Secret War: Warhammer 40,000 by Ben Agar (reading eggs books TXT) 📖

to save your ammo if I was you!"

Castella snarled, holstered her pistol and drew her power blades. "I'm out anyway!"

I activated my powersword in a blaze of blue, as did the other two, almost all at once.

The pews were well into the air now and orbited around Edracian at a dizzying speed. Like a colossal hurricane with him standing straight in its eye.

"Well, shit," said Castella again.

Then they flew straight at us.

 

 

I cried out as the first pew bore down at me; it was large, a good ten metres long and made from dark varnished expensive wood.

With an upward, vertical slash, I cleanly cut it in two, sending the halves whirling away and allowing me a gap to step through.

The second was on me immediately after; my overhead vertical sliced through that.

Already I'd lost sight of Castella and Darrance through the chaos. All other sound eclipsed by the ear-splitting cacophony of the pews shattering and breaking against the surroundings.

A third pew came at me, side-on, which I weaved out the way of, then I ducked another. A fifth hit the floor and bounced and spun my way, crunching and cracking with the impacts.

I imagined I looked more casual than I felt; my heart leapt in my chest so hard, blood thundered through my veins so fast it felt as though I'd explode as I jumped over it. Clearing the one and a half metres needed with ease, I shouldn't have been capable of, and I landed just in time to roll underneath another. One descended at me in an arc, twisting and turning through the air like some gravity-defying gymnast. With a cry, I desperately jumped back, a mere millisecond before it shattered against the floor where I once stood, and I was still in mid-air when its shards flew straight toward me like mini-missiles.

As if with a life of its own, my sword darted and sliced out so fast my eyes could barely follow, intercepting every bit of shrapnel headed my way. Evaporating them harmlessly against its powerfield.

This all happened before I'd even landed, and when I did, I skidded across the smooth marble floor a few metres more before being forced to throw myself prone as another pew seemingly swiped out at me.

I rolled as another smashed down at me, missing by a hair's breadth, and I kicked out my feet, getting up just in time to weave away from the wall of flying wooden shards.

I clenched my teeth and cursed; I couldn't keep this up forever. I needed a way to reach the bastard! Even though it'd already been established his shield can stop plasma bolts, I had to try! I also feared what he would do with the slivers and shards left of the pews once destroyed.

I dashed forward, straight toward a pew that flew at me lengthways.

In the very last microsecond, I dropped and slid on my side, just beneath it before it crashed to the floor, missing my head by barely an inch. I finished into a crouch in time to slice through the next. I darted around another and finally found some space, not much, but it'd have to do.

With a roar, I fell into a sprint and lunged off the stairs. In mid-air, a pew attempted to intercept me. I cut it in two, and the parts flew past me, then I hit the floor, rolling to negate the impact.

I finished, kneeling and saw Edracian, still in the room's epicentre, even with his back to us and his arms still raised.

All I got was a split second look before yet another pew descended at me from above, attempting to crush me under its armrest; I sidestepped it and carried on my sprint.

Two came at me at once, one low, one high. I didn't break stride as with one vertical, downward slash; I cut through them and continued. I caught a glimpse of Castella and Darrance then; they were both taking cover behind the pillars on the left side of the room, limiting the direction the pews could come at them effectively. As blurs, side by side, they dodged and slashed what w their way.

I barely had time to clench my jaw before more frigging pews flew at me, now they were reduced to shattered halves or even less, but they came more consistently and at a higher velocity.

With my heart in my throat, I slid from the path of one as it bounded and crashed across the floor. I leapfrogged over another and cut through the next; my advance now slowed to a crawl.

+What are you doing?+ Edracian asked in my mind.

"Stopping you!" I snarled as I ducked a pew and weaved around another.

Edracian laughed. +You have not a chance! Why do you even try?+

Because that's all I can do, I thought as I clenched my teeth and continued my dogged advance. I could sense both Darrance and Castella were watching me. What I did, the feats I've managed, no normal human could be capable of doing. Perhaps not even them.

I jumped onto the top of one, then bounded off it, flying a few more metres before landing in time to roll under another.

I could see him more clearly now, he was about ten metres away, but at this rate, it may well have been miles.

Two flew at me at once, flying at my sides. Left coming high and right; low.

With a curse, I was forced to bound back, making it out a millisecond before they smashed together in a deafening crash!

I darted left, twisting, covering my face, so the slivers bounced and clattered off my flak jacket. Some were sharp enough to stick fast, alongside the shards of glass I hadn't got around to pulling out yet. The impacts sent me reeling and writhing back further.

Instinct made me duck down as the shattered remains of a pew came ridiculously close to taking off my head.

I darted side to side, dodging another two, then cut through a third.

"Where is she!" I roared.

+Where is who?+ he asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"Elandria! You sick frig! Where the hell is she!"

+Ohhhh! Her! I had forgotten about her! I am not going to tell you. Why do you think I would tell you that?+

I screamed as I cut in half yet another pew. "Why! Why are you doing this?"

+Why not?+

My reply was another scream of incoherent rage, and after sidestepping a small wall of wooden shards, I finally converged on Edracian.

I slashed, but I may well have been trying to cut through an Adamantium wall with a butter knife as my blade bounced off and sent impact pain up my arms.

+It is fruitless, boy!+ laughed Edracian. +You are a mere ant, railing against the heavens!+

I let out a wordless snarl and was forced back by another flying pew. There must be a weakness somewhere! Somewhere! Please!

For what must've only been a few seconds, but for me, it felt like forever. I'd dash in, slash, then dart back out as more debris would attempt to hit me. I must've done it dozens of times, cut at him across every inch and angle conceivable. The entire bloody time, Edracian's laughter echoed through my head.

But nothing, I got nothing. Those few seconds were more exhausting than the last few hours combined, and through my gasping, I clenched my teeth as I realised I couldn't bring myself to dodge the previous bit of pew as it bore down from above. My arms and legs ached like all hell, and my limbs felt like lead.

Silently I begged for Faleaseen to do something, to say anything! But she stayed silent.

The weight hit me from the side, suddenly smashing me off my feet and to the floor. I felt rather than saw the piece of pew fly over me, missing but only an inch.

Abruptly, I was turned by slender but strong hands to come face to face with Castella, her expression a rictus of rage.

"What the hell are you doing?" she snarled.

I didn't reply; I couldn't. I only gaped at her dumbly.

She let out a growl, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and hauled me to my feet, allowing me to see Darrance was there, keeping the debris at bay; his power scimitar darted and sliced like lightning.

"Why did you run up by yourself?" she yelled as she pulled me and sidestepped another pew. "We need to work together, Attelus! Stop trying to do everything on by yourself!"

"Help me here!" yelled Darrance through clenched teeth.

Without hesitation, Castella and I stepped up on Darrance's flanks. Together we slashed, dodged and weaved through the massive amount of debris constantly thrown at us.

My exhaustion was almost overwhelming at this point; on twelve separate times, Darrance had to save me by either slashing debris I'd missed or by pulling me out of its path.

All the while, Edracian laughed and laughed, and it made me angrier and angrier.

I snarled and roared with every slash, trying to ignore my aching arms and heaving chest.

But after what felt like forever, the barrage suddenly stopped and the laughter with it. The shattered remains of the pews abruptly and simultaneously dropped to the floor in a deafening clatter.

The three of us stood among it, exhausted and bleeding all over from minor cuts, me the least, as my flak jacket had protected me from much of it.

+That was impressive,+ said Edracian.

Together we turned to face him.

"Is that all you've got?" remarked Darrance snidely, which made me hiss air through clenched teeth.

Edracian laughed again. +Of course not; that was just the beginning.+

Suddenly Castella and Darrance stiffened simultaneously, both letting out cries of dismay and stayed, frozen like statues. I was unaffected.

As this happened, every single remaining shard, thousands upon thousands, rose back into the air and pointed their tips toward us.

"Well, shit," I breathed.

+This is your end.+

 

Chapter 24

 Attelus, Delathasi, Adelana and Hayden left the fortress with the Velrosian scouts. The sun had started to creep into the cloudless, beautiful blue sky. It wasn't the ideal time to stealth ahead of the rest of the contingent. But still, they sunk from the deep, long shadows shed by the tall towers that loomed around.

Attelus, who carried an old, beaten but well-maintained lasgun given to him by the Velrosians, struggled to keep up with them. Attelus had always prided his skill at stealth. He wouldn't have survived in the ruins of Varander if he wasn't good. He was one of the best among Inquisitor Enandra's agents. Perhaps the best. Attelus sunk and slipped through the city like born spectres. But the Velrosians didn't seem there; they seemed...almost non-existent.

There were twenty of them, including the four Throne Agents. They moved in two pairs per street from the west. Attelus and Adelana were with Adreen and Dellenger on the northernmost street. One pair would advance, one scout along each side of the street, stop at a turn or a four-way junction while the others followed a few metres behind. They moved at a pseudo jog, low with their cameleoline cloaks covering them. The first pair's weapons covered the windows and doors. Left and right, up and down. Left and right, up and down. As the second scout's guns swept side to side while they watched the street ahead. The first would check the corner or corners at