The Lady's Maid

Chapter 18: Pamtha

Pamtha sat next to Tilda by the fountain. Tilda hated priests and priestesses. She basically hated anything involving the church. Their whole 'religion' was sham. From her experience, there were two kinds of priests; The greedy selfish kind, and the fanatic blind follower. As such, Tilda was skeptical of the old woman's intentions to say the least.

She asked, "So... why are you, a priestess, helping me?"

Pathma's arms flared out as she talked, "I had a dream. Twas the Divine Maiden herself told me. 'Seek the servant who is missing the rabbit', I knew what it meant immediately."

"You did?" Tilda asked.

"Ha! Not at all," Pamtha said, "That was a joke. Who could even know what any of such gibberish means. I studied it for a week, thought the rabbit was a star, some figurative nonsense. I didn't take it literally, but then I saw you and the meaning came to me."

This lady was a wackjob. Tilda clarified, "You do know I'm looking for a girl right? Not a rabbit. A girl that was kidnapped and is possibly at a slave auction right now?"

Pamtha said, "Of course I know that."

Tilda doubted the authenticity of Pamtha's claim. She said, "Are you sure you're a priestess... you don't seem to have their... propriety."

In other words, Pamtha didn't have the same demeanor as the other priests; with their holier-than-thou, stuck-up, always looking down on others attitude. Pathma was crazy, but she acted genuine.

Pamtha said, "Those priests at the church don't even know what they believe anymore. Lost the meaning in the verse if you know what I mean."

Tilda asked, "Do you know what you mean?"

Pamtha said, "Of course I don't. A joke. It was a joke. Youngersters can't take jokes nowadays."

Tilda was confused but decided it was better not to waste time clarifying the woman's insanity. Instead, she got to the point, saying, "So what's the plan? Are we going to dress up in secret disguises and bluff our way in?"

Maybe they could find masks and Tilda could borrow a priestess robe. Priests were allowed anywhere and everywhere, especially in unlawful areas. To most, a corrupt priest was worth their weight in gold.

"Heavens no!" Pamtha said as she smacked Tilda on the head, "What are you, crazy? That would put us both in absorbent amount of danger. You think these legs can run away? An emergency comes, an urgent one, mind you, and you think I'll just spring hop my way out like a prancing gazelle? No, no, no."

The image of Pamtha prancing out the tavern almost made Tilda smile. She asked, "So what is the plan then?"

Pamtha huffed, "If only we knew the location of the auction. Then we could do some real damage."

Tilda had to pause for a moment to check if the woman was serious.

Tilda said, "I know exactly where it's at. I watched them take her there."

Tilda was careful not to point at the tavern. She didn't want to make it obvious in case any passersby were eavesdropping.

Pamtha hopped to her feet, saying, "Did you really?! That's perfect! Perfect! Come with me."

Pamtha began waddling away.

"Wait, where are we going?" Tilda asked as she followed. She was much too tired to think clearly.

༻✧༺

Cosaria did not know where she was at. When the men finally took off her blindfold she was already chained to other sorry looking people in a cold dingy room. They were aligned in two rows and each person wore around their neck a board with a number on it.