by Warhammer
‘Thank you, Felix,’ Max gasped.
The survivors crawled to the centre of the pitifully small raft, while all around cruel triangular fins circled them and hidden predators bumped them from beneath.
Gotrek surged up, shaking his axe and beckoning towards the water. ‘Come on, you skulking cowards!’ he roared. ‘I’ll kill the lot of you!’
But then Claudia saw something that the others had been too pre-occupied to notice.
‘A… a ship,’ she breathed.
Everyone looked up. Felix’s heart pounded with fear that it was the dark elves’ black galley swooping in to ram them again, but it was a different ship altogether – a fat merchant ship flying the flag of Marienburg, not half a mile away from them, its white sails a reddish gold in the late afternoon sun.
Felix jumped up, waving his arms. ‘Ahoy!’ he cried. ‘Ahoy! Save us!’
Another bump from the sharks knocked him flat again, but the ship was turning their way.
‘Praise be to Manann and Shallya,’ whispered Claudia with tears in her eyes.
But suddenly Felix wasn’t so sure the ship was salvation. The covers were being raised from the forward gun ports and the black muzzles of cannons were pushing into the sun.
‘Oh come,’ wailed Aethenir. ‘This beggars belief! Does everyone in the world seek to kill us?’
‘Bring ’em on,’ said Gotrek.
Twin puffs of smoke obscured the prow of the ship. Everyone but Gotrek ducked. A second later, the boom of the guns reached them and two huge plumes of water shot up about a dozen yards away.
Felix let out a sigh of relief. ‘They missed.’
‘No,’ said Max, looking around. ‘I believe they hit what they intended.’
Felix followed the wizard’s gaze. The shark fins were gone from the water, vanished as if they had never been.
‘You think they mean to save us?’ asked Aethenir.
‘I hope so,’ said Max.
And so it seemed, for no more shots came from the approaching ship, and it banked its sails and eased in gently to their side. Ropes dropped down to them. Felix and Gotrek and the elves grabbed them and pulled themselves tight to the ship’s towering hull.
Felix called up to the deck above. ‘Have you a ladder? We have women and wounded.’
A short round man leaned on the rail and smiled down at them as several dozen large and unsmiling men appeared at either side of him and aimed a profusion of pistols and long guns in their direction.
‘Good evening, Herr Jaeger,’ said Hans Euler. ‘What a pleasure to once again make your acquaintance.’
ELEVEN
‘So it’s guns now, is it?’ Gotrek growled at Euler. ‘Couches weren’t cowardly enough?’
Felix stepped quickly in front of the Slayer. ‘Herr Euler. How unexpected.’ He recognised some of the gun-wielding crewmen as Euler’s massive footmen, who had since traded their black velvet doublets for leather jerkins and red bandanas.
‘Yes, I suppose you would think so,’ said Euler, pleasantly. ‘But some friends of mine in the Suiddock overheard the sailors of your hired ship say you were going north seeking treasure, and I decided to come along and learn if this was true.’
‘It isn’t treasure we seek,’ said Aethenir. ‘It is–’
Max trod heavily on his foot.
‘It had better be treasure, high one,’ said Euler. ‘Herr Jaeger owes me considerable recompense for the damage he and his uncouth friend did to my house. I intend to collect from him one way or the other.’
‘Come down here,’ said Gotrek, ‘and you’ll get more of the same.’
‘Is it wise to threaten me, dwarf?’ said Euler, raising an eyebrow. ‘I can easily leave you here. There is blood in the water now. The sharks will soon return.’
‘Herr Euler,’ said Felix. ‘There is indeed treasure. Look.’ Felix turned and searched the rug they stood on. As he had hoped, a few spilled treasures remained. He picked up a gold and silver ewer of elven design that lay next to Rion’s corpse, then turned and tossed it up to Hans. The merchant caught it and examined it with the practiced eye of the connoisseur. ‘We had a holdful of it, but it was stolen from us.’
‘Stolen by whom?’ asked Euler. ‘Where have they taken it?’
Aethenir opened his mouth to speak, but Max once again crushed his foot. The high elf glared at him.
‘That,’ said Felix carefully, ‘I will not tell you until you allow us to come aboard. But they are not far away.’
Euler paused, greed warring with caution behind his eyes. He ran his hands over the fine filigree of the elven ewer and sighed. ‘Very well, Herr Jaeger, but I must first receive vows from every member of your party that you will not harm me, my property or my crew, if you come aboard – particularly the dwarf,’ he added, glaring at Gotrek.
Max, Claudia and the elves swore quickly enough, but Gotrek growled under his breath. Felix knew it was no small thing for a dwarf to make an oath.
‘Make oath with a liar and a blackmailer?’ he said. ‘I won’t.’
‘Gotrek,’ said Felix. ‘We can’t stay on this raft. We must follow your prophesied doom, remember?’
Gotrek grunted, annoyed. ‘Very well, manling.’ He turned and looked up at Euler. ‘I will swear to do no harm to you, your property and your crew, unless harm is done to us first.’
‘I swear to that as well,’ said Felix.
Euler glared down at them, but finally sighed and waved a hand. ‘Fine. I agree to those terms.’ He motioned to his men. ‘Throw down a ladder.’
A few minutes later they were all aboard, standing on the deck and shivering in the cold breeze. Claudia leaned against Max, her lips blue and her limbs shaking, but Euler had yet to offer them any food or shelter or dry clothes.
He stood in front of them with his arms crossed above his round belly. ‘Now then,’ he said. ‘Who stole this treasure and where did they go?’
Felix looked at Max and Aethenir. They nodded.
‘It was dark elves. They sank our ship and headed…’ Actually he couldn’t be sure where they had headed, but Euler had come from the south and would have seen them if they had gone that way, so north was a safe bet. ‘They headed north. Our seeress can divine their location if,’ he said pointedly, ‘she doesn’t die from exposure first.’
‘Dark elves?’ said Hans, hesitant.
His men looked uneasily at each other.
‘Not a war ship,’ said Felix hastily. ‘A scout, smaller than your own ship.’ He coughed, then lied through his teeth. ‘They carry enough elven gold to repay you for your house and buy another just like it, as well as provide handsome shares for us and your men.’
Euler fingered his chin, thinking. ‘One ship?’ he asked.
‘One ship,’ agreed Felix.
‘Any wizards?’
‘Not a one,’ said Felix. It wasn’t technically a lie. Sorceresses were different than wizards, weren’t they?
After another second, Euler nodded. ‘Very well, Herr Jaeger, but if you have deceived me in this, I will find some other way to make you pay.’ He turned to his men. ‘Find quarters and food for them.’ He turned away, then glared back at Felix. ‘Bring me the word of the seeress as soon as she learns their location.’
Felix bowed. ‘Of course, Herr Euler.’
When evening mess was served, Gotrek, Felix and Claudia brought their plates to Max and Aethenir’s lantern-lit cabin to discuss their plans. Only the elves and the wizards had been given private quarters, probably more out of fear than hospitality. Gotrek and Felix had had to find places on deck to sleep, for none of Euler’s surly crew would give up an inch of hammock space below.
Now they were all wedged into a cramped little cabin with two narrow cots along the side walls. Felix sat on an overturned bucket by the bulkhead. Gotrek stood near the door, legs braced wide.
‘I don’t believe,’ said Max, between mouthfuls of beef stew and peas, ‘that Herr Euler will be very pleased when he learns we have
deceived him.’
Felix ate greedily as well. Whatever his shortcomings as a human being, Euler did not skimp when feeding his crew. The food was easily among the best Felix had ever had on board a ship.
‘Who cares?’ grunted Gotrek.
‘I do, dwarf,’ said Aethenir with a sniff. ‘If this man is our only way home once we have wrested the harp from the druchii, then we cannot afford to anger him.’
Gotrek sneered as he shovelled a hunk of beef into his mouth. ‘After what you did, you should be ashamed to go home. A dwarf would have shaved his head and sworn to die.’
‘I am prepared to die,’ replied Aethenir, raising his head and trying his best to look noble. ‘But I am also prepared to live, and continue to make recompense for my crime.’
‘Such a shame demands death,’ said Gotrek.
Aethenir shook his head pityingly. ‘That is why the dwarfs have fallen. Their greatest warriors are always shaving their heads and killing themselves.’
Gotrek lowered his wooden spoon, glaring dangerously at the high elf.
Max coughed. ‘Friends, please, if we could return to the matter of Captain Euler. Some of us have no great shame to be expunged and would like to return from this journey alive. Have you any suggestions?’
For a moment there was nothing but the sound of chewing.
‘We can’t fight his crew without casualties,’ said Max at last. ‘And we can afford no more casualties.’
‘Could we take the druchii ship?’ asked Felix.
Max shook his head. ‘There are too few of us to crew it.’
Claudia looked up from the bowl of stew that she cupped in both hands. Her eyes were still dull, but the colour had returned to her cheeks. ‘Could… could we make sure the druchii ship sank?’ she asked. ‘So that Captain Euler would think the treasure sank with the ship, and would not know we lied?’
Felix nodded, approving. The girl was quick – mad, of course – but quick. ‘It would be surer than facing them hand to hand.’
Aethenir, however, was frowning. ‘Sink the ship? And lose the harp?’
‘Isn’t that the general idea?’ growled Gotrek.
‘Are you mad, dwarf?’ cried Aethenir. ‘A treasure like that cannot be lost again. There would be much we could learn from it.’
‘Being a student of history, scholar,’ said Max to the high elf, ‘you must certainly know that treasures like that have a way of being used for terrible things, no matter the intentions of those who preserve them. Perhaps it would be best to let it sink.’
‘But what guarantee is that?’ the high elf asked. ‘The druchii raised it from the sea once. What is to stop them from doing it again?’
‘You won’t tell them where it is next time,’ said Gotrek dryly.
‘Will you be silent, dwarf!’ snapped Aethenir. ‘I am doing what I can to amend the fault.’
‘How would we do it, though?’ asked Max, forestalling Gotrek’s reply. ‘Euler would be suspicious if he saw any of us deliberately trying to sink it.’
‘Some spell, perhaps?’ asked Felix.
Max’s brow wrinkled as he thought. Claudia pursed her lips, but in the end they shook their heads and the others returned to thinking.
‘Well,’ said Max when no one came forwards with a suggestion. ‘We will think more upon it. Go and sleep. Perhaps the answer will come to us in the morning.’
As he was following Gotrek up the stairs to the deck, Felix felt a hand on his arm and turned. It was Claudia. She looked up at him, biting her lip.
‘I seem always to be apologising to you, Herr Jaeger,’ she said finally.
‘Er, there’s no need,’ said Felix, edging back.
‘But there is,’ she insisted. ‘I was vile to you this morning, and I feel terrible about it. I snapped at you when you were only asking about my welfare.’
‘Oh, it was nothing,’ said Felix, taking another backwards step up the stairs.
‘But it was. I could see how I had hurt you. And yet…’ Her voice caught in her throat. ‘And yet, when the waters came crashing in, you picked me up and carried me to safety, though you were grievously wounded. Such selflessness, such charity in the face of my rude behaviour…’
‘Well, I couldn’t let you drown, could I…?’ Felix tripped as the next step caught his heel. He stopped himself as Claudia reached to catch him. They ended up very close.
She looked up at him with her wide blue eyes, smiling shyly. ‘I have caused you considerable anger, pain and embarrassment, Herr Jaeger, but I believe you were beginning to warm to me before all this. Captain Euler has given me a private cabin. If you would like a more comfortable berth than the deck…’
‘Ah, I wouldn’t actually,’ said Felix, sweat breaking out on his brow as he backed up onto the first step. ‘Thank you all the same. As delightful as I find your company, I don’t think that either of our reputations would survive a repeat of last night’s events. Now, if you will excuse me…’
‘It doesn’t happen every night,’ said Claudia, pouting.
‘Yes, but if it did,’ said Felix, still backing up. ‘All in all, I think the risk is too great.’
Claudia’s eyes began to burn into him with an unsettling keenness.
‘Not that I don’t appreciate the honour,’ he continued. ‘But, er, it’s for the best, I think, don’t you? Good night.’
And with that he fled to the main deck, feeling her angry gaze upon his back all the way.
Gotrek and Felix bedded down on the foredeck, laying out their bedrolls on either side of the cages that held the ship’s goat and chickens. The barnyard stench was enough to make Felix’s eyes water, but they were out of the way of the crew and, more importantly, for Felix anyway, out of Claudia’s reach.
Felix stretched his cloak across the rail and the cages to make a little tent over his bedroll before he lay down, for the night was cloudy and cold and there was a chilling drizzle wetting the deck. The goat stared reproachfully out of its cage at Felix for a while, but then lost interest and curled up in its nest of hay.
Felix found it difficult to sleep. The day had been so full of terror and danger that he hadn’t had a moment to think, but as he lay there, all the thoughts that fighting for his life had pushed from his mind now flooded back and preyed upon him. Was his father unharmed? Did he still live? What had the skaven done to him? He wanted desperately to get back and learn the answers to these questions, and yet, in the heat of the moment, he had convinced Euler to go the other way, chasing after the dark elf ship. Knowing the scope of what the sorceresses intended to do, he knew it was the right thing to do. The needs of the many outweighed his need to discover his father’s fate, but it was still agony to be sailing in the opposite direction from Altdorf.
Part of his concern for his father was undoubtedly guilt. He had wished the old man dead on many occasions, and now that it was possible that he actually might be, Felix felt responsible, as if one of his petty wishes had come true. But it wasn’t just that. He truly was responsible, for the skaven had undoubtedly visited his father while hunting for him and Gotrek. Gustav Jaeger – if he was indeed dead or hurt – was just another victim of the plague of vermin that had been trailing Felix since Altdorf – which was only a lesser strain of the epidemic of mayhem and bloodshed which followed Gotrek and Felix wherever they went. Truly, he thought, it was probably best for the Empire that we stayed away for twenty years. The land would likely have half its current population had we remained.
At last exhaustion won out over worry and guilt, and dragged him down into a dark and anxiety-haunted sleep.
He woke again, as he had the morning before, to nearby rustling in the dark, and at first his foggy mind thought that it must be Claudia again.
‘Really, Fraulein Pallenberger,’ he mumbled. ‘Your tenacity is alarming.’
The rustling stopped and he heard a grunt that sounded very little like Claudia. He froze and opened his eyes. It was still night, and very dark, but a faint yellow flick
er reached him from the lanterns hung on the main deck, giving him just enough light to see by.
The first thing that he saw was the goat, almost eye to eye with him, and staring at him again. Felix let out a relieved breath. It had only been the goat. Then he paused. The goat had not blinked. And it was lying on its side. And it had a rusted metal star sticking out of its throat. And blood was soaking the straw beneath it. From somewhere nearby came another muffled grunt and then thrashing and thumping sounds.
‘Gotrek?’
Through the goat cage he could see flashes of violent movement on the far side. He heard hoarse cries of surprise from the main deck and looked that way. A crewman was slumped across the taffrail, three metal stars sticking from his back.
‘Gotrek!’
Then he heard the rustling again, directly behind him. He twisted around. A black shape with glittering black eyes crouched by the rail, clutching something in its bony little hands. The hands darted forwards and the something was jerked down over Felix’s head.
Felix gasped and inhaled a horrible smell – the smell from the glass globes the skaven had used. Immediately his head started to swim and his limbs began going numb. A horrible seasick nausea made his stomach roil. He cried out and swung his scabbarded sword. There was an impact and he heard a squeak and a thud. He snatched the bag off his head and staggered up, falling against the goat cage. His hands and face were sticky with the foul, narcotic paste.
The skaven assassin was up as well, and reaching towards him with hooked metal claws curling out over its true hands.
Felix threw an unsteady foot out and booted the creature in its narrow chest. It squealed and toppled backwards over the side of the ship. But three more skaven took its place, carrying ropes with what looked like fish hooks on the ends. The vermin seemed to distort and stretch as they approached. In fact, the whole ship was twisting and melting around him like it was made of hot wax.
Felix stumbled back, his gorge rising, as the world swam around him. On the far side of the goat cage, Gotrek was on his feet, legs braced wide, slashing around with his gore-smeared axe and struggling to pull a bag from his head while scrawny black shadows capered around him, swinging the barbed ropes at him. Unfortunately for the Slayer, one of the ropes was wound around his neck, pulling the bag tight. Incoherent roaring came from within. Three black forms lay dead at his feet, their guts spilling across the deck.
