Warhammer-Blood on the Reik 01-Deaths Messenger by Sandy Mitchell

Author:Sandy Mitchell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2005-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

The girl was waiting when he got back to the hut, her satchel packed. She raised her head as Rudi burst through the door.

‘Did you find him?’ she asked. Her expression changed from curiosity to alarm as she read the look on his face. ‘Shallya’s mercy, what happened?’

‘Gerhard. Coming here.’ It wasn’t the most comprehensive explanation, but it was the most important point to get across. The rest could wait until he was able to come to some understanding about it himself, if he ever did. Hanna’s face paled. ‘You have to get out!’

‘He’s still after me?’ Her voice was tainted with disbelief, and barely-suppressed anger. ‘I thought he knew…’

‘No. Me.’ Rudi gasped for breath, and began to collect bits and pieces from the single-roomed house. A knife, his other shirt and breeches that were still damp and strung up in front of the fireplace, and a tinderbox and a couple of spare flints. That was it. Not much to show for sixteen years of life, but mercifully portable. He stuffed them into a bag, on top of his snares, and slung it across his shoulder. Hanna gaped at him.

‘You? Why?’

‘I don’t really know.’ That much was true. ‘I found that site in the forest. My father was there…’ A hard knot of emotion he lacked the insight to analyse threatened to choke him for a moment, and his voice faltered.

‘You found him?’ Hanna asked. Her tone suggested that she already had an inkling of the answers to her questions. ‘Is he with you?’

‘He’s dead.’ The words burst from him as though he was coughing them up. Articulating them brought out the feeling of the gaping void in the centre of his life all over again. It made no sense. Gunther had always been there: how could the world exist without him? ‘There were beastmen…’ His words choked off, and became racking sobs as grief overwhelmed him at last. Perhaps it was the shock wearing off.

‘I’m sorry.’ Hanna made the sign of the dove and walked towards him, hovering with the embarrassed lack of purpose near strangers have when confronted with strong emotions. After a moment of indecision she hugged him awkwardly and patted him on the back as though his misery was an attack of the hiccoughs. ‘Let it out. You’ll feel better.’

‘I’m fine.’ Rudi pulled free after a moment and sniffed glutinously. He felt oddly embarrassed. Men didn’t do that sort of thing. ‘It just suddenly hit me, that’s all.’

‘It’s bound to,’ Hanna said, squeezing his hand, before letting go a little too quickly. She picked up her bundle of belongings and slung them over her shoulder. ‘But I don’t see where Gerhard comes in. Why’s he after you?’

‘He was there too,’ Rudi said, lifting a loose hearthstone to reveal his hoard of pennies. He tipped them into his belt pouch, and tested the weight of them: a satisfying amount. There were more coins than he remembered. It was a testament to how busy he’d been since the pestilence started.

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