Falcon was in a sour mood. For the third time in as many days, he must admit failure. Ralic’s temperament grew worse by the day since the girl’s disappearance. He feared Ralic's temper wouldn’t hold much longer.

  He pushed the door to Ralic’s office open and stepped inside. His talons clicked and scraped on the stones, and Ralic stiffened where he stood vigil over the northern approach. Despite the heat, Falcon felt chilled, and he pulled his collar tighter about his feathered throat. Thick curtains blotted out the sunset except where Ralic held them back.

  “Where is she?” Ralic asked.

  “She continues to elude us,” Falcon answered.

  “I’ve been more than patient.” Ralic turned, and Falcon shuddered at the cold expression in the Count’s eyes. “But I grow weary of continual disappointment.”

  “We believe she is moving at night, my lord,” Falcon answered. “Wherever she’s found to camp is well hidden. If we’re to catch her it will be on the move.”

  “Has a child bested my commander?”

  Falcon suppressed the urge to grovel. He remembered what had happened to the last commander to earn Ralic’s wrath. He had no desire to follow in his predecessor’s footsteps. Death was preferable.

  “Your child,” he answered. “Intelligent and well trained, as befits her lineage.”

  “Spare me.”

  Falcon gasped as he felt a sudden pressure around his heart. It increased until he feared his heart would crumple under the weight. His knees buckled, and he fought for breath. A shadow fell across the floor in front of him, and he looked up to find Ralic sneering down at him.

  “P-please, my lord,” Falcon gasped.

  “Hear me well,” said Ralic. “I will show mercy only once. Assign a team of Nocturnals to find my daughter. Bring her to me alive before the week ends.”

  The grip on Falcon’s heart eased, and he sagged to the floor. “Yes, my lord,” he answered.

  “Get out of my sight.”

  Falcon heard the pop of a decanter opening as he pushed himself upright and left on unsteady legs.

  The Beast Guard mess was a nasty excuse for a dining hall. It was the neglected remains of Tembar's dragonry with a few tables and a cook stove added. Ralic claimed he was protecting his elite soldiers from those too ignorant to understand. Falcon thought it more likely Ralic was biding his time. The Beast Guard was his secret weapon, and they were obliged to live in shadow until he decided to strike.

  Falcon had ordered patrols of human guards throughout the village and irrigation points. He'd also alerted the tower sentries to be on the lookout for the girl. None had seen any sign of her. Ralic believed she would try and run for Reiont, and Falcon would have liked to place soldiers near the border to lay an ambush for her. However, the Yekaran patrols over Reiont were unpredictable. Besides, the land near the border was too exposed to make such a strategy feasible while avoiding detection.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The brat was dead; he was sure of it. No one could survive in the Wastelands for so long without water and shelter. Yet, Ralic wouldn’t relent from the search until she was back, alive or dead.

  Falcon’s entrance was ignored. His men were eating, slow with fatigue, after a day of sifting through the Wastelands. The Nocturnals trickled into breakfast before their shifts began.

  He searched the room, looking for the three he’d decided upon. Snow was sitting nearby, surrounded by avian males. She was beautiful and desired by many, Falcon included. She could outfly most and spot a sand rat at fifty meters on a cloudy night.

  “Snow.”

  Her white head swiveled to regard him in the odd way owls had.

  “I have an assignment for you.”

  “Yes, Commander.”

  Falcon found Valiance as Snow bid her admirers farewell. He felt a primal hatred toward the reptile and an odd hunger he tried not to dwell upon. Valiance’s sense of smell and ability to track heat could be useful in finding Chantal. He led Snow to the other end of the mess where Valiance kept himself apart from the avians.

  “Valiance, I have an assignment for you,” he said.

  The reptile turned, nostrils flared as if assaulted by an offensive odor. His tongue darted out, and he nodded.

  “Come, we have one more to find.”

  The last huddled in the darkest recesses of the room with the other rodents. Falcon held little respect for such a timid bunch. The rat had a talent for sneaking through tight spaces others could not. He would make a useful spy if he managed to find a gram of courage.

  “Jadrick,” Falcon said. A jolt of perverse pleasure went through him as all three rodents jumped. Jadrick hurried over as the others snatched up their dinners and left.

  “Yes, Commander Falcon?” Jadrick asked. His voice trembled, and his eyes darted between the three predators.

  “I have an assignment for the three of you.”

  “Yes,” hissed Valiance. “We know. Would you mind telling us what it is, so we can get on with it?”

  “Watch your tongue, snake!” Snow nipped at Valiance’s hood, and he dodged before lowering his head in submission. “Have some respect for your commander.”

  “That’s enough,” Falcon said. “You are to hunt for the Count’s daughter and bring her in alive.”

  “Has a child outwitted you, Falcon?”

  “She was heading northeast when her trail vanished,” Falcon continued, ignoring Valiance’s comment. He seethed and fantasized about ripping the serpent’s throat out. Only the knowledge it would encourage further insubordination kept him from striking. “Either she’s found a hidden shelter, a water source, and only moves at night, or she succumbed to dehydration and lies buried. If she is alive, she knows how to hide her passage.

  “Chances are she is trying to reach Reiont. What trails we have found are random, indicating she is disoriented. There is no evidence she has left the Wastelands.” Falcon chuckled at the startled reactions of the three. His men may not have found the brat, but they at least kept her spooked enough to be unable to regain her bearings. “She must not reach any settlement outside Tembar.”

  “We will find Ralic’s child,” Snow said.

  Falcon nodded. “Report to me by the first shift change after dawn.”

  He watched as the three left. Falcon hated placing his fate in the hands of others, but he was exhausted, hungry, and his night vision was poor. He’d eat and rest, and if his second team didn’t bring the girl in the morning, the hunt would begin anew.