Almost four hours

High Priest Beldan became angrier and angrier the longer he stayed trapped like a bleeding badger in his borough. He railed against his personal guard, Brother Louis and the rest of his staff, and even the Templars themselves for failing to protect his august body. A goodly amount of time was spent cursing Winlay and her deadly blonde accomplice and imagining how he'd make their sweet bodies pay for their treason. In one particularly peevish fit of rage he had overturned the table that had been set up with his favorite brandy, smashing the decanter and crystal snifters that sat on a silver platter. Now the smell of fine spirits mixed with that of fear and blood and the air in the small room was almost unbreathable.

Almost a dozen times he almost opened the massive door that kept him safe, but each time he lost his nerve. The silence on the other side of the door was even more worrisome than the sounds of axes chopping away. Once he even had two of the three dead bolts pulled back but the thought of facing two or three of those damned Chevaliers (for who else would dare **** the embodied representative of Xelta) paralyzed his fingers and in a rush he threw back the other two bolts deep in their slots securing the door against anything up to and including a full grown Hill Dragon.

Beldan snarled in frustration as he remembered how eagerly Winlay had responded to his seduction, and how that damned Herald had robbed him of the chance to shatter her hymen with his manhood. To pass the time he tried to imagine what that teasing acolyte would have looked like as her claimed her as his for all time, but no matter how long he stroked his penis, it refused (much like him) to come out of hiding. It was only when he heard the second and louder knock at his door that he realized help had finally arrived and interrupted his fitful repose. .

"Who is it?" He demanded still afraid after all this time to open the door. What if this was yet another attempt to trick him? Through the thick door he could just barely make out the sniveling voice of Brother Louis. For the first time in years he experienced any pleasure at hearing the little idiot. But what had possibly taken him so long?! Straightening his robes into something resembling those of the most powerful man on Veertor after the emperor himself, Beldan opened the door slowly still expecting some kind of treason.

"Are you well, Your Holiness?" It was not Brother Louis, but a sergeant of the Temple guard who he recognized but whose name eluded him. When the guardsman saw the blood on the robes of office he ordered a healer be summoned immediately without even waiting for Beldan's response.

"What took you incompetent idiots so long!" Beldan bellowed at the sergeant causing him to step back in fear.

"My Lord," sniffled Louis, "you left strict orders you were not to be disturbed this afternoon or evening." Behind Brother Louis the temple guardsman nodded earnestly trying to look respectful and contrite at the same time.

"Sir Warner has arrived from the Templar compound, he insisted that the news could not wait, that's the only reason we came..."

"Send him to my private office, and alert the guard." Beldan grabbed the stunned guard by his hauberk to keep him from leaving. "Louis!" His attention turned to the red nosed clerk bobbing like a duck behind the guardsmen. "Give this man Winlay's full name and the name of that treasonous bitch's curly-haired friend. You know the one I mean - blonde, small tits, nice ass?" Thankfully Brother Louis nodded in understanding and Beldan pushed the sergeant towards the clerk as he pushed through the assembled crowd. "I want the city shut down! You hear me?" Those bitches tried to **** me and I want them found and brought to me by dawn!"

The one bit of luck he had going for him was that the head of the Templar was already here waiting for him. Had Sir Werner got wind of the **** attempt? What else would prompt the Templar Warden to cross the city in the middle of the night and demand to see him?

The healer met him as he strode to his office, but Beldan refused to let the balding medic slow him down. Only when he reached his private office and ordered the Templar Warden in did he allow the healer to look at the bloody gash that just missed his throat. A servant announced Sir Werner into the small office almost immediately. Sir Werner was dressed in the dark robes of the Templar command structure and he strode into the room with much more urgency than was typical for the Church offices. One look at the Warden's face when he saw Beldan being tended to by healer indicated that the news was not good.

"Xelta! This too?" He exclaimed. Beldan didn't even take the time to consider what Sir Werner might have meant before he detailed how he had - by the grace of Xelta - just barely avoided being assassinated in his own chambers. After a moment of stunned confusion Sir Werner sent runners to his men all over the city. "My men are already moving about the city Your Highness, on another private Templar matter." Werner paused to look significantly at the at the healer who had finished cleaning the High Priest's wound and the servants that attended the room lighting the oil lamps on the walls. Beldan did not miss Werner's glance and with a wave of his hand he dismissed everyone. He too wanted no eavesdroppers for this conversation.

"Leave us." Like roaches when a light is brought near, the room cleared out and Beldan growled at the Templar Warden angrily. "What news from the Templar Sanctuary Sir Werner?" He demanded, wondering what the Warden was going to tell him, had he heard murmurs of this attempt and was moving his men to catch those damn Chevaliers?

"Your Grace, it is about one of the heretics we captured several weeks ago." Werner began hesitantly and Beldan nodded with a patience that he did not feel. "I regret to tell you ... " Werner paused, clearly not looking forward to having to deliver more bad news to Beldan under these circumstances. The High Priest looked sharply at the Warden. Had the Oracle died under his interrogation? It was not a bad thing - he could now swear under oath that he had no part in it. At the moment Beldan was far more concerned with how close the **** attempt had come to succeeding than the unfortunate demise of the Oracle. However, he had no intention of letting the warden off the hook. He'd let him grovel for a bit and then have him make up for his gross incompetence by procuring another pretty play-thing from some alleged heretic encampment. Sir Werner was still speaking, but Beldan's thoughts were so distracted by plans for punishment of Winlay and her friend that he almost missed the warden's words entirely.

"... are sure to recapture him before dawn." A cold fear ran through Beldan's spine, and his black eyes locked onto the warden's with a fierceness of a dor-weasel finding its prey.

"Say that again, and don't mumble this time!" He hissed at the terrified man.

"The prison was attacked by assassins, and the heretic ... has been freed." Werner finished with a gulp before continuing. "But they can't have gotten far, we are sure to recapture them by sundown." Beldan great gelatinous body quivered with a combination of rage, fear and disbelief.

"The Oracle!!" His voice was barely audible even in his own private office. He normally would never even mention him by name, but Beldan wanted there to be no misunderstanding "You've let the Oracle escape from the Templar Prison?!" Werner looked down at his muscled fingers, and added in an attempt to share at least some of the blame with the Holy Palace:

"We believe that this was a coordinated attack timed to coincide with your ****." Beldan pushed aside the fear and anger when he was reminded of his close call and focused on redeeming the situation.

"What is being done to recapture this heretic? Give me a full report; be quick but leave out no details." As the warden spoke part of Beldan's brain listened intently, but part of his mind trembled with the guilt of a teenager who has been caught drinking his mother's best apple brandy. When the Warden explained that one of the traitors had been a Templar Captain who had infiltrated the ranks of the Holy Warriors of Xelta Beldan exploded in a fury that could not be contained. He ranted for close to two minutes about the failings of the Templar Command structure before finally pulling himself together.

He looked back at the ashen faced Templar. Beldan knew the man had not deliberately betrayed him, but his anger at the situation fanned the flames of his rage. Should he have the fool arrested as a traitor or use the man's fear as a whip to drive the search efforts that would end this nightmare?