Alfaara listened intently as the platoon moved beneath them. There were 5 soldiers, new and untrained, and one barely seasoned commander, not more than a lieutenant. She was the closest to them, as the others had run farther as they approached. She hardly dared to look down from her perch in a tall, narrow pine, but forced herself to, to gather information.

Syris was a few yards off, delicately standing on a large bough in an elm, its leaves fiery red. She didn’t bother looking for the other two, Veren and Mael would be far off, not bothering to gather information if it risked their own hides. She rolled her eyes. The small party moved below her, the commander yelling at his 5 men to find the children.

The children? Could that be what they’d come all this way for, to find a few missing children? Al almost laughed out loud, shocked at the misuse of highly trained scouts, especially by the commander of the Imperial Army.

“I swear,” a soldier beneath her muttered, “The prince and princesses are just gone.”