Author's Notes: Hey everyone I hoped that you liked the last chapter and that you like this one as well, as always GW owns everything.

After they had spoken Karl had gone to a corner, as far away from the vampire as possible, and went to sleep. He slept till the sun went down and they started on their way again. They both stubbornly refused to speak to one another, or even look at each other when it could be avoided. At first Karl thought she might make a break for it but she did not, even her anger apparently did not overwhelm her fear of him. They returned to the village square and from there began their pursuit.

Fortunately, the trail proved to be easy to follow, the heavy wagon had left deep furrows in the ground which were clear by moonlight. Also, Karl could smell the rack corruption that the members of the carnival gave off and could easily follow it. Helena broke her silence long enough to admit that she could follow the magic that they employed. At first they made good progress and Karl was certain that they had to be gaining on their prey. After all, he reasoned, the Carnival, with both members on foot and the large cart, had to be moving slower than two people on horses. Unfortunately, there was also the fact that the Carnival could travel both day and night, whereas they were forced to take shelter during the day to hide the vampire from the sun. Not for the first time he questioned the wisdom of bringing the thing along. So far he could have done most of what the vampire could do, at least as far as tracking was concerned, and without her he could travel both day and night. Speaking of which…He paused in confusion, the scent, it was vanishing. He turned to look over at the vampire.

"The scent is vanishing." She nodded, her brows narrowing in confusion.

"Yes, the magic is getting harder to detect as well."

"What is causing it?" Karl demanded. She looked at him condescendingly.

"Well, as the leader of this odious group seems to be a mage, as evidenced by the fact that no one realized what they are till it was too late, I can only assume that he, or it, is skilled in using magic to conceal. As they have been operating for years, if the stories are to be believed and have always managed to avoid detection. As the Witch Hunters have access to means of tracking them, both magical and mundane, the Carnival must have means of evading or defeating both." Karl could only nod in acknowledgement, rather obvious really once it was pointed out. But he did not say it aloud, he would not give the smug blood-sucker the satisfaction of seeing him seem foolish.

Fortunately for them the road was not a well-traveled one and they were able to follow the ruts but Karl knew that that would change eventually. If their prey got onto a more used road and the tracks become intermingled with those of others, then the trail would be lost to them. That could not be allowed to happen. Quite apart from not wanting to face Marx's wrath at their failure, he did not want them to escape. He remembered the bodies at the village, how what was supposed to be a thing of joy had instead become their doom. No, those responsible would not escaped justice. With that in mind, he forced himself to look at the vampire and engage it in conversation.

"So far we have been able to track them by the trail that they have left behind. If we should lose that then I have not no other way of following them. Do you?" For a moment the look of superiority returned to her face, but then it went away and she shook her head.

"I fear not. Other of my sisters…my former sisters may be able to but their magic is far greater than my own."

"Then are they likely to strike at somewhere nearby? Another village perhaps, where we could take up the trail again?" Once more she shook her head.

"It is unlikely. From what I know they strike and then vanish again. If they were to perform their vile acts too close to one another then not only would suspicion be roused but they would also be much easier to track. No, when they strike again it will be far from here, I fear that if we lose their trail we shall not hear of them again till they strike again and by the time we get there…" She did not finish the thought, there was no need to do so.

If that were to happen then they would never find them. By the time they got to the next site of an attack the trail would be cold again and so it would continue. No, if they wanted to find them then it would be now or never. That knowledge drove Karl and he pushed them hard, barely giving them enough time to find shelter before the sun rose in the morning. Fortunately they were able to find a cave that went deep enough to hide the vampire from the sunlight. As they settled in to rest, he turned back to the vampire.

"If we lose the trail then we must determine another way of finding them." He paused for a moment, hoping that she would say something, but she remained silent. So after a moment he spoke again; "Any ideas?" The vampire merely shrugged.

"I already told you, with my magic useless, I have no other way of picking up their trail. I fear that this mission will likely end in failure." Unlike Karl she seemed rather indifferent as to whether or not they succeeded in the task given to them. Karl could see then that he would have to employ his most subtle means of persuasion to get her to become more cooperative.

"You want to be the one to tell Marx that we failed because you could not be bothered to find an alternative way of solving the problem? I am sure that he will be most understanding about that." At his words she paled and shuddered slightly. Karl smiled, it seemed subtly did work after all. She seemed to lapse into thought and he did so as well, yet try as he might nothing would come to him, discouraged and seeing that the vampire had likewise gone into whatever the vampire equivalent of sleep was he likewise curled up to take a nap.

He was awoken by a sound, at first he thought that he had overslept and that the vampire was attempting to escape, but a quick inspection showed that she was still asleep, or whatever it was that vampires did and the sun was still up. Confident that the vampire would remain he got up and went to investigate the sound. The cave that they had taken shelter in was atop a small hill off the side of the road, with its entrance half hidden by brush. By using these as cover he was able to look down on the road without revealing himself to whomever it might be.

The night before it had only been Karl and Helena on the road but now he could see that that was far from being the case now. The road was full of carts and people. They had pulled off of the road and seemed to be camped near a small pond by a clump of trees a little off of the road on the other side of it. At first Karl cursed, they had come down the same way that those he was chasing had and these people had obliterated the tracks that he had been following. Now he had no trail to follow, what was he going to do?

Then he looked closer at the wagons and realized he recognized them, they were the same wagons that he had seen some time ago at Averheim, Esmerelda's people, the Strigany. While it seemed that they had a distrust of outsiders they had helped Karl and Werner in the battle against the rat-men, he could at least ask them if they had seen anything suspicious of late in their travels. Hopefully they could put him on the right trail. He went to where the horses were resting, saddled and mounted his horse; both as he did not want them to realize how close he was camped to them and he wanted to be able to make a fast get away if they did not feel like being friendly at the moment. So he rode down the other side of the hill and came around to get back to the road to give the impression the he had been riding towards them.

While the Strigany seemed to be setting up camp, they had not lowered their guard and a cry was sent up as he drew close. Almost instantly the children, who had been running around playing hastened back to the wagons while a number of men, all of whom were carrying weapons, formed a line between Karl and the wagons. As this happened Karl stopped his horse and sat still, making sure to ensure that they could see his hands were visible to show that he was making no move towards his weapons. After a moment a man moved from amongst them. He was a large man, his red sleeveless vest revealing muscular arms. He was also a tall man, standing at least a head taller than those around him. He had a short beard, streaked with gray. In his broad leather belt were two hand-axes. He stood a few paces in front of the others and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Hello stranger," he said, in a voice far from friendly. "Who might you be?"

"Greetings, my name is…" Karl began before he was interrupted.

"Karl, it is Karl isn't it?" A voice came from the crowd, a man pushed himself forward from the crowd to stand beside the large man, who turned to look at him.

"You know this man Bohemas?"

"I do Andrzej, he is one of those who helped us back when my brother was murdered." He turned to look at Karl.

"But I would too know why you are here. Are you still with the Brother?" Karl shook his head in response.

"No, he and I parted company, though I still hunt evil…men." He finished after a momentary pause, he decided that he did not want to go into too much detail about who he was hunting. At his words there were dark mutterings among the men and more than one suspicious look was cast in his direction, Karl also sensed a growing sense of unease among them.

"Care to elaborate on that?" Bohemas asked, in a tone that suggested that he guessed the answer but was hoping to be wrong. Karl still did not want to go into too much detail but he saw he would have to give them something.

"They are a band of killers attacking villagers. They have taken the guise of wondering players." At his words the muttering grew worse and Karl began to get the idea that they knew more than he had suspected, possibly more than he knew himself. After a moment Andrzej spoke again.

"Come with me stranger, you should speak with Mother Tshilaba will want to speak with you." Karl dismounted and followed after the man leading his horse by the reins.

The man led Karl into the camp, as they passed by people ducked into their wagons. Karl had expected this, he got the impression that they did not like outsiders, but they seemed to be more on edge than usual, he also smelled something, else, the smell of sickness. At last they came to a wagon which was a little off from the others and covered with strange symbols, even at a distance Karl could smell magic. Andrzej came up to the entrance and knocked respectfully.

"Mother Tshilaba, I have someone here who needs to speak to you." As his eyes adjusted to the darkness Karl got a look at the interior and its' inhabitant.

Mother Tshilaba was an old woman seated at a table in the middle of the cart. Though her hair was gray and her face lined there were still hints that she had one been a great beauty. More importantly, Karl could tell that she was a magic user. All around her were paraphernalia and items whose nature Karl did not want to know about. She looked up and stared at them with bright, clear green eyes. After a moment she spoke.

"You did well to bring him Andrzej." She paused and then smiled a smile of genuine warmth at Andrzej. "Now be a good boy and go see about some tea. I must speak with this young and then I shall see to the sick." Andrzej nodded and then departed, once he was gone Tshilaba turned her full attention to Karl.

"And what can I do for you wolf-child?" Karl grimaced but made no effort to deny it. Instead he gave her the same version of his mission that he had Andrzej, she did not interrupt him as he spoke, though her face contorted into an expression of disgust.

"You know more than you tell, it matters not, I knew who you seek, though you name them not. They were once of our people till the Plague Father came to them."

"They were. Their leader was a man named Fonso, when sickness came upon them he traded his and his peoples' humanity for a twisted form of immortality. They now travel the lands of the Empire, spreading their foul taint in the name of their new master. In the years since they have brought much pain and suffering to the world." Karl felt his insides twist with fear and revulsion and he was certain that it showed on his face and he hardened his resolve.

"Never the less, I must hunt them." She merely nodded in response.

"I know. You are a wolf, you cannot abandon the hunt and your nature will not allow it. And I will help you as much as I can. I have sensed them nearby and their foulness has caused several of our people to fall ill. I fear that we cannot intervene directly, too many of my people would sicken and die if we were to do so, but we can help you in other ways." So saying she turned and placed a large silver bowl on the table.

She poured water into the bowl and then went about the wagon gathering powders and herbs and cast them into the bowl, all the while she was chanting and muttering under her breath. As she added ingredients the water changed color several times and as she chanted the water began to swirl around in it. Once she was finished gathering and chanting she resumed her seat and stared into the bowl. After several moments she began to speak again.

"They are close, less than two days ride from here, at the barrows of the old kings." She took a small vial of red glass and filled it with water from the bowl. Once filled she placed a crystal stopper in it and tied it vial to a leather cord, she then handed it to him. "Take this, it will help you see through the magics that they use to hide themselves." Karl took it and hung it about his neck.

"I had not heard of magic that could penetrate their spells of concealment." Her only response was a snort.

"I would not look to your colleges for all the answers. They are just poor copies of the Elves and even the Lords of Ulthuan do not know everything.

"Now, go. End them, save the people you protect and erase the disgrace to my people." Karl merely nodded, rose and left.

Author's Notes: Hey everyone, I hope that you liked this chapter. What did you think of me using the Gypsies, too convenient? Oh, and please accept my apologies to any Romani who are reading this. Next time there will be more fighting. Till then please pray for the Americans held in Iran, those held against their will and a sick baby of a family friend and all others who need prays. Bye and may Jesus bless you.