It gets off to a rocky start

Promptly at ten they heard Sister Margaret's normally cheerful voice calling for them to come up quickly, to Adam's trained ears at least, the tension in her tone was unmistakable. Blinking in the bright sunlight for the first time in days they looked with a mixture of curiosity and nervousness at the handcart loaded with baskets of greens, and a pile of loose straw that cushioned flats of seedlings.

"Move quickly now." Sister Margaret told them as she arranged the small party, "Adam you are drawing the wagon." She said pointing to the leather harness that fit over his shoulders, "Winlay and Mychael, you'll walk on this side - let Madam Wanda do the talking." She turned to Mika "Stay behind them until they're through the gates. After that pretend you don't know them." Margaret wrapped a purple sash around the burlap bundle and clipped a brass sigil onto the sash. "You, young scamp, are carrying a bundle for one of the Beldan's personal guardsmen if anyone asks." Adam wondered how Sister Margaret got her hands on the guardsman's sigil, but before he could ask her about it she handed him a white root covered with tiny hairs.

"Take a bite of this Adam, chew it well then spit it out. Whatever you do don't swallow any more than you have to." Margaret glanced nervously over her shoulder as Adam bit into the woody root; he tried to chew as quickly as possible, almost immediately he could feel his lips and cheeks become numb and even his eyes were soon squinting as his swollen cheeks lifted up and out. "Good. Spit it out and get going." Margaret kissed the Oracle softly on his cheek and adjusted the head scarf that covered his brow and cropped white hair. "Good luck Mychael, and may the blessing of Xelta always go with you."

Margaret led them around the greenhouse and pointed to a path that led towards the lower wall. "The gate's down there. Go now." Adam could still sense Sister Margaret's tension, he knew where the gate was of course, after spending the past five years as a Templar he knew most of the convent compound pretty well, but he silently pulled the cart down the lane. Soon the wagon rounded the last wall and Adam could see the garden gate just as Margaret promised. Usually it was not even guarded, but today three Templar stood attentively, eying the group suspiciously as they approached.

"Halt." The leader of the three was Corbin Jackman a third year soldier in charge of two new cropheads. "We'll need to search the wagon old lady, and maybe your pretty friend here too." Adam tried not to clench his fists at Jackman's words, instead he stood dumbly with his head bowed. The drool that dripped from the corner of his swollen mouth helped his half-wit look considerably, so he made no attempt to wipe it off his face. If the Oracle was nervous Adam heard no sign of it in his voice as he answered the Templar smoothly.

"Search away boys, but if you find something you like, you'll have to visit the Golden Hook to get the full sample." Adam almost choked when he heard the Oracle give Corbin permission to grope and fondle Winlay like a common whore. The two new recruits dutifully lifted the baskets of greens and the seedlings from the back of the cart but when they saw the pile of manure rich mulch they hesitated, but Jackman had them continue.

"Go ahead rookies, take your time. No one's going anywhere until they are cleared by someone with a much higher pay grade than us anyways." The Templar soldier rubbed his hands together as he moved to where Winlay stood by the cart as he added. "Sir Werner's orders." The guard waved up to the tower before resting his hands on Winlay's hips. Adam squirmed in his harness so he could watch the two recruits use their swords to poke and prod at the pile of manure and Jackman step even closer to Winlay as they made the search.

"And I thought morning duty was going to be boring." He laughed as his hands roamed higher on her body. Adam cringed as he realized just how Jackman planned to spend the next few minutes. He knew better than anyone how little experience Winlay had had with men. How could she ever fool anyone into thinking she could be a prostitute? Adam saw that she was trying, she rested her hands on the Templar's shoulders and smiled at him as he ran his hands over her belly.