Shadespire: The Mirrored City (Warhammer Age of Sigmar) by Josh Reynolds

Author:Josh Reynolds [Reynolds, Josh]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2018-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter twelve

LONG SHOT

The clans of the Smoak Fens are famed throughout southern Azyr as gunsmiths. The fen-dwellers are considered natural-born marksmen, and many sons and daughters of the clans have gone on to fame with the Freeguilds of Nordrath, Grimpeak and Hallowstar…

– Ogwell Mancini

Great Cities of Azyr

Reynar followed the Stormcasts across the plaza. The mist seeping up from the stones was thin and cold, and he was reminded of walking across a frozen river. The Stormcasts moved swiftly, an undeniable eagerness in their stride. He and the other mortals moved more slowly, all too aware of being out in the open.

‘It looks like something tried to haul that vault out of the ground,’ Reynar said.

Khord nodded. ‘The ground is unstable. The city convulses, and what’s hidden comes to light.’ As if to prove the truth of his words, a shudder ran through the plaza. Things that might have been birds rose from the surrounding ruins with shrill cries. Reynar felt a chill as he caught sight of something pale in a shattered window.

‘We’re being watched. Look.’

‘No,’ Khord said bluntly. ‘They’ve been following us since we left the Jasper Palaces. Ghosts racing through the glass. Spies of the Katophranes watching where we go.’ He looked up at Reynar. ‘There’s a war going on for this city, manling. Waged by the living on behalf of the dead. We are soldiers, following strategies that make little sense to us. This is just another battle. So keep your head down and try not to lose it.’

The vault seemed to grow larger as they drew closer to it. It swelled, filling Reynar’s sight. It seemed as large as a keep, the great doors taller than a man and three times as wide. He could see where pieces of whatever underground corridor had led to the vault still clung to it like barnacles. A face – a glowering mask of some kind – had been emblazoned on the doors, and it glared sightlessly at them as they approached.

Severin slowed as they neared the entrance and produced the key Reynar and Khord had found. There was a circular slot set into the doors where they met.

‘How can such a little thing open up such a massive vault?’ Reynar murmured, watching as Severin set the key into place and twisted it.

He got his answer a moment later. There was a grinding sound that put him in mind of the mobile bastions of Hammerhal, the clicking of thousands of unseen cogs and levers all moving at once. The plaza shook slightly as mechanisms moved within the doors. They did not swing wide, but instead rose and slid back along unseen runnels. Stones crashed and the ground shook, throwing up clouds of dust.

Within the vault, there was only darkness. Stale air gusted out, making Reynar and the others gag. The Stormcasts barely twitched save to ready themselves for battle as the first earth-shaking footfall sounded from within.

Great paws carved from shadeglass and veined with gold emerged and pressed themselves against either side of the archway.

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