Within the basement, Lycoris grumbled as Athena fussed over her. She swore it was fine, that she didn't feel cold at all, but the maid insisted on putting a jacket on her, even if it was "of lower quality."  The maid herself was wearing a slightly different outfit as well, as the evening loungewear she'd been sporting when they were all abducted wasn't exactly fit for this sort of operation. Instead she had acquired from somewhere, a pair of shorts worn over black tights, and a short-sleeved collared shirt with buttons near the top. As their assailants hadn't been so kind as to bring her knives along with them, she instead had a rectangular implement that looked like someone had tried to make a piece of scrap metal into an arming sword fastened to her belt, along with something tucked between the blade and her waist as if to hide in its shadow.

"Do you even know how to use a sword, Athena?"  "I have been trained in all manner of martial weapons, both for close combat and ranged, Your Highness." Lacking a skirt, she bowed like a butler instead of curtseying.  "I… See. Maid positions at the Palace must have quite a high barrier to entry, then…"

Also present in the room filled with strange machines like some sort of alchemist's lab was the dark-haired Fangchaser, Gier. He waited ahead of them, leaning against what appeared to be a section of wall with several padlocks running along one end of it. Once he saw Lycoris enter with someone else accompanying her, his dull gold eyes fixed on Athena as she zipped up Lycoris's jacket for her, a sense of discomfort emanating from his shift in posture.

"Who is that?"  "She is my maid, Gier," replied Lycoris flatly, "and, apparently she's incredibly skilled in combat. Not that I would have expected it, given her reaction to would-be assassins."  "I admit, my edge dulled a little in the long years of serving Her Majesty. I make no excuses for my complacency nor inability to react to a one-in-a-trillion situation properly, and my shame for causing Her Highness to fight on my behalf shall haunt me til my dying moments. That I would suffer such humiliation twice and still stand here before you speaks volumes of Her Highness's overflowing mercy. However, I must return the question back: who is this 'Gier' Your Highness?"  "He's… someone who volunteered to help. I met him in the shelter, and he was part of the group I escorted to the hospital."

Lycoris thought better than to actually give Athena the full circumstances of their meeting. If she found out that he had dared to talk back to Her Highness, and insultingly called her a devil…  The only thing Lycoris could imagine coming out of that was an incensed Athena and an unhelpful corpse.

"It is not my place to question your orders Princess, but… are you certain that we can trust him?"  The Fangchaser flashed his canines as he leaned forward off the wall. "What? Can't trust the Princess with a hunting hound now?"  "Calm down, both of you. My maidservant's caution isn't unwarranted, given how we arrived at this situation to begin with. But also, he was there in the shelter with us, and I believe it to be simple coincidence, rather than an orchestrated occurrence. A man like Bartholomew would never deign to acknowledge a Fangchaser as worthy of his notice, much less as an ally. No offense, Gier."  "The only deals with a blueblood I'd take would be one involving tearing their face off," nodded Gier agreeably.  "That is no way to speak in front of Her Highness! Princess, please reconsider…"  "Athena, the fact that he is as untrusting of the nobility as he is can only be a boon for us. It's never good to simply surround oneself with yes-men, after all."  "Yes, Your Highness… If you say so."

The Fangchaser snidely snickered at their routine, perhaps beginning to only realize then what it was that he had signed himself up for. Hopefully Lycoris would be able to convince him that they were just people like anyone else, that there didn't have to be a line between them.  She wholly admitted it was a contradictory wish. If she didn't place and enforce a line in the sand, she would either lose face as Crown Princess, or it would sweep him up into her larger-than-life problems. But at the very least, she wanted to see Gier get along with a Vampire. Lycoris wasn't particular about which Vampire, but ideally her and Athena, since the three of them would be working together. Maybe she could start with trying to get him to smile.  Lycoris still felt no small amount of guilt over what happened to his mother, even if she had brought that fate about herself, even if she had cursed Lycoris's name. No matter if she had been right or wrong, Lycoris didn't want the Fangchaser's son to spend the rest of his life how she would have spent hers.  How simple the world would be, if she could just say so to his face and cheer him up… but it felt like a sensitive topic. Or, at least one that he didn't look keen on returning to.

Once Athena finally finished fussing over her, Lycoris approached Gier and looked him up and down.

"I assume you're prepared, given we found you waiting down here, but you did remember to arm yourself, yes?"  "Could say the same thing to you, Your Highness."

He quirked his eyebrow as he looked at the decidedly unarmed little girl… though she at least had an excuse. Her scythe had been returned to its proper sheathe, of sorts.  To actually answer her question, he pulled open one half of his jacket and revealed an arm-length firearm tucked to the inside of it.

"You're not the only one who's capable of concealing weapons on your person."  "…More like in my person, I would say."  "And what of your maidservant, is she just here to change your clothes as we proceed, Your Highness?"

Gier responded with his own smarmy question, but before either he or Lycoris could do anything, Athena demonstrated that she was far more alacritous than Lycoris had given her credit for. In a heartbeat, she was on top of him with a dagger across his throat and her other hand on the action of the firearm in his jacket.  Athena wordlessly locked eyes with Gier, an unspoken understanding blossoming between the two of them as Lycoris was torn between feeling grateful that her personal maid was so capable, and also concerned that her personal maid was so capable with "martial weapons" as she had put it.

Considering this was her reaction to him simply acting like a smartass, Lycoris heaved a massive sigh of relief in her mind that she choose to not share any details of him or his mother with Athena.

Gier was the first to break the silence, as a bead of sweat rolled down his brow. "Alright, I get the message loud and clear."  "Do not backtalk to Her Highness again. I am here to serve as her claws and fangs, so that she might save her energy for a more meaningful encounter. And neither of us have any need for jeers. If you're volunteering assistance, do so in a manner that shows due deference to her station as Princess and Heir-Significate."  "Noted." Gier slowly took a step back and rubbed his throat. "What about you, though?"  "I am Her Highness's claws and fangs, as I said. My status and position are irrelevant compared to my duty. You may disregard my presence entirely, save for when necessary."  "Uh…huh."  "Athena," Lycoris sighed, "just behave like a normal human being, please. The three of us are working together, can't you act like he's Sera or something?"  "…Human?"  Athena shook her head. "Seraphine understood the value of showing proper respect to royalty."  "Then pretend that he is too, in his own way. We've already wasted enough time with the two of you bickering. Besides, you know I don't like it when you debase yourself. …and my own claws and fangs are perfectly suitable. Assist me as an ally, not a tool."  "Y…Yes, Your Highness. Of course. It was not my intention to make you uncomfortable."  "What in the world did I sign myself up for…?" Gier sighed as he looked up to the ceiling.  Lycoris smiled as she walked past him. "I ask myself the same thing quite often… though I didn't have much choice in the matter."

She investigated the wall he had been leaning against, which in truth was a door of some sort. There was no handle anywhere she could see, just a multitude of padlocks lining one side of it, and the panel was slightly misaligned from the surrounding walls. Lycoris was still a little uncertain of herself, but she mustered up her confidence all the same and tensed her hand, stabbing it through the padlocks and startling herself at how trivially she shattered them with sheer brute strength.  The ruined bits of metal clattered to the ground, and the panel slowly creaked open to reveal a pitch-black hallway beyond. A cold gust of wind blew in, stale air filling Lycoris's nostrils as she sniffed curiously, but there was no sign of movement from the darkness beyond.

"Your Highness! Please, let me take the lead. You mustn't rashly rush ahead into… risks!"  "I think if there were Whispers down here, we would have heard them by now. They're not exactly quiet," replied Lycoris blandly.  "How 'bout I take point," Gier suggested. "I have a better sense of smell, might as well put it to use. Either of you bring flashlights?"  "A… flashlight?" Lycoris glanced toward Athena.  "Wait, do you seriously not… I mean, uh… I knew noble kids were sheltered…"  Athena shook her head. "Her Highness and I have little need for such things, we can see perfectly fine in anything short of supernatural darkness. You can cover the rear, Gier."  "If you don't trust him, why give him the position most advantageous to traitors," muttered Lycoris in a barely audible tone.

Fortunately neither of them heard her perfect excuse for them to start bickering again, as Athena was more preoccupied with stepping forward into the darkness and resheathing her dagger while she carefully kept an eye out for hazards in the dusty, dingy hall beyond.  Following behind her, Lycoris squinted to little benefit. Aside from the brief sliver of rapidly fading light cast into the darkness, the hall was too dark for even her to immediately see anything beyond Athena's back. The walls to the sides were barely visible dark gray slabs, occasionally opening up into identical halls that stretched onward. Though, despite her expectations, that quickly changed as her eyes adjusted and began to make out details in the deep darkness.

The place was like a long-forgotten maze of catacombs, rooms haphazardly connecting to each other, built over or remodeled around. Many rooms had no entrance, as they'd been forgotten during planning and construction, but were re-opened by the passage of time as walls collapsed into piles of rubble and dust.  It brought to mind the times when her old group had ventured underground, though back then they had Elham and Tatyana to light the way with their magic, instead of being forced to rely on supernatural ability…

They didn't see nor hear any sign of Whispers, save for the occasional rumblings overhead, but considering both Lycoris and Athena should have been enticing targets, there was little chance that would remain true for too long.  Keeping herself sharp and tense, Lycoris held her breath as the group of three silently made their way forward.

＊　＊　＊

"How much longer is it gonnya take?"

The Sergeant rolled his head back and forth, cracking his shoulders and picking at one of his ears. Currently the Vampire was overseeing his soldiers as they wielded an assortment of picks, drills, and other relevant tools to dig out the collapsed tunnel. There was a second squad on standby a little ways away, keeping watch for potential Whispers coming either through the rubble or from another potential vector, but they weren't under his command.  The asker of the question was the leader of said second squad, a woman with ominously black hair and a pair of rounded ears atop her head, her thin tail coiled around her waist like a belt and her golden-yellow eyes glaring at the Sergeant like highbeams.

"No clue. We can't go any faster unless we want to risk dropping the rest of the tunnel on our own heads," he replied with an exhausted shrug.  "Mrrrr… The Captain's been breathing down my nyeck about it."  "At least it's just your captain… I got paid a visit by The Executioner herself," the Vampire sighed.

The Fangchaser shivered and hugged herself at the mere mention of the woman's name. Executioner Unglaria's intolerance of ineptitude was legendary among the soldiers, and she was incredibly furious that Her Highness Princess Lycoris Aphtangloa had been kidnapped. No doubt her sentiments echoed Her Majesty's, and it was a testament to how close the pair of them were that Lesath had been spared the Exaltare's fury.

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.  Not a single commanding officer, nor soldier underneath them, was free from the tension that trickled down from such a catastrophic failing.

But for whatever reason, aside from the Executioner, Sergeant Seamus felt almost no pressure or heat from his superiors. Considering this county was under the control of the Vanas, it was mildly bewildering that they seemed so laissez faire about Her Highness's wellbeing.  Maybe the nobles were busy quarreling and posturing, rather than shouting down at the soldiers. Considering that the Executioner was in charge of the operation involving Kranes, it made at least some sense they would leave the matter to her instead… But Seamus thought it would've been the perfect chance to make themselves look good.

"Sooo…" the Fangchaser's tail uncurled and began waving back and forth behind her with a hint of mischievousness, "Do you think Her Highness is actually still alive?"  "I would certainly hope so," Seamus responded, "otherwise, I don't think the Empire would survive the fallout."  "Hmmnn… The Exaltare is that scary, huh?"  "I'm sure you've seen the public statements and broadcasts. The only reason she hasn't ordered Kranes leveled and paved over is because Princess Lycoris hasn't been found yet."  "Seriously? I heard from my gramgram that Whispers are real bad nyews, but isn't destroying an entire town a little extreme?"  "Better that than letting their territory encroach on ours."  The Fangchaser's ears drooped. "Here I thought the plan Executioner Unglaria pitched had some myerit."  "The bait operation? …Come to think of it, why aren't you working on that? I thought all active Fanchaser detachments were topside setting things up during the day."  "Nyeheheh… Maybe I'm just special?"  "Right…"

Seamus shook his head with a dismissive shrug.  As their conversation died down, one of his men shouted while he threw aside a chunk of rubble the size of his torso.

"Sergeant! I think I found something! …Eugh."  "What is it?"

He quickly marched over, the cat signalling her own squad as she kept her hands behind her head, her posture deceptively relaxed.

Half-buried in the rubble was a techwear style jacket, bloodied blue, shredded by debris and serrated pieces of metal, the unfortunate owner pulverized beyond recognition. There was an unmistakable scent of magic on it—the Fangchaser behind Seamus sneezing rather pointedly as he lifted it up—but the enchantments on it had faded after being shredded and smeared with blood.  Of course, the objects inside had been forcibly ejected, which was partially the reason for it being in such a damaged state. And said objects were… somewhat damning. Throwing knives, steel wire, and shattered syringes—their contents long evaporated; broken small-arms, cracked cases of ammunition, skeleton keys, and digital code-crackers. Whoever owned the jacket, they were deeply invested in espionage—or worse.

Considering that a knife belonging to Her Highness had been found here, this person's identity was rather obvious. Unfortunately, it brought them no closer to actually finding the Princess. Although the scattered assortment of goods reminded Seamus of something, and a renewed sense of urgency blossomed inside of him.

"Shit."  "Hmmmnn?" Came a familiar catty hum from behind him.  Seamus put his hand to his head. "I mean… I knew she was kidnapped but… An actual assassin capable of apprehending the Princess is…"  "Spooky."  "I've heard a rather unpleasant rumor, or, more like a fable… about boogeymen that will disappear anyone who's too outspoken of a critic of the upper class…"  "Why would boogeymyen go after Her Highness though? Isn't she the most upperest of class?"  "I dunno, but I think we… are in some deep water."

The lack of response from the Vanas, the entire situation in Kranes practically happening overnight, and the only just-announced Princess making an appearance and getting kidnapped; there were far too many dots. Seamus barely had to even draw a line between them to know that some horrific scheme was finally being played out. Perhaps one that had been set in motion long before he had even been born. Or perhaps it was only just the start, and he was merely looking at the surface of the lake.

"Would be easier if we had some myages on hand to myelt the stone…"  "Unfortunately, they were all sent off south to prepare for a possible rebellion…"  "The Cyapital 'A' Army, hmm?"  "Her Majesty must be tearing her fangs out over it."  "D'you think… someone intentionally cause a ruckus elsewhere in order to kidnyap Her Highness?"  "…We need to find the Princess ASAP."

＊　＊　＊

Deep, deep underground, far beneath the depths Lycoris trudged through, further even than the desperately digging soldiers, another group of uniformed officers were hard at work in an underground cavern to the southeast of the Empire, outside of Tenebreimen's borders.  However, said uniform was looser, more breathable clothing that left the soldiers' hands exposed; all of them wore tabards that bore the colors of the Thaumaturgy Division and the symbol of the Geomancy Battalion, third regiment.  Those present were split between actively melting and shifting the collapsed stone to clear the passage, and reinforcing the tunnel. Roughly one hundred troops were actively wielding their magic across the entire subterranean road, though the space they were clearing was relatively small.

The tunnel was quite literally a highway, meant to serve several lanes of traffic traveling each direction, with normally several dozen meters of vertical clearance as well. However the soldiers had been instructed to clear out but a single channel for people to traverse. Both to set up a checkpoint for identifying and incarcerating those leaving one by one, and also to prevent people from sneaking around. There was no other way the populace of the town even could slip out, as the rebellious elements had seen fit to isolate themselves by collapsing every tunnel leading into Den-Ghel.  There was a possibility that they had some secret means of leaving, but that was why Her Majesty no doubt instructed one of the other two—Malteus could not remember whom—to set up a seismic charge with the first and second regiments on standby.  Clearly she wanted to lull them into a false sense of security, that so long as they waited inside the city, they would be safe; that the army would be too busy gathering up people trying to leave to actually go in and search.

He chuckled to himself as he gradually grasped the full genius of the Exaltare's plot. She had tied the Geollian leadership to herself with this move, and would acquire several prisoners with potentially valuable information—or extra labor if nothing else—along with making a bold proclamation to remind those who would betray the Empire what fate awaited them.  Yes, he had absolutely no doubt in his mind that she intended to convert whatever "innocent" that made it through their checkpoint into legally permissible slaves, while also collapsing the town on the heads of those rebels foolish enough to think they could avoid the mighty claw of judgment.  He knew exactly what his own role was to be, even. After all, it was why she had chosen him for this task. Only an Idra could see through the veneer of her "softening" of terms, and realize the deeper truth that the Exaltare had no intention of sparing any lives in Den-Ghel. The idea that she would genuinely expect them to process all eighteen thousand of its citizens and see them given due process was absurd, after all, and her suggestion that once the town was empty it was to be buried anyways made it perfectly clear what her actual intent was. "Empty" could mean any number of things. And Malteus already knew exactly how he would light the fuse to bring the roof down.

All it'd take was convincing an anxious soul or two to make a break for it, and then a little application of their extrajudicial authority to cause the rest to panic. After that? A simple radio call to the surface would seal the fate of these foolish rocks.

Malteus Idra smiled to himself, ecstatic with the knowledge that he was doing both the Exaltare and his own family proud.

＊　＊　＊

Lycoris lost track of how long they had been wandering through this musty and dusty underground maze. They hadn't encountered anything—aside from a couple of scares from somehow still-functional light fixtures casting their pallid glow in the otherwise pitch darkness. The further they went, the more she realized that not even her near-perfect memory would be enough to get them back to the hospital should they decide to return.

"Hey, um, Athena?"  The maid pulled her head off of the door she was listening through to look down at the Princess. "Yes, Your Highness?"  "Perhaps it was somewhat foolish of me to wait so long before asking, but did you have a plan while you were guiding us?"  "Of course! I am taking the lead to scan ahead for signs of—"  "No. I mean… Do you know where we are?"  "…"

Behind them, Gier covered his mouth and nose with his hand as he let out a long, slow, agonized sigh. After a long moment, Lycoris felt his hand on her shoulder as he gave her a gentle squeeze of frustration.

"Are you tellin' me that the two of you had no idea where you were going this entire time?"  Lycoris shivered and pulled herself away, putting her own hand to her shoulder. "W-Well, I've never been to Kranes before, much less its… underground."  "And why did you think this was a good idea? Ugh, should've known better than to trust a child…" He groaned in frustration. "Didn't I say that I should take the lead?"  "How dare you question—"  "Do you have an idea for this situation then, Gier?"

Lycoris cut off Athena before she could get agitated.  She wasn't particularly happy about being called a child either, but it was admittedly rather poor foresight on her part. Lycoris was so focused on keeping the two of them from arguing with each other that she didn't stop to consider if Athena actually knew what her destination was, or even where she was going in the first place.  Gier sniffed the air, looking around in the darkness despite being the one who needed them to wait for him to catch up. At some point, he'd admitted that he was mostly making it through by following their scent, after tripping over some rubble the two Vampires had casually disregarded. After that, they began purposefully clearing what they could out of the way or moving slower to point out obstacles to him.

"Well, the air smells fresher from that direction," he pointed down a hall, decidedly opposite from the door Athena was pressed up against. "Dunno if that means we'd find an exit, but there might be an opening to the surface."

Both Lycoris and Athena fell silent, while Gier slowly shuffled in that direction, sniffing the air some more.  While she couldn't make out Athena's expression, Lycoris could tell the woman was quivering with a sense of overwhelming shame.

"Let us trust in your nose then, Gier," Lycoris affirmed, before turning to Athena, "Our objective is to find a way to the cloud generator. I believe that's the source all the Whispers are attracted to, and given that their incursion began right as the skies over the town cleared, I must imagine it being connected to their movements."  "Do you think it's the work of that… um, what did you call it again…?"  Lycoris stared at her, eyes half-lidded in the darkness. "She called herself a Witch. And yes."  "What's this about witches?" Gier stopped in the middle of hugging the wall to stare back at the two of them, even though he couldn't see.  "Ah uh, well, they're uh… There's someone working against the Empire, I think???"

Honestly, Lycoris wasn't even sure where to place Tatyana now. At first it seemed like she had betrayed them to the Vampires, but now she was causing havoc to the Empire itself. If Lycoris didn't know any better, she'd have assumed that Tatyana was specifically trying to kill her. After all, Elham had been the one to die in Lycoris's place back… then.  Even now, that moment haunted her, the vision of Elham bleeding in her arms as Mizar fended off the Vampires as they fled caused her hands to feel warm with the memory of his blood soaking into them. She was no stranger to death, she had said farewell to many soldiers crying out in pain for their loved ones. It was just that one… that stuck out to her.  But there was no way that Tatyana could know that she survived her encounter with the Exaltare. The Vampire who served as her personal handmaiden didn't even believe her when she tried explaining it directly to her face!

"And, this someone is the person who lured the Whispers to Kranes?" asked Gier.  Lycoris nodded, her words shaky as the memory of Elham haunted her in the darkness. "I have reason to believe… that is the case. She is someone who must be killed immediately."

Athena and Gier both fell silent, the palpable hatred in Lycoris's words shocking them into silence.  While the three stood there in the pitch darkness for several awkward seconds, Lycoris had a moment to catch her breath. Metaphorically. When neither of the other two spoke up, she continued in a forced calm,

"But first, the cloud generator. Lead the way, Gier. I'll let you know if you're about to trip over anything. Athena, keep yourself ready in case we encounter any Whispers when we get closer to the outside."  "Got it."  "If you say so, Your Highness…"  And after a moment, Gier added, "…Also… might be a good idea for you two to hold back. In case we stumble into the outdoors and the sun's still shining, y'know?"

There was a trace of pitying warmth in his tone, leading Lycoris to ponder if he was trying to cheer her up with the heckling.  Though his face was turned away from her, she could almost hear his smile.

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