Hello everyone, I know I said I was not going to continue this but this is more of a celebratory update. Skaven is now an official character on Fanfiction thanks to my bugging of the Support Staff, which means you can now find this and any future Skaven story using that! So enjoy this one as a treat and a PSA.
The sun was slowly being covered in clouds as Louise released her Familiar onto the ground. In a moment he began to scream out in pain, gripping his hand as red ruins crafted themselves upon his fur. Louise however felt little to no pity for the creature, knowing this was the one way to guarantee his loyalty to her.
While a majority of people were silent across the crowd one heckler was willing to make a quote, "Oh ho ho, Louise, I didn't expect you to literally summon a rat. Do we need to start giving you cheese to feed it?"
Kirch gave a subtle laugh at her morbid joke, but soon she was not the only one. Everyone around her began to laugh as well as they really could not realize the situation that was before them.
"Y-yeah, of course Louise the Zero would summon a rat." Another student said with a laugh, "It's the only thing she will be able to beat up!"
More the laughter kept growing and growing, jokes made at Louise's expense just so that people would wipe away the memory of their fellow student almost getting shot.
"Students, stop that now." Professor Colbert announced while walking to the front, "You are all dismissed to leave for your rooms. Make sure to learn about your familiars."
There was no complaint from the crowd, everyone making their way out of the place and heading their way through the courtyard. However there was a pair who did not more, or more like one of them was still on the ground crying like a baby.
"Louise, I believe the runes are done forming on your Familiar." Colbert all so subtly told her to start moving.
"Yeah." Louise said while walking to her Familiar's side and poking him with her broken wand, "You going to get up or am I going to need to whack you again?"
The Rat slowly moved cradling his hand as if it was injured and giving a sniff, "Itch understands Boss-Boss. But, my beautiful fur is ruined!"
"You are thinking about your hair while almost shooting me with a pistol!" Louise grizzled her teeth before shaking her head, "Follow me, if you serve me well enough I can get you some dye for it."
"Dye? Yes yes that could help!" He said while picking himself up fully and covering his hand, "Itch Warpsnout shall follow you for dye!"
"Itch Warpsnout, is that like your name or something?" Louise asked while looking the creature over for a second time.
"Yes, that is the name-title I acquired! Best inventor-maker of Skavenblight!" He said while proudly patting his chest, "Even Ikit Claw fears-fears my inventions."
"You are going to explain everything you are talking about once we get to my room." Louise said while walking in front of the Rat, "Come."
"Yes yes." He said before falling right behind his boss.
The way over was not very hard, but Louise still could not shake the sense of unease that was in her mind. She rightfully did not trust her Familiar and it felt like everytime she looked behind herself she swear he would be missing.
"Itch, you are to walk beside me."
"But Itch is not guard but Familiar-minion." He answered her while trying to look as meek as he could.
"It is the duty of a Familiar to protect their master with their life, Itch." Louise corrected the rat while twirling her broken wand, "Do you want me to beat that into you?"
"Itch understands! Yes-yes he does!" And like the sneaky creature he was the rat quickly ran up to Louise's side like some pesky guard.
Finally Louise felt herself settle just that tiniest of bit, though now she heard every single sniff and movement her Familiar made.
Every second he would inspect, his eyes shifting from one side to another as if something was out to get him. It was unsettling, and she really did not want to catch whatever thoughts he was having right now.
Still, this was better than having him scheme behind her back.
The trip was still long, and Louise looked out to see everyone playing with their familiars. Ranging from Guiche with his small mole, to Tabitha already hanging out in the corner with her drake.
"What exactly are you?" Louise said as the silence became too much for her.
"You ask what I am Master, so you do not know?" Itch said with the first smirk Louise had ever seen on the creature, "I am Skaven, greatest-greatest of the world!"
"Skaven?" She chewed on that name for a moment, "I have never heard of a species of creatures named that."
"Fufu, it is because we Skaven are intelligent-smart." The rat spouted with a skeething chuckle, "Humans are dumb, yes-yes dumber than lizard and squat when it comes to us."
Louise stopped for a moment, raising her broken wand towards the Skaven, "Be careful what you say, Familiar, for I am not only a human but a Noble. You can say things like that about peasants but not of us."
"But you are greater than your fellows." The creature said while that smile never really left his face, "You have summoned Skaven, thus you are strongest-best in the world!"
That was… the best thing anyone has really said to Louise. She could not help but feel her cheeks go red as she turned away from her Familiar, "J-just be careful what you say. I do not want any other nobles feeling like they should discipline you for blasphemy."
To those words, Itch began to grow a devilish smile while rubbing his hands, "This one understands, Boss-Boss. Itch will be careful what he says around others."
"Good, the faster you learn the better off you will be." Louise answered as they walked into the building. As they did so the rat seemed to be a little bit more relieved, though now the creature's scent was starting to hit her, "Tsk, I'm going to wash you soon."
"Itch is clean-cleanest of all Skaven Kind." He announced with a bit of mockery in his voice.
"But you still stink, rat." Louise shot back while stopping and looking him up and down more, "If I am to take you to class, you will need to at least freshen you up more."
"Hmph, we will see Boss-Master." The Ratkin said as he slithered his way through the halls next to Louise.
Soon they made it to her room, Louise quickly crashing herself onto her bed as she felt lethargy on herself. Honestly she thought that the name calling and rumors about her would stop, but thanks to that damned Kirch they are just going to keep going. Ugh, how she just wanted to-!
"Who are you angry at, Master?" Her familiar asked while growing a devilish smile, "If they are so bad-troublesome, well, I always need more test subjects."
"Test-subjects?" Louise said while turning towards the rat, "What are you suggesting?"
"Kikiki, I am Best inventor of Skavenblight! But I lost workshop, so I need to rebuild." He said with a sinister smile, "And test-subjects."
"I… don't like what you are suggesting, Itch. If this is some form of murder you are suggesting, we cannot do that without starting war between Tristain and Germania." Louise said outright without any worry, "And even if you did you are no match for a Noble."
"Noble noble…. You mean those Spellcasters!" Itch put two and two together, "Hmm, you're right… grr I need ratling guns."
"I will stop you right there, Itch." Louise said while pointing her broken wand towards him, "You are not allowed to carry any weapons at this point, since you already tried to kill me once."
"Ah, but that was an error Master-Master." The rat said while giving a short bow, "Yes yes, I did not realize I became Familiar for such a powerful Warlock."
Once again Louise's cheeks went red, "F-flattery will get you nowhere Itch."
"Itch speaks truth-truth when he sees it, Master." Itch said with that ever present grin.
"Tsk, fine." Louise said while looking around, "It is only in consideration right now. You are still not allowed until I say otherwise."
Maybe what had happened earlier was a fluke, as she did hear tales of Familiars being hostile before the contract was sealed. If that is the case, she needed to figure out something for him to do, something to test his loyalty towards her.
First Louise glanced at the clothing, but shook her head at the idea. Like hell she would trust a rat to clean her clothes. Only a lunatic would do that, and Louise was no lunatic.
With that she glanced at her desk, and instantly knew what to make this weird little creature do.
"Itch." She said with a commanding voice, "Take that water jug and fill it up with some water. Easy enough, right?"
"Yes yes, thank you Master." Quickly the rat grabbed the pitcher from the desk and ran right out of the door into the darkness of night.
Honestly Louise was kinda glad he was gone, since that ugly smell of his quickly went away. She wondered what he would do being out and about, but also noted that the Skaven did not have any weapons on his person and she banned him from having any others.
Though what happens if he ignores her orders?
Well, the activity of a Familiar reflects upon the Noble. Louise did not want to think about that right now. But that little thought kept her up, and since it was early in the night still maybe she should ask the servants for some obedience tools.
Night had slowly fallen upon the Academy, much to the delight of a certain individual. With it the moons slowly rose into the sky, displaying their grandiose brightness to lighten up the grounds below.
It was perfect for something like Itch to go around and explore the overworld, maybe find himself a good hole to start digging his new lab into.
Yes, that would be a grandiose thing. Lucky he was that the Warpsludge made its way into their world, he would be able to start the next culture of sludge within a few days if he can get himself a big enough cauldron.
However now was not the time for him to construct his damned hole, as he needed to learn about the surroundings. These humans were different from those in the Old World, he realized as their Warlocks and Spellcasters were higher rank than normal humans.
Neither the Britanians nor the Empire thought like that.
If his snout was correct, even of his master they had the smallest traces of elvish blood within them. That meant he would need to be wary of them as even a child like his Master could defeat him in a straight fight.
Of course that was ignoring the massive reserve of magic she possessed.
The Skaven stopped for a moment, looking at his red marked hand as he held for a moment. The moment she crafted this upon him, he could sense the massive magical potential she wielded. It was so much that even being near her caused his fear gland to emit its musk on instinct.
He was terribly afraid of his master, though she was very susceptible to flattery.
First thing is that he needed to get a-!
Before the rat could even finish his thought, the red rune on his hand began to glow with a devilish hue. The Rune knew he was trying to disobey his master, and it was lashing out against him for that thought.
Scary, his new Master might be even more powerful than Ikit Claw.
With that the Rat knew he could not betray her, at least not yet.
That left him to the next step of his plan, to learn about these pitiful creatures and seek any weaknesses he can exploit. Yes yes, even if he could not wield any weapons that did not mean he would be left out to dry.
So he snuck through the lands, his eyes letting him see everything that was happening about him. From the series of maids doing their work to a dragon flying about in the air.
Of course the moment Itch saw the dragon he quickly threw himself into the nearest shadow. The great beast flew by as if it did not see anything.
Oh but he knew it did, for the creature was a Dragon and Dragons meant there were Elves always around the corner.
Even if his theory of this being a differnt world was true, the simple fact is that any elf would quickly murder him faster than any inquisitor would.
He would not take the chance, especially when the rat was given another lease on life.
As soon as the beast was out of his sight the rat quickly ran from his position to the other direction, making his way towards the garden that took over a majority of the Academy's Courtyard.
It was close to perfect for the rodent's sneakiness, as it gave him two things that would keep him safe. First was the obvious fact the plants were tall. Tall plants meant that the rodent would not be easily seen by that dreadful beast.
Next was that since it was Spring, the smell of the flowers almost covered his natural Skaven musk. Only those with acute senses would be able to smell the Skaven as he routed about and found some easy prey.
So he scrawled like the rodent he was, none in the Garden knowing that the Skaven was even stalking them, though, only two of those people were to gain the rat's attention. The large bottle of perfume definitely grabbed Itch's attention.
"G-Guiche I cannot accept this!" The rat heard as he closed in on the prize of his choosing.
"But you are as perfect as a star in the sky, Katie!" The golden haired boy said as Itch was finally upon the two of them.
"Th-thank you!" She cheered while giving the boy a hug, "I will cherish it till the end of time."
The Skaven finally got a viewpoint behind the two people, his red eyes focusing on the prized potion that was sitting next to the girl.
While of course he was here because of that potion peaking his interest, now he was here because of what he could smell from his snout.
Treachery was afoot here, and he could already smell out who the traitor was.
The two gave a calming kiss, with the boy breaking it off before they went any farther and caused a problem for the two of them. The girl looked longingly into the boy, somehow knowing that he was a person who she should not be with and had to hold every second with him as if it was gold.
"Come Katie, let us walk about the garden together and watch the moons rise." the boy announced while giving the girl a hand.
"Th-thank you Guiche!" She said before taking it was walking with him into the garden.
It is a touching scene, one that might cause people's hearts to ache in pain knowing that the boy was a traitor, however, the person watching them simply smiled. For you see the girl was too infatuated with the boy to notice she had left the bottle on the bench.
Leaving things by themselves is generally seen as a bad move. Now when you factor in Skaven who suspect you have a secret to hold, well many imperial scholars would call it a really bad move.
It would only be when they return that they noticed the missing bottle, Katie dreading over the fact she lost her gift to Guiche. The boy, well he couldn't help but feel something ominous was happening to him.
As for the rat, he snuck away from the crime scene to make sure none knew it was him. It would be bothersome if he was found out, for that might give the golden haired boy a chance to put all the blame on him. Yes that would be very bothersome.
Like a dagger in the night, Itch wormed his way around the place soon coming upon a small stream. It was the one thing his Master told him to get, and he suspected that ignoring it would result in him experiencing lots and lots of pain.
So he swiftly took the jug and filled it with a good amount of water from the stream. Taking a quick glance at it the rat was happy with his prize, as it was probably the clearest water he was seen. And he knows how pesky humans can get about their water and mead.
"By Brimir!"
The Skaven quickly turned around and met eyes with someone who was just coming out of a nearby door. Quickly he smelled the fear coming off of her, though it was not the fear of someone who only got frightened of him.
No no, she knew what he was.
On instinct he reached for his pistol, however the red ruin of his master's glowed a hot red and disciplined him for even thinking of using a weapon. That moment of pain was enough for the maid who saw him, however, and quickly ran through the door she came from and locked the door.
There was no immediate way of getting to that damned maid, his red eyes evaluated as he glanced at the castle wall. Of course he got a look at her, however charcoal hair and eyes was something the rat knew was rather ubiquitous among those maids.
Would she tell an inquisitor, the school staff? Would there soon be a man hunting for his head once she tells everyone how dangerous and powerful his kind could get!?
However he was no fool, for he had someone who he called Master. Those people who mocked her were not doing it because they were laughing at her, but in fear of what she was.
The rat knew that, and knew that if he stuck by her side he might be able to use her as a shield.
Yes! What are the words of a pitiful maid against his master! Only those who are her enemies would use this maid against him, which meant he needed to start fixing that problem.
Quickly the Skaven scampered off, weilding a bottle of evidence against his first victim.