He frowns and walks in that direction a little ways. Can he pick up the trail on the other side of the hedge at all?

Well, there's a hole scorched through the dense heart of the hedge, not visible from the outside because the branches have sprung back to cover it, but very noticeable to his mage-sight. On the other side, the trail is slightly clearer for a few yards, and then once again becomes faint and hard to follow without a lot of slow trial-and-error. 

He follows the trail as far as he can, then goes back to Herald Jores and reports his findings. "Do you know anywhere in that direction that the kidnapper might have been headed for?" They might have been expecting to be tracked and turned a different way once they were out of the village, but if they'd had stealth on their mind to that extent they wouldn't have gone straight through the hedge.

"...Not really? It's all woods, and hard to search, lots of brambles everywhere. When it's light tomorrow we can ride out I could show you the place the locals found a body, a while back, but it's a little more that way." Herald Jores points. It's about thirty degrees to the west of the direction the kidnapper's trail was pointing. 

"I might have gotten the direction wrong. Anything else we should do tonight, or should I just meet you at dawn to go out that way?"

"Think that's all for tonight, there's a little more background on the other children who went missing but not a lot and I can fill you in on the ride tomorrow. You must be tired if you rode all day to get here so fast! How many miles did you cover?" 

"About a hundred? Companions are amazing, aren't they."

"Wow! I know, right. My Kasi and I haven't ever done quite that far, though." 

Herald Jores troops back to the inn with him, ducking through the hole in the fence and holding the branches out of the way for Abras to follow. 

Abras follows on autopilot, but once Herald Jores has gone up to his own room he reaches for Yfandes. :Can I sneak out and have you do the thing where you help me sleep tonight? I know I need to be alert tomorrow and I'm worried I won't be able to go to sleep specifically because of that.:

:Yes, of course! That's a good idea. And I'll be delighted to see you more, as always. Have you eaten yet, though? You should get some hot supper first: 

His stomach feels like a bucket of snakes and putting anything in it sounds like a terrible idea, but he buys a bowl of potatoes and gets about half of it down before giving up and going to join Yfandes.

:You're doing great so far, Chosen: Yfandes snuggles up to him. :I love you. - Also, gods, I hope you're as sore as I am. Eeesh. We'd better both do some stretching in the morning before we head out: 

:I love you too. You did most of the work but I am nonetheless extremely sore,: he replies, trying a couple different positions to find one that keeps pressure off his knees. He settles in with his head on her shoulder and with her help eventually falls asleep.

Nobody disturbs either of them before morning, though the sun does shine right into Abras' eyes not too long after dawn. 

For a moment he tries to get comfortable and go back to sleep; then he remembers where he is and sits bolt upright. If Yfandes successfully sleeps through that, he'll head to the inn's common room and look around for Herald Jores. 

Yfandes murmurs a half-asleep :g'morning: but doesn't move. 

Herald Jores is in the taproom with tea and toast. "Abras. Sleep all right?" 

"Yeah. Good morning." Yup he totally slept fine, in a bed like a normal person who doesn't need help sleeping, gods he hopes he doesn't have any straw in his hair. 

He gets some toast himself; if Herald Jores finishes before him he can eat it on the move.

"Visited your Companion this morning already, huh?" Jores says, evidently trying to make conversation. "She must be a lucky lady." At Abras' confused look: "You've got straw in your hair, right here," he gestures at his own temple. 

Damn. "Ah, damn." He brushes the straw out of his hair and is ever so interested in this toast. 

Herald Jores doesn't seem to notice anything off. He eats his porridge, looking kind of grumpy about it, and then glances over. "Ready to head out? I'll get some of the Guard to go with us." 

"Yup." He gives Yfandes a gentle mindtouch. She deserves every bit of sleep she can get after yesterday, but he doesn't want to delay their investigation at all and he knows she wouldn't either.

:M'awake: she sends back, then shakes herself more fully alert. :I'll be ready soon: 

:Thanks.: And he and Herald Jores and the Guard the latter found can saddle up and head out.

They ride into the woods, following what seems to be a game-trail. Having the Guard with them doesn't slow them much; the Companions can't move fast through the undergrowth either. 

"Children who went missing were all between nine and thirteen years old," Herald Jores is explaining as they ride. "Adults went missing too, but mostly they found bodies, later. Never found bodies for any of the youngsters, so we're thinking kidnapping, for some reason." Frown. "Also, I don't know that this is relevant to anything, but - they said Master Kovack’s girl was - well, odd."