‘I felt a bolt of sheer terror arc through me as the metal-clad giant tilted his head forward to look down at where I stood, and swung his chain axe with lightning speed. Which was his first mistake. Had he made any other attack he might well have killed me where I stood, still paralysed with fear, but the whining chain blades triggered my duellist’s reflexes and I parried the blow with my own gently-humming chainsword without a second’s hesitation. That snapped me out of it, you can be sure, and I began to fight for my life in deadly earnest. ‘Is that the best you can do?’ I taunted him, sure that in his arrogance he had expected an easy kill, and hoping to goad him into making a mistake. Not that I had any serious hope of besting him in a prolonged fight, of course; my unaugmented muscles would tire quickly, even without the strength-sapping cold, and his already superhuman endurance would be boosted by the power armour he wore. But if I could keep him pinned long enough for the troopers with me to line up a good shot and somehow disengage before they took it, I hoped I could wipe the smile off his face… if he still had one under that grotesque helmet. I slashed at his chest, raising a shower of sparks from the abused ceramite. ‘I thought the acolytes of Khorne were supposed to be warriors, not a bunch of pansies.’ ‘I’ll feed you your own entrails!’ the giant roared, slashing down again with his cumbersome weapon. This time I deflected it so that it struck his own leg, raising another shower of golden sparks and a cheer from the surrounding troopers. ‘Like I’ve never heard that before,’ I sneered, following through and getting right under his guard. I rolled in the snow, making as much distance as I could, seeing him turn out of the corner of my eye and raising the axe again. He never completed the motion. The actinic light of Jurgen’s melta stabbed the darkness, vaporising the middle of his chest, and he stumbled, dropping slowly to his knees.