The Dimension Door winked out of sight. Lord Jierdan's people - and Iltha with them - had disappeared with hardly a trace.

Lidia remained motionless, as though the spell still froze her in place. She thought she could hear the faint echo of a scream through the silent, shadowed woods, but it was far enough away to be useless for telling the direction.

Wherever they took her, she thought, they can't have gone far.

The door in the front of the guesthouse swung open and Anomen stumbled out, still wrapped in a blanket. "I heard a great commotion," he said. "What happened?"

Lidia had still been listening for any echoes, so it took her a moment to realize he was there and what he asked. Still staring off into the distance, she said, "Garren's daughter has been kidnapped."

"What?"

"They just left."

He rubbed his eye. "Disaster upon disaster follows us. What can one do against such hate?"

Lidia finally felt her lack of sleep catch up with her, but she set her jaw. There would be no rest yet, not today.

"Wake the others, if they need it," she said. "We'll plan our next move. I'll get some breakfast ready."

One by one, Gorion's Company made their way into Garren's house, where Lidia had retrieved some rye bread and cheese. They all gathered around the table while Lidia told them a brief version of the early morning's events.

"What could Garren have that he wants?" Yoshimo said. "Taking his daughter seems...unnecessary."

"It has less to do with Garren," Lidia said. "Someone known to me offended Lord Jierdan greatly, enough that he's willing to punish me for it. I doubt it's anyone here, though, as he asked for me by name."

Jaheira seemed troubled, as though she were trying to remember something, but she said nothing.

Lidia continued: "More importantly, unless Garren has some hidden cache somewhere to use as a ransom, Lord Jierdan has no reason to keep the girl alive." Unless, she thought, it was to do something worse than kill her. "To me, the way forward seems clear. We won't wait for Garren to return - I doubt he's even halfway to Athkatla. We'll go ourselves, as soon as we can, and bring her home."

Minsc pounded his massive fist into his other hand. "We must find this fiend who steals children and disguises knights as monsters and apply a butt-kicking for goodness! All must be avenged!"

"If we have the chance," Lidia said. "But the rescue comes first, and that means finding where he might have taken her."

"How do you propose we do that without wasting too much time, or getting lost ourselves?" Jaheira asked.

"They used a Dimension Door to leave, but not to arrive. Could you and Yoshimo possibly track where they came from?"

"This could work," Yoshimo said. "Well, Jaheira, what say you? I'm inclined to give it our best shot."

Lidia composed a note to Garren, describing what had happened and what they intended to do, and left it on the table after they'd cleaned up from breakfast. The others got ready to leave on short notice; Anomen's horse was led outside, its tail flicking impatiently from side to side.

Yoshimo and Jaheira returned much sooner than expected with bad news.

"The trail goes cold after five hundred feet or so," Jaheira said. "A small clearing is northwest of here. Most likely, Lord Jierdan's people used a Dimension Door to reach that spot, then walked the rest of the way."

Which made sense, Lidia realized. In the hours before dawn, the brilliance of a Dimension Door's halo was bright enough to disturb a light sleeper.

"Do you have something else in mind?"

Lidia reached into her pack and pulled out a small, brown pouch. "You said they were close to here, right?"

Jaheira knitted her brow. "They do not do the bidding of mortals, especially creatures of civilization such as yourself."

"If there's a better way, I can't think of one."

"Very well," Jaheira said. "Let me accompany you, then. If you intend to commune with the fey, you ought not to go alone."

Aerie, who had been impatiently waiting nearby, leapt to her feet. "Where are you going?"

"To do a favor for some dryads we met."

The young elf's eyes widened. "Dryads? You mean tree spirits? Can I come, too?"

"I don't see why not," Lidia said. "What do you think, Jaheira?"

"If you must."