Yfandes is on the outside of the barrier, now, but they can Mindspeak through it with a bit of extra effort, since Vanyel is keyed to it. :Herald Lores is showing up. I'm going to explain the situation to his Companion, all right?: 

:All right: 

And Vanyel takes a deep breath, closes his eyes to block out the horrible gore, and opens his mage-sight instead. 

Savil, alerted by one of the Companions as soon as they're in Mindspeech range, is sprinting out of the Heralds' wing with her boots still in one hand by the time the shuttle reaches them and descends. :Gemma's on her way for the casualty: she sends to everyone in said shuttle. :I want to bring Mardic and Donni back with me, I think, get all hands on deck out there: 

The Andalites are happy to continue to provide shuttle service, or at least if they have any reservations do not voice them.

Then shortly later Tashir is at Healers', Savil is inside the palace in Highjorune with Vanyel, and Mardic and Donni are outside the barrier, trying to calm down Herald Lores.

:I'm sorry about pulling us away from your ship: she tells the Andalite. :Think the situation is under control here, but we don't know what did this, and I'd like to have that answer before we pull away some of our people. You can probably go back to the ship, though - Van or I can contact Sandra if we have updates: Not long ones, since the communication-spell will tire her quickly, but she can manage it at all. 

<We will do that. I hope your operations are swiftly successful.>

Mardic and Donni are having a very frustrating time trying to calm down Herald Lores. Who is absolutely convinced that Tashir being the only survivor is extremely suspicious and indicates that he must have done it. With Fetching, which he does have. Lores is also furious that they took the boy away from the scene rather than interrogating him immediately.

Mardic thinks this isn't particularly plausible, but it's not impossible. He tries to point out that Tashir was in need of medical treatment whether or not he's the murderer, they couldn't question him because he was unconscious and there weren't any Healers on site. Getting him treated at Healers' will mean he can be questioned sooner. Also Vanyel and Savil are on the scene investigating. 

They are, and Vanyel is wishing he were anywhere else. Being surrounded by gory bits of dead people is really getting to him.

There's some sort of spell-residue on the Palace. And - something else, underneath it. An intact spell? Whatever it is, neither of them can make heads or tails of it. 

Savil has just suggested they concert-cast the pastwatching spell that Starwind taught both of them at one point. It'll be extremely draining, but less so if they share the burden, and thanks to getting a very quick ride to the scene from some helpful aliens, they don't even need to go that far back. 

Standing by the bench where Mardic found Tashir, Vanyel tosses out a mental link to his aunt, slips into rapport with her. And together, they cast the spell. 

- a flickering, and then the past unspools, ghostly, sort of overlaid on the present. Past-Mardic and past-Donni return to their places, walking backward, Mardic carrying Tashir; Mardic appears to stuff Tashir back under the bench; they walk away, again backward.

Some time passes. 

- and then there are suddenly demons everywhere. 

Vanyel, startled, nearly jolts out of rapport. :What: 

The spell freezes under Savil's guiding hand. :Well: she says dryly, :that certainly wasn't Tashir's doing. He's not a mage; I took the opportunity to check. And this was done by magic. Hmm. I wonder if we can find the source: 

They're not quite the same demons that Vanyel remembers from the various battlefields, or the horrible incident at Stony Tor that became (even more horribly) immortalized in 'Demonsbane', gods he hates that song. But they're recognizably Abyssal in origin. 

Leaning into mage-sight, which makes the pastwatching spell even more draining, he tries to follow the source that summoned them. 

"- Can't quite trace it," Savil eventually agrees, when they've gone past the point at which the demons vanish, and then re-played their reappearance several times. "But, somewhere in that area. Let's go search up close, I guess. I think it was an artifact that did it, not a mage, in which case it'll still be there." 

"I didn't even know you could summon demons with an artifact." Vanyel drops out of rapport after Savil's taken down the investigation spell, and follows her. "I'll tell Mardic and Donni, maybe that'll get Lores to settle down." 

He reaches out past the resistance of his own shield. :Mardic?: And he passes on the short version of their findings. 

:Donni, let me handle this: Mardic is a lot better with, well, delicate conversations than his lifebonded. 

He explains the preliminary results of Vanyel and Savil's investigation to the ambassador. 

(Lores is so skeptical that this is even possible.) 

Mardic explains that Savil is the First Herald-Mage in the Senior Circle for a damned good reason, even outranking Vanyel who's an acknowledged war here. 

(Lores mutters and scuffs his feet.) 

Mardic says they could really use Lores' help as the one who's on friendly terms with the locals, to go around and reassure all the alarmed nobles that two of the best mages in the world are visiting from an allied country to find out what happened to their royal family, and meanwhile the heir is still alive and safe and they'll figure something out. 

(Lores still looks disgruntled, he doesn't take changes-of-speed that well, but he eventually acquiesces, and they can go calm people down.) 

"- Van, this isn't what we're looking for, but you should come have a look at it anyway. Think I know why the node looks so weird." 

"Coming." Vanyel, biting back and yawn, heads in her direction. 

"...That's a Heartstone." 

"This place bans all mages. What in all hells is a Heartstone doing here?" She narrows her eyes at him. "You're the expert here. Think you can figure anything out by looking at it?" 

"Probably. Heartstones - have a sort of memory, you can Mindtouch them and ask questions. If it's all the same to you, I'd rather do it after we find the source of our demons, it's - kind of disorienting." 

"Of course." 

And they keep looking. 

Savil is the one who finds it, half a candlemark later. "Van! Over here. Gods, I'm glad we got here fast, this would've been a lot harder to find if the residue had more time to fade." 

It hasn't, though, and the tang of blood-magic hovering around the ornamental dagger in the throne room is unmistakeable. "Euuughh," Vanyel says, despite himself. Savil is still looking at him. 

"- You want me to have a look. Don't you." 

"You can shield better than me, and I doubt it'll like being poked at. I'll anchor you." 

The dagger-artifact does, in fact, have several protections against being examined, including some that bite. Or that would bite, if Vanyel were less careful. 

He's very careful. He takes his time, holding a mental link with Savil and (metaphorically) stepping delicately around the various traps and defences. 

...When he emerges, and finds himself back in his body, he has to take several deep breaths and fight not to be sick. 

"Van, ke'chara? What is it?" 

Vanyel sits down on the nearest surface and puts his head between his knees. He feels - filthy, inside and out, as though the horrible artifact has left its slimy handprints all over his insides. 

:It's a trap that can be triggered on a person, and - it goes after them and also their blood-relatives. To a couple of generations back, I think. Summons demons with a binding to attack all of them. I don't recognize the mage-signature of whoever triggered it last - an Adept but that's all I know. The target was Tashir: