Sarabande: River of Falcons Book 4

15. Breaking the News

Ubi napped peacefully in the treehouse until the faint sound of the dinner bell woke him. He sat up and looked around. The sun was lower now; it filtered through the thick leaves of the big old apple tree and spread green shadows across the floorboards. He stretched and smiled. His secret retreat was coming along nicely. "Oh well," he thought, "our tree-house." Jasper had done much of the work, but it was Ubi's idea, and so far, nobody from the palace knew where it was. He had been able to nap all afternoon without anyone finding him and making him do chores. He smiled at the thought that his treehouse was working out even better than he had anticipated. He would go in for dinner, and if he was lucky, there would be important people from town sitting up at the head of the table with his mother, and he would be able to avoid her questions about what he had been doing all afternoon. Ubi smiled and stood up.

There was a sudden flapping of wings as two large black hawks swooped through the doorway and shimmered into Jasper and June.

"Oh, hi, guys!" Ubi said. "Good timing. Just in time for dinner."

Jasper collapsed against the wall, drawing his knees up to his chin. "Bring me a plate of food," he said. "I'm beat. What a terrible day! You'll have to break the news at the palace, June. I'm really sorry, but I need to stay out of sight."

June nodded gravely. "I'll handle it. The Queen will be beside herself, and I don't know what Summer is going to say. She'll be very disappointed with us. I suppose in a way it's good she's not due back until tomorrow."

"Well, she'll have to know eventually," Jasper pointed out. "Maybe we should try to reach her by sending. She'd want to know what happened to Drift. Although..."

"Although what?" Ubi demanded, staring at Jasper.

"Although it's not at all clear what did happen to her." Jasper slumped even further against the plank wall.

"Wait, where is she?" Ubi stood and glared down at Jasper and June. "What happened? Sorcerers?"

"I feel terrible," June said, shaking her head. "I feel like we deserted her! We shouldn't have left her out there while we ran away."

Jasper nodded. "But I'm pretty sure they didn't get her," he pointed out. "She must have..." his voice trailed off.

"Must have what?" June finished. "It's so hard to explain. Still, the fact of the matter is she's nowhere to be found. Not even through sendings. Just gone. Completely disappeared! I've never heard of anything like it."

Ubi was staring from one to the other of them in growing alarm. "Disappeared? Are you saying Drift has disappeared? Wait." He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to sense where she was. Oddly, all he could think of was some strange dream he'd had. His eyes snapped back open. "I don't sense her. Anywhere!"

"I'm so sorry," June said, standing and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Drift's gone. I mean, not necessarily dead, but definitely disappeared."

Ubi sat down suddenly and was surprised to find that tears had sprung to his eyes. He wiped them away. "She can take care of herself, better than any of us! What happened?"

"We just don't know," Jasper said with a deep frown. "But let June tell you when she tells the others. They'll be in the dining room by now. Go on. I'll wait here."

June nodded. "Come on, Ubi. I may as well tell the story to everyone at once." Before he could object, she shifted into a hawk again and slipped out the door.

Ubi glared at Jasper. "If you let them—"

"Not the sorcerers," Jasper said. "We got away from them. Something else has happened."