The next morning came too early, and it denied Arwin and Lillia the opportunity to relax for anywhere near as long as they would have liked.

Lillia unentangled herself from Arwin and rose to her feet. She found his wrist and pulled him up to stand behind her. As soon as he stood, Lillia turned around and pressed her face into his chest.

“This has to work, Arwin. We’ve been dancing around with assholes throwing their weight around for so long that it feels like I haven’t gotten a chance to breathe in weeks. Ridley finished modifications to the tavern and we’ve got a name building for ourselves, but we’ll never really be able to expand if we can’t actually grow the street. This has to end, and without bringing his damn guild down on top of our heads.”

“I know what you mean,” Arwin said, wrapping his arms around Lillia and pulling her into a hug. He rested his head on top of hers, and his eyes narrowed in the darkness. “And I’m with you. One way or another, this comes to an end tomorrow.”

“Right,” Lillia said. Arwin released her and she pulled away, keeping a hold on his wrist as she started through the darkness and through the kitchen. She paused before they could step out into the light. “Let’s just make sure it ends the right way, Arwin. I’m not losing anyone else.”

“We will,” Arwin promised.

Lillia nodded. She grabbed the kitchen door and pulled it open, and the two of them entered the common room.

Esmerelda and Madiv were already there, as were Rodrick and Anna. There wasn’t any sign of Olive and Reya quite yet. A glance through one of the windows told Arwin that it was still quite dark outside. They’d all gotten up earlier than normal.

“I’ll get breakfast,” Lillia said, taking one look at the weary faces before turning and striding into the kitchen.

“She’s an angel,” Anna said through a yawn. “I’m starving.”

“Has anyone seen Olive today?” Arwin asked, stretching his arms over his head and working the cricks out of his back. “Is she okay?”

“I heard her and Reya speaking in Reya’s room last night,” Anna said. “I think they’re fine unless something happened in the morning. Why? Is everything okay?”

Looks like Olive hasn’t let anyone else see the arm yet. Reya would have come and found me if something was wrong, so they’re probably just asleep.

“Just checking in. I made her something and I wanted to make sure it was working properly. She’d probably prefer to explain herself,” Arwin said with a shake of his head. He heard dishes clatter in the kitchen, followed by the thunk of a knife as it started to cut into something.

Esmerelda glanced over at them, an excited look passing over her features. “Made something? Something special?”

“Yes,” Arwin replied. “And I may have some questions for you regarding that kind of thing. I need help making a Cursed item. A very cursed one.”

Esmerelda’s excitement turned to delight. “I would be positively delighted to help. I happen to be somewhat experienced in the field. Through research, of course. All theoretical knowledge. Nothing all that applicable.”

She cleared her throat and glanced around at the rest of the Menagerie. Not a single person so much as blinked in her direction.

“You are not very inconspicuous,” Madiv informed Esmerelda in a low tone.

“Nonsense,” Esmerelda said. “I am a paradigm of secrecy.”

They’re both idiots.

“Rodrick, did you have any luck?” Arwin asked. “We’re low on time. Twelve comes back tomorrow. I’ve got the beginnings of an actual plan laid out with Lillia, but it’s all just pieces. We need to pull it together, and any information you might have been able to—”

“Who do you think I am?” Rodrick asked, a grin playing across his weary face. “I got the goods, Arwin. Not as much as I would have liked, but more than enough to work with. Twelve’s guild is nowhere near Milten. In fact — I’m quite certain that he himself isn’t here either.”

Arwin blinked. “What?”

“Give it a moment. I want to wait until the others got down here. Lillia is still cooking, and I don’t want to waste time repeating myself.”

Arwin grimaced, then nodded. “Can’t argue with that. We’ll wait, then.”

But what does he mean by not actually in this town? We all saw Twelve. Is it someone just posing to be him? Or is it a skill Twelve is using to project himself? There are a few of those, but they’re pretty high level.

There was no point wasting time wondering over it when Rodrick would explain everything soon enough. Arwin wandered over to a chair and flopped into it. His fingers drummed against his thigh.

Minutes slipped by. Arwin occupied himself by listening to Lillia work while he thought on what materials he’d need to pull off the bracelet. He wasn’t sure on the metal yet, but there would definitely need to be multiple different monster parts that went into it. There was no way to get the number of traits he needed otherwise.

My Title will make it so Twelve can’t read the bracelet, which is a huge effort saver. That just leaves me with a complete shape-shift element. Perhaps some combination of a component from the monster we’re shifting Twelve into as well as something to ensure he can’t remove the bracelet. Esmerelda will definitely know more about intentionally cursed items considering her store is definitely stuffed full of them.

Arwin was still mulling over the possibilities when Olive and Reya made their way down the stairs and into the common room. His eyes shot straight to Olive’s right side. Her new arm was was still there, covered in a layer of bandages.

“You have an arm!” Anna exclaimed, practically jumping out of her chair in shock. She spun toward Arwin. “This is what you meant by making her something? You made an entire arm?”

“Good morning, Anna,” Olive said, lifting her right hand and waving. “And it’s a whole lot more than any arm. It works.”

“I’ll be,” Rodrick muttered. He looked to Arwin. “You can do that?”

“Apparently. Didn’t realize I could until just recently,” Arwin said with an embarrassed grin. “How does it feel, Olive?”

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Incredible,” Olive said. She looked down at her bandaged palm, then flexed her fingers and shook her head. “A new lease on life. I was testing it all day — and for a fair bit of the night as well. It’s just like the real thing. I haven’t tried pushing it too hard yet, though.”

Arwin nodded. “Good. It’s not too cumbersome to get used to?”

“It’s a bit weird, but my body knows how to move with two arms. It just needed a little reminding.”

“She punched herself in the face once,” Reya provided.

Olive glared at her. “It was an accident. I got too excited moving it around, and my head happened to be in the way. The arm works.”

The two of them pulled chairs out at the counter and sat down.

No more than a few seconds later, the kitchen door swung open and Lillia swept out, joined by several Imps, all bearing plates piled high with fried rice. The monsters distributed the food to the Menagerie, then all vanished into puffs of shadow while Lillia pulled a chair out for herself.

“This looks great,” Rodrick said, grabbing his fork and shoveling food into his mouth. He continued to speak thorough a full mouth. “Thanks, Lillia.”

The others all mirrored his words — and his actions.

She started to nod, then spotted Olive. Her eyes widened and she shot a glance at Arwin, who gave her a small grin in response.

Everyone tore into the meal, devouring it in what must have been record time. As delicious as the food was, every single one of them knew what was at stake and how much they still had to get accomplished.

Rodrick finished well before the others. Despite their best efforts to scarf everything down, he was a professional and his plate was polished clean within minutes.

“Time for business. I’ve got updates on Twelve,” Rodrick said, wiping his face with a napkin and leaning back in his chair. “First off — this one is personal. I found out who he is. After digging through some registration papers from the Iron Hounds… our guesses about his relationships were unsurprisingly correct. Twelve is Jessen’s mentor. He supported Jessen’s endeavors very heavily.”

Arwin’s lips thinned. “That only makes my decision to be rid of him even more firm. Scum.”

Rodrick nodded in grim agreement. “Agreed. But we already suspected he was scum. This was just confirmation. It doesn’t help with the fight — unlike the next piece of information. As I told Arwin, I do not believe Twelve is actually in this town. There wasn’t much information on him, but the Ardent Guild had some.”

“And?” Lillia asked. “What’s he using? Some form of body-hopping?”

“No. Advanced clones,” Rodrick said with a shake of his head. “To be specific, 11 of them. Plus his real body, that makes 12.”

“You’re kidding,” Reya said. “Seriously?”

“That’s bad,” Olive said, coughing into a fist. “Kind of funny, though. That’s some dedication to the bit.”

“He controls 12 bodies at once?” Arwin asked suspiciously. That was a really high level ability. Something far beyond Adept or Expert tier. His stomach sank.

That completely ruins our plan. If the clones are sending live information back to Twelve… we’re fucked.

“No. I’ve read about this ability before. It’s pretty well known among assassin guilds,” Rodrick said. “The clones function on a set of commands. They’re not the same thing as the real person, but they follow orders and report back.”

“In real time?” Arwin asked, his throat clenching.

Rodrick smiled. “No. Twelve can’t interact with the clone remotely. That’s the biggest limitation of the skill, and he basically confirmed that his real body wasn’t in this city to Tironal. The real Twelve is really busy with something, so he sent a clone over here.”

Arwin’s throat unclenched. This wasn’t as bad as he had feared. They could still pull off his plan.

“That’s not great,” Reya said. “Even if we kill the clone, wouldn’t the real one still be alive?”

“Not if we do this right,” Anna said softly. “Sympathetic magic is dangerous. Especially types like this. Twelve is arrogant if he’s sending a clone around like this. If you use the right type of magic, you can use the clone to directly attack the host.”

“Which is why almost everyone that uses this kind of magic works in groups, and the clones kill themselves if it looks like they’re about to lose,” Rodrick added. “But, when they die, any knowledge they have dies with them.”

“How strong are they compared to the original?” Reya asked.

“Weaker. The extent depends on how much power Twelve put into the clone, but their biggest drawback is that they can’t replenish strength,” Rodrick said. “Which means if we tire the clone out while keeping it from escaping… we win.”

“You’re kidding. That’s it?” Reya asked, her eyes widening.

“Easier said than done,” Lillia warned. “This is an assassin, remember? He doesn’t need much energy to kill us in a very short amount of time.”

“Exactly,” Rodrick said. “But I’m certain this is our angle. If we can disable the clone and wear its energy down, we win the fight. Anything it knows dies with it.”

“And if we can kill it before it can kill itself, we might be able to kill the real Twelve without ever touching him,” Anna added, her face grim. There was unease else buried in her words. She wasn’t saying something.

“Is that possible?” Olive asked. “Let’s assume we can beat the clone. Do we have something that can—”

“Yes,” Anna said. “I can make it. It… won’t be easy. But don’t worry about that. Leave it to me and Rodrick. The difficult bit is actually wearing the clone down enough to finish it off while keeping anyone from realizing who we’re fighting. This all collapses if someone discovers we went up against Twelve’s clone. His guild will find out, and they’ll come for us.”

Arwin and Lillia exchanged a glance.

“You’re certain of this?” Lillia asked. “You can really kill the original through the clone?”

“There are very few ways to attack through a sympathetic magic, but there are certain poisons that can do it.” Anna’s lips pressed thin and her hands tightened at her sides. “It will be costly to make, but I know the recipe.”

“Hold on,” Arwin said. “How costly are we talking? I don’t get the feeling you’re talking about gold.”

“Life,” Anna replied grimly. “It will cost me a year of my life, among other things.”

Arwin opened his mouth, but Anna snapped her fingers to cut him off.

“No, Arwin. I don’t want to hear it. We’re putting a lot more on the table than one year. There are ways to recover lost life energy, should we grow strong enough. Perhaps not all of it, but some. You don’t have another way to defeat Twelve.”

Arwin’s jaw clenched. “And we can’t buy this poison from someone else?”

“It’s almost impossible to buy, and everyone would know what happened if we did. This poison relies on bone marrow that I have to magically extract from within my spine. I’ve had to do it once before. It is… agonizing. The cost and rarity are beyond what we can afford. You don’t have a better idea.”

“No,” Arwin admitted reluctantly. “I don’t. You’re certain of this?”

“Yes,” Anna said. “But we need a way to actually apply the poison. It is not a killing poison on its own. It is meant to rot the soul, but the body is a barrier. The only way I can use it on Twelve is through the sympathetic link, but the clone would have to already be dying by the time I apply it.”

Arwin’s head tilted to the side. Rodrick didn’t miss it.

“What are you thinking?” Rodrick asked. “You look like you know something.”

“I had an idea last night,” Arwin said. “I can make Raen’s bracelet a lot stronger than its meant to be. If Lillia can hold the clone down in the tavern, we can put the bracelet on him and forcibly change Twelve’s appearance and voice into that of a monster.”

“Then I could take the blame for letting a monster escape into the city and apologize publicly,” Lillia finished.

Rodrick’s eyes widened. “Nobody would suspect you to apologize for something that didn’t happen. People hate responsibility. That’s brilliant.”

“I believe that may actually work,” Madiv said. “Genius, my Queen.”

Lillia shot him a glare and he cleared his throat.

“Queen of the Tavern, of course. This means that, if we can wear Twelve out and get the bracelet onto him...”

“Our whole guild versus a single assassin,” Arwin said, blowing out a slow breath. He flexed his fingers at his sides. “We can do it. Assassins aren’t suited to having a huge swarm of people attacking them. Their defensive abilities aren’t that good and he can only run for so long. If I upgrade the Devil’s Den, we can stall Twelve even harder when he’s inside it. Then we get the bracelet onto him when he’s weakened.

If we keep safe and make him waste his power, we’ll be able to take him down. It’s not a guaranteed shot at success, but it’s a good one. Then… does anyone see any glaring flaws or reasons not to do this? It’s this or give the heart to Raen. We have to choose now. We’re out of time.”

The Menagerie was silent. Not a single person spoke up.

Their decision had been made.

In two days, they would kill Twelve or die trying.