Lillia stood by the door, her shadows wrapped around herself and the building like a cloak. Just like Rodrick had said, the street wasn’t particularly populated. It must have been less than a minute since she’d yanked Tix into the building, but it felt like a century. After a brief exchange, there had been only silence. If Tix had won, Lillia was pretty sure the woman would have tried to leave by now, so logically, Arwin should have been fine. Unfortunately, logic did nothing for the scenarios that flashed through her mind. A passerby headed across the street, glancing over his shoulder as he passed the spot of darkness in the already ill-lit street. He shook his head and accelerated, quickly turning a corner. There was something built deep into the human psyche that kept the smart ones from peering too closely into the dark, and it was working in Lillia’s favor. What is Arwin doing in there? I can’t even hear anything. If he can’t get the information from Tix, we’re never really going to be able to take out everyone that killed Zeke unless we destroy the entirety of the Iron Hounds. Shit. I should have offered to help interrogate her when she went down. My imps could have scared the shit out of her until she spoke. I’m not sure Arwin is going to be able to do anything – The door creaked, but it didn’t open all the way. Lillia glanced over her shoulder at the mostly empty street, then back to the building. That was pretty clearly an invitation to enter, and Tix shouldn’t have known that there were two of them, so it had to be from Arwin. Ah. He probably couldn’t get the information from her after all. That’s fine. I don’t think many humans can stand their ground if I pull out a few Lesser Imps and make some shit up about eating them alive for eternity. Lillia slipped through the door, intensifying the shadows around her even further to make sure nobody could peer into the building. She then turned, ready to play her part, and her heart locked in place. Two charcoal red eyes burned in the dark, gripping her entire body with such intensity that it threatened to knock the breath from her lungs. They illuminated the air around a heavily armored figure, glowing with just enough intensity to cast shadows through the dark. “We don’t need to leave a corpse to notify the others what’s going on,” Lillia said. “It should be some time before anyone figures out what happened to her. That’ll be long enough for us to take the others out.” “Yeah,” Arwin said. His armor vanished, leaving him in his plain clothes once more. “We might need your shadows to get back home. If anyone sees me , I’m going to look pretty suspicious.” “I can do that,” Lillia said, guiding Arwin toward the door even as the muted crunch of bone echoed in the darkness behind them. “Godspit, what did you do to your arms?” Anna asked, rushing over to Arwin as soon as he entered the tavern. She pressed her hands to his wounds, sending gentle golden light pouring out and into him. Reya and Rodrick stood to the side, watching with concern and trepidation as they waited to hear the results of the night mission. Arwin let out a sigh of relief as the wounds shrank, stitching themselves shut before completely vanishing. Anna kept her hands on him for a few seconds longer before letting the power fade. “There. I can’t replenish all the blood you lost, but you’re a pretty big bastard. You should be fine. Is…” “Tix is dead,” Arwin said, flexing his fingers and giving Anna a nod. “And I got the names of everyone else involved. It wasn’t as bad as we feared. There are three more people that have to die.” “The guild leader?” Rodrick guessed. “That’s one of them,” Arwin said. “How did you know?” “There were rumors of him being really obsessed with getting stronger quickly. He basically shot up in power overnight,” Rodrick replied. “The Iron Hounds didn’t even exist a month ago, but now he’s somehow a Journeyman and considered one of the better guilds in the city. That kind of meteoric growth and being a nice guy tend to not go hand in hand.” “We don’t know the extent of his involvement yet,” Arwin said. “But he was at least partially responsible. The person with the most blame is Erik, the second in command of the guild. He’s the one that ordered the smithy to be destroyed.” “Then the last one was the one that actually destroyed it?” Anna guessed. Arwin nodded. “Yes. His name is Yul. Once the three of them are dead, Zeke can rest. Perhaps we’ll do the rest of the city a favor as well and purge it from some of the scum running around in it in the process.” “I’ll look into them,” Rodrick said. “I already know of Jessen and Erik. I haven’t heard of Yul, but I don’t imagine it should be too difficult to track him down.” “Just be careful,” Arwin said. “Now that Tix is dead, it won’t be long before people start getting suspicious. We have one, maybe two days to take out the rest of them.” “On your own?” Reya asked doubtfully. “You barely beat Tix.” “I had to fight her alone,” Arwin said. “We were focusing on stealth for this kill because we needed information. That’s no longer the case.” “What, you’re going to barge into their guildhall?” Reya asked. “There’s no way that’ll work again.” “Probably not,” Arwin agreed. “Jessen will come last. Yul and Erik should be easier. Erik isn’t strong and Yul is a caster. He’s going to be horrible against anyone that can get up close and personal. We can take them both out pretty easily.” “What about Jessen?” Anna asked. “He’s a Journeyman.” “Anyone who rises through the ranks quickly is either an idiot or desperate,” Arwin said. “He’s trading his future power for a boost now. The only logical reason to do that is because you don’t have another choice – but you’re right that he’s likely too powerful to handle now. That’s why he’ll come last. I don’t know what’s got him cornered.” “So what’s the plan? What are we doing?” Reya asked. “You sound like you’re going to need help this time around.” “Help… might be smart,” Arwin admitted reluctantly. “I just want you out of harms way. You don’t have the armor or defenses that I do. But, if we could have people all out gathering information tomorrow, it would go a long way.”