Romilla raced along the gantry, dragging Eleanora along like a deadweight behind her. The Ironweld engineer had dropped her guns, but at least she was still hanging onto the shoulder of Romilla’s filthy robes with one hand. The priest took hope from that simple gesture.

Their footfalls clanged against the metal as they pelted along. Romilla gasped as a vicious convulsion shook the metal and almost hurled her over the guard rail. She looked down to see the vast spider drawing its leg back to strike again at the gantry’s support stanchions.

‘No,’ spat Romilla, and ran for the stairs with all her might. The ground lurched again, and she fell forwards, dropping her hammer in order to grab for the stair rail.

There came an awful screech of tortured metal and the gantry tore away, dropping from beneath their feet. Romilla screamed with effort as she hung on to the hot metal of the stair rail with one hand and clutched Eleanora’s wrist with the other. The engineer wailed and clung hard to Romilla with both hands, her legs kicking in thin air.

The two of them hung suspended. Pain shot through every inch of Romilla’s body as she strained to hang on. Below, the huge spider hissed and clicked as though in triumph. Machinery clattered, clanged and banged. Steam hissed. Spiders skittered closer, gathering for the kill. Adrenaline made everything seem inescapably sharp and clear.

‘Sigmar… Give… Me… STRENGTH!’ Romilla roared, and the glow of her amulet became a dazzling star. She felt fresh vitality flow through her limbs and swung Eleanora as hard as she could. The engineer yelped in shock as she was propelled upwards, landing sprawled on the stairs with a clang. Romilla hung on grimly as the huge spider hunched itself, preparing to spring and snap her from the railing like a choice morsel.

Then Eleanora was gripping her by the scruff of her robes, sweating and swaying as she pulled Romilla higher. Romilla pendulumed her weight and managed to snatch the edge of the dangling stairs with her other hand. She hauled herself upwards, screaming. There came a rush of air and a terrible snap of chitin.

Romilla dragged herself up onto the stairs and looked down. Blood flowed, and she groaned in pain. Two toes from her right foot had been severed by the slashing blades of the giant spider’s mandibles, taken off along with the tip of her boot as cleanly as if it had used a straight razor.

‘That… is all you get…’ she panted, and spat defiantly down into the huge creature’s eyes.

Amulet glowing, Romilla pulled herself to her feet and hobbled up the creaking stairs to the platform above. At least the shock of near death seemed to have shaken Eleanora back to consciousness, she thought, though for how long she didn’t know.