“The king knew Mark, Dianne and Patricia came from the future?”
“Yes, he and Leeta know all about us.”
Horland laughed. “Of course, they cannot say any differently at this time. Mayhap we should go to Frother and reunite you with King Pradwick.”
“He hasn’t exactly met me yet.” Bree turned to where the little girl was sleeping. She wasn’t there. “Sweetie! Where are you?”
Horland stomped through the bushes. “Child! Come to me.”
His heart lurched at the silence. If she were within hearing distance and able to do so, she would have obeyed his command immediately.
“Sweetie! Little girl!” Briana called out, her voice rising in tone with every word. “Where are you?”
Horland tried to rid his face of worry as he emerged from behind a tree trunk. “She might already be on her way back.”
“She should be here now. What if an animal has taken her?”
“No. I don’t think so. We would have heard something.”
She clasped her hands together in front of her. “You’re right, she might not talk, but she can scream.”
He noted her hands shook. She appeared in control on the surface, but he sensed her rising panic.
She swallowed. “We have to find her. You go that way and I’ll check this side of the clearing.”
Horland gently squeezed her shoulder, hoping to give her some comfort, and nodded.
They both went their separate ways. Horland trod ever increasing half circles and while he focused on anything that might show someone had passed that way, he found no trace of the child. His heart got heavier the further he went.
Briana was still shouting for the girl, so he was certain she hadn’t found the child either. He stood still, shut his eyes, and listened to the forest. At first, he could hear nothing but his own mind lamenting taking his eyes off the girl, but he shook all thoughts away and concentrated on hearing.
An owl’s call drifted overhead, another answered somewhere in the distance. Small animals scampered across theforest floor, mayhap rabbits or lizards, but all too small to harm a small child.
His shoulders slumped. She hadn’t passed that way. A thread of hope wound through his chest. She must have gone the way Briana was searching. He returned to the small clearing.
Briana, tears streaming down her face, ran into the clearing and straight into Horland’s arms.
“She’s gone. There’s no sign of her anywhere.”
He pushed her away but kept his hands on her shoulders and looked directly into her eyes. “There must be tracks somewhere, we’re just missing them. We will find her. Come, let us begin from where she slept.”
They stood over her sleeping spot. Briana dropped to her knees. “This looks like it could be something.”
Horland knelt and touched the sliding marks. “It looks like she was on her hands and knees.” He pointed to the ground. “See where her hands met the earth?” Briana nodded, her eyes bright in the fading light, and Horland continued, “And it appears her dress has dragged through the leaves, nearly covering her tracks.”
Briana stood up and followed them behind a large tree on the edge of the tiny clearing. “Sweetie?” she shouted as loud as she could. “Little girl!”
“I think she went this way.” She started forward but Horland grasped her arm. “Wait. Night will be upon us soon. You stay here in the event she comes back, and I will look for her.”
His shoulders tensed as he left. Mayhap the slavers had found the child once more. He couldn’t remember hearing any sounds of wheels or voices or anything not of the forest. He frowned. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t be in the forest; it could just mean they were careful. Of course, he didn’t know how far the child could have gone, but he didknow how far he could travel at that age. He was fast and agile enough to go at least a few miles.If the slavers were furtive, they could have caught her again.
Night fell quickly and Horland had only searched out about a mile before he could no longer see any marking on the leaf-littered floor. He spied no wagon tracks and wondered if he was wrong about the slavers. With that thought he returned to the clearing, deciding not to tell Briana he thought the slavers had taken the girl child.
He returned to the clearing where Briana was fishing out the blackened carrots. Her eyes glinted in the light of the flames but seeing Horland was alone, they darkened.
“You didn’t find her.”
Horland sat on the ground beside her. “It is too dark to see anything, let alone track which way she went. We’ll start out at first light.”
