[hr][hr][center][img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/b4c8d8bb-ce6c-4f28-ae48-5db57c8bd072.png[/img][/center]
[center][img]https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/4b/8b/f9/4b8bf9bf56e16949792ee05fe7b3e8c5.jpg[/img]
[sub][color=c0c0c0]"Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight."[/color][/sub]
[hr][color=c0c0c0][b]Location:[/b][/color] Almack's [/center][hr][hr]

	Elizaveta chose to remain with the fallen Buckingham. Mary wished that it was not so, that she could enter into glorious battle against the coming tide of Soulless that threatened the people of London. Even though most of the persons patronizing Almack's were less pious and more proud, they were still possessed of a Soul, which meant they deserved the Lord's judgement, not that of the darkness spreading within this place. 

	So many mistakes were made tonight. Overconfidence and neglect led to this tragedy. [i]Pride[/i] led to this. It cometh before a fall, and still served as the chiefest of Cardinal Sin; the one without which the others could not bloom. Pride kept others from allowing people like her to fulfill their obligations to the Soulled, be it because of jealousy, fear, petty politics, or some other unknown motivation. Well, Mary was steadfast in her current prediction that this incident would take gigantic strides in changing that particular social dynamic. It was just a shame that people had to die first. And that is die, [i]if they were lucky[/i]. Their bodies would have to be attended before too long. She hoped that she would have the courage to forgive the people in charge of the event tonight, but there would have to be a sincere form of humble atonement. 

	But Mary could not dwell upon this at the moment. She had somewhere she was needed. The young [i]Venator est Inanimati[/i] nodded back to the Grand Duchess, intoning the words, [color=c0c0c0]"With your leave, Your Grace."[/color] in her dulcet voice, made hard by the role she was stepping into. Stealth was pointless now. She had the cover of several hundred small birds and better training than any career soldier the Empire could field, not to mention the surety of her faith propelling her onward. 

	Mary took three measured steps toward the right corridor. She strained her neck to either side, issuing audible pops from her vertebrae. She twirled her halberd in her hands as she walked, bringing it to rest in a ready position. With intonation that would have struck terror into even the most hardened criminal, Mary growled, [color=c0c0c0][b]"Let us pray."[/b][/color] and took off at a sprint. 

	The host of sparrows swirling about her, Mary flung herself toward the right corridor. She truly did intend to give supplication to God in that moment, regardless of her sudden onset of righteous indignation; and so with this in mind, kept a prayer on her lips as she ran. [color=c0c0c0]"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name..."[/color] Mary had reached the corridor and surged forward, picking up more speed. 

	[color=c0c0c0]"...thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven..."[/color] She made it to the end of the corridor. An open archway separated her from the right stairwell and the doorway to the upper Musician's Gallery for the Card Room, which she blew through without losing appreciable speed. 
 
	[color=c0c0c0]"...give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us..."[/color] The fastest way to the door beyond the middle Musician's Gallery was to use the walkway beneath. Mary slipped down into the walkway and sped across, raising the butt of her halberd to slam open the slightly ajar door between herself, and the room that was the last place she saw Virginia enter. She braced to slam open the door, reciting the last lines of "Our Father", her voice growing in might as she came to the end. [color=c0c0c0]"[i]And lead us not into temptation...[/i]"[/color] 

	She did not envy whatever godless opposition was on the other side of that door.