A gleam shone in his eye, like a predator ready to pounce upon its prey. From either side, two more thieves rushed from their hiding places. Kenny laughed, and Biggs realized it had been a trap all along, prepared while he ran headlong like a fool to see the reason for the commotion. The two thieves stabbed, but their daggers struck only cloth. The stranger twisted and fell, avoiding both blows. When he hit the ground, his hands became a blur of strange motions. An explosion of fire blinded Biggs’s vision in the darkness, and then he heard the screams.

“Don’t worry,” Kenny said as Biggs took a step forward, doing his best to ignore the charred corpses before him. “I keep this baby for special occasions like this.”

Biggs saw him pull a bolt out from one of his many pockets, its tip glistening with silver. The stranger rolled along the floor until safely hidden behind a giant hearth. Kenny took a wide step around, trying to get a clear shot.

“What are they paying you for?” Kenny asked. “Wizards aren’t supposed to get involved with mundane affairs, and they sure as shit aren’t supposed to hire out as assassins. What’s your game?”

“No game.” Biggs kept close to Kenny, standing opposite his trigger-arm and keeping his dagger ready in case the stranger charged. “And I am no wizard.”

“A necromancer then?” Kenny asked. “What’s this to you?”

Another side-step, each one slow and careful. Just as Kenny prepared his crossbow, so too could he be preparing a spell.

“Not a necromancer. How are you so blind? You, the lowest rung of the world’s ladder, cannot see what I am?”

“Enough riddles. What’s your name, and your price?”

“Out of everything, you ask name and price?” the stranger said, suddenly stepping from the shadows and into their line of sight.

The bolt fired. Biggs saw Kenny shift the crossbow to the side, just the slightest amount as if anticipating a dodge. None came. The stranger let the bolt hit him, and it pierced into his shoulder just below his collarbone. He gasped at the pain, leaned forward, and then to Biggs’s horror, steadied himself and stood erect.