I got into the camp easily. Only two of the high-level goons were outside, the knight and one of the barbarians chatted by a campfire. Helmet off, the knight looked to be a little older than I actually was. With a roadmap of scars on his face and a magic eye, likely to replace an eye lost to a magic weapon or spell.

  The one non-upgradable assassin and spy skill of EarFinger came in useful. Through the tip of my finger, placed on a surface, I could hear the other side, unless the walls were exceptionally thick or metal.

  I eventually found a tent with the sound of one sleeping person and what sounded like someone reading; I could just about make out the turning of pages.

  I coated a throwing knife in holy water; the bodice dagger was terribly balanced. I then drank a potion I thankfully had in my satchel, it boosted all active skills. The main ones I wanted boosted were Lurk, SilentStep, and CritBoost.

  I waited for some mercenaries to pass, then slit the throat of the lone guard outside Valdis's yurt. Other yurts had guards too, storage, and other high-level goons, I guessed. I made the guard appear seated.

  I sensed no trap on the yurt door, but the lich might have been facing it, so I readied myself. I entered as naturally as I could, as though I were the guard entering to give an update.

  The lich raised her head; I saw she was a bald, grey-skinned woman. She opened her mouth only for the throwing knife to fly into it.

  I pounced to cover her mouth and started stabbing repeatedly at where her heart should have been. My high crit chance worked like I needed it to.

  The lich slumped back, dead... but I hadn't seen a health bar.

  The demented witch had seemed to roll her eyes in ecstasy as I stabbed her. She dropped her book and took hold of my side/lower back and the forearm I was thrusting with; I could swear she was caressing me!? Had I lifted my hand, would she have been smiling?

  Valdis was still asleep. I pulled the wretched creature's head forward to pour the holy water in; there was a convulsion, a death throe perhaps, but she was otherwise still.

  I unsheathed my sword and put it in my left hand, then extracted my scalpel for my right hand. Keeping the sword pointed at the lich, I moved over to Valdis. The side of his neck and one wrist were exposed.

  I used a dark magic skill that coated my blade in a magically generated poison. I cut the exposed arteries and waited. The poison made it faster and should interfere with revival magic.

  Valdis would never wake.

  I walked over to the lich. It still unnerved me. I put away my scalpel and took a firm hold of its head. I cut its head off.

  Having found some some cloth I swaddled the head, and decided to take it with me. I would burn it somewhere.

  A coat rack gave me an idea. I peeked outside before going to hoist up the dead guard.

  He now stood at his post.

  I stashed the head just outside the camp and headed back in to get the secondary targets. I watched and waited from afar, observing the two at the campfire. They were drinking. Drinking meant... the knight got up, saying he needed to piss.

  He didn't come back.

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  The barbarian had lower-level mercenaries nearby. I couldn't rely on a one-shot with a throwing knife. I got my chance when he grew suspicious and started sauntering over to where the knight had gone.

  "Hey! Bo—"

  I dashed directly in front of him, but his head was turned, and he was a little drunk. I got the stealth bonus with the first stab.

  From the first stab and twist into his liver, I slit his throat, and while holding him up, lost count of how many times I stabbed his heart and other organs.

  His large frame concealed me completely from the mercenaries a few meters away. I held him up and slowly dragged him backward, deeper into the shadows before laying him down.

  A patrol walked straight past the coat rack supported guard. Their route was problematic. I took them both out. Then proceeded to kill all other guards posted outside the yurts. Being lower levels, I could thankfully use the throwing knives. Those in line of sight of each other saw each die, if they perceived anything at all in their final moments.

  I entered a tent from which I could hear two people sleeping. The sorceress and paladin were lovers.

  Neither woke.

  One guarded tent was a storehouse.

  The other had the last barbarian. He wasn't easy to reach.

  I squatted in the darkest corner and thought. A woman stirred, but after an unintelligible murmur, fell back asleep. The barbarian had four women and two pretty men around and over him.

  I didn't fancy killing everyone in the tent.

  I pinched the necks of two lovers and carefully moved them aside. I couldn't reach much of the barbarian the way one of the effeminate men was draped over him.

  If I had my full assassin's arsenal, I could have pricked him with something very potent. My dark magic-generated poison wasn't so effective, and there was a risk the jab would wake this goon.

  No choice. I pinched the neck of the man draped over the barbarian and slowly pulled him off. Not the barbarian, but the woman beside him, one arm under the pretty man's shoulder, started to wake. I had to quickly pinch her neck as her eyes opened. In doing so, the man's arm I was holding flopped down onto the barbarian.

  The barbarian snorted and murmured something... I carried on and got the man off him.

  The barbarian would not wake.

  . . .

  I entered the yurt and placed the bodice dagger and empty vial down.

  Lis was drinking herbal tea with the attendant who had helped dress me. I thought Lis hadn't wanted to see me again.

  "Good, you're here. At the Valdis camp, look southeast to two trees growing from the same base, look right and you'll see a shin-high, moss-covered log. Walk straight, step over it, and carry on until you find yourself at a trickling stream, easy to miss—it's so small. Step over that and turn left. A few paces down is a large fallen branch.

  Beneath it, covered in leaves, are all the high-level items I could get. The crimson knight's body is there too; I didn't have the time to remove the armor. Thankfully, the paladin was undressed when I found him."

  I got no reaction. Lis looked to her attendant, who nodded.

  I had taken the blood-stained black cloth wrap off, and in clearing, I burned it along with the lich's head. Running back had just about kept me warm.

  I started putting my armor over my bloodied clothes, intending to leave immediately. My pack was already at the high priestess's yurt.

  "Stop."

  I waited to hear what she had to say, but continued removing items from my belt.

  "Layla cried herself to sleep, I could tell Roxie took long to fall asleep, my husband hid his tears in my bosom... Be here for tomorrow. Make up whatever excuse and leave when everything is cleared up. I don't want them to be afraid for you, and I am not such a skilled liar."

  "As you wish."

  "You can stay here, my attendant Juniper has offered to clean the blood off you. There are some clean clothes from a similar size man."

  I met Juniper's intense gaze. She was a little older than I looked, maybe the same age as Isabelle. Youthful looks juxtaposed her air of worldly maturity.

  * * *

  I didn't tell my party most of the true story. I certainly didn't tell them that Juniper and I ended up making love.

  For me, it was an emotional release following such violence, to feel her warmth. For her, I didn't know... she was likely so relieved and so grateful at seeing me return successful.

  We'd said nothing to each other; she was wiping blood off me with a damp cloth, then kissing my shoulder.

  I woke up to find her sneaking out; I pretended to still be asleep.