Chapter 12- Betrayal

Anaris coughed and groaned as she faded back into consciousness. She opened her eyes and tried to push away when she saw the heathen Uriel kneeling above her. He gave her a mischievous grin and held her still, "That's no way to thank the heroic man who saved your life!"

Eyes widening in horror, Anaris tried to retort back but all that came out was a wheeze. So, the man continued, "Kade said with the condition of your esophagus, you probably wouldn't be able to re-establish a breathing pattern on your own so I valiantly volunteered to help revive you!"

She heard muffled snickers as she spat, finally realizing the source of the disgusting taste on her lips. The men around her were the same men from the desert and they seemed oddly relieved that she was conscious. Before she could wonder what happened after she passed out, the man in black stepped into sight.

"Your enthusiasm towards the health of our liaison astounds me, Trooper Baff" the man said flatly. "Now, gather up your things and head for the armory. We mustn't waste any more time."

So Anaris had become a link between these men and her masque. Somehow, they must have changed the Inquisitor's mind. She rubbed her sore neck thoughtfully until she felt a pair of hands slide under her armpits and she was lifted to her feet.

"Can you stand?" the medic asked Anaris as he held her up. The room around her began to spin so Anaris quickly shook her head. Without a second thought, the soldier put one of his hands beneath the crook of her knees and picked her up off the ground. Not having the energy to resist or even to feel humiliated, Anaris let herself be carried this way until they reached a rickety looking truck. She was surprised with the care the medic showed her as he gently placed her in one of the seats in the back of the truck. He then sat in the seat next to her and picked up her bad leg. As the rest of the men piled in the transport, the medic cleaned the wound on her leg again and applied a bandage.

She tried to thank him when he moved his attention to her swollen wrist. He shook his head, "It will probably be a little while longer until you can talk. Your trachea was pretty roughed up, but I've already injected some anti-inflammatory when you were unconscious to free up the airway. In a few more minutes, the swelling will probably be down enough for you to start talking. For now, I'm going to do my best to patch you up so you can hopefully fight with us."

This time, Anaris was shocked at how effective the first aid was. The medic had sufficiently cleaned out all of her wounds and the bandaging he applied gave each limb proper support so that she could move them without too much pain. She was further surprised when another soldier offered her food and water. Instinctively, she refused the offering as Eldar typically did not trust the food of lesser species. However, the medic took the rations from the soldier and forced them into Anaris' hands. He explained "You need to eat. You have lost so much blood that any nutrition you take in will be necessary to replenish your blood count."

In acknowledgement, Anaris gulped down water as quickly as her raw throat would allow. She sighed at the relief the cool water provided and then moved on to eat some of the food. Raising her eyes, she met those of Uriel who was watching with interest. "Hm?" she queried; food in her mouth was the only thing preventing her from speaking at this point.

The perverted man laughed, "Never seen a Xeno eat before! I was half expecting you to absorb the food through your eyes or some freaky shit like that."

Anaris put down her food and sighed. Though her voice was a bit hoarse she still felt it necessary to chide the human, "Our basic anatomy isn't that much different than yours. Apparently, you've already found out that I have a functioning mouth. Although it seems like Eldar maintain better oral hygiene than humans do," she noted with a dramatized grimace.

Uriel chortled at this insult and another soldier elbowed him in the ribs before exclaiming "It's amazing she's still willing to help us after getting mouth-to-mouth from this bastard!"

"Hey now, what's wrong with my mouth?" Uriel feigned to take offense, "Plenty of ladies have swooned over what it can do." He made a rude gesture and Anaris determinedly looked away. Her embarrassment caused an uproar of laughter in the back of the truck as it lurched forward into motion.

Anaris was relieved when she heard the man in black loudly clear his throat. She had hardly noticed his presence since he was the last to enter the truck, but now she was hoping he could put a quick end to this uncivilized banter.

"Just because we are allying ourselves with the Xenos today does not make it appropriate to treat them as we would treat humans," the Commissar scolded the laughing men.

"With all due respect, sir, if something has boobs, Uriel doesn't treat it like a human," one soldier responded while struggling to maintain a straight face. Anaris put her hands on her face as everyone in the truck except for the man in black burst into laughter at this statement. Through her fingers, she saw the man in black reach for his pistol but then shake his head and turn back away from the commotion.

"We're not all like that," Anaris heard the medic next to her whisper to her sheepishly. She sat up straight and explained to the man "It makes no difference to me. Crude as Uriel is, he can fight and that is all we need right now."

As the laughter died down, Limanowitz shouted from the front of the truck, "We're approaching the site of the old daemon incursion. Harlequin, which way should we go from here?"

"Head Northwest for about 30 kilometers then I'll let you know where to turn after that… and my name is Anaris."

The passengers all leaned against the motion of the truck as it followed Anaris' directions. Everyone sat in silence as the truck rattled over the bumps and dunes of the desert. The sudden quiet gave Anaris a moment to consider the potential consequences of her actions. Even though Anaris wasn't leading them directly to the Webway portal, these humans would get an idea of its general location. Eventually, this could lead to the discovery and potential destruction of the portal. On the other hand, she had no way to communicate with Sword's Triumph without the help of the humans. If they didn't fight alongside the humans, the Harlequins had a slim chance of keeping the waves of daemons from finding the portal. Anaris hoped that her decision to lead the humans to the perimeter around the portal where the Light Troupe regularly patrolled would be enough to draw the masque's attention without giving away too much information.

"So we finally have a word for you!" Anaris was rudely ripped from her thoughts by Uriel, who always seemed eager for a conversation. Her larynx was still sore from the Inquisitor nearly suffocating her so Anaris did not share his excitement at a chance to converse. Hence, she simply responded with a small nod as she shifted to avoid looking at the greasy and stubbly man. Unfortunately, a nod was the only encouragement he needed. "Well, the Sergeant up front is Limanowitz. And this fool next to me is Lominack followed by Vintera, Faldher, Youngsman, and Prewitt." Each man gave a quick incline of their chins as Uriel said their names.

Anaris wasn't sure what the point of these introductions was, but Uriel rambled on, "Kade here has been the one keeping you alive and the one keeping us alive back there is Commissar Bellaire. He's probably pretty upset that I'm talking to you like this, but we were taught in training to know one's enemy so here we are" Uriel concluded with a smirk on his face.

"Uriel, you should be aware they didn't mean to know the enemy on a personal level," the one called Kade said, earning him a look of approval from the man in black. Anaris supposed she could call the man in black by his name, Bellaire, but she still harbored some bitterness towards him and did not want to waste the time committing his name to memory. Before she had to suffer through Uriel's reasoning towards the pleasantries, the truck slammed to a halt and Limanowitz ordered everyone to get out. Anaris watched as the men stumbled out of the side doors, thinking to herself that her fellow Harlequins would have already impaled several enemies after leaping from a Skyweaver in the time that it took the humans to simply exit their truck. Gently easing onto her bad leg, Anaris was relieved when it supported her weight. She exited the truck, followed by the medic, Kade, who had hung back to see if she needed help.

The soldiers had formed a double ranked line upon their sergeant who was squinting through the dust at two shapes. Suddenly filled with apprehension, Anaris recognized the two forms as members of her Twilight Troupe. Anaris asked to confer with them alone, but the man in black refused to leave her side to prevent her from running away. He ordered two men, Anaris remembered their names of Vintera and Prewitt, to join him as he followed Anaris' slow limp towards the two Harlequins. The rest of the squad stayed back near the truck, ready to provide firing support in case of an ambush. Anaris hoped desperately that she made the right choice bringing them out here.

As she approached, she moved her hand in greeting towards her friend, Shadow of Faolchu, a fellow player of Twilight. The other Harlequin present was a Shadowseer of Twilight whose name was escaping Anaris' memory. She frowned at this, Anaris should know all of the cast's names. Was the Shadowseer clearing her mind out of mistrust? Anaris certainly felt dread when she took in the sight of the Shadowseer, her mirror-like mask showing Anaris' reflection. Anaris hardly recognized herself; her costume was torn, face gaunt, neck with a handprint bruise, and her form generally looked beaten. She attempted a warm smile which was quickly halted as her friend began to speak in the Eldar language so the humans accompanying Anaris wouldn't understand.

"I tried to convince them to come back for you," Anaris' friend began icily, "and now you come here with a truckload of humans! What were you thinking? Your failures and faulty decisions have put our entire mission in jeopardy. Have you no consideration for An-Iolsus or the sanctity of the Webway?"

Anaris winced at the accusations, but tried to explain "There is an upsurgence of daemons from She Who Thirsts rushing for the human city. Their numbers are too great for the humans to keep at bay so I thought it best for the safety of the Webway to offer aid to the humans as they provide lesser of a threat to the portal than the daemons do."

Her friend was taken aback, "You offered them aid? Anaris, I know you play a sword, and swords fight for whomever may wield them but what has gotten into your head? You have no power in the masque!"

After Anaris gave her friend more information, Shadow of Faolchú finally agreed to share Anaris' plight with the Troupe Masters of Sword's Triumph. As she turned to leave, she promised to return quickly with the masque's decision. The Shadowseer wordlessly waved her Mistave causing the two Harlequins to vanish from sight and leaving a glum Anaris behind with her human escorts.