Follow Adam

Adam followed Sister Margaret back to the hallway that led to the greenhouse basement. He tried to concentrate on what needed to be done to protect the Oracle and the girls. Especially Winlay - she was not a Chevalier like the rest of them, she didn't even know the risk she was taking but she acted to help them anyways.

"Be careful, Adam." Sister Margaret's words seemed prophetic, but when he looked at her in surprise he saw her handing him the thick padded cloth he had used earlier to open the door. "The door is just as hot from this side. Don't forget to use these and turn off the valve before you open the door." Margaret watched carefully as Adam selected the correct shut-off valve and used the heavy pads to open the door. "Good, and don't tighten the door too much dear, remember I have to be able to open it." With thise words she slipped through the heavy doorway and moved swiftly through the basement room beyond. Adam closed the door carefully and opened the shut-off valve before walking slowly back to the room where Mika and Winlay were waiting with the Oracle.

Adam smiled when he saw how well the two initiates had settled in the Oracle. If he had to be stuck for days hiding like a Querel-pig in its den, then he couldn't think of three better companions. The Oracle had guided Adam for the past four years and was as close to a father as Adam had ever had as well as his secret mentor. Mika's pretty smile and cheerful antics would help ease the boredom and Winlay...

"At least we're safe here." Winlay commented cheerfully as she wiped the beads of perspiration from her brow.

"Safer than anything I could have accomplished without Sister Margaret's unexpected aide." Adam answered as he stepped into the room. "In fact," he moved across the room and took Winlay's hands in his, he found himself craving every little bit of contact with her. "I owe you our thanks. If you hadn't told Mika about the good Sister last night we never would have dared ask for her help this afternoon." Her small hands felt warm and smooth in his and he never wanted to let them go. "I doubt we would have made it a quarter of the way to Anglar's ship if we had tried on our own."

Winlay's brown eyes widened in response to his frank words and Adam could feel her hands trembling in his.

"No thanks needed" she finally stammered, "I'm just glad it worked out this way." The pair stood for a few seconds longer before finally Winlay lifted her hands from his and stepped slowly away.

In an attempt to keep from staring at her, Adam moved to the Oracle's couch and knelt by his side. But as Winlay walked to the sink to get a drink he watched her shirt tails flapping against her thighs. Adam found himself eying her legs as she moved but could not help it even though he knew his behavior was inappropriate. In her regular initiate's robes it was her face that had caught his attention, but in the heat of the hidden apartment with the simple shirt hugging her curves Adam could not keep his eyes off the back of her legs exposed by the flapping of her shirt tails.

The sight of her bare legs reminded Adam of the first good look he got of Winlay standing nearly naked in Beldan's suite - she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. The shirt Winlay was wearing now instead of her robes was slit on the side and Adam could see over half of Winlay's smooth white thigh as she glided across the room unaware of her beauty. Adam could not remember the last time he felt such a surge of lust flow through him, he had tried to ignore Winlay but found himself staring at her more than once as she made her way from the workshop to the boiler room through the steam filled passageway. Even in this cooler room, her sweat soaked shirt molded to her breasts and when she modestly tucked her legs under her he found her enchanting.

His conversation with the Oracle was one sided as the old man was too tired to do more than grunt in response. Soon he was asleep again and Adam was left wrestling with his own demons.

In theory, as a Templar Adam was sworn to chastity, but the Vow of Chastity was considered a secondary goal, not one of the three primary duties. As long as the brothers of the order were discrete, little or nothing was said if they occasionally fell short of this particular vow. In fact, lately a Templar could be viewed with suspicion if they did not appear to be attracted to the fairer sex. Worse than that, over the past few years attitudes about sex as a way of rewarding loyal service and punishment for heresy were changing.

Some of the Templar were notorious for their aggressive sexual appetites, adding ****, masochism and sexual intimidation to the list of tools used to terrorize the many religious cults that seemed to spring up just as fast as they were cut down. The old school Templar spoke in hushed tones as they saw these behaviors corrupt the overall morality of the Order. Actions that had originally been justified because of the need to deter the fringe religions were now becoming commonplace. The depravity of High Priest Beldan's treatment of innocent Initiates like Winlay was spreading throughout the whole Church. Only a month ago two of the Church's own initiates were attacked on the roof-top of the Templar enclave and the men responsible for their **** were barely chided for the crime.

Thankfully, Adam had been able to avoid the worst of this new form of corruption; his vows as a Chevalier would be in direct conflict with the sexual **** of captured heretics and their families. Not because of the sexual activity, in fact the secret vows made to the Order of Chevaliers made no mention of specific forbidden acts to avoid, they focused instead on protecting the weak and justice for all. Adam heard graphic descriptions of how the wives and daughters of captured heritics by were passed from man to man in the victory parties that followed the clensing of these old cults.

Adam could not imagine what he would do if he saw members of his own order tearing the clothes from a young woman and pulling open her thighs. The sobering knowledge of what would happen to Mika and Winlay if somehow the Templars found them in these rooms made him too restless to sit quietly any longer.

"He's asleep again." Announced Adam softly to the two girls. "I'm going to look around a little while we have the time." He strapped his weapon belt with the broad sword and dirk to his waist. He felt a little better feeling the weight of his weapons again. There was no way he'd let Beldan and his men take Winlay from him. Not without a fight.