A/N: Shorter, but slightly more plot.
Murderous Intentions
"Seras! Seras, wake up!"
Seras murmured in her unconsciousness, her head shifting from side to side as she began to awaken. Her eyes slowly opened, the darkness around her confusing her senses for a moment. However, a bright light across her face caused her to blink rapidly, her hand coming up to cover her face from the visual intrusion.
"How are you feeling, Miss Victoria?" a voice suddenly asked, the words still hazy to her fuddled mind.
"What?" she asked dumbly, trying to rise to a sitting position. The young woman felt an arm wrap around her back and assist her, her face turning to the friendly companion with some confusion. A wizened face appeared in her vision as her eyes adjusted to the light, a worried appearance on their face. "Walter?" she whispered, a sudden headache rising to her temples.
"Indeed, Miss Victoria" he answered with a small smile, his figure knelt beside her.
"How are you feeling, Seras?" Integra asked, her person seen standing behind her elderly retainer with the torch in her hand. "What caused you to become lost from Matthew? Where has he gone?"
"I...I can not recall" Seras slowly answered, rubbing her forehead to sooth the growing pain.
"Tell us what you last remember" her mistress gently commanded, kneeling at Seras' feet. "Your headache shall pass. You collapsed quiet hard upon the stone floor."
"I..I remember we were wandering through the halls, as we were directed" Seras began to relate, standing unsteadily to her feet with assistance from Walter. "But our torch was suddenly extinguished by a draft and we could go no further. We were unable to retrace our path and...and became lost..." she explained, her voice trailing off as her memories surfaced.
"And then?" Integra prodded, mimicking Seras' gesture and rising to her feet.
"We...we found a hallway with a mirror" Seras resumed, crossing her arms over her chest as she shivered from her tale. "There were windows in the passage, and I was peering at the carved frame when I noticed Matthew behind me. He was...he was approaching with a wicked expression upon his face" she spoke, her voice containing a slight tremor. "When I turned to confront him, the...the stranger appeared behind Matthew." Here Seras choked back a sob, straightening herself and taking rein of her emotions. "The man grabbed Matthew and appeared to attack his neck. Then I could take no more and dashed past them both."
"Thus our collision" Integra finished, looking to where Seras had come from. "Do you believe Matthew still lives?" she seriously asked, her eyes turning to her charge.
"No" Seras honestly replied, somberly shaking her head. "He...His yells were silent long before I found you."
"Well, whether he is alive or dead, we must find him" Integra bluntly stated, shining the torch toward the corridor of Seras' escape. "Are you able to come with us?" she asked, turning to her servant with a skeptical expression.
"Yes, I am fine" Seras quickly replied, nodding her head and stepping forth. "I...I must know what happened to him" she added, shuddering at the memories within her mind but remaining calm.
"Indeed" the mistress commented lightly, turning and leading the group down the dark passage.
The companions were quiet as they traveled through the corridor, all listening for sounds of friend or foe within the many halls to their sides. They met with no such intrusion upon their journey, however, and soon Seras began to recognize the area in which they were now walking. Rounding a corner, their search suddenly came to an end.
Before them stood the short hall with the mirror standing as Seras remembered, the broken glass reflecting the light from Integra's torch. The mistress cautiously stepped forward, looking about suspiciously for signs of danger and their doomed companion. The others waited with bated breath, standing behind but staying well within the torch's light.
Then, upon the floor illuminated by the light of the flame, the lower portion of a man appeared. As Integra raised the torch high above herself, she slowly revealed the remains of Matthew. His prone body faced so he lay upon his stomach, the appearance as though he were sleeping peacefully upon the cold floor. The young mistress nodded distinctly toward Walter, who stepped forth and carefully flipped the corpse upon its back.
Seras gasped as the ashen face of Matthew was revealed to the group, his eyes still wide in the fear he had held as death took him. His mouth lay open, the lips turned up in a grimace of both pain and terror. Even the stoic faces of the other surveyors were affected by the sight, their own paling with horror. Slowly Walter removed the young man's jacket and placed the cloth over his face, covering the sight of his unholy expression.
As Seras turned her face away from the ghastly scene before them, her nerves once more frayed, she noticed a small pool of dark liquid beside his head. Slowly, heeding the corpse which lay just beside, she knelt down and carefully dipped her hand into the substance. Bringing the digit to her face, she warily inspected the thick liquid.
Suddenly Seras was bumped against, her hand brushing against her face as Integra moved before her.
"We cannot linger in this place for long" Integra explained as she roughly handed the torch to her charge. "There is too much chance of danger here and the body must be returned to his friends."
"Yes, ma'am" Seras quickly acknowledged as she stood with the flame, watching as Integra and Walter lifted the body between themselves. She idly brushed the liquid upon her clothes and led the way around the corner and proceeding through the passages.
Slowly the three and their cargo walked through the halls, returning the way Walter and Integra had come from. The other path, by Seras' description, was too littered with hallways to be navigable, so the young woman was forced to receive directions from her mistress. The two companions had, thankfully, not strayed far from the main courtyard in their search, allowing the group to return quickly to familiar ground. However, when the companions arrived at the courtyard they received a shock.
A heavy mist had settled upon the open grounds, the thick moisture twisting and winding its way about the columns. Fortunately the outlines of the castle walls could still be seen, thus they avoided any collisions with the structure. However, their eyes appeared trapped upon the floating fog, the group slowing to peer into the white clouds with a strange rapture.
"We must press on" Integra commanded sternly, awakening the group from the almost mesmerizing state of the grounds.
Thus they past the courtyard and reached the hallway in which lay the lit room, Seras continuing to lead the way. However, the closer the group became to safety the more oppressive the air became for the young woman, almost stifling her as they left the blanket of fog. She pressed on, though, with a stubborn refusal to halt and soon the light from the fireplace was seen. Their footsteps quickened with a mixture of joy at their return and apprehension at the cargo they now carried.
"Well, well, the adventu-" Daniel began to speak as Seras entered the room but halted when he noticed the clothed figure which was being carried. Quickly scanning the group he surmised who lay beneath the jacket. "What happened!" he now cried out, his eyes sweeping between the body and the living companions. "What did you do to him!" he accused, being shoved aside as Integra and Walter brushed past the distraught man and slowly lowered the body to the floor in one of the corners of the room.
"We did nothing" Integra flatly responded, standing and turning to the angered individual. "He has become a victim of the stranger walking these halls."
"What!" Daniel incredulously shouted as Mira burst into tears, Lucy trying her best to console the grieving friend. "Tell me everything that has happened!" he ordered, looking coldly among the three companions though his ire was lessening.
With such an invitation Seras obediently retold her tale, attempting to soften Matthew's last minutes through few details. However, she could not exclude the confrontation that had occurred shortly before the stranger's arrival, a fact which seemed to be as a physical blow to the other travelers. As her story ended, with the room having grown eerily quiet, Daniel slowly backed up and slid into one of the room's couches.
"Then you know well enough his intentions" Daniel carefully spoke, turning his head to peer intensely at the three people staring with a mixture of disdain and curiosity at his coming words. "I told him, implored him not to do anything brash."
"Liar!" Mira suddenly yelled, launching herself at the seated man but being restrained by her female friend. "You were all for the plan! It was you who ordered him to go forth with the idea!"
"Quiet!" Lucy hissed, unsuccessfully attempting to cover her friend's mouth with one of her hands. "It doesn't matter whose plan it was, Matthew is dead!"
"What plans?" Integra sternly questioned, looking about for an answer but receiving nothing but evasive glances. "Very well, then" she spoke, scowling at the silent members of the party. "If you wish not to respond to one question, perhaps another. Where are your horses?" she bluntly asked, her gaze threatening as she looked to the group.
"They ran away!" Mira spoke up, freeing herself from her companion and walking over to the other three. "We had tied them outside the castle walls but somehow they managed to escape. We were planning to walk out after the storm but when you arrived, we were hoping to take yours."
"Why did you need to escape so badly?" Seras quietly asked, her voice revealing her lingering suspicion of their tale. After all, what desperation could lead to murder?
"We robbed a wealthy merchant in the capital" Lucy confessed, shaking her head in disbelief at their current predicament. "In the escape, a guard was killed. We traveled along this road hoping not to be followed, having been shown the way at the crossroads."
"Shown? Shown by whom?" Integra suddenly interrupted, giving a piercing gaze in the woman's direction.
"We couldn't see his face" Lucy answered, shrugging her shoulders as if in acceptance of their fate. "He wore a heavy black cloak and was sitting upon a rock near the sign post. When we inquired which way to turn for a quick journey over the mountains, he merely beckoned in the direction of this road."
Seras gasped at the ghastly similarities between the group's encounter with the clad gentleman and their own outside the village. However, the absurdity that their guide upon the trail and the person who had instructed the other group upon the road were the same halted any further possibilities for such a conspiracy. Her thoughts were made conclusive with the next question.
"What time did you happen upon the strange gentleman?" Integra asked, crossing her arms over her chest in thought.
"One or two hours after sunset" Lucy answered after a brief hesitation, nodding her head in silent firmness. "The time could not have been longer."
"If you have lied to us about so much of yourselves, shall we assume the fire was lit by your group?" Integra questioned, looking to the blaze which still glowed within the fireplace. A pile of wood lay stacked beside the giant mantle. "Even your arrival within the grounds may be a falsehood."
"No, I did not lie about that" Daniel suddenly spoke, standing to his feet with a stern expression upon his face. "The flames were quite high when we arrived and there was not a soul around."
"Then we must assume Matthew's assailant is responsible for the warm greeting for us all" the mistress quietly mused, stepping past Daniel and leaning against the mantle. "However, how did he gain the knowledge of our coming?"
"I believe our main concern now is for our friend" Mira soberly spoke, looking to the covered body in the corner. "We can only give him a proper burial."
"I am afraid we have much to worry about, while he is now at rest" Integra argued, turning her steel eyes upon the group as they peered at her. "His murderer still stalks these halls and no one can leave while this storm rages. For now, we are trapped within the cage of the madman."
"Why can we not merely walk out from the bridge and ride upon the road in your carriage?" Daniel asked, his voice growing slightly frantic with Integra's words. "Surely there are not too many of us."
"The bridge is once more shut" Integra informed the group, their faces becoming those of distress. "In our search through the castle we found the discovery and attempted to rectify the situation. However, the mechanism for the bridge has been smashed."
"What?" Daniel and Lucy cried out in unison while Mira merely allowed her mouth to drop open in horror. Seras quietly stood by as the information was given, though inside the feeling of dread which had grown since the courtyard now increased dramatically.
"We cannot leave nor can we assist the dead, as our own problems are too great" Integra calmly responded, frowning at the other group of individuals with disdain in her eyes.
"Then what are we to do, merely leave him here to decay among this castle!" Mira interrupted in outrage at their situation, her hand gesturing toward the body.
Unfortunately at that same moment, the corpse of Matthew suddenly rose up.