Invisible Marauder (Part 1)

On the fifth day of the Siege of Mishil, a squad from the Blackfire Legion was sent to search a wine cellar. This place had once belonged to some mine owner—until the Orks arrived.

A Mek had reportedly vanished here, and they had been sent to find him, because he was responsible for repairing several filthy battle tanks.

Gagbad was the squad's boss. He was none too pleased with the assignment, because he knew an entire pack of Snotlings had vanished along with that Mek.

Silencing a single boy was easy enough, but making a whole bunch of Snotlings disappear without a sound was almost impossible. Those little runts were Gork-tier when it came to running away. Could anyone really make sure not one of them came back?

Gagbad couldn't imagine what it could be.

As they entered the mining dormitory, which had already been turned upside down, the boys quickly found the wine cellar. It lay beside the area's only mine shaft entrance, buried deep underground.

Leaving two boys to guard the entrance, Gagbad led several others inside.

The wine cellar was dimly lit, but Ork eyes solved that problem.

Pools of shadow became scenes in varying shades of bright gray-green. Gagbad stood on the warehouse's upper level, looking at the gigantic wine barrels surrounding them. Heavy curved wooden planks, thick as walls, formed those enormous containers.

The rich, heady aroma of wine filled every corner, thoroughly permeating the warm, stuffy air.

He badly wanted to have a good drink, but the atmosphere here was strange beyond belief.

He moved forward cautiously. His iron boots crushed hard pebbles wedged between the floorboards, and the wood let out soft groans.

Then he spotted a device in the corner. He recognized it: a scanning device Meks used to find problems inside