Temple Knight

2. Arrival-1

Summer 1095 SR

Charlaine topped a rise, spotting a small outpost in the distance. She had expected to find her fellow sisters lodged within the city of Rizela, but there was no mistaking the order"s flag flying over the place; its distinctive scarlet backdrop clearly showed the three white waves that represented Saint Agnes. Impatient to learn more about her first assignment, she rode forward.

It didn’t take long for the sisters within to spot her, and by the time she rode into the courtyard, half a dozen were milling about, eager for news.

Looking around, she quickly took in the stables to her left, while directly ahead stood the chapel, easily the tallest structure in the area. To her right stood the chapter house, which was where most of the sisters had appeared from.

“Give her some room,” came a voice.

Charlaine looked at the woman who was slightly older than herself, with her blonde hair tied into a single large braid that hung down her back.

“Welcome to our humble outpost,” the woman said. “I’m Sister Cordelia.”

“Sister Charlaine,” the newly arrived Temple Knight said as she dropped from her saddle, “Charlaine deShandria. I’ve come from Eidenburg.”

“You’re new to the order?” asked Cordelia. “You surprise me, I would have taken you for a veteran.”

“Why is that?”

“It’s your age. Sorry, I don’t mean to insult you, but our recruits are usually younger.”

“Are you the Temple Captain here?” asked Charlaine.

“Me? No, that would be Sister Nina, I’m simply one of the knights. Can we take your horse for you?”

“I need to get my things,” said Charlaine.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take care of it. First, we’ll get you something to drink, and then you can meet the captain.” Cordelia turned to one of her compatriots, a young woman with long black hair. “Danica, see to Sister Charlaine’s horse, will you?”

“Of course, Sister,” the raven-haired knight replied.

“I’ll introduce you to all the others later,” said Cordelia. “For now, follow me, and I’ll show you around our little home.”

Cordelia began the tour by leading her towards the largest building. “This,” she said as they entered, “is the chapter house. It holds the kitchen, dining hall, dormitory, and, of course, the captain"s office and quarters.” Sweeping her hand to indicate the large room they entered, she continued, “And this is where we eat. The sisters take turns running the kitchen, everyone except the captain, that is. Two of us work the stoves each day on a rotating shift.”

“How many sisters have you here?” asked Charlaine.

“We’re supposed to have a complement of a dozen, thirteen if you include the captain, but we’ve been short for some time.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, now that you’re here, we’re only two under strength. Your fellow sisters will appreciate your arrival, it means less kitchen work for them.”

Charlaine laughed. “I suppose that will make me popular.”

“Truth is, we’ve been waiting on replacements for months, but the order is loath to send us anyone.”

“Why is that?” asked Charlaine.

“Well, we’re out in the middle of nowhere,” offered Cordelia, “and not much happens in these parts.”

“Yes, I noticed that. I was expecting to be posted in the city. Aren’t we supposed to guard the Temple of Saint Agnes?”

“Ordinarily, but the local baroness is a strong supporter of the Church and insists that her soldiers take on that honour.”

“And so we’re way out here?”

“Yes,” said Cordelia, “ostensibly to keep an eye on the farms in the area, but that doesn’t really give us much to do.”

They moved towards the rear of the building, where a single door waited. “Back here is the dormitory,” she said as she led Charlaine in. The room took up the back third of the building with rows of beds separated by low wooden dividers. “I hope you weren’t expecting much privacy.”

Charlaine shrugged. “It"s not much different from training, really. I assume the captain is strict about bedtime?”

“Not as strict as you might think,” offered Cordelia under her breath.

“What was that?”

“Let’s just say that Sister Nina has a more hands-off view of leadership.”

“Which bed is mine?” asked Charlaine.

“One of the three at the end. It really doesn’t matter which, but we’ll take care of that later.” Cordelia continued past, stopping at a thick wooden door. “This outside door leads to the chapel. You’ll be expected to attend prayer every morning, unless, of course, you"re on duty.”

“On duty?”

“Yes, sentinels must be armed and armoured at all times. We maintain two shifts here, each of two people, midnight until noon and noon till midnight, once again on a rotating basis. Don’t worry, we post a duty roster each week. I hope this isn’t too overwhelming?”

“Not at all,” offered Charlaine. “I’m used to a heavy workload, I used to be a smith.”

“A smith? That’s quite unusual. Did you get tired of making horseshoes?”

“I made weapons,” clarified Charlaine, “usually swords.”

Cordelia stopped in her tracks. “I wasn’t expecting that! Most of the new sisters sent here are barely of age.

“We all have our reasons for joining,” said Charlaine.

“True, and I won’t pry, a sister"s reason for joining is her own business. I only mention it because there is a smithy here, though my understanding is that it hasn’t been used in years.”

“Why is that?”

“This outpost used to belong to the Temple Knights of Saint Cunar,” Cordelia explained. “They abandoned it over a dozen years ago when they completed their new commandery in Rizela.”

“Is that when our order moved here?”

“No,” said Cordelia, “it lay dormant for six years before we came along.”

“Who conducts the services here?” asked Charlaine.

“The captain, though occasionally Mother Claudia will visit. She’s the lay mother from the city.”

“You’ve given me a lot to absorb. Anything else I should know?”

“Not off the top of my head. Now, steel yourself, and I’ll take you to meet Sister Nina.”

Wandering back through the dining hall, Cordelia continued her tour. “The front third of the chapter house has everything else. Back there is the kitchen,” she pointed, "while to the other side are the captain"s quarters, including her office. She’ll be there now.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“That’s where she always is this time of day. Come on, I’ll introduce you.”

She led Charlaine across the room, coming to rest before a plain-looking door. Cordelia rapped, then waited.

“Enter,” came the command.

She opened the door, beckoning the new Temple Knight inside first.

“This is Sister Charlaine,” announced Cordelia. “She’s only just arrived.”

The haggard-looking captain glanced up from her desk. “You have your orders?”

“Of course, Sister,” said Charlaine, fishing into her tunic to retrieve some papers. She handed them over, waiting as her new superior perused them.

The captain looked up at her suspiciously, then spoke, “It says here you’re twenty-four."

“Twenty-five, actually,” Charlaine corrected. “I’ve had a birthday since that was written.”

“Hmmm,” said the captain, “I find it a little strange that you should be sent here for your first assignment. It says you were recruited in Hadenfeld. Surely Malburg would have been a more convenient place to send you?”

Charlaine blushed. “It was one of the conditions of my joining the order that I be sent some distance away,” she confessed.

The captain looked up at her in surprise. “I hope this doesn’t mean you’ll be trouble?”

“No, of course not.”

“Captain!” corrected Sister Nina. “You always address me as Captain, do you understand, or do they no longer teach such things to recruits?”

“They do. Sorry, Captain.”

“I see I shall have to keep a close eye on you, Sister Charlaine. Make sure you give me no reason to regret your posting here.”

Charlaine nodded. “Yes, Captain.”

“Take her away, Cordelia, and see that she’s added to the duty roster. I’ll leave it to you to arrange everything.”

Cordelia stood to attention. “Yes, Captain.”

“In that case,” added Sister Nina, “you are dismissed.”

Sister Cordelia wheeled about, an action that Charlaine copied. They then marched from the room, closing the door behind them.

“Your tour is complete,” said Cordelia, “now that you’ve met the captain.”

“She appears to have taken a dislike to me.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. Just do your job, and you’ll soon become another face.”

“What’s the order of seniority here?” asked Charlaine.

“After the captain, comes me, then Sister Erika. After that, it"s anybody’s guess.”

“Where to now?”

“Let’s get you a bed, and then you can unpack your things. After that, I’ll take you around and introduce you to your fellow sisters.”

The life of a Temple Knight was meant to be one of austerity. As a Sister of Saint Agnes, Charlaine had little in the way of belongings, save for a change of clothes and her weapons. It took mere moments for her to switch out of her dusty travelling clothes and into a fresh cassock, and only slightly longer to wash the dirt from her face. Cordelia stood watching her as she wiped her hands.

“How long have you been here?” Charlaine asked.

“Almost two years,” said Cordelia. “That’s longer than anyone else, save for the captain.”

“And is this your first posting?”

“As a matter of fact, it was. Like you, I had a career before I joined.”

“Oh? Doing what if I might ask?”

“I helped my family raise horses, but the wars took everything from us. The Church was a place of refuge for me.”

“For me, also,” said Charlaine, “though I think the circumstances were quite different.”

The door to the dormitory opened, revealing two more sisters of the order. One was petite, with sandy coloured hair and a scar under her left eye, while her taller companion had brown hair, cropped short by an obviously amateur hand.

“Well, well,” said the shorter of the two, “what have we here?”

“Sister Erika,” said Cordelia, “meet Sister Charlaine, who’s joining us from Eidenburg.”

“So I’ve heard,” replied Erika. “Another new knight to break in, just what we needed.”

“This,” interrupted Cordelia, “is Sister Aurelia.” She pointed at Erika’s companion. “She came to us from the east.”

“How do you do?” said Aurelia, extending her hand.

Charlaine shook it. “That’s quite a grip you have there.”

Aurelia smiled. “I do a lot of woodwork.”

“Aurelia is our resident carpenter,” explained Cordelia. “If it wasn’t for her, we’d have run out of serviceable chairs long ago.”

Charlaine gave them a puzzled look.