Kath yawned. The young acolyte paused in her rounds to wipe away the tears her yawning had brought to the corners of her round, hazel eyes. Fighting back exhaustion, she resumed softly murmuring the prayers for the goddess' protection and continued pacing alongside the marble columns that held up the roof and formed the outer boundary of the main temple. She held out in front of her a small silver lantern, lit earlier that day by a spark from the holy flame inside the temple sanctuary.

As she chanted, stifling another yawn, Kath thought longingly of her pallet in the novice's dormitory, going cold yet again. By tradition, each night, a trio of acolytes patrolled the edge of the Temple of the Radiant Lady, circling the outer courts fifteen times, invoking the goddess' protection to guard against the evil spirits of the night.

This responsibility was shared amongst all of the novices, but, it seemed to Kath at least, she ended up with the duty far more than the other girls, because Sister Thera, who was in charge of all the novices had it out for her, ever since she'd accidentally dropped a cage of sacrificial doves during a ceremony for one of the Ladies' holy days. The cage had broken open and the doves had flown everywhere, quite disrupting all the ritual proceedings.

Kath had spent the next few days on her hands and feet cleaning every speck of droppings from the escaped birds, not to mention the other sacrificial animals that had got loose during the commotion, from the marble floor of the temple, with the smallest scrub brush they had, while one of the sisters stood over her with a birch rod. She hadn't been able to sit for weeks after words, which was just as well, since she'd been kept on her feet doing every menial task the sisters could think.

A light breeze blew through the columns of the temple's outer court, rustling through the skirt of Kath's simple, thin, white linen robe, and causing the tiny flame in her lantern to flicker and dance wildly. Kath hurriedly cupped her free hand around the tiny spark to protect it from being blown out. Letting a piece of the sacred flame go out before she'd completed her rounds and prayers would incite bad spirits and bring bad luck…not to mention she would have to do the whole ceremony all over again.

At the same time, though, Kath paused in her chanting and breathed in the warm night air deeply, closing her eyes. The soft breeze held a tinge of the sea to it. The temple, though a ways inland, was close enough to the coast one could smell the salt on the wind and, on a quiet day, hear the sound of the surf.

Kath sighed. She came from a small coastal town, herself. Nothing much more than a poor fishing village really, the daughter of a poor fisherman and his wife, with a younger brother and sister. She'd been lucky to have been accepted by the priestess' to become a novice, and, hopefully in time, a priestess herself.

With few prospects for marriage, in a poor village, it had been nothing but good fortune the Sisters had passed through the village before the next slaver caravan. Over the years, she'd seen all too many girls from her village, many her friends, being led away in slaver's chains, to keep her parents out of debtors prison, for another year at least.

Pushing aside her thoughts, Kath resumed her prayers and continued her rounds. Crossing a pillar inscribed from top to bottom with the 38 prayers of Alivia the Martyr, Kath passed by a large iron brazier.

As it was a warm summer night, and none of the priestess' were observing the heaven's tonight, the fire in the brazier had been allowed to burn down low. A few red embers still burned, shedding a little light, turning the grey-white marble floors blood red

Kath hurried on past. Though the fire had burned low, it still radiated enough heat to make standing close to it uncomfortable. The few seconds it took to walk past the brazier were enough to bring a sheen of sweat to Kath's skin, soaking into her robes.

Past the brazier, it was dark. The Lady, Sori Celesta, had hidden her face, while her younger sister, Cora Celesta, the lesser moon, was hidden behind the dark mountains to the north. An ill omen. A bad night to be out. All the more reason to complete her prayers for protection. And all the more reason Kath should hurry it up and get back to her pallet and get to sleep.

The only light Kath had was her tiny, flickering flame, barely bright enough to illuminate the slender hand holding the silver lantern before her, let alone her way. Despite this, Kath walked her rounds with assurance. She knew the temples layout by heart, every pillar, every outbuilding. She didn't need her eyes to know where she was going. She closed her eyes and let her bare feet feel the smooth marble of the temple, guiding her, and concentrated on her chanting.

Kath had reached one edge of the main temple and was about to turn, when she was abruptly cut off in her prayers as someone suddenly clamped a gloved hand over the girl's mouth. The young acolyte began to struggle, but stopped as her attacker pressed the edge of a dagger to her slender, pale throat. Kath's eyes widened with fear, she had to exert all her will to be still, despite
every nerve in her body urging her to struggle, to run away.
A second intruder suddenly materialized out of the gloom in front of her. She saw he was dressed in a dark green cloak. The man reached up and plucked the lantern from the acolyte's unresisting hands. He raised the tiny silver lantern to his face, darkened with paint, and contemptuously blew it out. He nodded to his comrade before vanishing back into the night. The first man removed the knife from Kath's throat and pulled his hand off of her mouth.

As Kath opened her mouth to speak, he quickly stuffed a wad of cloth between the girl's lips, pushing it all the way to the back of his prisoner's mouth with one finger. "Hmmmppphhh!" Kath groaned as he tied a leather strap between her teeth to hold the gag in. The tight muzzle pulled back the corners of her mouth, painfully.

Kath didn't resist as her hands were roughly pulled behind her back and pressed together, palms touching, and were tied tightly with another leather strap. She winced in pain as the rough leather cut into the soft skin of her wrists. Her captor crouched down and did the same thing to her legs before lifting her up. Kath squealed into her gag fearfully, as she was thrown over the man's shoulder.

The intruder carried the kicking, squirming girl a short ways, to the shadow of one of the storage buildings that serviced the main temple, before unceremonially dumping her like a bag of potatoes onto the sandy ground of the temple complex.

Another captive was already there. She "mmmppphhh'd" into her gag, mournfully as Kath was manhandled up against her, back to back. Twisting around, Kath saw the other captive was one of her fellow acolyte's, a quiet, bookish girl named Nierra who worked in the temple archives. Their captor produced a coil of rope from within his cloak and quickly lashed the two girl's together, back to back.

After surveying his handiwork for a moment, the man disappeared into the shadows, leaving the two girls to squirm as best their bonds would allow and "mmmppphhh" pathetically into their gags. After about fifteen minutes struggling, during which time, Kath accomplished nothing more than rubbing her wrists and ankles raw and drenching herself with sweat from her exertions, neither girl were any closer to getting free.

Kath moaned in despair, at the helplessness of her situation. Who were these people? They weren't just common thieves, come to steal from the temple treasury. So what did they want? Fearful speculations as to what the intruders might do with their captives, each theory more horrible then the last, made worse by the knowledge that, struggle all she might, there was nothing Kath could do to stop them, filled the young woman's thoughts as she waited for their captors to return.   

  Peering into the darkness, Kath thought she saw a tiny light, bobbing through the temple, ahead of her. Yes, there was someone out there with a lantern, making her rounds. It was the third acolyte, Jiani, an older novice, rather tomboyish for an acolyte of the holy lady. Listening carefully, Kath could hear snatches of the girl's, quick, syncopated prayers, carried on the sea breeze.

"MMMPPPHHH!!!" Kath screamed into her gag, trying to get the girl's attention. Nierra added her own gag-muffled cries. Their efforts to warn their fellow novice were for naught. Kath watched helplessly as the tiny spark suddenly dropped to the ground, she fancied she heard the tinkling as the lantern hit the ground, and the flame went out, as Jiani was grabbed.

A few minutes later, one of their captors reappeared. Jiani was draped over one shoulder, kicking and grunting into her gag for all she was worth. It was useless, though, as she was dropped on the ground, on her belly, beside the other two captives. Before she could get up, her captor bent down, and using some more rope, quickly hogtied the poor girl.

For a few minutes, Jiana kicked and struggled hard against her bonds, grunting into her gag. Their captor watched disinterestedly, observing his captive's struggles. Finally, she slumped down to the ground, exhausted, covered in sweat, defeated. She rolled over on her side, panting through her gag.  

The three girls looked up, eyes wide with fear, at the captor, wondering what he planned for them. With silent amusement, the cloaked figure brought one gloved hand up to his lips and motioned for the girls to be silent, before disappearing back into the shadows leaving them alone in the darkness...