MASTER OF THE HUNT (2014)

Written by Josh Reynolds
Performed by Toby Longworth
Directed by Christian Dunn 
Scripted by Alex “Reverend” N. 



List of characters:
* Kor'sarro Khan - Captain of the White Scars 3rd Company and the Chapter's fifty-first Master of the Hunt;
* Ambaghai - White Scars Stormseer; 
* Kanishi, Batoo, Sabtak, Toolui'Monk, Tokus - White Scars Space Marines; 
* Doomrider - Daemon Prince of Slaanesh.




CHAPTER 01
(sounds of a battle, people crying, multiple gunshots)
The air stank of spilled fuel and blood. Huge engines growled remorselessly as the skyway trembled beneath the weight of the enemy. The trio of massive machines were square without grace all functioned round and for and their once grey hulls had been daubed1 in garish2 hues3, creating an inexorable4 wall of eye-searing color. Heavy stabbers and auto-cannons chattered maniacally from the bulbous hulls of the haulers. 
Their crews wrapped in makeshift5 robes and looted flack-armor bellowed out ululating6 off-key chants to abhorrent gods through the vox amplifiers attached haphazardly7 to the hulls. They shouted one name above all others however, a name drove ahead of them like a hound straining at a leash. 
The haulers moving abreast of one another formed a wall of destruction, filling the skyways hundred odd meter width. The ancient atmospheric highway built in the golden age of the Great Crusade curved and coiled through the upper reaches of  Shaka VI - one of the most densely populated worlds of the Colane Circle. It stretched the circumference8 of the planet, the recursive mega-road, that cut through the heavy clouds, born aloft by hundred kilometer columns of stone and steel and linked the far-flung hives where untold millions worked ceaselessly and carved9 to get the desperately needed metro resources which kept the Imperium functioning. In better times the skyway had been packed with traffic as haulers10 and transports moved from one hive to another or transported materials and personnel to the ring of suborbital docks which circled Shaka VI like a halo. Atmospheric vessels would then carry the load up to the waiting transport cruisers.
Now however it was a warzone. The docks had become makeshift fortresses and the hives connected to it burned sending up vast blooms of black smoke into the sky. Some of that smoke rolled over the Imperial Guard troopers who crouched behind the solid bulwarks11 and barricades that lined the Ecclesiastes 26 intersection and waited with hollow-eyed resignation12 for the enemy's inevitable arrival. A battery of quad launchers ensconced13 on a nearby landing platform bit out a dull rhythm on the air  and on the ranks of the enemy. Line defense platforms mounted with heavy stabbers chattered ceaselessly and weapon barrels turned white hot and melted to slag. None of it would make a difference in the end. It never did. The haulers were as heavily armored as a battle tank and nothing the Imperial Guard could throw at them could so much as dent14 a hull-plate. Intersection after intersection had been ground under their treads. 
(huge explosion)
The defensive cordon around Ecclesiastes 26 would fall as those around Ecclesiastes 25 and Oracly 39 had fallen in the weeks previous and the survivors would fall back as best they could as they had too many times before. Men flinched15 and shivered as the nightmarish howling of the enemy washed over them with crackling ferocity. 
(sounds of the battle)

CHAPTER 02
From the overpass16 surveying the intersection and sitting stride his bike Kor'sarro Khan - captain of the White Scars 3d Company and Master of the Hunt - watched the enemy approach, his golden eyes missing no detail, no matter how small and seemingly inconsequential. As with all Space Marines he was larger than any normal man and clad in heavy ceramite power-armor painted in the traditional white and crimson of his Chapter. He wore no helm on his proud head detesting the sense of constriction that came from it and a heavy top-knot of grey streaked black hair hung down his back. He preferred to feel the kiss of the wind on his scarred cheeks and to use his own senses rather than the artificial ones of his helmet.
Kor'sarro Khan (laughing): "They are in a hurry" 
Idly he stroke the armored chassis of his bike as his ancestors on Chogoris likely had with their horses moments before battle. Moon Drakkan as the bike was called  was one of the oldest relics of the Chapter and it had carried him across a thousand battlefields and would likely carry him across a thousand more. 
Ambaghai: "They are mad, stampeding17 heedlessly18 like thunderstruck bovets". 
Kor'sarro glanced sideways at the speaker. Like himself Ambaghai was a Space Marine built for battle and armored in the Emperor's grace and he too sat astride a bike. Unlike Kor'sarro however the other Space Marine was neither khan, nor captain. Instead the blue pauldron and vambrace of his right arm and the crystalline force-hood that hung over his helmeted head as well as the force-staff he clutched tightly in his right hand proclaimed him a Stormseer - a librarian of the White Scars chapter, a master of lightning and the spirits of land, air and prophecy. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "Then it is that very madness that tells us our prey is near, is it not?" 
His hand instinctively found the hilt of his sheathed power-sword. The blade was called Moon Fang and like Moon Drakkan it was a relic of the chapter and older even that the oldest living battle-brother having first tasted the blood of the White Scars foes millennia ago. The spirits of both bike and blade seemed to whisper to him eager for war. Or perhaps it was simply his own battle thirst urging him to hurl himself quickly into the red moments where he could do what he did best. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "You are certain then that this is the moment. Stormseer? That this is the place?"
Ambaghai (waiting for a moment before answering): "Those machines are not simply engines of war but also devises of worship. They are temples, my khan, rolling fortresses of abomination spreading their sickness across the world and I can hear the growl of his hideous engines within theirs like the ghost of an echo and smell his stink on the wind amidst their fumes. He is riding towards us even now, though we cannot yet see him. The call to him from within those crude shells and like a dead leaf on a black wind he comes".  
Kor'sarro Khan: "But to which one, Stormseer?"
Ambaghai: "I cannot tell. All that the spirits whisper to me is that he is coming".
Kor'sarro Khan: "A shell game19 then..."
He looked at the half-dozen battle brothers from the 3d Company who sat nearby astride their own gleaming bikes. He had chosen each of them especially for this hunt. Each was a warrior without parallel even among a chapter which was reckoned full of such and their lodge poles were as heavy with trophies as his own. 
Kor'sarro Khan (almost laughing): "Fine, we are good at games, are we not, hunt-brothers?"
(several approving voices and laughs)
Kor'sarro looked down at the intersection again. The briefest glance told him that the defenses there would not hold, not unless the White Scars offered aid but they were not here to lend aid. Though White Scars had come to Shaka VI for bigger prey than heretics and madmen. Few could face the fury of the White Scars and survive. Those who did were marked for death, their sculls pledged to the White Road. It was the task of the Master of the Hunt to see to this restoration of the balance and Kor'sarro Khan was the 51st holder of that position. He had never failed in his task, though it had cost him. 
He had come to Shaka VI in pursuit of his latest prey, whose trails stretched almost to the time of the Scouring. The thing called Doomrider. None knew its true name. Even the oldest of Stormseers could not pry20 that secret from the jaws of the spirits or even what legion if any the beast had once pledged fealty to. Only scraps existed buried in myth and lies. Some said that Doomrider had led the Emperor's Children on Terra butchering the population with mindless excess while true warriors battled for the fate of the galaxy. Others said that the creature was no kin of Fulgrim, but instead a fallen son of some other chapter. Still other legends claimed that the beast could not truly die, for in its blood ran the raw stuff of the warp. 
None of that mattered to Kor'sarro however. Four times... Four times their prey... his prey had escaped from the White Scars. Four Masters of the Hunt prior to him had been humbled21 by the creature, outwitted, outfought, outridden. That last was the most galling22 of all, a stain on the chapter's honor unlike any other. The White Scars were like the berkut - the hunting eagle  speeding across the horizon, barely seen until they struck. Bikes, Land Speeders  - it did not matter. They were masters of mechanized warfare, wolves of the wheel prowling down the Red Road. 
But the thing known as Doomrider made a mockery of their mastery. Four times the laughing nightmare clad in the colors of a long-dammed legion riding a demon-forged bike had escaped them down the long road of centuries. Four times it had wet its hell-blade in the blood of Kor'sarro's battle brothers and escaped their wrath. Four times it had humbled a Master of the Hunt. There would not be a fifth. 

CHAPTER 03
Below the first row of rockrete Dragon's Teeth tank traps erected hours earlier by the Imperial Guard were ground beneath the clattering treads of the haulers. 
(small explosions with little damage)
A moment later the second row met the same fate. Foul smoke belched from the haulers exhaust-pods as the machines thundered on. Behind them came the bulk of the enemy force, riding in a motley23 assortment of jury-rigged vehicles, civilian ground cars, stolen and reconditioned reconnaissance vehicles, bikes and even a half dozen Chimeras. Hastily bolted on armor and weapons bristled from every vehicle and screaming chanting cultists were packed into each. 
More than one driver gripped by an excess of enthusiasm and in an effort to bypass his fellows lost control and went roaring through the shattered barrier that lined either side of the skyway and plummeted24 into cloudy void still singing praises to the dark gods. Still others collided, overcrushed beneath the treads of the larger or more durable vehicles. None of it seemed to deter the enemy. Indeed such mishaps only seemed to encourage the remainder on to greater and more reckless speeds. 
Such madness was a symptom of the sickness that had come to Shaka VI. An ancient cancer had grown and flourished and now a world tittered25 on the knife edge of oblivion. Its population learned new ways to shout and revel26 and kill in the name of the Prince of Pleasure and his herald - the demon of speed whose voice was in the growl of the engines. Doomrider had shown the cultists who even now bore down on the defensive line below the way to ride and it was he whose name they shrieked as they tore their own world asunder. 
(Sounds of battle)  

CHAPTER 04
Ambaghai: "He is almost upon us, my khan". 
Kor'sarro looked at him and was thankful that he could not hear whatever spirits spoke to the Stormseer. It did not look to be a pleasant experience.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Good, let us go and meet him". 
He grinned as a sudden enthusiasm gripped him. It was always the way as a hunt drew to a close, the feeling of anticipation, the joy of the kill thundering through him, driving him on. 
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Now!"
The subcutaneous27 vox-communicator implanted in his jaw carried his words to the ears of his men as clearly as if he had whispered in their ears. 
(sounds of engines flying over their heads)
As if in reply from beneath the skyway sounded the scream of powerful engines. Two white shapes, boxy28 but graceful rose into view carried by twin-tilt rotor thrusters, one on either side of the skyway behind the haulers. Storm Talon gunships... Each bore nose-mounted twin-linked assault cannons and abrasive Sky Hammer missile launchers and these they trained with deadly intent on the vehicles following the haulers. 
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Give them the gift of death, hunt-brothers". 
A moment later the hovering29 gunships released their first lethal payloads. 
(several shots and a moment of deafening silence)
Twin-linked missile launchers vomited a fusillade of explosive death on the enemy vehicles, the Sky Hammer missiles rending armor as easily as a man might shred paper. Vehicles exploded and burning wreckage was scattered the width of the road. The assault cannons opened up a moment later as the Storm Talons swooped low weaving around one another with predatory grace as they scythed life from the skyway in a deadly strafing round, their thrusters carrying them with a speed no earthbound vehicle could match. A half dozen times over the past few weeks the White Scars had set this same trap and a half dozen times they had held back from springing it allowing the heretic forces to sweep aside the Imperial Guard and thunder on growing evermore frenzy. 
Doomrider would only come when that frenzy was at its peak, when all thought of anything safe, speed and death had been burned from the minds of the cultists or so Ambaghai had said. But it was clear to Kor'sarro that that time was now. Or perhaps he had simply grown tired of waiting. Irritated he pushed the thought aside.
(multiple laser rounds)
As explosions rocked the skyway Ambaghai raised his staff.
Ambaghai: "The haulers are nearly at the intersection, my khan. If we are to close the trap..."
Kor'sarro Khan: "So they are, Ambaghai".
Below the barricade shook as the haulers' remorseless advance continued. Lasguns crackled uselessly from behind the fortifications as the haulers' armor deflected the shots. The final row of Dragon's Teeth crumbled. The haulers didn't slow as they closed on the intersection. Men began to edge back from the barricades ignoring the barked orders of sergeants and the threatening gestures of black-coated pistol-wielding commissars alive. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "They will slow once they enter the intersection. There isn't enough room for them to continue at that speed. We will take them then. Mount up, brothers, it is time to ride". 
His men bellowed30 in reply as they revved31 the engines of their bikes. Kor'sarro grinned savagely as he gunned his own throttle. The engine purred in eagerness and with a shout Kor'sarro twisted the bike around and shot away. Ambaghai and the others followed him as he leaned into the curve of the overpass and thundered down the ramp towards the intersection even as the haulers crushed the first line of barricades 
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Ambaghai, Kanishi, Batoo, take the one to the left. Sabtak, Toolui'Monk, take the right. Tokus, follow me. The center is ours, disable and search them quickly brothers and vox whether prey's lair has been found. Ride well and ride swiftly". 
Ambaghai (crying): "For the Khan and the Emperor!"
Ambaghai raised his force-staff over his head. A lightning wreathed32 in a crackling trout. Imperial Guard troopers scattered as Space Marine bikes tore through the intersection heading for the haulers. 
Kor'sarro reached across his seat for Moon Fang's hilt. The sword's power-cell activated as he drew it and a long white blade was suddenly enveloped in a lethal haze of disruptive energy as he slashed the air. 
(sounds of the battle, laser rounds) 
He let his arm swing back and hunched forward in his seat, shifting his wake with an instinctual ease born from centuries of experience. He and his hunt-brothers traversed the zigzag fortifications of the intersection so quickly that to human eyes they resembled little more than pale blurs. They did not stop to reassure the retreating troopers as Space Marines of the Salamanders' chapter might have done or even to organize a more efficient retreat as the Ultramarines might have attempted. Instead they tore through the retreating ranks sending men scrambling for cover and ignoring all calls for aid.
Kor'sarro tapped the firing stud for the twin-linked bolters mounted on the front of Moon Drakkan and a section of the barricade ahead disintegrated. There would be no need for it if they succeeded and if they didn't it wouldn't do the defenders any good anyway. 
(multiple bolter rounds) 
The others followed soon and the fortifications crumbled leaving the path ahead clear. The group split and Kor'sarro aimed Moon Drakkan towards the center haulers. 
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Mag lock belly fast, Tokus".
Tokus (over vox, smiling): "Huh, belly, my khan". 
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Quick is that way. Fine, let us gut them. The honor of first blood is yours, brother. Be wary and be swift". 
Tokus gunned his engine pulling ahead as he hurtled33 towards the advancing hauler he reached down into his saddlebag and extracted the round canister-shape of a melta bomb. With a snap of his wrist Tokus activated the grav-clamp on the bombs' canister and as he drew within spitting distance of the hauler he suddenly twisted his bike around to the side and leaned away from the enemy vehicle. His engine stalled, the bike overbalanced and fell just as Tokus had intended and momentum carried it on beneath the hauler safely between its grinding tracks. Kor'sarro laughed in satisfaction as he darted between the center hauler and its left post companion. It was a risky maneuver but Tokus was a White Scar and risk was in their geneseed. Life was worth nothing without it and to court34 it was every White Scar's greatest joy. Through the churning thicket of rolling track he saw Tokus slide beneath the hauler in a cloud of dust. The Space Marine reached up and slapped the bomb against the bottom of the hauler where its grav-clamps were held in place. 
(Tokus slamming the bomb and laughing)
Tokus went limp35 allowing the hauler to continue onwards. Kor'sarro raced past the hauler as the cultists manning the gunports above finally realized that they were under attack. Heavy stabbers and auto-cannons released a pulverizing rain down on him and he ducked his head as the bullets glanced off his power-armor. The center hauler suddenly shuddered as the melta bomb went off with a dull fizzy.
(explosion)
Oily smoke belched36 from beneath the great machine and it lurched37, swerved38 and finally slowed. It did not stop but that wasn't unexpected. One bomb was rarely enough for vehicles this size. It had slowed it, that was all that mattered. 
With a shout Kor'sarro cleared the corridor between the two mammoth vehicles bursting through the smoke. He spun Moon Drakkan about whipping a cloak of dust and grit39 about himself as he aimed the bike's front tire at the rear of the center hauler, now beginning to lag40 behind its companions. Behind him the Storm Talons continued to pound the remainder of the enemy force unleashing salvo after salvo. Nonetheless several vehicles managed to get through the unceasing hail of fire thought whether due to luck or skill, Kor'sarro couldn't say. He felt he could almost admire such a thing if the drivers in question hadn't been heretics. 
Battered41 and burning civilian tracks sped alongside him. They opened rear compartment full of powering passengers one of whom hefted a heavy stabber as if it were a child's toy. The weapon spat but Kor'sarro was already gone letting the track pull ahead. He swerved behind it tapping the firing stud at it. Men jittered42 and died as the bolters scythed the rear compartment clear of life.
(multiple bolter rounds, people crying, thrusters roaring)
Then he pulled alongside the track and Moon Fang flashed as he let the blade drift along the vehicle's flank peeling armor, splitting the treads. The track spun out of control and flipped end over end with a shriek of buckling metal as he left it in his wake. 
Tokus rose as Kor'sarro shot past hauling his bike up and bringing it around to follow the Master of the Hunt in pursuit of their prey. The Space Marine was unharmed save for the patches of bare grey metal showing on his begrimed43 armor.
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Hurry up, brother, or I'll bring it down without you". 
A moment later he reached the slope rear hull of the hauler. It was a steep climb but he'd made steeper. Moon Drakkan's engines gave him a throaty growl as his hollowed the bike front wheel off the ground and smashed it down on the lip44 of the hull. There with a whoop  Kor'sarro rode up the back of the hauler towards the top. 
Hatches sprung over as he'd known they would and men peered out taking aim with autoguns and stabbers. Moon Drakkan's bolters roared and the path was wiped clean. Hatches were shot away and bodies tumbled past the hurtling bike and its rider. 
As Kor'sarro hit the apex of the hull everything seemed to slow. The din45 of battle became muted and all he could hear was the growl of Moon Drakkan's engine and thud of his own heart. 
(hearts beating)
This was the moment perfect in its clarity which he sought in every battle, in every hunt and he laughed loud and long as tire touched steel and he leapt from Moon Drakkan's saddle. Moon Fang blazed in his hands as the soles of his boots slammed down and he was charging towards the makeshift defensive positions the enemy had built atop the flat roof of their rolling fortress. He hurtled over the improvised barricade taking several heads with a single sweep. Rolling to his feet he drew the bolt-pistol from the holster on his hip and whirled fire. 
(several bolter shots)
A cultist flew backwards, torso disintegrating into a red mess. More replaced him and shrieked ragged chants that made the air feel greasy to Kor'sarro's ears. It was not courage but madness that propelled them and he felt a flash of pity mingled with disgust as he killed them. But whatever their motivations all humans die the same.
(chainsword turned on)
A sputtering46 chainsword looped towards him and Moon Fang separated the wielder's sword arm from his shoulder.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Come then, come and meet death".
This was the White Scars' most sacred duty, to take the heads of the Emperor's enemies and hang them on the lodge poles. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "Come and deliver your heads to the Great Khan and the Emperor!"
(sounds of fearsome slaughter)
He lashed out kicking the squalling47 cultists  and shattering the men's spine and bones he jammed backwards with elbow crushing a throat. The bolt pistol barked in his grip and more men died. 
(silence)
In moments the hull was slick with spilled blood and Kor'sarro stood momentarily alone amidst piles of human wreckage. 
Kor'sarro Khan (in disgust): "Pathetic..."
He flicked blood from his blade and holstered his pistol. 
Ambaghai (over vox): "They always are, my khan. They are weak, not just in body but in spirit. Weakness festers in them and makes them less even than beasts. They are sick and it up to the healthy to tend48 to them".
Kor'sarro glanced left where he knew the Stormseer would be. The air crackled suddenly and a stink of ozone washed over him as the hauler to the left shuddered and veered49 towards the edge of the skyway, smoke boiling from every crack in its hull. 
(explosions)
Ambaghai like all Stormseers could call the lightning when he wished and wield it as easily as another of his brothers might wield a blade or bolter. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "It is our prey weak, Stormseer, I hope not. (smiling) Otherwise this shall be a very disappointing hunt". 
He flipped the sword about letting the hilt dance through his fingers until the humming blade was aimed directly between his feet where a hatch larger than the others sat. Barely pausing for breath he raised Moon Fang and then drove it down with every iota of force his augmented musculature could draw upon. 
(blade slashing)
Welded plates peeled from the harvester's frame like the petals50 of a flower as he twisted the blade opening a hole in the vehicle's seemingly impenetrable armor. 
(numerous autoguns rounds)
Suddenly an autogun chattered from nearby as another hatch popped open and bullets caromed51 off his pauldron and vambrace. Kor'sarro hooked the loose hatch plate from the hull, tore it free and without turning sent it skidding across the curve of the hull towards the gun bearer. 
(man crying) 
He peered down at the hole he made and then plucked a frag grenade from his belt. He gaged52 the angle and gave the grenade a slight spin as he tossed it into the breach53. It bounced once, twice and then was gone into the depths of the great machine. 
(explosion)
The dull crump54 of the grenade going off was followed by a titanic shudder that rippled through the hauler. Smoke boiled out of the nearest gunports and he could smell the stink of the burning flesh and hear the screams of the crew mingling with a grinding of ruptured metal. The haulers might be near impregnable from the outside but they were fragile within. 
(explosion)
A second explosion followed the first and he glanced over sighting Tokus climbing up the other side of the hull. The other White Scar was copying his captain and tossing grenades down through the numerous hatches riddling the exterior. The hauler twitched like a dying man as internal explosions ripped through it.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Tokus, it is vulnerable. Time to finish it".
Then without a moment's hesitation he dropped into the darkness of the hauler. 

CHAPTER 05
Coolant dripped from burst valves and a red tinted light flickered revealing the industrial interior of the hauler. He could smell smoke and his grenade had flayed the corridor treading the men who had been hurrying towards the hatch. Bodies lay heaped55 above. None displayed signs of life. He looked back as Tokus dropped down behind him.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Glad you could join me, hunt-brother. Stay close". 
Kor'sarro turned back examining the bodies and then quickly he strode towards the nearest door. The explosion had slammed it shut but he had little doubt that it could not withstand his strength. Somewhere an internal alarm had begun to sound. He prepared to open the door and glanced back at Tokus.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Ready?"
Tokus hefted his bolter and took aim. Kor'sarro wrenched the door open, its hinges squealing.
(door opening with some serious effort)
Tokus: "Ready!"
(multiple cannon rounds)
Autogun bellowed and Tokus replied in kind, his bolter thundering. Kor'sarro darted past him, Moon Fang in his hand. Swiftly he charged down the corridor striking down those few  cultists who had survived Tokus's fire. He cleared the next bulkhead and strange sounds and smells horribly familiar enveloped him. He had been in the ugly dark places that the lost and damned used for the debased56 worship before and knew well the sickly sweet scent that seemed to spill out of their sour heart. The very substance of the hauler, every plate, every bulkhead and grill was permeated57 with the odor of spiritual and physical decay, of ruined flesh and blistered souls. He grimaced and spat trying to clear the taste from his mouth. 
He found himself on a creaking gantry58 overlooking the hollow belly of the hauler. The bay below was lit by sputtering lights that flashed a sickening red. Once the bay would have been full of precious ores, ripped from Shaka VI crust. Now it was a temple of abomination. Massive chains hung down from the roof of the bay scraping the floor below in a rough circular curtain and the ragged  remains of hundreds of bodies dangled from the blood-sleek links creating a steady drip-drip-drip that punctured the orgiastic cacophony from below. 
Blood and other more noisome59 liquids had been used to draw an immense circle on the floor of the bay as well as hundreds of eye-searing sigils which decorated the floor and walls. Braziers' belched clouds of wreaking incense and the men and women below blooded and battered by the explosions which had wrought60 the hauler nonetheless continued whatever vile rite they were engaged in. Dozens of them whirled and spun in a madcap61 dance  thrashing like wounded animals. They had been at it for quite some time, for many of the revelers had seemingly collapsed from exhaustion to lay where they'd fallen, unheeded62 by the rest. 
And at the center of the circle standing on a dais composed of shattered wreckage a lone figure stood. Bound by several of the dangling chains his body spattered with the blood dripping from above. He was an unassuming63 creature clad only in torn trousers and in  ore hauler's mask that was securely strapped to his bald skull. The steel mask was featureless safe for two bulbous goggle64 lenses and a scarred vox-grill. The rite was coming to an end or so Kor'sarro judged from the speed and frenzy with which the participants hurled themselves about with lunatic abandonment. The air had taken on an oily tinge65 and he felt momentarily queasy66. He shook his head and tried to focus.
Kor'sarro Khan (over vox): "Hunt-brothers, I have found it. Lock on to my signal and approach with speed. I go to take our prey's head". 
Ambaghai (over vox): "Be wary67, my khan". 
Ambaghai's signal buzzed and spat distorted by the hauler's structure or perhaps the malign influence of the rite taking place below. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "A good hunter is always wary, Stormseer". 
He looked at Tokus.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Cover me, brother". 
He leapt from the gantry, hand outstretched for the closest of the dangling chains. Catching hold of it he swung around with a clatter68. Gravity caught up with him a moment later and sparks flew as he slid down the length of the chain. He let go several meters from the floor and dropped the rest of the way landing with a crash of metal. The participants in the rite had not noticed his arrival or perhaps they simply didn't care. They continued to spin and flail69, their words lost in the omnipresent70 noise of the hauler's engines. 
Cultists' leader: "Hello, huntsman".
Kor'sarro's eyes narrowed as he saw that the man on the dais71 was looking at him over the heads of the dancing cultists. 
Cultists' leader: "You are too late. He rides the clearer swing72. He rides with us. The demon of speed is with us. The Wolf of the exhaust... The King of a road..."
Kor'sarro Khan (enthusiastically): "Good, then we won't have to chase him much longer, I expect". 
A weird sound rose and the chained figure thrashed. It took a moment for Kor'sarro to realize that it was laughing.
(cultists' leader laughing)
He yearned73 to draw his bolt-pistol and put an end to the thing, but he could not risk disrupting the ritual. Abhorrent as it was his prey wasn't allowed to escape, even if that meant allowing Shaka VI to burn beneath its tires. The hunt came before everything. 
Cultists' leader (making huge pauses): "You were not chasing him, huntsman. He was chasing you". 
A whisper of air caused him to turn. He jerked his head to the side as a sputtering chain glaive74 bit the air near his face. The cultist wielding it was dressed in a heavy coat and a featureless still mask of an ore processor like the thing on the dais, but his protective garments rather than being normal utilitarian grey, were daubed in  garish colors. Scalps some still wet had been sown into the coat and braces of crudely etched bones encompassed his thick wrists. Thick intravenous75 tubes coiled beneath his mask and gauntlets pumping some foul concoction76 into the man's veins and he twitched and jerked like a rabid animal. More cultists clad in similar vestments approached across the shuddering hull having emerged from a hatchway. All carried worrying chain weapons - axes, swords and glaives  - and they chanted what might have been a name in unison as they moved. 
The chain glaive growled and cut the air again and Kor'sarro stepped back. The cultists stank not just of the normal and distil ether but of other less savory77 odors as well. Kor'sarro dodged a blow and grabbed the haft of the glaive and twisted it from its wielder's grip but cultist staggered off balance and Kor'sarro lunged with a grace of a born swordsman. Moon Fang punched through the cultist's torso in a welter78 of gore. The man was carried backwards kicking and shrieking, his gloved hands clawing feebly at the blade of the power-sword. Before he could slide off Kor'sarro whirled the sword about and sent the dying man hurtling79 into his comrades with bone-splintering force. Those who remained on their feet were cut down a moment later by a hail of bolter fire from the upper gantry. 
(numerous bolter rounds)
Kor'sarro looked up expecting to see Tokus. Instead he caught a flash of cerulean plate as the heavy shape of Ambaghai plummeted towards the floor. The Stormseer landed in a  crouch, the end of his staff making a sound like the peel of a bell as it struck metal. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "Your swiftness does you credits, Stormseer". 
He turned back to the dais as Ambaghai moved to join him. Behind them several of the other White Scars including Tokus leapt down from the gantry. 
Kor'sarro Khan: "Our prey draws near..."
Ambaghai: "I know..."
Kor'sarro saw that the librarian's was pinched80 and white. Being this close to the center of the foulness was harder for the man attuned to the ways of the spirits.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Four times, Stormseer. He will not escape again. We will take his head back to Chogoris and it will join the others on the White Road".
He swept Moon Fang out cutting the greasy air.
Kor'sarro Khan: "Ready yourselves, hunt-brothers!"
Tokus and the others spread out slowly like the great cats of the plain surrounding a wounded herd beast. 
Cultists' leader (laughing): "You ride to your doom, huntsman. His tires will grind this world to dust. All roads are his". 
Kor'sarro Khan: "Then let him come claim them".
Ambaghai (suffering and hardly speaking): "My khan..."
Kor'sarro looked to the Stormseer and saw thin trickles of blood slithering81 down from his eyes and nose. The chains began to rattle. The air shimmered82 like an oil slate83. The growl of phantom engines filled the bay and the dancers stiffened as one as if an electric shock had rippled through each of them simultaneously. The creature on the dais stiffened as well and then began to struggle with the chains that bounded him. The air grew hot and oppressive 84 even to the advanced physiologies of Kor'sarro and his brothers. The bare flesh of the cultists sizzled85 like fat in a fire as they lurched once more into motion writhing in an awkward circle around the dais before slumping to the ground. The rattle of the chains grew more frantic and Kor'sarro was reminded of the beast straining at its leash. The bay was filled with noise, heat and the smell of burning fuel. The growl of engines grew louder and louder drowning out everything else. Ambaghai gave a great cry and staggered clutching his head.
Ambaghai: "Beware! He is here".
The creature on the dais screamed. Then with a ripping of flesh and a snapping of bone it changed. 
(cultists' leader crying and morphing)
 A wave of nausea surged through Kor'sarro as he watched the thing on the dais rupture86 like some abnormal cocoon. He had seen such sights before, indeed far too many times for his liking. But each time he witnessed the horror of a demonic transformation, of human substance giving way before the other matter of the warp it struck him afresh and some small part of him shrank bank, not in fear but in cosmic revulsion. What was happening on the dais was a complete aversion87 of the natural order, a renunciation88 of  reality as something wholly unnatural clawed its wake into the world through a wound of scorched flesh. The thing in the chains sloughed away89, reduced to red rags by that which now occupied the same point of space. Burned meat slid noisily from dark armor to land smoking on dais. 
(demon growling)
It had the face of an angel and the horns of the devil. 

CHAPTER 06
Doomrider stank of burning flesh and several centuries worth of fuel fumes and far worse things below that effluvial90 shroud. The flesh of his... its face was locked in a continuous cycle of burning and healing. Even through the mask of flames it wore Kor'sarro could tell the creature was grinning. It gave a desultory91 shrug92 bursting the chains and freeing itself.
(chains breaking, demon growling and laughing)
Kor'sarro had seen Demon Princes before and killed more than one. They came in all shapes and sizes, their forms distorted and bestial, but none compared to the creature now standing before him. Its armor was beneath the strange colors and baroque gilding93 quite recognizably that of an older age. For a moment briefly he wondered who it had been before it had become the thing known as Doomrider. What had he witnessed in those dim dark days? Had he known the heroes of old? The mighty men of renounce spoken of now only in legend and song? His hands tightened on Moon Fang's hilt. It didn't matter. The beast's head would join the others on the Long road to his chapter's citadel on Chogoris. Eyes as bright and terrible as the corona of a dying sun swept across the White Scars and the burnt grin widened revealing a mouth full of crooked94 and jagged fangs. 
Doomrider: "Hello, huntsman. I have been looking forward to this". 
Kor'sarro: "Kill it!"
(immediate bolter rounds)
He swept his bolt pistol from its holster and fired. Tokus and the others followed soon. Doomrider reeled95 and the dais creaked beneath his weight. With a demonic shriek it grabbed the length of a broken chain that had bounded him only moments earlier, whirled it over its head and snapped it like a bullwhip popping the head of an unfortunate cultist. 
(demon laughing)
Doomrider laughed and Kor'sarro's head ached with the sheer wrongness of that sound. Then the Demon Prince leapt from the dais charging towards the White Scars, chain whirling. Even as his first smoldering boot touched the floor the surviving dancers staggered to their feet as if invigorated96 by Doomrider's presence. and lunged barehanded and screaming at the White Scars. Bolters thundered but the cultists kept coming, even after suffering the most grievous97 injuries. Tokus and the others on the floor were forced to defend themselves in hand to hand combat. 
Heedless of his men's struggles Kor'sarro stepped forward, Moon Fang darting smoothly as he lunged to meet Doomrider. He had taken the heads of men turned demons before, including Kernax Voldorius and the solid counsel. They died like any other creature though they took more killing. Doomrider would be no different or so he thought. With a movement that was at once sinuous98 and impossible Doomrider slithered around the blade and ensnared99 the tip in his chain even as he lashed out with a goring crusted boot and caught Kor'sarro in the belly. The Master of the Hunt stumbled back and Doomrider ripped the sword from his grasp.
Doomrider (looking at the sword, impressed): "Beautiful". 
The Demon Prince twirled100 the sword so that the blade was aimed at Kor'sarro. 
Doomrider: "Then again, the khan always did know how to pick a blade". 
Before Kor'sarro could react Moon Fang was digging for his vitals.
(Kor'sarro crying from pain)
Doomrider was inhumanly quick, his movements somehow out of sync with reality. Kor'sarro caught the blade in the desperate grip and felt the power of it through his gauntlets. Doomrider gave a bellow of laughter and shoved101 Kor'sarro back, the sword slid between his arm and his pauldron pinning him to the floor.
Doomrider: "Disappointing, huntsman. I went to the trouble of burning a world to light your way. The least you could do is fight back. When I drag you screaming into the sea of nightmares I want you to struggle". 
Kor'sarro ignored the taunt and grope for his bolt pistol as Doomrider leered down at him sizzling dollops102 of burning essence falling from its head to hiss against the floor. 
Ambaghai (crying from the distance): "Leave him, demon!" 
Caged lightning crackled the length of Ambaghai's staff as he swung it at the Demon Prince. 
Doomrider: "I will brook103 no interference in my hunt, shaman". 
It slashed out with a chain catching the librarian around the throat. Ambaghai was jerked forward and sent crashing into the opposite wall. With a gleeful104 howl the demon dragged him back up and into the air slamming him into the ground hard enough to cause the metal to buckle.
(demon laughing)
Doomrider: "Everything is so... slow here, not like there in the spaces between moments where worlds are born and die in the blink of an eye. There are wonders there, shaman. Would you like to see them?"
Slowly Doomrider began to reel Ambaghai in hauling105 the dazed warrior across the deck.
Doomrider: "I'll rip your skull from its sheathe106 of meat and mount it on my bike beside the huntsman's if you like so that your pretty lightning may mark my road, shaman". 
Kor'sarro (crying and grabbing the sword): "No!"
Kor'sarro tore Moon Fang from his pauldron and surged to his feet slamming it through the cracked and ancient breastplate that Doomrider wore. The Demon Prince staggered, its laughter cut short by the force of the blow. Kor'sarro ripped the power-sword free and spun hammering it down again and again battering the creature. It was like striking a stone wreathed in the fog for every blow that landed too missed. 
Doomrider (pleasured): "Good, huntsman. I hate it when my preys loose without a fight". 
It caught the blade with one hand. Kor'sarro threw a punch and the paint bubbled and peeled from his gauntlet with a hiss as he caught the creature across its jaw.
Doomrider: "I thought you Chogoris born savages we supposed to be worthy prey. That's why I came after all. That's why I let you through such a pretty chase". 
Kor'sarro: "Do you always talk this much?" 
Kor'sarro wrenched his blade from Doomrider's grip. Before he could strike however the creature backhanded him.
Doomrider: "Only when things are dull". 
Kor'sarro (breathing hard): "Then take comfort! You won't be bored for long! Soon your foul eyes will be burned from your head and your skull will be masked in blessed silver and set upon a lance to forever gaze out at the peaks of the holy mountains". 
Kor'sarro bounded to his feet and sliced Doomrider across the face. Vile fluid burst from the wound and evaporated even as it did so. The Demon Prince laughed again and knocked the White Scar to the deck striking him with a blow that would have killed a normal man. 
Ambaghai: "Move, my khan". 
The Stormseer was back on his feet and he threw out a hand grabbing the chain that still connected him to Doomrider. The air turned hot and Kor'sarro tasted copper. Acting on instinct he rolled aside, Moon Fang in hand as the bolt of crackling lightning arced towards Doomrider riding the chain to its target link by link. 
(thunder and demon screaming)
Doomrider screamed and stiffened as elemental fury ripped through it causing its armor to bubble and smoke. It staggered shaking its head but did not fall. Its scorched armor rippled and squirmed and the charred marks vanished subsumed by the crawling riot of color. It coughed, a strange hollow sound and then chuckled. 
Doomrider: "Enough of this. This is not the proper way. We will settle this as it was meant to be settled". 
Doomrider held out its hand palm up, its fingers crooked in a gesture of command. The dais shuddered and groaned as the disparate machine parts began to heave107 as though alive. The dead bodies on the floor began to twitch as well and slid towards the dais as if hauled by invisible chains. In moments dead flesh and wrecked metal met with a terrible sound brought together as if caught in the heart of the collapsing star. Quicker than the eye could follow bone, meat and metal had fused together and reshaped themselves into a familiar shape. 
(engine roaring)
The bike was a hideous thing. Part insect, part corpse, part bat with wheels of flame and a twisted legion of suffering faces on its front chassis. The machine screamed like a new born demon and seemed to ungulate towards its master, its burning wheels leaving black scorched marks on the metal. Before anyone could stop it Doomrider leapt into the saddle and the engine roared with hellish fury. Burning orbs fixed on Kor'sarro and the Demon Prince gunned the engine.  
Doomrider: "We will settle this in fire and exhaust, in molten rubber and snapping metal. We will settle this on damnation's highway. Try and keep up, huntsman".
Again it snapped what was left of the chain like a whip. The links stiffened and bled into one another forming a length of unbroken metal that swam with foul designs. A moment later the newly formed sword was wrapped in snapping flames of unnatural hew. The fiery wheels of the bike squealed as it lurched toward the far wall of the bay. Kor'sarro was forced to hurl himself aside as the demon rider charged towards him cackling108. The bike didn't stop as it reached the wall but instead seemed to bend and then it was hurtling up the sheer surface leaving a trail of fire in its wake. 
Ambaghai: "No! He must not leave this place".
He sent another shaft of lightning slithering after the demonic bike as it left the wall and reached the vaulted ceiling. Laughing Doomrider skid around the burst and struck the roof of the bay tearing through the metal as if it were paper and opening a path outside the hauler. The demon bike changed direction abruptly and shot towards it, Doomrider's laughter trailing it like the tail of a madden stallion. Kor'sarro spat a curse as he rose to his feet.
(fast footsteps)
Kor'sarro: "On your feet, my hunt-brothers! Our prey flees".
He sprang for the wall and Moon Fang thudded home anchoring him. He dug the fingers of his free hand into the plates that made up the wall and yanked the sword free. With hand and blade he scaled the wall towards the gantry.
Kor'sarro: "After him! Get to your bikes! Do not let him escape!"
The men on the gantry reacted quickly hurrying back towards the hatchway. In moments Kor'sarro was on their heels, this fury lending him speed. The demon was making a fool of them as it had before and if they did not catch it, it would again be out of their reach vanished back into whatever hellish realm it called home.  

CHAPTER 07
(fires burning) 
He clambered out of the hatch onto the top of the hauler and saw that Moon Drakkan was still where he had abandoned it. Ambaghai was behind him and the Stormseer looked as exhausted as Kor'sarro had ever seen. Wordlessly he pointed with his staff. Kor'sarro followed the gesture and saw that Doomrider  was zigzagging through the detritus109 of the battle, the force of his passage sending burning wreckage tumbling in all directions.
(demon laughing)
Kor'sarro (over vox): "Stop him but beware he is cannier than his followers". 
The only reply was the sudden shrill blare of thrusters. The Storm Talons were returning from harrying the enemy forces and the two aircraft arrowed towards Doomrider, their assault cannons chewing up the skyway as they closed in. 
(multiple gunshots)
Doomrider drove into the hail of fire hunkering low in his seat. The bike wove through the storm death with supernatural ease and its rider's laughter was audible even over noise of the Storm Talons.
(demon laughing)
Kor'sarro cursed again and hauled Moon Drakkan up and cranked the engine coaxing110 the slumbering machine to wakefulness. Then with a roar worthy of a plain's lion he rode Moon Drakkan down the back of the hauler, his sword arm extended behind him.  He thought he heard Ambaghai call out to him but he ignored the Stormseer. He could not wait for the others, not when the creature might vanish at any moment. Tokus joined him several moments later having left his bike nearby.
Tokus: "First blood to you after all, my khan". 
Kor'sarro: "As it should be, hunt-brother. It is my responsibility". 
Even if he hadn't been in sight Doomrider would have been easy to follow. The bike it rode left a trail of crackling shrieking flames. The screams rising from them caused Kor'sarro's skull to itch and he forced himself to focus on the fiery bike racing ahead. One of the Storm Talons broke off its attack run on the demon bike and swooped far ahead towards the next bend in the skyway. Kor'sarro grunted in satisfaction. When the prey was this fast cutting off its escape route was the next best thing to catching it. The second Storm Talon swept past Doomrider spraying the creature with assault cannon fire. 
(multiple rounds, engine roaring) 
Abruptly the demon's bike cut a sharp turn and shut towards the gunship. Doomrider crashed into a burning Chimera and used the demolished vehicle as a ramp111 sailing towards the gunship like a cocked. Kor'sarro could only watch in horror as Doomrider's bike smashed into the Storm Talon's canopy112. Reinforced glass shattered as the fiery sword in the Demon Prince's hand swung out at a lazy arc sweeping the head from the pilot even as the creature rode across the crumpling113 canopy and dropped back towards the skyway roaring with laughter. 
(demon laughing)
The crippled Storm Talon graceful swoop became a wobbling114 turn as out of control it smashed into the skyway.
(aircraft falling down, explosion)
The gunship was enveloped in a fireball and the burning wreckage slid on a collision course towards Kor'sarro and Tokus. Kor'sarro ducked his head and shifted his wake hauling Moon Drakkan to the side narrowly avoiding one stubby115 wing of the wreck. 
(sound of the collision and smash)
Tokus however was not so lucky. The White Scar was there one moment and then gone the next smeared116 across the skyway like an insect. Kor'sarro snarled in rage. Suddenly Doomrider was beside him. He heard the creature's words clearly even without the vox.
Doomrider: "Two skulls for the price of one, huntsman. Yours will be next! I will mount it to my chassis and your eternal screams will tell of my coming to all those who dare listen". 
Kor'sarro: "Damn you!"
Kor'sarro drove Moon Drakkan into Doomrider's hell-bike and struck out with Moon Fang. Doomrider laughed gleefully and parried the blow. The bikes locked axis and spun about  as the two warriors traded blows. Kor'sarro lashed out with his boot catching the malformed front chassis of Doomrider's bike and the blow broke them apart with a howl of a abused metal. Doomrider peeled off and caught the curve racing away.
Kor'sarro (over vox): "Cut him off, brother!"
The Storm Talon rose from beneath of the bend in the skyway and its remaining payload of missiles burst from the launcher and struck cracking the ancient asphalt and substructure  as easily as a hammer might crack a nut.
(several explosions)
Kor'sarro felt a twinge as great chunks of the road tumbled away into the void. It was very likely that it would never be repaired. It was something from another age and the artifice needed to reconstruct it was rare. But it was a necessary sacrifice. Smoke and dust ballooned117 from the point of impact sweeping back towards him.  
Kor'sarro: "You've run out of road, beast!"
He urged Moon Drakkan to greater speed as he closed the distance between them. 
(weird noises in the vox)
Ambaghai was trying to contact him though whether to exhort118 him to greater efforts or to get him to stop, he couldn't say. The crashed Storm Talon had cut the others off from the pursuit and the interference caused by the death of its machine spirit would last for some time. Without slowing he plunged into the cloud of dust and smoke.
Kor'sarro (whispering to himself): "Where are you, beast?"
Suddenly Doomrider's sword sang out and Kor'sarro gave a bark of pain as the blade cut into his pauldron and breastplate burning a rent into his armor and biting into the flesh beneath. His opponent struck him again circling him too fast for the eye to follow and opened a bleeding wound on Kor'sarro's cheek and sent him flying head over heel from the saddle of Moon Drakkan. 
(Kor'sarro falling)
He hit the road and skidded, his armor drawing sparks from the asphalt as he slid into the curve and tumbled through the smoke. He had lost Moon Fang in the fall and he clawed at the ground trying to halt himself. The solid surface of the skyway abruptly gave way and gravity tugged119 at him. His gauntlets dug into the crumbling edge of the road and he found himself dangling over the precipices120.  A blast of heat washed over him and he looked up. Doomrider had skidded to a sideways halt to the edge. The creature grinned down at him as it stroke the silently moaning faces that bubbled and frothed on the surface of the hell stuff that made up its bike. 
Doomrider (almost appraising): "Good race, White Scar! You kept up with me longer than any of the others, but we are done now. The warp calls to me, huntsman, and I must go and you will come with me. You will ride the warp road with me forever. Your agony is lending speed to my wheels". 
The tip of the Demon Prince's blade sank into the ground mere centimeters from Kor'sarro's fingers. The crack formed around it and Kor'sarro felt the edge begin to give way. 
Doomrider: "I will chain you to my bike, huntsman, and you will see wonders undreamt of and feel agonies unparalleled. You have been honored above all of your savage brethren by being marked as my prey". 
Kor'sarro: "Go to hell!"
Doomrider: "You first, huntsman".
The edge of the road crumbled beneath Kor'sarro's fingers and he felt a lurch as it gave way and then he was falling. 
Doomrider (laughing): "Time to go home, White Scar". 
With a shrill cry it spun about in a shroud of weird flame and drove off the edge in pursuit. The hell-bike hurtled downwards narrowly missing Kor'sarro. Doomrider waved jauntily121 as he shot past. Below in the clouds something bright and horrible was forming like a maelstrom in the storm-tossed sea or a lightning storm in the skies of Chogoris. The clouds swirled and coalesced122 as the sky ripped wide like an exposed wound. It hurt Kor'sarro's to look at it and he felt the inherent wrongness reverberate through the air in all directions. Doomrider rode towards the wound howling with laughter the whole way dragging Kor'sarro in his wake. 
Kor'sarro: "No! This hunt is not over! I am no demon's prey!"
He clamped his arm to his sides and turned his falling body into a sleek missile. He picked up speed, the winds of Shaka VI ripping at him as he plunged towards his prey. When he drew closer he flung his arms out, his fingers hooked like claws. 
Kor'sarro: "And no man or demon escapes the White Scars, beast".
His palm slammed into the burning orb that was Doomrider's head as the soles of his boots crashed against the back of the demon's bike and with a convulsive heave Kor'sarro tore the creature from its saddle flinging it away. He threw himself after it crashing against it in a free fall. Gauntlets burned black by the touch of demonic fire crashed repeatedly against the laughing face of the demon as they spun away from the bike caught in the clutches of the howling winds. 
(demon laughing)
Doomrider: "You are very determined for the future hood ornament, but to the warp I am called and to the warp we shall go". 
It grabbed for his throat having lost its sword in the collision.
Kor'sarro: "Silence, beast!"
He reached through the flames to grab the demon's throat. The pain was intense and the weird fire crawled up his arms as if sentient123. Doomrider continued to laugh enjoying the contest. Kor'sarro hauled himself around the creature locking his hands about its head and clawed at it, thrashing wildly now. They were falling faster and the writhing maelstrom still echoed below. It did not look welcoming and for an instant he wondered what awaited him through that portal. Would he survive or would he simply cease to be, erased by the malevolent forces that occupy that unreality? Kor'sarro tightened his grip and ignored the resulting agony as the flames that enveloped the creature's head licked his face crisping his flesh. Doomrider continued to rant124.
Doomrider: "The warp calls to me, huntsman. Not even your khan would deny that call and you think you can? I'll swallow your... hrrrrr...." (unable to continue, gurgling and suffocating) 
Kor'sarro: "No, no more running, beast!"
The creature clawed at him tearing great gauges in his armor, its own suite of pitted ceramite seemed to boil and writhe like a living thing beneath him. Augmented muscles fledged, bulged125 and he strained throwing everything he had into one sudden motion. Ligament and bone cocked, snapped and tore, and with a hit Kor'sarro ripped the head from Doomrider's shoulders. He pushed himself off as Doomrider's spastic126 body tumbled away, the strange corona in the clouds began to fade. Then he lost sight of it as the bulky shape of the remaining Storm Talon filled his sight rising beneath him like the Emperor's grace. 
(sound of a crash)
He crashed against the canopy and grabbed hold. He looked in at the pilot who nodded sharply. Kor'sarro grinned and hefted his prize. Kor'sarro looked at his gory trophy in shock. The head still burned and impossibly was still alive. 
(beast gurgling and growling)
Kor'sarro: "Impossible!"
He had taken the heads of Demon Princes before. Among them Kernax Voldorius and none had continued to give a shriek after their connection to the warp had been severed by his blade. Perhaps the legends were correct and Doomrider could not truly die even if he could be prevented from returning to the nightmare spaces of reality's shadow. Kor'sarro's face hardened as the Storm Talon began to rise towards the skyway. He grabbed Doomrider's jaw and crushed it.
(tearing the jaw apart)
Kor'sarro: "Silence, beast!"

CHAPTER 08
A moment later he stepped off the Storm Talon and back onto the skyway clutching Doomrider's head by one of its onyx horns. Ambaghai and the others where there to meet him.
Ambaghai: "We saw the portal. Did it..."
Kor'sarro raised the wriggling127 head in reply.
Ambaghai (shocked): "It still lives?" 
Kor'sarro: "I have taken its head. It is dead enough to sit upon a spear point and that is all that matters to me. Our hunt is over, brothers. Doomrider will ride no more".