Collections

THE REALMGATE WARS: VOLUME 1
Various authors
Contains the novels The Gates of Azyr, War Storm, Ghal Maraz, Hammers of Sigmar, Wardens of the Everqueen and Black Rift

THE REALMGATE WARS: VOLUME 2
Various authors
Contains the novels Call of Archaon, Warbeast, Fury of Gork, Bladestorm, Mortarch of Night and Lord of Undeath

LEGENDS OF THE AGE OF SIGMAR
Various authors

RULERS OF THE DEAD
Josh Reynolds & David Annandale
Contains the novels Neferata: Mortarch of Blood and Nagash: The Undying King

WARCRY
Various authors
An anthology of short stories

CHAMPIONS OF THE MORTAL REALMS
Various Authors
Contains the novellas Warqueen, The Red Hours, Heart of Winter and The Bone Desert

GODS & MORTALS
Various authors
An anthology of short stories

MYTHS & REVENANTS
Various authors
An anthology of short stories

OATHS & CONQUESTS
Various Authors
An anthology of short stories

Novels

• HALLOWED KNIGHTS •
Josh Reynolds
Book One: PLAGUE GARDEN
Book Two: BLACK PYRAMID

EIGHT LAMENTATIONS: SPEAR OF SHADOWS
Josh Reynolds

• KHARADRON OVERLORDS •
C L Werner
Book One: OVERLORDS OF THE IRON DRAGON
Book Two: PROFIT’S RUIN

SOUL WARS
Josh Reynolds

CALLIS & TOLL: THE SILVER SHARD
Nick Horth

THE TAINTED HEART
C L Werner

SHADESPIRE: THE MIRRORED CITY
Josh Reynolds

BLACKTALON: FIRST MARK
Andy Clark

HAMILCAR: CHAMPION OF THE GODS
David Guymer

SCOURGE OF FATE
Robbie MacNiven

THE RED FEAST
Gav Thorpe

GLOOMSPITE
Andy Clark

GHOULSLAYER
Darius Hinks

BEASTGRAVE
C L Werner

NEFERATA: THE DOMINION OF BONES
David Annandale

THE COURT OF THE BLIND KING
David Guymer

LADY OF SORROWS
C L Werner

REALM-LORDS
Dale Lucas

WARCRY CATACOMBS: BLOOD OF THE EVERCHOSEN
Richard Strachan

COVENS OF BLOOD
Anna Stephens, Liane Merciel and Jamie Crisalli

STORMVAULT
Andy Clark

THE END OF ENLIGHTENMENT
Richard Strachan

Novellas

CITY OF SECRETS
Nick Horth

BONEREAPERS
David Guymer

Audio Dramas

• REALMSLAYER: A GOTREK GURNISSON SERIES •
David Guymer
Boxed Set One: REALMSLAYER
Boxed Set Two: BLOOD OF THE OLD WORLD

THE BEASTS OF CARTHA
David Guymer

FIST OF MORK, FIST OF GORK
David Guymer

GREAT RED
David Guymer

ONLY THE FAITHFUL
David Guymer

THE PRISONER OF THE BLACK SUN
Josh Reynolds

SANDS OF BLOOD
Josh Reynolds

THE LORDS OF HELSTONE
Josh Reynolds

THE BRIDGE OF SEVEN SORROWS
Josh Reynolds

WAR-CLAW
Josh Reynolds

SHADESPIRE: THE DARKNESS IN THE GLASS
Various authors

THE IMPRECATIONS OF DAEMONS
Nick Kyme

THE PALACE OF MEMORY AND OTHER STORIES
Various authors

SONS OF BEHEMAT
Graeme Lyon

HEIRS OF GRIMNIR
David Guymer

Contents

Cover

Backlist

Title Page

Warhammer Age of Sigmar

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-Two

Chapter Thirty-Three

About the Author

An Extract from ‘Cursed City’

A Black Library Publication

eBook license

From the maelstrom of a sundered world, the Eight Realms were born. The formless and the divine exploded into life.

Strange, new worlds appeared in the firmament, each one gilded with spirits, gods and men. Noblest of the gods was Sigmar. For years beyond reckoning he illuminated the realms, wreathed in light and majesty as he carved out his reign. His strength was the power of thunder. His wisdom was infinite. Mortal and immortal alike kneeled before his lofty throne. Great empires rose and, for a while, treachery was banished. Sigmar claimed the land and sky as his own and ruled over a glorious age of myth.

But cruelty is tenacious. As had been foreseen, the great alliance of gods and men tore itself apart. Myth and legend crumbled into Chaos. Darkness flooded the realms. Torture, slavery and fear replaced the glory that came before. Sigmar turned his back on the mortal kingdoms, disgusted by their fate. He fixed his gaze instead on the remains of the world he had lost long ago, brooding over its charred core, searching endlessly for a sign of hope. And then, in the dark heat of his rage, he caught a glimpse of something magnificent. He pictured a weapon born of the heavens. A beacon powerful enough to pierce the endless night. An army hewn from everything he had lost.

Sigmar set his artisans to work and for long ages they toiled, striving to harness the power of the stars. As Sigmar’s great work neared completion, he turned back to the realms and saw that the dominion of Chaos was almost complete. The hour for vengeance had come. Finally, with lightning blazing across his brow, he stepped forth to unleash his creations.

The Age of Sigmar had begun.

Prologue

‘Cretins,’ muttered Gotrek, watching the river belch and hiss in the wake of the Sigmaron Star. They had only set sail an hour ago but the spires of Anvilgard were already fading into the dusk, swallowed by clouds of yellow steam.

‘You sound surprised.’ Maleneth leant on the gunwale and looked out at the charred trees stooping over the river. ‘I thought you’d designated everyone in the realms a cretin.’

His brow bristled. ‘There are degrees.’

Maleneth studied him. His hulking frame was half hidden in the steam. With his knotted tattoos and crest of greasy hair he looked like the sculptures on the riverbank. Brutal and portentous. Like the weather-beaten shoulder of a mountain. There was an ugly magnificence to him that Maleneth pretended not to notice. ‘It was your idea to visit the wretched city,’ she said. ‘If you desire the company of Sigmar’s devoted then why won’t you let me take you to Azyr?’

‘Desire their company? Why would I want to spend time with starry-eyed Sigmar followers?’

Maleneth shook her head. ‘You’d stroll into a burning keep if you thought you could knock heads with someone, but when I talk about the celestial majesty of Azyr, a place where people walk free from the shadow of Chaos, you look like you’re going to explode. It makes no sense. What could be so bad about spending time with people who don’t want to kill us?’ She grimaced and waved back down the river. ‘And look where we end up instead. Wading through the fish markets of Anvilgard. Khaine’s teeth. I’ll never be rid of that stink.’ She sniffed her sleeve. ‘In fact, it seems to be getting worse.’ She looked out at the trees. They seemed to be reaching out to her through the seething mist. ‘The whole jungle’s rank. It’s like a cauldron. Why did you drag me out here? Are you still tormenting yourself with memories of dead friends? Are you still thinking that you can somehow bring them back?’

Gotrek drew himself up to his full height, which still left him looking up at her. ‘The only torment is listening to you.’

‘Without me you’d probably still be in that Fyreslayer lodge.’ She tapped the cold rune in his chest. ‘Without me you wouldn’t have this.’

Gotrek gripped her hand. ‘That’s nothing to boast about.’

She removed her hand from his. ‘You’ve had plenty of chances to be rid of me. You want me around.’

‘Don’t flatter yourself.’ Gotrek was about to say more when the ship juddered, as though run aground.

Captain Verloza was standing a few feet away and she approached them with a nonchalant swagger that made Maleneth’s jaw clench. The woman thought that being master of one boat made her a person of significance and power. If Gotrek had not expressly forbidden it, Maleneth would have taught her a lesson in real power. She was around thirty or forty years old, as far as Maleneth could guess. Humans aged so quickly it barely seemed worth pinning down their age. She was small, wiry and narrow-hipped with skin like scuffed leather. She had a scarred, stubbly scalp and the air of a retired pit fighter. She was oblivious to most forms of danger, was rarely sober, always spoke her mind and had absolutely no respect for authority. Maleneth knew from the moment they met that Gotrek would like her.

‘Apologies,’ said the captain. ‘We don’t usually bounce off every rock. The river must be in one of its playful moods.’

Maleneth looked down at the amber-coloured waves. Steam boiled up from them constantly and there were lights flickering beneath the surface. ‘Is it water?’

Verloza smiled. ‘Were you thinking of going for a paddle?’

Gotrek snorted.

‘No,’ said Verloza, ‘it’s not water. Some say it’s lava but that’s nonsense. The Star has a metal hull, but if this was lava we’d have sunk within half a mile of Anvilgard. My guess is that it’s acid. Either way, it would eat through you in minutes.’ She smirked. ‘I’m sure in the “celestial majesty of Azyr” one can bathe in much prettier rivers.’

Gotrek laughed. ‘You don’t want to know what she bathes in.’ Prior to docking at Anvilgard, they had spent several weeks with the captain, exploring the Charwind Coast, and Gotrek seemed to have decided that Captain Verloza was the one worthwhile person in Aqshy. Maleneth had no doubt that the captain would soon find an excuse to fetch more of the grog she and Gotrek were so partial to.

A deckhand rushed over and whispered in Verloza’s ear.

‘Silt rats,’ said the captain as the boat juddered again.

‘Grungni’s teeth.’ Gotrek stumbled and had to grab the railing. ‘Rats?’

Verloza grinned. ‘We grow ’em big out here. Come and see.’

As they neared the bow of the ship, Maleneth heard the familiar sound of off-key singing. Trachos, their Stormcast Eternal travelling companion, was stomping through the steam, armour glinting as he towered over deckhands, raising his voice to the heavens. Trachos claimed to have some connection to Maleneth’s order, but she was never sure whether to believe him. He had fought several campaigns in the underworlds of Shyish and the experience had left his mind as ragged as his armour. He had seemed unhinged since the day they met him but he had become even more confused over the last few months. Maleneth would not have been surprised to find that he was the cause of the ship’s lurches, but as they came closer, she saw that there was a genuine threat – Verloza’s crew had gathered at the railing, glaives and harpoons pointed at something rising from the acid.

Verloza leapt up onto the gunwale and dangled out into the spray, hanging from the rigging and peering down at the river.

The boat shook again, causing most of the crew to stagger, but Verloza remained where she was, swaying over the hissing currents. She grinned and pointed her harpoon at something near the hull. ‘Here it comes! Ready yourselves.’

Steam billowed up over the railing, causing everyone to gasp and back away. There was a thud as something slammed onto the deck.

As the fumes dissipated Maleneth saw what looked like a statue made of old fish scales and riverweed. This was the source of the smell, she realised, covering her nose. Everyone backed away as the thing moved, raising a brutal-looking club. It rose to its full height, towering over the sailors, and smashed a man to the deck, crushing his skull with a single blow.

Verloza howled, but before she could move, Gotrek strode forwards and punched the thing in the groin. It doubled over, gasping, and Gotrek sliced his axe down, sending the monster’s head thudding across the deck. Acid hissed from the severed neck, causing the deck to steam and smoulder.

Gotrek peered at the corpse. ‘A river troll?’

Verloza frowned, then nodded. ‘I suppose. We call them troggoths. River’s full of ’em.’

She glanced at Trachos, who was still singing, although only to himself now, mumbling the words inside his brutal, impassive helmet.

Trachos caught her gaze and stared at her. ‘The Antiana Gate will hold. Chaos spawn will never enter Azyr.’

Verloza gave Gotrek a confused look. ‘Azyr?’

Gotrek was too busy peering at the dead troggoth to register her question.

Maleneth leant over to Verloza. ‘Trachos fights his own wars. Special ones that happen in his head.’

Before she could say anything else, the boat rocked again and there was an explosion of screams. She whirled around, knives raised, as something heavy thudded down behind her.

Stooped, steam-shrouded shapes clambered into view, seven or eight feet tall and armoured in dripping scales. Their faces were vaguely humanoid but they were so ugly they resembled the grotesques on a fortress wall. They had spikes running down their backs and ears like glistening fins.

Verloza looked shocked. Then she waved her crew forwards. ‘Get in a line! Get those rats off my ship!’ She dropped from the rigging, bounded across the deck and hurled her harpoon into the face of the first monster.

The brute barely registered the wound. It pounded across the deck towards her, trailed by flies, the harpoon jutting from its face. As it ran, it yanked the weapon from its forehead, spilling acid and adding to the stink of fish guts.

It slammed its shoulder into the fore mast, ripped up a large section of the deck and sent the captain tumbling head over heels.

Verloza landed heavily but managed to raise her sword as the troggoth loomed over her.

She had no need to use the blade. The troggoth crashed to the deck as its head rolled away.

Gotrek nodded at Verloza, his axe blade fizzing with acid. ‘I would have paid more for the passage if you’d told me there was entertainment.’

Verloza shook her head. ‘I’ve never seen them attack in these numbers before. Something’s got them all worked up.’

‘This is an idiot magnet,’ said Gotrek, tapping the rune in his chest. ‘And there are a lot of idiots.’

Verloza shrugged. ‘Not to worry. They’re big but there’s nothing between their ears. I can’t see us–’

Before she could finish, more troggoths stomped into view and both crew and passengers found themselves occupied.

As Verloza, Gotrek and the others rushed to attack, Maleneth found herself with her back to the gunwale as a troggoth charged in her direction. She easily sidestepped the mouldering plank it aimed at her head. The troggoth grunted in confusion as it saw her standing at its side with a smile on her face.

The thing looked even more confused as its head lolled against its chest, giving it an upside-down view of the battle, its neck neatly severed by Maleneth’s knives. She backed away as the monster slammed onto the deck.

‘Sigmar’s balls!’ cried Verloza, leaping across the rigging. ‘This must be the whole family.’ She was grinning, but it looked forced. The ship was quickly filling up with troggoths. Maleneth counted at least twenty. Several of Verloza’s crewmen had already been killed. There were bodies on the deck and a few more dissolving in the river. Upstream she saw dozens more troggoths rising from the riverweed, spitting acid and raising weapons.

Maleneth spied the Slayer at the stern of the ship, laughing as he lunged and hacked, charging through the monsters and scattering limbs. She could see by his expression what was happening – he was losing himself to kill-fever. He would soon be oblivious to everything but the pulse hammering in his ears. ‘Gotrek!’ she cried. ‘We should turn back! Look up ahead. There are too many.’

Gotrek swung his axe with even more savagery. ‘There are exactly the right number. This is the first fun I’ve had since reaching this stinking city.’ He looked around, his face a crimson mask, his eye glassy. ‘What say you, captain?’

Verloza was not far from him, surrounded by her crew, fighting furiously but being driven back towards the railings. She tried to match his grin but she was clearly struggling. There were now a dozen dead crewmembers lying on the deck. ‘I’ve never seen so many,’ she managed to gasp. ‘Perhaps we should turn back.’

‘Bugger that.’ Gotrek headbutted a troggoth so hard he toppled a whole pile of them. Then he climbed the heap, beheaded the monsters and charged towards Verloza.

Before he could reach her, another mob of troggoths tumbled over the gunwale and blocked his way, raining blows on the Slayer with makeshift clubs and salvaged weapons. Gotrek parried, cursed, then pointed at a shape in the river. ‘We’ll make a stand on that island. Gotrek Gurnisson does not flee from river trolls.’

Verloza nodded, but she was drenched in blood and acid and more of her crew were falling every second.

Trachos strode through the carnage swinging his hammers with calm precision, his chin raised proudly as a hymn boomed from his helmet. Despite the tears in his buckled armour he smashed through the giant creatures with as much ease as Gotrek, cracking skulls to the rhythm of his song.

Maleneth leapt onto the rigging and hurled a fistful of barbs. The blades were poison-laced and they hissed as they sliced into the monsters’ hides, releasing lethal toxins. As more thundered towards her, she raced across the rigging towards the prow of the ship to look at the island Gotrek had mentioned. The Sigmaron Star was rushing towards it, caught in the current. Gotrek was right that they would soon be grounded. And troggoths were rising from the shallows all around it. Fifty, maybe more, all preparing to storm the ship.

‘This is madness!’ She looked back towards the Slayer. ‘We have to turn this ship around!’

‘Captain?’ Gotrek looked over at Verloza. ‘Are you with me?’

Verloza’s face was grey and her blows were growing weaker. Half her crew were injured or dead. She shook her head.

‘Bah! Leave it to the Slayer!’ Gotrek smashed his way to the ship’s wheel, steering the vessel straight for the island. ‘I was killing trolls when your ancestors were living in caves.’

The ship juddered as it hit the island and the fighting paused as people fell or struggled to right themselves.

Gotrek barrelled through the reeling shapes and leapt over the prow, plunging through the steam and landing on the shore. He had started climbing to the summit when the island shook, hurling him onto his back and sending him sliding down towards the acid.

The tremor was so violent that the Sigmaron Star slid back into the river, pulling away from the island.

‘Earthquake?’ muttered Maleneth, hurling her barbs and dropping lightly to the deck. Combatants were staggering in every direction, struggling to land blows as the ship lurched.

The troggoths that had been gathering around the island began clambering onto the ship, rushing at Verloza’s crew.

‘Get back over here!’ howled Maleneth. ‘They’ve tricked you! They just wanted you out of the way!’

‘Rubbish!’ Gotrek stood and charged back towards the ship, but it was too late for him to make the leap. ‘They don’t have the brains to play tricks.’ The Slayer paced around on the island as it continued shifting beneath him.

Then the river exploded, hurling geysers of acid and steam into the air and hiding the island from sight.

Maleneth struggled to stay on her feet as the ship rocked and troggoths attacked her from every direction. She looked for the captain but the scene was too chaotic to make anything out clearly. Figures were lurching through the spray, howling as monsters piled onto the deck. ‘Verloza?’ she cried.

The columns of acid fell away to reveal something even more disturbing. The island Gotrek was standing on was rising from the river and, as tonnes of weed and mud fell away, Maleneth saw that rather than being a lump of rock, it was the head of a serpent – a snake five times the size of the Sigmaron Star. It towered over the trees as it uncoiled, shrugging off rocks and acid.

Gotrek howled with a mixture of rage and amusement, clinging on to its head.

The serpent hissed in response, fixing Gotrek with an eye that was as big as the Slayer. The hiss was so loud that Maleneth thought the sound might split her skull. The distraction was enough for her to miss her footing and one of the troggoths managed to punch the side of her head. She pinwheeled through the air and slammed into the side of Verloza’s cabin. Blood filled her eyes. Pain lanced through her cheek.

We’re not dying here, said a voice in Maleneth’s mind, emanating from the amulet at her neck. Not at the hands of some walking sewage. Get up. Do something. The voice belonged to Maleneth’s former mistress, a Khainite aelf she’d murdered years earlier. Maleneth wore her soul as a battle trophy, preserved in a vial of blood at the heart of the amulet. She carried her mistress with her for the sheer joy of tormenting her, but on occasion, her barbed comments were actually useful, spurring her into action.

Maleneth staggered to her feet in time to sidestep another punch. The cabin wall collapsed under the blow and her attacker fell through the wreckage.

Maleneth leapt onto the troggoth’s back and climbed back onto the rigging. Troggoths tried to follow but only succeeded in wrecking more of the ship. The Sigmaron Star was rocking with increasing violence and, in her peripheral vision, she could see the serpent still rising from the river, shedding torrents of water, but she had more urgent matters to deal with. She took a lash from her belt and spat blood onto it. As the blood splashed across the leather she whispered a prayer, invoking Khaine’s presence. To her delight, she felt a stab of agony through her hand.

He’s here.

Maleneth nodded, baring her teeth in a bloody grin. ‘For the Bloody-Handed One.’ The whip coiled and writhed in her grip, struggling to free itself as an unnatural darkness washed over the battle, casting twisted shadows across the deck.

Maleneth whispered another prayer, then hurled the whip into the scrum beneath her feet. It thrashed as it fell then rippled away through the fight, lashing out as it tumbled through the troggoths. They tried to defend themselves but the whip snaked through them at incredible speed, slicing through necks and eyes.

Maleneth allowed herself a few seconds to enjoy the spectacle, then climbed higher and looked back at the island. ‘Khaine’s teeth,’ she muttered. ‘He’s using the rune.’

He said he’d never use it again.

‘What choice does he have? That thing’s half snake, half mountain.’ Gotrek looked like an ember smouldering in a heap of ash. Maleneth’s spell had plunged the valley into darkness but the serpent was lit up by the infernal glow radiating from Gotrek’s chest. The enormous creature was tightening around Gotrek, attempting to crush him. It looked like it had caught a flame. Gotrek was barely visible in the blaze, but Maleneth could hear him roaring as he struggled to break free.

‘He’s giving in to the rune,’ she muttered. ‘He’s going to let it–’

There was another explosion.

The serpent hissed and fell backwards, sending waves crashing against the Sigmaron Star. Maleneth gripped the rigging as the whole valley shuddered. Rocks and trees tumbled down the riverbank, kicking up spray and noise.

Gotrek leapt at the serpent’s head, his axe and chest burning.

The snake opened its mouth revoltingly wide but Gotrek swiped his axe to the right and cut its lower jaw away, sending it crashing down into the river. The fire in Gotrek’s chest burned brighter and flooded into the runic tattoos that covered his skin. He hacked and hacked again, cleaving chunks of snake flesh and surrounding himself in gouts of acid. The snake swayed then fell, plunging straight towards the Sigmaron Star.

There was an explosion of acid and sparks as the snake crashed into the deck.

Maleneth was hurled backwards by the impact and hit her head as she landed, feeling a sharp pain run down her spine. The strength went from her legs, and as the ship began listing onto its side, she slid across the bloody deck, crashing into the mast.

Gotrek pounded through the carnage, dealing out blows with his axe and howling a war cry. The snake was dead, sprawled across the deck of the lurching ship, but Gotrek showed no sign of relenting. He was hacking at the ship itself, rending metal and oak as he ripped through the cabins. People were screaming and running, diving for cover, but Maleneth could not move, mesmerised by the intensity of Gotrek’s rage. There was no thought in his eye, just dazzling, untrammelled fury.

‘He’s going to kill us all,’ she whispered as the ship crumpled before his wrath.

There was another blast, so violent that Maleneth lost her grip. Her head bounced painfully on the deck and she lost consciousness.

Wake up.

Maleneth lay there for a moment, enjoying the pleasant sensation of warmth playing over her skin. ‘Not yet,’ she muttered. The act of speaking sent a splash of pain across her skull. ‘Gotrek,’ she gasped, sitting up. She was on the riverbank, half sunk in the mud. A dozen feet away, a piece of the Sigmaron Star’s deck was slowly dissolving in the acid. Flames licked across the wreckage, lighting up the mounds of bodies that were lying all around her – troggoths mostly, but also some humans, heaped in piles and shifting in the current. Their flesh had melted away, leaving little more than gore-stained skeletons, and each time the river lapped over them, a little more of the remains disintegrated.

Where’s the rune?

Maleneth stood, unleashing several more explosions of pain, and looked down the valley. There was no sign of the serpent, or Gotrek. Then she realised that the serpent was there – it was sprawled in the river, half sunk, looking like a chain of islands. ‘He did it.’ She looked around at all the dead troggoths. ‘We did it.’

But where is the rune?

‘Gotrek will be around.’ She wiped some of the filth from her face, looking through the smoke. ‘He’ll be celebrating. With ale.’ As Maleneth tried to reassure her mistress, she could not help noticing that there were no sounds of celebration. She began picking her way through the bodies, keeping an eye out for signs of movement. A few crewmembers were still alive but their flesh was melting fast where the river had touched it. In a few more minutes they would be dead. Some of them called out to her for help as she passed, but she rolled her eyes and strode on, looking for the Slayer. After a victory like this he would have a thirst on him. If she didn’t intercede quickly she would be stuck here for days as he drank his way through the ship’s cargo. The thought of the ship made her realise that the Sigmaron Star was no more. Gotrek’s rampage had sent the whole vessel to the riverbed.

She headed away from the melting piece of deck, marching through whirling steam as she headed upriver in the direction of the dead serpent. Perhaps he would still be nearby, gloating over his kill.

‘Maleneth.’ Trachos’ voice echoed through the smoke and it took her a moment to locate him. He was back near the piece of deck she had just walked away from.

‘Did you get me to the shore?’ she asked.

‘Yes.’

She nodded. ‘I thought so. Gotrek would have left me to melt, wouldn’t he?’

As was often the case, the aftermath of a battle seemed to give Trachos a moment of clarity. He replied clearly, with no trace of the madness that usually plagued him. ‘He would not have known you, Witchblade. He was too far gone. He did not know me either.’

‘Have you seen him?’

He pointed the Slayer out, and her heart sank as she saw him. He was sitting on another piece of wreckage, his massive shoulders rounded and slumped. Damn, she thought, he’s already drunk.

Trachos knelt down by a dying sailor, speaking to him in gentle tones. Maleneth shook her head in disbelief. Whatever Sigmar had meant to forge Trachos into, it was not this. At some point in his past he had fallen below the standards he set himself, so now he was tediously pious, seeking ways to assuage his guilt by helping people who should be helping themselves. Usually to the sound of an atonal hymn. She ignored him and headed on towards the Slayer.

There were bodies melting all around him, humans mostly, and the piece of burning wreckage threw him into silhouette as she approached from behind.

‘All praise the Slayer,’ she said. ‘Victorious again. Did you–?’

Her words stalled as she saw his face.

Gotrek’s expression was black. He was staring at the mud with such ferocity that Maleneth half expected it to catch alight. She had seen him sink into these moods before. They could last for weeks.

‘You won!’ She waved at the dead serpent and the troggoth corpses. ‘What in the name of the gods can you be angry about now?’

Gotrek said nothing, but Maleneth noticed that he was staring at one corpse in particular. There was little left to distinguish it, but Maleneth saw from a scrap of clothing that it was Captain Verloza. She laughed. ‘Don’t tell me you’re grieving. Not over a buck-toothed fishwife? You’re a Slayer. Slaying things is your job.’

Gotrek turned his withering gaze on her. She resisted the urge to back away, but any further comments stalled on her lips.

The Slayer’s muscles were as taut as his stare. Maleneth realised she was one word away from triggering violence. She sat down near him, wracking her brains for something soothing to say. ‘They were ugly and stupid, Gotrek. Does it matter if they’re dead?’

His jaw clenched. Maleneth sensed she had not struck the right tone.

She licked her lips and thought carefully. ‘You were trying to protect them, weren’t you? Is that right? In which case is it your fault they didn’t survive?’

‘I killed them. I sank their ship.’

Maleneth found Gotrek’s attitude peculiar even by his standards. ‘These people ply this river all the time. They know the risks. They could have–’

‘Verloza wanted to turn back.’ Gotrek glanced at his axe, blood-drenched and lying in the mud. ‘I was only thinking of myself.’

‘When do you think of anyone else? Apart from that dead poet you always carp on about. This is a victory, Gotrek. Celebrate it.’

He spat. ‘Tripe. These realms are so damned skewed they’ve dragged me to your level. I’m not some murdering aelf.’ He kicked the nearest corpse, splashing acid into the flames. ‘This isn’t victory. This is slaughter. I’ve behaved more like a dim-witted greenskin than a proud son of the Everpeak.’ Gotrek frowned and his face was so ridged with scars that it seemed to collapse, like boulders grinding against each other.

Maleneth felt a cold chill of premonition, guessing where the Slayer’s mind was headed. She spoke quickly, trying to steer his thoughts in a new direction. ‘We need to get back to the city. There could be more troggoths out here. If you’ve lost your love of–’

‘It’s the rune.’

Maleneth shook her head, but before she could speak, Gotrek continued. ‘It is changing me.’

‘It’s not the damned rune. How many times have you told me that Slayers seek ever-bigger foes to pit themselves against? A lot of times. I’ve learned a lot more information about Slayers than I will ever need and I know that this is not unusual. You said you’ve hunted every kind of daemon, drake and greenskin.’ She waved at the dead serpent that was slowly sinking from view. ‘This is nothing new.’

He stared at Verloza’s remains. ‘I sank their ship. I killed them. And these were good people. They were going about their lives in the best way they could. There’s no honour in this.’

Maleneth felt like striking him. ‘What does it matter? They were nobodies. They were nothing.’

‘What would you know about it? What would you know of honour? Of pride? Of decency? Of anything? You say you serve Sigmar but you’re as mealy-mouthed as any other aelf. I’m a dawi. Do you understand? A dawi. My honour is my life and without it I’m nothing. I didn’t swear my Slayer oath to bring shame on my ancestors, to bring shame on the memory of Karaz-a-Karak.’ He glared at his slab-like fists. ‘I’m the last. The last of my kind. If I can’t uphold my ancestors’ honour then who can?’ He punched the rune. ‘This thing’s poisoning me. Making me a savage.’ He stood, grabbed his axe from the mud and pointed it at the sky. ‘Well you picked the wrong dwarf! I’m Gotrek Gurnisson! Not some plaything of the gods! I’m no bloody savage!’ He stomped through the wreckage, hacking chunks from it and surrounding himself in a storm of sparks.

‘Who could call you savage?’ said Maleneth with a raised eyebrow, but she kept her voice low.

Gotrek spent the next few minutes attacking the riverbank, then turned to face Maleneth. He was silhouetted by flames, his face in shadow, but he was shaking and she could hear the fury in his voice. ‘This thing is coming out, aelf. I won’t have it in my chest any more. I won’t be ruled by it. Someone in these realms must have an ounce of brains. I’ll find them. I’ll set them to work on it. I’ll not rest until it’s gone.’

Your Celestial Highnesses,

I encountered your agent in Anvilgard and I understand the frustrations expressed in your letter. However, if you will forgive the impertinence, I would like to request that you do not send me messages via agents who skulk from the shadows of inns. I would never knowingly inflict harm on a servant of the Order of Azyr, but when someone lunges at me from behind a stack of barrels I cut first and ask questions later. As a result of my (honest) mistake, much of your message was obscured by blood. I am assuming the lines ending ‘return to Azyrheim’ refer to my oft-stated mission to return home with the Slayer’s rune so that we may harness it for the good of our military campaigns. At present, it is still embedded securely in Gotrek’s chest, but I am edging closer to winning his confidence and convincing him to bring it to you. I have yet to find out exactly why he is so averse to coming to Azyr, but I sense that by repeatedly goading him I will eventually needle the truth out of him. It is not, as I at first thought, that he fears being in the clutches of our divine order. He does not fear anything. And we have visited several stormkeeps and Sigmarite outposts during our travels. It is the Celestial Realm itself that he is hostile to. The suggestion of going there sends him into the most apoplectic rages. I shall not be deterred, however. Perhaps when I finally understand his reasoning, I can allay his fears.

As you know, we have recently visited the port of Anvilgard. (What a glum, sweaty place.) Prior to that we spent an interminable few months trawling the steaming bogs of the surrounding Charwind Coast. The Slayer dragged us there on one of his obscure whims. He has abandoned, for now at least, his fanciful belief that he can recover an axe he might have once owned in a world that might never have existed. He also seems to have accepted that his former friend Felix (inhabitant of aforesaid world) is dead and not likely to recover from that condition any time soon. If I am honest, I have no idea what he intended to find in the lava-cooked puddles of the Charwind Coast, but thankfully he still sees me as a useful guide. He has no grasp of social mores or, for that matter, basic geography, and he has an impressive skill for making enemies, so he has become increasingly reliant on me (much to his annoyance).

After deciding Anvilgard is populated by ‘sour-faced simpletons’, the Slayer led us back out into the acid swamps that cover this whole region. I believe he was looking for nothing more than something to sink his axe into and, just a few miles from the city, we found it. We were attacked by river monsters. Gotrek, of course, made short work of them, but rather than lifting his mood, as it should have done, the experience sent him into another of his maddening sulks. A few local deckhands were killed in the encounter and Gotrek has become obsessed by the idea that he has behaved dishonourably.

After the trail of corpses he has left across the realms, this newfound morality is frankly absurd, but as you may imagine, trying to reason with him is not an option. Once he latches on to an idea there is no force beneath the stars that can rid him of it until he moves onto another fixation. He has decided that the rune is responsible for his ‘dishonourable behaviour’ and he has sworn to have the thing removed from his chest. That may sound like progress – if he were to extract the rune, my commission would become a lot easier. I would no longer have to try to guess his reasons for avoiding Azyr if I had the rune. However, Gotrek’s plan concerns those self-serving opportunists, the Kharadron Overlords. The Slayer has heard of a city, one of their cloud-borne sky-ports called Barak-Urbaz, in which duardin engineers have developed aethermatic engines capable of extracting metals by alchemical means. He is now set on the idea that the Kharadron will be able to suck Blackhammer’s Master Rune out of his body without killing him and allow him to become, well, whatever he was before the rune was in his chest.

Gotrek’s latest obsession presents me with a new difficulty – if the Kharadron really are able to remove the rune I doubt very much that they will hand it over to me. They are conniving profiteers and they will seek to harness the rune’s power to further their own endeavours.

I have been unable to sway Gotrek from his course but I have devised a plan to ensure that our stay in Barak-Urbaz will be brief. I shall simply ensure that the initial attempts to remove the rune fail. I shall only have to do this a few times and he will decide the entire city is worthless. I should have no trouble contacting you from Barak-Urbaz, so I shall keep you abreast of developments.

As an aside, I think your letter made mention of rumours concerning my departure from Azyrheim. It is hard to read through the bloodstains, but I think you make mention of murders and deceit. Let me assure you that I only ever act in the interests of our order and any slanderous tales being spread about my methods will be a result of jealousy. We shall see what my detractors have to say when I return to you with Blackhammer’s Master Rune – a weapon so powerful it would enable Sigmar’s Stormhosts to strike further into the realms than ever before. Having seen the rune in action, I can assure you that our initial estimations of its power fall way short of its true strength. I truly believe that this thing will turn the tide of the war for the realms and grant Sigmar’s armies victory after victory.

As a second aside, let me mention that the Stormcast Eternal Trachos is still travelling with me. I accept your assurance that he is linked to our order and, in truth, I have to admit that he has proved useful on several occasions. While Gotrek had a clear purpose, Trachos seemed to shake off his delusions and behave in a less erratic way. However, since Gotrek sank into this latest bout of despondency, Trachos has also lost his way. He has developed a peculiar devotion to Gotrek, and with the Slayer lost in morose introspection, Trachos has become more confused than ever. He is as physically powerful as any Stormcast Eternal, so his fractured state of mind makes him something of a powder keg.

I shall send more news once we reach Barak-Urbaz. In the meantime, I would request that you base your judgements of me on my actions rather than the tales circling Azyrheim. I have been unwavering in my determination to bring the rune to you, and I remain,

Your most loyal and faithful votary,

Maleneth Witchblade

Chapter One

Maleneth paused at the end of an iron gangplank and cursed, lost in the clouds, surrounded by a forest of clanking leviathans. In Barak-Urbaz nothing was entirely visible, obscured by banks of smoke and drowned by the din of industry. And yet, even here she could not escape Gotrek. Alarmed cries echoed towards her, distorted by the smog. Wherever the Slayer went, howls of protest soon followed. And booming over the clamour was Gotrek’s own voice, raging and savage.

Maleneth felt a flicker of amusement from the amulet at her chest. The vial of blood spoke directly into her thoughts. He sounds particularly annoyed. Her dead mistress was right. She could hear people running and things breaking. Maleneth toyed with her knife, muttered to herself, then hurried on.

Their lodgings were in the Stromez Quarter, or the Obscurfjard, as the older signs referred to it, but Maleneth had yet to distinguish any difference between the sky-port’s various districts. She had spent the last few hours in the Skoggyn Quarter and, aside from being even more ash-clogged, it consisted of exactly the same oil-spurting forges as everywhere else. To be in Barak-Urbaz was to be lost in the workings of a great machine, assailed by gears and pistons, deafened by the roar of smokestacks. To Maleneth’s heightened senses it was a brimstone hell. Everywhere she looked there were mechanisms the size of mountains – fifty-foot tilt-hammers that landed with an arterial thud, jolting the city like an iron pulse. Nitrous mills belched alchemical smoke, filling her every breath with the taste of metal. Antimony pumps groaned like subterranean monsters. Maleneth had seen Kharadron architecture before, but Barak-Urbaz was more frenzied and pungent than anything she had ever experienced. It was like being surrounded by worker drones in a mechanised hive, with everyone building, extracting and refining in an orgy of growth and consumption. As she raced along a suspended walkway she had to dodge clanking vehicles – smaller, track-bound cousins of the Kharadron airships that rushed by just a few feet above her head. Further up there was an endless train of gyrohaulers, airborne freight carriers that hissed and spat as they rushed overhead. And on every steaming hulk she could see the famed Kharadron endrineers, hanging from railings and prows with no thought for safety, wrenching cogs and hammering plates even as the vehicles screamed through the air. For all her revulsion, Maleneth had to concede that they were unlike any people she had ever encountered before. While other nations fought for survival or grovelled for mercy, the Kharadron were in a state of endless evolution, constructing and inventing at such a pace that one could almost believe they would outstrip the hungry grasp of Chaos.

Maleneth tried to ignore the general din and focus on the commotion around Gotrek. She dropped lightly from the walkway and landed on another iron road, stepped back as a phaeton thundered past, then headed on towards her lodgings.

Squat figures turned to face her as she neared the tumult. The Kharadron were all as short as Gotrek, barely coming up to her chest, and most of those she had encountered so far made themselves even more ungainly by wearing bulky flight suits – creaking outfits of metal and rubber topped with riveted, ugly helmets. The Kharadron Overlords claimed the overalls protected them from the toxic clouds, but Maleneth doubted there would be any toxins if it weren’t for the Kharadron forges. Even her superior, aelven physique had been affected. Within a day of reaching the city in the clouds, her lungs had begun to rattle and her eyes streamed constantly. She would not lower herself to wearing one of the cumbersome Kharadron flight suits, even if they made one to fit her slender figure, but had to wear a piece of cloth over her mouth every time she ventured outside or she would find herself coughing blood. It had taken months to get from Anvilgard to the Realmgate that brought them here, and Maleneth found it particularly galling that, after such a long journey, they had managed to find a place where the air was just as toxic as the Charwind Coast.

A group of Kharadron grumbled as she passed. She glared at them until they backed away into the fumes, huddling protectively around a rattling brazier and glowering through the eyeholes in their helmets. Despite being hung above the clouds, this quarter of the sky-port was sunk in a stygian gloom, blanketed in purple and black clouds, so the streets and walkways were lit by aether-filled brass spheres that clinked against the hull-like walls. The unnatural light lent everything it touched an otherworldly air, and as Maleneth scowled at the endrineers it felt like she was staring at ghosts.

Despite the filth and noise, Barak-Urbaz was one of the safest places in the entire realm – in any of the realms outside of Azyr, for that matter. As a result, the Stromez Quarter was mostly given over to teetering stacks of buildings called khordryn – a form of accommodation reserved for the travellers who poured into the city. The Kharadron were canny and always eager to do business with outsiders, but they also liked their foreigners where they could see them. Urbaz was famed as a cosmopolitan melting pot, but Maleneth had noticed how closely the Kharadron guarded their grand-looking guildhalls. There were clearly things they did not wish to share.

A duardin called Brior raced towards her through the fumes. Even through the hammered metal of his mask she could see his panic. ‘You have to talk to him!’ He reached out to grab her arm.

She sidestepped and drew her knife in such a fluid motion that it took Brior a moment to realise his throat was about to be opened.

He backed away, hands raised.

‘What has he done?’ she asked, keeping the knife raised.

‘I…’ Brior shook his head. ‘It’s hard to explain. He’s so angry.’

‘About what?’

‘Everything. He said he’s going to knock Barak-Urbaz out of the clouds.’

Maleneth nodded.

‘And he’s arguing with someone in there. Roaring at him. And I can’t hear any replies.’ Brior looked even more anguished. ‘By the Code! What if he’s killed someone? You promised me when I let you the rooms you would keep him–’

‘Arguing? Who would be stupid enough to argue with Gotrek Gurnisson? Was it Trachos?’

‘Who?’

‘The Stormcast Eternal. The Sigmarite who travels with us.’

Brior looked almost as concerned by the thought of Trachos as he did Gotrek. ‘I haven’t seen him all day. He left shortly after you.’ Brior leant closer to her and lowered his voice, glancing around. ‘He told me to muster the host and meet him at Heavenhall. What does that mean? What host? Where is Heavenhall?’

Maleneth cursed under her breath. Trachos’ delusions had become more severe since Gotrek had latched on to his latest obsession. How could she have offended Khaine so badly she ended up with such ridiculous companions?

By letting oafs like this live.

Maleneth could not argue with that logic, but she resisted the urge to gut Brior and continued on her way.

There was a crowd gathered outside the khordryn and she recognised some of them. It was their fellow guests – mostly humans but also some duardin exiles and even a few aelves. At the sight of Maleneth they grew more enraged, rushing towards her and demanding recompense. Some of their belongings were scattered across the gantries along with pieces of the khordryn’s facade.

As the guests caught sight of Maleneth’s expression and the knife in her hand they halted. They continued yelling, however, calling for her to get Gotrek away from them.

Brior nodded eagerly. ‘Perhaps it would be for the best. If the Fyreslayer is so unhappy with the rooms you could–’

Maleneth rounded on him. ‘Is that what triggered this? Did you call him a Fyreslayer?’

‘No!’ Brior hesitated, wiped his eye lenses and shook his head. ‘I don’t think. No, I’m sure I didn’t. I remember you said he preferred to be called a dwarf, so I called him a dwarf. To be honest, though, I’ve tried not to talk to him at all.’

‘Very wise.’ She looked up at the broken windows. Gotrek’s cries were booming out through the smoke. He sounded furious at whoever had entered his rooms. ‘Conversation is not his strong point.’

She rushed across a gangplank, heading into the khordryn.

Brior followed. ‘It would be best though, don’t you think?’

‘What?’

‘If you and the Fyre… if you and the dwarf found other lodgings. Somewhere more to his liking.’

Maleneth laughed. ‘Liking? I’d have to travel a long way before I found something to his liking. Besides, you said there are no rooms available anywhere else. Something to do with the moon?’

He grimaced. ‘Kazak-drung. The grot moon. It’s almost full. And what little of Ayadah was still free is now falling to the greenskins.’ For a moment he looked troubled, then he brightened. ‘So everyone is looking for a place in Barak-Urbaz. We’ve never had so many visitors. Most of the khordryn are full.’

‘All of them are full, you said.’ They were inside now, and Maleneth paused at the foot of a spiral staircase. ‘That was why I was willing to pay such an absurd amount for these tin boxes you call rooms.’

Brior tried to back away, but Maleneth’s hand lashed out and grabbed the pauldron of his flight suit while the other pressed her knife to his throat. ‘Were you lying?’

‘Grungni be blessed, madam, no. Of course not. But if your friend is so unhappy here, I could see if a room has come available since you arrived.’ He hesitated. ‘They might not be quite so reasonably priced as my own premises, but I would be willing to act as an agent on your behalf, for a small fee, and I have many friends over in–’

‘Gotrek’s right.’ Maleneth leant close. ‘You’re all money-leeching worms.’

They were interrupted by a loud cracking sound. It sounded like a door being torn in half.

Brior gasped and shook his head. ‘He can’t stay.’

‘Do you want to tell him?’

Brior said nothing.

Maleneth nodded. Then she let him go and headed up the stairs, picking her way between buckled furniture and torn drapes. The only illumination came from an aether lamp, crackling in the gloom, but it was an easy enough matter to locate their rooms. Gotrek’s rage was echoing through the hammered bulkheads, punctuated by the sound of metal hitting metal.

She reached the door to their rooms and paused. Maleneth was no coward. She had survived years in Khainite Murder Temples, fought in Sigmar’s wars of reclamation and seen dead rise to claim the living, but Gotrek was unlike anything she had ever seen before. She took a moment to whisper a prayer to Khaine, sliced her knife across her palm and kissed the spilled blood. Vigour flooded her limbs. Then she gently pushed the door open.

The room was a mess. The lights had been ripped from their sconces and even Maleneth’s aelven eyes struggled to make sense of what she was seeing. There was broken furniture everywhere. Gotrek was a hulking shadow at the centre of the destruction, silhouetted by the brazier in his axe. His back was to Maleneth, but she could see that he was taking deep, juddering breaths.

Unable to see who had driven him into such a frenzy, Maleneth edged closer, knives raised, trying to see round Gotrek’s barrel-like frame.

‘Blood of Grungni,’ growled Gotrek, spraying saliva through the air and drawing back his axe to strike.

‘Gotrek?’ said Maleneth, dropping into a fighting stance.

‘Liars!’ roared Gotrek, spinning round with surprising agility and swinging his axe at her head.

The weapon trailed embers as it slammed into the doorframe, shearing off a slab of metal.

Maleneth dodged the blow, tumbling back onto her feet on the opposite side of the room.

Gotrek wrenched his axe free, hurling more sparks.

As he steadied himself for another blow, Maleneth looked around to see who had driven him into such a rage. Dented metal lay scattered in heaps and a broken heating pipe was spewing steam, but she was fairly sure that there was no one else in the room. She felt a rush of anger. ‘You’re getting worse.’

Gotrek’s eye was glassy and unseeing as he swung at her face.

She ducked and the blade clanged into a bedpost, causing another flash of sparks.

Gotrek’s momentum sent him tumbling into the wall and Maleneth realised he had been drinking. To her endless regret, the brewmasters of Barak-Urbaz produced an ale called hazkal that was so strong Gotrek considered it almost palatable. ‘What are you talking about, aelf?’ Gotrek staggered away from her, batting embers from his beard. His eye was burning as fiercely as his axe. Maleneth had seen him like this before. The violence he had wreaked so far was nothing to what he was capable of.

Maleneth tried to change her tone to something more placatory but the best she could manage was sardonic. ‘You and Trachos are both losing your grip. You’re fighting people that don’t exist. Next thing you know you’ll be joining him on his imaginary crusades.’ She waved at the wreckage. ‘There’s nobody in here.’

Gotrek moved with the agility of a practised drunk, grabbing her by the shoulders and slamming her against the wall. His ale-reek breath made her eyes water but she held his gaze. ‘You’re fighting furniture, Gotrek.’

His voice was a dangerous whisper. ‘I’m trying to use the toy you bought from that trader.’

Maleneth had supplied Gotrek with so much junk that it took her a moment to remember which deception she needed to repeat. ‘Ah, the chain-grip.’ She spotted the machine lying near a broken bed. An oval-shaped brass case crammed with slender chains. The seller had told Gotrek it had alchemical properties but she had ensured it was now only good for an ornament. It was the latest in a succession of devices she had secretly disabled, hoping to rid Gotrek of his belief that Kharadron machines could help him.

She planted one of her boots in Gotrek’s groin and the Slayer loosed his grip, stumbling away and cursing as she dropped into a crouch.

Before he could lash out again, she leapt across the room and grabbed the device from the floor. To her amazement, the mechanism was ticking, cogs spinning and chains clicking through the housing. ‘You fixed it? Blood of Khaine. How did you–?’

Gotrek’s fist hit the wall near her head, hurling her across the room. She felt a strange sense of serenity, feeling as though she were floating through a fragment of time. Then she slammed into the opposite wall, the air exploded from her lungs and she lost her sense of tranquillity. Blood rushed down her face and she had the unpleasant sensation that her head was no longer attached to her neck.

The door opened a crack and Brior peered in, whispering nervously, ‘There’s a room in the Starkhad Quarter. Your master would prefer it there, I’m sure. Lots of colourful, foreign types. I could haggle on your behalf if you–’

Maleneth slammed the door, eliciting a surprised yelp from Brior. She rolled aside, instinct warning her that Gotrek’s axe was likely to follow his fist, but there was no attack. She flipped back onto her feet and saw that he was engrossed in the device again. His fingers were like battered ingots but he managed to use them with surprising dexterity, making adjustments and flicking clasps.

‘Cack-handed sky dwarfs.’ He peered at the device. ‘Another bloody drop valve. Why in the name of Valaya’s teeth would anyone put that in there?’ There was a bright click as Gotrek snapped something from the mechanism. His eye flashed as the chain started moving again, then the light died as the mechanism clicked to a halt. He stared at the strip of silver he had taken out. It dangled in his grip like a metal worm. ‘Only a moron would put this in there. And it was exactly the same with all the other machines we’ve found.’

Maleneth felt a flash of panic. He had noticed the aetheric inhibiters she had been planting in his devices.

Gotrek was studying the thing so intently that Maleneth felt sure he was about to make a connection between it and her. Then he dropped it to the floor and punched the wall, splitting another heat pipe and adding to the clouds of steam.

Maleneth rolled across the rubble and grabbed the inhibiter while Gotrek was looking the other way, secreting it safely in her leathers. The thing had been expensive. And she had no way of buying another one.

‘I could secure the rooms for a vastly reduced price,’ hissed Brior, peering round the door again.

She booted it shut, pleased to hear him fall over on the other side. Then she padded over to Gotrek, wiping blood from her face and keeping a safe distance. Perhaps she was wrong to say he was going the way of Trachos, but he was clearly losing himself. Since the loss of the Sigmaron Star and her crew he had become even more irascible. She had always struggled to gauge his mood but now it was easy. He was either furious or drunk. Usually both.

She tried even harder to sound sympathetic and this time she almost managed it. ‘Can’t you see this is a fool’s errand? All these endrineers and aether-khemists have nothing to offer you.’ She looked at the rune flickering in his chest. ‘They can’t turn that thing off any more than you can. But if you come with me, back to Azyr, we can harness its power. I don’t know why you’re so set against it, but if you let me take you to Azyrheim we can turn that rune into a weapon against Chaos.’

‘A weapon for that dolt, Sigmar, you mean.’ Gotrek’s eye blazed as he swung his axe.

Maleneth leapt aside but there was no need. She was not the target.

The chain-grip exploded as Gotrek’s axe slammed into it, tossing springs and cogs across the room. ‘I am no one’s weapon.’ Gotrek levelled his finger at Maleneth. ‘Not yours, not Grimnir’s and certainly not that of some flaxen-haired farm boy with delusions of godhood.’ He kicked the broken machine across the floor. ‘These Kharadron are shoddy endrinkuli, but even bad dwarfish engineering outstrips anything else in the Mortal Realms. That thing could have actually worked if it weren’t for the drop valve. I almost had it going.’

Maleneth stared at him. He was a constant surprise. He played the part of belligerent oaf so well that it was easy to forget how sharp-witted he was. He had a savant-like affinity with anything mechanical. She had done everything she could to ensure the device could never work but Gotrek had come worryingly close to fixing it.

Gotrek punched the rune. Veins of light leaked from it, spilling across his beer-slick chest. ‘We’re not leaving this city until I get this out.’ His eye flashed again and Maleneth backed away. ‘Maybe it’s Grimnir in there and maybe it’s not, but either way it has no place in my chest.’ His words grew strained. ‘In my bloody head.’

The door flew open, spilling Brior into the room and revealing a towering, armoured figure.

Trachos strode through the doorway, oblivious to the supine landlord. He was a mess. Trachos’ ghosts had returned in force. His blue-green battleplate was dented and rent and it sparked constantly. He looked like one of the broken devices Gotrek had tried to fix. Part of his faceplate had cracked but there was no glimpse of a face beneath, just flickers of light and flashes of irradiated bone. Stormcast Eternals were figures of awe wherever they went, but Trachos was more than that now. People would cross the street not to be near him – several streets. He moved with the mechanical gait of an automaton and his head flicked constantly from side to side, as though trying to rid itself of troubling thoughts.

He walked over to Gotrek and nodded at him, scattering sparks through the gloom.

Gotrek, Maleneth and Brior stared at him.

Trachos showed no sign of noticing the awkward pause, looking down at the Slayer through the eyeholes of his mangled helmet.

Brior climbed to his feet and dusted himself down. He edged closer to Trachos with the air of someone approaching a wounded animal. ‘I was just explaining to your friends that I have found you some superior rooms in the–’

‘We’re leaving the city,’ said Maleneth, speaking over him with a warning glare. She looked up at Trachos. ‘Nothing Gotrek has tried has had any effect on his rune. These duardin are all talk. Not one of them has any actual skill.’

Trachos nodded, and Maleneth was pleased to see that he had not entirely lost his grip on reality. ‘There is only one place in all the realms where you could harness that rune – the Anvil of Apotheosis, in the halls of High Sigmaron itself, where the God-King waits. The astrologions of the Lunar Spheres know how–’

‘Let Sigmar sit up there playing with his spheres.’ Gotrek was clearly furious at the suggestion. ‘This Slayer won’t hide away in glittering heavens while the Ruinous Powers hold sway below. Besides, I don’t want to harness the bloody rune, I want rid of it.’ He slammed it with the haft of his axe, making it flash like a disturbed ember. ‘Rid of all the gods and their trinkets. Then, when I have my mind back, I’ll finally be able to think straight.’

Brior spoke quickly, before Maleneth could interrupt him again. ‘Master dwarf, I could help.’

Maleneth was about to order him from the room but Gotrek spoke first.

‘How?’

Brior looked closer at the rune in Gotrek’s chest. ‘It’s ur-gold?’

‘Aye.’ Gotrek’s lip curled. ‘With a seam of mischief running through it. The damned thing is poison.’

Brior nodded. ‘The Fyreslayers. They hunt ur-gold obsessively. They hoard it.’ He shook his head. ‘Grungni knows why. They hide it in their mountain holds and hammer it into their skin, but if they spent some of it they could stop living like savages, with their bare chests and mohawks and…’ Brior’s words trailed off as he remembered what Gotrek looked like. ‘Not that there’s anything wrong with a rustic style of dress,’ he continued quickly. ‘It’s just that–’

Gotrek tapped the rune. ‘You said you could help.’

‘What is it you want?’ Brior glanced at Maleneth and Trachos, who were both glaring at him. ‘Your friends seem to think–’

‘They’re not my friends and they don’t think. There’s a leaden-headed ape in Azyr who thinks for them. I want this thing out of my chest, but I don’t want to breathe my last on an alchemist’s slab. A Slayer doesn’t die on a table. I need to survive so I can die properly.’

Brior removed his helmet, letting his long, plaited beard tumble down his rubber flight suit. He peered closer at the rune. ‘It’s buried in your ribs. Removing it without killing you would be hard, even for a skilled chirurgeon.’

Gotrek’s face flushed with colour, highlighting the terrible scars that covered one side of his face.

Brior spoke quickly. ‘But I know Barak-Urbaz’s finest aether-khemists – Captain Thialf Solmundsson, Guildmaster Horbrand, Admiral Skuldsson, all of them. I don’t know if they could remove the rune, but they’re masters of everything metallurgical. If the rune contains aetheric power they would be able to extract it using their engines and braziers. Even if they couldn’t remove the rune they could…’ He struggled to find the word. ‘They could nullify it. I’m sure they could.’

Maleneth cursed herself for not slitting Brior’s throat when she had the chance. ‘Gotrek. Look at him. He’s an idiot, just like all the others. None of these people have a clue what that rune means.’

‘Ah, but you do, don’t you, aelf?’ Gotrek scowled. ‘It’s a leash.’

Trachos shook his head. ‘Not a leash. A boon. With this rune you can be more than you were. You can be a great weapon against Chaos.’

Maleneth nodded eagerly. ‘He’s right, Gotrek. Think of all the things you’ve seen, in these realms and the ones you were born in. Think of the madness and ruin. And you have it in your power to make a difference.’ Unexpectedly, she found that she was speaking with genuine passion. ‘Most of us can only fight on the sidelines, but you can actually do something. If you use that rune you can–’

‘Use it?’ Gotrek’s expression darkened. ‘Have you forgotten what happens when I use it? Have you forgotten what I did to the Sigmaron Star?’

Maleneth was genuinely baffled. ‘You killed some sailors. Why are you so fixated on that? What is the significance of a few deckhands when balanced against the fate of the realms?’

‘I did not kill them, aelf. You saw what happened. I was not using the rune as a weapon – the rune was using me. Maybe it was him using me.’

Maleneth knew better than to be drawn into an argument with Gotrek, but he was so infuriating she could not help herself. ‘Him? You mean Grimnir? A god who, if he ever existed at all, is widely held to be dead now. He made you kill people, did he? Because he lives in your chest now. A god. In your chest. Telling you to do things. Can you hear yourself? You accuse Trachos and me of being in thrall to a god but at least it’s a god that exists.’

Trachos gripped Maleneth and Gotrek by their shoulders and leant close.

‘The lord-celestant,’ he whispered. ‘Do you hear him?’

Maleneth frowned, then closed her eyes in despair.

‘Thialf Solmundsson could help,’ said Brior hesitantly, looking from Trachos to Maleneth. ‘He’s a lord of industry now, one of the wealthiest magnates in the city, but he made his fortune through metallurgy. There’s no form of metal he can’t tame. If there is something in that rune you want extracting, he could do it.’

Maleneth shoved Trachos aside, furious that his rambling had given Brior another chance to speak.

She jabbed the duardin in the chest. ‘You have no idea what you’re doing.’

‘Take me to this Solmundsson,’ said Gotrek.

Brior grinned. ‘I’ll have a contract drawn up immediately. My terms will be reasonable. I shall require payment up front for the–’

Gotrek tapped his axe against Brior’s chest. ‘No contracts. Help me get shot of this rune and you’ll be rewarded.’

Brior’s grin faltered.

Gotrek strode from the room, taking some door frame with him. ‘My word is my bond.’

Brior moved to follow, but Maleneth halted him at the threshold. ‘I don’t know what game you’re playing, but if anything happens to that rune, I will take you apart. Slowly. With my thumbs.’

Aero-endrins roared overhead as Gotrek and the others headed out onto the street. Some were so vast they looked like ironclad mountains and it seemed incredible to Maleneth that they could stay aloft. They carried huge lightning-charged spheres in place of masts and clusters of pipes that fed the energy down the length of the hulls. From the street level it looked like gun-laden leviathans were swimming through the smog, turning in shoals and causing the air to grind.

Gotrek and Maleneth glared at the crowd that was still gathered by the doors and Brior waved some of his servants over. ‘Go to the dwarf’s room and clear it up. Itemise all the damage. I want a full inventory. Draw up a list of every expense.’ As his servants rushed back into the khordryn, Brior dusted himself down and stood as tall as he could. His panicked demeanour had been replaced with an absurd air of pride as he led Gotrek through the crowd.

‘Stand aside!’ he cried, waving an ornate cane he had grabbed from the hall. It was a thick bronze staff, topped with an intricately worked anvil. ‘We have business with Thialf Solmundsson.’

A few of the Kharadron guests looked impressed by the name, but most people continued demanding recompense.

Brior shook his head sadly. ‘Check clause five of your tenancy agreements, my friends. I cannot be held liable for the indiscretions of my guests. If you have a complaint you must raise it with Gotrek Gurnisson here.’

Gotrek looked around, treating the assembled guests to a fierce stare.

Nobody approached.

Gotrek nodded and waved his axe at the pipe-clogged streets. ‘Which way?’

Brior beckoned and strode off, still waving his cane. ‘Captain Solmundsson lives in the Starkhad Quarter, near the aerostatic dock. We’ll need to fly.’

Gotrek nodded, and they marched off down the street with the crowd still gawping at them.

Chapter Two

‘Gizzit.’

Scragfang tapped the puffball with his knife. It was several inches taller than him and there was light pulsing in its flesh, but he told himself not to be afraid. He was here on the Loonking’s business. A royal envoy. He wore long black robes, intricately stitched with images of the Bad Moon’s face. He had a thick necklace of polished teeth hung around his neck. His bony fingers were crowded with jewelled rings and his nose rattled with silver hoops. He was someone. A regal prophet. No one could touch him. He pushed the blade deeper, splitting the spongey skin, smelling the goodness. ‘Gizzit.’

Gibbermarsh was brighter than the rest of the Asylum. Circles of fungus carpeted the valley and all of them were lit up in the same way as the puffball, spilling a wan, listless glow over the tree-high toadstools that surrounded them, but Scragfang did not mind the glare. It was nothing like sunlight. If anything, the circles of light accentuated the pall, deepening the shadows, adding to the comforting claustrophobia. Plump, quivering grubs whirled through the drizzle, banking and catching the light on their wings as they devoured each other in a perpetual feeding frenzy. Rich, rotten aromas wafted through the mist, making such a heady concoction that Scragfang’s nose began to twitch. Scragfang’s appetites had long ago blurred the boundaries between real and unreal. He was never entirely sure which things were in the world and which were in his head. He was followed, constantly, by a swarm of winged feet. They all had his face grinning from their soles and laughed at everything he said. Even though they looked incredibly vivid, no one else saw them and he was fairly sure they were only in his head.

Scragfang pushed his blade futher into the puffball. The stink thickened and black pus spilled from the pallid skin. The puffball was one of the most powerful scryshrooms in the whole marsh. It had given Scragfang some of his most useful prophecies. But it was prone to mood swings and he had yet to fully tame it, so he stood as far back as he could, leaning away from its flesh. A shape swam into view, forcing its way through the membranous gloop, blinking and grimacing as it emerged into the warm rain. Its face was almost identical to Scragfang’s – green-skinned, pinched and hateful with vivid red eyes huddled next to a hooked nose.

‘Scragfang,’ gurgled the face, sneezing snot and spores. ‘Gizzit wot?’

‘An ’eadache.’ Scragfang waved his knife, trying to swat some of the grinning feet away. ‘I ain’t got nuffin. Gis an ’eadache or I’ll cutcha.’

The face sneered. ‘You ain’t got the guts.’

Scragfang pressed his nose against the leering face. ‘Gizz. It.’

The face continued smirking as it slithered back into the puffball’s innards. Then a scrawny hand emerged, holding a lump of flesh.

Scragfang snatched it and swallowed it whole.

For a moment nothing happened and Scragfang was about to use his knife again. Then the puffball blazed brighter. Even then, the glare was not unpleasant. It was cool and gibbous, soothing rather than scorching. Scragfang giggled and shuffled closer, staring into the light, letting it fill his mind. He felt so proud. No one knew Gibbermarsh like he did. Even the Loonking himself had no idea how Scragfang gained his visions. No one knew about this grove or all the others he had sniffed out. The back of Scragfang’s head was fused with a wart-covered death cap and, as the light grew, the fungus began to quiver and ooze.

Scragfang giggled as the puffball changed shape, assuming the glorious, pockmarked visage of the Bad Moon. Scragfang danced and whistled. It had worked again.

Mangleback edged into the light, giggling along with him. Mangleback had been moonstruck too. He had not gained the dizzying insights that had enabled Scragfang’s meteoric rise, but he was transformed in so many other ways that his original form was barely recognisable. He almost resembled a fungal crustacean. In place of a carapace, he had a gilled, powdery mushroom cap and his legs were pale, ribbed stems that ended in puckered cups. His goblinoid face was still visible though, peering out from beneath his spongey carapace, and he grinned as Scragfang danced. He reached up to a sack on his domed back, took out some finger bells and a whistle and began to play, accompanying Scragfang’s dance with clangs and peeps and joining him in his dance through the mud.

The sound of the whistle snaked through Scragfang’s brain until he saw it was a serpent, coiling round the face of the Bad Moon, sliding past swarms of giggling feet and catching spores on its forked tongue. Scragfang leapt at the moon, trying to chase the serpent. The moon shattered like the surface of a pool and Scragfang found himself falling through the heavens. The snake was ahead of him and it turned to look back, revealing that it now had the hooked, grinning face of the Bad Moon. Or was it Mangleback?

‘Why settle for second place?’

Scragfang was too busy laughing to catch the words at first.

‘Wozzat? Second face?’

The face whirled around him in the darkness, still grinning. ‘Why let da Loonking have all da fun?’

Scragfang stopped laughing as he realised it was Mangleback speaking. Was this a test?

‘’Cause ’e’s da boss?’

‘Does da Bad Moon only need one servant? D’ya fink he can laugh too much?’

Scragfang could not quite understand where the conversation was leading. Part of his mind knew that this serpent was actually just Mangleback’s whistle, looping round the drizzly grove, but the other part of him felt a great sense of moment, as though he was on the cusp of revelation. This had happened several times since he was moonstruck and it was why the Loonking had placed him in such a high position. ‘I int gonna upset Skragrott, ya moron. I int gonna steal ’is place.’

The darkness vanished and Scragfang howled as sunlight filled his eyes. He thrashed and hissed, trying to shield his face, then he realised that there was no pain. The sun was not real. Just another vision. He opened his eyes and saw a dreadful, sunlit city, filled with stunties and their shiny, wheezing machines. Mangleback’s whistle was still playing and the notes carried Scragfang through the clouds, guiding him past the facades of buildings and rows of moored sky-ships. It was awful. Even in a vision, Scragfang found it agony to look at. Everything was so bright. So hard. Wherever he looked, light glared from polished hulls and gleaming pillars.

‘Imagine if everywhere was like dis,’ said the moon or Mangleback, speaking into Scragfang’s mind. ‘Fulla light. No scrap of dark. No scrap of shadow. No scrap of fog. Nuthin’ wet. Nuthin’ sticky.’

Scragfang’s song turned into a wail of defiance. ‘The Loonking will kill ’em first.’

The moon sounded amused. ‘All of them? Look at da guns. An da bombs. An all of it up in the sky, away from the damp and the dark.’

‘Wot then?’ demanded Scragfang.

‘We needs a weapon. Not just a measly army. Not just a piddly joke. A real belly-splitter.’

‘Wot weapon?’

But the moon did not reply. It rippled and split, disintegrating before vanishing completely. Scragfang realised he was alone, falling through the clouds towards metal streets. He panicked, then remembered that none of it was real. He was still in the grove, talking to Mangleback beside the puffball. He tried to stay calm as he hurtled towards the largest building. Flames were spilling from the roof and sections of the walls were toppling, lashed by lightning.

Scragfang shielded his face as he plunged through the fire, and then he saw it. A golden rune shining in the chest of a stuntie who had a tall crest of hair. It was horrible and wonderful. As bright as old Frazzlegit himself. But he could smell its power. It filled his quivering nostrils with a sense of destiny. It burned even brighter as the stuntie rushed through falling rubble to save his companion, a skinny murder aelf. They were both disgusting.

Then the vision shifted. Scragfang saw a vast metal face on the front of the big building. It was dreadful and fierce, staring down at him. But then he saw the face exploding, erupting into flame. And then he understood. If he could steal the power of that magic rune, he would become more powerful than anyone before him. That was what the blazing face meant. That was what the Bad Moon was trying to tell him. That was why it had returned. It wanted him to get the rune and turn it on the sky-city, and then watch it collapse and burn. It was the one they called Barak-Urbaz. The one that had stopped the Loonking taking control of Ayadah. What a wonderful joke – using stuntie magic to destroy their greatest city. And once that city was gone, the Moonclans would be free to spread the Everdank. The final obstacle would be gone. All thanks to Scragfang. His heart pounded as he imagined himself on a great throne. Even more impressive than the Loonking’s.

‘Get that rune’s power an you’ll be safe.’ It was definitely Mangleback talking. His moist croak was unmistakable. ‘From everyone. Even da Loonking.’

The good feeling vanished. Scragfang felt a rush of the old fear. He reeled away from the puffball, returned his mind to the rainy grove and ordered Mangleback to cease playing. ‘Wotcha mean, safe? I’m the Loonking’s chief flippin’ sniffer. He gave me da zoggin fang!’ Scragfang waved his knife, a pale shard of loonstone. ‘Why’d ’e gimme ’is best sticker if ’e wants me dead? I’m ’is best seeker.’

As the music ceased, Scragfang lay panting in the mud, watching the winged feet glide through the darkness. They were grinning at him. Of all the things he’d seen in the Gibbermarsh, nothing had hit him with such a sense of urgency and importance. That blazing stuntie face was so apocalyptic and magnificent. He was sure it meant the end of the sky-city. But Mangleback’s words had ruined everything. Now all he could think about was the fear.

The feet fluttered away as Mangleback scuttled towards him, eyes flashing as he looked at the puffball.

Scragfang calmed his breathing and stood up. ‘Wotcha gimme the fear for? Why’d ya say that?’

‘Say wot?’

‘About bein’ safe. Who’s safer ’n me? Chief sniffer to the Loonking. Best seeker in the Asylum.’

Mangleback shrugged, a gesture that raised his whole mushroom cap up from his fleshy limbs. ‘Who’s safe? Always a good question, Fang. We’re all safe while the Loonking needs us. Not so safe when ’e don’t. Precarious, I’d call it.’

The fear became a torrent. ‘Why wouldn’t Skragrott need me any more? I’m ’is best zoggin sniffer. I told him where all da floating boats are. I told him where all da sky castles are. All those stunties are dying thanks to my visions. ’E needs me.’

Mangleback shrugged again. ‘Well, yes, ’e’ll need ya until he’s ready.’

‘Ready for wot?’

‘Ready ta start da Everdank, ready to snuff out old Frazzlegit and make da uplands dark as it is down ’ere. He does need ya to ’elp ’im find stuff until then. But once ’e’s king of everywhere, once the light’s gone and everywhere is cool and sticky, ’e’s gonna look around and see what threats are left, ain’t ’e?’

‘Threat? Wotcha mean, threat? I ain’t a zoggin threat.’

Mangleback leant close, filling Scragfang’s nostrils with his meaty aroma. ‘Da best sniffer. Da best finker. Da best seeker. Don’t ya fink that might make someone nervous if they woz meant to be the king? Da big boss. Da ruler of all the clans. I reckon it might, Scrag. I reckon it might make ’im wonder if it’s wise to let you keep snuffling around down ’ere in this marsh. I reckon he might wonder if he should take that sticker back off ya and put it somewhere you don’t like.’

Scragfang was breathing so fast his head was getting light. ‘You’ve been chewing too many corpse caps. I’m ’is most loyal servant.’

‘Are you? Have you really never wondered if you needed to protect yerself? Have you really never wondered about takin’ ’is place?’

Scragfang rubbed his nose again and said nothing.

‘Not many of us gets close to da Loonking,’ said Mangleback. ‘Not like you, Fang. ’E’s got your number. ’E knows everyfin aboutcha.’

Scragfang stomped around the grove, glancing back at the puffball. The smell of the vision was still on the air. He could still see the stuntie with the miniature Frazzlegit in his chest.

‘This is summat special,’ whispered Mangleback. ‘Summat big. Ain’t it, Scrag? Maybe the biggest joke of all.’

Scragfang grinned despite himself, thinking about the vast, burning stuntie face on the building. If he sucked all that power into his loonblade he could wreak such glorious havoc. The whole sky-city would die. The Bad Moon would laugh for an age. ‘It was big,’ he muttered.

‘Then don’t tell ’im! Don’t let ’im ’ave it. If this is the big one, this could be your last chance.’

Scragfang nodded. Mangleback was always right. Always helping him. ‘Yer right. Let’s keep it quiet.’ He smiled. ‘Play yer pipe again.’

Mangleback blew into his whistle and Scragfang started to sing, his voice thin and shrill.

Splitskulls worming, dripping clagg,

Withering sprouts and mucal gag,

Lurking greylugs ooze and scrag,

Scragfang, Scragfang, splitting clagg.

Bringing ruin, bringing snag,

Scragfang, Scragfang, dripping clagg.

As he sang, Scragfang’s head filled with visions again. He had never been so blessed with loonsight. He saw himself at the head of a mob, hurtling through clouds. They landed on a sky-ship and stole the aelf that the stuntie loved so much. The stuntie was furious at the kidnapping. So furious that he had to follow them back to the Asylum and down into Gibbermarsh, right into the centre of Slathermere, where Scragfang was at his most powerful. Then Scragfang saw fire and destruction on a glorious scale – buildings toppling and flagstones splitting as the stuntie face blazed. All the while, the Bad Moon laughed hysterically overhead, and at the heart of the madness he saw himself, the architect of it all, powerful and triumphant, dragging ruin across the realm.

Then the puffball grew dark again and the visions faded. There was no sign of the cut he had made. ‘You’re right,’ he whispered, struggling to stay calm. ‘I should keep it to misself. Just for now. Just until I can understand it.’

‘Exactly!’ Mangleback scampered round him, turning in circles. ‘Just for now. Until you know wotcha dealing wiv. You can always tell da Loonking later, once you’ve thunked a bit more.’

Scragfang nodded, then glared at Mangleback. ‘I ain’t no traitor though. Understand? Not to ’im. I’m playin’ it safe. Dat’s all. Just checkin’ da lie of da land.’

‘Exactly.’

‘Exactly.’

Chapter Three

It was only from the air that Maleneth was able to fully appreciate the mind-bending scale of the sky-port. Ugly and gaudy as it was, she could not deny that it was an incredible feat of engineering. It stretched into the clouds for miles in every direction, a vast grid of bridges, aqueducts and highways, all wrought of ornately worked metal and held aloft by the arcane aether-tech of the Kharadron. Legions of shipwrights, millwrights, master builders and industrialists had created something impossible – a continental slab of districts linked by arterial pipes and spiralling walkways.

They were travelling on one of the smaller endrins, no bigger than a small frigate, and Maleneth was clinging to the handrail, peering down through the smoke. The fumes were dense but every now and then fierce winds would snatch them away, revealing a glimpse of gleaming beerhalls, growling refineries and squat, steam-pumping mills. After a few miles, Maleneth was greeted by an even more peculiar sight. As the clouds parted, she saw that the metal architecture had vanished and they were flying over a forest of ruptured meat. As they flew further, she realised that she was looking at the carcass of a colossal creature. There were tiny shapes eating into it – Kharadron vehicles, cutting into the meat like they were working at the seam of a mine. The monster must have been half a mile long and it clearly hadn’t died recently. The stench of putrefaction was so thick that it even broke through the chemical stink of the smoke. The carcass had been cut in some places and butchered in others, but she could just about make out the thing’s original shape – a winged serpent, but larger than a stormkeep.

Gotrek and Trachos came to look and Brior nodded proudly. ‘Where others see a fearsome predator, we see a source of meat, bones and leather – materials to be refined and sold. The beast you see there is a solarian wyvern. Captain Arngrin harpooned it nearly a year ago and he’s still not harvested half of its value. He’s employed riggers, packers and eviscerators from across the whole of Barak-Urbaz and he’ll make himself a guildmaster in the process.’ Brior spoke with awe in his voice as he watched the machines at work. ‘He’ll be one of the wealthiest captains in any sky-port from here to Barak-Nar.’

Maleneth shrugged. ‘But what is all this for?’ She waved to a vast, pillared guildhall, flanked by statues of duardin gods. ‘You mock the Fyreslayers for hording ur-gold, but what’s the purpose of your wealth? Is it a tribute to the gods?’

Brior was wearing his helmet, but even through the eyeholes of his faceplate Maleneth saw his confusion. ‘Well, yes, that is part of the reason. We pay our respects to Grungni, of course we do, but…’ He shook his head. ‘We seek wealth because it creates this.’ The clouds had engulfed them again, but he waved in the direction of the city. ‘It has enabled us to lift ourselves from the mire. The enemy might rule the lands but we rule the sky. Do you see? Every year more of the realm falls to the grots. But as they spread their mists and shadows we build, growing wealthier and more powerful. We use our wealth to arm ourselves. We don’t need Grungni to save us. We’ll be our own saviours. We have moved beyond the need for gods.’

Gotrek was watching Brior closely, and Maleneth thought he might be impressed by the speech. The idea of not needing gods must certainly strike a chord with him.

Then the clouds rolled away to reveal a new vista. The mountainous corpse had been replaced by a district far grander than any they had seen before. The buildings were gilded and bold, proud palaces studded with aether-lights. It was like flying over spilled treasure.

Gotrek shook his head, his tone dark. ‘You’re following a well-trodden path. And it ends badly. I heard this kind of talk in the holds of Karak Azul and even in the Everpeak. And it laid ruin to better dwarfs than you.’ He waved at the overwrought architecture. ‘Whatever you tell yourself, you’re hunting wealth for its own sake. Filching and pilfering when you should be crushing your foes. You’re flying above the clouds but you may as well be a miser under a mountain. Hunger has blinded you. It will consume you.’

Brior stiffened. ‘When the downsiders are on their knees, butchered by the greenskins, it will be the Kharadron Overlords they call to for help.’

Gotrek laughed. ‘Then they’re doomed. You’ll be too busy counting coins to hear them.’

Brior seemed on the verge of saying more, then he shook his head and strode off across the deck to speak with the captain.

Maleneth patted the Slayer on the back. ‘Always making friends.’ She leant close. ‘Tell me. The world that you speak so fondly of, the one you can’t get back to. Are you sure it was destroyed? Or did you just offend so many people they pretended to die? I bet they’re still there, having a celebration without you, congratulating themselves on their lack of Gotrek.’

Gotrek was about to reply when Brior hurried back over. His anger had vanished. ‘We’re there. And Thialf Solmundsson has already sent word that he is happy to grant you an audience.’ He looked absurdly excited. ‘He is one of the wealthiest guildmasters in Barak-Urbaz. He’s already a captain despite being barely sixty.’

The ship was already dropping through the clouds, turning wide loops around one of the golden palaces. It was as ridiculous as all the others, with a gilded facade that had been worked into the stylised rendering of a dwarf’s howling face, with the gaping mouth spewing a tongue of polished steps. The face looked similar to the rune in Gotrek’s chest, and as the ship dropped towards a gleaming courtyard, the Slayer gripped his axe tighter and glared at Brior. The whole building seemed to have been built to support chimneys. They were all wrought of metal, but that was the only uniform thing about them – some were tall and slender while others were plump, bowl-like structures. The largest were bigger than some of the surrounding buildings and all of them were circled by flotillas of sky-ships, drifting over the palace like metal raptors, glinting in the thermals.

As the aether-ship passed through banks of smoke, Maleneth coughed and sneezed. By the time she could see clearly again, the ship had settled at the centre of a cog-shaped courtyard and there were dozens of Kharadron gathered to meet them. They were clad in the same suits as Brior, but where his was dirty and dented, theirs were as ornate and polished as the building they had spilled from. At the head of the group was an even more impressive duardin. His flight suit was almost entirely constructed of gleaming plate and he carried a filigreed hammer connected to an anvil-shaped backpack.

As the crew lowered the landing ramp, the decorative-looking duardin approached, his chin raised disdainfully.

Gotrek snorted. ‘He looks like he’s got one of those chimneys stuck up his arse.’

Maleneth felt warmth at her chest as her dead mistress spoke up. These people might actually get that thing out of his chest.

That’s no concern of yours, thought Maleneth. Why would it matter to you if they took the rune?

Always the slow student. Much as I would like to see you flayed alive for killing me, you’re my only link to the Mortal Realms. If you fail to protect that rune, you’re as good as dead. And if you die, I die.

They’re not going to do anything to the rune. You’ve seen what these people are like. They might be able to build cities in the sky, but none of them can touch that rune. They’re charlatans. They can generate wealth, but that’s where their genius ends.

Brior waved them down the ramp as the grand-looking official swaggered over to greet them.

‘Greetings. I am Alrik Grimullsson, adept of the Worshipful Company of Endrinwrights and chief steward to Captain Solmundsson, guildmaster and prime warden of the Solmund Company.’

Brior performed the awkward duardin equivalent of a bow. ‘I am Brior, son of Briorn. An honour.’ Brior looked up at the chimneystacks, shaking his head. ‘What your master has achieved here is an inspiration to us all.’

Alrik nodded. ‘Welcome, Brior son of Briorn.’ He looked at Gotrek. ‘And your companion.’

Brior gestured for Alrik to lead them into the palace. ‘My friend is eager to speak with Captain Solmundsson. May we proceed?’

Alrik said nothing, studying them with his chin still raised.

Maleneth sensed that he was enjoying the moment, and she had to resist the urge to make a sharp comment.

Alrik finally nodded, and with an elaborate flourish he gestured for his honour guard to lead the way.

‘Wazzock,’ muttered Gotrek.

The courtyard was so vast it took several minutes to reach the sweeping stairs that curved up to the gaping mouth. No part of the building was constructed of stone. Every inch was wrought of metal and studded with semi-precious jewels. The columns around the entrance had been worked into the shape of bared teeth, and as fumes banked around them, they seemed to move.

The party passed through the opening like ants entering the mouth of a leviathan. The growl of distant engines shook through the walls and up through the floor, adding to Maleneth’s impression that she was walking into a monster. More guards were waiting for them inside a grand entrance hall, all clad in the same ostentatious livery. Maleneth noticed that Gotrek was surveying the grandeur with the same disdain she felt. She had spent so long in his company that she was beginning to spot subtle differences between his various scowls. He clearly disapproved of the brazen display of wealth, but there was something more than that in his gaze. He was muttering under his breath and she sensed that he was annoyed with himself. Was he jealous of all this wealth, despite himself?

‘An impressive haul,’ she said, smiling coyly at him.

He muttered and picked up his pace, stomping across the polished floor.

She laughed. If nothing else, she was becoming expert at needling him.

They were escorted across the entrance hall and on through a succession of increasingly impressive chambers until, finally, they reached a throne room. There was a broad oval dais at the far end, topped with three absurdly grand-looking chairs that each stood on a broad golden slab covered in runes. Gotrek and the others were led to the foot of the steps and left to stand before the central throne.

Brior removed his helmet with a hiss of escaping gas and stared at the finery.

Gotrek glowered at the empty seats. ‘Is he an engineer or an emperor?’

‘He’s a grand warden of the Solmund Company,’ replied Alrik sternly.

Brior tugged at his beard and smiled apologetically at Alrik before turning to Gotrek. ‘Captain Solmundsson has mining operations and trade fleets established in three different realms. He’s one of the most successful merchant lords in the city.’ He pointed out rows of elaborately wrought runes that covered the wall drapes. ‘The Solmund Company holds more trade contracts than any other business concern in history. We’re extremely honoured to have been granted an audience with him. He’s one of the most respect–’

Gotrek held up a hand. ‘What are you, his mother?’

Brior was about to reply but Gotrek silenced him with a glare, waving his axe at the throne. ‘Where is he?’

‘Captain Solmundsson knows you’re waiting,’ replied Alrik.

Gotrek stomped up the steps towards the thrones, swinging his axe. ‘Does he?’

‘Wait!’ Brior hurried after him, grabbing his arm, but Gotrek shrugged him off and strode towards the central throne. ‘Like everything in the realms.’ He tapped his axe against the throne and peered at the designs worked into it. ‘Looks reasonable until you get close. Whoever made this had too many thumbs.’

Alrik signalled to the guards and they approached the dais, guns raised.

‘Guests must wait at the foot of the steps.’ Alrik’s voice was taut. ‘Keep away from the throne.’

Gotrek raised an eyebrow. ‘Or what?’

Maleneth’s hand dropped to the hilts of her knives. It was incredible how quickly things could turn sour when Gotrek was involved.

Before the guards reached Gotrek, the sound of voices filtered into the hall, emerging from a doorway leading deeper into the palace.

Alrik clanged his hammer on the floor. ‘Resume your places.’

To Maleneth’s surprise, Gotrek did as requested and climbed down the steps to rejoin the group, glaring at the guards, who still had their guns trained on him.

The voices grew louder and one rang out above the others, speaking quickly and with great enthusiasm to the accompaniment of dozens of iron-shod boots clanging on a metal floor. Then, a few seconds later, a crowd of Kharadron deck officers entered the hall. They were all clad in a variation of Alrik’s bulky uniform, equally grand-looking but draped with pieces of scientific equipment. At the centre of the group, gesticulating furiously, was a Kharadron who was even more grandly attired than the others. His helmet had been forged to resemble the face of a duardin ancestor god and the eyeholes were framed by black gemstones. He wore the same baggy suit as the others but it was trimmed with silver, and around his neck was a cog-shaped medallion hung on a thick chain. Maleneth was in no doubt that this absurdly gilded duardin was Solmundsson.

Solmundsson paused at the entrance to the hall and held up a hand to one of his officers. ‘Three ships, you say?’

The officer had a long, forked black beard that hung outside his armour, and he was the largest Kharadron Maleneth had seen so far, almost as large as the Slayer. He towered over the other officers as he nodded at Solmundsson. ‘All destroyed. The storms are so fierce now and the grots attacked from the clouds. They’ve captured an ironclad and refitted it somehow so they can fly it. The moon’s almost full and there’s nothing the grots won’t attempt. Our ships went down before they could reach the seams, even the Zul-Maraz. Dozens of lives were lost.’

Solmundsson looked at the floor. ‘Damned grots. They get bolder by the day.’ Then he nodded and gripped the officer by the shoulder. ‘We will face losses like these, Thorrik. It’s inevitable. At least until Kazak-drung starts to wane. But we must not be cowed by the grot moon.’ He waved at the architecture. ‘Every inch of this is built of bravery and sacrifice. You know it, and they knew it. They knew the risks and they took them anyway.’

Thorrik nodded and replied sternly, ‘May the ancestors welcome them.’

‘May the ancestors welcome them,’ echoed Solmundsson, still gripping Thorrik’s shoulder. ‘You’re sure it was three ships?’

‘Yes, captain. Three. We have already contacted our underwriters and informed the guilds.’

‘But we sent four ships. There was a frigate.’

‘Aye, captain. The Brynduraz. We think it reached the seam.’

Solmundsson stared at him. ‘So the Brynduraz got through. Despite the greenskins. And where one can go, more may follow. There is great loss of life here but that is not the only story. We’re talking about the richest seam in the whole aetherstratus. Do you realise the significance of this? If we can harness that we could deal the greenskins a sore blow.’

‘We don’t know the Brynduraz got through, though, captain. We just have no record of it being destroyed by the grots.’

‘Then send more ships and find out. Ten. No, twenty. Repeat the process. Find the Brynduraz.’

Thorrik nodded, slowly.

‘There’s always a way, First Officer Thorrik,’ said Solmundsson.

Thorrik was about to reply when Gotrek strode over.

‘Is this going to take long?’

Solmundsson glanced at Gotrek, was about to ignore him, then looked back at him in shock, taking in his massive, tattooed frame and the metal in his chest. ‘The Slayer. And the rune.’ He waved his officers away and stepped closer. ‘I am Captain Solmundsson. And you are?’

‘Gotrek. Son of Gurni. From the Everpeak. Trachos over there is one of Sigmar’s hammer maidens and this smarmy backstabber is an aelf.’

Solmundsson looked surprised by Gotrek’s vitriol. Then he nodded his head in a slight bow and stepped closer, looking at the rune rather than Gotrek’s face. ‘Fascinating. I’ve never seen anything like it. And it…’ He looked at Gotrek. ‘Does it light up when you’re excited?’

Gotrek raised an eyebrow. ‘Excited?’

‘When you’re angry. Does it glow in the heat of battle?’

‘It does all manner of irritating things. Can you get it out?’

Solmundsson looked at the rune again, as though hypnotised. ‘Incredible. This is nothing like any of the Fyreslayer runes I’ve seen before.’ He reached out, his fingers just inches from the metal. ‘Yes, of course I can remove it. There is no ore, vapour or alloy that I cannot bend to my will.’

Gotrek looked at the gemstones on the captain’s armour. ‘And what do you charge for the bending of wills?’

‘Things of value rarely come cheap, Slayer, but I can rid you of this rune and I doubt you will find anyone else who can.’

The voice of Maleneth’s former mistress rushed through her. He might actually do this.

Maleneth stepped between Gotrek and Solmundsson, glaring down at the captain. ‘If you remove the rune we can give you nothing in return.’

Solmundsson removed his fierce-looking helmet to reveal a surprisingly young face. His beard was blond and short by duardin standards. His features were as blunt and craggy as any duardin’s, but his eyes shone with a playful enthusiasm. He smiled broadly and nodded at the rune. ‘You wish to be rid of this rune. I am happy to take it off your hands. No other payment is required.’

‘We do not wish to be rid of the rune!’ Maleneth spat. ‘It is the property of the Order of Azyr. It must be taken to Azyrheim. Not given away to someone who has no idea of its importance.’

Solmundsson laughed in a good-natured way. ‘It would appear that the rune’s owner has other ideas.’

‘You’re making a dangerous mistake.’ Maleneth waved at Trachos, who was watching the exchange from a few feet away. ‘Azyr is full of Stormhosts ready to turn on those who hinder Sigmar’s crusade. Do you want the God-King for an enemy?’

Solmundsson laughed again. ‘We’re the Kharadron. Strangers are just enemies we haven’t met yet. Outside of our guilds no one has our interests at heart. But we’re not talking about Sigmar’s possessions, are we?’ He looked at Gotrek. ‘Are you one of Sigmar’s soldiers? Do you serve in a Stormhost?’

Gotrek clenched his jaw.

‘I sense he does not.’ Solmundsson’s tone was still friendly, but he was clearly used to getting his own way. ‘Therefore, I see no reason why this Slayer and I may not do business as we see fit.’

‘It belongs to Sigmar.’ Maleneth’s fingers itched to grab one of the vials that nestled inside her leathers. A quick draught of poison would wipe that infuriating smile from his face.

‘And yet here it is, in the chest of your friend.’ Solmundsson looked over at Alrik. ‘Chief steward. Remind me, what does the statute of fiscal limitations in subclause eighty-seven-B of the Code have to say about the possession and sale of aetheric metal?’

Alrik replied without hesitation. ‘Possession of said artefacts confers ownership after more than six months have elapsed, unless expressly refuted by the sky-lords of the Geldraad.’

Solmundsson nodded and looked at Gotrek. ‘Would you say that rune has been in your chest for six months or longer?’

Gotrek’s lip curled. ‘A damn sight longer.’

Solmundsson spoke in soft, conciliatory tones, smiling at Maleneth. ‘There’s no need for an argument. There is no one in the realms better qualified to remove this rune. I shall stabilise it and then examine its composition. If it turns out that you’re right, and it may be of use in Sigmar’s campaigns, then I will barter with your superiors. Your enemies are my enemies. And everything is for sale at the right price. I’m not in the business of hoodwinking anyone, aelf. I always aim to be clear. If I remove this rune, it will be mine to do with as I please.’

Maleneth turned to Gotrek. ‘Think about what you’re doing. You know the power of that rune. Are you really going to hand it over to someone you’ve just met? Like a worthless trinket? Can you really just give it away?’

‘Happily.’

Solmundsson looked intrigued. ‘Why? Has it poisoned you? Is it making you ill?’

‘It’s poisoned my mind, beardling. It has made it so I can’t think clearly, and when I try to fight, it becomes worse.’

‘It adds to your strength?’

‘And turns me into a fool. Makes it so I can’t recognise friend from foe.’

Solmundsson nodded. ‘Then you must let me help. I can rid you of your curse, Gotrek, son of Gurni. Science can always find a way.’ He waved to a servant. ‘Prepare rooms and see that my guests have all that they require.’

‘Rooms?’ Gotrek frowned. ‘I didn’t come here to be your bloody guest, endrinkuli. If you can get this thing out then do it. Or I’ll look elsewhere.’

Solmundsson looked taken aback. Then he laughed. ‘Very well. No time like the present.’ He gave some quick, whispered orders to his officers then spoke to the officer who had been talking to him when he first entered. ‘Have the ships prepared, First Officer Thorrik. This damned moon will not stop us. The grots have taken too much already. We cannot let any more seams go. But do not let the ships leave until I am done with our friends here. I intend to accompany you myself this time.’

‘Captain.’ Thorrik’s voice was brittle. ‘You can trust me.’

‘I do not doubt it, First Officer Thorrik. But I want to be there when we finally break through.’

Thorrik hesitated, then saluted and strode from the throne room, heading off with all the other officers.

‘And who are you?’ asked Solmundsson, noticing Brior standing a few feet away, looking terrified.

Brior stammered and stumbled over his words until Alrik came to his rescue, announcing him in disdainful tones. ‘The innkeeper Brior Briornsson. He alerted us to the rune’s existence, your honour.’ As Alrik spoke, he looked firmly into the middle distance, avoiding Solmundsson’s gaze.

Solmundsson clapped Brior firmly on the back. ‘Good work!’ He waved a servant over. ‘Have him flown home.’

Brior finally managed to speak. ‘Captain. There is the small matter of my personal recompense. I was the one who–’

Solmundsson held up a hand. ‘This is a company matter now.’

Brior gaped in shock as he was steered back towards the exit.

Solmundsson looked back at Gotrek, Maleneth and Trachos, clearly intrigued by all three of them. Then he clapped his hands together and nodded to a doorway on the opposite side of the hall. He waved Alrik and his guards on and strode across the throne room after them, calling out commands as he went, sending underlings scattering in various directions.

‘Trachos,’ hissed Maleneth, alerting him to the fact that they were leaving. ‘We have to stop this.’

‘Stop what?’

Maleneth resisted the urge to stab him. ‘Stop these Kharadron leeches stealing the master rune.’

Trachos stared at her, then at Gotrek, who was already halfway across the throne room. ‘No need.’

‘What do you mean? If we lose that rune neither of us will ever be able to return to Azyrheim. Use whatever’s left in your skull. We can’t let the rune fall into the hands of this duardin. Who knows what harm he might do to the thing while removing it. The rune was not made by aether-science – it was forged by the deranged magic of Fyreslayer runesmiths. Solmundsson has no idea how powerful it is.’

‘Exactly. He has no idea what it is, Maleneth.’

Maleneth hissed in exasperation and, seeing she would get no help from the Stormcast Eternal, hurried after Gotrek and the others.

They entered a long hallway lined with statue-filled alcoves. Each statue, rather than showing a figure, was sculpted to resemble a ship in the Solmund fleet – ironclads and frigates, mining vessels and cargo ships, all rendered in such detail that Maleneth could see crewmembers on the decks.

Solmundsson glanced back and noticed her looking. ‘The Solmund Company has one of the largest sky-fleets in all of Chamon. And we have plans for expansion on a scale no one has witnessed before in this or any other realm.’

Maleneth shook her head. ‘I was just wondering how such ugly tubs manage to stay aloft.’

Solmundsson waited for her to catch up. ‘Forgive me, I think I missed your name.’

‘Maleneth Witchblade. And I’m not impressed by any of this. I’ve met your kind before. You’re deluded. You think you can make your way in life through industry and gumption, with no need of divine influence. You think energy and optimism will save you.’

Solmundsson shrugged. ‘Optimism is a good start, wouldn’t you say?’

Up ahead, Gotrek let out a derisive snort.

They reached a pair of double doors designed to resemble the rearing prow of a sky-ship. From the other side came the sound of hammering and banging. While Solmundsson’s aides rattled keys as big as their forearms, Maleneth leant closer to him. ‘Despair serves no purpose but you’ll feel it all the same if Sigmar’s Stormhosts fail. A cheery disposition won’t preserve you from daemons.’

Solmundsson smiled and gestured for her to step through the opening doors as the din rushed out to meet them. ‘This might.’

She entered what looked like a cross between an armoury and a laboratory. Everywhere she looked there were workshops, braziers, furnaces and anvils as duardin worked on weapons and engines, half hidden by plumes of smoke and embers.

Solmundsson looked around proudly. ‘If the greenskins find a way to scale the clouds and reach Barak-Urbaz they will find us waiting, and armed with the latest aethermatic guns. All the wealth we generate is being invested here, building and developing weaponry that is more advanced than anything else in the realms.’

Gotrek and Maleneth shared a glance and, again, she had the worrying feeling that they were thinking alike. The Kharadron were impressive but complacent. As she and the Slayer crossed the realms they had seen first-hand how tenuous the bulwark against Chaos was. Solmundsson was deluded if he thought greenskins were the only threat.

They passed through the crowded workshops and descended into the lower levels of the building. Down here, the corridors resembled the companionways of a ship – riveted metal tubes punctuated every few dozen feet by thick, wheel-handled doors. As they went lower, the sound of engines grew so loud that Solmundsson had to yell to be heard. ‘You may feel some discomfort as we enter the sublimation chambers.’

Maleneth was about to ask what he meant when she realised that an odd sensation was affecting her balance. The floor and walls seemed oddly fluid, as though they were melting. Gotrek pounded on, oblivious, but she noticed that Trachos was affected too, stumbling and reaching out to steady himself.

Solmundsson and the other Kharadron all donned their helmets and checked the seals on their flight suits, and as they passed through another circular door, Solmundsson’s guards took rubber overalls from the walls and offered them to Maleneth, Gotrek and Trachos.

She raised an eyebrow, indicating how unlikely the thing was to fit her slender frame, designed as it was for someone who was only four and a half feet tall. Gotrek waved the thing away too, and Trachos seemed to have no comprehension of what it was.

Solmundsson hesitated, shrugged, then ordered his guards to open the next door.

Maleneth gripped the wall as she entered a room so peculiar it took her a moment to understand it. It was a large circular chamber filled with lenses. Everywhere she looked, curved discs refracted light pouring down from somewhere high overhead. The floor of the chamber was like a huge brass dial, clicking as it turned, and the lenses were suspended above it on a framework of gears and dials. As the lenses turned, they cast rainbow colours through the air.

Gotrek, Maleneth and Trachos hesitated, taking in the spectacle of the place. Maleneth caught Gotrek’s eye and saw that he was as impressed as she was.

‘They might not be complete morons,’ muttered the Slayer.

Maleneth shrugged, but she could not quite bring herself to disagree.

The noise of the engines was deafening and Solmundsson had to shout even louder as he directed them across the chamber. ‘These are not the machines we need for your rune. Let me show you the way.’

Kharadron endrineers were gathered in several parts of the room, adjusting mechanisms. Some of them saluted Solmundsson as he headed to the centre of the chamber. He led Maleneth and the others to what looked like an egg-shaped cage. It was twice as tall as Maleneth and the gaps between the bars were filled with panes of glass so polished that she could barely look at them. The cage was fixed to a metal base riveted to the centre of the chamber. There were endrineers and aether-khemists gathered inside and outside the device, and at the sight of Solmundsson they downed their tools and rushed over to greet him. He nodded as they relayed a torrent of information that, to Maleneth’s ears, sounded like jargon. She still felt oddly drunk, and by this point it was starting to make her feel quite ill. She knew she might only have moments to save the rune, but she felt so nauseous and confused she was struggling to even stand up.

‘Gotrek!’ she managed to cry. ‘That rune came to you for a reason. You were meant to have it.’

Gotrek’s laughter boomed out over the sound of the machines. ‘I thought I was just a barrier to your success, aelf. Am I your saviour now?’

Flattering the oaf only made Maleneth feel even sicker, but she had to try something. And invoking his pride seemed worth a try. ‘You found your way to that rune from another world. It can’t have been by accident. You were fated to have it. You can’t simply discard it like an unwanted gift.’

‘It is unwanted. And I won’t be ruled by it.’ Gotrek looked at Solmundsson. ‘What do I do?’ He approached the walls of the cage. ‘Is this the machine?’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘The frame is merely a precaution. The real treasure is inside. A volatising lens! The only one in existence.’ He tapped the glass, pointing to a crystal inside the cage. It was a pyramid of blue glass, no bigger than a fist, and it seemed underwhelming in comparison to the monstrous machines that surrounded it. ‘Isn’t she glorious? Based on a design of my own invention. I call it the “burning glass”! Applied correctly, it is able to separate one substrate from another!’ He looked at Gotrek. ‘With that lens, I can remove the rune. Is that what you want? There will be some… discomfort.’

Gotrek peered into the cage at the crystal. ‘Do it.’

Solmundsson nodded to one of the flight-suited technicians, who then dashed across the hall, calling out commands and waving to his colleagues.

Do something, you imbecile.

The voice in Maleneth’s head added to the nausea caused by the forest of lenses and she slumped against Trachos, who stopped her from falling by grabbing her arm.

‘We have to act,’ she said, staring up at him as she tried to stand.

He shook his head, impassive as ever. ‘The duardin have no power over Sigmar or his servants.’

Maleneth cursed and shoved away from him, managing to stay upright as she staggered over to the egg-shaped cage. Alrik and his guards were locked in conversation with the technicians and Solmundsson was showing Gotrek some aspect of the machine. Maleneth circled the device, and while everyone was occupied, she took the silver worm from her pocket and looked at it. It wriggled in her grip, still active.

Quickly!

She shook her head. This is different. Disabling those other devices just made them harmless. But if this one malfunctions it could kill him.

And? Remember your faith, Witchblade. Remember who you are. If he dies, he dies. It does not matter. But you are the blood of Khaine.

And I serve the Order of Azyr. Or at least I will if I get this damned rune back to Azyrheim.

I don’t care what oaths you’ve sworn to Sigmar, you’re a bride of Khaine. A scion of the murder cults. And you certainly do not serve that sweaty oaf. What matters now is that Solmundsson does not get his hands on the rune.

Maleneth hated to admit it, but her mistress was right. Without the rune she was nothing. She leant closer and dropped the silver worm onto the frame.

As though in response, the hall shuddered and the drone of engines shifted up in pitch. Kharadron were rushing in every direction, pouring oil into braziers and hammering pieces of ore. Clouds of smoke rolled through the chamber, obscuring most of the rotating lenses and giving Maleneth a moment in which she could work unseen. Knowing that the inhibiter might not be enough, she took her knife to some of the cables and pipes attached to the frame, cutting through anything that looked important. Then she backed away.

For a moment she felt relief, then as the fumes cleared she felt a cold dread, staring at the pipework where she had planted her device. Incredibly, she realised that she did not want Gotrek to die. It was absurd, but when she imagined him dead, she felt a rush of alarm.

Maleneth walked back over to the egg-shaped cage, but at that moment, the engines surged again and lights began blinking through the smoke, flashing through the facets of the crystal.

Stay back, hissed her mistress.

‘Stay back!’ howled Alrik as he and his guards formed a circle around the machine.

‘Wait!’ yelled Maleneth, but her words were drowned out as light spilled from inside the cage. To her horror, she saw that Gotrek was already inside, strapped to an upright gurney with the crystal lens near his chest.

‘Keep away!’ cried Solmundsson, rushing towards her. ‘Do not touch the volatising engine!’

When Maleneth refused to stop, Alrik’s guards raised their guns and took aim.

‘It would be dangerous for you,’ explained Solmundsson as he reached her and steered her back towards where everyone else was waiting.

‘What about him?’ she demanded. ‘He’s inside the cage.’

‘He will be given an elixir that will induce an artificial sleep.’ Solmundsson indicated a flight-suited endrineer who was entering the cage, stepping with great care and carrying a copper cup. ‘In such a state his mind and body will be unaffected by the process.’

Upon reaching Gotrek, the endrineer held the cup out to Gotrek’s mouth.

The Slayer was reluctant at first, glaring at the drink. Then he nodded and let the technician hold it to his lips.

Once Gotrek had emptied the cup, the endrineer stepped back to observe him.

After a few seconds, Gotrek shrugged and looked out through the cage’s glass walls.

The endrineer hesitated, then left the machine and approached Solmundsson. ‘He swallowed the whole draft, your honour, but he’s still awake.’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘That was enough to stun a fire drake.’ He thought for a moment, then spoke to another technician. ‘Give him another,’ he said finally, looking back at the endrineer.

‘Is that safe, captain?’

‘Look at him. It’s safe.’

The endrineer nodded, fetched more of the liquid from another duardin and headed back into the cage.

Gotrek swallowed it without question this time and even gave a vague nod of approval, but still nothing happened.

Solmundsson laughed and looked at Maleneth. ‘Grungni’s beard. Where did you find him?’

‘You have to stop this,’ demanded Maleneth. ‘You have no right to endanger that rune.’

Solmundsson thought for a moment, then nodded and waved at the endrineers near the machine. ‘Back away. Close the doors.’

Maleneth spat a curse and drew her knife, only to find a circle of guns pointing at her.

Solmundsson smiled. ‘It’s understandable that you feel concern for your friend, but if he’s strong enough to resist the elixir, he’ll be strong enough to survive the volatising process.’

Maleneth counted the guards and gauged her chances. Kharadron aethermatic guns were superior to the flintlock variety she had seen humans use. She might take a few of the guards down, but the others would blow her apart before she got anywhere near Gotrek. She cursed her impulsiveness. You made me do this, she thought.

Happy to help.

Maleneth was about to threaten Solmundsson when a fan of energy burst from the crystal pyramid and drenched the room in light. As the beams refracted and flashed in Maleneth’s eyes, the engines grew louder and the floor shook with more violence.

As the light radiated from the cage Gotrek became a silhouette, dark and hulking at the centre of the blaze.

‘That lens is a marvel!’ cried Solmundsson. ‘It’s my masterpiece. No bigger than my hand but powerful enough to defy physics. It can separate element from element and ore from ore.’

As Solmundsson spoke, his assistants were busying themselves around the cage, adjusting the angles of lenses and tightening parts of the iron framework.

As the light grew brighter, Maleneth realised it was burning most fiercely at Gotrek’s chest. It looked like a star trapped in his lungs. The energy spread from Gotrek and shimmered across the hall.

‘Are you ready?’ cried Solmundsson, addressing a duardin who was operating a machine that looked like a metal coffin.

The endrineer nodded.

Solmundsson gave Maleneth a final, proud smile then brought his hand down in a chopping motion.

The cage exploded.

Chapter Four

Dunngol sprinted through the darkness, clutching Sigmar to his chest, racing across the silvery hills and making for the line of trees at the far side of the valley. As he ran, he kept his gaze fixed on the ground, refusing to think about the Hexmoon. He could feel it watching him, its sneering eyes burning into his neck as he stumbled and scrambled over the rocks.

‘Not far,’ he gasped, clutching Sigmar a little tighter. The doll smelled of dust and straw but he could feel the God-King’s presence. He could feel it as clearly as he could his own pulse hammering in his temples.

Dunngol had not risked taking many belongings from the longhouse. He needed to move fast. But the elders had insisted he at least take his longsword and his grandfather’s old shield. If the grots spotted him, he was ready to fight. He would not stop. He would not let the moon take the rest of the villagers. Too many of them had already died. A memory made his breath catch in his throat and he stumbled to a halt, his mind filling with the terrible scenes of the last few days. Since the grots came he had watched his entire family die. Death was never far away in Ayadah, but this was different. Some had been killed by the grots, but that was not the worst of it. The most horrific attack had come from the Hexmoon. He pictured its first victim, screaming as she died. They looked like boils at first, but then blossomed into plump, grinning faces – miniature likenesses of the Hexmoon that covered her body, growing larger until her screams were strangled and finally ceased, her face hidden by yellow mushroom caps, grinning as they spiralled from her broken body. She was the first of many. Only those who locked themselves in the longhouse survived, huddled around Sigmar and howling prayers, trying to drown out the screams. The Kharadron would come, they said. The Kharadron would come. The duardin needed the ore that the villagers mined and they would protect their investment. With their science and their machines they had always kept the village safe. This would be no different.

Then, as the days ground on, the curse even took hold in the longhouse, warping the congregation’s flesh and leaving a heap of broken corpses around the altar. Some grew deranged, praying to other gods. Even praying to the Hexmoon itself. And then, finally, the elders saw the truth. Someone had to take word to the Kharadron Overlords. Someone had to leave the longhouse. Even though the surrounding hills were full of grots, someone had to leave the village. They had not needed to say Dunngol’s name. Only he knew the forest and the lands that lay beyond the mines.

He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the memory, then continued running across the rocky valley floor. He reached the far side and began climbing, keeping his thoughts on the forest and the hope it contained.

Giggles echoed through the valley.

‘No,’ whispered Dunngol. The grots had seen him. Or smelled him. He glanced back down into the valley and saw small, hooded shapes scrambling over the rocks. They were no bigger than children but they moved with shocking speed, cackling and laughing. Blades flashed in the moonlight, and as the grots looked up at him he caught glimpses of their faces – gaunt, leering faces that resembled the moon gliding overhead.

Dunngol whispered urgent prayers to Sigmar as he carried the doll up the rocks, cutting his hands and scraping his knees in his frenzy to get away. He could feel the moon laughing at his pain and fear. At first he had thought the moon simply resembled a face, but he now knew the truth. It was not a moon at all. It was a daemon. Sent to test their faith. Sent to purge all those who had not armoured their souls.

He reached the summit and ran towards the trees, crossing a broad hollow, desperate to escape the dreadful light. Animals scattered as he entered the gloom, vaulting fallen trunks and scrambling over ditches. He ran blind for several minutes, not caring about a route. Only caring that he left the grots behind. The sound of giggling faded. He whispered to Sigmar, looking into the doll’s face. ‘They can’t follow. No one knows these woods like me.’

He paused and leant against a mossy tree trunk, breathing hard as he tried to get his bearings. Before moving into the village he had lived in these woods. It was many years since he had risked returning, but after staring through the shadows, he spotted one of the paths he had played on as a child. He kissed the straw doll and hurried on, filled with an odd sense that he had slipped back in time. As he went deeper into the woods, he began to hear the grots again, their shrill voices echoing through the trees as they tried to follow him, but he could tell they were lost, heading in every direction but the one he had taken. On he went, running for hours down winding paths and clambering through bracken until the voices faded again.

Finally, after hours of fleeing through the forest, he broke from the trees and ran back out into the moonlight. Up ahead, the land ended at a sheer drop – a cliff that looked down over a vast, bottomless chasm. He whispered a prayer of thanks to the doll and hurried towards the building perched at the cliff edge.

The dome was as strange as he remembered. Rather than thatch and mud it was built from rune-scored metal. The walls were covered in tubes and pieces of machinery, and at the front of the dome there was a broad platform that hung out over the drop. In his youth, Dunngol had watched fearfully as the Kharadron docked their huge, gleaming sky-ships, unloading crates and barrels and taking ore mined by the villagers. The old duardin who guarded the dome was called Nothri, and sometimes he used to give Dunngol scraps of food and pieces of clothing. Dunngol had not seen Nothri for years but he was sure he would remember him. There was no ship there now, but Nothri was at home. Dunngol could tell by the smoke billowing from a flue on the side of the dome.

He hurried onto the platform and found that the door was open. He dared not call out for fear of being heard by the grots, so he crept quietly into the building, hurrying through the rooms.

At the back of the dome he found Nothri, surrounded by crates and sleeping on a bunk. Immediately, he sensed that something was wrong. Nothri would never sleep with the dome left unlocked. Then he noticed something else. The smoke he had seen from outside was not coming from a hearth or a brand – it was coming from Nothri himself.

‘He’s burning,’ whispered Dunngol, but even as he said it, he knew it was wrong. The room was deathly cold. There was no fire.

He edged slowly towards the bunk, his panic growing.

He reached out and gently turned Nothri over.

The duardin collapsed, crumbling into a cloud as his clothes slumped onto the bunk. It was not smoke.

‘Spores,’ gasped Dunngol.

Nothri’s remains were a mass of lemon-coloured mushrooms, all with the moon’s face, all grinning at him as they exhaled more spores. Dunngol coughed and spluttered as they filled his lungs.

He screamed and raced from the dome. Tears streamed down his face as he felt something start to move and grow, deep in his chest.

As he ran he realised he had left Sigmar lying in the hut. His howls echoed as he raced back into the forest, repeating and multiplying until they sounded like many voices, all laughing.

Chapter Five

Maleneth fell back, gasping, as shards of crystal cut her skin. Her breath exploded from her lungs as she landed heavily on the floor, blinded. Then, as the light faded, she began to see the mayhem her inhibiter had caused. The explosion had torn holes in the walls, and in some places the superstructure had split, causing the building to slump. Acrid fumes blew into the hall, whistling through the shattered walls. Everywhere she looked, people were sprawled on the floor, clutching wounds or struggling to stand. Some were dead, their rubber flight suits cut to ribbons, but it was not the Kharadron Maleneth was concerned about.

‘Gotrek,’ she croaked, lifting herself onto one elbow and looking towards the centre of the hall. Where the cage had been there was now a smouldering crater. There was no sign of the machine or Gotrek, just a gaping hole looking down over the building’s lower levels.

‘I told you,’ said Trachos, striding through the whirling dust and helping her to her feet. ‘They can’t touch the rune.’

‘Idiot,’ she muttered. ‘This was my doing.’

Trachos stared at her.

She shook her head. ’One of us had to do something. We have to find–’

Before she could finish, the floor lurched and there was a screech of rending metal.

‘To the exit!’ cried Alrik, staggering towards them. His helmet was gone and his beard was soaked with blood. ‘The walls are giving way!’

Everyone began struggling through the mess, trying to reach the doors, but in several places the floor was already impassable, either split apart or littered with broken machine parts.

Maleneth leant on Trachos, and together they walked in the opposite direction to everyone else, heading back towards the centre of the blast.

‘Gotrek!’ cried Maleneth. ‘Khaine, where are you?’ She felt a rising panic as they reached the hole in the floor. The lower levels were also collapsing.

Solmundsson staggered through the wreckage towards them and shoved them back the way they had come. He was gripping the glass pyramid in his hand, staring at it. ‘I can’t understand it. It makes no sense. It should have worked.’

‘We need to find Gotrek,’ said Trachos, walking off. He began picking through the wreckage. ‘He will be here somewhere.’

Solmundsson shook his head, still staring at the crystal. ‘We have to go. The Slayer will not have…’ He raised the burning glass, peering through its facets. ‘The volatising beam broke loose. I’ve never seen anything like it.’ His voice shook. ‘The Fyreslayer rune was too powerful. It resisted. How is that possible? It must have repelled the beam. Almost as though it were defending itself.’

Maleneth decided not to reveal the real reason for the lens’ failure. ‘If the process was unsuccessful where’s the rune?’

They all staggered as another section of wall crashed down, kicking up clouds of dust and powdered glass.

Solmundsson pocketed the lens then nodded weakly at the rent in the floor.

‘Captain!’ called Alrik from the far side of hall. ‘We have to leave!’

‘We can search the lower levels,’ gasped Solmundsson, waving for Maleneth to follow as he headed away from the crater. ‘But we need to get out of here.’

They joined the general rush of figures racing for the exit, but when they reached the doors there was no sign of Trachos. Maleneth rolled her eyes as she saw that he had paused halfway across the chamber to help some wounded Kharadron.

‘He’s a noble soul,’ said Solmundsson, pausing to look back at the Stormcast Eternal.

Maleneth smiled sweetly. ‘He’s an idiot.’ Then she limped off down the hallway, determined to reach the rune before anyone else. The Kharadron had guns but she had subtler methods of killing. She might salvage something from this disaster yet. As she ran with the others, dodging falling pillars and toppling statues, she wondered if the entire complex was about to come down. The reverberations from the initial blast seemed to be growing rather than fading. As she dodged the falling debris, she realised that the knot in her stomach was not concern for her own safety. Infuriatingly, she was thinking about Gotrek. After all her thoughts of murdering him, she now felt a chill at the thought that she might have succeeded.

By the time she staggered out into the fume-filled courtyard, there were hundreds of Solmund Company workers pouring from the building. Maleneth ran down the steps and did not pause to look back until she was a hundred feet away. The snarling face on the front of the building had slumped to the left, ripping through several windows and causing one of the largest cooling towers to sag in the opposite direction.

Maleneth flinched as a shadow rushed towards her.

She whirled around to see Gotrek holding a support strut that would have crushed her if he had not caught it.

He let it clatter to the ground and nodded at the face on the front of the building. ‘If that thing comes down they’re all buggered.’

Maleneth stared at him, thinking about what she would now look like if he had not saved her by catching the strut. She could not quite bring herself to thank him though. ‘You don’t look any worse than last time I saw you,’ she said.

Gotrek spat. ‘That lens couldn’t hurt the feelings of an aelf. I thought Solmundsson–’ He had to pause as more metal clattered down. ‘I thought Solmundsson might be less of an idiot than the others, but I was wrong. He’s just as bad.’

‘None of these people have anything to offer you. They can’t influence the Blackhammer’s Master Rune for good or ill, but they will continue to rob us blind. We should get out of Barak-Urbaz. Surely you can see that now?’

Gotrek looked at her in silence. It was one of those rare occasions when his mask slipped and she caught a glimpse of how weary he was. How wounded. Not a physical hurt but something deeper. His gaze hardened and the snarl returned to his mouth. ‘One way or another, this rune is coming out. I won’t be its slave.’

She nodded, feeling almost as weary as he looked, but before she could reply a new sound flooded the courtyard – the thunder of turbines and the roar of engines. They looked around to see a sky-ship landing at the centre of the courtyard, whipping up dust and causing the people fleeing the building to back away, shielding their faces.

‘Different colours,’ said Gotrek, and Maleneth saw that he was right – the ship was not painted in the livery of the Solmund Company. As it landed, the crew that poured down its gangplanks and mag-ladders wore a different uniform to Solmundsson’s soldiers – crimson flight suits with bronze-coloured helmets and weapons.

‘They don’t look like a rescue party,’ she muttered, noticing that most of the crew had raised their weapons as they rushed towards the mayhem. She jumped to her feet and took out her knives.

‘You looked pleased,’ said Gotrek, still seated on the rubble.

‘What?’ She looked back at him.

‘When you saw me. You were pleased I was alive.’ There was no mockery in Gotrek’s tone, or pleasure for that matter. Only surprise.

‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ She waved a knife at his chest. ‘I was pleased you hadn’t destroyed the rune.’

He studied her in silence, his expression unreadable. Yet again, she had the troubling sensation that his savagery was a mask. But a mask for what?

‘Who are you, Gotrek?’ she snapped. ‘What’s actually going on in that ugly head?’

He stared through her, speaking to the drifting fumes, as though on the cusp of a great revelation. ‘I wonder what was in that drink. It wasn’t too bad.’

‘Join the others!’ cried one of the crimson-clad Kharadron, rushing towards them.

Gotrek scowled and raised his axe. Without thinking, Maleneth dropped into place beside him, knives raised, guarding the spot that his dead friend used to protect. It was a role that already felt familiar and right. Sometimes she felt that she was the one being possessed by the past, not Gotrek.

‘Who’re you giving orders to?’ snarled Gotrek, glaring at the approaching group with such force that they staggered to a halt and looked at each other for reassurance. There was a clattering sound as they raised their guns.

‘Try me,’ growled Gotrek. His beard bristled and he began testing the weight of his axe, slapping it against his palm. A low, snarling sound rumbled in his chest.

Maleneth’s blood surged as she sensed Gotrek’s rage growing. She could feel him edging towards an explosion and she revelled in the thought of impending violence. It would be good to finally show the Kharadron what she thought of them. Then she hesitated. There were thirty, perhaps forty of them. She turned to Gotrek. ‘Is this a good idea?’

Gotrek spat on the ground. ‘It’s a bloody great idea.’

The duardin soldiers were advancing cautiously, guns trained on Gotrek, and Maleneth realised that Gotrek was moments away from one of his berserk states. The Kharadron sensed it too. They looked edgy and unsure. They would shoot first and think about the consequences later. She battled to dampen her own bloodlust so that she could avert disaster. ‘These people are not your enemy, Gotrek.’ She turned to face him, trying to sound as though she cared about what happened to the Kharadron. ‘Remember what you said on the Sigmaron Star. Honour and ancestors, remember. Would killing these people be honourable?’

Gotrek ignored her, then cursed as he noticed that the rune in his chest was shimmering. He let the head of his axe clang to the floor and muttered.

‘Join the others over there,’ said the leader of the soldiers, waving his gun at a crowd gathering nearing the sky-ship.

Gotrek stared at him.

The soldier took a step backwards, his gun rattling in his grip.

Gotrek grunted in disgust. But then he did as requested, trudging through falling debris towards the crowd.

They were still thirty feet from the ship when Solmundsson spotted Gotrek. He rushed over, flanked by Alrik and dozens of Kharadron guards. He shook his head as he saw the rune still intact. ‘Not a scratch.’

‘Captain Solmundsson?’ cried one of the guards.

‘Yes?’

‘I have orders from the council. We are to accompany you to Admiralty Hall. Along with the…’ The soldier hesitated. ‘Along with your guests.’

Solmundsson was not wearing his helmet and Maleneth noticed a flicker of pain pass across his face as he watched the explosions on the far side of the courtyard. Then he nodded stiffly, regaining his composure. ‘Of course. I was already intending to bring news of my latest discovery. Is the council in session?’

‘The admirals and guildmasters have been summoned to an emergency hearing by the Lord Admiral himself.’ The soldier looked at Gotrek. ‘To discuss recent developments.’

Gotrek barged past the soldier and marched up to Solmundsson. ‘I’m not interested in your bloody council meetings. You told me you could get this thing out.’

Rather than being cowed by Gotrek’s fierce tone, Solmundsson smiled at him. ‘It’s far more powerful than I imagined. The Fyreslayer runemasters have surpassed themselves.’

Gotrek was about to yell something but Solmundsson continued quickly, still smiling. ‘I have an idea. But I will need the written approval of the admiralty and the guildmasters.’ He waved at the sky-ship looming over them. ‘So this emergency council is perfectly timed.’ He clapped Gotrek on the shoulder. ‘Perhaps the ancestor gods are watching over us after all? Perhaps Grungni has–’

Gotrek grabbed Solmundsson’s neck armour. ‘Grungni won’t help you, beardling, if you let me down.’

There was a rattling sound as the Kharadron turned their guns on Gotrek.

Gotrek leant closer to Solmundsson. ‘I’m not known for my tolerance.’

The captain maintained his cheerful smile. ‘There’s always a way, Gotrek. Trust me.’

Maleneth tensed. This was exactly the kind of comment that could result in a beheading. To her surprise, Gotrek seemed wrong-footed by the captain’s confidence. The Slayer grunted dismissively but backed away and made no move to attack Solmundsson. Maleneth was starting to see how Solmundsson had managed to reach such a high rank at such a young age.

Solmundsson strode up a gangplank onto the sky-ship, carrying himself with such a confident swagger that it looked like he had summoned the ship himself. Meanwhile, behind him, another section of his palace collapsed, filling the air with glowing shards.

Chapter Six

‘We needs a meetin’,’ said Scragfang, struggling to suppress the hysteria boiling through his innards. ‘Da whole Gobbapalooza.’ He licked his lips, shocked by the ideas worming through his mind. Could he go through with something so big? He remembered the certainty in the moon’s voice and nodded. ‘We need ta get da whole mob ta Slathermere.’

‘Wozzit mean?’ Mangleback scuttled through the mire, squelching through the marsh. ‘That song, wozzit mean?’ Mangleback’s expression was devious, as though he were amused by a private joke. ‘Drippin’ clagg?’

‘Drippin’ clagg. It means I’m gonna bring the Everdank down on Barak-Urbaz. It means summat big’s comin’. Big news for me. Dat’s wot.’ He frowned. ‘It’ll take a while ta get da others. They’re all over Slathermere.’

Mangleback draped a reassuring stem over Scragfang’s shoulder. ‘No need ta worry. I ’ad a sense this’d be big. I sent word. They’re all comin’.’

‘They’re already on their way?’

‘You’re not the only one touched by the Gloomspite. I see fings too. I saw you was on to summat big an’ I let the others know. Told ’em you’d ’ave summat important to announce.’

Scragfang shoved the tentacle away. ‘Idiot! They’ll blab.’ He stamped furiously in the mud. ‘And if they’ve blabbed, da Loonking probably already knows. An ’e’ll want to know why I’d keep a secret from him.’ Scragfang’s voice rose to a screech. ‘Wot ’ave ya done? I’d never have even thought of this if it wasn’t for you.’

Mangleback hugged him again. ‘I ain’t that stupid. I told them it’d be in their interests if no one knew nuffin. They pricked up their ears at that. Dey won’t wanna risk sharing anything they could keep for themselves.’

Scragfang took a deep breath and nodded, slightly reassured. That was true – the rest of the Gobbapalooza would happily keep secrets if they thought it was to their advantage.

‘Who’d ya invite?’

‘Boglob. Stinkeye. Lord Zogdrakk.’

‘Zogdrakk? Really?’ Scragfang grimaced.

‘Funds, Scrag, ’e’s got da funds.’

‘’E gets on my wick.’ Scragfang clambered up the side of the valley with Mangleback hurrying after him. ‘All that “thou” and “one” and stuff.’ The ground was springy and moist, and as Scragfang climbed, the Asylum stirred, sensing prey. Blusher tufts and mucus caps popped from the gloop, eyes blinking, trying to lasso him with tendrils. Scragfang barely registered the attacks. Since being moonstruck, there was little in the Gibbermarsh that could touch him. Which was why the Loonking sought him out – which was why he was so trusted. At the thought of the Loonking’s cruel face Scragfang faltered, wondering, again, if he really dared to attempt this ruse.

A candle-scab rushed towards him through the rain, gills rippling as it stooped to engulf his head.

Scragfang howled a muffled curse, choking on mucus as he lashed out with his loonblade. The knife cut easily through the downy flesh. The candle-scab gurgled and tumbled away, clutching its wound, making a mournful burbling sound.

‘Try it!’ screamed Scragfang, turning on his heel and waving his loonblade at the shapes shuffling towards him. The Asylum was always hungry. Every piece of fungus wanted to grow and consume. An outsider would not survive an hour in its brackish swamps, but Scragfang knew how to handle himself. His voice was shrill. ‘I’ll cutcha ta pieces!’

His blade spilled cool light, revealing the fungal host gathered around him. Think-cups were hovering over his head, gossamer wings whirring as they circled, and crested stinkhorns were stomping through the muck, their cyclopean eyes staring hungrily. And behind them were even larger predators. There was a scryer’s saddle, like a scabby, mobile hill with a mouth, and a whole herd of scud plates, spinning through the mist, scattering brain milk as they twirled through the air.

Scragfang nodded, his resolve hardening. They all sensed that he was destined for greatness. They wanted a taste of destiny. He took some death parasols from his bag and gulped the mushrooms down, relishing the earthy taste. Then, as his attackers swarmed closer, he spat a curse and sliced his knife through the air. Silver flames burst from the mud, enveloping the shapes that surrounded him. The think-cups popped like fireworks, hurling pulp. The others ignited in equally spectacular fashion, and for a few seconds Scragfang was surrounded by a storm of gills and stems. When the flames died down to a pale, flickering glow, Scragfang strode on with Mangleback scurrying close behind.

They headed out across the marsh, keeping their heads low and their pace quick. Nowhere in the Asylum was truly exposed. The Loonking used it to grow his scryshrooms and plot his wars, so he kept it well hidden. The roof was always overhead, jagged and moist, but still, of all the places Scragfang had to visit, the marsh was the biggest. It spread out for miles in every direction and the roof seemed unnaturally high. It made him feel like he was out under the stars, at the mercy of the wind and the open sky.

They climbed the hill on the far side and were met by the sight of his beloved Slathermere. The upper levels were carved from the still-living head of a gargant. And not just any gargant. All gargants were colossal, but this thing must have been like a mountain. Its grimacing head dominated the marsh. Its skin was covered in firemould and it radiated cool light, like a moon that had broken the surface of a pool. Half the grots in Gibbermarsh called Slathermere their home. Beneath its shimmering bulk there were miles of twisting tunnels, caves, boltholes and underground pools, all teeming with exotic fungi. It was one of the most crowded locations in the whole Asylum. With so many clans living together, fights were a common occurrence, but no one was ever foolish enough to tangle with the Loonking’s most trusted finker and Scragfang lived in relative peace. Slathermere was the first place he had ever known happiness.

Lights led towards the gargant’s head from every direction – heads and bodies, encased in fungus but still alive, gibbering and screaming and filling the clammy air with their voices. Each of them was dusted with firemould spores and they formed a glimmering halo around the gargant’s head, like fireflies circling a flame. The sound of their voices gave the Gibbermarsh its name and Scragfang paused to savour it, closing his eyes, enjoying the torrent of agony that drifted across the twilit water. There were humie heads, stuntie heads, aelf heads and the heads of countless other races, all gasping in the darkness. It never failed to amuse Scragfang that all of them would have wished to stop the Everdank but now they were here, aiding him with every babbled scream.

He trudged on through the muck, and after a while he spotted sentries milling around the holes in the gargant’s neck. Even from half a mile away, he could see that many of them were accompanied by squigs. Squigs were one of the simpler life forms in the Asylum but also one of the deadliest. They were little more than spherical heads on legs – spheres of crimson muscle with jaws so wide their heads seemed to hinge each time they opened their mouths – but they were incredibly violent and their teeth were very sharp. The sentries had the squigs on chains, but they were struggling to hold the creatures back as they snapped and drooled, straining at their leashes. Scragfang knew that he should consider squigs his slaves, but he was secretly terrified of them. Not for the first time, he wondered how he would cope if he didn’t have Mangleback to look out for him. He suppressed the thought, determined that Mangleback would not find out how much he relied upon him.

They kept on, feet squelching, but it was slow going as the mud grew deeper, so Scragfang put two fingers to his lips and whistled. The sound echoed out across the lake, and almost immediately shapes slithered from the mud. The first segmapede to reach them was too small to be ridden, but the second was so large that Scragfang and Mangleback could both climb on.

Scragfang held out a handful of tiny mushrooms called clag bonnets and the creature snatched them in its mandibles, devouring them eagerly. Lights flickered in its segmented body and it surged forwards, carrying them quickly over the final stretch of marsh, using its rippling skirt of legs to hurtle across the water as though it were weightless.

‘I’ll do da talking,’ said Scragfang, straining to look back over his shoulder at Mangleback.

‘Course.’ Mangleback smiled. ‘It’s your plan.’

‘Exactly,’ snapped Scragfang, but as he said it, he had a niggling sensation that it might not be his plan. He never would have considered double-crossing the Loonking if Mangleback hadn’t given him the fear. He wanted to raise the point with Mangleback but then he would look like a weak fool, so he just nodded firmly.

The segmapede rushed them across the marsh so fast Scragfang barely had time to listen to the forest of severed heads swaying over the water, but he heard enough to feel even more sure that he had to act. Many of the heads were screaming about the Bad Moon. That was a sure sign that it would soon be full. ‘I have to get it soon,’ he muttered.

They leapt from the segmapede at the entrance to the caves, under the canopy of the gargant’s chin. The guards bowed and yanked at the squigs’ leashes as Scragfang and Mangleback hurried towards them. Stories of Scragfang’s high standing were widespread. No one wanted to get in his way.

They passed the squigs and headed in through the largest cave mouth. As always, Scragfang had to pause to giggle at the scene. There were hundreds of grots rushing back and forth, most bearing the sigil of the Bad Moon on their shields and robes. Some were on foot but many were mounted on vast swamp creatures – spiders big enough to be saddled and mucus-coated glop snails that were even bigger, along with a whole host of moist, glistening steeds that slithered and scuttled through the shadows. There was always a carnival air to the entrance cave. Half the crowd was busy fighting, drinking and eating while the other half whirled in blissful confusion, pounding drums, hammering gongs and squealing through whistles. Mangleback gave Scragfang a gentle shove, dragging his attention from the hilarious sights. Scragfang nodded and they rushed through the crowd, heading out of the cave and jogging down a steep, glistening incline towards the lower levels. As soon as they entered the main cave network, Scragfang started to relax a little. It was only here, in the shadows beneath Slathermere, that he felt truly safe, with no big open spaces hanging over him and the comforting drip of the stalactites. There was firemould here too, glittering in the encrusted walls, but it was a wan, gentle glow and Scragfang felt his confidence increasing the deeper he went.

‘I told ’em to wait at Murkseat,’ said Mangleback, his suckers popping from the stone as he ran.

Scragfang nodded. He did not entirely trust any of the Gobbapalooza, but at least in such a small cave they would not be able to bring their guards and squigs along. And it was in those deepest holds, far beneath Slathermere, that he felt able to glare them all down.

The floor shook and they both had to pause and lean against the wall. They did not comment on the tremor. There was no need. They both knew what was happening. Every now and then, the gargant’s head would stir and realise it no longer had a body. It would shift and groan for a few seconds, before the toxic mould on its skin sent it back into a fitful sleep.

Once the shaking had stopped, the two grots headed on down into the gloom. As they neared the cave called the Murkseat, Scragfang saw a crowd of grots waiting at the entrance. Everyone backed away as Scragfang approached, making room for him to pass. Even the guard squigs shuffled back, their huge crimson tongues lolling as they watched the shaman.

The Murkseat was a small oval cave with a low roof. It was unexceptional, apart from the bowl-shaped bracket of fungus at its centre. The fungus was a vivid saffron yellow and served as a large cushion. Most of the Gobbapalooza were sprawled across it as they watched Scragfang enter. The largest was Boglob. He claimed to be descended from some larger species of greenskin and was twice the size of anyone else in the Gobbapalooza – almost as tall as a human. He wore a suit of plate armour formed of gnarled bracket fungus that entirely encased his broad frame. He looked more like a rotten tree stump than a grot. Unlike tree stumps, however, Boglob was never still. As Scragfang entered the Murkseat Boglob was stomping back and forth, waving a scythe in his encrusted fist and glaring at everyone. At the sight of Scragfang and Mangleback, he spat and brandished the scythe at him.

Sitting nearest to Scragfang was Lord Zogdrakk, an absurd-looking figure draped in stolen finery. He was wearing a crown twice the size of his bony head that forced his ears to stick out at right angles from his skull. He was swathed in purple silk robes and his hand was resting on a golden sceptre topped with a fist-sized ruby. As he saw Scragfang, he raised his chin in a magisterial sneer, tilting his head so the light flickered across the golden hoops in his ear.

Behind Lord Zogdrakk was a grot so hunched, scarred and wizened that he looked like charred kindling. Stinkeye was the alchemist of the group. He was dressed in filthy, torn robes and his twisted body was testament to how far he had pushed his art in service of the Bad Moon. His head was dominated by a single blue-tinged eye that filled most of his face. His body was wracked by constant tremors, and with every rattling breath he exhaled green embers. The embers plumed around his eye and snaked from his hood, adding to the impression that he was half spirit creature. He was draped in so many alembics, flasks and medicine glasses that he clinked as he shook.

‘Big news!’ exclaimed Scragfang, attempting to sound confident. ‘You best get prepared for a change.’

Stinkeye remained silent, squinting at Scragfang as his vials bubbled and steamed. Boglob growled like a whipped dog, baring his teeth. But Lord Zogdrakk strode towards Scragfang, his shoulders thrown back and his sceptre clacking on the floor.

‘Change?’ His voice was pinched and thin as he tried to emulate a human noble. ‘Has thou finally got a grip of thou’s headaches?’

‘Think bigger,’ said Mangleback, scuttling into the cave and sounding almost as pompous as Lord Zogdrakk. ‘Scragfang’s seen ’is biggest prophecy yet. Ain’tcha, Scragfang? ’Ee’s seen our next target.’

Zogdrakk yawned theatrically. ‘Another fat sky stuntie, I suppose.’

Scragfang found his confidence wilting under Lord Zogdrakk’s regal glare, but he tried to hide his fear. ‘Way bigger.’

Lord Zogdrakk ran his fingers through the pelt that covered his chest and continued staring at Scragfang. ‘One’s listening.’

Stinkeye climbed from the fungus, moving in palsied lurches and filling Scragfang’s nose with the smell of brimstone. His voice was a whisper, scraped from a ruined throat. ‘Er, an’ wot’s da Loonking got to say about dis?’

‘’E don’t need to know nuffin,’ replied Mangleback, jumping into the awkward pause. ‘Yet.’

Stinkeye gave Lord Zogdrakk a sideways glance. ‘Really? Seems odd.’

Boglob had been staring at his scythe, not following the exchange, but at this comment he stomped across the cave and jabbed one of his fingers into Stinkeye’s chest. ‘Ya callin’ me odd?’

Stinkeye staggered backwards, creating a din of clinking bottles and snorting more embers. ‘Dimwit.’ He placed a trembling hand on one of his glass beakers. ‘I’ll melt yer stinkin’ gizzard.’

Boglob snarled and shook his head violently, and continued pacing around the cave.

‘Oi!’ snapped Scragfang, aware of how easily things could descend into carnage. ‘Listen. Dis is big. We’s gonna try summat different.’

Lord Zogdrakk assumed another grand pose, draping his hand over the pommel of his sceptre, placing one leg forward with the knee bent and tilting his head back even further. ‘Wot haft thou in mind?’

‘Da Bad Moon’s almost full,’ replied Scragfang. ‘An ’e’s right over all them stuntie sky caves.’

Stinkeye shrugged, still gripping the glass beaker and glaring at Boglob. ‘Er, so? ’E’s risen before. An’, er, we’re already killin’ da shiny stunties. Thanks to da Loonking, we’re spreadin’ shadow faster ’n a bad smell. Why’d ya wanna keep stuff from ’im?’

‘Because,’ snapped Mangleback, ‘the Loonking’s already gettin’ tired of us. ’E don’t want no competition. Scragfang’s seen the big one. The big scrap. The Everdank’s nearly ’ere. But d’ya think the Loonking will just pat us all on our little noses?’ Mangleback dragged a finger across his throat. ‘That’s wot we’ll get.’

Stinkeye gave Mangleback a doubtful look. ‘’E ain’t never ’ad shamans like us.’ He nodded at Scragfang. ‘’Specially ’im.’ He shook one of his bottles, creating a brief, dazzling flash of light. ‘We’re sparky. Powerful.’

Mangleback looked around at all of them. ‘Too powerful. We’s a threat. An’ the Loonking knows it.’

Lord Zogdrakk wiped the back of his hand across his brow, affecting dismay. ‘Dat’s a filthy slander. I ain’t never been nuffin but loyal. Dat’s why da Loonking comes ta me for gear. ’E knows one’s ’is most loyal servant. I ain’t never thought about stabbin’ ’im in da back.’

Stinkeye raised his eyebrow.

‘I’ve seen how to start the Everdank,’ said Scragfang. ‘I’ve seen ’ow we can show the Bad Moon the best joke of all.’

Lord Zogdrakk narrowed his eyes. ‘Wot joke?’

Everyone fell quiet. Even Boglob stopped stamping around the cave and Mangleback looked eagerly at Scragfang, nodding for him to speak.

‘Da Bad Moon showed me a special stuntie. A Fyreslayer wiv magic metal in his chest.’ He paused for dramatic effect. ‘Metal so powerful it could blow up Barak-Urbaz.’

Stinkeye looked intrigued. ‘Er, what’s it look like?’

‘Like gold, until da Fyreslayer gets mad. Then it’s a comet in his chest, blastin’ an smashin’.’

Stinkeye looked at Lord Zogdrakk then back at Scragfang, narrowing his eye. ‘An’, er, how’d ya fink we’d get it? Just pop up to Barak-Urbaz an’ ask?’

Scragfang grinned. ‘I seen a way ta bring him ’ere.’ He waved his knife. ‘So I can use da fang on ’im.’

‘Yer gonna stick ’im?’ leered Boglob, waving his scythe in Scragfang’s face.

Scragfang carefully moved the blade away. ‘I ain’t gonna zoggin fight ’im. The rune magic is too strong.’ Scragfang waved his knife. ‘But the fang can suck it out.’

Zogdrakk frowned. ‘And ’ow, forsooth, is thou gonna get da Fyreslayer down ’ere to Gibbermarsh?’

Scragfang felt a rush of pride and triumph. ‘I’ve been shown da way. Da Fyreslayer’s gonna leave Urbaz on a sky-ship.’

Stinkeye laughed, wheezing embers. ‘Er, ’e ain’t gonna come ’ere though, is ’e? No stuntie’s gonna come down to the Asylum lookin’ for ’elp.’

Scragfang drew back his shoulders and tried to employ the pompous tones Lord Zogdrakk always used. ‘I studied ’im. ’E’s got a loyal friend. Someone ’e loves and trusts. A murder aelf. We’ll reach their sky-ship, catch the murder aelf and bring ’er to da Asylum. Once the Fyreslayer realises ’e’ll be down ’ere like spores from a lungwart. ’E’ll be desperate ta get ’er back.’

‘An’ then you’ll cut ’im,’ snarled Boglob, slicing the air with his scythe and spitting again.

Scragfang stared at him for a moment, slowly shaking his head, before continuing. He waved his knife at the cave. ‘If I gets da Fyreslayer ’ere everyfin’s gonna boot off. Barak-Urbaz will fall! I seen its face meltin’. I’ll do what the Loonking couldn’t.’

Lord Zogdrakk waved his sceptre at Scragfang. ‘An’ ow, exactly, is thou gonna get ta da sky-ship? The overground’s a big place. An’ da sky’s even bigger. It goes right up to da sky roof.’

Stinkeye sniggered inside his hood. ‘Da sky ain’t got a roof.’

Zogdrakk rose to his full, unimpressive height and pointed his sceptre at Stinkeye. ‘Thou arst a moron. Everyfin’s gotta zoggin roof. Wotcha fink stops the mountains floatin’ off?’ Zogdrakk snorted and gave Mangleback a sideways glance. ‘An Stinkeye claims ta be clever.’

Stinkeye’s lip curled and he gripped one of the bottles strapped to his filthy robes.

Mangleback held up one of his tendrils. ‘Use yer noggins for a minute. Scragfang’s given us an amazin’ chance.’

‘Er, amazin’ chance for who?’ hissed Stinkeye, still sneering. He waved his bottle at Scragfang. ‘Even if ’e does nick a murder aelf, ’ow’s it gonna benefit me? You called us ’ere sayin’ we’d learn summat to our advantage. I can see, er, nuffin to my advantage. Scragfang’s mad or ’e’s a prophet. Either way it don’t mean nuffin for me.’ He waved the bottle at Lord Zogdrakk and Boglob. ‘Or any of us apart from maybe you. An dat’s only cuz yer always so far up Scragfang’s rear ya might manage to get a place on ’is throne as a cushion.’

Mangleback scuttled around the cave, his tentacles popping on the muddy floor. ‘If Scragfang became the new Loonking, ’e’s gonna need a new court. An’ oo’s ’e gonna choose? Weedy scrag-brains ’e ain’t never met? Or ’is own Gobbapalooza wot ’e’s worked with for years.’

Stinkeye looked unconvinced. Then he looked at Scragfang and his expression softened. ‘Er, well, is dat true?’

‘I ain’t got no chance of making this work if you ain’t in it with me,’ he replied. ‘An’ if I do end up as the new Loonking, I ain’t gonna ’ave a clue how ta rule without you lot ta help me.’ Scragfang meant every word. His mind was a powerful weapon but he knew it was cracked. One of the smiling feet was hovering a few inches in front of his face, gurning cheerfully. Scragfang shook his head. ‘I needs ya.’

Stinkeye let out a long breath and lowered his bottle. ‘Maybe then. Maybe I could, er, ’elp.’

Scragfang grinned at him. ‘Once I’ve nicked da Fyreslayer’s magic, Barak-Urbaz is gonna come crashin’ down. An then we’re gonna spread Everdank. We’ll be masters of everyfin.’ His head began to pound with excitement. ‘It’ll be zoggin glorious. One big, bloody, hilarious slaughter.’

Boglob’s eyes widened and he gripped his scythe tighter, looking at Mangleback. ‘Is ’e right?’

Mangleback turned in a circle. ‘Oh, Boglob. ’E’s right all right.’

Boglob grinned and smacked the handle of his scythe against his helmet. He hit himself so hard that he staggered across the cave and slammed into the wall, unearthing a cloud of mould spores.

When the clouds had cleared, Stinkeye hopped from his seat and walked over to Scragfang. ‘’Ow are ya gonna reach da sky-ship?’

Lord Zogdrakk tapped his sceptre against his chest, causing his jewellery to rattle. ‘One may’st be able to assist. Ast thou knowst one ’ast the finest herd of squigs this side of the Stagnant Peak. It would be a small matter ta make them fliers.’ He gave Stinkeye a grudging nod. ‘I’ve seen thou doest it plenty o’ times before. Thou’s got medicine to make ’em sprout wings.’ He bowed to Scragfang. ‘It’d be an honour to gift one’s finest beasts in da great cause of thou’s decension.’

‘It’s “ascension”,’ muttered Stinkeye.

Lord Zogdrakk raised his chin and adopted an even more magisterial expression, continuing to address Scragfang. ‘I’m at your service.’

Scragfang thought for a moment. ‘Squigs might be useful as a diversion.’

Zogdrakk frowned and mouthed the word.

Stinkeye shook his head in despair. ‘Distract the stunties while we’re nickin’ the murder aelf.’

Scragfang nodded. ‘Exactly.’

Stinkeye rubbed his mould-encrusted eye, looking doubtful. ‘We’d still get spotted though. There’s nowhere to hide on a shiny ship. Everyfin’s a zoggin mirror.’ He nodded at Scragfang. ‘Ya said it yerself. We need ta be cleverer.’ He waved everyone close and looked around the cave. ‘’As any of you heard of gassy rotters?’

‘Never,’ said Lord Zogdrakk.

Stinkeye grinned. ‘It’s a kind of death cap. A special kind. Ones dat float in da Weeping Brook.’

Scragfang nodded. ‘Brain rotters we used to call ’em. One mouthful an’ ya don’t know yer face from yer arse.’

Stinkeye leant even closer. So close Scragfang could see the slime oozing from his charred pores. ‘Brain rotters is right.’ He tapped a teardrop-shaped bottle at his belt. ‘Ever tried ’em wiv powdered webcap?’

Scragfang shook his head. ‘Rotters and webcap? Never tried it, Stinkeye. Wotsit do?’

Stinkeye bared his black tooth stumps in a grin. ‘It unlocks yer brain.’

Scragfang looked at the feet fluttering over his head. ‘My brain don’t need no unlockin’.’

Stinkeye laughed. ‘I mean it unlocks yer brain so it can fly.’

‘I’m flyin’ most of da time.’

Lord Zogdrakk held up a warty finger, causing his rings to glitter and flash. ‘I believe one understands wot he’s ramblin’ about, Scragfang. He don’t mean it maketh thou confused. He’s imperlicating that it frees yer mind ta go somewhere else. Somewhere yer body can’t.’

Stinkeye nodded. ‘Old flash hat is right. It’s a way to get out of yer ’ead.’ His whisper grew even quieter. ‘An get in someone else’s.’

Mangleback did a circular, scampering dance. ‘Ya could get inside the murder aelf’s ’ead. You could make ’er walk off the sky-ship onta one of Lord Zogdrakk’s squigs. Then fly ’er here and Zog’s yer uncle, da Fyreslayer follows.’

Stinkeye shook his head and leant back from the huddle. As he moved, more embers erupted from his robes, causing the others to cough and splutter. ‘Er, no, Mangleback. Dat ain’t gonna work. Two reasons. One, we don’t know where the sky-ship’s gonna be. Two, ya don’t wanna get in an aelf’s mind. It’s messed up in there. They don’t fink right. You’d either crack or just get booted out. A stuntie’s ’ead is bad enough, but you don’t wanna try an aelf.’

‘So wot’s yer idea?’ asked Scragfang, sensing from the gleam in his eye that he had one.

‘You’ve seen Barak-Urbaz with yer moonsight, is dat right?’

‘Yeah.’

Stinkeye licked his blackened canine. ‘Then ya could go there. I mean, er, yer mind could go there. Take a dunk in the, er, Weeping Brook and you’ll be flyin’. Yer body would flop but yer mind would whiz. An wiv yer visions ta guide ya, there’d be no problem gettin’ to da Fyreslayer.’

‘An wot then?’ Scragfang felt a rush of the fear. ‘Try an’ get in ’is ’ead?’

‘No.’ Stinkeye started limping around the cave, trailing smells and spores. ‘I don’t reckon’ ya wanna go in there. Borrow the body of someone in da Fyreslayer’s mob. Someone who’ll travel wiv ’im on da sky-ship. Then, all ya gotta do, er, is spy.’ Stinkeye had been talking to the shadows as he hobbled round the cave, but now he looked back at Scragfang with such excitement that his convulsions paused. ‘Then, when we turn up, use yer borrowed body to sling da aelf on one of our squigs.’

Everything had sounded fine to Scragfang until this point. The idea of tricking the aelf or subduing her, without the help of the others, sounded terrifying.

Boglob noticed his crestfallen expression. ‘Let me do it!’ He waved his scythe with such violence that everyone reeled away from their seats.

The thought of someone else getting near the rune without him made Scragfang even more nervous. He noticed that Mangleback was looking at him, nodding slightly. ‘No,’ said Scragfang, trying to sound impressive. ‘It was my vision. It ’as ta be me.’

Stinkeye nodded eagerly and resumed his shivering spasms as he started limping around the cave. ‘We just need to getcha to da brook.’

Lord Zogdrakk rested one hand on the head of his sceptre, raised his chin and spoke into the middle distance. ‘One has onest minor concern about da plan, Stinkeye.’

He halted, wheezing and juddering as he sneered at him. ‘Lemme guess. It’s, er, that yer a great zoggin coward. An yer worried ya might get a dint in yer crown. Is that yer, er, minor concern?’

Boglob burst into laughter and began ambling around the cave on all fours like an ape, punching the ground and chanting, ‘Minor concern! Minor concern!’

Lord Zogdrakk turned with regal slowness to Scragfang and Mangleback. ‘If onest presence ain’t no longer required, onest can leave. But ’ave a fink about how you’ll reach dat sky-ship wivout squigs.’

‘Oi!’ snapped Scragfang.

Stinkeye and Boglob halted, taken aback by Scragfang’s forceful tone.

Scragfang was equally shocked by the power in his voice. So much so that, for a moment, he forgot what he was going to say. Then Mangleback gave him an encouraging nod and he managed to continue. ‘We’s got an amazin’ chance ’ere, boys. Da Bad Moon’s given me a chance ta do summat really funny. But we ain’t gonna get nowhere if we’re spendin’ all our time callin’ each other names until someone gets a sticker in da throat.’

To Scragfang’s amazement, they all sat back down on the seat. ‘Good,’ he said, giving Mangleback a quick sideways glance. ‘Now, I reckon Stinkeye is right. I reckon it’s worth tryin’ his rotter idea.’ He looked at Stinkeye. ‘Can you get us to da right spot?’

Stinkeye tried to answer but broke into a coughing fit, spraying embers around the cave. Everyone backed away, trying to avoid the toxic spores, until he took a swig from a bottle and managed to control himself. ‘Yes,’ he wheezed. He glanced at Lord Zogdrakk. ‘We’ll need some of yer squigs though. It’s a few miles to da Weeping Brook.’

Zogdrakk ignored him but bowed low to Scragfang. ‘Woteva thou desirest, though canst ’ave.’

There was a pause and Scragfang was pleased to notice that everyone looked his way, waiting for his response. ‘Right,’ he said, still feeling like he was embarking on a ride he hadn’t entirely signed up for. ‘Get da squigs. Take me ta da brook. Let’s get this zoggin started.’

Chapter Seven

Maleneth shook her head. ‘Do you get the sense they’re trying to compensate for something?’ Each building they reached in Barak-Urbaz was more overwrought than the last. Admiralty Hall was a monstrous cluster of gromril-framed domes. She counted six, each large enough to dwarf the sky-trawlers drifting overhead. The domes merged into each other, giving the hall a strangely organic appearance, as if a geyser of molten metal had bubbled up through the city. But it was not the domes she found so absurd. Straddling the whole structure was a colossal statue, not of an ancestor god but of a nameless Kharadron captain, his boots planted firmly on the domes as he reached up into the sky, grasping the boiling limbs of a harkraken. She frowned as they were led across a broad square. ‘No amount of science can defy the will of the gods.’

Captain Solmundsson was only a few paces ahead. ‘We do not defy them. But we can’t wait for divine intervention. The greenskins do not wait. They do not allow time for prayers to be answered.’

The soldiers led them up a broad flight of steps into an entrance hall. Maleneth paused at the threshold, taken aback by an enormous fossil that was suspended from the ceiling. It was hundreds of feet long and appeared to be some kind of winged whale. The hall was lined with alcoves containing the fossils of other beasts, but none were on such a vast scale.

The others had not paused and she hurried after them, joining a press of Kharadron who were heading for an archway beyond the fossil’s tail. Pillars in the curved walls cradled aether-lights, but they had been angled to leave much of the chamber in shadow. This, combined with the angular shapes in the architecture, gave Maleneth the peculiar sensation that rather than being hung in the clouds, the hall was a vast cave sunk deep below the ground, lit by smouldering brands.

They passed through several colonnaded hallways and then finally emerged into a rectangular hall built on the same absurd scale as the entrance. It was long and lined with tiered benches that radiated up from a central rectangular pit. The pit was dominated by a long table and an aethermatic orrery – a nest of polished metal ellipses that were rotating slowly around each other, glinting in the aether light and casting shadows across the lower tiers of the hall. The design was more Azyrite than Kharadron and she guessed it must have been a gift, or perhaps a collaboration between the human and duardin races. The chamber looked large enough to seat several hundred Kharadron but there were fewer than a hundred in the room, all gathered in the lower terraces or seated around the table.

Maleneth and the others were led down several flights of stairs towards this group as Kharadron servants dashed past them, hurrying through archways carrying scrolls and casting wary glances at Gotrek. As she passed near the walls, Maleneth saw that they were lined with bookcases that were stuffed with thousands of logbooks, ship manifests, charter scrolls and sky charts. She reached out to touch one, but a guard waved her on with his gun.

When they reached the crowd at the base of the chamber, Maleneth was surprised to see that some of the Kharadron were not wearing the sturdy flight suits she was used to seeing. Many of them had their heads uncovered and were dressed in flamboyant finery, their beards and tunics dripping with jewels and precious metals. They radiated wealth and pride and they whispered to each other as they saw Gotrek approaching. In front of the chattering merchants was a row of Kharadron dressed more like Solmundsson – finely worked flight suits encased in plates of rune-inscribed armour and topped with imposing filigreed helmets. They carried an impressive array of ornamental weapons and badges of office, and so many of them were smoking pipes that the pit was thick with fumes.

There was a place reserved at the table and the soldiers ushered Solmundsson and his guards towards it, then led Gotrek, Maleneth and Trachos through the smoke to a bench on one of the terraces near the table.

Maleneth was shocked by Gotrek’s behaviour. She would have expected him to rail at being ushered around like a servant, but he was oddly compliant, sitting where he was ordered and looking up at the ceiling in silence. Maleneth glanced at Trachos to see if he had noticed the Slayer’s strange behaviour, but he was staring at the orrery down in the pit.

As the others sat down and waited patiently for whatever was about to happen, Maleneth paced up and down past the benches, muttering under her breath and waving away the smoke. Were the Kharadron going to imprison them? Execute them? She had her knives and her poisons but there were dozens of armed soldiers lining the hall, all carrying aethermatic weapons. If this turned into a fight Gotrek would probably be the only one who left the hall alive.

Trachos wandered over to the orrery and leant close, peering at the mechanism.

Maleneth hurried over to Trachos’ side. ‘Stay with the Slayer. I might need you.’

Trachos ignored her and addressed one of the gilt lions on the frame, speaking in an urgent whisper. ‘Can you hear me? Lord-Celestant?’

Maleneth stared at him in disbelief.

Trachos circled the orrery, looking through the hoops and spheres. The whole device was only five feet in circumference, but he seemed to have decided that there was a Stormcast Eternal inside. ‘I have atoned,’ he gasped, gripping the frame.

Maleneth grabbed his arm and wrenched him away. ‘It’s empty, Trachos! Look! There’s no one in there!’

‘How do you know?’ he muttered.

Before Maleneth could think of an answer, a low booming sound reverberated round the hall. It sounded like a hunting horn. There was a clattering as all the Kharadron rose from their seats and pulled their shoulders back. Maleneth dragged Trachos away from the orrery and back to the seats beside Gotrek.

The noise grew louder as a channel opened between the rows of benches – the metal plates folded away like toppling cards to form a path into the hall. Maleneth peered through the gloom and smoke, struggling to make out the strange object that was approaching. At first, she thought it was a boulder, rumbling slowly down the slope towards them, but then she saw the glint of moving pistons and heard the rattle of cogs and realised it was a machine. As it plunged through the smoke she saw it was similar to the galvanic phaetons that circled the city, but built to carry a single, claw-shaped throne. Slumped on the throne was the oldest, largest duardin she had ever seen. His white beard trailed over his enormous gut and snaked around his boots. His master-wrought armour was a vivid lapis blue and edged with golden trim, and he had the pelt of a sky serpent draped over his shoulders. He wore no helmet and his face looked like the aftermath of a landslide, so mangled by scars that his slab of a nose formed a crooked Z and his mouth was locked in a permanent grimace. One of his arms was missing and had been replaced with one forged of golden metal and studded with gems. He was smoking a pipe so large the bowl was nested between his feet. Both of his eyes were featureless white orbs.

‘Lord Admiral Solmund,’ intoned the assembled duardin, thumping their chests and bowing their heads.

The Lord Admiral gave a barely perceptible nod as his throne trundled to a halt. The machine was surrounded by gold-clad honour guards carrying ornamental skypikes, and as the throne settled onto the floor with a hiss of hydraulics they positioned themselves around it, clutching their mechanised spears in a manner that indicated they were far from ceremonial.

A captain rose from his seat at the table. ‘Lord Admiral Solmund. In accordance with article twelve, subclause fifteen, we beg your permission to forgo the usual–’

The Lord Admiral interrupted with a dismissive wave of his hand, while continuing to draw heavily on his pipe.

The captain hesitated, then nodded. ‘Lord Admiral. We have called this emergency council to discuss the incidents in the Starlokh shipyard, the Jarnskogg mills, a khordryn in the Stromez Quarter and the endrinhouses of Solmundsson Palace. Since our last gathering, Lord Admiral, it has come to light that all of these incidents, as well as the fires in the Brog Market and surrounding bakeries, were a result of the actions of one…’ The captain frowned and turned to a guildmaster sitting on a bench behind him. The two whispered and the guildmaster shook his head furiously. The captain nodded and looked back at the Lord Admiral. ‘These events were all caused by the actions of a foreigner by the name of Gotrek Gurnisson, who is sitting…’ The captain squinted through the pipe fumes that were trailing round his face, then pointed in Gotrek’s direction. ‘Over there, beside the Khainite aelf who was his accomplice in several of these misdemeanours. All of the events have incurred extremely expensive damage to property and equipment, and the final incident…’ He glanced at Captain Solmundsson. ‘Was by far the worst, resulting in the destruction of large portions of Solmundsson Palace and a tremor so powerful that it damaged berths at the nearby Cogsmiths’ Guildhouse.’

A murmur of discontent rippled through the merchants and guildmasters and several of them banged weapons on the floor, creating a din that echoed up into the domed ceiling.

The captain nodded eagerly and paused, clearly expecting a reply from the Lord Admiral.

The Lord Admiral said nothing, taking another drag on his pipe.

The captain looked flustered by the lack of response and his cheeks flushed with anger. ‘Lord Admiral, someone has to recompense the guildmasters.’

Gotrek’s patience finally ran out. ‘I’m right here, you talking trinket.’ He left his seat and marched out in front of the audience, gripping his axe and glaring up at the captain. ‘Get off yer fat arse and come over here. I’ll recompense you in the face.’

Guards rushed towards Gotrek, guns raised and armour rattling.

The captain flushed even darker and clanged the handle of his hammer on the floor. ‘How dare you! Barak-Urbaz is not like the squalid, muck-strewn caves you Fyreslayers call home. This is–’

‘I’m no bloody Fyreslayer!’ Gotrek marched towards the guards and they took a step backwards, preparing to fire.

The captain bellowed in outrage and began shoving his way through the crowd towards Gotrek, causing a great commotion as the other Kharadron tried to step aside.

‘Halt!’ The Lord Admiral’s voice boomed around the hall with such power that even Gotrek stopped in his tracks.

Almost all of the Kharadron rose to their feet, hurling insults at Gotrek and defending the captain.

‘Silence,’ growled the Lord Admiral, and Maleneth realised that his throne was amplifying his voice, either through mechanical or magical means. It sounded like the voice of the ancestor gods looking down from the ceiling.

‘Out!’

The captains and guildmasters looked around in confusion, wondering who was being addressed.

‘Get out!’ repeated the Lord Admiral. ‘The lot of you!’

Still they hesitated.

‘Out!’ bellowed Lord Admiral Solmund, gesturing to his honour guard, who promptly pointed their skypikes at the crowd.

‘Apart from you,’ growled the Lord Admiral as Captain Solmundsson started to leave. He nodded at Gotrek. ‘And them.’

There were a few more moments of confusion as the captains, merchant lords and guildmasters all realised that they were being dismissed from the council they had summoned. Then, driven on by the Lord Admiral’s sightless glare, they began shuffling down the terraces, muttering and harrumphing as they headed towards the exits, casting furious glances back at Gotrek.

It took several minutes for them all to leave, during which Gotrek paced back and forth, gripping his axe and glaring up at the Lord Admiral. Once the council members had all left, the Lord Admiral and his honour guard were left alone with Gotrek, Maleneth, Trachos and Captain Solmundsson.

The Lord Admiral took another long drag on his pipe and waved for them to approach. Gotrek was muttering as he headed over towards him, but Maleneth caught an intrigued look in his eye. From what little she knew of Gotrek’s beliefs, age and long beards were two of the only things he showed any respect for – and the Lord Admiral was blessed on both counts.

As they reached the mechanised throne, the Lord Admiral broke into what Maleneth took to be a coughing fit. It took a few seconds for her to realise he was laughing.

‘A talking trinket.’ The Lord Admiral shook his head. ‘Not a bad description considering you’ve only just met Captain Thorlagg.’

Gotrek glowered. ‘Are you mocking me?’

‘No, you great wazzock, I’m complimenting you.’ He held his pipe out in Gotrek’s direction. ‘First honest words anyone’s spoken in my earshot for years.’

Gotrek hesitated, still frowning, then grabbed the pipe and took a deep drag. ‘Blood of Valaya.’ He closed his eye and tilted his head back, savouring the flavour. ‘Not bad.’

The Lord Admiral nodded. ‘Not bad. High praise from a… from a what? You say you’re not a Fyreslayer.’

Gotrek handed the pipe back. ‘I’m a who, not a what. I’m Gotrek son of Gurni, and no, I’m not a gold-hugging simpleton. I’m a true Slayer. Forged in the Worlds Edge Mountains. I swore my Slayer oath in a world that no longer exists. A better world.’

The Lord Admiral took another drag on his pipe. ‘Some of the Fyreslayers are making strange claims about you. I spoke to a half-soaked runeson from the Greyfyrd who wouldn’t shut up about you. He was deep in his cups, to be fair, but he blathered on about you like you were some kind of saviour. Something more than duardin. He had the sense not to tell me all of his lodge’s secrets, but I gleaned enough. Enough to know that they hold you in high regard. They’d bend the knee to you if you let them.’

Gotrek curled his lip. ‘They’ve hammered too much metal into their legs to bend them.’

The Lord Admiral’s eyes creased in amusement. Then his expression grew serious. ‘They’re still duardin. And I’ve no desire to put myself on a war footing with kinfolk, however distant.’ He handed the pipe back to Gotrek. ‘Which leaves me with a predicament.’

Gotrek took a drag and answered through a cloud of pipe smoke. ‘What’s that?’

‘The Fyreslayers want to worship you and my guildmasters want to put your head on a pole.’

‘Let them try.’

‘Is it a fight you’ve come looking for, then? Have you come here to pit yourself against me, Gotrek, son of Gurni?’

Gotrek’s expression remained neutral. ‘I’ve no quarrel with you.’

‘And yet my people tell me you have caused untold amounts of damage.’

‘Because your people are liars. They swore to rid me of this damned rune and not one of them has the means to touch it.’

‘And was my son trying to rid you of the rune when he blew up his palace?’

Gotrek glanced at Solmundsson. ‘Your son. Of course. Yes, he’s very skilled at boasting but not so skilled at doing.’

Solmundsson approached and took out the blue crystal, holding it up to his father. ‘The rune resisted the burning glass. Repelled it. I’ve never seen anything like it.’

‘You sound very pleased, Thialf,’ rumbled the Lord Admiral, ‘for someone who just destroyed half his palace.’ He leant forwards in his throne. ‘Our palace.’

Solmundsson grinned, missing his father’s furious tone. ‘It’s incredible. It’s like nothing else from the Fyreslayer magmaholds. Even the Vostarg runes couldn’t endure the burning glass, but this thing can. It’s unique, father. Uniquely powerful. It could be exactly what we need.’

The Lord Admiral nodded. Then turned his head in Gotrek’s direction. ‘And you wish to be rid of it?’

‘I do.’

Lord Admiral Solmund waved one of his attendants over and muttered something. The servant rushed away.

‘This requires thinking,’ said the Lord Admiral as the servant reappeared with a keg and some tankards. ‘Which requires a slaked thirst.’

Gotrek nodded seriously as the servant handed him a tankard. ‘Wise words never left a dry throat.’

Lord Admiral Solmund laughed. ‘My great-grandfather used to say that every day. Just before his breakfast.’

Gotrek growled as he drank and Maleneth realised he was laughing. She rolled her eyes. These two oafs had never met before. Gotrek had ruined half the city. Awnd now they were acting like old friends.

‘Sit.’ The Lord Admiral waved at the nearest seats. ‘No need to stand on ceremony. We’re not talking trinkets.’

Gotrek snorted again, spitting beer into his beard. He proceeded to suck it back up with a sound that made Maleneth want to kick him. ‘Ai! This is more like it. Reminds me of Thengeln’s Golden Preserve.’

She waved away the cup she was offered. ‘What is there to discuss? Your son has just admitted that his devices can’t touch the rune.’

‘It is beyond his understanding,’ said Trachos.

The Lord Admiral tilted his head, seeming to consider Trachos. ‘He understands more than you think, soldier of Sigmar. It’s not just those who hide in Azyr who have learned to read. My son may be impetuous but he’s not dim-witted. Thialf’s mechanisms are more subtle than you might guess. Lack of knowledge is not the problem here.’

‘What then?’ asked Gotrek, cheerfully holding out his cup to a servant.

‘Lack of power.’ The Lord Admiral ran his mechanical hand over his beard. ‘We have refined the sublimation process beyond anything achieved in the other sky-keeps. We have uncovered the great mysteries of metal. Struck the richest seams. Harnessed the most wilful elements. No one has achieved as much.’

Solmundsson nodded eagerly. ‘My aethermatic coils may have failed but there could be other power sources in Ayadah that would work. Other ways we could fuel the burning glass.’

Gotrek picked something out of his beer, peered at it, then ate it. ‘Aya-who?’

The Lord Admiral was looking in the direction of his son, nodding. Then he looked back towards Gotrek, following the sound of his voice. He laughed. ‘You really are from another world.’ He waved vaguely at the distant doors. ‘Ayadah is the name of this land. The place we’re hanging above. The whole continent, from here to the Bitten Gulf.’

‘Your realm?’

‘A contested realm.’ The Lord Admiral grimaced. ‘In truth, if anyone can claim dominion it would be the damned greenskins. The grots snivel from every pit and puddle. And since Kazak-drung appeared in the sky they’ve tripled in number. The moon has driven them into a frenzy. We built our keeps in the clouds long ago, to escape the minions of the Dark Gods, but these days it’s greenskins we have to watch out for.’

‘Grobi scum.’ Gotrek held out his tankard again. ‘Nothing bloody changes.’

‘They’re a damned nuisance. Our profits have been halved. Since Kazak-drung returned the Moonclans have spread their infernal gloom even further than before. And wherever they go our fleets disappear, swallowed by skies that used to be clear. Dozens of our zonbeks have been lost and it’s getting worse.’

‘Zonbeks?’

‘Glowbeacons. Skyborne keeps that guard our sky-paths. They’re heavily fortified and they used to be able to resist even the most determined greenskin attacks. Until Kazak-drung began to wax.’ The Lord Admiral frowned, then looked in Gotrek’s direction. ‘But if we had a weapon powerful enough to reclaim our keeps we could turn back the tide. A weapon like your rune.’

‘I’d give it gladly.’ Gotrek glanced at Solmundsson. ‘What did you mean when you spoke of other power sources?’

Solmundsson hesitated and looked at his father.

The Lord Admiral shrugged. ‘The legends are muttered by every drunk from here to the Yhorn Mountains. There’s no need to be coy.’ He yanked a lever and his throne rumbled into life, adding gouts of steam to the clouds of pipe smoke. ‘Let’s discuss it in the map room.’

As the mechanised throne clattered across the chamber, the Lord Admiral’s guards steered it with their pikes, directing it back towards the entrance the Lord Admiral had arrived through.

Solmundsson waved for Gotrek and the others to follow. ‘Everything always looks better on a map.’ He grinned. ‘Don’t you think?’

Chapter Eight

Vaspero stared at the Slaughter Stone, trying to blank out the sounds of battle. The walls were crowded with refugees from the surrounding villages but no one paid him any heed. Everyone was either scurrying for cover or rushing to the walls. Men, women or children, it did not matter. They all clutched weapons with the same grim determination. Hain had once been a proud city. Trading partnerships with the Kharadron Overlords had brought them wealth and security. But then, a few months ago, the Kharadron ships had stopped coming, and Vaspero’s people had been forced into a less palatable allegiance. The local cannibal tribes had demanded blood tributes in return for protection. As long as the people of Hain fed the Slaughter Stone, chanting prayers to a hungry god called Khorne, the marauders kept Hain free from the greenskin tribes. Until the Killing Moon came. Then even the cannibals stopped coming, slaughtered by the myriad goblinoid creatures that swarmed up from the swamps. Now the people of Hain had nothing to lean on but their own fear.

As Vaspero tried to listen to the Slaughter Stone he heard the clash of spears and shields overhead. The latest influx of refugees had doubled their numbers and it looked like Hain might actually be able to repel the attack. The greenskins were everywhere, crawling the walls like vermin, gripping blades in their teeth and vaulting the battlements with screeches of laughter. But they were wretched, stunted things, only waist high to a man of Hain. A few hours earlier, Vaspero had even allowed his men to open the gates and sally forth, taking the fight out to the greenskins and driving them back to the swamplands around the river. The grots had already returned in even greater numbers, but the people of Hain now saw hope. The city walls were not just vast, they were made of riveted, reinforced metal. They had been built centuries earlier, with the engineering skills of the Kharadron Overlords. They were rusted and dented, but they were also bolstered by powerful, unfathomable aether-science. Even the fiercest blow left no mark. The greenskins had wheeled great war machines from the swamps but it was pointless. The boulders bounced uselessly away, crushing grots rather than the people of Hain. The sun had not risen for weeks, and as the Killing Moon waxed it drove the grots into a kill frenzy, but they still could not breach the gleaming metal walls.

Vaspero should have felt pleased but his mind was not on the battle, or the power of the Kharadron engineering – it was fixed on the Slaughter Stone. He stepped closer, peering through the gloom at the bloodstained rock. It was carved to resemble the lower half of a skull, forming a huge bowl at the centre of the courtyard. The cannibals had left it when the Kharadron stopped coming, demanding heads be offered to it every week and the bodies cast into the pits beneath the jaw. As high priest, it had been Vaspero’s duty to name the chosen ones. He had borne this role with stoicism.

There was a brief lull in the fighting and Vaspero heard the whisper again. It was half in his head and half in the dusty skull. ‘Liar.’ Vaspero gripped his hair, horrified by how clear the voice had become. He had almost convinced himself that it was a delusion brought on by exhaustion. He had not slept properly for days, standing with the warriors at the battlements, willing them to victory, and he felt so tired it was almost like being drunk. He had told himself that the voice must be his sleep-starved brain playing tricks on him. But now, as he placed his hand on the Slaughter Stone, there could be no doubt. The words were horribly clear. ‘You lied to them.’

For the first time, Vaspero actually recognised the voice. It was his older brother. One of the first sacrifices made to the stone.

‘Kirn?’ he whispered. ‘Is that you?’

‘Of course it’s me, you lying worm.’

Vaspero walked round the skull, letting his fingers scrape the pitted stone. ‘How? How are you alive?’

‘Because you lied. You told them Khorne wanted me. You told them it was my name in the bones. And you know it was yours.’

‘The bones were wrong!’ Vaspero’s pulse quickened as the old rage rushed through him. He looked around, horrified at the thought someone else might hear the exchange. No one was paying any attention. The fighting on the walls had grown fiercer and the courtyard was emptying as the newcomers rushed to grab spears and shields. ‘Only I can protect the city,’ hissed Vaspero, placing his mouth near the skull. ‘If you had ruled Hain it would have fallen to the cannibals, or the Moonclans, or someone else. Only I have the wit to keep us safe. The Blood God meant for you to die. It was a mistake. It had to be you.’

‘You lied. I know you did.’

‘How?’

‘Because I didn’t die. I was not the chosen one, you were. Khorne did not want me. So I’ve been waiting down here. All this time. Waiting until I had the strength to rise and tell them all the truth about what you did.’

‘It can’t be true. I saw your head. I saw you die. And I saw you buried under the skull, along with all the others.’

‘I lived. Because my time had not come. And once the moon waxes full I will rise, my dear brother, and everyone will know what you are. They loved me more than you. You know they wanted me to rule in your stead. So you lied. But you cannot fool a god, Vaspero. You can lie to our people but not to Khorne.’

‘It’s you who is lying!’ Vaspero reeled away from the Slaughter Stone, shaking his head. ‘You died. I saw your head. You cannot be down there.’

Vaspero stumbled across the courtyard and headed back to his royal chambers. He hurled himself on his bed and lay in the dark, hands clamped over his ears as he waited in fear for the voice to come again. The voice did not return, and outside, the sounds of battle faded as the grots drew back, readying themselves for the next assault.

Vaspero tried desperately to sleep, sure that would be the answer to his madness. Because it had to be madness. What other explanation could there be? How could his brother have survived all this time beneath the Slaughter Stone? How could he be preparing to rise? It made no sense.

Finally, after an hour of torment, Vaspero gave up trying to sleep and looked out of his circular window. The fighting had now ceased completely. The defenders were slumped behind the rusty walls, either sleeping or tending to wounds as the Killing Moon blazed overhead, giving the scene the flat, artificial appearance of a stage set. Vaspero drank wine but it did nothing to calm his nerves. An idea had been building in him the whole time he was trying to sleep. It was a hateful, horrible idea, but he could not be rid of it. And now, he realised, while most people were sleeping, might be his only chance to try it. The lookouts would not be facing into the courtyard, but out towards the river where the greenskins were waiting to attack. No one would be watching the Slaughter Stone.

He took another swig of wine for courage then marched from his chambers, doing his best to look sane. When he headed out into the moonlight he saw that he was right – the courtyard was empty. After days of fighting, everyone who could was sleeping. He strode over to the stone and took a ring of keys from his robes. Then, after a final look around, he climbed up into the base of the skull. At the skull’s base there was a thick stone hatch, scored with runes and barred with locks. Knowing he would not be visible from outside the skull, Vaspero knelt down, unlocked the hatch and opened it.

The stink of rotting meat rushed up to greet him. The last sacrifice had been less than a week ago, but already the bodies were starting to decay.

‘It’s too late,’ said Kirn, his voice echoing through Vaspero’s head. ‘I will tell them.’

‘You’re the liar,’ gasped Vaspero. ‘You’re not in here. It can’t be true. You were worm food months ago. I won’t listen to you any more.’

‘I’m here. And when the Killing Moon is full I will rise. I will tell them what you did.’

Vaspero groaned with a mixture of rage, fear and disgust. Then he plunged his hands into the bodies. Flies and maggots engulfed him as he began heaving the dead aside, uncovering the steps that led down into the pits beneath the skull. Before they had been used for the sacrifices they had stored food, but now they were a charnel house. Vaspero gagged and cursed as he fought down through the blood. His brother was one of the first to die. He would have to dig deep to prove Kirn was not really down there. But, despite the gore and the smell, Vaspero refused to stop. He had to be sure. He had to reach the bottom.

He had only clawed down a few feet when Kirn started to laugh. ‘Thanks for your help, brother.’

‘No,’ gasped Vaspero as he saw the corpses starting to jostle and shift. ‘You can’t be there.’

He backed away, blood dripping from his hands, as a figure rose from the slop.

Vaspero was so horrified that it took him a moment to realise it was not Kirn. It was not even a human. The face grinning up at him belonged to one of the greenskins.

Before Vaspero could react, the grot slid a knife into his belly.

Vaspero stumbled, then dropped backwards onto the steps, landing with a thud in the rotting meat.

The grot laughed as it scurried over him, and as his life rushed out of him, Vaspero watched dozens more of the creatures race up the steps, giggling and singing to the Killing Moon, howling with delight as they finally breached the city.

Chapter Nine

Scragfang tried to look regal as the squig jolted beneath him, rattling his bones and forcing him to clutch tightly on to the reins. They had crossed the Gibbermarsh basin and climbed to the higher ground a few miles from Slathermere. Even from this distance, the vast, slack-jawed gargant head dominated the view, shimmering with firemould and haloed by spores.

The rest of the Gobbapalooza were riding their squigs a respectful distance behind Scragfang, as though he were already the Loonking. This meant they could not hear him curse and mutter every time the squig leapt particularly high. However stern he made his commands, the wretched creature seemed to sense his fear, careering through the brackish pools in a wild, drunken manner that made it increasingly hard to remain in the saddle. Mangleback and the rest of the Gobbapalooza were flanked by Lord Zogdrakk’s heavily armed grots, but Scragfang had insisted that they keep the group small. The last thing he needed was people in Slathermere asking questions about the expedition. It was unusual for him to drag the whole Gobbapalooza out with him and not everyone in Slathermere was an idiot. It would only take one clever guess to ruin everything, and if the Loonking found out what Scragfang was up to, he knew exactly what would happen – he would join the muttering legions that grew in the Gibbermarsh.

They rode up a series of rocky inclines, like the foothills of a mountain, crossed another boggy valley, climbed more slopes and finally, after hours of riding, they looked down across the Weeping Brook. It was a winding trickle of sluggish black liquid that snaked through a mire of puffballs, candle-scabs and stinkhorns. Everything in the valley was dusted with firemould and every gill, cap and tendril glowed, shimmering with pallid light. It looked like the Weeping Brook was winding through white, glimmering fur.

As soon as the party reached the slopes above the valley the fungi below began to stir, rippling up towards them with a chorus of squelches and pops. There were hundreds of carnivorous killers, and even Scragfang might have been hard pushed to cut through them all, but before he had the chance to worry about it, Stinkeye raced past, riding his squig with far more confidence than him, and dealt with the situation. He placed one of his bottles in a small hand-held catapult, uncorked it and fired it out over the mass of tubes and domes. There was a flash of light as the contents rained down and erupted into colourless flames. A whining sound filled the air as toadstools and puffballs scrambled to escape. The flames were too fast, rippling across rubbery flesh and causing a series of loud pops. Within a minute, there was a charred, smouldering path leading down to the brook and the rest of the nearby predators were busy trying to distance themselves from Stinkeye.

He turned, nodded at Scragfang and then waited, his squig panting and hopping beneath him. No one spoke, and it took Scragfang a moment to realise that they were all waiting for his lead again. He kicked his steed a few times with no effect, and then, when it finally did respond, it bolted down the slope at such a frenzied pace that he barely managed to cling on.

As he reached the banks of the brook he was glad to jump off the thing and hand the reins to one of Lord Zogdrakk’s soldiers. Then he walked slowly to the edge of the river while the others dismounted behind him. He was not sure what was flowing through the brook, but it was not water. The ink-black liquid moved at a sluggish pace, and every time a bubble popped on its glossy surface it released pungent fumes. The feet that always followed Scragfang were splashing and rolling in it, chuckling and grinning. ‘Is it tar?’ he asked them, forgetting for a moment that he was not alone.

‘Where ist da rotters?’ said Lord Zogdrakk, coming to stand beside him. He prodded the liquid with his sceptre, causing another explosion of noxious gas.

Stinkeye lurched through the mud, blinking his membranous eye, staring into the blackness. ‘Er, everywhere. Da whole river’s full of ’em.’ He looked at Scragfang. ‘Ya need ta get right in though. Get yer ’ead under.’

Scragfang looked at the viscous liquid and shrugged. He had done far worse. He moved towards the river and searched for a part of the bank to climb down.

‘Oi!’ laughed Stinkeye. ‘Dis first.’ He grabbed another green vial and held it up, shaking the powder inside it. ‘Webcap! Da rotters don’t do nuffin wivout webcap.’

Scragfang nodded and headed back over to him while the others all gathered round. Lord Zogdrakk was sneering at the surrounding muck with a disdainful expression, pretending to be disgusted, Mangleback was watching Scragfang eagerly from beneath his pulpy shell and Boglob was swinging punches at the air, jogging on the spot, splashing mud over the others and hissing at imaginary foes.

‘Tastes good.’ Stinkeye grinned as he held the bottle out to Scragfang with a trembling hand. ‘Ya only need a tiny…’ His words trailed off as he saw that Scragfang had already downed the entire contents.

Scragfang noticed Stinkeye’s shocked expression. ‘Wot?’ He looked at the empty vial. ‘Too much?’

‘Er.’ Stinkeye scratched at his burnt forehead, dislodging flakes of blackened skin. ‘I’m sure it’s fine.’

Scragfang felt a buzzing sensation on his tongue. ‘’Ow much should I ’ave ’ad?’

‘Er, well, no need ta worry,’ Stinkeye said, giving him an unconvincing grin. ‘I just ain’t seen anyone glug a whole bottle before. I bet it’s fine.’

Scragfang felt a rush of fear and looked around at the banks of fungus. ‘Do I need an antidote? Slug tufts usually…’ He paused as he noticed something peculiar – he could see himself talking. He could see his own gaunt features, his own crimson eyes, his own enormous ears and nose. His features had gone slack and his eyes had a glassy look to them. He swayed forwards on his feet, and if the others hadn’t grabbed him he would have fallen face-first into the mud.

‘Quick!’ cried Stinkeye. ‘’E’s losin’ it. ’E’s crackin’. Get ’im in. Get ’is ’ead under!’

As Scragfang watched from his peculiar vantage point, he saw the others drag him to the edge of the river and sling him into the black liquid. His body hit the surface with a loud slap, but he only felt the pain as a distant sensation, as though it did not really belong to him.

‘Swallow da rotters!’ cried Stinkeye as Scragfang sank into the gloop. His bony limbs were visible for a moment, floating on the surface, then he vanished from sight with a gurgling sound.

As Scragfang watched himself disappear into the brook, he found that he was still able to control his physical self. He forced his mouth to open and drink some of the river, feeling the gritty spores that Stinkeye called gassy rotters. He chewed and swallowed then waited to see what happened next. For a while, nothing did. His vantage point continued to drift higher. He was looking down on Stinkeye and Mangleback and the others and soon he could see the lights of the whole valley spread out beneath him like a carpet of moonlit jewels. It’s so pretty, he thought, watching the fields of stems and caps as they pressed cautiously back towards the brook, trailing clouds of spores. He was just about to try to speak to the others when a belch rocked through his body. The explosion of gas was so violent that the valley whirled around him. Then he opened his eyes and saw nothing but pitch dark. Warm, cloying liquid was pressing down on every inch of his body and he realised he had returned to his flesh. He tried to speak, but the tar-like substance flooded his mouth and silenced him. Panic gripped him as he realised he could not breathe. He was about to try to swim when another violent belch exploded up from his guts. He clamped his eyes closed as the gas thundered through him. When he opened them again, he was horrified to find he was overground, gliding above a forest of iron trees. The moon was shining down on the rusty boughs, which were so vivid they had to be real. Prismatic clouds were hurrying past him and he could hear the distant clang of rocks tumbling into ravines. This was Skrappa Spill – the region above the Asylum. The Loonking had covered most of it in a protective shroud of gloom and drizzle, so Scragfang guessed he must be looking down over the borderlands, where the Spill merged with lands still ruled by humies and stunties. Scragfang had spent his entire life consuming mind-splitting morels, dream-inducing death caps and prophetic puffballs, but he had never eaten anything that affected him this quickly and this powerfully. He found the experience horrific – to be adrift in the roofless sky was worse than anything he could have imagined. ‘Stinkeye,’ he whispered, ‘wot do I do next? ’Ow do I get da zoggin–?’

Before Scragfang could finish his question he belched again. The burp was so ferocious that he was momentarily blinded. When he could see once more, the metal boughs had vanished and he was on the moonlit roof of a building. He was still in the overground and he was surrounded by humies and stunties. They were all rushing down a narrow street, clutching weapons and strapping on pieces of armour. He cowered back from the edge of the roof, then laughed at himself as he remembered his body was back in the Asylum, under the Weeping Brook. He had never had a chance to observe a humie lair at such close quarters, and after checking there was no visible part of him, he moved back towards the edge of the roof and looked down at the crowd. He felt a rush of panic as some of them turned his way. Then he realised they were looking past him, up into the sky. Whatever they were staring at was clearly horrific. The stunties were all wearing metal masks, but Scragfang could see the faces of the humies and their eyes were wide with terror. Scragfang turned slowly around then laughed in relief. It was the moon, grinning down at him.

He stepped from the roof and glided gently down amongst them, laughing at how awful they looked. The humies were all half-starved, with sunken cheeks and staring eyes and ragged clothes. And the stunties, who usually looked so shiny and annoying, were battered and limping, with blood leaking from their masks. Several of them were clutching at wounds and they were clearly exhausted, stumbling along as though pressed down by great weights. There was a humie at the head of the mob, clad in more impressive armour than the rest. He was carrying a tattered banner with a twin-tailed comet stitched across it and he was bellowing at the others to keep moving, pointing his banner to a crossroads at the end of the narrow street. But every few seconds he glanced up at the moon and whispered a prayer. Scragfang drifted near his scarred face and spat insults at him, giggling as the man staggered on, oblivious.

The crowd reached the crossroads and dozens of them immediately fell back, black-flighted arrows sticking from their chests and heads. The roar of battle washed over Scragfang as the soldiers dived behind overturned carts and hastily erected stockades. It was a chaotic scene and Scragfang forgot his purpose for a moment, laughing wildly at the destruction. Many of the buildings were collapsing, their tall, teetering facades smashed into asymmetry and robed in flames. The firelight silhouetted the soldiers, making them resemble flickering shadow puppets as they raced back and forth. The stunties were firing metal guns that barked and crackled and the humies were shooting arrows, but the fight was clearly not going their way. Scragfang drifted out across the battle and felt a rush of pride as he saw the invaders. They were grots, just like him – the Moonclans of Skrappa Spill, perhaps even from the Asylum. They were riding a howdah-backed spider so big it was smashing through the walls of buildings, scattering rubble and flames as it scuttled towards the defenders. The stunties fired a deafening barrage of shots. The spider stumbled as two of its legs crumpled beneath its mandibles, causing the grots in the howdah to scream and giggle, clinging to the rickety frame. The arachnid’s face slammed into the road, throwing up a cloud of dust and sending several of the grot archers somersaulting through the air while the others laughed hysterically.

The humies and stunties gave a weak cheer, but their victory was short-lived. As the spider struggled to right itself, another three skittered into view, rushing past it and racing down the street. Some of the soldiers managed to fire again, but most were busy desperately trying to reload their guns and several had given up altogether, sitting on the ground with dazed expressions on their faces as they looked up at the moon.

The grots in the howdahs clanged gongs and screeched battle songs as they loosed another volley.

Dozens of the humies and stunties fell back, bristling with black arrows. Those that could limped away, diving through the smoke, trying to escape the column of spiders that was now rushing into view. Scragfang giggled. There were dozens of the towering creatures, all crowded with grot mobs. As they attacked, Scragfang drifted on through the streets, delighted to see that the grots were taking control of the whole city. It looked like a big one, too, surrounded by a fifty-foot stone wall, topped with towers and crenellations and statues of their hammer-wielding storm god. The Loonking had trashed most of the humie lairs, but this one must have been big enough to last longer than the others. Not any more though. There were grots boiling up from every cellar and drain, flooding the streets with screeches and braying laughter. While grots swarmed from below, more of the spiders were clambering over the fortifications, dragging their bloated abdomens through the corpses as they hurled webs at the surviving soldiers. In a large square he found a stuntie sky-ship, tipped onto its side and covered in flames. Stunties and humies were battling to stifle the flames but a series of explosions drove them back, just as a huge mob of grots rushed towards them. Scragfang nodded eagerly, in awe of the Loonking’s cunning. If it wasn’t for Barak-Urbaz he would have gained complete control of the whole region. The memory of Barak-Urbaz reminded Scragfang why he was here, drifting through the flames and smoke. Da rune, he thought, recalling the slab of metal sunk in the Fyreslayer’s chest.

He looked around for Stinkeye, wondering what he was meant to do now, but there was no sign of the Gobbapalooza. He could not see the Weeping Brook or any of his friends. He was alone in the battle. He wracked his brains, trying to think how he could proceed. He was meant to be sending his brain to Urbaz, not stuck down here on the ground in this humie lair. But how would he move? Then he grinned as an idea occurred to him. He swallowed hard and let out a loud, rattling burp. The gassy rotters immediately did their trick. The battle swam around him like water rushing down a sinkhole, creating a blur of masonry, spiders and grots. Shapes and colours blurred into a single, busy darkness, then, with a dizzying rush, he tumbled into another scene.

Scragfang drifted across a wind-lashed sea towards a drifting metal sphere silhouetted by the light of the Bad Moon. The sphere was covered with pipes, vents and runes and there were plumes of smoke pouring from its chimneys. Stunties, thought Scragfang, recognising the style of the architecture, but this was not Barak-Urbaz. It was far too small. It was just a single floating building hanging a few hundred feet above the waves.

The sea was not water but molten metal and the air shimmered with heat and fumes. Hovering near the sphere was a vehicle that looked like it might once have been a stuntie sky-ship, or, rather, it looked like several sky-ships that had been mangled together to make something far more amusing. The prow had been hammered into a crescent-moon shape and painted with a cruel grin, and where the spherical engines should have been, there were now three huge puffballs, pulsing with inner light and hazed by clouds of spores. Someone had painted scowling, ugly faces on the puffballs and given them scribbly, messy beards. Scragfang laughed as he realised they were meant to be stunties.

As Scragfang glided closer he saw that, like the city he had just seen, the floating building was under attack. Plumes of rainbow-coloured smoke were pouring from its circular windows along with the sound of shouts and gunfire.

He passed through one of the windows and entered a hall that was slashed by beams of moonlight. The room followed the design of the tower’s exterior – curved metal plates crowded with mechanical devices. There were glowing orbs hung in alcoves and dozens of figures were dashing through the flickering light. Masked stunties, like the ones he had just left. Many of them were sprawled on the floor, injured or dead, and the rest were firing guns and harpoons, launching deafening volleys at the figures attacking them. Scragfang felt another rush of pride as he saw that here, too, it was Bad Moon grots who were attacking. They were pouring through a hole they had ripped in the wall, emboldened by the moon and swarming over the stunties. The defenders fought with grim determination but they were hugely outnumbered. As Scragfang watched, hundreds of his kin scurried into the room, loosing arrows and waving knives. The grots were only chest high to the stunties but they rushed over them in a frenzy. The stunties drew swords and began hacking wildly, but for every grot they cut down, dozens more surged forwards.

One of the stunties climbed from the scrum and up onto a statue at the centre of the hall. The statue was like an exaggerated version of the stunties’ masks – a fierce, bearded face forged of polished metal. The stuntie stood proudly on it, looking down at the crowds of grots, his chin raised and blood glistening on his uniform. Scragfang guessed he must be the boss. He surveyed the fighting with disdain, one boot resting on the edge of the statue. Dozens of grots clambered up the sculpture and lunged at him but he barely moved, blasting them away with calm, well-placed shots from his pistol and cutting them down with his cutlass.

The other grots hesitated, unnerved by the ease with which he was dispatching their kin. The stuntie boss watched the fighting for a moment then called out a command. Scragfang could not understand the gruff, barked words, but the meaning was clear. All the surviving stunties broke away from the fight and charged across the hall towards him, cracking grot heads with their fists and lashing out with their cutlasses. They clambered up the sides of the statue and made a circle, raising swords and guns as the grots gathered around them. There was a moment of quiet as the stunties glared down at the crowd, trying to catch their breath.

Then there was a scuffling sound at the back of the hall as grots parted to make a path for a newcomer. Intrigued, Scragfang floated over their heads to see who they were bowing and fawning to. It was another grot, but he was clearly a great shaman. He was wearing a tall metal hat hammered into the shape of a crescent moon and was leaning on a twisted staff topped with a knotted fist of toadstools. He grinned as he made his way towards the statue. The stunties waited in silence, loading their guns and helping stragglers up onto the top of the statue. The shaman came to a stop a few feet away and scratched thoughtfully at his behind, grinning toothlessly at the stunties. Then, moving with surprising speed, he hurled a glass vial onto the floor and raised his staff. As the vial shattered, it produced a cloud of lurid gas that whirled around the head of the shaman’s weapon. The stunties began firing. The grots surged forwards.

Scragfang belched again and the scene melted into a vibrant splash of colours that whirled around him and hurled him in a new direction. When his vision cleared he found himself immersed in another moonlit battle, seeing more grots swarming over another foe. This happened again and again. With each belch he was cast across the realm into a new corner of Chamon, and after dozens of these leaps he began to panic. This was not what Stinkeye had planned. He was not meant to be travelling from battle to battle, he was meant to be in Barak-Urbaz, spying on the Fyreslayer and finding out where he was headed. His pulse quickened as he realised he was in danger of messing everything up. If he failed to get the rune he was ruined. He had no doubts about the rest of the Gobbapalooza. He could trust Mangleback, but the others would only stand by him if he was a success – they would drop him the moment he looked to be failing. And they would have no qualms about telling the Loonking what he had tried to do.

Scragfang tried to ignore the battles that unfurled before him so he could send his mind back to the Weeping Brook. It was useless. He could no more control his thoughts than he had been able to control Lord Zogdrakk’s squig. Fear made him determined, though, and he tried again, picturing Stinkeye’s burnt features, trying to get back to him. Finally, after several minutes of panic, he managed to achieve something. A faint voice swam through his consciousness. There was always a chorus of voices babbling in Scragfang’s head, mostly telling him to break things, but he had learned to recognise them and this was a new sound, one that had nothing to do with his fractured sanity. It was Stinkeye. ‘Da rune! Fink on it! Paint a picture in yer ’ead!’

Scragfang tried to do as he ordered, but it was hard to remember the exact shape. There was still a battle raging around him and every time he managed to picture the rune, a wall collapsed or a window exploded, breaking his concentration. He took himself away from the fighting and stared into a pool of blood, trying to conjure a scene from the gore. As the liquid rippled and slopped, shaken by a sky-ship rumbling overhead, he remembered a fragment of detail – the Fyreslayer only had one eye. He was not cyclopean, like Stinkeye – he had a scar running across one side of his face and wore an eye patch over the mess where an eye used to be. This single, insignificant detail was enough. It was like looking at tree bark from a new angle and suddenly seeing a face. More of the scene swam into view, exactly as he had seen it in the vision in the grove – the Fyreslayer with the crest of hair and the rune and the spiteful-looking aelf at his side. From these two figures a whole city sprouted – a hideous metal metropolis crowded with engines and sky-ships.

Scragfang’s mind floated through the city towards a room where the Fyreslayer was talking with a stuntie who looked to be some kind of king, slumped in a huge wheeled throne. There was a big crowd of stunties chuffing on pipes. Some were guarding the king, while others were studying maps and scrolls and some were gawping at the Fyreslayer. Scragfang felt a rush of elation. This is actually going to work, he thought. That’s him. Just like the moon showed me. He glided through the fumes, away from the Fyreslayer and the king, looking around at the other stunties. He singled out the dimmest, most low-browed specimen he could spot and leapt into his skull.

Chapter Ten

The Lord Admiral led Maleneth and the others along a pillar-lined passageway that headed downwards, taking them deeper underneath Admiralty Hall. Maleneth tried to maintain her sneering expression but she could not help noticing the grandeur of the place. As they passed openings she glimpsed halls like the insides of mountains, crowded with metal walkways and statues and thronging with duardin. She would never have believed that anywhere outside of Azyr could seem so untainted by the predations of Chaos. These people were not just surviving, they were thriving. Building wonders in the deeps of their sky-city. Gotrek strode beside the throne, chatting amiably with the Lord Admiral. The two ancient duardin were irritatingly similar in manner – gruff, plain-speaking and full of low wit. Maleneth stayed a few paces back so she would not have to endure their tedious banter.

‘Is he your king?’ she asked Solmundsson.

‘We have no kings, Maleneth. Such things have been consigned to the past. My father is the city’s most senior representative of the Geldraad, our ruling body. But his power is checked by several measures. The city’s guildmasters hold as much power as he does. He cannot simply overrule them.’ He shrugged. ‘Mind you, it would be a foolish guildmaster who ignored the will of the Geldraad. Besides, we have the council and the Code. Most eventualities are covered by the statutes laid down by our forefathers.’

‘How incredibly dull.’ Maleneth thought of the glorious, bloody contests in the Murder Temples where she grew up and almost pitied the duardin with their tedious codes and guilds.

Solmundsson waved at the gleaming aether-endrins moored in the chamber they were passing. ‘Power is not dull, Maleneth. Defeat is dull.’

Maleneth was about to reply when a pair of doors slammed open, filling the passageway with light as the Lord Admiral led them into another grand hall. This one was a circular, bowl-shaped amphitheatre built around a machine larger and more convoluted than any they had seen so far. It was a golden cylinder covered in thousands of duardin runes, and there were dozens of horizontal bars arrayed from its sides, glinting and flashing as the central column slowly turned, powered by some unseen engine. The thing was so tall Maleneth struggled to make out the details higher up, but as they approached its base she saw that there were hundreds of cables snaking away from its sides, trailing out of sight through holes in the floor. Interspersed between the cables were rows of pillared alcoves, each of which contained a statue of a muscular duardin, hands raised above their heads and biceps bulging, giving the impression that they were supporting the weight of the entire sky-port. The noise of the engines was like an earth tremor and the floor juddered beneath Maleneth’s feet.

‘Brunnakh’s Capstan,’ said the Lord Admiral, pausing his throne for a moment to admire the structure. Smoke was pouring down its sides and pooling at its base and there was a crimson glow slicing out through its riveted plates, giving the whole thing a vaguely daemonic appearance.

‘The heart of Barak-Urbaz,’ said Solmundsson, looking at Maleneth.

‘A metal can?’

Solmundsson looked shocked and was about to say more, but the Lord Admiral waved them on across the hall. Sweaty, oil-splattered duardin crowded every inch of the chamber, working at machines and dragging equipment. They saluted the Lord Admiral as he passed, pounding their chests and nodding their heads, but he did not pause, driving his throne towards another magnificent doorway.

The din of the capstan died away as they passed through a series of smaller circular chambers. The first few were engine rooms and armouries, but after that, they took on a less utilitarian appearance, filled with polished, gilded furniture and crowded bookcases. Finally, they came to a map room. The walls were lined with beautiful navigation charts that described the movement of air currents and heavenly bodies.

The Lord Admiral waved them all to seats, then sent Solmundsson to a ceiling-high bookcase.

Solmundsson rushed over, clambered up a ladder and began sliding books from the shelf, unleashing clouds of dust. Then he placed all of them back bar one and brought it over to his father, flicking through the pages and pointing to a particular passage. ‘The Great Maker trod these lands before any of us. Even our finest works are only a shadow of his skill. If anyone built a forge equal to this task, it will be him.’

The Lord Admiral nodded and smiled.

‘Grungni?’ laughed Gotrek. ‘He was here? Floating about in these sky cities?’

The Lord Admiral shook his head. ‘This was the elder ages, the Age of Myth, before the coming of Chaos.’ He glanced at Trachos. ‘And Sigmar’s Stormhosts.’

Solmundsson stared eagerly at the book in his hands. ‘The Forge Father built great wonders in these lands, Slayer. In the Age of Myth he was here, in Chamon, leading his people to victory.’

Gotrek looked unimpressed. ‘He was here until the fighting started.’

Solmundsson was too busy leafing through the book to notice the jibe. Maleneth’s seat was close enough for her to look over his shoulder to study the pages. She could not read the angular runes but it was obviously a book of maps. Unlike the ones on the walls, these showed locations on the ground and most seemed to be mountain keeps – fortresses hewn from rock, similar to those built by the Fyreslayers.

‘Some of the old keeps still exist,’ said Solmundsson. ‘Most are ruined, of course, after so many centuries, but there are still treasures to be found in the deeps – great wonders of engineering that we can still learn from. It could well be that in one of these lost keeps I could find the power to complete the sublimation process.’ He stabbed his fingers at an illustration of a mountain hold. ‘Somewhere like the Iron Karak.’

The Lord Admiral nodded, still smiling.

‘The Lost Forge City,’ continued Solmundsson. ‘The home of the Master Smith himself. The finest, greatest example of his skill in the realms.’

Gotrek massaged his jaw and stared into the middle distance. He tried to sound unimpressed, but Maleneth could see he was intrigued. ‘Grungni built it?’

The Lord Admiral took another deep drag, his lungs rattling as he savoured the flavour. Then he waved the pipe. ‘It was taken though. Centuries ago. You know that as well as anyone, boy. Those ruins are full of ratkin.’

‘But there are so many tunnels leading into it. Many that have probably never been unearthed by the ratkin. Hidden ways known only to us.’ Solmundsson tapped the map. ‘Ways that are detailed in these very books.’

‘This all sounds horribly familiar,’ interrupted Maleneth. ‘Gotrek has been boring me with stories of lost mountain holds since the day I met him, but I’ve yet to see one. Is this forge city real? Somewhere that’s still intact and we could actually find?’

The Lord Admiral shrugged. ‘Finding the Iron Karak would be hard. Even more so since the grot moon returned. Moonclans have covered the whole damned continent in their wretched fogs and swamps. And it’s getting worse by the day. Even before you got near the ratkin’ – he tilted his head in Gotrek’s direction – ‘you’d have to get through lands teeming with “grobi scum”, as you called them.’

Maleneth looked from father to son and finally saw what was going on. She cursed herself for not realising sooner. ‘They’re tricking you, Gotrek. Can’t you see it? They just want you to clear out this old ruin for them. They want you to drive out the ratmen so they can get their forge city back. I doubt there’s anything in there that could help you get that rune out.’

The Lord Admiral gave her a good-natured smile that was identical to the one his son had annoyed her with earlier. ‘Nothing gets past an aelf, eh?’ He laughed. ‘I’m not one to play games. Yes, I admit it, I swore an oath many years ago to reclaim that city in the name of my ancestors.’ He tapped his pipe on some of the runes that covered the block under his seat. ‘And I never forget an oath. It cuts me like a knife to think of vermin defiling our ancestors’ home. And with the might of Grungni’s forges we could build fleets and weapons that would make my son’s current efforts look like toys. We could cleanse these lands of the greenskin scourge and the ratkin and every other vile species that has stained Grungni’s holds with their presence.’ He slammed his metal fist on the arm of his claw-throne, moving so suddenly that some of his attendants flinched. ‘We could take back what is ours.’

Maleneth expected Gotrek to rage at being manipulated, but he shrugged. ‘I thought you people cared only about the size of your coffers. At least you have the sense to think beyond that. Driving greenskins from your ancestral halls is a worthy goal. So it’s not my rune you’re after, then? It’s this lost city?’

The Lord Admiral shrugged. ‘I’ll take both if I can get them.’

Solmundsson looked dumbfounded, staring at his father. ‘You knew I’d suggest going to the Iron Karak?’

The Lord Admiral looked in Gotrek’s direction. ‘They grow a bit of chin fluff and think they can outwit their elders.’

Gotrek snorted.

Let him go, sneered Maleneth’s mistress. If the greenskins don’t gut him the ratkin will. And you can be on hand to get the rune. If he somehow survives, and that fool Solmundsson gets the rune out, you can make short work of him and still get the rune. But nothing’s going to happen if Gotrek stays here exchanging beard anecdotes.

Maleneth had no desire to search out a mountain keep full of skaven, but for the moment she could think of no alternative. She had learned long ago that the best course was often to wait for an opportunity to arise. She said nothing.

Solmundsson was beaming. ‘The smithies of Grungni. Anything would be possible. I’m sure I would be able to complete the transformation in the Halls of the Great Maker.’

‘Halls full of skaven?’ said Trachos, surprising Maleneth with his grasp of the conversation. ‘Surely they will have ruined the anvils?’

‘You don’t understand,’ replied the Lord Admiral.

Solmundsson nodded. ‘The power of the Iron Karak does not lie in its contents. It’s in its bones. If the legends are true, the whole superstructure is an aetheric fulcrum. The Saga of Ulfrikh Ironboots says the city’s foundations are built from changestone – vast chamonite pillars that are built over runes of formation. If that’s true, and I could align a burning glass to those sacred lines, I could transform anything.’

‘Legends and sagas,’ muttered Maleneth. ‘Is that what you base your decisions on? You people are deranged.’

Gotrek sipped his beer thoughtfully, ignoring Maleneth and looking at the Lord Admiral. ‘So you get my rune and you take back your city and you survive a little longer.’

The Lord Admiral’s expression darkened. ‘Is it wrong to want to survive? We’re the Kharadron Overlords. We find opportunities where we can. I’ll use whatever I damned well need to clear these lands of my enemies, whether it be aether-science or the runecraft of my forbears. The nature of the weapon is not the point. The point is wielding it with honour.’

‘With honour?’ Gotrek looked into the middle distance. ‘There’s the rub.’

The Lord Admiral studied him. ‘Honour means different things to different folk, Slayer. What does it mean to you?’

Emotions flashed across Gotrek’s face – anger, pain, determination. He seemed on the verge of shouting something, then slumped back in his chair looking dejected. ‘Damned if I can bloody remember.’ He took another swig of beer. ‘But I know it means more than just surviving.’

The Lord Admiral thought for a moment, running his metal fingers down the length of his beard. ‘I can see you think little of us, Slayer, but you are the one who arrived in our city uninvited and began wreaking havoc.’

Gotrek curled his lip but did not reply.

The Lord Admiral sighed and shook his head. ‘I don’t claim to be perfect, Slayer. I know there’s more to honour than simply survival, but how will we debate the finer points if we’re dead? Besides, if you want to talk about honour, look to your own deeds. We’ll all be judged if Doomgron really does come. The worthy will be weighed against the unworthy.’

Gotrek frowned, sipping more beer. ‘Who’s Doom Ron?’

The Lord Admiral shook his head. ‘It’s not a who, it’s a when. Doomgron. It’s something the Fyreslayers blather on about, and to be honest, it might be as untrue as the rest of their superstitious claptrap. They’ve spent so long living in magma pits they’ve cooked their brains. But…’ He frowned and took a drag on his pipe, the embers flashing in his blank eyes. ‘But Doomgron has been mentioned so many times I do wonder if they might not be on to something.’ He waved his pipe at the scrolls that lined the walls. ‘Even our own logbooks and manifests make mention of it. And I’ve spoken to some of our dispossessed kin who mutter the word “Doomgron” into their cups. The tales chime with each other. They say that a day will come, a day of judgement, when the greatest heroes shall be called to war by Grungni himself. And in that final battle the slag shall be divided from the gold. Grungni will judge which of his children fight with honour and which do not.’

Gotrek sneered. ‘Grungni? Show his face in a battle? He’s more likely to show his arse as he legs it.’

Again, Maleneth could see through his bluster. His derisive tone did not convince her. He had recognised something in the Lord Admiral and was keen to hear what he said.

‘I’m not in thrall to any god, Slayer, Grungni included. The Fyreslayers sing songs about Grimnir rising to save them. And many of our duardin kin make similar claims about Grungni. I treat most of it like the useless clinker it is, but you’re not the only one who’s thought about how to be worthy of his ancestors. And this talk of Doomgron… I sometimes wonder if there might not be something in it.’ He leant forwards in his throne. ‘The Kharadron are survivors, Gotrek. We’ve been forged, hammered and tempered. But survival is not our only purpose. Not mine, at least. I don’t intend to shame my ancestors. I mean to honour them.’ He shrugged. ‘And what if Doomgron is just another daft Fyreslayer myth? The facts remain the same. We’ll all be judged. It might be by the ghosts of the past or it might be by the scholars of the future, but our deeds will be weighed and measured.’ He leant closer to Gotrek. ‘Nothing we do goes unseen. I know that.’ He tapped his pipe against the cogs turning on his chair. ‘For every action there is a reaction. And the greater the force, the greater the effect.’

Gotrek’s face fell into an expression Maleneth had not seen him wear before. He looked uncomfortable, as though the Lord Admiral’s blind stare had breached some hidden corner of his soul. He placed his leathery palm across the rune and looked away.

There was a moment of awkward silence, then one of Solmundsson’s guards spoke up, causing everyone to look at him in surprise. ‘So, which way da we go?’

Chapter Eleven

Scragfang cursed as everyone looked round at him in surprise. He had not meant to ask his question out loud. Being inside the stuntie’s head was not a pleasant experience. He had imagined it would just be like looking through a window, but his host’s thoughts kept seeping into his. He kept seeing glimpses of the duardin’s memories and they were all full of dazzling sunlight, clear, open skies and dizzying views of the world seen from the clouds. He could also feel his host reacting to his presence, straining to drive him out. There was a peculiar battle taking place. The power of the rotters was growing by the second, and Scragfang had no problem exerting his will, but the stuntie’s mind kept finding cracks to seep up through. If Scragfang relaxed his guard, the duardin might be able to snatch control of his own vocal cords and shout for help. It was this constant need for vigilance, added to the revolting visions of sunny horizons, that caused Scragfang to blurt out his question.

Luckily the Fyreslayer did not look his way, staring gloomily at the elderly, blind king, but several of the other stunties did. Some looked amused but most glared at him, as though he had broken some rule of etiquette.

There was an awkward pause and Scragfang felt a rush of panic. Could they see him? Did they know he was spying on them?

‘Which way would it be?’

Scragfang relaxed as the gravelly voice dragged the attention from him. It was the Fyreslayer. He clearly had heard Scragfang’s question. He did not look over towards him, but turned to face the blind stuntie again. ‘If we did do this, how would we reach Grungni’s city?’

The blind king looked pleased. ‘Then you do think the journey worthwhile, Gotrek?’

The Fyreslayer shrugged. ‘I swore an oath. I swore that I would regain my honour by dying a worthy death. Centuries have passed. Worlds have died. And I’m still bloody here. So, if I’m going to be stuck here for a while I’d better find something that is worthwhile.’ The Fyreslayer looked angry, but Scragfang guessed from the deep creases in his brow that he only ever looked angry. ‘I still don’t believe in any of this.’ The Fyreslayer waved at the gilded columns that surrounded them, glittering in the artificial light. ‘It’s not enough. Hiding up here is almost as bad as Sigmar hiding in Azyr.’ He shrugged. ‘But you, Lord Admiral, do actually speak some sense. We’ll all be ancestors one day. And we’ll all be judged. More importantly’ – he held up his tankard – ‘you’re the first person to give me something drinkable since I got here.’ He tapped the drink. ‘And most of my best decisions have come from a cup.’

The blind king looked troubled by Gotrek’s words, but he raised his tankard and nodded. ‘Aye to that.’

The Fyreslayer continued glowering for a moment, then his face cracked into a smile and he laughed. Soon all of the duardin were roaring with laughter and Scragfang looked around at them, confused, wondering if he had missed something. He had always thought that he and the rest of the Gobbapalooza were pretty cracked, but the stunties seemed even more deranged. After laughing and drinking for several minutes, the Fyreslayer stood up and launched into a song, and after a moment’s confusion all the other duardin joined in, roaring out the words ‘Ho! Ho!’ until a great, raucous chorus filled the chamber.

Two barrels more and I’ll hit the floor,

Ho! Ho! Fill me up some more!

Three barrels more and I’ll split the door,

Ho! Ho! Fill me up some more!

Half a gallon, half a pint,

Ho! Ho! Fill me up some more!

Four barrels more and I’ll hit the floor,

Ho! Ho! Fill me up some more!

Scragfang mumbled along, pretending to know the words, which in fairness were not hard to grasp. As he looked around, baffled, he saw that he was not the only one who found the whole thing peculiar. The murder aelf, standing just a few feet away from the Fyreslayer, was watching the display with a look of withering derision. She was gripping the knives at her belt and Scragfang could tell from her expression that she wanted to hurl them at the duardin. Perhaps she was jealous of the Fyreslayer’s affection for the blind king? She must care greatly for Gotrek, he decided, to endure the company of the other duardin. He grinned as he thought about his plan. Stealing her was going to work perfectly.

As he watched the murder aelf, congratulating himself on his genius, Scragfang noticed something peculiar – something no one else seemed to be aware of. The aelf was talking to a piece of jewellery that was hung around her neck – an amulet. She was not talking out loud, but with her mind. Scragfang realised that the rotters had shown him something about her that she wanted hidden – he was hearing a secret conversation. There was someone in the amulet. Or, at least, there was the spirit of a person in there. And it was telling the aelf what to do.

To Scragfang’s relief, Gotrek finished his song and the din subsided. Then, before Scragfang’s ears had a chance to recover, the blind king swigged his drink, struggled into a standing position, raised his cup and launched into a new song.

The barmaid only has one eye, but she won’t let my throat go dry!

Keep your gold and keep your queens, I’ll love Brenna till I die!

The barmaid only has one leg, but she won’t let my throat go dry!

Keep your gold and keep your queens, I’ll love Brenna till I die!

The barmaid only has one tooth, but she won’t let my throat go dry!

Keep your gold and keep your queens, I’ll love Brenna till I die!

The sound of the duardin voices battered against Scragfang’s mind. Their songs were as hard and resounding as their city. Scragfang wanted to clamp his hands over his ears but he knew that would draw more attention to himself. To his dismay, rather than winding down, the stunties seemed to be just getting going. At a signal from the blind king, the party left the map room and headed out into a large banquet hall filled with benches. The king called out to his servants and they hurried away and returned bearing trays laden with barrels of ale, alongside loaves of fresh bread, slabs of cheese and hunks of cold meat. Rather than deciding on a course of action, which would have enabled Scragfang to learn their route, they began a raucous, drink-fuelled feast. As they drank they launched into more songs, all with almost identical tunes and themes. Every one of them concerned the pleasures of drinking, the heartache of not being able to drink or the unlimited amounts they would like to drink. The songs drew more duardin to the hall, who brought with them more food and drink and a selection of drums and horns. Soon there was a large celebration taking place and everyone had completely forgotten the matter of journeying north.

Scragfang turned to the duardin next to him, and while trying to stamp his foot in time to the beat, he raised his voice over the racket. ‘Wot route do ya fink we’d take?’

The stuntie frowned and cupped his hand to his ear.

Scragfang shouted louder and tried to sound like a duardin. ‘Wot route dooo yoooo think we’d take?’

The duardin laughed. Then he grabbed a tankard from a passing tray and thrust it at Scragfang, spilling foam from the brim. ‘This one!’

Scragfang smiled nervously and took the cup. Then he realised that the duardin was staring at him. He’s seen me, he thought, panicking again. He knows who I am. Then he realised the duardin was just confused as to why Scragfang had not downed his ale.

He swallowed hard, then raised the tankard to his lips and began to drink. It did not taste quite as bad as he expected. There was something yeasty and earthy about it that reminded him of the brew Mangleback made from mottled milk caps. To his relief he was able to finish the drink. He proudly held up the empty cup to the stuntie to prove he had emptied it.

The stuntie misunderstood the gesture and handed Scragfang another full tankard.

Again, he stared at Scragfang, grinning at him through broken teeth and an ale-sodden beard. Scragfang felt more confident the second time and emptied the cup in a few quick gulps. This time he found it positively enjoyable, and as he swallowed the last few dregs he began to feel pleasantly light-headed.

‘Reminds me of Scab Cap Brew,’ he muttered.

The stuntie shook his head, unable to hear over the sound of singing. Then he handed Scragfang a third tankard. This time, he took it eagerly. The more he drank, the less afraid he felt and the more confident he became that he would go undiscovered. The ale was making him feel more like a real stuntie. He actually felt a peculiar sense of companionship with the duardin, who was grinning enthusiastically at him as he drank.

Ten minutes later, Scragfang had emptied six tankards and was staggering through the crowd with his arm slung over the stuntie’s shoulder. His head was spinning wonderfully and, to his amazement, the words of the songs were starting to make sense. He even managed to sing along. The stuntie was called Knut and he led him to a long, bench-lined table crowded with singing drunks. They flopped onto a bench and drank so much ale that Scragfang forgot all about his reason for coming to the city. All he could think about was how hilarious the situation was. He, a Bad Moon shaman, was drinking happily with the stunties he was going to destroy.

‘You’re a good friend, Ornolf!’ yelled Knut, clunking his tankard against Scragfang’s.

‘I’m Scragfang!’ he replied.

Knut’s smile froze on his face. ‘Scragfang? Sounds like a damned grot name.’

Scragfang giggled hysterically. ‘I am a grot.’

Knut stared. Then he burst into deep-bellied laughter and clapped Scragfang on the shoulder. ‘A grot!’ He slammed his forehead on the table. Then he looked back at Scragfang, shaking with mirth. ‘Me too. I’m king of the grots.’

‘The Loonking!’ laughed Scragfang.

‘Yes!’ Knut snorted ale from his nose. ‘Loony king! I’m the Loony king! King of the loonies! Here to wage war on my brain!’ He grabbed an armful of tankards and pulled them towards him. As he did so, he elbowed the stuntie next to him, spilling his drink. It was one of the ornately armoured stunties who had been guarding the blind king. He rose from the bench and glared at Knut.

‘That was my beer.’

‘And I’m the Loony king!’ cried Knut, still laughing.

The other stuntie planted his fist in Knut’s face.

Knut slammed into Scragfang and they toppled onto the floor, scattering tankards and causing more stunties to howl. Someone punched the guard in golden armour and more drinks went flying.

Scragfang, like all of his kind, had been born with razor-sharp survival instincts. Even drunk, he had the sense to roll clear and stagger away as a huge fight erupted around the table. A storm of tankards and flying fists rushed through the hall as stuntie slammed into stuntie. The sound of singing was replaced by the howl of curses and the crunch of breaking noses. Scragfang lurched and weaved through the mayhem, making for an empty corner. As he ran, his ale-clumsy legs managed to tie themselves together and he fell forwards, smashing his face into the back of another stuntie’s head and causing him to drop his drink.

The stuntie whirled around, bellowing furiously, and Scragfang’s heart sank as he saw it was the Fyreslayer.

He was about to apologise when a rock-like fist slammed into his face and sent him gliding through the air. He passed over the heads of several stunties and crashed back down into the group fighting round the bench. He took another painful blow to the side of his head and tumbled to the floor.

He rolled to a halt and found himself face to face with Knut. Knut’s face was smeared with blood and the skin around his left eye was already darkening into an impressive bruise, but he laughed at the sight of Scragfang, spitting out a tooth and handing him one of the tankards he had dragged under the table. Scragfang looked at him in disbelief, then, realising he had no better options, took the proffered drink and gulped it down.

As the fighting around the table grew more intense, Scragfang and Knut worked through their collection of drinks, leaning against each other in quiet camaraderie until, after several more cupfuls, Scragfang finally passed out.

Chapter Twelve

Scragfang enjoyed the sense of darkness pressing over him, filling his thoughts with warm, comforting quiet. Then he realised his lungs were straining and he could not breathe. He pounded his limbs and broke the surface of the Weeping Brook.

‘There!’ cried Mangleback, scuttling down the riverbank towards him, casting one of his tentacles out like a fishing line.

Stinkeye and the others rushed from the gloom and gathered round Mangleback.

‘Does thou know da route?’ called Lord Zogdrakk.

‘No,’ gasped Scragfang. Even though he was back in his own body, he still felt horribly drunk, and he struggled to focus on the figures gathered at the riverbank. ‘Not yet.’ He reached out through the cloying liquid, trying to grasp the limb Mangleback had extended, but it was no use. The brook seemed to be gripping him in place. However hard he tried to kick his legs, they barely moved.

‘Dive down again,’ wheezed Stinkeye. ‘We need da route if we’re gonna get to steal the aelf.’

‘I’m zoggin drownin’!’ cried Scragfang, furious at Stinkeye’s nonchalant tone. ‘I ain’t goin’ back in! ’Ow long was I in there? An hour?’

They all shook their heads. ‘U’ve only been under a few seconds,’ said Mangleback.

‘It’s just the rotters messin’ wiv yer ’ead,’ said Stinkeye. ‘U’ve only been under for a moment, but the brook gives ya hours of scrying time. Don’ worry ’bout drownin’.’

Mangleback nodded eagerly. ‘I promise, if yer under for more than a few seconds, I’ll come an’ fish ya out.’

They all looked at him in expectant silence as he kicked his legs and glared back at them. ‘By the moon,’ he muttered. ‘This betta zoggin work.’ Then he rolled over and dived back beneath the ink-black liquid.

The drinking hall was filled with a mixture of snores and groans. Scragfang lifted himself up on one elbow and looked out from under the table. Most of the stunties were slumped in a stupor, sprawled across benches, drenched in beer and blood. Lights were still flickering overhead, and after wiping his eyes, Scragfang saw that not everyone was comatose. Not far from where he was lying, at the end of a long table, the Fyreslayer was talking with the blind king. Despite the copious amounts of ale they had consumed, neither of them seemed at all drunk. They were hunched over a map with some of the other stunties. The murder aelf was there too, along with a much taller figure that Scragfang could not quite make out in the shifting light.

Scragfang tried to stand but there was a weight crushing him to the floor. It took him a moment to realise that the heap of armour and vomit was Knut. He heaved the snoring stuntie aside and crawled out from beneath the bench. There was no natural light in the drinking hall, so it was impossible to know how much time had passed, but he guessed, by the fact that most of the stunties were in such a deep sleep, that the fighting and drinking must have ended quite a while ago. He cursed under his breath as he staggered towards the group around the blind king. What if he had missed the details of their plan?

To his relief, Scragfang saw that they were all leaning over a map and one of the stunties had drawn lines across it in red ink. No one paid any attention as he joined them.

The stuntie who was talking wore amour almost as impressive as the blind king’s and seemed to be an expert in navigation. ‘We may have trouble in this pass,’ he said, tapping the map, ‘where Holmkel Leadfist slew the Cobalt Serpent. Greenskins hold all the surrounding peaks.’

The blind king shook his head. ‘Nonsense, Thialf. We have a zonbek at the Valdrakh Pass. Captain Ragni still holds sway in those hills.’

‘Sorry, father,’ said the stuntie in grand armour. ‘Ragni is dead. The Valdrakh zonbek fell just last month. Do you remember the messages we had from Sirikh? The greenskins used the same flying steeds they’ve been sending against our mining fleets. Captain Ragni was massively outnumbered. Had you forgotten?’

The blind king sat up in his throne and scowled in the direction of his son. ‘Aye, of course I bloody remember. It’s just the ale muddying my thoughts.’ He looked at the Fyreslayer. ‘Damned beardling. Likes to make out I’m senile so he can worm his way into this throne a little sooner.’

Thialf looked appalled. ‘That is not what I meant.’

‘No matter. If the Valdrakh Pass is unsafe, how do you intend to reach the lost city?’

The Fyreslayer shook his head. ‘Surely you can just fly over the mountains. Your sky-ships can go higher than those peaks. You mine things from the clouds, don’t you?’

‘The height’s not the problem,’ replied Thialf. ‘There are more gargants living in those peaks than the rest of the realm put together. Flying over them would mean we’d face an airborne avalanche. The gargants hurl rocks in impressive numbers. It’s impossible to get through without taking damage to the hull. No, it has to be the Valdrakh Pass. I just wanted to be clear that it’s the riskiest part of the journey. It’s a narrow, steep-sided crevasse. If greenskins attacked us there it would be a tough fight.’

The Fyreslayer laughed. ‘Can grobi fly now?’

‘After a fashion,’ replied the blind king. ‘They ride monsters that are like winged mouths. Squigs, they call them. Big lumps of muscle that chew through armour and bone in seconds.’

The Fyreslayer’s lip curled and he tapped his axe on the floor. ‘If greenskins are your only problem then there isn’t a problem. Leave ’em to me, along with their flying squigs.’

The blind king laughed. ‘It sounds like our friend here can deal with the Moonclans. You just need to make sure you can get your ship to Valdrakh Pass.’ He paused to draw on his pipe, then, after blowing smoke across the table, pointed the pipe at his son. ‘But you have developed a worrying ability to lose ships. Can I be sure you’re the right person to handle this commission?’

‘Commission?’ Thialf looked surprised. ‘I imagined this would be a family matter.’

The blind king chuffed on his pipe again, the embers lighting up his featureless eyes. ‘Damned if I’m taking all the risk.’ He waved his pipe at the figures sprawled all around them, still snoring and groaning. ‘If we tell the guildmasters they have a shot at reclaiming the lost forge city they’ll trip over their beards to fund the expedition.’

‘Have you so little trust in me, father?’ Thialf waved at the gilded pipes that covered the walls, studded with jewels and rune-inscribed shields. ‘Half of this wealth came from me. I can do this, father. I will get us to the forges, remove Gotrek’s rune from his chest and reclaim the Iron Karak.’

‘You’re still drunk, Thialf. Do you think a single ship is going to take back the Iron Karak? Even a whole fleet? The grots have taken every inch of land around there, and once you get past them, the ruins themselves are infested with ratkin.’ He shook his head and took another drag on his pipe. ‘No, if we’re going to do this, we do it properly. First, you take this Slayer and see if you can even find the place. None of our maps agree on its exact location and I don’t trust any of the captains who claim to have seen it. If you can find it, pin down the location and bring me proof it’s still standing. Then we will show your evidence to the guildmasters and fund a full-scale invasion.’

‘They’d never agree to it,’ said Thialf. ‘Not when we’re so hard pressed, on so many fronts. Grots are conquering the whole of Ayadah, father. None of the admirals would want to call back their fleets. It would risk every one of their cloud mines.’

‘They would risk anything for the Iron Karak,’ said the blind stuntie with a grim smile. ‘As long as you get proof of its existence. Think about it, lad. The might of Grungni’s Fingers. Chamonite pillars. Slabs of changestone taller than this hall. Think what we could do with that power. Barak-Urbaz would become the most powerful of all the sky-ports. We’d drive those damned Moonclans back into the ground and make the whole continent safe for honest traders.’

The Fyreslayer had been picking up empty tankards, peering hopefully into each one, but at this he looked up. ‘How does this one-ship plan help me get the rune out of my chest?’

The blind stuntie nodded. ‘As things stand, small numbers are your best chance of getting to the city and getting inside. I can’t guarantee a full-scale invasion will ever happen, but despite his careless habits with my ships, I am pretty sure my son could get you to the Iron Karak. You tell me you’re not afraid of a few ratkin, so–’

‘Afraid?’ The Fyreslayer slammed his fist on the table, rattling all the empty cups.

The old stuntie nodded and continued. ‘So you should have no problem getting my son and his crew to one of Grungni’s changestone pillars. At that point, Thialf can tap into more power than he’s ever dreamt of. He can hook you up to his… What did you call it?’

‘It’s a volatising lens, father. I call it the burning glass.’ He glanced at the Fyreslayer. ‘It may be in need of some repair work.’

‘Whatever,’ grumbled the blind stuntie, looking back in the direction of the Fyreslayer. ‘My son will patch up his crystal, bring it to the Iron Karak and then, once you get him to one of the changestone pillars, he will use it to blast that thing out of your ribs. All I ask is that you help my people get out of that place and bring me proof of its existence.’ He took another drag on his pipe. ‘What you do after that is your own business.’ He waved his pipe at the murder aelf and the tall figure Scragfang had noticed earlier. ‘I’m sure these Sigmarite fanatics can find a way for you to do something “honourable”.’

Scragfang peered through the pipe smoke and finally saw who was standing next to the aelf. He let out an involuntary gasp. It was a Stormcast Eternal clad in thick, battered armour and gripping a pair of brutal-looking warhammers.

‘Ornolf?’ cried the blind king, turning in Scragfang’s direction. ‘What in the name of Grungni has got into you?’

‘Sorry,’ muttered Scragfang, doing his best to sound gruff.

The king continued glaring at him for a moment, before looking back towards the Fyreslayer. ‘But I would hope, Gotrek, son of Gurni, that when you see the might of the Iron Karak, and the wonders of its hidden deeps, you might consider lending your strength to the people who share your ancestry. We have the same blood running in our veins, Gotrek. And I have spent many years asking the same questions you have. Maybe we could answer them together?’

The Fyreslayer said nothing.

The king looked back towards his son. ‘I’ll trust you, lad, once you’ve shown me that you can get a ship to those ruins and get it out again. Do you understand? Do this thing and there will be no question mark hanging over your rank.’

Thialf paled. Then he nodded and punched his chest.

The king nodded, seeming satisfied, then slumped back in his throne to continue smoking.

The conversation moved on to the details of the location they were trying to reach, but Scragfang was no longer interested. He had what he needed. Valdrakh Pass. The name was new to him but he had looked hard at the map and fixed the location in his mind. That was where he would make his move. As Lord Zogdrakk’s mobs attacked, the crew would be too busy to notice anything strange going on. In the confusion of the fighting, it would be an easy matter to trick Maleneth into the arms of Mangleback and the others. He grinned as he backed away from the table, belching his way back into his own body.

Chapter Thirteen

Moonlight flashed across the deck of the Angaz-Kár as Maleneth strode towards the prow. It was the capital ship in the Solmund fleet and even she had to admit it was impressive. Despite being twice the size, it was essentially the same design as the ironclad vessels that she had seen before, but where some Kharadron ships were utilitarian in appearance, the Angaz-Kár was gilded and polished to such a degree that it blazed every time it banked through a cloud. It was so large that it had a smaller vessel called a gunhauler attached to the hull and more engines than she had ever seen on one ship. Deckhands and endrinriggers bustled all around her, manning the rigging and stoking the engines, but none of them were singing. Maleneth had observed Kharadron on their ships before and they usually sang constantly. This was what they lived for, to be slicing through the breeze with valleys and peaks far below, but this journey was different. The moonlight had stolen the words from their throats. They worked in grim silence, averting their gaze from the face hanging overhead. Maleneth did the same. She had made the mistake of looking at the moon when it first broke through the clouds and she had almost screamed in horror. She could feel it up there, glaring down at her, but she kept her gaze on the deck, hoping it would not take long for the clouds to close again.

The endrins thrummed and the whole vessel bristled with aether-guns of every conceivable design. It was an airborne armoury. It was hard to spot an inch of hull that did not sport a lethal instrument of war. The crew were all dressed in spotless flight suits covered in gold trim that gleamed as brightly as the ship’s hull. Captain Solmundsson had removed his helmet and climbed up onto the railing, and was now hanging from the ship by one hand, perched over the empty sky, eyes closed as the wind whipped through his beard. He alone seemed immune to the pall that had fallen over the crew. ‘Do you feel it, Gotrek?’ he said. ‘Freedom.’

They had only left the sky-port a few hours ago but they had already left Barak-Urbaz far behind in the clouds. Gotrek was standing at Maleneth’s side with Trachos a few feet behind, and he looked distinctly unimpressed. ‘I’d rather be in the belly of a mountain. In the Hearth Halls of Karaz-a-Karak, with my feet up by a fire and a pint of Bugman’s in my hand.’

He gave Maleneth a sideways glance, as if she were likely to understand what he was talking about. Every now and then he slipped into the past and forgot that she was not his old companion who had died in the world-that-was. He was such an addled dotard that it would have been funny if he wasn’t also the most dangerous person she knew.

‘I’ve told you before,’ she said, ‘I have no idea what a Bugman’s is. Nor do I wish to think about your feet.’

He turned his grizzled face towards her, blinking, like he was trying to bring the real world back into focus. ‘Aye, true enough. You have no idea. About anything.’

She leant so close their faces were almost touching, speaking in a gentle whisper. ‘I hate you.’

Gotrek bared his teeth in a brutal grin.

Solmundsson savoured the wind for a moment longer, then clanged back down onto the deck and strode over to them. ‘I’ve spent too long at home. It does me good to be back out among the elements again. This is the way to live. Standing on the deck of a proud ship with the wind lashing through the…’ His smile faltered as he saw Gotrek’s grim expression. ‘Does this not stir your soul, Slayer?’

‘It stirs my guts. Has your pilot ever heard of a straight line?’

Solmundsson laughed. ‘You’ll get used to it. Everyone finds it strange at first. But trust me. After a few days of this, you’ll feel like you were born to it. Even I–’

Maleneth held up her hand to silence him. ‘Did you say days?’ She was feeling quite nauseous herself. ‘How far is it to the Iron Karak?’

Solmundsson shrugged. ‘Hard to say, as I’ve never succeeded in finding it before.’

He said this in such a jolly tone that it took all of Maleneth’s will not to draw a knife. She looked at Gotrek. ‘Why are you giving time to these idiots? I’ve always considered your intolerance to be one of your few virtues. Now you’re letting this grinning oaf hurl us round the sky in a tin bath looking for a city that might never have existed.’

‘Captain!’ cried a voice from overhead. ‘Wyrms, twelve degrees starboard.’

‘Man the carbines!’ replied the captain, still sounding cheerful. ‘Come and see,’ he said, heading over to the gunwale. ‘See how we have become the masters of the sky.’

They followed him over to the railings as deckhands rushed to their weapons.

‘Do you see?’ Solmundsson pointed at the clouds swirling beneath them.

Gotrek squinted through the railings. ‘See what?’

Maleneth shook her head, unable to spot anything unusual, beyond the fact that she was sailing in the sky.

Solmundsson handed Gotrek a copper spyglass covered in runes. ‘To the east.’

Gotrek grunted. ‘Is that what passes for a dragon in your…’ He frowned. ‘Very well, I see there are quite a few of them, but they’re hardly bigger than me.’ He handed the spyglass back to Solmundsson. ‘Am I supposed to be impressed?’

Solmundsson handed the spyglass to Maleneth. ‘Not dragons,’ he said as Maleneth focused in on a swarm of undulating shapes rushing towards them. ‘Phosgene wyrms. And they’re hungry. They’ve caught the scent of our aether-gold.’

‘They look like ghosts,’ said Maleneth. ‘Are they spirits? I can see through them.’

‘No,’ said Solmundsson. ‘Not spirits. Their flesh is an amalgam of sinew and toxic gas.’ He unclasped his helmet from his belt and fixed it over his head with a hiss of escaping air, hiding his bright, cheerful face behind a grim mask. ‘Sniff the air and you’ll probably smell them even from here.’

‘Smells quite pleasant,’ said Maleneth. ‘Like fresh blood.’

Solmundsson cast her a sideways glance. ‘Breathe enough of it and it will choke you.’

‘I’m not wearing one of these damned things,’ grunted Gotrek, tapping Solmundsson’s helmet.

Solmundsson shrugged. ‘No need. I don’t intend letting them anywhere near the Angaz-Kár.’

‘Choose your targets!’ he cried, climbing up onto the railing and turning to face his crew. ‘Ready the torpedoes! Hold your fire until I give the order!’

Maleneth tried to look as unimpressed as Gotrek, but as the wyrms spiralled up towards them, she was shocked to see how many there were. It looked like a large flock of birds was banking and weaving towards them. ‘How many would you say there are?’ she asked Trachos.

Trachos was staring up at the moon, muttering something.

‘Trachos!’ she snapped.

He turned to face her, moonlight glinting over his cracked faceplate. ‘We will not hold the gate.’ His voiced clanged like a broken bell. ‘The revenants have taken the outer walls.’

‘How many?’ she demanded, losing patience. She reached up and grabbed the back of his helmet, intending to turn his face towards the approaching wyrms. ‘Khaine!’ she hissed, snatching her hand back and gripping it. ‘What’s happening to you?’ Touching his armour had been like putting her hand in a fire.

The contact had clearly affected him too. Light pulsed behind his faceplate and he reeled away, raising one of his hammers in a warding gesture. The collection of esoteric devices at his belt sparked and shimmered, making worrying ticking sounds.

‘I barely touched you,’ she muttered. For a while, she had begun to think of Trachos as a useful ally. But in recent months he had become so strange she barely knew him. It seemed odd to her, but she almost felt like she had lost a friend.

‘It’s me!’ she snapped. ‘Maleneth. We’re with Gotrek Gurnisson. Remember?’

He stared at her as the deckhands hurried past, obeying Solmundsson’s orders. ‘I remember you, Witchblade.’ He looked around the ship. ‘This is not Anvilgard.’

‘Anvilgard? Khaine. No, you dolt. Of course it’s not. We left Aqshy months ago. We’re in Chamon. We came to Barak-Urbaz.’ She waved at the crew. ‘We’re with the Kharadron Overlords.’

Trachos fell silent again.

‘Stay with me, dammit,’ said Maleneth. ‘It’s bad enough that Gotrek’s only got half a foot in reality. You claim to have a connection to the Order of Azyr and you swore to help me with…’ She hesitated and looked at Gotrek. ‘With that.’

Trachos fiddled with the equipment slung from his armour, silencing the ticking sounds. ‘I thought I was back in the underworlds. Newly forged. Facing the revenants again.’ His tone was bleak. ‘I thought my brothers were still with me.’

‘Get a hold of yourself! Your men never left Shyish and you’ve told me several times that it was your fault. And you said you’d make amends by helping me get this oaf or his rune back to Azyrheim. Do you remember?’

He lowered his hammer and looked at Gotrek. ‘I remember pieces.’

Captain Solmundsson was growing more excited as the flock of creatures approached his ship, and Gotrek had climbed up beside him on the railing to watch. Maleneth shook her head in despair. ‘Stay with me, Trachos. The hog is about to go into one of his killing frenzies, I can sense it. We can’t lose him over the side of this ship. Even he might not survive falling from the heavens.’

Trachos shook his head. ‘What am I, Witchblade?’

‘An idiot. Damn you. I’d knock some sense into you but your armour would fry my hand again. You’re a Stormcast Eternal. You lost half your mind during a campaign in Shyish but that still leaves you with more brains than these tin-hatted fools.’ As she spoke, she had a horrible suspicion that she was starting to sound like Gotrek, but she continued. ‘The Order of Azyr. Remember? I work for it and you said you would aid me. We are sworn to root out Sigmar’s enemies and do whatever we can to aid the God-King’s cause.’

Trachos looked around the glinting, silver-splashed vessel and spoke in hushed tones. ‘I can’t find myself.’

The vial of blood at Maleneth’s throat spoke up. He’s a dead man walking. Don’t waste your time.

Maleneth knew her mistress was right, but she felt inexplicably annoyed that Trachos was slipping away from her. He had fought for Sigmar for longer than anyone she knew and she could not accept that this was the fate of all who served the God-King. ‘What was that song you were always singing? “He rides the storm to conquer,” was it? Something about mighty pinions?’

Trachos began mumbling the words and nodded in recognition. ‘Yes. The songs. I do remember the songs.’

Maleneth breathed a sigh of relief and was about to say more when the deckhands cried out.

‘Open fire!’ shouted Captain Solmundsson, and the deck lit up with muzzle flares and detonations.

Maleneth had to grip the railing to steady herself as the ship lurched and rolled. Clouds of aether smoke blossomed all around her and she struggled to see what was happening. Then she staggered back a few paces and saw that a second group of winged serpents had reached the ship from a different direction and were circling overhead. As they attacked they made a scraping sound, like blades being sharpened on a whetstone.

Guns hammered and Maleneth continued backing away from the tumult until her back collided with a bulkhead. She heard Gotrek’s familiar bellow and then saw him charge through the fumes, swinging his axe at the shapes hurtling past. His blade connected with one of the serpents, but rather than slicing through muscle and scales it triggered an explosion that hurled the Slayer back across the deck, leaving him lying at Maleneth’s feet. The wyrm reformed from the smoke like ink pooling in water. Then it banked and rushed towards Gotrek.

‘Gazul’s sword,’ grunted Gotrek, staggering to his feet and readying his axe for another swing. ‘Smoke dragons? Can’t these realms do anything properly?’

As the wyrm shot across the deck it opened its billowing jaws to consume the Slayer.

Then the creature exploded again. But this time, rather than reforming, it fell to the deck in a shower of black crystals, making a sound like hailstones.

Captain Solmundsson jogged through the smoke, gripping a pistol with a glowing muzzle. ‘Hold your breath! Don’t breathe the fumes.’

Too late, thought Maleneth as her head swam sickeningly. She stumbled and might have fallen, but Gotrek grabbed her roughly by the arm and held her up.

‘Too rich for your delicate constitution?’ he grunted, but she could hear that he was wheezing too.

‘Head to the prow,’ said Solmundsson, waving them up the deck.

Maleneth assumed Gotrek would refuse, but he nodded and helped her walk as she continued to battle a rising nausea.

Solmundsson headed back into the melee, howling orders to his crew.

Maleneth and Gotrek had almost got clear of the fighting when another sinuous shape rushed through the fumes. Gotrek cursed and dropped Maleneth on the deck, raising his axe and turning to face the approaching creature.

The wyrm was larger than the last one and aether-current flashed beneath its transparent hide. As it reached Gotrek it opened its jaws and screamed. Then it detonated in a ball of yellow smoke, sending shards tinkling across the deck.

Maleneth expected to see Captain Solmundsson emerge from the fumes again, but she was surprised to see Trachos limp into view. He was gripping one of the aether-charged devices that adorned his armour – a fist-sized metal cage that he folded away as he reached them, slotting it back into place. He nodded in greeting then seemed at a loss what to do.

Gotrek looked even more annoyed at being saved by Trachos than he had at being saved by Solmundsson. ‘I was going to deal with it,’ he growled, still gripping his axe.

‘Only if you used the rune,’ said Maleneth, giving him a pointed look.

Gotrek’s face darkened. ‘It takes more than a smoking lizard to stop me.’

She smirked. ‘That’s why you’ve just been rescued twice in as many minutes.’

‘Bah!’ Gotrek looked around for another target. ‘I’ll show you how much I need this damned rune.’

He paced back and forth, squinting through the smoke, but it quickly became clear that the fight was already over. The deck was littered with black crystals and the fumes were drifting away, snatched by the breeze as the ship rushed through the clouds.

Captain Solmundsson marched across the deck towards them. He had removed his helmet again and there was a grin on his face. ‘See? Not everything in the realms can be bludgeoned into submission. But we have developed weapons that can dissolve matter into its most basic elements.’ He took out the burning glass and tapped it. ‘We rule through the careful application of aether-science.’

Gotrek glowered at the crystal, then looked at Solmundsson. ‘You could have set a different course. You could have avoided them. That was all for show, wasn’t it? You just wanted to demonstrate your fancy toys. But you hadn’t seen that second flock coming, had you?’

Solmundsson was about to reply, but before he could speak, Gotrek jabbed a finger in his chest. ‘No more games. Get me to your damned city and get this thing out of my chest. Or I’ll see how well you fly without a ship.’

Chapter Fourteen

‘It was one of Solmund Company’s earliest zonbeks,’ said Captain Solmundsson, leaning against the railings. ‘The Valdrakh Pass has always been a key route for our trade fleets.’

It was several hours since the smoke dragons had attacked and Maleneth was standing at the prow of the ship with Solmundsson, Gotrek and Trachos. There was a wall of mountains up ahead. They looked ominous and impenetrable in the darkness, but she could see the slender pass Solmundsson was referring to – a blade of moonlight bisecting a great slab of shadow.

‘And now you’ve lost control of it?’ she said.

Solmundsson looked pained. ‘We held it for centuries, and many others like it, but the grots have multiplied beyond anything we’ve ever seen before. As fast as we build, they tear down. And wherever they strike, the land changes. Kingdoms that were once bright and noble fall into shadow and mist. And things grow in the darkness. But we’ll drive them out. The grot clans cannot stop progress. We will find a way.’ He nodded to himself. ‘There’s always a way.’

The ship was thundering through the night at such a speed that Maleneth could see the mountains rushing closer. It was not long before she could see the ruined zonbek drifting into view, its domes and walkways listing sadly in the clouds. ‘Wealth isn’t enough,’ she said. ‘You’re right, Gotrek. There’s your proof.’

Captain Solmundsson was called away by one of his officers, so Maleneth, Gotrek and Trachos were left alone as they neared the zonbek. The closer they came, the more surreal it looked. The outpost had been stripped to a buckled skeleton, but some of its engines were still working and hung over the mountain pass, turning slowly in the thermals, trailing rusty pipes like innards hanging from a corpse. Most of the metalwork had vanished beneath a coat of rust. Then, as the ship’s course took it within a hundred feet of the ruin, she saw that it was actually fungus – a skin of toadstools, brackets, parasols and lichens that were all the same gory colour. The red growths added to the impression of the fort being a chewed corpse, glistening and rippling in the breeze.

Gotrek grunted. ‘They think they can buy safety but nothing is permanent. Not wealth, not power, not even faith.’

Trachos was at Gotrek’s side, leaning heavily against the railing. ‘What about honour? I heard you talking about that with the Lord Admiral. Is that as fleeting as wealth and weapons?’

‘Maybe not.’ Gotrek looked at Trachos. ‘But you don’t have to worry about that, do you? You have blind, block-headed faith. All you have to do is follow the pronouncements of that dimwit in Azyr.’

‘So I thought. And now, here I am, with a trail of butchered innocents in my wake, a body on the verge of collapse and a mind beyond repair. You say nothing is permanent, but some things are. However many times I die, Sigmar will remake me and send me back to these realms. Send me back to kill and die. And each time it happens I lose the last shreds of who I was. And now I am such a stranger to myself that I can’t see what makes me less of a monster than those serpents we just fought. At least they only attack to feed. I can’t remember why I’m fighting.’ He held up one of his battered warhammers and looked at the pitted metal. ‘Block-headed faith doesn’t seem so comforting any more.’

Gotrek stared at him, then shook his head. ‘Aye. It’s all a bloody mess, Trachos.’

Maleneth looked up in surprise. She could not remember the last time she had heard Gotrek use Trachos’ name. Not without a derisive snarl.

Gotrek touched one of the tattoos that knotted around his muscles. ‘I remember when I was a knee-high beardling, in the halls of my forefathers, I knew exactly what set me apart from the monsters. I knew the worth of oaths, grudges and finely made things. I was a dawi. We were different. Better. We carried the honour of our ancestors in our shields and our oathstones. In our hearts and fists. We remembered the old ways. Old truths. Courage and pride. Hearth and hold. Oath and honour.’

‘And now your hearths are gone,’ said Trachos. ‘So are your holds. What use is the rest without them?’

Gotrek’s eye flashed. ‘I wondered the same. But now I think I have the right of it. It came to me when I was talking with the Lord Admiral. Our honour wasn’t there to protect the holds, it was the other way round. We built strongholds to protect our honour.’ He tapped his brutal brow. ‘Honour lies in here.’ He looked at Trachos. ‘Let everything else go, Trachos, but not that. And if you slip, find a way to set yourself right again. We have to remember why we’re fighting.’ He nodded at the ruined zonbek. ‘Or end up like that.’

The two old warriors stared at each other in silence.

Maleneth started to speak then stopped herself.

Gotrek glared at her. ‘You have no idea what we’re talking about, aelf. You think honour is a dirty word.’

She licked her lips, troubled by where her mind was going. ‘Actually…’ She shook her head, still struggling to spit the words out.

‘Actually what?’ asked Trachos.

She grimaced, sneered and muttered. ‘Nothing… well… perhaps… perhaps I see some things the way you do.’

Gotrek frowned, then laughed. ‘If you weren’t an aelf, I’d say you’ve learned to think about something other than yourself.’

Maleneth’s feeling of kinship vanished as quickly as it came. ‘You’re the one who won’t think of others. You talk of living with honour and remembering why we fight, but they’re just empty words. When I suggest going to Azyr, so that rune can be harnessed for the war against Chaos, all you can think of is your own ego.’ She began pacing up and down across the deck. ‘You’ve never given me one good reason why you won’t go. You’ll go anywhere apart from the one place where you could actually do some good. Why is that?’

Gotrek’s expression darkened. ‘I will never set foot in Azyr. It doesn’t matter how many tricks you pull or how many lies you whisper, I will never come within a thousand miles of Sigmar or his snivelling lap dogs.’

Maleneth waved at Trachos. ‘Do you call this a snivelling lap dog? This “honourable” warrior that you feel such kinship with was forged in Azyr. Sigmar’s Stormhosts are worth something and you know it. They’ve driven the Chaos legions back from regions that have been enslaved for centuries. The Stormcast Eternals are liberating the realms, Gotrek. Do you understand? Liberating them. Slowly, painfully, they’re driving the Ruinous Powers back. They’re clawing sanity from madness.’

‘Is this your idea of sanity?’ Gotrek clanged his axe against Trachos’ dented armour. ‘Sigmar’s taken decent, brave men and broken them to his will. Just like every god that came before. Because he doesn’t care. The gods are vain, conceited lunatics. And they won’t rest until your worlds are as ruined as my world.’ He reeled away from them, shaking his head, talking to himself rather than Maleneth. ‘If I went there. Imagine it. If I went to Azyr… I would see it. The horror of what he’s done.’

Maleneth looked at Trachos. ‘What’s he talking about?’

Trachos was watching Gotrek closely but said nothing.

‘You’re deranged!’ she yelled, marching after Gotrek. ‘No. Worse than that. You’re a coward. I don’t know what it is you’re afraid of in Azyr, but–’

Gotrek rounded on her, grabbing her by the arm and shaking her. ‘I am afraid of nothing! And if you think I am, I…’

His words trailed off. When he shook her, Gotrek had dislodged something from her leathers – a small strip of metal that had clattered onto the deck.

As he stooped to pick it up his eye widened. ‘Grungni’s teeth.’ He held the piece of metal higher and squinted at it. ‘A drop valve. Like the ones from Barak-Urbaz.’

Maleneth backed away. ‘What?’

Gotrek followed, waving the piece of metal at her. His voice went dangerously low. ‘It’s yours? The valve is yours? You put them in all those devices? You stopped them working?’

Trachos looked at the valve, then at Maleneth. ‘What is he talking about? What is this thing?’

Maleneth could have lied her way out of the situation, but anger washed away her fear. ‘Oh, don’t play the innocent, Trachos. You wanted to stop him as much as me. You were just too addled to know how. We couldn’t let him use those Kharadron toys. We couldn’t let him get the rune out. You know we couldn’t. They would have taken it.’

Gotrek’s voice was a taut whisper as he looked at the rune in his chest. ‘They would have worked. All those machines would have worked. But you disabled them.’

‘Of course I did!’ She leant against him, hissing into his face. ‘What if those things had actually worked? Do you think I’d let you give the rune away!’ She waved at the crew rushing all around them. ‘Let you give it to these idiots and let them melt it down to make statues of themselves or to fuel a machine even more clever and pointless than all their other machines? This rune is going to Azyr, by Khaine! How many times do I have to tell you before your thick duardin skull lets the information through? I’ll die before I let you–’

Gotrek grabbed her throat and slammed her against a copper smokestack, drawing back his axe. ‘You will bloody die.’

His lip curled as he saw Maleneth had a knife held to his throat.

Trachos placed a hand on Gotrek’s wrist. ‘She was doing what she thought right. Think about what you just said. Think about who you are. Think about honour.’

Gotrek howled and swung his axe.

There was an explosion of light. Maleneth was hurled backwards across the deck.

She landed hard and rolled clear, expecting another blow to land. None came, and as the light faded she saw that Trachos was locked in a struggle with Gotrek. He had raised both his hammers to block the Slayer’s axe and he was now staggering backwards under the duardin’s weight.

‘Stand aside!’ roared Gotrek, his voice contorted by fury.

‘She is not your enemy!’ cried Trachos, dropping to one knee as Gotrek’s axe edged towards the faceplate of his helmet.

‘I will not be lied to!’ cried Gotrek, kicking Trachos and sending him clattering into the railings. He spotted Maleneth and charged towards her, drawing back his axe, its brazier flashing and sparking. Then he cursed and shook his head as a shower of small objects began bouncing off his shoulders and back. ‘What is this?’

The momentary distraction gave Maleneth time to leap forwards and kick him hard in the throat.

Gotrek stumbled backwards, making a choking sound, and Maleneth paced after him, knives raised. All thoughts of the rune went from her head. She forgot about everything but her desire to kill. She flipped through the air and plunged the blades towards Gotrek’s face.

He parried with shocking speed, bringing the haft of his axe up into her gut. Breath exploded from her lungs, pain washed through her and she landed awkwardly on the deck, struggling to breathe.

How can he move so quickly? demanded her mistress. He looks like a burnt hog.

Maleneth managed to stagger clear as Gotrek’s axe hammered down into the deck, leaving a ragged dent in the metal.

‘You’re lying to yourself,’ she spat, righting herself and lunging at him. This time she was faster than he was. Her knives left two bloody gashes across his chest and he bellowed in annoyance. The poison on her blades would have killed most enemies in an instant, but the Slayer just grimaced, slapping a hand over the wounds and muttering curses. ‘You say you want to live with honour,’ she continued, flipping away from him, ‘but really you only care about your guilty conscience.’ She turned to look back at him, levelling a knife at his face. ‘You’re too obsessed with your past to care about everyone else’s future.’

Gotrek pounded towards her, his expression thunderous, but before either of them could land another blow, more of the shapes thudded into them and the sound of violence erupted all around.

Trachos batted the shapes away with calm precision, but Gotrek was slipping into one of his berserk rages, lashing out, howling and reeling like a drunk.

Nice work, Maleneth, sneered her mistress. Now he’ll tear the whole place apart.

Maleneth paused and looked around, wondering what was happening to the ship. Was this one of the avalanches Captain Solmundsson had warned of?

‘Squigs,’ said Trachos, calmly crushing one with his hammer and splattering his armour with gunk.

Maleneth grimaced in disgust as she saw that Trachos was right. Dozens of crimson, spherical creatures were thudding down onto the Angaz-Kár, each no bigger than a man’s head, with stumpy legs, tiny eyes and mouths that filled most of their faces. Some bounced like balls while others spread grubby wings and whirred through the air, attacking like carnivorous insects.

Gotrek was still trying to reach Maleneth but the squigs were blocking his way. Maleneth backed away from the bellowing Slayer, looked out over the railings and saw a nauseating sight. The sky was full of squigs. They were being hurled by catapults mounted on the backs of larger squigs borne on rickety, mechanical wings. The bigger squigs were teeming with greenskins – wizened little grots dressed in black robes and armed with spears and bows.

As the squigs thudded to the deck and bounced off the machinery, Maleneth felt teeth tearing through her flesh as some of the creatures latched on to her limbs, chewing furiously. She whirled away, slashing at the squigs with her knives and filling the air with splashes of black, treacly blood. What followed was too frenzied and confusing to properly be called a battle. The Angaz-Kár was laden with weapons but most of them were too large and powerful to be turned against the creatures rolling across the deck. The crew raised cutlasses and fired pistols, but there were so many squigs pouring down on them they struggled to get a clear shot.

Maleneth gasped and staggered backwards as one of the squigs gnawed furiously at her bicep. She cut the thing away and stamped furiously on its corpse. For a moment she lost sight of the Slayer, surrounded by gunfire and falling squigs, then saw Gotrek trapped near the prow. He had given up attacking the rain of squigs and was now assaulting the ship. He had pummelled one of the rotary masts, knocking it from its axel and creating a thick column of steam that rushed up from its broken base. The rune was burning in his chest, making his beard look like it was on fire, and his tattoos were like streams of lava running down his grimy muscles. Trachos was nearby, trying to reason with the Slayer and fend off squigs at the same time. Gotrek was clearly deaf to his pleas.

‘It’s the Sigmaron Star all over again,’ hissed Maleneth. ‘He’s a damned moron.’

Some of the crew hesitated, lowering their guns and harpoons, shocked by the sight of the enraged Slayer. Maleneth had to concede that he made a terrifying sight. He was chopping through hunks of machinery, filling the air with sparks, and his eye was burning with inner fire. He was even more frenzied than the squigs, spitting and twitching as he ripped the ship apart.

The fighting was so intense and the situation was so infuriating that she found it hard to think clearly. She backed away from the Slayer, cut through a storm of squigs and climbed up onto a cooling vent to get a better vantage point. The whole deck was covered in squigs of various sizes and they were tearing the duardin apart. Some were as small as the ones she had first seen, but others were like fleshy boulders, bounding through the battle with limbs and innards trailing from their gaping maws. Hovering in the sky, all around the Angaz-Kár there were even larger squigs laden with howdahs, and the grots onboard them were squealing and wailing hysterically, clanging gongs and turning cartwheels. There was something strange about the attack though. None of the grots were trying to board the ship and half of the giant squigs were not even approaching the battle, beating their mechanical wings and hovering in wait, dozens of feet away from the Angaz-Kár.

Maleneth could see no sign of Captain Solmundsson, so she dropped back to the deck and sprinted through the fighting. The violence had grown even more frenzied. There was blood and aethershot flying everywhere and the miniature squigs were like a cloud of teeth, chewing and tearing. They were so ferocious that some of them had turned on the ship itself, using their powerful jaws to rip through machinery and rigging.

As Maleneth whirled and flipped through the battle she felt blood lust well up from her chest. She turned every lunge into an elegant dance, moving in such a fluid way that she barely seemed to be fighting at all. As she pirouetted through clouds of blood, warmth pulsed at her neck and her dead mistress spoke to her from the amulet. You need to get away from the others.

‘What are you talking about?’ gasped Maleneth, pausing mid-lunge to look down at the vial of blood.

You need to go to the back of the boat.

Maleneth looked back that way and saw that the fighting was less fierce near the stern of the ship. ‘Why?’ she gasped, cutting down another small squig and dodging the attack of a larger one.

Trust me, she said. I have an idea. But we need to be alone.

‘Trust you?’ Maleneth laughed. I’m not that desperate yet, she thought. And you’re talking rubbish. I need to find the captain and find out what he’s planning. He said this pass would be dangerous. He must have some idea of what to do. Why would I cower at the back of the ship?

You have to listen to me, insisted her mistress.

Maleneth hesitated. There was something unusual about the voice. Her mistress sounded oddly sincere. The scorn that usually filled her voice was absent. You sound like you actually mean what you’re saying, she thought. Then she remembered the point that her mistress had made several times as they crossed the realms – if Maleneth died, her mistress died. They were bound by blood magic, and as much as Maleneth’s mistress might despise her killer, she was terrified by the thought of her death.

Quickly, to the stern. It’s your only chance of surviving this.

Maleneth wavered for a moment longer, then sighed and turned back the way she had come. ‘This better be good,’ she said, vaulting over a squig and bounding off another one.

Get to da back of da ship. I’m bringing her there now.

‘Bringing her?’ Maleneth hesitated. ‘Who?’

She felt an unfamiliar sensation radiate from the amulet, as though her mistress were annoyed at herself, or even afraid.

‘What’s going on?’ she demanded as she rammed both her knives down into a squig and hurled it over the railings. In the years since she had captured her mistress’ soul, she had never known her to be so nervous and strange. There was something intriguing about the whole conversation, and she picked up her pace, eager to see what pathetic form of mischief her mistress was attempting.

You’ll see when we get there. I have a way we can get out of this.

The fighting surged towards Maleneth, forcing her backwards. She lashed out with her knives, sending pieces of squig flying, but she was forced back towards the railing before she could reach the rear of the ship.

‘Tell me what you’re talking about!’ snapped Maleneth as she was crushed against the metal by the weight of struggling bodies.

I have a way to get us out of here.

‘Out of where?’ Maleneth jumped lightly up onto the railing, hanging out over the clouds as she gripped the rigging. ‘Out of this realm? What do you mean?’

To Maleneth’s surprise, she saw Trachos, pummelling his way back down the deck towards her. There was a cluster of squigs trailing from his armour, gnashing at the charmed metal, but he was paying no attention to them. He seemed set on reaching Maleneth.

I mean that I can get us off this sky-ship before it goes down.

‘Witchblade!’ cried Trachos, heaving through the crush and pointing at something behind her.

Maleneth struggled to hold on as a weight slammed down onto the deck. It was a giant squig, larger than any of the ones she had seen so far, and its grotesque face grinned at her, blocking out the battle and the rest of the ship. All she could see was its row of pus-yellow eyes and stockade-like teeth. Its mouth gaped, revealing a ridged, fleshy interior and surrounding Maleneth in a foetid stink. Then it staggered to one side as an explosion lit up its flank.

Trachos strode through the smoke, still thumping the smaller squigs with one hammer as he took a device from his belt and hurled it at the giant squig, triggering a second, deafening blast.

The Stormcast limped towards Maleneth, his way still blocked by dozens of the smaller squigs. He looked even worse than he had a few minutes ago. His armour was sparking, and every time he landed a hammer blow his body juddered. He showed no sign of stopping though, making straight for her.

‘I’m fine, you idiot,’ she muttered, realising that Trachos seemed to think she needed rescuing.

She’s here! cried her mistress. At the railing!

‘Who?’ Maleneth looked around but only saw squigs and Solmundsson’s crew. ‘What in the name of Khaine are you talking about?’

Before her mistress could reply the Slayer waded into view, covered in bloody wheals as he chopped through the crowd. His rage seemed to have dimmed and he was trying to reach Trachos.

At that moment, a figure leapt from the howdah on the back of the giant squig. It was one of the grots and it was dressed in an absurd costume. It looked like a child in a pageant, dressed as a king. It was wearing luxurious purple robes and a crown that was almost as tall as the grot itself. It scurried towards Gotrek and then halted, raising a jewel-topped staff with a regal gesture and crying out a command. A wave of smaller squigs rushed forwards and engulfed Gotrek, driving him back. The Slayer howled again, unable to shake off the blanket of snorting heads. He stamped repeatedly, popping several of them and covering himself in slime and spores, but there were so many squigs that he stumbled under the weight of them.

Some of the squigs rushed at Maleneth and she almost fell from the railing, barely hanging on with one hand as she lashed out with the other, batting squigs away and trying to knock them from her leathers.

The giant squig was still trying to right itself after Trachos’ blasts and the Stormcast Eternal marched past it, approached the royal-looking grot and shattered its skull with a single hammer blow, leaving the creature crumpled on the deck.

Another grot dropped from the howdah – a hunched, wretched-looking thing with burnt skin and a single oversized eye that filled most of its face. It barely seemed able to walk, leaning on a carved bone staff, but as Trachos drew back one of his hammers to strike again, the grot snatched a glass sphere from its belt and hurled it at him.

The glass shattered on Trachos’ armour, engulfing him in a cloud of yellow spores. The Stormcast fell to the deck and the fighting faltered as everyone coughed and spluttered, struggling to see. When the spores cleared, Trachos was lying on his back, buried under a heap of fungal growths. Yellow, gnarled brackets had latched on to his armour, making him look like a barnacled wreck. As they stretched and grew, acid oozed from their flesh, dragging smoke from his armour. Without a sound, Trachos staggered to his feet and managed to rip some of the smouldering brackets away.

‘Get away from them, Maleneth!’ bellowed Trachos, his voice cracking, as he limped towards her. ‘They want you!’

Maleneth halted, watching in stunned silence as the Stormcast battled to reach her.

There was a flash of aether-fire. Trachos staggered as a bright rent opened in the chest plate of his armour.

To Maleneth’s shock, she saw that one of Solmundsson’s Kharadron had shot the Stormcast Eternal. His aethermatic pistol was still raised, the muzzle still glowing. He adjusted his aim and prepared to fire again, but at that moment a wave of squigs slammed into him.

‘What in the name of Khaine is going on,’ she muttered as the duardin vanished into the scrum.

As she tried to make sense of the fighting, Maleneth saw a creature that seemed to defy classification. It looked like a crustacean but was actually a colony of bracket fungus with rubbery tentacles for legs. It scuttled towards the stooped, burnt-looking grot and turned it to face Maleneth.

By this point, Trachos was almost entirely hidden by fungus, but still he refused to stop. He charged at the burnt grot, trying to raise one of his hammers.

The grot flinched and raised its staff in a defensive gesture, but at that moment, another greenskin leapt through the air and collided with Trachos’ chest. This one was larger than the others and it was wearing fungal armour that looked almost identical to the growths on Trachos. Its momentum sent Trachos crashing back into a row of Kharadron, and the whole group fell to the deck.

Trachos rolled free and managed to stand, even though his armour was covered in growths. ‘Gotrek!’ he cried, whirling around and looking for the Slayer. ‘They’re after Maleneth!’

The Slayer rose from the throng, weighed down by dozens of squigs, his muscles straining.

‘After me?’ laughed Maleneth. ‘What are you talking about?’

The crustacean-like creature scrambled backwards, letting out a thin shriek, but the burnt grot took the chance to leap back onto the large squig and haul the other creature up after it.

Trachos began limping across the deck again, and he had almost reached Maleneth when the large, armoured grot rose up behind him and slammed a scythe into his back.

There was a flash of sparks as Trachos fell to his knees, then the pair of them vanished from sight as a vertical shaft of lightning slammed down onto the deck. It stayed there for a moment, a vast column of light crackling down from the heavens, turning slowly and spitting electricity through the crowd. Then it vanished.

Everyone stumbled to a halt, staring in shock.

Maleneth staggered backwards, blinded by the afterglow, ears ringing from the noise of the blast. He’s dead.

All the fighting had stopped. Even the squigs had paused, halted by some bestial instinct as the final strands of lightning dissipated. There was no sign of Trachos where the lightning had struck, but there was a molten, glowing hole in the deck, trailing wisps of smoke and embers.

Maleneth dropped back down onto the deck, shaking her head, staggering towards the light, knives raised.

She was halfway there when the giant squig pounded its wooden wings and launched itself back into the air. Some of the surviving grots were clambering up ropes and ladders back into the howdah.

Maleneth was so fixated on reaching the spot where Trachos had fallen that she did not pay any attention as the squig banked overhead and hovered directly above her.

At the last moment, Maleneth paused and looked up, and saw a bottle flying towards her. She cried out as spores billowed around her, filling her lungs and stealing her breath.

She staggered and coughed, struggling to breathe. Then, finally, she managed to howl a single word – ‘Gotrek!’

As the spores choked her, Maleneth dropped to her knees. Dozens of moist strands wrapped around her body, stinging her skin as they tightened. She gasped and cursed. The spores had entirely blocked her throat and nostrils. She could not breathe. Dizziness washed over her and she fell to the deck.

The armoured grot was rushing in her direction when Gotrek broke from the crush and smashed his axe through the centre of its helmet. The Slayer struck with such force that his blade sliced the monster neatly in two. Then Gotrek seemed to forget about the fighting again, staring at the spot where Trachos had fallen.

Maleneth tried to call out to the Slayer again, but the words would not come. Her lungs were burning and her vision was growing dark.

Then she saw the duardin who had shot Trachos. He looked panicked as he rushed towards Gotrek. ‘Have you seen?’ he cried. ‘They’re takin’ da aelf.’

Gotrek looked up, his face a mask of blood and fury.

The Kharadron stumbled, looking terrified, but he continued yelling. ‘They’re taking her to da Loonking’s Asylum! Ta Slathermere!’

Maleneth felt consciousness slipping away from her. She seemed to be watching Gotrek down a long, dark tunnel.

Gotrek shrugged. ‘Good riddance,’ he spat, slamming his axe into a squig.

‘But she’s yer friend,’ gasped the duardin.

Gotrek laughed bitterly and stomped away, dealing out another flurry of axe blows.

Maleneth felt her body rising from the deck as the darkness swallowed her.

Chapter Fifteen

‘There’s an imperfection in the glass.’ Prince Elaz was peering into one of the six mirrors that lined his bedchamber, stroking the surface, a pained expression on his face.

Toldos thought of his master as a ‘he’, but in truth, Elaz belonged to both sexes. Or perhaps neither. He was unique in form and thought. Elegant and strong, delicate and brutal. Utterly perfect. Toldos loved his prince and would have died for him without hesitation. To see him dismayed was a torment, and Toldos rushed to the mirror. The prince was right. In the top corner of the mirror there was a small, crescent-shaped mark. Toldos pulled his silk sleeve over his palm and rubbed gently at it. Then he rubbed harder, his pulse quickening as he realised that the mark was beneath the glass. ‘I will have it replaced immediately, highness.’ Seeing that the prince was deeply disturbed, he led him gently to his bed and helped him under the sheets. ‘Rest, your highness. By the time you wake, everything shall be as it was. I promise.’

Elaz nodded, but the unease remained in his eyes. Toldos waited until he settled and finally slept. Then he placed a hand on the prince’s perfect shoulder, filled with a terrible sadness. This was all wrong. This should have been a time for celebration. For years, the sky-fleets of Barak-Urbaz had been a thorn in their side. It had been impossible to build a principality worthy of Slaanesh while the Kharadron hounded them at every turn, obliterating their elegant hosts from the skies and dropping explosives onto their ivory palaces. But in the past few months the sky-fleets had withdrawn, abandoning the region and rushing to fight on another front. Elaz had finally achieved his god-given potential, massacring the humans and aelves that stood in his way and reconquering huge swathes of Ayadah. He had claimed so many fortresses and outposts that his reign was assured. If the fleets of Barak-Urbaz ever returned, they would find themselves attacked from all sides. And in Elaz they would find a prince who was so gilded with unearthly power that he was more like a demigod than a man. It should have been the time of the prince’s ultimate triumph, but tragedy had befallen him. A tragedy so strange and obscure that not even his most loyal servant could help him.

Just as he should have been leading his hosts to victory, the prince had become crippled by an inexplicable obsession. Rather than reclaiming territories that were no longer protected by Kharadron, he stayed in his mirrored bedchamber, spending days with his nose an inch from the glass, staring into his own eyes. His wars of expansion had been halted on the cusp of triumph, but Prince Elaz no longer cared. He no longer cared about anything beyond his own beautiful face.

Elaz would sleep for many hours, but Toldos still rushed through the palace, calling out commands to his subordinates. The flawed mirror could not be repaired. It would have to be replaced entirely with an exact replica. Most of the palace’s bedchambers were mirrored but the replacement would need to fit in the existing frame and match the lustre of the other five mirrors. The prince would notice even a tiny inconsistency. The next few hours were fraught, and by the time he collapsed into his bed, Toldos was trembling. He had to drink several glasses of wine before he could finally sleep.

‘You promised me,’ said the prince as Toldos entered his chamber the next morning. The prince’s face was ashen and he was staring at the replacement mirror.

Toldos hesitated in the doorway, shaking his head. The wine had been a mistake. He had woken with such a clouded, pounding head that he could not understand what the prince was talking about.

‘The imperfection!’ snapped Elaz. ‘It’s still there.’

Toldos hurried across the polished floor. ‘Impossible, highness, the mirror has been…’ His words trailed off as he reached the mirror and saw that the mark had returned. It was in exactly the same place as before.

‘It’s larger,’ whispered Elaz, staring at Toldos. ‘Do you see? It’s getting worse.’

Toldos was about to deny it, but then he realised that the prince was right. The shape had almost doubled in size. The previous night it had been the size of a coin. Now it was as large as a fist. And it was less of a crescent now – more like a half-moon. As he looked closer, Toldos imagined he could see a face in the shape – a leering mouth and hard, tiny eyes. ‘It can’t be there,’ he said, trying desperately to think how this could have happened. He had supervised the work himself and watched the old mirror being destroyed. How could the mark still be there? Again, he tried to calm the prince, and again, he waited at his side until he slept. Then he rushed from the chamber and called out for his attendants, demanding that the mirror be replaced again.

By the time evening came Toldos was twitching and muttering to himself. He spent a long time staring at the new mirror before he would let it be taken to the prince’s bedchamber. He peered into every inch, looking for even the tiniest imperfection, terrified that he might have missed something. Elaz’s mind was bright and wonderful but it was also brittle. One more shock like the last one and it might shatter. Toldos could not bear the idea of his master suffering. He ordered his underlings to examine the mirror too, and by the time he finally crawled into his bed his mind was filled with images of his own face, staring back at him from the darkness.

He was woken by howls of alarm. The palace was in uproar. Servants were rushing back and forth and hammering at his door. ‘It’s back!’ howled someone as Toldos sprinted to the prince’s rooms. He entered to find Elaz crumpled on the floor, sobbing and pointing at the mirror.

‘What are you doing to me?’ howled Elaz. ‘I can’t bear it. Get it out! Get it out! Make it go!’

Toldos felt as though he were still dreaming as he approached the mirror and saw the mark was there again. It was even bigger, nearly as large as a head, and it was almost a perfect sphere. But it was not the size of the thing that caused his stomach to lurch – it was the face. There was no mistaking it now – a sneering, lunatic face, grinning at him from inside the mirror.

‘It’s a moon,’ sobbed Elaz.

Toldos’ breath caught in his throat. The prince was right. The face was not human. Its skin was dusty and rugged, the texture of rock, and there was a silver light shining from its craters and peaks. But the eyes were livid red, like blood drops, and filled with such madness that Toldos had to look away. ‘Smash it!’ he howled, waving the servants over. ‘Tear it down!’ Then he staggered over to the prince and slumped onto the floor beside him, whispering a prayer for both of them.

As the servants began dismantling the frame, Toldos summoned the prince’s chirurgeons, and then, once Elaz was in drug-induced sleep, he strode from the room, cursing his moment of weakness, determined not to fail the prince. He spent the day talking to merchants and artisans, and by evening he was in possession of a completely new mirror. The materials had all been sourced from outside the palace and the artisans swore on their lives that there was no way the prince would find an imperfection.

That night Toldos went to bed sober and at peace. He was sure that the new mirror would solve the problem. Perhaps the lustre would not exactly match the older glass, but that would be less of a torment to the prince than the leering moon.

Toldos woke early to the sounds of a calm, peaceful palace. Servants bustled around his room, opening the windows and preparing his breakfast. He dressed quickly and left his breakfast, hurrying through the palace to the prince’s chambers. There were no sounds of distress as he approached the door and Toldos whispered a prayer of thanks as he entered.

He hurried to the mirror and, to his delight, there was no blemish on the glass – no sign of the hideous, grinning moon that had been there the day before. ‘Finally,’ he sighed, turning to the bed, ‘we are rid of it.’

The bed was empty.

Toldos rushed over and whipped back the sheets, his heart racing. ‘No matter,’ he said, whispering to himself. ‘The prince often used to rise early, before all this madness with the mirrors.’ He asked the servants if they had seen Elaz, but none of them had. Then, just as Toldos was beginning to panic again, one of the cooks mentioned that they had seen someone heading into the cellars just before dawn. The cook had thought nothing of it at the time, but as he described the figure to Toldos he realised that it might have been the prince.

‘The cellars?’ Toldos was baffled, but he was so relieved by the sight of the unblemished mirror that nothing could quite dampen his mood. Not wishing to embarrass the prince, he dismissed the servants and headed off towards the cellars alone. The door was open at the top of the steps, and as Toldos hurried down them, he noticed someone slumped on the flagstones below. ‘Prince,’ he gasped, hurrying down. ‘Did you fall? Are you hurt?’

As he placed his hands on the neck he knew he was touching a corpse. The skin was as cold as the stone floor. He flipped the body over, then backed away, gasping in disgust. It was not the prince but one of the servants. Toldos could only tell by the man’s uniform though. His face was so mutilated there was no way of recognising him. There was a deep gash that had cut through both his eyes and drenched him in blood, and his throat had been slit.

Toldos gently lowered the corpse back to the floor and looked around the cellars. They had been carved from the rock beneath the palace and consisted of a network of rough-hewn tunnels crowded with barrels, sacks and crates. ‘Prince?’ he called, snatching a brand from the wall and lighting it. As light billowed over the piles of food he saw a second figure hunched over one of the crates, weeping softly. It was Elaz.

‘Highness,’ cried Toldos, rushing over to him. ‘What ails you? The moon has gone. We are free of it. Do not worry about this servant. Whatever happened can be–’

His words stalled in his throat as the prince stood and turned to face him. Elaz’s beautiful face was gone, replaced with the leering, crater-strewn monstrosity from the mirror. The prince’s head had been transformed into a pockmarked moon with blood-drop eyes.

‘Do not look at me!’ screamed Elaz, raising a bloody knife and charging at Toldos.

Chapter Sixteen

Maleneth woke up coughing, her mouth full of dust. She opened her eyes and saw the clouds rushing by. For a moment she thought she was still on the deck of the Angaz-Kár, but then she saw the Kharadron sky-ship several miles away from where she was lying, still surrounded by smoke and squigs as it drifted over the Valdrakh Pass. The vessel was listing and she could make out signs of fighting on the deck and engines. She watched the battle sleepily, wondering how long it would take for Gotrek to relent and use the rune. The thought of Gotrek gave her a jolt of realisation. Why was she not with him?

‘What’s this?’ she gasped, trying to sit up. She was tightly bound and only managed to lift her head. She was on the back of the giant squig and there was a group of grots huddled round her, amusement flickering in their crimson eyes. Most of them were like grots she had seen before – hunched, withered greenskins only a couple of feet tall with ridiculous, hooked noses, but two of them were even more grotesque than the others. One was the walking bracket of fungus she had seen on the Angaz-Kár, with its skirt of fleshy legs skittering beneath its domed back and a leering face squashed between cushions of fungal growth. The other was the burnt, wizened grot. It looked like charred remains and its face was dominated by a single blue eye that rolled constantly in a bubble of tacky liquid.

The sight of Maleneth waking up sent the grots into a frenzy. They all laughed and then proceeded to dance around her, clanging finger bells and tooting whistles.

Maleneth strained at her bonds again but they refused to give. She looked around for her weapons but the crab-like grot grinned and held up her knives, waving them and scuttling gleefully just out of her reach. Then it pointed out the moist net that covered her body.

‘Blood of Khaine, you’ll pay for this,’ she hissed, glaring at the hideous creature. As her head cleared, she realised that the grot must have lassoed her on the deck of the Angaz-Kár. ‘I’ll flay you for a week. For a lifetime. I’ll show you pain like nothing you have ever imagined.’

Maleneth howled the words with such vehemence that the grots ceased their dance and looked at the crab-like mutant.

The grot seemed troubled for a moment, then it looked at Maleneth’s bonds and grinned again, waving the knives gleefully and performing another jig, scuttling in circles across the squig’s back. Then it leant close, filling her vision with its rubbery, fruit-like bulk. Deep under its shell, the creature’s face crumpled into a grimace and it made a peculiar gargling sound in its throat. Maleneth tried to move her head, guessing that the thing was about to vomit. Then, with a juddering retch, it managed to spit out a word. ‘You,’ it coughed, as though trying to eject food. The grot clearly found it immensely difficult to form an aelven word, but Maleneth was shocked that it had even attempted such a feat. She had never heard of grots speaking in anything other than their own garbled screeches. To her amazement, the creature managed to spew more strangled words. ‘Are… da one who… will… be… flayed.’

The mutant leant back, gasping for breath as the other grots looked on in awe, clearly impressed by its language skills.

Bloodlust shuddered through Maleneth as she remembered how they had captured her. She felt the indignity of her position. She could think of nothing more shameful than being captured by these absurd, pathetic creatures. She stared at the crab-like grot, memorising every detail of its appearance. ‘No,’ she breathed. ‘I won’t kill you – I’ll keep you alive. By Khaine, I swear it. I will find a way to prolong your life so I can torment you for the rest of my days.’

The thing leant close again, filling her nostrils with an earthy stink. ‘Nah.’ It grinned. ‘Don’t fink so. Other way round.’

Maleneth moaned with a fury so intense that it was almost like ecstasy, but she could not break free.

I did not think you could sink any lower, snarled her dead mistress. But you have brought shame on both of us. How could you let these ridiculous things capture you?

‘It’s your fault!’ cried Maleneth, causing the grots to flinch. ‘You sent me to the back of the ship. You sent me away from the Slayer. If I hadn’t listened to you I wouldn’t be in this mess.’

The grots looked at Maleneth in confusion, then turned to each other and started giggling again. She ignored them. ‘You said you were bringing someone to me!’

You wretched simpleton. Why would I send you into danger? One of these grots spoke through me. It was telling the others that it was bringing you. It was you that was being discussed. They just spoke into your head.

‘But it was your voice!’

They’re sorcerers, you idiot. Look at that burnt one with its vials and bottles. They can harness the aether with their drugs and rituals just as we do in the Murder Temples.

As Maleneth saw how much of a fool she had been, her rage spiralled. She spat at the crab creature. ‘You’ll scream for a century!’

The grots laughed harder and danced around her again. The burnt one in the robes rattled as it leapt and twirled, its bottles clanking. Then, as the others watched with rapt expressions, it used its charred fingers to take a speck of something from its robes and press it into Maleneth’s forearm.

‘Khaine’s teeth,’ she hissed. ‘What are you doing?’

The black speck disappeared beneath her skin like a pebble dropping through the surface of a pool.

‘What was that?’ she howled, wrenching her arm back and forth as though she could shake the thing out.

The grots loomed over her, still grinning as they stared at her arm. Maleneth felt an odd bubbling sensation under her skin, and then a dark patch appeared, like a bruise. The bubbling sensation grew and the dark patch began to ripple, like wind-lashed water.

They’ve poisoned you. Maleneth could hear panic in her mistress’ voice. They’ve poisoned us. We’re going to die on this flying slug.

Maleneth took a deep breath and tried to calm herself by reciting one of the old blood rites. ‘No,’ she said once she had steadied her breathing. ‘That makes no sense. Why would they catch me if they just want to kill me?’ She looked around at the grots’ faces, taking in their repulsive, leering expressions. ‘They could have killed me on the Angaz-Kár. Why would they go to the effort of talking through you and getting me away from the ship?’

The crab-like grot nodded, still baring his yellowed fangs in a grin. ‘Bait.’

‘Bait?’ Maleneth shook her head. ‘Bait to catch what?’

The creature raised an eyebrow and attempted to look smug. ‘Da Slayer.’

Maleneth stared in disbelief. Then she laughed, genuinely amused. ‘Gotrek? You’ve captured me because you’re after Gotrek? Why in the name of the gods would you want him to follow you? He’ll turn you into paste.’

The grot smirked. ‘Da rune.’

This, at least, made some sense, but Maleneth still found the situation hilarious. ‘And you think he’ll come after me? He hates me. You morons. He’ll be glad you’ve taken me.’ She found herself laughing and groaning at the same time. ‘By the Murder God, you’re even stupider than he is.’

The grot frowned and managed to force a few more aelven words out. ‘’E ’ates you?’

‘Yes. Of course. He despises me. He was about to behead me when you interrupted him.’

The grot seemed increasingly troubled. It backed away and spoke in an urgent whisper to the others. The music stopped and they all began to look equally worried. They turned and stared at her in silence for a moment, peering at her suspiciously. Then the crab-shaped one nodded slowly and a devious look came into its eyes. ‘Yer trickin’ us,’ it said, the smirk returning to its distorted features.

Maleneth groaned. Then she shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter what you think. I’ll find a way to escape and then you will find out what happens to–’

Something popped out of Maleneth’s arm, sending a trickle of blood across her skin. Nausea washed through her as she saw what it was. A plump, crimson-capped toadstool had grown from her muscle, ruining the elegant shape of her Khaine-wrought limb. ‘Damn you!’ she cried, wrenching her arm back and forth again, trying to dislodge the fungus. ‘Get it out of me!’

As she railed and bucked against her restraints another toadstool speared up through her skin next to the first one. This time it was slender, pointed and pale yellow. As Maleneth watched in horror, a whole cluster of colourful toadstools sprouted from her arm. ‘No!’ she howled, horrified at such a grotesque perversion of her flesh. Everything she did in life was a tribute to the Murder God. Every kill was a prayer. But how would she be able to perform a worthy tribute if her flesh became as ungainly as the grots’? How would she fight with elegance and skill? She looked in terror at the grot that was like a scuttling bracket of fungus. She could not become like that.

‘Stop this and I’ll help you!’ she gasped, breathless with desperation. ‘I hate the Slayer as much as he hates me. If you loose these bonds, I swear I will help you catch him. I can tell you his plans and methods. I can teach you everything about him. I know what he means to do and where he means to go. With me as an ally you can get him wherever you need him to be.’ She managed to lift her head a few inches from the squig’s back and look out into the clouds. She could only see sky. ‘Where is it you’re taking me? Where is it you want Gotrek to go?’

The grots all smirked and continued staring at her.

‘Damn you!’ screamed Maleneth as she felt the dreadful bubbling sensation moving under her skin, spreading further up her arm. ‘Without my help you will never get the Slayer. Only I know how he thinks. You’re making a mistake. He won’t follow me. I betrayed him!’ The word ‘betrayed’ caused Maleneth to halt. Why did it sit so awkwardly in her mouth? What could be wrong with betraying Gotrek? He was a boorish, arrogant hog and he cared nothing for her or the Sigmarite cause. So why did she feel a rush of panic at the thought that she had betrayed him?

Because you’ve ruined everything, you idiot. Your one chance was to keep him on your side. How will you get that rune to Azyr now? He’s heading off with those sky miners while you lie here turning into… into whatever they’re going to turn you into.

Maleneth knew her mistress was right. Her plan had failed spectacularly – but that was not the reason for her anguish. She had been in worse situations and always found a way through. Khaine was with her. She would find a way to escape and she would make the crab creature pay. No, there was something else going on. When she thought of Gotrek and Trachos and recalled all the times they had saved her, she felt a pang for something she had lost. She remembered Trachos’ final moments on the Angaz-Kár. She knew what that lightning bolt meant. The fate he had so dreaded had come to pass. He had been destroyed again and now he would be remade in Azyr, losing whatever shreds of memory he had left. He had been so badly wounded that he must have seen what would happen, but he still refused to let her go. He would not give up on her. An unfamiliar emotion threatened to overwhelm her. She crushed it, knowing it for the weakness it was. What need did she have for companionship? All she needed was the strength of Khaine. If Trachos wanted to destroy himself for her benefit then he was a fool. She would not have done the same for him. Another shape sliced up through her skin. It looked like purple, frilly coral, shivering in the wind. Maleneth felt sick as she looked at it. Her whole arm was undulating and shivering. How would she honour Khaine now? She would be as clumsy as a human. Fury washed through her. She was ruined.

Perhaps you could cut the arm off?

Maleneth was about to curse when she realised that, for once, her mistress was not mocking her.

The Kharadron are deluded fools but they make incredible machines. If you removed your arm, they might be able to build you something elegant and balanced enough to replace it. Perhaps it could even enhance your performances?

It would not be the flesh Khaine gifted me, she thought, but the idea was not so absurd. The way the thing looked mattered far less than how lethal it was. And she certainly could not continue her life with her arm as it was now.

‘Gotrek won’t follow me!’ she spat, jolting against the bonds again. ‘Your only chance is to let me help you.’

The crab-like grot leant close again, a knowing smile on its face. ‘Yer lyin’.’

‘I’m not lying, you idiot. You have to let me free.’

The grot laughed. ‘When we reach da Asylum.’ It tapped one of the toadstools wobbling on her arm. ‘Then we’ll plant ya.’

Maleneth’s fury escaped from her throat in a thin whine, but she managed to stay calm enough to think. They had her knives but she was a daughter of Khaine. She was armed in ways the grots could never guess at. She just had to wait for the right moment. The time for revenge would come, but it could not be here, up in the clouds on the back of this monster. She could kill the grots easily enough, but she would not be able to control their winged steed. She would be thrown to her death. She took a deep breath and calmed herself by imagining all the ways she could hurt the crab creature. She just had to be patient. Once they landed, she could kill the others and drug the leader so she could deal with it at her leisure. She slumped back and closed her eyes, trying to ignore the revolting sensation in her arm as her muscles swelled and shifted under her skin.

After a while, seeing she was not going to do anything else entertaining, the grots lost interest in her and hunkered down at the front of their steed, peering out into the clouds. Hours passed and Maleneth’s thoughts wandered, soothed by the beating of the monster’s wings. She moved with a jolt and realised, to her surprise, that she had fallen asleep. It must have been the after effects of the grot poison. There was no way of knowing how long had passed, but the scene around her had changed. The moonlit clouds had vanished and the monster was now flying through a dark, clammy mist. It was hard to see anything clearly, but there were tall shapes rushing by on either side. The mist was so thick that they could have been either mountain peaks or treetops, but Maleneth guessed it was the latter. It was hard to say why, but she sensed they had dropped much lower to the ground. Autumn seemed to have arrived while she slept. The mist was heavy with the scent of mouldering leaves and the air was dank. She heard the creak of old boughs and realised her guess had been right – they were near the ground. The grots were paying no attention to her, leaning out over the walls of the howdah, looking into the mist. They were bathed in a dirty light and Maleneth moaned in horror as she saw her arm. It was bloated out of all recognition. It looked like a cankerous tree trunk.

The robed, burnt-looking grot heard her and turned around. It tapped the crab-like one, who scuttled back to leer at her. ‘We’re back. Da Asylum.’

Maleneth’s heart was racing. If they were going to land soon, it would not be long before she could have her revenge on this creature. If she was no longer worthy of Khaine, Maleneth had only one reason to keep living – to make this creature pay. ‘What is the Asylum?’ she asked, straining to keep her voice calm.

‘Home.’ The grot sounded absurdly cheerful, as though chatting to an old friend. ‘An’ home of da Loonking.’

‘But what is it?’ The moronic creature seemed quite happy to answer any question she asked, so Maleneth continued. ‘A fortress? A cave? A hole in the ground?’

The grot waved its tendrils in a vague gesture. ‘A world.’

‘What do you mean? You’ve taken me out of Chamon? Out of this realm?’

The grot nodded eagerly. ‘To da Asylum. Where we feed our dreams.’

The creature was clearly insane. They were all clearly insane. Maleneth guessed that what the grot called another world was most likely a mountain hold or a city complex.

One of the other grots called out and looked back, waving at something in the mist. The surrounding lights seemed larger or nearer and the sound of groaning bark had been joined by the screech and patter of small creatures. The grots’ steed pounded its wings a few last times and flopped into a pool, kicking up a wave of mud and insects.

Chapter Seventeen

Captain Solmundsson lowered his cutlass and leant against the railing, trying to catch his breath. The attack was over. The deck of the Angaz-Kár was littered with corpses but the swarm of monsters was dispersing. The greenskins were steering their mounts back into the clouds, clanging gongs and blasting horns in the darkness.

‘They’re retreating!’ he bellowed, leaping up onto one of the endrins and raising his blade. He tried to sound triumphant, but he did not feel it. Over half of his crew had been butchered or strangled by hideous growths. And the greenskins were withdrawing at the moment of victory. Something felt wrong. Why were they leaving just as they were about to take the ship?

His crew replied with a ragged chorus of cheers, but they sounded as doubtful as Solmundsson felt. The ship was listing to one side and there was smoke billowing through a hole in her deck plating. He dropped from the endrin and strode over to his chief endrineer, Khorstun. ‘Get those fires put out,’ he said.

Khorstun saluted and limped away, calling to other endrineers as he went.

Solmundsson felt a rising wave of fury and grief as he looked around the ship. Every inch of the deck was heaped with the dead and dying. Doubt loomed at the back of his thoughts. What had he done? He had been so sure they would reach the lost city he had not considered the consequences of failure. He recalled his final conversations with his father before he left Barak-Urbaz. Lord Admiral Solmund had summoned him to a private talk the day before they set out. ‘This has to work,’ he had said, speaking with an urgency that shocked him. ‘The Moonclans have us in a headlock. I have not said this openly to anyone but you, but Barak-Urbaz is no longer safe. The grots are closing in from every direction. This damned moon is spreading their darkness right across Ayadah. They’re taking every one of our border forts. We have to find a new weapon. We need a way to halt the Loonking before the moon is full.’ Solmundsson remembered how shocked he had been to hear his father talk that way. The idea that Barak-Urbaz itself might fall had never entered his thoughts.

He stooped to help one of his riggers into a sitting position, carefully removing the duardin’s broken helmet and handing him a flask of water. The rigger nodded in thanks, looking at Solmundsson with absolute trust. That look helped Solmundsson shake off his doubts for a while. He began stomping across the deck, helping his crewmen and calling out orders. As always, he found that being active gave him his sense of purpose. ‘There’s always a way,’ he said, repeating the phrase with increasing conviction as he marched back and forth through the smoke, righting pieces of toppled equipment and hacking at wounded squigs with his cutlass.

Then he spotted the Slayer, crouched near the centre of the deck. He hurried over to him and then halted a few feet away, shocked by what he saw. Trachos’ death had torn a hole right through the ship, melting and warping the plates and blackening the metal. This must be one of the main causes of the ship’s engine problems, realised Solmundsson. There were sparks of energy flickering through the dark, and scattered around the Slayer were fragments of the Stormcast Eternal’s armour. Most of him seemed to have been obliterated by the blast, leaving little more than a charred silhouette, but there were a few scraps of metal left, blinking and flashing. Gotrek was holding one of the pieces, but as Solmundsson watched, the metal pulsed and vanished, leaving just a few traces of dust in the Slayer’s hand. One by one, all the other pieces vanished in the same way, until all that remained was the rent in the deck.

Gotrek remained hunched over the spot for a moment, then noticed Solmundsson and stood, turning to face him. The Slayer’s expression was rigid and hard to read. He let go of the ash he was holding and let the breeze whip it away across the deck.

Solmundsson frowned. ‘How will he ever join his ancestors if he is endlessly reborn?’

Gotrek watched the ash fade into the night. ‘Ancestors? He couldn’t even remember his own parents.’ The Slayer looked back at the hole in the deck and muttered into his beard, ‘Why, Trachos? She was a damned liar. And she hated you.’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘Maleneth?’

‘Aye. Trachos was trying to reach her. The grobi scum dragged her off the deck. Up onto that flying lump of gristle. But Trachos gave them a hard time first. Grungni knows why, but he was determined to stop them taking her.’ He waved his axe at the mounds of squigs and grots lying around the hole. ‘They didn’t expect this. He fought well. And with honour.’ He was still talking to himself more than to Solmundsson. ‘But why? The only thing he could remember was that he had to avoid being killed. There was so little of him left and he knew what would happen if he was…’ He waved his axe at the hole. ‘If this happened.’

‘But I thought Stormcast Eternals lived forever. I thought they were immortal.’

‘In body, perhaps, but not in mind.’ Gotrek sounded angry at Trachos rather than troubled at his passing. ‘He’s thrown away his past trying to help that traitorous aelf.’

‘Traitor?’ Solmundsson waved his cutlass at the dead bodies of his crew. ‘Is this because of her? Did she help them? Is that why they took her? Is she in league with the Moonclans?’

‘She’s only in league with herself.’ Gotrek ground his teeth and his eye flashed. ‘She betrayed me long before we got out here. She’s been tricking me since the moment we reached Barak-Urbaz. She made it so that I couldn’t disable this rune.’

‘How? What do you mean?’

Gotrek shrugged. ‘She had some kind of gadget. A drop valve she planted in everything I tried to use on this damned rune.’

‘I knew it!’

‘Knew what?’

‘The burning glass could have worked.’ He tapped the pouch on his belt that contained the crystal. ‘Should have worked. But her drop valve must have shorted the aether-current. I thought it was strange. The burning glass has never failed before. Your aelf friend was responsible.’

‘Friend?’ Gotrek laughed bitterly and looked at the rune in his chest.

Solmundsson noticed that the rune was cold and inert. ‘You did not use the ur-gold. You could have turned it on the greenskins.’ His pulse quickened as he followed the thought to its conclusion. ‘You could have saved my crew.’

Gotrek glared at him. ‘Don’t you have any ears under that hat?’ He tapped the rune. ‘It’s not a weapon I can turn on and off at will. It’s poison. If I’d let it rule me your whole crew would be dead, not just half.’

Solmundsson did not really understand, but Gotrek looked ready to behead him so he let the matter drop. He looked back at the shape Trachos had left. ‘Did he know about the treachery? Did he know she was a traitor?’

Gotrek was about to yell something. Then the fire faded from his eye and he looked confused. ‘Aye. He knew.’ He shook his head. ‘And he still died for her.’ He stomped off across the deck.

‘She’s stable,’ said Endrineer Khorstun, hobbling over towards Solmundsson, his face covered in oil and sweat. ‘She’ll need to be completely refitted when we return to Barak-Urbaz, but I can keep her moving until then.’

Solmundsson clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Good work, Khorstun.’ Then he looked across the deck. All the uninjured crewmen were tending to their fallen comrades, binding wounds or repairing flight suits. ‘Help treat the wounded. We won’t continue to the Iron Karak until we’ve helped everyone we can.’

The endrineer hesitated, looking pained.

‘What is it?’ asked Solmundsson.

‘We should be able to make it back to Barak-Urbaz, captain,’ said Khorstun. ‘But there’s no way we could reach the Iron Karak. Based on the routes we studied in Barak-Urbaz, there’s no way we could get that far now. We’re halfway there at best. There’s too much damage to the endrins. And we’ve shed half our fuel. We can make it home, but any other route would be impossible.’

Solmundsson stared at him, battling anger. He bit back harsh words and nodded. ‘See to the wounded.’

As Khorstun saluted and headed off to help, Solmundsson stood erect and proud, but once the endrineer was out of sight he clenched his fists. ‘I can’t return to Barak-Urbaz now. There has to be a way.’ He felt the moon grinning down at him but refused to look up, knowing how confused he would feel if he met its gaze. ‘There has to be something I can do.’ He looked around for the Slayer, recalling what a glorious sight he had made when he was fighting the grots. He was like one of the ancestor gods forged into the ceiling of Admiralty Hall. He spotted Gotrek over at the railing, looking out into the clouds at the quickly disappearing squigs. The grots had flown their steeds with impressive speed and were already fading into the darkness, moonlight glinting on their weapons. Solmundsson joined Gotrek and gazed out at them. ‘They nearly took the ship,’ he said, speaking quietly so that only Gotrek would hear.

Gotrek snorted. ‘They wouldn’t have taken it with me onboard.’

‘That’s hard to argue with. But when they left they had the upper hand. A few more minutes of that and my crew would have been wiped out and the ship would have gone into a nosedive. Perhaps you could have survived that, but we wouldn’t. I don’t understand why the grots withdrew when they did.’

Gotrek shrugged. ‘They seemed more interested in Maleneth than your ship.’

‘Dat’s right,’ said a rigger who was standing nearby. ‘Dey came for da aelf.’

Solmundsson had not noticed him until that moment, and it took him a moment to recall his name. ‘What’s that, Ornolf?’

Ornolf was shaking and hunched over, as though gripped by fever, and his flight suit was torn. He was so weary he was struggling to speak, his words seeming to choke him. ‘Dey took da aelf to da Loonking’s Asylum. I heard ’em say it. To a place called Slathermere.’

‘They spoke words you could recognise?’ Solmundsson shook his head. ‘Are you sure?’

Ornolf looked distressed, flinching and avoiding Solmundsson’s eye. ‘Da… The aelf said it. She said dat’s where they’re goin’. To a place called Slathermere.’

Solmundsson looked at Gotrek. ‘Could Maleneth speak to green-skins?’

Gotrek shrugged.

Ornolf tried to say more but his words were gibberish.

‘You sound awful,’ said Solmundsson, taking Ornolf’s arm before he dropped to the ground. He waved a deck officer over. ‘Get him to a bunk.’

Ornolf tried to protest, but his words remained jumbled and Solmundsson ordered the officer to take him away.

‘What’s the Loonking’s Asylum?’ asked Gotrek, narrowing his eye. ‘And Slathermere?’

‘I’ve never heard of Slathermere, but the Asylum is reputed to be the home of our enemy. The Loonking is a powerful greenskin warlord that holds sway over Skrappa Spill.’ Solmundsson grimaced. ‘And most of Ayadah, for that matter. The Asylum is his home. I don’t know if it’s a fortress or a tunnel network, but it’s located somewhere under Skrappa Spill.’

Gotrek looked at the disappearing squigs again, then back at the hole caused by Trachos’ death. He backed away from the railing and started pacing. ‘So you know where the greenskins are coming from?’ He glared at Solmundsson. ‘And you leave them there, undisturbed, to do what they like? You don’t do anything about it?’

‘You don’t understand. Skrappa Spill is hidden in an endless night. The grots have turned the place into a netherworld. No one can get near the place. And the Loonking’s Asylum is buried somewhere beneath it. Only a lunatic would go there.’

‘So you let these flying half-pints raid your fleets and trash your sky-forts?’ Gotrek’s ire was growing as he stomped back and forth. ‘And leave their king to fortify his home in peace? Is this how the mighty Kharadron sky lords treat their enemies? You hide from them?’

‘We don’t hide, Gotrek, we plan. The guildmasters and admirals would not launch fleets into unmapped territory with no idea of what we’d face there.’ Even as he argued with the Slayer, Solmundsson sensed that there was something else going on. The Slayer’s rage was not really caused by Kharadron inaction. He was not really railing against the Loonking. He was angry about something else. The loss of the Stormcast Eternal, perhaps? Solmundsson looked back at the distant swarm of squigs. Perhaps it’s her, he wondered. Maleneth. Is he troubled by her loss? Solmundsson had already spent enough time in the Slayer’s company to know that asking Gotrek would be a mistake. He decided to change the subject. ‘We’ve suffered serious losses, Gotrek, and my ship is damaged, but I’ll find a way for us to continue the journey to the Iron Karak. Trachos need not have died in vain. We can still remove that rune and–’

‘Remove the bloody rune?’ Gotrek’s beard bristled and his face turned the colour of raw meat. ‘Do you think I’m going to waltz off looking for lost cities now?’

Solmundsson was speechless. He did not know whether to laugh or weep. The Slayer was clearly insane. ‘You don’t want to find the Iron Karak?’

‘Of course I bloody don’t!’ Gotrek clanked his axe against the railing. ‘What are you thinking? That’s not where we should be going!’

‘What am I thinking?’ muttered Solmundsson, with a sinking sensation in his guts as he considered what he had sacrificed to drag a maniac halfway across Ayadah. With Gotrek still scowling furiously at him, Solmundsson decided to risk one more question. ‘Where should we be going?’

‘To this damned Asylum!’ Gotrek began pacing back and forth across the deck, muttering to himself and swinging his axe. ‘You can’t run a kingdom like this. Leaving your worst enemy to fester like a wound. You need to root them out. What’s the use in building castles in the clouds if greenskins rule everything else?’ Emotion flashed in his eye, but Solmundsson sensed it was not just rage now. There was something else. Excitement, perhaps? Mischief, maybe? It was impossible to be sure. ‘How far are we from Skrappa Spill?’

Solmundsson shrugged. ‘We’re skirting its eastern borders. But why…’ A troubling realisation hit him. ‘You’re not thinking that we–?’

‘Why did you bring me up here?’ asked Gotrek.

‘To find a way to harness your rune.’

‘What for?’

‘To halt the advance of the greenskins before the moon waxes full. To derail them somehow.’

Gotrek stopped pacing back and forth. ‘You want to rid yourselves of these moon-loving grobi. You want to stop them dragging ships from the skies and robbing your legitimately stolen gold.’

‘Stolen? I can assure you that the Kharadron Code is quite clear on–’

‘You need a distraction. You need a way to drag those filthy grobi back to their home before they take yours.’ Gotrek stopped next to Solmundsson and gripped his shoulder. ‘Get me to the Asylum. I’ll make such a mess you’ll have every greenskin in the realm scrambling back there.’

Solmundsson shook his head in disbelief. Then he thought about the news his endrineer had just given him. The Angaz-Kár would never reach the Iron Karak, but it might reach Skrappa Spill. The thought of returning empty-handed appalled him, and there was something infectious about the Slayer’s determination. ‘I wonder…’ he muttered, holding Gotrek’s fierce gaze.

Gotrek smiled. It was an unnerving sight. ‘Take the fight to them. I’ve slain far worse than grobi. On my oath, beardling. Get me to this bloody Asylum and I’ll butcher half of them before they have time to grab their stupid little bows. And while they’re busy chewing my axe the moon will wane and Barak-Urbaz will be safe.’

Solmundsson was struggling to keep up with the Slayer’s sudden change of heart. He nodded at the rune. ‘And what about that?’

‘It can wait. Grungni’s teeth, beardling, you need to stop mucking about with fart dragons and deal with the real threat. Maybe the ancestors will forgive you for living in cloud houses, but not if you let greenskins butcher everyone.’ Gotrek was growing angrier by the second. ‘I saw some of this land before we bought passage to Barak-Urbaz. The aelf dragged me round all sorts of hovels. I saw things that you should be ashamed of.’ Gotrek gripped the railing so hard it started to buckle. ‘It’s a slaughterhouse down there. Everyone’s either hiding from the moon or being diced by the greenskins. And you think you can let these grobi swan about in a secret cave? You think you can just abandon everyone to their deaths?’

Solmundsson took a step back, sensing the violence simmering up through Gotrek’s words, but he refused to accept the charges being laid at the feet of his people. ‘We have abandoned no one. If anything, we were abandoned. But we found a way to rise from the scum. We built weapons and fleets that can withstand anything our enemies throw at us.’

Gotrek turned his glare back on Solmundsson. ‘And for what? What have you achieved? If greenskins can loot and murder at their leisure, what’s the point of your clever toys?’

Solmundsson was not given to rage, but the Slayer’s words left him breathless with anger. ‘The realms are full of such degenerate species. Why would you single the Kharadron out for criticism?’

‘Because you should bloody well know better.’ Gotrek lowered his voice, but the rage was still burning in his eye. ‘Because somewhere deep in your gold-plated past you were dawi once. And you should start acting like it. Besides, if Barak-Urbaz is all you care about, you still need to get me to the gobbos. If you don’t let me make some noise down there you won’t have a city to return to.’

While they had been talking, First Officer Thorrik had approached and begun following the exchange.

Solmundsson took a deep breath and turned to him. ‘What would be our best course, if we were to approach Skrappa Spill?’

Thorrik had removed his helmet to treat a wound and his proud, craggy features were visible. His long, forked beard was drenched with blood and his face was drained of colour, but he looked as fierce as always. Solmundsson had sailed with Thorrik on countless expeditions and he rarely saw him look surprised. This was one of those times. ‘Skrappa Spill, captain? In a single vessel? Without support from the admiralty or the guilds?’

Hearing the idea spoken out loud in such uncertain terms caused Solmundsson’s pulse to quicken. He forgot his anger at Gotrek for a moment and saw that there was some merit in it. ‘Perhaps,’ he said, drumming his fingers on the railing and glancing at Gotrek. ‘Who would expect it? It would be an act of madness.’

Thorrik raised an eyebrow. ‘It would.’

‘Which means no one could predict it,’ continued Solmundsson. ‘Think about it, Thorrik. Every one of our recent expeditions has floundered. Our fleets are attacked with unerring accuracy. Every move we make is anticipated by the grots. Every decision made in Admiralty Hall is met by a countermove. Every attack is pre-empted. The Moonclans predict our every move, through treachery or espionage or whatever dark rites they perform in their caves.’ He stared out into the silvery clouds. ‘But who could predict this? It was not planned and it makes no sense. A single ship, striking deep into their territory. And bringing an unstoppable weapon into the Asylum. They could not predict it because we did not predict it.’ Solmundsson could hear his words running together as he spoke faster. He paused and took a deep breath. ‘The grot armies are scattered across Ayadah. And not just Ayadah. They’re striking against every sky-port in the realm, and they’re doing it because the moon is almost full. They think they’re unstoppable. But they don’t know we’ve heard of the Asylum. They would never see this coming. Imagine their surprise if we get the Slayer in there and he causes the same havoc he was causing in Barak-Urbaz.’

Thorrik looked at Gotrek with obvious distrust and was clearly about to say something, but his expression hardened and he fixed his gaze somewhere over Solmundsson’s shoulder. ‘Aye, captain.’

Gotrek looked at Solmundsson with a peculiar mix of grief, rage and eagerness. ‘Maybe there is some dwarf in the duardin.’ He gripped his axe and clanged the haft on the deck. ‘Get this tub on the ground and I’ll teach the greenskins how real dawi fight. I’ll show them how we deal with people who wreck our forts.’

Solmundsson and Thorrik had both glanced at each other when Gotrek used the word ‘our’.

He caught their look and his face flushed, but he said nothing.

First Officer Thorrik frowned. ‘Captain, even if we were to head into Skrappa Spill, how would we find the Asylum? None of our charts have placed it with any accuracy.’ He gave Gotrek a hard look. ‘Despite the Slayer’s suggestion, Kharadron fleets have tried to find the place, but they either failed to locate it or never returned. Do you have newer charts than the ones I’ve seen? Ones that pin down the route?’

Solmundsson would not accept such a challenge from most of his crew, but Thorrik was a veteran of countless voyages and he had earned the right to speak without fear of censure. ‘Not as such,’ he replied, ‘but I have you and the best crew ever assembled by the Solmund Company. And the Angaz-Kár is the finest ship in the fleet. If anyone could find the Asylum, it’s us.’

Gotrek stared at them in disbelief. ‘You’re all soft in the head.’ He pointed his axe at a shape fading into the distance. ‘Follow the bloody squig.’

Chapter Eighteen

Are you going to let them do that to you?

Maleneth could not remember hearing her mistress sound so unnerved. Even when she still had a body to protect she had been relentlessly fearless, but the things growing in the Asylum were so horrific that even Maleneth struggled to stay calm. When she had first awoken, she had assumed she was in a vast, moonlit swamp, but as the grots dragged her down a muddy, winding road, she started to see glimpses of distant rock walls arcing up overhead and realised she was in an enormous cave. Rather than moonlight, the swamp was illuminated by a strange forest that surrounded the road. She saw overgrown forms of fungus – translucent puffballs, shaggy parasols and rings of lemon-coloured toadstools, all glowing with a pale inner light. The glow throbbed like a pulse and revealed people staring out from the stems and frills. Some of the fungi bore no more than a fragment of a face or a pair of slender hands, but others were almost entirely humanoid, enveloped in gelatinous flesh but still recognisable as people. Some stared blankly as Maleneth staggered past, their mouths slack and silent, but others were screaming, begging to be released.

Maleneth was not afraid of pain and suffering, but even she found the sight revolting. There was no beauty to this, no art. The marsh was fly-crowded and noisy and its captives made an ugly sight, gasping and straining against their fleshy prisons. She stopped to look at one. It was a toadstool, taller than her and containing an aelf who was trapped but still intact. He was not one of Maleneth’s Khainite kin, but the symbols on his robes marked him as a citizen of Azyr. A sorcerer. And a powerful one by the looks of him. Under normal circumstances she would have been glad to stand beside him on a battlefield, but as he reached out towards her, Maleneth recoiled in disgust. ‘Get me out,’ he whispered, his eyes wide. Part of his mouth was covered by the toadstool’s flesh and his words were muffled. ‘I beg you.’ Then a grot yanked Maleneth’s chains and hauled her forwards through the mud, leaving the sorcerer to clutch uselessly at the air.

‘Scryshrooms,’ said a voice behind her.

Maleneth was still tightly bound, but she managed to look back over her shoulder. The grot that looked like a walking bracket of fungus was scuttling along behind her through the swamp with an amused grin on its face. ‘Dey show us fings.’

Maleneth strained against her bonds with such violence her guard stumbled. She managed to launch herself at the crab-like creature. Her fists were shackled but she pounded them into the grot’s face. The creature buckled, squealing. She drew back her fists to strike again but dozens of wiry arms wrenched her away and hurled her into the muck. Her breath exploded from her lungs as she thudded against an enormous puffball, but she dropped into a crouch and prepared to launch another attack.

‘Stupid witch,’ hissed the crab-like grot, its legs thrashing furiously in the mud as it backed away from her. Grots surrounded her. They were tiny, feeble-looking things, no more than three feet tall, but there were dozens and all of them had raised bows with the arrows pointed at her face.

Not now, you idiot girl. They’ll turn you into a pincushion. Wait. Be patient.

Maleneth slumped back against the fungus and relaxed her muscles. Her mistress was right. She might manage to throttle a few before they killed her, but she would never get near the one she wanted – the smug-faced mutant that had captured her. She had to bide her time. She had promised Khaine she would make the creature pay for the damage to her flesh and she must not go back on her word.

Her guard grabbed hold of the chain and tried to pull her back to her feet, but something caught on the back of Maleneth’s head and she could not move. Pain exploded across the back of her skull as the grot yanked at the chain, spitting curses and failing to move her.

‘Wait!’ she hissed. ‘I’m stuck, damn you.’ Maleneth tried to pull her head away from the puffball but it would not budge. As she struggled the fungus shivered and glowing spores billowed around her, alighting on her face and chest and causing her to glow.

The guard called to the crab-like grot. Maleneth had no idea what the guard was saying, but the way it was pointing at the back of her head did not fill her with confidence. She struggled to move again but the pain was worse and she could now feel that something soft and warm was wrapping itself around the back of her skull.

It’s swallowing you! Move your legs, you lazy wretch.

Maleneth pulled with all her strength, but her head would not move and the pain became so intense that she had to give up and slump back against the puffball’s flesh.

The crab-like grot scrambled to its feet and scuttled in circles, looking panicked. Then it rushed away, heading back down the road, barging the other grots aside as it vanished into the gloom.

‘Don’t leave me like this!’ cried Maleneth, but the creature was already out of sight. ‘I’ll have to do it now,’ she hissed, using her tongue to feel for one of the capsules hidden in her molars.

No, you fool! They’ll fill you full of arrows before you take two steps.

‘I’m sinking into this thing!’ gasped Maleneth, horror gripping her as she felt the rubbery surface roll over her ears. The swamp’s chorus of screams was muffled as Maleneth’s head sank slowly into the puffball. She could still hear the cries but they sounded distant and strange, as though heard from underwater.

Ignoring her mistress, she prepared to bite down on the capsule and blow poison into the faces of the grots. Then she hesitated. How would that help? She would blow the venom into their faces, killing the grots nearest to her, but she would still be trapped in the puffball. She tried again to move her head but the pain was horrific. The fungus had seeped through her skull, joining itself to her. It was eating her. No, she realised, not eating. It was turning her into one of the pitiful captives that lined the road. Maleneth had rarely felt true panic, but this was too much. The thought of spending the rest of her long life here, trapped in a revolting lump of fungus, was enough to make her howl.

The crab-like grot scuttled back into view, followed by the robed, burnt one. The burnt grot shook its head furiously as it saw Maleneth. Then it shoved past the grots with the bows and hurried over to her, taking something from its sodden robes.

As the grot leant close and its face filled her vision, Maleneth felt her sanity cracking. She could feel the puffball’s flesh rolling over her cheeks towards her eyes. It was like sinking beneath mud. And the face hanging in front of her was a nightmarish sight. The grot’s face was not just charred but slick with a clear, glue-like liquid that oozed from its eye. The fruit of the puffball burned brighter, as though a fire had been kindled in it.

As despair threatened to overcome her, Maleneth called out in fear and outrage. To her surprise, the name she cried was not Khaine.

‘Gotrek!’ she howled.

Chapter Nineteen

‘Grungni’s oath.’ Gotrek stumbled away from the railing, shaking his head.

Captain Solmundsson reached out to grab the Slayer’s arm before he slammed into First Officer Thorrik. They were standing on the foredeck of the Angaz-Kár, surrounded by crewmembers. Everyone looked over in surprise at Gotrek’s outburst.

‘Are you well?’ asked Solmundsson once he had steadied the Slayer.

Gotrek growled and shrugged him off, but the way he gripped the railing revealed how shaken he was. ‘I saw her.’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘Who?’

‘The aelf. In my head.’ Gotrek slapped the head of his axe against his palm. ‘She’s bloody haunting me.’

It was two days since they had repaired the ship and set sail from Valdrakh Pass, and they were now deep into the uncharted regions over Skrappa Spill. Solmundsson had not mentioned it in front of his crew, but he was worried. They had barely crossed Skrappa Spill’s eastern borders when the moon lurched towards them, moving so close it was like he could reach out and touch its leering face. And as the moon swelled to a grotesque size the sky billowed away from it, revolted by its presence. The normal rules of physics were crumbling. Clouds were whirling around its pitted bulk, and they were made of silver shards that rattled against the hull. The ship lurched wildly, battered by turbulence, but the shards of silver caused the most damage, splitting fuel tanks and slicing into the crew.

‘Even dead she won’t let me escape her prattling,’ grunted Gotrek.

Solmundsson studied the Slayer, confused by him. Gotrek had only mentioned Maleneth in derisive tones, but Solmundsson was becoming more and more convinced that the Slayer’s reason for coming to Skrappa Spill was to follow her. He clearly cared for her, but he refused to acknowledge it, perhaps even to himself, stating repeatedly that they were only here to ‘rid the realm of grobi scum’.

‘We don’t know that she’s dead,’ said Solmundsson. ‘Ornolf said she was captured and bound. Why would they do that just to kill her?’

‘Do you think I care if she’s alive or dead?’ Gotrek snarled. ‘They can feed her to their squigs for all I care. I just want her out of my head.’

‘Captain,’ said First Officer Thorrik, pointing to a shape up ahead in the storm. ‘Look! The straggler. We’re still with it.’

Solmundsson took out his spyglass and looked through the downpour. It took him a moment to focus on the spherical shape, but then he nodded. It was one of the winged, grot-carrying squigs. He grinned. They had not seen it for nearly an hour, and he had begun to lose hope. ‘Good.’

‘It’s not the one that took the aelf,’ said Thorrik, ‘but it’s part of the same group. I recognise the shape of the howdah.’

‘So it will be heading to the same place,’ said Solmundsson. ‘To the Asylum.’

Thorrik was not doing a good job of hiding his doubts over the whole expedition. ‘Perhaps. Or they just congregated to attack us at the pass and are now heading back to different homes.’

‘They’re going to the same place.’

‘With respect, captain, how can you know?’

Solmundsson stared meaningfully at Thorrik. ‘Because the alternative is that we’re lost over Skrappa Spill with no hope of finding our destination and I’m a lunatic who’s following a lunatic.’

Thorrik was about to say something, then thought better of it and simply nodded.

Solmundsson looked over at Gotrek, who was pacing a few feet away. He had no idea what the Slayer’s normal mental state was, but since the death of Trachos he seemed particularly erratic. It occurred to him that he might be suffering some kind of mental collapse. ‘What do you mean, she’s in your head?’ He walked over to him. ‘Do you mean she’s talking to you?’

Gotrek was twitching and tapping his head in a manner that reminded Solmundsson of the now dead Stormcast Eternal. ‘I can feel her in my mind.’ He cursed and spat. ‘Filthy aelf, crawling around where she has no damned right to be. I heard her call my name and now I can feel her in my thoughts, rummaging like a bloody cutpurse.’ Gotrek paused and stared at the deck. ‘Damn her!’

He stayed like that for a few seconds, then looked up, as though surprised. ‘She’s gone.’ He frowned. ‘And I saw something.’

Solmundsson and Thorrik exchanged glances.

‘What did you see?’ asked Solmundsson.

‘The head of a bloody great giant, as big as one of your guildhalls. And it was glowing.’

Thorrik raised an eyebrow. ‘A glowing giant’s head? Was it attached to a glowing giant?’

Gotrek glared at him. ‘No. Floating in a lake. Surrounded by lots of little heads.’

Solmundsson was about to ask for more details. Then he shook his head, deciding he’d rather not hear any more. It’s just the damned moon, he thought. Since the moon had come closer and the storm grown stranger, his own thoughts had started to wander. It was as though his dreams were creeping into his waking mind. As the silver rolled across the deck, he saw shapes swaying in the deluge – tall, arrow-headed toadstools that leant towards him. It was as if they knew he had seen them. He staggered towards them, horrified and fascinated at the same time, realising that all the toadstools contained people – men, aelves and duardin, trapped forever, gasping for breath.

Chapter Twenty

The grot backed away from Maleneth, blinking its grotesquely enlarged eye as the light faded. ‘What was dat?’ hissed the charred creature, looking to the other greenskins. It turned to the crab-shaped monster. ‘Mangleback, d’ya see dat?’

For a moment, Maleneth struggled to focus on them. She had seen, quite clearly, an image of Solmundsson’s ship in her mind, and she had seen the captain himself, looking at her with concern. The Angaz-Kár had been sailing through a silvery storm and she could still feel the sensation of its deck rocking beneath her feet. As the afterimage of the ship faded, she had a shocking thought. She had understood the one-eyed grot. It was not speaking her language as the other greenskin had done – she had understood its absurd, screeching gibberish.

‘Weird,’ replied the grot called Mangleback. ‘Like she was burnin’.’

‘How can I understand you?’ Maleneth glared at the one-eyed grot. ‘What have you done to me?’

The grots stared at her in shock, then burst into laughter. ‘It ain’t me,’ said the one-eyed grot. ‘Yer growin’.’

‘Growing? Khaine’s teeth. What do you mean, “growing”?’

The grot laughed. ‘You’re becoming part of da Gibbermarsh. A scryshroom. Part of da Asylum.’ It pointed to Mangleback’s fungal shell. ‘’Appens to da best of ’em. And as da Asylum sinks into ya, yer startin’ to fink like we do.’

Maleneth howled, trying again to free herself from the puffball. The pain was so intense she almost lost consciousness, and she failed to move an inch.

‘Get ’er out, Stinkeye,’ said Mangleback. ‘Scragfang don’t want ’er stuck out ’ere in the marsh. ’E wants ’er safe in Slathermere.’

Stinkeye limped back over to Maleneth, and she realised how the creature had got its name. The slime oozing from its eye stank of rotten meat, and Maleneth gagged as Stinkeye’s face came within inches of hers.

‘Just gotta, er, tickle ’er out,’ said Stinkeye. The grot took a teardrop-shaped bottle from its robes and held it up to Maleneth. ‘Yer, er, lucky,’ it whispered, shaking the contents. They looked to Maleneth like small black seeds, around ten of them. Stinkeye uncorked the bottle and tipped one of the seeds out into its palm. Then it placed it onto the puffball.

The fungus shivered. At first it was just a slight tremor, but in a few seconds it was shaking so violently Maleneth felt like she was being rattled in a gargant’s fist. A squeaking sound came from the pulpy mass behind her, and then she was hurled forwards.

Maleneth collided with Stinkeye then slid across the road, coming to a stop in a puddle on the opposite side. The grots were still laughing as she climbed to her feet and glared at them, wiping mud from her leathers. The archers all had their arrows trained on her face, and Maleneth was still chained so there was nothing she could do but scowl as her guard shoved her back onto the road and the group continued walking.

Maleneth assumed they were making for the enormous head. Even from a couple of miles away, she could see greenskins coming and going through gates carved in its neck, gathering in groups or heading off through the marsh on roads that wound off into the glimmering lights. It was clearly a fortress of some significance, and there were flocks of flying squigs circling around its scarred brow. The gargant’s eyes were long gone, leaving two ragged holes that were so crowded with bioluminescent growths that they looked like beacons, glaring through the gloom.

‘Is that where the Loonking lives?’ she asked, twisting her head to address Mangleback.

The creature grinned cheerfully at her. ‘He will do soon.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Scragfang lives in Slathermere. An soon ’e’ll be Loonking. It was ’is idea ta use you as bait.’

‘Scragfang?’ Maleneth looked around the crowd of grots examining their long, hooked faces, trying to spot the one Mangleback was referring to.

‘’E ain’t ’ere,’ laughed Mangleback. ‘’E’s sunk in da Weeping Brook. Once we fish ’im out ya can ’ave a cosy chat. ’E’s gonna be well ’appy.’

To Maleneth’s surprise, the group turned off the main road, climbed up a slope and headed away from Slathermere. They headed through a series of bogs and marshes that were even more fungus-crowded than the fields around the main road. They had been marching for hours by this point and Maleneth was exhausted. The greenskins showed no sign of flagging, despite their scrawny frames. Maleneth wondered how they were managing to scurry on with such endless energy. Then she noticed their secret. Whenever one of them started to slow, the grot called Stinkeye would reach into its robes and fish out a bag filled with wriggling grubs. The grots grimaced as they chewed the grubs, spitting out their bright blue shells with disgust, but the results were impressive. One grub was enough to send them sprinting on down the road with blank stares on their faces.

Ask for one.

Don’t be absurd, thought Maleneth. I’m already changing. I don’t want to start eating their food. Have you seen their faces after they’ve eaten it? They look even more deranged than before.

Well you need to do something. If you collapse they’ll gut you.

I have a plan, thought Maleneth.

You have nothing. Your arm looks like something plucked from a stew. And you’re so tired you can barely stand. Get your hands on some of that food.

I do have a plan, but I’m not doing anything until I’ve seen the one they call Scragfang.

Why? What’s the difference between one fungus-brained runt and another?

Scragfang is the one who ordered them to capture me. She felt a delicious rush of bloodlust. And that’s the one I’m going to take out of here. Scragfang is going to live a long, agonising life.

Not if that stuff keeps growing up your arm. What do you think it will do when it reaches your brain?

Maleneth looked down at her arm and shivered in distaste. The growths had spread up to her bicep and she could feel more straining under her skin, about to pop through. She shook her head and smiled. It doesn’t matter.

What are you talking about? You’re ruined. How can you honour Khaine now?

Maleneth kept smiling. ‘I’ll honour him.’

The grots led her down into a boggy valley towards a winding black brook. Everything in the valley was coated in luminescent spores and they were drifting over the stream, giving the whole scene a hazy, dreamlike appearance. In fact, Maleneth had felt for several hours that she was stumbling through some confused nether region of her mind. She could still feel the place where the puffball had merged with her skull and her arm was trembling constantly as new life boiled beneath the surface. She battled to keep a grip on her senses as she approached the black brook, thinking to herself, over and again, I have a plan.

Most of the grots halted a few feet away from the brook, eyeing the surrounding hills warily. Some of them kept their bows trained on Maleneth, but most pointed their arrows at the toadstools that blanketed the valley. Stinkeye and Mangleback glanced at Maleneth to ensure she was still securely chained, then crawled down towards the sluggish liquid.

There was a hump in the middle of the river, like the crest of a small island just beneath the surface, and the two grots waded through the clinging liquid towards it. The creature called Mangleback was the first to reach it, and after a nod from Stinkeye, the grot used its tendrils to reach down and haul the shape out of the river.

Maleneth leant forwards, keen to see the architect of her abduction. It was a grot, as scrawny and hook-nosed as all the others. The creature gasped and kicked as Mangleback dragged it back towards the shore.

Stinkeye hurried forwards, wading through the gunk, grabbing the grot’s thrashing limbs and helping Mangleback carry it to safety. Once they had deposited the creature on the shore Maleneth got her first good look at it. It was drenched and coughing furiously, but she saw how it had been altered by the swamp. The back half of its skull had formed into a bracket of hard, gnarled fungus that jutted out like a ledge from its head. Rather than leather armour or a simple jerkin, Scragfang wore black robes that were draped with bone necklaces and animal skulls. Maleneth had fought greenskins enough times to know that this was one of their sorcerer prophets. The creature slumped weakly in the arms of the other two grots as they wiped gunk from its face. Then it looked around in confusion. Its eyes cleared as they focused on Mangleback. ‘We lost Lord Zogdrakk?’ Its voice was a shrill creak. ‘An’ Boglob?’

The one called Mangleback nodded, moving its whole shell up and down. Then it loosed Scragfang and performed a ridiculous dance, turning in circles around Scragfang before halting and pointing at Maleneth. ‘But we did it. You did it.’

The grot shaman wiped more muck from its eyes and squinted at Maleneth. Its eyes widened in recognition and a grin spread across its goblinoid features. ‘We zoggin did.’

As Maleneth studied the idiotic creature, she felt such a wave of ecstatic hate that she could have wept. It was a glorious gift. She was going to make Khaine so proud of her.

The shaman staggered over, shaking oil from its trembling limbs. It looked hungrily at her. ‘It’s just as I saw. It’s all comin’ true.’

Scragfang walked around Maleneth, then the smile fell from its face. ‘What ’ave ya zoggin done to ’er?’

‘Just made ’er look a little bit more fancier,’ said Mangleback. ‘Ain’t we, Stinkeye?’

Stinkeye nodded, and Scragfang started giggling. The whole group quickly grew hysterical, rolling across the muddy turf and kicking their short, withered legs. Then, to Maleneth’s amazement, Mangleback took out a bone whistle and started to play a tune. This sent the grots off into even more violent paroxysms of laughter.

Another grot grabbed a squig and lifted it up into the air, eliciting more cheers. The squig was smaller than the others and there were tube-like protrusions jutting from its scarred hide. The grot placed its mouth to one of the tubes, pressed its fingers over the others and blew. The squig doubled in size and a droning sound filled the valley.

The grot bounded and skipped as it played the squig and the rest of the greenskins danced around it, delighted by the discordant screeches.

Maleneth stared in disbelief. Then she realised that none of the grots were looking her way. Mangleback was still scuttling in circles, peeping and shrieking with the whistle while the other grot honked through the squig, and the rest had all abandoned themselves to a frenzied jig, wailing tunelessly and clanging finger cymbals. Even Maleneth’s guard joined the victory dance, letting go of her chain and rolling on the ground, tears streaming from its eyes.

Now.

Maleneth nodded but waited a moment longer, studying Scragfang’s face, imprinting it on her memory. ‘I’ll be back for you,’ she whispered. She quietly lifted her chain from her wrist, having picked the lock hours ago.

She scrambled up the slope, smiling to herself. She was almost away when one of the guards saw her and rushed over, raising its bow and opening its mouth to shout. She lashed out with her good arm, silencing him with a quick punch in the guts. Then she kicked him into a pool of yellow gloop, ducked low and raced off into the forest of toadstools.

Chapter Twenty-One

The Angaz-Kár howled, ploughing through liquid mercury. Metal splashed over the hull, washing over the deck and hissing furiously. Solmundsson and the other officers were in his cabin with Gotrek, strapped into their seats, and the rest of the crew were below decks. Solmundsson gritted his teeth as the ship burst from the lake, rose briefly back into the air and then crashed down onto a plain of rusted iron, spraying sparks and filling the ship with the smell of burning. This was the jewel of his father’s fleet, and Solmundsson felt every jolt like an attack on his own skin. Finally, after grinding along for several minutes, the huge vessel screamed to a halt, teetered, then crashed onto its side, sending books and charts flying across the cabin.

Solmundsson and the others sat in silence, staring at each other. Their chairs were riveted in place so they were hanging at a peculiar angle above the wall that had now become the floor. There was no sound other than the rattle of falling silver. They had flown down through the storm and escaped the wind, but the moonlight was still everywhere, painting everything in cool, cheerless light.

Gotrek gave Solmundsson an incredulous look. ‘Only the Kharadron could invent a flying ship that can’t land.’

Despite assuring everyone it would be fine, Solmundsson had not been entirely sure they would survive the landing, so hearing the familiar sound of Gotrek’s bile was such a relief he smiled.

‘We do not usually land like this,’ explained First Officer Thorrik, scowling at Gotrek. ‘None of our landing equipment is working. We lost half the ship over Valdrakh Pass.’

‘We’ve achieved something few others would dare attempt,’ said Solmundsson. ‘We’ve reached the Loonking’s Asylum.’

‘We think,’ said Thorrik.

‘We followed the squigs,’ said Solmundsson. ‘And Ornolf heard Maleneth say they were heading to the Asylum. This should be it.’ The ship shifted again, hurling more maps and furniture.

‘And how will we leave?’ Thorrik looked out through one of the portholes. The iron plain was just visible through the downpour. ‘We can’t walk from here to Barak-Urbaz. However much damage we do to the greenskins, we’ll have no way to get home.’

‘Nonsense,’ said Solmundsson. ‘Think who’s onboard. The finest endrineers in Ayadah. No one understands aethermatics like they do. And this is Skrappa Spill. We can find any form of metal we need here.’ He unbuckled his harness and carefully dropped down onto the slanting floor. ‘There’s always a way, First Officer Thorrik.’

Gotrek thudded down next to the captain and picked some silver from his beard.

Solmundsson led the way out and they emerged onto the listing deck. The Angaz-Kár was surrounded by fields of rust. Slabs of crumbling iron were heaped in every direction and the landscape was punctuated by towers of steam that hissed up through the cracks. Some were no bigger than a man, but others were great geysers that boiled and hissed as they reached up to the clouds. Boulders of raw metal lay scattered across the plains. Some were ragged hunks, but others were formed into geometric shapes – glinting cylinders lay next to dark, oily cubes in a bewildering profusion that resembled a vast discarded puzzle. It was early morning, by Solmundsson’s reckoning, but the clouds were so dark and heavy that the plain seemed to be sunk in a perpetual, fitful dusk. He grabbed his spyglass and, to his relief, saw a line that jutted up from the plain.

‘There,’ he said, pointing it out as the others gathered around him on the deck.

Thorrik nodded. ‘Aye, that’s where the squig landed.’ He looked around at the rust fields. ‘But we can’t leave the ship like this. The greenskins will see her from miles off. They may have already spotted us.’

Solmundsson nodded. ‘We need to hide her.’ He climbed through the wreckage, picking up pieces of broken machinery. ‘Which of the aethermatic devices survived the attack?’

‘Nothing that could mask an entire ship. Not without being reconfigured. Perhaps if we stay here for a few days, the endrineers could–’

Gotrek snorted. ‘You couldn’t engineer yourself out of bed. We can’t just sit here playing with spanners. We’re on the enemy’s doorstep.’

Solmundsson nodded. ‘You have a point, Slayer, but if we leave the ship on display we’ll have no chance of getting into the Asylum. Subterfuge is not the Kharadron way, but the Code clearly states that in times such as this a captain may not leave his ship–’

Gotrek pointed his axe at Solmundsson. ‘You read too much. The Code says this, the Code says that. I’m all for following tradition, but a book can’t tell you everything about how to live.’ He looked around at the savage landscape then strode off across the deck.

Solmundsson and the other officers rushed after him as the rest of the crew started clambering up onto the deck, lugging weapons and grappling with equipment.

Gotrek reached the railing nearest to the ground and vaulted over it. He briefly vanished from sight, engulfed by a cloud of rust flakes. When the rust settled, Solmundsson saw that the Slayer was knee-deep in it. It eddied around him as he grabbed a handful, letting it pour through his fingers. ‘Probably not many farmers round here,’ he said, wading off across the field.

Solmundsson and Thorrik dropped down from the ship, but Solmundsson waved the other officers back, telling them to gather the crew and prepare for a journey.

Gotrek halted fifty feet from the downed ship and looked around at the landscape again, peering at the peculiar jumble of metal cubes and spheres.

Solmundsson followed his gaze but could see nothing of use. There were just endless, block-strewn plains and the towers of whirling steam.

‘Do you mean to grab some of this metal?’ he asked, looking at a bronze cone. The thing was as big as a guildhall.

‘Don’t believe everything the Fyreslayers tell you,’ replied Gotrek. ‘I’m not a bloody god.’ He hefted his axe, widened his stance and rolled his shoulders, as though preparing to fell a tree. ‘Stand back.’

Solmundsson’s heart sank as he realised Gotrek was about to swing at the thin air.

‘Back!’ snapped Gotrek.

Solmundsson and Thorrik took a few steps backwards.

Gotrek rolled his shoulders again, whispered, then swung his axe into the ground.

Solmundsson shook his head.

‘It’s not your fault,’ said Thorrik. ‘The Lord Admiral himself sanctioned this expedition. Who could have predicted that the Slayer was insane?’

Gotrek swung his axe again, even harder this time. There was a flash of sparks and a groaning sound came from beneath his feet.

Gotrek whistled tunelessly and swung his axe a third time, wielding the weapon with such force that his feet left the ground. This time there was a definite tremor, followed by a loud cracking sound.

Gotrek staggered backwards as steam shot up through the rust, spitting and hissing.

Solmundsson looked around at the geysers scattered across the landscape. He gripped Thorrik’s shoulder. ‘He’s not mad.’

Gotrek looked over at them, his chest heaving and sweat pouring down his face. ‘I’m bloody mad.’

Before Solmundsson could reply, the Slayer turned and swung his axe again. This time the tremor was so violent that they all staggered, struggling to stay on their feet. The column of steam tripled in size and a slab of iron jolted up through the rust. Heat washed over Solmundsson, so intense that he could feel it through the rubber of his suit.

‘Captain,’ said Thorrik, pointing out a jagged line that was appearing in the rust. It was zigzagging towards the ship. ‘Look what he’s doing.’

Gotrek swung again and the resultant blast of steam kicked him through the air, sending him tumbling back in the direction of the Angaz-Kár. The geyser he had created was now a vast column of steam, blocking the view to the south of the ship.

The ground shuddered again and Solmundsson stumbled to his knees. Then he stood and hurried after Gotrek.

The Slayer waded through the rust until he was standing near the aft of the ship. Then, before Solmundsson had guessed his intent, Gotrek attacked the ground with his axe again.

This time the first blow was enough to release a violent rush of steam.

‘Wait,’ gasped Solmundsson, coughing and struggling to stay on his feet.

Gotrek swung again and the column erupted into another vast geyser. The two towers of steam merged into a single seething wall that soared high up into the air and howled like a tornado.

As Gotrek pounded off to the other side of the ship, Solmundsson remained sitting in the rust, staring at the roiling wall of steam. ‘He’s not mad,’ he muttered. ‘He’s a damned genius.’

Thorrik helped Solmundsson to his feet, looking dubious. ‘There’s a fine line between the two.’

Solmundsson shook his head as Gotrek began hacking at the ground again. ‘He’s cutting through iron like it’s rotten wood.’

They both watched as Gotrek produced a third mountain of steam. By now half of the Angaz-Kár was hidden from view.

‘Is it the rune he carries?’ asked Thorrik. ‘Is that what gives him his power?’

Solmundsson frowned. ‘I thought so, when I first met him, but now I’m not so sure. Look. The rune’s lifeless. There’s no fire in the ur-gold. When Fyreslayers use battle runes the metal lights up. But Gotrek’s is dull. The power is in him.’

Gotrek continued striding around the ship for the next half an hour, hacking at the ground and unleashing gouts of steam until the Angaz-Kár was entirely hidden. Solmundsson and Thorrik had returned to the deck to talk with the other officers, and when Gotrek had finished he climbed back up over the railings and marched over to them. He was coated in sweat, blood and rust and breathing in quick gasps. He slammed the head of his axe on the deck, rested his palms on the pommel and stared at Solmundsson. ‘Happy?’

Solmundsson looked around. The iron plains were gone. All he could see from the deck now was a wall of grey. The heat from the geysers was immense, but they were not so close as to damage the ship. ‘Perfect,’ he said. ‘Apart from one thing.’

Gotrek narrowed his eye.

Solmundsson waved at the steam. ‘How do we get out?’

Gotrek muttered then thudded across the deck and squinted out into the steam. Then he looked back at the damaged ship and pointed to the aft. ‘What’s that?’

Solmundsson looked back and saw what Gotrek was pointing to. ‘A gunhauler. They’re used to defend the larger ships in the fleet. They don’t carry much fuel, though – what are you thinking?’ He shook his head. ‘They only carry two duardin at a time. It would take an age to fly the whole crew over this wall of steam. We’d be here for hours.’

Gotrek headed over to the gunhauler. It was little more than a gun on a platform topped with a spherical endrin. Gotrek tapped the hull. ‘If you show me how to fly it I can get to the Asylum.’

Solmundsson laughed. ‘Alone? Into the Loonking’s fortress?’

‘As opposed to what? Taking your punch-drunk crew? How many of them are left?’ Gotrek looked around the ship. ‘Twenty? Thirty? Is that enough to take on a nation of grobi? We’re here to give them a bloody nose. To show them what happens when they attack your flying castles. I can do that alone. I’ll just find the ugliest, biggest greenskins I can and relieve them of their heads.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hillel shuffled in his chair, sipping his hazkal and trying to rid himself of a fear he could not explain. Why should he feel so anxious? He had made it. He had reached the safety of Barak-Urbaz. There was nowhere safer in all of Ayadah. Outside the khordryn he could hear all the triumphant sounds of the sky-port – aethermatic anvils and fume-belching rotary engines that shook the floor beneath his boots. The Kharadron would not be conquered. They had proven it time and again. Inside the khordryn there were dozens of travellers. Some were human, like him, but there were aelves and nomadic duardin too, all drinking and talking, all happy to have found a haven from the madness of the Bane Moon. They were gathered in the khordryn’s drinking hall – a wide circular room filled with beer-laden benches and thick with clouds of pipe smoke. It was just as Hillel had always pictured it would be. He had dreamt of this moment so many times and it had lived up to all his expectations. And yet, at the back of his mind, the gnawing doubt persisted.

‘I’m impressed that you got here,’ said the woman opposite him. She was dressed in robes and furs and looked extremely wealthy. She smiled. ‘The roads are so dangerous. And there are so many refugees looking for safety. You were lucky to get passage up here on a ship. Were you travelling on foot?’

He sipped his ale and grinned back at her. ‘I travelled in style. The idiots in my village saw to that.’ The woman raised an eyebrow and he continued, his tongue loosened by the potent Kharadron ale. ‘They treated me like an outsider my whole life. Not one of them ever gave me the time of day. Just because I knew things they didn’t. They hated that I could read and learn and speak about more things than just cattle. They hated that I knew so much about the Kharadron and places like this. They ignored me my whole life. But they had no idea. I was always one step ahead of them. In the end they gave me everything they had – horses, clothes, weapons, food, everything I needed to cross Ayadah and buy passage on a sky-ship.’

‘If they hated you so much, why did they give you their possessions?’

He sipped his drink and leant back with a grin. ‘Because I saw what was coming. I saw what they were too stupid to see. The Bane Moon. I saw it when they didn’t. I knew what it would mean, what it would do. I heard it from the elders more times than I wanted to, and I read it in books too. When the Bane Moon comes, it’s time to get out. The Bane Moon doesn’t just turn milk sour, like they thought, it does the same to human blood. That light changes you, from the inside. I knew it, and I wasn’t going to stay there and let the moon turn me into something I wasn’t meant to be.’ He glanced around the room, checking no one was close enough to hear, then leant close to her and spoke in an eager whisper. ‘So I started collecting bottles.’

‘Bottles?’

‘Bottles. I bought them from travellers and dug them from burying grounds. I cleaned them up and made labels, painting the letters myself, just like the elders taught me. I made the bottles look like they had come from one of Sigmar’s golden cities, covered in comets and hammers and all the godly symbols I could imagine. And then I waited.’

‘Waited for what?’

‘For the Bane Moon to start its work. To do what I knew it was going to do. I wasn’t gonna end up like all the others. I hid inside, apart from when it was so cloudy that the Bane Light couldn’t get through. Then, when everyone saw what the moon did…’ He grimaced. ‘How it changed them. Then they wanted to talk to me. Then they wanted to listen. I told them I had a cure for the moon curse. I’d filled the bottles with the green water that comes up from Munk Spring and sealed the corks with all the ear wax I’d been saving, stamping more of Sigmar’s symbols on there. They looked so real.’ He felt a strange pang of anger as he remembered them. ‘So real. No one could have guessed they were fake. Then, when everyone came grovelling, I told ’em they could have a bottle each, but only if they gave me everything I wanted. A cart, horses, weapons and anything else I could think of. Then, before they could find out I’d tricked them, I rode out of there.’ The inexplicable anger gripped him again. ‘I rode out of there!’ he repeated, spitting beer across the table and staring at the woman, as though she had refuted his claim.

She stared back. The smile slowly fell from her face, her features growing slack.

‘I got out!’ he yelled, the anger growing in him until he wanted to hurl his beer across the room. He drank it instead, as quickly as he could, glugging the liquid down, grimacing at the bitter sediment. As he drank, he finally remembered the waking dream that kept haunting him – the dream he was drinking to forget. It pressed on his thoughts, trying to break his will. He refused to acknowledge it, but it flickered across his mind all the same. In the dream, he was not the one who made the bottles – he was one of the wretched dupes who bought the fake cure. One of the idiots who did not know what the Bane Moon could do. In the dream he was trapped in the gloom and submerged in a brackish pool, his body bloated out of all recognition, his head twisted into a fungal lobe. In the dream he could not move or speak. In the dream he could do nothing but stare at the moon as it glided silently from behind the clouds.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Maleneth paused to listen as she heard howls of outrage. It had only taken the grots a minute or so to notice she was missing, but she was already heading deep into the fungal forest. She sprinted away from the glimmering lights, towards an ink-dark glade.

The greenskins charged after her then came to a halt. She could hear them cursing and wailing and arguing with each other.

Maleneth hurried on into the gloom but then slowed when she realised the voices were growing more distant as she plunged deeper into the darkness. She stopped again and looked back. Scragfang and the others were just visible in the distance. They had halted within reach of the lights that lined the road, peering anxiously into the toadstool forest she had entered.

Why don’t they follow?

Because they’re spineless grots, afraid of their own shadows. But as she started running again, she noticed that the darkness around her was very mobile. The creaking noises reminded her of the sound the puffball had made when it enveloped her skull. She took the tear-shaped bottle from her leathers and waved it menacingly at the shadows, rattling the seeds against the glass. She had stolen the bottle from Stinkeye when the grot used it to free her from the puffball, snatching it from the creature’s belt as she crashed into it. To her delight, her threat seemed to carry some weight. The shadows edged away from her. ‘Yes.’ She smirked. ‘You know what this is, don’t you? Seeds that burn. Seeds that kill. Take one step closer and I’ll share some with you.’

Her aelven eyes were quickly adjusting to the darkness, and she saw a peculiar mix of shapes – slender, arrow-shaped toadstools, plump, dome-capped mushrooms and pale, pitted puffballs. All of them were backing away from her with peculiar lurching movements. They had no legs or feet that she could see, but there were nests of gossamer-like thread spreading from their stems that hauled them over the mud.

Maleneth pressed on, waving the bottle before her like a brand, and gradually made her way up the slope, scrambling through pools of stagnant water and slipping on lichen-covered rocks.

You’re going the wrong way. They brought you in here from the south. You’re heading north. You need to go back to the other side of the valley and find a way out of here.

‘I’m not looking for a way out.’ Maleneth grabbed the moss-robed branch of a leafless tree, using its crooked limbs as a ladder and climbing higher up the slope.

What are you talking about? Is that mushroom still stuck in your brain? We have to get out of here. You’re already speaking the grot tongue and your body is sprouting fungus. Meanwhile, the Slayer is on his way to the Iron Karak. And once he gets there the rune will be lost to you forever. The Kharadron do not share wealth, Witchblade.

Maleneth ducked as a shape whistled through the darkness. A trail of fine threads latched around her arm and yanked the bottle from her grip. She cursed, then fell back down the slope, caught in the threads. She slipped and stumbled, trying to dig her heels into the mud, and then she fell several feet, landing with a splash in a small pool. On the far side there was an enormous bracket fungus – a gnarled salmon-pink disc with a gaping mouth larger than Maleneth. It was fixed to a shelf of rock and seemed unable to move, but it had cast lines of mycelium, lassoing Maleneth with a bundle of threads.

Maleneth cried out as the fungus hauled her across the pool like a fisherman, making hungry, groaning sounds.

There! By the tree stump!

Maleneth leant back, throwing all her weight against the threads, and looked around the pool. The bottle had landed on a chair-like stump that was jutting from the mud. She stopped resisting the bracket’s pull and allowed herself to be catapulted through the air. As she passed the stump she snatched the bottle, opened it and cast a seed into the bracket’s mouth.

The fungus immediately dropped her, letting her splash down into the pool, and then whipped its tendrils back towards its mouth, clawing frantically. It made no sound but its ridged flesh was rocked by violent spasms, and as Maleneth emerged from the pool her attacker started to shrivel, as though caught in an invisible fire. The gossamer threads turned to ash and the rest of the fungus retracted into the hillside, twitching frantically as it disappeared.

Maleneth heard movement behind her and whirled around, raising the bottle and jabbing it at the shadows. There was a rustle of dead leaves and the sound of things sliding through mud, then the grove was quiet again.

Maleneth wiped the mud from her face then remained motionless in the middle of the pool for a few moments, keeping the bottle raised. Then she hauled herself out and began climbing back up the slope.

What are you going to do about Gotrek and the rune?

‘I’ll try to find Gotrek when I’m finished here,’ she muttered, pausing to study a moss-robed tree. She knew how hard that would be though. Gotrek rarely stayed in one place long and the realms were impossibly vast. Fury coursed through her veins as she thought of everything the grots had stolen from her.

What do you mean, finished here? What in the name of the Murder God are you talking about? What is there for us here?

Maleneth found a branch that was about the length of a knife and snapped it off. Then she took a piece of stone from the mud and sharpened the stick. ‘Revenge,’ she said, swinging her makeshift blade back and forth, testing its weight.

On who? That creature they fished from the river?

‘Yes. Scragfang, they called it. The grot who ordered its minions to bundle me up like a dead goat and bring me down to this wretched cave. I’ll leave here, but I’m not leaving without Scragfang. That creature is going to feel the wrath of Khaine. I may have failed the Murder God before, but I’ll make it right. I’ll show Khaine my worth.’

You’ve lost your mind. Why would Khaine listen to you? It doesn’t matter how skilfully you torment that grot – Khaine will never look your way again. There was a mixture of rage and delight in her mistress’ voice. You’re ruined. Look at your arm. You’re a broken blade. You can’t fight your way back into his favour now.

Maleneth laughed as she continued climbing through the darkness. ‘I would have thought that you, of all people, would know not to underestimate me. I told you, I have a plan.’ There were some beams of light shining through the mushroom caps and dead branches. The light cast silver spears through the darkness, catching on the clouds of dancing spores so that they glinted like shards of metal. Maleneth studied the light for a moment, trying to find its source, then she changed direction, clambering sideways across the slope, using roots and rocks as handholds. The light was coming from a pale, translucent toadstool about as tall as Maleneth, but it showed no signs of moving, so Maleneth climbed up to it, sat on a rock and used the light to study her arm. Bile rushed into her mouth. There was no inch of the skin that had not sprouted fungal growths. It looked like a miniature recreation of the valley that surrounded her.

‘We must change to survive,’ she said. ‘That’s where you failed – clinging to the old ways, mastering the ancient rites and performing every sacrifice, exactly as the calendar dictated, but never taking time to study the lesser races. Never learning anything new. Never looking outside your own life.’

What are you talking about? What have you ever learned? Except how to disgrace yourself in the eyes of the Murder God and ruin the flesh he gave you? You were never a great fighter, it has to be said, but look at you now. You’re useless.

Maleneth took Stinkeye’s bottle from her belt and dropped a seed on her arm. Pain licked across her skin as though she had plunged it into a flame, but she refused to flinch. ‘You would never have thought to take this bottle.’ Her voice became taut as the pain grew, but she could see immediately that the grot magic was working. The growths were shrivelling and darkening. ‘If you were here you’d still be performing the same old blood rites you learned as a child, wondering why your prayers were going unanswered. Waiting for a divine intervention that would never come.’

The pain eased as the fungus crumbled to ash. Maleneth brushed it away and revealed the perfect, porcelain skin of her arm. ‘Times have changed. And only those who change with them will survive. Prayers are no longer enough. Faith in the gods is no longer enough. You won’t…’ Maleneth’s words trailed off as she realised how much she sounded like one of the Kharadron. What was happening to her? She shook her head, trying to clear her thoughts.

Filthy apostate. Those who deserve Khaine’s love will receive it. Those who kill with finesse and skill will never be abandoned. Only the clumsy and the weak need fear for their lives.

‘Remind me,’ snapped Maleneth. ‘Did Khaine come to your aid when I killed you? Or were you too clumsy and weak?’

Maleneth’s mistress was finally at a loss for words.

Maleneth stood, threw back her shoulders and took a deep breath, feeling strength flood her body. She was hungry and tired, but the sight of her untainted skin had filled her with vigour. She held her wooden knife up into a shaft of light and grinned. ‘Not long now, Scragfang.’

Chapter Twenty-Four

Solmundsson struggled to hold his position on the gunhauler as it chugged over the fractured landscape. By ripping away some weapons, they had managed to make enough room for the vessel to hold him, Gotrek and First Officer Thorrik, but it was not the most secure of arrangements. They had left the Angaz-Kár hours ago and the moon storm had grown wilder with every mile. The landscape was still a plain of rusting slabs but the wind was whipping them up, hurling metal geysers into the air. Along with the metal pyramids and cubes scattered across its surface, there were now lumps of quicksilver rushing above the ground, spinning like stones caught in a whirlpool. Some were as small as raindrops, others as big as the Angaz-Kár – vast, rolling blobs that reflected the gunhauler as it passed, giving Solmundsson a chance to see how precarious his position was. He could feel the moon watching overhead. Glaring at him and driving the storm on. Every now and then, the clouds would part to reveal its horrific grin.

‘Captain,’ said Thorrik, pointing to the east.

Solmundsson dragged his thoughts from the moon and tried to see what Thorrik was referring to. Picking anything out clearly was hard. The moonlight turned the landscape into a glittering mass of spheres, but eventually he saw what Thorrik meant. There was an avenue of standing stones half a mile away from where they were currently flying. They stood out in sharp contrast to their surroundings. Everything else Solmundsson could see was made of metal – either the rusting slabs that formed the ground or the mercurial blobs floating above it – but the two parallel rows of standing stones were chiselled from dull black rock. Those that were nearest towered over the landscape, but each pair of stones was shorter than the previous ones until, eventually, at the far end of the colonnade, they vanished from view. ‘I see it. What of it?’

‘The squig,’ said Thorrik, struggling to be heard over the storm.

The creature was being led down the centre of the colonnade. As it waddled past the stones it was disappearing from view, and Solmundsson realised his mistake. The stones did not get shorter as they progressed – they flanked a slope that headed beneath the ground. Grots were running alongside the squig, struggling to stay on their feet in the metal-laden wind.

He nodded and grinned at Thorrik.

Gotrek shuffled in his seat, trying to see, nearly dislodging Solmundsson in the process. ‘What is it?’

‘A way down,’ replied Solmundsson. ‘The entrance to the Asylum is buried somewhere beneath Skrappa Spill. And if our friends are heading down that slope, this may well be one of the ways to approach it. Get us down there,’ he said. ‘And keep us out of sight.’

Thorrik nodded and steered the gunhauler down through the banks of floating ore.

‘I’m a son of the Everpeak,’ said Gotrek. ‘I don’t mind hiding your boat, but I’m not going to skulk like a damned aelf.’

Solmundsson was beginning to get the measure of the Slayer. Arguing directly with him was pointless. Subtlety was needed. ‘Then we’ll make our stand at the entrance. I had hoped to see the inside of the place and maybe even the Loonking himself, but a glorious battle with his guards will suffice. We should take dozens down before they overwhelm us. We should still be able to create enough of a distraction.’

Gotrek glared at him. ‘If there’s one thing I can’t bear it’s a clever dick. I see what you’re trying to do and it won’t work. You two can creep around all you like, but I won’t cower before grots. If there are grobi nearby, they’re going to feel the sharp end of my axe.’

Solmundsson studied the violence in Gotrek’s face. His hatred for greenskins surpassed anything he had ever seen before. It radiated from him like a heat haze.

‘This is personal for you, isn’t it?’ he asked. ‘You bear a grudge against them.’

‘More than one, beardling.’ His eye darkened. ‘I’ve seen how they can crush the life from a people.’

Thorrik landed the gunhauler a hundred feet or so from the avenue of standing stones, dropping it down in the shadows behind a cone-shaped lump of iron. Rust clouds billowed around the three duardin as they climbed down from the ladder. The iron cone was the size of a large hill, and by heaping slabs of rusty iron over the gunhauler they did a pretty good job of hiding it. Then, as Gotrek climbed up the cone’s side, peering out across the plains towards the standing stones, Thorrik grabbed Solmundsson by the arm and spoke in an urgent whisper.

‘Captain. What’s your plan? He can’t fight his way through a whole army, even if he thinks he can. And if we do make it down that slope, what would we do then?’

Solmundsson nodded confidently. ‘I have no idea.’

Thorrik’s expression turned thunderous. He had served with the Lord Admiral when Solmundsson was an infant and sometimes seemed to forget that Solmundsson was his superior. ‘No idea?’

‘What would you have done?’ asked Solmundsson. ‘Let the Slayer head off on his own, taking that rune beyond our reach? Then return to Barak-Urbaz and tell my father to ready himself for defeat?’

‘Defeat? What defeat, captain? What do you mean?’

‘Since Kazak-drung returned the Moonclans are strangling us. Did you know the Zakhain fort was taken last month? And Bartakh Keep the week before that.’

Thorrik paled.

Solmundsson nodded. ‘The admiralty haven’t disclosed half our losses for fear of losing trade. Who’d want to invest in fleets from a city about to fall?’

Thorrik laughed grimly. ‘Barak-Urbaz is not about to fall.’

‘Half of our supply routes are impassable, Thorrik. And these are not random attacks. The Moonclans are cutting us off. Each night the moon grows bigger and each night they grow more ambitious. Any time now the moon will be full, and they’re getting ready for it. Readying themselves for an attack on Barak-Urbaz. All the admirals have told my father the same story – there’s an attack coming like nothing we’ve faced before. And it will happen when the moon waxes full.’ He nodded at Gotrek, scrambling up the slope above them. ‘But that rune could change everything. I’ve never seen anything so powerful. Whatever the Fyreslayers intended to make, that rune has become something else. I think it has reacted somehow with the power of the Slayer. He says he’s from another world, and if that’s true it might explain why the rune has been transformed.’ He leant close to Thorrik. ‘He has no idea of its real value. The aetheric currents I measured with the burning glass were enormous. We could combine the output of every buoyancy endrin in our fleet and still not match it. I’ve never seen anything like it. I can understand why Maleneth wanted to keep it to herself.’

Thorrik looked up at Gotrek. ‘But how does coming here help us? Whatever he’s got in his chest, we can’t take on the entire grot nation.’

Solmundsson waved at the shapes drifting overhead and the leering moon. ‘This is all building to a head. We have to do something. And crawling back to Barak-Urbaz with bad news would help no one. We’d probably arrive just in time to watch the place burn. Here is where we could actually make a difference. If we can get the Slayer into the Asylum the greenskins will think they’ve missed something terrible. They’ll think we’re launching a counter-attack. They’ll drag back their armies in a panic. They’re a cowardly breed. If they think their home is being plundered they’ll rush back here as fast as their runty little legs will carry them. Meanwhile, the moon will wax full and they’ll miss their chance.’

Thorrik sniffed hard and looked at Gotrek again, watching the Slayer as he bounded back down the slope of the pyramid. ‘You know he’s insane.’

Solmundsson gripped Thorrik’s arm. ‘We have a chance. Do you see? If we get him down there we have a chance.’ He shook his head, thinking about the moon overhead but refusing to look at it. ‘But if we head back now we have nothing.’

‘We’ll die in there.’

Solmundsson nodded. He placed his hand over the Solmund Company rune on his flight suit. ‘But Barak-Urbaz might live.’

They stood in silence, watching Gotrek march back towards them through the downpour. Silver spray bounced off his massive shoulders, shimmering like a halo. There was no sign he had noticed the hideous moon. No sign of doubt in his eye. He looked unstoppable.

Thorrik thought for a moment, then nodded, clapping his hand over the symbol on his chest.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Maleneth cursed as another puffball lurched towards her through the rain. She had already used half the seeds and could not risk wasting more. She lashed out with her makeshift knife and opened a gash in the puffball’s side. The thing was taller than her, and as she cut it open, spores billowed from the wound. She flipped away through the swamp, her hand over her mouth as she managed to find one of the few patches of solid ground. She scrambled up a muddy slope and turned to see the puffball tumble up it towards her, still trailing spores.

You need to get out of here, you idiot.

How would I manage without your wonderful insights? she thought, leaping over the fungus, landing on the opposite side of the hollow and sprinting away. She left the shuffling predator behind, clambered up another rain-slick incline and then, as she crested the brow of the hill, nodded in satisfaction. She was still in the toadstool forest, but she was looking down over a glum, sodden track criss-crossed with rows of boot prints. It was the route the grots had been leading her along before they made the detour to the river. In one direction she could see the distant shape of Slathermere, its colossal head staring through the drizzle. In the other direction the road trailed off through tumbling, fungus-crowded hills before disappearing into the darkness.

Her mistress spoke with grudging respect. You’ve found the way out. You must have stumbled across this road by accident. I don’t credit you with the wit to have memorised the route.

Maleneth shook her head. The routes aren’t constant. This place changes every time the fungi move. Memorising routes is exactly the kind of pointless exercise you would have spent your time on. I was following these. She nodded to a trail of blue shells lying in the mud. It was the remains of the food Stinkeye had been handing out to flagging grots. She smiled as her mistress seethed in silence.

Maleneth stayed in the fungal forest, keeping back from the road and out of sight, but she began following its route back through the hills, heading towards the point where she had first seen the marsh. She was accompanied by the endless groans and prayers of the figures trapped in the toadstools, and some of them, seeing her bottle, cried out in desperation, grasping and shuddering as she rushed past. Maleneth ignored their pleas, lashing out with her knife whenever a tendril came too close.

She followed the road for nearly an hour and began to wonder if she had made a mistake.

Her mistress stirred again. They might not be the only grots out here eating blue grubs. This might not be the same road.

‘It is.’ Maleneth looked back at the gargant head, still visible in the distance, haloed by cold lights. ‘That’s Slathermere.’ She spotted a rock jutting out of a stagnant pool and jumped lightly up onto it, looking out across the fungus colonies, squinting into the gloom.

What are you looking for? Just keep following the damned road. If you’re so sure it’s the right one it will lead to the cave mouth. Or the door. Whatever it is, the entrance to this place must be so big even you won’t be able to miss it.

I’m not looking for the way out. Maleneth batted away flies and climbed higher up the rock. I’m not going anywhere without Scragfang.

The fungus has rotted your brain. You’ve just left Scragfang. He’s back there with his friends, by the river.

I had to escape. I can’t do this alone. Do you remember the burnt grot? The one they called Stinkeye? It was a sorcerer. I wouldn’t have got two steps with Scragfang before Stinkeye used its potions on me. And Scragfang is a shaman too. In fact, none of that group are normal grots. Getting away from them was easy enough, but I’ll need help getting Scragfang out of here. She grinned. And there it is.

What in Khaine’s teeth are you babbling about?

Maleneth did not bother to reply. She leapt down from the rock, almost slid over in the mud, then rushed on down an avenue of muttering fungi.

She paused at the edge of the road, looking in both directions, then dashed across the track to a toadstool on the far side.

The Azyrite sorcerer recognised her as she approached him. ‘You came back.’ He started struggling with such violence that the toadstool quivered and spewed a cloud of spores.

Maleneth stepped back, keeping her hand over her mouth, glaring at the aelf.

The wizard stopped moving. ‘Stay. I beg you. Help me.’ The fungus had covered more of him since Maleneth last saw him. Only his face and one arm were still visible. Maleneth guessed that eventually even they would be gone. She looked around and saw that all the surrounding fungi were growing at an incredible rate, seeming to have doubled in size since she first saw them. ‘What’s happening?’ She was not really expecting an answer, but the aelf replied in strangled tones.

‘It’s the moon. It’s almost full. It’s affecting the Asylum even more than the rest of Ayadah. Spreading the grot madness, gods help us.’

She laughed. ‘I don’t think we’re in the gods’ thoughts at the moment, my friend. Not down here in this… in whatever this place is.’ She looked up, glimpsing stalactites hanging overhead. ‘Is it a cave?’

The aelf must have been in agony but he gave no sign of it. He spoke in soft, considered tones. ‘The Asylum exists outside reality. It is reached through Skrappa Spill, but it is actually something else entirely. It follows its own rules.’ His eyes rolled in the toadstool’s flesh as he looked up and down the road. ‘The greenskins are not the lumbering morons we thought. Not all of them, at least. These moon-worshipping clans have mastered a crude form of sorcery. It’s unlike anything we have studied in Azyr.’ He hesitated. ‘You are from Azyr, aren’t you? I sensed it when you looked at me. We’re kin, you and I. Is that why you came back? Have you come to save me?’

Why are you wasting your time on this wretch? If he had any power would he be trapped like this?

‘Are you a sorcerer?’ she asked.

‘I am Cerura of Dinn-tor. And yes, I am an adept of the Eldritch Council. And I have also studied with the magisters who reside in the Towers of the Eight Winds. I have mastery over the elements and I have–’

‘You’re currently trapped in a toadstool,’ interrupted Maleneth, annoyed by the wizard’s pompous tone. ‘So you do not appear to have mastery over very much.’

‘The grots tricked me. One of them disguised itself as an adept of my own order. It offered me a talisman of immense power. And when I touched the thing I passed into a deep sleep. When I awoke I was here.’

Maleneth nodded. ‘But is your power intact? Or would it be if you were freed from your prison? Does your magic live in your flesh? Or would you require philtres and charms?’

‘My power is intact. I require no talismans.’ Cerura spoke with the calm gravitas of someone who was used to being listened to. ‘My power resides in my mind. If the grots had not tricked me I could have burned the skin from their bones. Or frozen the blood in their veins. But, more importantly, if you free me we will have no problem leaving the Asylum. I have the means to pass through the magicae semita.’

‘The what?’

‘The portal. Do you recall your passage into the Asylum? When you passed through the–’

‘I was not awake when they brought me in. I saw nothing.’

‘Then you do not understand the nature of our prison. There is only one way out of here. The Asylum is bound to reality at a single point. A form of Realmgate. A lesser form, it has to be said, but it behaves in the same way. I could not study it in any detail, but I have the measure of it.’ He laughed bitterly. ‘I have had plenty of time to think. I have gleaned the incantations that would be required to use the gate and leave.’

‘Is the gate not guarded?’

‘Heavily guarded. But we would have no need to approach it. I have the measure of it, friend. I have it in my mind’s eye. I could use it as an aetheric fulcrum. There would be no need to actually approach it or even pass through it. Free me and I can take us both out of here. I could cast us back into Skrappa Spill.’

‘You’re describing very powerful magic, wizard. I’ve met members of your order before. None of them claimed they could hurl people from one realm to another.’

‘I can do this. If the Asylum were a true realm, it would be a different matter. Passing through a Realmgate is the only way to move between true realms. Even I could not circumnavigate the usual methods if that were the case. But the Asylum is something else. It is an anomaly – a kind of simulacrum of a realm produced by unstable greenskin magic. A sub-realm, if you will. I have the ability to cast us through its gate. You will have to trust me.’

‘I don’t have to do anything.’

‘It is not my power that will free us,’ he said. ‘I would be harnessing the power of the Asylum Gate. I would simply be doing it from a distance.’

‘Simply?’

Cerura looked at her with the unshakeable confidence Maleneth had seen before in adepts of the Eldritch Council. ‘Simple for me.’

Maleneth walked around the toadstool, tapping it with her knife. ‘In which case, it should also be simple for you to free yourself from your prison. There are no greenskins watching over you. Why not turn your magic on this toadstool? Why have you remained here all this time?’

‘My mind is not my own. I am crippled in here. This growth is locked around my thoughts, gripping my soul. It has robbed me of my art. If I try to pierce the aetheric veil all I see is the moon grinning back at me. Look around. I am not alone. There are other sorcerers in the same situation. Most of these captives are magic users of one kind or another. The greenskins are using us. Filling us with thoughts of their moon. Dragging visions from our pain. Cut me out and I will be able to see clearly again.’

Maleneth shook her head. ‘You’d bleed to death. Your flesh is bonded with that thing. You’re part of it now.’

‘Then why did you come back?’ Despite the grotesque absurdity of his predicament, Cerura retained his calm. ‘You noticed me when you passed here before and you have returned to find me. You are here with a purpose. You must have some reason to want me free.’ He looked her up and down, and his gaze fell on the bottle of seeds at her belt. ‘And some way to free me.’

Maleneth nodded, pleased to see he was not a fool. ‘I have a reason. I seek a way out, like you, but I have someone to find first.’

‘Who?’

‘The grot called Scragfang.’

‘The leader?’ Cerura looked towards Slathermere. ‘You would have to enter the fortress.’

Maleneth nodded.

‘I could do it,’ said Cerura. ‘I could mask our forms. We could enter unseen. But why? What business do you have with Scragfang?’

Maleneth looked at her knife. ‘Khaine’s business.’

Chapter Twenty-Six

Solmundsson cursed as a chunk of iron clanged against his helmet, causing him to stumble against First Officer Thorrik. The closer they got to the avenue of standing stones, the more violent the rust storm became. Gotrek seemed oblivious, striding on through the sparkling torrent, but Solmundsson could barely fight through the wind. And it was not just his muscles that were straining. Every step seemed to rob him of more sanity. He could see the moon’s face constantly now, even without looking at it, and the air was so full of drifting metal that it was hard to distinguish the ground from the sky.

‘Captain!’ Thorrik struggled to be heard over the howling wind. ‘There are grots down there. He won’t get much further without being seen.’

Gotrek was approaching the beginning of the slope that led down beneath the ground. He was shrouded by dust clouds, but if the wind changed direction he would be visible for all to see. Grots were hurrying up the slope, passing the standing stones and moving out onto the plain.

‘Gotrek!’ cried Solmundsson, stumbling after the Slayer. ‘Wait! We’ll be seen! You have to…’ His words trailed off as he saw how many grots were rushing up the slope. There were thousands of them. Some were marching in ragged formation, holding their spears aloft, and others were hurtling past the standing stones on squigs or giant spiders, clinging desperately to their steeds and laughing hysterically. There were also larger creatures ambling through the crowds, towering, hideous troggoths covered in warts and fungus, their long, powerful arms trailing behind them through the rust. Many of the grots were playing musical instruments and the sounds of whistles, gongs and drums echoed down the colonnade. The grots made no attempt to play in time with each other and the din was dreadful, like hundreds of instruments falling down a ravine.

Solmundsson dragged Gotrek behind another block of iron and Thorrik hurried over to join them.

‘We need to get into their lair if we’re going to cause a really big stir,’ said Solmundsson. ‘And even you couldn’t fight through that many grots. Don’t make your stand out here. Don’t die unnoticed.’

Gotrek shrugged him off and opened his mouth to say something dismissive. Then he frowned, looking at the rows of grots marching past. ‘Maybe you’re right. It would be good to get down there into their lair and cause some real damage.’

Solmundsson nodded. ‘There must be a way to get down that slope. We could kill some grots and take their armour. It’s hard to see anything in this weather. They won’t notice we’re duardin.’

Gotrek stared at Solmundsson in disbelief. ‘I’m not dressing up as a bloody goblin.’

Solmundsson could see that there would be no point arguing, so he looked back down at the grots, trying to think of another idea. ‘We need to get you a chance to fight where it matters.’

‘Then use one of your fancy machines,’ said Gotrek. ‘They must be useful for something. Some clever engineering. Something to hurl us past the guards so we can reach the gate. If Makaisson were here he’d…’ The name seemed to dampen the fire in Gotrek’s eye and he lost his thread. ‘Subtlety has never been my strong point. I leave that to the aelf. She can…’ His words trailed off again and he looked even more morose. Then he noticed the box at Solmundsson’s belt. ‘What’s in there? One of your clockwork pistols? Perhaps you could draw their attention with a few well-placed shots while I make a dash for it?’

Solmundsson shook his head, holding the box protectively. ‘It’s the burning glass. It’s not a weapon. Well, not in the way you mean.’

‘It must be some bloody use. What was it you said? Powerful enough to defy physics. Able to separate element from element. You were happy to sing its praises in Barak-Urbaz. Put it to a practical use.’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘I can’t shoot grots with it, if that’s what you mean. It can divide matter or transform it. It can alter the physical make-up of things.’

‘Then I’ll just go down there and take them all on. If I hit them hard enough I’ll be down that slope before they know I’m there.’

‘No.’ Solmundsson put his hand on Gotrek’s shoulder. ‘Wait. I think you’re on to something. I could use the lens – I’m just trying to think how.’

Gotrek shrugged. ‘Turn the grots into something. Turn them into squigs and make them eat each other.’

‘It doesn’t work that way. It works on metal. I could have extracted your rune if I’d had enough power, but I couldn’t alter what you are. It’s not a disguising machine.’

‘It works on metal?’ Gotrek waved his axe at their surroundings. The landscape was heaped with blocks of iron and copper and the storm was hurling rust and silvery globules all around them. ‘If only there was some of that around.’

Solmundsson looked at the spheres and cubes. ‘They do look malleable. The burning glass could manipulate them.’ He patted a row of tins clipped to his flight suit. ‘And I have enough aetheric cells to fuel a temporary transmutation. I couldn’t achieve a genuine transmutation, but I could produce something that would last a little while. I suppose we could–’

His thought went unfinished as a thin shriek filled the air. They looked around and came face to face with a grot. The bony little wretch was looking down at them in horror from the top of an iron slab. It turned to flee, then slammed to the ground with Gotrek’s axe in its back. The Slayer thudded up the slope, wrenching the axe free in time to bat away an arrow that whistled towards him from the shadows.

Solmundsson and Thorrik raced up the slope and saw half a dozen grots sprinting away from them, shrieking and cursing.

The duardin both drew pistols, filling the air with sparks as they opened fire. Three of the grots tumbled to the ground but the others vanished into the darkness.

Gotrek laughed. ‘Not much chance of skulking now.’ He looked back at Solmundsson. ‘Whatever we’re going to try, we need to try it quickly.’ He tapped the box containing the burning glass. ‘So, can you use this to alter one of the metal blocks?’

Solmundsson nodded.

Gotrek gave them both a feral grin. ‘I’ve got an idea.’

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Maleneth stepped back and raised her knife as Cerura walked towards her. He bore all the hallmarks of a powerful sorcerer. She was taking a risk by freeing him. Whatever his allegiance to Azyr, he had never met her before. He was also likely to be quite insane by this point.

Cerura stared at the smouldering remains of the toadstool that had imprisoned him, then looked at his long, elegant limbs, turning them and trying to spot any sign of fungus. ‘It worked,’ he whispered, emotion finally creeping into his voice. His ceremonial robes were torn and filthy, but the body underneath was whole. He patted himself down, seeming unable to quite believe what had happened. ‘I’ve been here months. Years, perhaps. And every day a little more of me vanished into that… into that thing.’ He looked hard at Maleneth, his eyes glittering with emotion. ‘Sigmar preserve you. You saved me.’

Maleneth lowered her blade. She was skilled enough at lying to see that Cerura’s gratitude was genuine. For a moment, she had a glimpse of how it might feel to be Gotrek. She had seen this look of devotion in the eyes of everyone the Slayer inadvertently saved. Gotrek had no desire for worshippers, but he amassed them all the same. People saw his lack of fear. His refusal to kneel, even to the gods. And they loved him for it. Gotrek was rude, ill-mannered and obstinate, but people often looked at him the way Cerura was now looking at Maleneth.

The wizard held one of his palms out into the rain and whispered something. Green flames blossomed from his hand and hovered above his skin, turning and dripping as they formed the shape of a griffin. Then Cerura whispered again and the fire vanished, filling Maleneth’s vision with a bright afterimage.

‘My power is undiminished. All is as it was.’ He approached Maleneth, and for a dreadful moment she thought he might hug her. Instead, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head. ‘I am your servant. You have given me back everything I thought lost. I will ensure you escape this realm, even if it takes my life to do it.’

She turned and looked back down the road. ‘First we need to enter Slathermere and find its lord. I will not leave until Scragfang is in my grasp.’

Cerura nodded. Then he frowned, looking her up and down. ‘Why did Scragfang bring you here?’ He waved at the tormented faces swaying gently all around them in the darkness. ‘He brings magic users here – witches and prophets. Do you have the gift of seersight? Or divination? Are you able to project your thoughts into the mind of another?’

Maleneth thought of the amulet at her neck and her ability to talk to her dead mistress, but she decided that was not what Cerura was referring to. ‘I pay tribute to Khaine,’ she said. ‘Tributes of blood. Acts of devotion performed in the heat of battle. And he often answers my prayers, gifting me the strength to fight with greater elegance and skill.’ She shrugged. ‘Is that what you mean?’

‘No. Not that.’ He shook his head. ‘You say Scragfang chose you specifically?’

‘Well, he was floating in a muddy river while his underlings did the work, but they presented me to him like a fatted calf. And he was ecstatic to see me.’ Fury washed through her at the memory. ‘I was stolen to order.’

‘I wonder why he wanted you in particular?’

‘I think he had some absurd notion that my companions would come and rescue me.’ She gave Cerura a suspicious look. ‘Are you sure you can do this? Scragfang’s followers looked like they had powers of their own.’ She glanced at her bottle. ‘I still have a few seeds left. Perhaps I should search for some more Azyrite scholars?’

Cerura looked at the bottle. ‘How many are there?’

‘Five.’

‘Keep them. Most of these people have been here longer than me. Look at them. I doubt they could remember their own names, never mind where their allegiance lies. And even if they were sane enough to understand you, they would most likely flee. But you may still have need of those seeds before you leave here. It would only take one unfortunate injury or one bad fall for you to suffer another transformation. How would you heal yourself if all the seeds have been used?’

‘You just told me you are all-powerful. Surely you could heal me if I started sprouting again. In fact, why would I need to use the seeds at all? Can’t you drag some of these people out of their prisons?’

‘Greenskin magic springs from another source entirely than my own art. A source I have no knowledge of. These particular grots seem to get their power from the moon.’ He grimaced at the pale shapes scattered all around them. ‘I tried for months to unearth its mysteries. As, I’ve no doubt, did all of these other poor souls. Nothing I do has any effect.’ He looked at her bottle again. ‘Where did you get those seeds?’

‘From one of Scragfang’s grots. The one that looks like burnt scraps.’

Cerura nodded. ‘Use them sparingly.’

How is he going to get you into Slathermere if he has no power over greenskin magic? Do not waste your time on this failure. You should be looking for the way out.

Maleneth studied the sorcerer’s wasted body and tattered robes, wondering if her mistress had a point. ‘How will you get me into Scragfang’s fortress if you can’t understand his magic?’

Cerura waved at the fungal shapes lining the road. ‘I can’t release these poor souls, but I can harness the elements. The grots’ version of nature is beyond my understanding, but true nature is my willing servant.’ He reached out into the drizzle and the rain formed a silvery vortex above his palm, dancing and flashing as it turned. The column pulsed brighter and then washed over the sorcerer, enveloping him in a blanket of rain.

Maleneth was about to speak when she realised Cerura was no longer visible. There was nothing in front of her except the endless downpour. ‘Where are you?’ She felt a moment’s alarm at the thought he might have tricked her.

‘Still here,’ he said, his voice coming from the same place as before. The rain shimmered and Cerura reappeared.

Maleneth nodded. ‘Impressive. And what if it’s not raining inside Slathermere? Might we not look a bit conspicuous?’

‘Any of the elements will serve me, Maleneth. There is always something I can harness – smoke, shadow, mist. There will be a way.’

‘Good.’ Maleneth was not surprised by his power. She had survived longer than most of her kind because she had developed the ability to judge people at a glance. The first time she saw Cerura’s stern, unyielding features she had known he was a powerful figure. Everything she had said to him since was simply to confirm what she already knew. ‘Then weave your spells,’ she said. ‘We must move fast. Scragfang seems to think he will gain great power once the moon is full. And I think that will be any time now.’

Cerura looked at the frenzied growth surrounding the road and nodded. Then he held his hand up and cast rain over them like a net.

Maleneth smiled as she looked down and saw that she was completely hidden. She had to pat her limbs to believe they were still there. Cerura had vanished too, and a passer-by would have seen nothing but an empty road and the remains of a man-sized toadstool. She jogged quickly down the road, heading for Slathermere. Then she halted and looked back. ‘Cerura?’

‘Here.’ His voice came from a few feet away.

‘How will you follow me?’

‘It is I who have woven the glamour, Maleneth, so it has no power over my eyes. I can see you with absolute clarity.’

Something about the words ‘absolute clarity’ troubled Maleneth. What was he implying? She touched the amulet at her throat, thinking of all the secrets it contained. She wavered for a moment, feeling a vague premonition of danger. Then, seeing she had little choice, she nodded and ran on, joining herself to the rain.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

‘Calm down.’ Mangleback was circling Scragfang’s throne room, showing no sign of following his own advice. ‘Gettin’ in a tizz won’t help.’

Scragfang was hunched on his throne, feeling oppressed by the grandeur of the chamber. It had been carved from the thickest part of the gargant’s skull, worked by sorcery and the toil of slaves until it resembled a natural cave, complete with stalactites and patches of lichen. Like the rest of Slathermere, it had been a gift from the Loonking – a reward for all the visions Scragfang unearthed in the Gibbermarsh. Everything he had stemmed from his loyalty to the Loonking. How could he have thought about deceiving him? ‘I shoulda told ’im about da vision. He needs ta know dat da Fyreslayer’s rune is the key ta melting Barak-Urbaz. When ’e finds out wot I done ’e’s gonna feed me to my own squigs.’

‘Rubbish.’ Stinkeye was sitting on the steps beneath the throne, looking for something in his robes. ‘Nuffin has gone wrong. Trust da moon.’

‘Nuffin’s wrong?’ Scragfang lurched from his throne and began pacing around the room with Mangleback. ‘Da zoggin aelf has gone wrong. She’s loose in the marsh. Wanderin’ about like she owns the place, deciding how she’s gonna kill me.’

Stinkeye laughed. ‘Fink ’ow many grots are between you an’ ’er.’

Scragfang clutched his head and shook it with both hands, trying to shake out the fear. Stinkeye was right. Events were preceding exactly as his vision had shown him. They had got Maleneth to the Asylum and scouts had already brought word from the gates that Gotrek was following. The rune was probably already in the Asylum and headed his way. ‘Wot if the Fyreslayer finds Maleneth before he gets to Slathermere? I told ’im to come ’ere, but why’s ’e gonna bovver if ’e meets Maleneth first? He might leave without ever comin’ ’ere.’ He waved his blade at the source of the light that filled the chamber. There was an altar in the centre of the hall. It was a shallow iron bowl balanced on a crooked pedestal and filled with loonlight. The light was cool and soothing, rippling over the craggy walls and giving the chamber the feel of an underwater grotto. ‘’E’s gotta be near dat light when da Bad Moon is ready. That’s wot I saw.’

Stinkeye rose from the steps, his charred skin creaking as he limped over to him. ‘So wot exactly did ya see in da marsh?’ He gave Mangleback a suspicious look. ‘’E ain’t never told me exactly.’

Scragfang headed over to the altar and stared into it, whispering the words that had been circling inside his head for weeks.

Splitskulls worming, dripping clagg,

Withering sprouts and mucal gag,

Lurking greylugs ooze and drag,

Scragfang, Scragfang, splitting clagg.

Bringing ruin, bringing slag,

Scragfang, Scragfang, dripping clagg.

‘Wot’s it mean?’ asked Stinkeye. ‘It makes no zoggin sense.’

Mangleback shrugged. ‘Seems clear ta me. When da Bad Moon is full, Scragfang will get da Slayer in da loonlight an’ take his power. But it only works if da Fyreslayer’s ’ere, right in the middle of Slathermere. Dat’s why I ’ad dis pool made, bringin’ da light down ’ere.’

Stinkeye frowned, rummaging in his robes again. Then he nodded and looked back at Scragfang. ‘Dat’s all good. Da Fyreslayer will come ’ere.’

Scragfang was still worried. ‘’Ow can I be sure? ’Ow can I know ’e won’t bump inta Maleneth first?’

Stinkeye hobbled across the room, juddering and spilling embers from his skin. He jabbed Scragfang with a crooked finger. ‘You know cuz da Bad Moon showed you.’

Scragfang shook his head, staring into the altar. ‘Da moon shows me tonnes of stuff, Stinkeye.’ He looked up into the shadows and saw the feet that hounded him constantly. They were circling above him, their toes linked and their wings flapping furiously. ‘Least, I fink it’s da moon.’

Mangleback scuttled over and stood with them next to the altar, nodding eagerly. ‘’E’s right, Scragfang. Fink wot ’appened on the sky-boat. Da moon led us straight to ’im and we gutted all dem stunties before dey knew wot was goin’ on. Your dreams were true, Scragfang.’ He waved one of his limbs at the throne. ‘Lord of Slathermere ain’t enough. Da Bad Moon wants more for ya, Scragfang. You ’is da zoggin chosen one.’

Scragfang frowned. ‘Any more word of da Fyreslayer?’

Mangleback shook his head. ‘But don’tcha see? ’E’s ’ere, in Skrappa Spill. ’E’s followed us back. Dat’s all we needs ta know. It’s exactly wot ya saw in the Gibbermarsh. It’s all comin’ true. Everyfin.’

Scragfang took a deep, juddering breath and nodded. ‘Yer right.’ He kept looking at the bowl of loonlight, letting it burn through his eyes. ‘Yer always right, Mangleback.’

Mangleback grinned. His face was so distorted by his fungal carapace that the smile looked more like a grimace, but Scragfang found it as reassuring as ever. Mangleback had never led him wrong before.

As Scragfang stared into the light, snatches of the vision whirled around his head. He saw the Slayer’s rune, radiating incredible power. He saw himself, in his throne room, approaching Gotrek, knife raised and giggling. The Fyreslayer was crippled and weighed down by slabs of fungus that were crushing the life out of him. In the vision, Scragfang was laughing as he brought his loonblade down towards Gotrek’s rune. Then there was a glorious wave of destruction – an eruption of flames and toppling walls, culminating in the fall of the golden face that fronted the main building in Barak-Urbaz. He nodded, dragging his thoughts back to the throne room. ‘’E’s zoggin tough. Are we ready?’

Mangleback grinned again, scuttling over to the throne room doors and waving for them to follow. They walked out onto a circular path that surrounded the vast atrium at the heart of Slathermere. The path spiralled around the walls in a confusing mess of loops and curls, and it was crowded with grots that were readying weapons and strapping on armour.

‘That’s a lot,’ muttered Scragfang. He only had a vague grasp of what a hundred meant, but he was sure that he was looking at lots of hundreds of grots. He scratched at the fungus on the back of his head. ‘We needs ’im ta survive, Mangleback. It’s no use killin’ ’im before he can reach da loonlight.’

Mangleback laughed. ‘D’ya remember what happened on dat cloud boat? ’E woulda butchered all of us if we’d not scarpered. ’E’s some kinda stuntie daemon.’

Scragfang winced. ‘Daemon?’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Stinkeye, his bottles rattling as he limped out of the throne room. ‘Da Bad Moon’s got yer back. Yer gonna be fine.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The Angaz-Kár cut through the metal storm. Its endrins flashed in the moonlight as it banked majestically over Skrappa Spill. The crew were lined up along the railings, their uniforms immaculate and their cutlasses gleaming. It was half a mile from the colonnade of standing stones that led underground, but the grots saw it immediately and a great hubbub broke out. Solmundsson was still watching from behind the metal cone with Gotrek and Thorrik, but his spyglass revealed the mayhem in wonderful detail. The grot leaders hurried to consult, clearly panicked by the sight of a Kharadron ironclad coming in to land within shooting distance of where they were standing. Their monster steeds snapped and snarled at each other as the grots argued and yelled. Meanwhile, the ranks of spear-carrying troops began to mill around in confusion. Some carried on marching out into the plains, headed towards the landing ship, raising their weapons, and others scampered back down the slope, wailing in terror. Finally, the leaders managed to agree and began yelling orders. There was a great ringing of shrill horns and most of the grots formed into units again, changing direction and marching towards the Angaz-Kár with their leaders in the vanguard.

‘It’s working,’ whispered Solmundsson, not quite able to believe it.

‘Course it’s working,’ said Gotrek, striding out from behind the rock and making for the avenue of stones.

‘Wait!’ cried Thorrik. ‘They’re not all gone yet.’

‘I don’t want them all to go,’ cried Gotrek over his shoulder. ‘Where would the fun in that be?’

Solmundsson and Thorrik ran after him, pistols raised and cutlasses drawn, as he headed for the slope.

All the confusion had kicked up even more rust clouds, and as the three duardin approached the two lines of standing stones, Solmundsson felt like he was stumbling through a fire. The stones were hundreds of feet tall, but even they were hard to see clearly as the clouds banked around them. There were smaller shapes dashing past – grots, he presumed – but he fixed all his attention on the Slayer’s back. If he lost sight of Gotrek, he would have no chance of making it down the slope into the lair.

‘Ai!’ howled Gotrek as a row of grots appeared in front of him, seeming to materialise from the rust clouds. One of them fired an arrow, but Gotrek batted it away with his axe and sent it clattering across the ground. Then he picked up the terrified grot and hurled it at the others, toppling them like he was playing ninepins.

Most of the grots bolted, vanishing into the miasma, but Gotrek caught another by its neck and threw it aside before running on.

Moments later they ran into another group of grots. There were far more this time, over thirty, Solmundsson guessed, and their numbers gave them courage. They screamed and charged, waving knives and spears.

Gotrek scythed the first row down and then shouldered into the rest, dealing out a flurry of axe blows.

Solmundsson and Thorrik rushed to his side, cutlasses drawn, cutting down the few grots that evaded Gotrek’s axe. Then Gotrek marched on again, passing the base of one of the standing stones and heading out into the middle of the colonnade.

Grots were dashing in every direction and most of them were in such a panic that they barely registered the three duardin running down the slope.

‘Look!’ cried Thorrik, pointing back the way they had come. The rust clouds had cleared for a moment, revealing a glimpse of the Angaz-Kár. ‘They’ve almost reached it.’

‘Then we don’t have long,’ said Solmundsson. ‘As soon as they reach the hull they’ll see that it’s just a facade.’

Gotrek stared at him. ‘A facade?’

‘I can’t create an entire sky-ship. It’s just like a piece of set dressing. The illusion will only hold until the grots reach it.’

‘Should give me enough time, I suppose,’ muttered Gotrek. Then he dashed on down the slope.

The distraction had actually worked better than Solmundsson had hoped. Most of the grots had broken ranks and rushed towards the Angaz-Kár. And the few groups they ran into were so terrified by the sight of Gotrek that they barely managed to wail before he hacked them down and ran on.

Eventually, they reached the far end of the slope and headed underground, leaving the moonlight behind along with the din of the grots. The path narrowed from a broad road to a ragged, damp tunnel, crowded with stalactites and stalagmites. As they ran on, leaping over rocks and cutting down grots, they began to leave the rust clouds behind. The air was no clearer though. Banks of yellow spores drifted through the gloom, clogging Solmundsson’s face mask, and a dank chill washed over them that seemed to reach right into his bones.

‘Damn it,’ muttered Gotrek, stumbling to a halt and wiping his face with the back of his hand. ‘I can’t see a thing.’ He coughed and spat. ‘And this bloody mist is clogging my lungs.’

‘Follow me,’ said Solmundsson, hurrying past him. ‘Our suits are designed to filter out anything toxic. I can still see.’ He clipped a small aether lamp to the barrel of his gun and shone it ahead, picking out a route between moss-covered rocks and forests of sagging cobwebs.

‘How did they muster an army down here?’ said Thorrik, cursing as he struggled to make his way down the tunnel.

‘They’re like rats,’ muttered Gotrek. ‘They’d scurry over this kind of ground faster than you could sprint down a road.’

As if to prove his point, a group of grots turned a corner and came racing towards them. They stumbled to a halt as Solmundsson’s light flashed in their eyes, then began screaming furiously, clearly unable to see who they were facing.

Gotrek roared and charged. The sound of his battle cry was enough to spur the greenskins into action. They scattered into the gloom, leaving Gotrek stumbling in circles and spitting curses. ‘Cowardly filth! Come back!’

Solmundsson hurried on, pointing his light at the bend in the tunnel. ‘We have to keep moving. They’ll probably have discovered our ruse by now, and the tribal leaders might have heard that we’re down here.’

He turned the next corner and halted. ‘What in the name of Grungni is that?’

The other two stopped beside him, grunting in disgust.

Ahead of them, the tunnel opened into a large cavern. It was full of rocks and scummy pools, and they were all lit up by a glow that was not coming from Solmundsson’s aether lamp. At the centre of the cave there was a gnarled, pale shape about the size of a grown man.

Solmundsson edged closer to it, holding his cutlass before him. ‘A toadstool?’

‘Be careful, captain,’ warned Thorrik.

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘I think it’s something they’ve planted here to give them some light.’ His mind began racing as he considered the possibilities. ‘I wonder what the chemicals are that make it glow like that? It might be that we could extract some of them and–’

A tendril lashed out from the toadstool’s stem and wrapped around Solmundsson’s waist, dragging him closer.

Gotrek strode forwards and chopped the toadstool down with a single swing of his axe. Then he cursed as a torrent of milk-like liquid splashed from the severed trunk and washed across his body. ‘Bugger,’ he muttered, trying to wipe it off. ‘Bloody stinks.’

‘Captain,’ said Thorrik as voices echoed down the tunnels towards them. ‘We should keep moving.’

‘Aye!’ snapped Gotrek, pointing his axe at Solmundsson. ‘Just keep away from the mushrooms.’

They circled around the edge of the cavern, keeping clear of the toppled fungus, then left by an opening on the far side. The next tunnel was even more crowded with yellow spores, and they reflected Solmundsson’s light back at him with such a dazzling glare that he was almost as blinded as the Slayer. The three of them struggled on, making dozens of lefts and rights with no clear idea of where they were going. Solmundsson had the vague impression that some of the turnings were actually junctions, but there was no time to stop and explore. He could hear footsteps all around them now, echoing through the shadows and merging with the sound of dripping water until it seemed like legions of grots were approaching from every direction.

‘Captain,’ said Thorrik as they stumbled into a tunnel that was wider than the ones that preceded it. ‘Extinguish your lamp for a moment.’

Solmundsson killed the light and could immediately see better. The spores had thinned out a little and he saw that there was a pale light shining somewhere up ahead of them. ‘Another one of those toadstools?’

Gotrek shook his head. ‘That’s coming from something much bigger. Look at those shapes moving past it.’

Solmundsson took out his spyglass and saw that Gotrek was right – there were figures walking around the base of the light. ‘How did you see that?’

Gotrek laughed grimly. ‘I might only have one eye, but it’s the eye of a real dwarf. I can see better underground than I can in your cloud town.’ He looked back the way they had come. ‘At least, I can now we’re out of those spores.’

‘Are they grots?’ asked Solmundsson, looking more closely at the figures near the light. ‘They look different.’

‘They’ve got some scraps of armour on, that’s all,’ said Gotrek, marching off across the cave. ‘Let’s see what they’re guarding. That looks like an entrance to me. I think we’ve found their lair.’

They hurried down another long tunnel towards the light. They could hear creatures moving in the tunnels all around them – the giggling of grots, the guttural snort of squigs and the skittering sound of giant spiders – but none of them came close enough to be visible. As more waves of spores drifted towards them, clouding their vision and muffling the sounds, Solmundsson had the strange sensation that he was slipping into a dream. There was something odd about the light they were approaching. It seemed to cling to his skin and dazzle his eyes, making him stumble even more than he had in the previous caves.

As they neared the light, he had the horrible feeling that he was approaching the mouth of the monster. The light was framed by what looked like long, crooked teeth, and it seemed to be exhaling the spores that filled the rest of the cave network.

‘Gotrek,’ he whispered. The sound of his voice was unnaturally loud in his own ears, but neither of his companions seemed to hear him, carrying on down the tunnel. Solmundsson grew so disoriented that he felt drunk, lurching and reeling between the rocks and pools. The light and the spores clouded his thoughts, making him so confused he could barely remember why they were even in the caves. All he could do was keep his gaze locked on the hulking form of the Slayer, watching his tattooed back as if it were a beacon in a storm.

Finally, Gotrek came to a halt at the entrance to another big cavern. It was much larger than any of the ones they had passed through so far, and dozens of cave mouths led into it from other tunnels. The air here was so clouded with spores, Solmundsson could see nothing beyond the light on the far side. Gotrek had been right about its size. It dominated the large cave, looming high up into the air. Solmundsson felt, more than ever, that it was a cavernous maw, preparing to devour them.

Gotrek turned to face him and Thorrik. His face was masked by spores and cobwebs and his eye looked strangely blank, as though he could no longer see them. He yelled something, shouting so loud the veins bulged at his neck, but Solmundsson could not make out his words. They sounded like they were coming from the other side of a thick wall.

‘I can’t hear you,’ he gasped.

Gotrek continued staring blindly past them, looking back down the tunnels and shouting again. Then he shook his head, spat and made his way out into the cave.

Grots rushed at him from every direction. There were dozens of them, gripping knives and spears, and they swarmed over the Slayer, dragging him to the ground.

Solmundsson and Thorrik ran to help, but before they reached Gotrek he rose to his feet and flung off his attackers, sending them tumbling across the cave floor. He yelled again, but again the sound was oddly stifled by the spores. He cut down a few of the grots but most sprinted away from him, terrified.

Gotrek lowered his head and charged across the cave, making straight for the blazing wall of light on the far side. Thorrik hesitated, saying something, but Solmundsson grabbed him by the arm and dragged him after Gotrek.

As Solmundsson ran, trying to keep pace with the charging Slayer, he felt things writhing across the floor, slipping past his boots. He peered down through the spores and saw what looked like tentacles snaking around the rocks. Some were the size of rope, others as thick as his arm, and they were revoltingly gaudy.

The light suddenly dimmed and Solmundsson looked up again. Something had stepped out in front of the opening and was headed straight towards them. It was clearly not a grot. It towered over Gotrek as it reached him, eight or nine feet tall, and it was covered in clumps of fungus. It was dressed in crudely hammered plates of armour and was clutching a stone hammer that was bigger than Gotrek.

‘Troggoth!’ cried Solmundsson, raising his pistol to shoot.

His shot went wide as a grot charged into him, sending him crashing to the ground.

Thorrik thrust his cutlass through the grot and then kicked it back the way it had come, but dozens more rushed from the shadows, grinning and wielding long knives.

Solmundsson lashed out with his sabre, cutting down one grot as he fired into the face of another. He and Thorrik fought back to back as waves of the creatures scampered towards them.

Solmundsson struggled to keep track of Gotrek for a moment, then saw him tumble into view, hacking wildly at the troggoth, shearing armour and pieces of fungus as he drove it back towards the light.

The Slayer must have been feeling as disoriented as Solmundsson because the troggoth actually managed to land a blow on him, cracking its boulder hammer into Gotrek’s chest. There was a flurry of sparks as the Slayer rolled backwards, leapt back onto his feet and raced at the troggoth. He slammed his axe into the creature’s leg and sheared it off.

The troggoth staggered, but before it could fall over, the fungus on its thigh sprouted tendrils that spiralled down to the floor and formed into the shape of a new leg. Gotrek and the other two duardin stared in shock as the troggoth laughed, stamped its new foot to test it, then swung its club, dealing Gotrek another hammer blow to the chest.

Solmundsson was too busy fighting grots to follow what happened next, but then, after another barrage of aethershot, he and Thorrik blasted a path through the grots and ran towards the light.

Gotrek staggered back into view, his head low between his shoulders and his axe gripped in both of his boulder-like fists. The troggoth rushed at him again. This time Gotrek cut both legs from under it, and as it slammed to the ground, he leapt into the air and sliced its head off.

Catching sight of Solmundsson, Gotrek yelled, pointing his axe at the wall of light. Then he sprinted into the blaze and vanished from sight.

Solmundsson hesitated for a moment, wondering if he dared follow. He looked back across the cavern and saw hundreds of pairs of red eyes looming from the darkness. ‘No choice now,’ he whispered. Waving for Thorrik to follow, he ran into the light.

Chapter Thirty

The journey was longer than Maleneth had expected. She had faith in Cerura’s magic, so they stuck to the road and the two aelves were as fleet as any of their kind, but the marsh’s strange lights made distance hard to gauge and even after an hour’s run they seemed no nearer to the gargant’s head. It stared blindly at them through the mist and rain, seeming to taunt Maleneth. They came across several groups of greenskins but none of the creatures noticed as the two aelves slipped past them in silence. Maleneth resisted the urge to slaughter the witless things. It would have been no real sport, and the piles of corpses might raise an alarm and prevent her reaching Scragfang. She could not resist blowing the occasional toxin at them as she passed, however, laughing to herself as she heard bodies hit the ground followed by howls of panic and confusion.

After another hour of running, she heard Cerura calling to her from back down the road. He sounded breathless and pained.

There were no grots in sight, so she felt safe in calling back to him. ‘What is it? Are you injured?’

The sorcerer shimmered into view, shrugging off his coat of rain. He took a few stumbling steps towards her then dropped to his knees, his face as grey as the mist.

She rushed back to him and helped him to his feet. ‘You’re wounded.’

He shook his head. ‘Just weak. I have not eaten or drunk for months.’

She handed him her water flask, noticing that it was nearly empty. ‘Then how are you alive?’

‘My prison nourished me.’ Cerura looked at the fields of fungi, swaying in the rain. He grimaced. ‘I dread to think how. I had no need for food or drink while I was bonded with its flesh.’ He finished the flask and looked pained. ‘But now my hunger returns with a vengeance. And I have a thirst such as you would not believe.’

‘Use your magic. We don’t have time for hunting expeditions.’

He shook his head. ‘Even I cannot feed on the aethertide, Maleneth. My flesh has the same needs as any other aelf’s.’ He looked doubtfully at the caps and trunks that surrounded the road. I shall have to eat soon. And I must have more water.’

Maleneth handed him some cured meat from a pouch at her belt. As the wizard ate she looked around at the fields. ‘I have no idea what any of these things are. I doubt very much that they will provide you with nourishment. They’d be more likely to kill you.’ She touched her dry lips with her tongue and looked at the empty flask. ‘I need to drink too, though.’

He nodded, swallowing the last of the meat, and looked up into the banks of rain. ‘That should not be such a problem.’ He held the empty flask up and whispered to it. Some of the rain formed into a funnel and whirled into the flask, filling it in seconds. He took a few swigs and then handed it to Maleneth.

She drank, then hesitated, looking at the flask with suspicion. ‘Does this taste odd to you?’

He took the flask, sniffed it, then took another swig. ‘There is an aftertaste.’ He waved at their surroundings. ‘But look where we are. Nothing here is going to be exactly pure.’

Maleneth spat, wishing she had put up with her thirst. ‘If this place is a cave, where is the rain coming from?’

Cerura had no answer.

Maleneth fastened the flask back onto her belt. ‘Come. The sooner I can get my hands on Scragfang, the sooner we can leave.’

Cerura turned his fingers in the air and robed them in rain. Then they continued running down the road. ‘What were you doing when the greenskins captured you?’ he asked, his voice coming from nowhere. ‘I’m still intrigued as to why Scragfang brought you here.’

‘I was travelling with a duardin Slayer. On a Kharadron sky-ship.’ She felt a flash of rage as she remembered that she had lost her chance to claim Gotrek’s rune. What would she say to her superiors in Azyr? How could she ever return home now?

‘An aelf and a Fyreslayer, travelling together? With the Kharadron? Why would you demean yourself by mingling with such low company?’

‘Gotrek is not a Fyreslayer. He is…’ She hesitated, conscious that Cerura would think her insane if she tried to explain Gotrek. ‘He is something else. He claims to be from a world beyond the Mortal Realms.’

‘Is that true?’

‘No… well, yes, perhaps. He’s something of a mystery.’ She sneered. ‘Even to himself.’

‘And it was this mystery that led you to become his travelling companion?’

The wizard was irritatingly close to the mark, so Maleneth decided to change the subject. ‘It doesn’t matter. I lost him. So he will remain a mystery. But only a fool steals a Daughter of Khaine from her prey. Scholars will have to invent new words for pain when they hear what I have done to Scragfang.’

‘Grots,’ said Cerura, and they both fell silent as they ran towards another group of greenskins. This one was larger than the others and racing in the same direction as they were. The grots were riding squigs, and it was one of the most absurd sights Maleneth had ever seen. The grots could barely cling to their backs as they scrambled and swerved along the road, snapping at each other and spraying lines of drool through the rain.

As Maleneth reached the greenskins, some of the squigs sensed her presence, snorting and trying to turn back towards her. The riders howled and yanked furiously at their reins, trying to keep the squigs on course, but some of the beasts refused to obey and several bolted towards her.

She drew her knife and dropped into a fighting stance, but before the squigs reached her she felt her feet lift off the ground and realised she was floating up into the rain. By the time the first squig reached her she was so high the monster could do nothing but leap and snarl as she drifted higher.

‘They can smell us,’ whispered Cerura in her ear. She turned to look at him, but even with his face so close she could not see through his glamour.

The sensation of gliding through the air was wonderful, and Maleneth laughed as she flew over the furious squigs and their riders. ‘Can we travel like this all the way?’

She heard a smile in his reply. ‘As you wish.’

Leaving the ground allowed them to ignore the road’s meandering curves and head straight for Slathermere, but it was still several hours later when they reached the fields that surrounded the mouldering head. Cerura dropped them down in a patch of open ground not far from the road, and Maleneth muttered a curse as she sank knee-deep in mud. ‘This whole place is a stinking bog,’ she hissed, clambering up onto a rock.

She felt Cerura climb up beside her and they looked around. They could now see that four roads approached Slathermere from different directions, and most of them were busy with traffic. Grots, troggoths and squigs were rushing to and from the gargant’s head, and Maleneth noticed that there were also spiders scuttling through the crowds – spiders large enough to carry a grot and, in some cases, large enough to carry several grots. There was no sunlight or moonlight, but the scene was brightly lit all the same. All the surrounding marshes were glittering with pale lights that shone from the bodies in the fungus. And Slathermere itself was coated with so much luminescent mould that it rippled as though it were covered in burning oil.

She took another drink from her flask, grimacing at the yeasty taste, then held it out for Cerura. As the wizard drank, Maleneth realised how exhausted she was. She massaged her face and sighed. Then she snatched her hand back with a gasp. ‘What’s this?’

Cerura said nothing for a moment, and his silence only made Maleneth more concerned. She ran her hands over her head and whispered a curse. It was covered in tough, fibrous domes. ‘Damn it! This place is changing me again!’ She turned to Cerura. ‘Let me see myself.’

They were so far back from the road that there was little danger of them being seen, and Cerura did as she asked. As Maleneth’s limbs reappeared from the rain, she saw that they were as deformed as her head. Pale domes had blossomed all down her forearms. ‘Damn this place,’ she muttered.

‘I have been equally afflicted,’ said Cerura, materialising from the rain and holding up his arms. There was fungus all over them, and through the rips in his robes, Maleneth saw growths all over his torso.

‘Khaine,’ she whispered, placing a tentative hand inside her doublet. Her fingers ran over rows of swellings.

Cerura leant close and held her arm, peering at it. ‘They have faces.’

She snatched her arm back and examined the mushroom caps. Each one had a leering, goblinoid face, and Maleneth found it all the more disturbing because the face was familiar. ‘Kazak-drung,’ she whispered.

‘The what?’

‘The grot moon. The duardin of Barak-Urbaz call it Kazak-drung.’

Cerura was trying to remain calm, but Maleneth could see he was unnerved. ‘This should not have happened. We have not so much as brushed against any fungus. And usually it takes greenskin devilry to cause this kind of transformation.’

Maleneth looked at the flask on her belt. ‘It’s the water. I could taste mould in it. We’ve poisoned ourselves.’ As she spoke, the mushrooms were sprouting up her neck and nuzzling her chin. The ones on her arms were growing fast, and they were all staring at her with amused expressions. Maleneth had the dreadful feeling that when they reached a certain size they would start speaking to her. She took her knife and cut one of the caps away. It immediately re-sprouted and smiled again.

The seeds, you moron. Her mistress sounded incredulous. You really could not survive a day if I wasn’t here to hold your hand. You still have the seeds you took from Stinkeye.

Maleneth whispered a prayer of thanks – not to her mistress, but to Khaine. She took the bottle from her belt and frowned at the contents. There were only three seeds left. ‘Do you have any of these?’ she asked, looking at Cerura.

He shook his head, still staring at the fungus sprouting across his body.

‘Blood of Khaine,’ she spat, popping one seed into her mouth and giving another to Cerura. ‘I am not going to spend the rest of my days stuck in a puddle telling greenskins where to stick their squigs.’

She had barely swallowed the seed when heat radiated from her stomach and spread quickly over her skin. The mushrooms crumbled into powder and washed away in the rain, returning her skin back to its normal state.

‘Thank the gods,’ gasped Cerura as the fungus washed from his skin. ‘And thank you.’ He looked at Maleneth. ‘You have saved me twice.’

‘It won’t happen a third time.’ She tapped the bottle, causing the last seed to rattle around. ‘I may have need of this before I leave here.’

Cerura nodded. Then he looked at Slathermere. ‘Once we are in the fortress, I shall show you what I am capable of. You have seen but a fraction of my skills. I will repay the debt.’

Maleneth stood and wiped the muck from her face. ‘You’d better.’

Chapter Thirty-One

‘By the Code,’ muttered Solmundsson as something hurtled towards him. It looked like a circle of pale fire, and Solmundsson could do nothing to avoid it. As he raced into the light there was a loud grinding sound, like rocks being crushed together, and sparks danced across his vision. The noise grew so loud that Solmundsson clamped his hands over his helmet, trying to drown out the din. Thorrik was nearby, shouting something, but his words were lost under the roar. The world of colours vanished, replaced by a blinding whiteness, and Solmundsson wondered if he was dying. Was he about to enter the halls of his ancestors?

Then the noise ceased, the light vanished and Solmundsson found himself lying on his back in a muddy puddle with plump, warm raindrops pinging off the faceplate of his helmet.

‘First Officer Thorrik?’ he said, sitting up and looking around. Thorrik and the Slayer were still with him. The three of them were lying in a boggy hollow, surrounded by groves of misty, starlit trees. No, he realised, not trees. Toadstools. He climbed to his feet and looked around at the peculiar landscape. The surrounding fields were crowded with fungi of every imaginable size and colour – tapered, conical, domed, bulbous, spear-shaped, fleshy, gilled, gaudy and buff-coloured – all of them nodding sadly in the twilight as the rain beat down on their slimy caps.

‘Where are we?’ he muttered. There was no sign of the cave network they had been running through. Or the grots they had been fighting. And the drizzly, autumnal swamp resembled nothing he had ever seen before in Ayadah. Even the stars were unfamiliar. He looked harder and realised that they were not stars at all. It looked like there were rocks glinting overhead, reflecting lights that were shining up from the fields. He waded through the mud to where Thorrik was sitting, wiping his suit down and picking clods from his helmet. ‘Are you hurt?’ he asked.

Thorrik shook his head, then stared around in wonder at the rippling fields of mushrooms. ‘It’s like we’ve entered another world.’

Gotrek was sitting further up the slope, muttering as he tapped a tobacco pipe on a rock. ‘Full of bloody mud.’ He held it up and squinted into the bowl. ‘Or something like mud.’ He struggled with tinder and flints, shielding them from the rain, and finally managed to light the pipe. He shook his head. ‘Your father’s weed is damned good.’ Then he leant back against a lichen-covered rock and began to smoke.

‘Aren’t you wondering where we are?’ said Thorrik, stumbling and trying to extract his feet from the mud.

Gotrek had his eye closed and tilted his head back as he savoured the tobacco. ‘I don’t wonder about much these days. There aren’t any surprises left for Gotrek Gurnisson. I’ve seen a lot of strange places.’ He blew out a plume of smoke. ‘But I’ve realised it’s always worth making time for the simple pleasures.’ The smoke coiled around his head, then flickered with the same pale lights that were coming from the mushroom forest. Gotrek eyed the smoke suspiciously, sucked on the pipe again and shrugged.

Solmundsson helped Thorrik from the mud and they both clambered up the rain-drenched grass to the top of the hollow. The fungal groves stretched as far as Solmundsson could see, even when he took out his spyglass, but there were also signs of civilisation – a muddy road snaking through the mist and, in the far distance, a fortress of some kind, shrouded by rain. ‘We should head for that keep,’ he said. ‘We need to find out where we’ve come.’

‘You brought me here,’ grunted Gotrek. ‘How is it you don’t know where we are? I’ve heard so much talk about the navigation skills of you Kharadron, but as far as I can tell, you could get lost in your own larder.’

‘I don’t think this is Skrappa Spill,’ said Solmundsson, looking around at the towering mushrooms and bloated puffballs. ‘It doesn’t look like any part of Ayadah that I’ve ever heard of.’ He trudged over to a toadstool as big as a full-grown oak and reached out to touch its glistening flesh. His fingers were inches away when a mouth opened in its stem, revealing rows of long, needle-thin teeth. The toadstool growled as its mouth gaped wider, the cavernous maw growing as big as Solmundsson. He was so shocked that he remained where he was as the toadstool began moving towards him, sliding through the mud.

There was a bang and a flash of light and the toadstool toppled away from him, a charred hole in its stem.

Thorrik marched past Solmundsson, his pistol still raised, and fired until the toadstool let out a moist gargle and lay still, trailing black spores from its wounds.

Gotrek waved his pipe at the dead fungus. ‘That is slightly unusual, to be fair.’

A rustling sound sprang up all around them as the rows of fungi started to move, shuffling towards them with a peculiar mix of lurches, lunges and spasms. Some of the stems split to reveal teeth, like the toadstool Thorrik had shot, but others revealed entire faces – grinning, goblinoid heads that strained from the flesh of the fungi, giggling and snorting.

‘See!’ Gotrek extinguished his pipe and waved it at Thorrik. ‘Take time for the little pleasures when you can.’ He stashed the pipe, gripped his axe in both hands and stomped past Thorrik and Solmundsson, whistling cheerfully as he slammed the blade into a toadstool. The fungus crumpled with an explosion of white spores that covered Gotrek so completely he looked like he had attacked a sack of flour. The Slayer did not seem to notice, swinging his axe back and forth with surprising grace for someone so squat. Caps and stems whirled through the rain as Gotrek fought, still whistling tunelessly. The more he fought, the louder the rustling sound grew as more of the fungi sprang into life, ambling towards the Slayer.

‘Make for the road!’ cried Solmundsson, drawing his pistol and joining Thorrik in firing a barrage of shots. ‘None of them are on the road!’

Gotrek gave no answer but began chopping in that direction with the other two stumbling behind him, firing wildly. Fighting seemed to invigorate the Slayer rather than tire him. The rain and spores mixed together to make him as colourful as the things he was cutting, and pieces of fungus lodged in his crest of hair, twitching like fish trapped on a rock.

By the time they stumbled out onto the road, Gotrek had butchered dozens of the toadstools, but when Solmundsson looked back into the field, there was no sign of the carnage. The fungi had surged down from the surrounding hills and swamped the path cut by Gotrek. As Solmundsson had hoped, however, they seemed unable, or unwilling, to spread out onto the road.

Gotrek had a savage grin on his face, and when he saw that the toadstools had not followed him, he let out a bullish roar and leapt back into the fields, vanishing from sight as he charged off into the drizzle.

‘They’ll kill him,’ gasped Thorrik, his hands on his knees as he fought to catch his breath.

‘I don’t think so,’ said Solmundsson.

They both stood there in the rain, listening to the sound of Gotrek cutting through the fields. Every now and then they saw his axe, or his fiery crest of hair, then he would disappear again with another unintelligible war cry.

Solmundsson squinted through the downpour, looking down the road, trying to make out the fortress in more detail. It was speckled with lights, so he reasoned that it must be occupied, but it was not built like any keep he had seen before – it looked like it had been built to resemble a head. ‘Who builds like that?’ he asked.

‘Grungni knows. I’ve never seen anything like it.’ Thorrik studied the fungi that were straining towards them from the roadside. ‘You don’t think they built it, do you?’

Solmundsson laughed. Then he looked at the toadstools and his laughter stalled. Some of the fungi were watching him with eyes that showed a bright, malicious intelligence. ‘Toadstools don’t build things,’ he said, but without much confidence.

‘They don’t usually have faces either,’ replied Thorrik.

‘Valaya’s arse!’ cried Gotrek, tumbling back onto the road in a shower of rubbery flesh. ‘They’ve got some fight in ’em.’ He weaved back and forth across the road, wiping spores and slime from his face with the back of his arm, readying himself for another charge.

‘Wait!’ Solmundsson grabbed his arm. ‘Remember why we’re here.’

Gotrek stared at him, panting and wiping more muck from his face.

‘Can you remember why we’re here?’ demanded Thorrik.

‘Of course I bloody can!’ Gotrek glared at Thorrik. Then he looked around at the sodden hills.

A pained silence followed.

‘Barak-Urbaz,’ prompted Solmundsson.

‘Aye!’ Gotrek sniffed, grimaced, then spat some virulent-looking slime. ‘Barak-Urbaz. Exactly. You’ve let the grobi scum fester under your feet for years, now you need the Slayer to clean up the mess. And you need me to get the job done quickly so they pull their rabble back from your city until their moon has waned.’ He bared his broken teeth in a proud grin. Then he frowned, as though remembering something else, and looked at the ground.

He’s thinking of the aelf, thought Solmundsson. He glanced at Thorrik, wondering if he understood, but the first officer was still glaring at Gotrek.

Gotrek frowned, squinting at the rocks overhead. ‘Are we still in a cave?’

‘I’m not sure where we are.’ Solmundsson nodded at the distant building. ‘But that looks like our best chance of finding out.’

Gotrek grimaced and broke into a violent coughing fit. A cloud of spores billowed from his mouth, sparkling and shifting colour before dissolving in the rain. Gotrek frowned, wiped his mouth, then marched off down the road. ‘Don’t just stand there,’ he muttered.

Thorrik clenched his fists and was about to shout something at Gotrek’s back when Solmundsson silenced him with a warning glare.

The three of them hurried down the road, and they had not gone far before Gotrek glanced back at them. ‘Looks like we’re not so far off track,’ he said as he reached the brow of a hill.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Solmundsson as he caught up with the Slayer and looked down the road into a broad valley.

Gotrek appeared pained, and abruptly burst into another coughing fit, spitting more spores and coughing so hard he could not speak for several minutes.

‘That’s no mushroom,’ Gotrek finally gasped, pointing out a shape a few hundred yards down the slope, looming over the caps and spotted domes.

They walked a little further down into the valley and Solmundsson saw what Gotrek meant. Someone had chiselled a boulder into the shape of a crescent moon and hung a disparate collection of skulls, fetishes, necklaces and fungus on it.

‘That’s grobi work,’ said Gotrek. ‘Even shoddier than the things you lot make.’

‘Moonclan,’ said Thorrik, studying the shrine with distaste.

‘Then we made it.’ Solmundsson grinned at him. ‘This must be the Asylum. This is where the grots have been building their armies. We were right to follow that squig.’

‘May as well carry on following it then,’ said Gotrek, struggling to stifle another cough as he pointed his axe at a shape on the far side of the valley, travelling on the same road they were using.

‘The squig.’ Solmundsson patted Gotrek on the shoulder, creating another cloud of spores. ‘It’s the same one!’

Thorrik frowned. ‘It is. How strange.’

Solmundsson glanced at him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, it just seems strange that after everything we’ve been through, that same squig is still just ahead of us.’

Solmundsson took out his spyglass. ‘Well, it’s definitely the same one. I don’t know why it’s walking though. Perhaps it’s exhausted? It carried the grots all the way back here from Valdrakh Pass.’

Gotrek laughed. ‘Squigs don’t get tired. They’re not even real animals. They’re just something the grobi breed out of their droppings.’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘Is that true?’

‘No idea. I can’t remember who told me. They don’t get tired though. There must be some other reason why it’s waddling along like that.’

Thorrik gave Solmundsson a sideways glance. ‘Does none of this seem odd to you? That we’re still on the trail of this same squig, I mean, and that we entered the grot lair so easily?’

‘Easily?’ Gotrek raised an eyebrow. ‘I doubt you would have found it easy fighting that armoured troll. Every time I trimmed its legs they grew back again.’

Thorrik shrugged. ‘We got in here without that much resistance and we’ve been strolling down this road like we own the place without being challenged.’

Solmundsson waved at the slime that was still clinging to Gotrek’s muscles. ‘I would say those toadstools gave us quite a challenge.’

‘I’m talking about the greenskins. If this is the Asylum – if it really is their secret lair – don’t you think it odd that we have been able to just fight our way in here?’

‘What’s your point?’

‘My point is that this smells like a trap. We’ve trailed that squig all the way from Valdrakh Pass, and now it’s ambling along the road slowly enough for us to follow even though we have no ship.’ Thorrik looked at Gotrek. ‘Maybe Scragfang wanted you to come here. Maybe he wants to have some kind of showdown with you.’

Gotrek thought for a moment. Then he grinned and pounded his axe in the mud. ‘A greenskin warlord has brought me to his kingdom so we can go toe to toe. This is starting to look promising.’

Solmundsson shook his head. ‘Seems far-fetched.’ He held up a hand to silence Thorrik. ‘But we should tread carefully, I agree. Just in case you’re…’

His words trailed off as he realised Gotrek was sprinting down the road towards the giant squig. ‘By the anvil,’ he said, hurrying after the Slayer. ‘How has he lived so long?’

By the time Solmundsson and Thorrik were nearing the squig, Gotrek was already on its back, dealing out blows with his axe and sending grots tumbling from the howdah.

Solmundsson and Thorrik drew pistols and began firing lumps of aethershot into the fray, kicking back the grots that screamed and charged towards them.

There were only around a dozen grots and they made short work of them, but the squig proved more of a challenge, bounding across the road with Gotrek clinging to its back as it tried to shake him off. As the Slayer fought he was wracked by more coughing fits, trailing such a thick cloud of spores that he looked like a smoking furnace.

Finally, the squig managed to hurl Gotrek to the ground, and he cried out as he rolled heavily through the mud.

Thorrik continued firing at the giant squig as Solmundsson raced over to Gotrek and helped him up. ‘Are you wounded?’

‘What in the name of Grungni is this?’ demanded Gotrek, reeling away from Solmundsson and clutching at his face, grabbing at his eye.

‘Let me see!’ cried Solmundsson, snatching Gotrek’s hand away from his face. ‘By the Code,’ he gasped.

‘What is it?’

Solmundsson shook his head, unsure how to answer. There was a thin, pale blue tube hanging from Gotrek’s eye. It had squeezed out next to his tear duct and was now dangling in front of his face. ‘One of your veins…’ Solmundsson grimaced. ‘One of your veins has come out.’

A weight slammed into Solmundsson and he flew through the air, landing in the fungus that bordered the road. Tendrils lashed out, grabbing his wrist as he tried to raise his pistol.

‘A vein?’ bellowed Gotrek, wading into the toadstools and hacking them down with his axe. Before they could attack again, Gotrek hauled Solmundsson back out onto the road. ‘What do you mean, a vein?’

The squig thundered across the road and Gotrek threw a punch, smashing his fist into the creature’s face and sending it tumbling back down the road. ‘How can my vein be outside my body?’

Solmundsson was too breathless to speak, but Thorrik wandered over. ‘It has a cap.’

Gotrek cursed and snapped the stem from his eye, holding it up in front of his face. It was a slender, arrow-headed toadstool.

Solmundsson and Thorrik backed away, shaking their heads.

‘What are you staring at me like that for?’ demanded Gotrek. ‘I’ve pulled the bloody thing out.’ Then he cursed as another tendril slid from his eye, thicker than the previous one. ‘Damn it,’ he muttered. ‘That actually stings a bit.’ As he reached up to remove the second growth, a dusty bracket fungus burst from his forearm. Gotrek stared at it. He was about to speak when another shape rose from his shoulders – another thick crust of pitted fungus that curled around his ribs, encasing his torso like a shell. He reached round and snapped it off. A large hunk of muscle and skin came away with the fungus and blood splashed down the Slayer’s legs. He staggered and gritted his teeth, making a low growling sound.

The squig slammed into him and they both rolled back down the road, Gotrek landing punches and axe blows and the monster tearing at his body with its teeth and claws. Gotrek freed himself with a punch that sent the squig rolling into the forest of toadstools. The creature tried to bound back towards him, but a blanket of gossamer thread engulfed it and it was dragged down into the toadstools. There was a flurry of caps and gills and a tearing sound, then there was silence and the toadstools were still again.

‘Lightweight,’ muttered Gotrek. Then, when Solmundsson and Thorrik simply stared back at him, the Slayer looked down at himself and grimaced. There were fungal growths all over his body. He glared at Solmundsson. ‘Why aren’t you two covered in this bloody stuff?’

Solmundsson felt a crushing weight bearing down on him, and he could not bring himself to reply. If the Slayer was lost, everything was lost. All of this was for nothing.

‘It’s probably our aethermatic armour,’ said Thorrik, tapping the helmet of his suit. ‘Our suits filter out toxins. None of those spores will have reached our lungs, but you…’ He shook his head and looked at Solmundsson. ‘What are we going to do, captain?’

For once, Solmundsson could think of nothing to say.

Gotrek glowered at them. ‘A bit of mushroom won’t stop me.’ He slapped an orange-coloured crust that had encased his stomach, filling the air with more spores. ‘It won’t stop me splitting heads.’

He stomped off down the road, heading for Slathermere. ‘Stand there blubbing if you like,’ he yelled over his shoulder. ‘The Slayer’s got work to do.’

Chapter Thirty-Two

Slathermere looked even more surreal seen close up. Maleneth and Cerura halted a few feet from a cave mouth and looked up at the grotesque architecture. Maleneth was not even sure whether ‘architecture’ was the right word. It was more like taxidermy. The gargant’s head had been transformed by grot sorcery. It was unnaturally huge, and its skin was coated in mould that shone from within. Maleneth tried to imagine how big the gargant would have been when it still had a body, but her mind baulked at the task.

There were grots everywhere, rushing in and out of the cave mouth, and Maleneth found that she was still able to understand most of them. ‘They’re preparing for an attack,’ she said, knowing that Cerura would be nearby. ‘Scragfang must have guessed I’d come looking for him.’ She halted a few feet from the opening. ‘It won’t be raining inside. We’re going to look quite odd waltzing in there as a column of water.’

‘There are other elements,’ said Cerura. ‘Let me have a closer look inside.’

Maleneth felt him rush past and then, a moment later, return to her side. ‘It’s very dark in there and full of dust. It will be an easy enough matter to go unnoticed.’

For a moment, Maleneth thought the sorcerer was suggesting they simply hide in the gloom, but then he whispered a few arcane phrases and she felt a peculiar rippling sensation pass through her limbs.

‘Inside, quickly,’ whispered Cerura, steering her into the darkness. The cave mouth was crowded with grots and squigs. The squigs were around the same height as their keepers, but their spherical bodies were packed with muscle and the grots were cursing as they struggled to hold them back, yanking furiously on their reins and lashing them with whips. As Maleneth crept around the cave’s perimeter she realised that she was the cause of the squigs’ excitement. Some of them leapt at her, their tiny coal-stud eyes rolling above their gaping mouths, but she slipped away, dodging their attacks as their grot handlers hauled them away from her.

‘Into the passageway,’ whispered Cerura.

Maleneth sprinted through the cave, leaping over squigs and swerving around grots, until she reached an opening on the far side and raced on into a dark tunnel. There were fewer grots here and no squigs, so it was an easy matter to run up the slope and leave the commotion behind. The way was lit by veins of glowing mould that lined the walls, and Maleneth saw how expertly the sorcerer had disguised her. She was just one of the dust clouds whipping through the fitful shadows.

‘Cerura?’ she whispered, reaching a junction.

‘Here,’ he said, close by.

‘I have to find Scragfang,’ she said. ‘Where do you think he’ll be? In the upper levels?’

‘No. I think not. The Moonclans tend to hide in the deepest, darkest pits they can find. I would advise heading down that slope.’

Maleneth listened to the sounds of the fortress. There were howls and screeches coming from every direction. As well as the cries of the grots themselves, she could hear the snarling of squigs and the sound of badly played musical instruments – gongs, bells and pipes all combined into a dreadful, cacophonous din. ‘It sounds like there are thousands of those wretched things in here. I need a better plan than simply grubbing around in the dark hoping to get lucky.’ She turned to where she guessed Cerura was standing. ‘You said you had wonderful powers at your disposal. Can’t you just tell me where to find him?’

‘You have to understand, every breath of air down here is crowded with evil humours. It takes a lot of effort to hold the fungus from invading our flesh. And at the same time I am having to maintain our disguise. I have completely hidden our true forms. There are very few mages who would have the skill to perform both deeds at once. If I attempt to cast my thoughts elsewhere in the fortress, I might risk revealing us.’

Nicely done, sneered Maleneth’s mistress. You’ve used those seeds freeing a conjuror so witless he can only perform one trick at a time.

‘No matter,’ snapped Maleneth. ‘I have skills of my own.’ She jogged off down the slope, heading towards the grot voices.

The passageway grew warmer as it descended, and damper too, so that Maleneth began to feel her feet sticking in the mud, even though she could not see them. Other tunnels forked off in different directions but Maleneth kept on heading for the voices that echoed up towards her. Eventually, she spotted figures up ahead. They were grots, and for a moment she thought they were struggling with a large squig, but as she came closer she saw that it was actually a spider, taller than her and dragging a bloated abdomen through the muck as it lashed out with barbed legs.

She paused to watch, wondering if the spider had attacked the grots. Then they managed to lash a harness on it and she realised it was a beast of burden that had turned on its keepers. The fight went out of the creature once it was bound, and the grots steered it on down the tunnel, heading for the lower levels.

Maleneth singled out a straggler, lagging behind the rest of the group. She listened out for the creature’s name and then, once it was alone, she crept closer.

‘Gutcutter,’ she whispered, speaking in the guttural greenskin language.

The grot glared back into the shadows. ‘Oozat?’

‘You’re better than all of them, Gutcutter,’ she continued. ‘You’re too powerful to be treated like this. You’re destined for greatness.’

Gutcutter came hesitantly towards her, still waving a knife and scowling, a mixture of fear and intrigue in its eyes. ‘Umpy? Iz dis yer idea of a joke?’

‘This is not a joke. I have been watching you.’

The grot sneered, then looked shocked, then sneered again. ‘Shut yer gob, Umpy. Get out ’ere and stop prattin’ about. We’re all meant ta be gettin’ together. Scragfang’s orders. ’E wants us all ready at the Moon Well.’ He turned to go.

Maleneth rushed forwards and whispered right in his ear, adopting a sterner tone. ‘Do not refuse the will of the moon.’

Gutcutter stumbled to a halt and looked around, eyes wide. ‘Ow’s ya doin’ dat, Umpy?’

‘This is not Umpy. I am the moon. And I have come to lift you from servitude.’

‘Da moon?’

‘I have come to put you in your proper place. You are far more cunning than your superiors. You are meant to be giving them orders, not the other way around.’

Gutcutter nodded, slowly. ‘Dat is true.’ As the grot adopted a smug expression, Maleneth smiled to herself. She had found exactly the right kind of disenfranchised moron.

‘I have come to make you a boss,’ she said.

Enlightenment dawned in the grot’s eyes. ‘Yes. Dat makes sense. I should be a zoggin boss.’ The grot lowered the knife and all suspicion vanished from its face. ‘Right. Wot’s I gotta do?’ Doubt crept back into its voice. ‘Will I ’ave ta do any tests?’

Maleneth replied in her most unctuous tones, ‘All you have to do is lead me to Scragfang. Then I shall explain that you should be giving orders instead of receiving them.’

The grot’s eyes burned with excitement, but then it shook its head, looking anxious. ‘Are ya sure? I ain’t very big.’

Maleneth resisted the urge to strike him and managed to keep her voice gentle. ‘You are big on the inside.’

The grot’s eyes widened. ‘Da inside. Of course. Now it all makes sense. Moon, yer exactly zoggin right.’

The creature turned a few cartwheels and made to sprint off down one of the tunnels that forked off the main passage.

‘Stay close,’ whispered Maleneth to Cerura.

‘Of course,’ he replied.

Maleneth almost lost the grot in the shadows, but now that she was so close to her prize, she was filled with a delightful vigour and bounded easily over grots and piles of rubble.

How will you find your way out?

Her mistress had a point. Slathermere was even larger than Maleneth had guessed. Gutcutter was dashing through a labyrinth of loops and bends that did not seem to follow any kind of logic. They passed crooked moon shrines and what looked like entire greenskin villages huddled in the darkness. They even skirted broad underground lakes that boiled with squigs and other grotesque creatures. Even if Maleneth had been making a map as she ran, it would have been an indecipherable mess within minutes. I’ll get him to lead me back out, she thought.

After you’ve stuck a knife in his chieftain? I’m not sure he’ll consider you quite such a good friend then.

He won’t see anything. I’ll still be hidden. And I’m not going to kill Scragfang, I’m going to capture him.

You haven’t worked any of this out. You’re going to make the same pig’s ear of this as you do everything else.

Maleneth smiled at the panic in her mistress’ voice. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of making you squirm.

Gutcutter heaved a mouldering door open and led them into a wide chamber with a roof so low Maleneth had to stoop. It appeared to have been flooded at some point, and the ground was even boggier than the rest of Slathermere. As Maleneth waded through the mud, she noticed pale blobs swimming through it and paused, dropping to one knee so she could examine them. They looked like bloated yellow tadpoles, but then one of them rolled over and she saw that it had a tiny, perfectly formed human face. The creature stared at her, opening and closing its mouth as though trying to speak, then rolled over again and swam off through the puddles.

‘Blood of Khaine,’ she whispered. ‘What are these things?’

Gutcutter splashed to a halt and peered back at her through the half-light. ‘Eh?’

‘Nothing,’ said Maleneth, grimacing and treading carefully through the mud, trying not to touch the pale shapes. ‘Keep going.’

Once they had crossed the boggy chamber they climbed a set of slumped stone steps that were carpeted in moss. At the top of the steps, the grot shoved open a heavy door and hurried out into a huge cave. The din of many voices rushed down the steps to Maleneth, and as she reached the top she saw a cave that was crowded with hundreds of grots. The chamber was circular and the ceiling was so distant she could not make it out in any detail. The mud-packed walls were covered with crooked walkways and wonky platforms, and every one of them was crowded with greenskins. They were all talking at once – gibbering, screeching and giggling at such a volume that Maleneth winced as she stepped out from the doorway. Some of the grots were playing instruments and singing but most were readying themselves for battle, testing bows, filling quivers, pouring poisons into bottles and sharpening knives. Some of them were mounted on large spiders like the one she had seen earlier and others were careering back and forth on squigs. It was utter mayhem. She had never seen so many grots gathered in one place, and her excitement faded as she realised what an absurd risk she was taking. Why didn’t I get out when I had the chance? Then she remembered that Scragfang had robbed her of her one chance at returning to Azyr. He had robbed her of the rune. Anger crushed her doubt.

‘Where’s Scragfang?’ she demanded.

‘’E’s gonna be ’ere soon.’ The grot was looking warily at the shadows around Maleneth, trying to spot her. ‘A mighty champion’s comin’ to attack ’im. An ’e wants the fight to ’appen ’ere, in da Moon Well.’

Laughter filled Maleneth’s head. Mighty champion? You?

Maleneth shrugged. She was a little surprised to hear someone describe her in that way, but she wasn’t going to accept ridicule from her dead mistress. I escaped from Scragfang, remember. He dragged me all the way across Skrappa Spill and I got away from him. And now he’s realised that I’m coming to make him pay. Scragfang probably isn’t used to people who actually stand up to him. Those money-grubbing mechanics in Barak-Urbaz certainly never do.

I wouldn’t let it go to your head. An aggrieved ant would seem like a champion to these runts.

‘The atmosphere in here is so toxic,’ whispered Cerura in her ear. ‘The power of your seeds may not work much longer. I’m doing what I can to help, but it’s hard to hold back the fungus and keep us hidden at the same time.’

‘Show some mettle,’ she hissed, but she could hear by the pain in his voice that she did not have long.

‘Where will Scragfang appear?’ she asked, turning back to Gutcutter.

The grot pointed its knife at the distant eaves of the chamber. ‘Up in ’is royal lair.’ With that, Gutcutter scampered across the crowded cave and began climbing one of the ramshackle wooden walkways that were nailed to the walls. Maleneth raced after him, barging through the crush. The scene was so chaotic that none of the grots noticed as a pair of dust clouds slipped past them. The higher they climbed, the more of the grots Maleneth saw. They were teeming from every swaying gantry and gurney, like mites burrowing through a corpse. There must be a thousand of them in here, she thought, imagining what would happen if the wizard’s magic did fail.

Even by your standards this was a spectacularly stupid move.

Maleneth ignored her and kept her gaze locked on Gutcutter’s back as the grot fought through the crowds, bolting up ladders and vaulting piles of scrap. Within a few feet, she started to encounter problems. She was hidden, but that did not mean the grots did not notice her climbing past them. She used all her elegance and speed to snake in and out of them, but sometimes there was no way to progress without shoving grots aside. One of them cried out in confusion as she moved it out of her way. She lashed out with her knife, sending the grot tumbling in a shower of blood, but all the nearby grots noticed what happened and began calling out. As word spread she realised she might never make it to the top of the chamber. She reached into her robes and grabbed one of the vials she kept strapped close to her skin. She unstopped it and hurled it at the wall a dozen feet away from where she was climbing. A column of blue flame exploded from the glass and raced up the wall. The surrounding grots howled and scrambled away, creating a clear path for Maleneth. She continued, keeping as near to the burning oil as she dared. The grots seemed horrified by the brightness of the flames, and she made quick progress up the wall.

Finally, Maleneth reached the uppermost circle of platforms, and she thanked Khaine that she was light on her feet. Some of the walkways had broken or were no more than a plank wide, and the drop below must have been several hundred feet. One misstep would have sent her tumbling to her death. She spotted Gutcutter a few feet away and rushed over to him. ‘Where now?’

‘’E’ll be over here,’ gasped Gutcutter, breathless from the climb, heading towards an antechamber that opened up off the far side of the cave. Cold, silvery light was coming from the antechamber, and Maleneth saw dozens of grots scurrying back and forth dressed in the greenskin equivalent of finery. There were moon designs stitched into their black hoods and they were gripping spears that looked like they might survive more than a single thrust. As Gutcutter led her towards the antechamber, long shadows spilled out across the walls. There were more grots in there, and they were gathered around the source of the light.

‘He’s there,’ whispered Maleneth, her pulse quickening as she saw Scragfang hunched over a cauldron, staring into the light that spilled from its bowl.

‘Did ya, er, miss us?’ said someone in a thin, scratchy whisper.

Maleneth paused and turned to see one of the grots staring directly at her. It was the wizened little creature with one eye, the grot that looked like a strip of charred meat.

Stinkeye hobbled from the shadows, leaning heavily on a staff laden with bone fetishes and dried mushrooms. The creature looked from Maleneth to Cerura, clearly able to see through their disguises. It spoke in reverential tones. ‘It’s all just as Scragfang has foreseen. You’re ’ere, exactly where you’re meant ta be.’

Maleneth raised her knife and tried to lunge at Stinkeye, but her feet were rooted to the spot.

Stinkeye continued smiling and rattled the fetishes on its staff.

The dust conjured by Cerura drifted away, leaving the two aelves visible.

Maleneth gasped in disgust as she saw why she was unable to move. From the knees down, her legs had morphed into a single fungal stem, like the bole of a mushroom. She was rooted to the rock and Cerura was in the exact same fix.

‘How dare you!’ she gasped, gripping her knife and preparing to cut at the stem.

‘Don’t!’ cried Cerura. ‘It’s your flesh now. It’s part of you. Your arteries are running through it. Cut it and you’ll bleed to death.’

‘Do something!’ howled Maleneth, glaring at him.

Cerura’s face was a dreadful grey colour as he shook his head.

‘Aelf spells ain’t no good,’ wheezed Stinkeye, spluttering a cloud of embers. ‘Yer bound to Slathermere. Yer one of us.’

Gutcutter was standing a few feet away, watching the exchange with a look of abject terror.

‘You!’ cried Maleneth. ‘Get me out of here!’

The grot turned and sprinted back the way it had come, whimpering.

The creature called Stinkeye raised its staff and croaked a few words.

Strands of fungus blossomed up from the rocky floor and engulfed Gutcutter. As the grot thrashed and wailed, trying to free itself, the fungus grew faster until, in a few seconds, Gutcutter had vanished beneath a ball of white, feathery strands. Then, with a moist popping sound, the gossamer threads solidified, forming a single pockmarked puffball with Gutcutter’s eyes staring out from its centre, rolling in their sockets.

‘Traitor,’ whispered Stinkeye. Then the shaman limped off across the walkway, waving its staff in warning at the surrounding grots. ‘Don’t touch ’em. Dey ain’t for killin’. They’re bait.’

‘Bait?’ cried Maleneth. ‘What are you talking about? I’m the champion who’s come to kill you.’

Stinkeye stopped and looked back at her, laughing. ‘Yer just da bait. Da champion is on ’is way ’ere to save you.’

‘He? Save me? What in the name of Khaine are you talking about?’

‘Da Fyreslayer. ’E’s comin’. ’E finks ’e can rescue ya.’

‘You useless morons. Do you mean Gotrek? He wouldn’t come to save me. He hates me. You really thought Gotrek would follow me?’ Maleneth felt sick at the absurdity of it. She was going to spend the rest of her life in this grot-filled hole as a talking mushroom because the grots thought she would lure Gotrek to them. She was going to spend eternity as a mindless slave. She was a disgrace. She let out a thin, trembling howl of rage.

Then several things happened at once. The light in Scragfang’s cave flashed brighter, causing her to squint and shield her face, there was a loud smash from the bottom of the atrium, like the sound of a cave-in, and in response, there was a huge roar from the crowds of grots.

Maleneth slumped against the wall, filled with despair.

‘Come back and fight, you grobi scum!’

The familiar, bludgeoning tones jolted Maleneth back into an upright position. ‘It can’t be him,’ she breathed. ‘It can’t be.’

The din grew louder as something rocketed from one side of the atrium to the other, kicking up dust and smashing gantries, sending grots tumbling to their deaths. It looked like a ball had been hurled into the cave and was bouncing its way up towards her. It took a few seconds for Maleneth to realise it was a squig. The grot on its back was so encrusted with fungal plates that it was barely recognisable, but it was managing to steer by landing punches on the side of the squig’s head. As the squig crashed into another walkway and sent more grots tumbling to their deaths, the rider let out a booming laugh. ‘Out of the bloody way!’

‘Gotrek?’ whispered Maleneth, staring in disbelief as the punch-drunk squig slammed into the wall a few feet away and sent its rider somersaulting through the air.

‘Now!’ cried Stinkeye, turning to the distant figure of Scragfang.

Scragfang stared into the altar’s iron bowl, dazzled by loonlight, weeping tears of joy. Everything was coming to pass exactly as he had foreseen. The Fyreslayer was here. He could hear him outside the throne room, bellowing curses and smashing gantries. And the Bad Moon was full. It was grinning up at him from the altar, filling him with power like nothing he had ever felt before. It was flowing through his loonblade and into his veins like the most potent shroom he had ever eaten. He was drunk on loonlight. He felt as though he could fly, and no sooner did he have that thought than his feet left the ground, letting him glide weightlessly above the rock. The final moments of the vision were playing over in his mind constantly now – his knife hovering over the Fyreslayer’s chest, and then an orgy of destruction as walls toppled and the bright golden face of Barak-Urbaz melted and fell.

‘I’m comin’ for ya,’ he said, turning from the altar and heading out of the throne room, his knife jangling in his grip.

‘For Barak-Urbaz!’ cried Solmundsson, blasting furiously with his pistol and sprinting up another gantry. Thorrik was still with him and there was a trail of dead grots clogging the walkways behind them. The Slayer had butchered most of them, but Solmundsson was determined to show that he and Thorrik could hold their own. ‘For the Solmund Company!’

There were hundreds of grots in the atrium, but Gotrek had thrown them into such disarray that Solmundsson and Thorrik were able to blast through with relative ease. They reached a point where the gantry had been smashed, leaving a twenty-foot gap.

‘We can’t jump that!’ cried Solmundsson, gunning down a mob of grots that came thundering towards them on a squig. Robbed of its riders, the squig went into a frenzy and began savaging everything within reach, causing even more mayhem and wrenching more walkways from the walls.

Solmundsson struggled to keep his balance as the rickety structure beneath him began to shudder and groan.

‘One moment, captain,’ said Thorrik, fixing a grappling hook to the muzzle of his gun and firing it over the gap.

The hook crashed through the woodwork on the far side of the gap, and when Thorrik yanked it back, it held firm. ‘Hold on, captain,’ he said, and Solmundsson had only a second to comply before Thorrik launched them both out across the drop.

They landed safely on the far side, crashing into a wall of grots and sending half of them cartwheeling from the ledge. They shot the rest and sprinted on up the ramp.

‘I can see him!’ cried Solmundsson, spotting Gotrek at the top of the atrium, charging into battle, his axe raised, sending more grots tumbling from a ledge. It was a glorious sight. There was no way they could survive this, but Solmundsson did not feel afraid. All he felt was exhilaration. They had got the Slayer deep into the enemy’s keep and he was wreaking such carnage that every grot in Skrappa Spill would soon be pouring back into the Asylum in a panic, rather than attacking Barak-Urbaz as they meant to. Incredibly, despite everything that had gone wrong, they were going to achieve what they had set out to do.

They barrelled through another wave of grots, scaled more ladders, crossed another series of gantries and finally burst out onto the upper level of the atrium. There was a line of grots waiting for them, bows raised and arrows nocked.

‘For Barak-Urbaz!’ howled Solmundsson as he and Thorrik unleashed another barrage of aethershot.

‘What are you doing here?’ cried Maleneth as she saw the two Kharadron charging towards her, muzzles flashing as they ripped a channel through the grots. They yelled something in reply, but there was too much noise for her to hear. Gantries were crashing down all around her and the grots were all screaming war cries as they fought. She strained to move, but it was useless. All she could do was lash out with her knife at any grots that were stupid enough to come close.

Stinkeye had gone, heading off to join Scragfang in the antechamber, and Gotrek was still careering through the crowds. Losing his squig steed had done little to slow him down. He was fighting in a way that was erratic even for him, lurching and staggering into his opponents as though he had lost his sense of balance. Is he drunk? she wondered. ‘Khaine’s teeth,’ she whispered when he finally paused to catch breath and she saw the fungal carapace that had encased him. His back was sporting a forest of toadstools and his legs were dragging trails of mycelium. The few inches of his skin that weren’t hidden by bracket fungus were coated in a blue-green carpet of mould that billowed dust as he lurched back into battle.

‘It’s got him,’ she whispered. ‘The Asylum. It’s in his blood.’ The thought that Gotrek was doomed shocked Maleneth. Despite all her derisive comments, she had come to believe he was as indestructible as he claimed.

The Slayer slammed his axe into another wave of grots, sending them tumbling over the edge of the walkway, but he was slowing with each blow.

‘He’s being consumed,’ said Cerura.

Fungus was bursting from Gotrek’s body with every step he took. A lime-coloured puffball burst from his abdomen, replacing his stomach with a leering moon face, and clouds of black spores were spewing from his mouth. Gotrek cried out as he fought, but his words were muffled by the spores.

Captain Solmundsson punched his way towards Maleneth and reached out to help her. Then he saw her mutated legs and snatched back his hand, shaking his head.

‘What in the name of Khaine is Gotrek doing here?’ she cried, lashing out at another grot. She felt ridiculous saying it, but she had to ask. ‘Did he come here for me?’

Solmundsson sidestepped an arrow and pummelled a grot with the butt of his pistol. Then he wiped blood from the faceplate of his helmet and nodded at Maleneth. ‘He won’t admit it though.’

Maleneth was filled with inexplicable rage. ‘I betrayed him. Why would he ruin himself coming to help me?’

Solmundsson gunned down another attacker, dodged another blow, then staggered towards her, clearly exhausted from fighting up the gantries. Grots were circling him in their dozens, aiming arrows at him, and he was bleeding from several wounds, but he still managed a grim laugh. ‘You two are hilarious.’

Maleneth sneered. ‘I hate him.’

Solmundsson was about to reply when an arrow thudded into his chest. His eyes widened in shock. He staggered backwards with a grunt of pain, dropping his pistol to grab at the arrow. Then he bellowed a war cry and charged back at the grots, raising his cutlass and cutting several of them down. Another two arrows punched into him, one in his chest and one in his stomach, tearing through the rubber of his flight suit. He dropped to his knees and then crumpled onto the floor, gasping and choking. Thorrik howled and raced towards him, shielding him from more shots and firing at the grots. He sent dozens of the creatures hurtling to their deaths and dragged Solmundsson back towards the wall, propping him up against the rock. A grot rushed at him and he cut it down. ‘For Barak-Urbaz!’ he spat, cutting down another, then another. Solmundsson managed to lift himself up on his elbow and started firing his pistol again. A mound of grot bodies began to form around them as they blasted and lunged.

An arrow punched through Thorrik’s faceplate. He continued firing as he slid to the floor, leaving a smear of blood on the rock. Then he crumpled into a heap. Solmundsson cursed and tried to help him back up. Arrows sliced into him, ripping through his suit and smashing his helmet. He fired one last shot, then fell back onto Thorrik’s corpse, his pale, grimacing face visible through his wrecked mask.

Maleneth stared at them in disbelief. ‘Why did you come here?’

‘Finally,’ said Scragfang as he glided from the throne room and into the fighting outside. Mangleback was scuttling after him, giggling wildly, and Stinkeye was there too, wheezing and limping out onto the walkway. Scragfang was only vaguely aware of the fighting. The combatants seemed like faint shadows, flickering at the edges of his moonstruck mind. His attention was locked on the Fyreslayer’s rune. As Gotrek strained under the weight of the fungus, shouldering his way through the scrum towards the aelf, the mould on his skin avoided the rune, unable to sully its gleaming surface.

Scragfang’s loonblade was like cold fire, flickering and freezing. It was hungry for the rune’s power, straining and leaping towards it. Scragfang was finding it hard to separate the vision from reality as the two aligned. He was now living through the scenes that had first appeared to him in the Gibbermarsh. Everything was as he had predicted. The Fyreslayer was on his knees, rent out of shape by the transformations wracking his body, but he was still crawling towards the aelf, determined to reach her, bellowing incoherently as he hacked and punched.

Scragfang let the moonlight carry him over the heads of grots and raised his loonblade, readying himself for the incredible power he was about to steal.

Maleneth stared at Gotrek as he dragged himself towards her, parrying spear thrusts and arrows with less and less force as his body was consumed. His face was still visible, as was the master rune, but everything else was either covered in mould or buried under powdery growths. He gave another enraged howl and managed to stagger to his feet, grabbing a grot in one hand and using it as a club while swinging his axe with his other hand. With a few more brutal blows he managed to stagger to Maleneth’s side.

‘What are you doing?’ she said, her stomach turning as she saw his growths in detail.

Gotrek’s reply was so mangled that Maleneth could barely make out the words. ‘I’ve come. To teach. These grobi. Some bloody respect.’

He staggered as an arrow sank into his shoulder. Then again as another one punched into his knee. The bracket fungus was so thick that it acted as armour, but it was clearly crushing the breath from his lungs. His breathing was horribly laboured. His face was as purple as the toadstools growing on his back.

‘Have you done this for me?’ asked Maleneth. ‘Did you come here for me?’

‘Don’t. Be. Idiot,’ gasped Gotrek, but she saw a flash of embarrassment in his eye and knew that she was right.

He looked at the stem that had replaced her legs and grimaced, shaking his head.

‘You don’t even have a plan, do you?’ she spat, her head whirling with anger.

Gotrek beheaded another grot, then dropped to his knees as another puffball blossomed from his back, crushing him under its weight.

Maleneth groaned in torment, clawing at her own face. ‘Damn it. I can’t let this happen.’ She took Stinkeye’s bottle from her belt and looked at the seed rattling around inside it.

No! Whatever you’re thinking, stop thinking it. Don’t you dare. Don’t do this, Witchblade. Even you are not that stupid.

Maleneth glared at Gotrek, her words dripping with bile. ‘I really hate you.’

Then she took the last seed and pressed it into his mouldy skin.

Gotrek stared at her in shock. Then he gasped as flames rippled over him. He stumbled away from Maleneth, throwing back his shoulders and standing upright, stretching his limbs as though waking from a long sleep. A grot leapt at him with a spear and Gotrek split the monster down the middle with a single axe blow. He grinned as he saw that the fungus was crumbling away from his muscles, dissolving into spores and drifting away. He was drenched in snot-like gunk but his limbs were back to their normal shape. ‘What did you do?’ he grunted, looking back at Maleneth.

She was only half listening, too busy staring down at the fungus that was rushing up to her waist, transforming her flesh in the same way Gotrek’s had been transformed. ‘Khaine forgive me,’ she whispered as tubular growths erupted from her stomach, coiling around each other as they sprouted into toadstools. Then she fixed him with a stare. ‘You haven’t got long.’

‘To do what?’

She nodded at the rune in his chest, but before she could speak, the fungus raced up her torso, engulfing her head. She tried to shout, but her throat was being crushed by something.

Gotrek charged back towards her and raised his axe. For a moment, she thought he meant to kill her, but then she realised he was looking for a way to cut her free.

Why doesn’t he do something?

He can’t, she thought. If he cuts the fungus, he’ll be cutting me.

Maleneth’s field of vision was quickly shrinking. Darkness was washing over her eyes as she felt a warm, heavy growth encasing her skull.

She could still see Gotrek, though. Dozens of grots had surrounded him, drawing back arrows and preparing to shoot. He looked at the grots, then at Maleneth. Then he looked down at the rune in his chest.

Scragfang landed a few feet away from Gotrek and the laughter stalled in his throat. Something had gone dreadfully wrong. The old fear gripped him, crushing his innards so tight he thought he might be sick. The Slayer was drenched in blood and slime but his body was intact. The growths had vanished. He was swaying slightly but still gripping his axe in one hand and the bloody remains of a grot in the other.

One of the grots loosed an arrow and it thudded into Gotrek’s bicep. The Slayer did not notice. He was staring at a pair of Kharadron corpses lying near what used to be the aelf. Then he looked at the tower of fungus that had consumed Maleneth.

‘Dis is wrong!’ hissed Scragfang as Stinkeye and Mangleback broke through the crush and reached his side.

‘Why?’ Mangleback strained to see Gotrek through the rows of archers surrounding him. ‘You’ve got ’im exactly where ya needs ’im.’ He waved a tentacle at the loonblade. ‘Look at yer knife! It’s gone mental.’

The loonblade was bucking and sparking in Scragfang’s grip, but it did nothing to stifle his growing sense of panic. Everything until this point had been in accordance with his vision, but the vision had shown Gotrek buried under mounds of iron-hard fungus, not standing proud and free, his tattooed muscles gleaming in the loonlight as wreckage landed all around him. ‘Dis is all wrong,’ he whispered.

‘Move now!’ whispered Stinkeye. ‘Da moon is full! Da loonlight won’t last. Ya gotta be quick.’

Mangleback and Stinkeye both shoved Scragfang forwards, but he flinched as the Fyreslayer turned to face him. There was a flame burning in Gotrek’s eye. It was not a reflection of the loonlight but something else entirely, something that made Scragfang’s knees buckle. The light grew brighter, blazing in Gotrek’s chest and then engulfing the Fyreslayer, radiating out of him in shards as he held his axe aloft.

And then, as a dreadful heat slammed into him, Scragfang finally saw the truth. The golden face he had seen in his vision, the face he had thought was the facade of a building in Barak-Urbaz, was actually the rune in Gotrek’s chest, blazing like a trapped star. And the destruction he had foreseen was not the destruction of Barak-Urbaz at all. As Slathermere began to shake, Scragfang realised that he had not brought ruin down on the Kharadron – he had brought it down on his own head.

Maleneth gasped as flames washed over her. They scorched her skin, but as she fell to the floor, she realised they had also incinerated the fungus that had encased her legs. She backed away from the mound of ash, then tripped over one of the dead Kharadron and landed heavily on the floor. The fall saved her life. A moment later a flaming support beam crashed down where she had been standing with an explosion of sparks. She lay there in the corpses for a moment, staring in disbelief at the scene unfolding before her. Gotrek was restored and blazing with inner fire as he whirled through the greenskins. The grots were no longer paying much attention to Gotrek, however, more concerned with the fact that the fortress was falling apart. The vast severed head was shaking violently and collapsing in on itself, demolishing the jury-rigged structures that lined the walls. Ladders, gantries and platforms were tumbling down the centre of the atrium, taking crowds of grots, spiders and squigs with them.

He’s lost his mind, realised Maleneth, watching Gotrek attack walls and embers as though they were opponents. He’s going to bring the whole place down and kill us all, and he’s not even aware of what he’s doing.

As the Slayer hurled his axe back and forth, the light from the rune arced through the crowd, igniting and tearing everything it touched. His hair looked like a crest of flames and the brazier in his axe was burning white-hot. He ripped another gantry down, sending hundreds of grots tumbling to their deaths, and leapt onto the highest platform.

Stinkeye rushed from a doorway and hurled something. Maleneth struggled to see what it was, but it flashed and glinted as it landed at Gotrek’s feet. A plume of purple smoke engulfed the Slayer, and when it cleared, he was trapped in a lump of blubbery flesh. It had encased every inch of him. Stinkeye laughed and waved at someone. Mangleback scuttled into view, followed by Scragfang, and they stared at the pile of purple fungus. The gantries and walkways were still falling from the walls and the whole building was shaking, but the three shaman grinned as they began prodding at the lump with their knives.

The fungus exploded, scattering clods of pulp through the air. Gotrek reared from the mess, head thrown back and howling, his axe raised and rippling with flames. Then he brought the weapon down and smashed Stinkeye to the floor, leaving nothing more than a bloody heap.

Mangleback tried to flee but Gotrek dodged a falling beam and sliced the creature neatly in half.

Scragfang leapt forward and plunged a knife into Gotrek’s chest. The blade hit the burning rune and shattered into thousands of sparkling shards.

Gotrek was still howling as he tried to grab Scragfang by the throat, but the creature bolted and sprinted into the shadows.

Gotrek cursed, then charged, smashing into a crowd of spear-wielding grots, swinging his axe round his head and shaking with fury.

As he watched Gotrek slaughtering the grots, Cerura had an idea. Some of the rune light passed near Cerura and he reached out to catch it in his fist. It poured through his veins and gave him a surge of agonising power. The pain was horrific, but rather than recoiling, Cerura dragged it deeper, inhaling it and swallowing it until he felt it radiating through his pores. He’d sampled similar power in Azyr but never on this magnitude. It was wonderful and appalling at the same time. He could feel the fibres of his body straining to contain it and knew he could only bear it for a few minutes at most. He felt as though his mind had been set alight. As the power threatened to overwhelm him, he cast his mind far from the toppling fortress, reaching out through the shadows and the rain, past the sodden roads and steaming marshes towards a light that was burning as brightly as the one in his head – the Asylum Gate.

‘What are you doing?’ gasped a ragged voice in his ear.

Maleneth’s face was white with pain and drenched in blood, but she was far from dead. She was struggling for breath and there was an arrow sunk deep in her midriff, but she had the strength to hold a knife to Cerura’s throat. She spoke through gritted teeth. ‘Were you going to leave without me?’

‘I thought you were dead.’

‘Not yet, wizard.’ She spat blood from her mouth and staggered to her feet, gesturing for him to do the same while she kept the knife pressed to his throat.

‘I will not leave you,’ he said. ‘I swore to help you and I will.’

She held the knife up a moment longer, then nodded and lowered it. She was so weak she would have fallen if Cerura had not caught her. ‘Where is he?’ she said, looking around at the panicked crowd and the heaps of bodies.

‘Gotrek?’

She rolled her eyes, nodding at the raging Slayer. ‘He’s not easy to lose. I mean Scragfang.’

Cerura shook his head in disbelief. ‘The place is collapsing. In a few minutes we’ll be crushed. Forget about Scragfang. They’re all going to die. But I can see the Asylum Gate.’ He held up his hand, showing her the power sparking between his fingertips. ‘I have achieved a mastery of the elements I have never managed before.’

‘I’m not leaving without Scragfang,’ she said, scouring the crowd for a sign of her prey and ignoring his display of sorcery. ‘There!’ She grinned and yanked Cerura across the swaying platform, making for a mound of figures lying a few feet away. ‘That’s the shaman.’

The grots were all too busy fleeing for their lives or tumbling to their deaths to stop them, and they reached the bodies easily enough.

‘Where is he?’ spat Maleneth, picking through the remains. ‘He’s not here.’

‘You!’ gasped Scragfang. He was lying a few feet away, trapped under a fallen beam. At the sight of Maleneth, the grot struggled furiously, trying to reach a spear that was just out of reach.

Maleneth grinned and reclaimed her knives from Stinkeye’s belt.

‘Aelf!’ roared Gotrek, barrelling towards them, trailing embers and broken bodies.

Cerura took a step backwards, shocked by the intensity of the Slayer’s gaze.

‘Why did you come to this fortress?’ gasped Gotrek, scowling at Maleneth. He looked like he was being repeatedly hit by lightning, jerking and convulsing. He pointed at Scragfang. ‘What business do you have with that creature?’

‘He shamed me before Khaine. And he’s going to pay. He’s going to endure years of agony and suffering. And before his body breaks he’ll learn to–’

Gotrek beheaded Scragfang, sending the grot’s head bouncing off into the crowd.

Maleneth stared at the corpse in shock. ‘Khaine’s blood.’ She pointed her knife at Gotrek, trembling with rage. ‘What did you do that for?’

Gotrek gripped his axe in both hands and dropped into a fighting stance. ‘You’re an oathbreaker. You lied to me, aelf. All the time we were in Barak-Urbaz.’

Maleneth howled and drew back her knives, preparing to lunge.

Gotrek raised his axe.

Cerura grabbed Maleneth’s arm in one hand, Gotrek’s in the other, and let the Asylum Gate fill his mind, whispering a prayer as the world fell away.

Chapter Thirty-Three

Maleneth looked out through a wall of crimson. The Asylum had vanished, replaced by the rusting plains of Skrappa Spill. Gotrek was there too. He was facing away from her, staring off into the distance, but his muscle-slab silhouette was unmistakable. Why was everything drenched in blood? She could taste it in her mouth and feel it pressing against her eardrums. She was drowning in it.

‘Two souls?’ said a soft voice.

Cerura, she thought, his voice triggering memories of everything that had taken place in Slathermere. I’m drowning. What have you done?

Interesting, said her mistress. You seem to have joined me in my private hell.

Maleneth felt a jolt of horror as she realised it was true. She was seeing the world from within the blood vial. She was trapped in the amulet. Cerura! What have you done to me!

Oh, the sweet irony. Trapped in a prison of your own devising. Maleneth felt her mistress’ mind pressing close to hers, holding her in an obscenely intimate embrace. What fun we’ll have.

Cerura whispered something, then light flooded Maleneth’s eyes and air rushed into her lungs. She coughed and spat, trying to rid herself of the blood, but there was nothing there. She sat up with a jolt, coming face to face with Cerura’s long, mournful features. He frowned. ‘What is that amulet you wear? It holds a spirit.’

She scowled at him and tried to stand, but the movement sent pain flashing up her side and she would have fallen to the ground if Cerura had not caught her. He lowered her back onto the warm metal.

‘You saved him,’ he said, nodding at the Slayer. ‘By giving him the last seed you saved him.’

Maleneth spat, causing herself another stab of pain. Then she scowled at Cerura. ‘Never remind me of that again.’

He looked puzzled, but the anger in her stare stifled his question and he changed the subject. ‘One of your wounds is serious. The best I could do was remove the arrowhead and cauterise the scar. Several muscles in your stomach have been separated by the cut. If they do not heal properly you will spend the rest of your days hobbling like a crone.’

‘I’m a daughter of Khaine! We do not hobble.’

‘Then you’ll need to rest. For several weeks. Even then the muscles might not heal properly, but that’s your only chance.’

‘Rest?’ Maleneth found that idea almost as nauseating as hobbling. She lay back, carefully, and looked at the clouds overhead. ‘The light looks different.’

‘The crisis has passed. The Bad Moon is waning.’

‘And what about the boar?’

‘Boar?’

‘The Slayer. I presume he’s drunk. Trying to forget his own name.’

‘Eye-wateringly sober,’ said Gotrek, dropping down onto the ground beside her.

Cerura left them alone to talk.

The light had gone from Gotrek’s chest and he looked sombre. The mania that had driven him to destroy Slathermere had vanished. He seemed old and tired. He tapped the rune. The skin around it was darkened by bruising and burns, and Maleneth wondered if he had been hitting it again. ‘It has its hooks in me, Witchblade. There’s no way I can escape it. This thing is greater than any power I’ve come across.’

‘I thought you wanted to remove it?’

‘Removing it would be cowardice. I see it now.’ He stared through her. ‘If I want to live with honour, if I want to be worthy of my ancestors, I have to keep it. And find a way to use it.’

She shook her head, confused.

‘I have to,’ he said. ‘Anything else is just running away. I have to face it. Face it down. I have to conquer it. Trachos was afraid of what he was becoming, but he fought on anyway. In the end, he fought with honour. Because he still knew what was right.’

‘And he died,’ said Maleneth, remembering the scenes on the Angaz-Kár.

‘Yes. Trying to save you. However much he had endured, however much he had been changed, he did the right thing.’

Maleneth looked at the scars across Gotrek’s chest where the rune had burned his skin. ‘Why are these things so important to you?’ she asked, genuinely intrigued. ‘You’re one of the few people in the realms who could live any life they choose. Nothing seems able to stop you. Why do you care so much about how you behave? You could come with me to Azyr, hand over the rune and live the life of a revered hero.’

Gotrek was still staring into the middle distance. Emotions flickered across his blocky features. ‘Do you know what I would see, Maleneth, if I did go to Azyr?’

‘What do you mean? It is the Realm of Heavens. You would see all the wonders Sigmar has wrought. You would see mighty Azyrheim – the Eternal City that all the Free Cities are only a pale imitation of. And hanging overhead, like a watchful star, you would see Sigmaron – home of the God-King himself, where he has made–’

‘I would see my shame.’ Gotrek turned his gaze on her, his expression grim.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Do you know what he keeps up there, Maleneth? Next to his pretty, sparkling palaces? He keeps a corpse. He keeps the remains of my past. A pitiful, ruined lump that was once my home. Mallus, he calls it. The Old World’s remains. It’s the broken, pathetic mess I left behind, and he picks at it like it’s carrion. I will never look upon it. I can face anything but that.’

Maleneth had never heard Gotrek speak like this before. His voice was quiet and taut.

They both fell silent and the quiet was weighted with meaning. Neither of them would meet the other’s eye, but she knew they were grappling with the same thought. Gotrek had shared his innermost thoughts with her. He had also abandoned his plans, fought through the Asylum and nearly died to rescue her. And she, given the choice, had used the last seed to save his life rather than her own. It should have brought them closer, but it felt like a burden. Or a wound. She despised him more than anyone she had ever met. And she knew he hated her. And now they were bound. Tied together in ways she could never have predicted.

Gotrek leant closer, fixing her with his fierce gaze. Then he tapped her stomach. ‘Typical bloody aelf. Swooning over nothing. I’ve had worse scratches from a briar.’

Maleneth closed her eyes and let her head fall back onto the ground, wondering if eternity as a toadstool might have been preferable.

Your Celestial Highnesses,

I write to you in the midst of a fever, so please forgive the disjointed nature of this missive. My stay in Barak-
Urbaz has been unexpectedly prolonged. Since reaching the Kharadron sky-port, Gotrek has been drawn into a local conflict with the Moonclan tribes that hold sway over much of Ayadah. As is his wont, he abandoned the plans that drew him here and, on a whim, threw himself into an entirely unplanned venture. He joined a misguided attempt to attack the greenskins in their own stronghold, a fungus-crowded underworld by the name of the Asylum. I say misguided because the leader of our party, an infuriatingly cheerful oaf by the name of Captain Solmundsson, was killed, along with half his crew and the Stormcast Eternal Trachos. Gotrek and I managed to return to Barak-Urbaz aboard Solmundsson’s sky-ship, the Angaz-Kár, but I have sustained an injury that has since become infected, leaving me bed-bound for what may be several weeks. A local chirurgeon has filled me with so many tinctures that I feel drunk half the time and insane the rest. I am so confused I can barely measure the passing of the days.

Despite the ignominious nature of our return, Gotrek has somehow emerged, yet again, triumphant. By happenstance, rather than design, his escapades in the Asylum derailed the greenskin offensive just as the moon they worship was waxing full. This threw their plans into disarray at a crucial moment. As a result, the local Kharadron fleets have been able to reclaim many of the routes they had previously lost. One of the Barak-Urbaz magnates, an admiral by the name of Solmund, is the father of our deceased captain. I fully expected him to rage at Gotrek for leading his son to his death and perhaps even attempt to punish him, but in a turn of events I should have foreseen, Lord Admiral Solmund has adopted Gotrek as a kind of surrogate son and the two are now inseparable. Gotrek seems to have undergone a kind of epiphany. He is still fixated on the idea of finding a way to live with honour, a way to meet the expectations of his long-dead forebears, but since our return to Barak-Urbaz, he has decided that he can best do that by aiding the Kharadron. He still has little love for most of them, but his bond with Solmund has become so strong that he spends long hours in his company, drinking and talking. Something in Gotrek has driven Solmund to rethink his purpose in life. Between them, they have become set on the idea that they can harness their respective powers for ‘the good of the realms’. I have no idea what they mean by this, but between my bouts of delirium I shall endeavour to learn their plans.

I have made some progress in another area. After the battle at the Asylum, Gotrek revealed some of his reasons for wishing to avoid Azyr. It is as illogical as all of his thinking, but now that I understand him better, I should be able to find a way to influence him. I believe I am closer than ever to achieving our goal of bringing the rune to Azyrheim.

I was about to send you this report when things took a worrying turn. Despite offers from the admiral, we are staying in the Stromez Quarter, in the same small rooms we rented when we first arrived at Barak-Urbaz. This is, I confess, mainly because I enjoy tormenting the landlord, a strutting ass by the name of Brior, but it is also because I cannot bear the endless drinking songs that fill Solmund’s palace. The cramped nature of the lodgings is demeaning, but it means I am able to observe Gotrek’s behaviour closely. And I am deeply troubled by what I see. He thinks I sleep more than I do and takes no care to hide his comings and goings, but there is a hard look in his eye I have never seen before. He has taken to bringing Lord Admiral Solmund back to our rooms for secret talks. They spend long hours together, poring over mouldering texts from Solmund’s library. As my mind slips in and out of fever dreams I catch glimpses of the two craggy-faced duardin, hunched over books and scratching notes in the margins. Gotrek is possessed by a kind of mania, and he seems to have infected Solmund with the same fervour. I am still too ill to leave my bed, but I sense Gotrek is about to embark on another of his reckless adventures. I have seen him like this before, but he has never had the backing of someone like Solmund. The Solmund Company possesses a powerful fleet and seemingly limitless resources. If Gotrek and Solmund embark on an idealistic crusade, the rune will be lost to us forever.

This may all sound like fever-induced hysteria, but I find his altered mood disturbing. In the deeps of the night, when pain drags me from my dreams, I see him pacing through the darkness, his hand over the rune, muttering about a ‘worthy doom’.

Forgive my histrionics, but despite my earlier requests to leave me in peace, I now beg for aid. The Slayer is preparing to do something. And from the look in his eye, I believe it may be something disastrous, either for him or me or for the wider realm. The Gotrek I knew is fading. And something even stranger is taking his place. Contact me here as soon as you are able, I beg you.

Your most loyal and faithful votary,

Maleneth Witchblade

About the Author

Darius Hinks is the author of the Warhammer 40,000 novels Blackstone Fortress, Blackstone Fortress: Ascension and the accompanying audio drama The Beast Inside. He also wrote three novels in the Mephiston series: Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius, Mephiston: Revenant Crusade and Mephiston: City of Light, as well as the Space Marine Battles novella Sanctus. His work for Age of Sigmar includes Hammers of Sigmar, Warqueen and the Gotrek Gurnisson novel Ghoulslayer. For Warhammer, he wrote Warrior Priest, which won the David Gemmell Morningstar Award for best newcomer, as well as the Orion trilogy, Sigvald and several novellas.

An extract from Cursed City.

Emelda leapt aside as the shabby figure shuffled towards her. She gave the wretch only the briefest scrutiny, unable to tell if it was even a human under the layers of dirt and rags that covered the hunched shape, though she guessed it must be alive since it had a sprig of wolfbane pinned to its hood as a guard against the feral vargskyr. Her focus was mainly upon the buckets gripped by those hairy hands. The pungent reek of nightsoil wafted from the containers and as the muckraker trudged down the street, filth sloshed onto the cobblestones.

Gustaf refused to give ground to the tatterdemalion, forcing him to shift his burden awkwardly to navigate around the vampire hunter. The muckraker stumbled, but recovered. Emelda watched as the ragged shape continued down the Koenigstrasse towards the miserable little grave-gardens clumped about the base of Ulfenkarn’s southern wall.

‘For a Braskov, you’re strangely obliging to commoners,’ Gustaf said.

Emelda gave him an acid look. ‘For a cautious man, you don’t seem to mind having shit spattered on your clothes.’ She felt a twinge of amusement when Gustaf glanced down at the specks of filth the muckraker had splashed on him when shifting out of his way. The humour was tempered by a more serious concern. Calling Gustaf ‘cautious’ spoke more clearly of what really troubled the swordswoman.

Gustaf Voss was anything but cautious. Emelda wasn’t sure if it was arrogance or zealotry, but the vampire hunter seemed to dare fate to do its worst to him. Openly wearing a Sigmarite medallion in Ulfenkarn was brazen defiance of the lord of the city, Radukar the Wolf. The people of the city had long ago learned better. Whatever their inner thoughts and beliefs, they kept them to themselves. The least provocation was all the excuse the vampires needed to condemn an entire household to death… and worse than death. Nor was there any shortage of human sycophants only too eager to ingratiate themselves to the monsters by betraying those around them. Gustaf’s boldness was an invitation to disaster.

‘I see what you mean,’ Gustaf said with a frown. He stopped beside one of the many vendor carts that cluttered the street. The seller started to protest when he snatched an ear of black corn from the sorry display of vegetables. A glare from him killed the old woman’s objection before she muttered more than a few words. Gustaf peeled away the husk and tossed the rest of the ear back onto the cart, then began wiping away the filth from his clothes.

Emelda was distracted by a group of street urchins who came rushing down the street throwing snowballs at each other. The sight and sounds of their frivolity warmed her against the chill in the air, but only for a moment. Only until she really paid attention to the ditty they were singing.

‘When ye hear the scrape, scrape, scraping of Old Gorslav on his walk,

The only sound he ever makes, for he ain’t one for talk.

Flee then, fool, and hide away, and hope he don’t come take,

And bind your arms and drag ye off to bury ye awake.’

The morbid song crushed that brief flicker of hope she’d felt, that idea that there was some corner of Ulfenkarn that wasn’t yet corrupt. Even the songs and games of the children had darkened in Radukar’s shadow. To her mind, Emelda thought there was no greater sign of a people’s subjugation than to have their children tainted by the horrors they endured. She turned back to the old woman with the vegetable cart. She stepped over and threw a piece of whalebone to the woman as compensation.

Emelda scowled at Gustaf. ‘You could show a bit of decency,’ she said as they continued along the street.

‘Not in my trade,’ Gustaf replied. ‘Courtesy breeds contempt. A vampire hunter can only accomplish his work if the people are more afraid of him than they are the evil that is preying on them.’ He gave her a look that was almost regretful. ‘If they think I’m meaner than the monsters, they might also think I can beat those monsters.’

‘That’s a cynical way to look at people,’ Emelda said.

Gustaf tossed the soiled husk into the gutter. ‘Not cynical. Pragmatic. Realistic.’ He pointed at her cloak, or rather the sword concealed beneath it. ‘You were a leader in Mournhold’s army. You commanded soldiers in battle.’

‘I led my men,’ Emelda said. ‘I rallied them by inspiring them to remember everything they were fighting for. I didn’t sneer down at them like they were animals.’

‘Didn’t you?’ Gustaf asked. ‘When a battle was going poorly, when fear threatened to break your troops and send them fleeing the field? Did you use honeyed words and inspiring speeches? Or did you threaten and shame them until they did what you needed them to do?’

There was a bit too much truth in that challenge for Emelda’s liking. ‘That was different. They were soldiers and it was war.’

The vampire hunter waved his finger at the sinister ruins beyond the slums and the dark castle that rose above them. ‘This is war,’ he told her, ‘and every one of these people is a soldier in that war. The tragedy is that so many of them don’t realise it.’

Ahead of them, Emelda saw something that seemed to emphasise Gustaf’s comparison of war and the state of the city. A big wagon slowly lumbered through the street, drawn by a gang of naked, rotten creatures with vacant, lifeless faces and green necrotic skin. Behind the zombies, seated on the wagon, was a man in a long coat and tall hat, the emblem of the Gravemasters’ Guild emblazoned on both. Behind him, in the bed of the wagon, was a heap of corpses. As the wagon rolled through the street, a bell fastened to its side tolled its doleful note. A summons for all who heard it to bring out the bodies of those who’d died in their buildings during the night.

There were no funerals for Ulfenkarn’s dead. The corpses were taken away into the haunted ruins at the centre of the city. Emelda had heard rumours of their eventual fate. Some would be fed to the ghoulish creatures kept by the vampires, others would be given over to necromancers for their black sorcery; many would be given to the horrifying Gorslav the Gravekeeper and surrendered to his hideous Corpse-Gardens to rise again as ghastly undead or to be eaten by the deadwalkers already prowling the graveyards. Yet such terrible things paled in comparison to the dangers faced by the grieving family who tried to hide their dead. The smell of rotting flesh brought ravening monsters out of the ruins to glut their foul hunger. Or the body itself might be corrupted by the dark energies that spilled down upon the city, reawakened as a murderous abomination. Many who tried to defy the call of the corpse-bell didn’t live long enough to be punished for breaking the law.

Thoughts of the hidden dead turned Emelda’s mind back to Morrvahl Olbrecht. He might have saved them from Viscount Lupu, but she didn’t trust him. The hideout he’d taken them to was the cellar of an abandoned mill. What they found there was a chamber of horrors. Bits of bodies preserved in jars and bottles. Strange apparatus and equipment that seemed to merge the concepts of magic and science. And then there was the cube of dark glass that stood in a little alcove all of its own. Emelda was certain she’d seen something moving within that glass, something that groped at the walls of its prison with spectral claws.

‘What will we do about Morrvahl?’ Emelda asked Gustaf.

‘He might call himself a scholar, but if his magic isn’t outright necromancy, it’s near enough to it.’ Gustaf’s face contorted in a grimace. ‘It’s clear he’s no friend of the vampires, but that’s no great recommendation.’

‘How far can we trust him?’

‘We don’t,’ Gustaf stated bluntly. ‘Morrvahl hasn’t any interest in redeeming this city or helping its people. If he’s the enemy of Radukar, it’s because he sees the Wolf as an obstacle. To him, we’re nothing but pawns to exploit to his own ends.’

‘So, what do we do?’ Emelda said.

‘We do the same thing to him he intends to do to us,’ Gustaf replied. ‘We make use of him. We exploit his animosity towards the vampires. We use his filthy magic against our common foe.’

Emelda was shocked to hear Gustaf speaking this way. ‘You’re a Sigmarite, a member of the Order of Azyr. How can you condone such a thing?’

‘Even the God-King himself made use of Nagash against the abominations of Chaos,’ Gustaf explained. ‘Sometimes to kill the fox you make peace with the weasel.’ He looked away and pointed to a building they were approaching. ‘Since coming to Ulfenkarn, I’ve become resigned to choosing which evil I’m focusing my fight against.’

The building was a half-timber structure, its plaster painted a vivid red. A narrow balcony opened off its first floor and stretched out over the street. Emelda felt sickened when she saw the long pole that had been bolted to the structure, a length of bone painted white with a crimson stripe winding around it. Many horrible things had arisen in Mournhold since it became Ulfenkarn, but none were more loathsome than these leech-parlours.

‘Blood-lenders? Really?’ Emelda scowled.

‘Lupu’s thugs scared away my contact last night in the Black Ship,’ the vampire hunter hurried to explain. ‘I’m hoping he’ll be here.’ Gustaf’s face grew flushed when Emelda just gave him a blank stare. ‘You don’t think anything but business would bring me to a place like this?’

Emelda gave him a cold look, and walked away before he had a chance to explain. She reached the entrance of the leech-parlour ahead of Gustaf. A young boy, no more than ten, was sweeping dirt from the doorway. He threw down his broom and scrambled inside when she came close. Emelda followed him through the heavy ironwood door.

Inside was a large room dominated by a broad stairway that curled its way up to the first floor. A menagerie of tables and chairs were arrayed all about. The stuffed head of a tide tiger stared down from the far wall. Along the wall to her right was a counter behind which stood several large casks and a rack of clay beer steins, all of them heavily caked in dust, relics of days when the custom of this building had been scandalous rather than sanguinary. To her left Emelda noted heavy curtains in an assortment of colours, each closing off a smaller room or alcove.

One of these was pushed aside and the boy reappeared. Behind him was a middle-aged woman, her blonde hair piled high atop her head in an elaborate coiffure, her face caked in powder. She wore an exaggerated blue gown that was simultaneously ostentatious and tawdry.

The woman gave Emelda an appraising look that set the swordswoman’s blood boiling. ‘You don’t look rich enough to be buying, so I’ll explain what I pay. The first pint gets you a cot for the night. The second earns you a meal. Porridge and bread. I only give goods for trade for the third pint. And mind, you’re still responsible for your own blood-tithe as well. I’ll not stick my neck out for anybody stupid enough to defy the Wolf.’

Emelda reached the powdered woman in a single step. She grabbed the front of her dress and pulled her close. ‘Talk to me like that again, and there isn’t enough powder in Szargorond that’ll hide what I do to your face.’

The woman sputtered in horror at Emelda’s threat. The outcry brought two men out from another of the alcoves. They were as brutish and ugly-looking a pair as she’d ever seen, but they seemed like they knew how to use the clubs they carried. Emelda returned their angry glower with an icy stare.

‘Call your troggoths off,’ she told the blood-seller. She tightened her grip, tearing the material as she drew the woman closer. ‘I promise they won’t get me before I get you.’ The menace in her tone made her captive’s eyes go wide with fear.

‘Emelda!’ Gustaf shouted across the scene. ‘Name of a motherless spider, what’s going on here!’

‘Just having a discussion with the proprietress,’ Emelda told him. She stared into the blood-seller’s frightened eyes. ‘I think we understand each other better now.’

The proprietress licked her lips nervously. ‘Andrei, Serban, it’s all right,’ she called to the two brutes. The men looked unconvinced, but shrugged and retreated back into their alcove. When they were gone, Emelda released their boss.

Gustaf walked over to the two women. He gave Emelda a warning look, then fixed his attention on the blood-seller.

‘We came here looking for Vladrik Brandt. Is he here?’

The woman glared sullenly at Gustaf. ‘Why should I tell you anything?’ Her fingers pulled at the torn neck of her gown. ‘This will cost plenty to mend. Are you going to pay for it?’

Emelda bristled at the blood-seller’s wheedling tone. She started forwards to give her something to really complain about, but Gustaf motioned her to keep back. His voice dropped to a grim whisper, slicing the air like a knife.

‘I’m sure you’re eager to have us leave,’ he said. He turned in place and made a show of looking at the decayed finery with which the room was decorated. ‘The way to make that happen is to tell me what I want to know. It would be a shame if something happened to all this.’

‘Quite a shame,’ Emelda quipped. She kicked one of the chairs over with her boot, sending it clattering against the base of the stairs. She stared daggers at the proprietress when the woman raised a protest. ‘Of course, you could always call your goons back out. Then you could try to make a bit of money selling their blood.’

‘The faster you two are gone, the better it suits me,’ the proprietress snarled in defeat. ‘You’ll find Vladrik upstairs. Third room on the right.’

‘Thank you,’ Gustaf said. He hurried past Emelda and started up the stairs.

‘When you leave, see that you stay gone,’ the proprietress said.

Emelda turned as she climbed the stairs. ‘That suits me fine. The only reason I’d come back here is to burn this leech-parlour to the ground.’

Click here to buy Cursed City.

A Black Library Publication

First published in Great Britain in 2021.
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Cover illustration by Anna Lakisova.

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