For two and half weeks they had been at it. Two and a half weeks of sitting around doing nothing, jumping from one system to another traveling with human refugees transports in seemingly random directions. No one payed any attention to two extra slender hooded figures in the crowds. Their latest trip found them on a rusty old freighter carrying displaced people away from a warzone.
Imisha had been forced to reevaluate her picture of humans during this latest time. Previously she had always thought of them only as aggressors, as savage beasts that must be resisted at all costs. Perhaps that is because the only humans she had come in contact with had been space marines, imperial commanders and inquisitors. She never really met a regular everyday human. Well she had now. She had seen thousands upon thousands of them. Whether it had improved her opinion of them or made her hate them even more she wasn't quite sure of.
They were most certainly more beasts than intelligent beings. It was mind numbing to Imisha how humans could feel so little, to be so unaware of their surroundings and stumble around so clumsily every time they moved. To her they all seemed like drunken half blind simpletons. At first she had wondered if it was all an act. A way to lull her into a false sense of security. Surely the race that all but ruled the galaxy could not be this dim witted. But it was no act.
For what she seen made Imisha envy them their blunted minds. During the last weeks she had seen starving children eaten alive by dogs, seen slavers drag a mother from her crying infant and men beating up old women for scraps of food. Reluctantly Imisha had to admit that she had started to feel for the poor human refugees. They might be beasts but even beast should not suffer like this. And in some cases she had seen them get up again and continue onwards. From things that would have broken an Eldar on such a fundamental level that there would have been nothing left. Slowly Imisha had to admit to herself that for all their elegance and brilliance the Eldar seemed fragile when compared to these people.
On top of all the external misery her own guilt and regret gnawed upon her. She had not seen her beloved after she had struck him down at their last meeting. It had been too urgent she had told herself. Truth was she couldn't own up to what she had done. Letting her rage all but kill someone she loved. And not just anyone, the father of her unborn children. He might still be crippled for life after the eldritch onslaught Imisha had unleashed. Imisha didn't know. In her dreams she saw him staggering around on crutches, a wreck of a man who would never be whole again. Perhaps he would never be able to laugh or hunt or make love again. How do you apologize from something like that? How do you make it right again? After thinking long and hard Imisha had come up with an answer: You can't.
Her travelling companion must certainly didn't make the situation any better. If anything Kalitha the Solitaire was frustration impersonated. She blankly refused to give Imisha a reason or destination for their journeys, claiming it was become apparent when they reached their destination. Instead she constantly assaulted Imisha will moral dilemmas from ancient Eldar lore and demanded that the farseer sit and watch as she acted out various stories from the days of old. Never one for history and lore Imisha found it all quite tedious but it was better than staring at the bulkheads. More annoying was when the harlequin taunted Imisha on her reactions to the refugees plights. No matter how she tried to shield her feelings the Solitaire somehow seemed to know exactly what Imisha had in her heart. And always had a pointed jab ready.
Yet despite it all somehow Imisha knew she was on the right track. That any other path would lead to the doom of everything the held dear. The fates told her that she was indeed in the right place at the right time, no matter how little sense it made. So the conclusion was that she had no choice but to sit around, wallow in misery all while enduring more and more elaborate insults. It frustrated her to no end.
Currently they had made camp in a small damp cargo room in the back of a small freighter they were travelling on. In an attempt to avoid the other passengers they often chose the most remote and least desirable parts of the ships to travel in. Imisha was thankful for this. The noise and boling life of the move densely populated areas made her almost nauseous. Not that it was quiet here. Though she much prefered the pounding of the engines and water reclamation systems. Damn humans. Even their ships made noise. Well atleast they were alone here. Or almost.
They shared the small space with two other humans. A mother and her young daughter. At first Imisha had tried her best to scare them away with angry stares and pointed looks. She had even flashed her witchblade. The mother had simply looked back at her with a flat resigned eyes. At that point Imisha had given up. The human had nowhere else to go. She knew the only way she would get rid of them was with violence. And that would draw unwanted attention Imisha told herself. Truth was that underneath the logic a more primal feeling was growing. The thought of unleashing an eldritch onslaught on them gave her a foul taste in her mouth. It felt wrong. Frustrated with herself Imisha instead chose to ignore them completely. But even in that she failed.
Instead she caught herself glancing over at them whenever she could. She watched the mother read to her child. Play with her. Hold her. Comfort her. Imisha had very few memories of her own childhood. From a very early age she had been career focused. Her adolescence had consisted mostly of studying under different masters. Learning runes. Blades. Combat strategies. Sure there had been history and etiquette lessons to break it all up. But it had all been learning. Not a lot of play. Imisha's mother had been strict and demanding. She had instilled in her daughter a hunger for progress and success. And Imisha was thankful for that. It had made her the woman she was today. Yet she couldn't help but to feel a sting of regret when she saw the human girl snuggle up in her mother's lap.
What kind of mother would she become? Imisha shuddered at the thought. What did she know about parenthood? Perhaps it would bet best to do like her own mother, to hand her children off into tutelage by other more experienced people. Her encounter with Davar had clearly shown how unfit she was at all relationships. She wasn't fit to be a mother. Once again she found herself envying the humans. How did the human do it? It was so unfair! That animal seemed to instinctively know when the comfort, when to scold and when to let her child explore and grow. When the child had once curiously approached the two of them Imisha had been scared witless and just sat there with a pin up her arse until the human mother had called her child back. She really didn't know anything at all about children. And yet in a not too distant future she would be expected to care for no less than three of those things. With these kinds of thoughts running around in her head it was no wonder Imisha had trouble falling asleep.
Imisha awoke with a jerk. Something was happening. Deep down within her she knew it. The fates were moving, the golden thread of hope swirling faster and faster into the future. Hardly surprising Kalitha was already awake. She sat on one of the crates, her legs dangling like a little girl.
"It is close now. The seer can feel it, can't she?"
Imisha rose and shook the last of the sleep out of her body. She sat down next to Kalitha.
"In this next dance the seer must allow the dancer to lead."
Imisha stared skeptically back at the Solitaire.
"Why? What will happen?"
"The seer must promise" Kalitha simply responded. Imisha sighed. The fates were clear. She was where she was supposed to be. Sofar she had trusted Kalitha guiding touch through the darkness. No use giving up now. Like it or not she was committed.
"Fine." She replied at last.
Kalitha nodded and for a while the two children of the stars sat there in silence. The humans were sound asleep in their corner of the room. From the small observation window attached to the wall the light from distant celestial bodies glinted into the dark room. It was almost peaceful. But it was the lull before the storm. Soon enough the fates started to move.
The sound of rough voices came echoing down from the corridor leading into their little corner. Rowdy loud obnoxious guttural voices lacking any form of grace. In short, humans.
Imisha tensed her body. Next to her Kalitha turned her masked face towards Imisha as if to remind her of her previous promise. Imisha gritted her teeth and hunched down on the crate. At this point even the two humans in the room had woken up. The mother looked worried as she glanced over at the two Eldar women sitting on the crate dangling their legs. Urgently rousing her child she quickly tried to pack of their meager belongings. But she was too late. The door from the corridor opened and the noisemakers spilled into the room. There were five of them all in all. Foul smelling, repugnant, thuggish, drunken louts. Again, in short, humans.
"There you are!" The lead thug threw a bottle of some strong smelling liquid that shattered onto the wall. Imisha could see the human female's face turn white in pure terror. She motioned her child behind her and backed against the wall. The thugs moved in on her like a pack of wolves, howling jeers and taunts.
"Thought ya could run, did ya?" The lead thug continued. The human female shook her head, arms out wide shielding her child with her body.
"Then ya have the money, do ya?" The lead thug smiled a grin, showing many missing teeth. It seemed he knew the answer to his question.
"I will get them I promise! You just have to give me more..." The thug wagged his finger and interrupted her, still with that predatory smile on his face.
"Ya see. The boss don't want to give ya more time. He told me to get the money from ya now. Didn't he boys?" The rest of the thugs laughed.
"And I can't very well lie to the boss. Can I now?" He moved in close to the female. His laid his hands upon her and she shivered in disgust.
"Unless ya make it worth me while. Then perhaps I will tell him I could not find ya?" He moved his hand to where no gentleman would place it without consent and squeezed hard. The human female was no solitaire, that was for sure. But Imisha was impressed by how fast her knee connected with the thugs crotch. At first he doubled over in pain. But it had not been a clean hit and he soon recovered.
"Ya bitch!" He backhanded her so hard she fell to the floor. Blood splashed from her broken lip.
"Mommy!" The little daughter ran to her mother in panic.
"Help! Please help us! Please!" The fallen human mother's eyes fell upon the two Eldar. The lead thug followed her gaze. At first he froze when he saw the two xenos sitting there in the shadows, coldly observing. But then he barked a laugh.
"Hah! Think those will help ya? Those be xenos. Them could care less about what happens to ya! Wouldn't ya little xenos?!" He called over to where Imisha and Kalitha were sitting. The two Eldar acted as if none of the humans even existed. The human mother's face fell as despair consumed her. She screeched and clawed at her assailant who easily grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back.
"Now ya be nice. If ya won't do then the little one might. I have one or two of me boys who might like that!" The whole group whooped and chuckled at that. The child crept into the corner and folded her hands over her ears, rocking back and forth.
"No! Not that! I'll do anything! Anything!" The mother begged and started removing her own garments in a wild panic.
Next to Imisha the Kalitha had also started undressing. With unnerving ease garment after garment slid off her like water until the Solitaire jumped down from the crate onto the cold floor, stood fully naked. Except for the daemon mask. Imisha could wager the Solitaire never took it off.
"What are you doing?" Imisha hissed in shock.
"When the spirit is already lost why seek to honor the flesh?" Kalitha shrugged. Then she started walking casually towards the humans. The human female was sobbing as the thugs were ripping her clothing to pieces. In the corner her child huddled in shivers, scared witless.
"Might she perhaps interest the fine gentlemen in something a touch more exotic?" Kalitha said in that weird sing song voice and pranced towards humans. Even in the broken rough human tongue her words flowed from her like threads of silk, mimicking her movements in what must have been an irresistible technique. Imisha didn't even want to think about what images the mask was showing them.
At first the humans seemed taken aback by the sudden appearance of a naked Eldar. They dropped the whimpering human female who crawled back into the corner. Then they moved in on Kalitha.
"Fucking freaky xenos! Never had me one of these before..." The lead thug appraised Kalitha with his eyes. Then he glanced over at Imisha.
"Your friend included? Gotta have something for the boys you see?!" he barked at Kalitha.
"There is really no need, she is more than willing to service all of you." Imisha could see on the faces of the thugs that whatever the daemon mask was showing it was luring them in. They were like fish who had just swallowed the bait whole. Not one of them so much as glanced in Imisha's direction again.
Kalitha bent over a nearby crate, spread her legs, arched her back and pushed out her slim behind. Imisha could hardly believe her eyes. The humans closed in around her with disgusting greed and lust shining from the eyes and dripping from their slobbering jaws. After a short tussle over who would get to go first the lead one fumled with his pants and position himself behind the Solitaire. The sight made Imisha feel sick. But not as sick as what happened next.
Before the human could thrust himself into the Solitaire's flesh the Eldar had instead penetrated him. Suddenly there was device wrapped around her left hand. Imisha caught a glimpse of it. A harlequin's kiss. A weapon of old favoured among the actors in the dance without end. Inside lay a coil of wire only a few molecules thick. The weapon worked by inserting the wire into the target and sent a psychic shockwave through it causing it to trash about widely. Turning the target's insides to soup.
Kalitha swirled around and lifted the whole human off the floor in one smooth motion. Her left hand held him in perfect balance by his diaphragm like the pair was part of an elegant dance routine. Before the human could trash about the solitaire fixed him with a gaze from below. The daemon mask smiled as she flexed her wrist and inserted the nozzle of the harlequins kiss into the hole where humans passed extrement. A series of emotions flashed across the thug's face. First came humiliation. Then came fear. Then pain like he had never known before. And lastly his eyes rolled up into his skull and a red tidal wave rolled down over the Solitaire when his insides flowed out onto the floor. All in the blink of an eye.
The other thugs stood transfixed by the horror before them. Kalitha moaned in pleasure and turned her face into the red downpour. She was quite literally showered in blood. Then the red river had slowed to a trickle she finally lowered her face and opened those cold blue eyes again. With a flick of a her arms the corpse was tossed aside and she turned her attention to the survivors.
The rest of the thugs died less spectacularly but no less quickly. In the end Kalitha was the only one left standing. It struck Imisha that since the Solitaire always fought alone every fight must be like this for her. Left alone with the corpses of her enemies waiting for that last fight when she would find something to rival her immense prowess. And this had not even been a fight, simply an execution.
The female human rushed to the her daughter's side and the two embraced. As the mother frantically checked if her child was unharmed Imisha could not help but to smile. Then a wave of shame washed over her, biting deep. It was not Imisha who had saved the mother and her daughter. She had been the one looking from the sidelines, condemning them to their fate. Why did her own actions sicken her so? They were only humans weren't they? Why should their fate matter to her? Yet it did.
Kalitha just stood still, as if waiting for the humans.
"Tha...thank you! However you are! Thank you!" the human female human stammered at last. Kalitha, still stark naked and covered in the thug's insides bowed in an elegant bow. Then she turned and started walking back towards Imisha. But halfway she stopped and closed her fists as if steeling herself. Finally she lowered her masked head. Imisha could swear she saw the Solitaire sigh in what looked like sorrow. Then she exploded into action again.
Before Imisha could blink heads of the human female and her child were rolling on the floor. The poor bastards never knew what hit them. Her actions again slowing to a crawl, Kalitha collected the heads and placed them respectfully alongside the freshly made corpses. She aligned them so that the mother was embracing her child before placing a blanket over them both. Then she turned back towards Imisha and sat down next to her. The daemon mask remained resolute and stoic while blood dripped from the naked dancer onto Imisha's robes.
"What...why did you do that?" Imisha managed at last.
The solitaire shrugged. "She must play her part. Her mistress sometimes requires sacrifices. Such is the path of damnation. And sacrifices in mating situations pleases her mistress even more." Kalitha looked towards the eviscerated thug. "This seemed like a good opportunity to appease her." Then the solitaire turned to the corpses of the mother and her daughter.
"And her master has recently developed a special dislike for the suffering of children." For once the solitaires voice didn't seem as cold as normal. Somewhere within that monster was still a spark of something not yet wholly corrupted.
"She saw a chance to appease both master and mistress. It doesn't happen often. So she took it."
Imisha's right hand tightened her grasp on her witchblade, hidden within her cloak. Meanwhile her right hand closed around the destruction rune in her pocket. What they even be of any use if the Solitaire decided that she would be the next sacrifice?
"Is the seer going to kill the dancer? Is that the seer's master would want?" The solitaire stared blankly back at Imisha with normal cold voice. The demon mask wore the face of a stone wall, no an emotion present.
"I have no master! But I can see you serving your 'mistress'. However I fail to see how you prevented any suffering" Imisha growled back. "Explain why that girl and her mother had to die!?"
"The seer should hear herself. Says she has no master. Says she hasn't changed. And here she is up in arms over the death of a human child." The daemon mask sneered.
"All life is sacred. As few as possible should be allowed through the veil before their song has reached it's final verse." Imisha heard herself say. From where she got sentence she had no idea. Still in her heart the words rang true, like a truth long lost. From a time long lost when the Eldar still had the chance to become something more than they were today. In the warp the bonfires of hope blazed and roared in the budding spirits of her children. The Solitaire just looked at her, the sneer now gone and replaced with what Imisha later concluded must have been...envy.
"Does the seer know that dancers in her role are not allowed to speak outside of the dance?"
Imisha nodded confused and somewhat annoyed at the change of topic.
"Her very speech is cursed. So is her touch. All she comes into contact with is damned." She looked meaningfully at Imisha.
"Great. Just great. Are you telling me I am damned?"
"She knows damnation. She is damned. The seer is not."
"Then what am I?" Imisha did not conceal her irritation.
"Blessed. So blessed that even one such as she is allowed to speak...and touch." The Solitaires hand reached up and tentatively touched Imisha cheek. It was the lightest touch Imisha had ever felt upon her skin.
At that point the ship shook violently and alarms started bleating in distress.
"They have come. We have reached our destination." The solitaire simply stated and lowered her hand, totally unphased by the calamity erupting all around her. Instead she calmly jumped down again and started dragging the thug corpses towards the door. There she proceeded to butcher them. Blood splashed over the already soaked harlequin.
Choosing to ignore the disturbing sight for more pressing concerns Imisha rushed to the nearest viewport. A ship rushed by so closely it almost scratched up against the transport they were travelling on. It looked like a black flower made out of knives, each edge covered with clotted red blood. When the ship rushed past an oily shadow trailed it, obscuring it from behind. It was almost like a hallucination field. Except. Oh no. Imisha squeezed up against the bulkhead and pressed her face up against the window. Further down there ship another bladed flower had attached itself to their transport like a vicious tick, burrowing it head deep into the transport. They were being boarded. And she knew by whom.
"This is why the child and the mother had to die. The father of her son is here. And her master would grieve if she let them be taken by him alive. Death was the only mercy she could offer. And she didn't want their last memories to be of rape." Kalitha explained quietly. She positioned herself in front of the main door to the cargo hold, her legs spread wide and her arms and fingers stretched out. Blood was dripping from her long slender limbs onto the floor. Around her aligned in a perfect star were the bloody remains of the thugs. Heads and guts and bone all lines up according to some insane logic. And in the middle the solitaire, like a statue, the centerpiece of the perverse piece of art. From within the bowels of the the sounds of screaming and gunfire echoed.
Imisha nodded towards the disemboweled thugs. "What about them?"
"They are the gift. As is she. She has made herself pretty. Let's hope he likes it."
"Are you insane? This was your plan?" Imisha drew her witchblade and opened the gate within her wide. Azure lightning streaked across the floor around her. She would not go down without a fight. The solitaire's head snapped around and stared her down.
"It was the only way. Her son disappeared along with the princess. Now he has resurfaced alongside his father. So we go to meet the father. It is the only path forward. Winning this fight means losing the future. The seer knows this." The solitaire turned back to again stand as if transfixed. The sounds of fighting were getting closer.
"Wait just a minute! Are you telling me you have a child with one of the dark ones?" Imisha blurted out loud not thinking about her own situation.
"There was a time before she became a dancer." Kalitha's voice sounded different. Sad. And a lot younger. The harlequin shook her head to chase whatever she was feeling away and returned to her role. It was showtime.
The sound of agile feet running was just on the other side of the cargo door separating their room from the rest of the ship. Imisha could tell from the subtle ethereal resonance they were Eldar feet. The dark brethren were upon them.