The Alphas & The Heiress

Chapter 3

Magnolia

I'm rummaging through files, books, and scraps of paper scattered all over dad's desk when Xander slips in quietly.

"Find anything yet?" He asks.

"Not really, the usual paperwork, doodles-," My voice trails off as something catches my eye. A piece of paper folded over several times, wedged between two books on his desk. I grab the paper, unfold it, and lay it out on the desk.

It's a map of the ground lands at the base of our mountain fortress with several markings. The map covers over 100,000 square miles of ground land. There are a dozen spots within the perimeter circled with the footnote "DH" scribbled next to them. I look up at Xander, "I think this may be a good start. Let's go down and meet with the others." 

Xander and I are the last to arrive at the meeting hall. My mother is talking with Incandis in front of the door just outside the room. Their heads turn to me as I approach them, then Incandis nods slowly and walks into the room. Xander squeezes my hand then follows Incandis in.

"Magnolia, has Incandis filled you in?" My mother asks me.

"Yes, but do you really think they're missing? They're not just... super late?"

"Your father is many things, but he would not have missed a meeting with the Elders. No, something has happened, I know it. I want you to head the search, you'll be queen in a few months anyway. You're ready Mags, and you won't be alone. You have Incandis, and Xander, and my entire guard at your disposal. Whatever you need, they're at your command." She squeezes my arms, kisses my cheek, and walks away.

I take a deep, shaky breath in before walking into the meeting hall.

I get right down to business and lay out the map on the table noting the circled areas. "Alright, let's go over what we know. Dad and Dex left the castle about 20 hours ago. We assume they went down to the ground lands somewhere within this perimeter. We know their intention was to be back by morning but that never happened."

"What do you think 'DH' means?" Incandis asks.

"I'm not sure yet, but there are a dozen places circled here with those initials. They're obviously looking for something, or someone."

"Forgive me, my young queen, perhaps they were avoiding something." Everyone's heads turn to the owner of the voice. My mother's head guardian, Malin, speaks again, "a few decades ago there had been an uprising of dragon hunters raiding the ground lands. I'd have to verify with the local colonies, but it's possible a new wave of dragon hunters are active in these areas."

"Good. Malin will take care of connecting with other colonies about potential dragon hunter activity. Xander, I want all ground shifts lifted until further notice. No one comes in or goes out of the shield without my approval."

The real problem is figuring out how to cover 100,000 square miles of land. A few groups flying at full speed would be done in a day. There's no time to lose, it's close to sunset already, we're losing the light.

"Get me every guard with blindsight here in 20 minutes, we start our search immediately. Teams of two at the least, three would be preferred. Start by going directly over these circled areas. Then we'll branch out from there."

"Mags, shouldn't we discuss this more before we start rushing out?" Incandis says to me as the guards go off with their orders.

"What's there to talk about? We go out, we find dad, we come home. Are you coming with me?"

"You're the one with blindsight. I can't see as well as you in the dark, I won't be of any use. Take Xander with you. I'm going to try to get in touch with Elder Rimori and see if she knows what dad wanted to talk to her about."

"Alright, see you in a few hours."

___

Xander and I join up with another of my mother's guardsmen. We all shift outside and take off into the night. There are only 10 or so guards with blindsight like me, the ability to see clearly in the dark. It's not quite the same as normal day vision as everything is in grayscale, but at least we can see.

Our group surveys the area we were assigned, but from above we don't see much of anything except the tops of trees, mountains, and the edge of one of the human cities.

I signal them to land near the edge of a large lake, we shift back once we're grounded.

"I'm not sure we're going to see much of anything, Mags." Xander says to me, the informality by which he addresses me turns the head of the other guardsman.

"Let's look around here on foot a little bit, I think this was one of the areas circled." I instruct them and they follow behind me flanking my sides.

It's more difficult to see down here. Although we have some heightened ability to see in the dark in human form, it's 100x clearer in full dragon form.

This isn't working. I thought for sure this would yield results. I can't make out the details of anything, whether something is a rock or a log – or a body. All I can see are shapes and outlines, but I can't risk shifting down here and someone seeing us, especially if there are dragon hunters around.

"Let's go, this isn't working." I huff, unable to keep the frustration out of my tone.

The three of us shift and dart into the skies quickly, heading back home empty handed. How can I lead an entire colony when I can't even find my family?

When we return home, most of the other groups are already back reporting the same issues and no leads.

"Thank you for your service tonight, gentlemen. You'll be relieved of your patrol shifts tomorrow as a symbol of my gratitude. Go, get some sleep. Back to the drawing board tomorrow."

Xander and I wait for all the guards to disperse, leaving us alone in the darkness of the grove outside the castle. Xander pulls me to him in a tight embrace, kissing the top of my head.

"Mags I know you're going to see this as a failure, but no one feels that way about you. It was a good idea to go out tonight, we learned valuable information. Come on, let's go to bed."

Usually Xander does bring me some level of comfort, but tonight his words don't resonate in my heart, and his touch makes me itch.

We sneak up to my room and lay down together in bed. He curls up behind me, arms wrapped around me like ivy, and falls asleep quickly. But I don't sleep at all. All I can think about is my next plan.