Four days later Shiina found herself staring at an hourglass in their room at the inn. The staff had been finished, the cleanup runs had been boring if profitable. And now they were planning on committing regicide.

  Apparently the best time to go murder someone who lived in a castle was a few hours after midnight. Late enough that even the people who worked long hours would be going to bed, but before the people who needed to start working early would rise.

  And since Shiina didn't need to sleep, she was the one who got to keep watch on the hourglass to know when to start moving while the humanoids rested. Not that Delilah was doing a good job of it. The half elven woman took a while to get to sleep, and usually only made it ten or twenty minutes before stirring back awake.

  As the last sands started to spill out, Shiina took mercy on the woman. "You can stay awake. It's almost time."

  Delilah gave a quiet groan. But after a bit she rolled out of the bed and started checking her gear. She and Ife had both added cloaks to their outfit, while all of them were wearing masks.

  Shiina wasn't going to bother, given she'd be recognizable as a mimic no matter what if someone got a good look at her. At least she could pretend to be gear for most of the trip.

  When the hourglass emptied out, Shiina reached up and gave Zanya and Ife a shake. Zanya popped up almost immediately, giving her a nod of thanks before gathering her weapons. Ife growled and snapped as she was woken. But after a bit she forced herself upright. After a bit of a struggle she got on her feet and grabbed her necklace and staff. "Why do assassinations have to happen at such ridiculous times? Kings should wander into secluded areas sometime around noon to be killed at a reasonable hour."

  "If they were willing to take time out of their life to help people in need they wouldn't be kings," Delilah muttered as she tightened her facemask.

  That got a tiny smirk out of Zanya. "At least it's a good moon for killing." The ophidian finished her checks and offered an arm to Shiina. "Ready?"

  "For hours," Shiina said as she slipped onto the woman's back. She'd checked her shields and dagger twice already.

  Ife was ready after about a minute. With that done Zanya opened the window and hopped out.

  The alley was dark, the nearest lamps down at either end with the larger streets. A light mist filled the city, making things cold and clammy. Shiina's ears heard little sounds here and there as the nocturnal predators and late night workers shuffled about. But nothing was close.

  Delilah and Ife dropped down into Zanya's arms. Shiina reached up with a pseudopod and closed the window, getting a nod from the magic knight. With that they put up their hoods and started towards the castle.

  As they moved through the streets Shiina felt her excitement and nervousness rise. Every step was a chance some guard would demand to know what they were doing out this late. But the cloying fog gave them cover from distant eyes.

  She relaxed for a second when she saw the pulsing lantern of the lighthouse above them, but the feeling returned as she realized this was going to be the hard part. She couldn't just lay in wait for her prey. She'd have to hunt him down.

  The lighthouse itself was easy to handle. The stone stairs were slick, but that didn't mean much to a mimic. Delilah took a little longer to climb, but they all made it to the foot of the building without much effort.

  Shiina stretched a little, eyeing the distance to the wall. It should be within range, and while the slick stone would have given a grappling hook trouble, she should stick nicely. She let her side partially engulf Delilah, the half elf flinching a second before leaning into her grip. Then she snapped a tendril over to the wall and when it landed yanked herself across.

  The wind whistled around her as they flew towards the wall. As the stone got closer she realized she was a little lower than expected, so she held Delilah over her main mass. She smacked into the parapet but she managed to place the half elf on the battlements beyond. As Shiina pulled herself over the side, Zanya and Ife landed with a rush of wind nearby.

  From here they could see the whole castle. Most of the windows were dark, but lanterns filled the courtyard below. The castle towers also had lights, probably for the poor guards on night watch.

  Zanya pointed to an open attic window. This one was a wooden slat on a pole as opposed to pane glass of the lower floors, making it easier to get through without a lot of noise. Shiina nodded and carefully grabbed Delilah again.

  This time she deliberately let herself aim a little low. The impact against the wall wasn't fun, but she didn't have too much trouble sticking to the side. From there she pushed Delilah towards the window.

  The half elf banged her shoulder on the pole and then flinched as the slat fell on her back, but she wriggled through anyway. Shiina crawled in after, taking a moment to engulf the window slat and pop it off its hinges. Her body kept the sound down so no one should notice. She plopped into the attic proper after that.

  Setting aside the window slat, she looked around. There were a lot of various items all concealed by dust covers. It looked like furniture and sculptures, with an occasional box of something or other. She had an urge to sift through a chest she saw, but she pushed that down.

  Ife wriggled through the window, followed by Zanya. The magic knight must have held onto the windowsill while Ife slipped in. Now that Shiina thought about it, this had been a hole in their plan. If Shiina hadn't been able to pop off the window cover they might have been in trouble.

  After a moment looking around, Ife started moving away from their target. Shiina wondered if this was a special plan before Zanya corrected her. They moved around the boxes towards a ladder that led to the upper attic.

  Zanya was first up, but the woman froze as she reached the top. After a moment she slipped back down. The woman said as softly as she could, "Someone's sleeping in our way. Looks like an apprentice houseboy or something."

  "Can't we ignore him?" Delilah asked. Shiina looked at the others. That seemed like a good idea to her.

  Ife shook her head. "Too dangerous. Can you knock him out?"

  Delilah hesitated. "I can, but he'll wake up when I start putting him under. I have some other alchemical mixtures, but anything else might mean he won't wake up ever again."

  "I can cover his eyes," Shiina offered. If he didn't see them it wouldn't matter if he woke up before Delilah drugged him. And she knew humanoids needed their eyes to see.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Zanya nodded in approval. "Do it."

  Shiina slipped up the rough wooden ladder. The upper attic had less stuff in it, but it was still something of an obstacle course of unused goods. Still there were clear lines for people to walk, and one of those led to a simple straw bed with a boy sleeping in it. Shiina was iffy with human ages, but she figured he was in early teens. Definitely not at adulthood.

  She slipped across the floor silently, moving towards the head of the bed. The boy was sleeping soundly which was good. Still she turned her hand into a makeshift blindfold and hovered it over his face. No need to take chances.

  Delilah was more hesitant getting over to them, but she was fairly quiet. After she was next to the sleeping kid she pulled out a handkerchief and a bottle. Shiina could taste the horrid bitterness even this far away as she opened the bottle and poured some on the cloth.

  The half elf gave her a nod and Shiina put her hands over the kid's eyes. The boy jerked awake in surprise, but his cry of alarm was muffled by Delilah putting the cloth over his mouth and nose.

  The kid tried to push them away and get free, but his struggles started weak and quickly faded away. After a few moments he went limp. Delilah pulled away the cloth and checked his pulse before she stepped back. Shinna reverted to her preferred form and moved on.

  Zanya and Ife were up the ladder soon after. After a bit of looking around the ophidian led them to a window overlooking the balcony they needed to infiltrate. Shiina took the liberty of removing the shutter here too.

  Ife murmured quietly, "Curiosity grant Vision." and tapped Shiina's head. "You should be able to see alarm spells from a distance now. If the alarm vanishes before you're done, you've been spotted."

  "Then three pulls on the rope," Shiina replied. "And two pulls if something's wrong but I'm not spotted."

  Zanya gave her a thumbs up, then slid the rope out the window. Shiina latched on, then followed the rope and the wall out into the damp night air.

  The balcony was very nice. A table and chairs of wrought iron and glass, along with a fancy railing. The glass doors leading in were also a work of art. Shiina almost felt bad she was going to have to break them. And next to those doors was a fairly complicated alarm. Shiina slid down closer, pausing before the door's top to peer into the king's chamber.

  It was empty. No king in the bed, no people in the room, just double doors and a few closed curtains.

  Two pulls on the rope had Zanya hauling her up quickly. Shiina added her own limited speed and squirmed into the attic as fast as she could. After a moment she whispered. "He's not there."

  "Not there?" Delilah looked confused.

  "No king. Empty bed." Shiina stated.

  Ife hissed. "If we end up having to do this the hard way because that fool decided to bed some maid tonight...."

  "Was the bed made properly?" Zanya asked.

  "Er..." Shiina tried to remember. "No. It was a little rumpled."

  Zanya rubbed her forehead. "Okay. We wait a few minutes, then look in. Don't show too much of yourself though." Apparently Shiina's confusion showed. Either that or she wanted to explain to the other girls. "Hopefully it's just a late night piss."

  The others deflated a little. Ife looked seriously annoyed, but they returned to waiting. Shiina spent some time pretending to be the trunks in the attic.

  After the allotted time Zanya tossed the rope over again, and Shiina slipped out. Reaching the ropes end she peered just past the top of the doors and froze. The king was standing there, scratching himself and drinking a glass of water. Shiina pulled herself back up quickly, hoping no one was looking this way. "He's in there. Need more time."

  "Right." They wanted to make sure he was asleep to guarantee the kill. And honestly Shiina wanted it to be a surprise. A proper mimic kill.

  After a bit of waiting Zanya put down the rope again. Shiina slid down. This time the king was properly sleeping. She turned her attention to the alarm spell that was glowing here.

  It did in fact look similar to a trap. However the runes were totally different. She saw 'warning,' 'aggressor,' 'self,' and 'deception' written out, with lines going all over the place. The only good thing was she didn't see any false trails.

  After a few moments looking it over, Shiina decided she had to act. She carefully cut the connections around 'warning', then 'self', after that she chewed through the runes that looked like they gave power to the whole thing. The runes faded slowly, but they cleared away.

  She gave a single tug of the rope, then dropped to the balcony. The glass separating them from their target was thick, but she could probably cut through. Still she forced herself to look over the whole area just in case.

  As the other's dropped down Shiina confirmed there were no more magical wards on the doors, hinges or handles. Then she paused. With a hesitant hand she reached out and pulled down on the handle. The glass door slowly opened.

  It hadn't been locked.

  Shiina carefully pushed the door open and gestured for her friends to enter. Delilah looked disappointed, while Ife was holding back laughter. But they walked through. Zanya pulled out the runic extraction item and handed it to Ife, before drawing her axe and stepping forwards.

  Delilah's eyes flickered back out to the balcony and she hissed and started waving. Shiina turned her attention back and found several shadows on one of the watchtowers were leaning over the parapets to get a look over at the balcony.

  That was bad.

  Zanya rushed forwards, axe dropping, A terrific crunch sounded as she cut through the king's body into the bed beneath. Blood splattered everywhere at the same second a warning bell started to ring.

  Zanya hopped back as the guards outside started knocking on the doors. It was a good thing they didn't know why the alarm was ringing. Shiina and Delilah moved close to Ife, who threw down the magic item.

  There was a flash, some smoke and then they were in their room at the inn. Shiina felt dizzy as her brain tried to figure out how she'd gotten there. Her form sagged as her mimicking ability lost track of what was happening.

  The others were much worse. All three of the other humanoids fell to the floor. Delilah threw up, while Ife had a few shuddering dry heaves. Zanya was the best off, closing her eyes, huddling up, and just looking miserable."

  "You all okay?" Shiina asked.

  "No," Ife muttered.

  Delilah spat. "I need water."

  Zanya flopped on her back. "I've had better days."

  Shiina was considering her response when the sound of alarm bells hit. First quiet, then increasing at the various towers picked up the alarm. Lights came on across the city as people woke up to find out what the disturbance was.

  "Well, time to 'find out what's going on'," Zanya said as she handed Delilah a canteen.

  "Can we pretend we're sleepy and sick instead?" Delilah asked. It seemed like a fair question.

  "We have to do that in the common room," Ife muttered. "Don't worry. It won't be too hard to fake."

  Shiina decided she'd stick to being a box herself. She didn't trust herself not to act smug. Especially since she'd been right about the teleportation. Internal organs were pure liability.

  All the stories about master wizards talk about their abilities to teleport all over the place, so I wondered why we had to walk. According to Ife, teleportation is really hard. Lots of little details, just like when you try to mimic a living thing. That's something a mage can fix if they're teleporting themselves, but unless the mage travels along it's really easy for something to go wrong.

  For living things, something going wrong usually means you die. Humanoids of course will just drop dead if you misalign their veins or forget to put all the skin on, but even mimics have a bad time if we get twisted up or put into another object.

  Generally the longer distance you go the more dangerous it gets. The arbiter runes we have are limited to around three miles and require preparing the location you teleport to. That's about the best you can get for safe travel. Past that though things start getting dangerous. As in 'one in a hundred people die dangerous.' And it gets worse really fast, especially without special targeting runes.

  Inanimate objects are apparently a lot easier. If for no other reason then their insides aren't moving around all over the place. They still break every so often, but that's why they only teleport items that are needed quickly and can be replaced. Everything else is handled by runners.