Mark of Chaos by C.L Werner Page B

Sudobaal's face was flushed, and he barely leant on his staff as he strode past the towering Khorne champion. He began to sprinkle black powder from one of his pouches in a large circle within the ring of standing stones, creating an unbroken curving line. A stone slab stood in the centre of his circle, its surface a dull red colour. Thousands of sacrifices to the Dark Gods had been made on that slab, for this had been a holy place to the beastmen for centuries.
    At the most northerly point on the circle, Sudobaal marked out a smaller circle in the red powder. Moving to the most southerly point, he emptied a purplish powder onto the ground, creating another circle. On the most easterly point, closest to Hroth, he marked out a circle in green dust. The Khorne warlord could smell its putrid stink. On the other side of the tree, the westerly side, Sudobaal laid out a circle of blue.
    While Sudobaal was busy with his own work, the beastman bray-shaman began to light the black braziers that surrounded the gibbet tree. Each brazier was made from a human skull. As each was lit, the bray-shaman threw a handful of dried herbs and leaves onto the flames. The orange-red flames flared high, and briefly changed to purple. Then they died down low, and the colour changed once more, this time to a deep, dark red. Acrid smoke began to fill the air, making Hroth feel light-headed. His stomach clenched as he breathed deeply, the thick smoke entering his lungs.
    The sorcerers chanting increased in pitch, and he moved completely around the stone ring three times anti-clockwise, careful not to disturb any of the circles he had marked. He scratched an eight-pointed star in the earth between each of the coloured circles, using the tip of the twisted staff fused to his arm.
    Still chanting, he ushered the beastman chieftain's bray-shaman forwards. The massively muscled creature carried forth the offerings to be placed in the circles and Chaos stars scratched into the earth. The scrimshawed thighbone, the heavy brass icon, the small pile of bones and the blood-red, veined stone were placed in the centres of the Chaos stars. Each one of these items had been recovered by Hroth. Many skulls had been offered up to Khorne to retrieve them all. Black, oily smoke began to rise from the items, and Sudobaal's chanting intensified once more. Colours and shapes swirled before the Khorne champion, and he thought he could make out devilish, shadowy faces that snarled and hissed.
    Next, the bray-shaman carried forth the shimmering white stone, and placed it inside the purple circle. Its hand brushed the powder as it placed the stone in its place, and Hroth could hear the sound of flesh sizzling. The beastman pulled back its burnt hand quickly, but did not cry out for fear of interrupting the sorcerer's ritual. Quickly, the bray-shaman took the horned skull and placed it in the red circle. The Khorne champion found himself mesmerised by the skull, thinking that he heard a voice from within it calling out to him. The skull lay unmoving, but the Khornate champion could feel its call. He knew that the acrid smoke that rose from the braziers around the tree was truly beginning to affect him, and his vision swam before him. Dark shapes swirled at the corners of his vision, and he felt their icy touch on his neck. He heard them whispering in the Dark Tongue, the language of daemons, and the voices clawed at his sanity. The bray-shaman placed the plate that held the still-beating heart into the green circle. Instantly, the heart began to swell, putrid boils appearing on its surface. The beastman then moved back amongst its brethren.
    Sudobaal, his chanting now loud and booming, moved to place himself just outside the blue circle. Screaming his arcane words to the heavens, he slammed his twisted staff into the earth. Flames burst into life around the blue circle. Azure fire licked at the base of the staff, rippling up its surface and covering Sudobaal's arm. The tendrils