Chapter 13- Ultimatum

The men of the first platoon apprehensively watched the discussion between Anaris and the other Harlequins. They were too far away for the soldiers to hear anything, but everyone was still on edge. Countless disasters could happen out here in the desert: more daemons could spawn; the Harlequins could ambush them; or the Harlequins could merely refuse to help which would doom the city to be overwhelmed by daemons.

Kade struggled to read the body language of the Eldar; their movements were too foreign for him to get an accurate interpretation. From what he could tell, the conversation was not going well. One of the unknown Harlequins was leaning angrily towards Anaris and moving her hands jerkingly as she spoke. The other Harlequin appeared to remain distant from the conversation; Kade wasn't sure if she was listening to the discussion or if she was watching the humans back at the truck. Regardless, he held his autogun a little closer since even looking at that particular Harlequin made him question his own sanity.

"Do they all wear spandex like that?" Kade heard Uriel muse as the man squinted through the badland's winds. Kade shrugged; he was still avidly watching the situation between Anaris and the others. He hoped to get some sort of clue from the 3 men who were with Anaris, but they didn't seem to know what was going on either. The Commissar watched the aliens with his usual impassive gaze while the other two simply looked uncomfortable.

"How do you think it's going?" Kade asked his friend. Perverted as Uriel was, he was great at picking up nonverbal cues when he wanted to.

"Well the one closest to Anaris is pretty pissed. You can tell how she keeps shifting her weight and waving her arms. She's got quite an ass for a Xeno- it gives a nice little bounce each time she moves. As for the thinner one, I have no clue. That one gives me the creeps."

"Thinner one? How can you tell from this distance?" Kade pointedly ignored Uriel's more sexual observations.

"Look at the waist- they wear those belt things with the gem in the middle. The one with the reflective mask is just wide enough to have the gem. Anaris and the ass girl have a little more meat on them, which means their belts have more metal. Maybe the thin one is malnourished which is why she's just standing there like a zombie."

Just as Uriel finished his sentence, the thinner harlequin's head snapped in their direction. Even though Kade couldn't see her eyes, he shivered as he could feel her gaze upon him. The Harlequin raised the staff she was carrying and suddenly Kade saw visions of bright colors and swirling fog. The effect was so lovely that Kade felt his muscles relax and he forgot all about the Harlequins. He breathed deeply as he let the fog envelop him which allowed the whirlpool of colors blossom into bright visions of his past. He sighed and watched his own memories play out before him- a phantom of young Kade disassembled his first autogun. Shortly thereafter, he watched himself pore over books as he studied to become a medic. Then, he was being introduced to Sergeant Limanowitz. It wasn't until the memories became more recent that he noticed that the spectral Kade was attached to strings. Tracing the strings upwards with his eyes, Kade saw that the staff-bearing Harlequin was controlling his other body like a marionette. The bright colors of the memories quickly darkened as the Harlequin began to laugh, her cackle echoing through the air as the visions began to play gruesome deaths of puppet Kade. Just as Kade was watching his own limbs get pulled from his torso, his vision cleared and he was thrown back to reality.

Kade quickly looked around and noticed that he wasn't the only one drenched in a cold sweat. He shook his head to rid the last remnants of the psychic contagion from his mind as he watched Anaris and her small escort make their way back to the rest of the platoon.

Commissar Bellaire quickly took in the unusual state of the men, "I knew that damn witch would pull something! Look to the Emperor for guidance, men, His light will pull you from the psychic haze."

Thinking of what could have become of them if these visions had come during battle, Kade felt the blood drain from his face. Kade had never experienced the effects of a psyker before so he sent a quick prayer to the Emperor that he would never have to fight against one. He watched nervously as Anaris closed her eyes and raised her hands as if she were reaching into the Warp herself. He heard that all Eldar have traces of psychic powers and he wondered just how strong of a psyker Anaris was.

Kade sighed with relief when Anaris opened her eyes and explained "The Shadowseer only gave these men hallucinations - no permanent harm was done." Anaris then sat in the sand, her long legs bent so she could rest her head on them. Kade didn't know an alien could look so morose, but Anaris seemed like she had no hope in the world.

"This Harlequin told me the others would bring our proposal to their leaders and be back shortly with a response," Bellaire updated the men after they came out of the mental fog. The Commissar had a dangerous gleam in his eyes as he spoke which told Kade that the man was not happy to wait on the Xenos. For good reason, each minute that passed meant more daemons arrived at the city walls. Kade felt helplessness sink in as they waited for the return of the Harlequins.

Finally a single Harlequin approached them. This one had more black in his costume than the others did and his mask seemed much more sinister. The way Anaris leapt to her feet at his arrival made Kade think that the newcomer was some sort of authority figure. The insignia on his billowing jacket was a bit more complex than the others he had seen, which gave further evidence to Kade's suspicions.

This time, the Harlequin addressed the militiamen and completely ignored Anaris' presence. Primarily speaking to the Commissar, the Harlequin offered his army's terms to the proposed alliance.

"Greetings human. The other Troupe Masters and I have decided to accept your offer for an alliance against these daemons as we feel it would lead to a significant victory against She Who Thirsts. However, we have two conditions for this alliance. Primarily, after we help save your city, you humans must vow to refrain from venturing this far into the desert for as long as your short generational memory will allow."

The Commissar frowned at this request and explained that he did not have the authority to make this promise, but he committed to mentioning it to the proper officers upon his return to the city. Satisfied, the Harlequin continued "Our other demand is something that you can ensure happens. The Eldar that travels with you was once part of our masque. However, her failures in her recent performance have brought her humiliation and threatened our missions. Therefore, the second condition is that she must not come back to this desert as she is no longer a welcome member of Sword's Triumph."

The only response to this demand was the desert's gusts of the wind for not even Commissar Bellaire knew how to respond to Anaris' cultural excommunication from her army. Anaris herself was unreadable as she stared blankly ahead past the men in front of her. Hearing no protest to his terms, the Harlequin took his leave. In farewell, he simply stated "We look forward to slaying the daemons alongside you humans."