The panic Daegal felt faded quickly, and it was replaced with fury. It was anger at the ones who seemingly took her, at the damn magician who performed the trick that took her out of his sight, and himself for allowing it to happen in the first place. He wanted an outlet for these boiling emotions, and he had just the target to start with.

  Backtracking the way he came, he moved without regard to how he looked or who was in his way. Most had the sense to get out of his path, but some weren’t paying enough attention and were brushed aside in his wake, like thin branches on a tree. He found the magician again. The man was talking to his fellow troupe members only to be violently yanked away from behind and hoisted into the air by the collar of his suit. His feet dangled and kicked in the air for purchase on ground that was no longer there, and he found himself staring into the snarling face of Daegal once more.

  “She’s not here! What did you do to her! Where did you take her!”

  The magician found it a bit difficult to breath in his current position as he choked out a few words in his defense. “I... I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “LIAR!”

  “I s-swear. Why would I linger i-if I had something to do with it? That makes n-no sense... right?”

  Beneath the anger and hostility that Daegal felt, he could recognize the logic in the argument. The man did not look in the least bit worried or nervous before Daegal had confronted him, so it was likely that he was telling the truth. With a low growl, Daegal let his grip slacken as the magician dropped to the ground again, but he wasn’t off the hook just yet.

  “Then where did she go?” Daegal’s gaze burned and chilled at the same time, raising a mortal, vulnerable, feeling in the recipient.

  “I do not know.” Before Daegal could get too angry again, he supplemented his answer. “However, we may ask the others about her. I’m certain with so many of us working back here that someone must have seen where she went.”

  Daegal had no better plan, so he went along with the idea. “Fine, you will ask your fellows about her.”

  The man picked himself off the ground, a little shaken, but able to recover now that tempers had somewhat calmed and a plan of action established. Straightening the front of his suit, he cleared his throat and got to work.

  “Ahem, well then, let’s get started. I hope your missing friend turns up, and I do apologize that my act placed her in such a situation to begin with. My passion is entertainment, and to cause distress instead is alarming.”

  The apology landed rather flat with Daegal as he was too concerned about Fiora to think about forgiveness at this point. Following the magician around, the man questioned several of his fellow entertainers, much to their surprise as Daegal loomed behind the man. The first few who were questioned didn’t have much information about Fiora, but then they came upon a lady who was working with costumes.

  “Y-Yeah, I saw the lady walking with a man just a moment earlier. I thought he was part of the crew just trying to keep her out of sight of the crowd.”

  Did Fiora think the same thing? Daegal wondered to himself.

  “Did s-something happen?” The lady asked.

  “Nothing that concerns you, deary, don’t worry. You do good work, keep it up.” They left the slightly flustered woman behind before the man addressed Daegal again. “There, you see? We aren’t involved, and we figured out what happened to the lady.”

  “That doesn’t help me! I already know she’s been taken, but I don’t know by who or why?!”

  The performer sighed. “I’m afraid that’s all I can really do for you right now. I may be a magician, but I can’t perform miracles.”

  A growl of frustration rumbled in Daegal’s throat, building tension inside him. Eventually he was forced to let it go. He couldn’t hold the man as responsible for this mess as he would have liked in the moment. Standing here and being angry at him wasn’t going to solve anything, and it didn’t get him any closer to finding Fiora. Daegal decided it was best to turn the frustration into productivity at the very least as he returned to the point where Fiora’s scent had faded and began to search for anything that would give him a clue to her whereabouts.

  Returning did not suddenly reveal anything out of the ordinary that he could have used. The guards who had been escorting him returned to his side once more after fruitlessly searching the nearby alleys and roads. Daegal put them immediately back to work on a different task now.

  “Start talking to people in the area and ask if they saw Fiora. I’m going to see if I can pick up a scent somewhere.”

  One of the guards had a hesitant objection, though. “Sir, I b-beg your pardon, but we’re moving back into a public area. We were assigned to protect you in case someone tried anything foolish. We cannot leave you to-”

  Daegal cut the man off with a low growl and a stern glare. His patience was running thin. “If someone tries anything to get in my way right now, they will end up regretting it. You will do as you are told else you will regret it as well.”

  That threat carried more weight than any conceivable punishment that might be handed down to the soldiers for neglecting their assigned duty. They both unanimously decided to follow the orders given to them as they spread out and started to talk to anybody in the area. Daegal got to work too as he scoured the road for even a whiff of Fiora’s scent.

  People watched him with either wariness or confusion as he sniffed the air. There were only brief moments where he caught that smell of herbs that clung to her, but it disappeared on the wind almost as soon as he could detect it. Something was making this more difficult than it should be. Something was either blocking or overpowering her scent. Whatever the case, it was frustrating, and the rude individuals he happened to get close to.

  People sneered at him, like they tasted something foul, and he was to blame for it. At one point he got closer to a potter's stall and the man had the nerve to try and raise a fuss about it.

  “Aye, monster! Get away from my-”

  He was cut off when Daegal turned and growled at him. Whatever courage the man thought he had vanished in an instant, and Daegal continued on his way with an annoyed huff. This would likely never change, but he did not have the time to waste on them right now.

  No matter what he tried, he could not pick up a solid enough trail to follow. He wanted to scream, but he reigned it in and instead returned to the guards to see if they had any luck. The pair were standing where he last separated from them, anxiously looking around for Daegal as they were worried about what might become of them if they lost both of their charges in a single hour. It was a relief to them when they saw Daegal’s towering form walking through the crowd. When the two parties met again, Daegal asked for a report

  The soldier on the left cleared his throat and gave him what information they had managed to find. “We talked to the shopkeepers and stall owners in the area and asked if they had seen Lady Fiora emerging from the alley there. Many of them didn’t, but we had some luck. A lady who sells textiles nearby noticed a small commotion. There was apparently a carriage stopped at the entrance of the alleyway, and she heard what sounded like muffled struggles before the horses were spurred on, and nothing was left. She assumed she was just hearing things, but it is likely that Lady Fiora was taken on this carriage.”

  “Then we have to find it! Which way did it go?”

  “S-Sir, even if we were to follow the direction the carriage went, it could have turned down any one of these streets, and there are a lot of carriages in the city. People don’t pay attention to them, so getting information on just one of them and following it is a near impossibility.”

  “You can’t expect me to sit here and do nothing!”

  “Not n-nothing, sir. We will get a full description of the carriage, as many details as we can, and then we search for it after we’ve narrowed down the locations that would own such transport. We can call in others from the guard to assist. Scouring the city by ourselves is futile.”

  It was painful, but he had to admit that the size of the city was daunting. Even if he spent the whole day tearing through the city street by street, he’d probably only manage to search a small portion by himself. His tail lashed a flicked with agitation, but he had no plan of his own. In the end, Daegal grumbled an acceptance of their idea, so they collected every scrap of information they could from the local businesses before starting on the path back to the castle.

  Everything felt surreal as he moved, like walking through a nightmare that he was only vaguely aware of. He had failed to protect her, and that sense of dread was starting to close in. Daegal didn’t even know what he was going to tell Emil when they got back. The man might never trust him with her again! Emil couldn’t even be blamed if he decided to do that. All this wasn’t even taking into account the worst possible scenario, because he refused to consider that possibility for even a moment in his head.

  A little over an hour since they started searching the small group drew near to the castle entrance and came upon a curious sight. There was a young man standing at the base of the road leading up to the castle. He looked out of place and slightly lost as he turned this way and that, seemingly looking for something. Once the man’s eyes fell on Daegal, his back straightened and his nervousness increased dramatically. Daegal became suspicious of this individual, and as they approached, his feeling was justified.

  “E-Excuse me. I have a message... or, rather, an invitation, I-I guess.” He was incredibly nervous, stammering over himself and fidgeting in place.

  “An invitation to what?” Daegal asked skeptically.

  “Uhm, well, they said it was to meet with a lost friend who-”

  “Fiora! What did you do with her!? Where is she!? Who are you!?” The rapid-fire questions overwhelmed the messenger who was at a loss and terrified for his life. Daegal was looming over him, intimidating, threatening. Frankly, it looked like he was a few seconds from soiling himself.

  “You... I... I d-don't know, I swear! Some guy just paid m-me to bring this message to you. I didn’t d-do anything!”

  Daegal could smell the fear practically oozing off him, and the wide-eyed look of terror was genuine as well. This messenger was not involved, and Daegal let out a slow breath as he calmed himself once more. His guards chimed in as well.

  “Sir, we should listen to the message.”

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “I know,” Daegal said tersely. He fixed the messenger with a focused stare. “Speak, then.”

  “R-Right. The invitation w-was for you to come alone and meet with them. They were very insistent on the alone part and said it was to p-prevent any... accidents.... That’s a threat, isn’t it? God, I'm delivering a threat to this thing.” He mumbled that last part in almost disbelief.

  One of the guards chimed in again, offering a plan of action. “We should request additional help from castle, surround the location, and arrest all those involved so we might pry the information out of them.”

  Daegal gave it some consideration. It could work, but there was always the possibility that they might hurt Fiora if he didn’t listen to their demands. That wasn’t a risk he could take, and besides that, even alone a handful of humans were little threat to him. Most of his wounds had healed almost completely, and while the gaps in his scales were still present for now, they were small weaknesses, and not at all around vital areas. No, he could give them what they wanted, and in turn, take what he needed.

  “I’ll go alone.”

  Both soldiers snapped to attention at his declaration. “Sir, that is illogical and dangerous! We have no idea who they are or what they are planning.”

  “Perhaps, but they are threatening Fiora, and I can’t risk harm being brought to her. You may gather others, inform the king, do whatever you feel is right, but I must go to them alone first. You may follow after me if you must. I’m sure this messenger would be more than happy to make two trips, yes?” The man in question nervously gulped and nodded rapidly. “However, you should not interfere unless you hear that something has gone wrong. Fiora’s life takes priority over everything.”

  The soldiers didn’t know if they should argue or not, but Daegal was adamant, and proceeded with his plan regardless of their thoughts on the matter. “Well, messenger, lead the way.”

  The two of them left behind the soldiers who stood rooted in place for a handful of moments before quickly turning and jogging up the hill to the castle. Daegal was sure that Reynard would be upset with him again, but at least this time he wasn’t making the choice solely for selfish reasons. No, he was protecting Fiora, and if he could uproot a nest of rats in the process, well, all the better.

  Daegal followed the very nervous messenger as he walked through many streets. Naturally, they garnered a lot of attention from the people they passed. He wondered how these abductors were planning on performing, what he assumed would be, a clandestine meeting with the number of eyes that were naturally drawn to him.

  They took a few more turns, and Daegal noticed that they were heading toward the east wall. There was also a noticeable decrease in the foot traffic in this area. This got progressively more so as they went, and the reason was clear soon enough. They had entered a part of the city where there was nothing. Well, there were still buildings, but they were empty, run down with broken shutters and loose boards. In the grand scheme this was a very small part of the city, but standing in the midst of such a blighted looking space felt off when the rest of city was so filled with life.

  They didn’t go too far into this abandoned little nook of the city. There was a slightly larger house, two stories that looked like it might have once been a shop of some kind as evident by the empty sign hanger above the door. It was in slightly better condition than most of the buildings in the area, and not too far in.

  “God,” Daegal’s escort began, “they told me the meeting location, but I’ve never been near this part of the city. I guess that was for a reason.”

  Looking at the building, Daegal wasn’t too thrilled about going inside such a cramped location, but even with the limited movement that would come from being inside, he still did not fear. He turned to the messenger and gestured with his head back the way they came.

  “Go back to the castle.” The man didn’t need to be told twice as he quickly retreated from the area.

  Now alone, Daegal took a breath and then ducked through the door that was barely holding on to the hinges. The inside of the dilapidated building was little better than the outside. There were counters that were rotting in certain places. Bits of garbage and broken furniture were scattered about, but it was mostly empty inside, lending to the ghostly feeling of the area. Despite the evidence that nobody had lived here in years, Daegal could clearly smell that humans were in the building. Not in the mood to waste time, he called out into the room.

  “I know you’re there. Come out, now.”

  It only took a breath before a series of footsteps were heard. A trio of men emerged from the shadows. They were dressed normally, though each had a weapon on their hips.

  Only three? They are either confident, or idiots.

  Daegal glared at them and asked the important question. “Where is Fiora?”

  “Not here,” one of them answered. Daegal growled, and they continued. “We will be moving to another location.” A large sack was tossed to Daegal who caught it. “You will put this on, and we will lead you. If you resist, the girl suffers.”

  Another rumbling growl echoed from Daegal’s throat, but he needed to comply, for now. He took the bag and put it over his head. It only barely managed to cut off his vision due to them underestimating the size of his horns and the shape of his face. He could see out the bottom of the sack, and they mumbled a brief series of complaints at the poor estimates made for the blindfold. They had no ability to fully blind him, so they continued as they were and led him out the back of the building with some difficulty due to his size.

  Outside, they had a carriage approach, and they prompted him to enter it. After an awkward minute of squeezing inside, he was seated at an odd angle inside the darkened transportation. The carriage moved, and now he had no hope of receiving reinforcements in a timely manner. He felt surprisingly calm, all things considered. There was a coldness to his mind where he was simply focused on the task at hand without considering anything else.

  It was several minutes of travel before he felt the carriage come to a halt once more. The door opened and he was instructed to step out. They led him further, and he watched the ground beneath him change from cobbled stone to wooden floors as he found himself guided into a building of some kind. Through a few hallways and up a set of stairs. A door was opened in front of him, and he ducked low while twisting his body to get through. Once they were all standing firmly inside, Daegal was told that he could take off the bag.

  With his vision returned, he could see that they were all in a room that was highly decorated and lavish looking. Bookshelves were filled to capacity, a scenic painting hung from the wall, and the desk and chairs were constructed with richly varnished dark wood. Eight men stood around the room with one seated behind the desk. The man behind the desk had black hair, a goatee style beard, and appeared to be in his thirties. He had a look of confidence on his face as he spread his arms open toward Daegal.

  “Welcome to my humble home. Care to have a seat?”

  “No. Who are you?”

  The man shook his head. “That’s not something you need to know.”

  Daegal thought about it and agreed. “True.”

  He wagged a finger at Daegal. “You know, I could never have imagined that simply having my men watch for any opportunities would have paid off this well. What a fortunate turn of events that the little peasant girl you’re always seen with just so happened to wander far enough from you to get lost.” Daegal felt all four of his eyes twitch with agitation. “I’ll have you know, you cost me and some of my associates quite a considerable sum of money with your recent actions. Perhaps we might talk about an impromptu repayment of debts?”

  A groaning sigh escaped from Daegal. “Of course this is about those stupid lumps of metal. You humans never fail to disappoint.”

  “There’s no reason to be so gloomy, my friend. Why, just think of this as a business opportunity, one where we both have something to gain. I’ve taken the time out of my very busy day for this, so you can at least do me the courtesy of hearing my proposal, hmm? Well, not that you have much of a choice.” A sickening laugh came from this pathetic waste of air, a noise that was echoed a little more quietly by his underlings in the room. Daegal was not amused and continued to stare coldly at him.

  “So, why don’t we just get right to the reason why we are all here. You have the king’s near undivided attention as of late. I find such a thing to be incredibly useful and would like you to make a show of us gaining a working relationship with one another. You will then suggest that I join the king’s personal council and continue to show support for me, do this, and the girl will remain unharmed. We will buy the time needed to accomplish this by telling a story that the kidnappers wished for some ridiculous sum of money, so much that not even the king would be willing to part with it. This will put us into a stalemate in the foreseeable future, but keep playing your part, and eventually you may get to see her on occasion. Do we understand each other?”

  Daegal had listened quietly to the asinine plan with only an errant twitch of his tail. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. Tilting his head to the side, he strained his neck slightly, resulting in the crackle of a few of his bones. When his eyes opened again, they were narrowed to slits as he glared at the contemptuous piece of filth sitting so smugly before him.

  “You seem to be having a small misunderstanding here,” Daegal began as he slowly walked forward. “It’s not, if I don’t do what you say you’ll kill her, it’s more like, if you kill her...” he placed his hands on the desk, claws curling and digging grooves in the formerly pristine surface, “what’s to stop me from ripping you into tiny, little, pieces?”

  A bit of color drained from the man’s face as he leaned back ever so slightly in his chair. Daegal continued. “I know your face now; I have your scent. There would be nowhere you could possibly hide, no hole deep enough to conceal yourself from me. I am not human. I do not simply die should you find my willingness to follow your orders to be lacking.”

  “G-Get him away from me!” The man finally found enough of his voice to order his thugs about. They drew their swords and approached from every angle. Daegal did not even blink in their direction.

  The one closest to his left side was the chosen fool, and quick as lightning, Daegal’s hand lashed out and seized his skull in an iron grip. It only took a light squeeze to make the man start yelling in pain and thrashing around blindly. He used one hand to fruitlessly try and pry Daegal’s grip off him while the other swung the sword which bounced off his scales without a scratch. As this was happening, Daegal did not take his eyes of the leader, his gaze burrowing holes into the man who was feeling smaller and smaller by the second. Nobody else had the courage to get closer to him, especially as they watched how ineffective their weapons were.

  “So,” Daegal resumed speaking, “let me give you my deal. You will return Fiora to me, unharmed, and I will let you run, as far and as fast as you can go. I’ll even do you the courtesy of not chasing you. However, if I see you again after today, if I smell your wretched scent on the wind, if I even catch a whisper that you are floating around me like the pest you are...”

  With a firm squeeze and a sickening crunch, Daegal crushed his way through the skull of the man in his grip who went limp instantly, blade clattering to the floor alongside a stream of blood and gore. He released the body which flopped lifelessly to the ground and placed his now bloodied hand on the desk once more.

  “Do we understand each other?” Daegal parroted back to him.

  The worm looked like he was about to be sick as his eyes darted from the body to Daegal’s face repeatedly. With trembling words, he finally managed to speak.

  “G-Get the g-girl.” Nobody moved for a second, prompting him to speak again. “NOW!” His shout finally spurred a few of them near the door to act as they left in a hurry.

  “A healthy choice.” Daegal stopped looming so dramatically, but he still stood tall enough to cast a shadow over the whole room. He had not failed this time. Fiora would be safe once more, or else he would kill everyone.

  It was several minutes of waiting, and Daegal was just starting to become impatient before the door to the room opened again, and he saw Fiora. She didn’t look to be injured in any way and her face brightened immediately upon seeing him.

  “Daegal!” She ran to him, but as she did, he noticed a slight limp on her right leg. She had been hurt, at least a little bit. Fiora jumped into his abdomen and hugged him. Daegal returned the hug, but made sure not to use his bloodied hand.

  “Are you hurt, Fiora?”

  “No, just bruised a little, I’ll be okay.”

  Daegal glared at the thugs in the room after hearing they had hurt her, even in such a minor way.

  “What’s happening right now?” she asked him.

  “We’re getting out of here. They understand their mistakes.”

  Fiora’s eyes glanced at the corpse in the room, head crushed and spilling blood in a growing pool onto the floor. She averted her gaze, her stomach churning at the sight. The only thing she could manage was a nod as she focused on not staring at the grisly sight.

  Daegal walked her outside, glaring at anyone who dared to even twitch in his presence on the way. They traveled through the fancy house, though it was smaller than Ricard's, and exited from the front door. He was hyper aware of any further nonsense that could come, and as they reached the streets again, his gaze snapped to an individual that emerged from an alleyway nearby.

  The man that appeared was wearing exceptionally bland clothing, such that he might blend into any environment in the city. He stopped once Daegal noticed him but did not appear to be frightened.

  “How many are in there?” The question that came from this enigmatic individual was surprising and unexpected for Daegal. After a moment to consider all the possibilities, the likely answer presented itself.

  “You serve Reynard?”

  “Yes,” the man answered simply.

  Daegal glanced back at the large noble house. He promised he wouldn’t chase him, but he never made any guarantees for the king.

  “Eight remaining, one being the leader.”

  The man nodded and then released a sharp whistle. From various alleyways and buildings more individuals emerged, all dressed in low profile apparel and armed. A total of a dozen men took to the streets, and then they marched into the house Daegal came from, drawing their weapons as they entered. Daegal figured they could handle it, and their involvement only made it more necessary to remove Fiora from the situation. Leaving the king’s agents to do their work, he kept walking, one hand around Fiora’s shoulder in a guiding manner, and a deep unpleasantness rumbling inside him.