Smoke silently appraised him for a while, then delivered his verdict. "You look like shit."

"I feel worse. Here's some free advice: don't get poisoned."

The Alinko shook his head. "I already knew that, chommie. Surprised you didn't."

"Well, I sure as Gehenna do now. They reckon I'll recover. Except I've lost 1 Agility. I'd only just levelled up."

Stiff:

Agility -1

Stiff is now Level 7

Smoke screwed up his face in empathetic pain. "Aw, man. That stings, it really does. So, the dude who did it?"

"A woman, actually. Kuthenian. Short hair. Kind of tough looking."

"Tough looking? You mean, she looked like an assassin?"

Lothar shifted uncomfortably in the bed. His stomach ached and he was sweating like a pig. "How much more ribbing are you intending to dish out, Negedu?"

Smoke held up his hands. "Sorry Stiff. I'm serious now. Leave it with me."

"Any chance she's still in the city?"

"Sure. The amount of fuss around here." He gestured to the people gathered outside Lothar's room. "Every chance she's realised she didn't kill you." He shook his head. "Usually, when someone tries to kill you, you pretend they did."

"Yeah well, I was unconscious for a few days. Can't be helped. Who do you think was behind it?"

"It's not like we're that important in the big scheme of things. Probably the local imperial commander. They'll be feeling quite upset after losing Benxi to you."

"Yeah, I figured. The contest has got personal, even if we've never met."

"It sure has now. I'll get on this right away."

Smoke left, and Rosalind returned.

"Some dark plotting going on here?"

"There has to be a response when someone tries to kill you."

"I suppose so. I'd rather you just rested though. I feel terrible about it."

"Why?"

"I should have been here to protect you. I won't leave again."

"Rosalind, your labelling of the potions saved me, even when you weren't here. I'm a big boy. I can look after myself."

"Hardly. I'm certainly not leaving until you're better."

Lothar didn't want her to go, so he didn't argue any more. "I need to speak to the squad. Ashlyn, Wilson, The Baron. Whoever you can fetch."

She brought Mila instead of Wilson. "He's out with Sharptooth," the girl explained. "Besides, I need to check on you."

"That can wait. Listen, I need to send the Apples on another mission. Obviously, I can't lead it myself with the state I'm in."

"Another one?" Ashlyn asked. "We only just took Benxi."

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"That supply camp in the Wildwood you found, Mila?"

"Yes?"

"It needs taking."

"What's the urgency, Stiff?" The Baron asked.

"Governor Li is leaving for Pengshui. Chances are, General Fei will redirect us to the front line. We really don't want to be sent into the meat grinder. We need to demonstrate we are more useful opening a new flank in the east. That requires us to take that camp and put the imperials on the back foot."

"I get it," Ashlyn said. "You and Jaelin can brief us on the camp, Mila?"

"We got a good look at it."

"By all means plan it out," Lothar said. "But we need to act quick and decisive, before the imperials reinforce it. My plan is to make it a stepping stone to press on further."

"Take and hold," said The Baron. "Got it."

"That means we're leaving Benxi?" Ashlyn asked.

"I'm sure we'll all miss the recreation room," Lothar told her. "But some nights out in the fresh air of the wilds will probably do everyone good."

***

Mercs:

The Baron | Greenblade | Bletcher | The Hoffmeister | Mental | The Guvnah | Vixen | Clamor | The Harvester | Randall | Lurin | Rilie | Ori | Mila | The Explorer | Twerk | Sharptooth | Hubert

Apple Infantry: 120

The trees sheltered them from the worst of the oppressive heat of the Kuthenian summer. Intermittent thunderstorms had drenched the Wildwood, and there was a steady drip of water from the branches above.

"Did they fall in a puddle?" Wilson asked when he spotted Felix and Jaelin returning from their scout.

"Clamor uses the mud as camouflage," Mila told him. "The Explorer has started copying him." She smiled. It was cute, like Jaelin had an older brother to follow. An older brother who was mostly monosyllabic and miserable—but no one said older brothers were perfect.

The four of them, along with Hubert and Sharptooth, had been tasked with circling around the imperial supply camp and coming at it from the rear.

Mila was the first to admit tactics wasn't a personal strength, or even something she was interested in. But she wondered if it was an unnecessary over-elaboration. Their progress was slow and difficult, with lots of skulking through difficult terrain. Surely it would have been easier if they'd all just barged through the front gates.

"We found an abandoned lookout post," Clamor rasped.

Mila had a burning desire to give the man a spoonful of honey for his throat.

"It's the best place to cut through their defensive line and come at the camp."

"If we get there," she asked, "what are we going to do? Just the six of us?"

"Nothing, until the Apples attack," Clamor reassured her. "Then we can help. It may just be a matter of Jaelin and I accessing one of their lookouts and providing covering missiles."

"Huh. I'll be going in with my axes, no doubt about that," said Wilson.

"Which means I'll likely be patching you up again."

"Well? It's your job ain't it?"

"I suppose that's what my job has become, yes."

Jaelin gave her a sympathetic look. As if to say, not for much longer. They'd been making good money in Kuthenia. Unlike most of their peers, they hadn't been spending it, either. Eating the free food served up in the barracks. Declining invitations to go drinking. After this tour, they'd have enough saved to get their own place and leave this life behind. Maybe have children. Why not? Jaelin would be a great father. And I can't be worse than my parents.

"Come, then," Clamor said.

He led them to the empty post. It stood lonely among the trees, a strange human structure that didn't belong. Mila wondered what the forest made of the humans who intruded, logged, built, and killed one another.

"Wait," Twerk said. "Sharptooth don't like this."

The warg was growling—a quiet sound, deep in his throat.

"There's no one around," Clamor said. "We searched."

"Sharptooth is never wrong," the gnome said.

"We need to be careful," Jaelin agreed.

Shit, Mila thought. She didn't like this. She felt exposed in a place where everyone else seemed to have skills and senses she lacked.

Hubert stood on two legs, spooked by something as he sniffed the air.

It was like they'd suddenly stumbled into Gehenna. The arrows came from all angles. Jaelin grabbed her hand and was pulling her. He was rocked by an arrow that entered his side, barely staying on his feet. But he had them moving again, twisting this way and that. Mila looked behind them, to see Hubert running in the opposite direction.

Meanwhile, the fizz of loosed arrows continued, joined by the shouts of imperials running through the undergrowth. An arrow took her in the back, dropping her hit points to 13.

Jaelin led them towards a steep slope, and they began to climb. The trees gave them some cover but their movements were predictable as they climbed, giving the imperials an easier target.

An arrow slammed into the back of her leg. She lost another 6 hit points. She was limping now, moving ever slower. "Go on your own," she shouted to Jaelin.

Either he didn't hear or ignored her, because he kept pulling her to the summit. Perhaps, once they crested it, they'd be able to get clear.

She powered towards the top, giving everything she had. Another arrow in the back and she fell to the ground; her hand ripped away from Jaelin's. She tried to push herself up. But her body failed her, her arms shaking with the effort. She had a mere 3 hit points left, and her vision was narrowing to a dot.

Get out of here, she told Jaelin, though whether she said it out loud or not, she wasn't sure.

Someone was pulling at her. The dot shrank—disappeared—and she was gone.

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