“Horns?”

“That’s right. Long, straight horns. Almost like a young sheep.”

I caught Joachim’s eye across the table. He frowned as though wondering if this could be something diabolical.

“And don’t forget to tell him about the strange sound it makes,” said the countess.

“What kind of sound?”

The count hesitated. “A strange sound. Not like you’d expect a rabbit to make, even a horned rabbit. It sounded almost more like an owl.” He turned slightly pink, then smiled half-apologetically. “I’ll make the sound for you.” He raised his hands to his mouth and gave a long, low hoot. An awkward cross between a rabbit, a sheep, and an owl should have seemed funny, but somehow it didn’t.

“What has it done so far?” I asked.

“Well,” said the count slowly, “it hasn’t actually done anything. A little girl said she saw it late yesterday afternoon, heading east, up toward the high plateau. If she was right, we may not see it again. But I don’t like it. It’s not right for strange unnatural creatures to roam around the land of men.”

“Don’t call it unnatural,” I said absently. “Magic is a perfectly natural force. But I do agree with you on the key point,” I continued more forcibly. “I don’t like it either. Great horned rabbits don’t belong here. I’ve never heard of one before, and if I had I would have expected it to be thousands of miles north of here, up in the land of dragons and wild magic. Modern wizardry usually tries to keep such creatures there.”

“I hope you don’t mind,” said the count, again apologetic, “but since I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to come right away-”

“Yes?” I prompted when he hesitated.

“At the same time as I sent you a message, I also sent one to the duchess. I thought perhaps she could help us hunt the horned rabbit.” The duchess, whose castle was about five miles from the old count’s, was a noted huntress. “She sent a message back that she would be here tomorrow. I’d hoped she and her huntsmen could find its trail, and track it up onto the plateau, or wherever it’s gone.”