Story (c) 2000-2004 by Hikaru Katayamma/Keith Dickinson. All rights reserved. The character Sheila Vixen (c) Eric W Schwartz. Throckmorton P Ruddygore, Poqua, Lakash (c) Jack L Chalker. Jack (c) David Hopkins.Mary the Mouse © Mary Minch. All other characters are (c) Hikaru Katayamma.  This story contains adult situations and language. By reading it the viewer agrees not to hold this or any other person responsible for any content they may find objectionable. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Hecate paused halfway down an alleyway that led to the docks, causing Rathsmon to almost run her over. She turned back towards town and closed her eyes in concentration. "Shit!" the ebony female spat, handing the sphere containing Sheila to Rathsmon. "That idiot's in trouble. Take her down to the docks and find us a boat."

"Hey!" the dwarf called out as she hustled by him. "What if there aren't any for charter?"

The demoness paused and turned back towards the dwarf, her eyes glowing with an eerie red fire. "Persuade them! And don't take no for an answer!" With that, she spread her wings and launched herself into the air, leaving the dwarf alone in the alleyway.

"Don't take no for an answer," he mocked in a small, whiny voice. "Easy for her to say. She scares the shit out of anyone she looks at. Nobody in their right mind is afraid of a dwarf." He tromped down the alleyway with heavy, angry steps. "Now an army of the little bastards, that's something worth fearing. But just one? Hah!" He paused at the end of the alley and examined the docks. Several riverboats were tied up, though only one appeared to be active. A long line of man-rats were busy carrying crates from several warehouses to the boat and then returning for more. He looked down at the sphere in his hand and frowned. "You'd best be quiet from here on out. No sense in attracting attention to you, if you know what I mean."

"Yah," Sheila replied with a nod, "I get the picture. Just try not to drop me, OK?"

Rathsmon grunted and stepped clear of the alley. Half-way to the boat one of the rats noticed him and called out to a few others who weren't immediately occupied. The dwarf stopped a safe distance from the rats, all of whom had their hands on their weapons. "I'm looking for the captain of that vessel. Where can I find him?"

The rat that'd spotted him laughed. "He's aboard ship, but I don't think that'll do you any good. You've got to be so high," he held out a hand well above the dwarf's head, "in order to board our ship. You understand. We gotta have standards, eh?" With that, he let out another laugh, which was quickly joined by his companions.

The dwarf glanced around and noticed that the rats were loading cargo from three different warehouses. More interesting was the fact that there didn't appear to be anyone else around, working the warehouses. He smiled, understanding that most folks in the town were probably off fighting the fires. "Interesting load operation you have going here," the dwarf commented, nodding to the warehouses. "Curious how there's nobody tallying what you're loading."

"You're a smart one," the rat commented, drawing a blade, which then prompted his friends to draw a blade too. "A little too smart if you ask me. You should have walked away when you had the chance, dwarf."

Rathsmon shook his head with disappointment. "Why do I always have to get the stupid ones?" He let out a sigh and looked at the oncoming rats. "I am the necromancer Rathsmon. You will either go and fetch your captain, or I'll slay you where you stand."

His declaration caused the rats to pause for a second, but the leader just laughed again. "Yah, right. And I'm the Master of the Dead, come back to take my revenge."

"Master of the Dead, eh?" The dwarf reached out with one hand, sending a torrent of lightening into the rat and his companions, frying them where they stood. "There's only one Master of the Dead around here, and that's me." A cry of outrage came from the rats on the docs as well as the ones onboard the ship who had seen what had happened. Many of the ones carrying crates of cargo dropped them and ran towards the dwarf and the bodies that lay around him. With a snap of the necromancer's fingers, the five bodies twitched, then slowly stood up, as if puppets on a string. This unnatural sight stopped the mob in its tracks.

"I am the necromancer, Rathsmon," the dwarf shouted. "Now I've tried to be reasonable about this, but I'm losing my patience. Either bring the master of this ship to me, or by the gods I'll kill you all and use your corpses to man the ship."

"There won't be any need for that," came a voice from the shadows of the gangplank. A tall, orange, tiger-stripped cat wearing knee high black leather boots, dark blue pants and a bright red coat with gold embroidery around the edges stepped out and into the light. A large cutlass with a bright silver handle hung from his hip. His face was obscured by the wide brim of a red hat which had a large white plume stuck into the band. He tilted his head back, revealing two emerald green cat eyes that pierced the gloom of the night. "I am called El Maxx and I am both captain and owner of this boat. Now that introductions have been made, what can I do for you?"

Rathsmon strode casually over to the cat and nodded. "I'm here to buy passage for myself and three others down river. We must leave tonight. No questions asked."

"No questions, is it?" he echoed with a laugh. "Isn't that always the way it is? I take it you and your friends are the ones responsible for the fire on the other side of town?"

The dwarf nodded. "You might say that, though it's not quite true. All you need to worry about is getting us safely down river." He paused and nodded towards the warehouses that stood open. "As for your cargo, we could care less about such matters."

"Hah! Well said, then." He turned to the rats and said something in an odd language that got them back to work. "And just how far down river are you wanting to go? We're not exactly going to be very popular and I wasn't planning on taking this boat far right now."

"We need passage to Castle Tierendel."

"What?" The cat backed away, waving his hands. "You're crazy if you think that I'm going to take you there! That's where the sorcerer Ruddygore resides!"

"I know," the dwarf commented with a sadistic smile. "I and my friends are agents of Ruddygore's, and if you deny us passage---" he shrugged, letting the remainder of the threat fade. "Either way, dead or alive, you and your crew will transport us to there."

Maxx glared at the dwarf for a moment, his hand clutched the hilt of his sword. After a minute, he let go of the weapon and nodded. "I see I have no choice then. If your friends show up before we're ready to leave, we'll take them with us, but I won't wait for them."

"Agreed," the dwarf replied with a nod. He turned and looked back towards town and frowned. "They'll be here. You'll see."

Hecate skimmed the roofs of the buildings as she circled around to hopefully approach the three magicians from behind. Her wings fully extended, she stalled out on the blind side of a roof near the fight, landing without a sound. As she peeked over the top she could see the battle clearly. Arden was braced, leaning into the magical attacks from two of the other casters while a third was busy defending them from some sort of small, flying creature. It took a few moments for her to finally spot one of the tiny creatures. It turned out to be a miniature dragon, barely a foot long. There were dozens of them flying around, striking at the mages, but their attacks were constantly being blocked by the third caster.

"That crazy son of a bitch," Hecate muttered under her breath. "Summoning dragon spirits for a fight like this? I'll bet Lakash is going berserk about now." With a small chuckle to herself, she edged her way up the roof to perch on the apex. "Time to mix it up a little." Reaching her right hand out, she summoned a long, black spear with an obsidian tip that glowed with an eerie internal magic. "You're going to owe me for this big time, bub. Big time!"

With that, she launched herself from the rooftop and dove towards the defending mage who turned to block her attack, thinking she was another of the small dragons. His eyes opened wide with the shock of seeing the demonic form that dove down at him, a blazing spear aimed at his heart. Using both hands, he reinforced the shield enough to deflect her blow, but this left him and his companions defenseless from the small dragons that now swarmed them.

Hecate laughed as she pulled up and away from the mage while lashing out with her tail to strike the side of his neck. Blood sprayed in a wide arc as the man spun slowly around, before dropping lifeless to the ground. She pulled up to avoid running into a building on the far side of the street and winged around to the right so that the mages would be between her and Arden. The smile faded from her lips as she saw the dragons blur and vanish, leaving the most powerful of the mages standing. The other, she saw, would not be much longer for this life, but that was the least of her concerns. A quick glance showed Arden on the ground, his body writhing and deforming itself as whatever curse he'd been battling reasserted itself.

"Aw, shit!" she spat, turning to attack the remaining mage, only to run headfirst into a solid wall of magic. Dazed, she barely glimpsed the ground before slamming face-first into the dirt.

The sorcerer smiled and turned back to Arden, who had apparently regained control over his body and was about to throw a spell. Automatically, the mage threw up his defenses, creating a web of shifting strands of magic that would block all but the most extreme attacks. A confused expression flittered across his face as he saw the man slam the spell into the ground, detonating it. A dome of black magic so dark he could only perceive its expansion by the fact that it blocked out all magic beyond it exploded outwards in less than a second, trapping both of them within its confines.

Arden stood up and smiled at the man. "I didn't want to have to do that, but I'm afraid that you had me at a disadvantage."

Relaxing a little, the mage lowered his defenses, allowing them to fade into the murky surroundings. Everything inside the sphere had an odd gray tint while everything outside had the appearance of being stark black and white, as if drawn with pen and ink. "Interesting spell. From the looks of it, you think you've trapped me in here, don't you?"

"Oh, I've done far more than that," Arden replied as he strode purposely towards the mage, his hands balled into fists. "I've blocked all magic from the outside. You're powerless now."

"What?" the man demanded in disbelief. Reaching out a hand, he tried to cast a spell, but nothing came. He looked down at his empty hand in shock. The very air around them was saturated with magic that almost burned him, but he couldn't tap it. There was nothing to summon. He looked up again just in time to see Arden's fist before everything went black.

Arden stood over the man, sweat pouring off his body as he gulped air. Gradually the black dome around him faded away into nothingness. Drawing his sword, he placed it over the heart of the mage and was about to strike when a voice stopped him.

"That wouldn't be very wise." Lakash's voice came from the shadows. A second later, he stepped out into the moonlight and walked over to the unconscious mage. "If you kill him, his soul will go to hell."

"I thought that was the point," Arden sarcastically replied.

The demon sighed and shook his head. "Come now, is that really what you want?" He shook his head. "Think about it. What's going to happen after his soul goes to hell?"

Arden paused, frowning as he thought. "Whatever demon he's been trafficking with will snatch up his soul."

"And?" the demon prompted.

"And he'll be interrogated about what happened," Arden replied, nodding. "The demon will report up the line what happened, and it'll filter back to the council who'll use it as an excuse to come after me."

"See?" Lakash gave a patronizing smile and a pat on the back. "When you think about it, it's all so simple, eh?"

"Yep," Arden replied with a nod. He then turned and drove the sword through the heart of the unconscious magician.

"No!" the demon cried out angrily. "Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"Yes. I've sent a message." Pulling the sword from the body, Arden cleaned the blade on the dead mage's clothing before sheathing it.

The demon took off his fedora hat and threw it on the ground. "Damn it, Arden! There are rules involved here. You can't just go around breaking the rules in this world."

"Sure I can." Walking over to where Hecate lay, Arden knelt and examined her. "I'm an outsider. I'm a wild card. My magic doesn't have to come from this realm, and therefore I'm immune to its rules as long as the magic comes from outside." He paused to look up at the frustrated demon. "Just like you or any other creature not of this world."

Lakash reached out and smacked Arden in the back of the head. "I hate to break it to you, but there's a covenant in place regarding the use of such powers." He bent over and picked up his hat, brushing it off. "If you keep pulling this kind of shit, the council won't be the only ones coming after you."

Taking one of Hecate's arms, Arden stood and lifted her up and threw her over one shoulder before facing Lakash. "The council will do nothing. Most of them are on hell's payroll and Lucifer has given orders not to screw with me. Any who come after me will be the renegades and will be dealt with when the time comes."

"You are insane," Lakash growled in a low voice. "You're threatening all that we've worked for."

"NO!" the big man barked, grabbing the demon by his lapels. "I'm not! I'm short on time and I'm done fucking around with these insects. No more playing by the rules. No more mister nice guy. Someone comes at me and I'll erase them from all existence!"

"Insects? Listen to yourself. Insects?" Lakash pulled himself away from the big man's grasp. "Do you hear yourself talking?"

"I have seen the future, Lakash. Through the dragon, I've accesses the Times Eye and know what I must do and I won't let you or anyone else distract me from my mission. I am what you've made me, Lakash. Live with it." Reaching down, he picked up the body of the mage he'd just slain and tossed it over his shoulder. He then turned towards the docks and strode purposefully away without looking back.

= = = =

"We're leaving," the cat announced from the base of the gangplank as the few remaining rats scurried aboard. "If you're coming, it's now or never."

"No," Rathsmon directed, walking over to the large cat. "You'll wait for my friends."

Maxx shook his head. "Look. I'm not going to hang around here hoping that your friends show up. Someone's going to think to check the warehouses and I want to be long gone before they do."

The dwarf held out a hand and summoned a head sized sphere of flame. "You try and leave the docs, and I'll destroy your boat before it gets twenty yards out."

"You wouldn't dare," the cat denied in disbelief.

Rathsmon looked beyond him and back towards the town. "Actually, that won't be necessary." He snuffed out the ball of fire and pointed towards the lone figure carrying two bodies over his shoulders. "Here comes my big friend now."

"Right. Hurry it up. We're shoving off as soon as they're aboard." With that, the cat turned and bound up the plank and onto the ship.

"It's about time," the dwarf said, hurrying the tall man aboard. The deck was a bustle of activity as men cast off the lines in preparation to move. He followed Arden to an open spot near the front of the boat where he watched him drop Hecate and the mage's body. "Why'd you bring him?"

"You've been bitching about being in that dwarf's body, so I brought you a replacement." Kneeling down, he again checked Hecate's wounds to be sure they weren't too severe.

Rathsmon rolled the mages body over and cursed. "Ah, Jesus Christ. Did you have to bring him? Couldn't you find a better body? One less---gak!" His rant was cut off as the big man snatched him up by the neck and held him at eye level.

"You listen to me, you ungrateful little shit," Arden growled menacingly. "I've listened to you bitch and complain about being stuck in that dwarf's body ever since you crawled out of the river. If I hear you complain about one more God damned thing, I'm going do everything in my power to make sure that you're trapped in that body until judgment day. Do you understand me?"

"Yah! Yah," the dwarf capitulated quickly, nodding his agreement. "No problem. I swear, not another complaint." The big man let go of him, dropping him unceremoniously to the deck where he landed on his rump, the sphere clutched to his belly to protect it. He stared in shock at the big man as he stormed away to the other end of the boat. "What the hell got into him?"

"Hey!" the small voice of Sheila cried out. "Get me out of this damn thing, will you?"

"Oh, yah. Sorry." Setting the sphere down, the dwarf tapped it, causing it to release the vixen. "There you go."

"Thanks," the vixen replied, leveraging herself up with a nearby crate and cautiously made her way aft towards where Arden went.

Behind her, the dwarf stood up, climbed over to the rail and jumped overboard. A few seconds later, the body of the mage twitched and then sat up. Rathsmon took a second to run his hands over the body to check it for damage before standing up. He looked around at the rat crew and smiled. They were all easily a head shorter than he was, which was the way things were supposed to be. It may not have been his first choice for a body, but he was more than satisfied with the result. Turning back towards the docks, he watched as the burning town receded into the distance.

Sheila climbed up the stairs and onto the upper deck where Arden stood, looking out over the water. "Hey," she said quietly, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You OK?"

Arden turned and looked down on her, his expression hard and unchanging. "I'm fine," he coldly replied, before looking back out over the water.

"You sure?" the vixen prompted, giving his shoulder squeeze.

Arden turned and snarled at her. "I said I'm fine!" He watched her expression change from concern to fear as she staggered backwards before turning to flee from him. He reached out towards her, but stopped. "Sheila---" A flood of emotions ran through him as he watched her climb down the stairs, but a part of him squashed them. He turned to look back out over the water and leaned heavily on the railing. "It's better this way," he muttered to himself. "It is better this way. It's what's best for her like this. She'll be happier…." The mantra continued for some time as he tried to convince himself of something he didn't truly believe.