Black Pyramid by Josh Reynolds

Author:Josh Reynolds
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2018-10-22T13:33:32+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ESCAPE

In the final days of Caddow, many of its people chose to escape over the Sea of Dust. To them, the unknown was preferable to the certainty of destruction.

Tuman Wey

The Shadow-Routes: Trade in Eastern Shyish

‘Fall back,’ Sathphren Swiftblade cried, as he hauled back on Gwyllth’s reins. ‘Break off – fall back!’ Chaos warriors flooded the central avenue, pounding towards the newly erected defensive emplacements in a wave of iron and hate.

The Chaos warriors weren’t alone. Strange, yowling beasts flapped overhead, swooping on leather wings and clawing at the Stormcasts with hooked claws. Great malformed ogors lumbered ahead of their armoured masters, swinging heavy blades. A solid wedge of monsters, punching into the bulwarks like a mailed fist. Stone cracked and toppled as the Ironweld defences collapsed.

Freeguild soldiers, in the heraldry of the Gold Gryphons, retreated in good order, firing handguns and crossbows as they fell back across the plaza. Stormcasts formed up between the mortals and their pursuers, but the silver warriors were outnumbered and soon overwhelmed. Lightning surged upwards, again and again, as the last warriors of the cohort fell. Sathphren cursed. ‘Who was that?’

‘Tolmeus, of the Bullhearts,’ Feysha said. She levelled her boltstorm pistol and fired at one of the winged beasts, plucking it from the air. Freeguild soldiers retreated around the Vanguard-Palladors, falling back to the secondary emplacements. ‘We’ve lost Cassel’s cohort as well. We underestimated them.’

Sathphren growled softly. He didn’t want to admit it, but she was right. Whoever was in charge of this sortie wasn’t the usual dullard. He turned in his saddle and saw that the last of the Freeguild had made it to the secondary emplacements. ‘Come on. We need to buy the mortals time to regroup. Follow me!’

He hauled Gwyllth around and raced towards the edge of the plaza. ‘We go for the flank,’ he shouted, pointing towards the entrance to a side street. ‘Strike hard, but keep moving. Don’t stop!’ Feysha nodded, and relayed his intent to the others. They sped down the twisting street, moving with the speed of lightning.

The side streets of Caddow were like scars carved into the body of the city – they wound about with little rhyme or reason, ending as suddenly as they had begun. The Vanguard-Palladors erupted into the enemy’s flank, bowling over mortal warriors and Chaos horsemen alike. The gryph-chargers surged through the mass of the foe, shrieking and snarling. Their riders laid about them, seeking to wound, rather than kill. Wounded men made better obstacles than the dead.

Sathphren urged Gwyllth over the top of a chariot. She slammed into the cart and scrambled over its side, moving with unnatural agility. Sathphren fired his pistol into the team of mutated beasts pulling it, killing them, even as Gwyllth bit the head off the driver. Then they were moving again, leaving the chariot to flip onto its side.

Boltstorm pistols cracked and shock handaxes snarled as the Vanguard-Palladors rampaged through the Chaos formation. They were moving too quickly for all but the most monstrous of Chaos champions to follow.

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