"Any sign?" Allia asked quietly.

"Not yet," he replied in the manner of the Cat. "It's hard to smell anything over this stench, sister. I'd be surprised if I could sniff it out."

"Just do your best, deshida," Allia replied aloud. "It's all we can ask of you."

"Any sign?" Faalken asked back to them. Allia shook her head, and the Knight nodded to her and returned to guiding them along meandering streets bordered by colorful tents and illuminated by a thousand wandering torches.

"I hope Renoit has the sense to keep his people close," Camara Tal grunted. "With as much ale that flows in this city, he may lose a few if he lets them run free."

"I doubt they'd get that drunk, Camara Tal," Dar objected.

"It's not them drinking that would be the problem," she replied. "It would be them surviving the ones that are drinking that's tricky. Those performers are all generally small, thin people. They'd look like juicy targets to a drunken bully looking for someone to fight."

"I learned early in life that there are three kinds of people you don't bully, Camara Tal," Faalken looked back with a grin. "Warriors, dancers, and acrobats."

"Why is that, Faalken?" Phandebrass asked curiously.

Faalken grinned at the mage. "All three are alot stronger than they look," he replied. "I knew a dancing girl in Ultern that could bend pewter tankards by putting them between her knees and squeezing them."

"Ouch," Dar grunted.

"I'd certainly not want to be married to her," Faalken chuckled. "I'd be afraid to fulfill my marital duty."

Tarrin's ears picked up as a faint trace of a horrible earthen smell touched his nose, the unmistakable scent of something beyond the grave. The smell of it made his heart pick up and his ears lay back. It was in the wind, not on the ground, an airborne scent that came from their right. "That's it," he told Allia quickly. "It's here."

"It's here," Allia echoed to the others.

"Where?" Dolanna asked.

"The scent on the wind, it could be anywhere upwind of me," he told Allia, who relayed that to Dolanna. The texture of the scent changed quickly and steadily, becoming more and more distinct.

With a gasp, he understood the meaning of that. It was moving towards them!

He struggled out of Allia's arms, and shapeshifted to his humanoid form immediately. His staff appeared in his paws with him as he got a bearing on the scent. Much stronger, much closer, and getting stronger and stronger! People gawked and gasped and pointed at him as he turned his nose into the wind, tuning out all other scents, concentrating solely on that one smell, and his sudden transformation made his companions put hands on their weapons. "Tarrin?" Dolanna asked nervously.

"It's moving right towards us, Dolanna," he said in a low voice. "Fast. Very fast. It knows exactly where we are."

"Phandebrass!" Dolanna barked. "Cast your spell now!"

"But we don't have time-"

"We don't have time, you fool!" Camara Tal snapped, whipping he sword out and pointing. "There it is!"

It charged from between two tents, sword in one hand and shield strapped to the other arm. It wore different armor this time, a heavy plate armor breastplate with no greaves or armguards, and a large crested helmet with cheekguards. The gray emaciation of its face made no doubt as to what it was, as did its unnatural scent. "No stone, Were-cat!" it cackled in hideous anticipation. "I have ye now!"

Tarrin raised his staff as it lunged right at him, ignoring everyone else, then slammed it into its shield in a broad sweep when it tried to skewer him, smashing the skeletal being to the side before it could find its mark.

"Sarraya, now!" Dolanna screamed. "Do it now!"

The Faerie appeared over the Doomwalker's head, and she raised her arms out to the sides. Her body began to glow with an incandescent light, but it ended with a squeaky "Eep!" when Jegojah's shield smashed into her from below, sending her careening over a tent and out of sight. The Doomwalker grabbed its sword in both hands, for it had thrown its shield to stop the Faerie from using her magic.

"Clever," Faalken grunted in appreciation as he pushed his helmet down a bit more on his helmet and drew his sword. "Let's get `im!" he called loudly.

Tarrin, Allia, Camara Tal, and Faalken attacked the Doomwalker literally from all four sides, but it completely ignored the others to focus on Tarrin. Its sword moved with deadly speed and precision, a shallow slice to the chest. He deflected it easily, turning the weapon away from Allia as she stabbed the Doomwalker with both her slender shortswords so it couldn't reverse its blow and attack her. Allia's weapons bounced off its armor with a metallic clang. Camara Tal stabbed it on the other side, with no more effect Allia's weapons had. But the Doomwalker staggered forward when Faalken hit it from behind with a massive overhanded blow of his magical weapon, a blow that split the back of its helmet and dug a deep gash in the back of its armored breastplate. It staggered right into Tarrin, who took a paw off his staff and hit it with a vicious, powerful sideways swipe of his claws, ripping the helmet off and ripping out a sizable chunk of the side of its face in the bargain. The strike sent it wobbling to the side, where Allia kicked it dead in the face and snapped its head back, arresting its sidways lurch. It seemed to recover immediately, kneeling and driving a fist into the ground-

– -and they were all flying through the air away from the undead warrior, struck by some magical force that emanated from that punch into the ground. Tarrin's breath whooshed out of his lungs as he sailed through the air, landing heavily on his side and rolling a few times before stopping on his back. The others weren't as resilient as he was, Faalken was laying on his back, rolling over as Camara Tal pulled herself up onto her knees. Allia was the only other one to withstand the blow, landing heavily but rolling with the momentum to come up lightly on her feet. She dashed forward with impossible speed even as the Doomwalker rose from its kneel and moved towards Tarrin.

He sucked in precious air for a long second, recovering his wits in time to see the Doomwalker charging at him with its weapon over its head. Such an obvious move had to be a feint or trick of some kind, he was sure of it. He was so sure of it that he nearly got hit by that weapon when it tried to cut his head in half. Doing the only thing he could think up, he shapeshifted quickly, turning back into a small cat. That made the attack go high, changing literally just as it struck, making it impossible for it to adjust to hit the smaller target. He scrambled to his feet and ran between the Doomwalker's legs, then turned and shapeshifted back to his natural form, raising his staff over his head to slam the Doomwalker into the ground. He gave it everything he had, knowing it wouldn't hurt the monster but it would take it off its feet-

– -and his staff hit nothing but empty air. It smashed into the ground, raising a furrow of flying dirt. He seemed to sense the Doomwalker to his right, and he slipped forward just in time to avoid having his head chopped off. The swipe took off his braid and nipped off the tip of his left ear, sending a bite of pain through the appendage. It reversed it swing to try to slash him, but Allia was there, striking the sword and sending it high as Tarrin ducked under it. The Were-cat and the Selani paused side by side, unspoken plans passing between them, and then they turned on the Doomwalker and attacked.

It had no idea what to do. The Were-cat and the Selani moved with blinding speed, in perfect harmony with one another, staff and slender swords jabbing, slashing, striking and worrying at the Doomwalker from every side all at once. Without its shield, it suffered innumerable nicks and slaps from the weapons, weapons that could do it no harm but succeeded in frustrating the undead creature as it tried to form a defense against the dizzying attack. With Allia there, Tarrin took one paw off his staff and wielded it like a sword, using it mainly to parry and push at the Doomwalker as his free paw and feet sought out the undead monster's flesh. His claws could do it harm, ripping chunks of gray flesh away with every swipe of them and digging gashes out of its exposed bone whenever he could. Any time Jegojah turned his attention to Tarrin, Allia would strike at its sword or knock it off balance, leaving it open for Tarrin's damaging claws. Any time it turned its attention to Allia, Tarrin would redouble if efforts to rip off the Doomwalker's head. It was caught between them, struggling to mount any defense against the deadly pair of skilled warriors.