"Rain, Rain, Rain...." Zade sighed as she squeezed her athletic body into her leather 'armor.' This outfit was tighter, but less revealing than the last, which had become soaked during the trip to New Venyce. And of course, the job of securing the large inn from potential spies, assassins, etc. had kept her too busy to change clothes until well after sunset. She'd checked every inch of every room on every floor. She'd eavesdropped on the conversations of every bellboy in the building and every person who so much as wandered briefly within hearing distance. She peered behind the artwork and underneath the furniture... discovering quite a few hidden safes and lost items, but no professional killers. At least not yet. And she had done all this without drawing undue attention to herself... which was quite a significant task for someone dressed like a waterlogged dominatrix.

And that was just the beginning. Once she was reasonably convinced that there were no surprises waiting for her or her employer, the REAL work began.... making sure no surprises arrived during the night. Zade gave up all hope of getting any sleep on this first night. Her job was to protect December at all times... it wasn't her USUAL job, but it was hers nonetheless. She couldn't do that job while asleep. Not that she could sleep anyway... Her bedroom was immediately adjacent to the one that December and Theesa shared. Though it was posh and expensive, the Golden Eagle Inn had very thin walls. And Zade had very good ears.

She certainly didn't want to spend her night listening to whatever December and Theesa were doing over there.

She slid her arms into the sleeves of her armor and pulled the garment up over her muscular shoulders. She fastened the hidden clasps, then strapped on her belt. The belt had a double-row of loops notches all the way around it where she could stash her weapons. Zade filled those notches with a set of twelve throwing stars, six balanced throwing daggers, and a long hunting blade. She stuffed two smaller daggers into the hidden sheath in the small of her back, and another knife in her leather boot. She grabbed her whip, coiled it up tightly and hung it from her belt. The weight of the whip weapon was offset by the large hunting knife hanging from her other hip. Usually she carried several lightweight metal attachments that she could fasten to the specialized tip of her whip... turning the whip into anything from a lethal long-range razor to a short grappling line. She left these behind this time; she could be just as deadly without those toys. Zade tightened the straps on her boots and left her room.

She'd already decided to patrol the hallways for the remainder of the night. She'd check rooms at random and keep her finely honed senses on alert for anything out of the ordinary... OTHER than December and Theesa. Zade stopped at the first window she came to and looked out.

The Golden Eagle Inn was about one block from the river. It sat high in the sky, supported by stilts that rose up through an open space in the wooden platform that served as 'ground' in New Venyce. The space was actually a miniature channel that had been cut away, allowing small boats to sail from the river right up to the inn on one side. . Zade looked down into the water and saw nothing except the rain. It wasn't raining nearly as hard as it had been before... the weather had softened from deluge to a normal downpour. That still meant that there was a lot of water falling out of the sky. Zade could hear it hitting the roof, even though there was an entire level between her and it. The rain was a constant hissing background noise that tended to drown out other sounds. Zade tried to focus through it and hear what was going on in the building. All was as quiet as it should have been. All the bellboys, cooks, and assorted staff had gone home long ago.

Zade patrolled through the night. Moving silently from room to room, floor to floor. She stopped to listen outside the door of Sir Oliver... the inn's owner and manager. He slept in a palatial apartment on the bottom floor. She heard him snoring and moved on.

"I don't know how J'Hasp does this twenty four hours a day," Zade mused out loud. Of course, December's usual bodyguard had senses that were a lot sharper than hers... he probably didn't have to move from one spot to know what was going on for six blocks in any direction. For a second, she almost envied him... then she remembered her own curse and the 'gifts' it entailed. Werewolves had enhanced senses, too... and strength... and reflexes. Pretty much everything J'Hasp had, but to a smaller degree. No wonder December had chosen her to fill in on this trip... not because she was the best fighter he had, but because her lycanthropy was a reasonable substitute for the skills of December's pet 'thing.'

Zade forced that particular line of though from her mind... it would only make her angry, and would make the night even longer and more unbearable. She continued her tour of the building, and decided to check on December. She returned to the second floor and paused outside their door. It was quiet inside. No one was talking or snoring... or doing anything else.

"About time..." Zade whispered.

...thump...

"Oops, spoke too soon. No, wait-"

Zade listened. The sound she'd heard hadn't come from inside the room... it had come from somewhere else. It was such a low, quiet noise that she doubt she would've heard it at all if it weren't for her unnaturally sharp ears. Unfortunately her brain hadn't quite adjusted to her drastically increased range and sensitivity... while she was CERTAIN that she heard something, she struggled to figure out what it was and where it came from. She played the sound back in her mind and tried to logically reason out what could've made it. It was something hitting something...but softly. That narrowed it down to perhaps a few million things. Zade frowned. She walked down the hall to the window at the far end and leaned out. She looked down at the dock below the inn. Nothing. The surrounding buildings were all dark.. and none of the shadows were moving. She turned her face up into the rain... all she got was water in her eyes.

Then she heard something else... the low creaking of wood. Barely audible even with her enhanced senses.... so soft that she wasn't even sure she heard it until the sound came a second time. Then a third. Then it went away. Again, Zade played the sounds back in her mind, but this time she got an immediate answer.

Not on this floor... not on the floor above... higher... Someone's walking on the roof!

Zade's body reacted like a trained warrior's should... jumping to an instant state of readiness. Her heart quickened, her muscles tensed. She walked quietly to the stairwell. She made no sounds... she breathed evenly and silently. Zade opened the door and started up the stairs.

The entrance to the roof was hidden, but not very well. Zade had found it earlier when touring the inn... on the third floor, a secret door lead from the top of the main stairwell to the bottom of another set of steps. Zade crept up the stairs. The sound of the rain became louder and louder. It was harder to listen to the surroundings.. but then, Zade hadn't heard any more sounds since she'd left the second floor. She began to think that maybe she hadn't heard anything at all... certainly someone couldn't be THAT quiet, could they? Or maybe the rain was interfering more than she thought.

She reached the roof. There was a small trap-door above her, and she could feel the vibrations from the rain pouring down on it. It was a testament to the builders that the steady deluge hadn't seeped through... the door, and the roof it lead to... were air-tight. The door had a large padlock on it. The lock hadn't been disturbed... no one had been in. At least not this way. Zade pulled a set of picks from a secret pocket on her sleeve. She was by no means a locksmith, or a thief... but the lock was old and easy to pick even for amateur.

*click!*

Zade froze. The sound of the lock opening was louder than she thought. But then, to her enhanced hearing, EVERYTHING was louder than she thought. Zade slid the lock away and waited. No sounds. No footsteps. No strange scents in the air. Just rain.

Zade pushed up on the door, and it lifted up on its hinges. She opened it a few inches and peered through the hole. The roof was slightly sloped, and the steady rain was running off if it in sheets, pouring over the sides and falling to the streets below. Zade couldn't see the entire roof from where she was. She'd have to come all the way out to do that.

Hmmm...

Zade lowered the door and crouched in the secret stairwell. She listened to the rain. Again... she heard nothing. She kept waiting... kept listening...

Oh, to hell with it...

Zade pushed the door up again. She looked. Nothing. Then, with a sudden burst of dexterity, she leapt out through the opening and rolled out onto the roof. The trap door fell closed, but Zade caught it with her hand and quietly lowered it into place. She crouched on the roof of the Golden Eagle Inn and scanned every direction with a focused gaze. She saw the city stretch out before and below her. Rain rolled down her face and soaked her armor... but she didn't move....

She didn't move because she was waiting to find out what the man standing behind her was going to do.

He'd been there all along, hiding behind the trap door where she couldn't see him. When she'd rolled out onto the roof, he'd made a sudden movement to get behind her... that movement was so quick and silent that Zade almost missed it... and she was less than two yards away from him. She couldn't see him... she could BARELY hear him. He was probably unaware that she knew he was there. She heard him move... picking out his footsteps in the rain took more concentration than it should have. This man was good. He moved towards her... probably coming in for the kill.

Got a surprise for ya, buddy...

She listened for his next footstep... and when she heard it, Zade leapt to her feet and threw a spinning kick as she turned her face towards her foe. The man... a vague shape lost in a thick voluminous black robe, dodged to one side...as if he'd been expecting her attack. He threw himself into a perfectly executed back-flip that took him out of range of her kick. Zade reached for her belt and snatched two throwing stars. She sent them streaking towards the man even before he came out of his acrobatic flip. Displaying extraordinary muscle control, the man altered his movements, suddenly lunging to one, then to the other. Both projectiles missed him by less than a half-inch.

Zade dropped into a fighting stance, with a throwing knife already in her hand. The robed man simply stood there. Zade could see that what she first thought was a robe was actually an odd, oversized cloak that hung to just above the man's black boots. A plain cloth belt gathered it at the waist so that it flared out around his legs. A deep hood hid the man's face. The cloak's wide sleeves could have held any number of weapons. Beneath the cloak, the man was wearing a tight black body-suit that was almost indistinguishable from the cloak that covered it. Zade saw the rain rolling off of the man's clothes... which remained dry even in the downpour. Everything about this figure... his stance, his clothes... everything marked him as a dangerous man who was not to be trifled with.

"Who the hell are you?" said Zade. "You can talk now, WITH teeth... or talk later without them."

The man chuckled. It was a low, sinister laugh that annoyed Zade even further.

"December has fallen so low as to protect himself with women," said the man. He had an accent that Zade didn't recognize. "It seems his reputation is undeserved."

"Uh-huh..." said Zade. She began to circle around the man... "Keep talking... enjoy it while you still can."

"I was expecting the infamous Eric Hood. Imagine my disappointment."

"Be happy you got me instead... at least I'll leave a recognizable corpse for your family to identify. Now who are you and why are you here?"

"I am Faction," said the man. Made a slightly movement that Zade couldn't follow... his cloak was too big, it hid the details of what he was doing. It looked like he was reaching up his left sleeve... but Zade couldn't tell for sure. "I am Death."

"Yeah, yeah... how many times have I heard THAT one before."

"What is your name, woman? I like to know the names of those I kill."

"Kill? I don't think so... but when ya get to hell, tell 'em Zade sent ya!"

Zade and Faction both moved as one. Zade launched her dagger as Faction's right hand whipped out of his left sleeve, carrying three projectiles. Faction leapt, performing an impossible forward flip as he threw the five-pointed throwing stars with one hand, and CAUGHT Zade's dagger with the other.

Zade was expecting his attack, and was already twisting out of the way

zzzZZ!!! zzzZZ!!! zzzZZ!!!

Faction's weapons zipped past her... one tore a line across the back of her armor, but didn't break the skin. But Faction wasn't finished. An instant before he touched the ground, he threw Zade's knife back at her. Zade hadn't expected it. She saw the movement and dodged... a fraction of a second too slow. Her own dagger sank into the meat of her shoulder.

Zade snatched the blade from her flesh and turned toward's Faction... only he wasn't there. Zade threw a back-kick, knowing instinctively that Faction had somehow managed to get behind her. She heard the rustling of cloth as Faction leaned away from the kick, her foot soared past his chest. His hand shot out and grabbed her leg with almost supernatural strength and speed. He twisted it... HARD... snatching Zade off balance and sending her crashing to the roof.

THUD!

Zade rolled and Faction's boot came down beside her head. She leapt to her feet, ducked under Faction's kick and slashed at him with her dagger. Faction jerked backwards, the blade missed his hooded face. His quick hands appeared from nowhere... one deftly clasped Zade's wrist before she could avoid it. Fingers pressed into the nerve bundles of her wrist and the dagger fell from her hand as Faction's other fist shot towards her face. Zade ducked, snatched her hand free, took a step back...

WHOOSH!

Faction's foot just missed her face. A second kick followed. Zade blocked and followed with a front kick... it was a feint. The roundhouse kick she threw next would've ended the fight if it had connected... but Faction avoided the strike with uncanny ease. He twisted to one side made a sudden lunge, his arm extended in a powerful backfist strike aimed at Zade's head. Zade pretended to block, but then she suddenly spun, delivering a spinning hook-kick that hit absolutely nothing. The heel of her boot missed Faction's nose by a quarter of an inch. Before her leg even returned to the ground, Faction stepped in and delivered a three-punch combination to Zade's head and chest. Zade dodged them and threw a powerful punch at Faction's throat, intending to end this fight by crushing his windpipe. Again, Faction's hands appeared from nowhere. He grabbed her at arm. Zade was expecting that. She blocked the punch that Faction was hoping to surprise her with. Combat quickly escalated into an rapid series of punches, strikes and blocks. Faction was going for the kill... striking at pressure points and nerve bundles that would've taken Zade down quickly had Zade not been skilled enough to block them. Zade was doing the same thing, but instead of blocking, Faction would dodge, spin, or jerk to one side... avoiding her hands while leaving both his own free for his attacks. To Zade, it was like fighting the empty air.. every punch and kick she threw hit absolutely nothing.

Faction's fighting style was quick and lethal... his strikes became harder and faster with each blow. He was good. Zade ducked a throat-level punch and threw a four-punch combination... a distraction. She swept her leg across the roof, hoping to trip her opponent. Faction hopped over the limb... and while airborne he threw a front snap kick at Zade's face. She blocked it... and the one that followed... but the THIRD one caught her in the chest and forced her backwards... which is where she wanted to be anyway. She dropped back into a fighting stance while reaching for another throwing knife.

There wasn't one. Her belt was empty. And the knives she'd hidden in the small of her back were gone as well.

"What the-?"

"Looking for these?" Faction said. He thrust out his hand... which held Zade's collection of daggers and throwing stars. Her whip was coiled up at his feet. Their entire 'combat' so far was simply a means for Faction to get close enough to disarm her. His fast hands had managed to snatch every weapon she had, Faction tossed the weapons aside... they hit the roof and slid over the edge, falling to the river far below. He kicked Zade's whip aside, and it fell over the edge as well.

"Didn't need them anyway," said Zade.

"Then why did you bring them?"

"Expecting somebody a bit more challenging than you." said Zade.

Faction nodded slowly, then started to run towards her. Zade prepared to kick him into next week, but Faction suddenly leapt up... and flipped completely over her head! He landed behind her. Zade spun-

KRACK!!!

-too late. Faction's boot smashed into the center of her back.

Pain exploded outward from the impact and raced up and down every limb... which was a good thing, since it meant her back wasn't broken. Zade didn't know WHY it wasn't broken, but it wasn't. Zade stumbled forward, but quickly turned to block the next kick... and the next one... and the next one... and the next one...

She grabbed Faction's leg and tried to twist it as he had done to her. The result was less than desirable. Faction twisted with her and whipped his other foot across Zade's face before falling to the ground. Zade quickly backed away. Faction flipped to his feet and started forcing Zade back with complex sequences of hand and foot attacks that Zade had never SEEN before... let alone FOUGHT against. Faster and faster they came. Zade's skilled hands blocked every one of them... she HAD to, because any of them could have been lethal! She counterattacked when she could... but those opportunities came less and less often as Faction's attacks forced her back. His gloved hands were a deadly black blur... attacking continuously at every target... her face, her chest, her throat, her head, her gut... Zade protected them all with blocks and dodges, but it quickly became obvious that she was outmatched. GROSSLY outmatched. And Faction knew it.

"You are finished," he hissed as he deftly dodged one of Zade's ridge-hand strikes. He followed with an incredible seven-punch combination... Zade blocked the first six-

CRACK!

One punch slipped past her guard and cracked the side of her jaw. It was like getting hit with a speeding brick. Faction immediately stepped back and threw a front-snap kick and flipped Zade completely over-

WHAM!

She landed on her back on the wet roof. Faction was right behind her-

KRACK!

His fist punched a HOLE in the roof where her throat had been. He immediately twisted and threw another punch as Zade was getting to her feet. She twisted-

CRUNCH!

Faction's fist caught her in the shoulder, violently dislocating it and nearly shattering the bones. It wasn't his intended target, but it hurt like hell. Zade spun, throwing a desperate kick as her shoulder slid back into place... Faction blocked her attack, as Zade had intended. Her second kick caught him by surprise, whipping across his jaw even as he realized that Zade wasn't hurt as badly he'd thought. Faction let the momentum of the kick spin him around... he ducked under Zade's follow-up kick, and when he came back around his hands and feet launched into another incredible assault. Fists and ridge-hand strikes shot toward Zade's head as Faction pressed her back toward the center of the roof. Zade had to block, duck, and dodge with such concentration that counterattacking was all but impossible. Even her heightened reflexes were pushed to the limit by Faction's skill.

"Prepare for your end, woman," said Faction, his voice calm and even despite the ferocity of his attacks. "You are good...for a petty mercenary. But I am a master of fighting styles you don't even know exist."

Faction started a series of attacks, then interrupted them with a quick low to Zade's left leg. She jumped back, then twisted to the side allowing Faction's powerful punch to sail past her midsection. Zade threw a back-fist strike at Faction's head. He spun a way, ducked under Zade's kick... grabbed at her leg and missed... then leaned to one side as Zade's left foot whizzed past his head. He threw a punch, not at Zade's body, but at the knee of the leg that had just kicked at him. His fist connected with her knee, shattering it. Jagged bones dug into the delicate flesh surrounding them

"AARGGH!" Zade spun on her good leg and ducked under another kick from Faction. She backed away, but Faction followed.

"See how I lead you into your own destruction?" said Faction. He prepared to attack again, moving into a loose stance and circling Zade. "This fight was over before it began."

He attacked again. Faction seemed to launch into a dozen different attacks at once, exploding into a fury of punches and kicks. Zade backed away, limping and blocking as best she could. Arms, hands, legs, and fists met in the air. Blocking Faction was like throwing her arms against a steel beam. His punches got harder, and soon they felt like cannonballs whizzing toward her face. She could feel the flesh of her knee knitting back together... lycanthropy healing the wound with supernatural speed... more pain that she couldn't let distract her. Even the fast reflexes of the animal within her couldn't help her against someone who was to her skill what the ocean was to a puddle of rain. Zade backed away... Faction followed, pressing her further with his frenzied attacks. Zade shifted her strategy and tried to attack despite the complete absence of any weaknesses or openings in Faction's fighting style. She punched, Faction blocked and counterattacked. Zade spun and threw a ridge-hand strike at his neck. Faction blocked, ducked the following two punches with ease, and then buried his fist in her side.

"OOOF!"

He spun, ducked another punch and then threw a six-punch combination that Zade didn't even SEE coming. She felt the first punch, and vaguely remembered getting hit five more times. But that first punch left her so dazed that she couldn't even tell where he was hitting her. She shook her head, trying to clear her mind. She ducked under a fist heading straight for her face... and moved right into the path of Faction's knee as it came upward.

CRACK!

Zade saw stars and moons and planets and little dancing geometric shapes...

CRACK!

...something hit her somewhere... and all the lights vanished. Zade concentrated... FORCED herself back to consciousness an instant before the darkness could claim her. She felt the anger within her... the beast yearning to be set free, waiting for her human will to become too weak to hold it back. But if she couldn't beat Faction in her human form, she seriously doubted that a naked, snarling wolf would do much better. She forced herself back into control even as Faction's hands and feet continued battering her. Another punch sent her staggering backwards. She managed to block the next few before Faction spun around and drove his elbow into her temple.

"UNGh!"

She felt something crack... she had no idea what it was. It only hurt for a moment, though. She twisted away from Faction's next kick, but Faction swept his leg across hers and tripped her. Zade stumbled but didn't fall... her head began to clear... Faction was standing in front of her. He paused for an instant... as if gathering his strength. Zade tried to attack, but at that instant-

"-SAAAAAA!"

Faction's fist struck Zade in the midsection, just below her chest. The force of the blow was enough to shatter brick... and Zade's body was significantly less rigid than brick. Organs and blood vessels burst under the assault, and even the vertebrae in Zade's back cracked and slid out of place. Zade flew backward several feet, hit the roof, and rolled almost to the edge of the building. She ended up face down on the wooden roof of the Golden Eagle... with large volumes of blood pouring from her nose and mouth. The pain was so great that Zade couldn't even form words... she couldn't even breathe... all she could do was convulse and cough up blood.

"...hhhhh...." she hissed as Faction strolled over to her. Everything started to go numb. She found herself staring at Faction's boots, then felt him grab her hair and lift up her head so he could look at her.

"Mercenaries," he said. "Always overestimating your own skill. You were an interesting opponent, woman. Not good.... but interesting."

"....hhh...."

Faction's fist struck again. Zade felt her skull crack... and then nothing...

...

...and then the pain returned. Zade opened her eyes. At first, all she saw was blackness... then the deep red of her own blood. She blinked the blood from her eyes and saw the rain. That's all she saw... the pain wouldn't let her recognize anything else. She felt the rain on her skin, washing her blood away. She felt a sick nausea as her innards rearranged themselves... sliding back into place, but not quite settling down... not yet... . As the lycanthropy regenerated her body, her mind began to reel as the wolf clawed to the surface...

"..hhhrrrrrrrr...."

Her arms and legs stiffened... began to shorten and change... she felt her teeth lengthening...

Zade fought back... forced herself to hold on to her humanity. The accelerated healing slowed, but didn't stop... her limbs returned to normal... Zade's eyes scanned the dark rooftop. Faction was kneeling by the door that lead into the inn... crouched down low and looking around to see if the combat had attracted any more attention. Zade had only been unconscious for a few seconds, which meant the fight wasn't over. No, it wasn't over yet. Faction was obviously here to hurt December, which Zade just couldn't let happen. Her gaze narrowed as she eyed Faction through the haze of rain that separated them. Her lycanthropy healed her wounds... she could move again! It hurt... but she could move...

Zade pushed herself up and brought her legs up underneath her. She stood slowly. She felt the vitality returning to her. Her expression changed from tortured, to blank... then to angry. Not angry at Faction for beating her, but angry at herself for allowing herself to be beaten... and angry at the world for giving her the lycanthropy that prevented her from accepting the kind of death that she deserved. But she would deal with that later... right now, she still had a job to do.

She tried to speak, but no words came. She tried again:

"F-Faction!"

Faction's head snapped around. His mouth, the only visible part of his face, gaped in surprise... then closed as the assassin frowned. He stood and faced Zade.

"Perhaps I was mistaken about you," he said.

Zade was almost completely healed now, a fact that Faction was completely unaware of.

Zade altered her fighting stance, putting all her weight on her right leg to feign injury, and preparing to battle again. She pointed at Faction..

"Come on!" she said as she wiggled her finger at him. "We arren't finished yet!"

Faction didn't waste any time wondering or thinking... he simply attacked. He leapt high into the air, tumbled and came down at an angle just a few feet from Zade. He attacked her left side, expecting her shattered knee to be a weakness. She couldn't kick with her injured leg, nor could she put her weight onto her injured leg to kick with the other one. He pressed forward... one punch grazed Zade's face. Suddenly Zade slid back one step, shifted her weight onto her 'injured' leg and executed a front snap kick-

CRUNCH!

Faction fell back... and the motion became a backflip intended to carry him out of Zade's range. Zade had been expecting that... she twisted and drove her foot into his chest in the hardest spinning side kick she could muster. Faction grunted as the air left his lungs. Zade twisted and delivered an uppercut punch to his jaw. She put everything she had into it... the punch lifted Faction up off of the ground and sent him flying back... he flipped around in the air and landed on his feet.

Zade was already there. Faction blocked her right-cross, but her left hook caught him unaware. He counterattacked with a rapid combination, but Zade blocked, then stepped back and launched a spinning hook-kick. Faction dodged it. Zade went on the offensive. She realized she'd been holding back before... but no longer. December had been right, it was time to start fighting like the woman she WAS, not the woman she USED to be.... She let her rage loose; released some of the unconscious controls that'd been holding her back all this time... she channeled her anger into her muscles... her attacks became harder and faster as she poured her rage out onto Faction. He blocked and dodged... and backed away before the rabid opponent who was no longer pretending to be human.

And yet he STILL kept up with her. Not one punch or kick landed... Faction simply blocked and eased backwards with precise motions, waiting for a moment to strike. He found one... his fist shot upward towards Zade's head. Zade saw it coming. She blocked the incredibly hard punch, then turned her side to Faction, and leaned away from him, bringing her foot upward-

Faction jerked away from the kick, but Zade suddenly spun and threw a punch at his throat. Faction caught her arm, but she yanked it out of his hard grasp while her other hand connected with his gut. Faction jumped back and threw a spinning hook-kick. Zade threw a powerful block that was almost an attack in itself... bruising Faction's leg with her arm. They saw openings and they both launched the same attack-

CRACK!

Both opponents saw the exact same thing... a set of knuckles coming straight towards them. The punches landed at the same time... Zade saw stars for an instant, but that didn't stop her. Her spinning back kick propelled the cloaked assassin back towards the edge of the roof. She stepped towards him, intending to throw another kick... but Faction performed another back-flip that carried him out of range.

"There's more to you than there seems," he said as he stroked his bruised and bleeding jaw. "But that won't be enough to save you."

"Brring it on!"

Instead of attacking, Faction reached up his left sleeve and pulled out a small rod... six inches long and about two inches in diameter. It looked like a wand of some kind.

Uh-Oh... magic... Zade thought.

Suddenly, the rod expanded... both ends becoming longer until it became a full-length staff. And then it began to glow with a fiery, angry light, as if the staff had a roaring fire trapped inside of it. A cloud of steam rose from the staff as it vaporized the rain that hit it. It didn't seem to harm Faction's hands, however. The assassin twirled the staff in a complex motion, throwing more steam into the air as the staff twisted and rotated in his skilled hands. Finally, Faction came to a rigid fighting stance with the flamestaff pointed at Zade.

"Now you die!" he said

A blast of white-hot flames erupted from the end of the staff. Zade had already started leaping out of the way before the staff had even fired. The stream of flames shot past her as she landed and died after a short distance, but the heat they created was incredible. Faction turned towards her and fired a continuous blast that seared the soaking wet roof where she had been standing. Zade had spun out of the way and was running as fast as she could toward the edge of the roof. The line of flames followed her... suddenly Zade reversed direction and threw herself UNDER the flames. She rolled to her feet and ran towards Faction. The staff spun around, Zade threw herself to one side and the next stream of fire missed her by inches-

"AAA-"

She felt her skin sizzling just from the near miss.

Faction made a running start towards her... then jumped and flipped over her head as he'd done before. As he passed overhead, The flamestaff came down towards her in a slicing motion, but Zade's quick reflexes saved her.... barely. She spun out of the way, but the staff's heat seared her arm... melting the leather, the skin, and charring the flesh down to the bone. And that had been another near miss! It it had actually HIT her she'd have been minus one arm!

Faction landed and thrust the staff at her in a straight lunge. Zade jumped back. Faction charged, swinging the glowing staff like a skilled swordsman. He brought it down in an arc, narrowly missing Zade, but again searing flesh from her just by getting close! The end of the staff sank into the roof of the inn... charring the wood and cutting straight through it like a knife. Faction pulled the staff free and struck again swinging it in a wide arc and missing Zade by a larger, but still painful margin.

Zade ran back towards the door that lead from the roof. She was out of her league even BEFORE the magic staff came into play... but NOW?!? As much as she hated to admit it, she'd need December's help on this one.

But she wasn't going to get it.

A stream of fire shot past her... sizzling even more of her skin. The blast demolished the trap-door, setting the entire area aflame for a few seconds before the rain put it out. Zade veered away before the second blast could incinerate her. She and Faction were now standing on opposite corners of the roof. Faction twirled the flamestaff and pointed it at Zade. Zade stepped back... right off the edge. She dropped until her hands grasped the edge of the roof... meanwhile a blast of flame roared overhead. Heat washed over her hands, searing her fingers...

"AAAA DAMMIT!"

... but she held on. The flames died. Zade tried to climb up, but then she realized that Faction would just blast her into oblivion once she got back onto the roof.... which was the same thing he'd probably do when looked down and saw her hanging here.

Zade heard Faction's footsteps as he came toward her. She looked down. The dock was just below her. If she pushed off from the building, she might be able to hit the water. But that would leave Faction up here alone to do whatever he came here to do. Would she be able to get to December before Faction did? And did it even matter? If Faction even got CLOSE to December.... no, no that didn't matter. She was here to keep Faction away, and that's what she was gonna do. Zade remembered the dagger she'd hidden in her boot. Holding on with one scorched hand, Zade reached down and prayed that it was still there... it was. Faction had overlooked it when he'd taken her weapons earlier. She slid it out and held it between her legs, where Faction couldn't see it.

Faction appeared on the edge of the roof and peered down at her. He held the glowing flamestaff in his left hand. The weapon hissed loudly in the rain, and its light cast an evil orange tint over both Faction and Zade.

"You are resilient, I will give you that," said Faction. "Still hanging here, thinking you can defeat me when you could easily let go and escape... if the fall doesn't kill you, of course. A VERY interesting opponent. But still not good enough."

He pointed the end of the staff right at Zade's face.

"What are you doing here?" said Zade.

"I'm finding out what YOU'RE doing here," said Faction. The flamestaff descended; Zade could feel the skin of her face burning. "And what you're doing... is dying-"

Zade swung the knife... her only weapon... and buried it to the hilt in Faction's calf. She impaled him through the leg; the razor sharp blade when all the way through and emerged on the other side. Zade yanked and twisted the dagger once-

"ARRGH!"

Then she released the knife and grabbed hold of Faction's injured leg. She put her feet against the side of the building and pushed off, pulling Faction off balance. They both fell....

The instant his feet left the roof, Faction spun around and thrust the flamestaff into the side of the inn... the weapon seared through wood and brick as if they were butter and burnt a long black gash down the wall as he descended-

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE---

But it also slowed him down just enough to land on his feet on the dock below.

Zade was falling at a slightly wider angle to the side of the building. She tried to see what was happening to Faction, but she only caught one glimpse of him before she hit the river-

SPLASH!!!

Her momentum carried her down into the deep water, but Zade quickly righted herself and swam for the surface. She emerged just as lights began to come on in the surrounding buildings. People, awakened by the combat, began to shout:

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OUT THERE!

"SHUT UP ALL THAT NOISE!"

"PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!"

"NO SWIMMING IN THE RIVER!"

"WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!"

"SHUT UP!"

"NO, YOU SHUT UP!"

"I'M CALLING THE SHERIFF!"

Fortunately the rain had raised the level of the river was so much that Zade could reach up and grab the edge of the dock. She pulled herself out. Faction was standing by the inn, looking around at all other buildings. Curious faces were beginning to appear in the windows.

Faction glared at Zade as she pulled herself out of the river. His staff stopped glowing, and then it shrank down to it's six-inch size. He hastily stuffed the rod up his sleeve, then he made a motion as if he were throwing something at the ground in front of him-

snap-POOOOF!!!

A thick cloud of gayer smoke rose up and enveloped him. The hard rain quickly dissipated the smoke... and when it did, Faction was gone. There was no sign of him anywhere.

"Damn..." said Zade. "He got away."

Now soaking wet... again... Zade trudged back into the Golden Eagle Inn. She drug herself up the main stairs to the entrance, where Sir Oliver met her with a concerned look on his face.

"Ahh.. .ma'am, I'm afraid there are rules against swimming in the river-"

"Shut up!" she snapped as she shoved him aside. She didn't bother to tell him that somebody had blasted holes in the roof and sliced a nice long hole down the side of his inn. He'd probably try to blame HER for it. At least the rain kept the place from catching fire from Faction's staff. She walked up the stairs to the second floor and made her way to her room.

December met her in the hall. He was wearing a black bathrobe that gaped open at his massive pale chest. He wasn't wearing anything underneath it.

"You okay?" she asked him.

"We are unharmed, although the sounds of combat on the rooftop did wake Theesa."

"Sorry. Next time I'll try to get my ass kicked a little quieter."

Zade opened her door.

"Are you... injured?" said December. He was looking at Zade's armor, which had several large scorched patches. It looked as if someone had tried to burn it in a fireplace and then dumped it in the river. Underneath the armor, however, Zade's burnt flesh was rapidly returning normal. The cold air that accompanied December's presence actually felt good against her skin.

"Do you really care?" said Zade.

December didn't answer.

"Don't worry," said Zade. "Your replacement bodyguard will be back on duty as soon as change my clothes...again."

"Decemmmberrrrrr...." Theesa's voice purred from December's bedroom.

"We shall discuss tonight's events in the morning," said December. "I trust you discouraged our visitor from making a return trip..."

"Oh yeah... I hurt his hands and feet real good by smashing my face against them repeatedly. And if he comes back, I'll give him more of the same."

"Sarcasm does not suit you."

"Neither does being beaten to a pulp and NOT dying because I just happen to not be human. But I gotta deal with that, so you can deal with a little attitude."

"Oh, Decemmmberrrrr...."

"We shall discuss this in the morning," said December. He turned and went back to his room. Zade watched him go, eyeing his wide, muscular frame as he walked. As the temperature returned to normal, Zade's skin began to sting again.

"This trip just keeps getting better and better."

[To Be Continued... ]