[center]III.[/center]

As though it wasn`t bad enough that members of the clergy, the clerics, of the church within the Empire`s realm left a bad taste in my mouth that I couldn`t wait to spit out, this man...this robed embodiment of all things evil, could only stand here frozen with a smirk on his wrinkled face. When his life was only a flick of my wrist away from being over, he glazed from the corner of his eyes, trying to get a better look at my eyes from the dark cloth wrap which shrouded my visage. His attempts to bring the candlelight up and closer to me had failed in the worst way, as I hammered down onto his wrist with my other free hand, causing him to unclench the brass tri-branch candelabra and sending it clanging to the smooth stone floor. At least one of my problems had been resolved, the flame was no more.

"Ugh! What is it you want?!" He said in an almost hushed ferocity. Obviously, I`d irritated him enough that the smile was wiped from his face, so naturally, I couldn`t help but delight in the moment.

[i]Sub-mission accomplished.[/i]

"Compliments will get you no where quick, cleric. Just be happy that I didn`t break your arm in the process." On the other hand, at his age, I probably fractured something, besides his ego.

"For crying out loud, girl, if you`re going to kill me then be-" 

I cut him off, mid-sentence, with just enough pressure against his throat to make my point. His voice was a bit loud, probably too loud since the hallway acoustics were quite impressive.

"First of all, I need you to shut your mouth and do as I say, do you understand?" I quietly demanded into his ear, not wanting to add to the already broken silence. "I`m not here for you, anyway, so lets keep it that way, yeah?" 

I heard the unlatching of a door down the hallway, and quickly pulled the cleric and myself back into the shadowed door inset directly behind me. The door near the end of the hall opened, which happened to be the one occupied by the zealot, Marcus. I could feel the cleric shifting around slightly.

"Move just another inch, and you`ll be missing more than one vital body part." I had to hand it to myself, my threats, whether empty or otherwise, came off pretty harsh at times. But, if I can`t bluff my way through a situation well enough, then what good was I?

A silhouetted figured emerged half-way outside of the doorway. "Hello?...Velan, is that you?...have you brought the necessary ingr-...oh, forget it, I`m obviously talking to myself..." He abruptly closed the door.

The voice was nasally, slightly high-pitched, and every bit as annoyed as ever. Had he been waiting for this man to retrieve something? Figured it was time to find out.

"So, tell me, are you this...[i]Velan?[/i]." The name even caused an acidic taste in my mouth, and I didn`t know him from a hole in the wall. "If so, just nod once."

The nod came. Slowly.

"Good. So what was it that Mar-...that the other religious nut wanted from you?" I hadn`t wanted the old man to know who my primary target was, and I hoped, for his sake, he didn`t catch that slip of the tongue. "If you have it on your possession, then slowly present it."

The old man shifted his arm around and slowly raised up a hand-sized tin box to my eye level. It had several runic etchings along it`s side and the lid was pyramid shaped with an ebony tip. With my other free hand, I attempted to grab the tin, but the old man`s fingers snapped firmly around it. 

"No, you must`nt..." He frantically whispered.

"Let go you moron!" I growled through my clenched teeth as the tin box dislodged from his grip, and I quickly slipped it into my leather pouch. "Pull another stunt like that, and you`ll loose those fat greasy fingers, I swear."

I truly hated this old man.

After composing myself and resisting the urge to cut his throat right then and there, I decided it would be more beneficial to stay the course. I needed him, as much as it pained me to think about it, and I had to keep focused as well.

"As I stated when we first met, you have something I need. You`re going to get me into that room at the end of the hall..." I motioned my free hand in the general direction. "...and I know you can. I also know that you all have a secret panic phrase if you are in trouble and calling to another member of the congregation." Part of that was true, I knew they had circulating pass phrases to identify one from another, but I was unaware of exactly what theirs was. No matter though.

"I would strongly advise that you not use that panic phrase since our [i]association[/i] is well aware of and up-to-date on this churchs activities. Oh, and of course I would kill you if you tried." Figured I would let him meditate on that, even though I`d threatened him enough times already. "If you agree with this, nod and I will continue.".

He nodded, several times, in fact. My guess is he was just getting as tired of this as I was. Too bad for him, because he was still needed.

"Good. We`re going to make our way, together, toward the door at the end of the hall. You will knock, announce your presence, and advise that you have urgency which requires his attention." I paused, trying to think of anything in particular, but continued regardless. "If you understand, start walking slowly."

My intention was to get Marcus out of the room, away from his child, so at least my job would be that much simpler. I couldn`t subject this little girl to such a thing, no matter how I looked at it.

I escorted the old man at knife point, watching for a sudden flinch or possibly a weapon of his own. I hadn`t even checked him for anything, but then again, something told me he wouldn`t have used whatever he had. We made it to the end of the hallway, and I leaned against the shadow of the wall, a couple of feet from the door, motioning with my head for him to move forward with his part of the bargain. 

Before the knock could even come, a stern voice from the other side burst out. "Yes? Velan, come in! I was wondering when you`d get here..."

[i]Okay.[/i] So Marcus was now, what? A psychic?

[color=f7941d](to be continued...)[/color]