They sprinted through the whipgrass and shadowed trees to the tunnel entrance, as above them the white flare of a shuttlecraft drew closer. Then down, cautious in the gloom, chemlamp low enough to do no more than shade the darkness green.

Mare squeezed Shuck's hand and hissed. Echos came from far down the passage; orders barked in booming voices, and the hard tread of armored boots.

Shuck pulled her back, up the tunnel and into a side passage. They rushed through the labyrinth in the dark, around unfamiliar turns and past ancient, gaping doorways. Shuck stumbled on a child's toy, a miniature tank fashioned from scrap metal. He kicked it away as Mare pulled him to his feet.

They followed a walkway along the edge of a chasm. From somewhere beyond their feeble green light, there was the sound of rushing water.

"I'm pretty sure we're still going the right way," Shuck whispered as they hurried along beside the pit. "If we take the next left, it should lead back to the main tunnel, somewhere behind those Marines."

Mare panted with the effort of keeping up. "Won't," she gasped.

Shuck turned to look at her. Her chest was heaving. She was staring down at her hand, holding the chemlamp. Her pale fingers were corpselike in the wan light, and the jewels of her ring were dark. "Won't," she said again.

Shuck pulled her close, pressing her face to his chest. "Mare? Is he talking to you, in your head? Don't listen to him. Stay with me."

Her voice was muffled, and strangely calm. "I won't. Won't do it. We have to run."

Shuck held his breath for a moment, and listened to the sounds of the ruin whose belly they were lost in. Below them, rushing water. A distant creak of metal, cooling in the night. Armored footsteps, running, coming closer.

He grabbed Mare's arm and ran.

The cavern ended, and they charged again through a darkened tunnel, steel walls closing in around them. The ground shook with every footfall of the giant pursuing them. They turned a final corner and their eyes went wide with shock and sudden hope. They were at the end of a long, empty room, the floor covered in wind-blown dust and soil. The far wall was open to the night sky; ferns, whipgrass, and a single, bent tree, leaves black in the starlight, clustered around the opening.

"The lake," Shuck gasped. "We're above the lake, we can jump!"

Hand in hand, they scrambled desperately toward the open sky. The giant's tread behind them paused. The stars seemed close enough to touch. A dark sphere a little larger than a blueapple sailed past them from behind. As it arced toward the opening, the world flashed white.

Shuck was on his back. His chest ached.

He opened his eyes to a steel ceiling, lit by flickering firelight. He turned his head. The tree. The tree and the ferns were burning.

A dark shape loomed between him and the star-filled opening. His blurred vision slowly cleared. Two and a half meters tall. Clad in thick, heavy armor; dark blue, and adorned with icons of death and domination. Skulls, clenched fists, seals of purity... and on its chest, the spreading eagle of the Imperium of Man. In the half-light, the helm was a glowering death's head.

Its gauntlets were stained blood red, the color shifting subtly in the firelight. Its right hand held a huge, ugly bolt-gun, idly pointed toward the floor. It's left gripped Mare around the neck.

So close to the sky, Shuck thought blearily. If she could just get away, turn, and leap...

The Space Marine's voice boomed around the chamber. "Lord Inquisitor, by the grace of the Emperor I have seized the rogue psyker. Shall I crush the heretic?" The giant paused, listening, then lifted Mare until her twitching feet hung a full meter above the ground. "Acknowledged." There was cruel satisfaction in his voice. Mare's hands were raised to her throat, tugging weakly at the gauntlet's vise-like fingers.

Shuck staggered to his feet.

The giant's helm turned toward him, lenses gleaming. "Look, traitor. See the fate of all who defy the will of the Immortal Emperor!"

Shuck spread his arms wide. "You... really thought..." If the brute would just release her for a moment, she could escape. "You really thought the psyker was the girl?"

Shuck threw back his head and laughed madly. He waved his arms wildly, as if gathering energy. "Fool! Witness the might of the ruinous powers!"

The Marine flung Mare aside and raised his bolter. Shuck's knees went weak with relief as the gun's black mouth turned toward him.

As Mare fell, she fought for breath, for enough air to speak.

"Okay," she croaked.

Blue and purple fire erupted from the ring. From each glowing gemstone, a different shade rushed out in a scintillating torrent. It washed over the Marine. The blue armor warped and shattered, and the soldier within flew to pieces, spattering the walls.

Shuck was swept backward by waves of concussive force. He slammed against steel, held fast by the power radiating from the swirling form of fire in the center of the room. Every surface seemed to stretch, to bow away from it, as if space itself was strained by its gathering presence. A shape was coalescing from the flame, like a man, like a bird. Great, tattered wings unfurled, feathers black, trailing smoke, tips grazing the wide walls of the chamber. Its neck and head were bare and mottled, vulture-like, and on its brow burned three rows of three golden-yellow eyes. A serpentine tongue lolled from its beak, and it laughed, in a voice like dead men clawing at coffin-lids.

And in another, smaller voice. The smoke trailed back toward the ring and its shining stones. Mare was on her knees, covering her face with her hands. Her hair writhed in the twisting winds, and glimmers of warp-fire rolled over her. The monster turned toward Shuck, and her mouth moved as it spoke.

"Fear, little soldier, and fear well. But not death. The persistence of your heartbeat has been bargained for, a petty price. If ever you would have a mortal act entirely against themselves, let them think they act for love." The daemon roared again with sickening laughter, backed by Mare's crazed giggling and the cawing of a thousand black birds, flocking outside the open wall, blocking out the stars.

The monster craned its head toward Shuck, held helpless against the cold steel, sweat running down his face as he struggled to breathe. Its voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper. "This world, brief mortal, has danced to the tune I play for three thousand years. An eyeblink, yes, but brevity is ever the soul of wit. Be honored, now, to witness the crescendo."

Beyond the beast, the passage to the room reverberated with running feet. The daemon turned as a bellowed order sent a volley of bolt-fire roaring toward it. It raised a long, clawed hand, conducting, and the missiles whipped around it, orbiting rapidly, before shooting back toward their origin to detonate.

Marines rushed in, firing as they advanced. Warpfire swept over them, melting and unmaking. Liquid flesh ran from cracked armor, extending pseudopods and swaying to the rhythm of the daemon's waving claws.

"Hold, warpspawn!"

A man stood in the door, his bald head bare, black armor ornately inscribed with the columns of the Inquisition. He held a long sword, crackling with power, and an urn marked with sigils of blessing and exorcism.

"I name and bind thee, Hatherak the Shifting! And by your bane, maiden-blessed mercury, I lash and subjugate thee! Bow, before a true servant of the Emperor!" He swung the open jar, flinging shining beads of quicksilver toward the cackling abomination, where they passed through without resistance, as if through a shadow.

The daemon crooked a finger, and the steel ceiling collapsed atop the Inquisitor.

He was buried in rusted metal, pinned to the ground. One arm free, he reached for his collar as the Daemon stalked forward.

Nine yellow eyes regarded the struggling man. "So clever, mortal, and so prideful," rasped the beast, echoed by the soft voice of the witch girl. "And you got so very far, Inquisitor Gaius Bain. Allow me to reward your questing curiosity. Yes, it was your ancestor who gave the lives of this place to imprison me. Nine gems for the nine facets of my shifting soul. And yes, the war on this world, the bountiful crop of warp-gifted humans, the haze over this ruin... all my doing. And had you found my name and bane, perhaps you could have forged me, as you planned, into a shining sword, a mighty weapon to lay waste your corpse-god's foes. But, silly little meat-thing, I am a Change-Lord, more clever and prideful by far than any mortal. I altered the archives. I led you here, and a host as well, to free me, that I might be ready to give you welcome. I am not Hatherak. But now, I am your master."

The monster turned, and pointed along the trails of smoke to the shaking figure of the witch. "Behold, Lord Bain... as I become incarnate."

Mare was shaking. Yellow eyes stared out, unseeing, between her twitching fingers. At her elbows, dark feathers had burst through the torn fabric of her dress. A long tongue flicked about her lips as she mouthed the daemon's words. "I have decided to live in flesh for a time. Watch as the witch is glorified, and becomes a suitable vessel."

From his collar, the Inquisitor pulled a short rod, studded with buttons. The Daemon shrieked with laughter, and with a gesture sent it spinning out of reach across the floor. "A lance strike beacon? Really? You would call down fire from above? Destroy yourself, and the binding ring, and set me free into the Warp, simply to escape the shame of your failure? No, no, I think not! You value your brief life far too highly!" The long neck twisted as the creature threw back its head and shrieked with hideous mirth.

A silver axe flew out of the darkness above the shattered ceiling. Spinning end over end, it buried itself to the hilt in the daemon's shoulder.

The daemon's laughter went silent. It stared into the gloom beyond the hole, eyes flaring. Shuck felt the crushing pressure diminish, and took a grateful breath.

"Inconceivable," hissed the monster. Black birds flew into the room and swept around their master, cawing madly. "Inconceivable. You were unmade. You are not. Your people, your worlds, devoured and unwritten. I am... surprised. I am never surprised."

The daemon was calling all its myriad energies to itself, its attention focused on the paradox before it. Shuck slid to the floor, and pulled away from the wall.

The daemon raised its talons. Blue and purple fire kindled in the palm of each hand. "Your past," it croaked, "Your future, your souls and selves, they never were. We ensured it. And yet you appear before me, Thorfinn Styx, mocking... un... unforeseen! How could you return from nonexistence, from your fall into the corrosion of unbeing? Even you must know you should not be... in whose mind are you real? No matter! Be now consumed, that your every thought and secret be made mine!"

Birds and flame poured away into the darkness, as Shuck tore the ring from Mare's hand and tossed it away. The smoke trailing from its jewels began whipping back into them at a furious pace. The daemon turned, shrieking with rage, its wings already fading to translucence. It dug weakening talons into the steel of the floor and screamed, as the pull of its prison ripped it away feather by feather.

Dragging Mare by the hand, Shuck tossed the active lance strike beacon over his shoulder and ran toward the starry, open sky. Behind him, the bouncing ring came to rest by the hand of the pinned Inquisitor.

On the very edge of hearing, a voice hissed, "Mortal... there is but one way for you to survive this."

Shuck tumbled down the steep slope of the hive-city's outer wall, arms wrapped tightly around Mare. They rolled down stained and weathered steel, past empty archways shrouded with plants, past ancient, crumbled gargoyles. The water rushed up to meet them, black and cold.

As they sank, hand in hand, the world above them was illuminated by pillars of light, striking down from the sky in wrath and benediction. A great roar, distant through the water, and then a shockwave that forced the air from Shuck's lungs.

He was sinking. Mare was above him, lit by firelight through water, and he was holding her hands and pulling her down.

He felt a familiar presence growing in his mind. Mare's eyes were open, staring at him.

A thought came. Hers. *Stop sinking.*

*Sorry, Mare. I'm pulling you down, too. I can't swim. I'm too heavy. Too tired.*

*Hold on to me. Don't leave.*

The light of the fires above was growing distant. His vision was darkening.

*You don't have to die, too. I have to let go, now, Mare.*

*Don't. Ever.*

She was pulling his hand. The light was growing brighter. He was moving toward it.

His head broke the water. Choking and coughing, Mare pulled him onto a floating tree trunk. At one end, a branch reached crookedly into the air, leaves smouldering. Above them, the twisted ruins of the dead hive burned.

Mare pointed at Shuck and glared angrily. "Stay alive."

He coughed and grinned. "Sure, Mare. If you say so."

She leaned down and kissed his forehead. Her yellow eyes shone with tears.

Shuck coughed up lakewater. "We got out." He pulled himself to a sitting position and wrapped an arm around her. "Not really... sure what happened up there. But we got out."

Mare leaned on his shoulder and sobbed.

"Don't cry, Love," he croaked. "We're alive, we're together, all's right with the world."

"They'll come back. And my tongue'th... my tongue is too long. And, and feathers."

He turned to look at her. Her eyes were glowing, gently, from within. He smiled wearily. "Aww, you're beautiful. And yeah. They'll get us, someday. Everyone dies, someday. But for now, I think we're in the clear. The big, dangerous forces have big, dangerous things to worry about. We're small enough to be safe for a while."

She smiled shyly, and pushed wet hair out of her eyes. "A little more time?"

"Yeah. All anyone ever gets. All anyone ever needs."

fuck yes! was hoping this would be here tonight!

***The Soldier and the Witch 6: Good End***

>>6069141

Which one is Jo, and which one is Leibowitz?

>>6069141
yay!

>>6069141
Did you have a bad end planned?

SO GLAD I GOT ON /tg/ TONIGHT

...And done.

I was SO looking forward to this! This has been an amazing story!

>>6069191

A quibble: this is not a situation calling for manly tears. A comrade giving his life to defend you calls for manly tears. A pair of star-crossed lovers coming together despite the odds results in girly bitch-tears. That's what we're crying right now.

So who exactly was Mr. Styx?

anyone have 4 and 5?.

>>6069231

WAIT A FUCKING SECOND!

I just reread that.

THEY WERE SAVED BY THE SQUATS!

...oh, yeah. I've got them. Here.

>>6069226
Fair enough. I'd redact my image macro if I could.

And Five.

check your manlyness at the door and get ready for some bitch tears

>>6069249

Check the box on the post
Go to the bottom right of the page
Delete post button
Check "File only" box if you only want to delete the macro.

Masterful as always, liebowitz. you write some scary good stuff. Have you got an archive of all your writing somewhere?

Somewhat good end. And then Mare was a mutant AND a psyker.

>>6069274
so many girly tears

>>6069244
>You were unmade. You are not. Your people, your worlds, devoured and unwritten

oh god what

>>6069294

Brief good end. They may have a couple of days together before the possessed Inquisitor decides to clean up loose ends.

>>6069244
OH FU-

>>6069112
>
Dragging Mare by the hand, Shuck tossed the active lance strike beacon over his shoulder and ran toward the starry, open sky. Behind him, the bouncing ring came to rest by the hand of the pinned Inquisitor.

>On the very edge of hearing, a voice hissed, "Mortal... there is but one way for you to survive this."

Please tell me he didn't actually fall for that.

>"They'll come back. And my tongue'th... my tongue is too long.

GOOD END

>>6069244
We prostrate ourselves at the throne of this mans perception.

Surely you are the chosen of Tzeentch!

>>6069359
mutations of the warp?

Actually, I think I'll post the others, just to make this kind of an archive thread.

Part one.

Part 2

And part 3.

Seriously, this was a really good story. I rather like the mental picture of Mare with little wings.

>>6069335

From Chap 4:

What does Mr. Sticks look like?"

She popped the last bit of her meal into her mouth and chewed reflectively. "Like a person, if a person was small and covered with hair and shaped like Mr. Sticks."

I wanna see some feathered long-tongued Mare.

SQUAT EX MACHINA

I must say this story was good I plan on taking elements from it anf using it in a DH game I have been planning and expanding on the story.

>>6069398

Sounded more like tufts of feathers on her elbows.

>>6069244
If it weren't for the dwarf-esque name, and previous description of Mr. Stix's appearance, I'd be tempted to suggest that their savior was a worshiper and/or demon of Malal. Again, something that was unwritten and unmade by GW long ago. I might have to cobble together some malal-oriented writefaggotry when I get the time.

Excellent! I am not too late!

>>6069356

Yessssss

Shit like this is the reason I still come here. Made my fucking evening.

>>6069661

>>6069661

Did you get this one, from yesterday?

by the way for those of you that haven't heard Squats are coming back.
Heres white dwarf subscriber model this week.

>>6069774
Emphatically wrong.

>>6069753
No no I had not, thank you very kindly!

>>6069774

that's awesome

I'd like to see their rendition of a dark elf in space.

>>6069882

>dark elf in space

Ha! It'll never happen.

EVEN IN THE GRIM DARKNESS, THERE IS LIGHT!
HOPE AND LOVE CONQUER ALL!!!

THREE CHEERS FOR JO AND LEIBOWITZ FOR THIS TALE!

HIP-HIP HOORAY!
HIP-HIP HOORAH!
HIP-HIP HO-FUCK YEEEAAAAAH!!!

Hmmm... I;d be interested in seeing the BAD END as well.

Hm. Not like LCB then.

Well, obviously from the beginning it wasn't hugging nearly as close to fluff, but I thought for SURE there'd be a bad end.

Let it be written, let it be bound
terrible was the wrong committed
lamentable are the fruits of its labor
not a solitary barrier shall sway my path
not one deed shall usurp my goal
not a single foe shall bar my passage
for all time and for all to see
i name a demon in this tome of deeds
let vengence be done and anger be quenched
in the fires of battle and the coldness of revenge

....not even death itself shall stay my hand
-Thorfinn Styx
-Book of Grudges.

>>6070005
He's so awesome HE COMES BACK FROM NON-EXISTENCE to but an Axe into a motherfucker.

Actually, as I recall during Part 5, people picked up on the Tzeentch thing. What with the crow's nest and the number of gems on the ring and all. Didn't see Squats, though.

>>6070005

This is rather good! I'm going to add it to my official record... *laugh*

>>6070054
>comes back from non-existance

...oh hell yes.

>>6070054
Dorfiest Dorf to ever Dorf in the GRIM DARK.

His beard menaces with spike of BADASS.

>>Even you must know you should not be... in whose mind are you real?<< I think The Lord of Change just went meta and I'm loving it for it.
inb4 BLAM

also, tears. *sniffles*

gotta love Shuck too though. "a living god of muscle, ceramite and fury stands before you, holding Mare around her throat, lifting her up into the air with one arm, what do you do?" "I roll bluff to make him try to kill me instead"

The basic idea was Jo's, and he wanted a good end. I did what I could.

And I don't really think that in an empire of a million inhabited worlds, everyone is always miserable, and everything ends badly. Most people probably try to stay out of the way of the world-shaking superpowers and just live their lives. I lived in a third-world country for a while, and everyone seemed to get by okay. They seemed to be more worried about who was sleeping with who than with corrupt government, drug runners, war, and what-have-you. People are people all over, and platitudes to that effect.

Glad folks seem to have enjoyed the story.

>>6070239

I'd say people tend to focus on what they can get a grasp on. It doesn't take much practice to ignore what you can't control, and go on around it for long enough that you don't even notice it anymore. "Ignore it and hope it goes away..."

I think it came across well. The end bit had enough to show that there was A LOT going on that the characters simply did not know, but in the end I suppose it didn't matter.

GG, guys!

>>6070066

Birds and the number 9, casually mentioned, mean TZEENCH, but "like a person, but small and covered with hair" didn't make anyone think Squat?

>>6070478
I sure didn't see it. But Hindsight is 20/20 so...

>>6070478

Not to be obtuse, but would some mind explaining what the heck a "Squat" is? My current level of lurking has not presented me with such knowledge.

>>6070598

A discontinued army of space dwarves
and a running joke from the old official forums if you say squat you were banned before you could finish ty

>>6070598
Squats: Biker Space Dwarfs. Technologically advanced.
Retconned out of the Warhammer 40K universe by Games Workshop several editions ago.
"They got OMNOMM NOMMED by Tyranids!"

>>6070624
>>6070627

Ahh... Suddenly everything makes much more sense. Much obliged for enlightening me.

>>6070627

Which, now that I think of it, doesn't even make sense. I always thought the Squats lived in the galactic North West of Terra, kinda behind the Eye of Terror. The Tyranid Fleet seems to be definatly coming from the South East.

Am I getting one of those two directions wrong? Or am I right in thinking that the 'nids are coming from the completely wrong direction to have eaten the Squats?

>>6070752
DOESN'T MATTER! THEY GOT NOMMED!

>>6070752
from what I understand from forum gossip is the nid thing was just something the GW crew yelled out there to silence the heckling mob. The real reason squats were discontinued was the game designer who favored them left.

>>6070783
That sucks. Oh well. Guess we always have WarHams Fantasy for that.

>>6070825
I think It's hilarious that drama that has got to be 15 years old is still stirred up on the net.

>>6070833
Welcome to the internet. You obviously haven't been here long.

now i am bawwwing cause i'll die alone

I have entirely been convinced that this whole endeavour was the most extreme sort of faggotry.
>>6069096
This, though, has changed my opinion completely.

good show

So Mr Sticks is a space dorf with epic stealth, constantly accompanying Mare? What?

>>6069141
Imagine what Mare can do with that tongue.

space dwarf...


Did not see that coming.

Hey JO, Hey JO!

Will you draw loli-pope for us?

>>6074113
What, the Protectorate of Menoth girl wasn't enough for you?

>>6074322
Well, Menoth girl is nice and all. But she's Iron Kingdoms.

I wants some Eberron scribbles.

>>6073708

I suspect he was a Living Ancestor who rolled badly on Perils and fell into the warp before his world was devoured.

Dwarf Ex Machina