Warhammer-Blackhearts 02-Valnirs Bane by Nathan Long

Author:Nathan Long
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Black Library
Published: 2005-01-11T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTEEN

All Is Not Entirely Lost

The fall was just long enough to allow Reiner to wonder how far down the bottom was, and to tense for the inevitable fatal bone-shattering, organ-exploding impact. But when it came at last it was less of a slam than a slide.

Not that it wasn’t painful.

Reiner’s first thought was that he was scraping against the cliff he was falling past, but the surface that was abrading his clothes was loose and crumbly and slid with him. It quickly turned into an almost perpendicular slope, made up of gravel, dirt and large rocks. Reiner caught one of these amidships and curled up in blinding pain. He began rolling and bouncing down the slope at breakneck speed, scraping and bashing his elbows and knees and shoulders. His brain bounced around in his head until he had no idea which way was up, if he was alive or dead, broken or whole. Only half conscious, he buried his head in his arms as the angle of the slope began to grow less acute and the speed of his fall to lessen.

He was just slowing to a stop, sliding down the mound, half buried in an avalanche of gravel, and thinking that he might possibly have survived, when a body dropped on his chest, crushing his ribs, and bounced away again, grunting. Reiner gasped, but couldn’t draw a breath. It felt as if his lungs were locked in a vice.

A second body, lighter, but bonier, landed on his face. A knee cracked him in the nose and blood flooded his mouth. He slid at last to a stop, sucking air and spitting blood. All around him weak voices moaned and cried in pain. There were lights dancing in the centre of his vision. At first he thought they were after effects of the fall, but then he realised that they were torches, about as far above him as the top of a castle wall. He would have sworn he had fallen much farther than that. The Kurgan were looking down into the void to see what had become of them. He thought he heard them laughing. He doubted they could see anything.

‘N…’ He tried to speak and failed. He hadn’t enough breath. After a moment he tried again. ‘No one… strike… a light. Wait.’

He heard a hacking chuckle from nearby. ‘No fear of that, captain,’ said Hals. ‘Dead men got no use for torches.’

After a moment the torches disappeared and they were left in total darkness.

‘Unfortunately,’ said Reiner at last, ‘we appear to still live. If you’ve your flint handy, Hals?’

‘Aye, captain.’

Reiner heard him shift around, then hiss in sudden pain. ‘Ah, Sigmar’s blood! I think I’ve bust my leg.’

‘Any more hurt?’ asked Reiner, though he was afraid to ask. ‘Pavel?’

There was a muffled reply, then a curse. ‘I’ve lost a bloody tooth.’

‘Oskar?’

‘I… I know not. I don’t feel much of anything.’

‘Franz? Did that monster get you?’

‘I… I’m fine.’

‘Ulf?’

There was no reply.

‘Ulf?’

Silence.

‘Just a moment, sir,’ said Hals. ‘Light’s on its way.

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