Where is the outrage over the church of Alastair’s Heart being left behind in her sacreligious expansion? Has this damned city become a behemoth of myth, swallowing the land with its looming walls and turrets, safeguarding it from unknown adversaries?! I demand and answer from the king on this subject, and shall post this request wherever a beam shall support my demands, something not even the blasted priests would do!

“Do you know for sure he’s held there?” Lilith asked Icara, the older woman peering past the edge of a building.

“No, but it’s the most logical place for him to be. Unless Gwindon chopped his way through the arch priest or did something else crazy, he’ll be in the church. Considering they want information out of him, I doubt they’ll let the guard haul him in.”

Lilith paused, moving back into hiding and looking up at the dimming sky as she folded her arms. “Do you think he’s alright? If they think he’s connected to me, or gods forbid they find out his connection to the fall of the Desert Rose...”

Icara peered out from the street once again as she spoke. The roads had quieted down while they waited, and the day had faded with it. Sunlight turned to moonlight, and it was just past dusk when she moved out from the alleyway. She looked back to Lilith and waved her forward.

“He’s not getting any better, that’s for sure. I doubt he’ll have an entourage of people guarding him there, it will just be the six father and sister of the church, as well as Daylon himself.” Icara warned her before standing upright. “Looks like the church hasn’t changed much despite how long I’ve been away. It almost feels out of place with all that we’ve passed by on the way here now.”

“Look, we can’t both reminisce here, let’s try and focus on what we’re here for. Ideally, I’d rather not kill anyone by the way, so I’d prefer it if you followed my lead,” Lilith responded, gathering some confidence and moving past Icara.

“Why would I attack anyone? I have the least stake in this, I’m not going to be murdering any innocents over this whole thing. Worst comes to worst and I’ll have to defend myself from that warhammer Daylon has. I can’t say for sure, but it might actually be enchanted.”

“The church can’t afford any really fanciful armaments since the crusade declined, I’d be shocked if that thing does more than just glow.” Lilith said with a roll of her eyes as she hoped the stone border wall of the church. “Don’t try and play the innocent girl wrapped up in all of this either, Icara, I’ve heard about you. You’ve been killing people for a long time now, and I don’t think you’ve had a problem doing it either, by the look of that sword.”

Icara paused at the comment, but couldn’t refute it either. The both of them kept low and moved through the hewn sections of grass encircling the church. A soft rustle followed their movements around the stone architecture. Towards the back of the building they found a rear entrance that connected to an outhouse for the priests and priestess. Lilith was the first to try it, only to find the door locked. She lifted the crude iron lump that kept the door’s latch tight and sighed.

“Damn, looks like we’ll have to find another way in. Think we could climb in through one of the windows? We’d have to find one without bars and without glass, but it should be doable if I get on your—”

“Why? It’s just a lock,” Icara said, moving the other woman away.

She drew her sword and carefully wedged the handle in between the lock and the latch itself. With a grunt of effort, the wood of the latch creaked and snapped out of place. Icara huffed a little and heaved twice more, finally breaking the door open with a subdued snap of the wood. The door groaned inside of the building and Icara sheathed her blade once more as Lilith watched stunned. She took a step inside and waved for Lilith to follow, drawing a grin from her.

“You don’t know much about subtlety, do you, girl?” Lilith asked in a low whisper, catching up to her partner.

“We’re not going to be coming back or anything, who cares about damages?”

“I suppose you’re right, but it’s still a pretty reckless thing to do. If you break into somewhere, always try and opt for ways that won’t leave a permanent piece of property broken. Makes it harder to track you and less likely to summon unwanted attention.” Lilith explained before stopping behind Icara as the hallway split into two paths. “Makes mama less worried and all, kid.”

Icara turned her head back and cocked an eyebrow. “Mama?”

“Ah... force of habit, sorry,” Lilith replied, rubbing the back of her head with one hand and clearing her throat. “More used to telling that kind of stuff to my crew of men. You’re lucky you’ve never crossed one of my boys, they’d have killed you, or I’d have done you in myself,” she added with soft laugh, covering her mouth to quiet it down.

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They both moved down the hall to the right, trying to stick for the back of the building and look for any more protected rooms. As they moved, only moonlight was guiding their steady steps. Only when they rounded the corner that marked the far side of the building did they find a spot of artificial lighting. A candle was illuminating from out of their sight, and both women slowed down in their approach, straining their ears to pick up anything.

Icara was the first to hear the gentle sound of the flame’s flickering, as well as the intermediate pattern of pages being turned. She turned to Lilith and held up a single finger before poking it around the corner, making a motion of book reading on top of it. The mercenary nodded and thought for a moment until she drew a small coin from her pouch and signaled for Icara to stay quiet, pushing her to the back. With a flick of her thumb, she tossed the coin past the corner. It landed with an unnaturally loud ring amongst the silence laden corridor.

The page turning abruptly stopped and were followed by the sound of footsteps. From behind the wall, a man dressed in plain robes bent down to grab the coin with his right hand. Lilith moved like a blur with both hands, one moving to cover his mouth and the other pinching his nose shut. She hoisted him out of the candle-light as his eyes frantically moved in tandem with his struggling limbs. Icara caught the holy book out of his hands before it could fall and Lilith moved closer to his ear.

“Sorry about this, father, just doing the most efficient thing. You’re not gonna die, just relax...” she cooed into the man’s ear.

His struggling slowed to a stop and he slumped into her grip. Lilith held him for a few more seconds in the prone state before laying him down on the floor. She took the book from Icara and propped his head on it so it wasn’t resting on the bare stone and dusted herself off. Both of them peered around the corner and found it clear of anyone else, with only a single door with a locking bar across it.

“Lucky us, they must not be expecting the two of us to be here,” Lilith said, cracking her knuckles and speaking a little above a whisper.

“Don’t get confident, Daylon might still be here. Something feels... off about this,” Icara said, moving forward despite her words.

They finally got to the door and Lilith put a hand on the bar. Icara watched the hand shake some on the hunk of wood but stayed silent. Lilith eyes became unfocused and a chill ran up her spine. She swallowed down her fear and put on a smirk, turning to the younger outlaw.

“Hey, you’re right about Daylon not being here. I think you should go in first and I’ll keep an eye out here. He’s probably chained up or something, right? You can get him out of that mess and we’ll get out of here!”

Icara moved to lift the bar in silence before tossing a dull stare at Lilith. “He’s nothing to be nervous about, you know. Gwindon’s got a level head on his shoulders, even if he did that stuff you say he did. When I took a swing at him with my sword, he only warned me and kept dodging or parrying.”

“You’re right, it’s just... when you’re married for as long as he and I were, shifting to downright murdering each other makes things more than just awkward, kid. I know that I’ll have to face him eventually, but it’s well within my right to fuss over it,” she replied, giving a half-hearted laugh.

Lilith shook her head and leaned against one the wall beside the door, nodding for Icara to move in first. She raised the bar locking it and opened it slowly. Her eyes fell upon Gwindon, resting with his chin on his chest in a deep sleep. The light was hardly shining in from the windows, the candle from the hall illuminating most of it. Icara’ long shadow stretched over his bound body, but she still could make out his face. Unlike when he was awake, Gwindon seemed pained in his rest, and Icara felt a pang of sympathy for his troubled sleep.

It only took a few steps inside before he lifted his head and blinked his eyes awake again. “Nnn... what? Icara?” He mumbled, slowly waking up.

“Can’t see any blood... are you alright, Gwindon? Did they make you confess to anything at all?”

“Nothing incriminating at least... you’re lucky I barely know anything about you,” he said as the memories of Daylon’s recount of Icara’s past came to him. “Look, just get out of here before anyone catches you, alright? I don’t know why you thought it would be a good idea to sneak into the church on your own and bust me out, but it’s not—”

“Actually, I’m not alone,” Icara said, looking for a key to Gwindon’s chains.

She found the ring of keys on the wall and moved behind him. The knight’s voice was strangely absent as she walked back and began to try the different keys into the slot. Only the faint jingle of metal took over the room as she worked. She finally found the right one, turning it with a satisfying clink before she let the mess of metal bindings fall to the ground. Gwindon moved his hands in front of him and rubbed his wrists, eyes locked on the doorway.

“Icara... given what I know about you, I can’t imagine anyone calling themselves your friend. Even less likely is that you'd find someone to aide you in something tantamount to sacrilege.”

“Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence...” Icara said with a roll of her eyes.

“What I’m asking is who is the person that helped you? Are they here now, or did you send them off somewhere?”

“They should be right—” Icara said, moving in the doorframe. “...here?”

No one except the unconscious priest were in the hall, in either direction. Her eyes had adjusted to the candle’s light, making the distant ends of the hall too dark to see clearly. Straining her ears, Icara still couldn’t catch any footsteps beyond Gwindon’s. She turned back inside and shrugged her shoulders, making the knight shake his head.

“I’m guessing she’s just scouting ahead to make sure the way back out is—”

“The person with you was my wife, wasn’t it?”

Icara moved out into the hallways and folded her arms with a sigh. “Why do I have to get wrapped up in your domestic affair... yes, it was Lilith. I thought she was going to muster up the courage herself and come in here, but—”

“She’s going to kill Daylon. Let’s move,” he said, brushing past her shoulder and moving down the hall away from the sleeping priest. “We need to get my armor and weapons first, they’re in a storeroom, follow me.”

“Hey! She was nervous about even coming here, told me not to kill anyone myself, what makes you think that she’d do that?”

“Well she’s either going to try and kill the arch priest to cover her tracks, or because of some misguided sense of justice on my part. I don’t know how or why you came into contact with her, but you clearly don’t know her very well.”

Gwindon continued down the hall and to the left, Icara quickly catching up and grabbing his shoulder. He paused and and raised a hand, cutting her off before she could even start to speak. A light ahead of them flickered and faded down another corridor, signalling movement. Icara narrowed her eyes and cursed the mess of a situation before she took her hand off his shoulder and whispered.

“You haven’t seen her in decades! We’ll get your stuff back, but we’re not going to find her wandering around here.”

“Icara, I think you can understand holding onto a memory of injustice for a long time, maybe not like mine but something close. I was the one who made a mistake all those years ago, and I intend to make things right. At least before I die in any case.”

Both of them fell quiet, but Icara felt the silence more. The fired faded completely and Gwindon strode forward, waving her to follow him as they went. In the darkness of the hall, Icara kept her eyes fixed on Gwindon’s back the whole walk.