[Child of the 7th Age]

They were a party of seven as they set out from the house to try and locate Rhysdan and Eric. Even tiny Eli was tucked in a sling across his mother's chest, his head drooping down since he was already half asleep, and his mother could not bear to stay behind in the house.

Each of the other family members carried a torch as they plodded steadily towards the south and east in the general direction of the river. Fortunately for the searchers, a full moon shone bright in the cloudless sky. Between the torches held aloft and the pale reflected moonbeams that bathed the ground, it was possible to see a fair distance across the land. Elanor had also thought to bring along Ruff, one of the hunting dogs, who was sure to be able to ferret out Eric if they came anywhere close to him.

Still, the trek was long and arduous. Elanor found her own head nodding and her eyes almost closing when they stopped for a moment to rest in the grass. In several spots they passed, the earth was scorched black from Smaug's attack earlier in the day. Once or twice they passed the mangled carcasses of cattle and sheep, which made Elanor tremble and fear for her brother's safety. Young Daisy had the hardest time of all. When she grew too tired to put one foot in front of the other, Uncle Arinn lifted her up on his shoulders, where she clung like a small burr.

The group plunged onward through the night, with Ruff running ahead to try and catch the familiar scent of either of those who were missing. But despite all their efforts, they found no trace of either Eric or Rhysdan. Trudging forward along the muddy ground, they came to a spot where the river narrowed. There was a tree growing immediately above the river bank, with a rope hanging down from its lowest branch.

Eli stepped forward to examine the rope, "Look here! There was a small boat docked on the shore and now it's gone." He pointed towards a small clearing amid the scattered grasses and ferns where a boat had obviously been moored, half in and half out of the river, right below the place where the rope hung down. "Someone untied the rope, or more likely forgot to tie it up when they beached the boat. Maybe the dragon scared them off when he attacked."

Elanor went over to the muddy bank and knelt in the bracken, holding her torch upright and looking intently at the tangled web of footprints embedded in the mud. What she saw caused her to leap up and run over to her father, dragging him forward to see, "Father, look here....the footprints of a young lad. I'm certain of it. And not just that. Those are Eric's shoes." She pointed to a spot where the edge of the shoe left a jagged, uneven mark.

Her mother came over and looked, "She's right, Arinn. The sole of Eric's shoe on his right foot was all run through with his toes practically sticking out. I was supposed to take him to town today to buy a new pair. I could swear this was the same imprint I saw in our farmyard before we left."

They all looked up at Arinn, wondering what he would do and say. In another hour or two, the sun would be rising.