Arjac Rockfist: Anvil of Fenris by Ben Counter

Author:Ben Counter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2015-11-13T15:17:05+00:00

And so Hengis oversaw the manning of the Fang’s battlements. He had twenty Wolf Guard resplendent in their Terminator armour, each man a fortification in his own right. Eighty more Space Wolves, Grey Hunters and Blood Claws, took their places. The Grey Hunters were arranged for mass volley fire from their bolters, with Hengis’s drill masters walking up and down their line to see that their fields of fire overlapped such that no living thing might make it through them.

The Wolf Priest Gunnar Skyfire, who still preaches the tales of Russ’s exploits in the chapels of the Fang, had the task of keeping the Blood Claws in check so they might not charge down from the Fang’s battlements too early into the approaching horde. Well do you all know those days, either because you left them behind you or you live them still, when a steady old hand was needed to hold you back, lest your headstrong fury take you too quickly into the thick of battle!

Also on the walls were Svalin and Vidfinn, their helms cast aside and their faces painted for battle, for they sought now not glory but revenge for their lost packmates. Thralls manned the defence guns, waiting for the command to fire, which Hengis would give the moment the horde passed within range.

But the horde was vast. Still the ocean disgorged its forgotten army. Hulking things with swollen, fleshy bodies bigger than a Land Raider tank clambered onto the rocks and disgorged tall plumes of poisonous spores, turning the sky black. Dense clouds of such corrosive poison were caught on the wind off the ocean, and the venom raked at the side of the Fang like a great caustic claw. Sacs of bilious acid were flung from beasts evolved into slithering war machines, burning great holes in the emplacements and rendering mighty rockcrete battlements as unto heaps of sand. Many were the thralls caught in the open before the orders were given to take cover. Many were the tales of sorrow written in those first few moments.

The Space Wolves held fast. Ceramite armour of ancient design, created in the depths of the Imperium’s forge-worlds, was proof against the first volley from the horde. And so Hengis gave no order for the battle-brothers to withdraw, and instead bade them sight at the horde down the barrels of their boltguns and missile launchers, ready for the moment when the enemy slithered and crawled into range.

But then, as Hengis cast his eyes down at the battlefield, he saw something that gave flame to his already well-stoked anger. For one of the blast doors at the base of the walls was opening.

‘Who is this that sallies forth from our fortress?’ bellowed Lord Hengis. ‘Who has defied my order, and, seeks instead of doing his duty upon the walls of the Fang, walks out to face the horde? Who is it that throws his life away, hoping to receive some fleeting glory in return? It is no hero that walks out alone.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.