Dunk nodded. “It’s too bad some of the Guterfiends got away. I suppose with the game being broadcast live it was bound to happen. They just weren’t stupid enough to stick around after Khorne’s team lost.”
“I don’t think they’ll be back to Altdorf any time soon,” Lästiges said with a carefree laugh.
“Why were you gone so long?” Spinne asked, motioning for Dunk to sit down next to her.
“I had something else to pick up,” Dunk said as he came over to stand in front of Spinne. He reached into his pocket, knelt down in front of her and gazed into her eyes.
“Blood Bowl has been great to me,” Dunk said. “When I met Slick for the first time, I was just about ready to give up and let that chimera eat me. I was homeless, penniless, and friendless.
“Playing this game has changed all that.”
He nodded at Pegleg. “It gave me money.”
He smiled at Dirk. “It brought my brother back to me.”
He glanced around at the others. “It made me many of the most loyal and trustworthy friends a man could wish for.”
He stared around at the four walls around them. “It even restored me to my ancestral home.”
Dunk turned back to Spinne again. She was so beautiful he almost couldn’t stand to look at her, but to turn away seemed far worse.
“There’s only one thing I’d like to change,” Dunk said, as he presented the ring to Spinne. It had a wide band of gold and a diamond cut into the shape of a football.
“Yes!” Spinne said before Dunk could say another word. Her grin split her face and showed all her pearly teeth. “I cannot wait to marry you!”
Dunk held her close for a long moment, and then kissed her, and she kissed him back like she wanted it to last forever. When their lips parted, they held each other still, and she wiped away the lone tear that had found its way onto his cheek.
“So, son,” Slick said. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’re entertaining any silly notions of retiring from the game and settling down?”
Dunk cocked his head to one side. He heard something coming from outside the keep’s walls. “I don’t think so,” he said as he leapt to his feet. “Follow me.”
Taking Spinne’s hand, he strode with her through the keep until they reached the balcony that overlooked the public square outside the small fortress’ doors, which still lay smashed open from the night before.
As Dunk and Spinne stepped up to the balcony, the people of Altdorf in the square below erupted in cheers. When Pegleg, Slick, and the rest of the Hackers appeared behind them, the noise rose to a roar.
Dunk turned to kiss Spinne again, a grin on both their faces.
“What’s that they’re chanting?” she asked.
“Can’t you make it out?”
“They may be wonderful fans, but they don’t have the best rhythm. Tell me.”
Dunk leaned closer to her. “Listen,” he said. “ ‘Repeat! Repeat! Repeat!’ ”
“Oh,” Spinne said with a sly smile as she leaned in to kiss Dunk again. “Don’t mind if I do.”
Scanning, formatting and basic
proofing by Undead.
[Blood Bowl 03] - Death Match Page 29
