This fight was going much better than the last one, but, unfortunately that still left a wide margin for defeat. As Blaymore easily dodged and avoided Hax's shape-shifting attacks, he was still at a complete loss for a way to actually defeat the enigmatic jailer.

Enhanced speed meant nothing when one's opponent was composed of living metal.

Dammit! Blaymore cursed for perhaps the thousandth time. Hax's arm, now extruded into the shape of an enormous battle-ax, sailed over Blaymore's head. It was an obvious distraction, and Blaymore easily spun out of the way of the large spike that suddenly erupted from Hax's metal midsection... 'Suddenly' being a relative term. Now that Blaymore was operating at full speed, there was no attack Hax could make that could not be seen and avoided. But there was also nothing Blaymore could do to harm Hax. It would all boil down to who got tired first.

Henna and Ronce had stuffed themselves in a corner near the cells, well out of the way of the combat.

"You're faster," said Hax. His voice sounding like the boom of a cannon. "It won't help you."

Hax's entire body convulsed, and then contracted into a single shape... a giant fist that rocketed toward Blaymore. Blaymore was on the other side of the room before the fist even moved one inch. Hax struck the wall, and then several metal tentacles spooled away from the central mass of his body. They stretched toward Blaymore, who quickly danced out of their way before they could entangle him.

"I don't' know," said Blaymore. He was intentionally speaking slowly so that Hax could understand him. "So far all we've managed to do was endanger Ronce and Henna, and tire ourselves out."

"I don't get tired," said Hax, who was once again in humanoid-shape.

"Oh." Blaymore's mind was racing... trying to figure out just what type of magical construct Hax was. If he could figure that out, then maybe he could discover a weakness. But in all his years of experience, he'd come across nothing even remotely similar. And Blaymore knew that while HE was trying to figure a way to end this, that Hax was doing the exact same thing.

Fortunately, Blaymore thought a lot faster than Hax. And he ran a lot faster, too.

Blaymore shot past Hax and was up the steps before Hax even realized he'd moved. The exit to the cell-room was locked, and a quick 'detect-magic' spell told him that it was enchanted as well... along with the walls, ceiling, and floor. There was no way he could get past any of them, unless he found a way to overcome the magic.

A second later, Hax was at the bottom of the stairs. Blaymore ran past him again, rolling between his legs before the huge war-hammer that was Hax's left hand demolished the lower three steps. Blaymore came up right behind Hax. He reached out and tapped the metal man on the shoulder.

Blaymore suddenly found himself looking Hax in the face. Hax hadn't turned around... his head simple reshaped itself. The jailer's face vanishing from one side and emerging on the other. The rest of his body followed suit, and in less than a second Hax was facing the other direction without ever having moved his feet.

Less than a second was all it took. When he'd been teleported in to his cell earlier, no one bothered to search him. He'd lost all of his weapons either before or since then, but he did still have a few tricks up his sleeve. Literally.

A quick wrist-motion dislodged a small blue gemstone that was hidden up his sleeve. The gem fell down into his gloved hand. Blaymore brought it up, and as soon as Hax's face formed, Blaymore closed his eyes and activated the stone.

Bright blue light filled the room like a miniature sun. The super-intense, heatless flash was intended as a surprise for the shadow-creature that Blaymore came here to defeat... but it did reasonably well against shape-shifting metal men, too.

"AAAA!" Blinded by the light, Hax stumbled backwards tripped on the remains of the stairs, and fell backwards with a loud

CRASH!

Blaymore opened his eyes. Even with his eyelids tightly shut during the flash, he was still seeing multicolored spots. But at least he could see.

Hax was already getting up. His arms, each tipped with some sort of sharp blade, were waving frantically in all directions. He was still blind, but he was shaking his head in an effort to clear his vision. Blaymore had a few seconds to think of something else.

To the fastest man on the planet, a few seconds was plenty. He made a quick estimate of how intelligent Hax was... and then...

"ARRRGH!" Blaymore screamed... a good imitation of someone hit by a weapon. Blaymore stumbled slowly and loudly over to the other side of the rectangular room and stood in front of one of the cells.

As predicted, Hax homed in on the sound. He extended one arm, which immediately formed a long pointed spike. Blaymore stepped gingerly out of its way, and the metal appendage hit the cell behind him.

CLANG!

Instantly, the cell's enchantment flared to life.

ssPAAAKKZZZZZZZ

Sparks flew in all directions, and thick bolts of lightning danced down Hax's arm to the rest of his body.

"ARRRRGH!!"

Hax's humanoid shape began undulate as the destructive energy tore through it. Crackling arcs of power erupted from the twisting, pulsing form and played along the surface before vanishing into the depths once more. Hax growled... screamed... and then went silent as the energy overcame him. His metal faced vanished... dissolving silently into the misshapen blob that was his head. Arms and legs began to loose shape and retract into the center of his body... which was growing more and more unrecognizable with each second. Soon only one arm remained... the one appendage that was bonded to the cell door, still conducting power into the rest of Hax's body.

"Stop it!" Henna yelled.

Blaymore looked over at her... he'd almost forgotten that she and Ronce were in the room.

"Stop it, you're KILLING him!"

"Hmmm... perhaps," Blaymore mused. Since he didn't know what Hax was, he had no idea how this attack was affecting him. But it would certainly be interesting to watch.

"Let him GO!"

"I don't have him. He did this to himself."

"But he's dying!" Henna stepped towards Hax, but a timely eruptions of sparks kept her from getting close.

"Quite, Henna!" said Ronce. He pulled his sister back into the corner with him. "With Hax out of the way we can get out of here!"

"But that's MURDER!"

"Henna, Hax isn't even HUMAN!"

"But that doesn't mean it isn't murder!"

"If I kill a dog that's trying to BITE me, is that murder too?"

"Hax isn't a dog!"

"I don't think he's much of anything right now," said Blaymore. He kept one eye on the bubbling mass of half-melted metal that was Hax. It was still moving, but he couldn't tell if it was because Hax was still... 'alive'... or from the power that was still coursing through him.

"How can you expect us to TRUST you if you're killing people!" screamed Henna.

"I don't need you to trust me," replied Blaymore. "All I need is to get out of this room."

Hax's final appendage fell away from the cell door as the semi-liquid body on the other end lost the strength to support its weight. The long, limp, metal arm draped across the floor like a wet rope. The sparks and lightning-bolts stopped, but the sizzling continued. Thin wisps of smoke rose from the vaguely man-shaped lump of metal. It wasn't moving.

"Well," said Henna in a stern voice. "Now that the only man in the room with the ability to unlock the door is dead, just HOW do you plan to get us out of here?"

---


BAM! BAM! BAM!

Elric pounded loudly on Sorrin's door. He hoped Sorrins could hear him...

"WHAT!" an annoyed voice growled on the other side of the door.

"It's Elric... town guard. There's been some...well... there's some more people dead, the whole town's going to hell, and we need your help!"

"Again!?!"

The door flew open, and Sorrins... a dark-haired mage in his late thirties... stood in the doorway. He wore a silk sleeping robe despite the fact that it was mid-morning. Sorrins clearly wasn't an early riser. He was the same height as Elric, but Elric still couldn't get over the feeling that the mage was looking down at him.

"Well, that guy we captured... we think... uhh."

"You don't know WHAT'S going on, do you?" said Sorrins.

"uhh.. no."

"You were asleep on the job again, weren't you?"

"Umm... not- not exactly-"

"No worries, boy... we all need our rest. What is it that I can do for you?"

"Hax says to come to the headquarters. He's sealed the building-"

"Sealed? This must be serious. Gimme a second."

Sorrins waved his hands over his robe, and it instantly changed to some pants and a loose-fitting shirt.

"Huh?" said Elric.

"Just an illusion... I'm still wearing my robe, but I can't very well walk around in the street with it on, can I? Now come on, let's get going and find out what's gotten Hax so hot under the collar..."


---


"Look's like he's still melting," said Ronce. "Do you think he's really dead?"

"Stay back," said Blaymore.

Ronce was standing over what was left of Hax, and Henna was not far away... clearly distraught over what was going on. Blaymore was pacing back and forth in front of the cells... looking very much like a blue curtain. He paused only long enough to tell Ronce to keep his distance, and then continued his pacing.

"Trying to wear a hole in the floor?" said Ronce.

Blaymore didn't answer. The idea did have merit, though... except for the fact that the floor was enchanted just like everything else.

"Do you think he's hot?" said Ronce.

"I can't believe you two," said Henna. "This man just KILLED Hax and you're standing there like... like..."

"Oh, hush," said Ronce. "Hax had it coming. He was always such a hard-as-"

Ronce's words were suddenly cut off. Henna screamed, and Blaymore stopped dead in his tracks.

"AAAAAHELLLP!!"

Ronce was hanging in mid air...held there by the single, huge metal arm that had just erupted from Hax's once-immobile body. As everyone watched, Hax pulled himself together and rose to his full height... just as if nothing had happened. He still held Ronce by the throat high above him.

"Ahh..." said Hax. "Nothing like a good sizzle to burn out the impurities. Thanks... I feel like a new man."

He dropped Ronce, who hit the ground hard enough to stun him. Then Hax turned to Blaymore.

"Care to try again?"

"Sure."

"STOP!"

Henna leapt between the two of them. It was a futile gesture considering that they could both go around her before she even knew what happened, but it did give the two combatants pause.


"Move out of my way," said Hax. "Remember... you're a suspect, too."

"You two are accomplishing nothing! You're just fighting and trying to kill each other... is that all you know how to do!?!"

She had a point. While Blaymore felt sure he could eventually find a way to kill Hax, there was no telling how long that would take... and all the while, the true enemy was upstairs somewhere.

Hax growled deep in his throat, and his metal brow wrinkled as he considered Henna's words.

Henna turned towards him.

"Hax, you KNOW something is going on here... but throwing us around isn't going to help you get to the truth. And YOU-" she looked at Blaymore. "You SAY you know what's going on. You SAY you know how to stop it... but as long as you refuse to trust anyone then you'll never get a chance to do anything. You'll probably never even leave this room."

"She's right," said Blaymore.

"I say we all talk about what's happening and figure out what's going on," said Henna.

"He's the killer," Hax pointed a metal finger at Blaymore. "THAT'S what's going on."

"I give up," Henna sighed. She went over to see how her brother was doing.

"Well?" said Blaymore.

Hax stared at him.

"Tell me what you know," he said finally. "Then I'll decide whether I'm gonna finish thrashing you or not."

Blaymore looked over at Henna and Ronce, then back to Hax.

"You must realized that by telling you what I know, I'm making it that much harder to put a stop to this."

"Why's that?"

"Because the thing I'm after is a creature of shadow and thought. It can be banished... but never destroyed. And once it's gone, if someone so much as THINKS about it, then it'll come right back and start this mess all over again."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"The truth very seldom does," said Blaymore.

"How do YOU know about it?" said Hax. "Are YOU the one that brought it here?"

"No."

"But you DO know about it... assuming that any of this is true. You said that thoughts can summon this thing... and YOU'RE the only one I've encountered who even knows what it is. That means that YOU must have summoned-"

"I can't summon it," said Blaymore. "Only the thoughts of one who hadn't been tainted by its presence can summon it."

"Which means-"

"It was in side YOU!?" Henna said in disbelief. "Wait... it makes sense now. Those things that Berwick said-"

"So you DID bring it here!" said Hax. "Inside YOU!"

"Hax will you GET OVER IT!!" said Henna.

"I've fought this thing before. Twice before, in fact. The first time... it did not go well."

"What about Thomas," said Henna. "It was inside him, and when it left, Thomas was sick... you're not sick."

"Only the strongest of minds can reshape themselves after such an experience."

"Lucky for you," said Hax. "So you fought it twice...how'd you stop it?"

"We used light. When its not inside a human body, it's just a living shadow. And like any shadow, light can dispell it. We drive it out of whatever body its in, and use light to send it away. Sunlight works best, but any strong light will do."

"Well lets go find it," said Henna. "So you can-

"But NOW we have another problem," said Hax. "Isn't that right, stranger?"

"Yes," said Blaymore. "You know about it, now. You're thinking about it... all of you. After I find it and dispell it, then it'll just come back through one of you. Not only do we have to dispell the shadow, but we have to erase all memories of its existence. The only way to keep it from coming back is to make it so that no one remembers."

"No one except you," said Henna.

"Or those who have been possessed," added Ronce, who'd been listening silently.

"No," said Blaymore. "No one at all. Except for me. I can trust myself not to tell anyone what happened... but I can't say that for anyone else. All it would take was one drunken story..."

"Zounds," said Ronce.

"Which means you'll have to kill everyone that knows," said Hax.

"Possibly."

"HEY WAIT JUST A DAMN MINUTE!" Ronce protested.

"You know I can't let you do that," said Hax.

"Then find another way. But we have to find it BEFORE we fight the shadow, otherwise it'd just be a waste of time."

"Great," said Ronce. "Well Hax... Henna... You two just HAD to know what was going on. Now we know... and we all have to die because of it. Just great."

"Maybe we can reason with this thing," said Henna. "Convince it to go peacefully and not come back."

"Are you insane?" said Blaymore.

"I was just suggesting-

"No. We cannot reason with it. You should know that much after what it did when it was here."

"What does it want?" said Hax. "What is it's motive?"

"Want? Motive?" Blaymore paused... an ominous silence. "It doesn't WANT anything. It revels in chaos and senseless violence. It will kill and kill and keep killing until it is stopped. Once released, it seeks out the most powerful body it can find and uses it to cause as much chaos and destruction as possible."

"Powerful." said Hax. "Like... me."

"You're the number one candidate," said Blaymore.

"Does the body it possesses have to be human? Can it possess me?"

"It seemed to think so when it was here," said Blaymore. "We have to stop it before it gets a chance to try."

Everyone looked at each other silently for a while.

"So where is this thing?" said Henna finally. "Still inside Berwick?"

"Berwick is tied up upstairs," said Hax.

"That means the shadow will be looking for a way to get into a new body... one that's free to roam."

"But it can only do that in the dark," said Hax. "The light is strong upstairs."

"Darkness hides in the most unlikely places," said Blaymore. "You'd be surprised. If there's a dark corner somewhere, he'll find a way to get one of your men into that corner..."

"AHEM!" said Ronce. "Can we get back to the part where all of us have to DIE!? I don't think we've finished discussing that bit."

"He's got a point," said Henna. "Why go through all that trouble to send it away when-"

"I've got an idea," said Hax. "But we'll need Sorrins."

Blaymore frowned.

"Does it involve us dying?" said Ronce.

"Not on MY watch."

"Then let's hear it."

Meanwhile... in the darkened room at the top of the stairs. Dwar stood just outside the door to the stairs. His ear was pressed firmly to the door, and he was listening intently to what was being said on the other side.

"Poor Hax," he whispered. "He never does realize just how far that deep voice of his carries..."

[To Be Continued]