Fate of Aorullu, A Warhammer 40K Fan Fiction

Post 19 - Ill Tidings

“Could you be mistaken? I mean, this is a gross demand, how can we do it? By the sun and stars! All of the village? All of us?” asked councilor Renain.

Keira could not believe what she was saying, either. However, the command was clear and conveyed to her mind with a dominating tone that brooked no argument.

“I know how this sounds respected councilor, but I’m not mistaken. Her order was clear.”

“Let us repeat the order, for the sake of confirmation that we desperately need, Keira: We are ordered; the whole village, all the people in it are ordered to evacuate village and go to a place that is yet unknown to us. Is this what you have just said to us?

“Yes and that I will be leading you to that destination and I will be guided by the Elder Mentor along the way, as even I don’t know where our destination is!”

What followed was a long silence. Openly astonished faces of the council were buried in deep consternation, the surprise giving way to frowns on some. The order was simply incredible. To move the people of the whole village, to an unknown destination, and on what ground? Why? These were unanswerable questions and the Mentor was not about to explain herself. They would not dare to go against her orders yet they could not find it in themselves to act on such orders.

Councilor Tanier broke the silence:

“We all know what happened in the past when our ancestors defied the will of Elder Mentor. I believe we do not have much say in the matter. This sure looks like an extremely uncomfortable order but we should not assume it is intended that way. Maybe we are under a threat?”

With that, all eyes turned to Keira, their looks inquiring about the possibility of such a threat.

She would have liked to tell them more, let them know of any danger except the fact that she herself did not know anything. Hesitantly, she informed them about the things that had transpired since the morning. It was difficult to describe the feeling of tremor in the land and how it was disconnected from the land, but she tried her best. The Mentor had not exactly made any indications that this could be a danger to them, but she had not ruled it out as a threat, either. As yet, that phenomenon was an unknown and could very well be a danger lurking yet at a distance.

Her story raised even more confusion than before, failing to shed any light on their predicament. As the council members once again wore their frowned faces of deep thought, approaching voices were heard outside. Someone was calling for the council, his voice barely audible among the ruckus created by many other people around him. The council stepped out of the council hall and spotted a young boy, one of those who had left with Nrell’har the previous day, rushing towards them.

The commotion led by the youth hurriedly approached the council members and halted before them. The boy was spent. He looked like he’s been running for a long time. His body was bruised and his skin had lost its colour. He caught his breath for a moment and then spoke slowly:

“We found them.” Before he could continue, however, Councilor Renain lifted his hand to stop him.

“Wait, son. We’ll continue inside. “ Then he turned to address the gathered crowd: “Dear people, please return to your work and allow the council to hear this boy properly.”

With that he signaled the boy to get inside the council hall, followed by the council members amid the grunts and disappointment of the now dispersing crowd.

Once inside, an expectant silence settled on the council.  Although the council did not have a chairman, they looked up to Renain in such cases as when a sort of leader was required. Of course there was Nrell’har but they could not be expected to heed too much the words of a barbarian, could they? Renain let his gaze touch each of the council members briefly, as if asserting his albeit unofficial leadership and finally asked the boy:

“Before you start on your story, please tell us where the rest of your group is.”

“They are on their way back to the village, respected councilor… that is, whatever is left of the group.” he added with a quiet voice, full of sorrow. “I was sent ahead, to rush and inform you about what happened, lest we run into trouble again and nobody else can make it back. They stayed behind to….to bury our dead.”

No more words were needed to explain the situation to the council. Something terrible had happened, and so many had died. With a heavy voice, Renain asked the boy to continue and tell all the story. 

So the boy recounted their short but devastating adventure, how they had seen the scene of the slaughter of the first youths and their encounter with the greenskins with their enormous strength and toughness, and finally how they were saved by an armored human-giant.

“I knew that ox of a chief would bring trouble to us! Because of him, so many of our boys are dead! He should not have gone, he should have stayed here and listened to reason!” councilor Renain said, while angrily pacing the room.

“But councilor,” objected the boy, “I told you these greenskinned monsters are already here in our world, it’s not the chief! If it wasn’t for him, we’d never know about this threat!”

“That’s entirely incorrect, my young friend. We already know of this threat and were making preparations for it, weren’t we Keira?”

Taken aback by the sudden question, Keira blinked. She wanted to say no at first but as her thoughts flew by, she realized that yes, this threat may very well have been the reason the Mentor had so urgently rushed her to the village with that command. Hesitantly, she nodded her agreement.

Renain finished with a solemn verdict:

“All Nrell’har has achieved was to get our sons killed for nothing and he’s guilty for that.”