As Alek buckled on the belt & dagger from the ash-knight, Christopher watched for any guards in the cathedral. It was quiet. He was worried that half a hundred dirty prisoners running into the streets would alert the city watch that something was wrong. They probably only had a few minutes before the entire city went into lockdown. However, at the same time he felt guilty for hoping some of the prisoners may draw the bulk of attention. For what Alek wanted to do, they would need every opportunity.

  ‘Done,’ Alek said, raising his arms to show off the belt and dagger.

  Christopher wore a grin that he hoped did not look too mocking. What a ridiculous outfit. Barefoot, clothed in dirty rags with hair that looked like washed up on a shore, but there was the belt; cured leather with silver studs and ten sizes too large for the scrawny kid and hanging from his hip was a large dagger. Out of everything, the dagger looked most at home. The kid rested his hand on the hilt and a wave of confidence filled him. It was his as surely as he owned his own feet.

  I thought it looked like the one described. I mean, what are the odds that the day they arrest Alek, Chana starts wearing a fancy new dagger?

  ‘It looks good on you,’ Christopher said. ‘Now let's move.’ Christopher made for the staircase to higher ground.

  ‘Where are you going,’ Alek said. ‘Isn’t the plate at ground level?’

  ‘It is, but I have an idea.’

  * * * *

  Halfway through the window, Christopher realised this may not have been the best idea. Hanging over a four story drop onto the brick streets of Kerioth, the doctor tried to regain his composure, but the wind kept whipping his face.

  ‘Grab my hand,’ Alek said. He had climbed out before Christopher and now hung from the rooftop, only his face and outstretched arm showing. The stars shone from behind his shaggy hair.

  Christopher, wishing he had more than liquid courage, reached out for the boy’s hand. It was small, yet rough to the touch and once it gripped him, he knew he would never get his hand free unless Alek let go. Like a vice it squeezed him and like a trebuchet it ripped him from the window, flinging him around and up onto the roof, sailing through the night. The doctor landed with a crack on the black tiles. There was no time to relax, the roof was sloped so he had to scramble or slip and plummet. Luckily, the cathedral was covered with towing spikes and littered with stone gargoyles which Christopher was able to hold onto.

  ‘Come on, let’s go,’ Alek said, slinking away.

  Christopher turned his eyes away from the vertigo inducing drop and fixed it onto the kid’s torn back. There were scars there no doctor would ever be able to heal. Christopher felt a pang of regret, but there was no going back so he kept his eyes locked forward and followed, moving from one gargoyle to a spike and nearly falling to his death in between. Soon they came to the centre of the cathedral where their floor, the cathedral's rooftop, disappeared. A hexagonal hole fell the entire way through the building. The walls were made of coloured glass held together by thick iron bars that weaved intricate images from the bible. From their angle, Christopher saw a mural of Moses’s burning bush and a white dove carrying a branch in its beak. The floor, four stories below, was marble. Strange glyphs were etched into its surface which all led to a bronze plate, their goal. An ash-knight circled the plate with a shield and spear in his hand. In addition, a priest paced around the room, clearly bored with his duties. By the tall wooden doors stood two crimson robes that were so still they could have been statues. In total four people to be removed for Alek to stand on the plate. five, Christopher mentally corrected. There was likely another priest that was ferrying the new entries out of the room. Suddenly, the ash-knight stopped in his step and Christopher pulled Alek back behind the ledge just as the knight began to turn his gaze up.

  ‘Do you think he saw us?’ Alek whispered.

  The doctor shook his head. ‘I’m not sure, I hope not. I don’t even know why there is an ash-knight here at this time.’ Alek seemed unconcerned by this development, so after a sigh, Christopher explained. ‘I thought all we would have to deal with are two crimson clergy and some priests. Not to discount the crimson clergy, they are fearsome fighters and I won't be able to catch them by surprise this time. When I broke you out of the dungeon their orders were to guard the prisoners and they focused on their tasks single-mindedly, this time their order is likely to guard this room from anyone not authorized; from us. They will be bad enough without a knight to also deal with.’

  Alek gripped his dagger. ‘What is special about a knight being here? I was expecting worse.’

  ‘You are fast, but you overestimate yourself. Remember that Elizabeth was not even a full-fledged knight of honour. Ash-knights are even harder to get past, it is like they were made for defence. He looks like a captain as well.’ Alek looked completely unfazed, as if the doctor were speaking gibberish. He sighed. ‘I didn’t expect an ash-knight here because the sun has set already. You see, the apostle plates have three functions. The first is one everyone knows; to transport the dead from Earth, the few who hang in the balance. The second is known as the Church advertises it, it is what you seek. By standing on the plate you will be able to find anyone you know in Purgatory. The Church charges a decade of lifespan to use it, but we won't be paying. The third is hidden, it allows anyone to travel to the Messiah’s Plate and from that plate to any of the twelve apostles. I only know of it as once I was transported to heal an ungrateful cardinal. That is why they need ash-knights, to guard against anyone slipping through the plates. However, this will only work daylight hours for the plate, so I do not know why they have any guards at all.’

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Clearly Alek had selective hearing, he was only focussed on one thing. ‘So I only need to stand on that plate to know where Charlotte is?’

  ‘Aye, if she is here at all.’

  Under his breath, Alek cursed and said, ‘He better not have been telling the truth. I’ll kill him.’

  Maybe the kid is crazy. Sane or not, Christopher was in this to the end.

  Yelling erupted a few streets away. Barking of orders and alerts sung into the night followed by screams of horror. Some of the escaping prisoners must have been found. Soon the entire city would be in lockdown. Christopher eyed the guards in the hexagonal room, hoping some may be drawn away to the shouting, but none moved.

  He turned to Alek, speaking in a hush. ‘Are we really going to do this? Now is your last chance to make a run for it.’

  He shook his head. ‘Charlotte is waiting for me.’

  The doctor sighed, then smiled, maybe he made the correct decision for once. ‘Alright then,’ he said. ‘Let’s wait for a good opportunity.’

  ‘Like what?’

  More yelling erupted from the opposite direction, echoing off the tall stone walls and through the dark alleyways.

  The doctor grunted. ‘More of that. Hopefully it gets to the point of drawing the ash-knight captain away. Maybe the red bastards will go too, remember that these ones won't kneel over for me. They are as dangerous as a knight.’

  Alek peeked over the edge again, his face illuminated by the warm light of lanterns. He dunked back into the darkness, face full of thought.

  ‘I can get down,’ Alek whispered confidently. ‘Can you?’

  Christopher peek around himself and it seemed so much higher now. Four stories, roughly twelve meters. When he was a boy he would drop from trees twice his height, but this was absurd. ‘I’m not sure,’ he admitted, ‘maybe I should head back to the ground floor and make a distraction for you.’ This time yelling erupted right under his feet. Knight’s orders barked through the cathedral below and any chance of sneaking in vanished. ‘Or I suppose I won't.’

  Alek looked worried, more nervous than he had been claiming he could take on more than one knight, but that was with the doctor backing him.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Christopher said, ‘I can get down. I have an idea.’

  Lately all of my ideas have been painful.

  The wooden door down below creaked as it swung open and a man dressed in priestly robes entered. He talked quietly with the other priest until a flash of light nearly gave Christopher a heart attack. A soul star streamed down from the heavens, crashing into bronze plates and setting the coloured walls ablaze. The hexagonal hole in the rooftop became a beacon shining golden fire high into the black night sky.

  Christopher and Alek both peered over the ledge as the light faded. Through squinting eyes, he saw the ash-knight, who was aiming his shield at the plate, slowly lower it down as his body relaxed. Strangly, neither priest made a move toward the plate, instead the Crimson Clergy marched towards the rooms centre where they hoisted the new entry. Only then did Christopher realize why. On the plate lay a child; a girl no older than ten with strawberry-blond curls and a horribly red-stained dress. It was hard to tell from their angle, but the girl looked in complete daze as the two silent figures lifted her, one to each arm. They made for the exit.

  ‘What are they doing?’ Alek asked, almost frantically, possibly loud enough to be heard. ‘Where are they taking her?’

  ‘I…’ Christopher trailed off. He didn’t know. Everything that he believe, the prevented him from believing that kidnapping revolutionary Rez was broken. Children didn’t come to Purgatory, they all went to Heaven. A child could not sin. A child could not be held in the balance. The Church would not… It was too cruel. It was all revolutionary propaganda.

  ‘Where are they taking her?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘That girl, she looks the same age as Charlotte.’ Alek’s questions came out in a rapid blur. ‘What are they going to do to her? Did they do the same to Charlotte? Did they kill Charlotte and that’s why she is in Hell, trapped with a demon?’

  Christopher couldn’t manage an answer, he only shook his head.

  They had been peering over the ledge for too long and speaking too loudly. They could be seen, they could have already been seen. Christopher reached to pull Alek back, but he was too late. Without so much as a flicker, the boy disappeared, and an explosion sounded below.