The Destiny Detour

Daniella

"Talyrin?"

"Out," Kat sighed. "Patrolling off—" She stopped so suddenly, Rosaliy was forced to stumble to her own halt.

They peered into the darkness. Rosaliy saw solid black, but Kat had sharper senses than she did.

"Just back," Kat amended her statement.

With concentration, Rosaliy was able to pick out the shadow of a horse moving toward them. In a blink, where once there stood the shadow of a horse, barely visible against the dark night, now there was a man striding their way. With the exception of Kat and her children, the few living Naxturae were trapped as horses during the day but free to shift into men at night.

This particular horse was the aforementioned Talyrin, Kat's father. "What's wrong, filia?" he asked with his soft, calm voice, steadying arms on her shoulders. "Why are you wandering the night?"

Rosaliy was always struck with how similar the two were without being able to put a finger on why. Beyond the dark hair and the same nose, they shared the same quiet sort of determination.

"Lillya is missing," Kat rushed to explain. "All the girls are missing."

A shadow of displeasure crossed her father's face. "I can search," he offered immediately.

"I was just going to try that," she said, "from the bluffs."

He was about to accompany them when another black shadow sped their way. Talyrin slid a bow from his back into position, but Kat stopped him with a hand on his arm. "It's Pepper," she murmured.

The big cat loped to them and whined, curling around Kat anxiously. Kat put a calming hand on the frantic jaguar's head. "Where are the girls?" she asked.

He whimpered and bumped her leg with his head.

"His tail," noted Talyrin.

Rosaliy had just enough presence of mind to recall the firefly stone in her pocket. She withdrew the little rock, and it glowed white at her command, hovering in the air. A ribbon around Pepper's tail was knotted more than once, and loosening it took all the skill gained through Rosaliy's experience working with children who had the tendency to create hopeless knots in all manner of things. Once the knot was picked apart, the ribbon slid into Rosaliy's hand. It was a hair ribbon, still tied around the remnants of a bedraggled leaf. Rosaliy handed both objects to Kat.

"I won't be able to follow Pepper's trail in the dark," admitted Talyrin, "but at the first light of dawn I can set off with Dmitri."

Dawn was not far off, but that was too late for Kat.

"I know someone who is an expert at finding people," murmured Kat, rubbing the ribbon between her fingers.

With a firm kiss on Kat's cheek and a promise all would be well soon, Talyrin went to rouse Dmitri as promised.

Ribbon gripped in one hand and leaf in the other, Kat headed back to the palace to find her last hope. Rosaliy trailed behind, feeling useless and not enthused by Kat's next plan. Soon, they were in front of Daniella's bedroom door. Kat rapped on the door and waited approximately the length of two heartbeats before her hands rose with the intention of opening the stubborn door herself. Before she had a chance, the carved wooden door swung open. Daniella took in the scene before her with a sweep of her cold eyes. She never seemed surprised by the most outlandish circumstances.

Kat launched into her pleading request right in the middle. "You can find anyone. Where is she?"

Despite Daniella's nebulous position as prisoner, not a single person in the palace would have dared speak to her that way, with the exception of Sorceress Issabeth. Issabeth would not have received the response Kat did.