*7*

The metal of the gun was cold on the skin of his temple.  Tae let out a breath of defeat and closed his eyes for a moment.

“You’re good.  What are you, an ex-Agent?”
Opening his eyes and looking sideways at the bald bouncer’s white round face he shook his head.  “No, ex-cop.  You?”
The man came around to Tae’s front and dropped his gun to stomach height.

“Just a regular ex-con.  What d’you do to Tandi?”
“Nothing, she’ll wake up tomorrow and be fine.  What now?”
“First give me your weapon.”

Slowly, Tae lifted his gun hand.  As the man reached to take his weapon a gunshot fired loudly.  The bouncer was pushed back by the impact, dropping his gun as he fell against the stone pillar and down to the ground.  His heart racing, Tae stepped behind cover and listened carefully.

The shot had come from the wrong side of the chamber to be Father Owen and besides, an accurate shot at that distance with adequate light would have been difficult for anyone let alone a priest standing in this gloom.

“This one’s dead, Taelin.”  At the voice, Tae peaked around the pillar to look at the speaker.  Someone was crouched over the body of the young man in front of the archway entrance.  It took a moment for Tae to recognize the voice.
“Did I kill the other one?”  Father Owen’s voice was deep and calm.  Tae frowned but leant down to check the pulse of the bouncer.  Dark blood seeped out across the man’s white shirt and chest.  Tae couldn’t see where the bullet hole was but it didn’t matter anyway because there was no pulse.

“Dead.”  Tae picked up the bouncers gun from the ground, flicked the safety on and shoved it into a jacket pocket; the guy wasn’t exactly going to use it again.

Standing to face the priest he felt oddly creeped out.  He hadn’t sensed Father Owen at all and the man had come from the wrong direction.  The man had killed someone at 100 feet with a handgun, limited line of sight and nearly blind.  More so, the man was a priest, which was supposed to be the most pacifistic profession on the face of the planet.

Tae tried not to show in his voice how spooked-out he was.  “Where did you come from?”
“There is another entrance on other side.  You did say to be careful when I came back.”  There was a touch of amusement in the man’s voice.

Tae frowned and scrubbed at his hair with one hand in his confusion and surprise. Giving himself time to figure his thoughts out, he walked slowly towards the priest.

“Are… are the others safe?”
“Yes, they should be up in the Cathedral by now.  Here.”  The man passed him what felt like an electric torch.

Taelin turned the torch on and looked around them at the ground.  The young man’s gun had dropped and bounced nearby into a small pool of water that had collected in the carved indented Symbol of the Founder in the floor.  Often guns wouldn’t work if they’d been underwater, but he could probably clean it out and get it to work again.  He dipped his hand into the small pool of water and put the gun into his other jacket pocket.

Father Owen’s face was almost cold as he met Tae’s eyes.  “You’ll have to come by later with some help to get rid of these bodies and I’ll need a hand to fix the wall they broke through.”
Tae nodded slowly.  “Of course.”

Tae followed the priest silently as they headed in the direction they’d gone with the family before.  He didn’t know quite how to broach the subject with Father Owen, to find out why he wasn’t like other priests or even if he really was a priest.

They walked through the rows of carved stone coffins and past the far wall where a large black stone throne was carved into the circular indent of the wall.  In the artificial torchlight Tae saw a lot of intricate carved detail in the floor below his feet.  The whole surface, in fact every surface within sight was carved.  It was as if the entire place was an art piece.  He felt slightly guilty to even be walking over such intricate art work.  But there was no choice.

Walking through a large gap neatly cut into a wall they entered another chamber.  This one was much smaller but no less ornate and filled with more carved stone coffins.  He followed Father Owen silently as they weaved around and between the coffins to a flat black bricked wall on their right.  At first he didn’t recognize that this wall was different, but then as he stared at it he realized that it was the only section of wall that was not ornately carved.

Father Owen silently approached the wall and using a broad hand pressed a stone at about eye height.  The stone brick moved into the wall a few centimeters and much of the blank wall moved inwards and became a door.  They stepped into a dark narrow brick corridor which led to another opening.

Father Owen walked ahead down the corridor, through the gap and as Tae followed he found himself in a small sleeping room.  A fire was burning in a nearby fire place, a bed with blankets and a pillow stood in one corner and a desk with a modern chair sat next to it.  All other available space was taken up by shelves filled with books and old parchment.  An old fashioned fire torch hung in a metal bracket near the desk and illuminated much of the room.

As he looked around at the remarkable little room Father Owen turned to look at Tae with a firm and intense look in his eyes.  “You no doubt have questions, Taelin.  Now might be a good time to ask them.”

Taelin was taken aback by the man’s directness.  “I do have questions.  I wouldn’t know where to start, though.”
“If you could only ask one question which would it be?”
Tae leant on the large black stone hearth that surrounded the fireplace.  There was only one question that really mattered to him.  “Who are you really?”

The man put a hand on the wooden desk nearby and frowned.  “What do you mean?”
“You have an ease with guns that no priest I’ve ever known has, you’re also a fair shot and you don’t seem to have any moral conflict with killing folks.  You just can’t be a priest, what are you?”

The man’s blue eyes almost glowed in the reflected amber light of the fire and one corner of his mouth lifted slightly but Tae sensed no amusement this time.

“You were a policeman, right?”
He shrugged.  “Yes.”
“Are you a policeman, now?”
“No, I’m a Rebel now…”
“I’m a priest now.”  Father Owen interrupted Tae firmly then his voice shifted to a gentler tone.  “All you need to know is that I haven’t always been a priest.”

Father Owen started to walk towards a second open doorway to Tae’s left, he didn’t look back.  “Are you coming, Taelin?”

A sense of deep sadness and grief permeated from the priest as he walked away and Tae suddenly understood that something painful had occurred in Father Owen’s past.  He immediately felt a deep shaft of guilt for prying into the priest’s private life.

He followed after the man.  The second doorway led to a narrow and steep stairwell.  As they made their way up the very old looking stone stairs he watched the man’s broad back.  This man had helped the Rebels for a few years now.  Putting his own life at risk and risking the Cathedral as a whole just to help the Rebels survive.  He’d been nothing but friendly, polite and giving; not only to Taelin but to many other Rebels.  And Tae had questioned him the whole time, never saying thank you, never even realizing the deep risks involved in a private citizen helping the Rebels.  He’d been insensitive and demanding, he’d been acting like a teenager expecting something as a given without being aware of the cost and now he’d demanded personal information from Father Owen; information that he really had no right to ask for.

He stopped climbing the stairs and sighed sadly.  “Father Owen.”
The priest stopped and looked down the stairs at him, his vivid blue eyes unendingly calm.
“I’ve been so difficult.  You’ve been there to help us all along and I’ve just been a prick the whole time.  I’ve been so worried that your secrets are a threat to us that I didn’t notice how much you’ve been helping us and what risks you were taking.  Will you accept my apology?”

In the dim torchlight he saw Father Owen’s square face broaden into an open almost affectionate smile.  “Of course, Taelin.”