Abigail began clicking her beak and whistling as they left the man's office and began walking down the street.

Aine smiled listening to her.

"I don't know what to tell you Abigail. The smell left behind by demons is horrible, but you chose to go with me. I have no choice but to follow the wise Lady's will. So that means you need to decide if you really want to be with me or not." Aine told her.

Abigail fluttered her feathers and squawked several times at her.

Aine laughed.

"Of course I don't want you to go somewhere else. I love you my little friend. But I can't change what I have to do. I understand that what we endured was unpleasant but that is part of my responsibilities. You have to decide if my companionship with you is worth what we'll have to deal with." Aine smiled.

Abigail squeaked and nuzzled her head against Aine's.

Aine smiled and reached up and stroked her head.

Abigail chirped and clicked her beak which made Aine sigh.

"I don't know. I'd like to believe if a demon had successfully infiltrated one of her Clerics that the others would know and have taken actions to stop it. But how else to explain the Clerics abandoning their responsibilities to the wise Lady's people, I'm at a loss." Aine told her.

Abigail looked up the street towards the temple they were moving towards and her eyes seemed to look intently at the temple as her head cocked to the side. She suddenly squawked, chirped and whistled.

Aine frowned as she stopped and looked hard at the temple.

"You may be right, little one." Aine said as she pulled out her bag. She slipped the chest of coins into the bag and then secured the bag back to her belt. Lady Aine pulled the shield around from her back and then took off at a run. She leaped up and caught the edge of the roof with her right hand before pulling up hard. She flipped up and over the edge to land on top of the roof.

During the flip Abigail ruffled her feathers as her claws dug in tighter to Aine's cloak.

Lady Aine moved up higher onto the roof. Pulling her sword out she intoned. "By the wise Lady!"

The white energy of Athena spread out from under her feet encircling the roof she stood on, with a gold energy weaving a spiral of spidery like webbing. They watched as smoke began coming up off the roof of the temple under that energy. As the smoke drifted up they could see intricate glyphs marking the roof. The glyphs began being dissolved by the power of the Consecration. Lady Aine began feeling the power of Athena as it swarmed up out of the roof and began filling her up.

"It looks like you were correct Abigail." Lady Aine said dangerously. "With this blessing breaking the containment spell, the wise Lady's power can flow once more into the building. Let us now deal with the masters of this plan."

Lady Aine moved quickly towards the edge of the roof at the front of the building. She leaped off to land before the entry doors.

Abigail flew up off her shoulder as Lady Aine came down from the roof.

Lady Aine spun around and kicked at the "brother" standing at the door. He was sent crashing through the door and down onto the floor as Lady Aine strode into the building.

Abigail flew in the broken door after her.

"In the name of the wise Lady, I assert her authority over this temple!" Lady Aine announced in her commanding voice.

A Cleric ignored her and used magic to cast ice at Lady Aine. Using her shield she was able to block the ice. A moment later Lady Aine's sword emerged from the back of the Cleric that was before her. She hadn't wanted to use lethal force, but the Cleric gave her no choice. Using her great strength Lady Aine flung the woman off of her sword and into another. As they both fell to the floor Lady Aine looked to confront the next one.

The woman she stabbed began smoking and then her body reverted to its natural form. A reptilian humanoid.

Electricity shot out of the Cleric's hands and struck Lady Aine. The impact forced her to drop to a knee as she was caught by surprise when she saw the other woman as the magic faded and she reverted back to her normal form. Lady Aine struggled but was able to pull her sword between her and the woman she faced.

The woman cursed as the sword negated the energy. Then her head twisted violently as Lady Aine had leapt up and kicked her in the face. She tumbled to her right, crashing into the pews.

A war mace came down towards Lady Aine's head. But Lady Aine managed to get her shield in the path to block the strike. As the steel against steel echoed Abigail dove down and struck the man's face. Her claws dug deep into his left eye.

The man doubled over clutching his face as he screamed. The mace fell to the floor as he screamed again a moment later as Lady Aine's sword was driven through his torso.

Both the man with the mace and the woman who used electricity against Lady Aine began smoking and then they both reverted to their true reptilian forms.

Lady Aine turned quickly, hearing steel striking the floor behind her. She saw Everin standing there with his dagger plunged into the back of the man Lady Aine had kicked into the door. The man who had meant to drive his blade into her back fell to the ground not far from her.

Lady Aine smiled and gave Everin a quick nod as she looked back towards the back of the temple. Her eyes went wide as she saw red smoke flying towards her.

"Abigail!" Lady Aine said as she did a backflip. Abigail flew down to her quickly even as Lady Aine landed by Everin. She twirled her sword and held it out in front of her in both hands. "By the wise Lady." She said even as the red smoke exploded over where she had been standing. The fireball created by the magic expanded quickly even as a bubble of energy engulfed Lady Aine, Abigail and Everin.

The fireball was huge, consuming a nearly sixty foot diameter which encompassed them and most of the temple sanctuary. The windows blew outwards as the fireball grew.

"Are we safe?" Everin asked quickly.

"Inside the bubble we are protected. Do not step out until the fire is gone or wait until I dispel it." Lady Aine told him.

They watched through the golden energy as everything made of wood and cloth was either destroyed instantly in the fireball or set on fire by the now raging infernal.

"What are these things?" Everin asked.

"My Father told me they are a reptilian species known as Skinwalkers. But I've never heard of any of them coming into a city like this though." Lady Aine told him. "Usually they only come into a city to gather information or do a bit of trading."

"How did they manage to subdue the entire temple?" Everin asked.

"That is a very good question. Abigail noticed markings on the roof. When I got onto the roof I was able to feel the magic. Using my Consecration, I burned the magic off. It was some kind of a reverse protection spell. It would have shielded the Clerics inside the temple from the flow of Athena's power. Without it, they could have infiltrated them quickly, either killing them or imprisoning them." Lady Aine explained as the fire raged on.

They heard shouts of alarm from outside the temple calling out for help with a fire. Lady Aine looked in the direction she'd seen the red smoke come from. Through the smoke and flames she saw a woman standing there concentrating. Obviously trying to keep the fireball away from herself. She apparently didn't take the confined space of the temple sanctuary into account when she cast the fireball spell and was now in danger of being consumed by it.

Lady Aine pulled a dagger off her belt with her right hand while maintaining the sword with her left. She flung the knife and the blade sailed through the air and had it not been for the raging fireball they'd have heard the sickening sound as the blade drove deep into the woman's chest.

As she fell to the ground the fireball began dissipating. But the temple was still burning.

Lady Aine dismissed the protection bubble.

"Abigail, get out of the building now." Lady Aine told her.

"Where are you going?" Everin asked, grabbing her shield arm as Lady Aine tried to move deeper into the temple.

"I've got to make sure there are no Clerics within the temple. I can't let them be harmed by the fire." Lady Aine told him and then pulled free of his hand and moved off.

Everin swore but followed Abigail as she flew out the door.


"Abigail!" Daithi cried out. He'd seen her flying frantically about the temple as he ran down the street.

Abigail shot off towards him, whistling and clicking her beak excitedly.

"Do you know what she's saying?" Tessa asked.

Daithi shook his head as she landed on his shoulder.

"But with her actions and the temple on fire, there can only be one answer, Aine is inside the temple." Daithi told her as they continued running.

Much like Brightsong the town had water towers spread about the town with pipes running to different spots where the townspeople could hook up the hoses to get water to the fire. People were scrambling to get the water hoses running up to the temple as Daithi and Tessa ran up.

"You know Abigail?" Everin asked Daithi as they reached the temple.

"She's my twin's companion. Where is Aine?" Daithi demanded from him.

"She went further into the temple to make sure none of the Clerics were in there. They'd been overtaken by something called Skinwalkers." Everin explained.

"By the wise Lady." Daithi said before plunging through the battered doors.

Tessa charged in after him.


Aine stepped into the office of the temple Mistress and saw a woman in Mistress robes struggling to climb out the window.

"Hold fiend!" Lady Aine said as she brought her hand up and clenched it into a fist.

The woman fell out of the window and found it impossible to move as she was encapsulated by white light.

"What is your name?" Lady Aine demanded from her.

"I'm Sister Airolase, the temple Mistress." She spoke up.

"Nay fiend. I want your name, not the name of your host." Lady Aine demanded as her fist squeezed tighter, causing the white light to grow brighter.

"Argh!" The woman screamed. "Beth'lar." She screamed again.

"How did you come to possess the Mistress?" Lady Aine demanded.

"I'd possessed an idiot girl. The fool opened herself up to my possession when she tried to help the girl without even considering." Beth'lar screamed.

"Where are the other sisters?" Lady Aine demanded.

"I-Imprisoned in the basement." Beth'lar told her.

"Return to your foul pit Beth'lar, never to return, in the name of Athena!" Lady Aine demanded as the white light grew in brightness.

Beth'lar screamed and then was gone.

"Aine!" Daithi cried out.

Aine unclenched her fist and the white power of Athena faded as the Mistress slumped to the floor.

"Back here." Aine called out as she moved up to check on the Mistress.

"Oh…what happened." The Mistress asked, holding her head.

"You were under the possession of a demon Mistress." Aine told her softly.

"Oh, well, oh, thank you my Lady?" The Mistress said, looking at Aine.

"Aine!" Daithi said as he moved into the room with Tessa.

"Lady Aine?" The Mistress said.

"Yes, but we don't have time, my brother will get you out of here while I go check on the rest of the sisters." Aine told her while helping her up.

"Aine, we don't have time. The temple will collapse at any moment." Daithi told her.

"You and Dame Tessa get the temple Mistress out of here. I've got to help whoever is still here." Aine told him in her commanding voice.

Daithi growled but obeyed as he stepped up to the Mistress.

"Be careful Aine." Tessa told her as she stepped up to the other side of the Mistress.

With the temples all being built with the same layout based on size, Aine had no problem locating the door to the basement. The hallway was filling with smoke, nearly three feet from the ceiling was nothing but smoke now.

"Is there anyone here?" Lady Aine said in her commanding voice as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Down here!" Several voices rose up.

Lady Aine moved quickly down the hallway checking each door. As she reached the last one, she saw twelve Clerics in chains inside the room. To save time she invoked her Consecration.

"My Lady?" One of them asked as they stood there.

"A quicker way to make sure none of you were possessed like the Mistress was." Lady Aine told them. "We'll have to go out the back way, the temple is on fire." Lady Aine told them before she swung her sword and severed the first chains on the first Cleric. She quickly severed the other chains as each one moved slowly out of the room when freed.

Her eyes met the eyes of the last Cleric and for a moment she paused and then quickly severed the chain. Putting her arm around the Cleric she helped her to flee the basement.

As they reached the top of the stairs that led directly outside the temple Aine helped the Cleric with her over to the group who were gathered in a small circle.

Daithi grabbed her up in his arms and hugged her tightly.

"I'm fine Dai." Aine told him softly.

"You've got to quit doing this to me." Daithi told her.

Aine laughed but turned to the group of thirteen Clerics and held out her sword into the center of the group.

"If you are a true Cleric of the wise Lady then grab my sword." Lady Aine told them in her commanding voice.

All the Clerics looked puzzled at first, staring at her and then each other.

The Cleric that Aine had helped up out of the basement pushed forth and grabbed the blade with her bare hand.

Aine smiled and slowly the others grabbed hold as well. As the last one did she could feel the extra power she was imbued with on top of the roof flowed out of her and down her sword.

Each Cleric felt all the abuse they'd suffered over the last two months fade from them as they felt that power flow into them. The wounds they had all suffered healed instantly as the power coursed through their bodies.


Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!

LouBe - So glad you enjoyed it! Hope today's continued the joy! While never hearing "prod buttock" before, it was strangely self-explaining to me! lol Good question! Looks like Everin came in handy here! lol I definitely like the friendship between Aine and Abigail as well! That was a pleasant surprise to me when the Muse revealed who the family was. I think I would be like Stephen as well. And now you know some of what has been going on at the temple! hehe

To the Adventure! -Tim