“No one is going anywhere!”
Adalwolf spun around as he heard the threatening voice. He watched as Captain Schachter and Marjus Pfaff came creeping out from one of the corridors.
The two seamen held tiny bows in their hands and strange golden swords tucked beneath their belts. They grinned evilly at the mercenary.
“My thanks for taking care of the snake,” Schachter continued, nodding his head towards Diethelm. “I forgot the priest could do that. See, Marjus, it’s a good thing you didn’t sacrifice him to Stromfels.”
“Schachter!” van Sommerhaus cried out, emerging from behind his column. “Praise Handrich you’re here! I’ll remember this and you’ll be well rewarded when we get back to Marienburg!”
The sea captain turned and aimed his bow at the patroon. “Lukas,” he said, his voice dripping with scorn. “I didn’t see you there. I was rather hoping the ratmen had eaten you by now. If you don’t want an arrow in your belly, I suggest you stop right where you are.”
The patroon froze, disbelief on his face. He made a placating gesture with his hands. “Please, Schachter, we’re old friends. You shouldn’t joke like this.”
“Let’s kill him now,” Marjus snarled. “Then we don’t have to listen to his mouth.”
Captain Schachter shook his head and a wicked smile twisted his mouth. “I don’t think so. Not while he’s useful. Adalwolf, I wonder if you and Lukas and the girl wouldn’t be nice enough to go and collect a few of those shiny stones for us.”
“Why not get them yourself?” Adalwolf growled back.
Schachter laughed. “To be honest, I don’t like the idea of going back out there. We already had a run in with the snake. He wasn’t so obliging as the lizardmen who donated their weapons to us. Five poisoned arrows in it and the thing still wanted to eat us.”
Marjus drew back his arm, the arrow nocked to his bow trembling from the tension. “Five didn’t kill the snake, but one will do for you, hero.”
Adalwolf could see murder in the mate’s eyes, the unreasoning bloodlust born of greed. He took a step back, moving Hiltrude behind him. If they could just reach one of the columns before the sailor loosed his arrow…
“No need for that,” Schachter scolded Marjus. “Adalwolf is a man of honour. That’s why we can trust him. That’s why I picked you to escape with me instead of him. I knew he’d never leave the others behind. With that being the way things stand, I must admit I’ve changed my mind. Send the girl over, we’ll hang on to her as an incentive to make you work fast.”
Hiltrude shook her head, clinging to Adalwolf’s shoulders. Between the serpent and the murderous human snakes now threatening them, the last thing she wanted to do was leave the mercenary’s side.
Van Sommerhaus noted her hesitancy. “The whore will give you trouble, Schachter. Take me as your hostage instead!”
The two seamen laughed grimly at the patroon’s offer. “Lukas, I wouldn’t break wind to save your life,” Schachter sneered. “I don’t know many men who would. So you get your arse over there and start pulling diamonds out of the walls. It’ll be a rare novelty to see you do some honest work for once!”
“Send the girl over, Adalwolf,” the captain demanded, turning back to the warrior. “I don’t know how long the priest can keep that snake busy and I intend to be very rich and very far away when it loses interest in him. Now send her over or I’ll stick an arrow in both your gizzards!”
Regretfully, Adalwolf pushed Hiltrude away, motioning for her to do as the sailors said. He felt a stab of guilt as he watched her stagger towards Schachter. “If you hurt her…”
“We’ll do what we damn well please!” roared Marjus, drowning out the mercenary’s threat. The sailor’s face was crimson with rage, all of his resentment for Adalwolf rising to the fore. “Curse us from the sunken hells of Mermedus, you stinking bilge rat!” Marjus drew his arm back again, the poisoned arrow trembling in his hand.
Marjus never loosed his arrow. Instead he screamed. He screamed as sickly green lightning crackled and sizzled around his body, as his skin blackened and the teeth rattled from his mouth, as his hair shrivelled and his blood boiled. What finally collapsed to the temple floor was little more than a smoking husk.
Schachter turned to face the darkened mouth of the tunnel Adalwolf and the others had followed up from the spawning pools. What he saw had him flinging his bow to the floor and lifting his hands over his head in surrender.
At the head of a mob of furious ratmen, Grey Seer Thanquol glared at the fugitive. Sorcerous fire continued to burn around the head of his staff. With a chittering laugh, Thanquol pointed his staff towards Schachter.
“Thanquol!” Adalwolf shouted, trying to draw the grey seer’s attention away from Schachter. The captain deserved to burn the way Marjus had, but he was afraid that Hiltrude was too close to the treacherous seaman and would be caught by Thanquol’s vengeful magic. “Thanquol, you filthy rat’s pizzle!”
The grey seer’s horned head spun around, his teeth bared in a feral snarl. For an instant, Adalwolf thought Thanquol was going to blast him, but then he saw the ratman’s gaze drift past him, staring in wide-eyed horror at the gigantic serpent behind him. A foul, sickly stench rose from the robed ratkin. Squeals of pure terror rose from the underfolk behind Thanquol, only the fact that his huge rat ogre blocked the way keeping them from scrambling back down the stairs.
Adalwolf could almost laugh at the scene. He wondered what lies and threats Thanquol had used to force his underlings to ignore the snake-stink in their noses to get them this far. Now, faced with the titanic source of that musky scent, Thanquol’s control of them had almost completely shattered.
“I see I have your attention,” Adalwolf said. “Now listen to me. My friend is the only thing keeping that snake from crawling over here and eating the lot of you! If he stops distracting it, you’re all dead!”
Thanquol bruxed his fangs together and lashed his tail against the floor, but Adalwolf could see that his anger was nothing beside the terror dripping down his robes.
“What-what does man-thing want-take?” Thanquol snarled.
Chang Fang lingered towards the back of the skaven mob, listening with contempt as Thanquol negotiated with the escaped slave. Given a chance, the grey seer would no doubt find a way to squirm out of whatever deal he was brewing with the human, but the assassin was going to see to it that he didn’t get that chance.
He’d lost count of how many times Thanquol had escaped his traps. With each failure, Chang Fang’s anger and frustration grew. That was why he’d made his reckless attack on Thanquol in the swamp, a failure that had cost him his ear and very nearly his life. He’d been much more careful arranging the trap in the ruins, using the skinks and their crumbling city to annihilate the grey seer. Still he had escaped! What was more, he’d taken over command of the expedition! Chang Fang began to believe Thanquol’s mad boasts that the Horned Rat himself was watching over him!
Standing within the profane Temple of the Serpent, watching the gigantic snake swaying from side to side above the floor, Chang Fang’s heart threatened to burst from sheer terror. But he was not so lost to his fear that he forgot his murderous purpose, the one driving goal left in his life. He would avenge the betrayal of Chang Squik and his own disgrace! Thanquol would die!
He’d tried to use the lizardmen and their city to destroy Thanquol. Now he would use their god! He would pit the protection of the Horned Rat against the sacred serpent of Sotek!
Swiftly Chang Fang pulled the blowgun from beneath his cloak and placed it to his lips. The dart sped across the temple, striking its target in the neck. Chang Fang bit his tongue to keep from laughing as he watched his victim sway and fall.
“Fine-good,” Thanquol snapped at the arrogant human. “I let-allow you take-leave with other man-things. In return you make-make snake stay-sleep.” He had no intention of keeping his word of course, but he still found it distasteful to lie to creatures so far beneath his station. A sk
aven lied only to those he feared, and Thanquol most certainly didn’t fear a bunch of furless man-things! Once the human let him get away, he’d send a few of the assassins back to deal with him and his herd. That would be a fair toll for the animal’s brazen arrogance!
Thanquol was chuckling to himself about future treacheries when he noticed the human kneeling before the big snake suddenly fall over. Cold fear ran down Thanquol’s spine as he heard the impact of the man’s body against the floor. Immediately he raised his eyes, squealing in horror when he saw that the snake was no longer swaying from side to side. No, it was turning, turning in his direction. The breath caught in his throat as he saw the loathsome tongue flicker out from the snubbed face, pulling the smell of skaven from the air.
Frantically, Thanquol thrust a nugget of warpstone between his fangs. He swallowed the rock whole, almost gagging as he forced the stone down his throat. For once, he didn’t revel in the intoxicating rush of magical energy that filled him, instead harnessing it at once, focusing it into the head of his staff. Green energy flickered and crackled about him. Thanquol tried to force down his terror, tried to control his panic.
Then the great serpent hissed and the sound drove all reason from Thanquol’s brain. Shrieking like a whelp, the grey seer pointed his staff at the giant snake. A half-formed, ragged nimbus of energy splashed harmlessly against the armoured scales.
The serpent hissed again and reared up from the floor. Thanquol glanced about him, but his minions had treacherously deserted him, stampeding over Boneripper in their craven urge to escape. Even the upstart human was running, diving behind one of the columns. Thanquol decided that was a good idea and tried to do the same, but his legs were paralysed with fear.
The snake’s hood snapped open, its mouth dropping open in a wide yawn. Thanquol threw down his staff, hoping against hope the snake wouldn’t think he was the one who had tried to burn it with a spell.
If the reptile noticed, it gave no sign. The great wedge-like head came hurtling down, the mammoth jaws closing around Thanquol before he could even scream.
Lashing its head from side to side, the sacred serpent of Sotek swallowed Grey Seer Thanquol in a single gulp.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The Serpent and the Rat
As the great serpent started to move, everything within the Temple of Sotek descended into chaos. The ratmen, so menacing only an instant before, began a madcap scramble back down the stairs. Adalwolf watched them overwhelm even the huge rat ogre in their terror-ridden flight.
Adalwolf ran for the nearest column, thinking to hide himself from the snake the way van Sommerhaus had. He shouted for Hiltrude to do the same and risked a glance in her direction, fearing that she would be frozen with horror again. He breathed easier when he saw the woman scrambling for cover. Instead it was Grey Seer Thanquol who stood transfixed before the serpent’s approach. The mercenary shouted joyfully when he saw the snake slither unharmed through the villain’s spells and swallow the sorcerer with a single bite.
Thinking of Thanquol’s magic made Adalwolf remember Diethelm. Cursing the fear that had made him hide from the snake, he looked across the floor of the temple to the priest’s prone figure. He couldn’t think what had happened to Diethelm, he only knew he had to try and help the man. Honour would demand nothing less. For the moment the snake was occupied trying to swallow its latest meal. If he was fast, Adalwolf knew he would be able to pass it in safety. Steeling his heart for the effort, and with one watchful eye on the snake, the warrior made a frantic dash to the fallen priest.
When he turned Diethelm onto his back, Adalwolf knew the priest was dead. He also discovered the reason for the man’s collapse. It had not been the strain of keeping the great serpent mesmerised, as the mercenary had thought. There was an inch-long dart sticking from Diethelm’s neck, and the veins surrounding the ugly sliver were black with the poison that had coated it. Adalwolf clenched his fists in impotent fury at such a cowardly way of dealing death. One of the ratmen, no doubt, trying to remove the one man who could threaten them.
Adalwolf glared at the bulge in the serpent’s neck. Thanquol had paid for the murderous treachery of his minions. Whatever he had thought to accomplish by killing Diethelm, the mercenary was certain that ending up as a meal for the snake had been the last thing Thanquol had planned on.
A sharp scream pierced Adalwolf’s ears. He turned away from the great serpent, looking again across the floor of the temple. He could see Schachter, the gold sword clenched in his fist, pulling Hiltrude from her hiding place. The sea captain was trying to take her with him down one of the many tunnels opening into the temple. With one of his hands closed about her throat, the courtesan had little choice but to go with him.
“Sommerhaus!” Adalwolf cried out, gesturing madly to the patroon. Van Sommerhaus peered out from behind his column and Adalwolf could see that he understood the meaning of the mercenary’s wild gestures. He glanced at Schachter, took a few tenuous steps in the man’s direction, then retreated when the captain waved his sword at him. There wasn’t even a flush of guilt on the man’s face as he abandoned the rescue effort. He simply shrugged his shoulders and ran into one of the other tunnels.
There was no time to curse the patroon’s retreat. Adalwolf shouted at Schachter, demanding he leave Hiltrude alone. The captain’s only response was a nasty smile and a quickening of his own withdrawal from the temple.
Adalwolf forced himself to dash back across the floor of the temple. The giant snake had pushed its last meal some distance down its throat and was now beginning to move its head from side to side, its tongue flickering from between its scaly lips. The mercenary knew it was looking for more prey, but he also knew he had only moments if he wanted to reach Schachter before he escaped into the tunnels. Thinking of Hiltrude in the clutches of the desperate captain removed the last of his concerns.
The mercenary wasn’t even halfway across the temple before the great serpent lunged at him. The reptile’s foul breath washed over him as it narrowly missed Adalwolf, its jaws snapping against the stone floor instead. He dodged back as the serpent reared up for another strike, placing its scaly bulk between himself and his goal. Hiltrude’s last desperate cry tormented him as he watched her captor drag her off into one of the dark tunnels.
Then Adalwolf had no time to think of the helpless woman. The great serpent’s hood flared open, its immense jaws came hurtling at him like the sword of an angry god. He dived beneath the scaly jaw, nearly crushed beneath the snake as it lashed its head angrily, frustrated by its nimble prey and slowed by the morsel still lodged in its throat.
Hissing furiously, the great serpent reared back a third time. The hood flared open, the eye-like pattern of its marking staring down at Adalwolf. The mercenary braced himself, praying to his gods that he would again prove quick enough to defy the reptile’s hideous purpose.
Suddenly Adalwolf felt himself flung through the air by a powerful blow. For an instant he thought the snake had struck him, but as he crashed against the stone floor, he saw the truth. He had been thrown, yes, but it had not been the serpent’s jaws that had struck him. He’d been tossed aside by a different monster.
Where Adalwolf had stood only moments before, he now saw the furry, verminous bulk of Thanquol’s immense bodyguard. The rat ogre was grappling with the huge snake, its claws sunk deep into the ophidian snout, thin reptilian blood spurting from the horrible wounds. Growling with a fury Adalwolf had seen before only in the berserkers of the Norsii, the rat ogre was trying to maul the giant serpent!
Boneripper raked his giant claws across the great serpent’s face, slashing through its thick scales like they were paper. The reptile tried to rear back but the rat ogre held fast, his enormous muscles bulging beneath his fur as he forced the ophidian head against the cold stone floor. He set his clawed foot against the snake’s neck, trying to pin it in place while he slashed again at the monster’s face, tearing through its jaw.
The great serpent lashed o
ut, whipping its tail against Boneripper, sending the rat ogre rolling across the floor. The snake’s coils followed after him, lashing about in a squirming dance in their effort to catch him within their lethal embrace. For all his bulk, however, Boneripper defied the deadly efforts of the snake to trap him. Reflexes hardened by the cruel training regimens of Clan Eshin were nimble even in the huge body of a rat ogre. He dived beneath the crushing coils, dodged as the lashing tail of the snake tried to swat him before he could escape. The serpent hissed in frustration, its cowl snapping open as it opened its mangled jaw.
Again the snake’s strike failed, reptilian fangs scraping against stone instead of closing around flesh. A flash of pain flared through the monster as its wound was worsened by the rough impact against the floor.
It reeled back, its tail writhing in sympathy with the pain in its face. Given a chance, the great serpent would have slithered back into its lair to lick its wounds and digest its meal.
Huge claws seized the side of the snake’s head as it turned to flee. Boneripper sank his sword-like claws into the reptile’s neck, shredding the loose folds of flesh that formed its hood. The rat ogre pulled himself up the reptile’s body, stubbornly refusing to be knocked loose when the snake’s coils slammed into him. The reptile’s hissing became louder, almost panicked, as Boneripper brutally withdrew his claws only to stab them in again so that he might pull himself higher along the monster’s neck.
When it felt one of Boneripper’s claws stab into the base of its head, the serpent’s body flared with maddened convulsions. Its enormous body rolled along the floor, crashing into columns and shattering them. Brick and stone rained down from the ceiling, the entire temple seemed to tremble in its pained throes. Predation and escape were alien thoughts to the snake’s primitive mind now, only the instinct to remove the pain that assailed it remained. The giant reptile thought to crush its tormentor beneath its own tremendous weight, to smash Boneripper and grind him beneath its thrashing body.
[Thanquol & Boneripper 02] - Temple of the Serpent Page 19
