by William King
“I could rip out his tongue,” offered Haegr hopefully. “Gag him and bind his hands,” said Ragnar to Linus. “Use his shirt.”
He turned to Antoninus. “Make any sudden moves, or attempt to betray us and I will give you to Haegr,” He could tell from the man’s scent, there would be no treachery, at least for the moment.
“What now?” Haegr asked. Ragnar considered their options. The men could not wait by the access conduit forever. Or could they? He cursed the lack of comm-net relays stations down here, and the shielding the layers of buildings provided. Then it dawned on him. “You must have ways of communicating with the surface?” he said to Antoninus.
“Of course,” he said looking at Ragnar as if he were an idiot. “There are emergency comm-net relay flexors that go all the way up, they patch into the surface grids.”
“Where is the nearest access point?”
“Anaconda Station. It’s a sleep away from here. Up a level.”
“Guarded?”
“Of course. It’s in our main shrine.”
“I suppose you’re going to say storming it is out of the question,” said Haegr in the petulant tone of a child who knows his parents are going to deny him a treat.
Linus cleared his throat. “There was a flexor in Imperial sprocket works number six,” he said. “Before it was destroyed.”
“We don’t have time to clear away the rubble right now.”
“There was an emergency node five hundred metres away. It patches into the grid as well.”
“How far?”
“The next level up.”
“Why didn’t you say?”
“You never asked,” Ragnar suppressed his frustration. Linus was right. Haegr was not so understanding.
“Anything else you forgot to mention? You didn’t also happen to have an emergency escape elevator all the way to the surface, or an aircar, or a division of Imperial Guard based there or…”
“Of course not,” Linus’s tone showed how absurd he considered the suggestions. He apparently did not see the joke.
“The flexor is still functioning then.”
“It ought to be. It has worked for the last ten millennia. I don’t see why it should decide to stop now.”
“If we can patch into that we can contact the surface and get some support.”
“Then let us be on our way,” said Haegr.
Ragnar nodded. He led them back out into the street. “Lead on, Linus,” he said.
The little man glanced nervously down the street to where he thought the zealots must be. Lacking the Space Wolves’ keen senses he obviously thought them a lot closer than they were. He then risked a glance at Antoninus, obviously fearing the man would give away their position. He need not have worried. The zealot was still gagged, and Haegr had one hand over the man’s mouth for good measure. They headed off in the direction that Linus indicated.
“What will your friends do now?” Ragnar asked Antoninus, removing the gag. It looked for a moment like the zealot was not going to answer. Haegr growled.
“Since they have not found you yet they will split up into search parties and scour the area. They will probably request back-up from our temple. You will not be allowed to escape alive,” Antoninus could not keep the satisfaction out of his voice.
Ragnar considered their surroundings. The further they moved from the main warrens, the more run down they looked and the lower the ceilings became. More vile animals surrounded them. And yet, according to Linus, they were getting closer to his former place of work.
It was hard to imagine humans living and working in these rat holes, but according to the little scribe hundreds had. Most had moved away from the cell like dwellings when their employment failed, although a few still haunted the rubble, eking out a pitiful existence. According to Linus they knew nothing else. They had spent their whole lives in the area, and could not conceive of moving away.
Ragnar revised his opinion of the little man. He had thought him drab and unadventurous but he could see now that by the standards of his upbringing Linus had been more dynamic than many He had at least moved away from the area, and now he was considering moving further still. Once again Ragnar was considering the sin of relativity. Antoninus glanced around him with disdain. The people around here were low on the social scale as far as he was concerned. That much was obvious.
He realised that they had come up at least one level of the warrens in their travels. The stairwell had been long and rusting in many places. Massive spider webs had blocked it, and those must have been recently woven because Linus claimed traders and travellers still occasionally used these paths. The thought of such huge creatures did nothing for Ragnar’s peace of mind, although in his heart of hearts he did not truly fear them.
As they turned another corner Ragnar noticed that Haegr was grinning. A moment later he caught a familiar scent. He could not quite believe it. It was the smell of a Wolf. “I believe Torin is looking for us,” said Haegr. “We will be surprising him soon.”
“Your appetite constantly surprises me,” said a soft mocking voice from the shadows. Ragnar was surprised. The scent trail was quite old and this meant that Torin must have circled round and caught them from downwind. Ragnar wondered how deliberate that was. He doubted the Wolfblade would ever tell. “I knew you would blunder up here sooner or later.”
They were on the same level which meant that over relatively short ranges their comm-links should work. “Why did you not try to contact us?” Ragnar asked.
“Same reason as you don’t have your beacons on. Security. If the mission has been compromised who knows whether the Belisarius channels or any others are safe? The relays may be monitored and short range pulse traffic can be picked up by people with the right divinatory apparatus,” Ragnar knew his comrade was right.
“Glad to see you’re still alive,” said Torin. “I thought Haegr had gobbled down his last ox, judging from the wounds I saw.”
“Hah! It will take more than a few scratches to impede Haegr’s mighty form.”
“What happened to your escort of Belisarians?” Haegr asked.
“Ambushed. I fought my way clear with half a dozen of them, and ordered them to head to the surface while I looked for you. I knew you would need help since you had to look after Haegr.”
“Mighty Haegr needs no help from cubs.”
Suddenly they were all talking at once.
“Who are your friends?”
“How did you find us?”
“Easy, I followed the trail of empty food silos and knew Haegr would be there.”
“Linus here is our friend. Antoninus is a prisoner. He has information that we may find useful.”
“There has been no time to empty silos. Chance would be a fine thing.”
“Where were you headed?”
“An emergency relay station for the Imperial sprocket autofac. We were going to contact the surface on the emergency channel.”
“Smart thinking. I am sure Haegr had no part in that.”
“A beating, Torin. Within an inch of your life…”
Ragnar was glad that their companion had been found or had found them. Torin had been searching high and low for them, stalking zealot patrols looking for clues to their whereabouts. Of course, he could not track all of them but he had learned a few things.
The zealots were far stronger down here than anyone had supposed, but they were thrashing around headless at the moment without their prophet. It appeared the dead psyker had been their leader, in this sector at least. It also appeared that they extorted food and money out of the local inhabitants in return for protection.
It was an enterprise as old as life on Terra according to Torin.
“The surprising thing is how strong the Brotherhood is down here. I suspect some sort of military build-up. I fear we could be looking at rebellion and open warfare on the surface soon.”
That did not surprise Ragnar. It followed a pattern he had seen many times before. “We need to assemble the guard
s and clear this place.”
“I fear it will take more than the might of Belisarius to do that,” said Torin. “The fanatics are numerous and well armed. We may need to forge new alliances to deal with this and soon.”
“It’s just as well we found this out then,” said Ragnar.
As they talked, they followed Linus, and prodded the zealot at gunpoint. Torin and Haegr bickered cheerfully. The presence of his old sparring partner seemed to have worked wonders for Haegr’s health. The ceiling became lower; the smell of dust and crumbling brickwork filled the air. There were more rats and more large spiders. Linus nodded and said they were close now.
A few moments later they turned the corner and found themselves face to face with a duralloy panel in the wall, covered in warning runes and messages in the local alphabet.
“This is it,” said Linus. “Although I am not sure how we are going to open it without the key.”
Haegr ripped it open with one hand.
“That’s against the rules,” said Linus.
“I am sure the Arbites will be along any moment to arrest me,” said Haegr.
Torin studied the ancient engine of brass cables and ceramite panels. He reached forward to tap the runes. He was making a few adjustments to the settings to the tune of the basic engineering litanies. He ran a few test protocols on the link and moments later, was sending pulsed communications to the surface. Apparently he got a response. He had sealed the circuit so that not even Ragnar and Haegr could hear what was being said.
“A pick up team will be with us within hours,” said Torin, looking satisfied. “And then we will be out of here.”
“Not before time,” said Haegr. “We should have been gone a day ago.”
“Better late than never,” said Torin. He glanced at Antoninus. “Now, what about telling us a few of your secrets?”
Ragnar studied his chronometer. The pick up team was running late. It had been three hours now and there was no sign of them. He looked at Torin who simply shrugged. “Maybe they ran into some unexpected problems,” he said. “They will be here. Valkoth himself is leading them.”
“That reassures me,” said Haegr. “If he sent out some of those fancy dressed Belisarian clowns on their own, they might have got lost.”
“Not everyone has your unerring sense of direction,” said Torin. “Although I seem to recall even you have made a few errors in your time. There was that incident with the orks on Hera V,”
“I knew you would bring that up,” said Haegr. “A man can be right a thousand times, as heroic Haegr usually is, but let him make one little mistake and…”
“Leading us into the ork boss’s camp instead of the Imperial Palace was not a little mistake,” said Torin.
“I didn’t notice you opening your mouth to tell me I was wrong,” said Haegr.
“I was unconscious at the time after you managed to accidentally connect with that flailing hammer of yours.”
“You always bring that up as well. One little accident and…”
“It is hard to forget such accidents when your skull is involved in them.”
At first Ragnar thought he was ignoring the remark, but then he noticed the giant was listening. So did Torin, for a cutting remark died unspoken on his lips.
“That’s not Valkoth,” said Haegr. A few heartbeats later, Ragnar realised what he was talking about. He could hear stealthy sounds approaching, and could make out the faint but distinctive odour of men. The scent was a compound of meat, incense, bac-stick smoke and a dozen other things. It was not the smell of Valkoth or of any Belisarian.
“They found us again,” said Haegr. He did not sound disappointed. “It seems an unlikely coincidence,” he murmured.
Ragnar wondered if they had been betrayed again. “Perhaps the signal was traced,” he said.
“Perhaps,” said Torin.
Antoninus had started to grin again. Ragnar was filled with a desire to wipe the smirk off his face. Torin clearly felt the same way.
“We could set a trap. Knock their friend here unconscious and rig his body up with explosives. They could all become martyrs to their holy cause together.”
Antoninus’s smile turned sickly. Linus looked shocked. “You would not really do that, would you?” he asked.
Torin shrugged. Haegr said, “Hardly seems worth the effort. I say we just go and kill them.”
“Showing off your tactical genius again, I see,” said Torin. “Let’s at least try and find out how many of them there are and what corridors they have covered.”
“And spoil all the fun!”
“You’re right. What was I thinking? Oh yes, I remember — my duty to return and protect House Belisarius and uncover the traitor who set us up.”
“Well, when you put it that way…”
A glyph blinked in Ragnar’s vision. A faint chime sounded in his comm-link earbead. A moment later Valkoth’s voice spoke. “We are on the same level as you now and picking up your signal. These corridors are a maze, so it may take some time to get to you.”
“It looks like the enemy found us first,” said Torin. “Just head for the sounds of carnage.”
“We ran into some Brotherhood boys which is why we were not there sooner,” said Valkoth. “Just hold them off until we get there. Praise Russ.”
Torin laughed as the link dropped. “It’s nice that the old man has faith in us. I like the way he casually informs us to hold out until he gets here.”
“He knows mighty Haegr’s bravery,” said Haegr. “He knows I will keep you alive until he gets here, with a little help from Ragnar of course.”
“Well, I suppose I could always use your great bloated mass of blubber as a shield. Better than sandbags.”
“I fear I am going to have to beat you again, Torin.”
“Later,” said Ragnar, as he noticed shadowy figures appearing in the distance. Antoninus followed the direction of his gaze, but he could obviously see nothing. He looked as if he was considering running for it. Haegr flattened him with a blow of his ham-like fist. “It would be a shame if he got away now that we have brought him all this way.”
He lifted the recumbent body and tossed it through a doorway one handed. “We can always come back and collect him later. You’d better join him, little man. Things might get hot out here. Just make sure he does not get away,” The last was a bit of needless cruelty, Ragnar thought. Linus looked and smelled nervous enough to faint.
“Best get moving,” said Torin. Linus scuttled under cover leaving the three Wolves ready to face their onrushing foes. There appeared to be a fair number of the enemy coming in along all the approach corridors. No doubt there were more making their way from chamber to chamber. He raised his bolt pistol and snapped off a few shots into the distance. The shells could not miss the tightly packed bodies. He was rewarded with a scream.
“Spearing blowfish in a barrel,” said Haegr, leaning on the shaft of his hammer and meditating on the targets. The metal pole puffed his fat cheeks out even more. “I could have hit that man with my hammer from here.”
Ragnar looked at him in astonishment. “You doubt my word? The word of mighty Haegr?”
Casually, he threw the hammer down the corridor. It carried a long way, and Ragnar could smell blood and hear bones crack. “I suppose I shall have to go and get it back now,” said Haegr and lumbered off into the distance before Ragnar could say anything. Ragnar exchanged glances with Torin. “He is a law unto himself,” said Torin. “But don’t worry about him, somehow he always survives.”
Ragnar heard grenades going off. He could see the huge bulk of Haegr limned in the flare of their detonations. His wild laughter echoed down the corridor. He was obviously the one throwing them, and it sounded like he was enjoying himself.
“Perhaps we should go and help him,” said Ragnar.
“No, he would only object to us spoiling his fun. Besides, someone has to stay here and make sure no one gets behind us,” The two Wolves had instinctively moved to co
ver separate lines of approach. More of the zealots were coming both ways. Others were moving chamber to chamber.
Ragnar crouched in a doorway to make himself a smaller target and snapped off another shot. This time the response was a hail of bolter and las-rifle fire. He doubted that any of his assailants could see him. They were just firing at random, but that would make no difference if one of those shells was to connect with a vulnerable point in his armour.
How long would it take Valkoth to arrive?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The cultists kept coming on down the corridor and edging closer through the chambers. The bellowing of Haegr told Ragnar that the huge Marine had engaged the enemy. The cracking of skulls and splintering of bone indicated that he had regained his hammer. Bolter shells and autogun bullets chipped the plascrete around Ragnar while las-beams made it bubble and stink like hot asphalt. He considered ducking through the doorway, but it was a single chamber with no visible way out: a death trap if he were caught in it, and if the enemy had grenades or any reasonably heavy weapon. Of course, he could pick many of them off, but being pinned down was generally a recipe for disaster.
“I hate to say this, Torin, but maybe Haegr had the right idea!” said Ragnar.
“I am starting to think so myself,” bellowed Torin over the din of battle. “Cover me!”
“I will do my best,” said Ragnar, ducking down and snapping off shots, first in one direction and then the other. As he did this Torin dived across the street and through another opening, oblivious to the hail of fire at his heels. A moment later, a hand emerged from the doorway that sent a grenade bouncing up the corridor towards their attackers. The screams told Ragnar that he had caught somebody.
It was Ragnar’s turn now. Crouching low, he bounded into the corridor and moved upwards towards the attackers. Billowing smoke obscured him from sight and the hail of fire seemed to have lessened.
Ragnar felt confident that he could more than hold his own against their assailants. Once he was in their midst they would be unable to shoot at him without risking their fellows. All he would have to worry about was saving his own armoured hide. It appalled him to think that Haegr probably had done the right thing. But of course, the big man was an experienced tunnel fighter, so it was no great surprise.
