Mika surprises everyone

"These two remind me of those two teenagers we caught in the Jesus freak's camp." The slighter of the two Templars said as he eyed the terrified friends. "Remember how they carried on when we spread their milky thighs those first few times?"

"They were sweet alright!" laughed Marcus sadistically "Especially when we turned their other cheeks." Winlay didn't completely understand what the Templars were saying, but bile rose in her throat and her stomach clenched. Whatever those poor nonbelievers had done it could not have been bad enough to suffer the fate that these two 'Guardians of Light' seemed to have inflicted upon them.

Just as she and Mika had done nothing to deserve this fate. The two men continued to remove their leather gear slowly laughing at their crude wordplay. There was no doubt that the two were enjoying having the two girls trapped and isolated.

"Do you trust me Winlay?" Mika's blue eyes had an intensity that Winlay had never seen before. Gone was the constant twinkle that made everything Mika say sound like a joke. "Trust me completely?" Nodding in agreement Winlay wondered what Mika could possibly do against two of the Defenders of Xelta each of whom outweighed her by nearly two to one.

"Do what I say, no matter what, you cannot hesitate for even a heartbeat or we both could end up dead." Mika's quiet words confused Winlay, but her faith in her friend overcame her fear. As soon as Winlay nodded again in agreement she felt a wave of relief wash over her body. She trusted her friend, and Mika seemed to have no doubts about her ability to get out of this mess. "Tie the ends of our belts together, while I buy us some time." With that Mika unfastened the knot that fastened her belt around her waist.

"I don't know about my friend here, but I'm ready for some action." Her voice dropped half an octave and her words oozed from her mouth like honey from a sweet pastry. As she stepped between the two men and Winlay, she pulled her robes completely over her head, momentarily giving the Templars a glimpse of her in just her undergarments, before blocking their view provocatively by holding the large square garment in front of her. Winlay was so surprised to see Mika wearing only a wrap around her chest and the plain cotton panties given to each of the initiates that for a split second she forgot what she was supposed to be doing. The two men howled in appreciation as Mika stepped even closer to them moving her body back and forth behind her robe giving them tantalizing glimpses of her thighs, hips and shoulders.

Winlay realized Mika was also completely screening her from the brutal pair's vision. Quickly and surely she whipped off her cord and added its five feet of length to Mika's. She wasn't sure how just ten feet of rope could possibly get them from the top of the fifty plus foot wall, but her trust in Mika did not waver.

"OK, Mika" She called softly ahead to where the half dressed men were approaching Mika reaching for her robe in an attempt to pull it from her hands. Suddenly a flash brighter than anything Winlay had ever seen accompanied by a loud bang stunned everyone on the rooftop. Everyone that is, except for Mika. As the men backed away blinking and shaking their heads, Mika ran back to Winlay throwing her grey initiate's robes from the roof into the empty courtyard far below. Winlay did not even have time to react when Mika swept her up into her surprisingly strong arms and stepped onto the low wall that surrounded the rooftop.

"Hold on tight." She whispered urgently and kissed Winlay on the cheek. The first jump was terrifying. Mika leapt from the roof carrying Winlay with her as she sprang off the tall building towards a shorter building over twenty feet away on the far side of the square. As they dropped, Mika hurled one end of the coiled rope across the small courtyard onto the railing of a balcony. The knotted end looped twice around the railing before the full weight of the girls stretched the belt cords tight and swung them into the wall of the far building. Mika was ready for the wrenching halt to their flight and her feet absorbed much of the impact of slamming into the wall. However, even with Mika's skill, Winlay grimaced in pain as her body twisted from her friend's and slammed into the rough stone of the far wall over twenty feet from the Templar building and still dangling several body lengths above the ground.

"Don't let go now!" Winlay heard Mika urge and she tightened her grip around her astonishing friend's neck. Just in time too, because at that moment the rope slipped from the railing of the balcony above and Mika needed both her hands to grab at a nearby gargoyle head just as they started to plummet again. Mika descended the next twenty feet with Winlay hanging from her back moving from one precarious perch to the next until they stood on the ground panting from both physical exertion and fear.

Winlay gazed up at the Templar building as Mika tossed her the rope sash to her robe, and looked for where hers had landed. Winlay could still see the faces of the two men who had so recently had them trapped. The astonished surprise that filled their faces must reflect her own wonder. But while she was impressed and pleased with Mika, the faces of the two showed a combination of anger and fear as well as their surprise.

"Where are we?" Winlay asked Mika, pretty sure that they were in one of the areas that initiates were told were off limits.