Adventures of the Dark Ones - Non canon stories
Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 8:26 pm
Hello everyone.
As part of my stories, I have written two stories that have become discontinuited from the other stories due to changes in the fluff. In case that interests you, here is the first one. Consider that these stories take place just after "A first wound" but consider that Uriaeth is not the commander of the Black Ark "Stronghold of Darkness" and that Arithair is doing something else with his victims' souls rather than storing them in a ring.
Regards.
Dark discoveries
Following the series of “accidents” and strange murder attempts which had plagued them, events whose common point had been the presence of Arithair, Uriaeth and Karaskia began to suspect that Arithair was perhaps a sorcerer. Consequently, they decided to join their efforts and investigate on him.
When arriving at the door of Uriaeth’s tower, Tharnithil found Durithir waiting for him.
“Uriaeth is waiting for the three of us. Let us not make him wait” said the retainer.
“The three of us?” asked the assassin. “Who is the third one? Has it got something to do with the small investigation regarding Arithair’s slaves Uriaeth ordered me to carry out?”
“I do not know anything about this investigation. I just have my orders” replied Durithir.
As they passed the door that gave to the slaves’ dormitory, Durithir snapped his fingers. Barely a heartbeat after, an eighteen year old human sprang from the dormitory and followed him obediently. As they reached Uriaeth’s audience room, Durithir ordered his slave to wait for his summon then entered the room with Tharnithil. As they entered, Uriaeth rose.
“Greetings. I have summoned you here to prepare our investigation. I have devised a way to conduct a three-front investigation. Durithir, you will distract Arithair by suggesting that I intend to hire him and the Stronghold of Darkness’s fleet for the next summer of raiding. As for you, Tharnithil, while Durithir is busy doing this, you will sneak into Arithair’s apartments and look for anything that can represent evidence that he is a sorcerer. It is ensured that he has a young human girl from the Empire for a slave?”
“Yes, he has” replied Tharnithil, “even if I do not see how it can serve us for this investigation.”
Uriaeth merely looked at Durithir who understood at once. He turned towards the door and snapped his fingers. At once, his slave entered and came before his master, awaiting orders. Uriaeth then cleared his throat.
“I have a task for you, human” he said.
Davad turned at the order, terrified. Disappointing Durithir just meant a painful moment while disappointing Uriaeth would be something much more dangerous, possibly lethal. He stood still, awaiting orders. Uriaeth stared at him with cold, unblinking eyes before replying.
“We need you for a task that only a human can carry out. You role will be to interrogate a young girl from your homeland. You will have to make her talk about her master and his habits. We do not care what precise information she can give or how you convince her to give them. All that matters is that she gives something interesting for us.”
Davad stood motionless and nodded. Uriaeth now pointed to a table in a corner of the room.
“Come, there are tools I must give you for this mission. For you Durithir, there are these bottles of wine. It is better that you bring the drinks. It is entirely possible that Arithair will try to poison you so it is better not to take any chance.”
He now turned to Davad and pointed to a small vial.
“Take this potion and trick that girl into drinking it” he said. “It will weaken her will and make much more likely to talk.”
Davad took the vial and put into a pocket of his trousers, feeling a growing terror building in his mind. This order was unlike anything he had been ordered to perform before. This mission seemed to be of such importance. He knew enough of the druchii to know that they would not have used a slave as part of this investigation if it was not absolutely necessary. Uriaeth now turned to the assassin.
“For you, Tharnithil, take this cloak. It will enable you to fly. That way, you will be able to reach the Black Ark unnoticed.”
The assassin put on the cloak then spoke a word of power. At once, the cloak dissolved into mist then reformed as two bat-like wings that the elf seemed apparently able to move like if it was an extension of his body.
Two days later, Davad left the tower, following Durithir as they headed towards the harbour. It had been eight years since Davad had arrived in Karond Kar but during these eight years, he had never left the tower, safe from the dangers of the city. Nothing had changed, the macabre screaming corpses were still here, the druchii were still here. Nothing had changed at all. Once at the docks, the slave and his master took a ship that led them directly to the Black Ark. As he entered the threshold of the floating fortress, Davad felt trembling as he recalled the dreadful trip in such a castle but he hardened himself as his very life depended on what he had to do.
As he entered the Black Ark, Durithir felt extremely anxious as he had to distract a druchii with whom he had already had problems before. Moreover, this druchii was potentially a wizard who would certainly try to kill him if he suspected his motives even for a heartbeat. As he entered, a young human girl, barely sixteen years old, arrived.
“My master has ordered me to take you to him.” Durithir nodded and followed her.
When he arrived near Arithair’s apartments, he cast a glance at Davad who nodded and gave him the bag he was handing. He then entered the captain’s apartments.
“Well, if it is not Uriaeth’s favourite retainer” said Arithair bowing slightly to Durithir.
“Yes, I am here as a representative of Uriaeth. He would like to book the Stronghold of Darkness for the next summer of raiding”, replied the retainer.
“Well, we could discuss this over dinner. Do you agree with that? We could have dinner in the feast room of the Black Ark, what would you say?”
“I have no problem with that” replied Durithir, quietly pleased by this prospect as this meant Arithair would not be in his apartments for several hours.
Meanwhile, Tharnithil soared through the sky towards the Black Ark, no one paying attention to him, probably mistaking him for a harpy in the distance. Covering the distance between the tower of Uriaeth and the Stronghold of Darkness in less than an hour, he landed discretely on a tower of the Black Ark and cast the spell enabling assassins to meld with shadows rendering them nearly invisible. Remembering the plan he had seen in Uriaeth’s tower, he headed directly for Arithair’s tower. He found a window and picked its opening. Before opening it, he carefully passed his fingers over the wood, searching for any possible trap or sign of magic within it. As he detected nothing, he opened the window, entered the apartment and began to investigate. The lack of magical protection suggested that either Arithair was no wizard after all or that he had placed no magical protection on the window, not expecting someone to enter through it.
“Hey, wait, wait” shouted Davad as he hurried after the slave girl as she was heading back towards her master’s tower, carrying a tray of food for herself.
“What is your name?” he asked. “Helta” replied the girl with a fearful look Davad recognized as the same look that had become his usual look ever since he had become a slave in Naggaroth.
Part of his mind could not believe he was doing this. Back in the Empire, a free boy would be running after a girl as a reply to his body’s urges. Here, he was only doing this because he had been ordered to do it.
“Would you mind if I wait with you while my master is talking business with yours?” he asked trying not to look too afraid. “I have no place to stay. And to stay in the open in this fortress would be dangerous with all these corsairs around.”
“I agree”, she replied, “Come, My master has given me a room at the bottom of his tower so that I can attend to him at his merest whim. I suppose you can stay there until our masters have finished their business.”
“Well let us go then” said Davad.
As he poured a glass of wine for Arithair then for himself, Durithir carefully revised his plan of attack. His role was essentially to distract Arithair while Tharnithil and Davad were carrying out their parts of the investigation but this did not prevent him to carry out his own interrogation. After he had poured the drinks, he raised his glass.
“I suppose we should begin by a toast to your appointment as captain of this Black Ark” he said. “That for sure is a promotion.”
“Well, I suppose we should also compliment you for your successes. Look at you, you are not even a hundred and seventy years old and you have already singlehandedly killed a powerful ogre and become a retainer of one of the most powerful highborns in this city. You have also helped in killing that gigantic bat whose skull is now adorning the top of Uriaeth’s tower. You have been lucky” replied Arithair with a neutral tone.
“Well the Lord of Murder smiles upon some of us. He has certainly smiled upon both of us, has he not?” said Durithir.
Arithair coughed up on his wine then replied with an uncertain voice as if he was afraid of displeasing someone.
“Well, the god to whom we are devoted certainly rewards us with his favours” he said.
Durithir had said his last sentence casually, believing indeed that Khaine had favoured him, but Arithair’s reaction seemed suspicious to him. He had not said “Khaine” but “The god to whom we are devoted”. Why had he said that and above all why had he said with such an air of worry like if he feared of sounding offensive? If his main god was another of the Cytharai, why had he not said the god’s name? It was clear it was not Atharti, the goddess of dark magic and goddess he would be worshiping if he was indeed a sorcerer, or he would have said “the goddess”. Even as he sipped more of his wine, a disturbing thought came to Durithir’s mind. What if Arithair’s main god was not one of the cytharai?
As he inspected Arithair’s bedroom, Tharnithil wondered if he was not losing his time. He had inspected almost every room in the tower, only stopping when Arithair’s slave had returned to her room, Durithir’s slave accompanying her. So far, he had found nothing; no magic icons or amulets, no books dealing with sorcery or magic, nothing. As he pondered over this, a thought occurred to him. Instead of searching for something that should not be here and was there, maybe he should search for something that should be there but was not. He went back to each of the rooms he had visited and looked again through Arithair’s desk and his cabinets. Something struck him as strange. Almost every druchii kept small icons or amulets of Khaine, or of another cytharai based on their preferences, on them or in their things. But here, there was not a single icon or amulet of this kind. This was no evidence but this was something suspect.
“So, how long have you served Arithair?” asked Davad.
While Helta was eating her ration of bread, he was discretely pouring the content of his vial into her carafe of water.
“For a year I think” replied the girl, “What about you?”
“I have been serving Durithir for eight years” he replied.
He then served her a glass of water, which she drank without question.
“Good”, he thought. “So, what can you tell me about Arithair?” he asked her.
“Well, he is cruel and sadistic like any druchii. He enjoys torturing his victims for entire hours then he usually recites a litany before executing them. Then I have to get rid of the corpses. The strange thing is that with every execution, he seems to become more deranged and sadistic.”
“I know what it is to get rid of a corpse” he replied. “Are they torn in several pieces?”
“No. They are just covered in cuts. Moreover, they usually have a strange symbol carved on their flesh.”
“Really, what kind of symbol?” asked Davad, supposing Durithir would find that interesting.
She drank more of the drugged water then carved a sketch of the symbol on a piece of parchment he handed her, Durithir having provided him with it in case it could be useful. He then quickly left the room.
“Sir assassin?” he quietly called.
Barely a heartbeat after, the assassin appeared and asked the reason for the summons.
“I think this could be of use to the investigation” he said handing him the piece of parchment.
“Good. Now get back with that girl and distract her. I want no disturbance while I am investigating”. Davad quickly returned into the room to find the shocking sight of Helta lying naked on her bed.
“Come” she said with a drugged voice, “I am hungry but not for food”.
These very words shook Davad to his core.
“Are you mad?” he asked terrified, “Our masters would kill us if they caught us doing this.”
“They will kill us anyway sooner or later. Better that we reap what we can before they do” she replied.
Davad stood motionless for several minutes, pondering over this unbelievable situation. What she was offering him was probably the only opportunity for this he would get in his entire life as a slave but it was the most dangerous thing to do. If Durithir caught him in the act, he would certainly kill him. But then Durithir would kill him anyway whether it was the following day or in a few decades. Was it not better to steal what pleasure he could before dying? As he thought this, a rush of defiance coursed through his mind and he let it take hold.
“You may have stolen my freedom and my life, druchii” he thought angrily as he took of his clothes and joined Heta on the bed, “but the experience I am going to live will leave a memory that you will not be able to steal.”
“So, how did you manage to become captain of a Black Ark?” asked Durithir while serving Arithair another glass of wine.
“Why do you ask that question?” replied the captain, eyes frowning in suspicion.
“Well, I am always keen on tips for advancement” replied the retainer, feigning an innocent smile.
“You are greedy young elf. Any other lowborn would kill or betray even his closest relatives for the position you now enjoy and yet you want more?” asked Arithair with a drunken voice.
This was good thought Durithir. The drunker someone is, the easier it is to make him talk even about subjects he would normally avoid. But something was quite disturbing. Both druchii had drunk the same number of glasses and yet Arithair seemed much more drunk than him, like if the wine had more effect on him. Durithir doubted the wine had been drugged otherwise Uriaeth would have warned him not to drink it. Putting Arithair’s reaction to alcohol in the back of his head, he replied.
“I am merely thinking about my future” he said. “Besides, I would be considered a fool if I sated myself with my current position.”
“You would” replied Arithair, “but I will keep my secrets to myself. I will only reveal that unlike you, I did not gain my current position only out of luck”.
“Fine”, replied Durithir, “If you do not mind, I will take a small stroll for fresh air before we begin to eat”.
As the retainer left the room, Arithair pondered his options. If Durithir took his stroll on a battlement, he could easily use his powers to make him miss a step and fall overboard where he would drown or he could manipulate a corsair, or some harpies, into killing him. Both courses were tempting but no. It was clear that Durithir had come to spy on Uriaeth’s orders. If he died now, it would only arouse the highborn’s suspicions. No, he would not harm the youngster. He would treat him as he should treat a representative of a highborn while making sure he would have nothing to bring back to his lord. For a moment he laughed. What could Durithir hope to discover by interrogating him? Maybe he was not as clever as he had supposed.
As Tharnithil pondered about his lack of discoveries; he had looked everywhere and sounded the walls and floor for empty spaces without discovering anything, he heard a whistle, Durithir’s call, coming from outside the tower. Activating the magic of his cloak and turning himself invisible, he flew outside the tower and found the retainer waiting on the battlements, gazing at the city in the distance. Approaching discreetly, he asked if something was wrong.
“No”, replied Durithir. “Did you have any luck?”
“Not much. I found nothing betraying him as a sorcerer into his tower” replied the assassin.
“Then I may have an idea. He just told me that he did not gain access to his position through luck. He was insulting me by saying this but in doing so, he revealed much more than he intended. There were certainly at least a dozen more suitable candidates for the position of Black Ark commander. And yet, a mere ship captain with less than a century of experience was appointed. Perhaps, it would be a good idea to ask some high ranking officers for the exact circumstances regarding Arithair’s ascension. I have a feeling we would learn interesting things” replied the retainer.
“Very well, I will do that” replied the assassin, “Now do not make your host wait for you”.
“Wow” thought Davad. This was better than he had imagined. “Well. I suppose Durithir will kill me now but somehow I do not mind” he said with a smile.
“If I believe what Arithair says when he is drunk, then your master is nothing to be worried about” replied Helta.
“Really?” asked Davad, “Have you not seen the scars on my body. He is the one who inflicted them”.
“I do not know anything about your master, what I know is that usually, after a battle, Arithair gets drunk and raves about how Uriaeth and Karaskia are too much lucky. Regarding Durithir, the only thing he says is that if it was not for his intelligence, he would not even be a nuisance.”
Davad pondered over this for a long time. Apparently, this kind of thing made women more willing to talk, enabling him not only to please himself but also to carry out his task.
“But why does he get angry in case of victory?” he asked, “Usually that just means more slaves, treasures or victims to torture for these elven fiends.”
“Why should I know” she replied, “I am not privy to his thoughts. All I know is that he says that the sorceress and the higborn’s luck cannot last forever. I think he is quite crazy. Sometimes, I can hear him talking aloud in his room as if he was talking to someone but there is never anyone with him at that moment”.
As Davad smiled, pleased with all the information, Helta pursued in a suggestive voice.
“I am still hungry. Stab me again” she said.
“Always happy to obey that kind of order” replied Davad with a smile.
This was the first time obeying his druchii masters provided him with pleasure. At least, the information he had obtained this way should allow him to avoid punishment.
As he flew between the Black Ark’s towers, Tharnithil gazed everywhere, looking for potential prey. He quickly spotted a high ranking officer within the hierarchy of the Stronghold of Darkness. As the officer returned to his apartments, the assassin picked the door’s lock and entered quietly. As the officer was undressing, Tharnithil quickly advanced and put a dagger against his throat.
“I want information and if you give me convincing answers, I will spare you, perhaps. I want to know how Arithair became the captain of this Black Ark?” said the assassin, whispering into his captive’s hear. The officer trembled but mastered himself.
“The previous captain of the Black Ark had a lethal accident” he said. “While patrolling on the battlements, harpies attacked and killed him”.
“I see”, replied the assassin. “But why was a mere ship captain appointed as the new captain when there were several more suitable candidates like yourself for example?”
“Well, I do not remember exactly what happened. I remember feeling terrified and oppressed at the prospect of becoming the new captain. I felt like it would be too many responsibilities and that every other officer would try to kill me to get the position. So I refused it” replied the captive
“And why was not another officer appointed if you did not have the guts to accept the position?” asked the assassin.
“This is the strangest thing. Every other officer and ship captain was affected by the same fears, until Arithair became the only eligible candidate.”
“And no one found these events suspicious?” asked the assassin.
“We were all so relieved to have escaped the appointment that we said nothing” replied the officer.
This was extremely strange thought the assassin. All druchii yearned for advancement. The fact that several officers had so refused the prestigious position of captain of a Black Ark was aberrant and was evidence that something was amiss. Drawing a vial from his pocket, he resumed talking.
“Now, I want to you to drink the content of this vial entirely” he said. “Drink this or I will kill you.”
The terrified officer took the vial and drank its content. At once, he lost consciousness and fell heavily on the floor. Tharnithil turned to leave. In other circumstances, he would have killed the subject of an interrogation once he had obtained the information he wanted. But regarding the current investigation, it was imperative that Arithair had not even the slightest suspicions that someone else than Durithir was carrying out investigations. The poison he had given the officer would just make him unconscious for an hour or two and give him a blurred memory of the past few hours, something he would probably impute to wine.
As he was sleeping, the sound of snapping fingers woke up Davad.
“Let me sleep Helta” he dared to say. “We will do it again when I am ready”.
As the sound continued, he opened his eyes. His expression of anger turned to one of terrified surprise as he found Durithir standing near the bed.
“Am I disturbing you?” asked the druchii with a cold voice full of anger.
Unspoken terror filled him, banishing all his previous defiance. Durithir suddenly bent and grabbed him by the neck and slashed his throat with a knife, blood pouring from his neck before stabbing him again with a second dagger. Darkness rose to engulf him and he fell in it.
“I sincerely apologise for the behaviour of my slave” said Durithir as he dragged his slave’s corpse behind him, heading for the nearest battlement.
“He cannot even manage his slave. How pathetic” thought Arithair before replying with a smile.
“Well, he is a human. What did you expect? Mating is the only thing at which humans are actually good”.
“At least, he will no longer be able to do it again” said Durithir.
As they arrived on the battlement, the retainer lifted his slave then tossed him over the wall. As he fell, a harpy suddenly appeared from nowhere and grabbed the falling corpse before flying back towards the city.
“So ends your slave, in a harpy’s belly. I hope Uriaeth will not mind lending you gold to buy another. One of the ships goes back to Karond Kar in an hour. I suggest you take it.” said Arithair with a cruel smile before leaving.
As he arrived in his room in Uriaeth’s tower, Durithir found, like he expected, Tharnithil waiting for him. In a corner laid the unconscious form of Davad.
“Everything worked out as planned. Arithair did not have any suspicion” said the retainer.
“Yes it has” replied the assassin.
“I must congratulate you for the idea of faking my slave’s death” said Durithir, remembering how a few hours before leaving, while Davad was preparing himself, Tharnithil had come to him.
“I am not the intellectual here. I leave that role to you but I have devised a plan that would allow us to get your slave away from the company of Arithair’s without arousing any suspicion” had said Tharnithil.
“I am listening” had said the retainer.
“In the morning, you will go to the slave’s room and feign to be furious that you slave is cavorting with Arithair’s” the assassin had said. “Take these daggers with you. This one is marked with a rune that makes it seep blood when it touches something. Merely touching your slave with it will make it look as though you have severed an artery. Now, this other dagger is coated with a powerful poison that will make your slave unconscious. The combined use of these daggers will make it look as though he is dead.”
“Good” had replied Durithir before adding, “And how do you plan to take my slave away from the Black Ark?”
“I had hoped you would come with a plan regarding this” had replied the assassin.
“I think I have an idea that will allow us to evacuate him unnoticed” had said Durithir, smiling, “After having faked his death, I will drag him to the nearest battlement and throw him overboard. Then you will pluck him from the air with that magical cloak Uriaeth has lent you and bring him back here. Any who sees that will probably mistake you for a harpy. No one will give it a second thought”
“I will do that” had replied Tharnithil.
“And I have to congratulate you for you plan to get your slave away from the Stronghold of Darkness” replied Tharnithil before adding, “He gave me a drawing that Arithair carves on his victims’ flesh.”
“I hope he has more to provide, given what he spent his night doing” replied Durithir with a look of anger.
Seeing Tharnithil’s incomprehension, Durithir added, “I found him naked with the girl in her bed. Mating with her when he should have been interrogating her, typically human” he said with a voice full of scorn. “Now time to see if he has enough information to stay alive” he added.
Davad regained consciousness with a scream as his face was plugged into freezing water; someone maintaining his face under the surface with an iron grip. Just as he felt that his lungs were about to collapse, whoever held him dragged him away and pinned him against the wall, his hand clasped tightly against his throat. As he opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with Durithir whose face was twisted with rage. Drawing a dagger, he spoke with a voice of iron.
“You were ordered to interrogate that girl not to mate with her” he said. “Now, I hope that you gave her enough pleasure to make her say a lot while she was still ecstatic. Tell me everything she told you, human vermin, or I eviscerate you right now”.
Taken by terror, Davad gulped then quickly repeated everything Helta had told him. For several heartbeats, he hesitated about repeating what Arithair had said about his master but had no choice than to say it. After that explanation, Durithir looked at him for a long time with eyes burning with anger. Davad almost sullied himself with fear but then his master let go of him.
“This information is good for me” he said. “But do not think yourself saved. Uriaeth will have the final decision about whether you deserve to live or not” said the druchii with a dark look.
A week following the investigation, Karaskia came to tell Uriaeth about the results of her researches in the sorceress coven for the signification of the symbol discovered by the slave and told them that the symbol that matched the drawing was the symbol of Slaanesh.
“How can we be sure of this?” asked Uriaeth, “This information comes from a slave. We have no means of being sure he did not lie so as to avoid punishment.”
Tharnithil and Karaskia nodded but Durithir remained silent.
“Do you disagree with that assumption, Durithir?” asked Uriaeth with a cold voice.
The retainer looked up then replied.
“Yes. I disagree for two reasons. First my slave comes from the Empire and was barely ten when he was captured. I doubt he even knows anything about Slaneesh and even if he did, how would he know what is the correspondent symbol? And then, if we consider that Arithair is in fact a Slaaneshi worshiper, every strange little thing we discovered during our investigation takes a new signification.”
Uriaeth had first felt anger at his retainer’s tenacity but then his explanation had become more interesting.
“Carry on” he ordered.
The retainer bowed then continued.
“First, when I said that Khaine had smiled on us, he coughed on his wine then spoke of the god he worships but did not say his name” he said. He just said “The god to whom we are devoted”. From what I read, the chaos gods are extremely jealous gods, capable of killing their worshippers if they even speak of another god. If he was worshipping Slaanesh, he would not speak of one of our gods. Still in compliance with this, Tharnithil has found no icons or amulets of any of our gods, which would be logical if he was worshiping a chaos god. Then according to his slave, he becomes more sadistic and cruel with each sacrifice he performs which is, I read, an habitual thing with Slaaneshi worshippers. His slave also heard him talk alone in his room. She may have thought he was talking alone when he was in fact conversing with daemons. Then, his senses seem to be extremely sharpened. I realised it when he became extremely drunk with only a few glasses, another effect induced by the worship of Slaanesh. Finally, there is the way each high ranking officer within the Black Ark refused the promotion by fear of the responsibilities. This hints strongly at the use of magic and especially at the use of Slaaneshi magic.”
During this long explanation Karaskia and Tharnithil had hung on every word Durithir had said. Uriaeth over this for several minutes then spoke.
“I admit your logic is good but mere logic will probably not be enough to convince the Witch King” he said. “We will need steel evidence if we are to convince him of what we advance.”
“So all we have done is for naught?” asked the retainer.
“No”, replied the highborn. “We now know that Arithair is not just a sorcerer but also a Slaaneshi worshiper. We also know that he is the shadow enemy that has plagued us lately since your slave has reported that he usually raves about how I and Karaskia have survived murder attempts. However, we must be careful. If we spread the information, Arithair would hear about this and pretend we are just attempting to discredit him. Unless we find material evidence of what we know, we cannot act” said the highborn.
“You cannot act” said Tharnithil with a cold voice. “The Temple needs no evidence to deal with that slaaneshi scum. I am perfectly free to go kill him right now.”
“You would be free to do so in other circumstances” replied Karaskia with a voice of iron, “but do not forget that you are still at my service for more than a decade. We could kill Arithair right now but we would receive no reward or credit from it. Until we can expose him as what he is, I forbid you to kill him or to share our discoveries with the Khainites. Is that understood, assassin?”
The assassin looked at the sorceress and at the highborn with murderous eyes but replied calmly.
“Very well, I will do nothing...for now”.
“Do not worry. I have the feeling that you will have opportunities for assassination soon enough” said the highborn.
The room was alive with magical energies as Arithair activated a small window between his world and the chaos realm to speak with his god.
“My lord” he said, “I know I am certainly not in the position to make demands of you. But the lackeys of the Lord of Murder are closing around me and I need your generous assistance to hold them back.”
He felt anger radiate from the pink frame that had appeared on a wall.
“I see your problem with my demand. You do not get anything from it. Well, I may have something to offer. As soon as I have seized full control of this fortress, it would be easy for me to weaken it and make sure an entire army of your mortal servants could invest it. That way, you would have one of the fabled Black Arks of the druchii at your control, an unassailable fortress at your command. Your troops could be carried across the seas with ease and no one would be out of your clutches.”
As he had said this, he felt the anger replaced by satisfaction and pleasure. A terrible voice, strong and light, male and female issued from the frame.
“You will have what you ask for, little druchii. Even now, some of my daemonic servants have materialised in the Chaos Wastes north of the Land of Chill and are scouring them for my mortal followers. They will order them to join forces with you, to gather and then to sail to this fortress. However, I demand something more. Once the army has joined you and this fortress is entirely yours, I want the souls of your enemies; Uriaeth, Karaskia and Durithir. Their souls will be the price to pay for my help.”
“It is a deal my lord”, said Arithair bowing deeply, “I could imagine no more fitting end for these interlopers. They may suspect my true allegiance but they have no means of proving it to the armoured buffoon they call their king. They cannot act against me yet and when they can, they will rush to attack me but I will trap and execute them” said the slaneeshi worshiper with a widening smile.
As part of my stories, I have written two stories that have become discontinuited from the other stories due to changes in the fluff. In case that interests you, here is the first one. Consider that these stories take place just after "A first wound" but consider that Uriaeth is not the commander of the Black Ark "Stronghold of Darkness" and that Arithair is doing something else with his victims' souls rather than storing them in a ring.
Regards.
Dark discoveries
Following the series of “accidents” and strange murder attempts which had plagued them, events whose common point had been the presence of Arithair, Uriaeth and Karaskia began to suspect that Arithair was perhaps a sorcerer. Consequently, they decided to join their efforts and investigate on him.
When arriving at the door of Uriaeth’s tower, Tharnithil found Durithir waiting for him.
“Uriaeth is waiting for the three of us. Let us not make him wait” said the retainer.
“The three of us?” asked the assassin. “Who is the third one? Has it got something to do with the small investigation regarding Arithair’s slaves Uriaeth ordered me to carry out?”
“I do not know anything about this investigation. I just have my orders” replied Durithir.
As they passed the door that gave to the slaves’ dormitory, Durithir snapped his fingers. Barely a heartbeat after, an eighteen year old human sprang from the dormitory and followed him obediently. As they reached Uriaeth’s audience room, Durithir ordered his slave to wait for his summon then entered the room with Tharnithil. As they entered, Uriaeth rose.
“Greetings. I have summoned you here to prepare our investigation. I have devised a way to conduct a three-front investigation. Durithir, you will distract Arithair by suggesting that I intend to hire him and the Stronghold of Darkness’s fleet for the next summer of raiding. As for you, Tharnithil, while Durithir is busy doing this, you will sneak into Arithair’s apartments and look for anything that can represent evidence that he is a sorcerer. It is ensured that he has a young human girl from the Empire for a slave?”
“Yes, he has” replied Tharnithil, “even if I do not see how it can serve us for this investigation.”
Uriaeth merely looked at Durithir who understood at once. He turned towards the door and snapped his fingers. At once, his slave entered and came before his master, awaiting orders. Uriaeth then cleared his throat.
“I have a task for you, human” he said.
Davad turned at the order, terrified. Disappointing Durithir just meant a painful moment while disappointing Uriaeth would be something much more dangerous, possibly lethal. He stood still, awaiting orders. Uriaeth stared at him with cold, unblinking eyes before replying.
“We need you for a task that only a human can carry out. You role will be to interrogate a young girl from your homeland. You will have to make her talk about her master and his habits. We do not care what precise information she can give or how you convince her to give them. All that matters is that she gives something interesting for us.”
Davad stood motionless and nodded. Uriaeth now pointed to a table in a corner of the room.
“Come, there are tools I must give you for this mission. For you Durithir, there are these bottles of wine. It is better that you bring the drinks. It is entirely possible that Arithair will try to poison you so it is better not to take any chance.”
He now turned to Davad and pointed to a small vial.
“Take this potion and trick that girl into drinking it” he said. “It will weaken her will and make much more likely to talk.”
Davad took the vial and put into a pocket of his trousers, feeling a growing terror building in his mind. This order was unlike anything he had been ordered to perform before. This mission seemed to be of such importance. He knew enough of the druchii to know that they would not have used a slave as part of this investigation if it was not absolutely necessary. Uriaeth now turned to the assassin.
“For you, Tharnithil, take this cloak. It will enable you to fly. That way, you will be able to reach the Black Ark unnoticed.”
The assassin put on the cloak then spoke a word of power. At once, the cloak dissolved into mist then reformed as two bat-like wings that the elf seemed apparently able to move like if it was an extension of his body.
Two days later, Davad left the tower, following Durithir as they headed towards the harbour. It had been eight years since Davad had arrived in Karond Kar but during these eight years, he had never left the tower, safe from the dangers of the city. Nothing had changed, the macabre screaming corpses were still here, the druchii were still here. Nothing had changed at all. Once at the docks, the slave and his master took a ship that led them directly to the Black Ark. As he entered the threshold of the floating fortress, Davad felt trembling as he recalled the dreadful trip in such a castle but he hardened himself as his very life depended on what he had to do.
As he entered the Black Ark, Durithir felt extremely anxious as he had to distract a druchii with whom he had already had problems before. Moreover, this druchii was potentially a wizard who would certainly try to kill him if he suspected his motives even for a heartbeat. As he entered, a young human girl, barely sixteen years old, arrived.
“My master has ordered me to take you to him.” Durithir nodded and followed her.
When he arrived near Arithair’s apartments, he cast a glance at Davad who nodded and gave him the bag he was handing. He then entered the captain’s apartments.
“Well, if it is not Uriaeth’s favourite retainer” said Arithair bowing slightly to Durithir.
“Yes, I am here as a representative of Uriaeth. He would like to book the Stronghold of Darkness for the next summer of raiding”, replied the retainer.
“Well, we could discuss this over dinner. Do you agree with that? We could have dinner in the feast room of the Black Ark, what would you say?”
“I have no problem with that” replied Durithir, quietly pleased by this prospect as this meant Arithair would not be in his apartments for several hours.
Meanwhile, Tharnithil soared through the sky towards the Black Ark, no one paying attention to him, probably mistaking him for a harpy in the distance. Covering the distance between the tower of Uriaeth and the Stronghold of Darkness in less than an hour, he landed discretely on a tower of the Black Ark and cast the spell enabling assassins to meld with shadows rendering them nearly invisible. Remembering the plan he had seen in Uriaeth’s tower, he headed directly for Arithair’s tower. He found a window and picked its opening. Before opening it, he carefully passed his fingers over the wood, searching for any possible trap or sign of magic within it. As he detected nothing, he opened the window, entered the apartment and began to investigate. The lack of magical protection suggested that either Arithair was no wizard after all or that he had placed no magical protection on the window, not expecting someone to enter through it.
“Hey, wait, wait” shouted Davad as he hurried after the slave girl as she was heading back towards her master’s tower, carrying a tray of food for herself.
“What is your name?” he asked. “Helta” replied the girl with a fearful look Davad recognized as the same look that had become his usual look ever since he had become a slave in Naggaroth.
Part of his mind could not believe he was doing this. Back in the Empire, a free boy would be running after a girl as a reply to his body’s urges. Here, he was only doing this because he had been ordered to do it.
“Would you mind if I wait with you while my master is talking business with yours?” he asked trying not to look too afraid. “I have no place to stay. And to stay in the open in this fortress would be dangerous with all these corsairs around.”
“I agree”, she replied, “Come, My master has given me a room at the bottom of his tower so that I can attend to him at his merest whim. I suppose you can stay there until our masters have finished their business.”
“Well let us go then” said Davad.
As he poured a glass of wine for Arithair then for himself, Durithir carefully revised his plan of attack. His role was essentially to distract Arithair while Tharnithil and Davad were carrying out their parts of the investigation but this did not prevent him to carry out his own interrogation. After he had poured the drinks, he raised his glass.
“I suppose we should begin by a toast to your appointment as captain of this Black Ark” he said. “That for sure is a promotion.”
“Well, I suppose we should also compliment you for your successes. Look at you, you are not even a hundred and seventy years old and you have already singlehandedly killed a powerful ogre and become a retainer of one of the most powerful highborns in this city. You have also helped in killing that gigantic bat whose skull is now adorning the top of Uriaeth’s tower. You have been lucky” replied Arithair with a neutral tone.
“Well the Lord of Murder smiles upon some of us. He has certainly smiled upon both of us, has he not?” said Durithir.
Arithair coughed up on his wine then replied with an uncertain voice as if he was afraid of displeasing someone.
“Well, the god to whom we are devoted certainly rewards us with his favours” he said.
Durithir had said his last sentence casually, believing indeed that Khaine had favoured him, but Arithair’s reaction seemed suspicious to him. He had not said “Khaine” but “The god to whom we are devoted”. Why had he said that and above all why had he said with such an air of worry like if he feared of sounding offensive? If his main god was another of the Cytharai, why had he not said the god’s name? It was clear it was not Atharti, the goddess of dark magic and goddess he would be worshiping if he was indeed a sorcerer, or he would have said “the goddess”. Even as he sipped more of his wine, a disturbing thought came to Durithir’s mind. What if Arithair’s main god was not one of the cytharai?
As he inspected Arithair’s bedroom, Tharnithil wondered if he was not losing his time. He had inspected almost every room in the tower, only stopping when Arithair’s slave had returned to her room, Durithir’s slave accompanying her. So far, he had found nothing; no magic icons or amulets, no books dealing with sorcery or magic, nothing. As he pondered over this, a thought occurred to him. Instead of searching for something that should not be here and was there, maybe he should search for something that should be there but was not. He went back to each of the rooms he had visited and looked again through Arithair’s desk and his cabinets. Something struck him as strange. Almost every druchii kept small icons or amulets of Khaine, or of another cytharai based on their preferences, on them or in their things. But here, there was not a single icon or amulet of this kind. This was no evidence but this was something suspect.
“So, how long have you served Arithair?” asked Davad.
While Helta was eating her ration of bread, he was discretely pouring the content of his vial into her carafe of water.
“For a year I think” replied the girl, “What about you?”
“I have been serving Durithir for eight years” he replied.
He then served her a glass of water, which she drank without question.
“Good”, he thought. “So, what can you tell me about Arithair?” he asked her.
“Well, he is cruel and sadistic like any druchii. He enjoys torturing his victims for entire hours then he usually recites a litany before executing them. Then I have to get rid of the corpses. The strange thing is that with every execution, he seems to become more deranged and sadistic.”
“I know what it is to get rid of a corpse” he replied. “Are they torn in several pieces?”
“No. They are just covered in cuts. Moreover, they usually have a strange symbol carved on their flesh.”
“Really, what kind of symbol?” asked Davad, supposing Durithir would find that interesting.
She drank more of the drugged water then carved a sketch of the symbol on a piece of parchment he handed her, Durithir having provided him with it in case it could be useful. He then quickly left the room.
“Sir assassin?” he quietly called.
Barely a heartbeat after, the assassin appeared and asked the reason for the summons.
“I think this could be of use to the investigation” he said handing him the piece of parchment.
“Good. Now get back with that girl and distract her. I want no disturbance while I am investigating”. Davad quickly returned into the room to find the shocking sight of Helta lying naked on her bed.
“Come” she said with a drugged voice, “I am hungry but not for food”.
These very words shook Davad to his core.
“Are you mad?” he asked terrified, “Our masters would kill us if they caught us doing this.”
“They will kill us anyway sooner or later. Better that we reap what we can before they do” she replied.
Davad stood motionless for several minutes, pondering over this unbelievable situation. What she was offering him was probably the only opportunity for this he would get in his entire life as a slave but it was the most dangerous thing to do. If Durithir caught him in the act, he would certainly kill him. But then Durithir would kill him anyway whether it was the following day or in a few decades. Was it not better to steal what pleasure he could before dying? As he thought this, a rush of defiance coursed through his mind and he let it take hold.
“You may have stolen my freedom and my life, druchii” he thought angrily as he took of his clothes and joined Heta on the bed, “but the experience I am going to live will leave a memory that you will not be able to steal.”
“So, how did you manage to become captain of a Black Ark?” asked Durithir while serving Arithair another glass of wine.
“Why do you ask that question?” replied the captain, eyes frowning in suspicion.
“Well, I am always keen on tips for advancement” replied the retainer, feigning an innocent smile.
“You are greedy young elf. Any other lowborn would kill or betray even his closest relatives for the position you now enjoy and yet you want more?” asked Arithair with a drunken voice.
This was good thought Durithir. The drunker someone is, the easier it is to make him talk even about subjects he would normally avoid. But something was quite disturbing. Both druchii had drunk the same number of glasses and yet Arithair seemed much more drunk than him, like if the wine had more effect on him. Durithir doubted the wine had been drugged otherwise Uriaeth would have warned him not to drink it. Putting Arithair’s reaction to alcohol in the back of his head, he replied.
“I am merely thinking about my future” he said. “Besides, I would be considered a fool if I sated myself with my current position.”
“You would” replied Arithair, “but I will keep my secrets to myself. I will only reveal that unlike you, I did not gain my current position only out of luck”.
“Fine”, replied Durithir, “If you do not mind, I will take a small stroll for fresh air before we begin to eat”.
As the retainer left the room, Arithair pondered his options. If Durithir took his stroll on a battlement, he could easily use his powers to make him miss a step and fall overboard where he would drown or he could manipulate a corsair, or some harpies, into killing him. Both courses were tempting but no. It was clear that Durithir had come to spy on Uriaeth’s orders. If he died now, it would only arouse the highborn’s suspicions. No, he would not harm the youngster. He would treat him as he should treat a representative of a highborn while making sure he would have nothing to bring back to his lord. For a moment he laughed. What could Durithir hope to discover by interrogating him? Maybe he was not as clever as he had supposed.
As Tharnithil pondered about his lack of discoveries; he had looked everywhere and sounded the walls and floor for empty spaces without discovering anything, he heard a whistle, Durithir’s call, coming from outside the tower. Activating the magic of his cloak and turning himself invisible, he flew outside the tower and found the retainer waiting on the battlements, gazing at the city in the distance. Approaching discreetly, he asked if something was wrong.
“No”, replied Durithir. “Did you have any luck?”
“Not much. I found nothing betraying him as a sorcerer into his tower” replied the assassin.
“Then I may have an idea. He just told me that he did not gain access to his position through luck. He was insulting me by saying this but in doing so, he revealed much more than he intended. There were certainly at least a dozen more suitable candidates for the position of Black Ark commander. And yet, a mere ship captain with less than a century of experience was appointed. Perhaps, it would be a good idea to ask some high ranking officers for the exact circumstances regarding Arithair’s ascension. I have a feeling we would learn interesting things” replied the retainer.
“Very well, I will do that” replied the assassin, “Now do not make your host wait for you”.
“Wow” thought Davad. This was better than he had imagined. “Well. I suppose Durithir will kill me now but somehow I do not mind” he said with a smile.
“If I believe what Arithair says when he is drunk, then your master is nothing to be worried about” replied Helta.
“Really?” asked Davad, “Have you not seen the scars on my body. He is the one who inflicted them”.
“I do not know anything about your master, what I know is that usually, after a battle, Arithair gets drunk and raves about how Uriaeth and Karaskia are too much lucky. Regarding Durithir, the only thing he says is that if it was not for his intelligence, he would not even be a nuisance.”
Davad pondered over this for a long time. Apparently, this kind of thing made women more willing to talk, enabling him not only to please himself but also to carry out his task.
“But why does he get angry in case of victory?” he asked, “Usually that just means more slaves, treasures or victims to torture for these elven fiends.”
“Why should I know” she replied, “I am not privy to his thoughts. All I know is that he says that the sorceress and the higborn’s luck cannot last forever. I think he is quite crazy. Sometimes, I can hear him talking aloud in his room as if he was talking to someone but there is never anyone with him at that moment”.
As Davad smiled, pleased with all the information, Helta pursued in a suggestive voice.
“I am still hungry. Stab me again” she said.
“Always happy to obey that kind of order” replied Davad with a smile.
This was the first time obeying his druchii masters provided him with pleasure. At least, the information he had obtained this way should allow him to avoid punishment.
As he flew between the Black Ark’s towers, Tharnithil gazed everywhere, looking for potential prey. He quickly spotted a high ranking officer within the hierarchy of the Stronghold of Darkness. As the officer returned to his apartments, the assassin picked the door’s lock and entered quietly. As the officer was undressing, Tharnithil quickly advanced and put a dagger against his throat.
“I want information and if you give me convincing answers, I will spare you, perhaps. I want to know how Arithair became the captain of this Black Ark?” said the assassin, whispering into his captive’s hear. The officer trembled but mastered himself.
“The previous captain of the Black Ark had a lethal accident” he said. “While patrolling on the battlements, harpies attacked and killed him”.
“I see”, replied the assassin. “But why was a mere ship captain appointed as the new captain when there were several more suitable candidates like yourself for example?”
“Well, I do not remember exactly what happened. I remember feeling terrified and oppressed at the prospect of becoming the new captain. I felt like it would be too many responsibilities and that every other officer would try to kill me to get the position. So I refused it” replied the captive
“And why was not another officer appointed if you did not have the guts to accept the position?” asked the assassin.
“This is the strangest thing. Every other officer and ship captain was affected by the same fears, until Arithair became the only eligible candidate.”
“And no one found these events suspicious?” asked the assassin.
“We were all so relieved to have escaped the appointment that we said nothing” replied the officer.
This was extremely strange thought the assassin. All druchii yearned for advancement. The fact that several officers had so refused the prestigious position of captain of a Black Ark was aberrant and was evidence that something was amiss. Drawing a vial from his pocket, he resumed talking.
“Now, I want to you to drink the content of this vial entirely” he said. “Drink this or I will kill you.”
The terrified officer took the vial and drank its content. At once, he lost consciousness and fell heavily on the floor. Tharnithil turned to leave. In other circumstances, he would have killed the subject of an interrogation once he had obtained the information he wanted. But regarding the current investigation, it was imperative that Arithair had not even the slightest suspicions that someone else than Durithir was carrying out investigations. The poison he had given the officer would just make him unconscious for an hour or two and give him a blurred memory of the past few hours, something he would probably impute to wine.
As he was sleeping, the sound of snapping fingers woke up Davad.
“Let me sleep Helta” he dared to say. “We will do it again when I am ready”.
As the sound continued, he opened his eyes. His expression of anger turned to one of terrified surprise as he found Durithir standing near the bed.
“Am I disturbing you?” asked the druchii with a cold voice full of anger.
Unspoken terror filled him, banishing all his previous defiance. Durithir suddenly bent and grabbed him by the neck and slashed his throat with a knife, blood pouring from his neck before stabbing him again with a second dagger. Darkness rose to engulf him and he fell in it.
“I sincerely apologise for the behaviour of my slave” said Durithir as he dragged his slave’s corpse behind him, heading for the nearest battlement.
“He cannot even manage his slave. How pathetic” thought Arithair before replying with a smile.
“Well, he is a human. What did you expect? Mating is the only thing at which humans are actually good”.
“At least, he will no longer be able to do it again” said Durithir.
As they arrived on the battlement, the retainer lifted his slave then tossed him over the wall. As he fell, a harpy suddenly appeared from nowhere and grabbed the falling corpse before flying back towards the city.
“So ends your slave, in a harpy’s belly. I hope Uriaeth will not mind lending you gold to buy another. One of the ships goes back to Karond Kar in an hour. I suggest you take it.” said Arithair with a cruel smile before leaving.
As he arrived in his room in Uriaeth’s tower, Durithir found, like he expected, Tharnithil waiting for him. In a corner laid the unconscious form of Davad.
“Everything worked out as planned. Arithair did not have any suspicion” said the retainer.
“Yes it has” replied the assassin.
“I must congratulate you for the idea of faking my slave’s death” said Durithir, remembering how a few hours before leaving, while Davad was preparing himself, Tharnithil had come to him.
“I am not the intellectual here. I leave that role to you but I have devised a plan that would allow us to get your slave away from the company of Arithair’s without arousing any suspicion” had said Tharnithil.
“I am listening” had said the retainer.
“In the morning, you will go to the slave’s room and feign to be furious that you slave is cavorting with Arithair’s” the assassin had said. “Take these daggers with you. This one is marked with a rune that makes it seep blood when it touches something. Merely touching your slave with it will make it look as though you have severed an artery. Now, this other dagger is coated with a powerful poison that will make your slave unconscious. The combined use of these daggers will make it look as though he is dead.”
“Good” had replied Durithir before adding, “And how do you plan to take my slave away from the Black Ark?”
“I had hoped you would come with a plan regarding this” had replied the assassin.
“I think I have an idea that will allow us to evacuate him unnoticed” had said Durithir, smiling, “After having faked his death, I will drag him to the nearest battlement and throw him overboard. Then you will pluck him from the air with that magical cloak Uriaeth has lent you and bring him back here. Any who sees that will probably mistake you for a harpy. No one will give it a second thought”
“I will do that” had replied Tharnithil.
“And I have to congratulate you for you plan to get your slave away from the Stronghold of Darkness” replied Tharnithil before adding, “He gave me a drawing that Arithair carves on his victims’ flesh.”
“I hope he has more to provide, given what he spent his night doing” replied Durithir with a look of anger.
Seeing Tharnithil’s incomprehension, Durithir added, “I found him naked with the girl in her bed. Mating with her when he should have been interrogating her, typically human” he said with a voice full of scorn. “Now time to see if he has enough information to stay alive” he added.
Davad regained consciousness with a scream as his face was plugged into freezing water; someone maintaining his face under the surface with an iron grip. Just as he felt that his lungs were about to collapse, whoever held him dragged him away and pinned him against the wall, his hand clasped tightly against his throat. As he opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with Durithir whose face was twisted with rage. Drawing a dagger, he spoke with a voice of iron.
“You were ordered to interrogate that girl not to mate with her” he said. “Now, I hope that you gave her enough pleasure to make her say a lot while she was still ecstatic. Tell me everything she told you, human vermin, or I eviscerate you right now”.
Taken by terror, Davad gulped then quickly repeated everything Helta had told him. For several heartbeats, he hesitated about repeating what Arithair had said about his master but had no choice than to say it. After that explanation, Durithir looked at him for a long time with eyes burning with anger. Davad almost sullied himself with fear but then his master let go of him.
“This information is good for me” he said. “But do not think yourself saved. Uriaeth will have the final decision about whether you deserve to live or not” said the druchii with a dark look.
A week following the investigation, Karaskia came to tell Uriaeth about the results of her researches in the sorceress coven for the signification of the symbol discovered by the slave and told them that the symbol that matched the drawing was the symbol of Slaanesh.
“How can we be sure of this?” asked Uriaeth, “This information comes from a slave. We have no means of being sure he did not lie so as to avoid punishment.”
Tharnithil and Karaskia nodded but Durithir remained silent.
“Do you disagree with that assumption, Durithir?” asked Uriaeth with a cold voice.
The retainer looked up then replied.
“Yes. I disagree for two reasons. First my slave comes from the Empire and was barely ten when he was captured. I doubt he even knows anything about Slaneesh and even if he did, how would he know what is the correspondent symbol? And then, if we consider that Arithair is in fact a Slaaneshi worshiper, every strange little thing we discovered during our investigation takes a new signification.”
Uriaeth had first felt anger at his retainer’s tenacity but then his explanation had become more interesting.
“Carry on” he ordered.
The retainer bowed then continued.
“First, when I said that Khaine had smiled on us, he coughed on his wine then spoke of the god he worships but did not say his name” he said. He just said “The god to whom we are devoted”. From what I read, the chaos gods are extremely jealous gods, capable of killing their worshippers if they even speak of another god. If he was worshipping Slaanesh, he would not speak of one of our gods. Still in compliance with this, Tharnithil has found no icons or amulets of any of our gods, which would be logical if he was worshiping a chaos god. Then according to his slave, he becomes more sadistic and cruel with each sacrifice he performs which is, I read, an habitual thing with Slaaneshi worshippers. His slave also heard him talk alone in his room. She may have thought he was talking alone when he was in fact conversing with daemons. Then, his senses seem to be extremely sharpened. I realised it when he became extremely drunk with only a few glasses, another effect induced by the worship of Slaanesh. Finally, there is the way each high ranking officer within the Black Ark refused the promotion by fear of the responsibilities. This hints strongly at the use of magic and especially at the use of Slaaneshi magic.”
During this long explanation Karaskia and Tharnithil had hung on every word Durithir had said. Uriaeth over this for several minutes then spoke.
“I admit your logic is good but mere logic will probably not be enough to convince the Witch King” he said. “We will need steel evidence if we are to convince him of what we advance.”
“So all we have done is for naught?” asked the retainer.
“No”, replied the highborn. “We now know that Arithair is not just a sorcerer but also a Slaaneshi worshiper. We also know that he is the shadow enemy that has plagued us lately since your slave has reported that he usually raves about how I and Karaskia have survived murder attempts. However, we must be careful. If we spread the information, Arithair would hear about this and pretend we are just attempting to discredit him. Unless we find material evidence of what we know, we cannot act” said the highborn.
“You cannot act” said Tharnithil with a cold voice. “The Temple needs no evidence to deal with that slaaneshi scum. I am perfectly free to go kill him right now.”
“You would be free to do so in other circumstances” replied Karaskia with a voice of iron, “but do not forget that you are still at my service for more than a decade. We could kill Arithair right now but we would receive no reward or credit from it. Until we can expose him as what he is, I forbid you to kill him or to share our discoveries with the Khainites. Is that understood, assassin?”
The assassin looked at the sorceress and at the highborn with murderous eyes but replied calmly.
“Very well, I will do nothing...for now”.
“Do not worry. I have the feeling that you will have opportunities for assassination soon enough” said the highborn.
The room was alive with magical energies as Arithair activated a small window between his world and the chaos realm to speak with his god.
“My lord” he said, “I know I am certainly not in the position to make demands of you. But the lackeys of the Lord of Murder are closing around me and I need your generous assistance to hold them back.”
He felt anger radiate from the pink frame that had appeared on a wall.
“I see your problem with my demand. You do not get anything from it. Well, I may have something to offer. As soon as I have seized full control of this fortress, it would be easy for me to weaken it and make sure an entire army of your mortal servants could invest it. That way, you would have one of the fabled Black Arks of the druchii at your control, an unassailable fortress at your command. Your troops could be carried across the seas with ease and no one would be out of your clutches.”
As he had said this, he felt the anger replaced by satisfaction and pleasure. A terrible voice, strong and light, male and female issued from the frame.
“You will have what you ask for, little druchii. Even now, some of my daemonic servants have materialised in the Chaos Wastes north of the Land of Chill and are scouring them for my mortal followers. They will order them to join forces with you, to gather and then to sail to this fortress. However, I demand something more. Once the army has joined you and this fortress is entirely yours, I want the souls of your enemies; Uriaeth, Karaskia and Durithir. Their souls will be the price to pay for my help.”
“It is a deal my lord”, said Arithair bowing deeply, “I could imagine no more fitting end for these interlopers. They may suspect my true allegiance but they have no means of proving it to the armoured buffoon they call their king. They cannot act against me yet and when they can, they will rush to attack me but I will trap and execute them” said the slaneeshi worshiper with a widening smile.