I'm so dead.

The thought rang in her skull like a bell. One foxkin against a pack of wolfkin enforcers out for blood did not seem like a particularly even match. Jett's sense of self preservation didn't care about the odds though, so she kept running.

The emergency exit had spilled her out the back of the warrenary, into a series of quiet back streets off the main avenue. She raced between the looming shadows of buildings, thinking desperately for a way to shake her pursuers before she could risk doubling back to the security of her workshop. The pound of hard paws on the ground behind only spurred her on, jinking through several twists and turns to keep the wolfkin guessing and stay out of the sights of their armbows.

She knew damn well that if they caught her on her own they'd kill her there and then, just as they'd killed Tyr. She needed witnesses. Whatever the wolfkin were up to, they weren't doing it in the open and that might just keep her alive.

It was time to avail herself of Wildhearth's nightlife.

Pelting hell for leather, Jett tried to recall the map of the area Tyr had printed out before coming here. If her memory served she could loop east, away from the warrenary to find one of Palharr's more lively night time streets. Wiping an arm across her eyes to smear away the tears, she sucked in a shuddering breath between clenched teeth and dove into a dark alley, twisting left and fixing her eyes on a glow that ebbed between the buildings in the distance.

Jett tumbled from the backstreets and out onto a well-lit residential spiral, mostly made up of foxkin style dens. She caught sight of one or two citizens going about their late night business, but a couple of random bystanders probably wouldn't be enough to deter her pursuers.

The growling of orders not far behind confirmed that suspicion. Wolfkin were expert trackers – simply running wouldn't be enough. She needed to confound her scent, lose herself in the blaze of sounds and smells in the leisure avenues.

Following the sound of music mingled with joyful whoops, barks and howls, she moved as fast as her limbs would carry her, abandoning the ease of the streets by scrambling up the rope ladder of the nearest den. She bounded up, passing the main landing until she had to abandon the ladder, instead digging her claws into the walls and hauling herself paw over paw to the rooftop.

From there Jett made a series of gut-wrenching jumps from building to building, making a straight line towards the alluring glow of light just a couple of hundred yards distant.

A crunch of impact made her whip round, looking back to see the female wolfkin leader had also gained the rooftops. The dark, sinuous form of her hunter made a leap, clearing the first gap with ease.

Jett turned and sprinted on, the fear coming back with a vengeance. The wolfkin had size and power, but she had agility on her side, bounding across a series of roofs before deliberately jumping short, snagging a rope net hanging down the side of another building and shimmying down as fast as she was able until her paws hit solid ground again.

Not far now. The noise swelled invitingly and she bolted towards it, the promise of safety calling to her. Her eyes widened in horror, however, when she heard an unmistakeable wolfkin snarl from just ahead of her.

A burly male prowled out of the shadows to bar her path having guessed her trajectory, teeth bared silently, claws outstretched ready to rip her to pieces if she got too close. Jett knew she couldn't stop, instead redoubling her efforts and sprinting straight at the wolfkin. Heart pounding, she waited until the last possible instant as he lunged for her and dropped into a roll, tucking her slim, nimble body into a tight circle and tumbling straight between his legs.

She heard his curse as she rolled smoothly to her feet and kept running. Seconds later she hurtled out of the alleyway and into light and life of the local entertainment hub. Surging columns of citykin flowed back and forth from bar to bar, huge raised platforms hosted breathtaking acrobatics displays and food vendors lumbered around with their portable carts, the smell of sizzling meat, clove-scented incense and carefully curated musks engulfing her.

Risking one last glance backward, she saw several dark forms coming to a halt in the alley she'd just vacated. Half a dozen armoured wolfkin would be a bizarre sight in such a place, and they knew it. They melted away into the alleys like ghosts.

Jett turned and plunged into the fray.

It took seconds for her to disappear into the crowds, deliberately allowing herself to be swept up into the flow and doing her best to appear natural to the revellers. She frantically smoothed down her bodywrap and kilt, sweeping her long locks of headfur back behind her ears and joining in the fun as far as she was able.

Taking no chances, she stayed submersed in the place for almost twenty minutes, bouncing in and out of a handful of bars until she was sure there was no chance the wolfkin could have tracked her movements through the carnival. Availing herself of a large bowl of water and taking the time to get her breath back in case she needed to keep running, she left the entertainment district at the far end from where she'd entered.

Paws stuffed into the pockets of her jacket, Jett hunched her shoulders and padded up the coiling exit street, back out onto the main thoroughfare once more. Her gaze flickered in all directions for any sign of pursuit, but for the moment it seemed like she'd given the wolfkin pack the slip.

Still, she wasn't about to take any chances. She stayed close to the shadows, making her way back towards the trademarket. Whatever murderous game she'd just blundered into, Jett had no intention of dropping it on her family in the middle of the night, not when she couldn't be certain the pursuers had given up. So another night in the workshop it would be – the locks there were more secure anyway.

"What did you rope me into, friend?" Jett murmured to herself, a lump rising in her throat as her mind now had the opportunity to wander. Without the threat of the chasing wolfkin she couldn't keep the image of Tyr's body out of her head any longer. Her jaw shook as she tried to hold in her emotions, knowing that she couldn't afford to fall apart. Not now. Not if she wanted to stay alive and understand why he was dead.

She quickly re-evaluated her decision to not look at the contents of just what she'd hacked into. Professional courtesy went only so far. With the buyer dead, Tyr murdered and her apparently next on the list, she really needed to know why the wolfkin wanted to kill her. The block-drive was safe in her workshop, still hooked up to the main rig. It would be the work of a moment to crack open those files and see what was worth killing for.

Her resolve hardened as she made her way to the trademarket, keeping a constant watch over her shoulder for pursuit, scenting the air to try and catch a hint of the wolfkin in case they were shadowing from a distance. A weak breeze brought nothing but the bitter smell of the tram-carrier engines, the metal of the rails and mud of the paths. Nothing to indicate she was being followed.

She made it to the eerily quiet trademarket, its businesses silent for the most part. She saw one or two lights on where some poor soul was probably pulling an all night shift to catch up on a job – she knew the feeling well enough – but otherwise there was no sign of life. She couldn't decide whether to be happy or anxious about that fact. Squaring her shoulders, she walked briskly across the main concourse, making a straight shot for the workshop, and a measure of comfort.

Only when the building's scent-sensor blinked in recognition did she begin to truly relax. She keyed in her code and unlocked the workshop.

Jett was halfway inside when she suddenly caught a scent. Her ears pricked up.

Footsteps.

Running footsteps.

Her eyes widened with realisation and she lunged through the door, trying to swing it shut as hard and fast she could.

She was neither hard nor fast enough.

A heavy impact slammed into the other side of the door, smacking the metal construct into her and knocking her onto her back with a gasp of pain. Jett scrabbled away desperately as the wolfkin leader stepped over the threshold of the workshop, golden eyes glittering, clawed gauntlet dark with dried blood.

Jett's back struck her desk and she scrambled upright, heart thundering and ice in her veins. The enforcer didn't bother with any preamble or verbal jibes this time, leaping forward with the gauntlet outstretched.

Reaching back, Jett grabbed a tool-tray that was lying out on the desk and hurled it into the wolfkin's face. A rain of nuts, bolts, screws, circuit boards, screwdrivers and spanners slowed the enforcer down just enough for Jett to vault the reception desk and gain some distance, searching for something to defend herself with.

She didn't exactly deal in weapons, but there were a few odds and ends that might do the job in a pinch. Looking around frantically, her eyes fell on a soldering iron sitting hot in its cradle and she lunged for it. Her paw snapped shut and she pulled it free, whirling round just in time to see the wolfkin flying through the air towards her in a feral leap.

They smashed together, the force driving Jett backwards, sending electronics clattering in all directions as they knocked over a box of spare parts. She twisted, jamming a forearm against the wolfkin's clawed paw to keep the keen-edged blades at bay, at the same time pressing the red hot soldering iron into her flank.

Her attacker let out a coughing growl of pain, the scent of scorched fur wafting into the air. Jett tried to twist and turn the iron to dig the burn as deep as she could, but the wolfkin snapped her head forward like striking snake, burying her long canines into Jett's shoulder.

A scream ripped from her throat as the enforcer bit deep, shaking Jett from side to side with her powerful neck muscles. Tears of agony spilling down her cheeks she tried to bring the soldering iron up towards her wolfkin's face. Before she could make contact, however, the enforcer unlatched her jaw and slammed a kick squarely into Jett's stomach. The force flung her back hard into one of the equipment shelves and she crashed to the ground, surrounded by smashed and broken pieces of tech.

Wheezing for breath, Jett let out a gurgling squeal of panic as the enforcer's free paw fastened around her throat and heaved her bodily into the air, pinning her to the shelving unit. Her eyes bulged with terror as the bloody gauntlet was drawn back for a killing blow.

Desperation pushed her to one last act of defiance. Bunching her legs together, Jett lashed out, thumping both her footpaws hard into the wolfkin's armoured chest. With a gasp she fell to all fours as the wolfkin let go, staggering backwards. Before her foe could recover Jett launched herself forward with a screech, ramming a shoulder into the enforcer's gut and slamming her back into another shelving unit, the work area now reduced to a mess of smashed parts.

Although she fought with the ferocity of self-preservation, Jett couldn't hope to match the wolfkin in sheer physicality. Even as she shoved her opponent back, the wolfkin's claws clamped around the belt loop of her kilt and pulled her off her feet, flipping her head over heels until she slammed face down into the ground. A vicious kick to the side followed, long claws tearing open her flank and sending her skidding across the room until she hit the wall.

She tried to raise her paws to protect her head as she stood, but the wolfkin swung so hard that she simply tore through Jett's guard, the armoured gauntlet clenched into a metal fist that cracked against her skull and sent her tumbling. She tottered then collapsed, her head ringing from the staggering impact. Flat on her back, she watched fearfully as the wolfkin advanced on her. In a panic she kicked out with her right leg.

The first kick was enough to make the wolfkin step aside. The second kick went straight into her attacker's waiting claws.

Jett tried to pull free but the wolfkin stepped forward, jamming a footpaw down against Jett's throat to pin her in place. She coughed and whined for breath, scratching at her attacker's leg, but it was no use. Then the wolfkin wrenched her right footpaw savagely out of joint.

A strangled squeal was all she could manage as pain erupted in her lower leg, and she went limp, eyes flickering as she clung to consciousness. The pressure on her throat finally lessened and she managed to suck in a breath, but the damage was done.

"You're a feisty little sneak, I'll give you that," the wolfkin growled, removing her paw from Jett's throat and straightening up, smoothing back her plume of headfur and dusting off her armour. Behind her three more enforcers had entered the workshop during the fight, clearly not feeling the need to intervene on their leader's behalf. They watched proceedings through cold, emotionless eyes.

With a moan Jett flopped onto her front, her leg throbbing agonizingly, bleeding all over from the claws and teeth of her tormentor.

"Why...?" she blurted out.

"I think you know why."

"I swear, I swear I didn't look at the files," Jett sobbed desperately dragging herself across the floor, tears pouring down her face and agony radiating through her battered frame. "Please, he just paid me to break the security, but that's all I did! It's all there on the block-drive. Just take it! Please!"

"You see, I only have your word for that," the wolfkin whispered harshly, following her with mockingly deliberate steps. "And that, I'm afraid, is not enough. Today just isn't your day, little fox."

Crawling through the debris and detritus, Jett could feel herself shaking with bowel-loosening terror. This crazed wolfkin really was going to kill her, here and now on the floor of her own workshop, and no-one would know. She would simply disappear, a meaningless statistic to add to the outer holds' list of missing and dead. Both halves of the life she'd fantasised about building were about to be extinguished in one brutal night of madness.

But as she slid through the wreckage of her workshop her paw touched something hot. She looked down furtively and saw a sparking metal cuboid a few inches long – an overdrive module damaged in the melee. Her paw closed around it even as she felt the wolfkin's shadow fall across her. At the far end of the room the main circuit breaker for the workshop stood, one good leap away. If she could buy herself just a couple of seconds there was still a chance.

The scent of the wolfkin swelled swept over her, so close she could almost taste it. Gathering what strength remained in her body, Jett gritted her teeth and slammed the module hard against the metal floor of the workshop.

A high pitched whine split the air as the internal driver quickly boiled into an overload state, the safeties smashed loose from its miniature generator. A hiss of surprise sounded in ear and she felt the hesitation of her captor. Rolling onto her back, Jett closed her eyes and let out a throat-rattling scream as she hurled the overloading module straight into the face of the wolfkin leader.

A deafening bang ripped through the workshop as the overdrive module blew apart, sending shards of metal in all directions and unleashing a blinding flash that left the wolfkin reeling. Scrambling awkwardly on all fours, Jett lunged for the main breaker and rammed the lever upwards, cutting the power to the complex and plunging them all into inky darkness.

"Kill her!" she heard the female wolfkin snarl, her voice thick with fury.

But Jett was already moving. In her line of work she knew it paid to have an exit plan, and that forward planning was the only thing that might save her life now. Hobbling across the floor she thumped a clenched paw against one of the wall panels beneath her tech-breaker rig. It came free with a clang, revealing a narrow passage leading out of the back of the building and back into the streets.

She dove inside, dragging herself forward, her right footpaw screaming with every motion she made. Knowing she'd only bought herself seconds, Jett heaved herself with the strength of blind desperation and rammed her shoulder into the panel at the far end of the passage.

The plate broke open with a crash and she tumbled out into the night again, rolling to a halt against the hard-packed dirt of the trademarket. Whimpering in pain she struggled upright, looking frantically left and right for an escape route.

"Out the back!" she heard one of the male wolfkin shout. "Through here!"

They were coming. Indecision gripped her like a vise as she tried to think of a way out, but in her present state she had no chance of outrunning the wolfkin in open ground. Then her ears pricked up at a sound that offered a sliver of hope.

Running water.

The canal!

A whole new kind of fear swept through her at the prospect of what she was about to do, but Jett knew she didn't have a choice. She could take a leap of faith, or wait for the wolfkin to tear her apart. She could see the thick sandstone parapet barely fifty strides distant marking the edge of the canal, and knew it was her only chance.

Moving with an awkward hobbling run, she jumped and hooked her claws over the top of the wall, hauling herself up onto it with a shriek of exertion, adrenaline pouring through her system. Tottering unsteadily on one-and-a-half paws, she looked down and felt a surge of vertigo. A hundred feet below the fast flowing water of the canal rushed past, the sound echoing up the walls to swallow her. Nausea swelled in her stomach just from looking at it.

Casting a glance over her shoulder she saw the first two wolfkin emerge from the escape tunnel of her workshop, their vulpine heads flicking left and right, hunting for her. Their snarls finally gave her the push she needed and she turned back to the canal.

Screwing her eyes tightly shut, Jett gathered her nerves and hurled herself over the edge.