Chapter Forty-Five

Asshai. Essos.

When Farseer Galadeer had ordered that these lands be cleansed of its mon'keig infestation the warriors under her command had not expected much of a fight as they looked upon humans much as a human would look upon apes or monkeys, but even primates can be dangerous as these primitives were now proving to be.

That she and the warlocks were fighting along side a human Inquisitor was odd, yet this was far from the first time that agents of the Emperor and the Eldar of a Craftworld had been forced to cooperate. Galadeer understood that her people's fate was bound to that of the Imperials who had come to this strange universe and that if handled carefully the Rogue Trader who commanded the crude human ship might be the salivation of both humanity and The Children of Isha.

Galadeer had plans to save her people and as much as it pained her to admit, even to herself, she would need the aid of the Imperial humans so she had to ally with them. Hence why she'd made contact with Inquisitor and offered aid in taking down the corrupted ones who lived in Asshai. The Farseer's orders were to cleanse this place and so far it was going well despite the resistance.

As the Farseer entered what seemed to be some sort of temple she began to realise just how the humans of this city had been able to resist the Eldar at all. They'd made fouls pacts with creatures of some other realm, they'd sacrificed all of the children for power, a potent offering to whatever forces it was they bargained with since such offerings would have great meaning. Farseer Galadeer knew this due to her having found small humans skulls around an altar that would very soon be destroyed.

These sacrifices had given the human sorcerers the means to extend their lives, but not their youths, so they hid their frail forms with magic and they had the ability to summon shadow creatures to do their biding. One of which was about to attempt to end the life of Galadeer.

While most Farseers made use of a Singing Spear, that was a two-handed weapon which Galadeer found to be too heavy to easily wield. As such she used her sword, a Witchblade (a psychically-attuned melee weapon that a Craftworld Aeldari walking the Path of the Seer, such as Warlocks and Farseers, often carry to battle) to defend herself. They could be used to enhance the physical power of the warrior who held them and in the hands of one who knew how to properly use such a weapon they could unleash the latent psychic power of the wielder. Because of this Witchblades are effective against humanoids, xenos, beast and even daemons.

They also worked well against the shadow creature who were weak things when compared to a daemon from the warp. Galadeer lashed out with her witchblade and felt the essence of the shadow thing break apart as she channelled the power of the warp into it. Against someone without the psyker gift these shadow creatures would have been potent, but to the Eldar they were no real threat as long as they remained on their guard.

"Would you like to do the honours, Inquisitor?" asked the Farseer.

The Imperial agent and his pskyer comrade, who had an impressive control over her powers for a human, had just entered the temple having followed the shadow creature here. Upon seeing the altar and realising its importance he did what savages did best, he destroyed it. One good swing of his hammer and the altar was smashed.

"Now you see how we can be of service to each other" said the Farseer.

The Eldar had never made a good showing of being trustworthy when dealing with humans, it was just in this case the Farseer couldn't afford to do anything to annoy the Imperials. Other Farseers worked to restore their people's lost glory, some worked to the ensure that was left survived, Galadeer saw the chance for her people to start fresh in a whole new universe. Perhaps more than one.

"What is it you want?" the Inquisitor asked bluntly.

As a rule the Eldar were not known for speaking simply on any matter, even during a short conversation. The Aeldari communicated with poses and gestures because their senses are far more finely attuned to each others' emotional and mental states as a result of their intensely psychic natures. So while humans do depend on non verbal communication it was possible for two Aeldari to have an entire conversation using only their body language.

To a Human, words gain meaning from their context and the words around them, while to an Aeldari the words themselves already possess infinite meaning, manipulated by a crooked finger or slight inflection when speaking. Since Galadeer knew this she had to force herself to keep still as she spoke to the Inquisitor.

"By now you must have come to suspect that this is not the universe we normally reside in" said the Farseer "Your people have found a way to reach a reality free from the corrupting power of the dark gods, and this gives my people a chance for salvation".

The Inquisitor was no fool. He already had an idea of were this was going.

"You want to bring your people here?" he asked.

The planet was already occupied by humans and soon it would be a part of the Emperor's dominion as an Inquisitor he could not stand by and allow the Xenos to take this world for themselves.

"No, Inquisitor" replied Galadeer "This world is not suitable for us, my people will need to be brought somewhere they will be accepted".

The Farseer had already glimpsed into the future to see where the strands of fate would led so as to find a universe where at least some of her people could flee to. It was not this world. When the time came she would guide the Rogue Trader to the right place, but he would only agree to this if was in his best interest. Given that Galadeer had originally been planning to destroy the Rogue Trader so that in his future he didn't make the human empire too strong it would take some effort to make them allies. For that she needed the aid of the Inquisitor.

"You wish to flee?" asked the human.

Galadeer could sense that the Inquisitor had not meant to be insulting so she did not take offence.

"I wish to give my people a chance to rebuild elsewhere" she explained "The Rogue Trader can secretly transport some of people to a new universe to give us a chance to rebuild. My people do not breed in great numbers like you humans and so it would take a great deal of time to rebuild even a fraction of the empire we once called home".

It might take a million years until her people built a new empire and she wouldn't be there to see, she could only help to set her people on the right path.

"I have no true authority over the Lord Captain" admitted the Inquisitor, who knew there was no sense lying to a telepath "I can only advise him".

The Farseer wasn't too concern with convincing the human merchant since his kind cared only about profit. The tricky part would be getting Lord Thrax to listen to her since most humans were afraid of aliens.

"When the time comes we will present the trader with suitable compensation for his efforts" said Galadeer "For now we need you to encourage him to follow this course of action. In exchange will we aid you in defeating the sorcerers of this world, and we may be able to assist you again in the future, as we have in the past".

The Inquisitor decided that for now he would go along with this plan if only to find out more about what the aliens had planned. He didn't trust any Xenos, but any Eldar that fled the stars that rightfully belonged to the Emperor would mean less Xenos around to trouble mankind in the future. Besides he could do with some aid in hunting down the sorcerers of this world so the Eldar would be given the chance to prove themselves.

"If you do mean to aid us then we shall travel the Free City of Bravos and you will help me in cleansing a dangerous cult" said the Inquistor.

Soon he would see if the aliens were true to their word.