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shellderbeast · 2 years

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TLRH Extract - Blood Ravens

Something that readers of Crimson Brids and Golden Felines wouldn’t see/realise is that my main Mittens + OC fic has a HUGE amount of extra content on the other happenings of the galaxy while the dynamic duo are on their road trip.

As such, I’ve decided to post a couple of extracts for people to read (and hopefully enjoy, because I like writing about things that aren’t Mittens too <3)

Extract from Chapter 30: The End of the Road

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Somewhere in the Warp, Blood Raven's Battle-Barge, Litany of Fury

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“You knock.”

“You do it if you’re so sure.”

“Rack off. I’m not the one that found the bloody collection.”

“It was your suggestion that we ask him about it!”

“I was kidding! I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it.”

Before either of the marines could say anything else, the door they had been arguing in front of opened abruptly, revealing their dangerously annoyed looking Chapter Master, Gabriel Angelos.

His gaze was piercing as they straightened up nervously before him, trying not to wince at the dark tone he addressed them with.

“You have five seconds to tell me what is so important that you would stand outside my quarters squabbling like children.”

Techmarine Martellus allowed himself the briefest of glances at his brother, Apothecary Gordian, before swallowing hard and holding out the inconspicuously bland beige folder to his Chapter Master.

“F-Forgive us, Chapter Master. We err…were made aware that these rather…vivid sketches were caught up in one of the books in the library. Annnddd we thought it would be best to hand them into you. So you could decide what to do with them, I mean…”

Admirably, Lord Gabriel’s face didn’t even twitch as he opened the folder and glanced at the stash of images that were neatly stored there. “I see.”

The tension of the moment got too much for Gordian, who blurted out in his pitched voice, “While knowledge is power sir, we want you to know we came straight here too. I mean, not power for us, that would be blackmail. But we wouldn’t do that, of course.”

“What he meant to say was that no one else saw these, sir,” Martellus added hurriedly, glaring at his brother for his lapse. “And we saw nothing either.”

“Yes! That’s what I meant. We aren’t even here are we, Marty?”

“Nope, can’t even remember seeing the Chapter Master today.”

They fell into an awkward silence as their iron haired leader closed the folder and remarked drily, “If you’re both done convincing me that you most certainly saw nothing, then you are excused.”

Knowing that that statement was as close as they would get to a polite thanks and a confirmation of their suspicions, both Ravens saluted the Chapter Master before hurrying off.

Returning to his room and shutting the door firmly, Gabriel mentally recited a list of all the major cities from his destroyed homeworld of Cyrene to calm himself. Once he had quelled the urge to punch a wall repeatedly, he shifted over to the wall vault near his desk and retrieved a small, inconspicuous black jewellery box that was only slightly dwarfed in his armoured hands.

He settled down at his desk, shuffling papers to the side and freeing one gloved hand with a soft hiss of hydraulics. His hand looked paler against the dark alien grains as he flipped open the box, revealing a stunning opalescent stone and an elegant inscription on the inside of the lid, marked in both High Gothic…and Eldar script.

Running his fingers lightly over the shimmering stone, he murmured the necessary words to activate the delicate device and sat back to wait.

Not even five minutes later, a moderately sized screen of holographic light appeared above the stone and a decidedly dishevelled woman’s face floated before him. Her long brunette hair was hastily pulled back behind a simple head piece and her pale grey eyes looked a little more tired than usual, but mostly, they were full of concern.

Farseer Macha of the Craftworld Ulthwé spoke the Imperial language with a lyrical tone as she asked quickly, “Gabriel? What’s happened? Did your marines find the…?”

“Not as yet, but I’ve got a rather tenacious individual running that particular operation now. With any luck, he’ll find a way to get in there.”

“That news is encouraging…but what is the purpose for the call?” she enquired, her voice taking on a faint note of velvety teasing as she raised one slender eyebrow. “Or…is it a social one? Because you’ll have to be rather impressive to alleviate the fact you awoke me in the middle of the night…”

Gabriel found it astounding that he could keep a straight face in front of his men, but the minute this female started speaking, suddenly his face would begin twitching ever so slightly.

Taking a breath, he pulled one of the sketches free from the folder and held it up for her to see. The speed at which her expression went from sultry to shock would have been amusing under different circumstances, but alas, these were not such a time.

“W-What are those?!” Macha spluttered, her eyes widening in horror and a faint redness appearing on her cheeks. “Did you draw that?”

A strangled choking noise escaped him as he exclaimed awkwardly, “Of course not! These are…much cruder than what I’ve ever drawn…”

“Then who did…” Now her expression was shifting to one that had the ability to inspire either intense concern (certainly never actual fear…) or a more arousing type of encouragement depending on the situation.

Fury.

“By Khaine’s burning liver, I am going to KILL Taldeer and Ronahn this time! Those evil wretched twins! Ergh!”

“I did wonder whether it was them again, after the last prank a few weeks ago,” he commented, watching as her form zoomed out from the screen and revealing the very flimsy over robes she was wearing as she paced back and forth furiously. The deep green silks complimented her rich hair nicely, although he doubted telling her so would calm her from the enraged state she was now in.

“She still won’t let go of what happened on Kronus! Even though I’ve told her time and time again that if she had just listened to myself and Eldrad, perhaps she wouldn’t be dead and living as a Wraithknight now!”

“To be fair, my men and I were ultimately responsible for her death, despite our attempts not to do so.”

“That’s beside the point! She wouldn’t be dead in the first place if she had listened! She completely ignored her own dreams of foresight and acted like some, some arrogant pig-headed mon-keigh blundering carelessly through crystal garden!” she ranted, only to stop abruptly at her last words and she added hastily, “No offense to you, of course.”

“None taken, although I would point out that many species can display those traits,” he pointed out with a faint crooked smile.

“True, and Taldeer was more arrogant than most, even before she got big headed with leadership…”

Allowing himself a sigh, he slipped the crude but very clearly drawn image of himself and a female Eldar engaging in a rather salacious act back into the folder, intending to burn it right after this call. “I suppose she wouldn’t accept an apology either to cease her malicious activities? I’d rather not deal with anymore dead Astropaths or a rumour mill amongst my men.”

“Ha, you would be lucky to make it past the first word before she took a shot at incinerating you,” Macha replied bitterly, turning back to the screen. Gabriel had to keep his gaze firmly on her eyes and not wandering anywhere else as she asked in sudden curiosity, “Hang on, where did she send them? Is there more than one?”

He held up the folder briefly. “There’s about five sketches. And…well…they ah, weren’t teleported into my quarters, because that would have been too easy…”

“Oh no…where did they appear?”

“In our library, where I suspect more than just the two marines that brought them to me viewed the scandalous and heretical drawings…”

“Isha’s tits,” she groaned, returning to her desk and rubbing her face. “I can only imagine how that conversation went.”

“Rather well if I’m honest. But if we keep having these little…incidents, it’s going to be difficult convincing them wholesale…” Gabriel replied, holding back the strange thought that occurred to him about whether or not he should just…accept it.

But it was an atrocious and silly fantasy, thinking he could publicly…court a xenos, especially an Aeldari, so he forcibly dismissed it as Macha met his gaze again.

“I’ll deal with her as soon as I can,” she promised, looking a little calmer at least. “And I promise I’ll make it up to you the next time we see each other.”

“I appreciate that,” he said, his lips quirking into a more natural smile. Settling back in his chair and deciding to take the time to catch up with her seeing as they were here now, he added slyly, “Perhaps we should take some inspiration from these drawings…and tell Taldeer how much fun they were instead?”

A different kind of warmth bloomed in his chest as she let out a burst of surprised laughter. “Gabriel dear, that is entirely ungentlemanly of you…and I think I will consider that idea as well…”

“Then in that case, we should start looking for ways to reconnect, shouldn’t we?”

Her eyes brightened delightfully as she tilted her head with a fresh sultry smile. “Actually, it’s funny you should say that…”

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https://archiveofourown.org/works/33330481/chapters/82771282

#Blood Ravens #warhammer 40k #Chapter Master #Gabriel Angelos #Farseer Macha #TTS #if the emperor had a text to speech device

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