Spring 1095 SR*
(Saints Reckoning)
Charlaine deShandria stood motionless on the street, her sword resting loosely within its scabbard, ready at a moment"s notice. Her fellow initiates were there with her, each dressed in the white cassock of a knight in training, bearing the scarlet waves of Saint Agnes, the colours reversed from that of a full Temple Knight.
Of those gathered, she was the oldest by far. Most joined the order between the ages of sixteen and nineteen, but at twenty-four, she had started much later in life. The Archprioress had assured her that such a thing was not unheard of, but her experience thus far said otherwise.
Charlaine looked to her fellow initiates who were standing nearby, nervously watching the run-down boarding house before them. Their orders had come earl
