothing happened they were expecting the same magic that killed the archers but nothing. Then they got to the wall, by that time it was too late, they saw that most of the people on the walls were illusions, suddenly 400 marines appeared out of cover and started to bombard the magicians with the magic they had seen before but this time it was much more deadly. The initial impact was reflected by magic but the pieces of searing hot metal cut through [Barrier] and the magicians like hot butter.
It started to rain blood and chunks of bodies of magicians, it became a total killing zone, one blast of the HR round took out 10 magicians at a time. They packed themselves so tightly together it became a turkey shoot. The marines did not even have to hit the magicians they just had to adjust the height the round would explode and then aim for the largest group and pull the trigger. It was the the first use of anti-air flak rounds in the history of this world. By the time the Magicians called off the attack it was two late and the anti-magician Marines unit coordinated everyone to shoot off 400 hundred rounds at the same time. The last 2100 magicians either exploded or were shredded into pieces all at once in a sort of sick blood inspired fireworks show. For five solid minutes during the Republics magicians ill fated attack blood rained from 10,000 men on the temple, around a thousand or so landed in the grounds half dead. Then the Marines ran around and shot and smashed the heads of the surviving magicians, it became a game to the horrified magicians on how many they could kill. No mercy was to be found from these soldiers, war was what they enjoyed and the killing of the enemy was the payoff.
For the few that managed to get into the compound unscathed they were immediately blown to pieces by bolter rounds or hit with a chain sword to conserve ammo. One squad of five of the most elite magicians made it into the compound in the chaos of the last assault. They used the falling corpses of their comrades for cover. The leader spotted Martellus who was directing the south gate, they all ran to get into range but before they could Russ step in front of them with his chain sword out.
"Well, well, well, it looks like we have some rats in the house, only one way we get of rats in my house." Russ said as he pulled out his chainsword and flipped on the activation rune.
The Magicians tried every spell that came to mind but Russ charged forward and slashed the first man in the stomach, he put his hands over his midsection to keep in his guts, Russ followed up with a downward swing to the neck chopping of his head. Russ then felt a fireball hit him in the back it, it annoyed Russ for than anything he turned around with a pissed look on his face that scared the magician into pissing his pants. Russ jumped forward and cleaved the man in half from head to groin, he spun around and cut then man in half to the side of him at his waist. The last two men were backing up trying to conjure some nasty spell so Russ took out his Bolt gun and shot one man in the head and the other in the chest in two rapid shots that were so fast it seem as if he only pulled the trigger once to the normal eye.
"Is everything covered in blood!" Martellus screamed looking up covering his eyes with his hand as if watching a normal summer rain.
Then it when the last body hit the ground the real assault began on the south gate, the Marines could hear the thunder of the cavalry and infantry units, behind those ladders and siege equipment. The sight was of 75,000 men was enough to make any man lose their courage but for the Wolves they were licking their lips in anticipation of the battle to begin. The in the front of the assault were wearing long shield and were marching in unison while the cavalry was behind the. Martellus told the 400 Marines on the south wall to not shoot until they get close to the wall, the plan was to fire all 10 flamers five on the top, five through the wall then start firing three companies at a time with two companies to switch out when a company run out of ammo.
The Republic Army was closing in , they were only fifty feet away, they the first row put the shield in front of the the second row put the shield over their heads, as the third row all the way to the tenth. This was to protect themselves from arrows and rock, some of the men on horse back started to fire arrows attempting to keep the Marines head down. Then the Republic infantry finally got to the wall and started to bang their shield to keep their spirits up as they started to pass of the battering ram.
Martellus watching from the top of the wall hit his vox and said, "Open fire", Then 10 large spouts of flame hit the front row instantly melting the shields and torching the men. The 2nd row, all the way to the 5th were consumed with flames, the infantry men dropped their shields, and trampled each other to death trying to get away. Most of the men were blinded and some went mad and began to swing their swords at anything in their way. The men who were out of range of the flamers had to kill their own blinded and confused men trying to run back out of the flames. Some wanted out of the flames so badly they pulled out their swords and struck their own men to get out of it and a large brawl started. It was a sad sight 500 men burnt to a crisp and the sixth and seventh Republic infantry Regiments were fighting each other.
"Bring the Rain!" Martellus said, the flamers disengaged already taking their toll and the hundreds of bolters all began to fire and the entire 6th and 7th infantry units all fell down dead at once. The men in a matter of second were turned into hamburger meat, the 8 infantry company was a mix of infantry and cavalry, so the officer trying to instill courage in his men charged his entire unit of horses to the wall, One by one each man fell behind him, slowly with every gallop he could hear less and less hoofbeats, he finally made it to the wall. He turned around and saw his entire cavalry and infantry unit dead, he look up in time to see a Marine on top of the wall point something at him and blow his head off.
In the first 10 minutes of the attack on the wall they had already lost almost 10,000 men but the units kept marching Republic infantry units 10 through 20 were mowed down in just over 15 minutes. There was now a mound of 20,000 men forming a type of cover of the Republic men could hide behind. The began to notice if they hided behind something there magic could not hurt they like arrows,
"Sir we dug this up from the ground," A bloody Republic captain showed the General a metal bolt.
"So this is what they are killing us with, is it magic or like an arrow? General Gillscale said.
"We do not know for know but we suppose anyone can use it, so it is like a crossbow" A Republic scholar said.
"Ok, now we know what we are dealing with if we continue to charge we will die, how many have we lost." The General said.
"We have lost 30,000 men, there is a five foot mound of our own dead men we are using as cover, as long as we stay out of sight and far enough way their weapons are not as accurate." The bloodied captain said.
"Ok lets get 10,000 men behind the line and lets brings in some ballistas and catapults and take out that wall!" The General said slamming his fist on a table.
Martellus and Russ watched as the men drew back and started to bring in the heavy weapons.
"I didn't think they had those." Russ said as he saw a catapult.
"Well neither did I, Russ, I want your unit and unit 6 with me we are going to jump the west wall, bring as many grenades as possible, we are going to follow that ridge and then start throwing like mad and take turns, that will soften them up then let's take the rest of them out, I want two flamers one for each company, got it?" Martellus asked.
"Roger that, Grand Primarch!" Russ said.
"Meet me at the west wall in ten" Martellus said as he voxed the instruction and then ran to resupply, he also voxed the tech marines and made them a bet. By the time the two units got supplied and got to the west wall the Tech marines had a hole in the wall big enough for two Marines to crawl though.
"I owe you boys some drinks!" Martellus said as he pointed to the smiling Tech Marine with digging tools.
They two companies crawled through the wall as the the sun was going down, they all crawled along the other side of the ridge unseen, they could hear the Republic soldiers talking about how they were safe at this distance. Russ subvoxed that they were all lined up five feet back from the top of the ridge with a clear view of the enemy. Martellus unit got into position, 200 Marines all lined up along the ridge. They would start throwing grenades confusing them and destroying any emplacements, then they could enter the cam and killed everyone and destroy the heavy artillery, "On my mark everyone throw your grenades, put them on a three second timer."
"Go." Martellus sub vocalized over the vox two hundred grenades we thrown into the camp, then sound of them hitting the ground made the guards in the camp look around and then everything exploded. Martellus aimed for a group of three men taking around a fire and threw his grenade right the fire. When the grenade when up it blew one man in half while another flew cartwheeling with every bone broken in his body, the last man was blown back and did not move. Similar scenes were unfolding everywhere within the camp but just when they thought int would lighten up the second salvo of grandes came. Bodies and pieces of wood and dirt blew up everywhere, the officers were pointing in every direction trying to find out where the attack was coming from and then the third volley. One lucky Marine took out the entire Officers group that for some reason 10 of then got behind a cart and tried to make a plan, he simply skipped it underneath the cart at their feet and all anyone could see was legs, dirt, head, torso with guts hanging out of them flying through the air.
"One more volley" Martellus reminded everyone took two grenades armed them and threw them at targets to make a bigger explosion, to blind the enemy so when they charged most of them would be blind. The final volley, shook the ground even where the Marines were at, tents, mess halls and everything else that might hold people exploded. Then Martellus stood up and screamed, "For the Emperor!" and charged into the camp jogging over dead bodies and pieces of people, the first person he saw was a man huddled behind a pile of his friends he prostrated himself and said, "I will serve the Emperor, I will make a pact!" Martellus was shocked, that's when the rest of the surviving group of 6,000 men all got up and threw their arms down and prostrated themselves. Russ beheaded one before Martellus yelled, "They are surrendering, in the name of the Emperor we cannot hurt them!" All the Marines stopped.
A disheveled man that looked like a noble ran up and started to kiss Martelles's feet, "My Grand Primarch Martellus, I a Count Visbin and we wish to take you up on your offer and seek salvation!"
Suddenly the world stopped again and Martellus heard, "I will lend you my power for this time and you shall make them your servants" Demiurge said.
Martellus looked but did not see him, "All you have to do is have them cut an x in a circle on their forehead or top of hand or anywhere really and they shall be saved and follow your commands. Demiurge said.
Martellus had all the men that surrendered follow him into the other side of the rIdge while the rest of the Marines took care of torching and demolishing the rest of the camp.
"Alright, you shall take my mark, take your blade and cut a x in a circle on either your hand or head and your shall, gain power and be my soldiers." Martellus said not knowing what would happen next.
All the men did it without question and nothing happened at first but then the men started to change, their teeth got sharp, they nails turned into talons, they started to cut more symbols in their skin and they became stronger and taller while the one eye turned red just like Martellus. The once Count came up and said, "Master we are ready to follow you into hell, we have been awaked to the lust for war, and freed from fear, use as however you wish!" He told Martellus with a bow that was with a much more confident and a deeper voice than the shambles of a man he met before.
"What happened to them?" Russ said.
"They received my symbol received my power, they are ready to fight and die for the Imperium let's all go back to the Temple before we get caught off guard."
Russ looked at Martellus for the first time with doubt in his eyes and then ordered then now 6,200 man force went back to the temple. As they all made it back word spread quickly of how the Grand Primarch used dark magic to turn the Republic soldiers into his soldiers.
Martellus walked into his makeshift office in the temple and threw a desk over, "What did I do to them Demiurge?
"You saved them, they surrendered after they herd you would spare them if they took your blessing." Demiurge said,
"Your blessing, not mine!" Martellus said.
"Sit!" Immediate Martellus sat down. "Remember my creation to whom you speak, I will not accept such rudeness! Now they are what you call Warfeinds, they are humans with a bloodlust for war, free of fear, they serve their purpose until they die, so what do you say?" Demiurge said like a mother correcting a child.
"Thank you!" Martellus said.
"See that is all it takes, have fun with your new troops." Demiurge said as he disappeared.
Martellus gathered all the Wolves together and said, "Listen, I know you are uncomfortable fighting beside the Warfriends but this ability was given to me from the Chaos Guardians to help us in the fight to come, so it is the will of the Emperor. Does anyone have objections." Other the murmurs from the crowd about the amazement of a Chaos Guardian appearing and they all had their misgivings put to rest.
Russ raised his sword and said, "Bless the Emperor for giving us these troops today, and I thank the Guardians for our protection!" All the other Wolves banged their chest in unison.
"Bring me count Visbin!" Martellus said as the closest Marine ran and got him and brought him back.
"You are the local lord of this town correct?" Martellus asked Visbin.
"Yes master, what do you wish?" He asked bowing.
"I want you to go into town with some of your men and bring back as many men as your can get to fight for us before dawn, do you understand?" Martellus asked.
"I shall, my entire house guard and servants should follow other than that I am not sure but I will try." THe count said.
"Good that is all you can do, come back before the sun comes up!" Martellus said.
The count ran and got a dozen men and ran to into the town to convert as many men as they could. He succeeded in turning his entire household of 1000 men and around 800 guards and villagers, when he came back a dawn they did Martellus lead the ritual and had a force of 8,000 Warfiends and 2000 Marines for a total force of 10,000.
When the Republic scouts finally came to see what had happened, they snuck into where the camp was to find nothing but bodies, it was completely empty. They found one man heavily wounded but alive and cast magic on him and took him back to the main camp. They scouts were lucky they got there right after the last Terran Wolf got far enough away from the camp for them no se hear so smell them, as Russ ordered to not wear their helmet on the last raid to keep their senses sharp. When the got back to camp they had the last remaining medical magicians heal him and cast [calm] and [truth] and chained him down this time, taking all measures they could.
The General was sleeping and was woken up when he heard the explosions in Camp 2 so he sent a small scout unit and waited. He did not want to lead the rest of him army of just army of only 35,000 men of the 150,000 man Army. He had good news front the South and no Imperial reinforcement were coming and his the Dragon Lord was on its way.
The soldier was covered in dried blood, he hat cuts all over his body and his uniform was completely torn up. One of the scouts walked up to the General and said, "Sir we found him breathing underneath a few other bodies, we think he was using it for cover. He was bleeding out fast but we managed to save him." He salate and dismissed himself, as he was no longer privy to the information that was in the tent,
"What happened out there Corporeal there were 10 companies and the Count out there and the scouts said that the bodies were in pieces as if they had been torn up by beast. The most puzzling is that over half of the men are gone, they said no trace at all?" The General was trying to hide his anger
The Corporal took a drink of water then spoke, "It was that damn Count Visbin, he was the incharge of the camp and has been preaching that we should join the Grand Primarch and his Gods. Many of the men believe him, to make matters worse he was having a secret meeting with all of the men who were going to defect, then on the side of the camp I was on everything started to explode and it was not the weapons they used before on us. It little less than a few minutes over four thousand of us were dead except for the count and his men who ran out and gave their allegiance." The man said trembling.
"Then what happened?" The General asked.
"I had been hit pretty hard and was fading in and out, I saw the Marines coming shooting anything that still moved, laughing and talking heads, they were demons, enjoying the slaughter. So I covered myself up with a few bodies and I was lucky and they passed over me, that's when I saw HIM!" The man started to cry, his hands shaking wildly.
The General started to slap the man with his leather gloves, "Get yourself together man, you are a soldier of the Republic you are a veteran a three campaigns!" he shouted,
The Corporal straighten up and said, "I have seen a lot of things in my life but nothing ever like this, he had all the men gather and around him and had them mark themselve with his symbol, they cut a circle with a x in the middle on their forehead or back of their hands. When they did they changed, becoming more like the Marines, they had no fear, they craved war, their bodies changed to. How I could not see I pass out afterward from the shock of it all." He said as he picked up his water and drank it.
"That weasel Count, he was never the same after he saw the archer, I should have seen this coming but I never would have thought he would go so far." The General stomped out of the room.
One of the guards walked up to the Corporal and handed him a new uniform, "Is this the right size?" The man asked. The Corporal turned around and took off his shirt hiding his chest that had a huge circle with a x in the center carved on his chest. He threw on his undershirt and turned around, "It fits just fine thanks!" He said as he put his uniform on.
The guard noticed the man's nails were thick like claws when he was putting his buttons on, the guard just shrugged it off and left the tent to go find him some food.
"Now I must alert the Master when the Dragon Lord comes and try to take his head when he still is in human form." He said to himself as he put a small vox in his ear and covered it with his long hair, he grinned with a large sharp teeth he had hidden so well to this point.
First big battle done, next battle coming up will be the big one! The Chaos Guardians are making an appearance, I am having fun with this I can't wait to see what powers Shallteer will lend. Any of you have any ideas, or maybe even another the other Guardians. Will the Chaos converts want to still worship the God Emperor or are the the seeds of insurrection? We will definitely see Martelles in full OP mode for moments in this battle!