Chris Wright - Age of Sigmar - Omnibus

‘There is not, I concur. But we have only minutes before this chance is gone,’ said Thostos.

‘We shall be ready,’ said Vandus.

Some deep-set part of the castle’s foundations cracked. Stone screeched on stone. A quiver ran through the building, barely perceptible to the eyes of men, but strong enough to shake loose a statue and send it crashing into the sea.

‘Halt!’ shouted Vandus. He ordered the Stormcasts back from the trench they had hacked into the stone. Judicators aimed their weapons at the weakened section bridge and tensed for the final order.

The moon went higher, eclipsing the stars with its bulk. Magic shivered through Vandus’ armour at its waxing might. The silver wyrm’s fires had gone out. The sea heaved under a rapidly forming skin.

‘Stand ready,’ said Thostos.

The moon passed over the Shardgate, and its outline wavered behind the weird magics. The crystals in the gate glittered with colours as they captured the moon’s light.

Calanax roared. Vandus dropped his arm.

The assembled Judicators of his army fired with their magical arrows. The missiles transmuted themselves to darts and spears of energy, and slammed into the ground by the base of Thrond’s citadel.

A dazzling light burst across the Silver Sea, the moon’s glow reflected twenty times over. Deprived of Argentine’s fire, the ripples on the metal slowed and stopped. The shadow of the fortress and the island swept around the coast, and the silver stopped its churning.

With a tremendous crack, the stone under Thrond’s citadel broke. Showers of rock splattered into the thick medium of the sea. Then the fortress itself hit the setting sea, sending up a tall sheet of thick silver as it splashed down. This washed up the cliffs, onto the fortress walls, curling back onto itself in a massive argent wave.

The shadow passed. The moonlight arrested the ocean, and the wave froze. Droplets of suddenly solidified silver fell from the sky as hard as bullets, rattling on the surface of the sea.

‘The fortress is held fast!’ shouted Vandus. ‘Ghal Maraz awaits! Charge!’

With a shout, the Stormhosts scrambled forward onto the frozen mass of the wave. Digging in blades and clawed fingers, they hauled themselves upwards. The silver was still hot, and the metal burned them as they climbed, but the Stormcasts did not relent. In places it was thin, while in others too smooth or too hard, and a number fell, sigmarite clattering as they skidded helplessly off the metal and down to the sea below. Their departure boomed loudly over the frozen ocean, but still the Stormcasts were undeterred.

Calanax raced up the wave, taking Vandus to the plateau atop the island. Magic crackled and arced along the fortress wall, then gave out with a piercing series of whistles. Frozen silver anchored the walls firmly to the stone. The fortress was held fast.

Vandus got down from the back of Calanax and strode to the nearest gate. He hefted Heldensen and slammed it hard against the grotesque bronze face cast into the surface.

‘Bring out the hammer!’ bellowed Vandus. He smote the door again. ‘I call upon you, Ephryx of Chamon. Bring out the hammer and your end will be swift.’ A third time Heldensen clashed into the gate, scarring the metal.

The Stormcast Eternals had gained the cliff top and were forming up. No word came from the fortress. The outer walls were much cracked and damaged from Thostos’ earlier assault, and left unmanned.

‘Give me your answer, Ephryx!’ shouted Vandus. ‘You are lost!’

The rest of Vandus’ army came after him. Thostos strode to his side.

A crackling sound came from above, a whine building behind it. Vandus stepped backwards until he could spy the Shardgate over the looming tower and walls. The crystal adornments sprayed fountains of sparks and long, bright streaks of crimson fire into the night; they flickered, turning through forms of pure light, patches of darkness, and back to gems. The Shardgate rippled, the roil of energy visible through it coalescing and forming a wide landscape comprised solely of hideous faces. Uncountable voices whispered covetously as unearthly eyes fixed themselves upon Chamon.

‘Here is your answer, Vandus Hammerhand.’

The voice issued from the mouth of every gargoyle on the fortress walls. It was old and wise and full of dread power. Malice dripped from every word. ‘A tide of daemons to drown in. The hammer is no longer the godling’s, but mine. Begone from the gates of the Eldritch Fortress — take tidings of his defeat from here and you may yet live awhile.’

The whine reached a crescendo. A howling wind burst out from the Shardgate. One after another, the crystals exploded, sending tinkling fragments all over the fortress. When the last detonated in a burst of multicoloured fire, the Shardgate dilated, yawning wider and wider until it filled the sky. A triumphant scream blasted out and the faces upon the other side pressed forward then burst through, the single mass they made splitting into a cascade of daemons that showered to the ground in an unending flood. They were long-armed and pumpkin-bodied, of blue and pink. They laughed and grumbled as they landed, galloping forward in knuckling runs and swinging down the decoration on the outside of the walls, as agile as apes.

‘There is a breach in the wall,’ said Thostos to Vandus, unmoved by the horde of creatures leaping free from the Realm of Chaos. ‘This way.’

Moments later, the first of the daemons slammed into the Stormcasts.

‘Your magics are poor, wizard,’ said Korghos Khul. He and King Thrond seemed to fill Ephryx’s scrying chamber. Khul stank of blood and his eyes were manic in the sockets of the skull he wore as a helmet.

‘And you promised me a horde of daemons, but bring me only mortals!’ snapped Ephryx. ‘Fortunate it is for us all that my magic is strong enough to call up my own daemons.’

He stalked back and forth, mind working madly. His plans were not going as he intended, none of them. The daemon gale would hold the enemy for a while, but for how long? Already, upon seeing the Stormcasts approach, he had resolved to flee once again. But the fortress was held fast. Dare he attempt the translocation to the Crystal Labyrinth now? He fretted over the issue. Despite what he said to the warriors, he had taken no part in the daemon gale, and its advent spoke of but one thing: Kairos.

‘My chariots will stop them,’ said Thrond. ‘We have no need of this blood-crazed madman.’

‘Will they now?’ Ephryx cast his gaze heavenward in exasperation. ‘They did not stop the foe upon the walkways. Your forts did not stop them, your warriors did not stop them, your knights did not stop them!’ he said bitterly.

‘This remains my kingdom, Ephryx. Watch your tongue.’

‘Your kingdom has fallen, you fool!’ shouted Ephryx. ‘This fortress is all that remains! You complained at my behaviour as a guest, Thrond. Now you are my guest, so I say to you, watch your tongue.’

‘This is your doing, mage — you led them here,’ said Thrond. ‘I ought to kill you where you stand.’

‘And if they had the hammer, you would already be dead. We are forced upon each other’s mercies, Vexos. This is a common enemy. Surely even you can see that Khul’s presence here is proof of that?’

‘I am here only for the Hammerhand,’ growled Khul.

‘You invite the servant of the Blood God into my lands when I could deal with these invaders myself. We will live to regret this—’

‘Silence!’ screamed Ephryx. He jabbed a clawed hand at Thrond and the king went as rigid as a corpse. When his muscles relaxed, his eyes glowed a watery green and he was indeed silent. His head tracked Ephryx’s pacing as loyally as a dog’s.