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Screams..... Yeah they heard all your fan boys screaming out for more story!

They all cried out in pain because it was just a small teaser.

Fair enough!

Hmmmm, I know I had something constructive to say. Oh well, its gone.

The marines hustled down the tunnel. They passed bizarre bone colored machines, rings of pastel light, and panels of exquisite detail. Occasionally shafts of light would pierce the fabric of the walls and ceiling. As the marines ran on, the thin corridor became round, then triangular, then to a wide oval shape. Through out their traveling Razzik studied his HUD map trying to determine where they were located, but the further they went the less accurate he felt the maps were.

Eventually they rounded a bend and saw Brother Nillahfin. The area of the tunnel he was in was shorter then he was tall so he was kneeling with his helm up to a panel covered in dull gems and rows of concave glass inserts.

“I don’t hear anyth…” Razzik began when Nillahfin raised his hand to silence the captain.

For a moment the marines stood in silence. Razzik closely regarded the tactical marine as he waited. His bolter was mag-locked to his lower back with the standard issue combat blade at his hip. On his other hip was a trio of very small pistols, to small for astartes hands, but incredibly ornate. One looked similar to a needle pistol; the other two were unknown designs. Across Nillahfin’s chest was a bandolier with various knives and daggers, each one looking more ceremonial then functional. Razzik began to kneel down when he caught a glimpse of a hilt on the opposite side of Nillahfin’s backpack. He stopped when the whine of engines crept in from the distance.

He hesitated as the engine sounds grew and separated. They sounded close and there had to be several dozen of them. Razzik narrowed his eyes as he ruled out the engines being Imperial. They were high pitched whines of xenos make, not the rumble of an Imperial vessel.

The engine noises suddenly died down and several voices began to yell back and forth. Razzik didn’t know what dialect they were speaking but it was fast and it oozed through the air like a poisonous cloud.

“Eldar,” he sneered.

“Dark Eldar,” Nefas corrected. His voice was a hissing whisper in the claustrophobic tunnel.

Razzik turned to look at Nefas but the shoulders of his men blocked the view of the Sinner marine. “Do you speak it?” He quietly said over the vox.

“Some. They speak of intruders in the,” he paused, searching for the right term, “masters hall.” Nefas said the word with disgust; clearly what they said meant more then just a master.

The engine sounds whistled with renewed power. They sped away as quickly as they arrived. For a minute the marines knelt, quietly listening for more.

“Nillahfin does the panel move?” Razzik finally asked. Nillahfin responded by reaching out and trying to shift the panel. He pulled, pushed, and tried to slide it in every direction he could think of. The panel didn’t budge or give. Nillahfin grunted with effort as he tried to push it open with both hands, his feet were braced against the other side of the tunnel behind him.

“Captain, may I try?” Nefas hissed through the tunnel.

Nillahfin stopped trying the panel and gave a side glance to Razzik. With a simple nod Nillahfin shuffled further into the tunnel while staying in his kneeling position. The other marines parted to let Nefas through. He knelt before the panel and closely examined it. For a minute he didn’t touch anything, he simply studied every detail of the dull gems and the glass inserts. A cool breeze wafted through the tunnel as Razzik watched Nefas.

The Sinner marine cocked his head, as if reading something side ways. He reached out with both hands and carefully splayed them across several gems and a glass insert. He didn’t touch any of them until his hands were arrayed just right. With steady hands he pushed forwards into the gems, his thumb was the last to touch and he applied minimal pressure to a glass insert with it.

Gems pulsed with an inner light for only the briefest of moments before the panel split into a handful of jagged pieces. The pieces were still attached at the edge of the panel to the wall and they opened like a flower at dawn, hinging outwards and spreading out to reveal another tunnel, a much larger tunnel.

Where an ornate panel once was, an opening into another passage way now loomed. Nefas looked back to Razzik before he stuck his head out. After a quick look around he came back in, “Looks clear, I don’t see anyone but there is another tunnel nearby that is well lit.”

Razzik didn’t want to go through that panel. He didn’t know why, but he didn’t like this entire situation and the fact that Nefas knew how to open up that panel didn’t help. It led to more questions he was saving for a future conversation with the Sinner marine. Tactically he knew he should explore around this opening to try and find a way back his other marines but he still didn’t like it.

With reluctance Razzik gave the order, “Fine, Nefas then Nillahfin, standard breach protocol, now.”

Nefas pulled himself through the portal with Nillahfin right behind him. Razzik saw hesitance in Nillahfins movements and that was very uncharacteristic of any Ice Angel. Standard breaching tactics were drilled into every Ice Angel. The training was ingrained into the chapter’s soul. A tactical Ice Angel mastered the techniques before branching out to any other specialty.

Yet as Razzik moved to follow he couldn’t help but have a mental flinch as he saw Nillahfin pull himself through the portal and stand on the wall surrounding the portal. Peaking his head out, Razzik saw Nefas was already moving towards the next tunnel along the wall while Nillahfin waited for Razzik to fully emerge.

As more then half of Razzik’s body exited the smaller tunnel and entered the larger, gravity seemed to alter itself. It was a subtle difference but when Razzik stood up and looked down, the floor contained the portal.

An opening in a wall opened through the floor in another area. Razzik’s head swam with the impossibilities of it all when Nefas vox clicked twice. He had spotted something. Razzik quickly looked around before moving. The tunnel was wider then a land raider and full of curves. There wasn’t any dirt or rocks or markings of any kind. In both directions the tunnel twisted giving him very short visibility, possibly 100 yards from one curve to the next.

Now that Razzik was out Nillahfin moved to follow Nefas. Shar-Takazz emerged next. One by one they cleared the portal and followed Nefas. Shu-Takii and his floating cannons came through last.

Silently they approached the open chute in the floor that Nefas was kneeling by. He signaled three hostiles. Razzik peered over the lip to confirm. Twenty yards away along the walls of the chute stood three spindly dark eldar. One was twirling a hooked sword in the air while another watched. The third paced back and forth. Gravity was clearly working in mysterious ways in these tunnels.

Razzik slowly lowered himself and looked back at his marines to issue orders through hand gestures. He began to point when movement caught the corner of his attention. The portal they had come through was gracefully closing back up. He could do nothing but sigh as the petals of the portal sealed themselves back up and disappeared into the wall. After he blinked there was no sign that there had ever been an entry point through the floor behind him.

With a mental sigh Razzik issued his orders with quick efficiency. Already Shu-Takii’s cannons were silently floating towards the edge of the chute.

Across the vox Razzik began to explain to Nefas his role in capturing one of the eldar, but before he could finish. The discharge of ancient cannons ripped through the silent corridor. The sound was a mix of a plasma hiss and a scream of terror.

Nillahfin, Zaduga, crested the lip with Shar-Takazz as Razzik looked over to Shu-Takii. Two bolt shots rang out at the same time, before a clear signal was issued. There were no survivors.

The entire exchange took less then four seconds.

“hmmm, “ Shu-Takii said with surprise, “ the system these Volkites use to handle mental commands needs some fine tuning. That or they have very aggressive machine spirits, or both.” He turned to Razzik as the guns lowered closer to the ground like whimpering pets. “I apologize Captain.”

Razzik didn’t respond, merely walked over the edge of the tunnel into the chute to look at the sizzling remains. Two eldar had been reduced to smoking armored legs while the third had taken two bolt rounds to the midriff. Three spiked boards lay inert not far away from the corpses. Razzik had seen Eldar ride the bizarre contraptions into battle before. The absurdity of them made him shake his head.

“Zaduga and Nillahfin, scout ahead and find out what’s creating this light.” Razzik commanded as he got even closer to the corpses. The scantily clad dark eldar wore turquoise bits of armor on their shoulders and tattoos on everything else. With one last head shake he began to jog away, the others followed suit. Nefas stayed a moment longer to dirty his armored fingers in the Eldar’s blood.

After ten minutes the voice of Zaduga calmly spoke through the vox. “Captain, you won’t believe this.”

What wont he believe! Damn you Ice drawing me in like that and leaving me hanging!

In other news, great passage the change of gravity when popping out from the wall/floor was very nice!

This going to be a very long read, my friend .

Knightley, thank you very much. I spent a lot of time reading and rereading this last section. I've found that whenever there is a similar situation in any book I've ever read, it can easily become overly confusing. I tried to keep it simple without going into to much detail yet still convey their situation.

Mithami, welcome to the thread! Don't worry, the long read is worth it. Currently its only 259 pages in word, which in book format would be about 518 pages. It shouldn't take you to long to catch up to where we are at today. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

Really Ice? I had no idea you were that prolific! That's impressive in and of itself. (not mentioning that it's an awesome story)

Whoah! 518 pages... that is impressive!

Have you ever tried to publish any of your wriing?

Not really. I did submit my story to the black library during their open submission period, but that didn't happen. This is really the only writing I've done though.

Today is March 13th, and I declare it to be, name an Ice Angel day!

I have approximately 15 Ice Angels that I have not named yet their squads have been mentioned. I always like to see what you guys come up with.

Guidelines.
1. It has to sound like it would be an Ice Angel name. Feel free to use, Bel, Tock, Shar, or Shu in front of the name, similarly to how the Irish use Mc, or O' If you need a reminder of previously named Ice Angels refer to page one of the thread where I listed out all the previously mentioned Angels. For those of you who missed a previous conversation about this, there are two groups that Ice Angels are recruited from, one is a group of space faring tribes. There names all end with a vowel. The other group is from the city hives in Shattermantle. They typically end with hard letters like X, and K.

2. No more then five names per person.

There are no losers in this, please post any names you have. If I don't feel its an Ice Angel like name, I'll simply use it for something else if I like it. Thanks guys, I look forward to reading what you come up with.

Tock O' Bel

That pretty much covers everything!

Bel' Harcos.

Harcos is warrior in Hungarian.

My entries!

Bel'Dingethe
Tock'Menuri
Shar Gorthia
Baranath'Shu
Old Telqla Haanarka

Good suggestions guys! I like them all. Gits made me laugh a lot but its so ridiculous I may still have to use it.

I'm glad you mentioned it Ice. That's probably the best pun I've every made in my life and it got NO response... I was so depressed.

You want puns, eh?

Shar Siu
'The Prince' Bel Ayre
Shu Zensox

It's half 3 in the morning, don't judge me!

I like the third one the best... well played sir!

Its been a while so lets get this out of the way:

The new entries are awesome m8. Keep it up

Now for the naming I will give you one

Shar Ventus

Ventus is wind in latin (if my memory serves me right)

Edit: Yes I am correct

Damn it. Now i have to catch up after i get back from school. Thus far i love it. You kind of became my inspiration to make my own short stories, set in my own universe. I borrowed your sort of writing style. FYI.

Avatar 720 wrote:
Shu Zensox

I have to admit, this one took me awhile to get, but is probably my favorite.

@Bobakos - welcome back, thanks for name. Are you all caught up now on the fluff or do you still have a ways to go?

@AsherianCommand - cool, its nice to hear that I've inspired anyone to do much of anything. Good luck with the writing. It can be a daunting task but very rewarding, especially when people take time to comment on it!

Anyone else have any names they'd like to suggest?

How about Shar Vadàsz.

Bel' Harcos.
Bel'Dingethe
Tock'Menuri
Shar Gorthia
Baranath'Shu
Old Telqla Haanarka
Shar Ventus
Shar Vadàsz

Our list so far, minus the funny ones. They are all going to be used and will be assigned to marines. There will be a couple minor adjustments to several of them but I'll try to keep my alterations to a minimum. Thanks everybody for the suggestions, if at any point you come up with more please let me know. I have a whole chapter to name and then rename when I kill them off, I'll always appreciate suggestions.

The rubble strewn cave was silent. When Squad Rah-Apsu first arrived and orders were given they quickly made a chest high wall of stone while vigilantly monitoring the black curtain at the other end of the cavern. The racks of cages hung vacant across from them and the only movement was the occasional visit from a member from Squad Plafwu.

Sergeant Shu-Baranathi had been trying to piece together what was happening on the other side from these visits and relaying the information to Chaplain Cyaxeres. It didn’t make any sense to him so he repeated the information verbatim and kept his mouth shut as Cyaxeres retaliated with questions he couldn’t answer.

“I do not know Chaplain, “he repeated countless times before Cyaxeres would close the channel.

In between the visits, the silence of the cave would set back in, like an oppressive blanket trying to smother the flames of his soul. Shu-Baranathi would speak to his men and pace back and forth but he always ended up back in the center of the line, feeling the same annoying silence.

Finally Brother Harcos from Squad Plafwu broke the black plane and alerted them to an alarm triggered on the other side. Enemies were dropping from the ceiling and springing from walls. Shu-Baranathi responded with an affirmation that he understood and forwarded the message. Finally he would have something to take out his annoyance on, yet after Brother Harcos disappeared back into the blackness nothing came through the wall. Harcos returned several more times to relay vital information about the retreat and the order to call in the Frozen Rage. After each visit Harcos would turn and vanish back through the curtain.

This entire situation reminded Shu-Baranathi of a combat simulation, except this simulation was all build up, a slow patience testing build up. He knew there was a serious battle on the crater toped mountain above him. He knew there was a serious battle going on only sixty yards ahead of him on the other side of the curtain, yet here he stood, in the annoying silence. His mind began to wander as he waited. He could sense the agitation in his men, even from Old Telqla who was fidgeting with his heavy bolter.

Without warning or cause, Shu-Baranathi’s gaze was drawn up to the glowing crystal high up the curtain wall. “Did something change?” he thought to himself. “Was it pulsing with purple light before, or was it blue?”

As if the crystal was answering his questions the racks shuddered and moaned, like a chill had passed over them. Shu-Baranathi leaned forward over the impromptu stone wall; his backpack mounted signum pivoted back and forth looking for targets.

The marines to his right and left seemed to tighten up. The agitation was instantly replaced by the battlefield calm they were trained to reach instantaneously. The racks shuddered once again and began to retreat back into the curtain. They rumbled and scraped rock as they slowly retreated.

“Oh, this can’t be good,” Telqla spoke.
“Bel'Dingethe and Tock'Menuri, move up to the wall to assist Plafwu’s fall back.” Shu-Baranathi quietly commanded.

The two marines stepped around the rock wall and jogged down the slight decline towards the retreating racks. They stood next to one another at the end of the center rack and slowly followed it.

A screaming humanoid passed through the wall between the left most isles. A heavy bolter round exploded in its chest before it had taken its second step into the cavern.

“First blood,” Vadàsz said to Old Telqla who responded with a grunt. The younger marine was about remind Old Telqla of his current kill tally when two Ice Angels broke the curtain.

Brother Harcos was supporting a wounded Angel. Bel'Dingethe and Tock'Menuri were at their sides protecting them within seconds.

“We’ve been overrun.” Harcos stated as he began to climb the hill with his wounded brethren.

Shu-Baranathi was about to ask several questions when the wall rippled at one end with more of the crazed humans. Gunfire erupted along the line as the remaining marines from Squad Plafwu exited the wall. Sergeant Maranu was last to come through the wall and he did so on his back with two tortured souls on top of him.

He crashed onto the ground while gutting one of the humans with his chainsword. The other was knocked aside and taken out by a bolt shot. The racks were now half way back through the curtain.

“Where’s the Captain and the others?” Shu-Baranathi asked Sergeant Maranu as the waves of enemies continued to push through the wall.

Maranu parried several jagged blades while he responded. “The Captain was separated with Squad Rimsin. Combat leader Balathu has the information we need but we lost contact with his squad only seconds ago.”

As the heavy bolter fire quelled the scantily clad humans Squad Plafwu made a defensive ring as they fell back towards the hill and the rock wall.

“How did this rabble force you to fall back?” Old Telqla gruffly added in between bursts of heavy bolter rounds.

“These aren’t the problem,” Sergeant Maranu retorted as he skillfully carved the head off another victim.

Through the wall came another wave of enemies, this time floating giants joined them. Shu-Baranathi didn’t need to issue orders or mention what needed to die first. The six men in his unit all targeted the nearest giants and opened fire. Squad Plafwu continued to fall back up the hill firing on the faster running humans. By the time the first giant had fallen, the drugged humans had already reached the retreating marines.

Shu-Baranathi tossed one of his frag grenades before reloading his bolt pistol. The quiet cave was now full of screaming people and weapons chatter. He analyzed the scene of carnage before him as a small part of his brain wished the annoying silence would once again return.

Oooh, the new boys have names, and heavy weapons. What I can gather is about two have HB's not sure what else is in their arsenal but can't wait to find out what else is in store.

Bets on how long till the first of this new batch lasts before one is claimed?

Squad Rah-Apsu has two heavy bolters, no other heavy weapons at this time. There are only seven active members at this time.

We shall see how long they last. I generally don't plan out deaths except for major characters. The others all depend on whats going on and how I'm feeling.

The crashing of stone on metal, the brief screams from the dying as they were melted from molten phlegm, the constant intense heat that oozed up from the linnorms body in air rippling waves, Inigo’s senses were assailed by a riot of noise and visual confusion. He lay on his side behind a bony ridge that crested the front of the linnorms back, like a castles notched battlements. To his right Jaska and the other marines did the same.

After the marines climbed the thunderhawk sized creature, it bellowed and took off down a small side hall. The marines braced for impact as it crashed in the smaller pathway but the creature pressed through the hall, melting the walls and pushing everything out of its path.

As the monster created its own path the marines spoke to one another over the vox. Inigo didn’t pay any attention to their words. His focus was lost to the rhythmic undulation of the linnorms long body. From his vantage point Inigo could watch the simple yet incredibly powerful motions of the six legged creature. The bony plates protecting its armored back fit together like a loose puzzle and as some would spread apart others would tighten together. The super heated flesh under the thick plates glowed dimly through the cracks.

The crashing sounds the linnorm created slowly faded away. The screams of the crazed people, rabid avians, and other monstrosities sounded like a world away. Inigo felt his sweat beading up all over his body as his power armors cooling system failed to maintain its combat temperature. Inigo chuckled to himself as the familiarity of these sensations clashed with the absurdity of it all.

One of the floating images the linnorm had forced upon him lingered at the edge of his consciousness. He couldn’t grasp the image or fully recall what it was, yet something taunted him like an unseen sniper.

Inigo’s vision suddenly darkened like a long blink without him closing his eyes. The linnorm took several more steps and screamed out both heads before abruptly stopping. Inigo slid up against the battlements.

“Hold your fire!” Balathu commanded across the vox.

The marines to Inigo’s right stood one by one. Inigo was the last to move. He grasped the bony ridge and pulled himself up. The two heads of the linnorm were flanking an Ice Angel position. From his elevated position he could easily see the 11 marines that held up bolt weapons of various calibers from behind a raised rock wall. Three wounded angels were propped up against a back wall, only one was conscious enough to wield his bolter. The corpses of giants, floating monsters, crazed humans, and drugged avians were piled up outside the wall.

“Care to explain what this is Combat Leader?” one of the sergeants asked.

Balathu began to speak but Inigo interrupted, “Sindithaxinum is his name.”

Every marine on the back of the linnorm slowly turned to regard the Son of Hades marine. Inigo wanted to say more but he was still shocked he knew the linnorms name. Jaska was the only marine that didn’t seem to give him a questionable glare.

One by one the marines turned back towards each other or the marines down below behind the rocky wall. The two heads of the linnorm lifted up to look at the marines on its own back, at least that’s what Inigo thought. A crackling sound, similar to vox static came from behind him. Inigo turned to see the floating crystal in the black curtain pulse thrice; each pulse a different color. It was then smoothly pulled back into the black curtain. A light hiss filled the air for a brief second as the curtain collapsed around the point in which the crystal departed.

“Captain…..” Inigo heard several marines mumble as the portal ceased to exist. The light from the crystal was now replaced by the dull glow from the linnorms super heated body.

Casually, one of the linnorms heads moved closer towards the marines on the hill. Its forked tongue darted at the end marine. The marine still held his heavy bolter pointed at the linnorms gigantic maw in a motionless pose. The other head began to smell the air with his tongue as well, but it was above the marines sniffing at some of the chutes in the ceiling.

The marines on the back of the linnorm began to climb down while the linnorm tongued in every direction. The giant heads twitched. Inigo stayed atop the linnorm staring at the emptiness the curtain had left in the vast cavern. He began to chuckle to himself as a feeling of excitement oozed up from the linnorm below him. Jaska glanced once again at Inigo before stepping closer as if to speak.

“Jaska! Inigo!” Balathu shouted from below.

The shout tore the emotion out of Inigo. He looked back over the bony ridge in front of him at the marines.

“You entered the complex through another portal didn’t you?” Balathu asked as he looked up, the box containing the head was still firmly held under his arm. The other marines were gathering up the wounded and preparing to move back to the surface. “There may yet be another way that Captain Razzik and the others can escape,” Balathu continued.

The Son of Hades thought back to their descent into the mountain. It seemed so long ago but it had been only this morning. He recalled some of the twists and turns of the descent and them fighting off the flying bats and a pair of quadruped avians. As he ran through their path a moment of clarity hit him. He turned back around towards where the curtain once was. It now revealed the other half of the cavern, the half that Jaska, Nefas, and he had entered through.

“We entered through the same portal, but from the other side,” Jaska began before Inigo could speak. “That tunnel over there is where we came through,” he added while pointing to the far side of the cavern.

Slowly Jaska lowered his arm and turned back towards the Ice Angels and Inigo. “It saddens me greatly to say, but I do not foresee how Nefas and the others will ever be able to escape that place.”

Jaska’s blatant statement sucked any hope the Angels had out right out of the cavern. Inigo saw the despair hit several of them for only a fleeting moment before their focus was turned back to the task at hand. With renewed speed they picked up their wounded and began to head back up the tunnel in which they had entered.

Inigo watched them leave. None said another word. None even looked back at Jaska and Inigo as they stood atop the protective back of the linnorm.

“Well Son of Hades, shall we follow?” Jaska asked without removing his gaze from the tunnel the Angels had filed out through.

Inigo pondered the question while a tingle coursed up his back. He reached up and removed his helmet. He mag locked it to his upper thigh and then ruffled his sweat soaked beard. The two heads of the linnorm looked to one another in silent conversation and when one of them looked back at Inigo, that feeling of excitement returned. This time an insatiable hunger accompanied the sensation. His mouth began to salivate.

“I think we will meet up with the Angels in due time,” Inigo chuckled. “I think Sindithaxinum would like to feast on some greenskins first.” In response the linnorm screamed another one of its two toned earth quaking calls. Jaska and Inigo both fell from the vibrations of the armored body they had been standing on. Before either could think about getting back up it leapt forward at one of the tunnels. Inigo took one glance at the confused marine next to him before letting out a deep belly laugh.

“This day continues to get more interesting, doesn’t it?!” he shouted as the linnorm burrowed itself out of the mountain at a steep upwards angle.

How cool is that!?

 Gitsplitta wrote:
How cool is that!?

Which part? Riding the linnorm or the fact that Razzik and the others are trapped?

Riding the Dragon...