We lay there on the ground for who knows how long, but it was definitely not a restful experience for me. I was dealing with about a million different emotions whirling and smashing within me like atoms inside a nuclear reactor.
Every now and then, Bassi would make it worse by kissing me tenderly on the neck, or oh so gently nibbling there instead. It was like she’d turned into a little kitten or something. If I so much as tried to move a muscle, she’d tense up and make grumpy sounds of protest, so I just lay there with her on top of me and tried to understand what the hell was going on in my head.
Then, like she’d been struck by lightning, she sat up, straddling me as her head whipped around toward where our fellow thieves slept. “They’re waking up,” she told me quietly. “Time to get ready.”
“How did you even hear that?” I asked, a little blown away. I certainly hadn’t heard shit.
She gave me one of her trademark eyebrow raised cocky smirks, tapping at her ear with a finger. “Wind fae.”
“You were keeping watch the whole time with fuckin’ magic?” I blurted in outrage.
Placing a single finger over my lips, she leaned in and gave me an incredibly smug look. “Yup.”
Oh, she was so on.
“Well, good thing I didn’t bother trying to keep watch through all of that, then,” I said with a returning smug grin. In a move that surprised even Bassi the unflappable, I stood up while she was still on top of me, holding onto her ass to keep her from falling off. “Time to go get everyone ready?” I asked casually, while internally my brain was going mental over the strength that my slender arms could generate.
“Put me down!” she squeaked, alarm flashing through her pretty green eyes.
I pulled the ol’ eyebrow trick, raising it at her in challenge. So, naturally, she bit me right on the neck. “Let me go,” she ordered around a mouthful of my soft skin.
“Okay, okay! Geez!” I said quickly, gently releasing her onto the ground.
With her feet safely on the ground, she used her slight height advantage to get in close, pinning me down with narrowed eyes. “Naughty,” she whispered, holding me there for several long seconds. “You’re lucky I’m fond of you.”
I know I was meant to be all intimidated by this and stuff, but the moment she said she was fond of me, my mind carefully bundled the fresh memory of her saying that and carefully stashed it away for later. The very idea of someone giving a shit about me was… very nice. I liked it a whole lot.
This time, my move astonished both of us. I gently cupped her chin with a hand and leaned in, placing the most tender kiss we’d ever shared on her lips. It was only for a second, but for some reason it had my heart racing all over again, albeit in a weird new way.
Attempting to cover for the weirdness, I glanced away, towards the trees and the stream. “Shall we go see everyone?”
“Yes, let’s,” she agreed, her voice losing much of the danger from its tone.
****
The fortress was perched on the top of a low hill at the entrance to a valley. It wasn’t actually all that much to look at by video game castle standards, or even castles at the height of their usefulness back on Earth. It was pretty formidable by Anamoor’s standards though, so we still had to treat it with respect.
The main keep was six stories tall, with a single protective wall surrounding the crown of the hill that was around eight meters tall. The whole thing was built of sturdy stone, old and weatherbeaten blocks resting beside their comparatively newer brethren. It was easy to see the line between old and new. Most of the towers looked to have been reconstructed, as well as a large portion of the wall, possibly even the entire uppermost two meters.
Frustratingly, they seemed to have someone competent in charge of the place, at least judging by the cleared land around the place and the alert guards. You could see them on the walls, lanterns behind them with mirrors directing the light down below, rather than in their faces where it would blind them.
“I can’t believe what I’m about to do for you,” I muttered next to Bassi, quiet enough that Whistle, Jitters, Dancer and Singer couldn’t hear me. The others had stayed behind, their services either not needed or already rendered.
Bassi gave me a look, somewhere between another one of her smug smiles and one of amusement.
“Don’t give me that look, relying on my newbie abilities is crazy talk,” I grumbled, a little louder now. I could tell she wanted to jump me again, she always got like that when I gave her lip… the talking back kind, I mean.
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Her reply was a soft brush of the tips of her fingers across the back of my hand. “I think you can do it,” she said, and surprisingly, she sounded earnest and encouraging.
I blew a long breath out, holding her gaze as my fringe bounced with the sudden flow of air. Crap, I was so nervous. This was a situation where fucking up could potentially mean the deaths of a lot of other people, and where if I wanted to live, I might have to kill or wound others.
“Alright,” I sighed, pulling my mask up in the process.
“Whenever you’re ready,” she said gently.
“You’ve got this Misty,” Whistle agreed, offering a high five to me. It had been spreading.
I nodded, swallowed my fear… and burst into a sprint.
My feet hit the ground with a steady, urgent beat, although they made no sound as they touched down on the soft grass. I never made a sound without wanting to, and tonight was no exception. Idly, I wondered how I’d managed to sneak up on Bassi if she had crazy wind hearing or whatever, but I shelved the thought for another time. More pressing matters to attend to.
As I neared the light, I slipped into my shadows, wrapping them around myself like a cloak. The plan was simple, run for as long as I could within the shadows, then duck down and lay as still as possible. There were a few shallow hollows I could use for scant refuge. Seriously, these things provided about as much cover as a string bikini.
As I dove into the first one, I wondered briefly what Bassi would look like in one of those, and promptly thanked that goddess that she’d taken my dick away. Getting turned on in this position would have led to some earthy penetration. Well, I mean… apart from like, the clothing in the way and stuff… I don’t know. Shit, and if I rolled onto my back, it’d just be a big flag pole signaling my location. Assuming, of course, that this body would have come with something a little more… well fuckin’ huge than what I’d had before. Actually, you know what, I think I’m just going to stop thinking about dicks. Good riddance to the thing anyway.
Wait shit… I pushed myself up again, embracing the shadows once more.
Had I really just thought that? I really, truly thought I was better without my old member? The floppy sausage? That was new. I mean… I knew I sorta liked what I had now, but actively disliking the alternative was… a big leap.
A big leap like the one I took into the next tiny depression in the ground. One smol steppy for Mist, one big steppy for Mist’s confusion. Okay that was a lie, this new epiphany raised more questions than it answered.
Like, for example, did that mean I was just happier with this new body overall, and was that influencing how I felt about… wait shit, I needed to be moving. Seriously Mist, like you always say, time to shelve that topic until it’s bedtime. Whenever the fuck that will be tonight.
Through some sort of minor miracle, I actually made it up to the wall. Next came the easy part, climbing the damned thing. Something I had barely had to learn was how to climb, this body just knew how to do it, and with a few pointers from Whistle and Singer on correct decision making, I’d been good to go.
I hung underneath the parapet, waiting for the signal that the wall above me was clear for the moment. It came quickly, Dancer’s trained voice echoing out the call of a woodland creature.
I vaulted up and onto the wall proper, checking for anyone looking from down below. No one glanced up, not that there were many people in the large courtyard below me. Along the wall opposite me I noticed a great many buildings using it for their rear support. Just like you’d expect, I guess.
My next task was to jump off the wall, landing in a neat roll that had me tiptoeing along next to the wall, swapping in and out of shadow mode as needed.
Making it to my target, a small postern gate, I carefully snuck up on the guard who leaned against the wall beside it. He didn’t see me coming, and I shoved a small ball of poison powder into his mouth, where his saliva would dissolve it.
To keep him quiet, I grabbed him by the windpipe and pressed him against the wall with that grip, my other hand keeping his jaw shut. I had no idea what was in the odd little pill I’d given him, except that I’d been told not to inhale his breath, because the thing aerosolized or something and my team, understandably, needed me conscious.
As soon as he slumped down, I let him go, moving to the door with speed. We were now on the clock, the longer we took inside the fort, the more time they had to discover that their man was sleeping on the job.
With the door unlocked, I had to climb back up the wall and repeat the process with the guard above it. This was a significantly more risky one, because he was up high where anyone could see our struggle.
Shadows hiding me, I crept up the wall and paused at the lip, waiting until it was available again. My heart was hammering in my ears as I flipped up onto the walk.
To the guard, a strange person-shaped shadow had just slithered up onto the wall, and his eyes widened half a second before I made it to him. He managed to get his sword partially drawn, and in desperation I launched a savage knee into his groin.
Watching him drop like that was… well I didn’t really feel anything other than relief. He couldn’t really resist as I popped the pill in and held his mouth shut. Damn, why hadn’t I done it this way the first time? From now on, I was definitely going to be endangering any guard’s ability to father future children. It was for the good of humanity, one less potential little guard running around to make everyone’s lives miserable.
I had to position the newly neutered man in such a way that it looked like he was still doing his job. This was achieved by shoving his spear down his pant leg and leaning him over the edge a little. Nice, and now to finally signal my fellow thieves that the coast was temporarily clear. I had better get like, a whole ton of gold for this, like for real. I was going to need an entire week of laying around in bed to deal with the stress.