A Fox in the Works
                    Singularity Collapse

                             By

                         Fox Cutter
   Chapter Three

01/22/2000:

I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I looked at the large
stone walls of the royal church as they rose up at least
fifty feet in the air. The stonework, which I though might
have been marble, was carved with tight weaving patterns
that wrapped around the corners and entwined around the
frame of the main door.

"Fox?" Samantha asked as she came up to my side, "Did you
hear what I said?"

With a shake of my head I returned my attention to my
friends. "No, I think I missed it," I said with a weak
smile.

"Do you think it's safe for us to go inside?" she repeated.

I shrugged. "I don't see why not, we're not exactly
unwelcome, and it seems like everyone else is heading
inside," I said motioning to the people who were streaming
up the stone steps. The nobles and the wealthy dressed in
what was clearly their finest clothing, mingled with the
commoners who were in their every day dress.

"I want to hold back a bit, let everyone else get inside,"
Ravindar told me as he watched the moving crowd. "This is
just a scouting mission, don't forget that."

"I wasn't planning to," I responded. "Anyway the King's
wedding is hardly the time or place to pull what will
probably be the crime of the century, if anyone catches us."

Samantha nodded and turned to watch the moving people, her
tail flicking in annoyance as she said: "I doubt anyone will
catch us; we are smarter than everyone else here."

I shook my head, watching as the crowds were starting to
thin. "Not smarter, just more knowledgeable than they are.
I'm just surprised we didn't get any more questions about
your performance with the caravan."

She shrugged, her hand moving down to her hip, where her gun
was resting. At least this time she had her shirt pulled out
and covering the weapon. "I did what I had to do," she said,
her tail wrapping around one of her legs.

"I'm not arguing about that," I replied with a wave of my
hand. "I'm just still a bit disturbed about how it all
ended. I don't like killing, and I don't like needless
death."

My bodyguard let out a pointed sigh and shook his head, I
had been going on about it since the raiders had been
killed. It just grated on me that I was a part of something
like that, even if I wasn't actually involved with their
execution.

"Come on," he said as he dropped his paw on my shoulder,
"Let's get inside before they close the doors."

I nodded and shrugged out from under his hand. "It's not
like we are eagerly awaiting this performance," I told him
as I started up the stone steps, fully expecting my friends
to follow me. I wasn't let down as Ravindar took his
traditional place a few steps behind me, and Samantha walked
at my side. Rhea, for the moment, was back at the inn with
our gear. She had decided to stay behind so as not to
attract undue attention to the group. It was a good choice
on her part, but I hope she would be OK on her own.

The inside of the church was just as impressive as the
exterior had been. The stone walls rose around us, with
three huge arches that held the roof high above our heads.
Thick pillars reached down from the ceiling to support the
structure. The stone was cut with more of the entwining
patterns and pressed with gold and the occasional bright
jewel.

The floor of the church was a polished marble that seemed to
glow from the magic light that hung from the roof. Rows of
pews filled the hall from the huge altar that dominated one
wall back all the way to the where we stood. Most of them
were filled with people. The commoners kept near the back
while the better dressed stayed close to the front.

Behind the altar were the three holy relics. The first was a
spear that was over a thousand years old; the head was made
of pounded copper and the shaft made of a blood red wood.
The second was a tall golden scepter, the top of which was
encrusted with jewels that glittered in the shifting light.
The third, and the most recently discovered, was our target,
a golden triangle a foot on each side, with a circle was cut
into the center of the triangle, just touching the three
sides. It was a super-computer, hidden by a psychopath, and
worth more than anyone on this world could know.

"Let's get out of the way," Ravindar said, as he grabbed my
shoulder with one hand, Samantha's with another, and pulled
us both behind the last row of pews. We stood, trying to be
casual as people streamed past. A few of them gave us
curious looks as we were too well dressed to be standing in
the back.

Ravindar moved behind my shoulder, bending down to whisper
in my ear, "I only see a dozen guards, six along both left
and right walls. There are four more behind us, two outside
the door, and two more in the pews." He spoke in Prid
Standard to be sure no one could understand us.

"And a partridge in a pair tree," Samantha muttered in kind.

My bodyguard turned his head to look at the young woman, "Do
you have anything else to add?" he asked.

She smirked and made a point of pulling out a cigarette,
then taking her own sweet time in lighting it. With a smile
she let the smoke trail from her nose. "There's a lot of
magic in here," she said, pleased to see that she had
managed to further annoy him. "A lot of it is coming from
the two older items up there; someone put a lot of time and
effort into casting some very intricate spells on them.
There are also a few spells covering all three of them,
protecting them from being taken," she said, taking in a
long draw. "Nothing I can't get around given a few hours."

"I think we can arrange the time-- we just have to get in at
night. It will probably be in a few days, once the
excitement has died down," I told her, glancing back to be
sure that no one was listen to us. Not that they could
understand what we were saying, but I was feeling a bit
paranoid.

Ravindar nodded, and started to say something, but bit it
back as someone walked out in front of the altar. He was
dressed in fairly formal clothing, his pants and shirt
bright blue, with almost glowing orange trim around the
collar. The chatter of the crowd muted as he stood waiting
in front of them.

Turning, he stepped up to the altar and picked up a large
book, Cradling it in his arm, he opened it to a marked page
and started to read from the pages. It was a long and
homiletic speech that started slow and just kept getting
worse. He talked about the lineage of the kings and the
destiny handed down by God for their rule, the power of the
church in the life of the people, and so on.

What caught my attention was when he started to talk about a
war that had recently ended, apparently with the engagement
of Prince Alexander to Princess Astadia three years before.
She was the princess of the kingdom they had been at war
with; the priest seemed rather annoyed by this fact, but
never directly said so.

Of course the Princess would soon be Queen, once the priest
stopped talking, but he still just droned on. I was getting
bored, and my feet were starting to hurt from the stone
floor. Samantha was clearly feeling the same way as she
shifted from foot to foot, the cloth of her tail sweeping in
long, slow strokes near the floor.

After nearly an hour the priest finally shut his book,
holding it to his chest as he told everyone in the room to
stand. With the sounding of creaking wood the pews emptied
as everyone came to their feet as the Prince entered the
room, the Princess at his side. He was a young man, maybe a
bit younger than myself and in a lot better shape. The
Princess was a looker-- slim and trim with a pretty face
that was framed by long brown hair with a natural curl.

The priest motioned for Prince Alexander to come foreword,
and he did, only pausing to kiss the Princess on the cheek.
He stood before the elder man, and fell to one knee.

Setting the book down, the priest picked up a simple golden
crown, and held it high in the air; with some grand words
about the future and the reign of kings he set it down on
the Prince's head, declaring him King.

In unison, and without a word of instruction the assembled
people in the room went to one knee, bowing to their new
leader. The three of us followed suit, though we lacked the
smooth motion of those around us.

With a wave of his hand, the new King had everyone return to
their seats, and started in on his own speech. I let out a
sigh as the speech just went on and on, I wanted to leave,
but the doors behind us had been closed and two guards were
standing in front of it keeping everyone inside.

It took nearly an hour for the young King to finally
conclude his long-winded speech and take a step back from
the altar. The priest patted the young man on the shoulder,
and motioned for the Princess to join them. She walked over
to them and the couple took up places in front of the
priest, holding hands. The elderly man started to read the
marriage ceremony, reading once again from the large book.

"Something's wrong," Samantha said a few minutes into it.

I tilted my head, looking back at my friend. "What do you
mean?" I asked her in a whisper.

She crossed her arms and leaned closer to me, "Look at the
priest; look at his left hand," she said.

With a frown I looked where she indicated, the older man had
his book resting on his arm, holding it in an odd manner,
his other hand, the left one, was just inside of his shirt.
"That does seem kind of odd, maybe it's injured," I said.

She shook her head, her eyes narrowing as her tail moving in
much the same way Rhea's did when she was hunting. "No, he
just moved it there," she said.

I turned my head back so I could speak with Ravindar. "What
do you think?" I asked him.

"It is a bit out of the ordinary," he said, as a deep frown
creased his face.

"Right, right," I said, turning back to Samantha, only to
find that she was no longer at my side, instead she was
running down the aisle between the pews, her gun in her
hand. Biting back a yell I took off after her, wondering
what the hell she thought was doing.

My questions were answered as the priest dropped his book
and reached out with his now free hand to grab the
Princess's shoulder. The other hand came out of his shirt, a
dagger held tightly in his fingers. As soon as I saw it I
started to run towards them instead of after Samantha, my
hands pulling one of my pistols free and cambering a round.

"Sam!" I called to my friend, hoping that she could do
something, with her magic or her telekinesis to stop what
was about to happen, but I suspected nothing could have
changed the look on the man's face as he forced the point of
his blade into Astadia's chest with a wet sound that seemed
to fill the huge room.

Samantha moved almost like a cat, rushing down the aisle and
deftly moving around the guards who were running towards
her. She ducked under the arm of one, and used her
telekinetic powers to shove the other off his feet.

Ravindar pushed past me, pulling the second guard to the
ground and allowing me to pass unimpeded.

Samantha reached the altar first, running past the stunned
King to plow into the priest's chest. The two of them
spilled to the ground, rolling over the stone floor.
Samantha came out on top and hit him in the face with the
butt of her gun. "Stay put!" she snapped, pinning him down
and pointing the gun at his face.

I reached the altar just after her, catching the Princess as
her body crumpled towards the ground. She was heavy in my
arms as I lowered her to the ground; she was gasping
heavily, her hands on the dagger that was still buried in
her chest. The blood was pumping around the blade, her dress
bright red as more blood foamed around her lips.

Behind me I could hear the crowd start to yell.

The King stood stunned, looking down at the dying Princess.
His face was slack, stunned at all that had unfolded.

My head snapped up as Ravindar arrived, wanting to know if
he could help her, but from the look on his face I could
tell that her injuries would very soon take her life.

Alexander finally snapped to his senses, his head moving
between Samantha and myself. With a yell he fell to his
knees at the side of his dying wife, taking her from my arms
and pressing her to his chest.

She looked up at him, her mouth moving as she tried to say
something, but the blood in her lungs stole the words from
her lips.

The King bent down and kissed his bride on her cheek,
holding her as she let out her last breath, her body shaking
in his arms as she passed away.

With a yell of pain the King held the Princess to his chest,
spreading the blood onto his white clothing, rage starting
to build in his eyes. In a moment he was on his feet, his
sword in his hand as he looked at the priest with murder in
his eyes.

I jumped to my feet and grabbed the King by his shoulders,
holding him back.

"Let go of me!" he yelled as he snapped his head around to
look at me, sending his crown askew on his short hair.

"You're going to kill him," I said with a growl.

His eyes glared at me. "He killed my wife!"

"Yes, he did," I said with a soft hiss, grabbing onto his
sword arm. "And he will be brought to justice."

"My will is justice!" he yelled at me.

"You are the King!" I yelled back, pulling him nose to nose,
my ice blue eyes glaring into his green ones. "Set an
example for your subjects, that you are not above your own
laws, nor is he. Kill him now and you will make a travesty
of any justice this country has! And you won't know why he
did it, which could be dangerous for you and for your
people."

Alexander glared at me, panting hard as his range started to
fade. "I... " he tried to say.

I relaxed my grip on him, just enough so I could run my hand
down his arm, and push the sword out of his hand. "Bury your
wife, then hang her killer," I told him.

With a whimper he dropped against me, his body shaking as he
started to cry. With a twist he pulled out of my grasp and
returned to his wife's body, his tears raining down onto her
still form.

I bent down next to him, and touched him on his back. "I'm
sorry," I said.

He said nothing in return.

I stood back up, and saw that the guards in the room were
ushering everyone out of the church and back onto the
street. In a few more minutes we were going to be the only
one's left inside.

We were up to our necks in this now, and there wasn't a lot
I could do to pull us out. The irony of the whole thing was
that I was now standing no more than three feet away from
the whole point of this little trip, and I couldn't do a
thing about it.

I walked over to Samantha, and set my hand on her shoulder.
She was still covering the priest who, even though he had
never seen a gun, knew enough to keep himself still. He
looked panicked, and was clenching and unclenching his hands
against the ground. One hand was covered in the blood of his
victim.

"Guards!" the King barked from over my shoulder, causing me
to jump. I snapped my head around to look at the young man.
His face was lined in anger as he glared down at the priest
with pure hate.

The guards finally arrived at the altar, too late to change
anything, and picked the priest up off the floor, holding
him by the shoulders. One of the guards had his blade out
and pressed against the priest's belly.

As the priest saw the King, he started to yell, his voicing
echoing through the empty church. The King responded by
walking quickly to the man and backhanded him across the
face, cutting his cheek and bloodying his nose.

The priest looked stunned, staring at the King with a mix of
surprise and horror as blood ran down his face and
splattered over his bright blue clothing. He tried to say
something but his mouth moved without making a sound.

"Take that... thing to the prison!" The King snapped to the
guards.

His men responded quickly, and started to drag the priest
off the altar towards the entrance of the church. Half way
across the floor the priest started to yell again, his words
incoherent as he was pulled away.

That left the three of us, the King, and a handful of guards
as the only people now inside the church. The young man was
looking at me very intently, his eyes narrowing as he took
the three of us in.

He shifted from foot to foot, looking back at the body of
his wife, then back to me. "You saved my life," he said.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more," I told him as I moved to
stand next to Ravindar. "We were just too far away."

He nodded and crossed his arms over his chest, a look of
horror spreading over his face as they pressed into the
blood that covered his shirt.

"You did all that you could," he said as he composed himself
again, making a point of taking exaggerated deep breaths. "I
thank you for that, from the bottom of my heart. I would
like for you to come to the Palace tonight. I wish to
present all three of you with a gift, to show my thanks. You
are all heroes."

"We're not heroes," Samantha said, brushing her hair out of
her eyes. "If we were heroes, we would have saved her life
as well."

"You did all that you could," he said again, turning his
attention to the young lady, his eyes narrowing a bit as he
saw the cloth tail sweeping behind her. "Thank you. Please,
come to stay at the Palace... I insist."

Samantha glanced at me, and I looked back at her, then to
Ravindar. My bodyguard gave us both a short nod, and I let
out a sigh. "Yes, Your Majesty, well come to the Palace. We
have some things at the inn that we should pick up first.
though"

The young man nodded and motioned to the guards around us,
"Escort these three to get their things, then bring them
back to the Palace. The rest of you--" he paused, looking at
the body of the floor. "Bring my wife to the Palace, and
someone find out why the Highmost did this," he snapped out
the last words, and spun on his heel, stomping out of the
church.

Ravindar and I shared a look; I shook my head and followed.
As we exited the church I tried to come up with an
explanation for Rhea, and why she should be treated with the
same respect as the rest of us.

   To Be Continued...

-----

This story is copyright 2004 by Fox Cutter. Hardcopy
reprints limited to one per person, all other rights
reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee except
by permission of the author, and this copyright notice may
not be removed.