Eventually the discussion tapered off, as there was only so much they could really add to the plan beyond 'let Maria handle the violence'. Perhaps if they encountered some sort of complicated magic tool Larna Smith would have her moment to shine, but as it was all they really needed to do was find Maria's mother and hand out violence to anyone in their way as needed.
Larna Smith then tried to get Maria to tell her how the carriage was operating without a driver, but Maria wasn't about to encourage the woman's insanity.
She also noted that Miss Shelley seemed a bit cool towards Rafael and Larna Smith. Which, on consideration, wasn't surprising. One had put Katarina into a sleep from which she was supposed to never wake, and the other allowed her to be kidnapped. It only made sense Miss Shelley would not be well-disposed towards them.
While she didn't really care about Larna Smith, Maria hoped Miss Shelley would find it in herself to forgive Rafael. After all, he and Katarina were friends now.
…
Which, all right, was a nearly worthless endorsement, since Katarina was friends with everyone, but still!
They ate lunch on the move, eating sandwiches of bread and cold cuts of meat. Eventually, with nothing to do, Maria went to sleep.
…
It didn't last long, as for some reason Larna Smith panicked and woke her up. She seemed to assume the carriage would crash if Maria went to sleep.
After patiently explaining that no, the carriage won't crash because they're going at a safe speed because of the rain and that Maria going to sleep wasn't going to curse the carriage to spontaneously crash. Really, it was as if the woman had never ridden a carriage before!
Eventually, Maria had tied and gagged the woman and was finally able to take a nap.
Maria woke up as the feel of the road beneath them changed. Blearily, she sat up, rubbing her eyes. The inside of the carriage was dark, making it seem like it was late into the night. Yet from the bells she could hear ringing outside the carriage, it wasn't even sunset yet. Damned rain.
"Where are we?" Maria asked.
"If we've been following the map, we should in the town of Gyrmwick," Rafael said, holding up said small map. "We should probably find a place to spend the night. It's probably not safe to have the horses keep going, and besides, they must be really cold by now."
Maria nodded. "We should find an inn then," she said. "I'm unfamiliar with this area, though."
"Hhrm hm hmow hhm hghud hmnn," Larna Smith said.
There was a beat, then Maria took off the woman's gag.
"Ah! Finally! Anyway, I've been here before, I know a good inn," she said cheerfully. "Nice place. They really know how to treat strangers around here."
"All right," Maria said. "Where are we going?"
"Turn down King's Way," Larna Smith said. "It's the one that goes up the hill and passes by the cemetery. It's the Overlook Inn, you can't miss it."
The Overlook Inn was, as promised, a pleasant establishment. The place was a small, cozy establishment, of the sort that Maria had stayed regularly in during her journey the year before. Laughter echoed in the common room as off-duty watchmen still in their armor and anyone else who couldn't be bothered to make their own food quaffed drinks and played friendly games of dice.
They also had a stable, and after everyone had settled into rooms Maria went down to check that the horses were being taken care of.
They were, though for some reason the grooms tending to them seemed very nervous. Perhaps this was their first time taking care of a noble's horses? Still, they seemed competent enough, so Maria wasn't too nervous to leave the horses in their care.
There was some difficulty when it came to the sleeping arrangements. The Overlook only had two rooms available because of a merchant train passing through, and as was traditional, the man slept separate from the women. Which was slightly frustrating, since the beds in both rooms were the same size, and while they could each comfortably sleep 2, three were a bit crowded. Rafael also seemed slightly guilty at having a large bed all to himself, but it would hardly be proper for any of them to share the bed with him.
So Maria ended up sleeping in a chair again. Fully clothed, unfortunately, since while the wood used for the sea had been finely sanded, it was a hard wood, and Maria's posterior hurt at having hard wood up against it for a prolonged length of time. Hence her decision to place a protective layer between herself and the hard wood, so that she would be more comfortable.
Miss Shelley had volunteered to sleep in the chair in Maria's place, but she hadn't tried very hard and was soon slumbering beneath the covers in her undergarments. Larna Smith hadn't volunteered at all.
Sitting in her chair, Maria had vague plans to conduct a nocturnal visit into Rafael's room, but found she wasn't really all that interested in trying to distract herself with chaste childish pleasures of Rafael's flesh. As she sat there, waiting for sleep to claim her, she found her thoughts vacillating between worry for her mother, murderous rage at her mother's abductors, guilt at leaving her mother unguarded and despair.
The constant emotional turmoil as actually doing a good job of lulling her to sleep, and the rain finally ceasing, leaving only blessed silence, meant she was actually about to drop unconscious when Larna Smith suddenly sat up and began getting dressed. Maria feigned sleep as the woman finished and took something from her luggage. It was some sort of metal rod with… was that some kind of giant metal ear?
Silently, the woman crept out of the room.
Equally silent, Maria rose, grabbed her sword and followed her.
Maria followed at a safe distance as Larna Smith crept out of the inn, passing the field where the merchant caravan was parked. Men with torches and crossbows roamed among the wagons, but both women crept by unnoticed, showing that merchant had definitely overpaid for his guards services.
Maria watched as Larna Smith climbed a gnarled old tree to circumvent the high stone walls of the cemetery. She shook her head at the woman's foolishness. There was a reason most grave yards had tall stone walls, reinforced gates that locked from the outside and sometimes even watchtowers with loud bells and watchful sentries, though this town did not seem to have that last. Even today, sometime the bones of the dead would reanimate, mindlessly seeking the Dark Souls of the living.
Sighing, Maria climbed the tree after her, trying to see if she could spot the woman. She caught movement heading towards what seemed to be a tall stone tower some ways into the cemetery, from which a large bell hung. Even with the Flame usurped and the cycles of Fire and Dark broken, most places still had a Bell of Awakening, just in case.
Loosening her sword, Maria went after the Ministry worker, muttering dark imprecations under her breath and glad for the nap she'd gotten in the carriage as she dropped into the cemetery and started to creep after her.
Larna Smith utilized the ages old method of surviving dangerous places. Namely, just run around everything that moved and eventually you'd get far enough away they'd stop following you. Whatever else could be said about her, Larna Smith was very good at running, with good stamina and knowing how to conserve her energy.
Unfortunately, if one happened to be following such a person, that meant that if they happened to pass or wake up something aggressive, by the time one got to the same point the thing was likely both awake and violent. Maria found her pace slowed as she had to smash some skeletons back into piles, contend with a few dogs that in theory harassed the skeletons by making off with their bones and in fact just went rabid and attacked anyone BUT the skeletons, and even a dark spirit, their form shrouded in brilliant crimson and wielding what appeared to be a severed human arm with a skull on the end as a club.
After some aggravation, however, Maria found herself at the base of the belltower, silently climbing several feet behind Larna Smith as the woman made her way to the bell. Maria halted she reached the top of the ladder, letting her head poke out a little bit so she could see what Larna was doing.
Beneath her, a child-sized skeleton clicked its teeth as it tried to flail at her with a wheel. Fortunately, this was a small wooden wheel sized for some kind of children's toy, and wasn't very dangerous. Absently, Maria kicked down at it until it fell off the ladder, slamming into the other two skeletons beneath her and sending them all falling to the ground, where their bones lay still.
Truly, falling from a height was a terrible and dangerous thing.
Larna Smith was holding up the rod she was carrying, and after a few minutes Maria heard Larna Smith mutter "Good." Then, in a much louder voice, she said, "This is Larna Smith. Are you receiving, Laura?"
"Ah, yes," a strangely masculine voice for someone named Laura suddenly answered. The voice was sounded strange, as if they were speaking through a megaphone from a great distance. Maria looked around, but there was no one else about. "I hear you clearly, Lady Larna."
Huh. So Larna Smith was a lady after all.
"A success, I see.," Larna Smith said, sounding pleased.
For a moment, she just stood there, until eventually the masculine voice said, "Lady Larna? Lady Larna, can you hear me?"
"Ah, my apologies. I hear you, Laura. Just thinking of improvements for the communications magic tool. Well? How is it? The situation back home?"
"The princes asked us to inform you they are doing what they can to subtlety block off traffic around the area of your destination, but with the rains they wear it might not happen in time," the masculine voice said. With a start, Maria realized the voice as coming from the metal rod with the strange ear Larna Smith was holding. "Nothing has come in about whether the Dark Magic user might actually be there, but we did manage to find information on the missing woman who might be the Dark Magic wielder's accomplice. Apparently, many years ago she was a romantic rival of Alice Campbell, then Alice Herald, for the affections of her husband-to-be, Michael Campbell. At least, she considered herself to be so. Campbell was supposedly not interested in her, and this has apparently only increased her obsession. While most people that were interviewed say that Michael Campbell left because of the scandal of his daughter being a noble bastard, some suspect that Almera abducted him and is keeping him imprisoned somewhere."
"So, we're dealing with a Dark Magic wielder and a crazy bitch," Larna Smith said. "I'm not sure which I should be worried about more. This sort of thing is how you get Covetous Demons. But at least it explains why she's doing this. This increases the likelihood she's a willing accomplice rather than just a victim of Dark Magic. All right, thanks Laura. I'll call again tomorrow for anything else the princes or the Ministry finds out."
"Good hunting," the masculine voice of Laura said.
Larna Smith lowered the metal rod, putting it back in the carry loop on her belt and muttering things under her breath. Something about improvements. She took several deep breaths, clearly building herself up for running around and away from the restless deceased of the cemetery, turned around, and jumped as she saw Maria standing there behind her.
She gulped, then gulped again as Maria raised a hand, reaching for her throat. Rather than clutching at her neck, however, Maria gently put a finger under her chin. That was all.
"Lady Larna," Maria said quietly. "Tomorrow, we will be having a discussion. I feel you have not been as open with me as you should. Worse, I think you have not been keeping your vice-director properly informed as to what you are doing. This will be corrected. I will not have your… known tendencies and behaviors endanger my mother. Is this understood?"
Larna Smith gulped a third time, then nodded. Or at least tried. It was difficult with a finger you didn't want to touch under your chin. "Y-yes, Lady Campbell," she managed to get out through fear-clenched teeth.
"Good," Maria said. "I hope we can be honest with each other Larna Smith, and that you will not need to… convince me."
Larna Smith twitched.
Maria turned, mounted the ladder, and slid quickly down to the ground.
Trembling, Larna climbed down after her.
…
Then had to run much more quickly than she had been planning as she realized Maria had gone ahead of her and had awoken or agitated everything in the cemetery, meaning that they were alert, awake, and enthusiastic in their aggression as Larna came across them…
When she got back, she found Maria sleeping naked on the inn bed next to Anne, with Larna's own sleeping clothes pointedly hanging on the chair Maria had been sleeping in.
She sighed and took the hint.
A Millidiana Claes Interlude
As Mili and her daughter made the first of several inn stops on their journey, she had to admit that, despite the indignity of looking like a large vegetable, the sleepwear her daughter had offered her was surprisingly warm and comfortable…
