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trust these feeling when he did not understand where they came from.   Curse or blessing, he felt them strongly as he watched the window across the narrow alleyway and wondered what he would find when he went through it.   He looked around the rooftop and the surrounding area for anything unusual, but his only companions were the rats and the dead they feasted on.  
    Something’s not right , I can feel it .  
    Jeda had no real choice but to complete his mission tonight.   He had reported locating the target to his master in the guild earlier that morning, and he would expect another report of Jeda’s success tomorrow.   He thought through his orders again and especially considered his master’s accompanying warning.    
    Do not hesitate.   She is a witch of extreme power.   Strike fast and strike true.   Hesitate and you die.  
    Jeda had no intention of dying this night: a quick in and out and he would be on his way.   He would strike fast and true as only an accomplished assassin of the guild could do.   He could think of nothing he had missed and steeled himself with his reaffirmed resolve.   There was only one thing left to do.   Jeda sat back to wait for the right moment to strike.  
    Moments later, the dim glow of the candle finally went dark and Jeda moved to the edge of the roof for a final check.   He took the stairs down into the alleyway.   After checking both ends of the alley for any wayward witnesses, he began to scale the outside of the building under his target’s window.   The ledges were slick and, after a few slips during the treacherous climb, he successfully reached the window.   He perched on the small ledge of the window and listened carefully for any telltale sounds from inside the room.  
    Hearing nothing, Jeda moved the cloth shade aside and climbed through.   The room was pitch-dark and he crouched for a moment while his eyes adjusted to the darkness.   As his pupils dilated, he began to make out the silhouettes of a bed, a crib, and a chest of drawers.   There was little else in the room but a single door leading out to the hallway.   Jeda slid one of his throwing knives out of its sheath and crept forward toward the bed.   With the first step he took, the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up and he instantly stopped in his tracks.   His senses screamed something was wrong.
    “I see they finally sent someone,” a disembodied voice spoke from the direction of the bed.   “It’s too bad they didn’t send someone better equipped for the job.”
    In a flash of pure instinct, Jeda ducked and rolled to his left as a flash of brilliant light exploded where he had been standing moments before.   The attack clipped him as he dove and he felt an intense flare of pain in his right side.   The elemental blast blinded him, but in one fluid motion he came out of his roll and threw his knife in the direction of the voice.   A slight grunt confirmed that he had hit something.   He tried to duck and roll again to avoid the next attack, but he found the most unimaginable thing had happened.   His body refused to obey and he crumpled down in a heap.  
    Shit, this can’t be good, he thought as the darkness of unconsciousness enveloped him.
    Miriam sat still on the edge of her bed.   She couldn’t imagine how the assassin had been able to throw the knife at her after being hit by her elemental blast.   She probed the wound and was shocked he had been able to hit her with such lethal accuracy.   She concentrated slightly to stem the flow of blood, but looking down at where the knife had entered her abdomen she knew that she couldn’t stop the bleeding for long.   That bastard had effectively killed her.  
    Well, at least I killed him as well , she thought, looking at the heap on the floor in front of her.  
    She had planned for this eventuality, knowing she would be hunted, but she had thought she would prevail against the initial attacks.   Now that this