A/N

So with Alarak set to appear in the Co-Op Missions mode, left to ask how that'll factor in with the Chain of Ascension mission, with Alarak thus having to support Ji'nara if he's played. Oh well. Not the weirdest combination the mode can offer, but got me to drabble this up at least.

Supplicants

This had been so humiliating.

Maybe "humiliating" was too harsh a term, but harshness was the nature of the Tal'darim, life, the universe, and everything. So yes, Alarak supposed, "humiliating" would be a good word for this display. He would remember this humiliation, and use it as fuel for those who would incur his ire. Whether it be the forces of the Dark God, or more wretched traitors who followed him. But right now, all he wanted was to leave Slayn and head to his race's homeworld. Strike while the blade was hot, so it may cut as deep as possible.

"You're leaving already?"

He paused in his stride, his cohort of supplicants stopping with him. Paused for a moment, wondering whether to indulge his subordinate, or to simply request being transported up to the Spear of Adun then and there.

"Amon has yet to taste my blades." He turned to face Ji'nara, accompanied by her own group of votaries. "Slaying traitors means little to me right now."

"If I may say so, slaying Da'lau meant quite a bit to me."

Alarak chuckled. "Amon's Champion," he sneered. "Not the most pompous of terms, but where pomposity rules our cousins, I suppose that's all I can expect." He paused, before asking, "did it please you, Ji'nara? To be challenged to Rak'Shir? Did it fill your hearts with joy to see the light leave Da'lau's eyes before he fell into the Pit of Sacrifice?"

"It satisfied me," she murmured.

"Good," Alarak said, his eyes narrowing. "Because your satisfaction at least might make you less likely to betray me."

"I wouldn't do any such thing without challenging you to Rak'Shir first."

"And how many will challenge you in the meantime?"

Thus lay the rub, and he took a step towards her. His supplicants followed behind him. He watched as some of the votaries' eyes flickered. Fear, he wondered? Or approval?

"A matter of days since Ma'lash's death, and already I am challenged," Alarak said. "Even now, there's some who doubt me."

"Da'lau challenged me to Rak'Shir, not you."

"Exactly," he sneered. "Do Amon's lackeys think so little of me? Does he laugh now, knowing that I had to be your supplicant in this duel? That my First Ascendant needed the help of her highlord to prevail?"

"I didn't need your help."

"Lie to yourself if you must, but not to me." Alarak cast a hand to his followers. "These are my supplicants, Ji'nara. They will follow me to the maw of the Void itself if need be. They will lay down their lives on a moment's notice." He laid a hand on his subordinate's armour, psionic energy crackling through his palm. "Do not think for a moment, Ji'nara, that my aiding you this day lets you believe that I am your supplicant."

"I'm aware of the Chain," Ji'nara said. "I know my place in its links."

"A truth that does not hide your intentions." Alarak saw Ji'nara's eyes dim, but he pressed on. "Oh, of course I know that you'd like nothing more than to see me dead, so that you may take my place. I find it quite endearing. So much so that I'm actually going to let you remain on Slayn while I tear the life out of my enemies and drench the stars in their blood."

She bowed. "The Tal'darim shall follow."

"Of course they shall. I lead them. But not you. Not today."

And with that he turned. He'd take a shuttle up to the Spear, he reflected. He didn't want to give the hierarch the belief that he actually relied on him. Nor the opportunity to scatter his atoms to the solar winds.

'Humiliating.' Still the word echoed in his mind, crackling in the air around him as readily as the rest of his psionic powers. An insurgency for all the Khalai and Nerazim to see. An excuse to make them believe that he needed them, that they weren't hapless dupes he'd willingly fight beside until Amon was dead. That he had to ensure Ji'nara remembered her place.

But his pace quickened, and so too did the pace of his supplicants. They would always be there. Those who existed outside the Chain, who lived only to serve their betters, and not themselves. He was highlord now. All Tal'darim were their supplicants, even if they didn't know it.

And, he reflected with satisfaction, he was quite sure that for now, Ji'nara realized that as well.