Kaida, hand in hand with Reptile, was wondering about where they were going. "A sorcerer?" she inquired, not believing in magic, but still curious about the 'primitive superstitions' the marines held on to.
"A psyker," clarified Reptile, "He is gifted with the ability to manipulate the powers of the warp with his mind."
Kaida heard of psykers before, she was always taught that they were mysterious individuals and the warp energies they could wield were very dangerous. Despite what she had been taught, she had no idea what to expect.
"Nidhiki is older than you can imagine, he can remember the heresy itself and the attack on Terra. You know by now that I do not demand formalities, but Nidhiki does. You are to bow and refer to him as 'My Lord,' do you understand?"
Kaida nodded.
"You will need to interpret for your friend; I don't think he speaks Gothic."
They entered through double doors to reveal a dark place, the whole room was cast in shadow and there sat in a throne a massive, imposing figure in violet armour. He appeared much bigger than the other space marines Kaida had seen, the armour being far bulkier and heavier; this must have been the Terminator armour she heard mentioned by fire warriors in the past.
There were blue figures all around the giant, Kaida looked at them, but she couldn't focus on them. She kept looking and the more she did, the more they came into focus and the more she liked what she saw. They were tau, the most beautiful tau she had ever seen. She couldn't tell what caste they were from but that didn't matter; these were the most perfect examples of her species that she had ever seen, regardless of caste. They were wearing nearly nothing in the way of clothing, most only wore a purple or pink loin cloth; they were pierced all over with beautiful glinting jewels and etched with elaborate and graceful tattoos of symbolism and icons Kaida didn't recognise. They were all doting this psyker in some way, some were gazing at him in wonder, some were stroking his armour with their hands or their bodies, and one was sitting on his lap whispering into his ear. Why these tau were treating the sorcerer in such a way was impossible to guess.
The Space Marine that Kaida didn't know spoke first, "Lord Nidhiki, we have brought you two prisoners."
The sorcerer looked away from the beautiful tau that was close to him and said, "Good, Brutaka. Now leave us." The sorcerer sounded old and frail but his body did not match this description, he was huge. His head was buried in the beautifully decorated and richly adorned armour but the penetrating pink glow of his eyes made sure that his face was not lost in it.
Reptile turned to follow Brutaka out of the room, but Nidhiki stopped him, "Not you, Reptile, the handmaidens want me to speak with you too."
"Yes, my lord."
"Weren't there four tau prisoners?"
"Yes, my lord; the warrior that came on board injured fought us every step of the way, so we gave him over to Jeguda," explained Reptile. "We left the ethereal in the room; we think it would be a good idea to use her later."
Nidhiki smiled as he muttered to the tau close to his face, the tau then whispered something back in his ear. He then persisted with Reptile some more, "What will you use the ethereal for?"
"I can't talk about it right now, my lord; perhaps when you are finished with these tau."
Kaida was fixated by the tau surrounding Nidhiki's throne, they were beautiful but as they glared back at Kaida, she could feel their eyes on her, piercing black eyes, she wondered if they were even real.
Nidhiki whispered to the tau on his lap; that tau then got up to lead the others out of the room. As they passed they stroked the body of Reptile, he smiled and watched them as they did; Turo also received similar apparent affection and welcomed it.
One of them approached Kaida and reached inside her cloak to grope her breasts, Kaida moved back but Nidhiki's glare stopped her from resisting out of fear. The unknown tau then stroked her head and declared, "This one has no grasp of the warp, just like all the others, but that does not mean she cannot be influenced in this reality." He didn't seem like any tau Kaida had ever met before; he stared into Kaida's eyes, and past them, like he was looking into the very depths of her being. He paused and turned to look back at Nidhiki, "Keep this one, my love, she could be useful."
One of the others then followed it with "If you have to keep them at all," he said with contempt, "I've seen animals with more to their being."
"You exaggerate," argued Reptile.
"And you would know better?" snarled the strange tau.
"See for yourself," suggested Reptile.
The tau walked towards Kaida with a self righteous and imperious gait, totally unashamed of how naked he was, and grabbed Kaida's head. Seconds passed before she was pushed away when he discarded her from his grasp. The tau then gave a spiteful look to the space marine, and left the room.
Kaida's scalp was sore; she felt it to find a small amount of blood coming from where the strange tau had his fingers, 'Did he have claws,' thought Kaida. 'And how can he say that about his own species? Comparing us to animals is just unthinkable.' She started thinking that maybe these tau were not tau at all, maybe they were a psychic warp trick conjured up by the sorcerer. Kaida was sure that there was something not right about them. With the beautiful tau now gone from the room, the atmosphere in the room felt a little less hostile, but no less tense as Nidhiki stared the three of them down in turn.
The sorcerer's focus fell on Turo, he lifted a massive arm up and pointed to address the fire warrior, "Who is your master?"
Turo of course didn't understand the question, but Kaida was anxiously waiting for an answer from him, hoping he would remember the proper etiquette.
"Kaida," said Reptile, "Translate."
Kaida had briefly forgotten that Turo couldn't speak Gothic, given a few moments of realisation; she followed the order and repeated the question in Tau.
"Aun'Esa and the Ethereals of the Tau Empire," was the answer Turo gave to Kaida.
Kaida didn't relay the information to Nidhiki straight away, instead she spoke Tau to Turo again; "I don't think that's the answer he's looking for."
"I wouldn't say anything else," argued Turo.
Kaida spoke in gothic to relay the message, "He says the ethereals of the Tau Empire are his masters."
Nidhiki pushed harder with the question, "Who is your master on this ship?"
Kaida said in Tau "He wants to know who your master is here."
"Aun'Esa," said Turo simply.
Kaida didn't want to accept the answer, "He wants to hear something else," insisted Kaida.
"Just tell him 'Aun'Esa'," said Turo, "I'm not scared."
She took a deep breath and relayed the message, "He says Aun'Esa is the ethereal that he will follow on this ship."
"And how far would you follow this ethereal?" probed Nidhiki.
"He wants to know how far you would follow Aun'Esa," said Kaida in Tau.
"I would follow her to my death," replied Turo proudly.
"Until death," said Kaida in Gothic, having given up persuading Turo to say anything else.
Nidhiki's focus moved across to Kaida, "and what about you, who is so gifted with languages. Who is your master on board this ship?"
Kaida bowed quickly, she was desperate not to forget, and she now hoped that she did not leave her bow too late. Kaida looked at Turo, he probably did not know what the sorcerer was saying; so he wouldn't know about her shame if she said something that wasn't what was expected from a loyal member of the Fire Caste. She looked around at Reptile, who was her keeper as a prisoner, maybe this is what Nidhiki was looking for. "Reptile is my master on this ship."
"I see," said Nidhiki with a frown. He pushed himself off his throne, rising to a terrifying height. He grabbed a metal staff that was leaning against the back of the throne, he lifted it; then proceeded to walk towards Turo very slowly, supporting his immense bulk on his staff. Turo and Kaida watched him as their trepidation turned into confusion; confusion in seeing a massive super soldier using what looked like a walking stick. He then took his staff up in both hands and quicker than anyone could react; he swung it into Turo's head. Turo was knocked to the ground, unconscious from the impact. Nidhiki then turned to aim the staff at Kaida; energy flickered along it, lighting the room in furious flashes of purple and white. The energy extended from the staff and struck her chest.
The sensation it gave was incredible, it did not hurt; it was a feathery tingling that crawled all over her body.
"You are not so hard to read, alien." said the sorcerer. Kaida was trapped by the force of the staff, she couldn't move no matter how hard she tried. The sensation was growing and seemed to move around her body like a living creature. "You value your own life above the ethereal's..." Nidhiki relaxed his staff. It still had energy flowing through it, and Kaida was feeling its touch. "Individuality and independence are rare amongst your species, but you..."
The sensation from the staff slithered around Kaida's body to her crotch; it stopped moving, like it had found what it was looking for. It slid up and down, tickling and massaging. The sensations Kaida was experiencing from the psychic power were increasing, she closed her eyes and took in the feeling, it was all she could do. The cloak dropped from her shoulders and she absorbed herself in the sensual pleasures that were taking over her body. She had never experienced such a rush, no way could sexual pleasure be this good, it was amazing, it was exciting, and it was perfect. She let out a small whimper of ecstasy, as she was oblivious to the two on looking space marines, it was just so wonderful.
"You are enjoying this," said Nidhiki, Kaida still had her eyes closed, but his voice was unmistakable.
"She's had enough, my lord," said Reptile.
"Enough?" questioned Nidhiki, but he didn't give Reptile time to reply, "I think she could use more."
"My lord, do not harm her," said Reptile starting to plead.
The sorcerer gave reptile a searching stare "... and I won't." He gave a casual hand gesture towards Kaida. "You have your own plans for her; so I won't use her up before you."
The sensation slowed and faded into nothing, Kaida opened her eyes and found herself on the floor with her hand in her trousers. She pulled it out immediately and checked her clothes before grabbing her cloak from the floor to hide her shame. She took deep breaths and tried to blank the whole experience from her mind.
"Get up, Kaida," ordered Reptile, she stood up and shuffled round to put Reptile between herself and the massive sorcerer. "You wanted to talk to me, my lord?" asked Reptile, Kaida could tell just by his tone of voice that he did not want to be there any more than she did.
"I did, the handmaidens were concerned about your plans, and I have to say that I shared their apprehension." Reptile just looked on, into Nidhiki's face, waiting for him to continue; maybe Nidhiki was expecting a response, he didn't get one. "Now we've seen everything. I'm happy to let you continue your plans with these tau; and I know the handmaidens' opinions will have changed as well."
"I am glad to hear that, my lord," Reptile said with relief "May we leave?"
"You can leave," said Nidhiki.
Reptile glanced over at Turo lying out cold on the floor, "What about him?"
"He belongs to Brutaka, does he not?"
"He does," answered Reptile.
"Then he can do with him as he wills," said Nidhiki, "he will be waiting outside the door; tell him to come and get his tau."
Reptile presented his hand to Kaida, she held on, Reptile's soft grip was a comfort in the presence of the hulking sorcerer.
They left the room, hand in hand, Brutaka was indeed waiting outside the door. Reptile relayed the sorcerer's order and Brutaka entered Nidhiki's chamber. Reptile led Kaida further along the hallway, "Are you hurt?" he asked.
She didn't feel any physical pain, as the tiny breaks in the skin of her scalp had all but been forgotten, "I don't think so," she stuttered; she couldn't help but wonder if her mind was left in as good a state.
"Good," said Reptile with relief.