“Yehpweyl is going to kill you,” Koyl said dejectedly as he looked at the mess in my room.

“I doubt she could even if she tried,” I replied flippantly as I attempted to use glue to secure my fake facial hair. It just wasn't working. The glue itself was far too weak and too thick to be used in any successful way to create the appearance of a beard. I had been trying for at least half an hour to stick the hairs I had cut into place, and it simply would not work.

“That's wood glue you know,” Koyl sighed, “If you had told me what you were going to use it for I probably could have found something. I know these are glues for attaching wigs and some wealthy people use.” I wiped the hair off of my face, then picked the semi-dry glue off in strips. Every time I touched the cleft of my chin I was acutely aware that it was not natural, and I felt a small jolt of pain. My body is probably trying to push the nails out, but the rapid healing won't engage because it thinks the wound is healed, I reasoned, if I move it around too much it might though, I should be careful. I hadn't exactly planned for the disguise to be long-lasting, but my instincts now told me that the duration for which it would be effective likely measured in days at most.

“I'll have to do without it,” I said.

“I'm still not even sure this is going to work,” Koyl grunted. He leaned over to examine my face again, then frowned. “You still look like you, somewhat,” he continued, “if I didn't know better I would say you were your half-brother or something. Yaavtey might automatically assume you're related to the man he met a few days ago because you have similar builds and skin tones.”

“Do you think further surgery would help?” I asked. “If you could find a strong enough bleaching agent-” Koyl's face drained of color and he looked aside, then cleared his throat to interrupt me.

“No,” he said quickly, “we don't need to do anything crazier than this.” Yet he does make a good point, I thought, my skin color is uncommon here, and my height even moreso. I was planning to wear different clothes but it might not be enough. I reached into my coin pouch and pulled out two ngoywngeyt coins, then handed them to Koyl.

“Go out and find a vagrant or a bum, then buy their clothing,” I told him. “It needs a hood, and ideally it should be dirty. Also bring grease back if you can find it.”

“Tell me the plan first,” Koyl replied.

“I am going to disguise myself as a vagrant or bum,” I shrugged, “I'm also going to cover myself in dirt and some grease so that it's harder to tell the color of my skin.” I reached down and pulled out my utility knife and examined it. “Also, if you can get a longer dagger than this. I need something about fifteen cen-er, about this long.” I gestured a distance of approximately fifteen centimeters with my hands.

“You're not going to bring your actual weapons?” Koyl scoffed in disbelief.

“Too conspicuous,” I said, “I'll run you through my whole plan when you get back.”

“It's the middle of the night,” Koyl commented, as though it meant something.

“Which makes it the perfect time to make a discreet purchase,” I replied.

“I'll need another ngoywngeyt to get the knife,” Koyl said. Without protest, I gave him another coin, and he left the room promptly. I should have told him to do it as fast as possible, I thought, we need to be in position before sunrise for this to work.

“So one last time, everything in order, assuming it all goes well,” Koyl sighed, rubbing his eyes with his fingers. He looked tired, though still functional, and it had been several hours since I had sent him out. Koyl returned after an hour with a smelly set of bum rags, a bottle of grease, and a long dagger that fit my specifications. After I changed into my disguise I had explained the entire plan to him, including every possible variation which could happen if Yaavtey took certain actions. I found the variations to be common sense, but I wasn't taking any chances with Koyl's ability to reason under pressure.

“I will find a suitable alley which is situated between Yaavtey's residence and the Hatchet Crew's guild hall,” I reiterated. “You will take the crossbow and climb the building opposite to it, gaining yourself a clear sight line to my position. When Yaavtey leaves his home, I will spot it and signal you. As he passes by the alleyway I will stagger out, bump into him, and then pull him closer to the alley as I pretend to regain my balance. When he is close enough I will stab him under the chin at a shallow angle, severing his brainstem, and pull him back into the alley before anyone notices. Yaavtey's life will be ended and both of us will vanish before anyone knows.”

“And if he sees through this ruse?” Koyl asked skeptically.

“You shoot him in the back,” I said. “Basically, if anything goes wrong you will begin shooting bolts as quickly as possible at him. Do not worry about collateral damage or hitting me. The objective is to slow him down enough that he can be killed quickly by me, at which point both of us will escape. I will run first, obviously, and you will wait one-quarter of an hour to run after me unless you are being actively pursued. You will run south, and I will run west. We will meet up back at the inn at night.”

“And what if I don't hit him?” Koyl asked. He looked at the crossbow in his hands and tilted it around to examine it nervously.

“Shoot again,” I said simply, “even missing is useful, though not as useful as hitting. Now would you like to go over the street brawl-”

“No,” Koyl sighed, “no I get it. Can I take a nap before we head out?”

“I will wake you when you need to be up,” I said. Koyl immediately laid down on my bed and closed his eyes, then breathed out deeply. I watched the sky outside while running through the plan in my head once more. I followed a simple template that had been used in one of my other assassinations. If it wasn't possible to kill a target discreetly, the next best choice was to create chaos and take advantage of it to dispose of them publicly, but in a way that wouldn't be immediately recognized. Since the streets of Vehrehr were always chaotic, the plan would work well. My stomach felt tight, but I assumed it was because I was still hungry.

The barest vestiges of sunlight began to creep across the horizon, and I looked at my heads-up display. The green bars were, quite frankly, not great. Seventy-five percent was the average with a number of them having dipped far lower while replenishing my blue energy. Said blue energy had a full immediate-use bar, but the three long-term storage bars were only at around thirty percent each. The long-term storage bars didn't replenish at equal rates either, the top one was the slowest and the middle was the fastest. It'll have to do, I thought, he's only human. In a failure case, I can simply cripple him with the knife and run.

“Get up,” I commanded. Koyl didn't reply, so I repeated myself.

“Already?” Koyl groaned.

“Yes,” I said, “get up and make sure Yehpweyl isn't downstairs, we can't let her see me like this.” Koyl begrudgingly rolled out of my bed, picked up the crossbow, slung it over his shoulder, and lumbered out into the hallway. A minute later he came back and opened my door.

“Yeah she's asleep,” he confirmed, “I don't see why it matters though.” Koyl knew my issues with her since I had explained them thoroughly while explaining the plan, and was simply restating that he didn't agree. I nodded, pulled up my hood, grabbed my knife, and walked downstairs. The entry lobby was quiet with only one old woman sitting down drinking some kind of tea. She paid us no mind and we both exited into the street.

Vehrehr at dawn was a very different experience than Vehrehr in the morning. The street traffic lulled after midnight and had not yet picked back up. Koyl and I walked quickly along the cobblestone roads, the sounds of our movement echoing off of the buildings. There was little other ambient noise to hear besides an omnipresent sound of distant waves crashing against a shore. The smell was also less awful than it usually was, probably because the humans who were the source were mostly indoors.

We reached the part of town where the Hatchet Crew's guild hall was situated in record time. Since there was still almost no one on the streets, I took the time to quietly show Koyl where Yaavtey's home was, and explain to him the reasoning behind the alley I was choosing as well as how he could better conceal himself. I didn't need to explain anything, but I figured that if there was anything obviously wrong with my plan that I hadn't known due to a lack of cultural knowledge Koyl would point it out. Nothing was wrong, at least not anything that Koyl wanted to speak about, so I walked into the alley and peeked out at Yaavtey's house while Koyl climbed the building across from me, then rested the crossbow on the ledge.

As the light level increased, so did the number of people in the streets. The first few were Yaavtey's bodyguards, easily identifiable by their weaponry and clothing. They took up positions near his home and left one guard to check the alleyways. I quickly ducked deeper into the alley and sat down against one of the walls as though I was sleeping, then pretended not to understand the guard when he looked in and asked what I was doing. My bum costume worked marvelously. The guard paid me no mind at all, even tossing me a single ngeyt out of pity.

Once I was no longer being observed I went back to my peeking position and saw more people emerge into the street from nearby buildings and streets. Merchants pulled their stalls on two wheels, then set them down in strategic positions before bantering with each other. A few beggars tried to get money out of them only to be fended off with sticks. Some people who I assumed were Hatchet Crew members walked down the street armed, chitchatting to one another about nothing in particular. Then, regular people in the same regular tunics I was used to seeing sprung up in number as if out of nowhere, filling the street in a matter of minutes and increasing the noise to levels I had grown to expect.

There he is, I thought as Yaavtey's front door swung open. The man himself stepped out into his small yard, grinning and taking in a deep breath. From behind him, a brunette woman walked out as well, then offered him a kiss. The two of them talked for around five minutes, then a third person appeared from the doorway. A young man with orange hair much like Yaavtey's stepped out, and Yaavtey said something to him before laughing. The young man looked upset and said something, but Yaavtey just laughed it off again. His wife slapped him on the arm, then smacked the adolescent on the back of the head before walking back inside.

Yaavtey and the young man spoke for another five minutes, then Yaavtey handed him some money and the young man walked back inside. Here it comes, I thought. I looked up to Koyl and gave him a ready signal, which he returned after around ten seconds. He probably forgot which signal meant what, I thought. Yaavtey walked out into the street, then began slowly milling his way towards me in a wavy pattern, stopping a few times to look at the stalls. When he got close, I saw my opportunity and stepped out into the road, lumbering on a collision course with the man while he looked away from me.

I bumped into him, bouncing off deliberately, then before he could react I gripped his padded leather tunic and reversed direction, appearing as though I was trying to avoid falling into the dirt. Yaavtey lost his footing and was forced to step towards me, allowing me to pull him along as I “stumbled” into the alley.

“Sorry,” I mumbled in my best rural Uwrish accent, “losing” my footing again and tightening my grip as we approached the kill zone.