Sister Margaret

“Take me to Sister Margaret.” The Oracle's voice was feeble, but his words were clear enough unfortunately Winlay had no idea who he was talking about. One look at Adam's face showed that he too was at a loss.

“How do we find Sister Margaret?” Winlay asked hoping that the Oracle was still with them enough to respond. "Who is she?"

“She's in charge of the gardens." he wheezed in reply and then before he was overcome by the effort, "Trust her.” Winlay again tried to read Adam's expression in the dim light but instead of the relaxed smile she had hoped for his face still looked pensive.

“I don't know," Adam started slowly "I'd rather keep moving while we can.” Winlay knew that he wasn't seeing the problem clearly.

“Look at him.” Her voice had just a little of the iron she had learnt from her mother. “Look at us.” She continued gesturing to her robes stained as high as her thigh with the collected waste of the entire convent. “How far do you think we'd get before we attracted unwanted attention?” Winlay reached her free hand across the slender body of the Oracle and firmly took hold of Adam's upper arm. She could feel the strength of his bicep under the chain hauberk that Adam worn, but the earlier desire she had to fight was forgotten in her need to protect the old man she had carried through the sewers.

“The Oracle says we can trust this Sister Margaret, that's good enough for me.” She paused realizing how inappropriate it was for an novice initiate to speak to a Templar officer the way she had. “Please,” she continued softening her voice and allowing the frustration and fear she felt to add a tremor to her voice. “We need help or we cannot succeed.”

“OK” conceded Adam although Winlay could see he was not happy with the decision. “We’ll try to at least locate this Sister Margaret, then one of us can talk to her. Maybe we can at least get some different clothes.” From ahead they saw Mika beckoning them urgently.

“Hurry up” The normally impish blonde whispered urgently. To Winlay’s surprise Adam swung the oracle into his arm as easily as she might carry a toddler. In this new position she no longer had Adam’s hand pressed to her breast and she was able to think a little more clearly. She followed behind the Templar, chiding herself for her rash words. She wouldn’t be surprised if Adam left her behind at the earliest opportunity, and she felt an odd emptiness at the thought. He wouldn’t leave her in the convent though because Winlay knew how Adam planned to get away from the city, but what would happen to her once the ship had left the waters of Telnon.

All sorts of stories about what happened to women in the islands were told in her village, in those lawless islands anything could happen to a penniless young woman left to fend for herself. Would Adam do that to her? Would Mika let him? Part of her wished she had never agreed to explore the convent with Mika, how much simpler her life might have been if she had simply visited the library or gardens on her own. Now because of her decision to accompany Mika, Winlay realized that her planned life as a Sister of Xelta might never come to pass.

“Are you ready?” Adam asked her.

“Yes" Winlay answered with a renewed sense of adventure. "Yes, I’m ready for whatever comes.” Her cheerful answer surprised herself as much as Adam, but he responded to her bright smile with one of his own, and Winlay knew that she would do it all over again just to see his grin of approval.

The tunnel emptied into a large basin of sludge that smelled even worse than the dark passageways themselves. Luckily a walkway had been constructed to get from the large pipe to the edge of the basin without having to climb through the bubbling goo.

“Two workers just loaded a wagon from over there,” Mika told them pointing to a tall heap of compost. “I think we have about five minutes before they return.” Even with the now passed out Oracle over his shoulder, Adam was able to swing onto the walkway and make his way to the edge, Winlay found it easy enough to follow and as soon as she passed by Mika went back to work on locking the sewer behind them.

“No point in letting them know we came out this way.” She explained to Winlay with the grin that Winlay had become accustomed to. “You three get to someplace where we can hide, then we’ll figure out what to do.”

“We already know.” Winlay assured her as she watched Mika insert her odd tools into the lock and almost as easily as if she had a key turn the tumblers and relock the gate behind them. For good measure Mika picked a small clump of goop off her robe and smeared the lock covering any signs of her efforts.

“We have to find Sister Margaret in the gardens.” Winlay told Mika and when she saw the confusion on her face added confidently “The Oracle told us.”