"Good luck, brother."
"Thank you. Please do not feel left out. Your duty is of the utmost importance, you mustn't loose focus while we are gone." Bishop Anderson was saying his goodbyes. A small group of priests/guards had come to wish him luck. Their superior had always been kind and respectful to them, it would be suspicious to act aloof.
The whole group was made of Rings.
Baoba felt severely outnumbered.
For the past few days, as he learnt about the Ring list, he grew wary of every interaction. They were everywhere. Although he tried his best convincing himself that they, too, would stay quiet until the opportunity arrived, he couldn't stop himself from tensing up when talking to one.
It was exhausting. The nerves were exhausting, the amount of thinking was exhausting, even simply pretending to be human, everything was.
He was tired. And today, one way or another, it would all end.
Thankfully, neither Eric nor Alex, his two closest colleagues, had been found out to be Rings. That would have been a small blow.
Baoba would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about them. They would have to navigate the forest, then defeat the strongest (known) group of hunters in town. But he had a mission to do.
'Humans have died for a lot stupider reasons. I shouldn't get attached.'
"Well, we're off. Do pray for us. Our Lord will answer, like he always does." Anderson put his hands together and bowed, followed by his group behind him.
"May light guide you." The small group of sly Rings were playing their part, they bowed in return as the ambush party left.
... Did he not see well, or had one of them crossed their fingers afterwards ?
"Well then, brothers and sisters !" Said a priest loudly. "We ought to get to work ! In his Grace's absence, I am the next highest ranked. Please follow my lead ! We will follow the aforementioned arrangement, starting with Anne, Bernard and Lewis. The rest of you, tend to your usual duties, on guard of course."
The ambush was supposed to be secret. The church still had to operate normally. So, of the sixteen guards, thirteen would be acting normal, while three would guard the vault door directly.
Those three would rotate one by one. He would get there eventually.
He was about to grab the broom when the woman spoke again. "Oh, and Bob !"
Baoba froze, and turned slowly. She was grinning ear to ear.
"You can get the first turn at the prayer hall."
For a long second, they maintained eye contact. In this cold morning, the church was unusually silent and barren.
He ostensibly put his mask back on, smiling all of a sudden as if everything was fine.
"Why, thank you ! I can't wait to help my siblings !"
With that, he withdrew.
The prayer hall was a long room with a red carpet and an altar that bore a golden sun effigy at the end, it was very clean and noble. This room was reserved for the preists to pray in.
Baoba knelt on the carpet, clasping his hands and closing his eyes.
He was thinking to himself. He knew no one could hear him.
'They know who I am.... Of course they do. Out of the four people who aren't part of their group, I'm probably the only one they haven't managed to follow to the end. They have known for days, this isn't unexpected. But they won't do anything.'
All the thinking had not been lost. Along the way, Baoba had realised something.
Their objective was obviously Noti. The inscription on the ring read "Notitia est Lux", knowledge is light. Both the original word for knowledge and the meaning fit the description, Baoba suspected the inscription and the deity's name somehow came from the same source.
Even disregarding that, the only thing worth any effort in this church -and he had come to learn just how much effort they had put into this plan- was Noti. The goal simply couldn't be anything else.
But they had a problem. It was actually one Baoba didn't have, for once.
They were scared of breaking the law.
More specifically, they were scared of the Church of Helio. Its reach was truly enormous, it had influence over nearly every city in this forest. If they crossed such a power recklessly, the whole of the Rings might never be allowed to step foot on civilized grounds ever again.
The elves didn't have that problem, because not only was their group smaller and more discrete, they came from a different society, and had never expected to encounter another one in the first place, they were prepared.
But the Rings needed to be careful of this. They had had many more opportunities, but never one where they could possibly go unpunished.
Until today. Until a perfect scapegoat already malintentioned popped right into their playground.
They could not pass it up. However, this plan would work better if it weren't based on a total lie.
'That's why they'll wait.' He thought. 'They'll wait until I make a move, beat me, take Noti for themselves, and blame it on me.'
His head hung low. His body was bent and leaned over, completely immobile.
That's why he was certain no one could see his smile.
'Well... They'll certainly try.'
Two hours later, it was his turn.
He was calmly walking down a hidden stairway. Navigating the uncharacteristically dark corridor, he prepared himself.
After a little, the coiling stone stairs opened to a bright, narrow corridor. The amount of torches took away some of the classic dungeon atmosphere, but other than that, it was a pure cliché. The air was moist, cold, and stale. Baoba's steps echoed across the corridor, back and forth, filling all the empty space.
Eventually, he reached the vault.
The hallway gave way to a grand chamber as bright as day. He counted at least three magical sources of light. In front of him, an immense door stood tall, almost entirely golden. On it, five sun emblems formed a semi circle above what looked like the earth. The lock was located there, right in the middle of it. All around, stars shined brilliantly, almost fully white.
It was a grand sight. One he had been itching to see for a long time.
Guard duty was reserved for the most trusted priests, it was of the utmost importance. Today, for the first time in years, there was another mission that needed those trusted guards. That was the only reason he was even allowed in here.
He would not get another chance.
Seeing him arrive, one preist got up and began to move, while another started beaming.
"Hey, Bob !" Janine called out, waving enthusiastically. "Good shift ! I have a chair here if you want !"
Curtly nodding to the preist he was replacing, Baoba replied : "Hey, Jan ! You're a lifesaver ! Just thinking about standing this long has got my feet sore."
He fell into his chair, sighing loudly. "Oh man, the walk is so long. I would pity Will right now, but I'm also going to have to walk up those stairs when I get back."
"I can still hear you." Will called out gravely above the sounds of his steps.
Janine laughed, almost as bright as the room. "Haha ! It is pretty long, isn't it ? But, if you think about it, it's great exercise ! Our Lord has given us the abitily to adapt to anything. I like to think I get stronger with every step !"
He nearly had to squint. "Your life must be awesome. All I can think about right now is how I'd love to be anywhere else."
He was already pretty good before, but during the course of this mission, he had really gotten better at lying.
Oblivious, Janine shrugged, still smiling. "I can't complain. It sounds sappy, but I'm just so happy I get to give back to everyone. Seeing those smiles when you help them... It's just the best. Makes all my lonely days worth it."
"Even the ugly ones ?"
She burst into laughter. "Hahaha ! Yes ! Even them. I'm glad to have you here. This job would feel way longer if I didn't."
Baoba leaned back and started rocking in his chair. "Well, you were supposed to have another colleague, but he seems a little preoccupied, somehow. Isn't that right, Dow ?"
On the other side of Janine, Dow, in his preistly robes and free of all the useless mundane jewelry of his disguise, was already staring at 'Bob'. After hearing the question, a smile slowly crept on his lips.
"Sort of. There is indeed something, but it's barely a problem." The two spies maintained eye contact. "It's not going to take very long, you see."
Baoba chuckled. "Oh ? You know, if you go into it with this mindset, you might run into some unpleasant surprises."
Dow crossed his arms. "I'm not too worried. I have a lot of help."
Janine intervened. "Oh ! What do you need help for ?"
Both their looks lingered for half a second longer before they went back to undercover mode.
"Oh, it's nothing." He said with a smile. "Just someone meddling in our project. We'll talk it out thoroughly in a bit, don't worry."
"Oh, that's a relief. I was scared you were in trouble."
Janine wasn't picking up on anything for one good reason : she was just a regular person. Dow had been confirmed to be part of the Rings a while back, and he was suspicious since the beginning. Paired with how he was acting now, there was no doubt anymore.
Similarly, Janine had cleared her name with such obliviousness.
Baoba was curious. They knew next to nothing about the organisation. They had come up with the name 'Rings' because they didn't have any other info on them.
They want Noti, there's a lot, they sometimes wear Rings to identify each other. That was it.
He wanted to talk before getting into the thick of it.
Apparently, so did Dow.
So now, as cheerful as she was, Janine was in the way.
'I sure do hope I accounted for that. Oh, wait...'
Suddenly, a voice resonated from a pipe near the ceiling, along with various noises of hurried steps.
"We're being attacked !"
'... I did.'