Follow That Roc!

Fred did not waste time in watching the creature fly off. He dashed back into his own room. "The chick's been taken away on a roc, Skye!" he said. "Follow it!"

"It would help if you opened the window," Skye pointed out tartly. Fred tended to forget that the hawk's claws weren't flexible enough for a task such as that. Fred did as he was asked, and Skye flew out and scanned the night sky.

The eyesight of hawks is of legendary keenness, but Skye's vision was no longer as good as it had been when he was younger. Fortunately there was a full moon, however, so that it was not too hard for him to spot the great roc as a moving blacker speck against the background of the sky. Skye headed after it, though he had no intention of getting too close. He might be supernaturally strong, but he didn't fancy his chances against a roc.

Meanwhile Fred got dressed. He would have to rouse the Head of the Council, Counsellor Suivant, and tell him what had happened. He wasn't looking forward to that. He was sure that he would get the blame, though there was nothing that he could have done. He could hardly have shared Tarsa's bedroom, and it was the Council's own guards who had failed to prevent the intruder getting into the building and who hadn't even raised the alarm.

On his way to Suivant's rooms, he passed several guards asleep at their posts, who could not be awakened by his shaking. He was unsure whether they had been drugged or were the victims of magic.

Reaching Suivant's door, Fred knocked loudly. After a short while, an irritable voice came from inside: "It's the middle of the night! Go away!"

"The priestess Tarsa has been abducted," Fred said. He heard the bolt being drawn and then the door opened.

1. "You'd better come in," said the now wide-awake Suivant.
2. Meanwhile, Skye continued following the roc at a safe distance.
3. Meanwhile, Tarsa was beginning to stir. "Don't struggle, unless you want to risk falling one hundred feet," she heard an unfamiliar voice say.

Add New Option

Go Back

View Forward Story Tree
View Back Story Tree