Chapter 6:
Raelphina held tightly to her master's arm as they walked through the webway portal. There she stood among the ranks of Drukhari nobility. Her master was at the immediate right of his dark lord. To the archon's left, the equal of her master stood the vile haemonculus, Ezrhis Kaeberos. The arachnid limbs sown into the flesh of his back each contained a "whirring" medical instrument, a finger long syringe, or the control device for the hulking monstrosities at his command.
The mere sight of that man made Raelphina's hair stand on end and her tail curl up. All of the dark eldar were pale as corpses but otherwise appeared as appealing humanoids. Not the haemonculi. Kaeberos' skin hung off his bones as he twitched and clicked with every minuscule movement he made. As her eyes lingered on him, the haemonculus snapped his head in her direction, casting a baleful glare her way. Raelphina went to shriek as she withdrew into herself but she was stopped as a pair of man's fingers pressed themselves against her lips. Master Máuo-Feìmí stepped in front of Raelphina and she tucked herself underneath his viridian cape and clasped tightly to his waste.
Her master held a firm glare back at the haemonculus and the wretched spider doctor averted his gaze. Raelphina looked up penitently at her master and he wore a gentle smile as his black eyes gazed back at her. I could look into his eyes forever. She swore that she had seen flashes of green or even yellow in his eyes when he'd awake in the morning. The arbiter patted her head and scratched behind her ears.
Raelphina cooed with delight. He knew all the perfect ways and places to touch her. Her heart pounded in her ears as her blood ran hot and her body grew restless. She rubbed herself against him, nuzzling her face into his chest. Máuo-Feìmí wrapped his arms around his slave and pecked her forehead with a gentle kiss. This made Raelphina's tail wag something fierce.
"Master?" she asked in a hushed tone.
"Not now, sweet child," he replied without taking his eyes off of whatever held his attention.
I love you. That's what she wanted to tell him. Tell him that despite all the horrors that came with it, meeting him had been the highlight of her life. When she stood by his side she felt as if she was fulfilling her destiny, or that she was walking a path she'd also known even though she just discovered it. It's like I've known you from another life.
"Huh? Sounds romantic," a man's thoughts echoed in her mind. As the voice speaks, Raelphina for the briefest of moments envisions a man in a fiendish jester's mask with a red and orange mohawk. "Stay out of her head, boss," she heard Máuo-Feìmí reply though his lips did not move.
"Oh-hohohohho! Just you wait and see for yourself, dear troupe master!" a high pitched, ethereal voice cackled.
Raelphina's ears went back. She did not the sound of this person the least little bit. Almost as in reply to her worry, Máuo-Feìmí turned his attention towards her again with a loving smile as he nuzzled his face against hers, nose to nose.
"Don't you worry your pretty little face," he told her.
Raelphina smiled and they wrapped their fingers around one another's as he took her hand. Raelphina heard the loud snickering of the archon's courtesans behind them in the row. They muttered about her and her master's "sickening perversion". She didn't care about their contempt. All she knew was that she was at the side of the man whose mere presence changed the course of her life.
Before the raid, she was just another abhuman living in the imperium; a mutant to be mocked and abused as "pure blooded" humans saw fit. The racial parallels between the Imperium and the dark eldar were distressingly similar. The pure-breeds lorded themselves over everyone who was regarded as little more than dirt. She saw how they had treated the archon's son and it reminded her of her own life. How she was expected to be an entertaining helper or else be put down like "a mutant trash". Raelphina was extremely happy to not be left in his clutches, but she thought she could see the scared, broken boy hiding behind the mask.
The fact that her master constantly spoke of his concerns for the boy, didn't hurt.
"He doesn't get it," Máuo-Feìmí would fret over the young half-breed as he poured his heart out to Raelphina as they shared his bed, "and if he doesn't get it soon, he never will."
"Get what?" Raelphina would ask him.
"The joke. Laughter sets us free."
Raelphina didn't understand either what was meant by her master with this "joke", but it meant the world to him. There was much about her current situation that she supposed could be found funny instead of horrifying. Here she was, a lowly genetic human mutation, among the upper ranks of dark eldar nobility. By all rights she should have been lamenting her fate, not rejoicing in it; cursing her enslaver, not…loving him.
The thought made her smile wide and her cheeks grow red. In that moment Raelphina thought she might understand this "joke". Even in these most deplorable of circumstances, the infamous "worst fate in the galaxy", she had found purpose and even peace…and there's something amusing in that irony.
The ethereal jester chuckled smuggly in her mind.
The dark lord of the kabal held his chin high as he beheld the ruin his warriors had brought to this world. Pointed fangs glistened in the moonlight as he smiled eviously.
"Pathetic monkeigh! They were no match for our superior blood!"
All his court clapped, cackled, or nodded in agreement. All save for one: Master Máuo-Feìmí. He leered forward at the archon with murderous intent. Raelphina felt his grip tighten on her hands, crushing her fingers.
"M-master, you're hurting me," she whispered to him.
Instantly all anger flew from his face as his eyes grew wide with concern. He tenderly cupped her hands as turned to face her.
"I'm sorry Raelphina," he said as he kissed her hand. Raelphina's tail wagged more vigorously as shared a longing glance with her master. She felt like a comet caught in the inescapable gravity of a sun; inexorably drawn to Máuo-Feìmí. Their faces inched towards one another. He brushed the auburn hair out of her face as they closed their eyes and leaned in.
"Fucking hell!" Kaeberos shouted, his voice twinged and crackling through the voice modular sewn into his throat, "Arbiter, would you please keep your perversions restrained? It's bad enough that you carry on all 'love-dovey' in public-," the spider doctor groaned as he hunched over, "Bwuaaah! Which is repulsive, but then there's fact you're doing it for a defective monkeigh…," he flailed his sinewy spider arms in disgust, tossing his heinous instruments of torture haphazardly away, "…and you're apologizing for causing her pain! Fucking freak!"
Master Máuo-Feìmí grinned mischievously. With a twirl of his wrist, he spun Raelphina under one arm into a tender embrace in the other. The abhuman couldn't help but smile and giggle, overflowing with a sense of joy and fun. Her master leaned in and planted a loving peck on the side of her neck. Raelphina's leg began to jitter as she cooed and quivered.
"Raelphina, do you know what I'm going to do to you tonight?" the arbiter's voice smoldered as he asked the question.
"No master. What are you going to do me?" she replied in a husky whisper, eye fluttering.
"Because you've been such a good girl-,"
"Ahhh ooh mmmm!" Raelphina moaned, "Call me a 'good girl', master!"
"Oh, my sweet child. You're not a good girl…you're best girl."
Raelphina's eyes light up like stars. She panted heavily as her tongue flopped out of her mouth as she writhed in Máuo-Feìmí's arms. Those magic words drover her wild. Every time he said them she found herself flooded with passion and joy; positively bursting at the seems with happiness. They reminded her of that brief moment in childhood when her family was owned kind masters. Then there was the way he said it. Something in Máuo-Feìmí's pitch, tone-whatever it was- was perfect. His words were gentle, sweet, but hinted at the lurid promise that enthralled her.
"And best girls get something special," his whispered nibbled on her ears.
"Tell me, master!"
"We're going to have dinner at this quaint bungalow overlooking a beautiful ocean…"
"Uh huh."
"…then I'm going to take you for a walk at dawn so I can show you the magnificent violet and scarlets reflected upon the waves…,"
"Oooh! Then what?"
"Then I'm going to carry you in my arms into the bedroom, where the bed is covered in flower petals and candles will be lit, and then I'm going to make gentle love to you. Then we'll fall asleep in each other's arms."
"Oh, my master!" Raelphina cried as she lunged forward into a kiss. Their lips met in a passionate bliss. Every fiber of being came alive in an explosion of wonder and comfort. Even if none of that were true, if it was just her and him asleep in one another's arms that would be more than enough. This most un-dark eldar of dark eldar had filled her life with more love than she could have imagined. They nuzzled the noses together as they rubbed foreheads.
Getting taken by the dark eldar was the greatest thing to ever happen to me.
"Now that's funny," the ethereal jester said.
"Just wait. The real laugh starts…now!" the other man's thoughts echoed in her mind.
The dark eldar court heaved, hissed, and stood aghast at this display. The Lhaemean courtesans shuddered as they held tight to themselves. The nobles doubled over, hands on stomachs or over their mouths. Kaeberos took it the worst of them all. The haemonculus dug his own claws into his skin, ripping tracts from his own flesh as he screeched, voice box raising to a painfully high pitch for Raelphina. That's when it clicked for Raelphina.
The dark eldar are pathetic, not terrifying.
The galactic raiders, "masters of terror who feast upon suffering and drink agony", the depraved lords of the Dark City, were utterly undone by a single display of romantic love. It's laughable. It was so painfully obvious to her now that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of it before. The dark eldar were little more than frightened children hiding behind their grim, dark reputations; desperate to keep the outside world at arm's length. All their insistent proclamations of "their race's superiority" was but a mask to hide all their own personal insecurities.
Her thoughts turned back to the Imperium of Man and the reflection still held true. The blood thirsty fanatics crusading and geocoding their way across the galaxy for "mankind's manifest destiny to rule the galaxy" were in so many ways the same pathetic beasts that the dark eldar were. All of them were scuttling, desperate idiots who only wind up feeding that which they proclaim to hate and oppose. In some sense, both the Imperium and the dark eldar were the best servants Chaos gods could ever ask for.
To many that would have been a soul crushing realization but not for Raelphina. In truth there was something almost liberating in it.
All the archon's court betrayed their race's critical fault, save for the dark lord himself. The tall, imposing shadow of man faintly smiled as he looked towards his arbiter. He strutted to Máuo-Feìmí and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I suppose none of them realize that you're feeding She Who Thirsts off of their discomfort and pain."
"My lord, do I not earn my compensation by being cleverer than most?" Máuo-Feìmí replied.
Archon Lau-Fey nodded in approval.
"They're all blunt tools. So good to have a scalpel on hand."
At that the archon wandered away with his sslyth guards in tow, down the hill to the ruined human village.
Raelphina looked towards her master. Is it that Master Máuo-Feìmí is only cleverer than most of his kind? No, there's something more to him than that.
As if in reply to her thoughts, Máuo-Feìmí pressed his fingers against her lips. Raelphina nodded to acknowledge that she understood. He held up her chin and the shared a sweet, lingering kiss. She had no idea what he was actually up to but she was in for all of it. My place is at your side, now and forever master.
"I would not suffer to be without you for even a single moment of the rest of my eternity," he replied.
The rest of the archon's court composed themselves. They paraded through ruins of the village. All the dark eldar celebrated it as if it were some grand triumph, when in truth it had been them surprise attacking a wildly inferior foe. Like a predator snatching up a foal or lamb when their parents had their backs turned.
The typical menagerie of Drukhari horrors played out here as they did anywhere else the "true heirs of the Aeldari empire" went. Shattered homes, torched fields, desecration of the dead, and the wailing of the enslaved. The kabalite warriors knelt before their dark lord. At their head stood four gruesome warriors in spiked armor with horned helms. The incubi dug their mighty klaives into the dirt, removed their helmets and bowed. The archon took count of them and sneered.
"Where is Jalaqier?" he snarled.
"My lord," Dha'khar answered, "your son-,"
"He is no such thing anymore," Lau-Fey interjected.
"Jalaqier slaughtered a reaver, stole his jet bike, and fled into the night."
"So be it. The boy has chosen his fate. Leave him to his ignoble death in the wilds. This planet's beasts will make short work of him. We have greater matters to attend to."
Máuo-Feìmí stepped forward.
"My lord, may I have a word."
The archon raised his brow in a quizzical stare but obliged his arbiter none-the-less. In a hushed tone away from the other members of the court but still within earshot of Raelphina's hearing, Máuo-Feìmí offered his counsel.
"Lord Lau-Fey, do you think it wise to leave this blatant transgression unanswered?"
"Lady Yr'lendriel's offer is substantial but not worth the potential risk and expense of quality soldiers to see the task done."
"Reasonable and sound logic my lord…but I fear you fail to see the wider picture?"
"How do you mean?"
"Consider how this situation would appear to your rivals in the other kabals, my lord. If you were them, would you see this as act of logic and prudence or the amblings of a sentimental fool? Allowing Jalaqier to run free after flagrantly defying your orders stains your otherwise sterling reputation with the taint of weakness, which may embolden them to pounce."
The archon covered his face with his hand.
"That boy has been nothing but a hazard to me. I've spoiled him by sparing him. Now a reckoning comes due."
"Will it be your or his, my lord?" Máuo-Feìmí prodded.
Lau-Fey frowned and nodded. He turned back toward his assembled host and shouted to his dracon.
"Dha'khar!"
"What is your bidding, Lord Lau-Fey?" the incubi commander answered.
"Lai!" the archon growled, "Hunt my progeny to the ends of this world. Make him suffer for his insolence."
Dha'khar pounded his fist against his chest. His smile spanned the width of his ears.
"Happily, my lord…but I must offer this counsel. Send us out after the Sororitas' retaliation. We have little time before the trap must be set. My attention would be better served here, devoted to that task. The half-breed filth will keep till then."
"Oh dreary Dhak," Máuo-Feìmí inserted himself into the conversation, "you are a good soldier but don't deny yourself your pleasures on behalf of your service. My lord, do you not possess my peerless wit and wisdom to see such arrangements made? Dhak, my good man, do not deny your long simmering thirst to 'put Jalaqier beneath your heel', to use a phrase. Seize this opportunity and seize that boy as you see fit. If you are as swift as you are savage in your 'hunts', then you'll be back in plenty of time for the real fun. Consider this your favor paid."
Both the archon and dracon found themselves impressed by the arbiter, acknowledging this with a shared glance.
"As peculiar as you are, you truly are marvelous at what you do aren't you, arbiter?" Dha'khar said.
Máuo-Feìmí bowed, flared his arm out to his side, snapped his body upright, and held his fingers on his lips across a fiendish smile.
"Hahhahaha!" he cackled, "you have yet to bear witness to my true genius! By all means kill the brat, but bring his body back intact. Poor love struck Yr'lendriel will most certainly pay for his resurrection in addition to his 'prince's price'. In one fell swoop: the dracon gets his vengeance, the lady gets her toy, our dear dread lord doubles his profit, and the mutt gets what's coming to him!"
The three Drukhari laughed with mad joy into the night. The archon stepped towards his arbiter and clasped him by either shoulder.
"Marvelous Máuo-Feìmí, you've out done yourself! What a wonder you are!," Lau-Fey took a deep, contented breath, "If only it had been I who fucked your mother, what a prince you would have been."
Máuo-Feìmí painted a smile over his face but Raelphina could see the intensity of her master's glare. Rings of green and yellow pierced through the black of his eyes. His tense jawline betrayed the tightly clenched teeth behind the pleasant smile. All the while, the jester and the other man howled with laughter like a pair of lunatics. Raelphina focused her thoughts towards her master.
Master? Are you okay?
He snapped his head towards her and the fury in his eyes eased as a genuine smile replaced the false one.
"I'll take that to mean you are satisfied with my labors and schemes, my lord. Now if you'll excuse me, I take my leave. I have a rat girl to make squeal."
"Fuck her raw and rough till she bleeds," Lau-Fey whispered in Máuo-Feìmí's ear.
The two Drukhari shared a sinister snicker as Lau-Fey patted Máuo-Feìmí on the shoulder before turning his attention away. As Máuo-Feìmí walked away, his shoulders dropped, body hung forward, teeth clenched nearly as tightly as his fist. He stormed up on Raelphina who greeted him with an adoring hug and she felt all the anger and hate melt out of his body.
"Let me take care of you, master," she told him.
Without saying a word, he patted her on the head and kissed her forehead. They passed through the webway gate, through the swirling blue vortex, and emerged on the sandy shores of a distant world. The pristine waters of the gentle sea washed upon the shore. The still, black waters reflected the wondrous expanse of the cosmos. There was a path in the sand lined with stones, candles, and flower petals that led up to a quaint bungalow.
"I may have gotten the order of events mixed around in my head," Máuo-Feìmí mused with a wry grin.
Raelphina smiled, took her master by the hand and pulled him along the path up to the door. As they approached, she turned around, and leaned against the wall. Their eyes met in a passionate gaze, each quivering at the thought of what would come next.
Máuo-Feìmí leaned in and their lips met in an eager kiss. Between gentle pants they made out, as Máuo-Feìmí pressed Raelphina against the wall. Their tongues wrapped around one another's, as she wrapped her hands around the back of his head. His hands traversed up her supple curves; from her hips, up her stomach, caressing her breasts over her blouse.
Then Máuo-Feìmí suddenly stopped. Raelphina looked forward quizzically at him. There was a sadness, pain that hung heavy on him.
"Master?" she questioned. Máuo-Feìmí wiped his hands over his face and the black of his eyes gave way to brilliant jade green irises. "There's something-," he started to say but found himself hushed as Raelphina pressed a finger against his lips. "I know everything I need to about you. The rest will reveal itself in due time. You are my master and I love you. That's all that matters to me."
"Raelphina!" he cried as he leaned in for another round of passionate kisses, negotiating his way from her lips, across her face, and down her neck.
"Master Máuo-Feìmí!" Raelphina yipped.
Then Máuo-Feìmí picked up his "rat-girl" in his arms as he kicked open the door. She kicked her feet as she giggled, stroked his face, and kissed his neck. The Aeldari carried his precious slave to the bedroom where he tossed her onto the luxurious down mattress lined with sublime silken sheets. Raelphina giggled as she propped herself up against the head board, soaking in the sight of her master stripping himself bare.
Her breath grew heavy as she looked upon his lithe yet toned musculature. Her legs squirmed as he leered at her with the emeralds in his eyes. Her body quivered as he prowled across the bed towards her. All the while loving pressing his lips against hers, he peeled away her clothing one by one. There they laid in their most natural state, his body pressed against hers.
Raelphina's heart raced as her eyes fluttered. Nothing in all the universe gave her as much joy as the adoring attention of this man. Heart, body, and soul; she was his. He ran his fingers up the length of her leg, gently pushing apart her thighs as he pressed his engorged manhood against her clit. Raelphina yipped and howled as the man she loved ground himself against her.
Then Raelphina pressed herself forward, wrestling Máuo-Feìmí onto his back. Her tender hands held his as she writhed and wriggled on the tip of his cock.
"No, master," she said in a sultry whisper, "tonight, I make love to you."
"You're such a good girl," he replied with a kiss.
Using her head as they exchanged kisses, she forced his head into the pillow as she reared back as she mounted his hips. Raelphina whimpered as his girth filled her passage. Her walls clung tightly to his shaft as she slowly began bouncing herself upon and down on him.
"Oh master!" he huffed.
"Sweer child! Sweet love of mine!" he breathily replied.
Raelphina accelerated her motions. His penis felt so heavenly inside of her. She could the kinetic power of their mutual love flowing through each other with every twitch and touch. His fingertip made her body sing as his ached for every inch of intimate contact with hers.
"Huh-huh-hu-hahha!" she panted.
"O! Awww-great Cega-fuck! Don't stop!" he told her.
"Ya-ya-yaaaa! You like it?" she asked.
"Yeah sweet girl. You're such a good girl."
All breath was stolen out of Raelphina's lungs as her body convulsed, pure joy shooting through her synapses. She started gyrating her hips and Máuo-Feìmí arched his head back as his mouth hung open. He was on the verge of release, trying to hold back. Raelphina would not have that. She wanted it all.
"Yaaaah!" she howled, "Master! I l-l-lo-love…you!"
"Raelphina!" Máuo-Feìmí roared in a whisper as he rolled her over and thrust himself into her.
Their bodies pressed against one another's as the bed creaked and groaned.
"I love you!" he told her between enthralled kisses, "You're mine! My only! My one, now and forever!"
"Ma-master! My love! I want it my love! Please give it to me…haven't I been a good girl?"
"You're the best girl!" Máuo-Feìmí groaned as he released, his warmth filling Raelphina. Her breath was stolen from her again as her legs twitched and body spasmed in tandem with his. She gripped tightly to his back as his sweaty black hair hung in her face.
They fell into each other's arms, giggling and unceasing in their kisses over every facet of each other's faces. Máuo-Feìmí wrapped them in the sheets as Raelphina nuzzled herself so close that every inch of their bodies that could be in contact, was. Every moment alone with this man was the happiest of her life. This night proved to be the new high-water mark. They drifted off to sleep in each other's arms to the sound of gentle waves.
As the last inkling of consciousness gave way to darkness, Raelphina again heard the jester speaking to her master, her love.
"You're a mockery to your people, _. Good! Be happy and know contentment in your follies."
