The Beginning

by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

  She grinned at the two siblings nervously, hoping that they couldn’t detect the deceit hidden in her eyes. Gieaun seemed to swallow her response, but Scede paused and looked harder at Jahrra with scrutiny.

  “East, huh?” he said. “The royal Resai clan doesn’t plan to travel east next week by any chance?”

  Jahrra blinked. For once in her life, she hadn’t even thought about Eydeth and Ellysian. She swallowed and said, “I don’t think so. I hope not.”

  “Because,” continued Scede in a stern voice, “if you are planning retaliation on Eydeth and Ellysian because their fear of the lake monster is wearing off, then you had better seriously reconsider. You’ve had your revenge and I’ve about had it with all of this fighting back and forth among us. I think we should just let them talk all they want. It’s too much trouble and energy to always be battling those twins. Besides, our ultimate goal to get them away from the lake worked, so I say we just stay away from them whenever we can and be grateful they aren’t as bad as they used to be.”

  Jahrra was surprised at Scede’s sudden tirade and she decided he must have been holding this all in for months.

  “Oh,” she said, feeling a little abashed, “I wasn’t even thinking about them, to tell you the absolute truth.”

  And she hadn’t been, either. Scede wasn’t convinced, however. He looked hard at Jahrra and added, “I’ll say it one more time: If you are leading us on another wild goose chase in order to ruin Eydeth’s and Ellysian’s’ lives, then you had better count me out.”

  Jahrra didn’t know what to stay, so she just leaned weakly against Phrym and turned her eyes to the ground. After some time, she lifted her head and looked Scede directly in the face and said, with complete honesty, “I swear we’re not going on a three day camping trip just to get back at the twins.”

  We’re going for some other secret reason that I can’t tell you, she reminded herself, knowing Scede would be just as angry if he knew it was for Denaeh, and you’ll probably both hate me when this is all over.

  Scede let out a struggled sigh and looked at his sister. Gieaun simply smiled and shrugged, saying, “I’d like to go if you would.”

  “Alright,” her brother said harshly, “I guess we’d better ask mother and father.”

  To Jahrra’s great relief, Kaihmen and Nuhra agreed to let them go, but only if they finished all of their chores around the ranch before they left. Jahrra, not wanting to jeopardize her great luck, showed up every morning at Wood’s End Ranch, insisting on helping Gieaun and Scede with their work. With Jahrra’s help, they finished everything on their list in record time, and it wasn’t long before they were planning out their upcoming adventure.

  ***

  The morning before the day of their journey, Jahrra packed Phrym’s saddlebags with everything she would need for their excursion: her bow and arrows, her old dagger and plenty of rope, a few of the maps she had copied from Hroombra’s collection, a guide book on the wild flora and fauna of southern Oescienne, her bed roll, her small spyglass, a few spare water skins and some dried meat, bread and cheese. She double checked her supply list, nodded as she found everything where it should be, and bid farewell to her guardian and mentor.

  “Please be careful Jahrra,” Hroombra told her with a sad softness to his voice. “The wilders of Oescienne can be just as full of dangerous mystery and fearful beasts as Felldreim, even if it doesn’t hold the same degree of magic.”

  Jahrra nodded soberly. He didn’t often act so serious, and his somber mood struck her in a slightly disconcerting way.

  “I won’t let anything get me,” she said with a mischievous smile that she hoped blinded him from her own trepidation. “I’ve had lessons from Yaraa and Viornen, remember?”

  Hroombra returned his own grin, flavored with good humor. This was just enough to cheer Jahrra up and send her off with a light heart. Jahrra rode to Wood’s End Ranch where she, Gieaun and Scede spent the better part of the evening planning out their route through the southland.

  “We’ll take the road down the southern edge of the Sloping Hill, and then turn east instead of going straight into Lensterans. We’ll have to camp out at the crossroads here,” Jahrra said, pointing to a place on her map where the roads met, “and then we’ll continue across the river in the morning.”

  “Where will we go from there?” asked Scede, not seeing anything of interest on the map.

  “Master Hroombra once told me about some isolated canyons in these hills,” Jahrra pointed again at the map, but this time further south from where the roads met. “I think we should see what’s there. There might be some birds or animals we’ve never seen before living there.”

  The next morning Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede packed up everything they needed onto Phrym, Aimhe and Bhun, taking along only a few extra provisions. They planned to hunt and gather most of what they would eat in the wilderness. The fruits and berries were plentiful this time of year, and so was the game, so they didn’t worry about going hungry.

  “Do you think we packed enough Phrym?” Jahrra asked as she tightened the girth of his saddle and double checked that the saddlebags wouldn’t shake loose.

  Phrym gave a small, breathy whicker. He knew they were off to somewhere important; he’d never been packed down like this before.

  “I’m ready, are you two?” Jahrra called to her friends.

  “Not quite, you go ahead down the drive and we’ll meet you soon,” Scede said, finishing up with Bhun.

  Jahrra nodded and turned Phrym down the long dirt road, looking like a grey-blue ribbon in the young hours of the day. The only things stirring were some small foraging birds, frightened further into the brush as the semequin and his rider marched by. As the morning advanced, the treetops became gilded with the cool yellow of dawn, the sun’s brilliant rays spreading across the vast fields like golden pathways connecting the earth with the sky.

  Normally Jahrra would’ve waited for her friends, but she was in the mood for some fresh air. Once she and Phrym reached the large gate at the ranch’s entrance, Jahrra felt a lot better. She swung off Phrym and leaned against the edge of the fence.

  “They’ll be here any minute now. Scede just had to put the halter on Bhun and Gieaun was right behind him.” She rubbed Phrym’s neck and looked out over the vast fields.

  As the minutes ticked by, Jahrra began to wonder what was taking her friends so long. I hope they haven’t had second thoughts! she thought dejectedly. Half an hour passed before Gieaun and Scede finally rode up on Bhun and Aimhe.

  “Sorry,” Scede breathed in frustration, “Gieaun thought she’d left something behind and we had to turn back.”

  “You don’t have to say it so harshly,” his sister retorted. “I may have left it and then what would I have done?”

  Scede rolled his eyes. “It was only her precious pillow,” he explained to Jahrra. “And she could’ve done without if she really wanted to rough it.”

  Gieaun turned pink at this comment and abruptly looked the other way, her nose stuck in the air.

  “That’s alright,” Jahrra remarked with amusement. “It shouldn’t take us all day to get to the crossroads anyway.”

  “Are you sure it’s safe to travel to the crossroads alone?” Gieaun asked, forgetting about her irritation at her brother.

  “Of course it is,” Jahrra insisted. “It’s a well traveled path and the farmers use it all the time. Plus, there are three of us and our three horses, we’ll be fine.”

  “What about Hirihn Wood? I heard that bandits wait behind the trees and ambush traders!” Gieaun said in her usual, paranoid way.

  “Oh, don’t be such a coward Gieaun! We’ve been to the Belloughs and back for Ethoes’ sake, we can handle anything!” Jahrra bellowed in aggravation.

  She jumped onto Phrym and kicked him into a quick walk. “C’mon you two! We have miles to cover today!”

  Scede flashed an impish grin towards his sister and jogged Bhun after Phrym. Gieaun let out a sound that was a
cross between an uncomfortable sigh and a whine, and slowly followed after them.

  “Not so fast Scede! Jahrra! Wait for me!”

  She brought Aimhe up to speed with the other two horses and soon the three were on their way down the road towards the Oorn Plain.

  Jahrra had always been told that the late summer months were the hottest in this part of Oescienne, and today was no exception. The early morning crept towards mid-day, the heat gradually rising to an almost unbearable temperature. The dust from the barren dirt road created a choking, terra-cotta haze and the sun seemed to bake the shadows of the three horses and their riders against the dry hills.

  “Are there no trees at all in this part of the country?” Gieaun panted in exasperation.

  They’d been traveling for several hours along the road that ran between the Oorn River and the southern Longuinn Hills, but had only seen a few stray trees along the way, but nothing to provide ample shade.

  “I see a small grove about a mile up ahead!” Scede suddenly called out to the two girls riding just behind him. “That must be Hirihn Wood.”

  Gieaun squinted into the distance and then gulped nervously as the dark wood grew nearer, finally giving the hot and tired group their first chance to rest. Gieaun may have feared these trees, but Jahrra was more than grateful for the shade after their hours of travel. She pulled out the map she’d brought along and glanced over it.

  “Yep, this is Hirihn Wood,” she said, focusing on the dark blotch of ink that represented trees on the map.

  Gieaun let out an anxious cry, and Scede gave her an annoyed look. “For goodness’ sake Gieaun! This wood can’t be any worse than the Wreing Florenn!”

  The dark pines weren’t very tall, but the tangled branches and needle-carpeted forest floor gave the place a very suffocated and cramped feel. A narrow path curved around the thick, branchy trunks of the trees and continued on to what only Jahrra and her friends could assume was the other side of the main road they had just left.

  “You were right, Gieaun,” Jahrra said with a grin on her face. “This would be the perfect place for a group of robbers to attack!”

  “Not funny!” she retorted hotly.

  Suddenly, a bird cawed from a treetop somewhere above and Gieaun let out a blood-curdling scream. The horses jerked their heads up in surprise and Jahrra and Scede had to pull Phrym and Bhun around in small circles to calm them as Aimhe reared.

  “Good one, Gieaun!” Scede growled. “It was only a crow!”

  “Sorry! This place gives me the creeps!” Gieaun answered angrily.

  “Let’s keep moving then,” Jahrra added as calmly as she could.

  By the time they left the tangled trees behind, it was already well past mid-day. The three riders picked up their pace so they could reach the crossroads before sunset.

  After another several hours of baking heat and blinding sun, Jahrra slowed Phrym to a stop and held her hand up to shade her eyes. She gazed into the heat-tainted distance, spotting the great Oorn River winding up from the south and curling down from the tall hills far ahead. To the south and east the mountainous landscape continued as far as the eye could see, and perhaps much further than that. The hills and gentle, rolling land that stretched all around the three riders was the dry and brittle color of fired clay.

  After getting her fill of the scenery, Jahrra sat back down in the saddle and contemplated the scene just ahead of her. The sandy ribbon of road stretched far into the distance, intersecting another similar path that ran south across the river and north into the southern Longuinn Hills. The crossroads were no more than a half mile away, and it looked very lonely out here in the middle of this barren wasteland.

  Jahrra clicked her tongue at Phrym and he obediently trudged onward, taking on an easy pace in the sweltering heat. Once they finally reached the point where the two roads met, Jahrra stopped Phrym completely and let the suffocating silence engulf her. She gazed up with pinched eyes at a sign post holding heavy wooden planks etched with the words of their possible destinations. The sign pointing east read The Cohn Forest – Oorn Lake, the sign pointing west, where the children had come from, read The Lakes – Lensterans. The sign pointing north read The East Hills – Longuinn Valley, and the sign pointing south said The Little Oorn Plain – Rhoorn Valley.

  Jahrra reached into one of her saddle bags and pulled out her small spyglass. She stood up in the saddle and held the instrument up to her eye, focusing on a small patch of green up against the eastern hills in the distance.

  “What is it?” Gieaun asked, waving her hand limply at a cloud of small flies.

  “It looks like a small wooded canyon with what might be a creek running into the Oorn River,” Jahrra answered, spyglass still held up to her eye. “I suppose that’s the best place to make camp for the night, and we should be doing that pretty soon. We still have to find something to eat before it gets dark.”

  It took the children half an hour to reach the gully, but once there they tied their bedraggled horses up to an oak tree overlooking the stream. The trio then went out to hunt, returning with a few wild fowl and a basket full of berries. Jahrra started a fire and Scede prepared the birds, roasting them on a crude spit over the sweltering coals. They ate and went to bed early, eager to get moving before the heat swelled up in the morning.

  Jahrra stared up at the glittering stars as her friends dozed quietly next to her. She sighed inwardly and closed her eyes, trying to rest her mind. Her conscience had been grinding on her the entire day. She knew that she should tell Gieaun and Scede the truth about Ehnnit Canyon. What was the big deal anyway? It wasn’t like the canyon was dangerous or anything like that, right? All she was going to do was gather some apples, how hazardous could that be?

  It’s because Denaeh wanted me to come, and they wouldn’t approve of me doing any favors for Denaeh, she thought miserably. She knew that her friends had never really trusted the Mystic, and they wouldn’t be happy if they found out they’d been dragged along on this strange mission. Oh well. What’s done is done. Hopefully they’ll never suspect anything at all. Jahrra tucked these feelings away and after another few deep breaths, she was fast asleep.

  ***

  Jahrra was sure she had just shut her eyes, but that didn’t stop the familiar morning sounds of birds singing and the shuffling of someone next to her packing up.

  “Wake up you two! Let’s get a move on before it gets too hot!” Scede snapped as he tied his sleeping mat onto Bhun.

  Gieaun simply moaned and pulled her pillow over her head.

  “Ugh, you and that wretched pillow!” he said in disgust.

  After much coaxing and a few threats, Scede finally got the two girls to get up and pack. Just as the sun was starting to peak over the eastern hills, the trio had their horses cantering down the road leading south. The hills to the left of them cast a great, looming shadow over their heads and onto the Little Oorn Plain, which seemed to stretch on forever into the west. Before long, they came to a wide wooden bridge that spanned the Oorn River. The river was running low this time of year, and Jahrra noted many copses of willows and sycamores growing like thick tufts of green and silver fur along the river bank. Once on the other side of the bridge, the horses picked up their pace with everyone hoping to cover as much ground as possible before the sun breached the hilltops and began to roast them.

  As they rode, Jahrra inched her map out from the small front pocket on Phrym’s saddle. She’d been secretly glancing at it every so often for the past several hours, and in the process had discovered that Ehnnit Canyon, the small ravine where she was to collect the apples, had a distinctive fan-shaped wash that spilled out onto the Oorn Plain. Jahrra quietly tucked the map back out of sight, trying to fight the excitement and apprehension that was making her nerves grow taut.

  “At last, some shade!” Scede was saying thirty minutes later.

  The horses picked up their speed once they spotted the patch of trees and soon Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede were throwing down
blankets and stretching their tired muscles. To everyone’s delight, Gieaun discovered a hidden spring bubbling out from behind some rocks. The three friends filled their water skins and then tied the horses up near the small pool below the spring, finally sitting down to eat once everything was in order. While they ate, Jahrra took out her journal and began sketching a few of the animals and plants she’d seen that day. After she was done with that, she pulled out her map to check and see how far their destination was from their current location.

  Only an hour or so away, according to this map, she thought. Now all that remained was to convince her friends that it was a good idea to explore Ehnnit Canyon.

  “Are we anywhere near those hidden canyons you were talking about?” Scede’s question startled Jahrra, but she remained cool.

  “Well,” she replied, trying not to sound too anxious, “the closest canyon is about an hour from here, but we could always keep moving if it looks boring once we get there.”

  She bit her cheek and scoured the map once more to distract herself as she waited for a response.

  “Is there anything written next to it, like a name?” Gieaun asked lazily as she finished up some wild berries, licking her fingers clean.

  “I don’t know. It’s not labeled on this map, but when I copied it from one of Master Hroombra’s maps, I copied this symbol next to it.”

  Jahrra pointed to the intricate ‘x’ painted on the map. “I asked him what it meant and he said it stood for a place of interest, like a famous landmark or a historic battle site,” she lied.

  “It’s not labeled? How’s that?” Scede stood up and was now coming over to look at the map.

  “It’s, it’s labeled,” Jahrra quickly stammered, tripping over her own tongue. “It just isn’t in the common language. It looks like some kind of ancient runes or something, but you can try if you like.” Jahrra handed the map over as Scede knelt down beside her.