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In the predicament we currently faced, I thought that was a good thing.
We hurried down the stairs. The house was empty of workers. They were out looking for our lost friends. We threw the doors open and sprinted across the clearing toward the stables on the other side.
The lights were on and the doors were pinned open. Waev glanced at me. It was unlikely the guards would have missed searching the stables but the kidnapper could have doubled back on himself when he saw the net closing in.
Waev gripped his bag in both hands, prepared to swing it around at the last moment like a club. He jumped around the corner.
“Argh!”
It was the stable master, Ejam. His arms shook as he lowered them from his face.
“What are you doing creeping around in the stables?” Waev said, relaxing his tensed muscles.
“I work here!” Ejam said.
His teeth still whistled and clicked but my ears must already be tuning in to his odd way of talking as I understood every word he said.
“I was very sorry to hear about the lady and the little lord, my lord,” he said. “My wife’s out looking for them right now.”
His wife worked in the kitchens and was an exceptionally good cook when it came to cakes and pastries.
“There’s a dangerous man on the loose,” I said. “I hope she isn’t out searching by herself.”
“She’s with her sister,” Ejam said. “I hope they do run across the kidnapper. He won’t know what hit him.”
He shook his head wearily as if he was glad to be away from them for a while.
“What brought you to the stables?” I said.
“Whenever I used to run away as a lad, it was always to the stables,” Ejam said. “I’ve always had a good friendship with beasts. I thought maybe Bianca and Cleb might have taken refuge here for some reason. I checked but they’re not here.”
That was a shame. It would have saved us a heap of trouble.
“And we heard the rumor about Bianca being the one who took the little lord,” Ejam said, his top lip curling into a sneer. “But neither of us believe that, my lord. Anyone who met her and saw how good she was with the little lord would know that.”
I was glad I wasn’t the only one who thought that way.
“Is there something I can help you with, my lord?” he said.
“Tell me, do arjaths smell as well as they hear?” I said, thinking back to that day we went riding. The arjath could hear its friends easily through the dense forest foliage.
“Better, my lord,” Ejam said proudly.
I extracted Cleb’s toy spy. I unwrapped it and held it by the sock so the creature wouldn’t mix my scent with the toy’s. I held it out to the stable master.
“Could it stiff this and track where the other toys are?” I said.
“I don’t see why not,” Ejam said. “They’ve been known to track more difficult things.”
He led us down the long row of stable doors, each with an arjath poking out of it. They watched as we passed, their nostrils flaring. We came to the room at the far end.
“Snorter has the best nose,” Ejam said. “The only trouble is, he lost a leg some time ago. I didn’t have the heart to put him down. Sorry about that, my lord,” he said, and he looked at the ground to conceal his shame. “I’ve been sharing my food with him. He hasn’t cost you anything extra.”
“If you put him down, we wouldn’t have the opportunity to find the kidnapper,” I said. “And in future, take whatever food you need for these animals. They should eat well. The same can be said for you.”
Ejam’s grin spread from ear to ear.
“Thank you, sir!” he said.
