Gad was moving before the guard finished speaking, Mira following close behind him, the rest of the council scrambling to follow as they crossed the courtyard toward the eastern wall.
The frost was still visible when they arrived, a jagged patch of frozen ground spreading out from where a small bedroll lay abandoned, blankets thrown aside like something had pulled the boy out from beneath them without warning.
"No blood," Rennick said, crouching to examine the frozen dirt. "No struggle marks. Whatever took him did it quietly."
"The other children," Doran said. "Did anyone see anything?"
A young girl, no older than Toran himself, stood nearby wrapped in a blanket someone had draped over her shoulders, her eyes wide and unfocused with shock. Fenna knelt beside her gently.
"Can you tell
