Blackhearts The Omnibus by Nathan Long

Author:Nathan Long
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2022-12-13T14:34:45+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

BLACK DEATH TAKE YOU

Reiner nearly shouted out loud. The poor girl was so battered and dirty that, had he not known her so intimately, he wouldn’t have recognized her. The dress she had been taken in was gone, as was much of her uniform. Only her breeks and shirt covered her, and they were shredded and caked with filth. Her face was bruised and blank, and streaked with dirt and blood. She looked around dully, as if she had been sleeping, but when she saw where her captors were taking her, she began to scream and fight, kicking at them and trying to wrench her arms from their grasp.

‘Unhand me, you vermin!’ she cried. ‘I’ll kill you! I’ll cut you to ribbons. I’ll…’ Her threats dissolved into sobs of fury. The ratmen threw her at the table and she crashed against its metal edge, gasping.

The surgeon chittered angrily at his assistants, motioning for them to hold Franka still while he opened a vial he had taken from a table behind him. ‘Quiet, boy. Stop…’

Reiner could take no more, the voice of self-preservation that normally stopped him before he launched himself into deadly danger drowned out by Franka’s pitiful moans. He charged forward, screaming inarticulately as he drew his sword. Giano followed, roaring.

The ratmen looked up, startled. Perhaps the hoods Reiner and Giano wore confused them, but for one crucial second they stood frozen, staring. Reiner cut his down before it could pull its cleaver from its belt. Giano evaded the other’s wild slash and ran it through the ribs. Franka fell with her dying captors.

The grey-furred surgeon scrabbled backwards, squealing. Reiner leapt after him, but he squirmed behind a giant contraption like one of his four-legged kin. Giano dived to block the back door. The ratman was too swift. He dodged around him and disappeared into the dark hallway beyond. Reiner and Giano gave chase, but the hall quickly split into three curving corridors and they couldn’t tell which one he had taken.

Reiner skidded to a stop and turned back. ‘Forget him. Let’s fly.’ He re-entered the room and crossed to Franka, holding out his hand. ‘Franz…’

The girl crabbed backward, looking from him to Giano in terror. She snatched up a fallen scalpel and held it before her. ‘Back, monsters!’

‘Franz?’ Then Reiner remembered. He pulled off his mask. ‘It’s only us.’

Giano pulled his off too. ‘See? Nothing to be afraid!’

Franka blinked for a moment, then her face crumpled and she began to sob. The scalpel clattered to the ground. ‘I thought… I didn’t think… I never…’

‘Easy now, easy now,’ said Reiner, helping her up and clapping her roughly on the shoulder. ‘Be a man, hey? Lad?’

Franka swallowed and sniffed. ‘Sorry, captain. Sorry. Forgot myself. You…’ she managed a weak grin. ‘You certainly took your time.’

‘Blame the damned vermin, lad,’ said Reiner. What he wanted to do was draw Franka into his arms and hold her, but for Giano’s benefit he played at manly heartiness. ‘Damned inconsiderate of them, living so far underground.

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