Sancho was standing in wait outside. Something had spooked him. Even in the moonlight his distraught condition would have been clear. An open abrasion was bleeding above his right eye. That same eye was heavily bloodshot, having had blood vessels burst. He was trembling, his skin gleaming with a film of thick sweat. His usual calm façade had been forsaken. Behind him, keeping their distance, were two lower ranking guards lacking any physical injuries of their own. But they were agitated, nervously surveying the area like soldiers awaiting the enemy on a battlefield. More than anywhere else, their attention went to the sky above where a large winged beast was circling, silhouetted against the cluster of the three moons. 

When Cheryl emerged from the house, Sancho stepped up like a frightened child approaching his teacher after doing something terribly wrong. He didn’t give her a chance to react to his presence. Wiping a stream of blood from his brow with his forearm, his voice was shaken, but low, as not to let his men hear what he was saying. 

“I didn’t know you were affiliate with….” He choked on the following word, too frightened to even utter the name in that moment. “…I’m sorry, Cheryl… I just didn’t know.” He cleared his throat, glanced back at his men, braved a shy glimpse at the circling beast above, and then continued to speak his piece; “You can take a couple of weeks to get your affairs in order. But you know I can’t allow you more time than that. I just can’t. Just uh… do me a favour and please keep your dogs off me and my men from now on. That’s all I ask. Enjoy your night.” 

It was obvious that in his current condition, Sancho would have been willing to clear Cheryl’s name of all charges, but the decision wasn’t up to him anymore. Word of the two murders had already been sent by horse courier to the Royal City. A few weeks was all he could allow without the Queen herself having his own head on a platter. It was out of his hands. These were things that Cheryl would have already understood. She would have been aware of how the laws of the land worked. 

In finishing what he had come to say, Sancho raised his hand as a gesture to stop her from replying, then swiftly turned away to head back to the Guard house with his men. 

The winged beast followed Sancho’s direction, remaining directly above him, continuing to circle like an eagle stalking its prey. 

[hr]

	“Good to meet you Pipe….” Jack’s words were stolen by an amused smile as he watched Piper attack his food like he hadn’t eaten in a year. It was downright amazing just how much the little critter managed to tuck away, like watching a cartoon of a small animal swallow copious amounts of food. Leaving him to continue feasting, Jack resumed eating as well. He was just about done when Piper projected again, yet still busy crunching his way through the bones that remained of his meal. 

“Ah, yeah.” Jack replied, took a swallow of mead to wash the last of his food down. “Not to worry. I suppose I can limit myself to defending my friends.” 

Jack dropped back the final mouthful of mead. The bottle touching down on the table as he reverted to the topic that had brought the two of them there in the first place. 

“And about this watch, Pipe.” Jack already short-formed the name like he did with all his friends. “I’m just going to give it to ya. You obviously like it more than I do, and I doubt it will do me much good here.” Jack slid his plate and bottle to the center of the table and removed the watch, saying; “But I really need you to try and help me with my problem if you can.” He placed the watch neatly beside the empty plate for Piper to collect at his leisure.

“I lost my daughter. A year ago. She was ten years old. Far as I can tell she was stolen and taken to this world. One year to the day, today, I was taken away as well. Don’t know what brought me here, don’t know why…. All I know is that this just might be the same place she was taken to. I need to find her. She’s my baby, you understand?” 

With that, Jack took his wallet form his pocket, opened up one of the flaps inside and withdrew a picture of Hannah. He held the photo loosely between his middle and index finger, extending his arm for Piper to take a close look. Of course, Jack didn't stop to think that people of this world wouldn't have known what a photograph was.

“Do you remember seeing her at all?” His voice lowered with refraining sorrow. “Maybe a year ago? Maybe last week. Any time at all? Anywhere…?”

The photo Piper would see is one of a girl roughly ten years of age. Shoulder length brown hair, fair skin, a broad, precious smile, blue eyes like her daddy, and wearing a soft pink summer dress. 

“She wouldn’t have been wearing those clothes when she got here.” He added. “She would have been in a one piece swimsuit. Emerald green. Her favourite colour. Kinda hard to describe, though…. Like a stretchy skin-tight outfit without sleeves or leggings. Not something people in this world would have seen before. Hard to miss, you know….”