Saints and Scoundrels

"Ah, gentlemen, I know you're eager to behold Miss Katheren's beauty, but she has matters to attend to. Please make way!" Grayson stepped forward, shielding Katheren behind him, as he addressed the encircling crowd.

"Mr. Grayson, it is you we seek!" A man in a golden robe parted the crowd and approached Grayson with a golden scepter in hand, his face grim as he looked at him.

"Well, if it isn't High Priest Gothard. What an honor!" Grayson mocked with a bow, as if he were a servant on an opera stage.

"I've heard the rat has come to this island, but I didn't expect it would take so long to find you," Gothard said with a cold laugh, sizing up Grayson.

"My apologies for the inconvenience, forcing a blind old man like you to search so hard for me," Grayson retorted with a mischievous grin.

"Do you realize the crime of insulting a saint?" Gothard pointed at Grayson, his face turning a shade of steel.

"I'm not concerned with that. I'm more interested in knowing the crime of those women and their daughters who came into contact with a black cat," Grayson shot back defiantly.

Gothard glared at him, then felt something land on his face. Reaching up, he was horrified to find a splatter of white bird droppings on his hand.

Enraged, Gothard looked up to see the little owl Elyra flying overhead. He raised his scepter to target her, but Grayson's claw blade met his face, forcing Gothard to conjure a barrier of holy light to block the attack and propel himself backward.

"Seize them!" Bachmann, the executive priest, saw Gothard attacked and commanded with a shout. The surrounding priests opened their holy books, and beams of holy light shot toward the two in the center of the circle.

In a critical moment, Grayson grabbed Katheren's wrist and leaped, his left hand sending out five silver blades that pinned five priests by their foreheads. He pulled Katheren toward the fallen priests, vaulting over the incoming holy light.

Landing, Grayson drew Katheren's silver gun from her waist and shot through a priest's head. With a flick of his hand, his blades sliced the wrists of five priests. Tossing the gun to Katheren, he pushed her to the right and lunged to the left to dodge more holy light. Katheren, in mid-air, grabbed the gun and drew another, firing both simultaneously, taking down four more priests.

Grayson landed and drew his silver sword, throwing it at an approaching priest. His feet moved like lightning, surpassing the sword in flight and striking the priest to the ground with a punch.

As he passed, he caught his returning sword and parried Bachmann's descending holy hammer. A punch to Bachmann's face sent him flying back, crashing to the ground in agony.

"Enough, Mr. Grayson!" Gothard's voice suddenly rang out. Grayson looked to see Gothard's scepter pointed at Katheren, an angel with a glowing sword at her throat.

"Do saints take hostages too?" Grayson sneered, "I thought only scoundrels did that."

Suddenly, a flash of red light, and Elyra transformed from an owl to a little girl in black, perching on Gothard's shoulder. She tugged at his hair furiously while poking at his eyes, causing Gothard to flail, trying to protect himself and screaming in pain.

"Damn priest, damn priest, damn priest!" Elyra cursed as she pulled at his hair, yanking out a clump from his temple.

In pain, Gothard raised his scepter to strike Elyra, but a silver sword flashed, intercepting the blow.

"Elyra, that's enough!" Grayson shouted, stepping in to stop the high priest. Elyra looked back with tearful eyes, her cheeks puffed with rage, as if she wanted to tear Gothard apart right then.

"Come here, little darling, now's not the time for personal vendettas!" Grayson beckoned to Elyra.

Elyra hesitated, then pinched Gothard's ear hard, leaving a long scratch before transforming back into an owl and flying to Grayson's shoulder.

Grayson walked over to Katheren, pulling her aside, then looked back at the disheveled high priest. Gothard glared back, covering his painful ear and forehead, his wrinkled face white with anger.

"Why didn't you let Elyra blind him?" Katheren bit her lip and asked Grayson in a low voice, "That old man is blind to justice; blinding him might spare a few people from harm!"

"Don't be rash, young one," Grayson replied softly, looking at Katheren and Elyra, "Remember, our focus is on the holy relic. If we had done that, Andros, as a knight of the sacred order, would have had to intervene. Who would most want to see us clash with Andros?"

"Wystan..." Katheren said, realizing.

"So, now is not the time for infighting!" Grayson nodded meaningfully.

He looked up at Gothard, "High Priest, I apologize for the hair you've lost. May it rest in peace in heaven. I hope our next meeting will be more pleasant. Goodbye."

As Grayson prepared to leave with Katheren and Elyra, Gothard called out, "Wait, we're not done talking!"

They all turned back, their gazes filled with hostility, as if to ask: Haven't you had enough?

"I actually have something to tell you!" Gothard stepped forward, covering his head, "Someone told me you could give me the answer I seek."

"Oh, I'm quite interested to know who recommended me to you, High Priest. Surely it wasn't Captain Andros?" Grayson asked curiously.

"It was the black sorcerer 'Bloodhand' Wystan!" Gothard replied, fixing his gaze on Grayson.

"Wystan?" Grayson frowned, "Why would you discuss me? I thought you would fight until one of you died. You had time for tea and chat?"

"Wystan said you were seen in the Valley of the Genies, although I don't know where you were at the time. We lost him during the pursuit, and as he used levitation to escape, he left us a cryptic message, saying you could help us decipher its meaning."

Hearing Gothard's words, Grayson looked more astonished. He stared at Gothard's perpetually furrowed brow and shrugged, "He must be bored, thinking I have nothing better to do than solve his riddles. I don't have time for that!"

"He said the message points to the location of the holy relic!" Gothard stated gravely.

"Did he really say that?" Grayson's demeanor turned serious, and even Katheren grew solemn. She looked at Grayson and asked incredulously, "Really? Why would he tell us? What is he trying to do?"

"That's a good question!" Grayson turned and gave her an approving look, then focused back on the high priest.

Gothard paused, shaking his head, "I haven't figured out the reason, but regardless, I think we need to unravel the hidden meaning in the cryptic message first."

"Well, it looks like I have another idle matter to attend to!" Grayson sighed in mock exasperation, stepping up to the high priest, "Go on, then. What ghostly words did that black rat tell you to puzzle out?"

"He said, 'Beyond the serpent, under Luna's watch, diagonally opposed, in the king's paradise.'" Gothard looked intently at Grayson as he spoke.

Grayson pondered for a moment, then pulled out a cigar, lit it, and gazed thoughtfully at the vast night sky as Gothard followed his gaze to the crescent moon.

Just then, the injured executive priest Bachmann approached Gothard, asking respectfully, "High Priest, how shall we handle the deceased saints?"

"Bury them here, their souls will return to paradise. The location of their graves is of no consequence," Gothard instructed Bachmann.

Overhearing this, Grayson suddenly turned and asked, "High Priest, heaven is the abode after death, correct?"

"Not everyone is granted access to heaven," Gothard replied with dignity, "Only those with noble souls are worthy of ascending to paradise."

"You're right!" Grayson nodded in agreement, a confident smile playing on his lips, "I think I know where Wystan was pointing us!"

"Where?" Gothard stepped forward eagerly.

"Patience, let's decipher the message line by line," Grayson exhaled a smoke ring, then asked, "High Priest, have you ever studied astrology?"

Gothard looked at him in surprise and shook his head, to which Grayson said with a raised eyebrow, "No wonder, it's mostly witches and 'heretics' who delve into that. But if you were familiar with astrology, you could solve the riddle yourself."

He glanced at Gothard's increasingly sullen face, pointing to the southeastern sky, "The 'serpent' in the first line refers to the constellation Serpens, which is north of Cancer. It's the end of June, Cancer's time, and it's located in the southeastern sky."

"The guardian deity of Cancer is the moon goddess, corresponding to the second line, 'under Luna's watch.' Cancer is southeast, so diagonally opposed would be northwest."

He turned and pointed at Thunder Fort, and Gothard, astonished, looked back at the dark silhouette of the fortress, "The holy relic is in Thunder Fort?"

"No, you've forgotten the last line!" Grayson said with a serious expression, shaking his head, "It's the key clue among the four lines!"