No matter how much Bahlaam spurred or whipped the beast it just would not move. For several hours the man had been trying to rejoin his gang, a Shanty Towne horde. He had joined in hopes of earning some respect, and maybe even some guilders for his trouble.
“A little raid is all says he. Be home by supper. My Emperor forsaken rump says I!” He said shaking his fist at the toxin filled sky. “Them Nomads are mighty pissed, I tell you what… Come on you stubborn lizard!”
The two legged beast just turned its head and looked bored, and no amount of prodding seemed to regain the interest of the animal.
“Fine, have it your way.” And with that he got down off the animal and fetched a pair of binoculars out of his saddle bag. Tracking his mount’s trail back the way they had come he wanted to see if the Nomads had followed them in search of vengeance. More than once he could have sworn that he heard the roar of an engine over the unceasing winds, only to see nothing beyond the dunes.
Returning to the saddle bags he withdrew a handful of feed for his mount.
“Come now Dokey. We best be getting back to ‘Hell’s Gate’ before sun down or else them Nomads are gonna make a meal out of ya.”
The beast gobbled up the food, but would not budge until it had had another six more handfuls of food. Finally remounting the beast the both of them headed out, racing over the dunes, where once more towards home.
As the pair neared ‘Dead Man’s pass’ Bahlaam noticed several overturned vehicles and smoke winding its way up to join the clouds above. The closer they approached the more carnage he saw and the more it became obvious that his fellow militia had been ambushed. By the amount of dead (both man and beast) it would appear that not many, if any, had survived. Pulling his beast up short on top of an ash dune some hundred meters distant, he surveyed the killing ground. As he peered through the binoculars his attention was more on the bluffs overlooking the pass then upon the dead below.
His options were limited. The pass was the only safe passage back to ‘Hell’s gate’. A sludge sea filled the area to the south, and an acid geyser field to his north. It would take him days to go around either one, and his food was all but out.
“Necromunda you have lived up to your name this day, haven’t ya.” Bahlaam thought to himself. After several minutes of surveying the area he could not detect a single living thing. Leaning over he talked gently into his mount’s ear.
“Dokey, you must fly and you mustn’t stop for nothin’. You hear me! There is no where else for us to go. Come on now, get on home! H’ya!”
Digging in both heals into the beast’s ribs Bahlaam urged the lizard-beast into a headlong flight down the dunes, straight for the mouth of the pass.
His mount seemed to sense the danger and picked up speed. Without hesitation or further instruction from its rider the beast vaulted clear of dead and debris, never turning from their goal and the relative safety ahead.
Bahlaam let the animal dictate the path and speed. They two had been together since he was old enough to ride and his mount had always brought him home. Instead he continued to scan the bluffs now looming above his head, searching for anything that might reveal imminent danger.
“CRACK!” The unmistakable report of a rifle played off the rock formations, but the beast never skipped a step and both mount and rider raced into the pass through the other side of the Nomad killzone.
-=-=-=O=-=-=-
“Open the gates! The Militia is returning, open the gates!”
Slowly the massive metal doors swung wide. But there were no militia to greet the townspeople, just a lone beast. Its rider being dragged still connected to the stirrup.
Several people ran out to help the man, but it was too late. The man was dead – a single, large caliber, bullet hole to the forehead which exited via a small cavern out the back.
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