Chapter 86 - Night Raid, Part 9
Heskit couldn't believe his eyes.
Was the thing before him an armored human wielding a massive sword? How was it possible that there was a beefy human here, in the middle of that nest of scrawny humans? Had he accidentally breathed in some of the gas from the poisoned windthrower? Did he have hallucinations?
The tank was beginning to heat up, and not just from the boiler. Heskit was sure he could smell a fire burning somewhere. And where had all his lackeys gone? He was sure they couldn't all have died despite the gas and the armored warrior. Well, if there was one thing for sure, it was that no human could survive a face-to-face encounter with that tank. Heskit yanked on the throttle and ran straight for the armored warrior.
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The rope snapped, and Elysia began to fall in an arcing trajectory that would take her to the ground. He saw that Frey was almost directly below her and that the armored carriage was practically on top of her partner.
It seemed that the dark hero was about to be crushed to a bloody pulp under the wheels of the burning machine. At the last second, however, he jerked to one side, and his sword struck the flank of the vehicle with a deep, resonant peal, like the tolling of a gigantic bell.
Elysia braced herself for a painful impact with the ground, and then she realized that the trajectory she was taking was going to place her right in the path of the mechanical vehicle. It was likely that she would end up under the wheels of the vehicle.
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Heskit's head ached from the fumes and the great clang that echoed inside the tank. And what had been that second blow against the flank of the armored car? He was beginning to regret having allowed his lackeys to persuade him into this death trap. Heads would roll when he stopped the thing!
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Elysia gasped as she crashed into the top of the armored carriage. She felt her begin to slide and the heat from her seared the soles of her boots and the tip of her tail.
She reached out her hands in an attempt to grab onto something, and she clung to the edge of the open hatch. Using the anchor point this provided, she was able to sit up and crouch above the speeding vehicle. Seeing that the wall was rapidly approaching, she tried to jump to the ground, but it was too late. The force of her impact hurled her headfirst through the hatch, into the burning vehicle.
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There was a tremendous roar and a crashing noise, and the tank crashed through the brick wall. The vehicle shook from top to bottom and the smell of burning grew stronger. Suddenly something heavy fell on Heskit, and he found human hands clawing at his fur.
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Elysia backed away as the ratfolk opened massive jaws filled with needle-sharp teeth and snapped at her.
"It's a nightmare." Elysia thought. She was trapped, hanging upside down in a tiny, enclosed space, aboard a vehicle unknown to her that was racing at high speed while a hideous monster tried to rip her throat out. She jerked her head to one side of her and lashed out with her cat-like claws, catching the ratfolk square in the muzzle. She realized that around her steam had begun to escape and sparks were flying from the boiler.
The ratfolk attacked her, and her razor-sharp claws slashed at his cheek.
Elysia had a moment to be glad that the space was too close for the ratfolk to use her weapons. She dropped into the compartment and landed with her full weight on the wererat. Both began to struggle; they rolled across the small space and hit levers that caused the armored carriage to skid uncontrollably first to the left and then to the right. Through her slit of outer vision, Elysia saw the terrified ratfolk scramble for cover. The steam engine was making strange panting sounds, and the heat and humidity were appalling.
The fight was fierce. Felix had a larger, heavier build, but the skaven displayed horrible nervous strength and the advantage of long, sharp teeth. Pain coursed through Felix's body as the ratman plunged them into his shoulder, and he felt the heat of the blood soak into his shirt. With the pain and fear came anger, tremendous.
"Alright, it's over!" the catgirl snapped at him as she wrapped her arms around the ratfolks neck and began to squeeze. At the same time, she pushed at the ratfolk's head, and began to slam it against the side of the mechanized vehicle.
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"Not a good night." Heskit thought as a humanoid that smelled like a female slammed his head against the steel wall for the third time. The ratfolk felt his strength leave him, there was no air left in his lungs and there was no way he could breathe with those hands of iron strength squeezing his neck. It was like being surrounded by gas again, only a hundred times worse. If his unworthy minions hadn't betrayed him, that would never have happened.
Over the attacker's shoulder, through the vision slit, Heskit could see the mouth of the shaft that led into the sewers. A mass of ratfolks were diving into the hole to flee the scene of the battle. Also the tank was heading towards the mouth of the well in a straight line.
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Elysia felt an unpleasant dizzy feeling in the pit of her stomach as the armored carriage lurched and lurched. As she rolled from one side of the compartment to the other, she thought that they must have hit an obstacle and fallen into a pit.
"There she is" she said to herself. "I'm going to die." Suddenly, the mechanical vehicle hit solid ground with a horrible gurgling splash, and the familiar stench of the sewers reached his highly sensitive nostrils.
His grip on the ratfolk's neck loosened, and the ratfolk took the opportunity to break free. He climbed up and out the hatch like a ferret out of a pipe. Judging by the flames rising from the cauldron, Elysia thought it best to imitate the ratfolk so she, aching all over, reached out and hauled her battered body up the open hatch. She lingered for a moment on top of the vehicle, glaring at the ratfolk she had just fought.
As she had already guessed, the carriage had fallen into the pit dug by the ratfolks in the courtyard, and was now sinking into the sewers. Smoke, steam, and flames billowed from the hatch at her feet, singeing her boots and igniting her pants. The mechanical vehicle lurched and shuddered in the mud, and all around her Elysia could see a host of red eyes glowing in the dark. She was surrounded by ratfolks. "I'm going out of the fire to fall into the coals." she thought she.
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Where had all these warriors come from? Heskit wondered dazedly. They should be on the surface fighting the armored warrior and his accompanying female, not hiding there from the fight.
Not that it mattered much at that precise moment. As a highly experienced warlock engineer, he recognized signs of very serious malfunction in the tank. He had no doubt that he had only moments to get away from the vehicle before it exploded.
Fear gave wings to his legs, and he leapt into the tightly packed mass of ratfolk. Before they could react, he ran over their shoulders, stepping on their heads. Despite that, he knew he wouldn't get away in time, and there was only one thing he could do to save his life.
Heskit then clutched his nose and dove headfirst into the sewer canal.
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Watching the speed with which the terrified ratfolk streaked away over the heads of her companions, Elysia knew that something dreadful was about to happen. She had to act without delay, so she leaped vertically, grabbed the edge of the pit, and, thanks to his cat-like agility, managed to climb just as the mass of ratfolk climbed over the armored carriage.
She felt claws tearing at a leg of her pants as one of the pack leaders jumped to grab it. She kicked frantically with her other foot, and she felt something snap as her boot smashed into her teeth.
Looking towards the courtyard illuminated by magic lamps, she saw the dark hero running towards her.
Elysia stood up and hurried toward her companion.
"Down! That's going to…" Elysia yelled as she ran.
Behind her there was a huge thunderous roar and a powerful light was seen, like lightning striking an object. A cloud of stinking smoke billowed from the mouth of the hole, and the shock waves knocked Elysia off her feet. In the prevailing darkness, she had a vague vision of ratfolk falling near her, and then her head struck the ground and she lost consciousness of her.
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When Elysia stood up, Frey was next to her, peering into the hole. Around them were horribly mangled corpses of ratfolks, and Elysia couldn't tell if it was due to the explosion or Frey's greatsword. She didn't care too much about her though, since the end result was the same.
Behind her there was a sudden powerful crack, and turning she saw that the entire college wall had collapsed. In reality, some peculiar flames were jumping all over the building, and something told him that no amount of effort from the firefighters would be able to extinguish that fire.
She turned to look at the dark hero, and for the first time she noticed the large bloodstains that covered her armor and dripped from her sword. Frey smiled at her and revealed a smile worthy of a psycho along with an otherworldly glint that was released from one of her eyes.
"I've done most of them while you were sleeping like a princess. The rest escaped," he said in a calm voice. "They seemed to lose heart after I killed the first fifty."
"Yes, but at what price! We have burned the faculty to the ground! Think of all the knowledge that has been lost."
"The faculties can be rebuilt." The dark hero tapped a vigorous finger on his head. "The knowledge is here. Masters and apprentices have survived. Everything will go on."
"We, too, had better go ahead and get out of here. The guard will come soon."
With a tired step, they left the place. Somewhere far away the alarm bells were already beginning to ring.
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Heskit raised his head above the brown slime and spat out the stinking sewer water that filled his mouth.
"I have been too close to death to feel calm." He thought. The gelatinous consistency of that area had absorbed the shock wave, and that had allowed it to survive; he was sure that it had been so. It seemed everyone else had died.
"Nevertheless, I am alive, which is what matters most." he thought to himself as he swam through the water with kicks and tail flicks. All he had to do then was find an explanation for this mess that would be acceptable to the damned Black Magician because somehow he was sure that Dhalthar would find out everything about tonight's work.