"Eugh... all that blood... I'm definitely not walking in there barefoot. Noooo way."
She shook her head.
"But they have water... I need to clean my hair!"
And so, the giant, practically naked woman began waving and crying out to them.
"Hello?! Sirs?! Could I borrow a bucket of water from you?!"
English
-
The water was spilling onto the floor, washing away most of the blood, them men themselves noticed the woman. The tribune and centurion walked over while one of the guardsmen carried a bucket of the water spilling from the leak.
-
"Thank you!" She quickly grabbed the bucket, and hid from the men. Away from their prying eyes, she undid her towel, washed her hair clean of shampoo, and put the towel back on. She returned to the men with the empty bucket. "Thank you again so much!" The men noticed that the woman was the spitting image of the Emperor, dating back to pictures tens of thousands of years old of the man. Her hair was black, she had the same eyes and nose as him, but her face was basically a feminine version of him. No doubt they were related in some manner. Which was odd. "Now all I need are some clothes..."
-
The legionnaires recognized her image after a moment and rendered their one handed salute. The centurion shouted to the men. "Eight of you over here now!" The tribune spoke to the giant woman. "Ma'am, i am Quintus Tullius, tribune of the Ninth legion. My men and I will ensure your safe arrival to imperial lines, there the adepta sororitas might have something to clothe you. As you can see even the cloaks of my me. Would do you little better than what you have currently."
-
She seemed uneasy to have more men come to her. "You see... that's the thing. I'm not exactly a big fan of the sisters and... I'd like to keep the number of people who see me like this to a minimum. Now, I was warped here with my towel, thank my dad, so I have a little feeling my clothes will be nearby... just gotta find them!" She looked aroynd nervously. "Erm... you!" She pointed to the man who spoke to her. "And uh... you two!" She pointed to the other two men that initially spoke to her. "Erm... come with me on my quest!"
-
The tribune looked at the centurion and the legionnaire she indicated, and shook his head. "Ma'am I must protest, if who I believe you to be is correct I could be executed If anything were to happen to you."
-
"Bah, nothing's gonna happen, as long as you come along! We'll be fine, I'm sure. Besides, you seem to have an idea who I am. You know what I'm capabpe of!" She smiles. "It'll be fun, I'm sure. We'll get to bust some bugs if there are any in the way!"
-
He sighed and turned to the centurion. "Flavius, you stay and make sure this work gets done. I'll escort the lady on my own. My failure will not reflect on you." He turned to the woman. "Lead the way then."
-
"Well then... onwards!" She turns around, roaming the corridors with the lone tribune. Perhaps now was the best time to inquire about this strange woman.
-
The tribune wasn't a short man, but he had to really try to keep pace with the giant woman. "So if you don't mind me asking who are you?"
-
"Well, my name is Ariel. And, as you guessed, I'm a biological daughter of the Emperor. But I wasn't raised by him. I was raised by Malcador."
-
"Malcador, I thought he was dead. He was said to have perished on the golden throne during the great heresy."
-
"Yeah... I know." She says, sadly. "He died right before my eyes."
-
"Oh, I see. I did not mean to open old wounds. It was then you were entrusted to the sisters of battle?"
-
"No, not exactly then. That was... what, almost ten thousand years ago? Back then, the sisters of battle didn't exist. Back then, the Inquisition took care of me, under order from Malcador. That was the age of apostasy."
-
"I see, troubling times for the imperium. Only stories remain of that time, and the accuracy and bias of those are questionable at most."
-
"Well, let's just say it was a bad time for everyone. It was after that period that the Ecclesiarchy took hold of me."
-
"They used you as a symbol right? It seems like something they'd do."
-
"Well, being the only known relative of the Emperor at the time, they did stop both the Inquisition and the High lords from killing me. Plus I'm a woman, their soldiers are women, see the connection? Honestly, I find them all insufferable. At least the Ecclesiarch is a nice man."
-
"I see, do you know how you came to be here? I for the life of me haven't figured out how an entire legion disappears and reappears here."
-
"Well, it's the most annoying thing. I was taking a shower and right as I was about to shampoo my hair, I popped into this dreadful place! It's most annoying..."
-
"I can imagine. But how do you know there will be clothing this way? This is as far out as the scouts have been."
-
"Well, since I was brought here with my towel, I'm hoping that the rest of my apparel came through. Besides, I can sense my pendant is here. I just know."
-
"Pendant?"
-
"It's a little pendant that dad gave me."
-
"What's it do?" The tribune stopped then and pulled his sword out a quarter of the way. "Somethings ahead, I can't tell what though."