The Beginning (6 page)

Jahrra hesitated before answering. If she really wanted to know, she
would
ask Hroombra, but something in the pit of her stomach warned her against it. He would wonder where she’d heard the story, and she wasn’t going to tell him about Denaeh and how she’d discovered her in the Belloughs of the Black Swamp.

Suddenly, as if prompted by some unknown spirit whispering into her conscience, Jahrra remembered the paintings on the walls of the Castle Ruin.
Could they be about the story of the prophecy?
she wondered. She still hadn’t told Gieaun and Scede about the mural, and she imagined she never would. Hroombra had taken her there, just the two of them, and he’d seemed so saddened by it. Telling Gieaun and Scede would be like telling them Hroombra’s darkest, deepest secret. Someday, when she finally knew enough Kruelt to read the dragons’ tongue, she would go back there and find out. Until then she would just have to wait.

“I can’t ask him,” she said finally, batting a swamp fly away from Phrym’s ears. “If I do, I’ll have to tell him about Denaeh. And if I tell him about Denaeh, then I’ll have to tell him I went into the Black Swamp.”

“I guess you’re right,” Gieaun conceded. “I just hope she tells us more about it next time.”

“You mean, you’ll come back to the Belloughs with me again someday?” Jahrra asked with a smile.

“I guess so,” Gieaun replied, trying not to let her grin show.

The three friends pointed their horses in the direction of home and the conversation turned to the upcoming Sobledthe holiday. As they disappeared over the low hills of the Black Swamp, the strange woman called Archedenaeh watched them closely, wondering, wondering . . .

A loud caw from Milihn broke her concentration and she jumped slightly.

“Milihn! You mustn’t do that!” she breathed quietly.

The large bird merely looked at his master with one jet-black eye. Denaeh nodded ever so slightly and he hopped off her shoulder, disappearing into the depths of the forest.

-
Chapter Four
-

Setting the Trap

The next couple of weeks passed by slowly, and Gieaun, Jahrra and Scede spent much of their free time working diligently on their nearly-complete lake monster.

“I really hope we’re done by Solsticetide!” Scede breathed exhaustedly as the three friends rode home from school. “It would be nice to do absolutely nothing over the winter break for once.”

They had just over a month to finish their project if they wished to have it done by the Solstice, but their weekend was already spoken for. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede had more exciting things to do than spend their few days off from school stranded on an island in the middle of a lake draping wet, smelly seaweed over a frame of wooden bones. Instead, they would be pre-occupied at the Sobledthe celebration in Lensterans.

“Until tomorrow!” Jahrra shouted as she reined Phrym off the main road and towards his awaiting stable.

She gave him an extra handful of honeyed oats and patted him goodnight, realizing that there was no way she was going to sleep easily knowing what lay ahead tomorrow.

Hroombra walked Jahrra to Wood’s End Ranch the next morning so that he could wish the children farewell. Jahrra had wanted to take Phrym and leave him with the horses, but Hroombra had insisted on taking her himself.

“Are you sure you won’t go with us?” Kaihmen asked the old dragon as he harnessed the horses to the family carriage.

“Oh yes, I’m sure,” Hroombra answered cheerily. “The journey is too long and tiring for my old bones.”

“Very well,” Kaihmen said with a grin, “but you’re going to miss out.”

Hroombra chuckled heartily, his golden dragon eyes crinkling with his smile. “Oh, I’ve participated in greater Sobledthe ceremonies than the one you’ll be witnessing today. I think I shall be content.”

Kaihmen could only shake his head in response. “You’ll have to tell us about those one of these days. Children, are you ready?”

After everyone was piled comfortably in the cart, Kaihmen slapped the reins and the horses started forward. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede turned to wave as they watched Hroombra’s form disappear in the distance.

It took them a few hours to climb southward down the Sloping Hill and make their way across the northern edge of the Oorn Plain. As the rickety carriage and its five passengers closed in on the wide Oorn River, Jahrra could see the sprawling rural city of Lensterans rising out of the farmland in the distance. Her level of excitement rose as the horses’ hooves echoed against the wide wooden bridge that spanned the river.

“We’re almost there!” Gieaun whispered harshly, as if speaking any louder would shatter this wonderful moment.

“Look! I can see people in costume already!” Scede added, pointing down a long street bedecked with cornstalks and colorful gourds.

Weaving between the light posts and the sidewalks were a few adults and several children clothed in brilliantly colored outfits. One man was dressed as a goblin, another as a terrifying demon. The cluster of children, squealing in the hysterical fashion of the holiday, tore ahead of them like a pack of magical forest creatures fleeing from some great doom. Jahrra felt a prickle of unbearable anticipation and it took every ounce of her energy to keep herself from leaping out of the carriage and joining them.

Once free of the tugging flow of the crowd and disorienting hum of music, Nuhra and Kaihmen led the horses to the stables and got them settled while the children hurriedly got into their own festive garb. The costumes themselves were composed of wolf masks and a tangle of multi-colored horsehair running down the backs of the coats they wore. The simple disguises were reinforced with wolf-like paws that they had attached to the ends of their sleeves, adding a final, gruesome touch to their grouldah attire.

As they explored the town, the three friends spotted other children both younger and older then themselves, chatting cheerily and walking past them without glaring or making snide remarks. They smiled and breathed a sigh of relief, hoping they wouldn’t see Eydeth or Ellysian. Once the three friends made their way further into town, however, they spotted a few of their classmates. Unfortunately, some of these people took it upon themselves to comment on their home-made disguises.

“Nice costumes, what are you supposed to be, starving wolves?” remarked a familiar crony of Eydeth’s. He was dressed, appropriately, as a goblin. “I can understand Jahrra dressing as a starving wolf,” he continued in a loud voice for all his friends to hear, “but Gieaun and Scede, you have enough money to afford food, and decent costumes!”

Jahrra seethed and glared at him, but as soon as he saw Nuhra and Kaihmen walking a few paces behind the children, the older boy ducked his head and ran off down the road.
I wish I was a real grouldah
, Jahrra thought furiously,
his would be the first soul I’d come after!

The three friends soon forgot their unpleasant schoolmate and focused their energy on their surroundings. Pumpkins, apples and corn stalks decorated the wide streets and stone buildings, along with tattered scarecrows and gourds of every size, shape and color. Jahrra stopped to watch as several people dressed in a multitude of colorful costumes ran by, chasing each other in a spirited game of hide-and-go-seek. She gazed in wonder at some of the disguises, many of which put hers and her friends’ to shame.

A bright yellow lion with a full amber mane went whizzing by, roaring after a green and gold fairy with giant, ornate wings that jingled delicately with tiny gold bells. A group of adults sitting around a table at an outdoor cafe were dressed as great elfin warriors, complete with elaborately etched, shining armor and flowing capes. Further down the road and closer towards the center of town there was a group of children dressed as a flock of brilliantly colored tropical birds. Jahrra laughed as they chased each other around the adults, flapping their wings and squawking. Her personal favorite, however, was a red-hued dragon that looked remarkably like Hroombra, except for the color of course.

Once they’d walked through the main hub of town and seen all there was to see, Kaihmen and Nuhra bought the children caramel apples and piping apple cider. Jahrra welcomed the spicy, hot drink with vigor. It made her breath steam in the crisp air, warming her from the inside out. She munched on her apple as she and her friends looked more closely at the buildings they passed on the streets.

All of the shops and restaurants displayed their goods and products outdoors beneath wooden booths. Every one of them served or sold fresh harvest fruits and vegetables and souvenirs for the children to bring back home with them. Jahrra was thrilled to see so many wonderful things, from painted pinwheels to colorful paper dragon kites on strings. The group gradually made their way towards the town square, and once they managed to break through the thronging crowd, Jahrra gaped in wide-eyed wonder.

There, encircling an empty fountain in the place where several roads met, sat a cluster of children of every age, their eyes latched on dancers garbed as glittering fairies and silver unicorns making merry around the center of the square. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede stopped and stared in wonder. It was like watching one of Hroombra’s or Denaeh’s stories coming to life. Soon, several other mythical woodland creatures joined the revelers, frolicking merrily while playing flutes and harps and clashing cymbals, twirling bright ribbons streaming from wands. The play lasted only an hour, and although the children begged for more, the unicorns and fairies pranced away to entertain another waiting group.

By now it was late afternoon and Kaihmen and Nuhra had to drag the hypnotized children reluctantly back to the stables to harness the horses and head home.

“Oh please, Father! Mother! Can we stay just a half hour more?!” Scede complained as Kaihmen hauled him by his hairy paw. “We’re plenty old enough to stay after dark! It’s silly to have to leave so soon!”

“Just twenty more minutes, please!” Gieaun whined, being pushed onward by her mother.

Jahrra plodded along gloomily, wishing secretly that she could stay as well.

“We’ve been here long enough. You should be glad you got to come at all,” Nuhra answered in a stern voice.

They all sighed and with one last expression of their disappointment, all three of them plopped down on the back bench of the cart, looking longingly at the enchanted town as it faded behind them in the golden light of promised sundown.

Despite the fact that they were leaving before the true festivities began, Jahrra had had the time of her life. Her elated mood was only smothered when she realized that there was still another month of school before the Solstice season began. She grumbled inwardly as they passed over the bridge spanning the Oorn River.

Just focus on the lake monster, it’s almost done
, she told herself as they traveled across the newly harvested fields cloaked in the eerie blue of approaching twilight.

***

Autumn eventually faded away and the rime-encrusted earth slowly submitted to winter’s harsh grasp, leaving Jahrra clinging to the happy memories of the Fall Festival as she focused her sights on the end of the school term. Solsticetide was drawing near, but even the prospect of the long break couldn’t drive the anxiety from her bones. This was the first year that she and her older classmates would be taking a series of excruciating exams in order to move on in their grade level. Naturally, Jahrra dreaded these tests with every fiber of her being and just the mere thought of the extra math work and history lessons gave her a headache. Worse was what would happen if she failed to pass her exams. Not only would she be forced to study all during her break in order to re-take them before school started, but failure to pass the first time would only give Eydeth and Ellysian one more thing to taunt her about.

Jahrra sighed as she stretched out before the great fireplace in the common room of the Castle Guard Ruin. She had finished studying and was now trying to memorize some very difficult Draggish words. Hroombra made sure to peek up from his reading every now and again to flash her an encouraging smile full of dagger-like teeth.

As she struggled over the dragons’ words, Jahrra tried hard to forget about her sore muscles and aching joints. She’d spent the better part of her weekend at the cabin east of the Aldehr River fending off Yaraa’s quick attacks and parrying Viornen’s direct sword blows. Her weekend meetings with the two elves had started early that fall, and although she had improved immensely over the past two summers, the elves both agreed that Jahrra would benefit even further if she met with them all year round.

“The exercises and techniques will only be getting harder as you progress, so it’s important that you check in with us regularly,” Viornen had told her seriously.

Jahrra wasn’t frustrated with the extra lessons; she loved training with the elves, but she was disappointed that it meant less time to help Gieaun and Scede finish the lake monster. More often than not, the Resai siblings would have to go out to Lake Ossar to work on the monster on their own. Jahrra hated to be held back while they worked, but her two friends assured her they didn’t mind spending more time on the project than she did.

“Hithe ist dodthe yiroehnin?”

The sudden intrusion of Hroombra’s voice made Jahrra yelp.

“Huh?” she uttered, frantically trying to translate Hroombra’s words in her mind.

“How are you doing?” he repeated in the common tongue.

Jahrra scowled. She was seconds away from deciphering what he’d said and kicked herself for not being quicker. She took a deep breath and answered slowly and carefully, “Aardthe rhesin phoerrel. Not so good.”

“Ah,” Hroombra grinned, “you have much on your mind now. We’ll spend more time on your Krueltish lessons once your exams are over.”

Jahrra’s stomach sank. She knew her exams were now only a few weeks away, but she’d momentarily forgotten about them.

“If I even survive them,” she murmured grouchily to her guardian.

He smiled warmly, no sign of his teeth this time, and said, “Perhaps you should go to bed, you’ve had a busy weekend.”

Jahrra simply nodded and dragged herself up from the thick quilt she’d been resting on. She limped off to her room, trying to stretch out her complaining arms and legs along the way.

“Good night,” Hroombra called.

Jahrra grunted a reply and then fell into bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

The exams came and went, and to her great relief, Jahrra passed all of them. On the first day of Solsticetide break, she, Gieaun and Scede headed to Lake Ossar. Although they weren’t quite finished with their beast, the only thing left to do was to add the teeth and some minor details to the head.

“We’ll be done by the end of this week for sure, even with Jahrra going to defense lessons,” Scede said, casting his friend a forgiving glance.

Jahrra frowned as a small gust of icy wind shifted the reeds and tossed her hair into her face. She was practicing with Yaraa and Viornen four days a week during the winter break. Fortunately, her practices were early in the morning, and by early afternoon she was free. Not so fortunately, the multiple bruises and aches she received during practice hindered her ability to be of any real help to her friends.

“Well come on! It’s freezing out here and we still have so much to do!” Gieaun cried, pulling her jacket tightly around her.