The Beginning (38 page)

Jahrra cringed inwardly. Exams were months off, but it was the best lie she could come up with in such a short amount of time. Jaax seemed to accept this answer, but he only smiled smugly and replied, “I see. One can never start preparing for such things too early.”

He went back to his reading and Jahrra glowered.
Does that mean you think I need all the help I can get!?
she wanted to shout out, but under the circumstances, she thought that wouldn’t be such a good idea. She settled with the task of carrying her jacket over the space that was between her and the hook on the wall beside the fireplace. As she went to hang her jacket, something small and hard fell out of the pocket and clanked upon the stone floor. Jaax immediately looked up from his reading and eyed the object curiously. Jahrra realized, with sudden horror, that it was the compass she’d found at the coves last year. She had taken it out recently to see how well it worked on the way to school and had forgotten to put it away.

Jahrra dove for it, but Jaax stopped her by holding out his great forearm.

“Wait. What is that?”

The sudden shock of seeing the compass, which should have been tucked away behind the stone in her wall, made it impossible for Jahrra to come up with a good excuse. She knew that she couldn’t lie this time, so she reluctantly picked up the compass and moved closer to him. Indignantly, she thrust her hand towards the dragon with the old instrument facing upward. Jaax peered at it in the dim firelight, and suddenly, without warning, something flared up within his emerald eyes. Jahrra saw the reaction, and cautiously backed away. She had never seen that look cross this dragon’s face ever before.

“Hroombra!” Jaax breathed harshly. “Come here!”

If Jahrra hadn’t known any better, she would’ve said that Jaax was trying very hard not to panic or cry out in exaltation. She couldn’t tell which he was feeling.

Hroombra looked up from his scrolls, acting as if he hadn’t heard the last five minutes of conversation that had occurred between his young ward and the other dragon. “What is it?” he said lightly, eyebrows arched above his reading glasses.

“Come and see what Jahrra had in her pocket.”

The voice was calmer, but Jahrra could sense a glimmer of apprehension. She stood there, burning with annoyance, confusion and even fear. How would she explain where she got the compass, and why had Jaax reacted the way he had? She would have to tell them about the Ninth Cove, there was no way around it. She inwardly kicked herself for keeping her compass in such an accessible place.
Why didn’t I just put it away the other day?

Hroombra got up and slowly walked over to where Jaax sat and Jahrra stood. He peered down at the compass just as Jaax had, and as soon as he saw it, the look in his eyes changed from sleepy astuteness to flashing awareness. He jerked his head up at Jaax in disbelief.

“Jahrra,” Hroombra whispered, speaking as if his voice might bring the Ruin crashing down upon them, “turn it over.”

Jahrra obeyed silently, becoming more confused and worried about the way the two dragons were behaving. She flipped the compass over, revealing the carved flower on the back. Both Jaax and Hroombra shot their heads up to look at each other in disbelief.

“Jahrra,” Jaax finally said, “where did you get this compass?”

His tone was stern and taut with tension. Jahrra took a deep breath and braced herself for the worst. She knew, for once, that she had to tell not the partial truth like she had with the unicorns, but the entire truth.

She took another deep breath, closed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak. “Last year, my friends and I went up to the Eight Coves. When we were on the beach, I noticed that there was a maze of tunnels that ran under the hill that cut the coves off from the southern beaches. We went exploring and found a smaller ninth cove, and once we stepped onto the beach, I spotted a cave that was halfway up the side of the cliff. We climbed the steps and found the skeleton of a pirate inside the cave. He had a book and this compass, and a pouch full of coins and gems. We traded something of our own for something of his. I left an interesting stone I once found at the lakes in his hand and took this compass.”

Jahrra finished her story without once looking at the dragons, glad she had enough sense to quickly change the location of where she had found the blue stone of Ehnnit Canyon.

After a few moments, when no one spoke, she braved a look up at them. Jaax, whose expression was hard to read, looked as if he might be slightly concerned. Hroombra, on the other hand, definitely looked troubled.

“Did you happen to look in the book?” Jaax asked, as patiently as his strained voice would allow him.

Jahrra reluctantly nodded. “I copied down some of the writing and symbols I saw in it, just in case someday someone might be able to recognize them for me.”

“Jahrra,” Hroombra said quietly, “you need to go get those writings and symbols and bring them back here, right now.”

Jahrra immediately obeyed her mentor’s command and ran to her room to get her journal. When she returned the two dragons were speaking very quickly in Kruelt, but her swimming mind couldn’t decipher what was being said. She hated that she hadn’t pick the language up as easily as she had other things, and she thought right now it would have definitely come in handy. Both Hroombra and Jaax stopped talking the moment she reappeared and looked down at her.

“Show them to us,” Jaax stated stonily.

Jahrra opened her journal up to the pages where she had written down the symbols. Jaax looked very closely at them in the flickering firelight and then allowed Hroombra to do so. When Hroombra was done, he gave Jaax a frail look.

“Jahrra,” Jaax finally said in a strained, weary voice, “you have to take me to where you found that book, first thing tomorrow. I need it, and you must get it for me.”

He took a breath and shot a look at Hroombra.

The older dragon nodded once, then told Jahrra without looking at her, “You may return to your room now Young Jahrra, there is much Raejaaxorix and I must discuss, all of which is not meant for your ears.”

Jahrra glanced between the two dragons, blinking in slight confusion. Hroombra wouldn’t meet her eyes, but Jaax did. The dismal look on the younger dragon’s face startled her, and before she could think of some excuse to defy either of them, she nodded her head in defeat and headed off to bed, only to face a night of seemingly unending darkness.

-
Chapter Seventeen
-

The Magehn’s Journal

Jahrra tried hard to fall asleep that night, but all she could do was lie wide awake in nervous thought. It seemed that without warning she no longer had control over her life; that everything she had once thought was insignificant suddenly meant everything in the world. According to Eydeth, an assassin was after her, and a compass she’d found in a cave frightened two dragons. What was going on? She could feel something changing in the world around her, but she didn’t know what that change was, or what it meant.

Jahrra decided that after she took Jaax to the Ninth Cove tomorrow, she would come back and have another long talk with Denaeh. She knew that talking to the Mystic this time meant that she might have to finally say everything out loud, about finding the journal, about the stranger on Sobledthe, but she didn’t care. Jahrra was worried, more so than she had ever been. Maybe Denaeh could ease her mind once more and offer her the logical explanation she always seemed to have at hand.

After several hours of tossing and turning, she finally fell into a restless sleep, drifting right into a mystical orchard draped in mist. Jahrra looked around at her surroundings, blinking in the strangely bright, foggy light. The tall grass surrounding her was a fresh green and a few white flowers dotted the landscape like fallen, faded stars. She looked up into the gray sky and saw that the trees were just starting to bloom, blossoms of buttercup and pink. Jahrra smiled at the sight, glad to find something pleasant and calming. It must have been just before dawn, because the light in the sky was slowly spreading, just as it always did in this familiar dream. As if led by some internal force, Jahrra took a few steps forward and then faced the tiny hillock where she would wait for the hooded figure to arrive. He never failed to make an appearance, and perhaps he had some comfort to offer this time.

As Jahrra waited, the eerie glowing light that rose from the distance began to engulf the scene surrounding her. She focused on the edge of the forest knowing what was to come, and, right on cue, a looming figure stepped up over the hill. Jahrra waited for him to stop and gaze down at her, but instead of stopping, he kept moving forward. For a fleeting second, she wanted to bolt and run away, but something told her to stay, something she couldn’t explain.

Jahrra took several deep breaths, trying to calm her fluttering heart as her familiar stranger moved ever nearer. He stopped five feet in front of her, like he had last time when he removed his hood. This time however, he made no reach for it. Jahrra forced herself to look up to where his face might have been, but she wasn’t afraid to look this time. Try as she might, however, she couldn’t see beyond the shadow of his hood. The pang of regret coursed through her as she recalled the time before, when she had recoiled from his attempted revelation. She had been afraid then, but now she wanted to know who this strange man was.

As she stood there, shading her eyes from the growing brilliance, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out of it. He held out his closed, gloved hand to Jahrra. To her surprise, her arm reached out, as if it had a mind of its own, and held out its bare palm. The gloved hand opened and as the carved stone compass fell into her hand, Jahrra woke with a start. She sat still in bed for awhile, breathing frantically and trying to calm her racing mind.
Why did I wake up? Why do I
always
have to wake up before my dreams are over?!
she thought furiously. Then she heard what had awoken her.

“Jahrra, it’s time to get up. We need to get to that book as soon as possible.”

It was Jaax’s voice, this time coming from the great room inside the Ruin.

Jahrra grumbled and rolled out of bed.
That’s right
, she thought in irritation.
Jaax wants the pirate’s journal.

“Do you mind?” she asked grouchily as she pulled out her clothes to get dressed.

Jaax simply turned his head and walked away. Within ten minutes Jahrra was dressed and ready to go, but she still couldn’t shake the memory of the dream. Had the compass belonged to the man in her dream? Or had he led her to it, hoping it could do her some good?
Or
, she thought with a shiver,
perhaps it is meant to bring me harm
. Jahrra shook her head and focused on the task at hand. She refused to believe that the same figure who had helped her get over her parents’ deaths could bring her harm. He may only be a figment of her imagination, but she always felt that somehow he was a real person somewhere. She yawned and stretched her way out the doorway into the pre-dawn light, finding Jaax waiting for her.

“It’ll take me fifteen minutes to get Phrym ready,” she said sleepily while she rubbed the grit out of her eyes.

She neglected to tell him about Eydeth’s claim to owning the cove, and that she was banned from ever going back there again. She partially didn’t believe the Resai boy but she also knew that Jaax would have no trouble getting his way if Eydeth’s father had posted guards.

“We won’t be taking Phrym,” Jaax said plainly.

Jahrra stared at him blankly, her mind and eyes still glazed with sleep.

“Do you know how long it will take us to walk there?” she asked in a how-dumb-can-you-be tone.

Jaax just grinned and released a small laugh. “You’re forgetting one thing, Young Jahrra,” he said, his voice dripping with amusement.

Jahrra rolled her eyes. She hated being called “young” by him.

“I’m not Hroombra, my wings still work.”

In the blink of an eye he thrust open his great wings, knocking her to the ground.

“Quickly, climb on,” he commanded, obviously not noticing an irate Jahrra dusting herself off.

“I’m not accepting a ride from you!” she said irascibly.

“You have no choice,” Jaax drawled in a bored fashion. “I need to have that book and you’re the only one who knows where it is. It’s pointless to take Phrym when I can just as easily fly and get there much quicker.”

Jahrra stood up straight and crossed her arms, meeting the dragon’s frosty green gaze with her own stormy blue one.

Jaax’s look hardened. “Perhaps you would rather ride in my teeth?”

Jahrra growled in exasperation and reluctantly climbed onto Jaax’s back, settling herself behind his neck. She was used to Hroombra’s relaxed and laid-back stance, but Jaax was exactly the opposite. This dragon was tense and powerful, and Jahrra had a terrifying image of being thrown off as they soared over the farmlands.

“What’s so important about this book anyway?” she inquired, trying to shake her image of being catapulted to the earth.

“That is not your concern at the moment,” he snapped. “Now, which way is this cove of yours?”

Jahrra yawned again and pointed northward, trying not to be annoyed at Jaax’s tone.

“Very good, now hold on tight.”

The dragon beat his giant wings and with a little effort, they were airborne.

Jahrra found herself clinging for life as Jaax swooped off the edge of the cliff of the Sloping Hill. The crisp winter air stung Jahrra’s eyes, and after only a few minutes of flight she could feel her hands and face growing numb. After the initial shock of the take off, she braved a look beneath her. The farmlands, hills and trees glided past them as they made their way westward.

Once she had regained her balance atop the dragon’s back, Jahrra sat upright and gazed towards the great ocean. The sun was just coming up in the east and its morning light was staining the landscape with a beautiful hue of golden peach. The dunes caught the light on their eastern sides, looking like hundreds of eyes opening to the sun’s rays. Jahrra smiled as the dark hills slowly turned to a deep grass green and the vast ocean changed from a stormy grey to a deep blue.

After ten minutes of gliding over the sleepy Aldehr Valley, Jahrra pointed out Toria Town and Hassett Town.

“The coves are just beyond that hill north of Hassett Town. There, where that point is!” she shouted out to Jaax over the rush of the wind and the beat of his wings. “The ninth cove would be on the southern side of it.”

The Tanaan dragon swooped down toward the great arm of land that reached out to the sea, causing Jahrra to screech and cling even tighter to his neck. She thought she heard him chuckle, but her stomach was swimming so badly that she feared if she opened her mouth to chastise him she might be sick.

As he descended closer towards the point of land marking the southern end of the coves, Jahrra began to see clearly the tiny beach her friends had explored almost a year earlier. Jaax made a rocky landing, crunching roughly upon the small pebbles and Jahrra had to hold on even tighter to keep from slipping off his scaly skin and crashing into the surf.

“Sorry,” Jaax said as she slid off his back, clearly shaken. “I’m not used to having passengers.”

Jahrra hit the pebbly shore hard and once her wooziness passed, she began scanning the cliff side for the cave. If Eydeth’s father had posted guards around the cove, she wanted to get the book and be gone as soon as possible, even if a formidable dragon was there to guard her.

“Do you just want the book?” she asked wearily, trying not to sound agitated.

Jaax nodded. “And anything else you can bring down.”

Jahrra trudged over to the old worn steps in the side of the vertical rock face and began climbing. She didn’t like the idea of robbing the dead man without leaving anything in return, but she figured he would do less harm to her than Jaax would if she refused. She found the cave just as it had been the last time she was here, and she gathered the coin purse and the book and set them aside.

“I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen,” she whispered apologetically as she searched the skeleton’s pockets with some hesitation.

Nothing. She climbed back out of the cave and saw that Jaax was watching anxiously. By the time she reached the dragon’s side, the sun was fully up.

“Can you tuck those into your coat without dropping them?” he asked.

“Yes,” Jahrra answered snippishly.

“Very well, let’s get back. Hroombra will be wanting to see those.”

Jahrra climbed back onto Jaax’s shoulders and tucked the items safely away.

The Tanaan dragon took his time on the flight back to the Ruin. He knew Jahrra had never taken a ride on a dragon before (at least not one that could fly) and even though she had turned down his many offers before, he could tell she had secretly yearned to see Oescienne from these heights. Jaax blinked against the stinging wind and lifted a little higher into the sky as they passed over the Aldehr Hills, quietly settling his thoughts on what was to come if the journal Jahrra carried in her coat was what he thought it was.

Jahrra tried her best to enjoy the beautiful aerial view of the Raenyan Valley and the Sloping Hill as they glided along, but she, like Jaax, was too busy thinking about the book.
What is so important about this book anyway?
she wondered once again. She braved a look down towards the earth and saw the Castle Ruin settled among the scattered trees on the highest point of the Sloping Hill. She couldn’t help but remember that the symbols in the old diary reminded her of the mural on the wall of the old crumbled fortress. Maybe, she told herself, they were linked somehow.

Jahrra shook her head, letting all of her thoughts jumble around inside of it. Jaax and Hroombra would never tell her what was going on, not unless they needed to. She had a terrible feeling they wouldn’t, and she had a terrible feeling that she was somehow going to be in a lot of trouble. She needed to talk to Denaeh, and she needed to do so soon. If the Mystic didn’t have any answers, no one, minus her two guardians of course, would.

***

As Jaax descended upon the sprawling field between Phrym’s stable and the Castle Guard Ruin, someone watched from the edge of the woods. The stranger’s eyes sparkled as it surveyed the dragon escorting the girl towards the crumbling walls of the old stone building that stood so precariously close to the edge of the bluff. For many months now the creature had felt the coming of change; the coming of something terrible and something good.

A sudden gust of cold wind caused the curious creature to shiver. It had been raining on and off for a few weeks now, and it looked like these few sunny days would soon be visited again by heavy clouds. The silent spy shook off the thought of more chilling rain and kept its focus on the two figures far across the field. The girl would be coming into the woods soon; the being could sense it. She would be going into the bog seeking advice and help from
her
, that woman of the swamp. Whether the girl would have her questions answered or not was a different matter.

Finally, after pausing for several minutes, both dragon and girl disappeared into the depths of the withering fortress. The creature put on a sly grin.
Oh yes, you have many questions child, Bane of the Tyrant, but I do not know if there will be answers for you in here
. The creature slinked back into the dense wood, disappearing far into its depths.

***

Jaax had sensed someone watching them, but he didn’t know who, or what, it could possibly be.
That forest holds too many secrets and too many secret spies
, he pondered, searching the woods with his keen eyes.
I only hope it isn’t an enemy that I feel watching us now
.