The silver-haired man gazed at the desolate landscape, its sameness relieved by the presence of a large, layered boulder. “How could she have escaped?” he cried. “She was guarded day and night!”
“Sorry, boss.” The head searcher emerged from the other side of the rock, worry lines carving his face. He knew someone would get blamed for this, and harshly.
“I demand an explanation.” The boss turned to the other searchers, who just yesterday had been her guards. “You!” He pointed at a young man who appeared nervous.
The teenager quailed. He was barely old enough to be a guard and now his future was ruined. “She seemed sad,” he offered.
“Sad?!” The boss pounded his walking stick. “I gave her everything.”
The boy shrugged. “She arose before dawn to read by the light of a candle. Sometimes she cried.”
“What was she reading?”
“Silly stuff about witches and spells and shapeshifters.” The boy took a step back from the waves of fury radiating from his employer. “She said they were her mother’s stories.”
The older man paled. “Her mother. I should have guessed. But it’s all nonsense!”
Just then a blackbird circled above them and flew toward the sea.
~*~
Written for Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo.
©️2021 Paula Light and Light Motifs II. No unauthorized use permitted. Please check out Paula’s books for sale on Amazon.
