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Karna and her group watched with surprise and interest as the Queen suddenly channeled a large amount of mana into a pre-built formation. All that power seemed to be absorbed by a complicated spell matrix that suddenly flared to life and covered the entire palace. Pillars of light fell on a number of the guests, the exact same ones that Karna had just marked out for the Queen earlier, and those guests suddenly vanished. The Queen clapped her hands and the sound was amplified by her magic.
"Everybody keep calm." Her voice was laced with another type of spell that seemed to affect everyone's mood. Otherwise many of the guests would be panicking, thinking they were under attack. "The guests that were just transported away are all under suspicion of being vampires and trying to infiltrate the palace in an attempt to spread their kind among the nobility. They will all be tested and questioned. If they're found innocent, then they will be released. That said, if they were innocent, they wouldn't have been affected by the spell in the first place. I understand that this has soured everyone's mood when it comes to this party, so it would be too much to just ask you to continue to celebrate despite what just happened. You can stick around if you want to, but the cold hard fact is that this whole event was designed as a trap to lure out the vampires. There will be another party tomorrow that will hopefully go more smoothly and you're all naturally invited, though we will understand if you do not wish to attend. I promise you that no extra scrutiny will fall on those that choose not to."
Karna silently applauded the Queen's plan in her mind. It was a bold plan, but it was also one that had a good chance of succeeding. Since the guest list was mostly made up of the younger generation of the nobility and their associates, it was the perfect opportunity to catch any people that had been compromised by the vampires among the younger generation, and it was also the best kind of bait for vampires trying to look for potential new targets. Perhaps even royal targets. But as those caught were associates or family of some powerful Houses, there would inevitably be a backlash, even if proof was acquired. As a secondary effect, despite the Queen's words, any guests from this night that didn't show up tomorrow would immediately fall under suspicion as collaborators, as any real collaborators would stay away out of fear of the captured vampires spilling the beans.
"You have a vampire problem?" Karna quietly asked the Queen who was still standing next to them.
"We've had one for years and it's especially bad because it avoids many of our best defenses since we can't really burn the entire city with dragon fire to ferret out a few vampires. The problem is that there are some very powerful vampires behind this problem, and we still haven't been able to catch the ones turning all these people. One of the downsides of having such an old empire is that there could be vampires hiding among any of the old Houses and we wouldn't be able to tell, as we aren't even sure how many members each House has. The Houses have no obligation to accurately report the extent of their numbers or forces. They could've also fostered vampires amongst their number for thousands of years as allies and pawns." The Queen explained. The High Elven court wasn't a very centralized source of power as many of the elven clans had scattered all over the planes. The vampires also weren't universally disliked, so having some as allies was not a crime by itself.
A vampire couldn't turn just anyone into another vampire. The vampires of this universe came in two types. The undead ones were part of the scourge known to hail from the Netherworld, and they worked as spies and infiltrators. Still, there were many holy spells designed to deal with the undead, so those were much easier to handle. The problem was the presence of the other type of vampirism that behaved more like an infection passed down from the vampire to their victims. These living vampires were less numerous, and it took specific measures to turn a living person into one of these vampires. On the other hand, the living vampires that had pure enough bloodline could procreate just like other races, and the pureblood vampires were extremely powerful. Luckily it took a very powerful vampire to turn someone really strong, especially when done against their will.
"We could offer a bit of assistance." Karna sensed another opportunity to complete the diplomatic mission. She had a hunch that the mission had already succeeded the moment the prince had recognized her, but it would be better to gain success using a different method.
"Yes, I noticed you had the ability to mark them. I assume you can do that again?" The Queen had not heard about the kind of spell Karna had used, though that wasn't too uncommon as mages all had their little secrets. The spell had looked a little bit like blood magic, but only very old and very evil people or the most powerful vampires were able to use Thaumaturgy in such precise ways. Karna didn't really fit either category.
"I can, but that's not exactly what I meant. The spell I used can't spot vampires that are old or strong enough to resist it, and the range isn't exactly huge. I'm afraid there's very little I can do about the really powerful vampires out in the city, but I could help you in clearing out the younger ones. I can create artifacts that can be used to track members of the same bloodlines as those you captured." Karna offered.
It had been actually awkwardly close that the Queen's spell would've affected her as well. Strictly speaking, Karna wasn't currently a vampire despite having Awakened the bloodline. She simply gained access to the abilities of the vampires, and she could turn herself into one at will, as she had a vampiric form. She was both a Phoenix and a Titan all the time as those were bloodlines she had been born with, but she could only be counted a proper vampire while she was using the form of one. A very small distinction, but a very important one in this case. Had she been in that form, she would now be among those captured.
"Well, even if it only helps in catching the weaker vampires, that alone would be a great help, as they can be annoying in infecting the normal citizenry. What would you require and when could you have these artifacts ready?" The Queen was quite pleased by the prospect. She'd known it would be a good idea to create bonds with this girl, even if her visions had not revealed that the girl had these kinds of abilities. Her visions about Karna had been rather vague in general, as if she had some sort of protection against her powers, but that alone was quite telling.
"I'd need some materials, including the blood of those vampires you captured, as well as access to your workshops." Karna requested confidently. "As for how long, making these kinds of things will take a bit of time as it would be quite detailed work. I'd say a day if I work hard. The good news is that I can make a couple of them at the same time as there's quite a bit of waiting involved."
"In that case, I'll have to impose on your good will then. We'll make sure the correct materials are delivered." The Queen promised. It would also provide her son the opportunity to approach the girl to make things clear as well, so this worked perfectly. Even if she had other plans for tracking the vampires, the girl's plan would make things easier. She could also use the news of these artifacts to her advantage…
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Tethrine was quite pleased with the way his mission was proceeding. He had been able to find several groups of cultists that had ties to the Underworld, and those cults had been thoroughly decimated and questioned. He was quite confident the infection in the old Holy Kingdom had been reduced significantly if not removed almost completely. There would always be some remnants, but those remnants would not be able to cause problems for a time. Luckily the old Holy Kingdom had not been infected for too long before the cults had been discovered by Tethrine's predecessor as the Emissary. That had allowed him to complete the mission much faster than he had assumed.
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With the cultists either destroyed or scattered to the wind, he now had time to focus on his other tasks. "And you're certain this Witch of the Starlight Tower has the knowledge we seek?" He asked the silver-clad immortal working as his guard.
"That is what my sources tell me. The witch is supposed to be the best seer on the Higher Planes, rivaling even those on the Divine Planes. With her distance from the Divine planes, her sight would also be unobstructed by the various Divinities." The powerful immortal explained. The problem with seers in the Divine Planes was that many of the gods and other divinities didn't like seers looking into their matters. As such, many obstructions had been put in place. Trying to use the powers of a seer among all those obstructions was like running full speed ahead in a maze filled with invisible walls. Sometimes the walls were too weak to stop you, while sometimes you were stopped dead and banged up by the experience.
The two of them were flying towards the construct known as the Starlight Tower, and the Prince had to re-evaluate things a bit once he got close enough. The tower itself was a spectacular building that seemed to be twinkling with the light of the stars even during the day. It wasn't the appearance of the tower that caused him to reconsider though. There were two very important facets about the tower that he had spotted now that he was so close.
The first one was that the entire building seemed to be made of Starsilver. Starsilver was a magical metal that conducted mana extremely well, just like Mithril and Orichalcum. It wasn't as suitable or rare as the two other magical metals, at least as far as everyone in this universe was aware. Still, the metal was quite rare and was very suitable for very specific types of magic. The entire tower was akin to a magical artifact, and the Prince was quite sure the owner could just pick the tower up and move elsewhere should the Magocracy ever fall. Being in possession of this much Starsilver meant that the owner had to be old enough and powerful enough to both gather and protect this much of the precious material, which meant that she likely could've Ascended a long time ago, and chose not to for some reason.
Secondly, the defensive formations around the tower were so powerful that the prince was quite sure that nothing native to the Higher Planes would be able to force their way inside. The defenses also utilized the special characteristics of Starsilver in ways that the people of this universe were not aware of. The Prince had seen similar techniques before, but not in this life. For them to appear here was rather suggestive of the origin of the person who had made them. "Stay here. I'm going to enter the tower alone." He ordered the guard, who was about to protest but noticed his expression and decided against it. The prince knew he wouldn't be able to speak openly with the guard present.
He wasn't surprised when the defenses of the tower didn't react at all to his presence and allowed him to pass through to the top of the tower. There he found the Witch of the Starlight Tower already waiting with a cup of his favorite beverage already prepared. She was also notably alone as well. Obviously, his arrival had been seen beforehand. The Witch herself was clad from head to toes in heavy robes, and only her eyes were visible. "Welcome, Prince Tethrine Asuryan." The pleasant and husky voice of the woman greeted his arrival.
"It seems I was expected." He retorted wryly, stating the obvious. "Maybe I should've expected that from a seer."
"The Seer, if you don't mind." The woman emphasized the Name in a very specific way, revealing a lot with her words.
"I see. Well, that makes things easier I suppose. You should already know why I'm here." The Prince said calmly and took a sip of the exquisitely prepared drillberry kaf.
"I do, but I'm afraid I will have to disappoint you. I cannot provide you with the answers you seek." The woman replied with an apologetic tone.
"I'm sure we could arrange for a proper reward and even protection if that's what you're looking for." Tethrine offered calmly. He had been prepared to haggle the moment he knew he was dealing with another reincarnator.
"I appreciate the fact that that you started with bribes instead of threats considering how much easier the latter would've been for someone like you, however, you misunderstand me. I'm not refusing to answer because I'm unwilling. I'm refusing to answer because I'm unable to." The woman's words sent a chill down Tethrine's back.
"There aren't all that many ways a being can prevent someone like you from finding someone. That tells me that the child is obviously one of us. Or more likely they're being protected by someone like us. Someone with a Name that stops your powers from working properly?" He proposed. Only a handful of Names could stop the sight of the being that had the Name the Seer. And all of them were bad news. There were other explanations that could work against other seers, but this one…
The woman made a non-committal gesture. "You are free to believe that, and you probably wouldn't be entirely wrong. I'm not at liberty to confirm or deny." Her words implied there was something more. "I know the royal family is interested in finding its wayward members to prevent your blood from falling into wrong hands. I also know that should you fail, your grandfather will have to face the ire of the one above, which in turn would mean you'll have to face the Emperor's displeasure for failing your mission. That said, I will caution you that some missions are not worth succeeding in. There are people whose ill will is more important than even the Heavenly Emperor's."
Tethrine's eyes narrowed. "One of the really dangerous ones then?" He gave a sigh. He wouldn't be punished too badly if he failed this mission considering no one had been able to find the missing child despite the repeated attempts. He'd just be the last in a long chain of failures, and other successes would mitigate that small failure quite a bit. He wasn't quite ready to give up yet though. "Can you at least tell me if I have any hope of finding the child?"
"You have pretty good odds actually. I don't think you should. Or at least I would say that you shouldn't report it if you do." The Seer replied, surprising him with her frank reply. Her answers so far had been rather roundabout, except for this one. It was clear the Seer didn't want to pick sides.
"I will take that under advisement." The Prince said noncommittally. He wouldn't promise anything concrete to the likes of the Seer, as there were ways of making such promises binding.
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Karna had been lost in the act of creation for hours when something suddenly triggered her warning spells. The entire workshop had been emptied of people and reserved just for her private use. A glowing orb that looked like a miniature sun floated in front of her, while she was feeding materials into the flames contained by a magical field. Inside, the materials were all broken into their constituent parts and reassembled in very particular ways. Her way of forging often didn't include hammers or tongs. As useful as the old ways sometimes were, the scientifically inclined universes had figured out better ways.
With a snap of her fingers, the process in front of her seemed to become frozen in time, and she walked towards the open doors of the workshop. While walking, she removed the smith's apron she had over the party dress she was still wearing. As she stepped outside, she sat down on the simple bench next to the door and pulled out a small metallic token that she started rolling over her knuckles as she waited. She didn't have to wait long before a pair of corpses was tossed in her direction.
The two bodies seemed to hit some invisible barrier and slid down to lie on the ground. Karna noticed the guards wore the attire of guards from the palace. The whole thing would've been quite threatening, but Karna recognized the two guards and knew things weren't quite as they seemed. "You seem rather relaxed little girl." A melodious voice called out from the surrounding darkness. The night was at its darkest, and even the well-lit palace had long shadows everywhere.
"Why would I not be? Did you think that throwing a pair of your own servants at me would scare me?" Karna retorted. The two guards were among the vampires that had been captured only hours before. "Even if they were real guards, why would I care? They're not my acquaintances or servants."
"How cold little girl." It was hard to tell if the voice was male or female, but something about the way of speaking told Karna it was female. "You should care because you're soon going to share their fate. These guards and many others lost their lives when they stood against me. You're making the same mistake."
"I somehow doubt it. You couldn't have missed the fact that this was another trap." Karna pointed out. The Queen had obviously spread the information about what Karna was making on purpose to lure the more powerful vampires out. Karna's identity or the exact nature of the artifact would not be involved in those leaks of course.
"My, aren't we confident little girl. The problem with traps is that they only really work if the target is unaware of their existence and if the trap is strong enough to catch the prey. I'm not entirely sure how you managed to spot my approach, but I made sure you wouldn't be able to send a message out. The Queen and her elite guards are a little busy at the moment. Even if they wanted to come and save you, they wouldn't arrive in time. Are you hoping that the prince currently gazing longingly at this place is enough to save you? Because if you are, I'll have to disappoint you." The velvety voice pointed out.
"And yet, you're still talking," Karna stated the obvious. If the vampire wanted her dead, playing for time was not a good idea, as whatever was distracting the guards would eventually lose its effect. Karna knew what was making the vampire so nervous. The being could recognize something was off about Karna and wanted to find out what it was. The information about the prince was news though, even if not entirely surprising or comforting.
"Have it your way then. My clan likes to handle things a little more elegantly usually, but I'm not above using a little bit of violence." Suddenly a crimson-clad woman appeared from the darkness and dashed towards Karna with the clear intent to kill.