“Don’t let us stop you,” Shazera said, grinning. “We don’t need a shower. We’ve had one recently.”
“Yeah,” Debhora said, hooking an arm over Shazera’s shoulder. “Maybe we’ll just watch.”
Max went for his sword. Anita leveled her spear.
“Easy,” Shazera said. She held her arms out, showing she was unarmed.
But Max could see the daggers in their belts. Each had a pair, one on each hip. Polished white handles of antler or bone. The long fur scarves wrapped around their bodies like furry snakes barely made up for the scanty leather tops and skirts they wore. Max checked them up and down, and he was sure he saw that they both had an extra dagger secreted in their high boots. Apart from the tight leather and fur scarves, they both wore a look of demure innocence. Max knew they were swift and deadly and those sheathed daggers could be in hand and ready for bloody work in a moment.
Their ranged weapons were safely stowed across their backs. Debhora’s blowpipe with its colorful feather decorations stuck up over her right shoulder, within easy reach. Shazera’s crossbow would take longer to bring to bear, but these weapons were not for sudden close encounters, they were for long-range stealth kills and preplanned attacks. The daggers were always close to hand and easily brought to action in a close encounter.
Debhora fluttered her thick eyelashes. Shazera leaned against a tree, arms folded.
Max realized these Assassins could have killed both him and Anita from a distance without a word or any danger to themselves if they had wanted to. What else did they have in mind? To capture them both alive, or could it be something even more sinister?
Max lowered his sword, slowly, unsure. He had no intention of sheathing it just yet. Anita relaxed but kept her spear up.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us to your friend?” Shazera said.
“Do you know these Assassins?” Anita said.
Max nodded. He pointed with his sword. “This is Debhora of Aston Gate and Shazera from Milford City. They captured me a few nights ago. They had a portrait of you too,” Max said. “I think they are working for the Dark Mages.”
“We’ll happily get into bed with anyone,” Debhora said. She smiled at Max. “If you know what I mean.”
“And who are you working for now?” Anita said.
Shazera pointed at Max. “Him, if he’ll have us.”
“You will have us both, won’t you, Max,” Debhora said, her eyelashes fluttering.
“Me?” Max said. His sword lowered, his grip loosened. “I’m not looking to hire any Assassins.”
Debhora stepped forward. “We’ve seen you in action,” she said. She placed her hands on her hips, a move that was probably too threateningly close to her daggers for Anita’s liking, and Anita raised her spear and took a half step forward.
Debhora stopped and moved her hands away from her daggers.
“We know a good adventurer when we see one. We know you have a strong party if this Druid is anything to go by. We could be a great addition to your team. All we ask is for a cut of any loot you find along the way.”
Max didn’t realize he had a team. He didn’t think anyone would be interested in joining his team.
“Just tell us how you’d like to use us, and we’re yours,” Shazera said.
“And what’s to stop you slitting my throat while I sleep and taking all the loot for yourself?”
Shazera suddenly wore an expression of disappointment and sadness. “Do you really think I’d do a thing like that?”
Max nodded. “Yes, yes, I do.”
“What if I told you we were planning a change of class? Assassin can be very lucrative, but it is dangerous, and you don’t make many friends, but our skill set can easily be flipped. We thought about transferring to Thief or maybe Spy.”
Max looked at Anita. His expression must have told Anita he didn’t know there was such a class.
Anita nodded. “Spy is a high level Rogue class. It is good for anyone looking to carry out lots of sneaking and stealth attacks, burglary, and other forms of thievery.”
Max looked at them with deep suspicion.
“I told you he’d never accept us,” Debhora said. Then she turned to Max. “We like you, Max. We’d be happy to fight alongside you. We find you strangely attractive.” She nodded at Anita. “I think the Druid knows what we mean.” Debhora winked at Anita and clicked her cheek.
“We don’t blame you wanting to have him to yourself,” Shazera said.
Anita sneered and stepped forward, the flame tip of her spear glowing.
“Ladies, please,” Max held his hands up to call for calm. This was extremely unusual. Before traveling along the dark portal, girls hardly gave him a second glance. Now they all wanted to be on his team. He hoped he had the resolve to keep them all at bay.
“Frankly, ladies,” Max said to Shazera and Debhora, “I just can’t trust you.”
“We could offer you gold,” Shazera said, “but that’s why we wanted to partner up with you. We could offer you our services as professionals.”
“Assassins?” Anita said coldly.
“Professionals,” Shazera said again pointedly. “But you are too honorable to hire an Assassin to do your work. But we can give you something else, something you would be interested in, something that might convince you to trust us.”
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Max was intrigued. What could they possibly give him?
“Information,” Debhora purred.
“What information?” Max and Anita spoke as one.
“First of all, do we have a deal?” Shazera said. “Information for a place in your party and a share of any loot.”
Max took a step back and drew Anita with him. He turned to her and spoke quietly in her ear, his eyes still fixed on the Assassins, hand on his sword.
“What do you think?”
“I don’t trust them, Max,” Anita said loudly, staring at the pair. “As a Druid, I look for balance in nature. Assassins are chaotic at best. They bring instability. Our course will ever be distracted. Towns will be wary of our approach.”
“I don’t trust them either,” Max said. “And they know it. But they know I want what they’re offering.” Max stepped forward again. “So why not tell me what information you have, and I’ll let you know if it’s worth a place in my party.”
“Someone is hunting you, Max,” Debhora said. She spoke with genuine concern, compassion even. “Someone is stalking your every move. They may have even found you.”
Shazera looked around her as if to check that no one was nearby, eavesdropping on her conversation. She stepped forward, wary of Anita’s spear, lowered her voice. “A Mage. He wants to control you. Use you.”
“What Mage?” Max said. “A Dark Mage?”
“He is certainly dark,” Shazera said, “but we’ve never met. He sends creatures to talk to us, to deliver his words. Sometimes birds bring scrolls for us to read. We know he wants you alive.”
“What about Anita?”
“Her?” Debhora looked Anita up and down while running a hand down her body. “He’s not too bothered about the Druid, but I sense he’d kill anyone with you if they got in his way.”
“So why do you want to join me?” Max said. “Won’t it paint a target on your back?”
“We can avoid that Mage easily enough if we don’t want to be found. We are Assassins, after all. Hiding and sneaking is all part of the job, a job we are very good at.”
“They are evil,” Anita said with a sneering tone that Max hardly recognized, one he certainly didn’t associate with his Druid friend.
“We are not evil, good Druid,” Shazera said. “Chaotic certainly, but not evil. But we do know evil when we see it, and we think this Mage is too evil for us to be close to. And so far, Max has avoided coming to any harm at the hands of this Mage. We figure we’d be safer fighting alongside you than against you.”
“Besides,” Debhora said, “we think you’re pretty hot.”
Max shook his head and let out a sigh. “It wasn’t that long ago you were about to hand me over to someone intent on doing me and my friends harm. I really don’t think we’d make a very good team.”
“Does that mean you are going to send us away?” Debhora said, her lip quivering slightly.
“Send you away?” Max sheathed his sword. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea either.”
“Max,” Anita said in astonished disbelief, her eyes darting between Max and the Assassins before ending up firmly fixed on the Assassins. “They are deadly, duplicitous, cruel, and untrustworthy. You can’t let them travel with us.”
“Cruel?” the Assassins said in unison.
Max stifled a smile, noticing that neither denied being deadly, duplicitous, or untrustworthy. “But what’s the alternative?” Max said to Anita. He turned to the Assassins. “Send them away and have them watch us from the shadows, never knowing when they might strike. At least if they are with us, we can watch them. Better to have them at our sides than behind our backs.”
Debhora moved so fast, Max hardly had time to touch his sword. She flung her arms around him and kissed his cheeks, neck, and lips.
“You won’t regret it, Max,” she said. “We are going to be great together.”
Anita pushed Debhora away, but it only gave Shazera an opening to rush in. She wrapped an arm around Max’s shoulders and ran her fingers through his hair, the other hand resting lightly on his chest.
“Just let that Mage try and take you now,” Shazera said. She pressed her forehead to Max’s, her nose touching his. She pouted and breathed hot breath, gasping, quivering. “You won’t regret having me, Max,” she said.
“Alright, break it up here,” Anita shoved Shazera away. “Enough of the hero worship. Just you make sure you stay where I can see you, and no funny business, or you’ll be sorry you ever met Max and me.”
Max laid his hand on Anita’s spear and made her lower it. She stopped leveling it at the Assassins and stood it up next to her, leaning on it like a staff.
“Ok, where to now, boss?” Shazera said.
“They look like they’ve been through a dungeon already. Maybe we should rest.” Debhora stepped next to Max. “You two take first watch, and we’ll bed down together.”
“We don’t need rest,” Anita said.
“Well, actually,” Max said. “I am fresh out of spells. If I could rest for a few hours, I should be able to reactivate my spells.”
He checked his Mage Book.
>
>
> Mage Book
>
>
>
> Level 1 Spells:
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Detect Enemies
>
>
>
> Level 2 Spells:
>
> • Strength
>
> • Summon Fog
>
>
>
> Level 3 Spells:
>
> • Shield
>
> • Fireball
>
> • Disguise
>
>
He had a good number of spells to choose from. Three spell slots for Level 1 spells, plus the two bonus slots thanks to his Ring of Extra Spells. He had a new slot at Level 2, so he could activate both his Level 2 spells, Strength and Summon Fog. But he still only had one Level 3 spell slot. He had to choose between Fireball, Disguise, and Shield. He had no doubt Disguise would be useful, and Shield could be a real lifesaver if used at the right time, but Fireball was his most powerful offensive spell. He could not choose either of the others over Fireball.
He deselected a used Strength spell from his selected spells and added the Summon Fog spell in its place. He looked at his list of selected spells in his Mage Book.
>
>
> Selected spells:
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Magic Missile
>
> • Strength
>
> • Summon Fog
>
> • Fireball
>
>
It was a powerful selection, alright. But the letters on the page were grayed out. Once he had rested, they would glow on the page with magical energy, ready to be cast. Only then would they be activated.
“But I stood the last watch, Debhora,” Shazera said, the pair still arguing. “I should rest with Max.”
Anita stepped close to the Assassins. She looked them in the eyes one at a time and held her finger on her lips. The Assassins fell silent. Anita stepped over to Max without a sound. She drew Max down to a crouching position.
Debhora and Shazera crouched and looked to the trees, scanning the dark shadows in the dappled morning light.
Max spotted movement. He pointed. All eyes fixed on the location. Shazera had her crossbow loaded and leveled in a flash, Max realized how quick and deadly she was. If she had wanted to kill him, she could have done so at any moment she chose.
Debhora had her blowpipe to her full lips. She held it lightly there, ready to blow.
Max heard a low chanting. It grew in intensity.
>
>
> Dark Mage casts Soothing Cloud of Sleep.
>
>
The spell came rolling forward, a low gray cloud tumbling over the ground. Anita shot a bullet from her sling, Shazera’s crossbow string twanged, Debhora shot a dart from her blowpipe. Max drew his Shortsword of Cold.
Then the cloud enveloped them.
Max felt drowsy in an instant. The gray cloud smelled sweet, tempting, delicious, impossible to ignore. It caressed his skin gently and made his eyelids heavy. He toppled over slowly and slumped to the forest floor. Anita lay next to him, the Assassins sleeping soundly.
Max fought off sleep as hard as he could. As he lay on the ground, he saw the Dark Mages standing on the edge of the cloud, waiting for Max to succumb to the spell. Eventually, he could fight no more, and he slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.