Temple of Kelpies

[Anguis Lingua]

Rein_Carnation

Gudinna swam slowly around the platoon of new recruits, her contempt poorly concealed under her smile. She had been watching them for the last several hours, sneering as they sparred hand-to-hand and with weapons, smirking as they recited their chants of hatred for the landwalkers, and barely resisting the urge to slash her way through their ranks. They swam in place, eyes staring straight ahead, though she could smell the uneasiness of more than a few. So, so tasty, that barely concealed fear.

"What do you think, Adviser Gudinna?"

The Adviser never took her eyes off the formation as the recruit trainer swam up next to her, keeping just out of arm's length. Despite Gudinna's paranoia, the trainer had little to worry about from the Queen's personal Adviser. Though she'd never admit it, for admittance was weakness, but Gudinna liked the trainer. Her ambition was nothing more to cause pain and suffering in the recruits, and she was almost as vicious as the adviser was psychotic.

"I think they are weak, trainer. Is this the best we can offer our Queen?" She squinted at the formation, and hissed. "Are those... males?!"

The trainer growled low in her throat. "Unfortunately, yes. We have little choice right now, adviser. We lose too many of our females to infighting and back-stabbing." She grinned, her teeth jagged spikes that had the few males visibly cringing. "We decided to include males to give the ladies something else to focus on, instead each other. It's getting more females out of the Candiru stage, Adviser."

Gudinna arched an eyebrow. The trainer was smarter than she'd given the battle-worn female credit for. "As much as it turns my stomach to admit anything positive regarding weakling males... it's a smart move, Trainer. I-" She tilted her head suddenly, and even the formation quieted down, everyone watching the adviser with everything from fear to open jealousy. The Queen had summoned her.

Gudinna grinned. "Trainer. Who is your best recruit so far?"

The trainer pointed at two females at either end of the formation. "Those two. Purple there scored higher intelligence, and tactical skill, but orange there shows better battle prowess and martial skills." She motioned to them, and the two females swam up before them, uneasy defiance in their eyes.

Gudinna swam around them slowly, then grinned as she tapped the orange female on the shoulder. "You. You will do for your Queen. Yes." She turned to the purple one. "Trainer. Make her better. Or kill her. I don't care which."

She placed her hand on the orange female's shoulder, the latter barely concealing her wince as claws dug into her flesh. "Come, time for you to meet your Queen." Gudinna guided her through the temple, stopping before the algae and barnacle encrusted doors of Kallahast's private chambers. The adviser motioned to the doors, and the orange female grunted as she pushed them open.

Gudinna pushed the Candiru into the throne room. "I have heard your summons, my Queen." She grinned behind the recruit as she slipped a jagged seashell knife from her belt. "How may I serve you?"  

[Anguis Lingua]

Rein_Carnation

Gudinna bowed to her Queen's compliment, the blade pressed against her forearm as she waited to see what Kallahast had planned for their unsuspecting dinner. She could smell the fear growing strong from the female and a sneer of hate curled her red lips.

Weak. Weak Candiru, embarrassment to our Queen. The thought roiled and seethed through her frantic mind, barely resisting the urge to lash out already. The thought of her Queen's disapproval was the only thing restraining the adviser.

She smiled as she listened to the Queen's words. It was one of the few times Kallahast spoke of the skull's origins, so she savored the rare times it happened. She privately disagreed with Kallahast's beliefs about love and promise being weaknesses, she loved being the Queen's adviser, and relished the days she could promise such exquisite pain to her victims. Still, the story served it's purpose, she could smell the female's fear rising to sheer terror as the reality of the situation sunk in.

Barely had the the Queen finished giving permission than Gudinna had her arm around the blinded female's throat. The female gurgled as her airway was cut off, hands scrabbling at her mangled eye sockets. Reaching around with the seashell knife, Gudinna quickly gutted the Candiru from throat to tail fin. Thick, dark blood billowed into the water as she let go of the dying female's throat.

Gudinna giggled as she swam through the bloody cloud and held position in front and before Kallahast. "My Queen," the adviser whispered as she offered the seashell knife. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out a small, hook-bladed knife. "What do you wish to discuss with your humble servant?"  

[Anguis Lingua]

Rein_Carnation

Gudinna savored the Candiru's body, tearing chunks of muscle and organs out with a sadistic glee. She would have continued had she not noticed her Queen had finished. Though she wanted more, etiquette dictated she was done when Kallahast was done. Snapping a rib off from the carcass, she tried to pick her teeth with the jagged end as discreetly as possible.

She looked up at the Queen's question and hissed at the contract. "Epona's sneer upon us, my Queen. Deeming us unfit to multiple and bend this world to the strongest. Burdening our pure race with these... males." She spat the word as if it were foul upon her lips. Fingers danced over the hilt of her knife, her body trembling with barely controlled rage. "I would gut that cowardly b***h myself, but that Honor belongs only to the Queen of the Kelpies."  

[Anguis Lingua]

Rein_Carnation

"It has become worse than we thought, My Queen. The trainers are having to pull males into the Candiru ranks just to ensure more females are making it through training without killing each other first." Gudinna swam around in a tight circle of agitation. "But at this rate... I will personally gut any male that makes it past Candiru training, they're not even worthy of that rank."

She swam by the carcass, snapping another rib off and flipping it through her fingers absently as she pondered the situation. Gudinna didn't care that failure to think of something would probably result in her being eaten, she cared only that she would have failed her queen. That was certainly a fate far worse than being butchered.

Swimming over to the barnacle encrusted balcony, she leaned against the pitted railing and looked up. Above, she could make out the distorted image of the moon through the water.

"That b***h Epona will not win this one," she said, not realizing she wasn't whispering. "We will break free. Kallahast will have your head, and I will personally paint the moon with the blood of your weakling packs!"