Chapter 4
“What should we do now that everyone is searching for Glen?” Erindil asked, looking quite lost as the festival music continued around us, with villagers who were unaware of the missing ostrich dancing merrily around the bonfire.
“I know what you need.” Sass took the elf by the elbow. “A nice, hot beverage by a warm fire. There’s nary a chill that a cup of chai can’t banish.”
Lira was grateful that the dwarf was steering her uncle back toward the tavern. Leave it to Sass to know just how to make everyone feel better. As much as she wanted to join them by the tavern’s hearth, there was something she had to do first.
“I’ll meet you inside,” she said to Sass as they neared the Tusk & Tail, peeling off and making her way to the campsite behind the tavern.
The colorful tents looked strangely abandoned in the darkness, their silk sides roiling in the icy breeze.
The fire pit in the center had burned to coals, and even the lute player wasn’t perched on his usual stool.
Her uncle’s entire traveling party must still be at the festival, which made it easier to look for clues.
She found the tether easily enough, and she examined the length of braided leather attached to a golden stake driven into the frozen ground. Beside it lay Glen’s harness, the jewels winking in the dim light.
Lira crouched down to examine it, her trained eyes scouring the area before she picked it up. The harness wasn’t torn, but the buckle was loose. She fastened it and then yanked, watching as the mechanism popped open.
Sadly, this meant she was right back where she’d started. Glen might have pulled himself free and wandered away, or someone might have freed him.
She stood slowly, scanning the area around the tether point. Many feet had trampled the snow, none of the prints appearing any fresher than any other. But there, just beyond the circle of disturbed snow, she caught sight of something.
Feathers.
Lira moved carefully, not wanting to disturb any other evidence. Three lavender feathers caught on a low bramble bush, pointing like an arrow toward the stone bridge. She followed the direction, her eyes sweeping the ground for more signs.
Another feather twenty paces away, this one stuck in a patch of snow.
Then another, caught on the corner of Rog and Rosie’s wagon, which was dark and quiet since both gnomes were at the festival.
The partially ajar back door and a broken bottle of brandy on the ground told her they’d been in a hurry to get there.
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. If someone 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.”