The Morningstar Brigade

Chapter 65

XXXXXXV

KAT

Day Ten. Four Days Remain.

Wine Cellar, Morningstar Keep

Kat threw off her coat and cracked her knuckles as she approached the squad of Shepherds huddled outside a small cellar door. "All right, let's get this over with," she said, walking up to the group. "What do you need?"

The Shepherd leading the team stepped forward and shook Kat's hand. "Thank you for coming on such short notice. I'm sorry to drag you away from whatever-"

"Listen, you can drag me out of the infirmary any time you want. I swear, if Medala asks me to bend my leg back one more time I'm going to-" Kat paused and quickly glanced around. "Where's Uriel? Wasn't he supposed to be here too?" she asked.

"We tried to contact Shepherd Uriel, but we couldn't find him anywhere," the squad leader said, shaking her head. "No one knows where he is." She frowned. "That's not normal at the Keep. Everything and everyone is accounted for."

Kat scowled, but then quickly regained her focus. She jabbed a thumb towards the cellar. "So, this is the door?"

The Shepherd nodded. "She's barricaded himself in the wine cellar. We've tried to retrieve her, but she refuses to co-operate. She threatened or physically removed anyone that tried to stop her. Saying she's distraught would be putting it lightly." She sighed and crossed her arms. "She's bluffing, obviously. I don't think she'd hurt a fly, but that won't keep the Brigade from hurling her in detention. I don't like it, but if she doesn't leave quietly, we're going to have to remove her by force. I'd prefer to keep that kind of smear off her record."

"You want me to talk her down?" Kat asked, scratching her head. "You don't know me very well, do you? I'm more of a punchy-fighty kind of girl. And so is she."

"If she was to come out of there with a black eye, I certainly don't think I would notice," she offered innocently. "I mean, that kind of thing could come from anywhere."

Kat grinned, walking in front of the door and backing up. "I like the way you think," she said, stretching out her arms. "What'd you say your name was?"

The Shepherd returned the grin. "I didn't. It's Ruth."

"Ruth," Kat repeated to herself, tapping her forehead. "I'll remember that. Now, let's get started." She rolled up her sleeves, revealing two massive black weights.

"You said you're in physical therapy, didn't?" Ruth said, staring at the gargantuan training weights.

Kat glanced over at Ruth. "Yeah, what about it?" she asked, unstrapping the weights and dropping them to the ground.

Ruth blinked in surprise as the black bricks thudded onto the ground, tiny fractures creeping out from beneath their impact point. "Are you supposed to be wearing those?"

"Nope," Kat replied, crouching down into a three-point stance and centering herself on the barricaded door. She looked over at Ruth. "You might want to get out of the way."

"You're not exactly normal, are you?" Ruth said, raising her eyebrows and backing away.

Kat charged forward, her tight muscles bulging as she slammed her shoulder into the door. "Normal's so boring," she said as she smashed through the door.

The Morningstar Keep wine cellar would have been beautiful, had it not fallen into such disrepair. Gently glowing candles illuminated the labrynithian chamber with a warm yellow glow. The walls looked like clay carefully worn by a patient craftman's hands, its dusty orange-brown color standing in soothing contrast to the harsh, reinforced walls of the Keep. Ornately carved wooden cabinets formed meandering pathways that led into the depths of the room, their shelves stocked to the brim. The eager light danced off of the bottles lining the cellar, their dark glass in all shapes and sizes. Each label was different, many marked with strange words and foreign characters that had been long forgotten by humanity. It was a place apart from the world itself. That is, if it wasn't for the trail of discarded bottles leading to the back of the chamber.