Fellblade

IX

Blood & Souls

'By Sigmar's hammer,' Merideon sneered at the ogre striding towards him. 'You have a very large club there. I wonder if it's compensating for something else that's too small.' He chuckled nastily.

The Ogre frowned and growled. He was confused by the little human's talk. As it paused, Kurt, Magnus and Skurdi rushed forwards, each from a different direction. Before the ogre could react properly, battle was joined.

The knight's blade sliced across the beast's gut, spilling a torrent of blood and entrails. Like great, slimy ropes they slid onto the floor, tripping up Skurdi as he charged into the attack. The runeaxe smashed into the ogre, severing its left knee joint and bringing it down with a howl of pain. Blood laced its neck as the orcish blade of Kurt slashed horizontally, and then the outlaw twirled the blade. Twisting around, he slammed its point into the ogre's spine, erupting from its chest in a spray of gore. Arms flailing, the ogre groaned and dropped his club. Strangely, he tried to rise again but with only one leg operational, he found it impossible.

'Die, creature,' Merideon spat, pulling the trigger of his flintlock.

The ogre's head exploded like a melon hit by a cannonball.

Kurt, Magnus and Skurdi were drenched in gore.

'Well, that was unnecessary,' Kurt snarled. He flicked a piece of brain matter from his shoulder.

Having navigated their way through a series of largely ruined and abandoned dwarven chambers and halls, the Red Wolves had entered a section of natural caves and tunnels clearly leading to their goal. Broken dwarf statues and partially wrecked dwarf machinery cluttered the roadways and corridors of the underworld. They had already faced several traps, no doubt created long ago as a defence mechanism against intruders. Bones littered the floor, alongside rusting weapons and discarded pieces of armour. Morgan now knew better than to touch things he knew little about, and made a mental note to stay away from anything suspicious.

'Did anyone hear that?' Waldheim turned around, facing back the way they had come. He had detected what he thought had been a distant rumble of stone.

'Oh that's just great,' Magnus snorted. 'Now we're trapped in this hellhole.'

'The way lies forward, you peasants,' Merideon snapped. 'Now, let's move.'

After another two hours of trekking through the darkness, which was completely black as to obscure all but the immediate vicinity, they came to an area of the tunnel that resonated with strange, alien scuttling.

'What in the name of…' The noble held up the lantern, his rapier in hand.

A hundred metres or so, in the utter blackness, something was moving. Skurdi narrowed his eyes, trying to see what the humans could not. He started back, raising his axe defensively, then calmed himself.

'Cave squigs, a whole pack of the blighters.'

'Cave what?' Kurt was confused.

'Those things!' Merideon pointed with his sword as the monsters came bounding towards them.

They looked like dog-sized monstrosities, a combination of fungus and flesh but mostly dagger sized fangs mounted on squat, taloned legs. Various clusters of spikes and scales dotted the creatures' backs, which were completely hairless.

The first squig smashed into Merideon, knocking him over. As noble and beast sprawled, kicking and biting, another fungoid monster lunged at Kurt. He dodged aside nimbly before spinning and thrusting his sword through the monster's arse. It gave a whimpering squeal as it died.

Then another latched its infernal teeth onto the outlaw's arm. With a cry of pain, Kurt kicked out with his steel-shod boot. The blow connected with the beast's jaw, the jaw being unavoidable since it made up most of the squig's body. It opened its mouth to release Kurt's bloody arm and in response he rammed his sword down its gullet.

'Eat steel, you fungus bastard!'

Magnus shouldered another squig aside as it bounced off his mighty armour. Then he hacked it down with a splash of blood. The thing burst like a grape, showering the knight with crimson gore. He strode through the squigs like a god, swinging the Blade of Leaping Gold and slaying squigs with every strike. An enormous set of jaws clamped around Magnus' ankle, biting through the steel plate. Gritting his teeth against the pain, he lashed down and chopped into the squig, ending its worthless life in a messy explosion of fungus bits.

Skurdi was having less luck. The squig bowled him over and the axe went spinning off across the tunnel floor. As the monstrous fungoid thing leapt atop him, giant fangs bared, the Blood Letting Sword of Kurt Waldheim erupted through the thing's head, rupturing it and spilling blood all over the slayer.

'Thanks, manling, I owe you one.'

'Don't even mention it,' Kurt growled as Skurdi rushed to his fallen runeaxe. 'And I mean that. Don't mention it.'

With his clothes torn and bloodied, Merideon was nevertheless in fighting shape. He stabbed up with his rapier, spearing the squig from beneath. Heaving the corpse off him, he leapt to his feet and impaled another as it launched itself from the gloom.

The walls were painted in blood.

The battle was short-lived. In a matter of minutes the remaining cave squigs were bouncing away into the blackness, hopefully never to be seen again.

The giant gargoyle's arms began moving. Slowly, with the grinding of stone, they churned up and down directly in front of it, first the right quickly followed by the left. Then the arms were raised, ready to strike down again. Before they did, there was a moment where the path was clear. It lasted only seconds. Kurt gestured with his sword.

'Then, that's the time to go. When the arms lift up.'

They all subconsciously edged closer to the whirring blades. Time and again the stone weapons smashed into the floor, throwing up clouds of dust and shrapnel. Suddenly Kurt rushed forwards. But he had misjudged the trap and Merideon pulled him back, just before the jagged sword edge collided with the floor.

'You fool,' the noble snarled. 'Stay back a moment. There's no need to be so hasty.'

'Do you see other way through?' Kurt snapped back. 'I was going to make it.'

'Somehow I seriously doubt that,' Morgan rumbled, eyeing the blades again. The right arm lifted up, quickly followed by the left arm. 'You have to go as the right arm is lifting. Then the left arm rises in front of you, and then you're clear of the right arm as it crashes down.'

'No. I have a better idea,' Merideon mused. He fingered one of his rings; a purple gemstone marked with a golden rune. 'We'll use this.'

As the blades rose, one after the other, Merideon twisted his ring, activating it. There was a swirl in the air, as an immaterial force took effect. Time slowed down, and the gargoyle's arms went into slow motion.

'Now!'

Together, trying not to collide with each other, the four comrades hurled themselves past the gargoyle and its deadly weapons. They rolled and ducked just as the effect wore off and the blades came scything down. For a moment the party just sat on the ground, breathing with relief.

'Well, that worked,' Skurdi grunted. 'A dwarven made artefact, that ring.'

A little way down the passage, there was the telltale rumbling of stone above.

'Kurt! Above you! Get out of the way!' Morgan roared.

It was almost too late. Instead of rushing forwards, the outlaw paused to look. Instantly he saw a huge pile of rocks plummeting towards him from the ceiling.

'Oh shit.'

Kicking himself into action with reflexes he barely knew he had, he rolled aside. Seconds later the boulders smashed into the floor, sending rubble and shards of stone flying in all directions.

'Next time don't look, just run,' the knight sighed, rolling his eyes.

Slowly, with an eerie creak that sent chills up the companions' spines, the rusted, double doors yielded. Through the gap spilt a bright, red luminescence. Finally they pushed the doors open and gazed in horror at what lay before them. A vast, high-ceilinged cavern stretched up into a huge dome with a strange, square hole high up at the centre. All around swirled a lake of boiling blood, bubbles bursting constantly and spraying gore into the air. A single line of flagstones spanned the lake, spattered with slippery blood. In the lake's centre they could see an island, a bastion of stone adorned with human skulls and crowned with a giant, bronze dragon statue. Beneath the foremost archway sat an arcane machine.

'It's an Arcane Ballistae!' Skurdi yelped. 'Duck!'

Automatically, a fiery bolt of orange flame whizzed overhead. There was a crash as it hit the cavern wall, dislodging a rock, which proceeded to plunge into the lake. A huge spout of blood sprayed into the air.

The slayer, his eyes on the machine, barged into the others from behind. Standing on the blood-slick flagstones, they had nothing with which to steady themselves and, waving their arms desperately and issuing small gasps of terror, they all lost their balance and fell into the lake.

'Sigmar's blood!' Morgan cursed, floundering in the thick, inky gore. He was sinking quickly and paddled himself back to the pathway. Luckily he had shouldered his shield and so had both arms free to struggle back, dripping with red.

Kurt pushed himself back towards the pathway, also swearing richly. He finally dragged himself to his feet, drenched from head to foot in the stinking blood.

Treading water, or more precisely, treading blood, Merideon felt his boot catch on something beneath the surface. Panic flared as something else brushed by his shin. But in a moment he realised it was something to stand on, something to help him struggle back out of the revolting crimson lake. Looking back as he hauled himself onto the flagstones, he felt his gorge rising as a grinning, blood-slick skull bobbed on the surface.

'Sigmar's arse! What the hell is that?' He quickly regained his footing, not wanting to fall in a second time.

'It's a fish, what in hell do you think it is,' Morgan spat. 'Come on, let's get this over with.'

The noble flinched as another bolt of fire flashed past. He could feel its intense heat as it passed to splash into the lake. They were spattered with another shower of gore.

'Argh! Get it off me!' Kurt shrieked. What looked like a ropy snake was draped over his shoulders. With a shrug, he flung the intestines back into the blood.

'Well, aren't you lot one bunch of sissies,' Skurdi chuckled from the doorway.

'Shut up, dwarf,' Merideon spat, wiping sticky blood from his eyes. 'You coming or are you going to miss out on all the glory?'

'Warp Jump Spell Jewel…take me above!'

Morgan clasped the gleaming red gem in his fist and raised it towards the bastion. Gritting his teeth, he felt the warmth of the spell as it took effect. 'YEAH!'

With a thunderclap and a bright nova of red energy, the party was teleported onto the bastion in front of the dragon statue. Immediately they noticed a red-robed sorcerer standing behind it, chanting a dire incantation in the dark tongue. A glittering, red object hovered in the air before him.

'The Soulstone!' Merideon hissed. The gemstone flew to a point on the dragon's forehead and settled there. With a great heaving and buckling of metal, the cavern shaking around them, the statue's eyes lit up and began to glow.

'No…' Kurt said uneasily. 'How on earth are we meant to get it now?'

But before any of them could do anything, four muscled; helmeted warriors approached them from the steps.

'Time to die, mortals,' came a deep voice. The warriors were armed with huge axes and meant business in the protection of their lord and master.

One of the Karnaghs roared bestially and charged towards Merideon. He was massive, a brute more resembling an orc than a human. Sidestepping, the noble slashed across his foe's side. Turning, he plunged his rapier into the man's neck and then kicked him to tumble headlong down the steps into the burning lake.

'You'll have to do better than that, scum.'

Another warrior barged past Kurt to deal with who they thought was the obvious leader. The axe slammed into the noble's shoulder, cutting into his flesh. He yelled with pain and lashed out at the man. His sword stuck fast in the warrior's collarbone, blood leaking like a running tap. As the combatants struggled, Merideon tugged on his blade and kicked his opponent in the chest. This dislodged both weapons and with a squelching sound that made his blood run cold, the axe came free. The Karnagh gave a grunt and fell backwards, clutching at his neck. Then Kurt rushed in, orcish sword thrusting upwards through the beast's spine. There was an explosion of blood from the man's throat. Coughing bloodily, he fell forwards to hit the flagstones in a spreading pool of blood.

Morgan hacked left and right, alternately parrying the great axe and forcing the Karnagh to parry in turn. Sparks flew as the Blade of Leaping Gold met the axe head. Slipping on a patch of gore, the knight went down and rolled aside as the Karnagh snarled and buried his axe into the floor. Striking quickly, Morgan severed the man's leg and skirted away from the savage reply. Then he stabbed downwards, the point of his blade skewering the back of the Karnagh's neck.

'Die you mother!'

Skurdi was not having a good day. The Karnagh against him swept through his defence and he was smashed backwards. Dodging aside as the axe slammed into the floor, he cut up into the Karnagh. But the man was quicker. His axe swept back, parrying the runeaxe and then he gave the dwarf a good kick. Skurdi fell backwards and was forced to roll aside as the axe came down again like the weapon of an executioner. Not being given the chance to strike, the slayer growled low and stood, blocking another blow with his axe haft.

'Now, let me show you how it's done!'

The runeaxe gleamed and as both axes slammed together with an infernal clang, Skurdi's cleaved through the other. Before the Karnagh could recover, the slayer reversed the blow and cut straight through the man's neck. The head bounced several times before rolling into a pool of blood. Headless, and jetting blood like a fountain, the body fell to its knees and collapsed forwards. Skurdi placed his boot on the corpse and spat on it.

'Now that's how it's done.'

The acrid stench of magic tore through the air along with a blast of black fire. Magnus was thrown to the ground, the unholy bolt crackling through his armour. Knowing exactly where the attack had come from, he struggled to his feet and roared like a lion.

'Your turn, sorcerer!'

Running as fast as he could, he vaulted up onto the dais. Blows flew faster than the eye could follow as knight and sorcerer engaged in a deadly sword duel. The clash of steel rang and Morgan was surprised at the sorcerer's defensive skill. But it was not enough. The others watched from below as the battle played out. The blows of the sorcerer were mostly deflected from Valour, while his own armour was rent and pierced by Magnus' blade. Finally, the sorcerer was felled with a blow to the neck. As empty red robes collapsed, the knight treading them down in confusion, an evil laugh split the air.

'Kharon will live again!'

'Whatever you think, sorcerer,' Morgan rumbled, launching himself at the dragon. 'Time for you to go back to being scrap metal!'

As the knight drew Soul Edge from its scabbard, a huge claw lashed out and hit him. He was flung backwards to crash in a heap.

'What the hell…'

'The dragon…it's alive!' Kurt gasped, his eyes wide. Calming himself, he watched as the dragon's jaws parted revealing teeth like swords. Suddenly a roar rocked the chamber. All companions clapped their hands to their ears. 'You always want to do it the hard way,' the outlaw spat. 'Ok then.'

Kurt flung himself at the dragon's side. His sword clashed from the bronze scales, not even denting them.

'What! My blade does nothing? Gah!' He dodged aside as the dragon twisted to paw at him.

'Feel good, dwarven steel!' Skurdi roared, laying into the statue with his runeaxe. The blade burned bright, but it too clattered harmlessly off the bronze. Skurdi's expression of rage turned to one of surprise before the dragon backhanded him flying. He was sent over the bastion's edge into the blood lake.

Merideon didn't even bother trying to attack the dragon. Instead, he glanced around the bastion. There had to be another way. Suddenly, he remembered seeing the strange hole in the cavern's roof. Looking up, he thought about what it would've been for. This was once a dwarven hall, he told himself.

A series of posts surrounded the dais. The skulls adorning them had been added, he knew, but the way in which every single one had been decorated stank of suspicion. Experimentally, he smashed one skull into dust with his rapier.

Beneath it: a smooth surface, but one that could easily have been a setting for a button, or switch. If the hole above was for a lift, it would have to be activated from somewhere. Laboriously, while the others distracted the dragon, he went around the dais, breaking open the skulls and searching the posts.

By the throne, he found it. The post held a square switch there. Immediately, he slammed his fist down on it.

He could hear the grinding of distant gears, slightly muffled by the rock, accompanied by the clink and rattle of chains. Without warning, a square, stone box appeared from the hole above. It descended rapidly towards the statue.

'Look out! Above you!'

The comrades dove for cover as the dwarven lift crashed with earth-shattering impact into the dragon statue. There was an apocalyptic explosion of metal, stone shards and dust as both statue and lift crumbled.

'The Soulstone,' Kurt breathed, holding the shiny red gem in his hand. Within he could see a tiny, flickering fire raging. Instinctively, he knew it to be the daemon, Verag, trapped within the Soulstone, imprisoned for all time. The sorcerer had done their job for them, but of course for his own, dark purposes. Who know what he could do with a trapped daemon in his possession? Animating statues without having to summon another daemon was one thing.

As the outlaw made to pocket the Soulstone along with the Star of the West, it glittered with energy. Suddenly it flew from his hand to hover over an indentation in Soul Edge. Magnus stared at it, entranced. The gem revolved once, twice, and then settled in to fix itself permanently into the blade.

Instantly there was a flash of blinding, red light, which faded rapidly. Upon the blade a new name had been engraved in glowing letters: Fellblade.

Morgan roared with both pain and exaltation as new power flooded through him. The energy of a daemon was his to command. His arms spread wide as the power gripped him, snapping his head back and filling him with knowledge. The daemon Verag was trapped inside, forced to inhabit Fellblade and supply it with dire energies. And he hated it, raging against the gods for his incarceration.

Magnus' eyes flashed with red light as he composed himself. Looking around, he spoke, and his voice held authority; not that of a man but of daemonic nobility.

'The book, that is the way out of this hellhole.' He gestured with Fellblade.

A book, fallen from the sorcerer's pack, lay open, its pages fluttering. Finally it settled, showing a page that was blank save a rectangle near the top.

It showed a picture of a dark landscape, of blasted wastes and chaotic, multi-coloured skies. Strangely, the picture began to move, as if the viewers were soaring on wings across the depicted landscape. It drew their attention, tempting them to touch it, luring them into the page.

'The book…we go,' Morgan snarled. He reached forwards, his gauntlet brushing the page. In an instant, he vanished.

He felt a lurch as if his soul was being ripped from his body. Mind-numbing pain wracked his head, and then he was standing on the blasted wastes. Above the skies blinked with colours. Looking about him, he could see no way back to the Temple of Viscera. A chill wind blew, bringing with it a ghostly howl that faded off into nothingness. Kurt, Merideon and a blood-drenched Skurdi appeared behind him. He didn't turn, just stared off into towards the distant, red-purple horizon.

'Where the hell are we?' Merideon said hesitantly.

'Exactly that, boy,' Morgan growled. 'Welcome to Hell.'

7