‘Maybe the captain recognised a company of proper warriors when she saw one, realised we’d be more help than you glorified night watchmen,’ growled Borik. ‘Doesn’t matter anyway, she’s dead and she’s not paying us any more, so whatever task the captain had for us here, it’s done.’

‘She trusted you with her brooch of office!’ cried Marika. ‘You claim to be good servants of Sigmar! How can you possibly spit upon all of that and turn away when an entire city is at risk?’

‘What damned city?’ Borik shot back. ‘Half of it’s in ruins already, and how long before the rest follows? Open your eyes, human. You lost this fight before it even started. The best thing you can do now is evacuate as many folk as you can and leave the place to the grobs.’

‘You’d like us to run away, wouldn’t you?’ asked Marika, her tone venomous. ‘Make you feel better about your own cowardice, wouldn’t it? I thought duardin were supposed have backbones.’

‘It’s not a lack of courage I suffer from, just a lack of stupidity!’ yelled Borik furiously. ‘There’s neither profit nor sense in fighting an enemy that’s already beaten you!’

‘No one is running anywhere!’ said Romilla. ‘We haven’t decided anything, Borik. You don’t speak for us, Aelyn does.’

‘Grungni’s divine arse!’ shouted Borik. ‘Am I the only one who remembers who we are? We are mercenaries, Romilla. Mercenaries. We fight for money. Hendrick was the bleeding heart who decided we had to come here and get mixed up in all this madness. Gods give us Varlen back, he’d never have brought us within a hundred miles of such a profitless mess.’

‘Varlen would have wanted to aid these people, just as Hendrick did, and you know it,’ shouted Romilla. ‘Varlen, Hendrick, Olt – the Bad Moon claimed all their lives and yet you just want to turn tail and run? What of vengeance, Borik? Do not our friends deserve to be avenged?’

‘Against all of that out there? Amidst this madness?’ asked Borik. ‘Who’s going to avenge us when we’re all dead, Romilla? Because that’s all anyone who stays here is going to be.’

‘You see, they’re just a bunch of damned cowards!’ exclaimed Watchman Marika to her comrades. ‘I told you we couldn’t rely on them!’

‘All of you, shut up.’ Aelyn didn’t raise her voice, but her words cut through the angry tumult all the same. Everyone turned to stare angrily at her. ‘Keep your voices down, or do you want to bring a horde of greenskins down upon us?’ she asked. There were a few uncomfortable glances towards the boarded window. People strained for any telltale sounds of scrabbling claws or animal snarls.