Book One – Chapter 13

Yet Gorak did not rely on his brother’s strength alone. He utilised all of his warriors. His guttural commands cut through the chaos of battle: “Hold the line!” he bellowed, “Spears ready! Wait for him to rear!” His voice brought order to the storm of violence, snapping the hot-blooded orks back into disciplined formation. They understood the strategy, maintaining the necessary distance to keep the beast at a disadvantage. Whenever the voltera reared back, the spearmen jabbed at its exposed flanks, exploiting every brief moment of vulnerability. Gorak’s tactics turned the battle into a deadly game of timing — in unison, the orks figured out when to strike, when to withdraw, and when to press their advantage.

Gorak needed to build on that. As soon as the warriors showed the necessary level of coordination, he initiated the next step of his plan. Strategically, he sent warriors scrambling up the jagged rock face. They struggled, their claws and boots slipping on the frost-coated stone, but four of them managed to ascend to a higher ledge. Meanwhile, five others braved the chaos of the voltera’s thrashing legs and claws, pushing straight through, past him and Baltagar, to flank the creature from the rear. With the voltera surrounded on all sides except the steep slope, Gorak’s tactics had turned the dangerous trail into an advantage, hemming the beast within the narrow confines of the path.

Under Gorak’s direction, the ork warriors moved with cohesion, spears raised and shields interlocked, driven by deadly, deliberate focus. In coordinated attacks, they aimed for the beast’s vulnerable joints, its soft underbelly, its exposed throat — anywhere his fur and hide were thinnest.

The voltera fought back with primal fury, gnashing its fangs at anything within reach and tearing furrows into the earth with its claws, scattering ice and snow into the storm. Yet each time the beast lunged forward, the circle of orks would pull back. The warriors moved as one — retreating, reforming, and advancing again in ever improving synchronisation. They were a deadly tide pulling back and forth, crashing against the beast in unrelenting waves, striking with every surge.