A hand struck out through the night and grabbed her.
Lori’s scream didn't even have chance to leave her mouth before a second hand was clamped tightly over her face.
Silently, Lori was dragged away into the darkness.
∞∞∞
Lephas woke just as dawn was beginning to glow on the horizon. He stretched, his mouth was clammy and dry. He wondered how long he had been asleep and rolled over to reach for his water skin.
His large body met with no resistance as he flopped straight over onto his stomach. Lephas glanced down at the empty mattress with confusion for a few moments.
Lori was missing from his side.
The demon sat bolt upright, glancing around hurriedly for the faerie's small frame. He was alone.
“Lori?” He held his breath, listening for the girl's response. Nothing.
He got to his feet, with his heart in his mouth, and stood stock still, straining to hear any signs of movement through the forest.
Silence. An early morning bird chirped, oblivious.
“Lori!” he shouted, uncaring when a desperate note crept into his voice. A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. Only his own call echoed back at him.
Where could she have gone? An uneasy knot formed in his stomach. The demon grabbed his pack and hurriedly stuffed their belongings inside.
Trying to put his panic to the back of his mind and fighting to remain logical, Lephas began searching through the deep snow for tracks. Several birds and a deer had passed through this way, but no faerie princesses. He growled with growing frustration.
“Lori!” he roared and his heart hammered in his chest.
How could she have slipped away from him so easily? He had only closed his eyes for a moment. Lephas ran a shaking hand through his hair.
The princess was in no fit state to be out here alone. What if she fell and injured herself? Or worse, she ran into another wild animal or her father's men?
“Shit!” Lephas swore, his chest heaving with worry. He slowed himself, despite the desperation flooding his body.
Look again... She must have left tracks.
His dark eyes scanned the snow, trying to see past the deep, messy tracks he had left behind in his wakewhen they had arrived yesterday.
There! He stooped to get a better look. Small, faint boot prints. They had almost been covered entirely by fresh snow fall, but they were there.
Lephas breathed deeply, trying to gain control of his nerves. They pointed back up the incline towards the hot spring. Surely, she hadn't gone back up there by herself, in the middle of the night?
He tore off through the undergrowth, uncaring when thorns and pine branches whipped at him. He hastily scanned the snow for more footprints.
“Lori!” he shouted again, cupping his hands around his mouth to aid in carrying his voice further. A bird startled nearby, wings flapping frantically as it fought to get into the air.
Lephas continued to follow the tracks. They were so faint, he could barely make them out. The girl wasn't walking straight, she had stopped and then looped back on herself, then...
Lephas swore bitterly under his breath, as he realised he had just spent fifteen minutes following a rabbit trail. The creature had been hopping at speed, giving the appearance of footprints in the snow.
There was a tell-tale disturbance in the tracks slightly ahead. This particular rabbit had been runningfrom a predator. It hadn't quite managed to make it to the safety of the bushes before it had been swept up by some sort of bird of prey, probably an owl.
The demon stepped carefully back to the camp, determined to try again. This time he followed her as she turned back down the rocky incline, away from the hot spring.
Where had she been going? His mind whirled with possibilities but he kept his eyes trained sharply on the tracks.
Lori's prints grew steadily heavier and easier to see in the deep snow as she had grown more confident on her feet. Lephas was relieved that she had been feeling well enough to walk by herself, but it did little to settle the worry in his stomach.
