Only two had accepted the offer to be trained as assassins, and she was not surprised by it. Slade and Bane. Her most loyal followers. To become the first two Dark Brothers in the Dark Brotherhood faction she was building. Despite the fact there were only two members, she would name them by the beginning title of Murderer. As their training intensified and they killed more and more, they would ascend the ranks, from Murderer to Slayer, Slayer to Eliminator, then Assassin, Executioner, Silencer, and Speaker. It was unknown to her if either would become Listener, but it was possible. For now, her job was to train her packmates.
The priestess sat at the edge of their territory, on a rockbed in the swamp. In a natural scoop in the stone, the priestess made a blood red dye to mark her assassins on the shoulder. It would not wash away in water, but it would slowly erode. She would teach them how the make the dye to renew it, but that was for later. She tipped her head back and called for her two highest-ranking men, knowing they would come to her beck and call.
Two nights in a row had the voices awaken him, panting, heart racing. Let me out! They screamed, forcing the young warrior to open his eyes. They're just nightmares... He repeated to himself, and over and over again he wandered aimlessly through the woods, trying to clear his mind.
He had been avoiding Meldresi the last couple of days, having noticed her growing belly and the hormonal changes that flooded the place with scents. He couldn't avoid thinking of what was to come. Are they mine? He kept asking himself unwittingly. If not his, who's pups would they be? Had Slade finally managed to seduce his goddess? And it kept going on, thoughts of it, and many other things, flooded his mind, and none of the questions were answered, he didn't want them to be answered.
The howl interrupted his thoughts, a good thing, but the howler was no one else than Meldresi herself, summoning her best men once again. There was no escape, he had to go, he had to. After hesitating for a moment, and almost drawing blood from his lip, he followed the source of the howl, to the southern reaches of the territory, where the smelly swamps were. And there, standing in a pedestal, indigo eyes glowing under the moonlight, Meldresi stood waiting for her subordinates.
Why was he always the first one to arrive?
Meldresi...
the pale beast said bowing. He knew what she had called them, an initiation ritual, she spoke about that in the meeting, and even though he was nervous to be in front of [size=x-small]the mother of hiis children...[/size] Meldresi, he was excited to officially become part of the brotherhood.
The sect that Meldresi, the Shadow Queen, herself, had previously mentioned.
A mark he had the opportunity to be graced with.
A mark he would take with honor.
With a sadistic smile, his lion like limbs churned a mass of dead leaves beneath him, as his form dipped in and out of comforting shadows, a brother amongst brothers.
The Nightmare was a blur.
And soon enough, the wood thinned, and his cover was taken just as easily from him, as it was given. Standing just as he, was Moon Bane, the Pale one, and silently Slade took regal steps to give the white warrior a faint, yet noticeable tail touch of his own, a sign of acknowledgment and respect.
Then he too, sat and gazed upon the Ebony Lady who gazed down just as fairly as they looked up to her, the powerful stare of her ethereal lavenders keeping his thrumming heart, calm.
"Hello, Meldresi. ", he spoke, his now familiar baritone spanning in the clearing, though purposeful to the beauty, and to her alone.
"I've already told you about what group you are joining, and the goddess they worship." She started rhetorically, "The Dark Brotherhood is not just a group of assassins, we are a Family, but we have tenets, five. 1. Never dishonor the Night Mother, Mephala. 2. Never betray the Dark Brotherhood or its secrets. 3. Never disobey or refuse to carry out an order from a Dark Brotherhood superior. 4. Never steal the possessions of a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. 5. Never kill a Dark Brother or Dark Sister. To do any of these is to invoke the Wrath of Sithis, the God of Death." She had seen firsthand the Wrath of Sithis, and she was not going to ever break the tenets. It wasn't like she wanted to anyway. "Another part of the initiation is to kill someone and not get caught, but I do not believe you two need to do that." She swirled the dye with her paw absentmindedly.
It was about time, bro! Bane was going to have to run away from that place if Slade didn't make it there. Meldresi's silence was.. Deafening. And he couldn't come up with anything to talk about while they waited. Thank Sithis for Slade's existence!
As soon as the obsidian beast came into scene, Meldresi started with the lecture. One that he would need to remember. Sithis, the dread father. Bane feared his wrath already, knowing by Meldresi's constant prayers and stories that he was no less than the bringer of death, the darkness in the world. Better keep him on your side.
Five tenets were imposed on both Slade and Keith. Five tenets that would rule their lives from that moment, and with a bow of his head, the pale brute, now officially named by Meldresi a Dark brother, accepted the mark imprinted in his pure coat, and with it, the life of darkness that came along in the package.
A laugh desired to fly from the dark man's mouth, but he kept it shut. How was the father of a Queens litter, the Sire of great brood, relieved in the company of a mere servant? Slade figured he had more of an impact on the youth, than expected.
The Midnight Mistress spoke her speech, the words somehow lodging themselves firmly into the king's brain, making themselves at home in the pitch black void of his mind.
He did not fight back.
The tenets were too easy to memorize, for they were much like his own. However, a religious belief was not a part of it, so him having no faith, gladly accepted one. He had no issue with such.
Hell, everyone needed something to believe in, yes?
A incantation of his thickly layered skull, he accepted the terms in silence.
And by Sithis, and Mephala, would he live his life by their will, along with the desires of their Dark Priestess, Meldresi.
Sorry for holding up on this one, I'm flooded with threads and it's driving me crazy! D:
For as humble as Slade thoughts of himself were, Bane did have a great respect for the Nightmare. Bane was young and reckless, and he had the strength on his side, that was undeniable, but Slade had many things that the young northerner lacked, things that instead of causing envy left only a great desire to learn of his older friend.
Meldresi too was a huge influence in the young beast's life. She alone had been the one to see something in his dark self, she had been the one to offer him a place in which he would belong, and now, after all they went through, with a mark of red blood she welcomed him into her world.
Slade felt a ripple of something pass through him at the soft touch of her paw upon his shoulder, and he couldn't decipher whether it was pride, relief, humility, or a mixture of them all, with some.
He kept his mouth shut, only remembering the words she spoke, for the music of life, is silence. Admiration radiated within the depths of the twin hells he bore on his face, and with a nothing said, he awaited the rest of the words to be followed through by the woman who had now put his life back onto the correct path of death.
With the final mark placed and the greeting delivered, Melsresi stood back and admired her handiwork. She had certainly been blessed by Mephala and Sithis to have two loyal and talented males at her beck and call. And now that they were formally inducted as assassins made it all the better.
"As of right now, I have no missions for you. For now, you will be undergoing training, in various fields until I can determine what you excel in." She already had a feeling about what kind of Dark Brothers Slade and Bane would be; silencers. Assassins that could get in and out very quickly and kill their prey with efficiency. "Your training will start tomorrow in Redgrove at dawn, but until then, I wish you two goodnight." The priestess brushed past the two of them, purposely pressing her fur against them before heading off to the nearest tunnel to rest. It would be a long day tomorrow, for them and her.