As the steet was cleared from foes, the Dark Elves pushed past by nimbly jumping over Chaos Dwarf heads, somersaulting over their tall hats and dancing over their broad shoulders to take the vanguard once more. The Dawi Zharr were once again in the rear. Foul curses were shouted at the arrogant acrobatics of the Elves, yet the thrill of the temple raid and the promise of riches untold saw every grumbling Chaos Dwarf stay his vengeful hand, at least so long as he was not given permission to kill pointy-eared scum. With Druchii Corsairs in front and Dawi Zharr behind as a retreating rearguard, the army made its escape from the Golden Tower of the Gods amid the tumult. As per plan, Chaos Dwarf sappers blasted shut a bottleneck tunnel entrance to hinder any Lizardmen from following them or finding their secret way into the temple city, thus buying valuable time for the raiders.
The street fighting in the temple city had just been the beginning, however, and the desecrators knew it. But they could scarcely have foreseen the ferocity and vigilance and energy of the defenders' response. The Golden Tower of the Gods and its outlying jungle settlements boiled into an uproar of Skink agitation and frenzied mustering of forces. As the intruders made their winding way down the Spine of Sotek into the jungle, their reptilian pursuers had already fanned out with Chameleon Skinks and Terradon riders to the north, south, west and east in order to find the thieves and robbers. Indeed, Scar-Veteran Xhoqoroto bellowed to the skies and vowed to bring the intruders to the altar of the Sotek. Making good on their headstart and sneaking mountain paths, the Corsair lord's forces were nevertheless discovered in the jungle after only a week of frantic search party activity, and so the great hunt was on.
The march back to the coast turned into a nightmare which made the journey inland pale in comparison. Beset by Lizardmen and hardships and savages, the Dark Elves and Chaos Dwarfs time and again found themselves facing gigantic scaly beasts who erupted from the jungle and tore into their ranks. Some of the giant terrors were brought down by disciplined volleys of shot and bolts, and others were scared off by grenadiers or tight spear formations. Yet the herded monsters kept coming, and soon smaller critters of the jungle joined in the chase. At no point of day were the pirates and mercenaries and their slave porters safe, and many succumbed to small poison bites, while others disappeared down vast jaws filled with fangs. Still others were dragged away by packs of feral Cold Ones, or turned into pincushions by Razordons or roasted by Salamanders. With mounting fright and suppressed panic building in the callous hearts of Dark Elves and Chaos Dwarfs alike, the Corsair host of Aldrathir and the Legion of Zharek saw their supplies and slave porters lost in great numbers. Entire Dawi Zharr cohorts and Corsair companies were separated from the main marching columns in the jungle, never to be seen again. Sometimes distant screams and roars and the rustling of trees hinted at a brutal demise.
Anguished howls and shrieks of those found by the vengeful Lizardmen cut through the jungle day and night, robbing the exhausted temple raiders of precious sleep. Thus, with little to no sleep, too little food and having to resort to unclean drinking water, Dawi Zharr and Druchii alike came to endure such baleful hardships which they themselves had routinely imposed upon those they wished to dominate with whips and the breaking of wills and spirit. Frail Manlings would have succumbed entirely in the depth of the jungle against such odds, yet both Chaos Dwarfs and Dark Elves were made of sterner stuff. Thus the combined forces of elder races fought a desperate rearguard action practically all the way to the coast, with only a fraction of the original expedition stumbling out from the jungle.
Out on the open pampas of the Culchan Plains, the Lizardman vanguard of Cold One riders, Terradon riders and Skinks swarmed after the fleeing desecrators. With the jaws of the fast vanguard closing in, Corsair lord Aldrathir Kinflayer ordered the Chaos Dwarf mercenaries of the Naggrund Slavers to form ranks and stand against the onslaught. This was obviously intended to buy time for the swifter Dark Elves to make their escape cleanly as the cold-blooded pursuers feasted on the Chaos Dwarfs. At this, Overlord Zharek the Bold spat and roared with a voice made hoarse by so many travails. The Chaos Dwarf warlord reminded the Druchii of sworn contract oaths, waving the carved Halfling skin in the air. Then Zharek pointed out that the allied raiders had one chance to crush the incoming Lizardman vanguard if the Dark Elves at once split up and flanked the Lizardmen as the reptiles crushed into the Dawi Zharr shieldwall. The choice stood between victory or death, according to Zharek.
With sweat dripping down his strained face, the Corsair lord stared at the fiery Chaos Dwarf. Aldrathir there and then made a split second decision, and turned his own followers about, acting upon the Overlord's tactical suggestion without question. What would have been the end for the Chaos Dwarfs instead turned into a rapid shattering victory against the strong but fragile Lizardman vanguard. The slaughter of the Cold One riders and Skinks on the shieldwall, and the massacre of the Terradon riders by massed volleys managed to raise flagging morale among the temple raiders. In this moment, the common action in the face of desperation strengthened the warrior's bond between Chaos Dwarfs and Dark Elves in the harrowed expedition.
With this success under their belts, the allied temple looters headed for the coast, losing almost all of their last porters who were too weak to keep up, thus damning the underfed slaves to a grisly end at the fangs of reptilian monsters. The few surviving Hobgoblins cackled maniacally at the grim fate awaiting the thralls, spitting and jeering as they pushed past on foot or on top of the scant few surviving mangy Giant Wolves that were still alive.
And so the mercenary Legion of Zharek's Naggrund Slavers and Aldrathir Kinflayer's Corsair host arrived at their basecamps ahead of any further pursuers. It would seem that their gods smiled on them. Yet here they found their field fortifications to be in ruins, their Chaos Dwarf artillery and Reaper bolt throwers hacked to pieces, their supplies burning and their garrisons slain. The survivors of the greedy expedition stood aghast and stared out into the natural harbour. Worse yet, all their ships had been either sunk in the bay, or else were nowhere to be seen. Shipwrecks protruded through the water like jagged rocks, and sea birds called out as they flew between their new seats.
Yet no enemy was in sight, and no signs of who could have attacked the twin basecamps were visible. Not even a javelin was spotted which could betray the identity of the attackers. Bewildered, Overlord Zharek, Aldrathir the Corsair lord and their most trusted companions headed toward a single surviving Chaos Dwarf, one who was severely wounded and missing one leg, who they found crawling away from the basecamps. The maimed Dawi Zhar was hoarse and spat blood, and it was clear to everyone that he was dying. When asked about who had assaulted the basecamps, the Chaos Dwarf survivor's hazy eyes fixed themselves upon the Druchii retinue, and somewhere inside he found an untapped reservoir of strength to yell foul curses, accusing the Dark Elves of falling upon the Naggrund Slavers without warning. Yet the dying man also rambled something about how they had known that this would happen, and thus the Dawi Zharr had struck first.
The basecamp garrisons having obliterated each other in tense boredom at the coast, and their flotillas sunk in vain, the Druchii Corsairs and the Naggrund Slavers found themselves helplessly stranded on a distant coast in an unknown land, with tens of thousands of wroth Lizardmen closing in upon them. And as the grand temple host of the Golden Tower of the Gods arrived in full strength to the smoking remains of the twain basecamps, they found the last surviving temple raiders at war with one another, furiously slaying their former allies with reckless abandon in a frenzied display of sheer bloodlust and insane carnage.
And the Dark Gods laughed.
At this sight, the Lizardmen duly joined the battle and crushed any resistance, this time unlike in past clashes easily sweeping past the ranks of the Chaos Dwarf shieldpairs, which were in disarray and in no position to mount a strong defense. Yet there was to be no quick slaughter of the desecrators, for the Saurus warriors fell upon them with blunt weapons and overpowered both Dark Elves and Chaos Dwarfs, claiming them all as prisoners. And so the Lizardmen stripped the captives of all their armour and clothing and carried them, hanging bound under poles, all the way back to the Golden Tower of the Gods.
Here, in the sacred temple city, the Skink priests of Sotek had all the captives dragged up the pyramid steps one by one, and one by one they were flayed alive, mutilated and then had their ribcages opened and their beating hearts torn out for bellowing Lizardmen to devour. All in full view of their companions, who awaited their turn at the altar. The skins of the long-haired Druchii and bearded Dawi Zharr were made into ceremonial priest suits, and their flayed carcasses were kicked down the temple stairs to cheering roars, were the wild crowds tore them limb from limb before mounting their skulls on display racks and claiming their bones for trophies and toolmaking. And in such manner were the intruders dealt with who dared to steal from the temple of the gods.
Up north in distant, cold Naggaroth, a Dark Rider patrol hunting escapee slaves would several years later discover a grinning Elf skull, fastened to a freshly carved Lustrian stone plaque. As wise ones among the Dark Elves attempted a translation, they could with difficulty make out what amounted to the name of Aldrathir Kinflayer, along with what appeared to be a list of his unforgivable sins against the gods.
And several decades later, in Mingol Zharr-Naggrund the Great seated atop the Dark Lands, Sorcerer-Prophet Zharru-Ukin the Mad's insanity was discovered after seventyseven years locked inside his reclusive ziggurat. As the Bull Centaurs dragged his semi-petrified pathetic being away for a hideous fate behind the Temple gates, he was heard shouting, over and over:
"The serpent! Their hearts eaten! Eaten!"- - -
Story written out in raw format in 2017 and finished in 2024 for
Forgefire's artwork entry into Chaos Dwarfs Online's
Artisan's Contest XIX.