Forrest's PoV

Forrest blinked in confusion as someone just appeared out of nowhere. As the shock of a new person being there passed he took her in, and his eyes couldn't leave her. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen! Some words were being said but his comprehension level seems to have gone down a few notches. Then there was a loud thunk.

Looking down he blanched. There was a dagger sprouting not an inch away from where his crotch was. In a blink the woman walked over and said while pointing to her eyes, "Eyes up here buddy."

Taking a firm grasp she pulled the dagger out. Forrest could only owlishly look at the large gouge that was left. The dagger sunk up to the hilt and a finger probably couldn't reach to the bottom of the hole. He gulped and looked back at the woman with more caution.

Clearing his throat awkwardly he said "Names Forrest, who might you be?"

She didn't seem inclined to answer so Jim piped in and said "This is assassin lady, assassin lady this is Forrest, Davis and Maria. And they are Princess and Fluffy."

The fiery woman finally took her gaze off him to say angrily to Jim "I am not assassin lady! I have a name!"

Jim shrugged and said "Well you didn't give it to me, and you didn't seem like you wanted to introduce yourself."

Davis jumped in with a speculative look and said "Assassin lady? Been working recently? Maybe in the last couple hours or so?"

That's when Forrest got a better look at her and noticed that her clothes had seen better days. There were little burnt patches in her dress and there seemed to be red dye over parts of it. Then Davis' words hit him. Did she kill the Potion Maker? Why?

Forrest broke in and said "Maybe Maria should go off to play for a bit?"

Davis agreed and said "Maria, go out and play for a few minutes, don't wander off too far."

Sullenly Maria left with two dogs trailing her.

And then all three were once again looking at the lady. Irritated she said "Seriously Jim what is it with you just blurting out assassin like that? If anyone had heard in the street before, I would have been in a lot of trouble."

Jim arched an eyebrow and asked "And if I was a normal person who got caught up in your charms, how would my health be about now?"

The lady finally averted her gaze and grumbled, "It would have been quick. I'm a professional after all."

Forrest gulped. Looks like that assassin bit wasn't a joke. Finally Jim asked "So what's your name anyway? Unless you want us all to call you assassin lady."

Sighing, the woman said "Scarlet. You can call me Scarlet."

Then Davis asked again "Scarlet, can you tell us what happened earlier?"

Scarlet shrugged lazily and said "Don't wanna."

Annoyed Forrest said "It seems you are just going to drag us into trouble Miss Scarlet. If that's the case then I am going to have to ask you to leave."

A flash of anger crossed her face and then she was on her feet lunging at Forrest. Was he about to die again? So soon? But then Jim was between them and he was holding her up with one hand by her throat. Scarlet gripped Jim's wrist while flailing her legs.

In a surprisingly cold voice Jim said, "I have already given you one chance after you have proven yourself to be my enemy. Frankly I'm still struggling with the morality of killing someone that's no threat to me. It strikes me as bullying, and I hate that. But if you hurt my friends my moral dilemma is not going to stop my hand."

After a pregnant silence Jim finally said, "Are we going to play nice?"

She attempted to nod her head while holding on to his wrist. Jim let her down and said "You have a choice. Option one is that you leave now and there are no hard feelings, but I never want to see you again. Option two is that you stick around and tell us a bit about yourself. You would still be free to leave any time you like, but the intimidation and use of force is done. What is your choice?"

***

Assassin's PoV

Scarlet gulped. She had acted rashly, again. Somehow she got the idea that this man was all defense and no offense, at least in close quarters. Combining the fact that she had her dagger with the Reflect enchantment and how close his friends were, she thought she was safe to put that man named Forrest in his place.

Mages were notoriously bad when allies and enemies were close together. With the dogs finally out of the picture, she had estimated that there was no threat to her.

But Jim had moved so fast. It made her embarrassed. Speed was her forte. She didn't even see him move. Did he use a teleport spell? Even if he did, his vice-like strength was incredible. Even struggling, his hand did not waver. But no one was that strong, right?

Scarlet would have called it a spell, but the gem on her dagger did not flash at all. If a spell was holding her, there would have been some kind of reaction from the Reflect enchantment. A teleport spell would not trigger the Reflect enchantment because she was not the target, but a holding spell would.

Did he have some kind of body strengthening spell? She had heard of them, but had never seen them. They gave the user a massive boost in strength and speed for a short time, but would leave them defenseless once the duration of the spell was over. It was yet another question that was nagging at her.

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She took a deep breath. Her choice? There was too much heat right now. Going out in the wilderness alone was a dangerous gamble. Without someone watching her back at night she would be vulnerable when she slept. It was doable, but having a month worth of sleepless nights and forcing herself to wake up at every echo did not sound appealing.

The real Merchant Circle and their caravan were arriving soon. Both parties will hear the same story and understand it in two different ways. People of the village will think that an uppity Merchant Circle member was trying to strong arm one of their wealthy locals. The Merchant Circle will understand that a fake member had just killed an undercover agent.

Most people would assume that she had died in the fire as well, but if she were spotted alive there would be some unpleasant questions from both sides. She left for the Potion Makers residence in a breathtaking dress that would befit a high ranking member of the Merchant Circle.

The burnt garment she was now wearing did not resemble that dress in the slightest. Those witnessing at a distance probably wouldn't recognize her. Probably.

She weighed her options and it wasn't even close. It was the reason why she revealed herself. Mucking around in the wilderness alone for a month or seeing the fruits of her labor in action and potentially being rewarded with kingly gifts as a bonus? Her only oversight was underestimating this man once again.

Scarlet composed herself and said "You are right Jim, you have been generous. Ask your questions."

She looked over at the guard and tried to hide her nervousness. He could rat her out to his fellows and she would be a dead woman. Scarlet thought a show of strength would keep his mouth shut, but the tables were flipped now. The man asked, "It seems obvious what you did, I just want to know why."

Jim held up a hand and asked "What did she do?"

Davis replied "A couple hours ago the Potion Maker's house burned down and a lot of people are missing. Presumed dead at this point."

Forrest then chipped in "A den of swindlers and thieves if you ask me."

Then he blinked and said to her "No offense Miss."

Scarlet shrugged. She was a thief. And a swindler too.

Jim asked "How did it end up burning down?"

Looks like she was going to have to fess up to a few things. So far it seemed both Davis and Forrest viewed the death of the men she killed favorably, but she had to tread cautiously.

Finally she said "I am working for some people who don't like how powerful Jacksburg has grown in the past 10 years. I heard some suspicious facts about the Potion Maker. He arrived five years ago and no one knows where he's from. He became a major political player in that short amount of time."

Both Forrest and Davis murmured in agreement about her facts. She continued saying "I went over upon invitation and used the cover of someone from the Merchant Circle that was based in Jacksburg. That was a mistake."

"Turns out they were their agents planted here to prevent King's End from being used against them. They attacked me as soon as I was behind closed doors."

Jim broke in and said "What happened to our deal! You said you would keep an eye on me while I meditated! Bad assassin! That is a 50 DKP minus!"

Scarlet wondered what the hell DKP was. Arching an eyebrow Jim coughed in his hand and mumbled "Its a point system used to distribute gear."

What? He had a grading system to determine what gear she would get? Glancing at the dagger she wondered where it would fit on this DKP point system.

Davis then broke back in and asked "So after you killed them all, you burned the place down?"

She was beginning to really not like this Davis fellow. Irritated, she said "The Potion Maker was a Fire Mage. He either had Fire Level 1 and had an artifact to increase his spell power, or it was Fire Level 2. I would have been toast had it not been for the dagger Jim gave me."

Forrest laughed and said "Yea, I think I am familiar with that dagger."

He glanced down looking at the gouge that was in his furniture again. Now that man was growing on her, at least he had a sense of humor.

Then Forrest said "What? A fire mage! Why didn't he burn me to a crisp when I decked him?"

Scarlet said "He didn't openly use his powers while he was here. The man was probably keeping it quiet just in case things turned south for him."

Concerned Forrest asked "How did you survive?"

Scarlet nodded and said "The blade has an enchantment on it."

Both Forrest and Davis looked at Jim stunned. Ha! Looks like he did not favor the pair with gifts like he did for her. But then Jim said "They're not that valuable. In cities in other continents they are sold at every weapons shop."

A trio of confused faces looked at Jim when he shrugged saying "Not sure if it's relevant anymore. This timeline is a bit different."

Stunned, she asked Jim "You know a time travel spell?"

Jim shook his head and said "Not really. You could say when I came over to this place I knew some of what the future held, but things unfolded a little differently since I got here. So things probably won't play out the same."

Forrest asked, "What changed?"

The man looked reluctant but he finally said "There was a really bad dude in Alextria that would have taken power and started a war, but someone dealt with him."

Her eyes narrowed as she watched him. He was lying. Still he continued "The queen spider would have normally died clearing the way to King's End, but that also did not happen."

Scarlet gulped. Alextria was powerful. They had once ruled a long time ago from the city of Alextria to all of the three city-states and some land that had been abandoned to the north west. Had they been free to press through the caves the three city-states might have actually united to throw them back. But King's End was a mountainous territory.

Once Alextria had secured King's End it would have been all but impossible to throw them out. Were these words true? As she looked at the other two they looked queasy as well. Jim then asked "Why is this place called King's End anyway."

Forrest volunteered saying "The kingdom of Alextria use to span all the way out here and well past. But some time in the distant past the caves got inhabited by that monster. The kingdom was split."

Davis picked up the tale saying "The King's son ended up on this side of the divide when that happened. Army after army entered the caves, but none made it through. Finally the King himself led one last charge into the caves."

After a short pause he finished, "Only the King himself made it through, but he was mortally wounded. There were no clerics to heal him or potions to save him in time."

Forrest finished the tale, "The Prince watched his father die in his arms. The Prince and his men ended up founding what is now known as Jacksburg. From then on the name of King's End stuck."

Scarlet ended it by saying "Which is a name only outsiders really use."

Davis finally brought the conversation full circle by saying to Scarlet, "So now you need to hide?"

She nodded while putting on a strong front saying, "It's public knowledge that I visited him. If you all kick me out I'll be on the run. I'll survive though. I've been through worse."

Davis turned to Jim and said "It is my responsibility to report her, but if you ask it of me I will keep it quiet."

Jim nodded and said "Please."

Davis looked conflicted and finally said "I am a protector of this town. As far as I am concerned those people that died needed killing. But if I find out she's a threat to the good people of this town, I will report her."

Tension left Scarlet. She was safe for now. It was a good thing he didn't know about her past. Or those three extra people that she killed this morning. Oh well.