Marquess Zanth the Betrayer

The screams from the audience echoed through the dark, damp walls outside one of the arenas in Commorragh. As the blood hit the sand the spectators went crazy and their words mashed together into an unbearable noise that cut the insides of your ears like a hundred blades filled the arena. It took a moment for the young fighter to realize why the audience didn’t cheer on her. She had just delivered the first blow towards her opponent and she had executed it with outmost precision. There was no way her attack could have missed. The young fighter turned around and looked at the greenskin standing behind her. He was smiling. He didn’t have a scratch. Not a single wound. She started running towards him when she noticed that her left arm was lying two feet in front of her. The Ork went to attack. The spectators raged.

“Why are all the young ones so quick to die?” muttered a voice as its owner looked down upon the young Wych as she got torn into pieces by the Ork. “You lost another bet, Zanth?” The man turned his head to his right and saw a rather short Dark Eldar. He had a dark green, almost grey hood that covered the most of his face. “Oh I never lose! I’m just investing my money in something more interesting at the moment” said Zanth with a small smile on his lips. “By the way, you should probably lose your ‘hat’! With a fancy hood like that in a neighborhood like this it’s a wonder that you are not lying half dead in a street corner somewhere. Or am I wrong Ranosu?” Zanth raised his hand and made a sign at a slave girl. She sat down on her knees facing away from him and with her head pushed against the floor. He made another sign and a new slave walked towards him as he placed his feat upon the slave girl’s back. “I’m not here to talk Zanth. I’m here because of you debt” said Ranosu. The new slave started to polish Zanth’s boots. The audience’s screams cut the cold air. Zanth looked down to see that the Ork was dead. He looked back at Ranosu. His grey eyes where dead cold. “My debt?” he said. His voice tone was completely different from before. It was like someone else was talking. “Well ever since you started flying under Duke Sliscus banner you haven’t kept your part of the agreement.” As Zanth heard Sliscus name he went furious. “There never was an agreement between me and him. I never intended to fly under him and I never will” He kicked down the slave girl that was holding up his feet and the slave that was polishing took two steep backwards and watched as the slave girls crawled in a small pool of her own blood, he knew better than not to help her. “Well” Ranosu looked at the slave girl and then at Zanth. He cleared his throat and continued. “Duke Sliscus said if you wouldn’t pay he’ll gladly take your crew, ships and your life as a token of your betrayal. The choice is yours to make.” Ranosu reached for his knife at the back of his belt when he saw that Zanth started digging in his pocket. Zanth picked up a small stone that shimmered in green and blue, looked at it for a moment and gave it to Ranosu. “Consider it as a down payment. I’ll deliver the rest myself before tomorrow” said Zanth with a soft, calm voice. His smile had returned. Ranosu reached for the stone. He only hesitated for a second before he accepted it. He had never seen a stone like that. As he looked at it though the light from one of the Ilmaea he started to feel strange. He started to shake.  He tried to look away from the stone but he was captured by its power. Ranosu could hear Zanth laughing. “You know that you’re not supposed look at the Ilmaea through that stone” Zanth’s laughter continued as he stood up from his throne and looked down at the arena. “That stone is the only one of its kind. A person that looks at one of the black suns through that stone becomes paralyzed.” He started to walk towards Ranosu. He leaned over Ranosu’s shoulder and whispered in his ear “I’ll free you from the stone” He grabbed one of his knifes and made a small diagonally cut over Ranosu’s cheek. The poison started to work the moment the knife left the cheek. Ranosu’s eyes started to fill with blood and he fell to the floor. Zanth picked up the stone from Ranosu’s hand and said with a big smile “Ah my friend! Let us have our vengeance.” He started walking towards his Venom and started to sing on a song from the old days.