Before my body landed on the ground, Lady Musa used her power to make me hover a few inches above the floor. With a withering glance at her lover, the goddess held out her hand and said, "Restore." My body glowed blue for a moment. Musa forced my left palm to turn and face toward her as if she was my puppeteer. She watched as the cut healed itself until the wound was completely gone. When the danger of my imminent death evaporated, she directed my unconscious body to sit in an empty chair at Enab's desk. Slowly, the angry goddess turned her attention back to the two co-conspirators. "Please tell me why you forced Lord Mulligan to swear fealty to Order," she demanded in a low voice. Her blue aura slowly spread out until it covered the entire room.

Lord Bane looked around the room, unconcerned for his personal safety. While the power of the goddess had indeed taken control of the small room, the demon lord was confident that Musa wouldn't cause the room to explode, bring a black hole to erase the contents of the room or perform myriad other horrific acts on the occupants of the room. The goddess was certainly angry but her tenets and beliefs as a Lawful god prevented her from committing outright murder against himself or the hapless mortal caught in his scheme. If the roles were reversed, however, the demi-god of Chaos would not hesitate to exact punishment on the offenders. In other words, this was a heads-I-win-tails-you-lose situation. Ah, the benefits of being a Chaotic god! Bane looked at his lackey and winked. The demi-god was feeling very giddy but had to hold it inside, or else Musa will be tempted to really let loose! Despite her cool exterior, the goddess did have a nasty temper and only Bane’s divine nature allowed him to survive her “punishments.”

Bishop Canterbury exhaled deeply and wiped perspiration from his forehead. The human cleric was afraid that the blame for this debacle would be passed over to him. Fortunately, Bane appeared to be in a rather generous mood today and he was willing to shoulder the burden for both of them. To be fair, the bishop could have talked Bane out of this idea but he, too, was eager to have the player character commit to the Church and to Law and Order since the nobleman would be a tremendous asset against Chaos.

"Well?" Musa asked again as she put her hands on her hips.

"It was entirely my idea, my love," the demon lord answered as he took full responsibility. Directing a thumb at the bishop Bane said, "I convinced my good friend here that it would be best to determine this player character's allegiance as early as possible. As you know, the Lion of the East has some . . . personality traits that lend itself to Chaos. If it turns out that Larry also intends to become a child of Chaos, then the gamemaster will have a problem on his hand because his preference is to have a Champion of Order and a Champion of Chaos to emerge at the same time and then have them fight for control of Britannia. Since we are servants of the gamemaster, we must act faithfully in accordance with his wishes. Otherwise, we gods would not be able to justify our very existence inside his game."

Musa sighed loudly. While the demi-god's methods were crude if not outright cruel, Bane had acted well within his divine portfolio as the god of mischief, lies, and deception. Cooking up conspiracies to ensnare mortals was practically a hobby for Baneny. Given his portfolio, Musa was forced to recognize that Bane was furthering an objective of the gamemaster and therefore, she was powerless to stop him or punish him for endangering the life of the player character. "While your concern is appreciated, Baneny, there are other ways to convince this PC to follow the path of Order. What you just did was coercion, and I predict that Lord Mulligan will harbor deep resentment for us and the Church. A dark seed has entered his heart and I fear that it will only grow as his love for this gaming world eventually turns into bitterness at his imprisonment."

"Bah!" Bane waved his hand dismissively. "We did something similar to Merlin when he was stuck in Britannia. Larry will get eventually get over it, just like Merlin did."

"Merlin is different from Lawrence," the goddess replied and shook her head sadly. "Lawrence came from a place called the United States, and he places an extremely high value on his personal freedom. I daresay that his fear of commitment in his work and his personal relationships all tie back to his almost irrational fear of losing his personal freedom. Essentially, what you pulled with your conspiracy was to make his worst nightmare turn real."

"Merlin came from the same place as Larry," the demi-god retorted. "But Merlin didn't value freedom all that much, as I recalled. He cared more about grabbing power and becoming the most powerful player character in the history of this gaming world. I think our boy Larry here will eventually turn out the same way. I wouldn’t worry about him too much."

"No, Merlin is from the United Kingdom," Musa corrected her lover. However, she declined to refute his speculations regarding me because she had no basis to deny this possibility that I will eventually turn power hungry, too. She had seen far too many well-intentioned men become corrupted by power and, given what she knew of my mental makeup, she couldn’t discount the possibility that I will be corrupted as well.

"Bah! How am I supposed to know the difference between the two foreign places?" Bane replied with derision. "Anyhow, what's done is done. Larry has sworn a blood oath to follow Law and Order, and he will keep it."

"I agree with his lordship," Bishop Canterbury added politely as he carefully entered this contentious discussion. He had never seen the goddess this animated and upset before. "While your concerns are legitimate, Lady Musa, I sincerely believe that we can keep Lord Mulligan in the fold by allowing him access to our knowledge and our libraries if he chooses to take up Merlin's mantle someday. If we can keep him intellectually satisfied and continuously remind him that his access was solely due to his allegiance to the Law and Order, then the sting of today's events will slowly be erased from his heart."

"I pray that you're right," Lady Musa replied softly.

#

I felt someone wiping sweat from my forehead with a wet towel, and my eyes immediately opened.

"Oh, you're awake," a kind voice said. "I'll inform the Captain. Please don't get up."

Ignoring the advice, I lifted my head off the pillow and looked at my surroundings. It took a few seconds for my eyes to focus but I persevered anyway. I was in a large, rectangular room that was full of beds and partitions. "I'm in the healer clinic," I noted aloud. The place smelled weird because of all the foul smelling herbs and potions stored in this room, including whatever was boiling inside a large pot located at the far end of the room. Unfortunately, the lack of adequate air circulation (i.e. windows) compounded the problem and made the smell worse. Thus, this clinic was a place that I would rather avoid whenever possible.

Suddenly, the door opened and I saw a familiar face walking into the room—Maisen. The large warrior smiled when she saw me and quickly approached my bed. "You gave us quite a scare, milord," she teased while poking my left cheek with a finger. In truth, she was scared out of her wits when a page summoned her a few hours earlier to the bishop's study, citing an "emergency." It was a serious understatement considering the condition of Lawrence when she arrived; she saw the puddle of blood on the ground, the nobleman being unconscious, and immediately realized that he was the source of the blood. Fearing for his life, Maisen rushed over to check for his pulse; it was faint.

Without asking the bishop for leave, the captain tossed the injured man over her right shoulder, left the study, and burned her considerable stamina to bring Lawrence over to the healer back at Watch HQ. The mad dash across the Public Square, going from the church building to headquarters, would have been comical if the situation wasn't so dire; the commoners barely had time to dive out of her path as Maisen kept yelling "Make way!"

Fortunately, the healer on duty was inside the clinic when Maisen arrived, and Hepriko assured the panicked woman that Lawrence was not in danger of dying.

Realizing that she would only get in the healer's way if she stayed, the captain immediately left the clinic. Her destination? The bishop's study. When she knocked on the door, Enab refused to acknowledge her return. After a few insistent knocks and a threat to "break the door down," the bishop finally relented and said, "Please let our captain in."

Enab opened the door with a sullen expression on his face, but the large warrior brushed his shoulder on her way in. "What happened to the nobleman?" Captain Maisen demanded to know. When Bishop Canterbury's brows rose at her shocking rudeness, she quickly added, "Your Eminence," as Maisen rushed forward to kiss his hand per Church custom.

Bishop Canterbury's eyes met the captain’s. His eyes were calm and collected. "Initiate Mulligan undertook a divine ritual; unfortunately, there was a mishap of sorts and the cut on his palm was too deep. He fainted as a result but aid was rendered immediately to preserve his life. I believe that the healer will attest to the result of this aid," he added.

"Yes, Hepriko said Lawrence will be fine," the captain admitted. "Holy One, I recognize that I have no authority over church matters, but as a friend, teacher, and former bodyguard of Lawrence Eugene Mulligan, I am asking you to avoid conducting further rituals on him. I don't need to remind you how important he is as a player character," she said, thereby revealing her awareness of Lawrence's unique nature.

Enab immediately ran around the desk to stand in front of her. "Watch your tongue! How dare you admonish His Eminence!" he yelled as his hands curled into fists.

"Enab!" the bishop held up his hand before the angry young man was foolish enough to strike the seasoned warrior. "It's fine. I didn't realize how deeply she cares about the nobleman,” Canterbury admitted. “It is a testament to Initiate Mulligan’s personality to cultivate such a loyal friend like the captain.” The old cleric then turned his attention back to Maisen and dipped his head slightly toward her. "It was regrettable what happened to Initiate Mulligan but unavoidable,” he apologized. “Lady Musa had graced us with her presence and she charged him with an important task. The ritual was undertaken to help him accomplish his mission," he explained, carefully offering her just enough of a plausible explanation without the full truth of what really happened to her friend.

The gambit worked as Maisen's face immediately softened. When the gods were involved, bloodshed soon followed. "Is Lawrence god-blessed or god-damned?" she asked rhetorically.

"That is an excellent question," Bishop Canterbury replied with great relief.

#

"What time is it?" I asked with growing dread.

"It's a little past nine in the evening," Maisen said as my question pulled her back to the present.

I groaned at her answer. "I'm supposed to meet the grandmaster tonight."

"Okay," Maisen agreed readily; she was happy to hear that I remembered my promise to Kalistro. She planned to bring it up if I didn’t remember that I had an appointment with him. She turned toward the healer. "Is the patience free to leave?" she asked.

"I would prefer that the patient stays in bed overnight, but if he has an urgent meeting then he can leave so long as someone is able to escort him in case he faints again," the healer replied.

"Then we leave now," the captain ordered. "Lawrence, please put your armor back on. And don't forget to take your money pouch and scabbard, too."

"I won't," I bristled at her reminders as if I was still a child. I slowly pulled myself off the bed and started equipping the aforementioned items on my person. When I was finished, I saw Maisen impatiently holding the door open for me. I squeezed my body past her and I allowed her to take the lead.

Maisen returned to her bull rushing pace as she walked in front of me on the street. She never looked back to check that I was keeping up with her. Instead, her attention was devoted to our surroundings because nightfall had arrived.

Incredibly, it was the first time that I walked on the streets of Tregome after dark. I saw that the streets were illuminated by lanterns placed on lampposts at the end and the middle of each block. But there were still far too many shadows for thieves to lay hidden in wait for victims to rob. I started turning my head back and forth constantly, fearful of crossing paths with more drows.

However, Maisen was confident that she would be recognized in her full plate mail armor as the captain of the Watch, and would-be thieves would seek easier targets instead of trying their luck with her. She was concerned that I would be targeted, however, and she purposely slowed down her pace considerably to ensure that I could catch up to her.

By the time we reached the two stone guardians in front of the dojo, I was gasping for breath. I was deeply annoyed when I saw that Maisen was unaffected by the trek through the heart of Tregome.

Nonchalantly, the large warrior pushed open the heavy door and entered the dojo. Maisen was immediately accosted and challenged.

"Halt! For what purpose have you entered?" a guard demanded. He was well aware of her identity, but Maisen was no longer a student at the Butterfly School of Swordsmanship. Therefore, she required permission to enter the compound during off-hours.

"At ease, Rendon," the former instructor smiled when she recognized her former pupil. “Well met, Xul,” she added and nodded when the other guard simply waved at Maisen. "I am here to escort your fellow student, Lawrence Eugene Mulligan, to a meeting with the grandmaster at his request," she explained.

"That's right," I added helpfully.

Rendon nodded; he was asked by Kalistro to keep an eye for me and the grandmaster had ordered the guards to permit me and my companions, if any, to enter the dojo at any time. "The grandmaster is indeed expecting you. He is awaiting your arrival in the meditation room. Do you need an escort to take you there?" he inquired.

"I'll take him. I need to speak with the grandmaster as well," the captain replied.

"Very well. Please proceed." Xul waved for us to continue walking.

We walked across the empty courtyard side by side. Then Maisen retook the lead. She walked around the right corner of the dojo and continued heading north along the wall until she reached the midpoint of the wall. She pressed a hidden button on the wall and then slid the secret panel toward the left, revealing a secret entrance into the building. "Please keep this a secret," Maisen requested without turning around to look at me. "Now, come inside so that I can close the secret door."

When I entered, I found myself inside a narrow hallway that was illuminated by torches placed on torch bearers at both ends of the hallway. I followed Maisen as she walked eastward until we reached the last door at the end of the hallway.

The former student stood in front of the sliding panel and announced, "Grandmaster, Maisen has brought Lawrence to you."

"Please come in," Kalistro replied.

Maisen slid the partition to the left and entered the small room. Once I joined her, she slid the panel back into place.

I was surprised to see that Kalistro was not alone in the room.

"What took you so long?" Kalistra grumbled.

Uh-oh!