Walking though the Pale and noticed my housecarl walking back to my house within the Pale. I was on my way there myself so I decided to let him tag along. On the way, there was a slope so I slide down it. And as we all know, followers can't really jump down or up hills, slopes, cliffs, or mountains, so they have to find a way around. So I waited a bit and he never showed. This was near my house so decided to go inside because followers usually appear once you go through a door. Never showed. Went back out and looked around a bit, even went back to the place I lost him at and he never appeared. Although a dragon decided to swoop down and attack, which is always grand. To be honest, I don't care if he died or not, but considering I have no idea where his whereabouts are and I have no idea what happened to him, still alive or dead, will this get in the way from recruiting another follower considering I have never dismissed this one? Would going in the Soul Cairn or going to Solstheim help? I believe they will immediately dismiss followers. If possible, is there any other way of finding him?

Wait three days and you should get a message about the follower leaving your service.

If you're on PC you can use console commands to move him to your location.