Lira breathed in the apple brandy fumes, thinking that she could get tipsy from the mere smell of the potent booze.
Glen had definitely gone this way—or had been led this way. The trail continued, sporadic but clear to a former rogue who knew how to look. A disturbed patch of snow here. An ostrich footprint there. More lavender feathers, always leading in the same direction. Toward the road leading away from the village and heading south.
Lira’s breath fogged in the cold air as she followed the signs, her mind working through possibilities. Had someone lured Glen away? But why? Anyone who’d met Glen knew he was more prone to shrieking than fighting.
Lira reached the main road and stopped, frustration building in her chest. The trail went cold. Too many feet had trampled the snow here during the day, and too many carts and wagons had passed. Whatever tracks, if there were any, had been lost in the chaos of a day’s worth of traffic heading in and out of Wayside.
She stood in the middle of the road, turning slowly, trying to think like Glen. Where would a scared ostrich go? What would attract him?
The wind picked up, cutting through her cardigan and making her shiver. The temperature was dropping fast now. She thought about Glen somewhere out in this cold, assuming he was still in the cold and not tucked away somewhere warm and safe by whoever had taken him.Ifsomeone had taken him.
Maybe she was seeing a conspiracy where there was only coincidence. Maybe Glen really had gotten loose somehow, wandered off, and was even now huddled somewhere trying to stay warm. The thought made her stomach clench with worry.
“Any luck?” Sass’s voice made her turn. The dwarf was trudging toward her through the snow, Val at her side. The blonde guard looked cold and tired.
“I found a trail,” Lira said, gesturing back toward the camp. “Feathers, mostly. Leading this way. But it stops here.”
Val’s expression sharpened. “So he definitely came this direction.”
Lira rubbed her hands together to warm them. “Or someone led him in this direction.”
“Why would someone steal an ostrich?” Sass asked, as Val curled an arm around her girlfriend’s shoulders.
Lira had no answer for that.
They stood together on the cold road, their breath fogging in the frigid air, as Val pulled Sass closer to warm her. Behind them in the village, the festival was winding down. The music had stopped, and villagers were making their way home, calling out goodnight to each other, their voices carrying in the clear winter air.
“We should get back,” Val said finally. “See if any of the other search parties found anything.”
They walked together toward the Tusk & Tail, Lira’s mind still churning through possibilities. She’d been a rogue long enough to know when something wasn’t adding up, and everything about Glen’s disappearance felt wrong.
“So?” Erindil was waiting at the door when they entered the tavern. “Any sign of who might have taken my Glen?”
Lira cocked her head, suddenly curious. “Is there a reason you think he was taken and didn’t wander off?”
The elf’s porcelain skin reddened. “There might be another elf who always considered Glen to be his bird.”
“There’s a dispute over the bird’s ownership?” Sass asked, stepping closer to Lira and her uncle.
“Not really,” Erindil stammered without meeting their gazes. “It was more of a family spat. Besides, my brother never wanted to take care of Glen in the manner to which he’s become accustomed.”
A chill went through Lira that had nothing to do with the cold. “Your brother?”
Val and Sass exchanged glances even as Erindil finally met Lira’s eyes.
“I’m sorry to tell you this, dear,” Erindil said with a heavy sigh, “but the only elf who would dare take Glen from me would be your father.”
CHAPTER5
“My father?” Lira managed, her voice cracking. The idea of her elf father coming to Wayside to snatch a fussy ostrich and not to see her made her eyes water and her cheeks flame.
Erindil seemed to realize the impact of his words. “I’m not saying it was him. Now that I think about it, why would he come all the way for an ostrich when he doesn’t even know I’m here? Surely he wouldn’t still harbor a grudge against my having Glen. Besides, I have no knowledge that he’s still wandering the Ageless Lands.”
Lira wasn’t sure it was a stretch to suspect her father. Hadn’t he known she’d grown up in Wayside with her gran? Hadn’t he even visited when she was young?What if he’d been watching all along?
“But he knows I’m here,” Lira said.
“All the more reason the idea of him being a suspect is merely a flight of fancy on my part.” Erindil took her hand and patted it briskly. “He would hardly come here merely to snatch Glen and leave, would he? Ignore the ramblings of an old elf, my dear.”
