[Zade]

Zade's eyes widened when she saw the huge, bear-sized beast running towards her.

A dog... she thought. Why did he have to have a dog?... I HATE dogs...

The very sight of the thing stirred up deep memories: Slavery... The masters and the snarling beasts they used to hunt those who tried to escape. The beasts they used to hunt HER. She remembered the torture... the beatings. The dogs were always there... growling and yelping in hopes of an occasional piece of human flesh... flesh flayed from the slaves' broken bones by the masters. Yes... they were there. The dogs... the dogs...

The images faded as quickly as they had come, but the hatred remained. Zade felt her muscles tighten... she heard herself snarling through clenched teeth as the huge beast prepared to leap for her.

[The Stranger]

Meanwhile, the Stranger strolled towards Val'keth. His eyes, hidden behind the veil of emptiness, focused on the elf's face. She would have to be subdued first. Then he would read her. Hopefully she would be the one... but either way, she would die.

He watched her as she reacted to his approach. Somewhere beneath the empty visage, a pair of lips curled upward into a tiny smile...

[Val'keth]

Watching as the man approached, Val'keth glanced backwards quickly as the great dog leapt toward Zade. Leave the woman to fight it, she thought. This man, though.... his blank face intrigued her.

She casually hefted her sword from hand to hand, approaching him carefully as a strange disquiet settled over her. The fact that he had no visible features brought back memories of another being she had faced, one that had almost killed her had succeeded in destroying many of her kin. It reminded her - of something in possession of human form, yet not fitted to it, and she shivered involuntarily.

[Zade]

Zade didn't wait for the dog to reach her. Clasping her dagger, the female warrior ran towards the giant hound like a woman possessed. They leapt at the same instant... woman and beast collided in the air. The hound drove Zade back. She hit the ground hard, with the dog right on top of her. Zade used the lingering momentum to flip the beast over her head, and then instantly rolled to her feet.

Zade spun and slashed at the beast, knowing that it was leaping for her again. She was right. The sharp blade ripped through the matted fur and opened a deep gash in the hellhound's chest, just below the neck. The dog's momentum carried it forward, but Zade easily side-stepped the falling beast.

She had misjudged the beast's size slightly... the slash was intended for its throat. But the wound was severe enough to do the job. She expected the dog to collapse or start coughing up thick clots of blood... it did neither.

The dog rolled to its feet and paused before her. The wound on its chest shed a few drops of blood, then vanished like a mark wiped from a child's slate.

The Hellhound growled deeply.

"Oh, damn..." said Zade.

[The Stranger]

As the female elf readied herself, the Stranger reached out with his mind and grabbed her sword. Without even a wince, he gave the blade a fierce tug, snatching it out of her grasp and sending it flying over his left shoulder. When it hit the ground behind him, half its length slid into the earth.

[Val'keth]

Ignoring the swearing from behind her, Val'keth shrieked as her sword wrenched itself free from her hand. Quick as a flash, one hand loosed two daggers off toward the man. Not pausing to see if they reached their target, Val'keth rolled past the man in a blur of motion toward her sword.

No time to pull it free, she thought as she turned to face the featureless man, thinking perhaps he wore a mask of some kind, magical even.

"How DARE you interrupt US!" she shouted as she leapt on his back, grabbing for where his face should have been.

[Zade]

Zade had two throwing stars in the air even as the Hellhound's wound finished closing. She was aiming not for where the beast was, but where its imminent charge would place it. The hound lunged right into them... one sank deep into the base of its woolly snout, and the other obliterated its left eye.

Without even the slightest whimper of pain, the beast kept charging.

This just keeps getting better and better...

Zade backflipped , but the hound was an instant too fast. As she came up in a crouching position, the dog landed on top of her. She barely got her left arm up in time to keep from losing her face. The beast's teeth clamped down on her steel bracer, and Zade felt the armor actually yielding to the pressure of its jaws.

[The Stranger]

The elf was fast. Before he knew it, the woman was clinging to his back.

She screamed something irrelevant and reached around for his face. The Stranger grabbed her hand in a telekinetic fist and pulled her away from him. He suspended her in mid air... hanging by one arm in front of him.

[Val'keth]

"Fel'mrath take your soul, you bastard!" she spat, kicking out at him with one blade-tipped boot.

She grabbed for another dagger, but held onto it this time, making no move to throw it at her attacker.

"I suppose you're another one of these do-gooders that this place seems to attract. Well, I've got news for you - I DON'T WANT YOUR STINKING HELP!"

Val'keth raged at him, swinging to and fro and waiting for an opportunity to present itself. Then her eyes lit on the woman sprawling under the great dog behind the stranger.

Though it ran contrary to her usual practice, Val'keth tried to make as much noise as she could. Perhaps, just this once, she might be unlucky enough to have a patrol passing nearby - possibly the only time she ever thought they might actually be useful. She had a very bad feeling about the whole situation, and the chances were Zade wasn't enjoying it much either.

"And as for you, you BITCH," Val'keth shouted, "GET YOUR DISGUSTING FANGS OUT OF HER NECK!"

[Zade]

There was no doubt about it... This dog fully intended to bite her arm completely off.

If it weren't for her bracer she'd already be sporting a bloody stump. With her free hand, Zade grasped a dagger from her belt and prepared to sink it into the beast's neck. The thing could heal wounds instantly, and didn't seem capable of feeling pain, but if she could sever a nerve she might be able to kill it, or at least drive it away. Then again, she could just make it mad.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the beast's master toying with her adversary, the elf. He was a mage of some kind... and appeared to be making short work of Val'Keth. That meant that even if Zade broke free, she'd still have to deal with him. But he was distracted... standing with his back to her and the hound.

She quickly weighed the options: Gamble on freeing herself now, or go for the sure thing...

Zade quickly altered her grip and threw the dagger at the back of the man's head. At that exact instant, the dog bit down hard on her arm. Pain raced up her shoulder, spoiling her aim.

"DAMMIT!" Zade hissed. Even with the poor throw, the blade sank hilt-deep into the man's left shoulder.

[The Stranger]

"aaAAARGH!"

More from surprise than pain, the Stranger's concentration scattered like sand in the wind. He dropped the elf and instinctively reached for the blade protruding from his shoulder

[Val'keth]

"Urmph!"

The contact with the ground forced the air from her lungs, but as she saw him reaching for his shoulder, realization hit her. Val'keth flung the dagger at the dog still straddling Zade, then grabbed for another to follow the first. This one however had barbed spines parallel to the blade, ensuring that once lodged in flesh it would not be knocked free - and a thin channel ran the length of the black blade glistening with a lethal poison.

She knew now that she wouldn't be able to face this man on her own, and she grabbed frantically for her sword, heaving its length out of the dirt and ran headlong for the dog.

[Zade]

Zade was more than surprised when Val'keth used her moment of freedom to attack the hound instead of running. Her dagger sank into the dog's back and held fast. The beast showed no evidence of pain, but instinctively it turned it's attention to the new attacker. Zade snatched her left arm out of the beast's grip and scrambled back. She was on her feet in an instant, and already reaching for the closest weapon.

Who to kill first... dog? stranger? Or gutter-trash?

Deciding that it was better to finish what she started, Zade launched a pair of shuriken at the back of the stranger's head. At that instant, the Stranger snatched the dagger out of his shoulder and turned to face her.

Zade's throw was perfect. The shuriken were just about to ventilate the Stranger's head when...

*ka-tink!*

*ka-tink*

Both missiles hit some invisible barrier and ricocheted off at odd angles. Seeing this, Zade did the only thing she could when faced with an enemy with unknown abilities

She threw another shuriken to distract him and ran like hell.

[The Stranger]

The Stranger pushed through the pain and re-assembled his concentration just as the dagger came free of his shoulder. He threw up a telekinetic shield and then turned. The two missiles took him unawares... the Hellhound was supposed to be detaining the human, but now she was free. In his brief moment of surprise, the woman threw another missile and started running. The Stranger ignored the star and reached out with his mind... catching the human in his mental grasp.

[Val'keth]

Val'keth ducked as the two throwing stars sliced the air above her head, then glanced back as they fell to the ground at the stranger's feet. Interesting, she thought as Zade ran from the dog, then as it turned toward her with snarling jaw wide, Val'keth found something much more pressing to concentrate on. If the beast had given Zade problems, she knew it would be no easy kill for her either.

She stood her ground before the foul dog, casually hefting her sword from hand to hand, watching for signs that the poison had started filtering through the hounds body and hoping that Zade would distract their attacker long enough. The dog stepped toward her, great globs of saliva dripping from its sharp fangs, and a disgusting stench wafted from its jaws. It growled, a low chilling sound, padding forward once more.

Val'keth's fingers crept toward the small crossbow hung at her waist. Though a ranged weapon, it had other uses in close combat - its quality of construction lending it to all manner of things. Unhooking it, she carefully changed her grip on it, then darted forward to meet the hound as it leapt for her.

Quicker than the eye could see, she rammed the crossbow deep within its mouth, keeping it vertical between the jaws as they slammed down. The drow were famed for the strength of their weapons, and they were much prized as almost indestructible by non-drow. However, it was rare that such items could be found and bought by surface-dwellers, and Val'keth had no intention of letting this one find its way onto the open market. She ripped her arm back out of the dogs maw, and followed through with a thrust toward it's eyes with her sword, watching and hoping as she saw the crossbow flexing under the pressure the beast was exerting as it tried to close it's mouth.

[Hellhound]

As the sword sliced through the beast's eye, the Hellhound bit down on the bow. Painlessly, the eye began to reform...

[Zade]

Zade felt something grip her around the waist and yank her backward. Her heels dug furrows in the ground for several feet, and then she was lifted up and flung through the air like a helpless child. She felt herself being spun around, and then she hit the ground. She was on her feet, standing face to no-face with the Stranger. The force around her waist expanded so that now her arms were pinned to her side.

Her legs, however, were free.

She kicked him in the crotch, only to have her foot impact some invisible shield just inches away from the target. The same force that was holding her was surrounding the Stranger... protecting him.

And now that force enveloped her legs, holding them motionless as well.

She was trapped.

"LET ME GO!"

The echoes of her shout had hardly begun to fade when she felt the Stranger enter her mind. At first it was like an icy-cold wave washing over her brain... and then the wave grew warm... and warmer still.

Like boiling acid, the Stranger's scan seeped into the crevices of her mind... searching for something that lay just beneath... searching deeper... deeper...

[The Stranger]

Just as he had done with all the others, he forced his mind into hers and began digging for the memories that would mark her as The One. The pain of his knife wound was a constant irritation in the background, making the search longer and more difficult. Still, he had to continue. He pushed himself... deeper... deeper...

Suddenly he found something. Something hidden. It wasn't deep, but it had concealed itself so well that the woman herself was totally unaware of it's presence It was primal and powerful, not very different what he felt in the Hellhound's mind when he entered it. But unlike the hound, THIS thing was neither good nor evil. It was strong... fierce...

And it did not like intrusions.

The thing lashed out at him like a cornered animal. Under normal circumstances the Stranger could have easily warded it off, but the suddenness of the attack, coupled with the pain of his physical wound, created a weakness that the hidden animal exploited instinctively.

"ARRRGH!!"

Feedback overwhelmed the Stranger, shattering his concentration like cheap glass. His contact with the woman was gone, but so were his telekinetic shields.

He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, all he saw was the tip of the woman's boot speeding toward his head.

*CRACK!*

The kick spun him completely around and dropped him to his hands and knees. His telekinetic shields went back up just in time to prevent further damage... but he was hurt and disoriented.

He needed time to gather his concentration.

He lifted one hand and shoved the woman away from him. The telekinetic blast was clumsy but very powerful... the woman landed several feet away and did not get up immediately. Still reeling from her kick, The Stranger sent a command to the Hellhound...

:Finish Them Both:

[Val'keth]

She shuddered as the eye reformed itself - the slash in the eyeball closing up as fast as the sword slit it open. No wonder Zade had given up with it, she thought. A hound that heals itself... and it didn't look like the poison was having much of an effect beyond slowing its reactions a little.

She grabbed for another dagger, aware now that she was down to half her normal complement and wielded it simultaneously with her sword, dodging and skipping backwards as the dog lunged for her. Her blade flickered out to the side, feinting towards its shoulder, then she flicked the dagger towards it, aiming for the eye once more. There was a sickening *THUNK* as it hit home, lodging deep within the bony cavity.

The bow was bending dangerously within it's gaping mouth, and Val'keth winced as she imagined the trouble she'd have to go to in replacing it. She jumped toward the hound, driving her sword toward its other eye with all the force she had.

She heard the stranger howl in pain, chanced a quick glance over her shoulder. Zade had brought the man to his knees in the dirt, and Val'keth turned her concentration back to the dog.

It had dodged, moving far faster than she'd anticipated with just one eye, and her momentum carried her past its head and beyond. Just as quickly, the hair on the back of her neck prickled, and she threw herself to the floor as the dog whipped it's head back around. It snarled, a hot fetid brimstone odor washing over her, making her retch as she slashed repeatedly at its snout and scrambled around, then she yanked another dagger and dropped her sword.

Val'keth leapt sideways, the move unthinking and totally natural to her. Standing about the same height as a lizard - the dark-elf was well used to vaulting onto their backs - she landed firmly astride the hell-hound. With a sharp crack, the black cross-bow finally gave way inside its maw, and the hound whipped its head around. Its jaws raked long gouges of flesh from her calf - unprotected by the fine mesh-link armour she wore that covered more critical areas.

Val'keth took the pain, drew it deep within herself, then used it to aid her momentum as she threw herself forward and rammed the dagger into its other eye, her leg burning with pain now. She cursed herself for leaving her bracers behind that evening, a mistake she would not make again.

She felt the hound tense beneath her, and groaned as she rolled off sideways, recovering her sword from the dirt. The world swung dizzily from side to side as pain surged up her leg - and she saw the dog's head seeking for its prey by scent and sound. Val'keth stumbled out of range, heading for the closest cover she could make out, and nearly tripped over something on the way.

Zade?

[Zade]

Zade reeled with nausea as her bruised innards settled back into place. She felt as if she'd been hit in the gut with a cannonball, and her thin leather armor had absorbed little if any of the telekinetic blast. Eyes clamped shut from the pain, Zade tried to sit up. As she did, something ran past her. At first, she thought it was the stranger's dog coming to finish her off... but whatever it was kept going.

She opened her eyes. The Stranger was just getting off of his knees, and his animal was sniffing intently in her direction.

Time to leave...

Zade got up. Her first few steps were clumsy and weak, but with more effort, she forced the pain out of her mind and managed a run. She had no idea where she was going, but she had to get there FAST. Zade ducked behind a building, picked a direction and ran as fast as she could.

[To Be Continued]