uck the edge of that barrier, they were turned aside.
	Tarrin narrowed his eyes, tightened his grip on his staff.  It was some kind of magical effect that nullified magic, but only hostile magic.  Stragos Bane could use his own magical weapons and equipment, but nothing that came from outside would pass beyond that boundary.  That was what repelled Shun!  Shun was an Alu, a halfblood Demon, and her intense personal magic was so great that the circle of protection prevented her from passing through!  But Tarrin, whose personal magic was much weaker and indirect, could breach that barrier, only to have that magic assaulted by the magic of the field when he was inside, trying to nullify it.
	But it had never been put to the test against the power of a suikun.
	Opening himself up to the Weave, he allowed the might of High Sorcery to fill him, causing his paws to glow with Magelight.  He wove together a weave of Air, Fire, Water, and Divine flows, with token flows of the other spheres to give the weave the power of High Sorcery, and then unleashed it at Stragos Bane.  An incandescent bolt of intense magical power blasted from his open paw.  It ripped through the air directly at Bane, who raised his shield as if to deflect the power of the attack.
	It struck the edge of the mystical boundary which protected the armored warrior, and then simply stopped.  Bane fixed him with an unholy, chilling smile visible through the grill of his visor, seemingly satisfied at the success of a power that he wasnt entirely sure was going to work.  But now that he was sure, he turned and charged back at Tarrin once more with wild abandon.
	Dont waste your time! the Goddess voice touched him, and it was afraid.  He uses an item of ancient power, kitten.  Your magic cant breach it!
	Oh great! he snapped aloud as Bane charged back in.  Tarrin set his staff in an end-grip and braced himself as he passed within the circle which surrounded Bane and felt that same weakness, that same attack against the magic which granted him his powers, raising his staff to defend against the sword which lanced right at his head.  Sword met staff in a thok, and the Were-cats arms almost buckled from the tremendous strength behind that blow, but he turned the sword away, safely to the side, and quickly reversed his motion and slammed the section of staff held between his two paws into Banes helmet.  The blow was off balance, but even with Banes magic sapping his strength, the blow still carried enough force to kill a human.  Banes head snapped back and he was swept off his feet, landing on the wet cobblestones in a loud clatter.  Tarrin took up his staff and smashed it down quickly, feeling his strength ebb with every beat of his heart, trying to finish his opponent as quickly as possible, not counting on the lethal force of the blow to think that hed already killed his opponent.
	That turned out to be a wise decision.  Bane whipped his shield up just in time to catch the sword, impacting with a loud clang, like the ringing of a broken bell, then kicked out with his leg, just managing to brush his sollaret up against Tarrins ankle.  That caused a white-hot lance of pain to jag through his entire leg, and there was a bright blue-white flash in that contact.  Tarrin almost lost feeling and control of his leg, staggering back quickly as his mind reeled from the unexpected pain of that most glancing of blows.  It was almost like that evil pain-giving sword Jegojah had used against him!
	Tarrin staggered back out of range of anything Bane could use to touch him, hobbling as a mad tingling rushed through his leg.  Tarrin could smell ozone in the air, and he realized quickly what had hurt him.  It wasnt any kind of special magic that worked against Were-kin, like Haley thought!  It was lightning!  Banes armor was charged with magical lightning, and in every touch it discharged into him!  It hadnt zapped him when he slammed his staff into Banes face because it was made of wood, and wood wouldnt conduct the lightning.
	Lightning, one of the few magical methods of attack against which Tarrin had no inherent resistance!
	Bane laughed evilly as he quickly rolled to his feet, as Tarrin shook his leg to get the numbness out of it, and he understood.  Bane knew Tarrin, knew him well, and had carefully prepared defenses to eliminate his magic, weaken his overwhelming strength, and make it very dangerous to lay an unprotected paw on him.  The only weapon he had was his staff, the one weapon he could use against Bane without any painful backlash.
	Which suited Tarrin just fine.  So long as he had one weapon to use against Bane, he was more than willing to pit his skill against Banes skill, which, so far, had not impressed Tarrin all that much.  He showed he was much quicker than he looked, but he was not stronger than Tarrin, even with Banes magic weakening him as it had.  All that exercise Triana put him through looked like it was going to actually have some use after all.  Hunkering down, putting his staff in the center-grip, he waggled the end of his tail at Bane tauntingly, daring him to attack.
	The first few exchanges of blows taught Tarrin much.  Bane was not a green recruit.  Emotion had caused his first two charges to be wild, reckless, but now that Tarrin showed he was more than willing to stay inside Banes weakening circle and take him on, he was much more careful.  Hate still burned within his colorless eyes, but it was a hate tinged with a wary respect for a very formidable opponent.  Banes double-edged broadsword weaved expertly as it probed Tarrins defenses, but it found no hole to exploit.  Bane also learned that Tarrins act of hunkering down let him use his exceptionally long arms as a cushion, keeping Bane from getting that dangerous armor anywhere near him.  The Were-cat didnt let Bane crowd him, more than willing to give ground every time he pressed in, keeping a cushion of protection between him and that armor as he studied Banes form and looked for a hole.  There were few to exploit, however, as Bane showed some exceptional skill in handling his sword and shield, never over-extending, his shield always presenting the best angle to the end of Tarrins staff, feet always moving, always in the best position to press an advantage or pull back from a disadvantage.  He had little trouble dealing with Tarrins strength advantage and his height advantage, which did not surprise the Were-cat, as hed fought Azakar and survived to face Tarrin now.  Azakar had many of Tarrins unique aspects as well; strength, great height, and exceptional skill.  In a way, fighting Azakar had been a good preparation for facing Tarrin.
	Satisfied at Banes skill, Tarrin settled into a fully defensive position, swatting aside the sword every time it reached towards him but not initiating any attacks at all.  He kept at it for long moments, evading blows with his agility, blocking Banes sword, and absolutely not letting any part of Banes armor to get within two spans of his body at any time, even if it meant giving ground.  Bane backed him up nearly a block and tried to back Tarrin up against a wall, but the Were-cat kept himself squarely in the middle of the street, weaving to and fro to keep the armored warrior from blocking his escape away from the walls.  Tarrins tactics seemed to confuse Bane, who redoubled his efforts to press the Were-cat into a position where his armor could come into play, but the Were-cat showed surprising patience and discipline in sticking with his plan, keeping on the defensive and not giving Bane any chance to get close enough to touch him with that armor, waiting him out.
	Bane seemed to get impatient, which only made Tarrin inwardly content as he settled even more into a defensive position.  Hed been trained to outlast an opponent, fluster him, and then take advantage of the mistakes he made when he got angry.  Bane seemed to have a volatile temper, and Tarrin knew it was only a matter of time before his hate got the best of him and he made a foolish mistake.  Tarrin refused to spar or fence with the armored warrior, backing up and backing up and backing up, deflecting or evading blows from Banes sword and refusing to retaliate, waiting patiently for his chance to strike.  Whats the matter, Bane? Tarrin taunted in a low, mocking voice as he swatted aside several shallow slashes at his left flank.  Having trouble?  Or maybe youre not as prepared as you thought you were, eh?
	That got him.  With a howl of fury, Bane hacked wildly at the Were-cat, his broadsword whistling through the air as it tried again and again to find Tarrins flesh, to bite him, but it was thwarted time and time again.  Tarrin blocked another wild series of slashes and stabs as Bane rushed in heavily, and that was what Tarrin was waiting for.  With viper-like speed, he whipped one end of his staff up and under Banes sword, knocking it very high, then spun into the movement before Bane could recover, sliding the staff down into an end-grip as he came around, which did so so quickly that it was nothing but a blur.  Bane hastily raised his shield to defend against that crushing blow and tried to stop his forward movement, but the staff arced down.  Bane gave out a startled cry as the Were-cat danced to the side even as his staff smashed into Banes left shin, knocking his leg backward even as the rest of him moved forward, causing him to pitch face first to the cobblestones.  Armor squealed against stone as he slid about two spans on the wet street.
	In a quick motion, Tarrin bounded back several spans, out of the circle of magical protection Bane projected, and felt his magically augmented strength return.  He had to move quickly, before Bane could get up, before he could see what was coming.  He took his right paw off his staff and Conjured a Wikuni cannonball, making it appear in his paw, then stepped up and launched it at the back of Banes helmet with every tiny bit of the inhuman strength he possessed.
	Banes protection may rob Tarrin of his strength inside the circle, but it would do nothing against a cannonball thrown from his paw from outside, with enough force to knock his head clean off his body.
	Bane was in the middle of getting off the ground when the cannonball struck him squarely in the back of his helmet.  The helmet went flying as Banes body was slammed forward, crumpling to the cobblestones as the cannonball continued in the path in which Tarrin had unleashed it, striking and going through the wall behind the fallen warrior.  Tarrin was in the middle of recovering from his throw when the helmet smacked against the same whitewashed wall of the building the cannonball had pierced, rebounding with a musical clang before clattering to a stop on the street, the entire back half of it caved in.
	A sound that could not have been made if Banes head was still in that helmet.
	Tarrin backed up a few steps in surprise when Bane began to move.  That was impossible!  Tarrin had hit him dead-on with a cannonball, and had thrown it hard enough to kill a Giant!  But Bane was indeed moving, was still alive, as he rose up onto his hands and knees, then quickly regained his feet.  The back of Banes shaved, pale head showed no blood, no signs of injury at all.
	Tarrins shock turned into sincere fear when he took a moment to test his surroundings with his nose and realized, for the first time, that Stragos Bane had no scent.
	None.  There was no smell about him at all, only the smell of his armor and weapons.  There was no human smell inside that armor, no smell of anything whatsoever.  To Tarrins nose, it was as if Stragos Bane did not exist.
	Was that how he managed to ambush so many Were-kin?  Did he have magic about him that made it so he had no smell?  Goddess, how many tricks did this man have, to have no smell and survive a blow that would have killed anything but a Demon?
	Bane turned around, and Tarrin backed up two more steps in horror at the mans face.  His eyes, which had been colorless before, were now nothing but pure, deep, featureless black.  His face looked average enough, for he was a plain, broad-featured fellow, but the black eyes, like a Vendaris eyes, chilled Tarrin to the bone as he gazed upon them.   Bane fixed him with a hideous grin, a dreadful rictus like a man gone mad, and then banged his sword against his shield.  In that strike, the eyes of the lion on his shield face erupted into a reddish glow, and that same glow limned over the blade of his sword.  Bane was going to use his magic now, and Tarrin was still chagrined from the fact that Bane had survived that cannonball!
	Indirectly, indirectly!  Tarrin realized, in just a bit of a mild panic, that he couldnt attack Bane with magic, but it wouldnt protect him from indirect use of magic!  Haley had done it, so could he!  Reaching within, through the Cat, Tarrin used the simplest and most common ability a Druid had, the ability to Conjure.  He caused to come into being a massive cube of solid rock, ten spans to a side, and had it appear fifteen spans over Banes bald, undamaged head.  It simply wavered into existence, and then gravity took hold of it, causing it to plummet directly down onto Banes uncovered head.  Bane collapsed into himself as the massive cube of rock crushed him, slamming into the ground with a loud boom and a spraying of shattered cobblestones and dust.
	Tarrin backed up several more steps, frightened and out of sorts, hoping wildly that the rock had killed him when the cannonball hadnt, but too worried to depend on it.  That cannonball should have killed him, but it did not, so he wasnt going to assume that the rock would do the job until he saw a dead body.
	The dust settled, and the cube of rock was still sitting there, burrowed down into the street.  Tarrin saw no hands, no limbs sticking out from under it, but there was also no sign of Bane.  He advanced a few steps, but then recoiled when he felt the edge of that circle of protection which surrounded the armored warrior.  That was still working!
	In a sudden explosion of flying rock, the cube of rock exploded, spraying the street with smoking shrapnel.  Tarrin flinched away and almost instinctively used a weave of Air to shield him from the deadly storm of flying debris, then felt his weave disrupt as the circle of protection touched it, moving towards him.
	Moving towards him!
	Bane appeared out of the cloud of dust quickly, sword and the eyes of his shield face still glowing red, and both held at the ready as he rushed at the startled Were-cat.  Tarrins magical strengh bled away quickly when he was again within the circle, but his training caused him to overcome his surprise and raise his staff in an end-grip, and used it to smack the sword wide as Bane advanced on him.  Bane engaged a series of complicated and clever thrusts and deep slashes with his sword, which Tarrin parried effectively as he tried to back up, give ground, try to recollect himself and come back at the dangerous warrior with a new plan.  The fact that he was even alive at all was almost stunning to the Were-cat.  How had he survived that cannonball?  How did he survive the rock, and how did he destroy it?  With the circle of protection isolating him, Tarrin could sense no use of magic at all, and that put him out of sorts just as much as Banes survival did.
	A strange smell touched Tarrins nose as he backed up wildly, feet moving over loose cobblestones and the remains of his killing rock, fending off Banes weapon with a measured skill that belied his frenzied mental state.  Bane continued to advance as fast as Tarrin backed away, rearing his sword back behind his side and then thrusting up at Tarrins middle.  Tarrin swept his staff down and to the side to parry the blow, but his staff suddenly felt strange, and he sensed that the sword had not been deflected.  He twisted aside wildly as the faint sound of wood clattering on stone touched his ears, and felt the sword slice just across his side, right under his ribcage.   Along with it came an instantaneous savage burning, a fire he had never felt before, just as intense as the magical sword that Jegojah had used against him, the one that amplified pain.  He let out a startled, painful yowl and dove to the side, then used all four limbs to scamper away from Bane, running on all fours faster than any man could ever run, putting precious distance between himself and his surprising adversary.  He felt himself get outside the circle that surrounded Bane and instantly assensed his side, tried to figure out why it burned.
	His probes of Divine told him all he needed to know.  It was acid.
	Tarrin flowed back onto his feet and held up his staff, and saw that that was where the smell had been coming from.  Every time he used it to parry or block, hed been bringing it into contact with a weapon that was leaving acid behind.  The staff was in two pieces, burned in half by the magical acid surrounding the sword in Banes gauntleted hand.  Smoke wafted up from the entire length of the piece he had in his paws, and it ended in a blackened stump where it had been joined seconds before.
	With that one trick, Bane had robbed Tarrin of the only weapon he could use.  He couldnt use his sword or the Cats Claws, for their metal would conduct the lightning charged in Banes armor.  He could back away and Conjure a suitable replacement staff, but it wouldnt last long, being steadily eaten away by the magic of Banes weapon.
	Whats the matter, Were-cat? Bane asked in a chilling, mocking tone as he advanced slowly, almost leisurely, confident in his advantage.  Having trouble?  Or am I more than you expected, eh?
	Tarrins ears laid back flat, and his eyes exploded from within with the green radiance that marked his anger.  He roared savagely at Bane.
	I know your tricks, Were-cat, he laughed coldly.  Its nothing but a show to surprise me while you think up something to save your miserable life.  But theres no escape this time, he said with sudden cold fury.  Now, you die.
	Tarrin sprinted right at the warrior, who stopped in sudden surrpise that the Were-cat was actually crazy enough to attack him.  But Tarrin sprinted right at him, paw out as if holding something, which caused Bane to prepare for some possible attack, even as he smiled with a dreadful hunger that the Were-cat would be insane enough to charge headlong into death.  Just before crossing the circle of protection, Tarrin brought forth an object from the elsewhere, the only weapon he had left, the only object he felt would be able to stand up to that acidic blade without conducting the lightning charged within Banes armor.
	No! Bane shrieked in horror when a black staff appeared in Tarrins paw, quickly taken up into the end-grip as the Were-cat blazed through the circle of protection, weapon brandished and ready.
	It was the Firestaff.
	Bane had obviously never conceived of the idea that Tarrin actually carried it around with him at all times, but the Were-cat took his duty as its guardian quite seriously.  Its black, stone-like length was not metal, and so Tarrin hoped that it wouldnt shock him if it hit Banes armor.  And since it was all but indestructible, Banes acidic magic would have no effect on it at all.
	Like a dark force of furious destruction, Tarrin leapt into the air and seemed to hover over the armored warrior with the Firestaff coiled over his head, whose black-black eyes betrayed no emotion, but whose expression was one of chagrin and sincere terror.  He barely managed to get his sword up as Tarrin smashed the Firestaff down on him with speed-augmented power.  Banes sword met the Firestaff with a clear metallic chime, but the power behind the blow, as Tarrin dropped on his smaller foe, knocked Banes arm down across his body and spun him halfway around so Banes armored back was to him.  Tarrin swept past the armored warrior, carrying through with his momentum, then turned quickly to stay behind Bane as he turned himself.  Tarrin recovered the Firestaff and whipped it around, but Bane somehow managed to get his shield around to catch the weapon.  The impact jarred him a bit more to the side, giving Tarrin an opening.  He reared the Firestaff back again and smashed it into Banes armored side, half-braced for the possibility that he was about to get a nasty shock.
	But none came.  The staff slammed into Banes side with enough power to buckle him around the black shaft, as he swatted weakly at the staff with the rim of his shield.  Tarrin reared back and swung again, but Bane managed to twist around enough to block it with his lion-head shield, then the tip of his sword came lancing in with his turn, aimed right at Tarrins face.  The red-glowing weapon arced by just fingers from Tarrins cheek as the Were-cat slid around the thrust, then ducked under as the armored warrior tried to slash it across, into the path of his evasion.  With a lightning-fast movement, Tarrin grabbed the hand holding that sword as it went over his head, artfully and carefully done so no part of his paw touched the metal arm guards that ended just above his wrist, touching only the gauntlets.  With a vast circular motion, Tarrin wrenched Banes arm in a wide vertical circle, going down and then up, twisting in its socket and forcing the armored warrior to pitch head over heels to avoid getting his arm ripped out of its socket.  Bane did so, tumbling onto his back and losing his sword, but he lashed out with his leg the instant his back hit the shattered cobblestones.  Tarrin simply jumped over that foot, using his grip on Banes arm as a fulcrum to get his legs out of harms way.  He pushed off from Banes sword arm and then brought up the Firestaff in an end-grip before his feet even touched the ground, and then brought it down in a vast over handed chop aimed right at Banes neck.  Bane, who already had a leg out and up, and using the momentum introduced by Tarrins push, managed to get the sole of his sollaret up and in the path of the staff, which deflected it just high enough that the tip of the Firestaff slammed into the loose cobblestones but a hairs breadth over Banes head.  There was a loud clang as staff struck armor-shod boot.  It jarred Bane to the side, and he rolled with it, over his own shield and losing it in the process, to get himself away as the Were-cat recovered from having his blow deflected.  Tarrin rushed after the armored warrior to press the attack, but found himself diving to the side when a blast of pale blue light emanated from Banes empty hand.  That blue light sizzled past him, catching the tail end of his braid and instantly frosting it over, then struck a gray stone building with large windows that displayed a variety of pewter goods, riming the gray stone with frost.
	That was close.  Within Banes circle of protection, he was protected from heat and fire, but not from cold.  He needed to be able to touch the Weave to protect himself from cold, and that was something he could not do within Banes area of anti-magic.
	Tarrins momentary surprise caused him to be taken off guard when Bane lunged at him with those empty hands open and leading, a dreadful look of sudden elated glory all over his face.  Tarrin raised the Firestaff to protect himself, but to his shock, it was the Firestaff that was Banes target, not him.  Bane grabbed hold of it with both hands, a good solid grip, and then tried to rip it out of his paws.
	Tarrin immediately understood the danger.  He rose up and pushed down on the staff, using his height advantage as a lever, locking both of Banes feet onto the ground to keep him from kicking, keep him from touching him with that deadly armor.  Tarrin pushed down with all his might, rocked Bane back and forth, and the two of them staggered along the street like two children fighting over a single toy, neither willing to let it go.
	Now you will die! Bane said hysterically, glaring up at him with those empty, utterly black eyes.  Now the power I need is in my hands!  Now you will face your worst nightmare!
	At those words, the Firestaff started to glow.
	Shock almost making him let go of the artifact, Tarrin nearly lost his grip on it as he felt power rise up within the ancient device, power that felt warm and inviting under his paws.  Tarrin felt the power of the Firestaff, a power it could bring forth into the world at any time, and he felt Bane trying to draw it in.
	Lightning and magical streamers of light suddenly burst from the Firestaff, as Tarrin felt Bane somehow make a connection to it, start to drink in its power.  He gaped at the armored warrior in awe and consternation, then realized that if he didnt do something and do it fast, he was going to be in very big trouble.  He didnt understand how Bane was drawing power from the Firestaff, but he had to stop it, and stop it now.
	But it was as if the magic of the Firestaff was granting Bane inhuman strength.  Tarrin went from being the controller to hanging on to the staff for dear life as Bane whipped it to and fro, trying to dislodge the Were-cat, who just barely managed to keep a grip on it despite being swung around erratically.  Lances of lightning and glowing tendrils of raw magical power continued to issue forth from the Firestaff, bathing both combatants in its eerie glow.
	Laughing maniacally, Bane twisted himself and then recoiled violently, which caused Tarrin to lose his grip.  He was sent flying to one side, landing heavily on his back, skidding a few spans before coming to a stop.  The light and energy of the Firestaff exploded from within it, and instead of flying around randomly, it was flowing around and into  Banes body, which began to glow with a strange reddish light.  Fool, you granted me the one thing I needed to beat you! Bane shrieked in hysterical glee, holding the Firestaff over his head with both hands, continuing to draw out its power.  Now my revenge will be complete!  Now you will pay for destroying me!  Now you will join me in the darkness of oblivion, Tarrin Kael! he screamed triumphantly, just as the Firestaffs glow stopped.  Bane cast it aside scornfully, letting it clatter to the cobblestones at Tarrins feet, again nothing but a black length of what looked like stone.  Banes body continued to glow, and to Tarrins horror, a blazing irregular line appeared on the top of his head, almost like the cracking of an eggshell.  That brilliant light grew brighter as the split ran across the top of his head and down over his forehead, between his eyes, and then over to the left side of his nose and mouth.  That incandescent light dimmed, and then turned into blackness, like liquid shadow that seeped from the tear in Banes body.
	And then Banes split fully open, like the opening of the petals of some kind of ghastly flower.
	Liquid shadow boiled from from that grisly opening, pooling above the body of Stragos Bane, growing ever larger and darker and more ominous.  Tarrin watched in mute, stunned awe and horror as the pool of pulsing shadow continued to expand, pouring out of the opening in Banes split skull, until only thin wisps of it were left.  The large pool of liquid darkness over Banes body seemed to pulsate and flicker, and then it expanded in all directions.  The shape of a body formed within that pool of floating inky blackness, thirty spans tall, like a giant floating form surrounded by a deep, billowed cloak.  A face appeared where a cowled head would be, faint, vague features dominated by a pair of sinister, glowing red eyes.
	Tarrin stared up at the dreadful manisfestation, too stunned to move, to even think.  Never had he ever seen such a thing!  The husk of what had once been Stragos Bane lay crumpled on the street, still in its armor, smoking and seeming to dissolve before Tarrins eyes, and the Firestaff, still glowing, still issuing out streamers of magical light, rose up and was engulfed into the apparitions inky black form.
	Face your executioner, Tarrin Kael! the dark image cried in a voice that made Tarrins fur stand on end.  Know that the hand that destroys you is the same as the one you destroyed!
	Tarrin, run! the voice of the Goddess screamed in his mind.  Run, run now!
	Mother! he gasped as the figure raised a shadowed arm, and then a blast of utter darkness raced from its hand, right at him.  He recovered his wits enough to dive aside, as the blackness struck the street under which he had been standing, and then caused it to explode in a deafening blast of smoke, dust, and shattered masonry.  What did he become? he gasped as another bolt of blackness shot at him, which he just barely managed to avoid.  A concussive blast of smoke and stone lifted him off the ground, but he managed to get his feet under him, and hit the street running, racing away from this terrifying nightmare.
	Oh, my kitten, run!  Dont try to fight him!  You cant win!
	What is he? he cried as he turned up an alley just as another blast of darkness sizzled by, striking the front of someones house.   The entire building shuddered, and then exploded violently, sending bits of stone, wood, plaster, and cloth flying for hundreds of spans in every direction.
	Tarrin, that is a creation of Val!  He must have made it before you destroyed him, and now its come to take revenge for his destruction!
	His mind reeled from the enormity of that statement.   But that was impossible!  Val was dead, utterly destroyed!  How could this creation remain behind when all vestiges of Vals power had been literally erased from existence?
	I hear your every thought, Were-cat! the inky shadow boomed, a voice heard all over Suld.  Before you die, know that I am the shadow of Val, created by his hand in the moment of his destruction, and I will avenge myself against you!
	I can--
	NO! the Goddess screamed in his mind.  He is a shadow, a creation, but his power is that of a god, kitten!  No mortal can withstand it!  He is an Avatar, kitten, but an Avatar of a dead god!  But that doesnt make it any less divine!
	He cant do that! Tarrin protested as he dove wildly to the side as another blast of utter darkness raced up the alley.  It exploded against the ground, sending a plume of smoke high into the sky.
	It can be done, she told him urgently.  Just run!
	He couldnt believe it.  Val!  Val!  But Val was dead, destroyed years ago!  How could this creation, this shadow, survive the destruction of the god who creat