Villa Soraddan, Lirithion
Bent arm trapped beneath my head, I rolled on to my left side, stretched out, then rolled back on to my right side. A steady thump pounded my ears. Numb toes wiggled inside my socks. I pinched the shoulder buttons on my chrono and squinted at the illuminated digits – 17:33. I flipped the chrono's cover back on and scratched my chest. That's it. I pushed my body off the sleeping mat and hooked a foot around my backpack.
A steady hiss filled the silent galleries in the lower villa. Cross-legged before the lit stove, I curled my fingers through the mug's handle and brought the cocoa to my nose. Introducing you to recaf may have been a mistake. I'll make it up to you with some liquid chocolate. Nothing like a cup of cocoa for a cold, winter's night. Gloves cradling the mug, I trotted up the steps to the portal leading to the bedchamber and blinked through.
Scrunched-up bedcovers, thrown back at an angle, exposed long, dark hairs covering the double bed. Loose sheet ends, touching the floor, half-buried the Scornful Shadow. Stains dampened the pillows. Two bottles of pills lay on their sides on a small cabinet next to the double-bed. Both caps had been unscrewed. I picked one up and shook it. A few remaining tablets rattled inside. That's how it's going to be then.
Mug warming my gloves, I blinked back in to the gallery and trotted down to my mat and killed the stove's gas. From the bottom of my unturned pack, I pulled an empty vacuum flask and tipped the cocoa inside. Where might the long dark have led you? I fed my feet inside my boots and laced them portal on the dais glowed softly but no sign, no dormant rune offered any indicator where the portals led. No human was ever meant to set foot in this house. No doors, no windows, not even a light switch. My searching gaze fell on two small objects resting at the foot of the portal furthest on the left. A pair of slippers stood together before the pale pink energy. I hope my words did no permanent damage. I picked the slippers up and clamped them beneath my arm.
Air bit my ears. Pure white poured from my mouth and nostrils and left a cloud around my head. "Oooh, God-Emperor…" Snow crunched beneath my feet. "Ssshit." I wormed my chin in to my sweater's woollen collar. Thin, green stalks sprouting from long, narrow branches poked my arms and scratched at my cheeks. I bent branches back and stumped in to a tiny clearing under a star-filled sky. Little prints marked the snow and left a narrow trail winding away through trees. God, you're not barefoot, are you? I swiped at branches and ducked through the showers of needles cascading from the trembling boughs. Disturbed flurries trickled inside my collar and dampened the synth-wool. A little more than thirty yards in to the trees, a smooth cliff clambered upward in to the sky and the prints skewed leftward and led down a short slope to a break in the trees. There, at the edge of a cliff overlooking the valley and Lake Morylia, a cloaked, hooded figure sat.
Frostbitten rock scraped at my soles. One hand thrust forward, I bent my knees and lowered my backside on to the slippery surface. White clouds blew from Izuru's nostrils. Her bare feet touched one another. I set my mug down and broke the cap from the flask. "Six years, three months, twenty-two days, fifty-one minutes…" Cocoa poured in to the cap. "A lifetime's worth of living…" I tilted the flask up and tipped the rest in my mug. "…Since we last held one another's eyes." I balanced the flask's cap on the rock beside Izuru's knee. White fingers uncurled and closed around the cap. A shaking hand lifted it inside the hood.
I pinched my nostrils shut and sniffed. "I counted your departure on that autumn evening a blessing for me and for the people of Orsolya. You were going home, back to the people you belong with; people who can care for you; that understand you." Warm coca slipped down my throat. "I gave you my best and you gave me yours but some things just have to come to an end. Wartime flings aren't meant to slip beneath the surface. They are broader affairs rather than deeper and meaningful. Soldiers live so close to death and are so wound up by it their emotions discharge more readily and eagerly than a civilian. Neither of us knew the day's coming wouldn't be our last and we took one another in to an embrace only soldiers know." I took the empty flask and trapped it beneath my arm with Izuru's slippers.
"We are not soldiers anymore." Lined and deathly pale, Izuru lifted her head. Scraggly hairs stuck to her cheeks. "We are soulmates."
I twisted the flask free and pushed it and the slippers at Izuru. "Hold these. I'll hold you."
Hands locked around my neck, Izuru swayed in my arms. Needles spilled down her hood. A branch caught it and dragged it down. Izuru mumbled something and pressed her head against my breast. Her nails dug in to my neck.
"Aye, I know you've not done well with snow in the past—" I ducked beneath a prickly bough. "—So, I'll fix you up with a hot bath." In the clearing, I swung away from the screen of branches covering the portal and backed in to them. "If you tell me where…"
"Mm…" Izuru's cheek rubbed at my collar. Her nose brushed the edge of my jaw. Back in the warm villa, I carried Izuru down from the portals and sat her on the lowest step.
"Rub." I pointed at Izuru's slippers. "Rub! D'you want to lose a few more toes? Throne, you've been out barefoot in sub-zero for Emperor knows how long." I swept hairs away from Izuru's face. "What the hell were you thinking?" Izuru pulled a slipper off and worked her fingers between blue toes. "If I hadn't found you, you'd have let Ilic and Korsarro down." I rocked back on the balls of my feet. "I'm trying to help you, Izuru—I want to help you. You need to understand what's good for you, and I am not one of those things."
"Downstairs… bathing chamber," Izuru muttered.
I clapped Izuru on the shoulder and rose. "Rub and keep rubbing. Medicae's orders." I drove my fingertips in to my spine and massaged. "Then rub some more." Spine aching, I left wet footprints on the spotless floor cutting between the tiered gardens. "Ahh." Blood began to pound in my ears. Is that the Wraithbone doing that? My fingertips brushed my throbbing ear. Throne of Terra, this place doesn't want me here.
A spiralling staircase descended in to a circular chamber ringed by Wraithbone pillars; all writhing as if caught in the wind. Hundreds of little stones formed a mosaic around the edge of a sunken bath, twelve feet by twelve. No taps? I kneeled at the edge of the mosaic and reached down. Holographic tiles sprang in to existence and leapt at my face. I reeled away and scuttled back on my hands. A white rune glowed on each of the bevelled tiles. Heart thudding, I tapped the first tile. Seven waterspouts flew upward from outlets sunken in the bath. Cold water licked my outstretched fingers. Bare feet pattered the mosaic behind me.
"Something's just occurred to me," I said. "There's not a single straight line in this house."
"You can't speak to me like that." Izuru reached over my shoulder. Her finger darted over the tiles.
"Like what?" I stepped back from the tiles and brought my folded arms to my chest. Steam hissed and the rising water began bubbling.
"I think you are so desperate not to let me go, you've convinced yourself I am a recruit and only fit to be talked down to."
"I neither agree nor understand your words. My duty is to keep you safe from others and vice-versa—"
"—Neither of us stand beneath a banner promised honour and glory! How dare you treat me like this!"
I swung away from Izuru and paced in a circle. "I have only dealt in unpleasantries these past two years. Down in the hive, I faced gangers, pimps, gun-runners, slavers, child-molesters, the dregs, the droffs, the filth of the gutter daily!"
Izuru clutched at the clasp holding her cloak at her throat. "You were pleasant enough with Lusia… With that thing wearing that woman's face too." Ridges cut across her forehead and her lips folded inwards. "Gods, a techpriestess! A Warp thing too!" Izuru spat. "And you refuse to have anything to do with me!"
"It's best you step in that water right now…" I bore down on Izuru and stabbed a finger at the mosaic. "Before I throw you in."
"Ohh, you have such a problem with any kind of approval…" Izuru's fists flew to her head and gathered huge clumps of hair. Eyes screwed shut, she spun at the bath. "Such a windup soldier. They've wound you so tight, that key's still turning. You can still hear the sound of marching, can't you?"
"It's a cruel galaxy, Izuru. I am its product and not the man you need—that is the being you bore children with and shall grow old with."
Izuru dropped her hands and whirled, eyes wide, eyebrows raised. "You are that man. Don't let the Imperium consume you. Isn't that what you said? Your own words; don't let them take your own away and blacken their characters with zeal."
"Aye, my own…" I took a step towards Izuru. "Myself, I am too far gone."
"You condemn yourself."
"I signed my death warrant long, long ago on that dotted line." I cocked my head and scratched my nape. "Never had a choice in that though. The Emperor commanded me to die. That order I have yet to carry out."
"You can be more…" Izuru wrung her hands. "Together, we can be more."
"More?" I brought my hands over Izuru's and raised them to my chin. "More than a serving officer? More than a prison gang enforcer? Not someone of my standing."
"Yes."
"No, no…" I shook my head. "I discovered something far worse about myself down in the hive. I realised savage beings can only meet savage ends. I followed every order from my commanding officer to the letter and they marked me for death anyway. That mark still stands." Izuru wrenched a hand free and brought it to my cheek. "Your toes are blue," I murmured.
"James…" Izuru croaked.
"Enjoy your bath, ma'am." I tore my hands free and retreated through the rising steam. Arms dead at my sides, I shuffled up the stairs. My blurred vision found a statue, hooded and armoured, standing over an inverted sword in an alcove. I fell to my knees in front of it and let my head sink.
Most merciful God-Emperor, grant I pray thee that I may never forget that as your follower I am the observed of all men, and that my failure may cause others harm, that in a measure You place your honour in my hands… Grant me the gift of courage, that I do my duty at once, however disagreeable it may be. A shadow grew in the corner of my eye. I pressed my clenched hands to my breast and squeezed my eyes shut. "You'll not lead me astray, Warp-thing. My faith is strong, spirit tranquil. There, but for the grace of the God-Emperor, go I."
"It's me, James." Dry and clothed, Izuru climbed the stairs to me.
"No, no it's not you." I sucked air through my teeth. "I understand now. My body was laid to rest on Haven. I never awoke."
"Oh James, don't do this to yourself…" Izuru reached the statue I kneeled before and laid her hands on my shoulders.
"An angel, a daemon, maybe both rests its hands on my shoulders. Whatever you are, you are fixated, filled with intent on the mortal beneath you. But know this… You'll not lead me astray."
"James, I am sorry. I should have warned you about the Wraithbone beforehand. It alters perception of time, surroundings, even the company you keep."
"To a weak-minded mortal that is a very great and terrible thing indeed."
"You have the willpower of a dozen mortals and their fortitude twice over." Izuru kneeled next to me. Icy fingers took mine. "I appreciated the cocoa, James. I know it's little things like that that speak for one's virtue. I respect your wisdom and value your counsel. And yes, I am fixated—obsessed with you. Intent fills my eyes."
"What I see in the corner of my eye always turns in to you when I look."
"Do you trust me, James? Only through trust, patience, and honesty will we beat this thing within me."
"I am powerless. There's nothing I can do to help you. That's what I am afraid of."
"You make me smile."
"Only tears and disappointment tonight."
"Make me smile." Izuru pulled on my hand. "Tonight."
"I don't know…" Hearing numb, I doddered down the steps with Izuru in to the steam hanging over the bath. "I feel dizzy, drunk…" Izuru's cloak dropped from her shoulders and piled on the mosaic. "…And I've not had a drop since yesterday."
"Yesterday?" Izuru undid the knot at her waist.
"When—when we arrived."
"James… We've been here two days." Nightshirt loose, Izuru scooped the hem of my sweater and hauled it over my head. "It'll be morning soon. Our third day."
"Three days…?" The bath tilted. My arms shot out and caught Izuru's shoulders. "What's happening to me?"
"Oh, I'm sorry it's affecting you so badly." Izuru's fingers slid down my cheek. "I can't do anything about it."
"I need…" My knees buckled and I flopped down at the bath's edge. "I need to get out of here. This isn't right."
Izuru's nightshirt fell to the tiles. Bare legs split the bubbly surface. "James?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose. "You are a married woman, Izuru. I've known husbands to resort to murder in these situations."
"He practised infidelity long before I did." Izuru's voice rolled from the steam.
"I see." I leaned over the edge and swirled my fingertips.
"It's endemic."
"It's a very different world to mine. Down here, I am the alien." Ripples distorted my face.
"Would you return to it?"
"The hive, the Navy, or the Crotch?"
"Ha! Oh, I forgot you called it that. It always makes me laugh."
"Heh…" I grinned. "Made you smile—that's me done for the evening."
"No!" Water flew in my face and splattered my t-shirt. "You're no alien, James. We know what we are to one another. There was never anyone else like you."
"Yet I am just like everyone else."
"Until you accept you are special to someone, your spirit will remain in everlasting turmoil. You can let someone beneath your armour. It's not a weakness, it's natural."
"Hm…" I hooked a finger in to the neck of my t-shirt. A white figure glided through the steam to me. Bare skin shining, Izuru laid her arms on the edge of the bath and rested her chin on them. "Look away," I said. Izuru's lip curled. She spun and spread her arms on the mosaic.
Warm water closed around my bare feet and rose to my waist. Beaming, Izuru pushed away from the wall, wrapped her arms around my neck and pressed her knees against my sides. Her breasts rubbed my chest. Wet lips locked with mine. I gripped her torso and lifted her out of the water. My head tilted up and my mouth pushed at Izuru's. Tongues leaped and slithered over one another's. A squidge, and our lips parted. Izuru's eyes opened. Warm air poured from her mouth in to mine. I plunged a hand in to the water between us. Steam enveloped our rocking bodies.
Long, dark hairs stuck to my chest and cheeks. Legs wrapped around my body, Izuru lay beneath me. Sweat shone on her cheeks and brow. Her heart drummed against mine. With each long, slow gasp, Izuru's breath poured across my burning face.
"Again." My mouth swooped down to Izuru's neck.
"Ohh… No, no, no…" Izuru's fingers surged through my hair. "…No more."
"Ha! Tired?" I rolled on to my back and steadied Izuru on top of me. My hands drove up her stomach and squeezed her breasts. "What's the matter?"
"Mmm…" Izuru's chin sagged. Bright red nostrils flared. "I look terrible."
"No… I love your hair like that." I wound a finger around a ringlet. "I love it so much I stuck it all over my body."
"Hah—!" Izuru's head jutted forwards. A grin broke her lips apart.
"You're a card."
"Don't be bashful."
"I think my actions spoke louder than any words."
"If you won't, I will." Izuru's breasts rode up my chest. Her chin levelled with mine. "Our souls awoke and sought a path. But in the darkened light, which direction to take? Disturbed, she starts to think of what to do, but quickly realises I need you too."
"Oh… Oh-ho… That is... That is poetic."
Izuru's lips parted and met mine. The silence remained unbroken for a long, long while.
"I love you, James." Izuru's cheek nuzzled mine.
"I feel it too. I do not understand it."
"Love is…" Izuru's fingers intertwined with mine. "It's learning to live with one another's shortcomings—to accept that the bad, selfish, and spiteful coexist with kindness, patience, honesty, and understanding. Even if you count yourself among the savage, you're not condemned to wear their mantle and feel the bite of their shackles on your wrists. The shadow and the light within make you what you are." Izuru slid off me and shifted on to her side. I rolled and faced her; my face no more than an inch from hers.
"It's teasing one another and…" I pried my hand free from Izuru's, reached down to my groin and picked a long, brown hair up and showed it to her. "…Never letting you forget. I'm gonna be pulling these out of God knows where for weeks."
"Ah-haha!" Deep crinkles stretched out from the corners of Izuru's eyes. "You love my hair."
"I do…" My fingers slid up the inside of Izuru's thigh. She seized my hand and pressed it in to her breasts. "Your jawline, your skin. The softness."
"James, I have something I have to tell you."
"I think you might have already…"
"No, no it's not that."
"Your husband is coming, isn't he?"
"I beamed the message out two days ago."
"Aye, I thought you might have made such a move." I pushed myself upright and swiped more long, loose hairs out of my face. "When can we expect him?"
"Soon." Izuru rose and pressed her mouth in to my shoulder. "Today, tomorrow maybe…"
"Oh… I see. I'd hoped for at least a week, maybe two."
"Well, we've yet to discover dawn…" Izuru's hands rubbed my chest and dove to my groin. I lurched around and bundled Izuru backwards. Air gushed from the pillows her head sunk in to. Reddened skin rubbed together. Izuru's fingernails cut in to my back. A yelp tore from her lips.
Dawn announced itself a bloody red stain in the cloudy eastern sky. Layered up in my woollen sweater, I leaned on a long balcony jutting out from the villa's curving façade and cradled my cocoa-filled mug. My vacuum flask sat at my elbow; its cap loaded with cocoa. "Finally found the outside door. Ohh, what a sight it is."
Arms snaked around my waist. "I woke up," Izuru whispered. "You weren't there."
"Aye, couldn't sleep. My body's all messed up—even moreso after last night. You'll like this." I passed the flask cap to Izuru. One arm around my shoulders, Izuru took a sip and laid the cap on the polished railing. In the corner of my eye, I caught her gaze settling on my face.
"Like a river, they swept me away."
"You love my eyes." I sat my mug down and dug my hand in to the thin folds at her waist.
"I do."
"Beyond the fields, the mountains, we walk the long path, hand in hand to the edge of light." I ran my hand up to Izuru's shoulder. "Will you go with me in to the great darkness?" Thin, orange fingers peeped through the clouds and crept along the valley walls.
"Again and again." The growing sunlight sparkled in Izuru's eyes. Her hands slid up my chest. Head tilting, she lifted her chin.
"I… I love you, Izuru." My cold lips warmed against Izuru's. Fingers drove through her cloak and swept her against me. "Your greatest calling beckons. Prove to your sons that they matter to you."
"No tomorrow, no yesterday… Only today."
"But if that day is today, you must be prepared to make that decision. I'll be no obstacle. All I wish is to see your sons in your arms again, then I will know I did something right with my time."
"Mm…" Izuru's heavy-lidded eyes sunk to my chest. She scrunched up and pulled at my sweater.
"Breakfast." The tip of my thumb pushed Izuru's chin up. "Together."
"Okay." Head leaning on my shoulder, Izuru clung to me. Sunlight warming the balcony, the two of us turned our backs on the pink sky and headed inside.
Orange sludge dripped from the neck of a broken foil packet marked Breakfast and splattered a tiny pan balancing upon the stove. I squeezed the last of the contents out and ripped open an identical packet. "An eye for human poetry…?"
Sat on my unrolled mat opposite me, Izuru laid her elbow on her knee and her chin in her palm. "…I may have peeped in your book," she said with a grin. "Teeth-marks in the cover?"
"Aye." I shook the second breakfast packet in to the pot and turned the heat up. "An exchange of unpleasantries between rival gangs…" I rounded the stove and took a knee beside Izuru. "My darling, would you be so kind as to fetch it?" My lips pecked Izuru's. "I'll sort the scoff." I wound a finger around a ringlet.
"Oooh, you've never called me that." A rosiness tinted Izuru's cheeks.
"Pleasantries I've yet to overcome."
"Mm-hmm…" Izuru pushed herself backwards and got up. Her swinging arms and waggling hips wrenched my eyes away from the bubbling stove.
No and most likely I never will again. I pinched a strand protruding from my mouth and pulled one of Izuru's hairs from between my teeth. Your husband's coming will be an uncomfortable affair. I spat and wiped the back of my hand over my mouth.
A scant few minutes later, Izuru blinked back through a portal and heaved her own backpack down the steps and dumped it next to mine. "…Heavy thing."
"Forty pounds loaded—I weighed 'em both." I parted the clips and loosened the drawstring. "That's yours." My knee nudged a mess tin packed with the steaming breakfast.
"Wha—what's in it?" Izuru's fingertips brushed the metal. "—Ooh!"
"Grox, salt, spices all mashed together." I turned Izuru's pack out and retrieved a mess kit from the pile. "Could be real meat, could be synth."
"Mm-hmm…" Izuru lifted the tin by the handle and sniffed.
Hissing, gloopy sauce clinging to little chunks of grey meat dripped in to my tin. "Never a shortage of hot meals in the Navy – breakfast, lunch, dinner." My lips puckered and I blew on the surface. "What luxuries they were."
Izuru's mess tin sat before her crossed legs. Her eyes frittered about the floor and she picked at her fingernails. "I didn't want to say anything…"
"Well…" I carried my mess tin around the stove and sat down next to Izuru. "You'll be saying it anyway."
"I didn't want to say anything to you on the tap—"
"—Tab." I sucked my spoon clean.
"—Er, tab." Izuru screwed up her eyes and swiped hair over her ear. "Laden beneath that weight… I hurt my back. I didn't want to say anything to you in case you thought me weak."
"I'm not able to do anything about that." I laid my hand on Izuru's knee. "It was a hard tab. Your navigation saved us, brought us to that cave."
"You can." Izuru's warm palm rubbed the back of my hand. "James, I do not wish to be conquered."
"Conquered?" I laid my mess tin down and fixed my eyes on Izuru.
"You are aggressive to me in your words and in coitus."
"Oh."
"I enjoy sex with you and I want it to be perfect. In past relationships with my own kin, linked minds experienced sexual stimulation, not bodies."
"The intellectual's guide to hands-off intercourse?"
"Hah—yeah."
"Well, all I can offer are the hands of a working man with a functioning watch and chain."
"Tsss!" Izuru reeled away from me and brought her hand to her mouth. "Hmph-hmph—Oh, James."
"Always gets a laugh, that does."
"Eee—" Izuru planted a hand on my breast.
"I knew a peddler in the hive who claimed he could make the maimed walk, the blind see, and the lame dance a jig with just a little of his oil."
"Ah-hah—what else could he do?" Izuru wiped at the corners of her eyes.
"Ride a motorcycle no hands and turn water in to sacra."
"And he said all that with a straight face?"
"Aye, and that he could make the dead rise."
"And could he?"
"No, but he could lower them."
Izuru snorted in to her cupped hands. Tears filled her eyes and wet her bulging cheeks. "Oh, Gods…"
"That's part of my set piece." I reached around Izuru and set her mess tin in her lap. "Enjoy."
Pink-faced, Izuru tucked in. Occasional snorts surfaced. From my own pack, I took my micro vox and binoculars and laid them beside the identical vox lying in the upturned pile from Izuru's pack. Every so often, we stole glances at one another.
Sunlight sparkled upon the snowy peaks rising on the far side of the Lake Morylia. Elbows steady on the villa's balcony, I brought the binocs to my eyes and swept the deep blue sky. An itch danced around my neck. I hooked a finger inside my sweater's collar and wandered along the balcony. Wraithbone slid from the villa's façade and moulded itself in to a path with every step I took.
"James?" Izuru's voice squawked from the micro vox riding on my trouser belt. "Can you hear me?"
"Aye, strength five."
"That's… good?"
"We're nearing noon. I've seen no vessel—Eldar or otherwise." I stood the binocs upright on the parapet. My fingernails pattered the wraithbone.
"Are you hungry?"
"You mean you're hungry. I know how your mind works, Izuru."
"I'll wait if you like. Maybe we eat outside?"
"Yeah… Maybe we…" I snatched the binocs up and fixed the scope on a glint high in the cloudless sky. "Spoke too soon. Starship in orbit."
"Human, Eldar?"
"Which would you prefer with lunch?"
"Err…" Nervous laughter rolled from the vox's speaker.
"Either way, you'll be receiving this afternoon. Any red carpet to roll out?"
"Better. Look beneath your feet."
"Beneath my…?" I leaned over the edge of the balcony and peered at the black rock falling away from the villa's underbelly. A vertical crack split the cliff-face. Rock swung outwards and rolled back from a circular landing platform extending beneath the villa. "Your husband had it good here, didn't he. Damn-near hollowed out the whole mountain."
"This was our sanctuary."
"His fortress." I swung the binocs up and tracked a smaller twinkle crawling across the sky. A low rumble reached my ears – the noise of a starship breaching the planet's atmosphere. "Izuru…?"
"I swear, I will do everything in my power to protect you. There is no love shared between Ellorias and I anymore. That I reserve for you and for Ilic and Korsarro."
"There's no hiding it, is there?"
"There will only be truths spoken. Sheer, bloody fact stated with the firmest conviction."
"And I'll not be hiding either. If I am struck down in a passionate rage, I will die knowing I brought a family back together. That's enough."
"It won't come to that. You protected me, James. Now it's my turn to protect you. We must be honest about what we mean to one another and what we hope to be. Ellorias will respect that."
"Honesty or not, this will be an awkward rendezvous." The binocs tracked the ever-growing speck. Worry burrowed in to my gut and turned my stomach inside out.
Not long after an empty lunch I sat, one leg resting on my knee, under the gaze of bronze statues towering in alcoves deep enough to be lost in the shadows. A solitary portal leading to the villa's hangar cast blue light across the chamber. My notebook lay open on my knee. My eyes fixed upon the untidy scrawl cramming the yellowing pages.
"Let me mind the house of dust where my sojourn shall be long. In the nation that is not. Nothing stands that stood before; there revenges are forgot and the hater hates no more. Naked to the hangman's noose, the noonday clocks will ring." Far away a gong echoed. Needles peppered my nape. A shadow grew in the corner of my eye – a being in black robes. "From 'yond the edge of light, there comes a manifest of shadow, of reckoning." My right hand slipped inside my trouser pocket and closed around my knife.
"Reckoning?" Izuru's hand touched my shoulder. "D'you reckon you'll eat?" She got down on her knees and sat a full mess tin on the step beneath me. "You skipped lunch."
"Well, your kindness in delivering far outweighs the love put in to this stew." I snapped my book shut and leaned in to Izuru and kissed her.
"Mm…" Izuru pecked back at me. "Grox. Could be styg."
"I'd take that over Slab any day." My knee brushed Izuru's. I ran my lips beneath her jaw and laid them on her neck. "…Ahh, something else." Izuru's fingers played through my hair. "Scent."
"Vanilla orchid."
"For your husband…?"
"For me." Izuru's lips smacked my cheek.
"You weren't wearing it last night."
"I wasn't wearing anything," Izuru murmured, a sly smile crawling across her face.
"Mm-hm." I reached down for the mess tin. "I'll be taking that." And passed my notebook to Izuru. "You'll be taking this."
"…Oh." Izuru laid her fingers on her cheeks. "Oh, James."
"Scribblings, poetry mainly." I drove my spoon in to the grey, lumpy muck steaming in the tin. "Marked by a genuine hive ganger too—you can see the marks he left on the cover." Chewy meat strands found the gaps between my teeth and became wedged. "Ohh, it's very nice."
"Yes…" Izuru ran her thumb over the hard, brown leather. A tiny quiver took her jaw. "When you've eaten, will you join me in the cradle?"
"The—the hangar? Aye, I will be there, not at your side but several paces back."
"Ellorias views the dishonest with contempt."
"I am an intruder in his house. His wife, my mistress. Grounds for retribution, right there and then. I do not stand at your shoulder."
Ridges cut across Izuru's forehead. She glanced down at her nails and picked at them. "I am not your mistress, James."
"To him, we are. To one another, we are spiritbound." I clapped my hand over Izuru's and pressed the book to her breast. "In one selfish, impulsive act, I would ask one thing only, and it will not be today, tomorrow, but in many days to come when sunlight dispels those dark clouds shadowing you."
Izuru swooped at me. Her hands cupped my cheeks. "Never, never selfish." Her forehead touched mine. Our eyes locked. "If asked…"
"What would your answer be?"
"Yes." Colour blossomed in Izuru's cheeks. She shifted away from me and thumbed open her notebook. In between mouthfuls, I threw quick glances at Izuru, engrossed in my poetry. Her warm smile loosened the knot in my gut and sent my heart galloping.
Thin veins pulsated inside columns winding their way up to the hangar's cavernous ceiling a hundred feet above my head. Empty brackets, arranged in stacks of six, protruded from the walls; each pair large enough to berth a single-seater. Arm in arm, Izuru and I crossed the empty floor to a rectangular opening gazing out at the valley. Beyond it, deep in the shadow of the villa's underbelly, stretched the landing platform.
"Do the Culcassians present themselves in black?" I eyed the robes Izuru wore. Two layers in dull slate and an outer layer with wider shoulders in a midnight black.
"Mm-hm."
"A colour of mourning in my culture."
"Hm." Izuru squeezed my wrist. "Among my people, white symbolises death."
"Close but not quite. I'd say this is a little more beige."
"Hm." Izuru grinned. "Colours trouble me."
"Well, you're doing a damn sight better than most beings deprived their sight."
"That's 'cause I have you."
"You look beautiful in them."
"Thank you, James."
The two of us reached the end of the landing arm and broke apart. Nose and chin numb, I crossed the platform, brought my binocs up and laid the thin reticule on the mouth of the valley. "Stays nippy in the shade, doesn't it?"
"We would summer here—no more than two months. It feels closer to winter now. Maybe early spring."
"Mmm, I could do without snow for a while." I turned away from the distant valley mouth and walked the platform's circumference. A raised lip, no more than a foot high, offered the only boundary between the platform and the dizzying drop to the valley floor. Izuru, knees together, hands thrust inside the folds of her robes, perched on the lip near the landing arm. "Maybe sand. I'll tell you the story of when I was trapped in a city swallowed by sand on Henna-Morata sometime."
"I'd like that." Izuru's chin touched her breast. "Make a good bedtime story."
"You'd rather a happy one though, wouldn't you?"
"Not for me…"
I offered Izuru my hand. "For you, my lady, I can only offer you the dancefloor."
Izuru's eyes jumped and met mine. Her eyebrows leaped. "Oh…" Her icy fingers closed around mine. "Oh, James, I don't think I can."
"Can I show you what I know or are you going to sit there and shiver?" I pulled Izuru upright and raised my left hand. "Our hands go here."
"No, James." Izuru's fingers linked with mine.
"My hand goes here." I put my right hand around Izuru's shoulder. "Yours around my waist."
"James, I'm—" Izuru's hand left hand touched my waist. "I'm so stiff after last night, I can barely walk."
"Then let's get the blood flowing. Look where our feet are. I'm gonna walk you through eight basic steps. We will step forwards and backwards without our feet touching. One, two, three, pause, five six, seven, pause – make sense?"
"Err…" Izuru looked down at our feet. "Do I lead with my left?"
"I lead with my right and you step back with your left as I move." I brought my right foot forwards and Izuru moved her left foot back. "Now my right comes back then so does my left. As I do so, bring your left forward and then your right." My eyes flickered down to a pair of soft, unreinforced boots poking out from the hem of Izuru's robes.
"Ow!"
"Sorry." We bumbled backwards and forwards for a minute. Izuru's gaze was fixed squarely on our feet throughout. "Now, on five, I lift our hands. This signals you to turn. As I move backwards, you turn."
"Err…" A slow smile spread across Izuru's face. "Now?"
"Nuh-uh. Five, six, seven, and…" I brought my right foot back. Izuru followed my steps. I raised my hand and stepped backwards. Izuru made a full turn and found my waist. "Hah! Very good."
"Mm…" Izuru bit her lower lip.
"You're smiling."
"Mmm-hmm…" Rosy cheeks bulged. "I'm really embarrassed."
"Try looking over my shoulder instead of the floor. We'll find our feet." I walked Izuru through the steps twice more. Her taut fingers relaxed on my waist. The tension in her shoulders lessened. Her turns became more fluid and her eyes found mine.
A speck appeared above Izuru's left shoulder. I unwound my fingers and let go of her. "And that, my dear, concludes our lesson."
"Oh…" Izuru hugged her arms to her chest. "Is it time?"
"Aye, it's time." I picked up my binocs from the platform and latched on to the growing speck. "Time for the bad to meet the…" Wide wings, sprouting from a teardrop, gunmetal body, curved downward. "…The worse."
"What is it?"
"Look." I passed the binocs to Izuru.
"Err…"
"Oh, sorry." I snapped the binocs up and caught the gently banking ship.
"James, is that…?" Izuru and I caught one another's eye.
"Lilli."
A shrill wail walloped my ears. Izuru slapped her hands over hers and wormed her chin in to her breast. The Zurvan rocketed past the villa and flew on towards the valley wall. Flaps spread, the fighter rolled on its wing, and banked. I pinched Izuru's baggy sleeve and patted her arm. Together we moved back to the landing arm and watched three thin struts uncurl from the Zurvan's underbelly. The nose swung upright. Searing air blasted across the platform. Izuru's robes flapped and her braids flew over her ears. I brought my hand over my eyes and squinted at the Zurvan's empty canopies. Beneath our feet, the landing arm conveyed the platform back towards the hangar. Over the slowly fading whine, Izuru and I stared at one another. She gave the tiniest shake of her head and shrugged.
"Yeah…" I held up my hand and moved over to the Zurvan.
"James…"
"Wait." Rungs shot out of the Zurvan's fuselage and the ladder touched the platform. Both canopies opened. Neither the pilot's seat or weapons were occupied. "Lilli?" I leaned inside the pilot's cockpit and tapped the central cogitator. "Lilli, you there?"
"James."
"Not a chance." I flipped switches, shoved at buttons and jiggled the pilot's yoke.
"James, come down from there."
"How the hell did he…?"
"James, please!"
"Izuru, there's no-one—" I lurched back from the cockpit and threw a glance at the approaching hangar. Pins spilled down my neck and rushed along my arms. Chalk-faced, Izuru clutched her arms against her sides. I clambered down the ladder and fell in beside her. A shiver stole through her shoulders. I drew my knife from my pocket, unfolded the blade, and stuffed it through my chrono's strap.
"What are you doing?"
"Trust me." I threw Izuru a wink. In silence, we let the arm carry us up to the hangar and the awaiting audience.
"Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two." My eyes roved across four ranks of eight Eldar, each one head to foot in midnight-coloured body armour. Glowing slits marked smooth faceplates. Pointed fingers gripped sheathed swords. "Which one is he?"
"I don't know. Do as I do." Izuru stepped off the docking arm and took to her knees before the Eldar. I kneeled a few paces behind. "Lavaillian, finnaidann-Culcassia. Iam Numerial Izuru."
A voice boomed out from the Eldar ranks in unaccented Gothic. "Madame Culcassian, step away from the primate."
"Step forward, bondmate-of-mine." Izuru's voice deepened. "I remain."
The Eldar broke ranks and formed a wide circle around Izuru and I. Feet spread in combat stance, all gripped their sheathed blades. "Madame Culcassian, our master commands the purification of his dwelling."
"There, but for the grace of our Pantheon, go I." Izuru rolled back her shoulders and stuck out her jaw. Three-foot-long swords hissed from sheathes. As one, the Culcassian troops tightened ranks, closed both hands around their blades, twisted and raised them to head height.
"WHAT HANGS BETWEEN YOUR LEGS!" I flew to my feet, spittle launching from my mouth. "A parade of eunuchs to threaten your lady…?"
"James!"
"Your best!" I jabbed a finger at the Eldar. "Cross swords with me. The first to blood decides the other's fate. Only the honourless would terrorise your master's bondmate and her guest. And you call yourselves fighting men!"
"Sit down, James!"
"Your best…" Fists tight, feet spread, I glared at the Eldar. "Against me."
"Elourge." An Eldar in the corner of my eye tapped the point of his sword in to the hangar floor and dropped to one knee. "Iam aul trill."
"Haras." An Eldar a head taller than his cohorts hissed. "Crestid."
"To blood, James." Izuru rose and backed away.
"To blood." I eyed the Eldar warrior moving in a slow circle and matched his pace. "A sword?" My eyes flashed around the crowd. "Or will it be cutting remarks?" A short blade clanged upon the floor and hit my boot. My eyes fixed on the circling warrior. I bent my knees and scooped up the blade in my left hand. "Shake?" The warrior's step faltered. "The crossing of honourable blades is announced with a handshake, a sign of respect between soldiers, between warriors." I stuck out my right hand. The warrior's eye slits found the taller Eldar who gave a nod. Pointed fingertips uncurled and the warrior thrust his hand at me. I crossed the floor and reached out. My hand clasped the warrior's gauntlet for the briefest moment before whipping back. The warrior jerked his hand away and stared at his palm.
"To blood." I raised the Eldar blade to my nose then swung it in a horizontal arc.
"Ceiba." Bright pink crystals oozed between the warrior's fingers. "Ot-eshairr!" A fist wheeled at my face. Bells filled my ears and the hangar rolled sideways. My shoulder cracked against the floor. Blood staining my teeth, I grinned up at the warrior. His boot rammed my nose and he seized my collar and walloped my skull. His cohorts flew at him, took him by his arms, and hauled him away kicking. Cruel hands wrenched at my armpits, pried my bloodied knife from where it nestled between my wrist and chrono strap, and dragged me backwards. Head lolling, I caught sight of a pair of Eldar pinning Izuru's arms to her sides. Robes askew, teeth bared, Izuru stamped on her captor's feet. Cords stood out in her neck. Purple filled her cheeks. Our eyes found one another's. A tiny smile broke the skin on my lips. Izuru's face blurred and faded.
Windchimes clinked. Grass tickled my ears. White leaves sprouted from tree branches winding above me. Izuru. My neck cracked. Black tree trunks rose from a carpet of violet grass. Slender chimes dangled from a high branch. I screwed up my eyes and stuck an elbow in the grass and pushed my sore body upright. Blood clogged my nostrils. Lumps dotted my cheeks. I pinched the skin of my nape and locked my teeth together. A tooth wiggled beneath my tongue.
Leaves rasped across my soiled sweater. Dead centre in a clearing, a solitary Eldar sat at a desk mirroring the gloss of the trees surrounding it. Pale, spindly fingers dashed across bright blue tiles hovering just above the desk's surface. A thin, rolled tube similar to a Lho-stick glowed on the edge of a square ashtray at his elbow. A tiny cup on a saucer held a pale green liquid. Black and grey robes rode broad shoulders. A long, downturned nose protruded from a thin, tall face with a high, blond hairline. White skin clung to sharp cheekbones and sharply pointed ears stuck up a full four inches.
"Izuru!" I swiped a branch aside and strode at the Eldar. Grey eyes remained engrossed in a display projected across the clearing. "Where is she?" I snarled.
"Where?" Smooth, fluent Gothic oozed from the Eldar's mouth. "Why not how?"
"Fuck!" I flung my fist back and swung it across the table, straight through the Eldar's face. He never even flinched.
"Sir, you stand under my roof, a guest of my bondmate. The hand of hospitality—"
I growled and thrust my outstretched hands at the Eldar's neck. My fingers closed around thin air.
"—I extend to you." The Eldar's fingers retracted and he laid them on the desk. "That includes the chair." A cushioned seat in black wood now hovered in front of the Eldar's desk. "Please."
"Izuru."
"My bondmate slumbers."
"You beat her unconscious too?" I spat, my voice shaking.
"She grew hysterical, a threat to my household. Sedative was administered. Please, sit."
Pity the Warp thing didn't introduce itself then. I barged through the hologram and flopped on the seat and spread my knees. "You know more than you let on—who I am and why I'm here."
"Yet we begin, as do all strangers, with names. Ellorias Culcassian, thirty-eighth Dhan of Fir Culcassian." Ellorias's fingertips met. "Welcome, na Lavaillian Villa Soraddan," he added with a smile. His eyes remained still.
"Sub Lieutenant Larn, Imperial Naval Reserve."
"Ah! Harakht."
"You insult me in that tongue."
"A being's title stands above his birthname. For your service to my family, I name you Harakht."
"My service is to Izuru Numerial and her sons."
"Precisely, and you protected her valiantly during the voyage—"
"—Protected others from her until now. How could you stand there and let your men lay their hands on her? I recognised you hiding among them, too scared to face your own bondmate, too scared to face me—a lowborn human with only a knife!"
"I thought there subterfuge behind your challenge. Cunning, very cunning."
"It should've been you standing in her defence."
"I am sorry on behalf of my guard for your treatment. They were unaware of the developments before we beamed down from orbit. No human has ever set foot in Soraddan." Ellorias hooked a finger through the handle of his cup and lifted it to his lips. "Their blades would not have touched you."
"Not the impression I got."
"The Dhan respects challenges. Never does he back down. You called for first blood. I offered you my best swordsman. The victor won through cunning. Honour be damned."
"I come from a place where there are no rules, where bad is free, and the honour-bound are cannibalised, ground up and processed in to Slab. You know what we do with Slab?"
"I do not."
"We eat it. The strong eat the weak in Trianda Hive."
Ellorias picked up the glowing stick, put it between his lips, and inhaled. The body glowed green. "You are a being well-travelled…" Smoke poured from his nostrils. "…With a most interesting life." Another smile. His eyes remained frozen.
"You'll not be the one to hear about it…" I picked my leg up and bent it beneath me.
"Ha-ha!" Ellorias folded his arms on the desk and leaned forwards. "You are the first human I have named Harakht, not the first human to have caught my bondmate's eye." A muscle twitched in my cheek. My fingers dug in to my trouserleg. "My bondmate has… A history of past infidelities—she ran off with a young human much the same as yourself early in our marriage. With his advancing age, she came back to me. Naturally, I forgave her. Human blood taints her family tree so of course those fruits possess an attractive quality. Thirty or so years pass and she takes flight once more." Ellorias laid down his glowing stick. His eyes were fixed on a point far over my shoulder. "This affair lasted longer; a decade more than the first albeit a mirrored outcome. On her return, I placed the thirty-ninth Dhan within her. We were happy." Ellorias's gaze fell to the table. "Something happened that I had not foreseen. Twins, born within seconds of one another, so I was told. One would kill the other upon reaching adulthood and assume the mantle of Dhan. I should have had one removed at birth, passed stillborn tidings onto my bondmate and braved the storm of anguish. I was a coward, I permitted her to raise and love them both knowing the duty of Dhan calls for the nurture of a sole heir. She knew it too, that is why she stole them and took shelter in the house of Ulthanash Shelwé near the Eye of Terror."
My fingernails scraped along my trouserleg and curled in to a fist. My cracked lips peeled apart and I spoke in a quiet voice. "Maybe if you had treated her with kindliness and respect, she wouldn't have run. Something found her in the Warp, something hungry. It's there—the shadow in her eye. It spoke to me, it knows me." I moved to the edge of the seat. "All you can think about is your fucking dynasty. You don't even call her by her name."
"To her, I am Dhan. To me, she is—"
"IZURU NUMERIAL!" I leapt from the seat. Ellorias flinched and broke eye contact. "And her sons Ilic and Korsarro." My jaw quivered. Burning tears filled my eyes.
"We would be honoured to host you, this evening, Harakht." Ellorias and the desk faded. I swept my hand up my forehead and dragged it across my running nostrils. Silent, the artificial forest surrounded me. I stormed around the edge of the clearing before collapsing.
Shadows melted from the trees. Legs crossed, I sat dead-centre in the clearing, head sunken, eyes closed. Four Culcassian Guard approached me from different points of the compass, their gauntlets tight around their sheathed blades. "You are sought, Crestid." The four arranged themselves on either side of, behind, and ahead of me and marched me through the trees to the giant Arebennia. Our boots clomped on the covered pathway climbing in to the leaves and up to the staircase winding around the trunk. In single file, we made the ascent to the portal connecting the tree and the lower villa. Inside the gallery, the guards marched me away from the four portals overlooking the hovering slab and through the tiered gardens. Brief flashes of movement caught my eye – robes whipping around corners and shadows disappearing in to the odd orifices dotting the Wraithbone walls. Servants? I spied a pair of eyes watching me from a dark tunnel. How long have they been here?
Sentinels – these armed with lasrifles – guarded a lonely portal occupying the far end of a wide corridor, brightly lit and without any openings in the walls. My escorts broke formation and formed a rank behind me. How easily these walls become a prison. I blinked through the portal and appeared in a single living unit vastly smaller than the bedchamber I had slept in the previous night. Unlined, unfurnished, twenty feet by twenty, dust gathered in a fine layer on kitchen surfaces. Long, narrow steps fitted to the wall clambered up to an open loft space containing an unmade bed. Upon the mattress lay a sealed vacuum sack.
An imperial naval officer's uniform filled the sack. A frown darkened my face. "Ohh, I see…" I laid the stone-grey trousers and double-breasted tunic beside one another on the mattress. Single bars marked the black shoulder tabs and single rings the cuffs. "Sub lieutenant…" I brought the collar to my chin and lengthened the sleeve. The right size too. Green piping on the collar caught my eye. Not quite an exact replica. Good effort though. I dipped my chin and stretched the hem of my sweater. Dried blood soiled the synth-wool.
Hours later, clad in the fresh Navy uniform and under close guard, I was brought to a floor above the gallery and shown through a pair of sliding doors akin to a bulkhead on a warship. Deep brown wooden panels, polished to a mirror-sheen, ran around a rectangular room host to a group of high-backed armchairs clustered near a gaping fireplace flanked by stone hounds. Flames writhed within a grate. A hand supporting a glass balanced on an arm.
"A perfect replica. All of it shipped in and integrated seamlessly within these walls." Ellorias leaned forwards, looked over at me and smiled. Dark leather breeches creaked. Steel toecaps on tall boots glinted. Bright yellow braid covered a doublet and a fat ruff ran around his neck. A bicorn hung from one corner of the chair. A leather greatcoat hung from the other. "The architect was human." The doors glided shut and sealed behind me. Polished suits of armour stood in the four corners and fading paintings hung from the walls. My boots trod soft carpets. "Impressed? Soraddan is nothing short an architectural marvel. This will be where I retire. I will rise every day and look over that beautiful lake." Ellorias circled his glass over a low table laden with bottles. "Rum in the Navy, isn't it? I have Borrigal's and a Rhydonia—please." I stayed away from the table, approached the fireplace, and laid my elbow on the mantlepiece. "I hope these surroundings are somewhat more familiar to you and that the Wraithbone didn't affect your faculties too severely."
"The piping on my collar…" I pinched the broken, swollen skin on the bridge of my nose. "It was blue."
"Ah! My apologies. I meant no disrespect to you, your branch of service, or the Imperial Navy."
"Destroyers…" I gazed down at the writhing flames. "I was on corvettes."
"Lightly armed, fast."
"Manoeuvrable. All we had was our speed."
"Borrigal's and Rhydonia."
"I prefer Old Marsay." I took a step away from the heat and stuck my hands in my pockets.
"I have not heard of such a label—please, sit. Do you smoke?"
"Not since—" I plucked at my crisp collar. "Err, I don't."
"Mm, very well. I have a proposal I wish to discuss with you and my guests have yet to arrive." Ellorias again swept his glass over the drinks. "My cabinet, yours."
Rum tinkled inside the clear crystal. Sat opposite Ellorias, I swirled my drink around. "Now contact has been established with the Eldar and the object of this exercise achieved, I have no further business with your kind. That fighter sitting in your hangar is my property and will be returned in the state it was stolen in." I threw back the Rhydonia in one.
"Yours?"
"The ranking naval representative on this mission bears responsibility for all imperial naval property. Aforementioned equipment sits at berth in your hangar. Your bondmate for my ship."
"A fair bargain…" Ellorias uncorked a bottle of amasec and sniffed. "That vessel and the artificial intelligence aboard will remain at berth with you yourself at my disposal."
"I was very clear to you where I came from, what my temperament was, and why I did what I did. No further pleasantries need be forced from our mouths. You look upon me a primate, and I regard you a dismal failure of a husband with eyes far on the future."
Ellorias pushed the bottle of Rhydonia nearer the edge of the table. "Oh, Harakht, you have done so much for me. What is it that I can do to help you with that ambition stirring behind those eyes?"
You can help me out by showing me out. I've had enough of Wraithbone and malevolent Warp things.
"Ah, my bondmate." Ellorias cast a smile over his shoulder. My eyes leaped to the parting double doors and the slim figure gliding through them. A tightness welled in my throat. My tongue clung to the roof of my mouth. Sheer pads floated above Izuru's bare shoulders. A silken bodice with a wide, plunging neckline squeezed her chest tightly. Jewellery glittered on a wide dress in midnight black. Powder left her skin deathly pale. Long curls sprang from the hair piled on her head. "Bondmate-of-mine, may I introduce to you the human I named Harakht."
Gloved hands folded at her bodice, Izuru swept over to the fireplace. I sprang from the chair and tugged my tunic down. Crystal struck the floor sending rum in to the carpet. My lax jaw spasmed.
"Murekhalir."
Blood roared in my ears. "What?!" My eyes flew to Ellorias.
"Izuru Culcassia-Numerial," Izuru said. Her gaze remained on the floor under Ellorias's chair. "Honoured to host you, Harakht."
Ellorias brought his hands down on his knees. "If we can dispense with pretences for a moment, I wish to call a toast for this young human. The safe return of my bondmate—can I entice you?"
"Gratitude, my lord," Izuru muttered. Heart pounding, I picked up my fallen glass and served myself.
Ellorias raised his glass. "To you, Harakht, and the—"
"—I'll not drink to myself," I blurted.
"Oh, denying your own toast, ha-ha!" Ellorias cast a grin up at Izuru. "Then to whom will we raise these precious vessels?"
"To a fallen companion we lost on the voyage to Lirithion. I'll not rattle off her deeds, her achievements. There were many." I brought my glass to eye level. "To Andalusia van Callet."
"Andalusia van Callet." Izuru raised her glass and tipped it back.
"Andalu…" Ellorias glanced between us and drank. My eyes lingered on Izuru gulping – chugging – her own drink.
"This is your glory, Harakht." Ellorias thrust his empty glass at me. "There is ambition stirring behind those twin rivers. I ask again, how can I help you?"
"Harakht."
"Harakht—brave combat pilots. Volunteers all."
"To the brave combat pilots." I raised my refilled glass. "Eldar and human."
"Brave combat pilots." Ellorias met my toast.
Trying to make me admit I'm not a combat pilot. I stole a look at Izuru working her way through her second glass. I'll not give you the satisfaction. Our eyes met for the briefest moment before hers flew in to the fireplace.
"Time!" Ellorias seated his empty glass amongst the bottles and rose. "In case you were wondering, Harakht, a kind gift from one of your own—refers to himself as a Rogue Trader." Ellorias propped the bicorn on his head and pushed his greatcoat at Izuru. "Seventy-five years ago, it was." Izuru draped the greatcoat over Ellorias's shoulders. "Our correspondence remains infrequent though I am assured he is in good health and without a single grey hair on his head." Ellorias pulled the half-empty glass from Izuru's hand and flicked the rest in to the fireplace. A soft whoomph flung warm air over me. "Time—our perception of it—is an impassable chasm separating our races from one another. Your decades are a single year for us. I cannot imagine what a species as short lived as yours can do with so little time, could you?" Ellorias laid a finger underneath Izuru's chin and nudged it up. "What if…?" Ellorias's gaze swung back to me. "…There was such a way to bridge that chasm?" A slow smirk oozed across his face. "Time."
Ellorias wheeled and strode down the length of the room. Eyes on her feet, Izuru followed. I stood my empty glass on the mantlepiece and ambled after the couple. Beneath a wide mirror hanging from the far wall, a hatch slid open in an uncarpeted section of floor. Ellorias took Izuru's hand, smiled at her, and led her down steps descending in to a brightly-lit passage hewn from Wraithbone. Skinny veins glowed beneath the surface. A soft pulsating beat my ears. The hatch slid shut above my head.
Bright spheres – suspended mid-air – cast cold, clear light across a rock chamber. At the foot of the steps, I caught myself and stared at a long, rectangular table and chairs materialise out of thin air. Ellorias and Izuru moved to the head of the table. Izuru sat on the left of the head while Ellorias remained standing. All across the flat surface, platters, glasses and jugs appeared. Bodies grew and filled the ten other vacant seats.
God-Emperor, where am I? I hung back from the congregation of Eldar at the table. Blonde, red-haired, dark, light-skinned, tanned, darker-skinned, robed, armoured, every single pair of alien eyes latched on to me.
"Tranquillity and prosperity, gentlebeings and my everlasting gratitude for your attendance." Ellorias nodded and smiled at the transfixed audience. "If we can turn our attention to one another instead, we may proceed with introductions. We have not one but two special attendees, this evening. The first, my bondmate…" Ellorias paid Izuru no more than a passing glance. "…And the second, the human that ensured her safe return to my household." Ellorias laid his fingertips on the table. Firm eyes bored in to me. "He is known to me as Harakht. I ask you curry the same honorific."
Only the chair at Ellorias's elbow remained unoccupied. Ears ringing, heart thumping, I rounded the back of Ellorias's chair and took my place on his right. All eyes, even Ellorias's, were on me. The only being who did not look me in the eye was opposite me; Izuru.