Read Online Gotrek & Felix: Slayer by David Guymer - Free Book Online
Authors: David Guymer
Ads: Link
Gazul sunders you.’
It took Felix a moment to realise that Gotrek was reciting the final lines of the oath that had made him and Kat husband and wife. They had been wed under the dim, ruby glimstones of Karak Kadrin’s shrine of Grimnir and it was not lightly that a Slayer invoked the name of Gazul, guardian of the honoured dead. Bitterness rose on bubbles of laughter as Felix spread his arms, as if to encompass the blackness that enveloped them. It was getting easier. The borders of the Empire were tightening like a noose around their necks. It was all too easy to believe that the end of everything was nigh, just out there under the pouring rain.
‘We’re sundered , Gotrek. The armies of Chaos march on our roads, garrison our cities, and now Altdorf.’ Felix clutched his hair, as if intending to claw out the grey. ‘By any measure, we’re done.’
‘Coward.’
‘Coward?’ said Felix, fury causing his voice to climb. ‘What kind of courage is it to deny what’s going on out there? It’s time to stop being so damned stubborn and admit it.’
‘Some of us keep the oaths we make, manling.’
Felix’s fist clenched, his voice dropped to a hiss. ‘I always kept my oath to you.’
‘Aye,’ Gotrek sneered. ‘To the letter.’
‘And just what’s that supposed to mean?’
Gotrek waved his hand with a growl and turned to Corporal Mann, who had been watching the exchange with a look of rising horror.
‘Just assuming you’re not conniving with dark powers, what were you hoping to find in Wolfenburg?’
‘N-nothing really, master dwarf. We intended to track the main road that far and then strike out for the Middle Mountains, skirting them westward until we make it to Middenheim. Ten men could defend the Fauschlag against a thousand. Archaon’s tried and failed before and with Altdorf gone, it’s the last great city still standing. It’s where everyone will be going now.’
Gotrek’s one eye glittered dangerously, like a dwarf with an oath to keep.
‘No,’ said Felix, ‘absolutely not. You’re talking about a journey of months, if not more, and with no guarantee we’ll find anything at Middenheim other than all the hordes of Archaon waiting outside.’ If we’re lucky, he thought, but reminded himself of his position amongst these men and decided not to say it. ‘It’s madness. I for one don’t see too much wrong with Gustav’s plan. I’ve never been to Averheim. Perhaps that is where the Emperor will go. And perhaps with aid from the dwarfs too, it’s near their Worlds Edge Mountain strongholds after all.’
The men murmured approvingly at that, partly – Felix suspected – because it had come from him, but also because the only dwarf most of them had ever encountered was Gotrek, and a few more of the Slayer at your back was as appealing a prospect as it would be infuriating. They weren’t to know that Gotrek was exceptional, even amongst his own tenacious kind.
The Slayer emitted a disparaging snort at the idea, to which Felix was tempted to add a round of sarcastic applause.
That’s how to keep up morale in the End Times.
‘Why go all the way around the Middle Mountains when you can go through them?’
Lorin’s whisper-thin voice drew everyone’s attention towards him. The longbeard inserted his cane shakily between the floor of the cart and the upright of the tailboard. The hardwood cane was ironclad and topped with a handhold shaped in the form of a hammer, and in any other pair of hands but his might have made for a serviceable weapon. The frail old dwarf remained as broad as two men, but he was gaunt as any dwarf Felix had seen outside of the besieged dwarfhold of Karag Dum. Heavy pink bags hung from his watery eyes. A zigzagging scar ran up one fleshy cheek to his temple, the inexpert stitching and the horrendous bite that it had closed still visible. His beard had been torn from that side of his face except for a few sad little tufts. What remained was as thin and
It took Felix a moment to realise that Gotrek was reciting the final lines of the oath that had made him and Kat husband and wife. They had been wed under the dim, ruby glimstones of Karak Kadrin’s shrine of Grimnir and it was not lightly that a Slayer invoked the name of Gazul, guardian of the honoured dead. Bitterness rose on bubbles of laughter as Felix spread his arms, as if to encompass the blackness that enveloped them. It was getting easier. The borders of the Empire were tightening like a noose around their necks. It was all too easy to believe that the end of everything was nigh, just out there under the pouring rain.
‘We’re sundered , Gotrek. The armies of Chaos march on our roads, garrison our cities, and now Altdorf.’ Felix clutched his hair, as if intending to claw out the grey. ‘By any measure, we’re done.’
‘Coward.’
‘Coward?’ said Felix, fury causing his voice to climb. ‘What kind of courage is it to deny what’s going on out there? It’s time to stop being so damned stubborn and admit it.’
‘Some of us keep the oaths we make, manling.’
Felix’s fist clenched, his voice dropped to a hiss. ‘I always kept my oath to you.’
‘Aye,’ Gotrek sneered. ‘To the letter.’
‘And just what’s that supposed to mean?’
Gotrek waved his hand with a growl and turned to Corporal Mann, who had been watching the exchange with a look of rising horror.
‘Just assuming you’re not conniving with dark powers, what were you hoping to find in Wolfenburg?’
‘N-nothing really, master dwarf. We intended to track the main road that far and then strike out for the Middle Mountains, skirting them westward until we make it to Middenheim. Ten men could defend the Fauschlag against a thousand. Archaon’s tried and failed before and with Altdorf gone, it’s the last great city still standing. It’s where everyone will be going now.’
Gotrek’s one eye glittered dangerously, like a dwarf with an oath to keep.
‘No,’ said Felix, ‘absolutely not. You’re talking about a journey of months, if not more, and with no guarantee we’ll find anything at Middenheim other than all the hordes of Archaon waiting outside.’ If we’re lucky, he thought, but reminded himself of his position amongst these men and decided not to say it. ‘It’s madness. I for one don’t see too much wrong with Gustav’s plan. I’ve never been to Averheim. Perhaps that is where the Emperor will go. And perhaps with aid from the dwarfs too, it’s near their Worlds Edge Mountain strongholds after all.’
The men murmured approvingly at that, partly – Felix suspected – because it had come from him, but also because the only dwarf most of them had ever encountered was Gotrek, and a few more of the Slayer at your back was as appealing a prospect as it would be infuriating. They weren’t to know that Gotrek was exceptional, even amongst his own tenacious kind.
The Slayer emitted a disparaging snort at the idea, to which Felix was tempted to add a round of sarcastic applause.
That’s how to keep up morale in the End Times.
‘Why go all the way around the Middle Mountains when you can go through them?’
Lorin’s whisper-thin voice drew everyone’s attention towards him. The longbeard inserted his cane shakily between the floor of the cart and the upright of the tailboard. The hardwood cane was ironclad and topped with a handhold shaped in the form of a hammer, and in any other pair of hands but his might have made for a serviceable weapon. The frail old dwarf remained as broad as two men, but he was gaunt as any dwarf Felix had seen outside of the besieged dwarfhold of Karag Dum. Heavy pink bags hung from his watery eyes. A zigzagging scar ran up one fleshy cheek to his temple, the inexpert stitching and the horrendous bite that it had closed still visible. His beard had been torn from that side of his face except for a few sad little tufts. What remained was as thin and
Similar Books
