Ghal Maraz Read online

  ‘What you will or will not cede is of no concern to me, my lady,’ Bolathrax said, leering at her. ‘Nurgle’s deluge falls, and this place will soon not be fit for such delicate flowers as those you call children. The sky roils with magics, and this place will fall to Grandfather. All will drown in his sacred slurry.’

  ‘No,’ Alarielle said. She looked around, and Grymn followed her gaze. Athelwyrd was flooding inch by inch. Soon, they would have no choice but to return the way they had come. Otherwise, this hidden bower would become their tomb. ‘No,’ Alarielle said again, but more softly. Her face contorted suddenly, and she threw back her head in a scream of denial so intense that sylvaneth and daemons both writhed in agony from its reverberations. Stormcasts clapped their hands to their ears as the dolorous sound washed over them.

  Before the echoes of that cry had faded, Alarielle gestured sharply and a thick net of iron-thorns erupted from the waters to entwine the Great Unclean One.

  ‘I know you of old, Bolathrax,’ Alarielle said. ‘Long have I desired to take what I am owed from your rotting flesh.’

  Bolathrax struggled against the vines, but for every dozen he tore from him, two dozen more replaced them. Alarielle began to chant, her voice rising and falling like the wind, and the cage of briars constricted about the greater daemon. The thorns dug into his flesh, lacerating him. Bolathrax’s roars became screams and then squeals as he came apart at the joints and collapsed into a gory ooze. His cries caused those daemons nearby to shudder, and many joined him in dissolution, falling apart even as they tried to flee the destruction of their leader. The briar vines rose from Bolathrax’s remains like angry serpents, and struck out in all directions. As the Stormcasts watched, those daemons that had not already come apart died in droves, torn asunder by Alarielle’s anger.

  Though the leader of the daemonhost had been slain, his lieutenants still remained, as zealous as their opponents. Grymn fought on, and his warriors followed his example. Everywhere in the vale, where the Stormcast Eternals fought, the enemy died in hordes.

  It was not enough, in the end.

  The rain still fell, and it soon became evident to even the most stubborn amongst the Stormcasts that Athelwyrd was doomed. The storm hammered down as malign and benevolent magics crashed against one another in the sky above the battle. The pox-rain fell, harder and faster, inexorably claiming the vale.

  ‘We will drown if this continues,’ Zephacleas roared, fighting to be heard over the storm as he and his warriors joined the Hall­owed Knights. ‘None but a servant of Nurgle can survive in this place now.’

  ‘We must move,’ Grymn said aloud, as he booted a struggling plaguebearer from the blade of his halberd. They would need to get to higher ground to escape back into the mortal lands of Ghyran. ‘We’ll have to fight our way back. Where is Ultrades?’

  Zephacleas pointed with his sword, to where the Guardians of the Firmament had formed up in a shieldwall around a retreating grove of dryads. The bark of the treekin was cracking and burning beneath the plague-rain. Grymn shook his head.

  ‘Help him,’ he said. ‘We must fall back.’

  ‘Fall back to where, Lord-Castellant?’ Zephacleas asked, filthy water running down the contours of his battered war-helm. ‘Where is there for us to go?’

  ‘The only place we can,’ Grymn said. He extended his halberd towards the shimmering expanse of the River Vitalis above. ‘Up. Gather your warriors. Fall back to the River Vitalis.’ He paused. ‘The Hidden Vale is lost.’

  Epilogue

  Only war

  In the end, the Hidden Vale was hidden once more.

  On the banks of the River Vitalis, Grymn stared into the depths of the water, seeking any sign of it, but all he discerned was a faint scar of murk, running along the river’s bottom. The forces of Nurgle had not followed the Stormcasts and the sylvaneth as they retreated, first to the upper reaches of the valley, and then back through the breached portal, to the dubious safety of Rotwater Blight.

  Then, why should they have? he thought grimly. They had what they wanted, he suspected. The Hidden Vale was gone, and Alarielle was cast adrift into a world that was no longer hers. Her power, while great, would not be enough to win back her realm. I wonder if she realises that, he thought, as he gazed surreptitiously at the Radiant Queen, where she stood nearby.

  Alarielle’s screams of denial still rang in his head. They had echoed across the near-infinite kingdoms of Ghyran, he suspected, so loud had they been. She had wept and raged as they retreated, her cries of anguish so intense that daemons had shivered into incoherent fragments at the sound and Stormcasts had fallen, skulls burst. And while she was now silent, he could still feel the heat of her rage.

  ‘Where is he?’ she asked, suddenly, in a voice like the croaking of a murder of crows. ‘Where is the one who led my enemies to me?’

  Grymn stiffened. ‘He is… gone. He fell in battle, defending your realm.’

  ‘Defending a realm he endangered,’ she snarled, and the fury in her voice shook him to his core. ‘My kingdom… my people… All gone, all lost,’ she keened. Dryads hissed and shrieked mournfully as they clustered about her. She looked at Grymn, and he stepped back. Her eyes burned like twin suns, and he knew that she could kill him as easily as she had healed him before. Life in all its fury and power, he thought, recalling Morbus’ words.

  ‘My lady, they are gone, as are our brethren. But we still live,’ he said. He set his halberd. ‘And while we live, so too does Ghyran. While we stand, your realm shall not fall. So I swear. We shall fight. We shall win. Your kingdom will be free.’

  ‘Free,’ she breathed. Surrounded by her dryads and branchwraiths, her tall form blazing with a strange light, Alarielle turned towards the Hallowed Knights. Her shimmering gaze flickering across their ranks as she studied them. Grymn hesitated, uncertain, then stepped forward. ‘But for now, my lady, you and your folk must come with us. We have cost you your haven. The least we can do is see you to safety.’

  ‘Safety,’ Alarielle intoned. Her voice echoed in his very marrow, and he trembled slightly to hear such despair. ‘There is no safety now,’ Alarielle said, ‘no safe haven or sanctum left in all the Jade Kingdoms.’ The Radiant Queen smiled sadly.

  ‘Only war remains.’

  Prologue

  Many centuries ago…

  The heavens writhed with flames of blue and pink. In every corner of the Hanging Valleys of Anvrok smoke rose. Only Elixia, the Sculpted City, held firm, but it could not do so for much longer. A circle of unmarred sky hung over the Great Monument as the city’s already lurid lightning flickered hungrily around this single, pure space.

  In the shadow of the Great Monument stood the House of the Aldermen. It was here that Celemnis, Swordmaiden of the Argent Sisterhood, had come.

  She entered the central chamber, a space forbidden to everyone but the council, at a swift stride, accompanied by a handful of her men. All the guard were at the walls and the council had fled; Celemnis was not denied.

  Within the council chamber an uneasy peace held sway. The clamour of war breaking the city’s defences was distant. Above the ring of arms and roars of beasts was a dreadful keening. Odd and terrible were the sounds of Chaos as it forced itself upon the realms of Order, but this too was muted in the chamber.

  From the courtyard garden outside the chamber a blackbird sang as if there were nothing amiss with the world. Celemnis could almost convince herself that the breeze wafting the window drapes was born of the summer, and not the burning of her home.

  ‘Celemnis!’ Forge Leader Jethelir waved at her from a curtained doorway. ‘He’s in here.’

  Celemnis crossed the room. Her whole life she had walked quickly; there was always more to do. Why waste one’s time in ambling? And now time had nearly run out and she could walk no faster.

  The High Alderman was sitting behind a desk in one of the many
clerks’ cubicles of bronze and marble. He had taken refuge there, seeking some last pocket of sanity. His long beard brushed over thin sheets of tin as he read and reread the glyphs impressed into them. His fine clothes were dirty and his eyes red-rimmed with smoke and tears.

  ‘Ah, Celemnis,’ he said. ‘Do come in.’

  Celemnis rested her fists on the desk and leaned over him.

  ‘Now will you return the hammer?’ she said.

  The High Alderman glanced out of the window. He frowned as if he had noticed it were about to rain. ‘The hammer?’

  ‘Ghal Maraz. The Great Shatterer. Sigmar’s weapon. Now will you return it to him?’

  ‘We have had this conversation many times, my dear,’ he said. The High Alderman rolled up the tin scroll. ‘There is no one to return it to. The only way Sigmar would have parted from his hammer is if he were dead.’

  ‘The oracles told us he was tricked into casting it away,’ she said.

  ‘The oracles went mad not long after the gods abandoned the realms. Why do you trust books written a century ago?’

  Celemnis thrust her arm out behind her, pointing in the direction of the battle. ‘Because the oracles prophesied this, Alderman. Let us offer up prayer and unlock the shrine. Let him know where it is!’

  The Alderman radiated defeat; he had no more of himself left to give to this world.

  ‘And why should we? If the oracles were correct and Sigmar himself cast it away, why should we strive to return it to him? He left us. His hammer was drawn here by fate. Who are we to question fate?’

  ‘Everyone should question fate when it dances to Tzeentch’s tune,’ said Celemnis. ‘The armies of Chaos are breaking through the walls! The hammer cannot protect us, not anymore. We should never have kept it.’

  ‘Oh, my dear, dear Celemnis,’ said the High Alderman. His usual vitality had been stripped away by sorrow; now he looked his age, and worn out by it. ‘It is all rather academic.’ He took one of her callused hands gently in his own. ‘I am sorry. Perhaps you were right all along. Perhaps–’

  The rattle of armoured men interrupted him. Celemnis ran from the room to witness a band of Chaos warriors thundering into the main hall. Each one was a head taller than a mortal man, far heavier and clad in ornate blue plate armour. They reeked of dark power.

  Celemnis’ last few men attacked immediately. Their arms were strong from years in her smithies, and they carried her silver blades. The swords’ keen edges bit deeply, felling three of the warriors, sell-souls who had betrayed their own kind for a touch of power. But these men were mighty beyond her workers’ skill in war, and her swords were not enough. Within seconds the blood of her followers ran red on the marble floor.

  Her hand flew to the hilt of her own weapon. The Chaos warriors surrounded her, swords levelled at her throat. Their leader’s face was drunk on triumph.

  ‘Now now, my lady,’ he said. ‘Stay your hand. We will not harm you.’

  A delicate cough sounded behind the warriors, and they parted. There in the doorway stood a thin man, entirely bald. He was clad in robes covered in arcane sigils and wore a great deal of jewellery. His skin shone with scented oil. But the richness of his garb hid a sickness; a second glance showed his slenderness to be cadaverous and his skin grey beneath its copper tan. Behind his make-up his eyes were pouched and sunken, and there was something of the vulture to him. His smile was reptilian.

  ‘Celemnis of the Swords, the maiden who makes blades of such legendary strength and sharpness.’ He approached her, his eyes gleaming. ‘Here we are again.’

  ‘Ephryx of Denvrok,’ she said. ‘I should have realised that your hand was behind this.’

  He dipped his head modestly. ‘I have worked a long time to undo this city’s defences. It was not easy. I am humbled that you see through my artifice and recognise me as the mind behind Elixia’s downfall.’ He held out his hand. ‘Are you not impressed? I have more to show. I agree circumstances could be better, but my offer still stands.’

  ‘I would not have you when you were merely a sorcerer. Now you are a slave to darkness. Never.’ She spat full in his face. Swords came closer to her neck.

  Ephryx’s outstretched hand clenched. He withdrew it and waved his men back.

  ‘You are the daughter of a Ninemage, and should have greater respect for wielders of magic.’ He wiped her spittle away with a silken handkerchief. ‘Have you not heard, my dear? It is the season for treachery. The war against Chaos is lost. Only those who side with the victors have any hope of survival.’

  ‘Better to die with a clean soul than to sell it for baubles,’ she said. ‘You do not act from expediency. You chose your side a long time ago.’

  ‘Ah, if only it were so simple,’ he said. He beckoned forward a group of nine lesser sorcerers waiting by the bronze doors. They stepped nervously around the pooled blood of Celemnis’ men.

  Ephryx waved another hand. A cruel-faced Chaos lord went into the cubicle where the High Alderman sat, his sword drawn. A moment later he came out, and his sword dripped red. The Alderman died as he had lived his last days: meekly, and without protest.

  Ephryx smiled thinly. ‘We go to the vault. I must be sure that the treasure of Elixia is what it is purported to be.’

  Celemnis was roughly disarmed and forced along with Ephryx and his acolytes through the gardens of the House of the Aldermen. The gates had fallen and the enemy ran riot through the streets of the city; a chorus of screams rose and fell in shrill waves. The smell of burning was overpowering, but in the garden peace lingered and the blackbird still sang its song.

  They went through the portals of the monument. The building was deserted, and they descended its wide steps unchallenged. At the bottom was the vault, sealed with doors of black volcanic glass locked by wheels of silver. Upon the doors, Sigmar’s legend had been carved by the duardin. Tiny figures in long strips told of Sigmar’s life and his deeds in the realms.

  Ephryx stood in thought for a moment, then indicated one of his acolytes with a finger and a smile. ‘You,’ he said.

  ‘Can I bear it, master?’ asked the acolyte hesitantly. ‘Will I die?’

  ‘That rather depends on you,’ said Ephryx. ‘If you can, then I will have no more to teach you. If you die, well…’ His smile broadened. ‘I could say the same thing.’

  The acolyte nodded nervously. ‘Very well, master, I am ready.’

  Two of Ephryx’s biggest warriors took station either side of the obsidian doors and grasped the wheel-lock handles. All but Celemnis and the acolyte averted their eyes.

  ‘Begin!’ said Ephryx. The Chaos warriors spun the wheels and heaved backwards. The doors parted and a line of brilliant light burst across them all.

  The acolyte looked into the vault and made a noise of deep pain.

  ‘Is it there? Is it the Great Shatterer?’ asked Ephryx.

  The man gasped out a reply. ‘Yes. Yes! I see a hammer, radiant with power. Oh, master, let me look away!’

  ‘I must be sure – describe it further. My favour will be yours. This is your final test!’

  ‘I see a comet with two tails upon the head, and the face of a great cat circles the haft. A spike is upon the… A spike… Ah, oh, it burns! It burns, ah, ah…’

  Ephryx’s acolyte screamed and flames jetted from his mouth and his eyes. He flung out his arms and fell to his knees. His robes caught fire and his skin blackened from the inside out. He fell to the ground and rolled around, aflame. Within moments he was consumed utterly, leaving a pile of grey ash.

  Ephryx held up a handkerchief to his nose and ordered his servants to sweep the mess away. ‘Close the gates!’

  His warriors obeyed. The doors shut with a dull bang, sealing the light from view. Ephryx smiled again at Celemnis. ‘Well. I have in my possession one item I desire. What say you now to my offer? Be mine and rule at my side. Worlds cou
ld be your toys, such things I have learned! I will share them with you.’

  ‘I have seen what your favour brings,’ Celemnis said. ‘I will have none of it.’

  ‘You will submit yourself to me.’

  ‘If you are so powerful, make me,’ she said.

  Ephryx bared his teeth. For a moment it looked like he would try to enslave her with his magic. One hand clenched and the other raised up, poised to release his arts. For a minute he stared at her, and she stared defiantly back. He let out an explosive sigh, and his hands sank back to his sides.

  ‘No. You will submit willingly, or you will die. You have fifty nights. Take her away.’

  And so for fifty days and nights Celemnis was kept prisoner, and at every sinking of the sun she was brought before the sorcerer. Every night Ephryx would ask, ‘Do you submit?’ Every night she would spit upon the ground, or stare over his head, or look at the floor, or weep. But always she said no. ‘I will never be yours, Ephryx of Denvrok.’

  For the first twenty days she was given every luxury, and was kept in a tall tower that had sprung fully formed from the wreck of the city. There was no way in or out, and she could never recall how she was taken to Ephryx. There was a single window of enchanted crystal, and through this she was permitted to look at the horror inflicted upon her home.

  The days went by. Outside, the racket of industry set up. Slaves were driven into the city from all corners of the Hanging Valleys of Anvrok. Whipped and weeping, they were made to tear down the centre of Elixia.

  The Great Monument was the first to be demolished.

  Perfumed baths, fine food and wine, and exquisite clothes were all provided to her by unseen hands, while outside the remaining populace was enslaved. She could not eat at first, so dismayed was she, but hunger drove her to it. Every mouthful felt like a betrayal.

  The clothes she ripped and destroyed every day, until after the first ten days she awoke every morning to find herself dressed in them while she slept – hideous, filmy things that stripped her of modesty.