Flying in ever widening circles Kasula scanned the ground looking for any sign of her missing niece. Her vision was greatly enhanced when she transformed into her eagle body. Finding many small animals, rabbits, squirrels and birds she wished for a moment that she was just out hunting, but she didn’t see any sign of Atalaya. Returning to the cottage she landed on the wooden fence rail that enclosed one of the herb gardens and then hopped down to the ground as she dropped the eagle form. Samantha took a step towards her, ready to steady the elven Druid if needed. But, Kasula stood up easily, without any signs of tiredness. “There is no sign of Atalaya in the open areas.” Seeing the panic that crossed Samantha’s face Kalusa grabbed her hands, giving them a comforting squeeze. “Don’t worry yet. That just means that she is in the forest, not in an open area. I can’t fly very well through the trees as an eagle. I’m going to switch over to a goshawk. I can’t fly as long in that form, but I can fly through the woods. Aliwin and Rhys are searching from where we were when we got your message. They will use Clearwater to aid them. Between us, we will find her.”
Samantha clung to Kalusa shuddering with fear and remorse. “I can’t believe that I didn’t hear her leave the cottage. I should have heard her. I should have kept her with me, but Quaeth was so needy and hurting with the teeth he is cutting all of the sudden. She’s never gotten out of the cottage before. She usually plays so nicely in the common room when I have to attend to Quaeth.” Tears once again streaming down her face she whispered, “What if you can’t find her?”
Kalusa pulled Samantha into her arms, hugging her tightly. “Stop that! We will find Atalaya. You need to go inside, wipe your tears and see to the baby. We will find her. Get ready for the party, because I can assure you we will all be ready to eat once we get her home. Go on now. It’s going to be alright.” Kalusa gave Samantha a gentle push towards the cottage door and then started centering, pulling energy from the ground beneath her as she prepared to change forms again. Then raising her staff and sweeping it in an upward arch she flew up into the sky, her form now that of a goshawk. Swiftly she flew into the forest, weaving her way between the branches and trunks of the trees, searching for any sign of Atalaya.
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After about thirty minutes of traveling towards Samantha’s homestead, Aliwin called for the others to stop. “We are getting closer to the range that I think Atalaya could have wandered into. The question is, where did she start from and in which direction would she travel?” I just don’t know. Again stooping to the ground, he traced out a rough map with the cottage in the center. I think she will be somewhere within this circumference. We are on the edge here. I think that we will need to get to the cottage as swiftly as possible.”
“Rhys, do you think that Clearwater can find the cottage on his own from here, pick up her scent and start tracking her? Or is that too much to ask of him?”
Rhys knelt down on one knee in front of Clearwater. Resting his hand upon the wolf’s head, his hand making a grasping and releasing motion in front of his mouth as he asked Clearwater to speak with him. The wolf raised his eyes to look into Rhys’ eyes and he sent a questioning inquiry to Rhys.
“Can you speed your way to the cottage and search for the child’s scent trail from there?”
“Yes, I can,” answered the wolf. “I go.” With that he looked quickly at Aliwin. “Tell your pack brother that I will find her. Follow swiftly.” Nuzzling Rhys’ hand, he bounded off in the direction of Samantha’s cottage. Rhys stood and reached for Lorsan, merged his sight with that of the wolf’s again and confidently started forward. Lorsan and Talina each led their charges through the forest paths as quickly as they safely could. Ailwin focused all his attention on the swiftly changing images that Clearwater saw. The woods seemed to fly past him at an astounding rate as Clearwater focused all his attention on getting to the cottage as quickly as possible. Ailwin knew that he would still be scenting for Atalaya, and that if he randomly passed her scent he would abort his race towards the cottage to follow it. Allowing Talina to lead him forward he said a quick prayer to Silvanus, the Forest Father, to keep his daughter safe. He then concentrated on making sense of the wolf’s visual images and taking step after step. His hand gripped Talina’s shoulder loosely but securely allowing him to release his worries of tripping or walking into a tree as he traveled through the woods. “Soon. We’ll get there soon,” he kept repeating in his mind. “She will be fine. We’ll find her soon.”
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Clearwater loved to run. His body moved with the grace and fluidity inherent to the wolves of the High Forest. Dodging trees and other obstacles in his way he headed unerringly towards the home of his leader’s pack brother. As he ran he categorized the smells he passed. Fox, rabbit, squirrel, deer, wolf, porcupine … so many scents, but not the one he was hunting. Suddenly he stopped. Turning to his right he loped a few paces forward. “Yes!!! A human-elven scent!!! The child!” It was still a ways off, but he could clearly discern it on the breeze. Slowly, he circled three times and then headed off in the new direction. He knew that Rhys would understand that he had found what they were searching for, the scent of the young girl child. Moving slower now, his nose guiding him he passed through the thick forest until he found the actual trail made by the child. Sitting on his haunches, he lifted his head and howled his success and called the others to him. Then he waited. His elves came. They would follow the trail together and find the child. It was not safe for young to be on their own. They needed to be kept safe within the den, guarded by a pack member. They would find the missing pup and return her to the den and the safety of her pack. He called again. He would continue to call until the others reached him.
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