Warhammer - Knight Errant

by Anthony Reynolds

  REOLUS'S EYES BLAZED w ith holy fury as he cut his way through the melee at the point of the Bretonnian charge. His blade carved through the heavy armour of the foe as if it w ere paper, and at his side the Baron Montcadas smashed aside more of them w ith every sweeping blow of his spiked morning star. The questing knight, Gundehar, rode on his other side, and he smashed the enemy aw ay w ith mighty sweeps of his tw o-handed sword, passion and fervour giving him strength.

  They w ere no more than a hundred yards from the tree line, and he could smell the foetid decay of the tortured trees in the air. Urging his steed forwards, feeling the malignant presence of the enemy w ar leader nearby, Reolus drove on, hacking his w ay through the heavy press of armoured beastmen.

  There was an almighty crash, and his eyes flicked towards the darkness of the looming forest. Trees were being uprooted and smashed aside, and the ground began to shudder w ith titanic footsteps.

  A pair of behemoths rose above the canopy, creatures both ancient and grow n impossibly huge by the w arping influence of Chaos. Like men w ading through long grass, they burst from the tree line, smashing aside contorted oaks and elms, their ear-splitting roars sounding like mountains being shattered.

  Each of the monsters stood some fifty feet tall, and each thunderous, loping step cleared almost tw enty feet. They were malformed creatures of Chaos, their hulking shoulders covered in fur and protruding spines of bone, their monstrous gait uneven and aw kw ard.

  The ground shook beneath them, and Reolus felt the wave of panic that shuddered through the charging knights as they saw the pair of fell giants bearing down on them. He had killed such beasts before, however, and he would do so again.

  It looked as though a single, monstrous creature had been sliced down the middle by a searing cut, forming tw o beasts from one flesh. They were perverted mirror images of each other, these Chaos giants, monstrous twins separated by foul magicks.

  Each had an oversized arm and a smaller, deformed limb that w as w asted and nigh on useless. One of the legs of each giant w as as thick as a tree-trunk and covered w ith dank fur that hung to the ground like rope, while the other leg was crooked and thin.

  Their heads each contained a single, w eeping eye, though each orb contained a pair of pupils, and each beast had a single drooping ear pierced w ith human thigh bones and ribs. The other sides of their heads w ere a loathsome mass of red scar tissue, as if the tw o heads had once been one, but had been ripped apart. A single curling horn emerged from each of their heads, curved downwards from their temples. Lips flapped open to display slab-like teeth and tusks, and the creatures roared with one voice.

  Each held a tree-trunk in its massive hands, and these they hefted as if they w eighed nothing at all.

  They loped through the press of beastmen, who came barely to their knees, smashing them aside thoughtlessly. Their monstrous cyclopean eyes were fixed on the knights, and the earth vibrated w ith each thunderous step.

  The first of the giants struck the line of knights, sweeping its tree-trunk like a club.

  The makeshift w eapon slammed into the front rank of Bretonnians, and half a dozen knights and their horses were lifted into the air and sent flying backw ards, their bones and armour crushed. With its return swing, it sent another half dozen hurtling through the air.

  The other giant came straight at Reolus, and the grail knight kicked his terrified steed directly tow ards it, making no attempt to move out of its w ay. The giant lifted its club high into the air as it pounded forwards, intending to smash him into the ground.

  The heavy tree-trunk came hurtling down tow ards him, and he urged his steed to the side at the last moment. The tree smashed down, slamming into Gundehar, crushing him and his steed into the ground, rendering them into an unrecognisable, flattened smear of blood and armour.

  With a roar, Reolus plunged his lance deep into the beast's thigh as he rode past it. It sank three feet into flesh that w as as tough as w ood, and the creature and its tw in bellow ed deafeningly in pain, as if both felt the wound.

  Letting go of its club, the giant sw atted at Reolus w ith the back of its hand, which w as the size of a w agon. The blow smashed into him and his steed, sending them flying. His horse crumpled to the ground, screaming in agony, and Reolus rolled from the thrashing destrier.

  How ling in savage fury, the armoured beastmen surged forw ards once more.

  Dazed and hurting, Reolus struggled to his feet, killing the first ones that sw armed around him.

  Dozens of lances plunged into the legs of the pair of giants, and they bellowed in fury and pain. A hand clasped around the body of a horse and it w as lifted high into the air, w hinnying in terror before its head w as bitten off. The headless corpse was hurled back dow n into the knights, knocking another pair to the ground, and hot blood splattered dow n from the monster's flapping lips.

  Knights surged around the legs of the beasts, stabbing and hacking, but the charge had been all but blunted. Heavily-armoured beastmen surged into those that got past the pair of giants, smashing them from their saddles and pulling them dow n.

  With a shout, Reolus cleaved his sword through the head of a beastman, and broke into a run tow ards the nearest of the tw o behemoths. He ducked a swinging axe and severed the leg of another beast. The closest giant swung around, sending four knights and their steeds flying through the air with a sweep of its arm, and Reolus threw himself to the ground as one horse tumbled tow ards him.

  The knight, still in the saddle, sailed over Reolus and was crushed, his spine snapping as the w eight of the horse landed on top of him. Reolus surged upright, and threw his sword with all his might.

  The blade spun end over end and drove into the giant's single eye, sinking to the hilt.

  The beast and its tw in gave a tremendous roar of agony and rage, and the w ounded creature began thrashing around blindly. Black blood spurted from its eye, and more than one fallen knight was crushed beneath its staggering footsteps. More lances plunged into its legs, and it spun around, arms flailing killing knights and beastmen alike.

  Baron Montcadas, miraculously still alive and in the saddle, smashed his ball and chain into the knee of the creature's lame leg shattering the kneecap. As the leg gave w ay beneath it, the monstrous creature teetered and fell.

  Its arms sw ung w ildly as it sought vainly to maintain its balance, but its fall w as inevitable. It hit the ground with a resounding boom, crushing a dozen men beneath its bulk, and making others stumble and fall as the ground shook. Unhorsed knights sw armed over it, plunging their swords like daggers into its neck and body, even as others w ere hacked down by beastmen.

  The fallen giant's tw in bellowed in pain and rage, and moved to its defence. With a violent kick, it sent three knights flying their horses screaming as they spiralled back into their ow n ranks, bones crushed and armour w renched completely out of shape.

  Reolus sw ore. Horseless, and with the havoc unleashed by the giants, there was little chance that he w ould ever reach the enemy war leader. Buoyed by the appearance of the tow ering monstrosities, the enemy w as surging forwards with renewed vigour, and, now that the charge had been stymied, the Bretonnians were being cut down in their hundreds. He prayed that those knights on the flank of the charge were continuing their attack, for, in them, lay the only chance of killing the enemy war leader.

  With a grow l of anger, Reolus caught the arms of a beastmen as it sought to cleave him from shoulder to sternum w ith a pow erful axe-blow . Muscles straining to hold back the strike, he leant forwards and drove his knee into the beast's groin. Again he slammed his armoured knee into the same place, and its strength wavered. With a final blow , the beast released its grip on its weapon, and Reolus swung it around in a lethal arc that tore the beast's head from its shoulders.

  The sole giant still on its feet w as laying about it w ith destructive power, killing dozens of men w ith every passing moment. A score of swords and lances protruded from its legs, like bristles, and its flesh w
as slick with blood from the w ounds, but it continued its mad rampage, apparently fuelled by the pain. Setting his sight on the tow ering creature, Reolus barged his way through the maelstrom of battle, the beastman's axe held tight in his hands.

  CALARD SLASHED DOWN at the enemy again and again. The beastmen pushed in against the knights, surging forward in a solid mass. There was little room for grace or skill, just a need to kill quickly and efficiently.

  Titanic roars echoed across the din. Their charge had swung around to the east as the point of the charge, led by the grail knight Reolus, stalled. How such a thing could have come to pass w as beyond him, for he had believed that nothing in the w orld could stand against the knight, but halted the charge had been. Out on the w ing of the attack, Calard and the knights around him had continued on, facing less resistance than the rest of the force, and they now found themselves occupying the most forw ard point in the attack, and still they pushed deeper into the enemy lines.

  The trees w ere close, and they were surrounded and desperate. Calard knew instinctively that they would not last long, but he could not help feeling that they w ere painfully close to the beast leading the enemy forces. They just needed to keep going forw ards.

  He desperately parried a blow that stabbed tow ards his chest, and sent a riposte that sliced a bloody line across a beast's face, driving it back for a second. It w as instantly replaced by another foe that roared as it thrust a spear forw ards. Calard swayed to the side, and the w eapon slammed into the face of another knight, punching through his skull and piercing the brain. Gringolet kicked out, flashing hooves breaking limbs.

  The enemy fought with savage fury as more of them pushed against the buckling line of knights, and increasing numbers of men w ere being dragged down with every passing moment. Calard struck a beastman on the crow n of its head, splitting the skull, and it collapsed to the ground.

  All semblance of order had been lost, and the knights' charge began to falter. Each man fought as an individual now, all sense of formation gone, lost amid the chaos of the battle.

  Seeing a gap open, Calard shouted and drove Gringolet on. The powerful grey reacted instantly, leaping forwards.

  He didn't see his brother Bertelis knocked from the saddle behind him.

  THE ENEMY CLOSED ranks, fighting with frenzied intensity, and Gunthar swore as Calard disappeared from sight. His own steed had fallen, its skull smashed, and he stood protectively over Bertelis's prone figure. Though Calard w as beyond his reach, he w ould die before any further harm came to Lutheure's youngest son.

  He ducked and lifted his shield, and a swinging axe head scraped across its surface.

  Lunging forwards, he stabbed his blade into the tow ering beast's midsection, the tip sinking deep, before stepping back once more.

  Hissing against the pain in his injured leg, which threatened to collapse beneath him at any moment, he slashed his sword across the bestial, hate-filled face of another enemy.

  All around him, horses kicked out w ith their hooves, rearing and biting as they had been trained. Gunthar stood over the fallen Garamont noble, fearing that he would be crushed beneath the hooves of the warhorses. Men shouted and screamed, and more of them w ere being dragged from the saddles and butchered. Blades flashed down from those still in the saddle, driving the surging enemy back, lashing out at any that came near.

  A blade stabbed tow ards Bertelis, who was groggily struggling to rise, and Gunthar's blade flashed out, deflecting the blow. He snapped off a lightning riposte that tore out the beast's throat. It fell, blood gurgling from the wound, and Gunthar turned aside another blow that sliced towards his neck. His return blow punched through the beast's eye socket, and it fell w ith a roar. More creatures surged forw ards to fill the gap, and Gunthar glanced behind him.

  Bertelis had ripped his helmet aw ay, and blood w as streaming from his scalp. He flopped back onto the ground, and Gunthar sw ore. The beasts crow ding around, respectful now of his skill, snarled at him, their fingers clenching and unclenching on the hafts and pommels of their w eapons.

  Another knight went dow n, his horse screaming and the beasts leapt at Gunthar.

  He smashed a spear dow n into the ground, and turned aside a sw ord thrust w ith his shield. His blade lashed out, scoring a deep wound across the chest of one of the beasts, and then he deftly reversed the blow, hacking his sword deep into the creature's neck. Gunthar spun aw ay instantly, ripping his sword free, even as an axe sliced through the air where he had been standing a moment ago, and hacked his sw ord into the neck of another creature.

  He stepped aw kw ardly to the side to better protect Bertelis, feeling his leg shuddering beneath him. He w as breathing heavily, and his arms felt like lead w eights. He was so tired.

  Again the beasts came at him, and he sw ayed back from a w ildly slashing curved sw ord that passed by him, a hair's breadth from his head, and his sword sliced across the beast's arm, cutting through sinews and tendons, forcing it to drop its w eapon.

  A blade punched through his side, and he staggered. With a sw ing he severed the beast's arm at the w rist, and stabbed the point into its chest. An axe blow smashed into his shield, breaking his arm and making him cry out. His blade slashed across the creature's leg, and it fell with a roar of pain.

  Wincing against the grating pain of broken bones grinding together, his left arm hanging limply at his side, Gunthar stood over Bertelis, his heart pounding. His breath w as coming in short, sharp gasps, and it felt like his lungs were on fire. The sounds around him seemed muffled and distant, as if his ears w ere stuffed w ith cloth, and he knew that his end was near.

  'Gunthar,' breathed the young knight from the ground.

  'I'll let no harm come to you, boy,' gasped Gunthar, eyeing the circle of beastmen closing in around them.

  One of them charged, its axe swinging up from the ground in a lethal arc. Stepping to the side, Gunthar avoided the attack and slashed his blade across the creature's back as it surged by. Then he reversed the swing and plunged the point into the stomach of another beast as it surged forw ards.

  The flailing hooves of a knight's steed almost struck him, and he staggered back. A curved blade crashed into his shoulder, and he stumbled. His gangrenous leg finally collapsed beneath him, and he fell to one knee. Still he fought on, desperate to protect Bertelis. He hacked his blade into a beast's leg, and it fell with a roar.

  A knight's sw ord smashed down, cleaving the head of another creature dow n to its teeth, and blood splattered from the terrible w ound.

  Gunthar's vision began to sw im from loss of blood and exhaustion, and he half-craw led, half-stumbled to Bertelis's side, expecting, at any moment, to be crushed or to have the life smashed from him by the enemy. Using his sword like a crutch, he pushed to his feet once more, swaying unsteadily.

  'Gunthar,' breathed Bertelis.

  'I'm sorry, my lord,' gasped Gunthar in despair. 'I have failed you.'

  'No,' said Bertelis, trying to lift himself up, but falling back to the ground.

  A pair of beasts rushed at Gunthar. He killed the first, his blade severing its jugular, and blood sprayed out as it dropped to the ground. Desperately, he turned his blade tow ards the second. It slammed into him, bearing him to the ground. Its weight forced Gunthar's sw ord into its body, and it snarled in his face, its eyes yellow and filled with hate as it died.

  The w eight of the beast pinned Gunther to the ground, its heavy, muscled mass crushing him, and he felt a moment of panic at his vulnerability. With a surge of adrenaline, he heaved the stinking creature off him, rolling it to the side.

  He could barely breathe, and he coughed painfully, blood flecking his lips. He was so tired. Sleep beckoned him. All he had to do w as close his eyes and the pain would stop. His eyelids fluttered.

  No! He w ould not allow himself to succumb to the enticing sleep of eternity. Not yet.

  Clenching his teeth against the agony, he pushed to his feet once more, and dragged his sw ord from the bea
stman's body.

  BREAKING THROUGH THE enemy's line, not knowing how many knights were with him, Calard's eyes narrow ed as he saw the fell beast that w as the enemy's war leader.

  Corpses w ere strewn across the ground around the creature, and, with a shock, he saw that every one of them w ore the colours of Garamont. They looked like the discarded toys of a petulant infant, tossed aw ay in disgust, bloody and broken.

  Dozens more men w ere being dragged forwards, all wearing yellow and red, fresh sacrifices to the dark gods.

  The creature's head flicked around, its face rotting and covered in stitches, and its piercing eyes locked on him. Calard sw ayed in the saddle at the depths of hatred in its eyes.

  It w as a massive creature, standing perhaps seven feet tall, and, though its body w as not heavy like the bull-headed creatures, its long limbs w ere tight with sinewy muscle. Though it was not as large or as physically loathsome as the mutated beast-spaw n creatures, something about it w as utterly w rong, as if such a beast should never have been born into the w orld. Fighting against the unfathomable horror threatening to overwhelm him, Calard kicked Gringolet forwards, angling his charge directly at the foul creature.

  It slammed its staff into the ground, and black birds filled the air with fluttering w ings and raucous cries.

  Beasts w earing heavy armour and hefting large, single-bladed axes snarled, and leapt forw ards. Calard dimly heard Bertelis cry out, but his eyes w ere locked on the hateful eyes of his quarry. As if the protecting hands of the Lady w ere cupped around him, he rode through the enemy, unscathed, and bore dow n on the creature.

  It crouched low to the ground, lips curled back in a feral snarl, its long limbs tensing beneath it. In that moment, it resembled some monstrous spider, making ready to spring.

  Black carrion birds, each w ith a single, pulsing daemonic eye, swooped down at Calard, battering him w ith their wings and stabbing at his eyes with hooklike beaks.

  He flailed at them w ildly, crushing wings and fragile bones with the hilt of his sword, and knocking them aw ay with his armoured forearm.