Heart of Ashes

Lost

Dmitri inspected the gypsies' work on the tower that had been destroyed. They were making progress.

"How much longer?" he called up to the very tanned man slathering cement onto a piece of the stonework.
"A few more days, maybe!" the gypsy called back.

"How many?"

He shrugged, "Two maybe three at the most, m'lord!"

Dmitri smiled, he liked being addressed as 'm'lord' and 'Sir', "Thank you, Yuri. You will be paid well when you are finished!"

"Thank you, m'lord!"

Dmitri decided to go for a walk around the castle grounds. It was a peaceful evening and the smell of smoke was finally dissipating. Katrina was on her way back and he was in charge. He just hoped something wouldn't go wrong. However this was too much to hope for as he was dragged from his thoughts by the sound of running footsteps. He turned to see one of the Fledglings, André bounding towards him at top speed.

He raised an eyebrow at André's panic stricken face, "What is it André?"

"Come quickly," the Fledgling said quietly and turned to run away again.

Dmitri stood still for a moment and contemplated what horrible disaster had just occurred because the occurrence of a horrible disaster was the only reason a vampire would be in such a hurry. He took off after André and eventually came to a halt outside Vlad's quarters. The door was shut and it hadn't been before. André knocked five times on the door and Theodore poked his head out. He looked up and down the passage before opening the door to allow the two of them to enter. There were four other vampires standing around there.

"What's happened?" Dmitri asked.

Theodore looked just as panicked as André and this was the signal that whatever had happened was not good, "Something horrible."

Dmitri scowled, "Yes, Theodore, I gathered that but what horrible thing is this?"

"The armour's gone," he said.

Dmitri's eyes widened, "What?"

"Someone stole the armour," Theodore repeated, "and killed the guards. With no witnesses."

Dmitri glanced at the four vampires standing a small distance away and lowered his voice, "What are they doing here?"

"They were patrolling this section if the castle," Theodore answered.

Dmitri jerked his chin at André, "And him?"

"He's the one who noticed."

"Where are the bodies?" Dmitri asked, "We can identify the trespasser by the weapon he used."

Theodore looked over his shoulder at the ground, "There are your bodies," he said pointing at two piles of ash, "the weapons were obviously removed."

Dmitri frowned, "That means the attacker waited for them to die."

Theodore nodded, "Whoever did this does not want to be found."

"That means it can't be..." Dmitri paused and looked at André, "André could you you stand with the soldiers, please? Thank you."

André nodded and moved over to the soldiers, "Anyway, as I was saying, that means the Blood Witches aren't the ones who tool the armour because they don't really give a damn about whether we know it was them or not."

Theodore nodded again, "I was thinking the same thing, that means we could be dealing with a higher order of sorcerer."

Dmitri grimaced, "Or worse, a rebel coven."