The chamber door shattered at the heavy impact from the hallway, throwing shards of broken wood across the interior of the room. Women sitting and laying and lounging inside jumped, shrieked, and dove to hide themselves from further onslaught.

Bahdi Koda, Chaos Lord of Khorne, ignored all of this, retracted his heavy armored boot, and without a further word to announce himself stalked inside. Golden eyes behind the oni-daemon mask which covered Bahdi’s face narrowed as he surveyed the chamber, locking on a lone figure sitting on a stool in front of the four-poster bed.

The sitting man turned, the light in the room catching the curving scars that marked his cheek. A large floppy hat covered his head. He held a pallet in one hand, and a fine paintbrush in the other. Behind him, Koda could see an easel holding a large canvas. Beyond that he saw two women cowering beneath the sheets of the bed.

The sitting man looked grim as he adjusted the beret over the small horns jutting symmetrically from his forehead. “I take it this isn’t Avon calling?” He gently set the pallet down, and tucked the paintbrush rakishly behind an ear. “I was nearly done, you know. An entire day’s sitting. All for nothing now.” The frown turned to a grin. “Such is art, so transient, so fleeting…”

Koda took two menacing steps forward, gauntleted hand gripping the hilt of his killing sword, clearly more interested in debate on the impermanence of existence than art. Seth mimed a troubled look. “You’re Baddy Koda, right? I know, I know. ‘How does he do that?’ I’m very intuitive about these things. You’re Baddy Koda, and…I sense something’s upsetting you.”

Bahdi seized the front of Seth’s robe, pulling the Slaaneshi to his feet. Seth glanced down at the huge fist holding him upright. Another shrug. “Well, technically you were supposed to meet us three weeks ago. Unfortunately, you did not arrive three weeks ago. Or the day after that. Or the day after that when our food and fodder began to run low.”

Bahdi released the man, who continued. “Or the day after that, or after that. It was around that time I sent out scouts to see if any possibilities of resupply were nearby. Which was when we found this place, only a week’s journey from the exact spot where we were to rendezvous.”

The Khornate’s mask sneered.

Seth turned back to his canvas. “We’re not farmers traveling to market, with three months worth of food on our backs. But I share your disappointment, tin-pants. It’s five weeks and more after the proposed meeting before you walk into my presence. What happened? You had some trouble finding the right room?”

Koda seethed beneath his mask. He barked a curt command out into the hallway. In response a delicate in eastern robes, but western features entered the room. His eyes remained fixed on the floor, though he occasionally flinched slightly at the guttural verbal tirade Koda lashed him with. Presently the barrage stopped.

“Pardons, Seth-sama.” He began. “I am called Baka. I serve as Bahdi-sama’s interpreter. He is… troubled by your lack of obedience to the orders you were supplied with. He says you lack discipline and are untrustworthy. He says he would simply kill you and ride on, but he has given his word to work with you, and it would be an offense to his honor to execute you out of hand.”

Seth smirked. “Tell his Holiness I thought people in this part of the world were civilized enough to tell time. Tell him if his honor had dictated prompt and scheduled arrival rather than a classic example of door abuse followed by this rather sad ‘bad cop’ song and dance, I wouldn’t need to be educating him on the matter now.

Baka’s eyes bulged. “I don’t think I should tell him that, Seth-sama.”

The Slaaneshi’s eyes narrowed, for the first time truly annoyed. “It’s funny, Mr. Baka. I thought you said you were an interpreter, and not a thinker. Because right now you don’t seem to be doing much of either. You’ll tell him precisely what I say as I say, or the next editorial comment you decide to inflict on me will determine whether your death by sudden, violent nasal insertion of paintbrush would be enough of an insult to Monkey-sama’s honor for him to deign notice your loss. Translate. Now.”

Baka swallowed, then began to speak in low Nipponese.

Koda stood at the empty doorway. Seth began to smile. He blinked smugly, and the Khornate had moved the fifteen foot distance separating them, drawn his sword, and was executing a perfect strike at the unarmored Chaos Lord’s neck.

The blade cut Seth’s throat, barely breaking the skin. He could feel the blood start to trickle down his torso. Koda had halted the blade of his two-handed in mid-strike. Stopping a blade in mid-move like that should have been impossible, a voice in the back of Seth’s head whispered.

Damn that was fast, whispered another.

This creature is laughing at you, spoke a third. You want to admire his swordsmanship, or smash him down?

Seth’s smile found it’s customary place. “Very impressive, Baddy. Your ability and control do you credit. But, like most of your kind, the intensity of your focus can leave you vulnerable to more pertinent, peripheral concerns.”

“Eh?” grunted Koda, eyes slitting.

“Bahdi-sama.” murmured Baka. “Please, Lord…”

Leaving his blade at Seth’s neck, Bahdi glanced over to his vassal. Two of the ladies of the house were holding him immobile, one with a knife at his throat, the other between his legs. A longer look around the room showed nearly a score of the hard, lean women, all holding weapons, all apparently read to use them on the man who assault their patron. Bahdi laughed, and spoke rapidly.

“You have whores to fight for you, dog?” croaked Baka. “Am I supposed to be afraid?”

Seth nodded. “Perhaps. If you see things as I do. By which I mean that every low-down dirty filthy woman of ill-repute in this sink-hole is ready to throw themselves on your sword in a heartbeat. In doing so removing said sword from my neck. In doing so allowing me the two seconds I require to get my own steel out.” He tapped the stool underfoot with his toes, rattling the scabbard short sword hanging there. “Now I recognize talent when I see it, Koda. And believe me, you’ve got a surfeit when it comes to hauling steel. So if you think you can kill every single woman in this room, and get your pig-poker back into my neck in those two seconds, you’ve got us beat, dead-bang.”

“Otherwise, you’ve got a problem.” he finished.

Koda’s snarl needed no translation.

Seth submitted to his need to twist the knife. “And don’t forget how badly killing me would reflect upon your honor. Or being killed, or even injured by some eighth class prostitute. Who’d sullied herself with a gai-jin westerner.”

The Slaaneshi could hear Bahdi’s teeth grinding.

Then suddenly the sword was gone, back in it’s wooden scabbard like the Khornate had thought it there. Koda seemed to draw back, then smashed across Seth’s face with his gauntleted hand.

Baka was nearly gelded before Seth could wave off the impending melee. The he laughed as he shoved his broken jaw back into place. He stared at the blood and brass samurai before him, gave him a short bow.

“For your honor, Bahdi-sama.”

Bewarebewarethismanwillbeyourdeathandyouhis.

Seth laughed and shoved the voices aside.

Koda stood a moment, gauging, then turned to depart.

“Oh.” called Seth. “One last thing. The bill. We only brought supplies for a few days, and our stay here was substantially longer than that. My honor won’t allow me to leave a bill such as this unpaid. However, it doesn’t prevent me from borrowing money from friends when required.” He grinned. “Think you could spare a few dozen oban for your new troop-mate?”

Baka gasped at the staggering amount. He translated, and returned his Lord’s curt response.

“The debt will be paid, Seth-sama.”

The officers of the Company of the Twisted Blue Rose watched their leader, staring off at the diminishing fires in the distance. The two armies had formed parallel columns as they marched away from the smoldering town, both accepting the presence of the other, each clearly anticipating treachery from the other.

“So much for ‘protecting potential converts for future use’.” grunted a cynically amused Kaela Tek. “High-and-Mighty Lord Seth Garrick didn’t lift a finger to stop Koda.” She casually scanned the immediate area; Koda had loaned Seth his interpreter, ostensibly to help the officers learn the local language and customs more quickly, but just as obviously to spy on the Slaaneshi camp. He’d been dismissed to some suitably odious, non-lingual task, and would likely continue to be so occupied for the foreseeable future. D’Lion shrugged. “A waste, ya. Stupid waste, mon.”

Moby just looked at Big Smoke, silently puffing deep on his malodorous cheroots atop his mount, his obvious questions for the Standard Bearer unasked.

Smoke looked over, their stares bouncing off his mirrored spectacles. He turned back to his Captain. “This be ‘bout face, mon. You savvy ‘face’? All dese folks talk about, seem like. We stay on dem plains like we told, we starve. Mebbe rolled up by some local white-hat troops. Got ta move, ya? Kody-sama, he know. He wait, we move, and he roll in all lathered. All dat business nuttin’ but show, mon. Raas clat. He jus’ lookin’ to pop us all right dere. Or leas’ show Seth-boy who boss. Dem peeps? Dey dead the second them orders cut, mon. No choice; us, dem, or Kody neither. Ya tough, but no choice. Kody got save face, we got save face; peeps go inta da grinder, come out sassage, ev’bod happy now, ya.”

The others simply stared at the Chaos Champion. “He tell you that, Smoke? Or are you just making it all up?” questioned Tek.

Smoke just watched Seth ride back toward the long file of warriors, wagons and animals that composed the army on the march. The Chaos Lord moved his mount to within speaking distance. “Everyone present and accounted for?”

The officers nodded.

“Liu and Chen?”

“Safe in the baggage train, Seth” said Tek.

“Let’s keep them that way.” he nodded. The two were only toddlers, but Koda’s edict to destroy the inhabitants of the village ‘who would so insultingly overcharge his honorable allies for basic food and lodging’ covered them as well as it had their mothers. That they were quickly brought from the lady’s living quarters at the brothel and more easily hidden from discovery was the only reason they were still alive.

Seth noted the questioning stares. “Me wa kuchihodo ni mono o iu.”

“Wha?” said D’Lion, his brow furrowing.

The Chaos Lord gave a slight shrug. “A pearl of wisdom I picked up in the village. ‘The eyes say as much as the tongue’.

They all knew Seth well enough to flush with embarrassment at being caught.

Seth managed a smile. “The Company still lives, and our mission continues. Things could be much worse. Now get to your regiments. We’re in a hard place, miles from home and safety. Keep discipline tight and mouths shut. And maybe we’ll get back alive.” All but Big Smoke rode off, the big man staying near his primary charge.

Seth sat a moment, thinking of the cryptic warning his voices had given him about Koda that afternoon. “Issun saki wa yami.” He muttered.

Smoke’s keen ears caught the words. “Ey, mon. More monkey jabber-jabber?” He gave a faint smile. “Yeah, Smoke. It means ‘no one knows their future’. But literally it translates… as something a little different.”

“And what dat be, mon?”

“ ‘Darkness lies one inch ahead.’” Seth shook his head as if clearing it. “Getting soft and addled in my old age Smoke. You’ll be running this outfit before long. Now let’s get moving before Koda decides to retire me right here by the side of the road.”

The two men spurred their mounts back toward their column and rejoined the Company.

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