Age of Sigmar: Omnibus

Vandus gripped the spear. His situation was hopeless. Below him Stormcasts poured through the city, but the battle was far from over. Further in, nearer the shrouded outline of the Eldritch Fortress, there were more servants of Chaos. There the fight continued. Bright lines of Sigmar’s warriors duelled on every street with the followers of the Tzeentch while overhead, lightning crackled across a darkening sky.

Maerac scowled at the storm. He twisted the spear and Vandus cried out.

‘What is this fascination your god has for dreary weather?’ said Maerac. ‘Does he think he impresses us with his lightning and his thunder? He is a bigger fool than you! Your attack is faltering, and you face but a portion of the might of this realm. I am only one lord.’ Maerac leaned over in his saddle. ‘But soon I shall be the only lord. I shall take the hammer. I have been told by the Oracle himself that no mortal army can take Sigmar’s weapon. What hope do you have?’

Vandus caught sight of a flash of turquoise at the top of a bell tower as Maerac banked around it. The lord intended to take him towards the fortress as a prisoner.

‘We are no mortal army,’ Vandus said.

A blur of blue-green hurtled through the air from the tower. Lightning blazed all around it. The manticore jerked with a heavy impact and Maerac turned in shock to find Thostos standing astride his mount. He dropped his spear, and Vandus made a desperate lunge for the manticore’s neck. Pain punished him as he grasped two handfuls of blue mane. The manticore snapped at him, swerving sharply left. The spear dragged at Vandus’ shoulder, robbing all the strength from his left arm, and he nearly let go.

Thostos roared. Maerac drew his sword and raised it in a block, but Thostos’ hammer shattered it and carried on straight into Maerac’s face. The blow was so powerful that it obliterated Maerac’s head completely. The corpse spouted blood into the wind and slid sideways in its flying harness. The manticore bucked and twisted, but Thostos would not be shaken loose. The sword in his left hand punched through the manticore’s skull and its wings folded, causing it to fall like a stone and smash through the wall of a ruined temple.

Thostos stepped from the dead creature’s back. He extended a hand to Vandus, and hauled him to his feet. Then he took up the spear and looked questioningly at Vandus.

Vandus nodded, his teeth gritted against the pain. ‘Do it,’ he said.

Vandus screamed in agony as Thostos forced the barbs out of his back. He staggered and sank to his knees. One chop of Thostos’ runeblade cut the head off the spear and with a ragged groan, Vandus dragged the shaft from his body and dropped it.

‘The Stormhosts must see you live,’ said Thostos, and there was a trace of emotion to his words that had been absent since his Reforging.

Together they left the temple, battered but alive. Calanax had sought out his lord, drawn to him by their bond. Vandus mounted him with Thostos’ aid, and rode to the heart of the Stormcast forces again.

Manticores still swooped and harried the forces. Arrows arced up at them, driving the monsters off, only for them to come back around.

‘Maerac is dead!’ shouted Vandus, his voice amplified by the divine magic burning in him. ‘Lord-Celestant Thostos Bladestorm slew him! Stay and suffer the same fate!’

It was enough. With several of their number dead, their king slain and much fire coming at them from the ground, the beast riders wheeled away and flew back to their scattered domains with all the speed their mounts could muster.

Upon seeing their masters abandon them, the morale of the Chaos army broke. In ever greater masses, the bondsmen of Manticorea fled, the wrath of the Stormcasts following them upon swift wings of light.

The Stormhosts’ vanguard plunged on towards the fortress. Vandus and Calanax ran past them all, until they were in front. The sense of magic on the air intensified and the outline of the tower and the fortress walls blurred into obscurity. There came a soft wash of air, and a tremor set the ruins shaking. The ground quaked and the Stormhosts stumbled.

‘No!’ shouted Vandus. He spurred Calanax into a gallop, gritting his teeth at the jarring pain in his shoulder. Buildings came down around him, ancient crystal shattering and metal tearing with mournful groans. The ground buckled under him, rising up as if turned by a plough. A fresh ridge rose up in the ruins, a wrinkle in the earth that upset the remains of the city, making them lean drunkenly on footings of broken stone.

Calanax surged up the ridge as it stopped growing and the tremors ceased. At the summit, Vandus’ worst fears were realised.

The Hammerhands clambered up behind him. Ionus and Andricus arrived at his side. Not a soul amongst them spoke. Before them was a crater, wide and deep.

‘It’s gone,’ said Lord Vandus dully. ‘And the hammer with it.’

‘So we go after it,’ said Ionus Cryptborn. ‘We keep going until we find it.’