It was hard... it was REALLY hard... it was REALLY REALLY REALLY hard not to sigh, roll his eyes, protest or bit his lip. Severath stood still, his carapace armor still dirty as it clung to the close he wore underneath. The bitch woman returned with a leash as said. Still there was no use denying her as Severath knew that to ask other Dark Eldar for aid or directions would a far worse idea than accepting this. He quietly wondered if it was the inherited xeno's in them that made these creatures cruel or was it their upbringing. Applying a spiked collar on his neck the girl giggled as the leash ended in her hand, the cold metal being ended by a handle for her to grab.
"Come along now ape, we are going to visit your Mon'keigh friends!" She told him before tugging on the chain and leaving the door. Following here with the straightest face he could muster he walked besides her, a feat which while it wasnt difficult, the shear difference in their height made him walk considerably faster than her in order to keep up. As if taking offence to this she stopped and crossed her arms. Great they werent even out of this hab section and she was already getting pissy.
"What?" he asked impatiently. The girl didnt wait with responding.
"Who gave you permission to walk besides me as my equal?" she asked seriously. Once more gathering his strength not to react Severath simply stepped behind her. Once more on the move he was thankful as the first Eldar they passed ignored them, merely greeting the archon's daughter. Silently he tried to map out the area as they entered the first major hall. He recalled passing through this place with Branka and it was still populated by the various Eldar and their human slaves but the room was clearly a big piece connecting all the smaller communal hab sections. This communal part held a lot of people at the moment, but nowhere near enough as a hive spire equivalent. Turning his head he saw a Eldar woman cutting the ears off of a screaming human who was pinned down by two other Eldar... the three were laughing at the poor sod. Shivering Severath tried not to react when suddenly he felt a sharp and strong pull on his leash which caught him off guard. The pull was strong enough to send him flying into the air on his back and it took every single instincts and moment of training for his unprepared body to fall properly. A moment later he would have fallen onto his head but he twisted in the last second and he fell straight onto his back. Instantly getting up and gritting his teeth he saw that the girl... the bitch had wondered off to a group of Eldar near a wall who were tormenting anther human slave. Approaching her he looked down as she communicated in her own eldritch language. He glanced over at the slave and he immediately regretted doing so. The poor thing was pale... sickly so and was bone thin, almost skeletal like. Severath tried not to feel any pity for it but he failed... Its stomach had been split open and a Eldar was sticking his hand into it, causing the slave to vomit. Its hands and feet were bound, preventing any escape. Severath winced as he saw the Eldar who was talking to the girl eye him and clearly mention him in the conversation... if the word 'mon'keigh' rang a bell. The girl seemingly tried to brush it off but the Eldar continued to press the issue.
"IYUMERY E' DI ARCHON KĆER! TI NJETERI SAM EKER!" She shouted at the Eldar in defense. This seemed to wipe the smirk off of the assholes face and he winced for a second. Still he dared to raise a hand. Seeing this Severath rushed forwards and grabbed it as it flew down towards the girls face.
"Be thankful if you just lose this arm asshole. The daughter of the archon is so much above you that you are not worthy of licking the scum off of her boots... to lift a finger at one such as herself is to warrant death of the worst kind up on ones entire family..." Severath told the bastard, his words cold calculated and merciless. If this doesnt get him on the good side of this bitch then nothing will. The Eldar looked at him, shocked and speechless with a glint of fear in his twisted eyes. Finally he gritted his teeth, baring them at Severath as he pulled his arm, jerking it violently out of Severath's grasp. He didnt even speak anything back at him, he didnt even spit as he simply turned around and left. The human turned around and looked at the perplexed girl who blinked at him. He could sense that she wanted to hug him... or at least he hopped she did.
"Why did you do that?" she asked him innocently. She genuinely did seem to want to know why he protected her. Decided to at least try and implant some morals into the xeno's he spoke softly.
"Its because that was the right thing to do..." he stated simply. "I dont know about Eldar but for us humans to see the one you will marry be humiliated in such a way is unacceptable... you must stick with your mate and protected it." his words were cold and logical, but true. The girl blinked at him and blushed slightly. Looking away she spoke.
"Father would say not to trust anything that comes out of the mouth of a mon'keigh... as you only want to better yourselfs... and mother says your lives are too short to remember and too long to forgive..." the girl said to him. Funny... he could say the same thing about her. "still... I dont know if you did that to get some sort of mercy from me but... thank you." she said awkwardly... as if she never used the word before. She turned around "If you want to walk besides me, you can." she said and the proceeded on their way, FINALLY! The rest of the walk was uneventful thankfully. They seemed to walk three times the distance they walked when they entered the big hall but they finally entered an area which reeked of blood and oil. Making a turn down some black stairs they entered a chamber of sorts. To the left and right the Eldar were busy torturing their slaves but in the middle, directly in front of them were a group of humans, 12 by what Severath could count.
"SERGEJ!" Severath called out as he saw the man lie, belly down, on a table. Looking to his "owner" he saw her raise her eyebrow questioningly. "May I..." he wanted to say 'go to my friend' but she already rose the handle of his leash in front of his face and let it go non chalantly, letting it fall on to the floor. Severath uttered a thank you and he sprinted off to his comrade. Approaching him he saw that his sergeant's entire back was lobster red and that the man was trying not to moan.
"When I said that my men were dogs and that I will treat them as such I did not expect them to end up on leashes to xeno's overlords..." the man said, not lifting his face to greet his friend. The pain was ever present in his voice. Exhaling with relief Severath was glad that the man was alive.
"What happened to you?" He asked.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED!?" Sergej replied with a question. "When I saved your ass the electric discharge fried and cooked most of my back..." he exhaled but smiled ironically. "Never mind that, what happened to you? And what is going to happen to us?" he asked. Severath moved forward his mouth opened to respond. Silence... what was he going to say? 'hey Im going to marry this here xeno girl to keep y'all safe so come celebrate maybe?' no... still he had to say something.
"I was taken as their champion..." he lied. "I beaten their champion now they-" Sergej cut him off here.
"Dont lie boy..." he said sternly. "You served the inquisition, you should know these xenos even better than I do, even with your mind cleaning you should know that they will never accept a human as their equal!" he declared. Great... now he will be unable to handle the truth. In fact , why not. Severath spoke calmly as he explained the entire situation.
"That pompous flamboyant bastard was suppose to kill us all to earn the hand of the leader's daughter in marriage... when I beat his ass... things happened and now in order to avoid some shitty war or something I have to be the one to marry his daughter." He put it plainly. Sergej looked at him, finally lifting his gaze before laughing truthfully.
"Heretics! Heretics all of us!" he said through his laughter.
"ALIVE heretics... with a chance at redemption..." Severath corrected him. The two man smiled at each other amongst the screams of the other slaves. The remaining humans around them were dreadfully silent.
"Oh how much time will you take?!" The Eldar girl came from behind him. Lowering his eyes Severath decided to suit her.
"Everyone!" He said to all those who listened, few did however. "This is my bethrode!" he said with a bow, pointing to the surprised girl. "She is the daughter of the archon, the xenos leader! As long as I am in his good favor you are all safe, so please show some respect!" he said with a bow. The girl was most pleased, judging by her risen nose. Hearing this most humans did turn their heads to pay attention.
"Oh my lady!" A womanly voice came from the side and 138th came towards them. Oh great, please dont fuck this up! Severath though as he watched the whole thing. The Eldar girl kept her eyebrow raised high. "What lovely skin you have around yourself!" She said pointing to the human skin that the girl still had wrapped around herself. The xeno gasped with delight. "You sure have a superior taste in these things!" 138th said. The xenos was overjoyed.
"Why thank you!" she said. "I admit that I did not expect to find such elegance and such a refine individual!" Well it seemed the that bond that the creatures with vaginas shared extended beyond racial loyalty. "Your friend here gave it to me!" she said brushing his short hair. "You know you mon'keigh arent so bad after all... maybe!" she said giggling as she spoke. What a fickle creature... still... Severath got on one knee and took her arm, which surprised her.
"Please..." he began, swallowing his pride. "Mistress, may you relocate them to a more suitable location? My friend is injured and my friends here need better accommodations... will you please be merciful and help us out with that?" He said genuinely. The girl simply stared at him, dumb folded.
"Why do you care so much about them anyway?" she asked him, perplexed. He looked up at her, both of their faces baring confusion as Sergej watched them with disapproving eyes. Did she really posses no empathy what so ever?
"Because they are my friends. We have been through hell for the last couple of days, we were all abducted and forced to fight together to survive, some of them I knew from before all of this..." he said bringing her elegant hand towards his face. "I care for them, because my being says so, its called empathy..." he told her gently. Sergej moaned in pain and had he been in a more favorable situation he would have most likely said something along the lines of 'your wasting your time, she knows nothing of empathy for she is a xeno...' and whats worse he may be right. Maybe empathy was something only humans possessed.
"That will get you killed... and is unwise!" she told him. Worse still she was partially correct... alright ENTIRELY correct. He already saw that saving someone's life in this place meant that they will have an opportunity to stab you in the back the next time you come around. "Still if it pleases you, feel free to relocated to the holding bays..." she said before explaining the rout there, claiming they have bed sheets at least if nothing else. With that 138th took Sergej on her back and the girl lead them towards the destination. The holding bay she spoke of was considerably more habitable, if messy and Severath didnt doubt that Sergej would be unhappy about resting in a proper bed. With that she told him that they must depart now and while he did indeed want to stay here with his comrades, he was sure he could be doing other, smarter things with his life to further his situation here. Saying his goodbyes to fellow humans he followed her back into the main hall. Turning to face her he spoke calmly.
"Thank you." his voice was clean and full of honesty as she took his collar off.
"Dont thank me yet slave..." she responded. "Just be thankful that I wont kill you... for now." she said, folding the collar and the metal leash.
"What am I to do now?" he asked naively. He honestly wanted to do something. Sure it was rather late by now but he didnt feel like sleeping yet.
"I dont know and I dont care." she replied, her nose risen high as usual. Just then a robed woman, not unlike Branka approached them.
"Pardon me Sir, Mistress.." she bowed slightly with respect, causing the xeno to raise her nose even further. "The master would like to speak with Sir if he should happen to be free." She said meekly.
"Father?" the xeno girl asked and the servant girl shook her head.
"Master Herizar..." she elaborated and the xeno girl rolled her eyes.
"Well there you go slave, off you pop and have fun, for I dont wish for a dull mate!" she said and Severath took it as a compliment. He was rather glad to end this encounter on a positive note. He didnt know who this Herizar was nor did he care particularly. He bowed towards the xeno girl who started to leave.
"Wait!" he called out to her. "May I please know your name?" he asked. He knew it already but he wanted to sound romantic if possible. It seemed to succeed as the girl turned around giggling as she spoke.
"Its Eladril!" she said before walking away in her human skin. Exhaling Severath felt glad that that was over with as he followed the servant girl. The walk was short and Severath felt he was being lead deeper into the complex and for some reason he felt that he was approached the throne room of that asshole.
"Master is here, he wants to speak to you..." the girl said with a bow as they entered a large, spacious and tall room. The girl then departed as Severath noticed that the room was full of girls like her. For whatever reason a part of him felt hurt knowing the fact that Branka wasnt unique... but the feeling wasnt in a selfish clingy way, rather being one that compelled him to feel sorry for all these women.
"Ahhh thisss one arivesss...!" a robed, hooded figure said. Severath immediately recognized the creature which greeted him when he and the other humans arrived in the complex. This creature possessed a muscular voice, if one was to judge and he, like the girls had a cloak which covered most of his body and his head but unlike them he had additional clothing underneath. He was surrounded by other women. With a wave of a hand he dismissed them and they all bowed and scattered.
"I remember you..." Severath said calmly. The mutant bowed and took off his hood, revealing a mutated, scaly face with large nostrils, raptileish eyes and two holes for ears. Nodding to him with his bald head he spoke.
"I am Herizar, the third of the line that sserve our lord." he said calmly, his voice suddenly more normal. "I know you have many questionsss Ssseverath, but sso do I." He spoke calmly as he looked into his eyes. How did this thing know his name, Severath couldnt tell but in all honesty he didnt care.
"I see... well if you can start by telling me about this place I would be most thankful." he said with courtesy. The lizard narrowed his eyes at him.
"Very well..." he spoke before turning his eyes, as if he is looking into the distance. "My grandfather wass a mere mutant on a imperial hive world, oppresssed by everyone... then he was captured in a raid by the archon'ss forcesss..." he said and Severath honestly got into the story. "Unlike the mosst he welcomed the change and gladly ssserved our lord. As a reward he wass allowed to be the one who controlsss the domesstic part of sstaff... sso to speak..." the creature elaborated. "He had a mutant wife and my father wass born out of the union... he had a mutant wife and sso I sstand before you... the third sssteward of Smrtnik." He bowed. While the creature was repugnant to his religious self Severath found himself admiring the honesty of the mutant before him. Not waiting any further Severath spoke.
"Severath... my mother was a mutant as well... a small one with red greenish hair..." He shared, because why not? He was in the worst place in the galaxy... or one of the very worst at least. The mutant bowed his head, a small smile appearing on his face... perhaps he was glad that Severath wasnt one of those overly religious and zealous people? Whatever the case Severath continued. "I grew up in schola progenum and I served the inquisition as a storm trooper... later I was reassigned to a planet which didnt have any problems to seemingly live out my life in peace... but fate would not have it so." He explained and the lizard eyed him. Deciding to press the initiative Severath asked. "What did you want of me?" he asked politely. The lizard was taken aback by this and he beckoned Severath to come closer.
"Come..." he said and Severath followed him into a small side space of the hall. Raising his eyebrow he saw a large, approximately 3 meter tall lifelike statue of the Emperor. He was stunned. Did this creature honestly believe in him back on terra? "I can ssee your sssurprise... but I cannot find it inside me... the will to abandon our god... no matter if he hatesss me..." He said. Maybe it was the emperor... and maybe it was the soft heart and the exposure to the corrupting influence of this place but Severath found himself feeling empathically for the mutant.
"He does not hate you..." he began. "Not for your appearance at least... if your mutation isnt chaotic in nature and if you still feel the Emperor's empathic light inside you then you are still a human..." he told him, trying to sound serious and not childishly naive. The lizard smiled widely but Severath continued. "Still... I am not the Emperor and I do not know your sins... so forgive me for asking but why did you brainwash these poor girls?" he asked and the lizards smile vanished.
"I DID NOT DO NO SUCH THING!" he said, his voice much more... normal as anger rose in him.
"Then why are they sooo..." Severath asked waving his hand demonstratively.
"Absent? Timid? Perssonality-lessss?" the lizard asked, clasping his scaly hands.
"Yes." Severath nodded. Herizar sighed.
"Severath... I can passs as a mandrake on the darkesst night of the darkesst month of a darkessst year... thuss our massters leave me alone... that along with my... unalienable skillss grant me a ssignificant meassure of freedom." he explained, dancing around the topic. Seeing the human raise his eyebrow in impatiance the lizard continued. "Thessse girlss... mossst of them were mere babies or children when they were captured... to take them out of the arms of their parentsss wasss cruel I do not deny that... but here they have the protection of the archon! LOOK AT THEM! Not a single one bears ssscarsss" he stuttered for a second before continuing. "They are under the archonsss protection... ssserving as invisible servants or ssstaff... and believe me here it is better to be invissiable... lest one rissk notice and torture." he explained. Severath thought he knew where the man was going with this and he was soon proven right. "Imagine if these girls had persssonalities! Imagine if they accidently make a remark... it wouldnt be the firsssssst time the archonsss orderssss were broken and a valued human ssslaved wasss.. sssulied..." he explained. "Thessse things are beneath the archonsss notice and while I know that turning thessse girls into little better mindlessss servitorsss iss evil..." he exhaled here. "I can at leassst tell them that if they are good... when the time is right... they will meet the beautiful golden man who will take care of them..." the lizard explained. A tiny bit of him felt sorry for the mutant... and another bit felt ashamed at his prejudice. Bowing his head he spoke.
"Im sorry for misjudging you." he said. While the lizard could be lying Severath saw that he had no gain from it so he concluded that his words were most likely true. A sad smile once more returned on Herizar's face. "Still... I fail to see why you summoned me... also, please do tell me that the girl send to me was... has satisfied the master's demands." he said, bringing confusion to the face of the lizard.
"THIRTEEN" he shouted and Branka appeared out of nowhere, blushing at the sight of Severath as she approached.
"I actually wanted to speak to you about her..." Herizar said. "I was a bit... angry when I saw how you ssssulied her..." now that was confusing. "But hearing how positively she reacted to you and how you attempted to give her a name and a perssss-Sonality confused me..." he said before turning to face Severath. "So pleassse explain your action of ssssending her naked back to me?" the lizard asked. "You seem like a nice decent man..." he added. Severath wasted no time explaining the situation.
"She told me she would be punished if she didnt please me... and that the more she pleases me the more her master would be happy with her... I assumed back then that the master she spoke of was the archon annnd knowing the perverseness and depravity of our masters I thought that if I didnt fuck her she would get beaten and that if I..." he exhaled. "sullied her properly that the master would be pleased with her and give her some relief..." he said and Herizar looked at him "No pun intended.. " he added. Clearly thinking and rubbing his chin the lizard spoke.
"I... see..." he turned to face the girl. "Girl, is this true." And Branka, who was already looking down at the floor blushed and nodded meekly. Exhaling with feeling the pressure gone Herizar faced Severath. "Forgive me of making presssssumptions about you." he said and the two men grabbed each other by the elbows.
"No insult was taken." Severath gladly said.
"Indeed..." Herizar smiled. "You were kinder to her than any... so Im going to tell you a little tale about her..." he said and Branka blushed harder.
"Who Branka?" Severath asked and Herizar nodded.
"Girls line up!" he ordered and the girls did come to the left and right of Branka, seemingly out of nowhere. "Do you sssee any difference?" he asked and Severath sure did notice that Branka was different than the rest. Still, how was she different his injured brain couldnt tell. Looking at Herizar he gave him a confused look.
"I see that she is... different... but how I do not know." he admitted, shaking his shoulders. "Nor do I particularly care..." he added
"Ahhhh!" Herizar clasped his hands. "But you will..." he said and Branka tried to hide her face "You see the girl you named Branka is no ordinary human..." he said.
"she isnt?" Severath asked in surprised.
"No!" herizar proclaimed. "Unlilke the ressst here... her parents were esscaping their planet... escaping it as it wasss redisscovered by the imperium?" he added and Severath cocked his eyebrows. "During their periods of sssilence, her planet managed to perfect the vat growing and cloning techologiesss that our mastersss know way better... her parentsss were both vat grown people who possessed civil rights before the imperium came... after which they found themssselves escaping the imperium becaussse ass you know... our dearesst empeor decreed that vat grownsss will serve us and that they will not be our equalsss... and while she did came from a vagina... that vagina belonged to a vat grown person and she was fathered by another vat grown person." Herizar finished. Branka was sad, that much was obvious and Severath moved in and hugged her tightly.
"Why does our Emperor hate me?" she sobbed, being the second woman crying to his chest today.
"No he doesnt!" Severath said angrily. "Its the ignorant people who claim they rule in his stead who claim that they spread his will who are evil!" he said angrily. Just a day in and he already found himself hating the imperium. "Dont believe their lies!" he told her, kissing her head and smelling he lovely hair.
"Well... I sssee you have grown attached to her..." Herizar said. "If you can perssuade the archon to let you, I will allow her to live with you and become your persssonal servant!" he proclaimed. Finally breaking the hug with Branka he turned to face the mutant.
"Herizar.." he began and the mutant eyed him. "thank you..." he said calmly and the mutant smiled at him and nodded. He waved his hand and the girls departed, leaving the two men heading for the exit.
"You should go sleep now... it isss rather late." The mutant said as they walked, pulling his hood up and concealing his clawed hands.
"Any advice how to survive here?" he asked the lizard because honestly, he could use all the help he could get.
"Simple... know your place... your no ordinary slave but be humble... dont piss off your bride or her family and thats about it... oh and be careful of backstabbing and poisonings that are so common here" Herizar managed to say without dragging any of the s's thankfully.
"thanks, anyone whom you suggest befriending?" He asked. Herizar stopped as they reached the exist.
"Hmm..." he said thinking. "It will be difficult as most Dark Eldar hate humanssssss... otherssss at besst ignore uss... still some are more... liberal... they tend not to live that long however. Ssstick with Ker and Kujica... they did kill you but they alssso saved your life twice... and they are too busy fucking eachother to actually hate humanssss... not to mention he is an incubusss and she... thanks to you... is now a sssucubus" he said, addressing the two as if they were the same person. Looking at Severaths confused face he elaborated. "Eldar twinsss are EXTREMELY rare... as they are born they share a sssoul... and one can not live without the other ... that coupled with their intenssse narcissism allows them to see each other as opposite sex versions of themselvessss... not to mention they feel all the pleasure the other feelsss..." he elaborated and Severath mentally noted that as it seemed important. "Also missstress Tala'drel isss quite posssibly the kindest of her kind... she is both your bridesss mother and your mastersss wife... it will be easssy to get on her good side and you sssshould try to make a good impression... Now I trust you know your way back?" He said. Once more Severath bowed and grabed the mutants arm.
"Herizar... thank you... thank you for everything!" He said and the lizard smiled as they shook hands. With that Severath departed, determined to find his way around the place. After a LOT of bad turns and the occasional insult, spit and odd insulting glare from the passing Dark Eldar he found his way back to the main great hall of his hab block. Most of the aliens were surprised to see him "unescorted" but as soon as someone got any smart ideas the others would tell him or her who the human actually was. Finally arriving back to his new home he saw that it was well over 11 PM and it was only then that he felt tired and that the entire day came crashing down on his back. The fighting the walking the talking... all of it felt awkward... still on recollecting the day Severath found that he could have ended up with a worse kind of bride. If he could find some way to stop Eladril trying to kill him and he could teach her basic empathy... if such a thing could be thought, he would be most satisfied... still she was a xenos and the Emperor must be having a big laugh at him as lost his soul. Severath frowned... he shouldnt be thinking that way! This time he made SURE to lock that fucking door! Emperor Orathain was right... he should have listened to him... Proceeding to the bathroom he washed his teeth awkwardly as he was still getting around the Eldar runes... thankfully the toothpaste and the toothbrushes were familiar enough to be usable. After that he took his armor off and threw it aside as he climed into the wrinkly and stained bed. Sleep came easily enough.