As it happened, she tested well, and later she learned to fly. He had not told her how, of course; part of her proving of herself was in achieving this without help. Then they had married, and the Simurgh herself had overseen the ceremony and sworn all the monsters to safeguard their offspring. That had been a surprise; Cheiron had in mind a stable new species, but evidently there was more to it than that. What was Che's destiny? It had to be considerable, for never in known history had the Simurgh left her perch in the Tree of Seeds to participate in such an event.

Could that destiny be why Che had been abducted? Was someone aware of the future and determined to change it by eliminating the centaur before he came of age to achieve that destiny? If so, this was worse than a conspiracy to resume the war between monsters; this was an effort to change destiny itself. Cheiron would have found that chilling even if it hadn't been his beloved foal at stake.

Chex detected his presence and woke. She smiled. What a lovely creature she was! "Have you located Che?" she asked.

"Yes. There is a complication. I am handling it."

"Oh, good," she said, visibly relieved, and relaxed back into sleep.

He had done the minimum he had to: he had told her part of it. He saw nothing to be gained by telling her exactly where Che was. That would only send her into as close an approach to being hysterical as she could manage. He was indeed handling it, and with luck the rescue mission would be organized and on its way before she caught up on her sleep and demanded further information.

He saw swift little dragonflies taking off for points north, east, west, and south, leaving tiny contrails. Dragon Net was sending out his minions to summon the creatures of the posse. The dragonflies would know where to find the fiercest yet most disciplined monsters, and would bring them back here as fast as possible. Cheiron was satisfied; he knew he could leave the organization of the posse to Dragon Net, knowing that it would be competently done.

Indeed, already there was a medium-small dragon coming in. How fast word spread!

But this dragon sought Cheiron, not Net. "I have seen your foal!" he gasped, his fire almost out. He had evidently flown swiftly, gaining on the clumsy harpy, and had a significantly later report. "He was riding a sphinx in the company of girls and goblins, and one of them had a magic wand! They used the wand to twist my companion and me out of the sky, but not before we could see that something strange was afoot!"

Cheiron was amazed. Che riding a sphinx? Sphinxes cared little for the affairs of other creatures. Girls? What were they doing in this business? Goblins on a sphinx? That was strangest of all!