Seth Astill: Church without the pope

The Clawpoint

Seth went to his room and quickly changed into black jeans and blue polo, going to the side table he took his watch and phone, he saw the map lying there, which he had taken out last night before going to sleep.

He wouldn't be needing it today, as Xenia was there with him today. He took out his bag from the cupboard, folding the map neatly he pushed it into the bag, carefully so as not to damage it.

All done, he climbed down the stairs to meet Xenia, he walked to the front door to see her waiting outside. He walked towards her.

Soon they were walking, they took the same road that they had taken yesterday while coming back home. Seth noticed that Xenia hadn't taken anything with herself.

"So..., what will we be doing there," Seth asked.

"Well, there are many things to do there. We can watch them flying at the top, we will feed them at the sanctuary, we can also see how they train the eagles and if we are lucky, you can try your hand at that too" she replied in a teasing voice.

"That will be cool until the eagles take a fancy to my meat," he said ruefully.

"Don't worry, I will ensure that you come back home alive" she assured, making him smile.

They didn't took the right turn that he had taken while going to the church, instead, they continued straight. Soon they reached at the foot of the mountain that he had seen from the turn.

"Don't tell me that we will have to climb this mountain" Seth said straining his eyes to look at the top.

"We can, if you want or we can walk till the top, that would be tiring too as we will be walking uphill" xenia stated the two options.

"Isn't there another way to go there?" he asked faking a tired voice.

"Don't tell me, that you'd mind a short walk uphill. I never thought you are this weak" Xenia taunted him.

"Who said I am weak, I was asking another way so, that you wouldn't have to tire yourself," he said innocently.

"Talk for yourself, I can walk uphill faster than you," she said proudly.

"Oh really, let's have a race to see who can reach the top first" Seth challenged.

"Okay, let's see," she said accepting the challenge and started running.

"Hey, that's cheating I wasn't ready," Seth said as he started running behind him.

"You said we race, not when to start. This is no cheating" she said with a laugh.

It didn't take Seth much time to overtake Xenia and he raced ahead, seeing him going ahead Xenia too increased her speed but, was not able to par with him. Xenia grunted and tried hard to overtake him but with no result. Soon they reached the top and both of them stopped. Xenia was out of breath by that time, she took the seat outside the sanctuary.

"Tired already," Seth asked coming to her side.

Xenia looked at him to see that, he hadn't even broken a sweat, "H-how" she asked huffing.

"How, what," Seth asked sitting beside her.

"How did you do this..., y-you are not even out of your breath," xenia asked astonished.

"Oh, this. Thanks to my uncle" Seth said without giving an explanation at which xenia raised her eyebrows.

"Let's go, if you are done," Seth said, to which Xenia nodded and got up.

They went inside the sanctuary. The sanctuary was stone made, with expert masonry. There was a ticket booth at one side and a gate which went into another room, Seth thought that to be the entry. The walls were decorated with charts and images of different types of eagles. At one side there were few rows of chairs, for the people to sit while they were waiting.

There was nobody around except a lone guard which was standing beside the ticket booth. He came towards them as he saw them.

"Hey, what are you doing here" he shouted as he reached them.

"We have come to see the eagles" xenia replied calmly.

"Don't you know that the sanctuary is closed for visits today"

"Really..." xenia exclaimed.

"Yes, it would be better if you will go now," the guard said strictly.

"But, my friend told us to meet here, he told me that he will show us around," Xenia said pointedly.

"What is your friend's name," the guard asked folding his hands.

"Nathan- Nathan wild, he works here as a trainer," xenia said a little annoyed now.

"Nathan you say, let me check it out, you should wait here," he said and turning around and going to the ticket counter, there he took out a walkie-talkie and started speaking to somebody.

Both of them went to the front row and sat, waiting for the guard to finish speaking.

"if Nathan comes, I will surely box his ears.... Telling us to come and forgetting to tell us that the sanctuary is close" Xenia said hotly.

"Calm down, now will you. it's not his fault, he must have forgotten that the sanctuary will be closed today" Seth said trying to calm her down.

"That means, it was of no use for us to come here," Xenia said still a little annoyed.

"I don't think so, we could still check out the church if you want, I want to solve the mystery" Seth quipped hoping to lift her mood, only to see a nervous flicker on her face.

It went away as quickly as it had come but, Seth had noticed it.

"Can I ask you something?" Seth asked her a little seriously, but, before xenia could nod or give any answer Nathan came there shouting.

"Sorry guys, I should've informed you that the sanctuary would be close today," Nathan said as he came there dressed in a safari uniform.

"No problem, it's okay. We will come next time when it's open" Seth said quickly before Xenia could say anything.

"Who said you are leaving, we are going into the sanctuary," Nathan said surprising them, turning to the guard, who had come back too he said "You can go, I will handle it from here"

The guard went away and Nathan took them past the door, the door opened into an open mountain area, there was a jeep parked in front of them. Nathan went and took the driving seat while motioning them to the back. Soon they were all driving along the dirt path.

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Game time:

My sis whose so icy, she has no mercy??