A/N: Sorry about the extreemly long break since my last update but i've been having some problems with my computer and internet connection and it's taken me a while to sort out.

Chapter Five: Explanation

Xandar quickly got out of the bed and headed across the room towards the door. He gently pulled the door open and poked his head out to see if anyone was around. The corridor was empty but he could hear voices drifting up from the bar downstairs. He slowly headed toward the stairs, treading carefully so none of the floorboards creaked. Peering through the stair banisters he could see two hooded figures walking away from the bartender. He made up his mind there and then. He was going to grab his rucksack, climb out of the window and head to the church. It was obvious that he couldn't trust the bartender, who was probably arranging his transfer to this group of loons.

Back in his room, Xandar picked up his rucksack from atop of the bed and headed to the window. Just as he was about to open the window the door swung open and somebody walked in. Xandar quickly spun round and was face to face with the bartender.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Xandar didn't reply. He just stood there thinking. After a few seconds he made up his mind that he was going to run for it, and turned back to the window.

"I wouldn't do that."

Xandar hesitated, and then turned back round, fearing that the bartender had something trained on him. He hadn't, he was just standing in the middle of the room. So, Xandar went back to the window.

"I still wouldn't do that." Said the bartender again.

"Why not?" Xandar asked reluctantly, with one foot resting on the windowsill.

"Because they'll be looking for you."

"And why do they know that I'm here?" Xandar asked accusingly.

"They don't know you're here. They just think that someone's here because they don't believe that that girl came here alone."

"That girl is called Jane. And you gave her to them. How do I know that you won't do the same to me?"

"I didn't give her…Jane, to them. They just came in after you'd gone upstairs, I couldn't stop them. You don't know what the Chosen are like!" he said imploringly.

"The Chosen? What are they chosen for?" Xandar asked confused.

"They're the followers of Zoot."

"Of who?"

The bartender looked at Xandar quizzically, as if he thought that he was pulling his leg.

"Look what's your name?" he asked.

"Xandar."

"I'm Paul. Look Xandar, I'll explain all of this to you if you'll come downstairs and sit down."

"Alright."

A few minutes later Xandar was sitting in a room behind the bar waiting for Paul to reappear. He walked back into the room carrying two pints of beer and he placed one down in front of Xandar.

"Thanks." Xandar said taking hold of the glass and having a swig. "So what is all this stuff about the Chosen and Zoot about then?"

Paul sat in silence for a few minutes, seemingly gathering his thoughts.

"I don't know all the details about them. I can only tell you what I've heard from conversations."

"OK, go on then." Xandar prompted.

"Well I know that they all worship this guy called Zoot. Who supposedly grew up in a city to the south of here, and came up with this idea of 'Power and Chaos'. The leader of the Chosen, the Guardian…"

"The guy in white robes that had that girl thrown off the church roof?" interrupted Xandar.

"Yeah him. He used to hang around with this Zoot guy. Now I don't know how but Zoot died and the guardian's turned him into some sort of god, and he's been peddling this around to anyone that believes him." Paul explained.

"OK that explains the guy's in the robes but what happen to this place?" Xandar asked gesturing around the place.

"Well, about four months ago we were having a tribe meeting in this inn and that Guardian guy comes walking in with eight or ten people. He starts spouting about Zoot and how we should all follow in his glory. Now we figured that he's some sort of loon so we told him to shut up and go away, but a few of his guys started to get rough so we had to force them out and they left."

"That still doesn't explain what's happened."

"A couple of months later they came back. The Guardian now started spouting about how they've now got the Holy trinity or something, and this girl they call the Supreme Mother comes and stands next to him holding a baby."

"I've seen her too. She basically sealed that girls fate." Xandar said disgusted.

"Yeah well, she wasn't like that in the beginning. She looked like she really didn't want to be there, and she tried to escape a few times too. But after a few weeks of been locked up in that church she seemed to change. Most of them do. I think they must brainwash them or something."

"Well why didn't you kick them out like the first time?" Xandar asked.

"The problem with that is they came back with three times as many people, so they outnumbered us. We couldn't do anything about them. On the first night they got here they took up refuge in that church and took a few of our tribe with them to keep us quiet. They whittled us down slowly night-by-night, taking one or two at a time until there were seven of us left. The seven of us decided to sneak into the church and kill the Guardian. We figured take off the head and the rest of them wouldn't know what to do."

"What happened?"

"Well we got into the church, but one of us had already been turned and he started shouting his head off. So we got caught and taken prisoner. The Guardian only let me go because he needed someone that knew how to get food in around here, and to lure in travellers. And that was about a month ago."

"Why don't you just make a run for it?"

"I can't, they've got my brother and sister still locked up in there, and I owe it to them and the others that are left to get them out. I've already let down my girlfriend." Said Paul sounding choked up. "She was the one they threw off the roof this morning."

And finally as if he had been holding it back for weeks Paul broke down into tears. Xandar looked around the room uncomfortably, not knowing what to do. Finally he gave Paul a feeble couple of taps of the shoulder.

"I'm sorry." Xandar said

To give Paul time to recover from his breakdown Xandar slowly drank his pint. Eventually Paul stopped crying, and Xandar put the empty pint glass down.

"So what are you going to do?" Paul asked sniffling a little.

"Well I'm going to get into that church and try to get Jane back."

"Are you crazy. You can't do that! Why do you think I knocked you out when you were following them last time?" Paul asked astounded.

"That was you?"

"Of course it was."

"Well it doesn't matter if you think it's a bad idea I'm going to do it." Xandar said

"If you are going to do it could you at least wait until it's dark? You'll have more of a chance." Paul pleaded.

"Fine I'll wait till it's dark." Xandar replied reluctantly.

"Good."

With that settled Paul picked up both the empty pint glasses and headed back to the bar. Xandar decided that he should try and plan how he was going to get Jane out of that church because at the moment he hadn't got a clue.