It never stopped raining.

From the moment I first approached the city limits of Haventree, the skies had served up everything from a flooding downpour to a light mist that could hardly be considered rain at all. Part of me knew that eventually it WOULD stop raining, but having to force my way through the wall of cold water falling from the sky made that part sit down and stay quiet for a long, long time. It was the hardest non-magical rain I'd ever seen. I wondered if this wasn't some kind of divine punishment... annihilation by flood. But was it punishment for Haventree? Or me?

And did it even matter?

No, of course not. Right then, I had more important things on my mind than my personal standing in the grand balance of good and evil. Things like finishing the job I was sent here to do, and, if possible, being alive at the end of it. The rain was a serious impediment to both of those objectives. Even with a lantern and several flares tied to the saddle, I could barely see far enough to proceed at a slow walk... and sometimes not even that. My hair, face, and clothes were soaked. Most of it was water, but rain had spurred a steady flow of unhealthy mucous from my nostrils. The sickness and the... not one, but TWO kinds of poison... in my body had decided that if I was dumb enough to be out in this downpour then perhaps I WANTED to die. So they had both resumed their race to see which would kill me first. The fact that I could barely breathe without sucking water into my lungs was an added bonus that they were using to their full advantage. The efforts of keeping the well-trained horse under control was enough to leave me gasping. And cursing... can't forget about the cursing...

I had left Evelyn Kerse's house with the widow in tow... seated behind me on Carder Shaw's horse. Her wrists and ankles were bound in heavy chains. She protested at first, asking why, if I believed Shaw as setting her up, did I need to slap her in chains? The answer was quite simple:

I might have been sick, but I'm wasn't stupid.

What I BELIEVED Shaw was doing, and what was ACTUALLY going on here, may, in fact, be two entirely different things. Until I had it all figured out, everyone remained a suspect. And since SHE was the only suspect within fireball-throwing range, she got elected to wear my fancy silver jewelry. As an added precaution, I had slipped my silver chain mail on underneath my jacket, and was wearing spring-loaded wrist blades on both arms. I wasn't ready for a serious fight, but I wasn't as easy a target as I looked.

I also had item of interest with me... other than the Kerse woman. The book. The grimoire. Some magical tomes were just that... books. Others carried magic of their own. Protective and even some offensive spells cast into the very pages and bindings. I didn't know which kind of book THIS one was, but the odd humming sensation when I held it was a good indication of the second. I didn't bother with the official tests... instinct was enough for me. I sealed the book with silver locking-straps that I carried specifically for that purpose, then wrapped it in a salt-waxed cloth and buried it in the bottom of my pack. Whatever magic the book contained would probably stay put for the time being. If it didn't... well, a little excitement was good for the heart.

"You're going to kill yourself," Kerse shouted into my ear. She had to shout in order to be heard over the rain, which had risen to a thundering roar all around us. "You have to STOP!"

Yes, I'm sure she'd like that very much. I know I would, but there wasn't a single doubt... not ONE... that Shaw had been up to something from the second I left his mansion to fetch Kerse. WHICH Shaw, and just what he, she, or they were up to, was a question that I'd rather answer sooner and not later. With rain this hard, they'd expect me to stay put. If I kept going, I'd either catch them by surprise or die on the way.

"STOP! PLEASE!" Kerse begged. I should have gagged her and covered her head, but I didn't want to stop now...

"No," I spat. I had to spit... my mouth was full of water and other, less pleasant fluids.

We kept going.

The horse didn't like the rain, but the 'road' was still useable, so there was no reason not to continue toward town. But we were still a long walk... or swim... away from our destination, and my head was beginning to throb. It already hurt... it had never STOPPED hurting since I first woke up... but now it was starting to pound like a blacksmith's hammer, marking each beat of my heart with a jolt of hard, wincing pain. I wondered which death THIS was? The mud-stinger venom? Vivian Sorter's concocted 'cure'? Or simple, old-fashioned pneumonia?

It was the cure.

I could tell that from what I saw rising up from the mud just beside my horse. When the long, multi-jointed torso shot upward past me and curved back down... snapping its claws toward my torso... I just turned away and ignored it. I was tired of seeing carnipedes now. There was nothing funny, amusing, entertaining, or REAL about them at all. But unfortunately, it wasn't a simple matter of just wishing them to go away. The poison in me sparked a fear-response even though I knew what I saw wasn't real. My heart raced, and the hammer in my skull raced right along with it. My entire body clenched tight against the flood of chemically-induced panic.

My heels kicked into the horse's flank. The poor beast thought I was signaling it to go faster, so it did-

-and immediately lost its footing. We almost went down. I shifted my weight to the side in preparation for the muddy impact... but the beast righted itself at the last instant, leaving me leaning off-balance in my the saddle, watching the damned imaginary carnipede dip toward me again.

I screamed.

Not out of fear... but from the pain in my head that was now stabbing down my spine like a knife.

Evelyn Kerse shouted something, but between the rain, my screaming, and the throbbing in my head, I had no clue what it was. I managed to jerk myself upright and slump forward over the horse's neck. The horse trotted a few steps, then settled back into its slow, reluctant walk.

The carnipedes were all around me, now. I could see the ground puffing up on both sides of the road as they tunneled past... moving ahead to cut me off. I was walking into a TRAP!!-

"No... noo...." I moaned.

Up ahead... somewhere in the dark... I heard something massive erupting from the mud, followed by the clik-clik of massive pincers snapping in anticipation.

It was HIM! HIM!

This was getting ridiculous.

"...not real," I told myself. Maybe if I said it out loud...

-clik-clik-CLIK!-

The chemicals in my body kept pumping fear into my veins... as if my body somehow knew the hallucinations were REAL even when my mind knew otherwise. My hands clutched frantically at the reigns, yanking and twisting like a madman who'd never even SEEN a horse before. I couldn't stop them. I was trembling all over, and the horse was getting nervous again.

"What is it?" said Kerse. She sounded worried. She should have been. She was tied to the saddle... if this horse went down with her on it, there was a good possibility that all BOTH of us would drown. "Whatever you see, it isn't REAL!"

"I KNOW!" I grunted through clenched teeth. My jaw had tightened involuntarily... squeezing so hard that my teeth hurt. "I CAN'T... STOP!"

I couldn't feel my heart beating. I knew that it WAS beating, because I wasn't dead yet. But that... that THING in my chest couldn't possibly have been my heart. It was too fast. No human heart could beat THAT fast...

Not for long, anyway.

The hills around us were alive with carnipede tracks. I saw one of the damned things burst out of the ground and then dive back in like a fish. The last time I had seen that...

"NNNNN! I'M NOT THERE! NOT... THERE!"

"Breathe deeply!" said Kerse. "Long... slow... deep breaths. You have to slow your heart or you'll die!"

Long, slow breaths. Right.

I gasped in a mouthful of water and swallowed it. I tried again, and ended up giving my lungs a nice long drink. Coughing furiously, I held my head down and-

"ARRRRRGH!"

Stabbing pain in my chest. Heart.

Maybe if I knocked myself out... hit myself in the head... maybe THAT would stop it. But it wasn't my HEAD that was doing this!

I pressed my face to the horse's skin and breathed in a foul, slimy mixture of water and air. With a few more practice breaths, I managed a long, wheezing inhalation. And another. And another. And another.

"That's it!" Kerse said encouragingly. "Breathe deep and slow... into your stomach...It's like a natural tranquilizer..."

Tranquilizer, hell. The hills were spinning around me now and, in a desperate effort at a last-minute victory, the pneumonia hit me with two full-body muscle spasms that nearly launched me out of the saddle. Afterwards, I was too weak to even sit up straight. My vision blurred, but I could STILL HEAR THOSE DAMNED CAR-

-no. No, that was just the rain. I took another deep breath or two and tried to squint through the haze of rain and mucous coating my eyeballs.

"It's over," said Kerse.

Yeah? How the hell would SHE know?

"Is the horse still pointed in the right direction?" I asked weakly.

"Yes."

"Good."

If I wasn't already slumped over on the horse's back, I would have done so right then. Most of the strength drained out of my body, and I used every bit of what remained just to keep from passing out. My heartbeat had slowed to something human, but just THINKING about moving nudged it upward just a bit. So I just lay there and felt the horse move beneath me. The beast was just wandering now, I certainly had no control over it. And if Evelyn Kerse decided to sprout a second pair of arms and rip out my spinal column while I lay there, then there was absolutely nothing I could do to stop her. Hopefully the silver chain mail would-

-ahh, who was I kidding? If she wanted me, I was hers, armor or not.

"We're not going to stop, are we?" she said solemnly. "You're not going to stop to rest?"

"I'm resting now," I said. It was true; I WAS resting.

"Why are you in such a hurry? What do you plan to do when we get there?"

"Kill someone," I answered. I couldn't have lied even if I wanted to... which I didn't. Lying took too much energy.

For a moment, I heard nothing but rain. And then:

"Who?"

"...still thinking about it," I said. "...but I'll let you know..."

---

The thing's head exploded like a ripened pod.

I had hit the ground an instant before, and the explosion threw me forward. I landed face-down in the bloody-saturated mud, first feeling something twist painfully in my back, followed by the explosion's afterbirth: a sickening spray of thick gore and sharp chunks of still-smoking exoskeleton.

I was screaming. Not from the pain. Not from the explosion. Not from the wet, chunky ooze sliding down my back. I'd been screaming before either of those had happened.

They'd been underneath us the whole time. All the way from the beach. The whole thing... the entire operation... had been a trap of massive, almost unthinkable magnitude.

We should have stopped at the trees. If we'd known then what we would find out only minutes later, we would have stopped and taken our chances with the devil we KNEW. But we were on a mission. We fought our way through the trees... most of which weren't really trees... and emerged at the edge of a flat, grassy plane surrounded by low hills.

The Valley of Death.

They came first from behind. We didn't know what caused the screaming, and before we could find out, the ground beneath the main body of the squadron gave in with a deafening rumble. Men and equipment tumbled into the jaws and slicing pincers
waiting below. I had no idea what was happening. Men screamed as they tried to pull themselves up... some succeeded, yanking themselves clear with their hands only to discover that their torsos now ended below the chest-

And THEN the attack started.

The ground in front of us split open, giving birth to something huge and monstrous. They struck before they were even fully emerged... one set of pincers slicing through two and three men at a time while the second set hauled the creature's bulk up and out...

With more of them spooling out of the hole behind us, we had no choice but to fight. The howls of the dying clashed with the screams of the living... mine among them. Magekillers led the Imperial Guard in a forward thrust that WOULD have succeeded if the damned things had just STOPPED coming out of the ground! But they wouldn't! One after another after ANOTHER they came... not in waves, but in one, continuous stream of clicking pincers and screaming, dismembered-but-still-living men. Thick, red rain fell in warm splatters from the sky as men and boys were snatched up... still fighting... and twisted apart like dolls.

Donregarde was right. I wasn't ready. Not for this. Not for this...

"...not for this..." I said aloud. I stood fixed and motionless in the middle of the slaughter... sword dangling from my loose grip... repeating this phrase over and over and over again like some protective spell. As if, if I said it enough times, I would be magically transported back in time to Cradle Row, where things had gone so deceptively well. So easy. So simple. I had been ready for THAT, but-

"...not for this... not for this..."

Something spotted me.

I looked up at it. It peered down at me, swaying and shuddering in the chaos. Something was on its back, but it didn't care. I was what it wanted. I just looked at me... For a moment it seemed confused...

Why was this meat just standing there? Why wasn't it running and screaming like the others? What was it saying?

But these questions and their answers meant nothing to a mind that had gone insane with hunger years ago. It blinked, gave an ominous

click-CLICK!

-with its pincers, and then dove toward me.

Still motionless... still terrified... I merely screamed, and waited.

Then the explosion.

The damned things were unstoppable by anything short of a cannon. The cannons were long gone, but some of the crews had survived the landing... and they still had their packs of black powder. That by itself would have been meaningless, but someone... someone smarter than me, with a mind apparently immune to the horror around him... had seen how the creatures moved.

There was a weak spot. Not a weakness in the exoskeleton, but in the joints of the forelimbs. On the back, just below the head, was a place where the creatures could not reach with their pincers. Someone...

...someone a lot braver than me...

Had worked their way onto one of the creature's backs and... quickly, before the thing dove underground... carved a hole in the fleshy pulp between the monster's skin-plates. Black powder and flame-

-and I was on the ground, covered in gore and wet, stringy slime.

Someone grabbed me and rolled me onto my back. I was dragged a short distance... screaming every inch of the way. Above me, I saw Imperial uniforms. Above THEM, I caught a glimpse of the giant, reptilian thing that had chased us into the trees aeons ago. We'd thought it was a dragon at first. We were wrong. It had done its job and was moving on to attack somewhere else. Not our problem any more. And even if it WAS our problem, it wasn't MY problem.

Because I had gone mad.

My screams became cackles of laughter. I pointed up at absolutely nothing, and laughed like it was the funniest thing in the whole damned world. Because it WAS the funniest thing in the whole damned world.

"We've LOST HIM!" one of the Imps... what we lovingly called the Imperial Guard... said with dismay. I wondered why he wasn't laughing. There were explosions all around me now, and even THEY were funny! So why wasn't he LAUGHING!?!

The worried Imp's face was joined by another; this face was attached to a clattering jumble of plate and chain mail... all silver.

"PULL IT TOGETHER, BOY!" the Magekiller shouted. I didn't know the man's name, and thus didn't feel bad about giggling uncontrollably in his face.

The ground rumbled beneath me. Beneath everyone. Something big...

...but then it stopped.

"LEAVE HIM!" the Magekiller ordered. "TAKE HIS SILVER AND LET'S GO!"

The shocked Imp... who couldn't have been more than three years older than me... looked incredulously at the Magekiller.

"TAKE THE SILVER!" the armored man ordered. "WEAPONS AND ARMOR! NOW!"

The ground shook again. This time not underneath me, but somewhere else. The intensity-

More screaming.

My laughter choked off as I propped myself up to see what had happened... then immediately wished that I hadn't. This new thing that the earth of Finity Isle belched up before us was like nothing I had ever seen. Its shape was like the subterranean bug-things that were even now still popping up around it... but it was huge. Bigger than the ships that had brought us to this hell. Bigger than the pseudo-dragon that had chased us in. Bigger than... bigger than everything. Its gleaming exoskeleton hung from its tubular body like metallic plate armor. Six sets of pincers hung dangerously still on its upper torso as it's triangular head angled downward at our advancing front line. The thing's curved mandibles separated... its jaws opened...

It breathed.

Hardened warriors shrieked like women as the flesh melted from their bones... bubbling through their armor in dripping, wet splatters.

The sight of it was enough to drive sane men mad. But for me... already insane with fear... The image of the creature and its liquifying breath drove me deeper into my madness... so deep that I passed its very heart and came screaming out the other end.

I don't remember getting up.

But I DO remember what came after.

"...NOT FOR THIS!" I screamed. Monsters... yes. Magic... yes. But THIS?

No.

Not me. Not now. Not ever.

And so, I did what any sane man would have done if he had found himself thrust into this nightmare. I put my back to the horror. And I ran as hard as I could.

I would take my chances with the smaller bug-things behind us. And with the carnivorous trees behind THEM. And even with the dragon if it came back. But I would not go forward. I would not face that THING. I would NOT die like the others... flesh oozing out of the gaps in my armor like a pastry filling. I would NOT go out there and I would NOT fight that thing!

NO!

So, I ran.

It was the only logical thing to do.

---

A particularly vivid and unwanted memory snapped me out of my daze. For a moment I tried to convince myself that I hadn't been asleep. Certainly I was not THAT sick... not THAT reckless...

Perhaps I wasn't... but I HAD been asleep, and there was no denying THAT piece of fact.

I'd fallen asleep... or passed out, depending on who I would tell this story to... on the back of the horse, with my chainmail-encased torso slumped over the horse's neck. Despite the rain, the horse had kept going... trotting along the path that Carder Shaw must have ridden several times a day. The horse knew where it was going even if its rider was too sick to care.

Evelyn Kerse was still seated behind me. I had no idea how DEEP my sleep had been, but my guess was that it'd been more than enough for her kill me if she was so inclined. The fact that she was chained to the saddle would have made escape a little more complicated, but she probably could have accomplished that too. But she hadn't.

That was a mark in her favor. But it was a very tiny mark.

"Are you better?" she asked. The rain pouring down on us made a mess of her words... and mine.

"Yes," I muttered. It was true. I felt better, but I was far from well. The throbbing pain in my head had subsided to a dull ache that had taken up residence at the rear of my skull. My eyes felt raw and swollen. I had no sense of smell or taste, and my entire body felt like I'd just wrestled a pair of stone dragons. It was a definite improvement from what had been going on before my 'nap'. I hoped it would last long enough for me to be done with this place.

"You talked in your sleep," said Evelyn.

"That's been happening a lot lately," I replied. "Must be the poisons. Ignore whatever you heard."

"I will if you will."

I had no idea what she meant by that. I didn't care to find out.

"We're almost to town." I felt her shift in the saddle, and her chains clinked, as if she were about to point to something and then remembered that she couldn't. "If it wasn't raining you'd see it clearly now."

I squinted into the darkness and detected a few vague shapes. She was right; we were almost there.

The 'road' became less of a river as we passed the first few buildings. The rain continued just as hard, but I was able to coax a bit more speed from the wandering horse. We were both... all three, if you counted the horse... already soaked, so reaching the Shaw mansion wasn't going to make much of a difference to our comfort or health... but I was tired, sick, and ready to get the hell out of this place. These people and their town were driving me crazy. Or maybe that was the poison, too. Probably.

I saw something unusual as I approached Shaw's gates: Guards.

Two of them, armed with swords and crossbows stood under a temporary canopy just outside the rusted-open gate.

Part of me hoped this wasn't what I thought. But MOST of me wished that it WAS.

Neither of the men drew their weapons when I rode up to the gates.

"Is there a problem?" I said.

Guard #1 looked at Guard #2, and then they both glanced suspiciously at the woman behind me. I was apparently expected. She wasn't.

"She's with me," I said.

"I'm not wanted here," Evelyn explained. "I haven't been for years... they probably have a standing order to kill me on sight."

"If there's any killing around here-" I coughed loudly into my clenched fist. I felt something wet jar loose in my chest... but it was the GOOD kind of jarring loose. I could breathe a little easier once I spat the mouth full of phlegm into the mud swirling around the first guards's feet. To him, it must have looked like I tried to vomit on his boots.

The man quickly stepped back.

"Watch it," the second guard grunted to his companion. He pointed to the mud, where a small shape scurried away from his friend's descending boot. "Found him!"

The second guard drew his sword and brought it straight down... impaling the thing before it could get away. When he yanked the tip of his sword out of the mud, a hand-sized insect squirmed furiously on the weapon's tip. The creature's tail snapped back and forth, striking impotently at the tarnished steel

Mud-stinger.

"Got 'im," the second guard said with a satisfied growl. He held his prize up for me to see. "Nasty business, this. They mostly stay in the swamps, but with all the rain-"

"-the whole town is a swamp," the first man finished. "Better watch your step on the grounds. They're all over the place."

Great. Just what I needed.

"Go on in," said the other guard. "...but if ya don't mind me saying... I'd watch her." He pointed to Kerse. "She steals."

"I do not!" Kerse sniffed... and probably got a nose full of rainwater for her efforts. If I wasn't breathing water myself, I would have laughed.

The horse sloshed through the gates under the row of overhanging branches lining the walkway. The trees gave us a slight break from the rain. Instead of a continuous wall, water came down on us in long streams that poured over us as we rode. I could see two more guards ahead, one on either side of the mansion's doors. There would be more wandering the grounds, and in the house as well. I wondered how much of a problem they would be if I had to take 'legal action' against Shaw. Ordinarily they'd wouldn't even be an issue, but in my weakened condition, I might actually get bruised or something.

The door guards gave Kerse the same reluctant look when we rode up to them.

I dismounted and removed the chains binding Kerse to the saddle. I helped her down into the mud, retrieved my other cargo, and left the horse where it was. Either it would wander away on its own, or the guards would take care of it. Either way it wasn't my problem any longer.

With chains still binding her wrists and ankles, I marched Kerse past the guards and into Shaw's mansion... which Kerse probably thought of as HER mansion. She had a tight, stiff look on her face... like a countess having to do something disgraceful and trying not to cry about it.

The silver chains clinked especially loudly in the wide, open interior of the manor. Kerse shuffled a bit to minimize the noise.

"Are these things necessar-"

"Yes."

"But we're HERE!"

"Then I'll either be taking them off soon... or not at all. Keep quiet."

"I will not!"

"Suit yourself."

This time, I didn't pause to dry my face on the curtains. The mansion's sitting room was just past the stairs, and that was where the voices had been coming from. There weren't any voices NOW... only footsteps.

"WHO-" Carder Shaw stormed into the hallway, then stopped short when he saw me. Or was it Kerse?

"Not expecting me to come back?" I said. "Get back in the living room."

"I-"

Now Riarty Shaw appeared. His niece Vivian clung to his shoulder... appearing to help him stand when it looked more like the opposite. The healer woman didn't look well. Not sick in a physical way... but sick just the same. Carder Shaw was wearing another hand-shaped red mark on his cheek.

"Wha... wha..." Riarty muttered. He pointed at Kerse. "Why have you brought that woman here!? HERE of all places!?!"

"Get back in the room," I ordered. "Sorry to interrupt the family drama, but now its time for business."

"Why is SHE here?!" said Vivian.

"Because I brought her. GO or I get violent."

"Don't you-!"

"Do what he says, Carder." Riarty stepped back into the living room, dragging Vivian with him. Carder paused a moment to stand in the door way and glare at me, then joined his family. I went in after them, and Evelyn Kerse followed behind like a good little pup.

"And what justification do you have for THIS!" Carder did his best to sound imposing, but he was the only one in the room that even noticed the effort. "Are we all under arrest now?"

"You would be if I were an officer of the court," I replied. "But I'm not. I'm an officer of the Empire. YOU, Carder Shaw, are under suspicion of magery... as is everyone else in this room except me."

"Suspicion?"

"MAGERY!?!?"

"Good; I see you understand the important parts. Here are a few more things you need to understand. A few rules you'll be living under for the next few hours while I get to the bottom of this charade-"

"I assure you there is no charade-"

"Quiet, Shaw. Rule Number One: If anyone here tries to leave this room, I will kill them. Rule Number Two: If anyone attacks me, or anyone else in the room... I will kill them. Rule Number Three: If anyone fails or even HESITATES to answer my questions or follow my instructions... I will kill them. Immediately. And Rule Number Four: If anybody tries to protect someone ELSE who has broken the rules.... then death gets a two-for-one special. Are we clear on the rules?"

Nobody answered.

"That was a question," I pointed out.

"Yes, quite clear Mr. Sheridyn," said Shaw.

"Yes," Evelyn Kerse sighed.

Vivian nodded.

Carder tried to burn a hole through my skull with his eyes.

"I see I'm going to have to kill you already," I said, drawing my sword.

"I understand your rules, but you do not frighten me," said the boy. I noticed that he was wearing his sword. He noticed that I noticed. "But perhaps I frighten you?"

"Or maybe I'll just have you take that weapon off and kick it over toward me."

Frowning, Shaw unfastened his scabbard and threw it onto the carpet halfway between me and him. That was good enough. I sheathed my weapon and retrieved the key from my pocket. I unfastened the chains around Evelyn Kerse's wrists.

"Sit down."

Riarty Shaw and Vivian Sorter were seated on a long, plush couch next to a set of stained glass doors. I could hear the rain beating against the glass... and it was making my head hurt again. There was enough room on the couch for one more, so Kerse shambled over and dropped her soaking wet body down onto the expensive silk cushions.

Riarty Shaw winced.

"Ahh, perhaps-"

"Quiet."

Vivian eased closer to her uncle, moving away from their unwanted guest.

"You. There."

There was an equally expensive chair next to the couch, facing the glass doors. I pointed Carder toward it and he sat down.

"I came here expecting to hunt a monster," I said. "But instead of a hunt... I get a lot of lies and finger-pointing."

"No one has lied to you, Mr. Sher-"

"Shut UP, Shaw!"

"Yes, of course."

"Seem like every time I talk to one of you, I get a different version of the truth... and each version that leaves out certain important facts. Facts like... ohhh... like that I'd been injected with a hallucinogenic POISON while I slept. You know... little things like that."

Vivian looked like she was about to say something, but the look on my face kept her quiet.

"So, rather than let the four of you run me back and forth across town, I thought we'd get everybody together in one place and decide just WHO is guilty of WHAT."

"I'm not guilty of anything!" said Evelyn Kerse. "It's Riarty SHAW that-"

"Rule Number Five: Speak only when spoken to... or I will kill you."

I was really being generous with these people. Maybe it was because I was sick, or maybe it was because it had been too long since I'd had to do a real questioning. In the OLD days, there would be four corpses buried in about twenty deep, salted graves by now.

Magekillers have a notoriously low tolerance for bullshit.

Riarty Shaw knew that... which explained why he was sitting quietly with an obedient non-grin on his face. I liked him a lot less NOW than I did when I first met him. He'd at least been amusing, then... but that had probably been an act, too.

"You're not a very good storyteller, Shaw," I said. "You spend a lot of time pretending to ramble, but it was obvious what you were trying to do. I might wonder WHY you'd try to get Evelyn Kerse killed... Death By Magekiller... but 'why' really doesn't concern me. The only question that concerns me is how far you'd be willing to go to accomplish that. Hints and stories are one thing. But would they be enough? Would you leave it at that... or would you go so far as to use actual PHYSICAL evidence...?"

I unwrapped the mage's tome and dropped it onto the table in front of them. It struck with a thundering THUD that elicited a tiny yelp from Vivian Sorter.

Riarty Shaw's eyes got as large as cannonballs.

"Look familiar?" I said.

"My Gods..." Shaw gasped. "Is that...?"

"You tell ME what it is, Shaw."

"It... it looks like it could be a..."

"Go ahead," I said. "There's no crime in knowing what it is."

"A Mage's book," the old man said finally. He reached for it-

"Don't touch it."

Shaw's wrinkled old hand halted in the air for a moment, then he pulled it back.

"I suppose you've never seen that book before?" I said. I was looking at Vivian Sorter.

"What?" she said, startled. "I-... You think that... that's mine?"

"Is it?"

"NO! No, of course not!"

"Not that you'd actually ADMIT to it if it was. What is the acceptable penalty for possessing such a book, Mr. Shaw?"

"Immediate execution," said Riarty.

"No. Not quite."

Riarty Shaw's old eyes seemed to recede into his skull. He swallowed hard and glanced nervously at his niece.

Yeah... HE knew what the punishment was...

"Torture," I answered for him. "Death by Torture. Immediate execution wouldn't answer the important questions... like where the book came from and who else has had access to it. But a long, slow death by torture, well..."

"If YOU think-"

Carder Shaw actually got up OUT of his chair and approached me.

"-that you're going to threaten and intimidate MY mother while I sit and do nothing, then YOU-"

Carder THOUGHT he was just out of my reach, and that he'd have enough time to react if I drew my sword. He thought wrong. My arm shot out toward him, and my silver dagger sprang from its holster on my forearm... leaping into my grasp and extending my reach by another six inches.

The tip of it grazed his throat, drawing a single dot of blood that drooled down toward his chest in a bright red line. If I had been a half-inch closer...

I was feeling generous... but not THAT damned generous. The only reason the younger Shaw was still alive was because he still had questions left to answer. Usually people need throats for that. But if the boy pushed me again, he'd be scratching his answers on the carpet while he bled to death.

"Sit down," I said.

I saw the boy's eyes dart toward his sword. It was still on the floor, well out of his reach. Even HE knew better than to go for it.

He backed away and... slowly... reluctantly... sat down.

I read his face. The next time he got up, he would go for the sword.

I let the weapon stay where it was.

"I found the book hidden in the rafters at the Kerse house. Right AFTER Shaw told he another chapter of his life story... the chapter that included you. What I was EXPECTED to believe was that after Gordon Rhodes left his fortune to biggest rival-"

"That will was FORGED!" Kerse blurted. I let her violation of Rule Number Five slide without repercussions... she had questions to answer, too.

"-Shaw took pity on the Rhodes' only daughter and let her take whatever belongings she wanted... which may or may not have included this grimoire. Years later, the daughter comes back and, failing at sex and blackmail, decides to use magic to get her revenge on Shaw. Is that right, Shaw? Is that the story you were trying NOT to tell me earlier?"

"I- I- I- don't know what you're talking about. I just told you what happened-"

"The will was FORGED! HE'S a THIEF and a CRIMINAL!"

"And what proof do you have of THAT!? FIND any while you were snooping around my offices?"

"I don't need proof! What man would forsake his CHILDREN and leave them penniless-"

"MY father did," said Shaw. "What makes you think it can't happen to YOU, eh?"

"Because father LOVED us!"

"Exactly why he wanted you to earn your OWN fortune instead of squandering HIS!"

"That's enough," I said. Shaw stopped talking. Kerse apparently needed a reminder.

"Don't you DARE try to turn this into some kind of MORALITY-"

"I SAID THAT'S ENOUGH!" I waited for the echoes in my head to fade, then started again. "That was what I was EXPECTED to believe. But all of that is just a little bit too easy. Plausible... but too easy. Especially given Shaw's track record of using the Law to make things better for himself."

Shaw looked like he wanted to say something, but I kept talking.

"There are some things I am SURE about. One is that someone is killing people in this town. I suspected magic is involved and, now that I've found this book, I'm reasonably certain. The second is the book itself. It exists. There it is on the table. The only question is who does it belong to.. who has been reading it. Was it in the Kerse house because it is HER book... or was it planted there by Riarty Shaw?"

Evelyn Kerse opened her mouth to say something, but never got the chance.

"Ordinarily, a few simple tests could solve this whole thing. But unfortunately, some of my chemicals have gone bad. At first I thought it had happened naturally during my 'nap'. But now I'm thinking that that's a little too easy as well. Surely a woman of your medical skill, Ms. Sorter, knows a few chemical tricks."

"What are you saying?"

"I know SOMEONE went through my supplies. But maybe they did more than just look around. My silver acid going sour is a bit too convenient to ignore, don't you think? Especially if you're accomplices trying to frame an innocent person. Both you and your son had access to my clothes and equipment."

"I swear to you that we didn't touch anything."

"Can you do that?" I said. "Swear... for BOTH of you? For yourself, surely... not that it means anything. But how can you swear on behalf of an admittedly disobedient son?"

"So I'M the mage now, is that it!?" said Carder.

"Possibly."

"You're sicker than you look if you think that."

"That's another bit of good news for anyone trying to play games with the truth around here. Me... sick and hallucinating. In pain. In such a condition I might be likely to rush things. Overlook a few clues here and there..."

"So now its ME?" said Vivian. "You think that book is mine and that I poisoned you on purpose?"

"At this point, what I think is irrelevant. Whichever one of you his playing games... just lost."

My dagger returned to its forearm-sheath, and I drew another blade from my belt. Most of my equipment is a silver alloy... a mixture of metals that combines the disruptive properties of silver with the strength of hardened steel. The blade I had just put away was of that type, but the one I drew from my belt was 100% pure silver. Not much good in a fight, but it could play havoc with any mage that got intimate with it. Almost any mage.

"Now its time to find out what's what," I said, holding up the knife.

"What do you plan on doing with that?" said Evelyn Kerse.

"Test you."

"You said you couldn't test anyone without your-"

"I can't test anyone the simple, PAINLESS way," I said. "THIS, is neither simple nor painless. First, I'll cut each of you with this blade and observe the wounds for reaction."

"And that will prove my family's innocence?"

"No," I said. "It'll prove that there's either no traces of magic in your body... or that the magic has been absorbed into your inner organs where this blade can't reach it... at least, not without killing you."

"So..." Vivian looked pale. "If your first test doesn't work..."

"Let's just hope that it does."

"This is ridiculous!" said Carder. "I'm not going to let-"

"He's bluffing," said Kerse. She shot a long stare at Riarty Shaw. "He KNOWS who the mage is. He just wants a confession."

"What I WANT is to get out of this town and away from you people. Suspect Number One-"

I pointed to Vivian Sorter.

"-Stand up and come here."

Vivian stood immediately, but then turned to Riarty.

"Uncle? Isn't there-"

"Something he can do?" I finished for her. "Not unless he has a confession to make. Or another story to tell...?"

"I've told you everything I know."

"But this is... this is preposterous! This man is threatening to KILL us if we don't let him TORTURE us to death! This makes no sense at all!"

"The Law doesn't have to make sense," said Riarty. The old man was looking unusually calm... though slightly paler than usual.

"You should never have written that letter, father," said Carder Shaw. "See what it's gotten us? You should have let me handle this myself."

"This isn 't Riarty's fault," said Vivian. "It's HERS! SHE'S the one responsible! Why aren't you starting with HER?"

"Because she didn't poison me."

"I saved your l-"

"Because SHE didn't neglect to inform me of the side effects of your supposed 'cure'"

"ALL you had to do was-"

"Because SHE didn't have access to my ruined supplies."

"I already said-"

"Because YOU have both motive AND opportunity-""

"But the book was found in HER house! HERS, not MINE!"

"Yes, but where was it before then?"

"Wh... wh... HOW should I know?"

"Maybe you don't. Maybe you do. Step forward and extend your left arm, please."

Vivian did as commanded, but complained every step of the way.

"Uncle Riarty!?"

"This test won't prove anything," said the old man. "I'm no Magekiller, but I know that not all magic reacts to silver... it looks to me like you're wasting your time."

"But it was my SILVER chemicals that were tampered with," I said. "And THAT..." I pointed to the book on the table. "Is a book of life-magic. It's a type of necromancy that reacts very strongly to silver. No, Mr. Shaw, I don't think I'm wasting my time at all. If someone has been using the magic in that book, there WILL be a reaction. I can guarantee it."

"But it might not even BE one of us!" Vivian complained. She extended her left arm. "This town is FULL of people!"

"And I'll test them when I'm done with you."

I got a firm grasp on her wrist and placed the tip of the knife against her skin. The skin didn't blacken or burn... but I was just getting started.

"You really think its me, don't you?" Vivian said in a lower voice. She was talking only to me now.

"Yes. I do."

"But... but why!? I helped you..."

"What better way to remove yourself from suspicion?"

After a few more seconds of no reaction on the skin, it was time to move deeper.

"Wait, please..."

"Wait for what?"

"If you're going to open up wounds, then at LEAST let me fetch some bandages from my cabin."

"No."

"But you might-"

Without notice or warning, I plunged the silver blade into the muscle of Vivian Sorter's forearm. Her arm clenched and she tried to pull away, but only widened the cut and tightened my grip.

"MOTHER!"

"It's all right, Carder," Vivian grunted. Her teeth were clenched from the pain, but she didn't scream. Blood ran from the two-inch cut I had opened just above her wrist. The blood wasn't boiling or turning black... the wound wasn't sizzling. Everything looked normal. So far.

I kept the silver blade embedded in her flesh for a few seconds.

"What are you doing!" Vivian jerked her arm back again. "I'll bleed to death!"

"I didn't hit anything vital. Hold still."

The blade had gone all the way to the bone, where the tip of the knife still remained. Sometimes magic retreated into the marrow. A silver-reaction there would be painful and unmistakable... but it might take some time to begin. So, I waited.

"I'm BLEEDING TO DEATH!"

"No you're not."

"There's no MAGIC HERE!"

My eyes remained fixed on the wound, but I was still aware of everything around me. Riarty Shaw sat motionless, looking very much like the frightened old man that he was. Evelyn Kerse sat on the opposite end of the couch, staring at the knife as if she were more interested in the results than I was.

I couldn't see Carder Shaw.

I had intentionally turned so that he was out of my field of vision. Some enemies don't attack until you turn your back, and I wanted Carder to have every opportunity to get himself killed.

After all, I couldn't just kill him for NO REASON...

I heard the boy squirming in his seat, but he didn't get up. I had a knife buried in his mother's arm... and he didn't get up.

Strange.

"Are you finished!?!" Vivian hissed.

...another second... two... three...

"Yes." I removed the knife and caught a brief glimpse of the wound before Vivian clapped her hand over it. Everything looked normal. "Sit back down."

"I need BANDAGES!"

"You're wearing clothes... use a sleeve. Next."

I was going to test Kerse next, but Riarty Shaw stood up.

"You'll find my blood is as clean as hers."

"Then I'll put that to the test in a minute. Help her with a bandage. You-" I point to Kerse. "Stand and step forward."

"What? Why me?"

"Is there some reason that I SHOULDN'T test you?"

"Other than me being innocent?" she said as she stood.

"Innocent?" I said, wiping the blood from my knife. "Something tells me you're a long way from innocent."

"Do you really think this is going to work?"

"I do this for a living. And none of you is important enough for me to lie to. Left arm-"

"BOSS!"

The shout came from the hallway. One of the guards ran into the room...

"WE GOT A PROBLEM-"

...then stopped.

"Uhhh...."

He looked at Riarty Shaw... then at Vivian's bleeding arm... then at me, with the knife in my hand.

"Magekiller Sheridyn," I said. "I'm the boss now. What's the problem?"

"Uhhh... this?"

He held out his hand. In it was the crushed remains of a mud-stinger.

"They're all over the place out there. Like a swarm-"

"Mud-stingers don't swarm," said Carder.

"How many?" I asked.

"That we can see?.... a lot!"

The guard was an older man... not old, but maybe a decade past his prime. The wicked scar running down his face marked him as a veteran of the caravan routes. Or maybe a mercenary. Either way, he wasn't the type to get excited over just a few bugs. Or even a few dozen. Maybe not even a few hundred..."

"Can they get in here?" I asked.

"They can get into anything," Riarty answered. "But they don't travel in large numbers; this is-"

"Someone is controlling them," I said. "Someone is drawing them here. Someone doesn't want me to finish these tests."

"So what are we going to do NOW!?" said Evelyn Kerse.

"Finish the tests-"

I pushed the razor-sharp blade into Evelyn Kerse's arm, slicing through the muscle and not stopping until I hit bone.

Kerse screamed and pulled away as I expected. I held her wrist tightly. She tried to pull away again, but her efforts only worsened the wound. So far, so good...

"YOU'RE HURTING HER! STOP IT!"

Carder Shaw was to my right, slightly behind me. The guard was directly behind me, still standing in the doorway.

I heard Carder leave his chair and go for his sword. That by itself wouldn't have been a problem...

...but I ALSO heard the guard half-draw his weapon and step into the room.

Great. Just what I needed.

I shoved Kerse away from me, leaving the silver knife protruding from her forearm. I drew my sword with my right hand as I spun. Carder tucked his head down at the last moment... my sword missed his throat, but my boot had no problem connecting with his abdomen.

"UNGH!" The boy went down, clutching his gut. But instead of staying down, he rolled away from my descending boot and toward his sword. By now, the guard had decided that his pay was more important than the Law. He charged... sword whistling through the air as he swung.

I spun into the blow, blocking it as I was no doubt intended to do. As the swords collided between us, I stepped in close-

The guard's free hand came away from his belt, holding a long hunting dagger, which he immediately plunged into my left kidney-

-In his dreams.

Had I not been wearing chain mail, the fight would have been over. But I WAS wearing chain mail-

-and the fight was STILL over.

My sword swept his weapon aside as I twisted and drove my stiffened fingers into his throat in a sharp jab. His windpipe and the surrounding cartilage collapsed around my fingertips.

Surprised, but not quite dead, the guard put up little resistance as grabbed his arm, twisted it, and swung his body around-

-directly into the path of Carder Shaw's sword.

The sword went cleanly into the guard's chest... and emerged not-so-cleanly from his back. I thrust the guard's body aside, hoping the falling corpse would pull the weapon from Carder's grasp before he could yank it free. But the boy was a bit too quick. He leapt back, freeing his weapon and avoiding my strike at the same time. When my sword came back around, he blocked-

-blocked again-

-again-

-and then smiled at me through the "X" of the crossed weapons.

"Looks like we get to finish that fight after all," he said. "Care to place a wager on the outcome, Magekiller?"

"CARDER, STOP IT!" the boy's mother cried. "HE'LL KILL YOU!"

"Oh, so little faith in your own son..."

I felt the boy's muscles tense an instant before he moved. My sword preceded his. The weapons danced between us; every failed strike filled the air with the metallic ring of skill and steel.

-CLANG!-

Carder came at me with powerful slashes... using his weapon as a bludgeon, trying to bash the sword out of my hand. I met each strike with sweeping blocks that carried his weapon to the side, opening up his defenses-

-but he closed the gaps before I could move in for the killing blow. He was PRETENDING to fight like an amateur in an attempt to draw me in. But I knew he was better than that. The boy was fast... quick with his feet AND with the blade. Very well... if he wanted to play this game, then we would play it. I let him hammer my sword with clumsy blows until he 'accidentally' left an opening too big to ignore. I went for it.

Carder Shaw's blade came from one direction-

-then suddenly from another!

-CLANG!

Silver met steel. The spring-loaded dagger leapt into my hand as I drove for his throat. The boy grasped at my wrist... I ALMOST thought he was going for my arm, but instead he jerked aside at he last instant, and then pushed me... trying to catch me off balance. I went back, stumbling-

-then spun... and halted in mid-spin. Twisting, I drove my blade backward behind me.

When I didn't feel the resistance of Carder Shaw's rushing torso impaling itself on my sword, I immediately ducked.

The boy's blade sliced a few hairs from the top of my head. I twisted back the other way, driving my sword upward at an angle. Carder's sword fell upon it and skidded down the length of the silver blade.

Now it was MY turn.

My spinning slash veered up and over his thrusting block... I came around again with an upward slash that Carder had to throw himself backward to avoid. Surprised and off balance, he still managed to block my follow-up attack. Now he was angry, because I had almost gotten him. Sneering, he threw himself at me in another imitation of clumsiness. I slid sideways and kicked at his knee. I missed. But so did he. His sword shot past my right ear-

HA!

I twisted and STABBED with my dagger!

Silver-hardened steel cut sliced his flesh, slipped between the two bones of his forearm, and emerged on the other side of his hand. I had impaled his arm just above the wrist. Carder SAW me do it, but before the pain could even reach his brain, I TWISTED the dagger and ripped a horizontal gash along his muscle, splitting his forearm nearly in half.

Vivian Sorter screamed.

Now spraying blood from his right arm, Carder dropped his sword-

-then spun and snatched it out of the air with his left hand.

Showoff.

"First blood to you," he hissed. Pain crawled across his face like a poorly cast illusion. I waited for him to glance down at his arm... but he didn't. He didn't need to SEE the wound to know that he was going to bleed to death... but that wasn't going to be for another few minutes. Until THEN, he was still intent on killing me. Cradling his right arm, he twirled his blade and circled around. Then he attacked. He was as good with his left hand as he was with his right. Maybe better. For about three seconds I thought I might POSSIBLY have trouble keeping up with the storm of steel he was throwing at me. He was mad now. Mad and desperate. I dropped back and let him come... but he wasn't THAT mad. He stepped in... but circled around at the last minute. THEN he struck. A feint. I ducked under the blade and came up spinning. If I'd been a little bit faster, I would have caught him across the chest. Carder jerked back at the last instant. If he'd been a fool, he would have come at me right then, because I was off balance. Instead, pretended to charge, and then ran for the door-

-then spun and charged anyway.

My blade thrust upward toward his abdomen. His downward block forced my sword aside, but instead of throwing himself forward onto my waiting dagger, he darted to the side and started circling again. My eyes followed him as, somewhere behind me, Vivian Sorter continued to scream like...

Uh-oh.

"YAAAAAH!"

Carder Shaw flew at me like a madman. I stepped aside and slashed with a strike that I KNEW he would block. But it would give me a split second to see what the hell Carder Shaw had been DISTRACTING ME FROM ALL THIS TIME!

Behind me-

Vivian Sorter undoubtedly hated Evelyn Kerse with a passion that only a woman could understand. But she was STILL a healer. With her OWN bandage only half-done, Sorter had torn up another strip of silk upholstery to bandage Kerse's bleeding forearm... from which my silver dagger still protruded... when the fight with Carder had started. Kerse had resisted, yanking her arm away, but Sorter already had a grip. She'd wrestled with the woman for a second or two... then managed to grab my knife, yank it out, and get a good look at the wound it had left behind.

That's when the screaming had started.

The solid silver dagger was glowing hot. Vivian's hand sizzled when she touched it... but not as loudly as the blackened flesh bubbling and swelling... and writhing... around the tiny hole in Evelyn Kerse's arm.

At that instant... right when I had turned to look... Evelyn Kerse had reared back against the arm of the couch and was fixing both Riarty Shaw and Vivian Sorter with a pair of brightly glowing eyes. Her lower jaw hinged open and locked in a silent scream of pain and rage. Something black and oily squirmed inside her mouth. Something that was not a tongue-

WHOOSH!
CLANG!

Carder Shaw's sword struck like a hammer in a whirlwind. I stepped into the blow and THREW my sword back against his, putting my weight behind it in an unbalanced shove. It was muscle against muscle now as behind me came the sound of two people trying to scramble to their feet at the same time and only managing to get in each other's way. Were they not about to DIE, then it would have been funny.

Actually, it WAS funny.

Anyway...

I hooked my foot around Carder's heel and yanked him off balance. He stumbled sideways, AWAY from my dagger. Damn. My sword came down and around-

Carder spun, trying to block but not quite managing-

The tip of my blade caught him across the side. It didn't do nearly as much damage as my dagger had done earlier, but it was enough.

He gave a half-roar, half-shout as he bolted for the door.

He was smiling.

Quickly, I turned and swung my sword-

-just as Evelyn Kerse threw herself into the glass double doors, smashing through one of them and escaping into the darkness outside.

On the couch, Riarty Shaw and Vivian Sorter were unharmed. Vivian was in shock. She clutched at her uncle's sleeve and peered up at me with trembling eyes.

"You... you... you thought it was me! You thought I was that... that THING!!!"

"Alert your guards!" I ordered Riarty. "Tell them to apprehend the boy, but leave the mage to ME! Do NOT approach her under ANY circumstance! Then get as many candles and lamps as you can and put them in the windows! LIGHT this place up as bright as you can!"

"What about y-you?"

I grabbed a flare from my pack and broke it in half.. giving me two small, sparkling torches. I tossed one out into the rain and held the other in my hand.

"I'll be outside. Doing my job. GO!" I shouted at Riarty. The old man grabbed his cane and hobbled out of the room. Vivian scrambled after him, but she stopped in the doorway and turned toward me.

"I-"

"Find someplace to hide, and stay there," I said.

"You're bleeding," she said, pointing at my face. I knew the boy hadn't touched me, but-

I ran my hand under my nose and my index finger came away smeared with blood.

"The fighting... the stress..." said Vivian. "You'll die if you go out there-"

"Maybe so," I said. I sheathed my sword and loaded a silver-tipped bolt into my crossbow. "But I won't be the only one."

---

I'd certainly screwed this one up.

I'd nearly been outsmarted by the Kerse woman. Or maybe I'd just outsmarted myself by thinking too damned much. Less than an hour ago I was CERTAIN there was more going on than what was immediately obvious. Someone had been manipulating the truth... Manipulating ME... but I was smarter. I had seen through the lies and games... I'd looked deep and discovered the truth. And the Truth was:

I was a sucker.

I had been played like a cheap instrument.

What I had dismissed as 'too obvious' turned out to be the truth, and my stupidity had very nearly cost me my life. The only reason I was still alive right now was because Evelyn Kerse didn't WANT to kill me when she had the chance. Whether that was a mistake on her part, or a part of her plan was a question that would hopefully remain unanswered. I didn't plan on making small-talk when I found Kerse and her boyfriend.

But I might not be in any condition to do anything else. My brief skirmish with Carder Shaw had gotten my heart rate up and my juices flowing... literally. A thick syrup of blood and mucous drooled from my clogged sinuses. The muscles of my upper body... Especially my neck and back... were starting to tighten with an ominous throbbing sensation. I got the distinct feeling that if I stopped moving, I might not be able to start again. My head was pounding again, but it hadn't yet reached the 'steel spike through the skull' intensity that it had earlier. Not yet, anyway. I thanked the gods for that small and probably temporary favor.

Hopefully Shaw was hiding somewhere, quietly bleeding to death. Another prolonged fight with him or anyone else would probably be my last, and I would rather that happen AFTER I had taken care of Kerse. If I ran into him before I found HER... well... I hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

The Shaw mansion sat slightly higher than the surrounding land. That was good. It meant that the ground had merely softened to a loose, sucking mud rather than disappearing altogether beneath a foot or more of steadily rising water. My boots sank several inches into the mud with each step, making my progress slow and clumsy. That was also good. Evelyn Kerse had left the sitting room in a big hurry, but I didn't think she was in full retreat. Not yet. She'd allowed herself to be brought here for a reason, and I doubted it was just to put an Evelyn-shaped hole in Riarty Shaw's doorway. Not only was she still up to something, but she knew that I was in no condition to stop her. Carder Shaw hadn't even come close to killing me, but the fact that the fight had lasted for more than a few exchanges meant that my fighting was seriously impaired by the poisons in my blood. And I had only gotten SICKER in the minutes that had passed since the fight ended. Even if the Shaw boy was already dead in a ditch somewhere, Kerse still had the advantage.

Hopefully she would use that advantage to confront me NOW rather than later. But 'hope' hadn't gotten be very far in this town, so I decided to make things a little easier for her.

It wouldn't have been difficult for me to conceal my location. The flare was a dead give-away. Brighter than two oil lamps and sputtering in the rain like a line of black powder, the small waxed cylinder in my hand was like a glowing bullseye. The sound of the rain covered the noise I was intentionally making... sloshing through the mud like a drunken soldier... but if anyone was looking for a Magekiller tonight, they'd still have no problem finding one.

The problem was the OTHER people Kerse would probably find first. I could hear Shaw's guards moving around and shouting in the dark. I had intended for them to stay busy in the house looking for Carder, but either they'd found him already, or his trail of blood had lead them outside, where it would be significantly harder to follow. That was bad... and I was sure some of them would be finding out just HOW bad it was before too long.

I was trying to listen through the rain to something that might NOT have been one of Shaw's guards when something crawled up my leg and tried to sink a fish-hook in my upper calf. The mud-stinger got hung up in my chain mail instead, but the two clinging to my other leg both got lucky at the same time. Twin bursts of pain lit my brain up almost as bright as the flare I was carrying. Stumbling, I scraped the insects off before they could go for another round. My boot came down on something small and crunchy in the mud. When I lifted it, there were three more of the damned things dangling from my boot by their claws. I lowered my flare and looked around.

Nothing.

I spotted a few shapes wiggling toward me in the mud, but nothing approaching the swarm of mud-stingers that Shaw's guard had described. That meant that they were all somewhere else.

"MISTER SHERIDYNNN!"

I didn't know the voice. Male. Young but not TOO young. Just the slightest touch of fear. It must have been one of the guards out looking for me.

"MISTER SHER-"

There was another shout. I couldn't make out the words, but I figured that one of the other guards had spotted my flare and had shouted my location to the first, who then started heading in my direction. I was still behind the house, and I could hear someone jogging through the mud just around the corner-

splish-splish-splosh-

And then it stopped.

There was a wavering silence that made me curse the rain... again. There WAS some sound there, but I couldn't hear what it was. It sounded like mumbling or... something. I listened for a moment longer, then decided to take a look. This COULD be what I was waiting for...

I crept forward, sliding my feet through the mud instead of splashing like I had been earlier. When I reached the corner, I stepped away from the wall, crouched low, and peered around... moving quickly to avoid whatever claws, tentacles, teeth, or other appendages might be waiting for me.

All I found was a corpse.

The person I had heard splashing around a few seconds ago was now face-up in the mud... his wide, gaping mouth rapidly full of rainwater. The corners of that mouth were turned upward slightly, almost like a smile. But the wide horrified look in his eyes wasn't the least bit pleasurable. The scream hadn't quite made it out, and now it never would.

He'd been about ten yards from the corner when whatever had happened... happened. His lamp had hit the ground beside him, and the mud had extinguished the light. His hand clutched the hilt of his sword, which was halfway out of its scabbard... as if he'd been drawing his weapon and then suddenly changed his mind. Or someone had changed his mind FOR him.

There were a few will-bending spells in the sphere of magic that Kerse's grimoire taught. They weren't as good as raw telepathy, but they were certainly enough to force a fatal hesitation on a man who should know better. Whether the book actually CONTAINED any such spells... I didn't know. But it would explain a lot. It would explain why there were no signs of struggle with the victims... including this one. It would explain Carder Shaw. If a boy was dumb and impulsive on his OWN, then he might never even notice that someone was pulling his strings with magic.

-splish-

A mud-stinger reached out of the mud, snapped off the guard's left ear with its pincer... and then sank back out of sight to enjoy its bloody prize. Another mud-stinger... this one much bolder... had climbed onto the guard's knee and was rapidly scurrying toward the dead man's crotch.

I kicked the insect away. I'm sure the dead guard wouldn't have cared, and ordinarily I wouldn't have either. But right now my stomach wasn't in the mood to watch THAT.

A few more stingers were flopping around in the mud around the corpse, searching for the best place to tear off a meal. I counted about a dozen. No... two dozen.

These things certainly didn't waste any time. I backed away before they could confuse ME with Kerse's latest victim-

Then I spun and fired.

The short shaft of wood whistled out of the crossbow and sliced across the left side of Evelyn Kerse's face. The silver barbs on the arrowhead ripped at her skin... cutting and burning at the same time-

DAMN!

I had missed!

That might never happen in the stories... but in real life such things aren't entirely out of the realm of possibility. Even for a Magekiller. And they ways happen at the WORST possible time. Like now.

"AAIEEEEEEE!" Kerse's scream was human enough, but the whiffs of smoke rising from her wrist... and now her face... weren't what we Magekillers would call 'good'. She sprang back, away from my flare and into the darkness around me. If I had been using my own crossbow, I would have loaded another bolt and taken a shot at the sound... but Shaw's weapon wasn't a quick-loader like the standard Magekiller issue. If Kerse was out there, I doubted she'd give me a chance to load another missile. Besides, my aim had failed me once already.

I drew my sword.

"I know you're out there," I said.

In truth, I knew no such thing. She could be gone.

"You've ruined everything, you know...." her voice came out of the wall of water surrounding me. I swiveled toward it. I could barely make out a human shape in the rain. The instant I saw it, it backed away. "All you had to do was kill Shaw. I gave you everything you needed... all you had to do was kill him."

"Shaw wasn't framing you," I said. I took a tentative step in the direction I'd seen the shape. "You were framing HIM. Trying to make him look like he was up to his old tricks?"

"You ruined it. You and your tests..."

"Maybe you just aren't a very good liar."

"You believed me," she said. I saw her shape again. She was circling around... trying to figure out the best way to kill me... "You still believe me... don't you..."

It wasn't telepathy... not quite. But I could feel something sliding across my thoughts, searching for a place to grab hold. Will-bending isn't nearly as exact or powerful as telepathic coercion, but it works pretty damned well...

On animals and fools.

The main problem with will-bending spells is that, since the mage isn't reading his victim's mind, he has no idea when his power is working and when it isn't...

"Shaw is the mage you're looking for," she said. She was trying to FORCE me to believe her. "You believe that, don't you, Sheridyn?"

"Yes," I said.

I could feel her smiling into my thoughts, but she couldn't feel me smile back.

Just keep on believing it, bitch... just keep on thinking you've got me...

"He framed you," I said. "Vivian did something to my supplies... tainted them so that they'd react to you and not her."

"That's right." The shape in the rain started toward me. She took a few steps... then stopped.

Was she on to me?

No. She still thought I was hers. I don't know what that pause was, but she started toward me again... faster this time.

"You look hurt," she said. "I can help you. I can-"

I pounced.

She was still out of reach of my sword... still just a shape in the rain... but I didn't want her to get any closer than that. She was right where I needed her... right where she THOUGHT I couldn't reach her before she could cast a spell.

She'd obviously never fought a Magekiller before.

I sprang at her like one of those hill cats she'd attacked me with earlier. One second I was standing still, muscles clenched as tight as iron... and in the next instant I was howling toward her like a cannon shot. My sword came down and around as she shrieked in surprise. Too late. My blade sliced-

-into something that was not human. Something that wasn't even fully SOLID.

There was a splatter, and then some FORCE that threw me back into the mud. I landed on my back, with a dozen or more soft crunches and pops from beneath me. Something landed on my chest. Something small, with a stinger, a pair of pincers, and with a few hundred friends scurrying toward me in the mud.

I rolled to my feet, grabbing at the poisonous insects that had gotten their stingers tangled in my chain mail.

There was a SEA of mud-stingers all around me. They'd been there all along... most of them held motionless in the mud by Kerse's control. But not ALL of them. Some of them had clustered together in the rain to form a humanoid shape that I had mistaken for Kerse.

"I didn't think it would work," said Kerse... the REAL one... who was walking boldly toward me. "But it would have been SO easy if it had. You can't blame me for trying."

The mud-stingers gathered around of her, forming a massive mound at her feet... like a small mountain. But this mountain was alive. Thousands of the deadly bugs rose and fell rhythmically in time with Kerse's own breath. Some crawled up and down her body... not attacking, but stroking her skin in gentle, loving caresses. And why WOULDN'T they love her? Why WOULDN'T they stroke and touch her?

She was their queen.

All she had to do was think at them, and they would be all over me. A thousand-thousand stingers, each tipped with a poison that, in my current condition, could kill me instantly.

And all I had was a sword, an empty crossbow, and a flare that was about to fizzle out in the rain.

Oh, and a nosebleed... can't forget about that.

"I see that I'll just have to finish this myself," said Evelyn Kerse. "Which means you are unnecessary. Goodbye, Mr. Sheridyn..."

Now THIS is the part of the story where the evil witch spends ten minutes explaining her nefarious plan... giving the hero all the time he needs to come up with a daring escape. Yes, that's what always happens in the stories-

-but I guess Evelyn Kerse didn't read the same stories that the rest of us do.

The woman's smile twitched... almost a wince, but not quite... and then I ran like hell. As I turned, I saw the swarm of mud-stingers rise up and launch itself toward me.

It was fast.

I have to say 'IT' and not 'THEM' because the thing behind me moved like a singe, giant creature... thrusting its way through the mud with sinister and effortless ease. I was going to try and make it back toward the sitting room, but after five steps I KNEW that I wasn't going to make it. The muck was slowing me down, but Kerse's swarm was SWIMMING through it like a shark through water.

I ran for the closest window and sent all my strength coursing down into my legs. I would only get one chance. If it worked, I'd get a little bloody. But not as bloody as I'd be if it DIDN'T-

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Screaming like a lunatic, I sprang at Shaw's window... PRAYING that he hadn't used reinforced glass. I squeezed my eyes shut and folded my arms across my face-

KSSSHHH!

Shards of glass exploded around me, cutting at my scalp and the edges of my face. My chain mail deflected most of the larger shards, but when I hit the wooden floor beyond, I still felt a half-dozen stabs of pain from various extremities. Blood was now running freely down into my face from the deep gash across my scalp. I didn't have time to worry about it. I was inside now, but that THING was right behind me.

There had been a guard stationed in the hallway where I had landed. The breaking window had sent him running in my direction.

I didn't have time to warn him OR to get to my feet. I simply ROLLED out of the way as something slammed into the window. The window and part of the wall surrounding it came apart with a deep CRACK, sending the swarm of mud-stingers SPRAYING into the hallway.

The guard was just a few feet away from the spot where I had landed. I saw the mass of black, squirming shapes engulf him like a fist... and he was gone. There was one long, terrified scream as the mud-stingers' black bodies turned red with his blood.

I didn't see the rest.

Ahead of me... far, far ahead... was the mansion's front door. That door was open, and two guards were just arriving... drawn either by the breaking window or the other guard's scream. Behind me... PAST the black mass of claws and stingers... another guard was peering out of the kitchen, transfixed by the horror of what he'd just seen... of what he was STILL seeing.

ME?

I was running.

"OIL!" I shouted at the guards. "OIL FOR THE LAMPS! WHERE IS IT!?!"

I was hoping they weren't going to say-

"IN THE KITCHEN!"

"I keep some in my office!" Riarty Shaw shouted. He was at the top of the stairs. "What's going on!?"

From where he stood, Riarty Shaw couldn't see what had followed me through the window. Not yet.

"GET IT!" I ordered. I veered toward the stairs and shouted at the guards. "BRING THE REST FROM THE KITCHEN! NOW!"

"Vivian, bring me the lamp oil!"

I hit the stairs and took them three at a time. Old man Shaw was shuffling back toward his office, shouting at his niece.

By now, the swarm had hit the stairs. The majority of it made the turn with fluid ease and began surging up the stairs toward the second floor-

"GODS!" Riarty spat. "WHAT THE HELL-"

Vivian Sorter shoved a small, barrel-shaped cask into my hands. It held maybe four gallons. And it was full.

"WE NEED MORE THAN THAT!!" I shouted as I pulled out the stopper and began dousing the top of the stairs with oil. "EVERY LAMP YOU CAN FIND! NOW! NOW! NOW!"

"SHE'S doing this, isn't she!!" said Riarty.

"What do YOU think! WE NEED THOSE LAMPS!"

When Vivian returned with two full lamps, I handed one to Shaw. He poured oil onto the carpet in front of us while I tossed the second further down. It shattered on the oil-soaked carpet in front of the approaching swarm, igniting its own oil as well as what I had poured out seconds earlier. A wall of greasy fire erupted across the stairs between us and the insects.

FWOOOM!

"MORE!" I shouted.

The mud-stingers plowed through the fire without slowing down. The leading edge of the single-minded mass was now on aflame, as was the carpet in front of it. Mud-stingers hissed and popped as their bodies exploded from the heat...

FWOOOOMM!!

I ignited a second line of flames just a few stairs up from the first. The mud-stinger flood hit it just as Vivian Sorter handed me another lamp. I hurdled it into the flames. The lamp exploded in a spray of liquid fire, splattering the walls, the carpet, AND the swarm of stingers-

This time, the black swarm hesitated.

"THROW IT!" I shouted at Riarty. He was pouring the oil out of another lamp. "THROW IT! INTO THE FIRE!"

The old man threw the lamp and backed away. By now, the swarm was within a few steps of the top. The few feet of space between us and them was now on fire...

...which meant that it was time to go.

"OFFICE!" I shouted. "GET READY TO CLIMB OUT THE WINDOW IF THIS DOESN'T HOLD THEM!"

FWOOOOM!!!

Another explosion... this one from DOWNSTAIRS! The guards were setting fire to the lower steps.

...It was about TIME something went my way!!

The swarm was now trapped between two rapidly spreading infernos. I could hear glass breaking as the guards tossed lamps and containers of oil through the flames. Heat ignited the liquid, sending even more flames splashing across the burning stairwell.

Mud-stingers began to push through the flames... but they were already as good as dead. Those that weren't on fire were roasting from the heat. Their black carapaces exploded with loud CRACKS and POPS as their internal fluids boiled. Those that made it through unharmed were too few to be a threat.

Of course, the HOUSE was on fire now... but that wasn't my problem.

I heard Vivian Sorter scream in Shaw's office. She screamed once... and that was it.

That didn't sound good.

I ran down the hallway, drawing my sword as I approached the closed door.

"NO!" I heard Riarty Shaw cry.

The door to Shaw's office was thick and sturdy. When my running kick hit it, the door remained intact-

-but the hinges pulled free of the wall, sending the door sailing into the office beyond.

I was right behind it, sword already swinging-

CLANK!

Carder Shaw had side-stepped the flying office door, but my sword had almost taken his head off.

-Almost-

He parried with his weapon, and we were at it again.

CLANG!
CLANK!
CLANG!

I had no time for this fool, but it was obvious that the only way to get to the END of this misadventure was to go THROUGH him. He'd attacked his own mother... her unconscious body lay crumpled in a corner... and had been about to stab his uncle through the heart when I'd arrived.

"SHE'S CONTROLLING YOU!" I said. Shaw was on the attack. I backed away, saving my strength for when he left me an opening... as he was sure to do eventually. "LISTEN, BOY! SHE'S USING MAGIC TO INFLUENCE YOUR WILL!"

"No, she isn't!"

Smiling, Carder thrust is blade at my midsection. I went for it. I stepped aside and slashed-

Carder's blade changed direction, slicing across my abdomen. My chain mail absorbed the blow while Carder ducked away from my attack-

-and struck again. I blocked, kicking at his knee as our swords crossed between us. Shaw twisted away from my foot and tried to return the favor.

"She used a spell to-" I began.

"There IS no spell!" Carder hissed back at me. "I'm doing this for MYSELF! For MY future! SHE is just a means to an END! NRRRA-"

He shoved me. I shoved back. Carder tried another leg-sweep. I leapt over it, slashing at the same time. Our blades met again... and the timing was perfect. My feet hit the ground and I spun one way-

CLANG!

-then the other-

CLANG-CLANK!

-then back in the first direction

CLANG!

I ducked Carder's slash as he narrowly avoided my lunge. We both spun toward each other-

CLANG!

My blade slid along his as he shoved me backward. I gave ground, blocking his attacks as he came at me....

"The old fool was going to write me out of his WILL!" Carder spat. "He already HAD written me out! But that was one thing that Evelyn DID find when she was here... the combination to his safe!!"

CLANK!

"...All of his important PAPERS-"

He made a wild slash that left his flank open. I darted around him, avoiding the obvious trap and striking from another direction.

CLANG!

DAMN! If I had only been a little faster! My muscles had already been stiff, but now they were starting to cramp painfully. I kept the pain off of my face, not wanting the boy to see how much of an advantage he had.

"We forged a new will! Now, when the old man dies... Evelyn and I get EVERYTHING!"

CLANK!
CLANG!

"So THAT'S what this is all about?" I said as we circled each other. "MONEY!?!"

"Money is only half of it!"

WHOOSH!

He struck. So did I. Our blades narrowly missed each other. I let my momentum carry me around into a another spinning slash...

...which is exactly what Shaw did.

CLANG!

Again, we glared at each other from opposite sides of our crossed swords.

My stomach cramped, and Shaw became blurry. I snarled back the pain, and Shaw didn't even notice.

"So what's the other half?" I said... stalling for time while my stomach untied itself.

"REVENGE!"

Shaw leapt back and struck. I lifted my blade in a clumsy but effective block, then twisted to one side. Shaw's boot sailed past my chest. I grabbed his foot and tossed it back. Shaw went down...

...my sword followed him, but I only managed to impale Riarty Shaw's carpet. Shaw rolled to his feet.

"Heh, heh, heh..." He huffed. "Good one."

"CARDER SHAW, You Stop This At Once!" Riarty Shaw bellowed... sounding much younger and stronger than he really was.

"Noooo, uncle," said Carder. "I'm through taking orders and insults from you!"

"I've NEVER-"

"What you say TO me is not the same as what you say ABOUT me, uncle! I know what you REALLY think! You think I'm a disgrace! You don't think I'm worthy of running your damned company! Well... I don't WANT it! All I want is the MONEY! Once you're dead, everything you spent your life working for is going to be sold for gold! And spent by the very people YOU think aren't worthy!"

"You and Evelyn," said Shaw. I could see the old man trying to make his way toward Vivian. I hope that meant he had another way out. The stairs were blocked by fire, and with the way the room was spinning, my chances of winning this fight were going up in smoke right along with this house. "You've been together from the beginning. Ever since she came back... you... you TRAITOR!"

"And we'll have a GRAND old time, uncle! Bought and paid for by YOUR hard work! We'll be sure and drink to you when you're dead!"

Carder Shaw charged. He made a show of PRETENDING to come for me, but I saw what he was doing from his first step. He was after the old man. I stepped jumped in front of Riarty and WOULD have run my blade right through Carder Shaw's chest if the boy hadn't been so damned QUICK!

...or if I hadn't been so slow...

Carder switched targets and came for me, now, attacking with short jabs and tight slashes... driving me back.

"GET OUT OF HERE, SHAW!" I shouted. I needn't have bothered. Shaw had Vivian on her feet... barely conscious. He reached for a book on one of the shelves behind them.

The entire section of wall popped forward and rotated... sweeping Riarty and Vivian into the bowels of the manor... then spinning neatly into place with a muffled click.

HA!

Carder Shaw saw the wall carry his prize away. The look on his face... even blurry almost beyond recognition... was classic. THAT was one secret that old man Shaw had managed to keep for himself... probably for situations just like this one.

"NNNRR!!" Carder grunted in frustration. Then he turned and took that frustration out on me.

CLANG!
CLANK!

The room was beginning to fill with smoke drifting in from the hallway. Neither of us would be continuing this fight for long, but I suspected that the fluid draining into my lungs would put me down long before the smoke did.

"What's the matter, Magekiller?" Shaw taunted. He'd stepped out of range and was circling around... examining me. "Not SICK, are you?"

"She... sent the stingers after me in the swamp..."

"YOU were stupid enough to BE there in the first place! We were going to wait until after you'd gotten to town... but you gave us a GOLDEN opportunity."

"You... you know your mother's potion... would make me sick..."

And I WAS sick. My head was pounding again... worse than anything I'd felt before. Each beat of my heart sent tears cascading down my cheeks, and the wet fluttering in my chest was a bad, bad sign. I was about to drown in my own fluids.

If Shaw didn't kill me first.

"You were SUPPOSED to think she'd poisoned you... or that Riarty Shaw was using magic against you. I pissed in your chemicals so you wouldn't be able to test us, but you're so damned hard-headed. YOU had to pull out that damned knife.."

I was barely on my feet now... but I WAS on my feet.

When I heard Carder Shaw move, I threw myself to one side and struck with my sword.

Mistake.

Shaw struck a hard blow that deflected off the chain mail on my shoulder. The impact sent a tingling numbness down my already weak sword-arm. I managed to keep hold of my blade...

...but only for the half-second it took for Shaw to knock the weapon out of my hand with a lazy sweep of his sword.

My knees hit the floor at the same time as my weapon. I tried to stand-

But a very large and very important muscle in my back suddenly clenched as tight as iron.

"ARRRNG!"

It felt like my damned spine had snapped. I dropped down on one hand behind Shaw's massive desk. I tried to steady myself-

-but only managed to vomit on my own hand.

My heart was racing again... beating so hard that my eyes throbbed in their sockets. Faster... faster.... My other hand clutched at my chest, trying to squeeze the rampaging organ into submission.

"...ungh..."

I could see things squirming around in the corners of the wildly spinning room. The hallucinations had started again.

Carder Shaw kicked my hand out from under me, and I pitched forward, slamming my forehead against the vomit-soaked carpet.

"You had a very important part to play in this, Magekiller," said Shaw. He stepped back and raised his sword high above him.

Execution style.

I've done it enough times myself to know.

"But instead of playing along... you screwed it up! But don't worry... with Evelyn's magic, we'll get along just fine WITHOUT YOU!"

I heard the tell-tale grunt when Carder started to bring the sword down.

Desperate and dying, I threw myself at Carder Shaw. I wish I could say that it was a manly, heroic tackle... but I couldn't straighten my back, and all the strength I had could barely get me up off the floor. I scrambled for his legs and FELL on the boy, using my nearly-dead weight to throw him off balance. I hugged his knees as he fell backward.

"Yaa-" His scream began as one of surprise and annoyance... but it quickly transformed into one of stark FEAR.

I had no idea why until I heard the glass breaking.

THE WINDOW!

Had I not been holding onto him, pushing him with what little strength I had left in my legs, Carder Shaw would have bounced off the window with nothing more than bruise. But two grown men... one wearing chain mail and carrying a pack of heavy supplies... was more than Riarty Shaw's decorative window could handle.

I heard the unmistakable shatter of glass, and then felt the equally-unmistakable pull of gravity as Carder Shaw pulled ME out the window after him!

Shaw screamed into my ear all the way down. Perhaps it was the fall... or perhaps it was the fact that, when I'd grabbed him, I had managed to get my fist around his testicles and was squeezing them to a pulp as we both fell. Either way... he seemed to like this particular turn of events even less than I did.

The fall was mercifully short. Rain and wind rushed past us for an instant, and then... just when everything SHOULD have gone black-

Shaw stopped screaming.

The impact didn't knock me out. If it HAD, then I would have continued the voyage on through unconsciousness straight into death. I was just too sick to make the return trip. I remember the sudden JOLT... the bone-jarring stop that only someone who's taken a fall could understand. Shaw and I both hit together... with him on the bottom, taking the brunt of the impact. The ground wasn't quite ready to hold us, though, because we bounced back up a foot or two, and came down again. The second jolt dislodged me. I rolled off to the side and ended up face-down in the mud.

Still alive.

I tried to breath air into lungs that... even if they WEREN'T filled with mucous... simply weren't designed for mud-breathing. The shock of drowning is what arrested my descent into unconsciousness. Instinctively, I pushed my upper body up out of the mud. Rain slapped me in the face, helping to bring me around. My first deep breath of air was a weak, sickly gasp ending in a chocking cough.

Carder Shaw lay motionless in the mud beside me. I could see his body outlined in the light beaming from the windows. There was blood all around him, but he had been bleeding before. If I had survived the fall...

...where was his sword?

In the mud somewhere. Or maybe he'd dropped it before we hit the window. All I knew was that MY sword was still in the house... and I still had a mage to kill.

I tried to stand.

Something in my back convinced me that that was a bad idea.

My vision went black. My eyes were wide open, but the pain... my back... my legs...

This was not good.

I tried another deep breath, and it ended worse than the first time. The coughing set fire to my neck and upper back. Screaming wasn't even an option, because I had no breath...

"...nnngh..."

Eyes were still throbbing. Heart... faster than before. My heart actually HURT... felt like it was going to tear itself out of my chest and run laps around the mansion...

Not good at all.

And then it got better.

Footsteps.

Not the running footsteps of someone who had heard us fall and was coming to help.

Slow, deliberate, cautious footsteps.

I felt around me in the mud, on the SLIM chance that my fingers would come across Shaw's sword...

"Get up."

Evelyn Kerse did not sound happy.

I looked up at her... vision clearing just enough to make her out. The silver burns on her face and arm had stopped sizzling, but I didn't need THEM to tell me that she was my mage. Her eyes were flickering with a low, orangish glow. A dozen mud-stingers played in her hair as she glared down at me.

"I said GET UP!"

"...I... can't..." I said.

She reached down and grabbed me by the neck.

My fingers found something hard in the mud-

-a clump of dirt that disintegrated when I touched it.

Kerse pulled me out of the muck and held me at arm's length... something she shouldn't have been able to do. Either she'd used magic to increase her strength, or she's already started to Fall.

She continued to raise me until my feet dangled in the mud. My back straightened painfully, and I tried to scream. I really tried.

She held me there for a long, painful moment, trying to figure out what to do with me. I was at her mercy... of that, there was no question. But what NOW? Kill me? There would be more Magekillers. The next one wouldn't go down so easily. Kill me and then run? Maybe. But what about her money? That was what she wanted... she HAD to stay long enough to kill Shaw and process the forged will. How long would THAT take? How SOON would the next Magekiller show up after I failed to report...

"You have cost me so much," she hissed. "But you could still be useful. I know you have to file your report. You could do that... and say that Riarty Shaw was the mage. Say that you killed him. And then you could suffer a tragic relapse of the stinger poison on your way out of town. You COULD do that for me..."

Her eyes flashed, and I felt her magic tugging at my thoughts. Then she stopped.

"Noo," she said. "Your will is too strong. And look at you... you probably won't live long enough to finish this conversation. But there is ANOTHER way you can be useful."

Kerse smiled.

"I killed those men," Kerse said, smiling. "Someone had to be sacrificed. It had to look like Shaw was killing people to throw suspicion on me..."

The mud-stingers in Evelyn's hair became agitated. They clicked their pincers noisily... nervously... as they vacated their nest. Several crawled down her neck and perched on her shoulders. The others dropped into the mud, or found their way to the valley of her breasts, where they curled up and waited quietly. Evelyn's hair continued to shift and swirl around her face. Her eyes flashed again, and there was a wet POP from somewhere.

"That's why the killings started. That's why I killed the first few. But at the end... my husband... a few others... THEY had to die because... well... Because I just got hungry..."

Something long, black, and slender emerged from the base of Kerse's skull and curled upward over the top of top of her head. It was a mud-stinger's tail... but HUGE... and instead of a single stinger at its tip, there were two pulsing, ball-shaped organs that resembled the buds of a flower. The tail hovered for a moment, then reached toward my face.

"Would you like to see what they saw?" she said.

The end of Kerse's 'tail' hung in the air before my face. The pulsing buds opened... like flowers...

Inside each was a nest of needles. One needle... the one protruding from the very heart of the flower... was longer and more slender than the others. They were pointed at my eyes.

"They say that the eyes are the windows of the soul," said Kerse. "Open wide!"

The damn things struck like SNAKES! Before I could close my eyes, the tail snapped forward, plunging those long, slender needles straight into my pupils.

They didn't hurt. The needles were too small to hurt.... not physically... but the FIRE they unleashed in my brain was...was...

Amazing.

Everything I had ever felt... every ounce of pleasure... every stab of pain... all rushed into my mind at once. Ecstasy and agony clashed like opposing storms vying for space in a crowded sky. But instead of shoving each other side, the merged into a whirlwind of memories and images. The whirlwind swept my thoughts aside and hurled itself across my brain... back and forth and back again-

-as its energy was slowly drained away... sucked out...

Through my eyes.

THIS is how she fed. This is what she wanted. My memories... my thoughts... my secrets...

My soul.

I felt myself flying out of Riarty Shaw's window, clutching desperately at Carder as we both fell.

...the whirlwind spun on...

...and I was feeling the gentle, frozen touch of the ghost-whores of Castle Minasi...

...the whirlwind spun on...

...and I was racing the Storm of Ages, trying reach the Citadel before this thing could spark the end of the world.

...the whirlwind spun on...

...I was fighting my way through the desert. The sands were full of unholy beasts, but their master... the demon Mekregar... would not live to see the dawn. This I had sworn in blood and VENGEANCE!

My GODS, it all felt so... so... GOOD! The thrill of the hunt! The savage ECSTASY of the kill! Even the PAIN! THE PAIN!

...a silver blade twisting in my gut. Betrayed...

...the whirlwind spun on...

...worms of pure hellfire burrowing into my flesh. Burning, burning... BURNING!

...the whirlwind spun on...

...my heart POUNDING in my chest. No memory...this was HERE... this was NOW! I was DYING-

...the whirlwind spun on...

...dragons eggs! So delicate and... and beautiful! SMASH THEM! SMASH THEM ALL- BEHIND YOU!

My scream of... of what? Pain? Rage? Uncontrollable pleasure? Whatever it was, I didn't have the strength or the breath to give it form. Needles tickled the surface of my eyes. I couldn't move. Not because of the pain... I could barely FEEL it any more. But she'd done something to me... I was paralysed. I couldn't move. I couldn't FIGHT! Those damned needles were sucking my life out through my eyes, and I couldn't even BLINK!

...the whirlwind spun on...

Mother? NOT YOU! NOT YOU!

...the whirlwind spun on...

Hell. I was looking at HELL-

NO!

Something in my mind clenched and BIT DOWN on the memory that had gone roaring past. Finity! She would not have that! Let her take all the others, but she would NOT have my shame! My cowardice! THAT BITCH WOULD NEVER HAVE FINITY ISLE!

Teeth of pure will sank into the howling chunk of memory and held it firm against the storm.

"YOU WILL NOT HAVE IT!" I grunted.

But she WOULD have it! I could feel her PULLING at it... tearing it away from me! She would have it... yes....

YES SHE WOULD!!!

And just like that, I put my will behind the coveted memory and, instead of pulling, I SHOVED it to the front of my mind, RAMMING it right down Evelyn Kerse's throat!

IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT!?

The horror of Finity Isle... Every screaming, blood-strewn SECOND of it, a horror that no sane man should ever be made to see... exploded across my thoughts in a single thunderbolt of shock and madness.

IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT TO SEE! THEN LOOK!

LOOK AT HELL!!

I was there. I was there again. The subterranean horror rose out of the earth and, with a single breath, lay waste to those fools who had dared approach it. Flesh peeling off of their bones, their shrieks were nothing... NOTHING compared to the wails of those who SAW IT! And now I was there AGAIN! Seeing it... all of it... AGAIN!

And I was screaming. Every memory in my brain howled as Finity Isle sprayed across them, splattering them with blood and insanity. Tainting them. Poisoning them.

CHOKE ON IT, YOU BITCH!!!

CHOKE ON IT!!

And now Evelyn Kerse was screaming.

There was a massive jolt of pain as movement and sensation returned to my body-

-click-

The spring-loaded dagger popped into my grasp. Ignoring the agony the movements caused, I grabbed the stinger-tail and SLASHED with the silver-hardened blade.

The writhing black appendage fell away, pulling free of my eyes and spraying Kerse with her own green-tinted blood. Her screams intensified... then choked off as I plunged the knife into the side of her throat-

"AAK-K-K-K"

She released me, and I fell to the mud at her feet. My hand touched something-

-and this time, it wasn't dirt.

Evelyn Kerse backed away with both hands clutched her ruined throat. The blade protruding from her neck wasn't pure silver, but it had enough silver in it to burn like hell.

But I don't think she noticed.

"WHAT IS THAT!!!?!!" she shrieked. The very act of forming words caused blood to spurt out between her fingers. Her wide, flickering eyes seemed to be looking everywhere at once.

Finity. She was still there.

"WHAT IS THAT THIINNGG!!??"

"You have your poison," I said, fingers wrapping around Carder Shaw's sword. "...and I have MINE!"

My spine clenched again, but it was too late. It wasn't muscle, but pure willpower and a little touch of madness... a Magekiller's Magic... that lifted the heavy blade out of the mud and SWUNG it with the force of a falling hammer.

Evelyn Kerse's head... and her clutching hands... flew into the air atop fountains of blood. Her body dropped instantly, and a second later, her head plopped into the mud beside it. I could see her face.... eyes wide... mouth gaping...

The sword slid from my fingers, and I dropped to my knees.

"There..." I said as the strength drained out of me. "...hope you liked it..."

It was done. Now I could die.

I slumped forward in the mud and let my mouth hang open. Blood and mucous drained out of my sinuses. I listened to my heartbeat... the work was done, but was still beating faster... faster...

Damn, that hurt. And it was getting worse. My hands were shaking now.... shaking, and getting cold.

"...last one..." I said. The last mage. The last hunt. The last kill.

And what a mess it had turned out to be-

"YOU KILLED HER!!"

"huh-?"

Carder Shaw's boot caught me across the right temple. With the way my head was throbbing, I expected my skull to just explode from the impact. It didn't. Instead, I fell to the side, turning on to my back just as the boy's foot came down again-

CRACK!
Dragon eggs again... oooo...

CRACK!
-wait a minute-

I caught Carder's foot as it came down to kick me for the third...fourth?... hell, I don't know... time. But I wasn't in a position to do anything but groan as he yanked the boot out of my hand and brought it down on my gut.

WHUMP!

"UNNGH!"

Something slimy launched out of my throat and landed on my chest with a splatter.

"YOU BASTARD!" The boy shouted. He kicked me in the ribs. I didn't feel it, but I DID feel it when he brought his heel down into my gut again.

"UNNNGH!"

I lifted my head out of the mud...

...and then dropped it back down again.

"YOU KILLED HER!"

"...just... get it over with then..." My mouth was full of blood, and a cold darkness began to creep in around the edges of my vision.

Carder Shaw spit on me once, then moved out of my view. I couldn't lift my head again to see what he was doing... but he came back soon enough.

He had his sword.

"You've ruined EVERYTHING!" He cried. He may have ACTUALLY been crying, but by now things were too blurry to tell. "YOU KILLED HER!!"

Yeah... crying...

I saw him bring the sword up by the hilt, holding the blade straight down at my chest. Good. Quick kill-

He moved... aiming the sword at my stomach instead.

Bastard.

"NNNRRRRR-" He raised the sword up higher and-

SS-PLUTCH!

A long, thin shape erupted from the boy's chest. Carder Shaw stiffened, then looked down at the slender sword that had impaled him from behind... right through the heart. The blade jerked and retreated back the way it had come, unleashing a spurt of bright blood from the fatal wound.

Carder turned, letting his sword slip away as he stumbled... and a second blurry shape stepped into view.

Riarty Shaw.

Shaw was holding the handle of his walking cane... but now the handle ended in a thin blade that had been concealed in the shaft.

Carder looked at the sword, and then at the man who held it.

"...uncle...?" Carder gasped.

"You were never a disgrace to me, Carder," The old man's voice trembled with emotion. Sorrow. And rage. "Until now. I always loved you like a son. I still do. But I'm not sorry. Not for this."

Carder made a final, gasping squeal. Whatever he was going to say to his uncle died in his throat as he fell. The little bastard landed across my legs, but they had already gone numb...

Oh well... happy ending after all... almost.

"Shhhawww..." I hissed.

"You stay still," said Riarty. "I'll fetch Vivian; there might still be time."

"Shawww... the body..."

I moved my hand in the general direction of Evelyn Kerse's headless corpse.

"...burn it... all the... all the pieces... burn it..."

"Hush now," said Shaw. "Save your energy and-"

"...burn it!"

"I'll take care of it later. Right now we have to get you some help!"

"Let me die... burn that... burn that corpse... now... now..."

"Shhhh..."

"NOW, DAMMIT! Burn it... now..."

And finally, everything went mercifully black.

---

I didn't dream.

The horrors roaming my brain had finally settled back into their respective holes... sleeping in silence until the NEXT time I had need of them. Hopefully that wouldn't be soon.

I remember Riarty Shaw leaning over me at the end... I remember telling him to burn Evelyn Kerse's corpse, but after that, there was only a looooooong stretch of darkness. No pain. No hallucinations or nightmares. No screams... mine, or anyone else's.

It was peaceful. If death was like that, then... well, that's a thought for some other day.

I didn't realize that I WASN'T dead until I opened my eyes and saw the familiar wooden ceiling of Vivian Sorter's infirmary. The light was bright... and strange. Almost like...

I turned my head toward the window. The curtains were pulled back, and sunlight... actual SUNLIGHT.. beamed through the glass.

"I'll be damned," I moaned. My voice was low and rough. It hadn't been used in a while. There was still a twinge of rawness in my throat, but other than that, I felt only a few faint echoes of the sickness and various poisons that had come close to killing me.

I sat up.

I expected the twin fists of pain and nausea to slam me back down and slap me around for having dared to move... but no. No nausea. No water in my lungs. No throbbing monster in my chest.

"Hello?" I said softly. I didn't want to risk a shout yet, but when no one came running, I had to do it anyway. "HELLO!?"

Nothing.

I threw back the sheet, swung my legs over the edge of the bed, and stood up. Again, I expected my body to revolt, but it didn't. I was weak, and my joints were stiff. I'd been on my back for a while, and I had the bedsores to prove it.

Well... I knew WHERE I was, and I knew WHAT had happened to me... so now the question was: How long had I been here?

Long enough for the poison and sickness to work their way out of my body. THAT would have taken a week at the least.

Long enough for the rain to stop.

Two weeks? Three? More?

One thing was certain: standing around thinking wasn't going to get me any answers.

I found my clothes on a table in corner of the room. They'd been cleaned and folded, but this time there was no sign of my equipment. I got dressed and took a look around the house. I hadn't expected to find Vivian Sorter... if she'd been home then she would have come running when I called. When I verified that she wasn't dead on a floor somewhere, I went outside.

"Mornin', sir," said the lone guard outside Vivian's front door. He looked bored, but he wore that boredom in a crisp, professional manner. I remembered him from the front gate of the mansion... how many nights ago was that?

"How long have I been asleep?"

"Ohhhhh, few weeks. Looked like ya needed it if ya don't mind me sayin'."

"If I did, it's too late. You've already said it."

"Heh... Mister Shaw said he wants to see you first thing when you wake up."

"Of course he does."

The guard looked expectantly at me, and I nodded.

The short stretch of street between Sorter's house and the front gates of Shaw's mansion was... different. For one thing, there was actual DIRT under my boots. Not mud or water... but dry, dusty soil, packed hard by the passing of quite a few feet. Damn, how long HAD I been out? The other new development was PEOPLE. With the seasonal rains gone (for now) the townsfolk had emerged from their homes and returned to life as normal. There street wasn't crowded, but there were enough pairs of starring eyes to make me wonder just what the 'official' story was about my little adventure here. There was the usual pointing and whispering... the usual two or three folks suddenly deciding to be somewhere else. No cheering or waving, though. Not that there ever was.

"...don't care what YOU think its worth! It's MY opinion that determines what I'm willing to pay! NOT YOURS!"

And that would be Riarty Shaw. We found him arguing with some traders... not locals, from the looks of them... outside the mansion gates.

"And ANOTHER thing-" Shaw saw me and smiled. "Ehhhh... We'll continue this later, gentlemen."

"But, Mr. Shaw! The caravan leaves this afternoon!"

"Then I suggest you be more open to my price, or your goods will still be ON that caravan when it pulls out! Away! Away!"

The traders drifted away... drifting a little faster once they spotted me.

"Mr. Sheridyn! Welcome back!" said Shaw. The old man hobbled over to me and clapped me on the back... giving my shoulder a fatherly squeeze. "Welcome back! Come... lets get out of the street. The rumor-mongers are out in force now that the rain has stopped. Ohh, you should HEAR the stories they're telling about us!"

Navigating deftly on his cane... the cane with the sword concealed in the shaft... Shaw spun and waddled through the gates. I was right behind him, but the guard faded into the background. The scent of freshly-cut greenery rose around us as we walked under the canopy of trees.

"How long?" I asked.

"Three weeks," said Shaw. "Vivian gave you something to keep you out most of the time. Only way you'd stay down long enough to heal, I suppose. Said you'd probably wake up today. She... uhhh.... didn't want to be around when it happened. You understand, of course..."

Yes, I did.

"She DID say she was sorry," Shaw continued. "About Carder."

"Wasn't her fault."

"AND the confusion about the antidote."

"The poison, you mean."

"Yes."

"Tell her that her poison saved my life. Tell her it killed Kerse."

"Oh?"

There was no way Shaw or his niece could understand what I meant... not unless they were there inside my head at the end. If it hadn't been for the healer's hallucinogenic 'cure', then I would have been defenseless against the soul-drinking thing that was Evelyn Kerse. She and Carder Shaw would be standing here having this conversation instead of me and the old man. But I HADN'T been defenseless. The visions had given me a weapon when I needed it. I can't say that I had forgotten about Finity Isle in the years since it happened... but it was a part of me that I kept as far from my waking mind as possible. It was a place that even my nightmares didn't touch. But when I need a weapon... there it was. Even with the poison out of my system, the memories... memories OF memories... left me uneasy. Just knowing those memories were there made me cringe. I can only imagine what experiencing them through my eyes they'd done to Kerse.

Not that I pity her.

Not even a little bit. After all... things like her BELONGED on Finity Isle. But not me.

"The body," I said. "Did you burn it?"

"Burnt to cinders and the ashes packed in salt. Burned the Kerse farm, too. The farmhouse and everything in it. Had to wait a few days for all of that, though-"

"Wait? WHY!?"

"Well its rather hard to get a good bonfire going when its raining cannonballs night and day! Not that we didn't TRY... I know how particular you Magekillers are about that kind of thing. What is it you fellows say... 'burn them quick or burn them twice.'"

"Something like that. Did you get all of it? All the pieces."

"Head. Body. Two hands. And that...ehh... other thing. I think that about covers it, eh?"

"But when you burned it, were you SURE-"

"Nothing crawled away, I assure you. I had men watching... just in case. Speaking of crawling... I took the liberty of having Carder's friends questioned.

"Oh?"

"They were in on it. Not the magic, of course... but Carder had promised them all money when it was done. Perwist hung himself in a barn while you were sleeping. The others... well... conspiracy to commit murder isn't exactly YOUR area of the Law, is it?"

"No."

"I turned them over to the local judge. He'll do what's right."

"This judge a friend of yours?"

"Of course! There's too many thieves around to NOT have the law on my side! Oh, that reminds me..."

Shaw turned to the guard, who was busy trying to look busy.

"Arnold, fetch the Magekiller's things from the safe room. Here-" Shaw tossed a large, shiny key to the guard. The man caught it and trotted away. "I kept your valuables under guard. And the ashes, too... I assume you'll be taking them with you?"

"Of course. And the book?"

"Locked away. No one's touched it but me... and then only when I moved it to a safe place. I assume that's all right?"

"Technically, no," I said. "But I'll overlook it."

By now, we had reached the end of the canopy, where we found Lawrence 'All I Want Is A Little Respect' Norton dutifully trimming his employer's trees.

He saw me and nearly threw himself off the ladder.

"Lawrence, come down off that thing before you fall," said Shaw. "Fetch Mr. Sheridyn a horse. You know the one... And the traveling supplies I had set aside the other day."

"Yes sir, Mr. Shaw, sir..." Norton quickly scampered away... as people like Norton tended to do in the presence of men who could legally torture them to death. He'd probably send the horse back with someone else.

"Horse?" I said. "Supplies? I didn't say I was leaving, Shaw."

"Oh? OH! Well, I just assumed that you... well, I..."

"Don't want me hanging around any longer than necessary?"

"No, No! That's not it at all! I know you're busy and... well, this isn't a place most people want to stay any longer than they have to. And besides, you... you ARE finished... aren't you?"

"Maybe," I said. The mage was dead. The body disposed of in accordance with standard practice. The book would be in my possession as soon as the guard brought it. What ELSE was there?

Everything else. The WHO and the HOW had been answered. As for the WHY, the WHEN, and the WHAT ELSE....

None of that concerned me now. So I guess I WAS finished.

"...yes," I said.

Shaw looked up at me, fixing me with his old eyes. I saw a bit of Carder Shaw in those eyes.

Riarty sighed and turned away, shaking his head.

"Wasn't quite one for the story books, was it?" he said.

"Not quite."

"But still, I must say... Congratulations on a job well done."

"I could say the same to you."

"Oh?" Shaw turned back.

"Kerse is dead," I said. "She was the closest thing you had to an enemy in this town... now she's gone. You used the Law to get rid of her, just like you did at Cradle Row."

"Well THAT was a completely different situation..."

"Was it?"

"I'd like to think so. But even if it isn't... was I wrong? They were criminals, weren't they? Using magic in violation of the Law? Just like Evelyn Kerse?"

"I didn't say you were wrong. Maybe you just weren't as right as you pretend to be. Some might question your motives."

"Heh... motives. You've seen what I have here, Mr. Sheridyn. A business. Money. A house that repairs quite nicely even when you burn half of it down. Tell me... why would a man like ME give a damn whether someone like Evelyn Kerse lives or dies."

"Maybe because she fooled you once," I replied. "Maybe you found out about her and your nephew and felt she wasn't worthy of your bloodline. Maybe because there's the possibility... slim, but still a chance... that she'd influence a judge that could restore her family fortune... at YOUR expense. Or maybe just for your own entertainment... just to see if you still had the pull to get it done."

"All those sound like perfectly good reasons to me." Shaw flashed a fake smile that wasn't quite fake enough.

"There's still the matter of the book," I continued. "In my official report... am I supposed to say that your friend Rhodes stole it from Cradle Row and hid it in his house, untouched, for years?"

"I-"

"You never knew it existed... even though you were there when he took it... but years later, his daughter stumbles across it and decides to use magic to get back at you. Is that how the report should go?"

"Well... who am I to tell you what your report should say? But that sounds about right to me."

"That would mean Rhodes violated the Law."

"Good thing he's already dead, eh?"

"Yes," I said. "That's quite... convenient."

Dead men typically didn't step forward to challenge you when you told lies about them. And when they DID, being a liar was usually the LEAST of your problems...

"I get the feeling you're trying to imply something, Mr. Sheridyn..."

"Me? No, my job's done here. I'm just having a last bit of conversation before I go."

"Oh, good. I'd hate for you to leave with any lingering doubts about me. You can poke my arm with that knife if yours if you want..."

Riarty held out his bony arm. I shook my head. If this was twenty years ago, then suspicion alone would have had the old man in stocks with silver needles protruding from some very uncomfortable parts of his body... but this wasn't twenty years ago. People wanted us to be civilized now, and that meant that men like Shaw sometimes didn't get what they deserved... whatever that was.

I couldn't tell if Shaw as lying... about the book or anything else. But I got the feeling that, if he was, I wasn't going to catch him in it. Shaw had had almost a month to cover his tracks and solidify his story. Vivian Sorter would undoubtedly back any story Shaw decided to spin... if she was still around. And Carder Shaw's friends were conveniently unavailable for questioning. Still, I knew that the old man was guilty of SOMETHING. Magery? Probably not. Illegal Possession of Magical Artifacts? Maybe. Influencing an Imperial Investigation? Definitely... but not in any way that can be proven.

Or, who knows... maybe he was just an annoying old man who's pissed off the wrong woman?

Whatever he was, I was done with him. I spotted the guard returning with my belongings, and Carder Shaw's horse being led in my direction by... surprise, surprise... another guard.

"There we are," said Shaw, pointed at the guards. "Even though the rainy season is over, I suggest you take the-"

"I know," I said. Shaw smiled. "What do I owe your niece for the medical treatment?"

"Owe? Heh... you saved my life a time or two along the way, so let's consider it even for now."

"For now?" I said as the horse arrived. It had been outfitted with food and supplies for my trip. Shaw's way of telling me not to make too many stops on my way out of town. The other guard was struggling with my pack and a sealed wooden cask that I presumed was filled with Evelyn Kerse's ashes.

"You never know when fate might bring us together again," said Shaw.

"Hopefully never," I replied. It wasn't intended as an insult, but easily could have been.

"Yes, let's hope it's not in an.... official capacity."

"Let's hope."

I secured my supplies and pulled myself up into the saddle. It felt good to be leaving this place... even though I had slept through the majority of my visit.

"So where will you be heading?" said Shaw.

"Away from here. Wherever the job takes me."

"Good journey. And stop to rest every few hours... Vivian's orders."

"I will. And about that body..." I tapped the small cask. "Are you SURE you got all the pieces?"

"Positive," Shaw said.

"Nothing left behind? Nothing at all?"

"You have my word." Shaw smiled