[satansaloser2005]

"All right," said Rikae, "so I guess you both kill each other?"

"Unless you want to kill us both," said Nogrod.

Rikae shook her head.

"Then what if only one of us dies?" said Lalaith. "We're not exactly the same build."

"You'll have no choice," said Nog. "Of course, you could be the last wolf yourself--in which case, my humble congratulations--in which case you'll be more than glad to do the dirty work when it comes to that."

"And if the wolf's already dead? You want an innocent's blood on Rikae's hands?"

"Look, this is the only fair way I can see us doing this!"

"Yes, because 'fair' means 'everybody loses.' Look, there's a better way of doing this. We flip a coin. If I lose, you kill me; if you lose, I kill you. Then if it turns out the loser was a wolf, we have two innocents who walk free. If the loser was an innocent, Rikae kills the other and wins--no matter who or what she is."

"Hey," said Rikae, "that isn't fair. I never even voted for anybody!"

"It's a one in two chance you'll have to kill someone. If we left it up to combat it'd probably be less than that."

Nogrod nodded. "It does seem to be the right way to go. Rikae, you should flip the coin; it's only right." He found nearby a silver penny; it had elvish writing on it and a tree on the back. He handed it to her. "Who's calling it?" he said.

"You can," said Lalaith.

"Right. Heads I die first; tails Lal does."

Rikae threw the coin into the air; it spun and caught the red sunlight as it came in through the window. It landed on its side, rolled, and finally settled. Rikae bent over it; it showed the face of a fair woman in profile. She beckoned the others to see.

"I'm sorry, Nog," said Rikae.

"It's not your fault," he said. "But when you get out of this..."

Rikae nodded. "I'll tell them."

Lalaith walked over to the bar. "Any last requests?"

"Something strong, I hope."

Lalaith rummaged around in the back. "Does something with the label '1420' sound good?"

"Depends on what it is."

She came back out with a small, bulging bottle. "I think it's brandy," she said. She looked at the label. "Made in Buckland, if you can believe it."

"Well," said Nogrod with a faint smile, "everything from that year was supposed to be good, wasn't it?"

Lalaith opened the bottle and handed it to him. He took a swig, all propriety discarded. He nodded and returned it. "You should have some," he said. "I don't envy you your task, though perhaps you won't mind it yourself."

Lalaith took a sip. "You know," she said, "you'll make this easier if you transform now. I'm not afraid to hurt you to make it happen."

Nogrod laughed. "Wouldn't I just overpower you?"

"You wouldn't be human, that's what. And that way we'd know that we'd be free."

"I'm not doing it. I can't."

"Aren't you now?" Lalaith put his eye out.

"What are you doing?" said Rikae.

"He isn't putting up a fight. He won't. He thinks he'll be able to strike at our conscience that way, by not fighting. But if he's hurt, he'll get angry, transform--we can fight him, and he'll already be weakened that way." She looked down at Nogrod, who was clutching at his eye. She put the other one out.

"Why isn't he fighting back yet?" said Rikae.

"I don't know. If you want, you can help--"

Rikae shook her head. "I'm having nothing to do with this. Call me when you're done, or if you're in danger."

"As you wish."

Rikae walked away, but she could still hear the cries of pain as Nogrod was brutally put to death. There was a moment of silence, then Lalaith's voice came quavering. "You can kill me now," she said.

Rikae came back. Nogrod's body lay on the floor. Nearby were his hands, feet, and head: cut off one by one. "What have you done?" she said.

Lalaith looked at her, blood all over her front. "What I had to," she said.

"So, he didn't transform after all."

"Maybe I was wrong."

"We should check the front door to make sure."

They did. It was still locked.

"So that means the last wolf..." said Rikae

"...is one of us."

Rikae reached down and picked up a knife.