"The Fifth Gate" by Marecia S. Hudson

ANYhoo, this is Marisa (See how I always start over? Well, at least I did this time) on the Dark Path, which goes over the Fifth Precinct all the way to the Fifth Gate, which is that neato reverse waterfall (Don't I make the best background? Heh.) In the story, Marisa was traveling through Death in an attempt to stop her Mordicant friend from passing beyond the 9th Gate, and she was being pursued by a rival necromancer who had banished Mordi in the first place. At the end of the Dark Path, she turned around and decided to face him. She won that round, but that doesn't matter, because that was the second round. In the first round she fell in a hole in the Second Precinct. Heh. This thing wants to be coloured. Hold still. I'll colour you...