Haldir, the Kabalite warrior informs his mistress of the webway portal's materialization, but she appears to be in her own world, staring out into the darkness of the Commorite skies. The Archite is looking up upon the skies with as she leans upon her right palm and her elbow upon the railings of the Raider. Her legs are crossed in a state of rest, her heels carefully resting upon the bars where the deck's railing would not trap her heels.
In his mind, he is tempted to stab her to take over the Kabal as she was daydreaming. Should he do it? Or is this a trap? Haldir grips upon his dagger, wondering if it is wise to attempt the dark desires of murder in his mind. He looks around and as the other Kabalite warriors toil to climb on their sleek, dagger-like transports it appears that there is nothing stopping him from doing so. He unsheathe his blade a little as to not alert and telegraph his attempt to the Archon.
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Despite her form being healed back to its apex by the Haemonculi of Commoragh, but her soul remains a little out of sync from her mind, and in the dark spires of Commoragh it is akin to tempting fate as she needs her lightning reflexes to be in its peak performance to survive the dark spire jungles of the dark city. The reason for this lack of synchronization of her mind falls down to one matter; the thoughts of her little pets and their old relative that is currently taking care of them.
There is something inside Vespera that seeks the answer to why she is treating the Mon-Keigh under her care to something above the treatment of playthings or livestock that so often befalls their kind. At the same time, she has an unprecedented desire to jealously hoard them to herself and guard them as if they are part of her. Although they would never thought the same about her as she would to them, but in a way that is how things are meant to be.
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As Haldir moves closer and closer, his heart attempts to not beat faster than it should be. The Archite is still staring upon the dark skies, as if wondering if it ever going to change to something else. However before he could do the deed himself, another Kabalite warrior moved forward with the lightning speeds that only a Dark Eldar could move in, attempting an assassination.
Haldir was a second too late, and all he could do is to slip the dagger out of his own scabbard and moved towards the Archite, not wanting for the other Kabalite to take the glory. If anything, Haldir could take the confusion to slip the dagger to the Archite, or he could stab the assassin to curry favour with the mistress. However as he moved, time starts to slow down for the Kabalite warrior and he moves slower and slower.
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They were never meant to put their trust in her, seeing that she is the reason why their parents are slain by her handmaidens. Alas, she wonders what she could have done to earn a little bit of their trust or at least to not let them look upon her as a blight upon their existence. Granted, she did terrorize the youngest of the brood twice, once intentionally to force her grandfather to speak, and another was unintentional as she brought her to a meal between two other archons.
This would be tough, as Mon-Keighs are not Dark Eldar, and their train of thoughts are as different as those of a beast of burden and its owner. Perhaps it needs to be something instinctual, something primal for her to reach out to their hearts? Would feeding it helps in earning its docility? Would petting it...hold on a second.
She needs to take care of something trivial first.
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However, the would-be assassin's efforts ended as quickly as it began. Despite the slowing of time, Haldir could clearly see what is going on before his eyes.
With a slight lean of her head, the assassin's blade missed her head within a fraction of an inch and with the grace and ruthlessness of one of the high nobility that ruled Commoragh the palm where her head is resting drops slightly and she gently pushes her palm forward. Such was the momentum of the assassin that the assassin missed her entirely and the assassin's throat was struck by the palm of the Archite with such force that the assassin jerked back forcing one leg to lift off the deck. The crossed leg of the Archite moves gently forward and hooks the assassin's leg that is still on the deck and hooked it forward. With the slight force, the assassin loses his balance and is now falling down on the deck.
The leg that the Archite used to hook the assassin proceed to move in a perfect circular motion and is raised above her head in a perfect vertical position before it falls down upon the assassin.The assassin falls down upon the floor with a loud thud and the force is such that he bounced upwards. As he bounced upwards due to the recoil from the deck, the heel of the Archite's footwear flawlessly slip between the armour around his neck and with the force of the axe kick, the assassin was violently slammed down on the deck once more but with the heel of the Archite penetrating his neck with such force that it goes through the deck.
The Kabalite warrior known as Haldir stop just short of the slain assassin, and as he watches the flawless kill by the Archite, the Archite looks at him and twists her heel that was inside the assassin's neck. The loud audible crack snaps Haldir from his stupor, and immediately he found the words he needs.
"Milady, are you alright?" Of course, as with any Dark Eldar, these words are a lie, but the courtesy is needed anyway. Fortunately for Haldir, the Archite did not see him as a fellow conspirator and thus his life is not forfeited for his drawing of the dagger.
"Of course I am. Please clean up this mess for me. Also please command the others to not bother me." The Archite pulls out her heel from the slain assassin, and walks off to the prow of the raider. The Kabalite warrior could do nothing else, and he drags the body to be dumped out from the Raider.
Haldir was glad that he did not attempt the assassination, for Archite Vespera Phyliantrx's reflexes are on an entirely different level than those of his own. He could be the one that is thrown abroad instead of the assassin. Such precision, such brutality, such grace. Such mindless killing of someone like stomping an insect is just inspiring for the Kabalite warrior. He wonders what went through her mind as she callously killed a Dark Eldar without even a shred of emotion?
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She sighed a little as she once more drift into her thoughts of the young pets of hers after getting rid of a slight distraction to the more pressing issue in her mind. Should she bring the little Mon-Keigh out to play in the hanging gardens or should she show them around the Port of Lost Souls? Or should she do something else entirely? Such was the mind to drift itself to concerns of the soul, whom the Archite lacks to the point of near emptiness. If only her mind could be as empty as her soul.
Such was the state of her mind.
The story mentioned in this article is amazing World Equestrian Center Ocala
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