You'd think that a black-and-gold eagle with a fifteen-foot wingspan would be hard to miss, flying under a clear blue sky.

It's astonishing, though, just how seldom people look up. He's been doing this for a thousand years, and it's still rare that anyone spots him. Mostly, even if they do see the dark silhouette, they assume—or convince themselves—that they're looking at a smaller bird flying lower. It's happened twice so far on today's hunt—the glance up at the sky, the nervous pause, and then the dismissal.