Jeanne walked down the path, following the tall wall of the monastery complex. She cocked an eyebrow up as she said, “How long were you watching?” Looking up she saw Maeryn walking alongside her all the way the wall before leaping off and landing on her feet.

“Long enough,” Maeryn said turning around.

“Were you concerned?”

Maeryn shook her head. “Nah, I figured if anything happened you could handle it.”

“I appreciate the vote of confidence.”

“Well if you can’t trust the abilities of the person next to you, you can who trust?”

“That’s a pretty reasonable question.”

“But I noticed you weren’t rousing the children with tales of daring dos.”

“No, no I wasn’t,” Jeanne replied, looking back at the children.

“How come?”

“Come on Maer, you’ve seen what this life is like. Not knowing if you’ll find work long enough to put a roof over your head or food on your plate. Hoping you don’t turn to unsavory ways of earning coin to keep from sleeping outside and exposed to nature’s mercy. And heaven forbid you get a contract with someone and they decide to go back on the deal because the started out bad for them.”

“True. This isn’t a line of work for everyone.”

“No, and I don’t want them to go what we have. I want them to never know scars which never heal, the haunting presence of the waking nightmares, or other terrors which hound you until the day whatever god you believe in decides its your time to leave this world. They should worry about growing, creating and living their lives without seeing the worst this world has to offer.”

“Well, I hope you didn’t mind me hanging around then.”

“Oh no, you’re fine. But what were you doing out here?”

“I was trying to see how long I could skulk around before someone spotted me.”

“Why?”

“Practice my sneaking.”

“Oh, that makes sense. But wouldn’t people think you’re up to no good?”

“They do that anyway,” Maeryn replied, shrugging. “Might as well hone my skills and not be a weak link to the company.”

“Has anyone said you are?” Jeanne asked.

“No, but that isn’t a reason to not pull my weight.”

“Well, don’t be so hard on yourself.”

“We’re not exactly in the profession where we can afford many mistakes.”

“True, but pushing yourself past your limits won’t do you or anyone any good.”

“I’ll try to keep that in mind. What do you think the others are doing?”

“If I know them, Hy and Sil are probably going through the town archives for anything that might us. Doc is doing an inventory on medical supplies, and then going over it four more times.”

“He really does that?”

“He takes the job seriously.”

“Fair enough. And Cid?”

“My money is he’s talking to Gareth, ingratiating himself with the local movers and shakers here.”

“For connections?”

“That and to see what might be brewing underneath all of this.”

“You think he’ll catch anything?”

Jeanne shrugged. “Who knows. Sometimes you get lucky. Other times, not so much.”

Both women perked their ears up as they heard the sound of marching coming from down the road. They turned to see a group of men, carrying crooks in one hand and a flagellant in the other. The whips had three strips to it and nails sticking out from the ends of each strand. The men were dressed in white robes, now stained with dirt and their backs exposed to the elements. Their exposed skin showed a menagerie of scars.

“Who are they?” Maeryn asked.

“Flagellants,” Jeanne replied. “They mutilate themselves to demonstrate their faith to our god, sorry my god.”

Maeryn shook her head. “I knew what you meant. But why do they do that?”

Jeanne shrugged again. “Given everything that’s going on, I’d imagine they’re trying to get whatever help they can.”

Maeryn threw up her hood over her head, covering her ears. “I don’t it’s a good idea for me to be so open.”

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“I hate to agree with you on that point. But flagellants aren’t known for their tolerance in these parts.”

“Should we tell Cid?”

“Yeah, and may need to move up when we rejoin the others in Inderawuda.”

“Why’s that?”

“They’re not officially sectioned by the church, thank the Shepard for small favors, but usually if these people are here, that means someone high up the ecclesiastical ladder isn’t far behind.”

“And are they known for?”

“Sometimes nothing, sometimes they clean up a mess, but sometimes they can be …” Jeanne stopped as she spotted the man leading the flagellants and felt her blood grow cold. “… We need to find Cid, now!”

“Why what is it?”

“I’ll explain on the way there, but we need to leave.”

***

“Well, that was not what I was expecting,” Cid replied, rubbing his forehead.

“What should we do?” Silvius asked.

“Right now, nothing, we keep our heads low, our voices lower. And we’ll try to get ourselves out of here without attracting their attention and making things that much difficult,” Cid said to everyone.

“That and two of our three heaviest hitters aren’t anywhere to do any of the heavy hitting,” said Maeryn turning to Jeanne. “No offense.”

“I’d rather not take on a bunch of religious freaks all by my lonesome,” Jeanne replied.

“That seems to be right up your modus operandi,” said Silvius.

“I have no doubt I can beat them all to a pulp. And I have a strong push to do just that. But I’ve got enough people wanting my head on a plate as it is, and I don’t need to the church coming after me.”

“That is the last thing we all need at this point,” said Cid.

“Do you think this is a random thing with their visit?” Hypatia asked.

“I think it’s best to assume it isn’t,” said Cid. “Seems too much like a coincidence that these show up right when we did.”

“Uh,” Maeryn said looking out the window of their room at the inn, “I think the flagellants are … flagellating themselves.”

Silvius shirked back slightly. “Well, that’s most vociferous.”

Hypatia and Jeanne came to the window Maeryn was looking at, with Cid, Silvius and Leonidas going to the other. They watched as the group of flagellants marched around the town square, flogging themselves with their crops, the nails ripping and tearing into their flesh. Blood splattering on their clothes, the ground, and some of the people now standing outside and watching the horrifying spectacle.

“By all that is merciful,” Maeryn said, wincing at the sight.

“Is this normal here?” Hypatia asked Jeanne.

“No,” Jeanne replied solemnly, “no it isn’t.”

“All right,” said Cid, “We leave tomorrow. Try not to leave the building unless you absolutely need to and do not go alone.”

“Ah shit,” said Leonidas, “They’re coming in here!”

“Grab your weapons,” Cid ordered.

“Cid, what are you doing?” Jeanne asked.

“I do not want a fight with these men. But I’m not about to let them run us out of town on their terms.”

“We’re already leaving because of them,” Jeanne replied.

“We were planning to leave anyway, and their arrival moved the time table up. But they are not going to barge in here and push us around. That is not happening. Now grab your gear and let’s go see what these men want.”

The group threw on their weapons and followed Cid down to the dining area of the inn. There they found around six of the flagellants moving around the area, staining the floor with their freshly drawn blood. Their flails tightly gripped in their hands as they moved about the place. Two were questioning a party of four at one table while the rest moved towards the counter and speaking to the innkeeper.

Cid turned to the others. Maeryn, stay here and give us some cover. Doctor, stay here with Maeryn in case we need some healing. Sil, Hy, go to the two and make sure they don’t cause any trouble. Jeanne, with me.

The Wolves moved down to the dining hall, the flagellants now taking notice of the new arrivals. Some startled and looking back between the patrons and innkeeper and the group themselves. Cid and Jeanne approached the four standing by the innkeeper. “Is there a problem here?” Cid asked politely.

“Keep to your own, heathen mog,” a flagellant spatted.

“Well, I see we’re in a conversing mood, aren’t we?” Cid replied turning to the innkeeper. “I don’t suppose you could enlighten us to what’s happening?”

“I said keep to your own mog!” the flagellant repeated, now holding his flay up to Cid.

“Heh, I see we’re an eager one, yes?” Cid said calmly. “Perhaps a drink to calm nerves before things escalate.”

The flagellant turned back to the others before he turned back to Cid. “I think this pagan cat needs to taught to keep to themselves!” The flagellant raised his flay as Cid grabbed the arm with his left arm and in one swift swipe, slashed the man with the claws on his right hand.

The flagellant screamed in pain, Jeanne, summon her stone-scales and holding her war-hammer stepped beside Cid as the others unsheathed their weapons and aimed them to the rest of the flagellants. Cid looked at the man lying on the ground. “Doc, we need your skills,” he said before moving around the man and towards other three flagellants at the counter.

“All right, which one of you is the leader?” he asked them.

One of the flagellants pointed to the man on the ground. “He is, sir,” the other flagellant replied.

“Now you see? There are some manners,” Cid said. “You can go a long way if you have proper manners. If you’d be so kind, why are you and your companions here?”

“We were told by the leader of our chapter that there were heathens who had come to this town and we needed to run them out of town.”

“You don’t even live here!” one of the patrons shouted out at the flagellants. Hypatia, swords drawn pressed their tips against the chests of the two men nearby.

“Our mission is not limited to the jurisdiction of our chapter,” the other flagellant replied nervously.

“Yeah right,” said the innkeeper, “you and your pack march around here, causing all kinds of mischief. Flaying yourselves in the middle of town. Even riling up my customers when they nothing to ya and were actually minding their own business. All the while the people you’re trying to find haven’t done anything to cause any trouble around here.”

“We take into our own hands the spiritual welfare of our brethren, so that sin and false gods do not tempt our flock to dangerous ends,” the other flagellant replied.

“No one asked you to do this!” the inn keeper barked. “And no one asked you to go after people for no other reason than you want to.”

Two the flagellants at the counter moved towards the innkeeper as Jeanne slammed her stone foot into the groin of one of the flagellants and slammed her fist against the other’s temple.

“Who else what’s to push my patience?” she challenged.

“Doc,” Cid called out.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m aware,” Leonidas replied, still treating the first flagellant on the ground.

“Who is this chapter leader of yours?” Cid asked the last flagellant still standing at the counter.

“They’re called Stefan Kolville.”

Cid looked at Jeanne as she snarled. “Of fucking course,” she growled.

“Well this will make things interesting when we reach the others,” Cid said.