True Love's Seventh Kiss

Ch.12 Mana-Touched Church

"But sir! I can't just let the three of you go down there alone!" Sir Gilder argued.

"Sir Gilder, no matter what happens down there, if we don't have a ship to come back to then even if we get the Elven Spring water, we will end up just like them." Marion argued back. "Protecting this ship and crew is just as vital as standing next to us and swinging your sword."

"Relax uncle, the young master is just saying that he is relying on us. Besides, don't we have the harder job since we have non-combatants, and we have to defend this boat?" Sir Dennon wrapped his arm around the neck of Sir Gilder in an act of comradery.

A vein bulged in Sir Gilder's jaw and in a flash, he flipped his nephew and forced him into a hold that pressed his ignorant face into the ground. "How many times have I told you, when you are in uniform, that you must watch your manners, especially in front of the count!"

"But you love hugs..." Sir Dennon groaned.

"My lord, I understand. While we are defending the ship I will once again lecture my irreverent nephew on the proper protocols of knighthood." Sir Gilder said, taking a knee and keeping his nephew in a hold with his face on the deck at the same time.

"See that he is properly instructed, but also remind him of the kindness of the Cliffgard estate for those with steadfast service." Novak held back a laugh and then the three people who were jumping got hooked up.

"Bring us in quietly, Herman. We are going to drop on the roof." Marion called Herman who was the one who was most often the helmsman.

The densely expanded mana played to their benefit since they were allowed to fly at a higher altitude this prevented the dull roar of the engine from catching the attention of the ghouls.

Marion and Novak hooked themselves to the cranes on the port side and Kaliban hooked his line to the starboard side. Klayus watched over the edge and on his signal the three of them ran off the edge and did what was called a Heathen's Dive where they used minimal resistance on the line and therefore fell as fast as if there were no line until they got near the bottom of their jump. They did this because the ghouls were able to throw rudimentary magic spells, so if they spent too much time in the air, they would be sitting ducks.

They landed without too much ceremony on the roof and anchored their jump lines with weights. Luckily, these ancient buildings were fortified with magic and an ample amount of mana. No matter where there were they all looked brand new and would even repair themselves if they were struck by a rampaging beast.

On the roof set to the side and camouflaged into the tilework was a latch for a roof access. Kaliban silently opened the latch and bowed as he held it open. Marion crawled in first down the ladder and lowered himself onto the catwalk as softly as possible. There were only a couple of ghouls in the church sitting in pews with their heads down as if they were sleeping or praying.

At one end was the wide double door that was partially open and at the other end was the pulpit facing the pews. Behind the pulpit was a motif of a large tree. Stained glass windows of forestry patterns let the light in during the day and glowed in the night.

He had to crouch since the ceiling was arched and the catwalk only ran alongside the wall near the start of the arch. The ledge of the catwalk had a few glowing stones cemented into the walkway for lighting. At the end of the catwalk was a half-door that led to a stairwell to the ground floor.

For the sake of stealth Marion had traded his loud buzzing bolt thrower for a classic crossbow. He winched the string back and armed it with a regular full-length bolt. The other two followed him in and started doing the same except for Kaliban who had a short bow.

With two solid thuds, the bolts sunk into flesh. Marion's struck true and the ghoul stopped glowing and slumped over. Novaks shaky hand caused his bolt to only sink into the second ghoul's neck but Kaliban's arrow finished it off.

Marion and Novak then crawled down the cramped stairwell and silently secured the large double door. When they had Kaliban gracefully jumped from the ledge and landed without a peep.

"What now?" Novak asked.

"We look for anything suspicious. This place is our only lead but it was enough for fate to freak out so there must be something here." Marion said as he drew his sword and kept an eye on the blue-green light that told them there were no hostile enemies around.

"Should we start with the motif then? Since we are looking for a path to the world tree?" Novak suggested. Luckily the chandelier hanging from the ceiling gave enough magical light for them to see.

"This place is beautiful. How long do you think it has been since anyone saw the inside at night?" Marion asked, spinning around and looking at the beautiful yet simple chapel.

"A very long time, young master. You could say that this is a sight only dead men and fools have witnessed." Kaliban answered.

"Let's try to remain as the latter." Novak quipped. "To think our first father-son outing would be here. My friend Gurrand would say such a thing was incredibly typical and stupid of me." he chuckled.

"I didn't know you had friends, father" Marion said.

Novak coughed as he clutched his chest. "I will have you know that I was not some antisocial delinquent who only ran around the yard as child. When I was at the academy, I had a very good friend named Gurrand. He just happens to be an anti-social lout who does nothing but swing his sword and run his territory now. Which happens to be at the other side of the empire, so he doesn't visit often. He did however bring gifts when you and your sister were born."

"We will have to meet him one of these days." Marion said as he hopped up to the Motif.

"Well, if your mother gets better, I will host some kind of small ball and invite him. It will be about time for you to make a social debut, I have been putting it off due to your mother's condition. She would be very sad if she didn't get to help plan a great deal of it." Novak said. "She'll be so happy when we tell her, she loves planning parties..."

Marion watched the hope in Novak's eyes at that but also saw him force it down. Novak wanted to remain hopeful in this situation, but the reality of their predicament seemed to be something straight out of fantasy.

"Oh, what is this?" Novak said when he noticed something glowing on the wall. It was a handprint that would never have been visible in the daylight.

"Father, you are a genius." Marion rushed over. "Press it."

Following the command and the impulse. Novak matched his hand to the handprint and pushed.

A square portion of the wall slid inward and then up revealed a space and a dial with three turnable circles.

"Well, that is no good. Does anyone know the combination?" Novak looked at the symbols. "Is there some kind of clue around here?"

Marion looked at his hand. He pondered if this was the reason the Corsair had given him such a broken ability that even worked on his bolt thrower. "Let me try." Marion said as he approached the dial. It didn't look complicated. As long as there weren't any obvious traps, he could probably sort it out with enough. Time, that was his enemy.

Please work.

[Use the Cavalier's Skeleton key to disarm traps and unlock hidden door?]

[Yes/No]

Bingo!