Valena searched through the rest of the house whilst Rouse wrestled the clump of hair away from the Kinehound. Dirty peeled walls and broken furniture was all she found unfortunately. The whole place reeked of abandonment. No doubt it had once held a family but whether through indebtedness or worse, disease, now only vagrants and assassins had lived here.

By the time she'd returned Rouse had the clump of hair freed from the Kinehound's grasp. Sniffer had his neck stretched out, snapping viciously towards Rouse's outstretched hand. "No I said!" He batted the Kinehound on the nose. "This is evidence you little monster."

"She's not here." Said Valena with disgust. "Where ever she ran off too she's long gone by now."

"I was hoping that wouldn't be the case," Rouse muttered. The Kinehound lept onto its back haunches and nearly pitched Rouse onto his back. "I said heel!" A sliver of aggravation slipped through Rouse's normally calm demeanor. The scales on Sniffer's neck fluttered in response. It slinked away and sat down obediently. "That's better."

"Should we ping it in?" Valena fished out her Tome.

"Not just yet apprentice," Rouse reached a hand out and carefully stroked Sniffer on the chin. The Kinehound froze up at first before nestling into his palm, its eyes boggling with sudden joy. "We have one more trick up our sleeve. But I should warn you. It can take a while to work for newcomers like you."

"I'll do whatever's necessary to catch the assassin," Valena said. "Just tell me what to do."

Rouse smiled. "ever eager my dear apprentice. A good trait to have. Good, and dangerous. Well, no backing out now." He stepped towards the Kinehound, settling one hand on its head and the other over the strange machine strapped to its back. Bending down, Rouse slid a few fingers over what appeared to be a smaller version of the Tome. A set of runes flickered to life. With a steady hand he punched in a series of codes. Slowly, the machine began to come to life.

Sniffer let out a low growl. The scales on his neck trembled. "Easy boy," Rouse ran a hand over the Kinehound, flattening the scales back down. "It's only a little prick. Just need a small donation from ya. That's a good boy."

Valena watched in fascinated wonder as the machine hummed and clicked and whirred before a set of valves hissed open. Two glass tubes filled with a rosy pink substance appeared from beneath. Blood Valena realized. Kinehound blood.

Rouse twisted the glass tubes out, peeled the film stopper off both of them and handed one to Valena. She took it cautiously. "Well, bottoms up" He tipped the contents back and drank it in one foul gulp.

"What is this supposed to do?" Valena said.

"Better for you to find out then me telling you," Rouse shook his head, blinking rapidly as he smacked his lips.

Valena stared down at the tube. Now was not the time to be squeamish she said to herself. She peeled the film back and gulped down the blood. It had a strong metallic aftertaste. Bitter and yet with surprising notes of sweetness. Like a wine that had aged for far too long. It took several minutes before the supposed effects kicked in.

The first thing that Valena noticed was how vibrant her surroundings had become. Colors became more vibrant. Lights flickered and bloomed. She waved a hand over her face, each finger trailing a wispy mirage close behind. It felt like she was drunk, but there was a sharpness to her that she had never felt before. A clarity beyond her normal bounds.

"How are you feeling?" Rouse's voice echoed a deep bravado instead of his normal grinding tone.

"Different," Was all Valena could say. She looked up at him and gasped. Every part of him was suddenly magnified in detail. From the sharp wrinkled grooves in his cheeks to the forest of rusty red hairs in his mustache.

His teeth were like perfect ivory monuments in his smile. "Different? Different is good. Take a deep breath and focus."

She inhaled noting the fragrant mixture of mold and petrichor in the air. The world shuddered, shifted, as if a lens had come into focus clarifying the world around her. Something else appeared too.

"What do you see now?" Rouse asked.

"A red string," Valena reached out to touch it only for her fingers to pass completely through. "Long. Ethereal. It's everywhere."

"Good. Good. It seems you've got her scent."

"Scent?"

"The assassins," Rouse gave Sniffer a congratulatory pat on the head. The Kinehound purred in response.

"How is this possible?" Valena looked all around. The red string flitted up and over and all around the small room. It whirled and knotted around where the bed was. Slithered across the greasy ground down and out towards the kitchen past the ripped curtain.

"Don't understand the details myself really," Rouse said. "Something to do with the machine and the Kinehound's blood. Enhances our senses. Lets us see what Sniffer here sees, but with a greater effect. We'll need to hurry though. Won't last long."

"Right," Valena nodded and followed the red string's trail. She passed through the kitchen down towards a closed door with Rouse close behind. She pulled at the knob, found it unlocked. With a quick pull she open the door, the Needler at the ready in her other hand.

A small storeroom by the looks of it. Empty, save for dust and jars of something Valena had no wish of knowing. The red string slithered further in before stopping completely in the rooms center.

"Looks like a dead end," Valena grumbled.

"Looks can be deceiving. Let me check it out," Rouse crept his way in and bent down, running a hand over the floor. He wrapped his knuckles over the wood. "Hmmm, a bit hollow right here. And there, a small crease." He pulled the Razor from its black leather scabbard and slipped the thin metal between a slit in the wood. Seconds later there came a soft click and a section of floor lifted up.

"A secret tunnel," Rouse smiled to himself. "Well, well. Looks like our little assassin had quite the bright idea choosing this place."

"Where do you think it leads?" Valena asked.

"No doubt to the sewers. My guess is that this place used to be a Blood Smugglers hideout. Runners used it to ferret tinctures in and out of the city. No doubt to sell at exorbitant prices. Clever. Quite clever." Rouse slipped the Razor back into its sheath and lifted the hatch.

A horrid stink erupted from below. Valena gagged and back away, pressing her collar into her nose to ward off the stench. "Sainguiness on high that's atrocious."

Rouse however appeared tickled pink. "What did you expect a sewer to smell like? Roses and spice?"

"I expected foul. But not," she prodded a finger at the hatch. "Not that."

"Welcome to the city love," Rouse stepped down the hatch. "Don't worry. You get used to the smell with time. " He gave her his patented shit eating grin before descending down.

Valena sucked in a few lungfuls of breath before she braved her own descent. The smell hit her like a punch to the gut before she even made it down the first rung. She gagged, swallowed the sour bile tickling the back of her throat and continued down.

The air soon became humid and stale as she descended. The rungs of the ladder becoming cold and greasy to the touch. At the bottom she let go, hitting the ground with a wet squelch that made her stomach turn.

"This way," Rouse called out to her. He was at the far end, his shadow waving her over. She moved quickly, the darkness all but invisible thanks to the effects of the Kineblood.

She swept up beside Rouse, waiting impatiently as he took a peak around the corner. Nearby a channel swept brackish water deeper down the sewer tunnel. "No sign of her from what I can see. Still got her scent?"

Valena squinted. The red string continued on ahead, curving left where Rouse had looked. "She definitely went that way."

"I'd wager that much. Wonder where she plans to go?"

"Outside the city maybe? Escape to the countryside?"

Rouse ran a hand over his whiskers. "Impossible. After the Church broke up the smuggling rings they had the pipes leading out all grated shut. Barely a mouse could get through nowadays."

"What are you thinking then?"

"Either she's going somewhere else in the city or she's got another means of getting out."

Valena blinked, opened her mouth to protest before clamping shut. The assassin had already proven her capabilities once. No doubt she had other tricks up her sleeve. "Got a plan?"

"Yeah," Rouse smiled. "I'm thinking a classic flank will do the trick. You keep following her scent while I break away through one of the adjacent tunnels. Hopefully we can cut her off before she disappears again."

"That won't happen," Valena said. "I'm catching her no matter what."

"Heh, wouldn't doubt it from you kid."

*

The sewers were a damp, hot, stale and stinking place. Sulana had to breathe through her mouth to avoid gagging. Even then the air left a sour taste in her mouth. This whole Link was rotten. Rotten to the core. She'd run through a fair number of sewers in her life. Every proper city had one, but none had stank quite like Villdesongs.

Her first clue had been the dead littering the tunnels. Here and there she had passed corpses of the homeless, the poor and the unlucky driven down into this festering void. Most, if not all she had seen were covered in black oozing scabs. The Rot she'd heard others say in passing. A disease that appeared to devour you from the inside out. Turned your flesh black and rancid. All thanks to St. Friar. The man had squealed the moment she'd pressed the plaslock against his temple.

A cold shiver ran up Sulana's spine. Stars, it felt like every Link she'd hopped into had an Adviser worst then the last. The Adviser before had called down a Devourer from the Void, and the Adviser before that had released an invisible swarm into the air, turning people into gray goo. Pestilence in the form of a healing tincture was just par for the course in her book. Hopefully the next Link wouldn't be so bad, but she highly doubted it. They were all bad. Hers the worst of them all.

A noise from behind drew her away from her dour thoughts. Splashing. A single pair of footsteps. No doubt belonging to a Limiren. Sulana stopped in her tracks. As did the foosteps behind her.

"What brings you down here, tense-step?" Sulana didn't turn around. Slowly, gently, she reached for the plaslock at her hip.

"I've come to take you in of course. Assassin." Sulana recognized the voice speaking. Young. Eager. Arrogant. The apprentice Limiren that had shot her. Her wound twitched and sent a spasm of pain through her gut.

"Look kid, I don't think you fully understand what's going on here."

The footsteps drew closer. "I think it's pretty crystal fucking clear what happened. You murdered Saint Friar. The only thing I don't know is why. Money? Political favors? Or are you just another religious nutcase from the Pourrite Cult?"

"She doesn't know." The voice in Sulana's head whispered.

"Better that way," She murmured.

"What did you say?" The Limiren was close now. Thirty feet at best.

"Nothing," Sulana said. "Just talking to myself. Bad habits and all."

"Yeah? Well once we take you in, then you can talk as much as you want. The Bleeders in the Red Tower will make sure of that."

I highly doubt that Sulana thought to herself. She whirled towards the Limiren. Drew the plaslock from its holster. The great green jewel on the hilt flared to life, filling the room in a sickly glow. Sulana got a good look at the apprentice. Wide orange eyes. Black hair cropped short. Pale sable skin. Thin lips open in shock. Sulana would have considered her pretty had another thought not crossed her mind then. The apprentice had said we. Where was the other?"

Her answer came in the form of a scream tearing towards her. Sulana turned and pulled the trigger. The great green light from the jewel cycled through the chamber and out through the barrel. A sharp hiss cracked down the tunnel. For half a second she saw two yellow eyes amidst a sea of rusty hair charging her before a pillar of stone nearby exploded.

Sulana was thrown off her feet. She tumbled to the ground hard with the other Limiren. A flash of steel ripped past her. Struck the stones where her head had been moments ago. Sulana kicked out. Drove her foot into the Limiren's gut. The man grunted, fell over. She was on him now. Raising the plaslock, she cracked the metal hard against the Limiren's face.

"Stop!" The apprentice was yelling. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

Sulana pointed the plaslock towards the apprentice. The flat green jewel slowly flared back to life, bathing the sewer tunnel in light once more. The apprentice had both hands around her Needler, trembling with the indignity of a whipped mongrel. Shadowy tears cascaded down her cheeks. Beneath Sulana she heard the Limiren groan.

"Will you though?" Sulana goaded the apprentice. "Because from where I'm sitting you look like you don't even know how to fire that thing." A bluff. Sulana knew otherwise. The wound in her abdomen was pulsating with pain now from her tussle.

"Put down the weapon!" The apprentice said through clenched teeth.

"No, I don't think I will." Sulana lowered her plaslock and pressed it against the older Limiren's heart."

"Stop! Don't!" The apprentice whimpered. She was breathing heavy now. Sucking in great lungfuls of air through her nose. Her mouth pressed into a hard thin line.

"Here's what's going to happen girl," said Sulana coolly. "I'm getting out of here. If you so much as move a single inch I'll blow a hole clean through this man's chest. Not even Saint Friar's blood could bring him back from that."

"I swear to Sanguiness," The apprentice said.

"Swear to me child," Sulana pressed the plaslock harder against the man. "Swear to me or I kill him here and now."

There was a fury in the apprentice's orange eyes. Like two angry glowing embers refusing to snuff out. The Needler lowered. "Fine," the apprentice muttered. "I swear. Just please don't kill him."

Sulana smiled triumphantly. At least she could walk away bloodless this time. No more unneeded casualties. She turned her attention back to the subdued Limiren.

Steel flashed in her vision. Sulana jumped away and shielded herself. Hot sharp pain sliced into her forearm, cutting past the leathers and into flesh. She screamed, tumbled, rolled back up onto her feet. In her agony she pointed the plaslock at the apprentice and pulled the trigger.

Another sharp hiss cracked as a thin line of radiation burst from the plaslock's barrel. Light and sound and fury filled the tunnel. The apprentice stood there wide eyed but alive. The other Limiren though, the older man, tumbled to the ground in a heap. A hole the size of a fist sizzled across his back.

"Rouse!" The apprentice screamed, but Sulana was already running. She cursed under her breath, fighting back the unwelcome tears. Farther and farther she ran, but she could still hear the apprentice screaming. Screaming the man's name and then nothing at all.

"Why did you kill him?" The voice in Sulana's head demanded.

"Shut up."

"Why did you kill him?" The voice said once more.

"I said shut up! I didn't mean too. I just...he tried to kill me. Slashed me with that damn sword of his." She checked her arm. The wound wasn't as bad as she thought. A few drops of blood pattered onto the ground. A knick at best. Damn it all. A man's life wasn't worth a knick.

"We need to get out of here. We need to find the others."

"I know! Stars above can you give it a rest for one fucking second." Sulana turned down a crossway and stopped. A barefaced wall appeared before her ten steps later.

"Damn it!" She looked back. Should she go back? No. There was no time. She needed to leave. Get, while the getting was good. With trembling fingers she holstered the plaslock and fished the matchsticks from her pack. The special ones.

She popped one out and struck it. A fat, purple flame with a golden core erupted from the head. Even for such a small size the entire hallway was bathed in the strange light.

"Onto the next Link," Sulana muttered. "Please let this one be mine." She sucked in a breath and blew the matchstick out. The flame whisked off towards the ground, touched the stones and began to grow in power. Embers flitted up towards the ceiling, circled back. A portal traced itself into the air and then yawned open with a burst of purple light.

Sulana felt the portal's heat wash over her. Char and ozone nipped at her nose, reprieving the sewer's stink. Calming her nerves, she took a step forward.

There were footsteps behind her. Sulana whirled, gripped the plaslock in her sheath but it was too late. A set of angry orange eyes. A flash of vibrant steel. A collision that knocked the breath out of her. Sulana stumbled back and the portal embraced her in its cold flames.  She felt the familiar tug of travel. Felt her body stretch to such unfathomable lengths that she thought she'd snap in half this time. Fire licked her body, burned her from the inside out. She screamed, but only the hollow roar of space reached her ears.

The portal dumped her out. Sulana hit the ground and tumbled. Hot gritty sand stung her eyes. Sucked the moisture out of her nose and mouth. She rolled a few more times before stopping.

Sulana coughed and spat and tried to get up, but a great weight held her down. She opened her eyes. Blinked away the grit. The apprentice was on top of her. Eyes boggling and brimming with rage. Mouth twisted bitter. She held the Limiren's blade against her.

"I'll kill you!" The apprentice brought the blade down. She missed Sulana's neck by a mere few inches. The sword sank into the sand. Sulana cuffed the apprentice across the temple and threw her off. The apprentice rolled, came back up. She opened her mouth to scream only to fall silent. Her arms went slack.

"Where...where the Rot are we? What is this place?" She looked up. "And where's the bloody fucking sun?"

Sulana followed her gaze. High above a black hole lay rent open across the apricot sky. Reality itself warped around its edges, as if the sun itself had simply disappeared, leaving nothing but a gaping wound behind.

"Whatever Link this is," Sulana muttered with defeat. "It isn't mine."