Fate of Aorullu, A Warhammer 40K Fan Fiction

Post 18 - Meet the Foe

As the shadows were getting longer and longer, the afternoon had brought in a soft wind, whistling among the trees, and rustling the leaves of the trees. If it wasn’t for the flies annoying the creature, they would not have noticed them until too late, as the green skin of the creatures was in perfect harmony with the forest. Although their form was humanoid, they were intimidating beasts towering over the humans at least by a chest and a head, with huge, bulging muscles everywhere and big square jaws that looked completely capable of tearing one’s neck off. The two protruding tusks from their lower jaws only accentuated the idea.

Nrell’har and his warriors were frozen silent in their places. They were 30 and the beasts were only 4 but none thought their numbers as an advantage. Nrell’har made a sign to his warriors to encircle the beasts, flexing his grip on his sword. His five archers, he sent them up the trees. The green beasts did not seem to be expecting any adversity or were overly confident of themselves, judging by their relaxed demeanor and chatting in their guttural grunts.

When all his boys were in position, Nrell’har looked up at the archers, each one, in turn, confirmed clear line of sight to their targets. He turned to the beasts again. Why were the damned things looking so confident? What were they doing here? He had no doubt that he was looking at what had murdered their boys. He didn’t know what they were, or where they came from, but he knew that he had to kill them. They didn’t look like the sort that you could parley with. They exuded an extreme kind of fierceness and brutality. Even so, all his righteous rage had wavered against the view of these beasts, so intimidating they were. Nrell’har checked himself for a moment and shook off his doubts. They could be his team’s undoing. He had to focus only on killing these vulgar beasts and he had to have no doubts, no hesitations. Mastering his fears, he looked at the archers and signaled them on.

The archers let loose their first arrows. All but one found their targets, piercing into the bodies of the beasts. Nrell’har was just about to order his team to attack but cut short by realization that the arrows did not have the intended effect. The beasts were apparently more surprised than wounded. For a short time, they looked at themselves, where the arrow shafts were protruding from their bodies, but showed no other sign of getting wounded or being in agony. That short time passed, however, when they understood they were under attack and turned around letting great bellows and started running towards their guessed direction of the attackers.  The archers were frantically shooting new arrows but now that the targets were mobile among the trees, very few arrows found their marks. The beasts were incredible in their fury crying out “Waaaagghh!!” and bolting down on Nrell’har’s boys’ position like boulders. They had by now spotted the archers’ but not the warriors aground, hiding behind trees and fallen trunks. If Nrell’har could time it well, he could turn this into an ambush, yet.

When their foes were close enough, Nrell’har gave a war cry and stepped out of his position to face the charging enemy. The beasts were momentarily surprised and skipped a step or two, but did not stop. On the contrary, they increased their speed and even seemed to be laughing while charging into Nrell’har’s group. He didn’t have time to see what was going on with his boys. The beast nearest to him ran straight to Nrell’har, raising its great knife with serrated edges.  While the beast lunged at him with the knife, Nrell’har rolled forward under the beast’s knife and swung his sword into its waist in the process. If he was hoping to let loose its entrails, he was gravely mistaken. It was not possible at all for Nrell’har to anticipate the thickness of the green monster’s skin. As he swung his sword, it got stuck in its belly a coupe of fingers deep and was yanked from his hand with the beast’s momentum. He felt a searing pain as his shoulder dislocated with the force of the pull. The beast stopped its move and turned around, a queer sight with two arrows sticking from its chest and Nrell’har’s sword stuck in its belly. It pulled the sword, which looked like a child’s toy in its massive hand, out of its belly and laughed cruelly at Nrell’har. He was paralyzed with shock and disbelief at what he was seeing. That moment, he knew he was going to die. He knew they were no match for these beasts and while even his sword did not account to much, he was totally helpless without a weapon and with a useless shoulder. He dared not look around but through the rush of his own heart in his ears, he was also hearing the painful cries of his warriors, their shrieks of agony. Oh, this had gone all wrong! What sort of creatures were these, to shrug off arrows and blade cuts just like that?

On his knees on the ground, he was looking at his opponent, slowly walking towards him, relishing the prospect of killing. As it took another step there came the blacksmith, roaring like a lion and flying through the air, bringing down his massive hammer on the beast’s skull with a mighty crunch.  The beast went down, dazed but not dead. “Why can’t you just die, you bastard!” roared the blacksmith, lifted his hammer again and crashed it down on the beast’s head for a second time. That finally did the job. The blacksmith was probably the strongest man in their village and his hammer a good 40 pounds of solid iron. Its brain bashed in, the green beast toppled to the ground, finally dead.

Nrell’har could manage a shaky “Thank you” while the blacksmith was helping him to stand up.

“You may be thanking me for nothing, Chief. We are getting slaughtered.” said the blacksmith, pointing towards the rest of their team.

The view before his eyes brought tears to the Chief’s eyes. These boys were following him to avenge their brothers but now they were caught in a merciless carnage by some alien creatures. The trees his archers had nested upon were hacked and brought down, together with the archers on them plunging to their deaths. Many of his warriors had been laid low with gruesome wounds, most probably most of them dead already, but they had managed to get another of the green monsters down, with numerous arrows sticking out of its body and lots of cuts on it. The dead creature was lying on a group of his dead boys. Nrell’har could not believe what he was seeing; he was having difficulty accepting how in such a short time they could have been undone.

His remaining warriors had tightened into a group, with their backs to each other and the greenskin beasts circling around them, taunting them. They were enjoying this.  As Nrell’har and the blacksmith were rushing to help the hopeless group, suddenly a loud bang was heard and one of the circling beasts was flung back to the ground. A moment later his chest exploded outwards, showering his surrounding with blood and gore. The remaining beast, along with all others, turned around to where the sound had come from, only to see a grey giant rushing in incredible speed towards the beast.

The greenskin also started running at this new foe, raising both his cleavers high in the air. As they met in their assault, the beast swung its cleavers down but the grey giant swerved to the right and and as the greenskin had overreached while swinging, he exploded his right fist on the greenskin’s head. He didn’t wait for the beast to shake it off but took out a sword and ran through his opponent’s chest, twisting and pinning the beast to the ground while it tried to lift itself up. And finally its movements ceased and the beast died.

Greynar pulled his sword out, cleaned it from the ork’s blood and hung it from his side. He was met with with the shocked looks of a dozen men, all gaping at him. He took in the surroundings with a swift glance, noted the other two dead orks and a dozen dead humans. These people had apparently signed up for something bigger than them and paid with their lives. They had, at least, fought valiantly, judging from the arrows and spears on the dead ork’s body. He knew they did not have a chance but they did not know it, of course. Ignorance was a source of bravery in the end.

One from the group stepped forward to meet Greynar:

“Hail, great warrior! I am Nrell’har, leader of this group and thanks for helping us.”

“No thanks needed, Nrell’har. It is my sacred duty to the Emperor to protect mankind from the xenos filth as such.”

Xenos? Emperor? What duty? The questions were forming in Nrell’har’s mind and was about the inquire further but as he opened his mouth, he was stopped by a call from behind the giant warrior.

"Yo, Chief! By the sun and stars, it's a relief to see you alive!" Ryu shouted.