The Beginning (29 page)

Gieaun and Scede knew that Jahrra would go on without them even if they refused, so they reluctantly agreed to look around for awhile, grumbling as they did so. They were all very curious, however, despite their apprehension.

Jahrra led her friends through the tunnel directly in front of them, the one that eventually curved off to the left. The passage was cool and somewhat suffocating with the muffled echoing of the churning ocean playing against their ears. Five minutes later Jahrra, Gieaun, Scede, Pahrdh, Rhudedth and Mahryn stepped out onto a small secluded beach that was riddled with tide pools.

“Wow!” piped Rhudedth. “Look at
those
!”

She ran over to the closest tide pool and peered in to get a closer look at the brilliant life within. There were anemones painted in vivid color combinations Jahrra had never seen before, and some of the sea stars, in the deeper pools, were simply enormous, close to four feet across.

Jahrra and her friends carefully jumped and climbed over the many cracks and crevices of the rocky shelf laid out in front of them before dropping down onto the beach below. As they looked around, they realized that the tunnels had led them to another tiny cove, a cove maybe only a third of the size of the one they had just been in. It looked much like the other inlet, only this one had no waterfall, and it was well tucked in behind the sea rocks. Jahrra wasn’t surprised she’d never heard of it before today and she began to wonder if anyone had ever been here before. So few people came to this part of Oescienne to begin with, and the beach was blocked off from any access from the ocean, so maybe she and her friends were the first to set foot in this new place. She wagered that it probably wasn’t even marked on Hroombra’s maps. She made a mental note to check when she got home.

Feeling a fresh burst of excitement, Jahrra allowed her eyes to wander around this unfamiliar world. The rocks a few yards out in the ocean were just as rugged and dangerous looking as all the others off this part of the coast, but there was a newness and freshness to this minuscule bay.

“Jahrra, are you coming?” Mahryn asked, staring up at her.

She’d been lost in thought once again and hadn’t noticed she was the only one left standing on the stone shelf covered with tide pools.

“Yes, I’m coming.” Jahrra took Mahryn’s outstretched hand and jumped down to join her friends on the beach.

The Resai boy released her hand and Rhudedth smiled and winked, nudging Jahrra slightly as she walked by. Jahrra gave her a bothered look and brushed past her.

“There’s nothing too interesting about this place,” Gieaun remarked tiredly as she scanned the beach.

“Hey, over here!” Pahrdh yelled. “Come see what I’ve found!”

The group headed in Pahrdh’s direction, but Jahrra felt a sudden urge to look up at the cliff behind her. She traced the ridge above with the tip of her finger and let her eyes wander over the tall, rough wall. It was mottled with stray wild grasses and flowers, lichens and mosses. This face of rock looked exactly like the wall on the other side of the giant hill jutting out to sea, but there was something different about it, something that made Jahrra want to study its surface. Then, about halfway down the cliff on the opposite end of the cove, she spotted something. It looked like a depression in the rock, perhaps just another anomaly along its rugged face, but she had to go and see for sure.

“Jahrra! Come and see the crab Mahryn found!”

Jahrra looked at her friends, bent over observing something in the sand, but she felt more compelled to head towards the base of the cliff.

“Hold on, I think I see something,” she said quietly, heading down the beach as if entranced.

Gieaun and Scede watched her for awhile, but soon returned their attention to the irritated crustacean at their feet.

Once Jahrra reached the point below the depression, she discovered that it was more than just a mere pockmark in the wall; it looked like a cave. She stared up the side of the cliff, searching for any way to climb up it. After a few minutes, her mouth broke into a wide grin. A few yards away there was a set of primitive steps carved right into the side of the cliff, starting at its base and stretching up at an angle. Jahrra began climbing, oblivious to what her friends were doing further down the beach.

Gieaun looked up at that moment, expecting to see Jahrra where she had been a few minutes ago.

“Jahrra! What are you doing?” she shouted.

“I think there’s a cave up here!” Jahrra called down from halfway up the staircase.

“Wait for us!” Rhudedth called as she quickly left the group to join her adventurous friend.

“A cave? Maybe we
will
find a pirates’ treasure!” Pahrdh called out hopefully.

Soon Mahryn was left alone on the beach, and even he eventually joined the rest of the group.

As soon as Jahrra reached the top of the steps, she realized that she’d been right. It was a cave, and a fairly large one too. She peered in over the lip of the dark cavern cautiously, trying to get a better view of its interior. It looked to be about fifteen feet tall at its highest point and continued on past her range of vision. She stepped up into it and was hit with a stale, musty smell of cool, damp earth and ocean. A magnified dripping resounded nearby and somewhere towards the back of the cave a dusty beam of light cut through the soft darkness. Jahrra looked up to locate the source of the light; a small hole in the roof of the cavern. There was a large shelf directly beneath the beam of sunlight and another set of short steps leading up to the top of it. Jahrra approached them just as Gieaun’s and Rhudedth’s silhouettes appeared at the mouth of the cave.

“Now where are you going?” Gieaun breathed, her voice echoing strangely in this enclosed space.

Jahrra looked back at her friend, the bright ocean glaring crystal blue behind her.

“There’s another set of steps leading up further,” Jahrra answered as quietly as she could. “I want to see what’s up on that ledge.”

“Oh, alright,” Gieaun exhaled in exasperation. “But be careful! There could be poisonous spiders up there.”

It didn’t take long for Jahrra to reach the top and when she peered over the last few steps, she gasped and almost lost her balance. Basking in the filtered glow of the natural skylight was a fully dressed skeleton. The fine clothes were now mostly rotted away and moth eaten, a great, broad brimmed hat sat wilting on top of a smiling skull. A cold chill played down her spine as she crouched low on the edge of the shelf, only her fingertips and her face from her eyes up peering over the top.

Despite her fear, Jahrra couldn’t help but stare at the remains of the poor soul. Something gleamed in the corner of her eye and she refocused her attention onto the end of the skeleton’s arm. When she squinted to get a better look, she noticed an old book and something small and disc-shaped clutched in its left hand. It was this object, imprisoned in his skeletal fingers, which had reflected the light and caught her eye.

“What did you find up there Jahrra?” Scede said impatiently.

“Go get Mahryn,” she replied with wide eyes. “I think I’ve found a pirate!”

Before long everyone was crowded around the long-dead man, jammed close together on the small rock ledge.

“Do you think he’s really a pirate?” Mahryn whispered, his eyes glued on the costumed skeleton.

“Don’t you think this is a little spooky?” Rhudedth added slowly.

“Yes, but doesn’t it make you wonder who he was?” Jahrra said in quiet awe.

She had her eye on the book pressed to his side and the disk that was caught in his bony hand.

“Look!” said Pahrdh, pointing to a small pouch that Jahrra hadn’t seen before. “A coin purse!”

Pahrdh went to reach for it, but Rhudedth shrieked and grabbed his arm. “You’ll curse us!”

“Don’t be absurd!” he scoffed, jerking his arm free. “We’ll only be cursed if we don’t leave something in exchange for what we take.”

Jahrra glanced around at her friends and Scede nodded somberly.

“Our parents used to tell us, in the old stories of pirates’ treasure, that you must never rob a pirate, dead or alive, or he’ll come back for revenge. But if we trade, we should be alright.”

“I’ve heard that too,” Mahryn added, gulping back his eagerness and fear.

“I have a few coins of my own I’ve been saving for a new saddle, but I think a few treasures from that pouch would be much better.”

Pahrdh reached over and carefully picked up the heavy bag as if he were afraid the skeleton would come to life and grab him. He quickly took out his own coins and switched them with a few of the ones in the dead man’s pouch, and Mahryn did the same. Gieaun breathed in sharply from somewhere behind Jahrra, and Rhudedth was fidgeting nervously in the corner.

Scede was next, exchanging a small wooden flute he carried for one of the rings in the bag. Gieaun was reluctant at first, but her curiosity overcame her trepidation and she swapped one of her shell bracelets for one of the pirate’s beaded ones. Rhudedth was too frightened to exchange anything, and that only left Jahrra. She didn’t have much to trade with, but she did have her small pouch she kept keepsakes in, and she did have her journal. She pulled out her tiny bag and removed the blue-green stone she had collected from Ehnnit Canyon. She picked up another rock in the cave and slammed it against her own. Gieaun and Rhudedth gasped as a chunk of the azure rock went scattering across the floor, echoing eerily against the concave walls. She then removed the round disc-shaped object from the left hand of the skeleton and replaced it with the chunk of stone she’d broken off. She didn’t look at the object at first; she just stuck it in her pocket for later.

Jahrra blinked hard a couple of times to clear her suddenly foggy mind, pulling out her journal from the small bag she’d brought along. She slowly began removing the book from the dead man’s grasp.

“Jahrra! You wouldn’t leave your journal,” Gieaun hissed. “That’s one of your most valued treasures!”

There was a strange crackling sound as she worked the fragile book free and everyone let out a breath as it finally came loose.

“Don’t worry,” Jahrra added once she had the book in her hands. “I’m only going to borrow his book for a moment, and then give it back.”

She carefully opened the dead man’s book, then her own journal, and began jotting down the words that appeared in the old tattered manuscript. The writing looked almost like Kruelt, but much more primitive, more like the runes she’d seen in Ehnnit Canyon. Every page was covered in an abundance of words, maps or small sketches of various objects.

As she wrote, Jahrra found herself pausing many times to admire the intricate drawings, wondering what they meant and why this person had drawn them. She even saw a rough sketching of the Baherhb, the symbol of the dragons that Hroombra had once shown her. Like the runes she’d copied from Ehnnit Canyon, she hoped that maybe he could translate it for her someday. That is, if she ever got up the courage to tell him why she had strange runes written in her journal and where she had seen them in the first place. Jahrra quickly finished her work, wishing she could copy it all down, but it was well past noon and they needed to start heading back to the other cove.

Scede led the way to the opening of the cave and started climbing down, followed by Gieaun and Rhudedth, and then Mahryn and Pahrdh. When Jahrra reached the mouth of the cave, she paused for a moment and reached for the object that had settled heavily in her pocket. It was a very beautifully crafted compass, set in a dark red stone with a carving of some type of intricate flower on the back. The facing was polished glass, and beneath it sat a surface of mother of pearl. The arrow of the compass was crafted out of very delicate silver, with the initials of the ancient directions etched in and darkened: A, Alva for north, H, Hwyn for west, D, Dein for south and R, Rho for east.

Jahrra tightened her hand around the treasure, believing that it was more valuable than any of the other items they had found. She checked to see if the compass was in working order as she walked out onto the first step and into the bright mid-afternoon light, smiling widely when the silver arrow spun around to show the proper direction.

Once the group had climbed back down the stairs and through the natural bridge, Jahrra looked back one last time and remarked in a quiet voice, “The Ninth Cove, the Hidden Cove.”

The six friends hurried back to the other beach, eager to get away from the eerie and discomfiting scene they had just witnessed. They passed the waterfall once again, grinning and screeching as they dashed through the cool water.

Their laughter was cut short, however, when they spotted something at the end of the beach. Scede was the first to see them, stopping abruptly in shock. Gieaun and Rhudedth walked right into him.

“Scede!” Gieaun fumed, rubbing her shoulder. “What are you doing? Why did you . . .”

But Gieaun stopped her complaint after following her brother’s eyes to the far end of the shore. A horse and rider had just finished climbing down the perilous path and were now standing at the base of the cliff, waiting patiently for the group as they slowly meandered toward the foot of the trail.

Jahrra eventually glanced up to see what all of her friends were staring at, her smile fading fast when she saw their visitor. The horse looked like a semequin, snow white in color, not as tall as Phrym, but still more regal than any common horse she had ever seen. .Jahrra’s heart almost stopped when she glanced up at the rider, a boy about her age with a sneer on his face. The young man, finely dressed in his mustard riding attire, complete with a hat, cloak and gloves, led his semequin towards the group.