As Student Council President, Maria declared it was her responsibility to see to the well-being of other students and went off to look for Katarina. The Third Prince tried to say he should do it because he was her fiancé, but Maria threw him under the large swinging log covered in spikes by mentioning to his eldest brother that the Third Prince had been the one in charge of the choreography, a fact that had said eldest brother engulfing the younger like a swarm of snakes as Maria made her getaway.
She started running as soon as she was far enough. Her formal suit was made of the same durable material as the other practical exam uniforms (which she'd gotten another big haul of this year. Well, more clothes for the children), and thus did not tear embarrassingly as she pushed her body to her limits and quickly made her way to the place they had held the play.
It was dark now, not even any lights inside, but that did not deter Maria. Hunters killed in dark places. They died in such places too, but that's the way beastslaying goes. She strode in with confidence– the doors had not been locked yet– wondering if perhaps Katarina had fallen asleep from all the excitement.
She reached the backstage area, which was blacker than black and would have made a sillier person wonder if the subject matter of their play had summoned the abyss the way the miracles of old were said to work. Casually, she strode through, hunter's habit making her pick up one of the wooden swords that had not been properly been put away. She shook her head at her silliness, going right for a discarded weapon, and was about to start checking the dressing rooms when she realized something was wrong.
In the dark that was blacker than black, dark smoke rose, thin and frail as if from a candle just extinguished. It trailed from one of the dressing room doors.
Maria wrenched the door open. She saw a dark pile, and it took her a moment to recognize Katarina's stage armor. The couch was bereft of any sleeping lady, and the room was bereft of the sleeping lady's change of clothes.
From small smoky spots on the floor, barely visible, rose the faint traces of dark magic.
Maria's grip tightened on the wooden sword.
Maria did not return, and neither did Katarina.
When they finally went back to check, afraid Maria had somehow seduced Katarina and was ravishing her in the dark of the backstage, they found a note stuck to a dressing room door with a dagger.
Lady Katarina has been kidnapped. I've gone to rescue her.
Kidnapper is likely one with forbidden knowledge of arts most terrible.
Do the paperwork until I get back.
- Lady Maria Campbell, Knight
P.S. I mean that about the paperwork. Do it.
Beneath that was a separate note to the principle asking to be excused from classes due to 'extant duties required of the office of knighthood, to wit, saving of damsel in distress'.
"Even in a note stuck to a door, she has to be formal," Sophia said, sounding both exasperated and impressed.
Lady Maria, runaway from Cainhurst and student of Master Gehrman, had hunted beasts before. She'd even had to track beasts across hostile terrain before.
Usually, the beast wasn't riding a carriage.
Maria had followed the little spots of dark smoke from the backstage and into the woods. She found disturbed earth a discarded rag that still wafted the vaguest sweet smell of some kind of drug. The spots of darkness had grown at that point, becoming more like footprints. The footsteps had led to wheelmarks.
Maria had followed the wheelmarks to the road, where they and the hoofprints had turned towards the capital.
Maria wanted a horse. She wanted a lot of things, like to go back to change into her hunter's garb, a sword that wasn't made of wood, and dinner.
Sighing and deciding that the next thing she was buying was a good horse, a team of horses, and her own carriage, Maria began to run down the road, knowing that every moment could decide whether Katarina met dishonor or death…
…
Yes, she very much regretted not buying a horse right now. Thank goodness her boots were good…!
She reached the capital at around midnight, which was pretty good for a forced march.
Sadly, Maria did not have the option of finding an inn to sleep in. While she still had some money– who there were several points along the ways she wished she had a horse instead– she still had to find Katarina.
Damn it, she wished she had blood. She'd even settle for completely useless, thin and weak blood at this point. Anything to keep her moving…
She might very possibly not have thought this through very well.
Maria blinked, realizing she'd been leaning against a wall for some time now. The capital… smelled like any major human capital did, of refuse and smoke and rotting things and rats. Oh, how she detested Yharnam's rats. As bad as dogs, those rats… Shaking her head to clear it, she straightened and with a grimace, placed a hand on her face. It flared with eldritch light, and her mind cleared, but not the tiredness. Or the hunger.
She REALLY needed blood.
How was she to find Katarina in this whole city? She'd found little bits of dark smoke hanging in midair, signs that whoever it was had needed to use their power a little on the way, and had even found one just outside the city gate she'd entered through. Thankfully the guards hadn't stopped her when she'd come in asking about a good in, and one had even kindly given her directions.
Maria had ignored those directions and followed the feeling of abyssal darkness. Not even smoke, just… a feeling. Like the sensation of blood even if there was no scent.
And now the feeling was gone and she stood in front of this manor, staring at the light at its windows and–
Maria blinked, and slapped herself, hard. Then used light magic on herself again for good measure.
Why did someone still have their lights on at this time of night?
She circled the manor until she found the gate to the stables. The lights were off, and it smelled of horse as Maria remembered to look both ways before she leapt. Shockingly, she didn't get up very far and she realized she must have been more tired than she though as her hands barely reached the top of the wooden gate and almost slipped of. She managed to grab hold and pull herself up.
The horses were stabled, but there, parked to the side, was an unharnessed carriage, dark smoke still wafting from one side, as if someone had just put out a candle.
More importantly, this house didn't seem to have any dogs.
Maria pulled herself over and just barely managed not to hurt herself falling inside. Then, with the dragging feet of someone on the edge of unconsciousness, she got inside the carriage, closed the curtains, and curled up to sleep.
An hour later, her eyes snapped open. It was still night, but it was quieter now, and no more light burned in the manor. Slowly, in that strange state between still needing sleep and energized by rest, Maria gently pushed the door of the carriage open. Only the faintest, tiniest wisp of dark magic still wafted. Even as she watched, it disappeared.
Softly, Maria stepped outside, into the cold, the quiet and the dark. Tiredness filled her bones, and she longed to curl up in the carriage to sleep again, but the brief rest had done its work. She'd even managed to dream a little. Something about… a slug thing?
She shook her head, eyeing the manor, trying to remember which windows had been lit. if she were holding someone prisoner here, were would she keep them..?
Loosening her arms, she got ready to scale the walls and hoped she would not become one of the many hunters who met their death in the unforgiving ground after a long fall.
She found Katarina inside the third window on the east wall, her stomach gurgling like a ravenous beast, even fast asleep. After all, she'd missed dinner.
The windows were not barred. They were latched though.
Maria felt inside her sleeve. Her dagger sheath was empty and she could hardly unbuckle it and use the buckle while clinging to the wall. She eyed the window again, then reached for her broach and began to undo the pin…
The pin just barely managed to poke in the small crack in the middle and flip the latch up, and then it was all a matter of silently clambering inside. She shut the door behind her.
Lying on the bed, thankfully still wearing the dress Maria had seen her wearing earlier that day– or possibly yesterday morning– Katarina Claes law sprawled gracelessly, and had apparently managed to kick off her blankets. She looked… much too relaxed for someone who;d been kidnapped and Maria reminded herself Katarina ha dlikely been drugged. Drugged into sweet, sweet oblivion…
Maria blinked as she found herself sitting on the bed next to Katarina, having been staring at the opposite wall for… much too long. as much as she hated to admit it, there was no possible way she'd be able to conduct a rescue in her condition, not unless she had blood.
She found herself eyeing Katarina and jerked her head away.
Well, no blood, no immediate rescue. Maria would have to rest…
She lifted her face up from where it had somehow laid down next to Katarina, getting to her feet. Scanning the room in the faint moonlight, she saw a door and slowly, carefully crept towards it. Finding it unlocked, she looked inside. It was only a closet, and it was noticeably empty.
Maria smiled.