***
Rhenyon and Sarah wearily trudged back to their camp to await the arrival of the others. They were the first to arrive for their fourth rendezvous since beginning their search for the missing Nohrin.
Sarah had been silent for the last two hours. Rhenyon sighed again. He had been trained in hand-to-hand combat, weaponry, falconry, horsemanship, and a slew of other useful skills. Consoling a distraught woman, however, was not one of them. He was determined to be optimistic, for Sarah’s sake, but the longer they went without news, the more dismal Steve’s future became. What was he going to tell the king?
Kern arrived just then, followed closely by Pheron. Rhenyon looked at both of his men and knew without asking for a report that they had been as unsuccessful as he had.
“With regrets, no signs, sir.”
“Acknowledged. We wait for Rhein, and we keep searching.”
Both soldiers nodded. Suddenly Pheron straightened.
“Captain, do ye hear that?”
Rhenyon stood still, listening intently. Someone was shouting! “Can ye identify the source?”
Kern pointed to a bluff fifty feet or so above them. Shading her eyes from the sun, Sarah could just make out Rhein’s head. He was frantically gesturing while shouting about something.
“Gather yer gear,” Rhenyon ordered. “We move in one minute. Lieutenant Rhein appears to have found something.”
In a quarter of an hour they joined Rhein up on the outcropping of rock.
“What is it? What did ye find?”
“My familiar made contact with a raptor, who witnessed a disturbance about four leagues from here, due north.”
Sarah held her breath. “Was it something to do with Steve?”
“The raptor observed a human walking through a small valley when a large, green dragon passed directly over him. When the dragon flew off, the human was gone.”
“Omigod! A dragon has taken him?”
Rhenyon smiled, putting his hand on her shoulder. “Be at ease, Lady Sarah. Kahvel has his mate looking for him, too.”
“So?”
“She is a green dragon.”
“But what if it wasn’t his mate?”
“When we find Kahvel, and he does not know anything about it, then we will panic. Until that time, we will assume his mate found yer husband first.”
The Prophecy Page 30
