Manslayer (Gotrek and Felix Book 9) by Nathan Long

Author:Nathan Long [Long, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2011-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Felix walked out onto the roof of the College of Engineering, his brother’s words still echoing through his mind. Bright lanterns pushed back the night, making the flat green copper roof and its crenellated edges appear to be a island in a dark and endless sea. Slanting raindrops slashed past the lanterns like little comets.

Students were rolling barrels of black powder out from the stairwell and stacking them in piles beneath the Spirit of Grungni, which hovered above them like an iron cloud. A winch was lifting a net full of barrels up through a hatch into the belly of the gondola. Another net was spread out on the rooftop and barrels were being placed in its centre. Beyond all the activity, a gyrocopter sat like the withered husk of some gigantic insect, chains securing it to the roof.

Malakai stood by the net, supervising the loading. Gotrek was with him. Felix limped towards them. There was nothing wrong with his legs, but his wounded side was so stiff he could hardly walk straight. It throbbed with blunt, insistent agony. All he wanted to do was dull his brain with ale and try to sleep, but the Slayer needed to hear of the night’s events.

The two dwarfs looked up as he approached.

‘Evening, young Felix,’ said Malakai.

‘You must have found something,’ said Gotrek. ‘You’ve been fighting.’

‘Aye,’ said Felix. ‘I found out what a fool I can be.’ He cast a distracted eye up at the barrels that were disappearing into the hatch. ‘I don’t dare to hope that you’ve recovered the powder in my absence.’

Malakai shook his head. ‘This is the new powder, bought with Lord Skinflint-Keppel’s money. But what happened tae ye?’

Felix sighed. ‘I went to Wulf’s. One of the cultists we fought last night wore–’

‘Aye, a wolf’s head pendant. Ah noo a’ aboot it,’ said Malakai. ‘Gurnisson told me all o’ what went on in yon cellar. Nae need tae explain. Go on.’

Felix frowned, uneasy. How much had Gotrek said? Had he mentioned Ulrika? Countess Gabriella wouldn’t like that. Well, he couldn’t very well ask Gotrek that in Malakai’s presence, could he? He coughed and continued. ‘Well, I saw a man at the club with a burned hand. Unfortunately he saw me too, and he sent some thugs to waylay me and my brother on our way back to his house. There was a fight. My brother… my brother has told me to never come back to his house.’

‘And why, pray tell?’ asked Malakai.

‘He blames me for getting him involved and bringing trouble to his door.’ Felix sighed as the daggers of guilt stabbed at him again, almost as painful as the cut in his side. ‘And he is right. I should have found some other way into Wulf’s. Now the Cleansing Flame are after him as well. And his family. I fear I have doomed them with a death meant for me.’

Gotrek and Malakai snorted in unison.

‘Men,’ grunted Gotrek, contemptuously.

‘A dwarf would have added his axe tae his brother’s and faced his enemy at his side,’ said Malakai.

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