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keep going. He cleared his throat. “It looks like she got hit with a dazzle headache. She was running too well to have unchanged vision. There’s nothing for her to trip over in the path. She just stumbled and fell. My guess is she got dazzled, lost her sight, and probably had her hearing come in.” He looked ahead down the path then up at Christoff. “That would account for the gait change. Navigating by sound is slower and more difficult.”
    Surprise plain on his face, Christoff moved down the path a little, examining a wider area. “Dazzle headaches? I didn’t even consider that. Those aren’t supposed to start for at least a week or so.”
    Nickolas felt his expression freeze and he shrugged. “That’s the way it usually works, but not always. Personally, I’m amazed she could compensate for the sudden change and keep going, especially with the pain. She’s one determined fledge. When the senses change like that, it can be excruciating, remember? She’s going to make one magnificent Valkyrie.” He glanced up. “Might even give you some competition, Chris,” he teased. Rising, Nickolas continued to rub every speck of dirt off of his fingers then stretched his wings. “I don’t like this. We need to get her in custody soon.”
    “That shouldn’t be too hard. We’re on a trail now, and with her sight dimmed, we should be able to catch up to her.”
    They moved off at a brisk pace, and Nickolas laughed mirthlessly at his brother’s back. “Don’t count on it, Chris. Has she done anything you would expect? I have a bad feeling about this whole situation.”
    They ran in silence for a few moments, the sounds of the forest surrounding them, giving them valuable information—the hush of the creatures a telling track in her trail. A steady rumble had grown to deafening proportion, and Nickolas quickened his pace more.
    The trail came out at the edge of the river bank. The water swirled in a dark seething mass below him.
    “Nick…” Christoff’s voice dropped. “It doesn’t look like she turned aside.”
    His heart in his throat, Nickolas scanned the ground. The breadth was too wide for him to believe she could swim across. She had to have gone one way or the other.
    It was only a matter of moments before they found the collapsed segment of bank.
    “Nick,” Christoff whispered.
    “I know, Chris,” Nickolas snapped. He crouched down as close as he dared to the crumbling edge. His mind warred with some other part of himself that he’d never been aware of before. It didn’t stand to reason that she could survive a fall into the river, in October, in the state that she was in, but Nickolas was sure that she wasn’t dead yet. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. “Christoff, take the opposite bank.”
    “What’s the point, Nick?”
    “Don’t question me, Second.”
    The sound of Christoff’s wings beating the air reached Nickolas. He stared for a moment more into the water. Hoping that the dark, turbulent rush would offer up some answer to what was happening. Rising carefully, so he wouldn’t end up sliding down the bank as well, Nickolas spread his wings and launched out over the water.
    He studied the river for the fledgling’s body, but the current was swift. It would have carried her away quickly. The moon set and he had trouble seeing. Both the water and the bank had taken on a one-dimensional, grey hue. Yet still he searched, too focused to give up.
    The silhouette of his brother ghosted by, pulling his attention from the fruitless search. Christoff signaled a desire to land. Growling in frustration, Nickolas angled his wings and followed Chris to a rocky beach.
    They touched down, and Nickolas snapped his wings shut.
    “Nick, it’s too dark. With the moon setting, we’re going to have to wait until daylight to locate where her trail comes out.” Then more quietly, he added, “If it comes out.”
    “It’ll come out, Chris.”
    “Nickolas, look at the facts, man. It’s