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Chapter Fifteen

The moon was more than halfway across the sky when Adlis crept back into town, followed closely by Kilo and Za. The zik moved as slowly as she could without attracting attention, convinced that there was somebody watching her from every shadow. Her ears had once again turned snow white with fear. The streets were empty, but the lights were on in almost every window. Adlis was tempted to duck underneath them, but knew that being caught doing that would raise more suspicion than simply walking down the streets. As they approached the church, which loomed above them like a watchful stone titan, Adlis began to feel sweat grease her palms. This was probably a mistake, and she knew it. Still, without Kulgan, she had no hope... Adlis sucked in her breath when she saw a kashni come walking out of the building ahead of them wearing the robes of a priest, and quickly motioned for her companions to retreat into a nearby alley. Once she felt they were safely hidden in the darkness, she took a moment to peer at him. It wasn't Father Richard, she noted with relief. The very thought of the pompous lizard made the skin under her fur crawl. The kashni turned back to the doorway to say something, laughing heartily, before closing it behind him and making his way back towards the church. "Follow him!" Kilo hissed. "He'll lead us to a door we can get in with!" Though she didn't think it was possible, Adlis' ears turned even whiter at the thought of following the priest into the church. Who knew how many other priests or acolytes he would pass on the way there? But, she added ruefully, did she really have a choice? Nodding to her friends, she waited until the priest had taken a few steps away from them before coming out of the alley and going after him. She tried to walk as casually as she could, though she remained convinced that her ears were shining like a beacon for anyone who happened to look out their windows to see. The kashni made his way around the back of the church and towards a small door next to the stables. After shouting a greeting to the stable boy, he opened the door and went inside. Adlis stayed still for a moment, waiting to see if anyone else would pass by. Sure enough, the stable boy, a hard muscled young zik, came outside and leaned against the wall, rolling a cigarette. "We'll need to get past him," she whispered. "Get out of my way," Kilo snapped, shouldering past her. "Wait!" the female zik whispered urgently after her. "You're going to get us caught!" Kilo paid her no heed, though, and marched straight up to the stable boy. He saw her at the last moment and sprang to attention. "What are you doing..." he began, but Kilo balled her fist and punched him in the face hard enough for Adlis to hear the impact from fifteen feet away. The stable boy stumbled backwards, slamming into the wall, and then crumpled to the ground in a heap. Kilo wasted no time in grabbing his legs and dragging him back into the stable, were he would not be discovered so quickly. "Where did you learn to do that?" Adlis asked in awe as she hurried to the door. "Not everyone got to grow up in a cushy, protected city house," the fuaro spat. "Now, are we going in or not?" Nodding quickly, Adlis turned to the door and tested the knob. To her surprise, she found that the priest had left it unlocked. It opened for her, its hinges squealing in protest, and the trio went inside. Za closed the door behind him and looked around anxiously. "There are people everywhere," he said, the fear evident in his voice. "I can hear them!" Adlis could hear them too. There were doors on both sides of the hallway, and several of them obviously had people on the other side. Motioning for everyone to go slowly, she began to creep down the hall. She was moving quietly, but to her frightened imagination it sounded like she was walking on broken glass with every step. When they reached a fork in the hall, she paused. "We have to move faster!" Kilo hissed behind her. "We're going to get caught!" "We can't," Adlis argued. "We might run straight into someone!" With a growl of frustration, Kilo pushed the zik out of her way . "I'll take the lead," she said. "Where are they keeping him?" Adlis stopped to think. Kulgan's room had been along the path that Brother Dunma had taken her to get out of the church. The problem would be finding that hallway again. Biting her lip in indecision, she pointed to the right. Without a moment's hesitation, Kilo rounded the corner and walked down the hallway. Adlis took Za's hand and hurried after her. Suddenly, a door in front of them opened, and Kilo pulled up short, causing Adlis to almost run into her. Without a word, the fuaro grabbed her shoulder and herded them into an empty room, slamming the door shut behind them. "We're gonna get caught, we're gonna get caught, we're gonna get caught!" Za whispered in terror, pressing himself against the far wall. "Shut up!" Kilo snapped, reaching instinctively for her gun before remembering that she no longer had it. Adlis held her breath, convinced that whoever was outside could hear her racing heart. Tentatively, she knelt down behind the door and peered through the keyhole. In the hallway, she heard heavy footsteps coming in their direction. "So, you think Dunma allowed the magic user to escape?" Brother Kekata's voice asked, clearly audible even through the thick wood of the door. "It happened on his watch," Father Richard's voice answered. "He took pity on her during the trial, and then she disappears just before we go to get her. Where was he when we were on our way to her room?" "He claims she magicked herself away," Kekata replied, though it was clear in his voice that he didn't believe this himself. "A poor excuse," Richard concluded. "The power of Embin would never allow such a creature to use her unholy power to escape justice!" "Then we must deal with him," Kekata said. "Good riddance. The old fool is far too soft hearted for his own good." "It is unfortunate that our own Brother must be put on trial," Richard lamented, "but we must honor the will of Embin." Brother Kekata said something else, but the two priests turned and continued on their way before she could make out what he was saying. "That was too close," she whispered, getting back to her feet. "Don't be such a coward," Kilo sneered, and opened the door. She stuck her head into the hallway and looked left and right. "It's clear. Come on!" The fuaro took off at a quick walk, and Adlis followed close behind her. She glanced back to make sure Za had come with them, and then looked ahead to try and recognize anything. The church's hallways, she realized to her dismay, were almost identical. The maze of corridors was all but impossible for an unexperienced person to navigate. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Kilo asked at last. "I think so," Adlis answered, though in truth she wasn't even sure what part of the church she was in anymore. Luckily for them, the Kulgan's voice suddenly rang out in the distance. "MY PENDANT!" he cried in desperation, though he sounded considerably weaker than he had before. "PLEASE... PLEASE GIVE ME MY PENDANT!" "There!" Adlis exclaimed, taking the lead again. She hurried in the direction the voice was coming from until one of the doors in front of her thudded as Kulgan threw himself against it. "Kulgan!" she called as loudly as she dared. "It's me, Adlis! I'm here to get you out!" "Ad...lis?" Kulgan asked from the other side. "Do you have my..." "Yes," she interrupted him. "I have your pendant right here. Just be quiet until we get you out of there!" To her surprise, Kulgan actually fell silent. "You have his pendant?" Kilo asked in surprise. "Where did you get it?" "That's not important," Adlis said quickly. "We need to get him out of there!" "Get back," the fuaro ordered, and stepped up to the door. She raised a claw to the lock and stuck it inside. For a few tense moments, she twisted it back and forth while Adlis and Za kept watch, convinced that a priest would come out of one of the doors at any moment. Finally, the lock clicked and Kilo pulled it open. "I chipped my claw," she complained, but before she could say anything else a gray blur shot out of the door. It collided with Adlis, throwing her roughly against the wall. "GIVE ME MY PENDANT!" Kulgan roared, foaming at the mouth and glaring at her with the eyes of a madman. "GIVE IT TO ME NOW!" "Shh!" Adlis urged him. "You're going to get us caught!" "NOW! GIVE IT TO ME NOW!" Afraid of what the Twister would do if she waited any longer, Adlis reached inside her dress and pulled the pendant out. Kulgan's face lit up in a smile, and he grabbed it from her hands. With a happy whine, he collapsed to his knees and cradled the piece of stone in his hands, closing his eyes in pure bliss. "Kulgan, we have to get out of here!" Adlis said. He ignored her in favor of holding his pendant again. "Hey, you stupid drunk!" Kilo shouted, making Adlis and Za jump. "We risked our hides getting in here to save you. Now get off your butt so we can get out of here!" Kulgan's eyes opened at this, and he stared at the fuaro as if he hadn't even realized she was there. Slowly, he nodded and got to his feet. He was the old Kulgan once again, Adlis noted with some satisfaction. "This way," he ordered, taking off down one of the hallways. "How do you know where the door is?" Adlis asked, running after him. "Have you been here before?" "No," he answered. "But I'm a Ranger. I knew the layout of the whole building the moment I stepped into the hall." That, Adlis had to admit, is pretty impressive. Kulgan led them through the church, choosing which hallways to take without a moment's hesitation. It was all Adlis could do to not be left behind. They were still in danger, she knew, but she couldn't help but feel optimistic now that they had Kulgan leading them. As she followed him, she couldn't help but take in the sorry state he was in. His clothes were torn, and blood matted his fur in several places. If she wasn't mistaken, he even seemed to be limping a bit. She wanted to ask what had happened to him, but knew that this was neither the time nor the place. Her heart leaped for joy when they rounded a corner and found themselves facing a door. Kulgan had been telling the truth- he really did know the layout of the entire building! As the Ranger reached for the knob, though, an angry shout came from behind them. "What is this?" Father Richard bellowed, standing at the end of the hallway, aghast. "They found us!" Za screeched in fright. The Kashni quickly put his hand into his robe, fumbling for his gun, but Kulgan reacted with the speed of a seasoned fighter. Before Richard could draw his weapon, the zik had whipped his hand forward, throwing his Twisting pendant at him. It struck the priest square in the chest, and he recoiled in disgust. "It touched me!" he squealed, sounding like nothing so much as a girl confronted by a bug. Before Richard could compose himself, Kulgan charged forward and hit the priest in the chest, throwing all his weight into the punch. Richard was thrown back against the wall, winded, and Kulgan followed it up with a roundhouse kick to the Kashni's head. Father Richard fell to the floor like a sack of rocks. "We need to hurry," Kulgan said, rolling the priest onto his back. "Someone is bound to have heard that." "Then stop messing with him and let's go!" Kilo shouted. "We'll need a gun," Kulgan reasoned with her, and reached inside the priest's robes, pulling out his gun. "It's not mine, but it will have to do." Without any further stalling, Kulgan snatched his pendant up from the floor, hurriedly hanging it around his neck, and went to the door. Throwing it open, he swung his gun from side to side until he was sure that nobody was waiting for them on the other side. "Come on, hurry!" he urged them before taking off into the night. Adlis and her friends followed, only too happy to leave the church behind.