I've posted this story on many forums before, But I'm always looking for new people to read them and tell me what they think.

Enjoy!

The Red Dawn

We had moved forward through the ruins of a human cathedral with a silent but steady pace. Stirring not a single stone on the ground so that not even the insects would notice our passing, and our movents so graceful that we did not disturb the wind.

As we picked our way through the ruin on the ground floor of the structure, we watched the ground intently. Though it was early morning at the time, and only the first rays of sunlight came through the broken windows, we missed not a single detail amongst the ruin. We looked for upturned rocks, footprints, or marks on the stone; anything that would give us a clue as to the path our prey had taken. We were hunting a group of Mon-Keigh who had escaped our wrath the previous night.

We followed this trail for about an hour towards the rear end of the cathedral. When it came to a stop we found ourselves standing in more ruin, but the walls of the structure had completely fallen away on all sides leaving only broken pillars to stand as sentinels. The rubble had fallen less here, and patches of brown earth could be seen under the scattered bits of black stone. Amongst the ruin we found our prey, already long dead.

Their armour was scratched and cracked, as if it had been clawed open, and the corpses inside were red and scabbed. Upon closer inspection we found that the skin of the Mon-Keigh had been torn off completely, their muscles and organs bare. We found their heavy footprints marked in the mud and scratched onto the stone, telling us the story of a battle that had happened here some hours before. But there was no sign of any assailants, and it appeared that they had attacked each other, save for the fact they no weaponry they possessed caused wounds like these.

We investigated the area further, but could find no other clues or traces that might hint another’s presence. Confused we glared at each other, then at the corpses, mystified.

Without warning one among our numbers dropped with a scream, and in his place standing over his body was a hunched figure. Its thin, skeletal features were silver, while its large shoulder blades and skull were jet black. The missing carcasses of the Mon-Keigh were draped over it like a robe.

My chainsword was in my hands in the blink of an eye, its razor teeth spinning with a hum. I sprung at the figure as more of them made themselves apparent, and swung my chainsword in a powerful arc that smashed the creature to pieces. My fellows joined me and engaged the other creatures as they rose from between the rubble.

I spotted my next target, and leapt for him, my sword once again chewing through its metal limbs and scattering them. However before I could strike the fatal blow, I felt a sharp pain as I was pierced from behind. I turned my head in horror to find the opponent I had slain seconds before was again on its feat, its long taloned hands piercing my back and puncturing my vital organs.
Death soon followed, as I fell into darkness…

as always its awesome. i read the first line and knew what story it was =)

was the enemy a flayed one by any chance?

very good story i have heared only one better (non-profesanal)story

but all the same this is very good and i injoyed it

yeah they were flayed ones.

thats the line that really gives it away for those who didnt guess before hand.

Hey Cal, how long ago did you write this?

This was written last year as a part of a English writting folio/anthology thingy. We could base the folio on any subject we liked (I chose Warhammer, and chose to write a whole bunch of fluff.)

There are a few others that went into the folio other than this one, and I may post them up later. However they have changed a bit since last year, through lengthening and editing them. Most the changes were sublte though, if you've read it before I doupt you'd notice them.

Cheers everyone, Calaith

For some reason I though it was older than that, but I suppose that that was around about when you got the Necron Codex. Remember my story on potato soup taking over the world, I must post that up if I can find it :D

gota love stories about the flayed ones. they are taylor made for bloody violence and scariness.