not imagine what Gotrek had found in this one that was so important.
‘Am I right?’ said Kolya, ducking under a dripping branch and spreading his arms to encompass the tangled mass of dark, mist-wreathed trunks. ‘Here, even mountains have trees.’
‘The Middle Mountains were at least a week away,’ said Felix, palming aside the same branch and following in the Kislevite’s steps. He peered into the cloying mist, searching for the telltale glimpse of a peak. There was nothing. Damp mosses glistened silver against the north face of the trees. Grasses conferred darkly. Nascent bluebells filled the air with their scent, their flowers closed within tiny helmets, withholding their full colour against the final encroachment of spring. Life, on some level, was going on. It was actually rather dispiriting. His attention veering from the trail, Felix stamped his foot in a deep puddle, splashing freezing water into his boots and startling a small brown frog that hopped out of his path and into the undergrowth.
Kolya chuckled.
‘Through all these trees? A week at least. But Zabójka took us onto Wolfenburg road, and returned to forest only when he say his secret path is near. Oh yes,’ Kolya added with a tight little smile, ‘the army of marauders and beasts marching north behind us on same road maybe also have something to do with it.’
Felix stopped, stunned, a wet branch swinging back to slap him in the chest.
A herd of beastmen their company could just – and he meant just – about handle, but a Chaos army on the march was a vastly different prospect. Felix had seen plenty of them on the roads of Ostermark when he had first crossed back into the Empire: whole regiments of Chaos warriors marching in step, the hellish banners, the bray of horns, the reek of char where daemons walked, the way the ground itself seemed to shake underfoot as broken and branded Ostermark men pushed the Chaos legions’ infernal engines of war west towards Talabecland. They were memories that would stay with Felix as long as he lived. And Gotrek had seen them too.
‘Did no one try to stop him?’
The Kislevite paused under the moon shadow of a wide beech tree. Were it not for his colourful patchwork coat then Felix doubted he would have been able to see the man. ‘Is up to you of course, but I suggest keeping down your voice.’ He nodded towards the surrounding forest. ‘Not all of Chaos army stayed on road.’
Felix was uncomfortably reminded of his nightmare of being hunted through a forest that had itself been somehow complicit with his doom. Looking around him now, he could see where some of that imagery had come from. I see your death . He shuddered. It wasn’t a pleasant comparison to draw.
‘Are they following us?’
‘Look at this,’ said Kolya, taking a frond of something leafy and green and producing an expansive shrug. ‘How is anyone to follow anything in this?’
‘Kat could,’ said Felix wistfully. His wife had been a true daughter of the Drakwald, and what had filled him with night terrors had been as unthreatening and common to her as a stroll down Befehlshaber Avenue, a gauntlet of hawkers, vendors and beggars that had in turn filled Kat with dread. Reminiscence hardened into a lump in his throat. He swallowed it with difficulty. ‘She could track a single beastman several days ahead. And I once saw her shoot down a running beastman at three hundred yards by nothing but moonlight.’ He shook his head, disbelieving still. ‘The best shot I ever saw.’
‘No offence taken,’ Kolya returned. ‘Is she as beautiful as she is deadly with a bow?’
‘You know you’ve asked me this question or one like it a hundred times since we left Praag.’
‘You are the poet, Lord Jaeger. Describe her to me and maybe I will not ask again.’
Felix sighed. ‘She was smaller than most women, and slender, but she could move through the forest like a deer. And she had the most beautiful dark hair, except for
‘Am I right?’ said Kolya, ducking under a dripping branch and spreading his arms to encompass the tangled mass of dark, mist-wreathed trunks. ‘Here, even mountains have trees.’
‘The Middle Mountains were at least a week away,’ said Felix, palming aside the same branch and following in the Kislevite’s steps. He peered into the cloying mist, searching for the telltale glimpse of a peak. There was nothing. Damp mosses glistened silver against the north face of the trees. Grasses conferred darkly. Nascent bluebells filled the air with their scent, their flowers closed within tiny helmets, withholding their full colour against the final encroachment of spring. Life, on some level, was going on. It was actually rather dispiriting. His attention veering from the trail, Felix stamped his foot in a deep puddle, splashing freezing water into his boots and startling a small brown frog that hopped out of his path and into the undergrowth.
Kolya chuckled.
‘Through all these trees? A week at least. But Zabójka took us onto Wolfenburg road, and returned to forest only when he say his secret path is near. Oh yes,’ Kolya added with a tight little smile, ‘the army of marauders and beasts marching north behind us on same road maybe also have something to do with it.’
Felix stopped, stunned, a wet branch swinging back to slap him in the chest.
A herd of beastmen their company could just – and he meant just – about handle, but a Chaos army on the march was a vastly different prospect. Felix had seen plenty of them on the roads of Ostermark when he had first crossed back into the Empire: whole regiments of Chaos warriors marching in step, the hellish banners, the bray of horns, the reek of char where daemons walked, the way the ground itself seemed to shake underfoot as broken and branded Ostermark men pushed the Chaos legions’ infernal engines of war west towards Talabecland. They were memories that would stay with Felix as long as he lived. And Gotrek had seen them too.
‘Did no one try to stop him?’
The Kislevite paused under the moon shadow of a wide beech tree. Were it not for his colourful patchwork coat then Felix doubted he would have been able to see the man. ‘Is up to you of course, but I suggest keeping down your voice.’ He nodded towards the surrounding forest. ‘Not all of Chaos army stayed on road.’
Felix was uncomfortably reminded of his nightmare of being hunted through a forest that had itself been somehow complicit with his doom. Looking around him now, he could see where some of that imagery had come from. I see your death . He shuddered. It wasn’t a pleasant comparison to draw.
‘Are they following us?’
‘Look at this,’ said Kolya, taking a frond of something leafy and green and producing an expansive shrug. ‘How is anyone to follow anything in this?’
‘Kat could,’ said Felix wistfully. His wife had been a true daughter of the Drakwald, and what had filled him with night terrors had been as unthreatening and common to her as a stroll down Befehlshaber Avenue, a gauntlet of hawkers, vendors and beggars that had in turn filled Kat with dread. Reminiscence hardened into a lump in his throat. He swallowed it with difficulty. ‘She could track a single beastman several days ahead. And I once saw her shoot down a running beastman at three hundred yards by nothing but moonlight.’ He shook his head, disbelieving still. ‘The best shot I ever saw.’
‘No offence taken,’ Kolya returned. ‘Is she as beautiful as she is deadly with a bow?’
‘You know you’ve asked me this question or one like it a hundred times since we left Praag.’
‘You are the poet, Lord Jaeger. Describe her to me and maybe I will not ask again.’
Felix sighed. ‘She was smaller than most women, and slender, but she could move through the forest like a deer. And she had the most beautiful dark hair, except for
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