Cassia catches you peeking

In the dim blue light of the room, you can see Cassia standing on the far side of the chamber, her legs and hips are covered in the thick quilted leggings, but her torso is beautifully bare. She is holding the top part of the undergarment loosely in her arms and you can see one of her magnificent breasts standing proudly in the eerie blue light. Not as large as Eudora's tits, but round and full and without a hint of sag. The bluelight makes her skin seem to glow and shimmer and you want to reach out and touch to see if it is as smooth as it looks.

The slightest sound from her causes you to pull your gaze away from her bosom to her eyes and realize that she caught you peeking at her naked body.

Her eyes widen in surprise as your eyes meet and she turns away from you and slips into the padded top hiding the rest of her body from you gaze.

You feel like an idiot. She has been through a horrific ordeal; her faith in men nearly completely destroyed. Despite that she is risking her life to help you save Eudora and she caught you trying to see her naked body at the very first opportunity you had. It is behavior no better than that of a fifteen-year-old and you don't even know how to start apologizing. Cassia says nothing at all making your embarrassment even greater.

Angry at yourself you jerk the tunic over your head and step into the quilted pants pulling the drawstring tight around your thin waist. She must think you are completely untrustworthy. Once dressed, you try to apologize to Cassia, but she cuts you off before you can get the words out.

"No. Don't say anything Adonis." Cassia's eyes are fiercely defiant again. "Let’s focus on rescuing Eudora, not on silly dreams." Guiding you to the far wall she points to a map that has been mounted of the wall. All acolytes are required to memorize this map. Each of us is tested on it before we are allowed into the catacombs but let me show you what you need to know in case we become separated, or something happens to me." The map shows a series of different colored lines and some of these lines are big and straight, smaller lines curve and cross in no particular order. Several of the lines lead to circles with many of the smaller lines leading away from these rings.

"We are here." says Cassia pointing to a small red star near the bottom of the map. "All these stars are gates, with gate rooms like this below them" Her thin fingers run over the map pointing out a dozen other stars as she speaks. "These rooms are safe. They are warded by the gate magic and the demons cannot enter any of these rooms." You stand by her side studying the map as she continues.

"We should try to get to this area here." Cassia indicates a section that lies near the top of the map. "We have to get to this main passage, we call it the 'Greenway' because of its color on the map." The line was thick and green even in the odd blue light of the room and you could see that the passage leads straight through most of the catacombs to the very top of the map.

"What are these circles?" You ask her as the map starts to make more sense.

"The circles are old gathering points for the demons, if we are going to have trouble it will most likely be in these four areas." The map shows four big circles, a smaller one where the thin line from your gate room meets the Greenway two medium sized circles nearer the center and the largest circle in the center of the map. "This big one is the Temple of the Titans. All paths lead to this central region, so we will have to pass through the roots of the citadel itself in order to get to the far side of the city."

You spend a few more minutes studying the route, following the passage from the star to the closest circle follow the edge of the circle to the right and then leave the circle on the Greenway. Stay straight on the Greenway through a second circle, and then into the large central circle. Out the other side most of the way around the central area and then to the last smaller circle then to the nearest gate room.

"I think I've got it." You tell your companion "Except I don't know how I'll be able to find the far gate rooms." Cassia gives you a gentle smile.

"That part is easy, these bluelights will always guide you to the nearest exit if you want. Help me get into this armor, and then we'll take some supplies and be off."

It takes a while to adjust the suits of stiff leather to fit your small frames, there are many adjustable straps and buckles that have to be tightened on both your suits but after ten minutes of working together in silence you are both covered from head to toe with a comforting layer of protection.

Cassia turns to a rack of weapons and attaches a short sword to her belt and slings a bandolier of darts across her chest. The rack holds a selection a spears, knives, swords, axes and hammers of all sizes, but the weapon that catches your eye looks like a combination of a shovel, and axe and a pick. Holding the heavy haft in your hand you test the sharp cutting edge of the axe and are comforted by the weight and feel of the weapon. Near the weapons you see several coils of rope and you loop one of them over your shoulder. Cassia is stuffing a small pouch full of small sticks, each about the size of your finger, taking a bite of one of the sticks she holds out a double handful of the sticks for you.

"Take a bunch of these, they're good." She mumbles around the stick in her mouth, but you willingly let her dump the sticks into a small pouch and hang it from your belt. It is a little while later when she smiles at you nervously.

"Are we ready?"