A Sword Fights for Its Wielder

by stealthpastry

On the sparsely populated Imperium planet of Achilles VII, the small PDF is faced with the dual threat of a Slaaneshi daemon incursion and the sudden appearance of a Harlequin masque. A contingent of guardsmen capture a lone Harlequin player and an unlikely alliance forms as a result. This was my first crack at fanfiction that I wrote years ago so it's a bit rough.

6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 - The Kiss

Anaris observed who she assumed to be the two human leaders confer with one another. Playing dead obviously didn't work, so she weighed what her chance would be in a fight against this small group. Humans were notoriously slow in hand-to-hand combat and Anaris was certain her skill with the blade outmatched all of the men's skill combined. However, Harlequins relied on speed and fluidity in combat, which is something she would certainly be lacking given the condition of her leg. If she were to attack, she would most likely be killed, which would ultimately lead to the humans searching the desert and potentially finding the Webway portal. On the other hand, she could "cooperate" and feed them false information that would lead the humans away from the portal.

Anaris had just decided to start talking when four of the humans approached her. Reacting instinctively to the sudden proximity of her foes, Anaris used all the force she could muster from one leg to spring towards the nearest soldier. She plunged her Brathuangau into him and saw the other humans flinch at the sight of their comrade's innards being extracted from his body. Taking advantage of the hesitation, she swung herself around and kicked out the legs of the next nearest human. Sliding the Brathuangau from the first human, she was rounding to pierce it into the second when she felt a vice-like grip on that wrist followed by a searing pain. Assuming the worst for her Brathuangau-wielding hand, Anaris grabbed the unwieldy rifle of the dead human beside her in order to attack the offending man holding her wrist. Before she could use the cumbersome weapon, her head snapped backwards painfully as the offender had grabbed hold of her long braid.

Anaris froze when she felt the cool barrel of a pistol digging into her skull. Behind her, she heard one of the human leaders breathe "Not another move, Xeno filth." At this point, Anaris was gasping in pain; she had lost a lot of blood from the wound in her leg; her wrist stung from where it had probably been broken; and now this brutish Mon-keigh was forcing her head back to an uncomfortable angle to keep her from moving. Unwilling to relinquish her soul to Cegnorach just yet, Anaris held up her hands and yielded to the humans.

Shortly thereafter she was thrown to the ground and saw that the human who had broken her wrist and held her hair had been the one wearing the black jacket. He proceeded to snap the Brathuangau, or as he likely knew it- Harlequin's Kiss, off of her wrist and ordered two lesser humans to tie her hands together in case she decided to make any other "poor choices." As her vision was becoming increasingly foggy, Anaris studied the features of this man in black, internally vowing to have her revenge.