Roloff was glad for his solitary evening walk after his meeting. It was very dark outside, which was soothing to him. He had found the agenda irritating this night. There was a small feud between two families in town, regarding fence repairs. Roloff found these things the least appealing aspect of his mayoral duties. He knew that he would be spending countless hours talking to the families. If it was really all about the fence, it would be easier to just go and repair it himself. But, he suspected that this was just the manifestation—the tip of the iceberg.
Rapid footsteps up ahead interrupted his thoughts. “Hello?” he called.
“Father!—is that you, Father?”
“Caryell?”
“Father, Mother is in trouble!” Caryell was running, and had just come into view.
“What’s wrong?—where is she?”
“I don’t know! You must come at once, she’s missing! I’ve been looking for her—for the past hour—but she is missing!”
“Perhaps she has been on a visit.”
“No, Father; we were both at home, Mother heard something in the woods; she went out to the woods with the lantern. I heard her yell my name from the woods. I went out to see her. I could see her lantern light in the woods. I called after her, but didn’t hear anything. The next thing I saw was the lantern getting thrown. So I started to run. I found the lantern on the ground, and I picked it up. I kept calling for mother, but I didn’t hear anything. As I was looking around I found a deer down. It didn’t look hurt. But it was sleeping, and wouldn’t wake up—even when I nudged it. Father, I looked everywhere that I could think, and I kept calling for her, but nothing. So that is when I ran to find you. I am so sorry!”
“Caryell, go to Seryen now. Tell him what you have told me, and ask him to get a search party together. I will meet you and the party in the woods near our home.”
The boy ran down the path, and soon disappeared from sight. Roloff wanted to run and get to Aspiria as quickly as possible. But first he dropped to his knees. He began to pray. He prayed harder than he had ever prayed in his life. Roloff prayed regularly. He led his family in prayer. He prayed for his family, his friends, and neighbors. He prayed for his community. But now his prayer was filled with deep humility. He put this in God’s hands. He knew that something had happened to Aspiria, and he feared that he would not be able to help her on his own. He then got up and ran.
He first stopped at his home and ran inside.
“Aspiria!” he shouted. No answer. He looked in the room. He quickly ran through every room. He then went into the woods. The deer was still down. He felt the animal. It was alive, but in a deep sleep. There was no visible wound, or injury. But he could see by the deer’s tracks—through his lantern’s illumination—that the animal had been running and then fell abruptly. He quickly found other tracks. Aspiria’s footprints were not hard to discover. They led up to the deer, and then she had fallen herself. There were other tracks, also. Perhaps they were men’s footprints. There were several of them; the evidence showed that they had been near the deer. A few indentations lead up to some trees that were nearest to his home. They may have been watching his home. Many tracks indicated walking, but then four sets led away—clearly at a run. One set was deeper, it was from someone heavier—perhaps this one was carrying something—perhaps carrying Aspiria. Caryell’s footprints were everywhere. The poor boy, he didn’t know what to do, but he was trying desperately to help his mother.
Roloff knew that he needed to follow the running footprints that let away into the dark. But he didn’t want to be too far away when the search party came. He didn’t want them worrying about him. He wanted all efforts to be on Aspiria. But he was concerned that the town would be coming to help, and he would be showing them the tracks of the men that had taken Aspiria. He worried about what a panic could be created by this. This town had been as safe from harm as any place could be. When bad things happened, they were mistakes, or acts of God. Malicious behavior was heard about from the city, occasionally, but it had never been seen in this town before. Roloff knelt by the deer, and offered another prayer, this time for inspiration. He wanted to know if he should follow the tracks, likely well over an hour old, or if he should meet the party and follow the trail together with the search party. He felt that he should wait for the party.
The wait was not long; he began to see lights and heard voices coming towards his home. He walked towards the search party. He was both the townsman in need of assistance, and, being the Mayor, the leader of the party. His leadership would be critical, but he also knew that the people would want to help and comfort him. Seryen must be in charge of the group, he decided. It made more sense. He would guide Seryen.
“Roloff, is that you?” he heard Seryen shout in the distance.
“Yes, come quickly. Thank you all for coming.”
Perhaps thirty to forty men were coming up behind Seryen. Many brought lanterns, and those with older boys had their sons with them, too.
“Have you found Aspiria?”
“No. But I’ve just found tracks, and I would love help in following them. I’m afraid that this doesn’t appear to be an accident. I see multiple sets of prints, and I think that someone is up to no good. I can only hope that it is a prank. Seryen, I will show you what I’ve found, and you lead these men. I will assist where I can. Is Caryell with you?”
“I’m here, Father.”
The boy was behind the pack and out of breath. He had been running frantically for about an hour and a half. “Come here, Caryell.” His father embraced him closely, and looked at him in the eyes. “You must pray, Caryell. Your Mother needs your prayers right now.”
“Yes, Father, I have been praying.”
“Come with me and Seryen.”
Roloff, Seryen and Caryell walked a little ahead of the group, and towards the fallen deer. Roloff explained his findings to Seryen as they walked. When they got to the deer, Roloff showed him some of the tracks, and pointed to the trail that was running off from the spot. As the men behind them came up, a murmur could be heard.
“What is going on with that deer?” asked Bastian from behind them. Bastian was a strong and portly man. He had been athletic in his youth, but now had a large pot belly and a fat face with a double chin. He had light brown hair, and a confident—almost conceited—way about him.
“The deer is not dead. It is neither hurt nor injured. It is sleeping, and it cannot be woken. It must be drugged. Aspiria’s tracks lead to this spot, and then her tracks are gone. Other tracks lead that way,” he pointed in the direction of the fleeing tracks. “One set of tracks are deeper, and I suspect that whosevers prints they are, was carrying Aspiria. Seryen, please lead this search party in pursuit of those who left these footprints.”
“Let’s go, men,” said Seryen.
The men followed, but whispers and concerned conversation could be heard among the group. The town loved Aspiria, and would do anything for her. But the men began to be concerned that they had left their women and children alone in the town and that foul play was at hand here. “I think that we need to send a party back, to protect the town,” called Bastian.
“No,” called back Seryen. “The town is fine, and we must help Aspiria.”
Roloff whispered to Seryen, “Perhaps we have more men than we need. Sending a party back could add protection for all of our families.”
Seryen did not answer back. He kept walking for a few paces in silence. Roloff was his boss, at least under normal circumstances. But Seryen was leading this party, and he needed to make the decisions. Seryen struggled with Bastian. Bastian never showed respect to Seryen. He was feeling undermined by Bastian and wanted to show his strength and leadership. Seryen finally stopped, and walked up to Bastian. “Bastian, you are right. This is an unusual event. You take back with you fifteen men. I will take the rest to find Aspiria.”
Bastian ended up wi
th over half of the men returning with him. Seryen was about to protest, but thought better of it. We will still have a good number with us, he thought. They will be the most willing and helpful anyway. The men continued on their track, and came to the other edge of the woods. The ground was much harder, and all but one set of tracks seemed to disappear. The deepest tracks could be followed somewhat, with difficulty. They led to a clear rocky area. The tracks were gone, and nothing else appeared to give the men a clue.
“Let’s spread out and search.”
The men searched for several hours, but nothing could be found. Seryen called off the search until morning, when there would be light. Sorrow and concern filled the hearts of all the men present. Roloff returned home with Caryell. The two men walked in silence. Caryell had the look of exhaustion and exasperation. Roloff had tears welled up in his eyes. He knew that he would not be able to sleep, and he feared that neither would Caryell. But he hoped that at least some rest—some shut-eye—would help them when they began the search again the next morning. The father embraced his son, and told him to rest. They knelt together and Roloff offered a prayer of pleading, then the Paladors went to try and rest.
Chapter 20