"Holy Order?" Feroz looked back at them with a weird expression when he finally returned, "Everyone knows the Lori kingdom has dealings with them."
"We do understand that." Nick nodded, "But do you know something besides the common knowledge? For example, why and how are they able to freely enter the temple and what do they do there?"
"Those bastards have always been walking in freely, but they use only the eastern entrance. Also it doesn't look like there is a pass-code and they don't have to show any tokens. Guards probably recognize them from their robes. But that is only regarding the entrance to the temple grounds. There is some more detailed check at the entrance to the pyramid itself. Unfortunately my last trusted subordinate who could enter the temple disappeared two years ago, so I can't say what are the entrance procedures now." Feroz explained and sighed in the end.
Nick nodded and said, "Seems like the security, at least on the outside, is extremely strict. Even excessive. During our investigation this morning we couldn't even find any vantage points close to the temple grounds to check on the situation inside from a distance. Also around the perimeter there is nowhere to settle for prolonged observation of the gates. Seems like we'll have to check it out tonight ourselves."
"Are you really going to go inside the temple?" Feroz asked in worried voice.
"No, only the temple grounds. There are too many variables and unknowns for us to attempt entering the temple itself." Nick shook his head.
"Even if you go in only to take a look around the temple grounds, it's still dangerous. But you probably have your own mission, so I won't say anything else." Feroz sighed, "Oh, right, there is one more thing. In case you manage to find out something, please share if … uhmm … when you return."
"We'll do." Nick smiled back. The old man has dedicated his life on gathering the information about the Lori kingdom and particularly Moira and the central temple. Even if one ignored the risks of getting caught, living in Moira compared to Selva was simply living in hell, but he stayed here together with his wife just for his country and the future generations. This man deserved anyone's respect.
Nick's plan was simple. They would enter the temple grounds by scaling the eastern wall that seemed to be guarded less and then carefully check out the surroundings. There was no specific target or goal they needed to achieve – it was more like fishing for an opportunity. Even Zia agreed that if they didn't have any results tonight, the next morning they would leave towards the Sand kingdom – there was simply no reason to risk their lives for nothing. The big pyramid looked mysterious and could hold many secrets, but it also could turn out to only be sacrificial grounds for the Lori goddess.
After the nightfall three shadows left the inn through the window and silently dashed over the rooftops towards the pyramid. Youths already changed into their 'ninja costumes' and applied the 'stealth powder' before leaving.
This time it didn't take long for them to arrive at the high wall surrounding the temple. They stopped for few seconds crouching in the shadow of a two storey building across the wide street, made sure no one would notice them and dashed over.
A split second later they were already on the top of the ten meter high wall and without lingering around they jumped down. As per usual they were going in a triangle formation, thus Nick was a bit in front and in the middle, therefore he was also the one who first noticed the two guards below the wall on the side of the temple grounds.
Without a second thought Wakizashi appeared in his hand while he was still in the air and, before his feet touched the ground, both guards were stabbed in their hearts and stored inside the wristband. Only the few drops of blood on the sand were the only evidence of two people missing.
Girls landed beside Nick not making a slightest sound. Of course, they noticed how Nick eliminated the guards, but it didn't come as a surprise – they already discussed multiple scenarios on how things might play out from entering without anyone noticing to immediately escaping with several Qi masters chasing them. Thus two sentries directly below the wall was one of the best possible situations.
They chose this particular spot to scale the wall because, according to Feroz's maps, twenty meters further on the other side was a small shack which was used by gardeners who took care of the bishop's garden. And on the other side of that shack was the garden itself in a size of a half football field.
The garden, almost a park, was full of greenery, bushes, flowers and small fruit trees and it was, probably, the greenest piece of land in the whole country, except for the thin stretch of jungle along the Eternal river. It was hard to imagine how much work was put in it and how many gardeners actually worked here. Of course, the 'gardeners' here were actually Lori priests. In fact, every person on the temple grounds were priests or high priests, including guards, workers and servants. According to Feroz, this was how they managed to keep such high level of security – one couldn't even become a guard of the outer wall in this place without 'serving' goddess Lori for a decade or two.
The three youths dashed in the garden and immediately changed their formation and crouched in one line. It was already decided that after entering they will keep together in case something unexpected happened.
Using bushes as the cover, they continued to stealthily cross the garden and get closer to pyramid. There were no guards on patrol here, but Nick still proceeded slowly. He remembered very well how in Aurora's palace there were hidden Qi masters on duty and it was very possible bishop also employed such basic security.
The greenery didn't have much variety and mostly consisted of lush bushes, around one and a half meter tall. While moving stealthily, without uttering a word, all three of them mused on how much water actually was used here every day for the enjoyment of one person while most people in the country lacked it severely. It was obvious that the ruler not only didn't care for his subjects – he didn't have a single drop of empathy. No wonder the temple grounds had such high walls. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions were almost dying from thirst while one bastard was watering random bushes. If the common people from outside saw this wastefulness, they would try to rush in and overthrow the bishop with no regards for their lives.
Trio managed to cross the garden and get close to the eastern entrance of the temple when they finally noticed someone. In fact, there were eight people in total – two Qi masters at the entrance, bishop and two Qi masters, one on his each side, probably his bodyguards and three other people in dark robes.
When Nick noticed the last three, even though it was the middle of the night, he instinctively felt the dark red color of their robes. His heart skipped few beats when he noticed that the person in the middle who was currently conversing with bishop wore a hooded robe.
Nick immediately held his breath and diverted his gaze elsewhere to not let them feel his killing intent. Girls stopped as well and, from behind bushes, noticed the small gathering of people thirty, thirty five meters away. Nick motioned them to stay silent and look at the ground to keep their presence hidden. He was quite confident in the power of the stealth powder since he had used it everywhere, even in Osman's castle and was not caught, therefore it shouldn't be possible for anyone to notice them, even for an expert Qi master like bishop.
While still holding his breath, Nick suddenly realized that people at the temple entrance stopped their conversation and, after carefully looking up, he saw the person in the hooded robe slowly turn towards the spot they were hidden at. Nick's pupils shrunk to the size of a needle.
"Retreat!" He instantly commanded and dashed back towards the wall, "Big trouble! Keep together!"
They were found out and there was no reason to hold back and try to stay hidden. Girls didn't understand what happened and silently followed him. To their big surprise Nick ran at his full speed and only threw a single glance over his shoulder to see if they were keeping up with him. What surprised them even more was, when three seconds later they scaled the ten meter high wall, Nick didn't run towards any buildings to try to hide, but continued his mad dash along the wide street – he ran in the middle of it without caring if anyone would notice them.
Of course, there were not many people on this continent who could keep up with them, therefore the confused girls followed without asking anything. In fact, any unnecessary action, even speaking few words would slow them down.
"Faster!" Nick squeezed through squelched teeth, but inside he was cursing.
'F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! How the hell we could be so unlucky? Why HE had to be here?'
If the girls were confused, then he didn't have to think much to realize who noticed his presence. Besides the new elder he didn't know, he killed three Holy Order's elders himself and while none of them had superb combat abilities, the rest were not too spectacular either. Except for one person. And judging from how the one in hooded robe noticed them in the darkness of the night from such distance while they were hidden in the bushes and covered in the 'stealth powder' – there was no mistake – it had to be him!
The two girls ran so fast for the first time in their lives and still they barely kept up with Nick. Of course, they were aware he was not running at his full speed for them to not fall behind. Both had hard time imagining Nick would get scared so suddenly, in fact, it was completely unlike him. With how pragmatic his mind was – the enemy this time had to be extremely dangerous. Especially when they were running in the open without caring about those over dozen Qi masters following them. It was obvious that the real threat was the one person in the hooded robe who from the moment they left the temple grounds was tailing twenty meters behind them.
If the rest of the Qi masters were slowly falling further and further behind, this one person seemed to leisurely follow keeping this twenty meter distance as if he wanted to see what the three trespassers would do. Obviously he was playing with them.
Fifteen minutes later they were already leaving the outskirts of Moira. None of the alarms that were sounded across the city could make anyone obstruct their escape. Unfortunately the annoying person in the hooded robe was still behind them.
The three youths kept running at full speed for over an hour and Nick continued to lead them towards the east. There was no special reason for that. They just left the temple grounds towards that side and afterwards continued to run that way as well. Actually it didn't matter which way they ran – Nick was certain he knew who was following them and that it was impossible to loose the person. He spent the last hour wrecking his brains, trying to find an acceptable way out of this situation, but there was nothing really he could do and he didn't believe in miracles. On contrary, he believed miracles didn't exist – the tragic fate of his parents in both lives proved that.
They didn't run on the road, in fact, this direction only led to the desert lying between Lori and Sand kingdoms. All the regular traffic happened further down south, closer to the sea.
The four people were moving like ghosts, their feet barely stepping on the dry land. Their steps didn't make any noise and there were no footprints left behind either. On the way they could see few trees here and there, but apart from those, there was nothing else – no farms, no wild animals. Everything pointed at the proximity of the desert.