Continued Conversation
Chapter Three
Part One
Line was in the courtyard, since meeting Prince Vax’dian, her mind would wonder about her past and all the things she was hiding. She was upside down, using her non dominant hand to stay upright in a one arm handstand. She was perched on top of a wooden training dummy. The courtyard was empty at this time of day, making it the perfect place to spend some time in silence. But of course the peace didn’t last long.
Walking through one of the round open doorways was Ali “here you are” Ali came forward and sat onto the raised veranda railings, crossing her legs as she did so “why are you all alone again?”
“I’m thinking”
“About what?”
“The past”
Ali smiled “Now do you want to hear the chicken story?”
“no”
Ali huffed “boring”
The place grew quiet once again, but once again it didn’t take long for Ali to break the silence.
“Why do we still have Kidd?”
“because, he has yet to answer my questions”
“How come?”
“I do not know”
“are the questions about The Sect?”
“Not entirely”
“I’m still curious how you know about The Sect” it was a male voice, one they recognised.
Sat on top of the raised veranda roof was Prince Vax’dian, fan in hand. Standing next him was Hyde.
Line observed them “how did you get in?”
“My father does own this building”
Ali’s eyes widened “wait, the king owns this monastery?”
“Yes” Line answered “but that wasn’t what I meant. The monastery gates only allow people to pass through if it detects a monk token from here. So how did you get in?”
Prince Vax’dian smiled “it’s a secret” he continued “besides, I thought our earlier conversation ended short, so I decided to meet back up with you to continue. So, How is it you know about The Sect?”
“I read a lot”
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“so then, who is Kidd?”
Silence.
“I happen to know that a man by the name of Kidd is prominent figure within The Sect”
“and how do you know that?”
Prince Vax’dian looked at Line, seemingly considering what to say “I am currently intending to fully dismantle The Sect”
This peaked Line’s interest “dismantle?”
“indeed”
Line swung down, dropping to ground landing on her feet completely missing the panels jutting out from the dummy “I’m not done with Kidd yet. He still hasn’t answered me”
“then just maybe we could help each other out”
“I doubt you could help me”
Ali hopped of the railings she was on and came forward to Line and whispered in her ear “maybe we can use his help. We might need his power in the future, so maybe allying with him isn’t a bad idea”
“I work alone”
“You say that, yet I’m here”
Line stared at her “that’s different”
“how is it?”
Line looked back up at Prince Vax’dian “it just is” but Ali does make a good point. What Line wanted to do would be easier with a Prince backing her up “alright, if you want to speak with him, I can take you to him. But on one condition, I get to keep him here”
“Bargaining?” he smiled again “very well” he stood and dropped down from the roof, landing next to Line “deal”
*
Line led them all through the monastery. Passing by monks who all gave her funny looks, but she ignored them all, passing by them as if they didn’t exist.
“People here don’t seem to like you” Prince Vax’dian spoke up “what did you do for this kind of treatment?”
“I don’t know, just existing is my guess”
They passed through a large round doorway into the vast library. Line led them through the maze of books, but before turning around a corner she abruptly stopped. Prince Vax’dian and Hyde both stopped in perfect unison, while Ali walked straight into a brick like wall that was Line.
Line ignored Ali and gave a bow “Arasha”
Arasha had just walked round the corner as well. Stopping in front of Line before colliding with her “Line” Arasha looked behind her at the two newcomers who she had never seen in the monastery before “Line. Are you bringing more people into the monastery again? After Ali, I don’t think the master would let you bring any more people in”
“They are not staying”
“did you let them in? The gates wouldn’t let non monks through”
“I did” Line lied, but she would rather keep Arasha out of it.
Arasha eyed her with a curious look, but in the end, she didn’t say what she wanted to say “alright” Arasha moved passed them without a goodbye, like she always did.
When she was out of earshot, Prince Vax’dian came and stood beside Line “my good Inspector, you’re quite the liar”
Line ignore him and continued leading them through the maze of books. Until they came to the centre. The centre of this maze opened up into a small clearing, void of any books, there was a slight dip in the very centre of the floor. Line moved to one of the bookcases on the edge of this clearing, she quietly rearranged a shelf of books, and when she placed the last book there was a faint clicking sound. The centre dip opened. The dip slid underneath the floor revealing a set of stairs that curved downwards.
Line looked at the group, before moving down the stairs. Instead of the normal light wood of this monastery, the stairs were made from a grey stone. They also seemed to spiral for some time before they opened up into a long grey stone room. There were four entrances into this room. The stairs were in the middle of a cross roads, and these tunnels were shrouded in darkness.
These halls seemed to be never ending, it was a maze down here. But if you were smart enough you would realise that the walls down here matched the bookshelves upstairs. It was the same maze that Line has walked hundreds of times before.
The group came to a stop outside a thick stone door. On this door was large round sigil, painted in thick white paint. Line pulled her monastery token from her pocket and raised it up to meet the sigil. The sigil glowed with a soft warm light, and a heavy click sounded out as the lock opened.
Line pushed the door open and the group came into a pure white stone room. In the centre spot on the ceiling there was a large runic circle carved with intricately designed patterns and symbols. This design was for keeping someone satiated, so the monks didn’t have to come down here to deliver food and water. The only furniture in here was a single white wood chair that sat in the centre of this room, and tied to this chair with a thick white rope, a tall greasy looking man. Kidd was in this room.
