Tuesday 7 October 2014

A crimson harvest



By the time the wolves arrived, the battle was already in full swing. Nobody was sure how it had happened but the forces of chaos had arrived en masse to a deserted world, prompting the other races to investigate. First on the scene were the orks, hoping for a war. Immediately they started to attack the chaos and a full blown war had ensued. The wolves just watched as the two bitter foes struct at each other. Had they not been detected by a reserve force of orks joined by a crude titan, they would have been content to let them destroy themselves and finish the survivors off. The titan opened fire and forced the wolves to retreat to the safety of the nearby mountains, hounded by ork jets pouring black smoke through the otherwise clean skies. It was at this point that the dark eldar made themselves known. In a terrible, albeit impressive, display, they erupted from a webway portal and obliterated the perusing orks. A single dagger hulled raider floated down towards the wolves where Bjorn stepped forward to greet their apparent savior. A single, jade armored figure dropped to the ground before him, completely undeterred by the ancients size.
"Most esteemed one" bowed the stranger, with a mixture of respect and mockery in his tone. "I notice you seem to have some trouble with the other races set upon this planet? Might I suggest a temporary alliance of a mutually beneficial kind?"
Bjorn was taken aback by the forwardness and total lack of fear the stranger had, but he could not deny that right now they needed their help if they wanted to find out what the chaos had found on the planet.
"What would the benefit for us be if we were to allow you to fight alongside us xenos?" Bjorn rumbled through his vox, sounding like thunder itself.
The dark eldar smiled. "Why, the relic of course"
Bjorn was once again surprised, why would they hand them the only prize that could be gained by this fight? "Then what is your benefit?" He questioned.
"The survivors of the enemy races, I want them, and alive. None of your "Emperor's forgiveness" or the like. Alive for us and us only."
Bjorn rumbled. The thought of the traitors living for longer than they should was bad, but whatever the xenos had in store would be far worse if the stories were true. But how could he trust them, when his last encounter had them kidnapping aspirants from Fenris itself. Right now, as much as he hated it, he had no other choice.  "I shall watch you, Xenos" he growled.
"That is all you will be able to do" the stranger smirked, before leaping up onto his craft.

On the battlefield, the stranger was keeping his promise. As the wolves piled into the foray they found every target already beset on. Each time the wolves closed in on their prey something fell would appear and kill the foe. Bjorn himself entered the fray and charged at a horde of orks to see them suddenly fall to the floor convulsing from poison wracking their bodies. Deep in the heart of the chaos lines, Bjorn spotted the stranger midst a group of what could only be described as monsters. At his side a psyker blending perfectly the arts of combat and psychic mastery to destroy her opponents. But the spectacle that was the stranger was nothing short of a masterpiece. Any foe that stepped before him was cut down with merciless efficiency, some unaware they were even dead until he stepped over their headless corpse. Every challenge was met with the simple downward lightning strike of a sword. Within a few short moments the chaos lines had been decimated, the most striking being the group of pathfinders camped inside the nearby tower had taken shots at a looming vindicator and successfully detonated its ammo reserves turning it into a smoldering ruin in seconds. The stranger found himself in front of a pair of titan mockeries. The smaller one before him paid him no heed and was blasting at the wolves who had been forced into hiding in the nearby forest. With a flick of his wrist a nearby duo of talos descended upon the metal walker and began dismantling it piecemeal. This left just the larger one. From atop its parapit, the ork Warlord was bellowing, its flag proudly proclaiming it as a high ranking member of 'eadrippas clan. The stranger ran towards the titan, allowing the wolves terminus ultra to distract it as he reached its abse and began his rapid climb to its peak. At its top amidst a rickety gangway, the two lords faced each other. The titan lurching back and forth unleashing torrents of fire and belching acrid smoke, with the occasional ground shaking shudder as its killkannon fired. The two adversaries eyed each other up before each bellowing a warcry and charging. The ork warboss was far bigger and stronger, each blow a killing strike, but the eldar was far quicker and better trained, and the ork couldn't land a single blow upon its foe. The stranger ducked and pirouetted around the ork titan, leaping from gangways and slashing out at the great ork. Whilst the orks attacks were always missing, the eldar was the exact opposite, and soon all the wounds were taking their toll. The warboss was getting slower, and more sluggish. Soon, the warboss was left a panting, whilst the eldar was as fresh as ever, if not seemingly healthier, its blade dripping with the blood of the warboss. With a final bestial roar, the ork lunged for its foe, but the eldar simply sidestepped the creature and with a flourish decapitated the warboss and let its body crash to the ground. The stranger turned its attention to the titan, but before he could do anything a gleaming blue halo enveloped it and in an instant it disappeared, leaving the eldar hovering momentarily in mid air. As he plummeted to the ground he landed with deadly grace, no harm befalling him, just in time to watch the remnants of the chaos forces be decimated by a charge of helions, dragging their foes into the sky and tearing them apart like carrion, spreading their entrails over their still fighting brothers. The fight was over, and the wolves hadn't even spilt blood. The stranger walked up to Bjorn.
"Told you, you could only watch".

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