1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

chapter one

vect tapped his fingers on the right armrest of his throne, waiting for the report on the dealings of xadikib warpsnarl. the slave finally came in, quivering with fear because he was late.

"well then, what do you have to report?" asked vect

"warpsnarl has been lying low for the past ten years. he's done his best to remain undetected"

"so in short; you have no idea where he is"

"actually no, my lord"

"you have discovered something?"

"our best spies have found out that xadikib has

ought out his own doom. our spies are all over commorragh and two of them saw a dark eldar with the mark of the rending talon on his arm. they followed him to a derelict fortress in the wilds of the iron thorn and entered, finding warpsnarl. once they confirmed it was warpsnarl's base, they reported it in"

"that is good news. in return, i give you your life, instead of killing you for being late"

the slave nodded happily and ran out of the room, lest his master change his mind. vect looked out of a window and decided all that would be left to do would be to tell malek. vect frowned; where was malek?

kaelis screamed. it hurt so much, she wanted it to stop. she kept screaming in pain. the pain was unbearable. she was sure that the dark eldar around her was taking great pleasure in hearing her scream and feeding off of her pain. she knew it hurt but she also knew that she would need to push on through.

malek paced back and forth. he could hear her screams. he wanted to tell her that everything was alright, that he was with her but he knew he couldn't. he could feel her pain and felt disgusted by those who were taking pleasure in listening to her screams. he sat down, sighing deeply. he prayed again and again to his ancestor khaine that she would be alright. the screaming soon stopped and malek's head shot up. he looked over to the door on his right and walked over to it, knocking on it. someone opened it and looked at him. malek raised his eye

ows and the door answerer let him in. malek ran over to the bed kaelis was in and put his hand on her cheek. tears were pouring from his eyes. he kneeled beside her and kaelis smiled. he looked at the bundle in her arms and laughed quietly. kaelis gave it to him and he stood up. he was so happy, so happy that he wanted to scream the good news to the whole of commorragh. he kneeled down again, giving the bundle to his wife. she laughed happily; it was a baby girl.

"my lord, our spy in malek's court has given us some new information"

"sybarite, the time has come"

"it has?"

"yes" answered xadikib "the process is almost complete and i shall overthrow my

other. then the line of sythil shall be no more, for he has no heirs"

"ummmmm, about that…."

malek walked out of the room and to the crowd of friends downstairs, smiling like an idiot. he walked to the entrance of the room that they were gathered in and let out his happiness in one large shout:

"it's a girl!"

the crowd went nuts, going over to malek to congratulate him. they all filed upstairs to kaelis to give her their congratulations. some asked to hold the baby, some were happy with looking at it. the crowd soon left and malek and kaelis were sitting on their bed, discussing names for their daughter. they were still deciding when serelia thundered into the room, eyes widening at the small bundle in kaelis' arms. she squealed with delight and ran over to her, taking the baby in her arms.

"you'll be godmother?" malek asked

"yes malek, i promise you that no harm will come to her if you two die" answered serelia

"that's good then"

"oh, i just remembered; there's another visitor" said serelia

"it's not xadikib is it?"

before serelia could reply, the door swung open and a small group of elite incubi entered the room, lord vect closely following. he looked at his advisor, kaelis and their new daughter and smiled.

"my lord, this is a surprise" malek said, bowing

"no need to bow malek. i am here incognito"

"the sceptre is back at the palace then"

"yes it is. now tell me the results of this happy occasion"

"come over here my lord to see for yourself"

vect walked over to the bed and looked down at the baby. the baby looked up at him. vect bent down, putting his hand out to the baby. the baby grabbed one of his fingers and started sucking it like a pacifier. vect chuckled, taking his hand away from the baby.

"have you decided on a name for her?"