Monster Party Book Seven: There's some things you're never gonna help or change, but hunger is something we can turn around!

Chapter Five: Don't you know? You never split the party!

The group departed the Avenue of the False Gods with only a little more knowledge than they had entered it.

Alexander Diamondclaw spent an uneasy night on the floor of his guesting house room (so that Petchko could have his bed) still slightly unsettled by memories of the wolf statue.

His sleep would have been unsteady enough for that reason alone, but then, sure enough, came the bells.

Even with his ears stuffed full of cotton the bells tolling out Zhakata's Taking roused him from sleep far sooner than he would have liked.

He tossed and turned upon the hard wooden floor, but it was impossible for him to regain any semblance of true rest while the bells rang.

By the time they finally finished ringing, Alexander had focused himself on one task, and one task alone; figuring out how one might best go about bludgeoning Yagno Petrovna to death with one of his own church bells. He warmed to the task with such fervor that it would be another hour after some measure of silence returned that he was finally ready to leave his room.

XXX XXX XXX

James Firecat though put off by the sound of the bells ringing as well had born the aural assault with his usual blend of stoic optimism and decided to head back out into the streets of Zhukar once again, even if Alexander refused to.

The market was closed, but that didn't mean there weren't other interesting sights to see. At least if you decided to equate "interesting" with "stomach churning".

He'd barely managed spend half an hour outside the guesting house when the young man found himself accosted by one of the locals.

A black haired man whose beard was waxed into a single thin braid grabbed James' right arm, and spoke in a rough choking voice.

"Please blessed one… please some help!" He begged, his blue eyes wide and pleading.

The man looked to be about twice James' age, and needed to half crouch so that he and James could easily see eye to eye.

"What… what sort of help do you need?" James asked, eager as ever to brighten somebody's day.

"My family needs water, desperately..." The man croaked out through lips that were dry and cracked.

"I've only got this on me, but if you tell me where your house is, I'll come by with some more." He offered, before handing the man his canteen.

The man began to chug it down eagerly. Only after he'd finished draining it completely could he bring himself to answer.

"House thirty six on the street of Zhakata's Benevolence in the City of Bridges, my name is Ivan." The thirsty man explained, before handing back the empty canteen with a shocked smile on his face.

Then he departed as quickly as he could, leaving a mildly befuddled James Firecat in his wake.

"Well, lets go back to the inn. Devi's bag of holding should still have plenty of canteens full of Florence's magicked up water." He decided, unable to figure out any other possible course of action.

"Lets try not to do too many of these charity runs though, if we provide water for one dehydrated wretch and his family then pretty soon all the others are gonna want it also." Mirri Catwarrior warned him.

That said, she wasn't about to try and change James' mind on the subjecting of helping Ivan and his family. She knew what a waste of time it would be to try and get between James Firecat and someone who had directly asked him for help.

XXX XXX XXX

The section of Zhukar called the City of Bridges was an architectural marvel of sorts. It was truly impressive how much work must have obviously gone into something that was now so run down and decrepit.

It had no streets at all, and instead the buildings were connected by bridges at different levels. Bridges lead this way, bridges lead that way, it made James worry that he could spend an entire day searching this place without finding the "street" of Zhakata's Benevolence.

The City of Bridges were also home to some very foolish people didn't know what happened to those who got between James Firecat and someone who had directly asked him for help.

To pick one example not at random there was the gang of ten rough looking characters who currently barred the pairs way forward.

"Toll is ten gold if you want to cross the bridge..." A black haired man with a long scar running down his face declared with a predatory glint in his blue eyes.

James looked at the man, and scratched his head, as he did a few quick mental calculations.

While the young man was busy puzzling out this situation, Mirri had already come to the obvious conclusion.

Every single soldier and guard that the pair had come across in Zhukar had marked their weapons with red string, scarf, paint, or in some other manner.

These men were brandishing swords, which were completely devoid of red.

"I don't think you have a right to be demanding tolls..." Mirri insisted, planting her hands on her hips.

"I don't think you're in much of a position to be resisting." The bandit's leader growled back.

"Foreigners in Zhukar have all their weapons peace bonded." One of his followers chuckled.

"You're adorable." Mirri chuckled back as she slowly raised her white gloved hands.

"But since you've made this otherwise depressingly boring day somewhat interesting, here's a little something for your troubles." The black haired woman offered, as she reached into a pocket.

From it she produced she produced a single copper coin.

In one single smooth motion she tossed it straight at the head of the bandit leader. It bounced off his forehead and his blues eyes instantly filled with rage.

"You bitch!" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he charged forward sword swinging.

James Firecat darted forward to meat him, eager to put himself between anyone who wanted to hurt Mirri.

The bandit slashed at James with his sword and the young man reached desperately into his jacket for something to defend himself with.

Liquid gushed down dampening the bridge below James' feet.

"You bastard!" James cried out in a rage.

The sword pulled back for another blow, but the bandit underestimated his opponent's speed.

James was light enough on his feet to launch himself straight at the bandit and tackle him against the bridge's railing. Then the young man in red braced leaped away, slamming his feet hard into the bandit's chest as he did so.

The robber lost his footing and was propelled over the railing as James somersaulted through the air to land gracefully back on the bridge.

"Thirsty people needed that water!" James snarled, dropping the ruptured canteen he'd used to turn the bandit's blade.

Not that the sword's owner was in much position to make any comment beyond the inevitable "AHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhh SPLASH" of any man in position.

"Normally at a time like this I'd have some choice words for the Dark Mother, but I hear that sort of thing is against the law in Zhukar." Mirri chuckled to herself.

"He got lucky..." Insisted the bandit who had made the point about James and Mirri's weapons being peace-bonded.

"Then come test your own luck." James offered, gesturing with his once again free hands.

It was at that point that from somewhere in the shadows behind the two a dagger came whizzing out.

It was aimed straight for James' head, but before it could complete its journey, a white gloved hand snatched it out of the air.

Mirri Catwarrior's arm was pulled forward slightly by the momentum of the blade, but only slightly.

"Lost something? Kitten? Catch." She snickered before flipping the dagger to James.

James Firecat gently ran his gloved right hand along the flat of the blade as he got a feel for its heft and weight.

"Not the most well made dagger I've ever handled, but it will do. I like to practice by throwing these things at rats. If you can hit a rat, you can hit just about anything else." He insisted staring down nine bandits before him.

They charged a moment later, and a moment later than that, the charge's leader collapsed with a dagger buried up to its hilt in his forehead.

The momentum of his final movements carried him a few more steps, but then his body began to go slack, transforming him into hundred plus pound obstacle for the other bandits to worry about.

Mirri Catwarrior spun around and headless of the other eight bandits darted towards the section of shadows from which the dagger had been thrown.

That left eight bandits left for James Firecat to face, and he was unarmed.

"I really didn't want to do this..." The young man muttered to himself as he removed another canteen from his jacket and took a long swig from it. Then he rushed forward to meet the advancing bandits.

The robbers wanted to skewer him on the point of their swords, but they hadn't managed to completely get their fallen companion out of the way yet. That gave James the opportunity he needed to dart in and deliver a powerful kick to one of the bandits.

Such a powerful kick in fact that the bandit in question was lifted off the ground, propelled straight into another of his companion, and both robbers went sailing off of the bridge.

That left six of them for the young man in red to deal with. Having finally managed to toss their fallen companion off of the bridge as well, one of the men got out ahead of his companions, proving to be a little lighter on his feet.

In fact he was so light on his feet that James managed to easily turn his momentum against him, sliding to the side of his stab, grabbing him by the right shoulder with both hands and pitching him up and over the bridge's railing.

Which meant that now there were five cautious bandits left to worry about.

They advanced more or less shoulder to shoulder, swords held out in front of them like a miniature pike phalanx. James sighed, hefted the canteen that he'd taken a drink from and let it fly.

The impact of a fast moving metal object (made a little heavier still by whatever water remained in it) against a helmetless head was more than enough to knock a bandit senseless.

With a mocking look in his eyes, James reached into his jacket for another canteen, silently daring his foes to act more aggressively.

He got his wish as all four of the remaining bandits charged him as one.

James Firecat threw himself to the ground, half sliding half rolling towards his attackers, managing to come in too low for their blades to reach him. At the same time, he threw his arms and legs akimbo, managing to hook one limb around the leg of each bandit, causing all four of them to fall to the ground in a heap.

One unlucky bandit promptly ended up getting skewer on his companion's blades as four sharp swords waved around in uncoordinated panic. James' arms wrapped their way around another's head, lifted it up slightly, then slammed it against the bridge hard enough to knock him unconscious.

Of the two remaining one of them managed to get a lucky grip on the cuff of James' collar.

"I've got the slipper bastard Raphael, kill him!" He insisted.

The other unharmed bandit rolled over to face James, ready to slam his sword home into the young man's guts. At which point James spat the water he'd be swilling around his mouth the entire fight directly into his foe's eyes.

The sudden shock delayed his attack for just a moment, but just a moment was all James needed.

The jacket that the other bandit was holding onto suddenly seemed to become a strange mix of slippery and ethereal, no matter how hard he tried to hold onto it, it was almost as if there was no longer a jacket to be held onto.

With no restraints to hold him still James rolled away and delivered a swift kick to the half blind robber's head.

Then, having finally evened the odds, he fell upon the remaining bandit. A red shoe stomped upon his sword hand till his grip went slack, and then James hefted the bandit to his feet.

Despite the young man's wiry body he had no trouble lifting the robber up off the ground with only a single hand wrapped about the taller man's throat.

"You made me waste a lot of perfectly good water that other people needed. Go get some more for me." James Firecat insisted.

Then he tossed the bandit off the bridge. As he sighed heavily and brushed himself down, James turned his attention back toward the patch of shadow from which the knife had been thrown.

"You okay Mirri?" He inquired.

A moment later there was a distinct "THWUMP" sound as an unmoving body hit the ground. Then Mirri walked out of the shadows, her normally white outfit and pale skinned stained with streaks of a bright crimson liquid.

None of it seemed to be her own however, in fact she was evidently quite pleased to be covered with blood.

"I'm quite a bit better than okay." She replied with a wide smile, before wiping away a few bits of blood from her face, and then licking it off the hand she'd used.

"Well then, lets keep going." James insisted, he wasn't about to let a little thing like a bandit attack keep him from helping someone in need.

XXX XXX XXX

With the bandits dealt with James Firecat returned to focusing on an actually daunting obstacle, finding his way to the house he was looking for.

The young man searched high and low (rather literally, giving the way that some bridges arched up and other down) and asked anyone who didn't look actively malevolent for directions. Eventually (around the same time Mirri was starting to feel her never especially generous supply of patience had been completely expended) he finally managed to locate the house in question.

He jiggled the knob once to make sure it was locked and then pounded away furiously on the door. Soon it was opened who by the same desperate man who had approached him in the street.

"Sorry it took so long, and we don't have quite as much as I planned to bring, but I brought you more water!" He happily greeted the home's owner.

Instantly the man threw himself to ground in abject supplication.

"Thank you… thank you! You do me greater favor than I could possibly deserve! I never imagined that a priest of Zhakata would show concern for my humble family!" He gushed.

"A priest of Zhakata?" Mirri scowled, wondering what the man was possibly talking about.

"Still your tongue! Does he not wear the red of Zhakata?" The desperate man snarled at her.

"The red of…. Ohh…. Oh…. Oooohhhhh ummm uhhh…. Ah….." James half babbled as his brain struggled to work through exactly what he had just heard.

"He's not a priest. He just likes to wear red." Mirri promptly pointed out with a swiftly growing smirk.

"What she said." James abruptly agreed.

"We're still here to give you water though..." He also insisted after a moment's hesitation, producing a pair of canteens.

The bearded man took the metal containers in a dumbfounded stupor looking nearly as befuddled as James.

"We… we don't have much. For this water that will help prolong the time we are given to serve Zhakata in this world, I will render unto you my eldest daughter Miranda. Although she is still a stranger to the ways of men, I am certain that she will serve you with devotion second only to that she show Zhakata!" The man promised.

Any amusement Mirri was gaining from the situation abruptly vanished.

James began to rapidly backpedal away from the man and his dwelling even though he still had more canteens to offer.

"That's very kind of you and all to say but I really don't think I need your daughter's help in any way shape or form, though I'm sure she's a very lovely girl who is…. What is that?" He suddenly gasped, shock interrupting his awkward flow of words.

Neither he nor Mirri had noticed it the first time around, they'd been too busy looking for some sign of house thirty six on the street of Zhakata's Benevolence.

Now that he no longer had that particular task to occupy his mind (even if there were plenty other things he was worried about) James noticed it at once.

On the side of one of the nearby houses, someone had painted a simple circle containing an eclipsed sun.

Someone else had started to try and cover up the symbol with a thin layer of paint, but hadn't possessed enough to do the job properly.

When the man leaned out of his house and saw the symbol that James was pointing at, his own blue eyes went wide.

Then he grabbed the young man by the scruff of his red jacket and pulled him into his house.

"One way or another the next sixty seconds are going to be very interesting." Mirri half purred as she followed into the house taking care to close the door behind her.

End Chapter.

AN: This late chapter brought to you by Plants Versus Zombies: Heroes. I'll reach rainbow rank 50 eventually with my Super Brainz deck!

Hopefully somewhere along the way I'll also find the time to keep writing and posting these chapters, rather than just playing the game from start to stop during my metro ride to and from work.

As for this chapter, well what can I say, I appreciate how much work when into the writing of Zhukar in the Circle of Darkness book, it came with a bunch of neat ideas that have helped me set up these chapters.