Dragon Riders: Legacy(Book 2) Completed

Chapter 12:Missing:Lao Beifong

   It had been three days since Toph disappeared from her bedroom in the middle of the night.
   He and Poppy has discovered her missing that next morning when her handmaidens informed them that she wasn't in her room, and that they couldn't find her anywhere in the mansion or the estate.
   Poppy had broke out in tears when she heard that their only child was missing and possibly dead since there had been no sign or trace of her in the past three days. And there was no way Toph could have survived three days on her own, no child could, especially a blind one.
   "There's still no sign of her, sir." The captain of the guard reported to him and Poppy.
   "Well keep looking." He ordered.
   "We've looked everywhere, sir."
"Have you checked the valley, the forest or the swamp?" He asked the captain, starting to get irritated that a couple dozen guards couldn't find one seven year old child. How hard was it to track down Toph when they were using the best trackers and tracking dogs and spirit animals?
"Those are all large areas, sir. It would take at least a week or longer to fully search those areas." The captain of the guard said.
"I don't care how large those ares are. You and your men will search every single nook and cranny till you find my daughter, captain."
"Yes, sir." The captain said, and walked out of the room with his helmet at his side and his sword bumping against his leg as he walked out the door to continue his search for Toph.
Lao leaned back in his chair, putting a hand on his face, stressed that Toph ran away, and the estate guard that was supposed to protect his family didn't stop her and now they couldn't even find her.
Maybe twenty-four guards on duty aren't enough. Maybe he needed to bump the number of guards on duty up to thirty and put another two guards on Toph; the estate already had twenty-four guards on duty with an extra ten ready to step in if need be. Maybe he needed to increase the number of guards the estate had to forty or fifty incase something like this happened again.
At the moment all thirty guards were busy searching for Toph, and not a single one has seen any sign of her. What use were guards if they didn't keep the people they were supposed to protect in the estate.
A soft hand touched his shoulder, and he looked up at the person who touched him, and he saw Poppy, her beautiful hazel-green eyes looking into his.
"I'm sorry Poppy. The guard is doing everything they can to find her." He said to Poppy.
"I know they are," she said, touching his face with her hand, "but they are only people, you can't expect them to do what an army can. After all there are only thirty of them. It would take a while army to search every nook and cranny of the valley, the forest and the swamp." She said, doing her best to keep her despair under control as she was supposed to be able to do since she was from a noble family. But her eyes revealed her true emotions: despair, depression, and anguish. After all the eyes are the window to the soul, so it made it easy for him to tell how Poppy was feeling by looking her in the eyes, she could never hide her true feelings that appeared in her eyes.
He nodded at her words, her voice as beautiful as a song bird's.
Then getting up from his seat, he exited the room with Poppy, and he went to go attend to the estate's current needs.

Toph's POV
   She heard it again. The sound of hoof beats thundering through the forest as guards no doubt from the estate searched through the forest for her.
   Luckily they hadn't thought to check the cave yet or they just haven't seen it yet.
   Then to her dismay she heard one of the men say, "Don't forget to search the caves, all of them. Lord Lao will have our heads if he finds out we didn't search every single cave, and Toph turns up dead in one of those caves because we didn't search all the caves." She recognized one of the captain of the guard's commanders say.
   She heard the tromp of hoof beats come towards the cave.
   She quickly scooted back against the wall as for as she could go; not wanting to leave the baby dragon, feeling a connection with it. She also hoped the two dragons were hiding even if the guards took her back she knew the mother dragon would take care of it till she found a way to get back to the cave.
   The sound of horse tack rattling as the guards dismounted and the guards' steps echoing in the cave drew her back to the present.
   She heard the soft, scrapping metallic sound as three guards entered the cave; she could tell there were three of them by the sound of three sets of footsteps echoing loudly in the cave.
   "I don't see anything." The first guard said, breaking the eerie silence that had settled in the cave when the guards entered the cave.
   "Same here, and this place gives me the creeps." A second guard said.
   She sympathized with him because the guards had no idea what laid before them in the cave.
   "Suck it up. We continue searching this cave till there is no cave left to search or we find Lady Toph." The commander from earlier said in a gruff voice.
   "Sorry commander, but it's just those stories about the mysterious beast that stole those herds and killed the soldiers stupid enough to track it down and attack it." The second guard said in a shaky voice.
   Toph knew what he was talking about. There were stories of a mysterious beast that stole a herd of cattle in the middle of the night, and the owner of the herd had consulted with the earl of that town, and asked the earl to find out who stole his herd and livelihood. The earl obliged, not wanting to have to deal with anymore complaining farmers. The earl had sent fifty soldiers out to search for the beast and slay it. The soldiers never returned from the journey, and everyone assumed they were killed, and a few more herds were stolen, and then the beast stopped, and no one heard from it again.
   "It's just a story. Stop acting like a child. Sometimes I wonder why Lord Lao even hired you?" The first guard said, who was clearly a little bit older than the second soldier who must be somewhere between sixteen and eighteen.
   "My parents made me enlist." The second guard mumbled.
   Then everything was silent for a little bit till the silence was broken by the second guard.
   "Wait. What's that over there."
   "I swear if this is about that story again I am going to—."
   "I swear I saw a foot." The second guard said in desperation, trying to get them to believe him.
   "Are you sure? Are you sure it wasn't your imagination or are you mistaken?" The commander asked.
   "Yes I'm sure!" The second guard exclaimed.
   "Ok, fine let's just go check it out so he stops whining about it." The first guard said, sounding irritated.
   She then heard three pairs of of footsteps come her way.
   She pressed herself farther against the cave wall till it felt like she was tying to sink into the wall.
   The footsteps stopped, and she felt a gloved have touch her shoulder.
   "Are you alright Lady Toph?" She heard the commander ask her.
   "Yes, sir." She responded in kind, remembering the lessons on etiquette and manners she had to take and still take.
   "Good. Now come with us and we will safely get you back to the estate."
   She had no choice, the story of her life, on staying, and if she refused to go with them then they would find out about the baby dragon she was bonded with and its mother, who would surly kill them if she felt threatened by them. And she didn't want them to die. They were just doing their job.
   She nodded, and allowed them to help her up and lead her back to the horses and help her on to the commander's horse.
   Then they rode off towards the estate, while one of the guards signaled the rest of the guards still out looking for her with a few long blows from a horn, earning a single long blow from each of the parties out looking for her as they heard her party's call.