Heavy

That was the thought that skipped back and forth across the surface of Zade's mind as she stared into the darkness of the fireplace. That was the sensation that pressed her down into her chair despite the hundreds of other things she could have been doing... things that held no particular urgency or appeal, like lighting the fire or... or anything else.

She was tired. She was tired without actually BEING tired. Everything was a chore. Living was a chore; life was just another thing to be done. A toil to be endured... a series of unending tasks to be carried out while the weight of her own thoughts trailed behind her like a hundred-pound anchor-

-Zade let the imagery fall from her mind. Too painful. Too close. She had almost touched one of the dark, raw places in her mind... the places that she had shut off, even from the acknowledgement of their existence. Her past? It didn't exist. She allowed bits and pieces of it to float to the surface when absolutely necessary, but the ugly whole of it was kept safely submerged beneath whatever task or emergency filled her mind at any particular moment. She didn't think about her past. She thought AROUND it. Her thoughts flowed OVER and UNDER it, like a colony of ants building a nest around some ancient stone. But this stone hurt. Every time she brushed up against it, she felt the echoes of pain biting into her like a sting. She would jerk away and chastise herself for the mental misstep. Then she would change her pattern of thoughts to make sure it didn't happen again. But it did happen again. And it was happening more and more frequently as time went by... as...

...as the stone around her neck grew larger. The more she lived, the more there was to endure. And the more she endured, the larger the stone became... forcing her into more self-deceptions and mental gymnastics to keep the pain submerged. What would she do when the monolith grew too large to ignore? When it shrugged off her defenses and rose from her thoughts like a new continent? Would she pour more diversions and distractions over it in hopes that it would shrink away? Would she bash her tiny fists against it in futile hopes of beating it into submission? Or would she just... sit... and watch the nonexistent fire as her mind slipped away?

The last option didn't seem quite so bad...

Zade realized that she was skirting around a dangerous territory, so she pulled back. Maybe she should light a fire. Her eyes lifted from the dark mouth of the fireplace and rose to the mantle... where a majestic golden helmet rested, its empty eye-slit peering angrily down at her.

And the stone got larger.

She couldn't save him.

She couldn't save...

"Stop it," said Zade. She pressed her fist to her forehead as if forcing the thoughts back into the depths from which they'd sprang... unsummoned and unwanted. Her skin... smooth and brown... was moist with a thin sheen of sweat.

"Stop it," she said again, her voice fading from a command to a cry. "Just stop it!"

She took a deep breath and looked up, forcing the muscles of her face back into their proper places: a sneer, growling inwardly at the ball of emotion that had dared show itself. Not this time. She wasn't going to do it again. She wasn't going to let it get to her. She was Zade. She was strong. She wasn't a... wasn't...

...wasn't even human any more.

And the stone got larger.

The unbearable weight of it pulled her stomach in several directions at once. She wanted to run and hide... from? Herself? But at the same time, she yearned for an ear... a shoulder... a voice... someone she could talk to. Who? Who would understand? The 'people' who had cursed her? Their ridiculous so-called gods that had found her unworthy of remaining fully human?

No, certainly not.

The very thought made her want to laugh.

But there was another. Someone who was also cursed. Someone who had it worse than her, but had STILL managed to survive... to endure... HE could console her. HE could help her. He could... He could... l-

Zade's mind stuck at the word she dared not think. Her mind backed away from it, as if from a forbidden door. Taboo! Verboten! Keep away, Keep AWAY! And in the next instant, the door itself was forgotten. Gone. Removed and shut away... for the small price of just a few more measures of weight on the stone.

Perhaps it was time to move on.

That particular thought had come to her several times in the past few weeks. Often enough to earn her consideration. Not that she COULD leave... but...

She'd joined December because she needed work. Not money... she could GET money. She needed Work. Something to DO. The first year or so had been splendid. Sandwiched between dealing with Chain here in Montfort and bringing down Brinks in New Venyce was the constant action of establishing December's foot-hold in the city. But that activity had tapered off after New Venyce. Zade knew why. So did December, though he wouldn't admit it. Zade didn't mind the respite at first. She welcomed it. A vacation AFTER her 'vacation.' She played bodyguard for a while... that WAS her job, after all. But it was unnecessary. It was a sham. A fake. December was perhaps the most well-protected man in the city even without her. All she did was stand around and pretend to protect him while he pretended she was necessary. But after a while, the inactivity began to get to her. She needed... she needed something to do. She needed something to fill the space between her thoughts... a buffer to keep them from rubbing up against that black monolith in her mind.

But December wouldn't let her go. And she didn't want to go. Especially now that-

-now that what? Now that she wasn't human? Now that she'd demonstrated her incompetence at everything except killing? Now that she was...

And the stone...got... heavier...

Zade sighed. And... not finding anything else she wanted to do... she sighed again.

The second sigh partially masked the approaching footsteps... but she heard them anyway. Outside, someone was approaching her door. No... not approaching; they were already there. Too fast. And the scent...

Zade felt the growl in her throat before she even realized she was making it. It was a deep, guttural sound. The muscles of her fingers and forearms clenched into angry fists.

There was a knock at the door. The first knock was slow and reluctant... almost a scratch. The second had more force behind it, as if the first knock was just a test of the unwanted guest's resolve. Both were uncharacteristic for the man that Zade knew was standing outside. Even the fact that there WAS a knock struck Zade as suspicious. The house was new, and Zade hadn't bothered to get December's mage to place the wards yet. With nothing to keep him out, her guest would usually just walk through the walls... entering without invitation or announcement.

But this time, he knocked.

Zade's fists unclenched. Slightly.

"Go away," she said, turning toward the door but not getting up. She was curious about her guest's intention... but not THAT curious. "Leave me alone."

She waited a moment longer than she thought necessary... and then showed no surprise when the figure of a man appeared in the room, walking through the door as if it, or he, were only a figment of her imagination. Blaymore was dressed as he always was... Zade didn't know whether to call it an 'costume,' and 'outfit,' or a 'uniform'. His bright blue cloak concealed much of his body, revealing only the shape of his shoulders and rare glimpses of the solid-black clothes he wore beneath it. The cloak's hood threw a shadow over his face. A blue cloth stretched across his nose, mouth, and chin, concealing what little of his face would have been visible. All that remained was his eyes: tiny, multicolored lanterns glowing brightly within the depths.

That was really all there was to Blaymore. Glowing eyes, a few parlor tricks and an oversized blue cloak. But he also had a penchant for showing up when least expected and ruining whatever happiness Zade had managed to scrape together for herself. Well, he was too late this time. Zade had no happiness to ruin.

"Trespassing," Zade said. She turned away from him, not wanting to give him any more acknowledgement than was absolutely necessary. She stared at the fireplace instead. "I'll add that to the long list of things I'm going to kill you for."

"A man can only die once," Blaymore said. "And sometimes not even then."

Whatever words or thoughts Zade had prepared to throw at him next, caught in her throat like a burr.

His voice.

Blaymore usually spoke with a deep sonorous roll to his voice... a practiced effort that added more menace to his words. He was using it now, as he always did. Yet, there was something else... a strained, reluctant warble, as if he were making an effort just to speak. Not a physical effort... a mental one.

And there was a strange scent in the air. Zade's heightened senses were new to her; she wouldn't have been able to detect it at all if she were still completely human. But she wasn't, and her lupine sense of smell detected the emotions wafting out from beneath Blaymore's cloak as easily as reading words from a scroll... not because her senses were THAT acute, but because the emotions were frighteningly intense. Blaymore smelt almost like fear... but that wasn't exactly it. It was something close. Pain. Pain and anger and... and something she didn't have words for.

Zade's head was half-turned before she caught herself. She stopped and returned her gaze to the fireplace, once again keeping her curiosity in check.

"We have to talk," he said. The warble in his voice was more distinct now.

Zade frowned.

"I don't want to talk," she replied. "And if I did... it wouldn't be with you. Get out."

She heard him take a step toward her. One step. Then he stopped.

She listened to his breathing. He seemed to make several attempts before finally bringing himself to speak again. When he did, his voice was higher... more strained.

"Zade..." he began, his words almost pleading with her. He paused, then added. "Bethsaida."

Zade winced at the sound of her name. She hadn't used that name in many years. She and Blaymore had both had different names then. But they'd left those names behind. Zade had buried hers along with the memories of the times when she answered to it. Hearing it now, from HIS lips, was like a slap in the face. Or a piercing stab to the heart.

"I have to..." he said. His voice as slowly transforming to match the scent that she caught from him. Each syllable was a tangled knot of emotion. "I have to tell you something."

"What is it?" said Zade. "Tell me and go away."

"Come with me."

"What?" This time, Zade did turn and look. She looked at Blaymore as if he were insane... the very IDEA that she would go somewhere with him-

"Please," he added. "Please, Beth... please come with me. I have to show you..."

"Show me WHAT?" she snapped.

"Please."

The single word was almost a whisper.

It was a trick. Zade KNEW it was a trick. Blaymore was a cowardly bastard that wasn't above lying and manipulating people to get what he wanted. But it wasn't going to work. Not now. Not any more.

"You have something to say? Say it."

"No. Not here. I can't... I can't risk it."

"Risk WHAT!?"

"Please, Beth..."

Blaymore reached up and grasped the edge of the cloth hiding his face. He tugged it down so that it hung loosely around his neck, then he swept the hood back from his head... revealing his face to Zade. The face that Zade literally had not seen in years.

Her brother's face.

The weight grew heavier.

Zade had to look away for a second because she couldn't take the sight of him all at once. When she looked back, she saw that his eyes were red... from tears or irritation, Zade couldn't tell. His lips were trembling. He tightened his jaw... making a visible effort to hold whatever emotion bubbled within him in check.

"...please." Michael extended his hand. "Come with me."

Zade stood up.

She still wore her form-fitting leather suit... commonly called 'armor,' though it served very little toward that purpose. She'd undone a few of the clasps, but she quickly refastened them and reached for her weapons belt. It rested on the table beside her, along with her metal bracers and her black leather whip. She armed herself, then nodded.

She heard Blaymore whisper something... a series of words that departed his lips too fast to be more than a chirp to her ears. Then, Blaymore vanished. He was still there; he was merely invisible.

"The shanties at the edge of town," he said, his voice coming from the empty air in front of her. "There's an abandoned section. An old building with no roof..."

"I know where it is," said Zade.

"Meet me there."

There was a rustle, and a slight gust of wind as Blaymore left... passing through the door just as he had entered. Zade had to make the more mundane effort of actually OPENING the door. She closed and locked it behind her, then looked up at the sky. It was late evening. The sun was about a half-hour away from the horizon. It would be almost dark by the time she got where she was going. Blaymore would be there already. He was probably there now, unless he had a few dozen stops to make along the way.

Zade thought about turning around and going back inside. But she remembered his face. Not the look on his face... but the face ITSELF. His face.

She started walking, her long legs and determined steps carrying her toward the shanties at the edge of town.
---

There was still quite a bit of sunlight left when she found the place. The shanties were a collection of hovels, huts, and shacks where Montfort's poorer citizens tried to live. Zade rarely came to this part of town. The places they lived, the conditions they endured... it was too much like-

-like something Zade didn't care to remember.

There was a semi-circle of abandoned and semi-abandoned buildings that acted as a buffer between the derelicts and the city proper. Most of them were the remains of old shops that had been burned during the disaster a few years ago... the same disaster that spawned most of the shanty-town's residence. One of the buildings was still mostly intact. Only the roof and a small section of the front wall were damaged... creating a structure reminiscent of an open-topped box. Zade had to squeeze through the 'door'... a pile of rubble and boards... to entered the old store.

She could see the sky above her: a field of bluish red, pierced by the jutting wooden planks that were all that remained of the ceiling. There was nothing in the store but rubble, trash, and the reeking remains of some dead animal.

Something on the floor caught Zade's eye. A gleam. Several gleams.

Metal.

Several metal rods rested on the floor near the crumbling wall. There were more than a dozen, each was about seven feet long. Staves? No... too heavy. There were also some oddly-shaped metal bits that didn't look like weapons of any kind. They looked like pieces of something. Or rather, pieces of several somethings.

And they all looked new. They certainly didn't belong here.

"I had them fabricated," said Blaymore. He appeared beside her, his invisibility fading away as he canceled his spell.

"What are they?" she said, still looking around. She noticed that the ground where she was standing... next to the metal rods... was unusually flat. She noticed it too late.

Blaymore moved.

The wind roared around Zade like a tornado as he circled her again and again, grabbing things from the floor and jamming them into place. One at a time, the metal rods rose like the stalks of strange plants... jutting perfectly straight from the holes in the metal plate below Zade's feet. A darkness fell across her as another plate... actually several smaller plates that were fastened together... settled onto the top of the bars. It probably would have taken a normal man an hour to assemble all the pieces. For Blaymore, it was nearly instantaneous... By the time Zade realized what Blaymore was doing... he had already done it. He had built a cage. There was no way he could ever lure her INTO one... so he had built one AROUND her!

Now he stood before her, staring at her from beyond the bars. His hood and mask were still lowered, and that made Zade all the more furious.

"You... BASTARD!" Zade spat. She felt the trembling in her gut... the ache in her joints and the prickling of her skin as the rage began to surface. "YOU BASTARRD!"

"I'm sorry, Beth," he said softly. He looked at her with apologetic eyes. "I didn't want to do this to you. But there's no other way. I'm so sorry..."

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!!"

"You're not trapped," said Blaymore. "There are at least a dozen ways for someone to get out of that cage. For... a HUMAN... to get out. But if you change-"

Zade glanced at the cage. Blaymore was right. It was sturdy, but there were ways she could take it apart from the inside. But she could ONLY do it as a human. If she transformed, she'd be just another caged animal. She'd be stuck in the cage until she changed back.

But it was already too late. She was changing. Her fingers were shortening...shrinking. Her back was cramping as the bones began to shift-

She had to stop it. She had to calm down. She backed away from the bars and took as many deep breaths as her tightening lungs and constricting throat would allow.

Slowly... slooowly... the change stopped. It backed away as she got control of her rage. Human. Calm. She had to stay human, or she would be stuck... had to stay calm...

She grabbed one of the bars. She could unscrew it, but her fingers were still... clumsy. She had to calm down...

"Your little trick is a bit too late," she said. "The full moon was LAST week."

"I know... It's not the moon, it's... Beth, when I found out, I could hardly... I.... when I tell you..."

Blaymore took a step toward the cage and looked straight into Zade's eyes.

His look... the expression... the pain... it made Zade back away. The pain in his eyes pushed her back just as surely as if he'd reached in and shoved her.

"...Beth..." he was struggling to contain himself. Zade could only watch as he forced himself to say what he had brought her here to hear. The practiced menace in his voice was completely gone now. Now he was just a man. A man suffering under some unspoken turmoil that he still couldn't bring himself to say.

"Beth," he repeated. He lowered his face and rubbed his fingers over his forehead. When he looked up again-

"...Michael?" said Zade. The name came to her lips as a gasp. This wasn't Blaymore. She'd never seen Blaymore like this... with tears in his eyes, and face twisted by so much pain. This wasn't him. This was the boy who'd existed before there was a Blaymore... This was Michael. This was her brother.

"He's still alive," he said. He was whispering, not from any need for secrecy, but because it was the only sound he could make.

"Who?" said Zade.

"Him. HIM, Beth... HIM! The man who... Oh, gods help me, I can't even say it...

"Dammit, WHO!?"

"He's still alive, Beth. He's still alive and he's still... torturing slaves. Beth, the man who killed our mother... The Overseer... Grady... is alive."

Zade felt everything drain out of her. The name... THAT name...

THAT man!

...still... alive...

If it had been a physical occurrence, it would have been accompanied by the roaring crash of water against the shore... but there was no water. Yet, the ocean of everything that Zade was... everything she'd ever thought and felt... suddenly emptied itself. The sea drained away to nothing... revealing the Thing. Uncovered and revealed in all its horrible glory, black Monolith lay exposed for the first time since Zade had covered it up. It was all there. The pain. The torture. The death. The murder and the rape.

Zade was an empty shell. Stunned out of her senses, Zade swayed back and forth in the cage as her mind reeled.

...still... alive...

Perhaps encouraged by the fact that Zade had yet to transform, Michael continued speaking.

"Jallan is alive as well," he said. "Maybe others, too. And... and... I don't know if its the same man... but... they both work for... for someone named... named 'Ellis.'"

Zade shrieked.

She screamed as if the skin were being pulled off of her body. Now it was Michael's turn to back away.

The sight of the monolith had caused her to snap. Her empty shell was now filled with sharp shards of memories spinning in a whirlwind of rage. Zade charged the bars and thrust her clawed hand out at Michael. Her face was already transforming... her nose and mouth lengthening into a canine snout as her joints re-made themselves...

"WHERE ARRRE THE! WHERRRE ARRE THEY!!!"

"The same place they've always been. They never left. They're still... right... there..."

"LET ME OUT OF THIS CAGE RIGHT NOW GODS-DAMN YOU!!!!" Zade growled... every word more guttural than the last. "LET ME OUT OR I SWEARR BY EVERY GOD I KNOW... I'LL SELL MY SOUL TO SEE YOU DEAD, MICHAEL, I SWEARRR!!! I SWEARRRRR!!!"

"I know," said Michael. "I know. But its safer for you here. And I have something to swear as well..."

Michael tugged his mask back up onto his face. He grasped the edge of his hood and pulled up, plunging his face into shadow once more. His eyes began to flicker... then glow with a light that burned in fierce shades of red and green.

"...if I have to run to the ends of Iffrean this very night," said Blaymore. Not Michael... Blaymore. The menace had returned to his voice, and it was now stronger than it had ever been. "Their blood will run in rivers out of whatever hole they've crawled into. If the hanging tree still stands, I will decorate it with their entrails, stringing them so fast that they'll be able to see it with their own eyes before they die. By the time you get out of that cage, they will all be dead. All of them. They will pay, Beth.... for what they did to us. To you. This, I swear."

His oath made, Blaymore faded away to nothing and was gone.

Zade saw him leave. His words echoed in the fading remnants or her mind... piercing the cloud of emotion and stoking its fires higher still. She howled in fury... a fury that no animal could ever know. No wolf could understand the monolith of pain. An animal could not know vengeance. Not of this kind... not of this DEPTH. Protection? Fear? Anger? Hunger? None of the animal emotions came close. Wrath? Hatred? NO! This was a raw and flaming VENGEANCE that needed a HUMAN mind to grasp it.... a HUMAN mind to conceive and dream of it... and a HUMAN mind to carry it out. The fleeting spark that was Zade's humanity seized upon this vengeance... feeding on it and growing stronger, like an infant at its mother's breast.

Zade howled again... but this time the howl warbled and weakened. Her lupine eyes closed... and human eyes opened as her muscles twisted painfully, caught somewhere in between the two forms...

Vengeance.

Human Vengeance.

Zade stood up and gathered the clothing and weapons that had fallen off somewhere during the transformation. Then, without a sound, she grasped the bars and began to unscrew them one at a time...

---

The store was closed, but Zade stormed up to the door... charging through the faint scents of the patrons and visitors. She unlocked it with her key, then threw the door open as she entered.

"Oh!" Theesa yelped. The small blonde woman had been re-arranging the diamond display... again. She turned suddenly at the intrusion, then realizing when she saw that it was just Zade. "Zade? I thought you'd left for the eveni-"

"Get Out." Zade said sharply.

"Excuse me?"

"GET! OUT!"

Theesa's eyes widened. She glanced at the door to the back room.

"Ummm.... Is there something wrong?"

"Perhaps Zade wishes to speak to me privately," said a deep voice that reminded Zade a lot of Blaymore's. This was much deeper, however... and came from a much larger man. December paused at the entrance to the back room, his huge frame taking up much of the doorway. He stood proudly and defiantly, despite the white hair and pale skin that marked him as a human oddity... much more so than Zade. Zade didn't need to hear his voice to know when he entered... she could feel the temperature in the room drop several degrees the instant he crossed the threshold. December was literally sucking the heat out of the air in a process that he could control somewhat, but never stop completely.

Zade faced him. She folded her arms across her chest and waited.

December stepped aside and nodded at the back room.

"Theesa?" he said.

Theesa gave him a foul glance. She said nothing as she left, but the look on her face screamed loudly: 'I will not be dismissed like a child or a servant... and we WILL talk about this later!' She closed the door behind her, not slamming it... but not closing it quietly either.

"I have to leave," Zade said immediately. "Now. Tonight. Right now."

"And where are you going?" December said in his usual stoic calm.

Zade paused. She couldn't bring herself to say the name. She hadn't so much as THOUGHT it in years.

"Home," she said instead.

"Is this... business? Or pleasure?"

"Both," said Zade. "When I arrive, I'm going to start killing people. I'm not going to stop until someone kills ME, or until I run out of people. That answer your question?"

"Indeed," said December. The brief glimpse of expression on his face told Zade that maybe... just maybe... he understood. But he needed to understand something ELSE, as well...

"I didn't come to you to ask permission," she said. "I'm AM going. You have no say in that. None at all."

"I never said I did," said December. "But, if not for permission, why DID you come to me?"

"I need help to get there."

"Surely I pay you enough for-"

"A coach? A ship? No, you misunderstand. When I said was leaving tonight, I meant I need to ARRIVE tonight as well."

"That would require magic," said December. "I am sure that, for a price, Lovvorn would-"

"NO! Not Lovvorn. I never liked OR trusted that drunk. If YOU do, then that's your business... but I don't want him involved in mine."

"What do you propose, then?"

"You have another mage. I don't know if I trust him either, but if the order comes from YOU, I know he'll do it. If he wants to be paid, he can have everything I own. Even my soul, if he wants it."

"Is it as serious as that?"

"Yes. It is."

"Very well," said December. "N'Doki will grant your wish. Without payment. Your service to me is payment enough. Go to him and he will send you on your way."

Zade nodded. This had been easier than she expected.

"When I'm done-" she began.

"You will return to me," said December. Zade didn't know if he was giving her an order, or merely finishing her sentence for her. It was probably both. "Your job will be waiting for you. As will I."

"You realize that I may not survive this," she said. "If it comes down to my life and killing the ones that I'm after... my life isn't nearly important enough to let them live."

"I understand," said December. "That is why I am not concerned about your safety... or about letting you go."

He must have seen the confusion on Zade's face. He explained:

"If you are to die, then I know will be for a reason we both consider worthy."

"How do you know what my reason is?"

"I do not need to know. YOU know... and I trust you."

"Well..." said Zade, not quite sure what to make of December's words. "I'll be seeing you. Maybe."

She walked out. She knew without looking back that December was watching her go.

---

The cemetery.

Montfort had no shortage of places to respectfully... and Respectfully... bury its dead. Some were the small neglected tombs of long-extinct families. Others were large, complicated affairs.

THIS cemetery was a cross between the two, taking the worst parts of both and turning them into something truly horrid.

It was not huge, but it was large enough to be eerie. When one stood near its center at night, there was nothing but old, decaying graves as far as the eye could see.

N'Doki's home... lair... sanctum... whatever, lay far beneath, at the heart of a network of catacombs. The sanctum had been breached once not long ago, but even after that violation, N'Doki chose not to move to a more secure location. So, barring any unforseen developments, Zade would have to take the same route that Chain and his raiders had taken.

There was an above-ground crypt near the heart of the cemetery. An old, gnarled tree jutted from the ground beside it. The massive stone door was slightly ajar, leading into a small, musty space... at the rear of which was another door, this one of iron. The door was new... a replacement for the one that had been demolished earlier.

This door was also ajar.

It appeared that Zade was expected.

That was good. Perhaps she wouldn't have to kill her way through whatever protectors N'Doki had summoned to guard this place. If there was one thing N'Doki could do well... it was summon lots of very unpleasant things. It seemed to be his specialty. But if he was expecting her, perhaps he put all his nasties on a leash for the night.

Or perhaps not.

Zade decided it was best to be prepared. She had all her weapons with her. Or at least all the weapons she intended to take. Taking them ALL would require several extra people to her carry them. A large, sharp hunting knife hung from her belt. On the opposite hip hung the coils of her black leather whip. The whip had a thin metal cord running down the center, beneath the leather. The metal reduced the whip's flexibility somewhat, but it made the weapon much more damaging... and devastating when used with one of the bladed metal tips that she carried on her belt. She also carried a pouch of shuriken: razor-sharp missiles that she could put through a man's throat with the flick of a wrist. She wore the metal bracers on her wrists more for convenience than protection. The items were enchanted; the runes carved into its surface could contain items... keeping them in some magical pocket until she retrieved them with just a touch. They couldn't hold anything as large as a staff or a bastard sword, but had no problem with the enchanted crossbow and extra knives she had stored in them now. The small backpack hanging from her shoulder held the few non-lethal items she needed: rope, a grappling hook, torches, and other supplies. She usually carried healing herbs and bandages with her on her expeditions... but those were unnecessary now that she was... wasn't human.

"All right," she said as she drew her hunting knife. The weapon had a 14-inch blade... and part of its length was serrated with evil-looking teeth. She held it tightly as she pulled the door open. Beyond it was a dark stone stairway that wound its way downward into the bowels of the cemetery. She reached for a torch from her pack, then realized she didn't need it. There was a small amount of light coming from... from some source Zade couldn't identify. The walls weren't glowing... and neither was the floor or the ceiling. Strange.

Zade shrugged and started down.

Zade expected the catacombs to be eerily silent. They weren't... which made them even MORE eerie. There were strange sounds and smell all around her... all the time... growing more persistent with every step she took. At times, she was absolutely convinced there was something following her. But when she turned to look behind her, there was nothing there. She also heard the unmistakable sounds of things moving around behind the walls. Not rats or vermin... something much larger. Occasionally, large cracks in the stone gave her glimpses into the darkness beyond. She never saw anything; but she always heard them. The stairs ended at a hallway, and the hallway stretched on for longer than Zade cared to consider... it certainly seemed larger than the cemetery. The cracks in the walls grew larger as she went, and eventually she came to one that was so large that it was more like a doorway than a crack. It stretched from floor to ceiling, and an odd mixture of smells floated out of the space beyond. Scented candles. Incense. Dust. And the faint trace of death.

This was the place.

Zade stepped through the crevice

There had been nothing but darkness before, but the instant she crossed the threshold, a dim light flooded the space around her. The light didn't just come on... it had always been there. She just couldn't see it from outside the chamber.

N'Doki's sanctum was mostly empty... unless she counted the knots of shadows huddling in the corners like living, solid things. There was a large bonfire in the center of the room. Zade couldn't tell what was burning... but it smelled horrible. The outer edges of the room seemed to swallow the flame's light, hiding the walls and the room's true size from Zade's eyes.

N'Doki stood before the fire like some decrepit scarecrow, his emaciated figure seemed so thin and frail that any sudden burst of heat from the fire would knock him over. He wore only a loincloth, leaving his leathery skin and bald head to gleam in the firelight. He looked like something that belonged in one of the graves above... or something that had escaped from one. Each of his fingers ended in a sharp talon. Zade had heard that N'Doki had undergone several changes in appearance since he started working with December.... she couldn't imagine what he looked like before.

N'Doki looked up from the fire. His eyes were red... not glowing, just incredibly bloodshot. For a few moments he appeared to be staring past Zade... looking at something behind her. She was just about to turn around and look when his eyes focused on her. He smiled. All of the necromancer's teeth had been filed down to sharp, carnivorous points.

"Ahhh, 'tis not often dat N'Doki receive guests..." he said. He spoke with a thick accent that Zade always thought sounded familiar, but she knew she'd never heard anyone speak with it before.

"This isn't a social call," Zade said quickly. "I want-"

"You want to go to de place of your chilehood... and you want N'Doki so send you dere, no?"

Zade wasn't surprised that he knew what she wanted. December certainly had time to send word to him while she was gathering her supplies... but she doubted that was how he knew. N'Doki had his own methods of learning things. His methods, and motives, were usually not to be questioned except by December himself.

"Yes," she admitted. "December said that you would send me-"

"Tell me, girl... why you bodder N'Doki wit such a t'ing, when dere be plenty in Montfort who will do it for you, hmmm?"

"Why ask why? Either you'll do it or you won't. Will you?"

"Answer de question, girl." The necromancer's words were neither a command nor a request... but a curious juxtaposition of both.

"This is personal, and important. I'm not going to trust my business with just anybody. NOW will you send me?"

N'Doki stared at her, as if seeking some answer from her face, or her clothes... or some other means other than her words. Then he nodded, as if he had found it.

"I will send you," he said finally.

"Do you even know where-"

"Yes. I am... familiar... wit dis place you seek."

"Familiar," said Zade. Now it was HER turn to stare.... her turn to look for answers. But whatever means N'Doki had used, she lacked it. All she got from looking at him was a chill running down her back.

"How old are you?" she asked. "Where are you from?"

N'Doki raised an eyebrow... or rather, a patch of skin where an eyebrow should be.

"Why you ask such a t'ing," he said, smiling. He seemed more amused than suspicious.

Zade held up her fist, with the back of her hand facing him. She pointed to her hand... pointed to the skin... brown skin... that was only a few shades lighter than N'Doki's.

"This is why," she said. "You were one of us, weren't you?"

"You assume much," the necromancer began.

"I assume right," Zade snapped. "I am right, aren't I? You were there... maybe not at the same time... or the same place. One of the neighboring kingdoms, maybe, but you were there."

"I was," said N'Doki. "N'Doki was of de first generation... de first-born of dose who were stolen from far lands and enslaved for de benefit of odders."

"That can't be. That was hundreds of... years..."

Zade looked at the necromancer, and a new chill slid down her spine. Was he THAT old? If he was, then what was he doing HERE, working for December? And if he WAS a slave so long ago, then...

"Why didn't you stop it? It's still going on, today. With all your power, why-"

"N'Doki has no power. De power you mistake for N'Doki's comes from de spirits dat I serve. I cannot do dat which dey do not wish to be done."

"Come with me, then," said Zade. "You were one of us. We can destroy them together. All of 'em. You must surely hate them as much as I do."

"More dan you know, girl. N'Doki IS hatred... odder t'ings, too, but mostly de hatred. But I cannot come wit you."

"Why? Are you afraid?"

N'Doki's deep laugh echoed around the room like a sound of a distant thunderclap.

"Afraid, girl?" said N'Doki "You do not insult N'Doki by saying dis t'ing... you merely reveal your own ignorance. N'Doki knows t'ings dat you do not. T'ings of prophecy and power. N'Doki must remain here because soon dere will be an event dat... ahh, but dis does not concern you yet. Now... now it is YOUR time."

"My time? What the hell does that mean-?"

"Yours is not to understand... yours it merely to act according to your nature. You wish de spirits to send you on your way? Dey will do so with pleasure. You wish N'Doki's help-"

"I don't need your help."

"You will have it. You will need it... de spirits haf said it to be true..."

N'Doki snapped his fingers... making a dry, crisp sound.

The shadows in the room began to stir. Zade caught sight of several things moving toward her from the corners of the room. She couldn't make out their form or even their size, only that they were there and moving in her direction.

Zade backed away a step. She still had her knife in her hand, and she was not afraid. She watched the things as they approached. As they moved out of the shadows... they vanished. At the very instant before the light reached them... before their shapes were to be revealed... they were gone. Yet, they were still there. Zade still felt movement in the room. Something brushed past her. Not a solid thing... but not liquid or gas, either. Whatever it was, it was cold.

She felt something else move in front of her, traveling in the opposite direction as the first.

Two more followed... and then the room was still. Zade didn't know why she looked down, but she did. There, at her feet, were four objects. The invisible 'things' must have left them there as they passed. The first was a bone.... a human leg-bone that had been carved into a spike.... well-suited for driving into the heart of someone or something. Beside it lay a tiny pouch, of the type Zade used to keep herbs and other healing mixtures. Next was a wooden statue. It was a small grotesque thing with the rough shape of a man... but with fangs, horns, and several other protrusions that didn't belong on anything human. The details of the carving were a bit TOO realistic. The final object was a rock or stone of some kind. It was slightly larger than a man's fist, and its surface was horribly gnarled and pitted, with several wickedly sharp ridges running along its roughly oblong shape. Zade couldn't tell if it were an actual stone, or perhaps the petrified shell of some creature.

Zade glanced at the items, but made no effort to pick them up. In fact, she took another step back... away from them.

"What are these?" she asked.

"Gifts from your ancestors," said N'Doki. "Take dem. You will find dem useful."

"Yeah... but what ARE they?"

"You will not know," said N'Doki. "Even when de time comes to use dem, you will not know. But DEY will know..." N'Doki pointed to the strange collection.

"What if I don't want them?"

"Consider dem a condition of my helping you, yes?"

"Fine."

Zade picked them up. They felt odd in her hands... heavy and off-balance, especially the stone. The pouch was filled with a small amount of very fine powder. It had a strong, herbal scent to it. Zade recognized the smell as a powerful healing mixture. She put it and the other items in her pack, with the full intention of ditching them as soon as she got where she was going.

"Any more 'conditions'?" she asked.

"Only one," said N'Doki.

"And that is...?"

"Dat you show your enemies only as much mercy as dey haf shown you."

Zade laughed.

N'Doki laughed with her.

Zade felt something touch her. Before she could react, the thing had seized her arm... and several other things had grabbed her legs and wrapped around her waist.

She stopped laughing.

Zade saw nothing around her, but she felt the presence of hands all over her body... touching... grasping... pulling...

"HEY, WHAT IS THIS!!" Zade tried to slash with her hunting knife, but her arm was held motionless... extended in mid air and held as stiff as an iron bar. More and more invisible hands roamed over her body, seeking purchase in the folds of her clothing. They yanked her back and forth, as if fighting for her.... or tearing her apart. "N'DOKI!"

"De bankita do not care for your flesh," said the necromancer. "Dey only seek a firm grasp. De places you will travel between here and dere... dark places...one does not want to be dropped, no?"

"...bankita?" The word rattled Zade's memories... loosening something that she had hidden away. Bantika? What did that word mean-

Suddenly, N'Doki's spirits took her. They didn't move her in any physical direction, yet Zade felt their grasps tighten, and then saw the world tear away from her. Not only did the ground beneath her boots vanish, but entire sanctum... and Montfort itself... simply ceased to exist. She was moving at an incredible speed... flying high above some place that did not belong on Iffrean, a place inhabited by things that were not meant to be seen with mortal eyes. Zade closed her eyes and tried not to scream as the rough wind tore violently at her clothes. Were it not for the presence of the spirits all around her, she would have lost every one of her weapons to the hellish landscape below. But she didn't. They held her aloft and kept her moving faster and faster... and faster...

And just when Zade thought the wind was going to burn the skin off of her face...

...the spirits let her go.

[To Be Continued]