No intro to this one aside from the fact that chapter two has been revised so that Triton gave each of his three daughters daggers as a precaution, and to make this story a bit more believable.

Chapter 5

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a raspy voice said.

The three girls each felt a cold shiver run down their spines at hearing such a voice. It did not sound at all friendly or inviting, a frighteningly stark contrast to all the human voices they had heard up until then. This one sounded threatening, a very real threat, one that they had somehow forgotten since they had first entered the town. The warnings their father had given them numerous times about the dangers of the human world came flooding back into their minds. There were, of course, the daggers. Their father had prepared them for such an encounter. But even though they remembered the daggers their father had given them, none of them were particularly eager for a fight. They were in unfamiliar territory. None of them knew the lay of the land. That left only one other option. All three girls knew they had to run, but even as they took the first step to run, they were cut off by two other men. It was then that the three girls got a look at their would-be attackers. There were three men in total, dressed in dark clothing. Two of the men had scarred faces and different colored eyes. All three looked dangerous. This must surely have been the kinds of humans their father imagined.

"Three girls, it looks like," the second one said in an equally raspy voice. "Three rich girls by the looks of it," the third one added in a gruff voice while pointing at the pouch of coins that Aquata was holding. And then suddenly, one of the men grabbed Alana by the waist and roughly pulled her back. Alana yelped at the sudden contact. "Alright, missy, give me the pouch or else she gets hurt," the third man threatened Aquata. "No," she gasped. "You heard me," he whispered. "You don't want her to get hurt, do you?" Aquata froze. The tone of the man's voice made it perfectly clear that he was willing to follow through with his threat. Half of her wanted to give up the pouch, just to make sure Alana would be safe. But then they would be without money, unable to return to Atlantica, and still no nearer to finding Ariel. And for all she knew, the men would attack them anyway even if she did give up the pouch. As she thought about all of this, Adella suddenly stepped forward.

"Let her go," she said, trying to make her voice sound as threatening as possible. It quickly became clear, however, that the bandit was not intimidated in the least. "And who's going to stop me, you? I'd like to see you try," he retorted with a leering look. Something in what the man said made Aquata's skin crawl. She instinctively placed herself between Adella and the bandit as a sense of protectiveness took hold of her. It sparked her anger within her and overwhelmed her fear. She was suddenly ready to stand and fight. Her right hand shot to her waist as she drew out her dagger. She held it up near her chest and pointed it towards the bandit, the blade reflecting what little light remained in the night. "You were saying?" Aquata growled.

"Oh, so you want to fight, huh?" the bandit sneered as he drew his own dagger. "You made a big mistake," he said. Aquata stiffened as she gripped her dagger even tighter. She knew there was no going back from this point. By drawing her dagger, she was now fully committed to a fight. Her pulse quickened as she felt her entire body begin to heat up. Small droplets of moisture materialized seemingly out of nowhere on her face. The moisture also formed on the palms of her hands. She saw that it helped her grip the dagger better.

"I have a dagger, too," Adella said. "If you want to fight her, you'll have to fight me, too," she added as she took a step forward, placing her right hand near her waist.

"Is that supposed to scare me or something? Because it doesn't," the bandit snorted. Aquata felt her muscles tense as she began to grow angry at the bandit. Not only did he pose an obvious danger to all three of them, but he was interfering with their search for Ariel.

"You shouldn't be so quick to fight them," one of the other bandits warned him in a harsh whisper, just loud enough for Aquata to hear him. The bandit with the dagger turned around to face him.

"Oh yeah, and why is that?" he retorted.

"We told you this," one of the other men hissed suddenly.

"I don't care what you said earlier. I want their money, now. What's so special about them, anyway, and how do you even know them?"

"Hush!" the bandit hissed.

"What did you say?" Aquata asked.

Aquata never got an answer to this, because as all of this was happening, Alana was plotting her own escape plan. Without warning, she stomped on the bandit's foot. The bandit yelped in pain as he let go of her. As this happened Aquata realized they once more had the option to run.

"Run for it!" she shouted.

"I'll try to find help!" Adella shouted. She turned and broke into a sprint in the opposite direction, heading back towards the town square. In her haste she dropped the basket of baked goods to the ground. Adella paid no mind to it and continued running. "Get her!" one of the men shouted. One of them turned to chase her, but Adella ran faster and got away and ducked down an alley.

Aquata broke to run in the other direction. But before she could get very far, one of the men grabbed her by the wrist. She dropped the dagger.

"Got ya, girlie," he sneered. Aquata squirmed as she tried to escape from him, but his grip was too strong for her.

"Help!" she cried as loud as she could. The bandit harshly pulled her towards him and clamped his left hand over her mouth. "Not another sound out of you," he growled, "or else I'll give you something to scream about." As he spoke, he drew out his own dagger with his right hand and held it threateningly close to her neck. Her eyes widened in fear. "Now, I'm not going to ask you again. Give me the pouch," he whispered. Aquata could feel the heat from his breath on her skin. She fought against every instant to try to squirm away out of fear of what he would do. Her gaze slowly shifted towards Alana who was still trying to escape. As her gaze fell on her, her younger sister managed to break free for a second, but the other bandit quickly grabbed at her again before he shoved her to the ground roughly. As he toward over her, Alana screamed.

Attina stared at the picture in horror, complete and utter horror. She had not known what she was going to see what she started reading the book her father had assigned to her, but she never thought she would see something as awful as what she saw now. When she had first opened the book, she had been greeted with something that appeared completely normal, if still a bit confusing. On the inside front cover was a man sitting on an opulent chair. He was clothed in a white robe with a red mantle on his shoulders. Under the picture was a caption that read "His Holiness, Pope Pius IX." Attina had heard many titles and honorifics, but "His Holiness" was completely foreign to her. A short introduction of the book detailed that it had been translated into many languages from its original language, which was called "Hebrew." Attina knew that if the book had been translated into that many languages, then surely it would be a book either of great interest or importance to humans. As she began to read, she knew that there would be words and expressions she was bound not to understand. It was after all, a human book, so when the book included such phrases as "the fall of man," and "the promise of salvation," and "the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ," she could not feel too frustrated. She only hoped that there would be an explanation of them further in the book. As she continued to read, she began to piece together the book's contents as best as she could, although there remained many terms and phrases that were foreign to her. According to this book, which was divided into two halves, or "Testaments," it told the story of the entire world, in fact, all of existence, being created by a single deity that humans worshipped, what it claimed was the "One True God." This deity created both man and woman "in His own likeness and image." Attina quickly realized that this was some kind of book on a human religion. It was then that Attina saw the picture.

In the center of the picture there was a man whose only garment was a white cloth loosely fastened around his waist, and a wreath of something very sharp on top of his head, which was encircled with a bright yellow ring of light. The wreath had been fashioned from a material resembling coral branches, and whatever it was appeared to be just as sharp as coral. Spikes were driven through his hands and feet, nailing him to two large beams that crossed each other near his shoulders. Attina recognized it as the symbol on the book cover. Above his head was a sign displaying the letters I.N.R.I. Attina was too afraid to ask herself what that could possibly mean. And then there was the blood, there was blood everywhere, from the wounds in his hands and feet, from the wreath piercing the top of his head, from a deep gash in his side, and from all the cuts and lacerations all over his body. And although the man must have been in unspeakable agony, he did not show it, instead casting his dark brown eyes upwards, a look of immeasurable sorrow on his face. A single tear streaked down his cheek, soon to be absorbed by his short, neatly trimmed beard. On either side of him were two other men hanging from the same crossed beams. One of the men sneered at him while the other man had his head lowered in shame.

Attina knew very little about the human world. For her, it was a dark, distant realm that did not seem entirely real. And although she did not quite believe the human world to be as barbaric as her father thought it was, she was not entirely willing to accept Ariel's view of it, either. She was still wary of the human world, and there was one hint of wisdom she gleaned from it, that it would be best to regard an unknown entity with suspicion until it could be proven that it was not a threat. But one thing about which she was absolutely certain was that nobody, no creature of land or sea, could possibly deserve that kind of cruelty. And with that, a single thought entered her mind.

I need to know what happened to him.

She hastily searched the book for any sort of clue where she should start reading, which was made harder by the fact that for some reason the book did not contain a table of contents, nor were there any page numbers. The introduction indicated that her best chance of finding her answer was in one of four accounts called "Gospels." She quickly flipped back towards a page near the front of the book which broke down the two halves and saw that the first part of the so-called New Testament was a section titled "The Gospel According to Matthew." Finding her answer, she flipped the pages again and soon found it. The opening consisted of some sort of long-winded genealogy filled with names that could not have sounded more foreign to her. The entire passage seemed unnecessary as it gave no further details about any of the people mentioned in it. It took several paragraphs before she read something that caught her attention.

Now the generation of Christ was in this wise. When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child, of the Holy Ghost.

The what?

Attina now dreaded reading this even further because she now felt this would only leave her with even more questions for which there would be no answer. She grabbed a scrap sheet of paper. At the very least, she could take notes. Despite not knowing what some of the words were, she was able piece together most of the story. This Joseph intended to leave Mary, until somebody that was simply referred to as "the Angel of The Lord" appeared in a dream and convinced him otherwise. It was shortly thereafter that the child was born. And then, something strange happened.

But as she read further, she came across something far more horrific than the picture.

Then Herod perceiving that he was deluded by the wise men, was exceeding angry; and sending killed all the men children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the borders thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: A voice in Rama was heard, lamentation and great mourning; Rachel bewailing her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

Attina thought she was going to be sick. Barely even a few minutes into her reading and she had been greeted with two of the most horrifying things she had ever seen in her entire life. A pit began to form in her stomach as she swallowed thickly against the nausea that she felt building up in her throat while she fought the urge to slam the book shut. Attina looked towards her father once more. The sea king was reading his own book, appearing to be entirely oblivious to his surroundings. She watched him more closely and saw something that she had never seen before, something she never thought she would see. He was grinning eagerly, almost enthusiastically. And the source of his amusement was coming from a book written by a human, printed by humans, and made with materials from the human world. Her gaze drifted slightly to the trident, which was propped up against the table. She knew the scepter had many powers, including the power to destroy. She had witnessed it before, both on objects from the human world, as well as objects native to the sea. And yet here they sat reading human books, and their father had not destroyed them on sight, but had actually assigned them to read from them. Could it possibly be that her father's view of the human world was starting to soften? Attina sincerely hoped that he was. She knew he did not like humans, but surely even he, with his worst attitude towards humans, would think the passage she had just read was awful, would he not? The thought frightened her. They were only children, under the age of two years, when many of them could barely even speak. It mattered not if they were human. When first she thought she would soon be sick, now she wanted to cry. And all of this did not include what she knew was coming.

I don't think I can read any more of this.

But she read on, and in the next chapter, she encountered a passage where she once again encountered unfamiliar words and phrases.

And Jesus being baptized, forthwith came out of the water: and lo, the heavens were opened to him: and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and coming upon him. And behold a voice from heaven, saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he was hungry. And the tempter coming said to him: If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. Who answered and said: It is written, Not in bread alone doth man live, but in every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

Then the devil took him up into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him: 'If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, for it is written: That he hath given his angels charge over thee, and in their hands shall they bear thee up, lest perhaps thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said to him: It is written again: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again the devil took him up into a very high mountain, andshewed himall the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,and said to him: All these will I give thee, if falling down thou wilt adore me. Then Jesus saith to him: Begone, Satan: for it is written, The Lord thy God shalt thou adore, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold angels came and ministered to him.

Attina felt a cold shiver and she knew it was not from the current. The book's preface had spoken at great length about the devil and had referred to him by such ominous names as Satan, the father of sin, the prince of darkness, and the evil one. The parallels between Ursula and the Devil were frightening. Both were cunning, manipulative, deceitful, tempted, preyed upon the vulnerable, and tempted the weak with exactly what they wanted, only for it all to go wrong. Ursula carefully targeted her victims. She knew exactly where their weaknesses were and knew how to use that to her advantage. It could not be a coincidence that Ariel disappeared right after their father had destroyed most of her collection. Ursula had probably been watching her this whole time, just looking for an opportunity to strike. She probably had spies somewhere, or perhaps was using her black magic. And then an absolutely terrifying thought entered her mind.

Is Ursula the Devil? Has Ariel made a deal with the Devil?

Attina suddenly thought she was going to faint. She brought a trembling hand up to her face to rest her forehead. Her heart began to beat faster and her skin felt clammy. She only hoped that, if Ariel really had gone to Ursula, and that this story was true, that these "angels" would attend to Ariel as well. With the now persistent feeling of dread, she brought her attention back to the book once more.

And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And he saith to them: Come ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men. And they immediately, leaving their nets, followed him.

Attina was in disbelief. What sort of man was this, that he could simply tell people to follow him and they would do so without hesitation? And for some reason Attina found herself willing to overlook the fact that the men were fishing. Now the book had her complete attention. She might not have understood everything in the book, but it seemed imperative to her that she read the entire story.

Phillip stood by the fountain in the middle of the town square. For the past hour now, he and his men had been on patrol keeping an eye out for any sort of trouble. He watched as the other soldiers of his platoon milled around the square. It had been a largely uneventful night so far. They had not encountered any disturbances since the start of their watch. It had been an uneventful night so far. This was the kind of night Philip preferred, especially with an inexperienced soldier filling in for the night. If it could stay like that for two more hours, everything would be alright. A few soldiers milled around the fountain, while others checked the alleys. He looked up at the clock tower and saw it was five minutes after ten o'clock. "Alright men, I think we can take a short break. Let's rest about five minutes and then we'll continue," he announced. The soldiers relaxed at this. He watched as one soldier walked towards the fountain, removed his hat, and splashed a bit of on his face. Nathan sat down on one of the benches and stretched his legs. Out of the corner of one eye, Phillip saw Frederick coming towards him. He turned to face him as he approached.

"How is he?" he asked him. "A bit on edge, I imagine," Frederick said as he turned back to look at Nathan. He sighed softly before turning back around towards Phillip. "Understandable, given this is his first night on patrol, and being a last-minute addition, no less. But on the whole, he's been fine. He has nerves, but those will probably calm once he's been out a few times."

"He'll make a fine soldier one day. I can tell," he said.

"Yes, well, let's hope he doesn't have to be one tonight."

"Captain, you worry too much. It's not like there's going to be a battle tonight or anything," Frederick chuchled.

"Perhaps not, but it would better if things stay like they have been so far tonight."

"Did you hear something?" one of the other soldiers asked suddenly. Both Frederick and their captain turned in the direction of the soldier who had spoken. He was standing with his back turned towards them as he looked down one of the side streets off the square. "I thought I heard shouting," he said as turned around to address them.

Phillip quickly stood on alert. "Quiet, everybody," he ordered softly with a wave of his right arm before turning towards the soldier once more. "What did you hear, Nicolas?" he asked him.

"I'm not sure, it wasn't very loud, but it sounded like a woman's voice," Nicolas said.

Philip could feel his muscles tense slightly. "Alright, everybody, stand at attention. We might have to act soon," he ordered them.

The patrol stood silently for a minute before they heard what sounded like a scream. The guards snapped to attention.

"There it is again," the soldier said. "It sounded like it came from over there," he said pointing to his right.

Philip gestured towards the soldiers nearest.

"Come on, with me, and load your weapons," Philip ordered as he turned towards a side street. "The rest of you stay here," he added as led the soldiers into the alley. A few blocks later, they were greeted with a sickening sight. There were two girls, both in either their late teens or perhaps their early twenties. One was wearing a blue dress and a matching pearl headpiece in her hair that was tied up in a fancy ponytail. The other girl wore a purple dress and had a small tiara on top of her raven-black hair that was styled in loose curls at the back. Both were being attacked by men in dark clothing. The girl in blue was trying to escape from one man who had pinned both of her arms behind her back, while the girl in purple was sprawled on her back as the other man was straddling her. There was also a large pouch filled with gold coins on the ground, some of which had spilled out onto the pavement. Further back he could also see a small basket filled with baked goods. There was little doubt in Phillip's mind what the second man was trying to do.

"Good God," he murmured before turning to one of the soldiers under his command. "Cut through the alleyway, block off their escape route, and take some men with you. Make sure they don't escape," he ordered softly. The soldier nodded once and took off. Phillip turned back to the situation in front of him. He immediately reached for his saber while silently gesturing for the guards to draw out their guns. As he pulled the sword out of his scabbard, the sound of metal scraping against it cut through the night air. All three bandits looked up quickly in reaction to the noise and saw him. "Get off of her, you swine!" Phillip shouted as he raised his sword threateningly.

The bandit who was straddling the girl in purple immediately stood up and sneered at the girl, shouting, "You haven't seen the last of us!" Philip could feel his skin crawl as he heard the voice. It was raspier than any voice he had ever heard before. Raspy, slippery, gurgled, he might have thought. If he had not heard the words come out of the man's mouth, he would not have even been sure it was entirely human. But just as quickly as Philip thought this, the bandit turned and fled as he broke into a sprint.

"Hey!" Philip shouted and made to give chase. He dropped his sword and pulled his gun from his holster but stopped when he saw that the other bandit was now suddenly holding a dagger against the other girl's neck. "One more step and she dies," the bandit sneered. Using the dark to his advantage, Philip quickly raised the gun and pointed it at the bandit's head.

"And one sudden move and you die," Philip countered.

"You know just as well as I do that that gun is not entirely accurate. How do you know the bullet won't hit her instead?" the bandit asked tauntingly.

"Let her go so we don't have to find out," he growled in a low voice, but the man made no indication that he would. Even in the dimly lit night air, he could see the fear in the girl's eyes and in her whimpering, making his anger grow further.

"I said let her go, now," he snarled as he slowly began to pull down on the trigger.

"I heard you the first time," the bandit mocked him. "You think I actually fear you?"

"I don't care if you fear me or not," Phillip spat in disgust. "But the only thing that matters here is you won't get out of this alive unless you let her go," he threatened him. Phillip watched the bandit slowly turn around as a few of the soldiers were slowly moving to cut off the bandit's only escape route. It would only be a matter of seconds before the smug look would disappear from his face and he would be apprehended, shouting empty threats as he would be dragged away to be thrown into the dungeons. Philip smirked. But as he did so, the bandit sheathed his knife quickly before roughly shoving the girl towards him. Phillip barely had time to lower his gun before she crashed into him, her body nearly knocking him over as he caught her in his arms to keep her from falling. The shock from the collision caused him to squeeze the trigger inadvertently. An instant later, the gun fired, right near the girl's face. She screamed loudly and tightly grabbed onto his uniform. Phillip looked up and saw that the bandit had managed to escape. He swore inwardly, first for failing to stop him from escaping, and second for scaring the girl even further immediately after she had been through a near-death experience. Now he had to deal with both the girl and the bandit. At least the bandit could be handled by others. He placed the gun back in his holster before turning his attention to the girl, who was now in a near panic attack. She was shaking violently as she buried her face in his shoulder. Philip winced before looking back up and gestured towards where the bandits had fled. "After them," he shouted. A few soldiers volunteered themselves and gave chase while he turned his attention back to the girl who clung to his jacket. She was still shaking but had appeared to have calmed down slightly.

"Are you two girls alright?" he asked them. The girl in the blue dress nodded shakily. "I-I think so, thank you," she said quietly.

"I didn't mean to scare you like that, but why are you out this late at night? It's not safe to be out this late, especially with bandit attacks like the one you just encountered."

"I'm sorry," the girl said shakily as she slowly let go of his jacket. "We had only arrived a few hours ago to look for our sister and didn't know that could happen."

Phillip suppressed a sigh. The night had been going so well up until a few minutes ago. It had gone from a routine patrol to dealing with bandits and now a runaway girl. But that could not be helped anymore, so the best he could hope for was to resolve the matter as quickly as possible. Thinking quickly about what the girl had said, he immediately knew what question he would ask her first. "You said you weren't from around here?" he asked them. The girl in the blue dress shook her head.

"And what about this sister of yours that you mentioned? Is she missing?" he continued.

"She ran away from home earlier today," the girl nodded.

He softened a bit at that. "Well, perhaps we could help you find her. What does your sister look like?"

"She has red hair, blue eyes, slender, purple dress, maybe, I don't remember. Have you seen anybody like that?"

"Well, no, but I've only been out on patrol for a little over an hour, so that doesn't necessarily mean she's not in the area. Do you remember what time she went missing?"

The girl hesitated at that. "I don't have an exact time, just that it was sometime this afternoon."

Phillip nodded. "And her name?" he pressed.

"Ariel," the girl replied.

"May I ask your names as well, misses?" Philip asked quickly, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"My name is Aquata, and this is my sister, Alana," she said while gesturing towards the other girl, who was still on the ground.

Philip blinked a few times. "Aquata?" he repeated. "I don't believe I've ever heard that name before."

"My…parents especially liked the sea," she said after some hesitation.

"I see. But tell me, Miss Aquata, if you don't live in town, how can you be sure your sister is even here?"

Aquata hesitated once more before speaking. "I…I don't know," she said finally. "My father simply thought this was the most likely place she could be."

"So, you live nearby, then, at the very least? Where do you live?" Philip asked her.

The girl froze at that, and for the briefest of seconds, Philip thought he saw panic in her eyes. He narrowed his own eyes slightly, unsure why such a question would induce such a reflex. There was something this girl was not telling him, and his suspicion grew. He saw her eyes dart back and forth between her sister and him. Philip turned to see that the other girl - Alana, was her name? - had still not gotten up from the ground, and for some reason none of the men had offered to assist her. He gestured from one of the guards to the girl. "Well don't just stand there, somebody help her up," he ordered impatiently. After he said this, Aquata finally answered his question. "Yes, that's why our father sent us here, because it's the nearest place she could go."

"Do you live within walking distance of here? My patrol can escort you home if you like," Philip offered. "We don't," Aquata said quickly. "We were actually looking to find a place to stay for the night, but we had taken a wrong turn and those men attacked before we could turn around." As she said this, the guard went to Alana and crouched down beside her, holding out his hand. She looked at it with some hesitation before she slowly slipped her own hand into his, wincing slightly as she stood up. "Are you hurt?" the guard asked her. "In my foot," Alana gestured. "Here, lift it up for a second, I'll look to see if something is wrong with it," the soldier said.

As Alana lifted her foot, the soldier carefully removed her slipper, revealing that her ankle had swollen considerably and was now bright red. The soldier grimaced when he saw it. "Oh dear," he murmured. "What? What's wrong?" the girl asked nervously. "You look like you might have sprained your ankle," he told her. "Is that," the girl began before hesitating briefly. "How badly?" she asked him. "You'll probably be fine, but I think it would best if somebody took a look at it," he said before turning to Philip. "Captain, if these girls are from out of town, and this one is hurt, I think perhaps we should bring them back to the palace. It's getting late and all of the inns are sure to have closed up by now. Perhaps one of the earlier patrols might have seen their sister."

Philip nodded. "I agree. You can resume your search tomorrow morning, and we'll help."

"No wait, Adella!" Aquata cried as Philip took her by the arm. Phillip stopped suddenly and turned back towards Aquata. "Who's Adella?" he asked her.

"Our other sister. She fled when those men attacked us. And now she's out there somewhere alone and I have no idea where she could be," she said frantically, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Phillip took a calming breath. It seemed like this entire night was only getting progressively worse. He wanted the whole ordeal over, for both their sake and his. "Don't worry, miss, we'll find her," he reassured her, "She can't have gone very far. We'll form search parties. Which way did she go?"

Aquata hesitated. "I…I don't know. All I know is we were coming from the center of town," she told him.

"What does she look like?" he asked quickly.

"Slender, yellow dress, nearly the same hairstyle as me," the girl said hastily.

Phillip turned to address the platoon of soldiers. "Men," he shouted, "we have a missing sister to find, and we must act quickly in order to find her. We don't want her running into more trouble. We'll split up into groups of three in case you encounter any trouble of your own. And be especially careful, something about that one voice rubbed me the wrong way. I'll stay here and escort the girls back to the town center. We'll rendezvous there once you have either found the girl or apprehended the bandits." Frederick!" he called out. One of the men stepped forward. "Yes, sir?" he said.

"Search the surrounding area near the cathedral. Take Nicolas and Dominic with you," the captain ordered. Frederick wordlessly nodded before turning around and gesturing towards two other soldiers. Philip then turned to a second group of men. "Josiah, head north and search the harbors. Take Abraham and Stephen with you. And Francis, take Edward and Henry with you and search the east entrance to town. Alright men, move out, and good luck," he said. As each group of men went their separate ways, Phillip turned his attention back to the two girls and gestured towards the main road. "This way, please," he told them.

A/N: I was apprehensive about this chapter for a number of reasons, namely the fact that I'm not sure if it's entirely satisfactory, not just for the readers, but for how I wanted it to be. I wanted to get this one up before the month ended, and even though I looked over the chapter as much as I could, I don't know if I caught anything I meant to add, because I usually skip around when I write things. For the scenes where Attina reads from the Bible, I chose the Douay-Rheims translation. I wasn't sure if the scene really works to show her reading large patches of text as it might come off more as filler. Oh well, that's what reviews are for. You are going to review it, aren't you?