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[Firenze]

Prologue: Link
Chapter 1: Link
Chapter 2: Link
Chapter 3: Link

Prologue

With an eerie creak, the massive doors leading into the inner chamber of the shrine swung open, revealing a massive figure, silhouetted by the glaring light from outside. He strode in, the doors crashing shut once more and plunging the room back into darkness. His footfalls stopped as he reached the centre of the chamber, waving his hand over the metal brazier in the middle of the room, and unearthly flame springing up from within its depths, illuminating the shadowy figures in a sickly purple light.

‘Brothers, we have been given a great responsibility by our masters. Another target has been selected by the Dark Oracle.’ The figure waved his hand once more, the flames rising even higher, showing flickering images within its depths. They showed a man, heavy set and armoured in great sheets of ceramite. An Astartes. Just like they all used to be.

‘You know for a fact Alaxithis, that killing random loyalist dogs is beneath us. We are not on your payroll just to butcher some marine now and again,’ growled another, his wings flexing upon his backpack in anticipation.
‘I know Sidorax and keep your place. You people and your units aren’t here to do that. This is a Space Wolf-‘
‘As if that makes it much more tempting…’ grumbled another, the face mask he wore distorting his voice a little.
‘Torturer is right. This lapdog looks no tougher than a pitiful nurgling!’ complained Sidorax. ‘His blood is but a pitiful offering to the Throne of Skulls.’
‘Enough!’ screamed the sorcerer. ‘He is our target and you will kill him.’

The fires died down as Alaxithis turned to leave. ‘There are a few more things you should know about this wolf. That he is actively engaged in the Cadian sector and that he is a Wolf Lord by the name of Ragnarok.

‘You would do well to bring back his head, and those of any who get in your way.’

Edited by Firenze, 10 November 2011 - 06:27 AM.

[Firenze]

Chapter 1

‘Where the hell are we now then?!’ shouted Irlin. ‘We are lost. You said to follow the river bed to Acarus city! And I don’t exactly see many cities nearby…’

Wolf Lord Ragnarok walked up behind the dismayed Rune Priest, placing a terminator armoured hand on the old man’s shoulder. ‘Calm down man. If Skadi knows it is this way, it is this way. She is my best tracker, as good as some of our wolf scout brethren.’
The shield maiden looked up at the sound of her name, the breathing filter she wore to compensate for the thinner air on the planet obscuring most of her features.
‘Lord, we are only three miles from the enemy position, which in turn is around six miles from the city. If we keep moving we can be there before the dawn,’ reported Skadi.
‘Thank you Skadi,’ replied Ragnarok. He turned to Irlin. ‘Sometimes, you need to start trusting my judgement a little more.’

Ragnarok turned to the rest of the pack. ‘Get up lads, were on the move again!’
He was received by a bunch of groans from two of the bloodclaws following on, Arez and Forte. Their mentor, a Grey Hunter named Hendrik slapped them both around the head. ‘Get a move on you two. We haven’t even been marching long yet.’
‘We’ve been on the move for two days!’ complained Arez.
‘Like I said,’ replied Hendrik.
The pack stood back up, and fell in behind the leaders as they resumed the march.

Ragnarok placed a hand to his ear as static began to filter through the vox link to the squad. He looked at Irlin as the static began to die down. ‘What was-‘
Suddenly a voice came through the vox, whispering as if trying not to be heard. ‘Lord? Are you reading this?’
‘Go ahead Firenze,’ replied the wolf lord, as they began to pick up the pace, slowly building into a run as they tried to catch up to the scout party.
‘We’ve made contact with the enemy. Two sniffer hounds and a group of cultists guarding the temple. There are also around fifteen traitor marines performing some sort of ritual. We’ll take out as many as we can before you get here. Firenze out.’
Ragnarok turned to his Rune Priest as they sprinted along the rocky hillside.
‘Cook us up some cover, we gotta give them as much time as possible.’
Irlin nodded, and began chanting, his eyes beginning to glow with power. Overhead, the ashen skies turned black as winds began to pick up and a blizzard came to bear on the area. Now they could help their brothers.

*

Iron Priest Firenze crept back over to the other members of the scout party, being careful not to make any noise.
‘Support is inbound. Our esteemed lord and his gaggle of misfits are skipping their way here,’ joked Firenze to the waiting members of the scout team. The rest of the pack grinned a little at the good natured jest. One, a wolf guard named Decoy spoke up.
‘Maybe they could bring some flowers to throw at the enemy too, Irlin’s aim isn’t exactly what it used to be.’

Firenze rose from his crouch, sniffing the air through his helmet. A scent was getting closer. No. Multiple scents. He signalled to the squad to begin spreading out, splitting into fire-teams of two, covering the area from the shadows. A pair of Grey Hunters, Schertenlieb and Maverik covered the west, Decoy and Firenze to the east. The team’s Long Fang, Warhorse, and remaining Grey Hunter, Mikal, stood firm in the centre of the road way. As the storm begun to blow in, the baying of hounds began to fill the night air. The dogs had their scent trail and had alerted the chaos troops. Heavy armoured footsteps began to charge in the direction of the pack.

The pack fell back in, grouped back to back in a circle as the enemy marines and cultists began to surround them, weapons pointed at the small team.
‘I can safely say we’ve been rumbled,’ remarked Warhorse, as the blizzard began to obscure the view of everyone there.
Maverik smiled. ‘No, now we can charge in any direction.’






First Chapter Up!!!! Hope you like it. Im going to be posting these every 3 weeks or so, leaves a bit of time for discussion

[commander alexander]

Hurray!!!! Yay new story! Had to be the first to post, now I will read it .

==Edit==
3 Weeks!? Time for discussion!? You'll have your readers beating down your door for the next chapter! I like it though, and I'm eagerly awaiting more.

Edited by commander alexander, 27 May 2011 - 09:27 AM.

[Firenze]

3 weeks allows me to write the next section in the midst of my college work. After my course finishes, I will decrease the amount of time between chapters.

[Mikal Wolfheart]

Awesome!

Subscribing to this post. I do love your literature Firenze, feel it captures the spirit properly.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

Excellent. It doesn't seem like a long series of name planting, but rather an actual story. And a good one at that.

[Donutzot]

very good and pleasant reading material

[Schertenleib]

Can't wait! Always look forward to your tales!

[Nrthstar]

Solid dude, a good way to kick off my morning, makes me look forward to my next game.

[hendrik]

love the story firenze, but the whelps might get confused since jonas is leading them aswell

[forte]

Excellent and worth the wait.

love the story firenze, but the whelps might get confused since jonas is leading them aswell

Two completely different tales and don't worry. We know who tries to lead us...but do we listen ;-)

Think this is pre Jonas too as Skadi / Mavs Girl hasn't become a marine in this tale...yet.

Edited by forte, 27 May 2011 - 04:42 PM.

[Firenze]

Excellent and worth the wait.

love the story firenze, but the whelps might get confused since jonas is leading them aswell

Two completely different tales and don't worry. We know who tries to lead us...but do we listen ;-)

Think this is pre Jonas too as Skadi / Mavs Girl hasn't become a marine in this tale...yet.

I wrote this before Jonas did. So I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know Jonas was to be pack leader, and Mavs Girl is Rag's personal shield-maiden, not a marine. She can hold her own quite well in combat too.

[forte]

Never doubted that at all.

Nothing ever wrong with tales being different anyway. Great reading how various people write too.

[hendrik]

don't worry firenze! this way both me and jonas can keep the pups in check, one of us deals with forte and arez while the other can lead the rest of the pack

[forte]

don't worry firenze! this way both me and jonas can keep the pups in check, one of us deals with forte and arez while the other can lead the rest of the pack

who got the short straw?

[hendrik]

don't worry firenze! this way both me and jonas can keep the pups in check, one of us deals with forte and arez while the other can lead the rest of the pack

who got the short straw?

you and arez , as he slowly knocks his gauntlet to his head, clearly making a metallic sound

[forte]

don't worry firenze! this way both me and jonas can keep the pups in check, one of us deals with forte and arez while the other can lead the rest of the pack

who got the short straw?

you and arez , as he slowly knocks his gauntlet to his head, clearly making a metallic sound

been there, learnt that lesson, now I prepare to dodge as soon as the nasal hairs twitch

[maverik_girl]

let the killing begin

[jester262]

oooo boy, this is gonna be good

[maverik_girl]

Excellent and worth the wait.

love the story firenze, but the whelps might get confused since jonas is leading them aswell

Two completely different tales and don't worry. We know who tries to lead us...but do we listen ;-)

Think this is pre Jonas too as Skadi / Mavs Girl hasn't become a marine in this tale...yet.

I wrote this before Jonas did. So I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know Jonas was to be pack leader, and Mavs Girl is Rag's personal shield-maiden, not a marine. She can hold her own quite well in combat too.

actually, works perfectly with my personal fluff Firenze! http://www.bolterand...howtopic=230945 so thank you for this!

[Jonas Stromclaw]

Excellent and worth the wait.

love the story firenze, but the whelps might get confused since jonas is leading them aswell

Two completely different tales and don't worry. We know who tries to lead us...but do we listen ;-)

Think this is pre Jonas too as Skadi / Mavs Girl hasn't become a marine in this tale...yet.

I wrote this before Jonas did. So I had no idea what was going on. I didn't know Jonas was to be pack leader, and Mavs Girl is Rag's personal shield-maiden, not a marine. She can hold her own quite well in combat too.

Meh, whatever. Mine's mainly just for fun, so they don't exactly have to work together. Excellent story so far, by the way.

[Firenze]

Chapter 2



Et’ruthan couldn’t believe his luck. He had served the gods well. He and his dog had traced the scum to here, ready for the slaughter. Never before would he have thought that he, a young machinist could have been inducted into the ranks of the Blood Fiends, and then capture their most hated enemy. He would be rewarded greatly for this.

The only thing that unnerved him slightly was the blizzard moving in, blinding everyone. He couldn’t even see his lords standing only feet away from him. He was terrified of being blind again since he had been cured of it by the powers of the warp. He pointed his weapon at the general area the Space Wolves had been standing and fired twice as a warm feeling trickled down his leg. It hit nothing.

The winds blew out, and the snowing ceased, revealing almost fifteen Space Wolves standing where there had only been six before. The loyalist marines sprang into action and laid into Et’ruthan’s brethren with savage fury. A pair of axes flashed before his vision before he fell to the ground, his legs detached from his body. The last thing that went through his mind was the boot of the Iron Priest standing over him.

*

Firenze removed his foot from the mess of gore and brains revealed from curb stomping the cultist. He spun to the left, narrowly avoiding a scything power sword that came way too close to his head. The offending traitor marine was then tackled headlong by a rampaging Decoy, who tore off the chaos marine’s arm and began to beat him to death with it. Firenze turned around, grinning as he chopped downwards through a chaos marine’s torso, cleaving him in half. He kicked out at the still rocking body, sending the now two pieces of meat and armour crashing to the floor.

On the other side of the fight, Skadi and three of the bloodclaws; Arez, Forte and Nrthstar, held off a ferocious assault by a couple of the enemy marines. Skadi leapt forward, axe in hand as she brought it swinging down onto the enemy’s skull, cracking through the plate and biting into the flesh, bone and brain beyond. Arez finished him off with a chainsword under the arm and into the chest, puncturing both hearts and sending the traitor’s soul into hell. Forte suddenly was knocked back by a hammer blow to the ground by the remaining chaos warrior. He roared as he got up, preparing to charge at the warp tainted scum. As he did so, the bone coloured marine was vaporised by a roaring beam. Forte looked for the source of the shot and saw the Warhorse pointing his multi-melta at the spot the traitor once stood, barrels smoking from the heat.

A terrified scream went up as the surviving cultists, morale torn away by the death of their last lord, began to retreat towards the collapsing warp portal. Hendrik, Schert, Ragnarok and Maverik levelled their bolters at the retreating back and opened fire cutting down the cowards with uncompromising accuracy. As the last one fell, the warp portal closed with a whip crack, leaving all silent, bar the crunch of armoured boots and the tinkling of spent shell casings on the floor. With a nod from Ragnarok, the pack began to the long walk back to the extraction zone, ready to be deployed once more.

[Nrthstar]

Mmmm I love the smell of combusted traitor.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

Burn, heretic, burn!, the new hit song by the Blood Claw Five Four.

[Decoy]

The offending traitor marine was then tackled headlong by a rampaging Decoy, who tore off the chaos marine’s arm and began to beat him to death with it.

This is acceptable. I approve.