The Beginning

by Jenna Elizabeth Johnson

  Who had it been? Did they mean to do harm or good? Could the green-cloaked man really be an enemy she didn’t recognize and was the red stranger only there to help? What did it all mean? Jahrra would screw her eyes shut and go over these questions until her head hurt and she felt sick. In the end she would just tell herself consolingly, it was just a dream, just a dream.

  Spring came early in the season and crept by with the speed of a glacier, slow and languorous. Jahrra made the decision to be more resolute than ever this year, telling herself she was through with the childishness that had ruled her reactions to her classmates so far.

  “I’m determined not to take any more dares from the twins, I promise!” she assured Gieaun and Scede.

  The siblings merely gave each other a knowing look, but hoped Jahrra would stick to her promise just the same. The warm, fragrant days grew longer, and Jahrra, Gieaun, Scede and all of their new friends at school spent their breaks in the schoolyard counting down the days until they would be of Tarnik and their conceited classmates. And, as always, summer did arrive and Jahrra felt free once again, at least for awhile.

  ***

  “I can’t believe we’re all fifteen already,” Gieaun exclaimed. “We’re getting so old!”

  Two weeks had passed since the end of the school year and Jahrra could scarcely believe it. It felt like just last month she and her friends had gone to Ehnnit Canyon, but it had almost been a year since. Now it was summer, glorious summer, and she had the day off from Yaraa’s and Viornen’s strenuous training sessions to spend with her friends.

  Scede rolled his eyes and groaned. “Gieaun, I’ve been fifteen for almost a year now. In fact, I’ll be sixteen in a month!”

  Gieaun didn’t let this bother her. She always thought that it was nice that one month out of the year they were all the same age. “I don’t care! You are still fifteen for now, so enjoy it while it lasts!”

  As a celebration for her birthday, Gieaun insisted that she, Jahrra and her brother meet a few of their other classmates at Lake Ossar for a picnic. Rhudedth and Pahrdh had been their friends for quite a while now, but ever since the night Eydeth had been “attacked” by the lake monster, things started to change at the school house in Aldehren. Many of the children were no longer listening to the twins and their lies, and even a few chose to spend time with the three outcasts.

  Jahrra breathed deeply as they approached the wonderfully quiet boardwalk. The lake was beautiful as always in the mid-day sun, the surface glittering like chipped diamonds. The air was full of the sound of flickering dragonfly wings and twittering birds, and the horses’ hooves fell softly upon the sandy path. Every now and again a swallowtail or monarch butterfly drifted along on a lazy breeze, and Jahrra would close her eyes and thank Ethoes that this place was finally free of her enemies.

  Gieaun spotted their other friends first and she called out to them cheerily, “Rhudedth! Pahrdh! Kihna! Hey you guys, over here!”

  Jahrra turned to see her three other friends approach on their horses. She grinned, suddenly overwhelmingly happy about her new position in the world. For so long she’d been the outcast, but that was finally a thing of the past. Now she knew the joy of acceptance; the thrill of being liked by more than just those who had loved her since she was young. With relish, she recalled the first time Rhudedth and Pahrdh had stood up to Eydeth and Ellysian at their mansion in Kiniahn Kroi, and even before that in the schoolyard. Her newest Resai friends may not have warmed to Jahrra right away, but they had shown everyone, apart from the twins and their most loyal followers of course, that Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede were no better or worse than anybody else.

  Jahrra sighed and looked past the two ruddy-haired siblings and considered the newest member to their small circle of friends. Kihna was tiny with pale blond hair and bright blue eyes. She was petit and delicate-looking, and before she really knew her, Jahrra had labeled the small blond Resai girl as exactly the kind of person who would remain loyal to Ellysian. Fortunately, she had been wrong. It had taken Kihna and her two older sisters, Noehda and Heila, a few years to see Jahrra as anything other than what the twins had claimed her to be. In the end however, they’d seen through Eydeth’s and Ellysian’s veil of shallowness. Once the three sisters learned they were only being used and trailed along by Ellysian, they realized how horrible the twins truly were. They immediately took a liking to the shunned trio and found that going on adventures with Jahrra and her closest friends was much more interesting than following Ellysian around town as she shopped for expensive clothes.

  Jahrra was always glad to have her new acquaintances join them on a day at the lakes or a camping trip in the hills, and Gieaun was even more ecstatic to have more girls around.

  “Not that you aren’t a girl Jahrra,” she told her friend as kindly as she could, “but Kihna and her sisters are more into fashion than you are.”

  Jahrra didn’t mind. She knew Gieaun always felt like the odd one out when it was just the three of them. She was glad to see Gieaun feeling more comfortable and at ease on their excursions. Usually she would trail behind her brother and her friend, or shrink away if Scede or Jahrra found a snake, lizard or even a bizarre insect. Now, at least, Gieaun had someone to talk to when Scede and Jahrra raced ahead to chase after a wild animal or explore some strange corner of wilderness.

  At first Jahrra and Gieaun hadn’t expected Scede to be happy about the girls tagging along, that is, until they discovered he had a crush on Kihna. His sister and his friend would pester him to no end, but he would never admit to it.

  “Just ask her to go to the Fall Festival with us already! She’s so nice and I bet she likes you too!” Gieaun would encourage, but Scede would just get annoyed and walk away.

  Even Eydeth had noticed the way Scede acted around Kihna, and he delighted in making a spectacle of it in front of the entire school.

  “Hey Scede! There goes your freckle-faced girlfriend! I bet if you didn’t hang out with that Nesnan she would actually notice you!”

  The comment had caused Scede to blush horribly. While Eydeth’s crowd let out a roar of laughter, Kihna looked daggers at them and Jahrra became furious.

  “I wouldn’t talk if I were you!” she shouted. “The closest thing you’ll ever have for a girlfriend will be a fence post, Eydeth!”

  This comment drew a few chuckles, but Eydeth was ready with a waspish reply.

  “As long as it’s not a Nesnan, I don’t care.”

  The words were squeezed out of his mouth with such anger and hatred that even Jahrra, who was used to his scorn, felt taken aback.

  Jahrra took a deep breath and shook these thoughts from her head. They had happened several weeks ago, and now that school was out, she and her friends could relax in a world free of the twins and their acidic remarks.

  “Where to?” asked Rhudedth happily as everyone finally met up just in front of the boardwalk.

  “We were thinking of a picnic on one of the sand dunes further south along the beach. Maybe even along the bank of the Oorn River,” Scede answered, darting his eyes sheepishly towards Kihna.

  She smiled shyly, her pale blue eyes dropping as a pink blush touched her cheeks. Scede looked away, pretending to be interested in a cormorant sitting on the pilings in the middle of the lake.

  “That sounds like a good idea, I haven’t been out here in such a long time,” Pahrdh said dreamily, his hazel-brown eyes practically smiling.

  Jahrra always envied Pahrdh’s and Rhudedth’s unusual eyes and unique hair. She thought that Rhudedth’s hair looked like autumn leaves, and sometimes wished hers was that color too.

  The six horses thudded over the boardwalk single file and headed west towards the ocean shore. Jahrra, Scede, Gieaun, Rhudedth, Kihna and Pahrdh, in that order, waved to the local Nesnan farmers who were fishing or simply enjoying the day as they passed. They all chuckled as Jahrra retold the story of the lake monster for what seemed like the hundredth time, and how it had almost devoured Eydeth that fateful ni
ght.

  “Oh,” exclaimed Rhudedth, wiping tears from her eyes, “if only it was real and it did eat Eydeth!”

  Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede had finally caved and told their other friends the truth about the lake monster a few months after it had happened. They confessed to them one weekend on a camping trip to Lake Ossar, revealing every little detail: how they had come up with the idea (not mentioning Denaeh of course), how they had spent a year putting it together, and how they had finally tricked Eydeth into searching for it. They even went out to the little island where Gieaun and Jahrra demonstrated the pulley system, bringing their now rather decrepit-looking creature out of the water. Everyone had stared at the three friends in a combination of horror and admiration.

  “Jahrra! I showed up to make sure he went through with the dare! It scared us half to death!” Pahrdh had said, more in shock than in anger.

  “Yeah, but it was more fun that way, wasn’t it?” Jahrra had responded with a mischievous smile.

  Since that first camping trip together, the newly formed group of friends had spent many fine days at the lakes, racing on the beach with their horses or just telling stories from school. Jahrra’s favorite story, no doubt, was that of the lake monster, and she often changed the ending a little so that Eydeth got eaten of course. Gieaun enjoyed telling everyone about the unicorn hair they had collected and Scede liked to tell stories, to Jahrra’s slight annoyance, about the dragon Raejaaxorix. She enjoyed the fact that she’d been too busy to even think of the irritating Tanaan dragon lately, and Scede’s recollections only reminded her of her ire towards him. When he insisted on telling everyone how Jahrra had acquired Phrym, she would just try and imagine he was talking about a different dragon.

  Rhudedth, Pahrdh, Kihna and her sisters had been all very intrigued by the stories they’d heard, and had a few to tell of their own. Rhudedth and Pahrdh always loved to recall the story of Jahrra’s dramatic fall in Kiniahn Kroi, and Kihna loved telling everyone about what it was like shopping in town with Ellysian.

  “You should’ve seen her at the tailor’s in Kiniahn Kroi once,” the Resai girl had said through tears of laughter. “She was so rude that the seamstress kept poking her with the pin on purpose, saying ‘I’m terribly sorry’, or ‘Oops, my hand slipped’. She must have stabbed her at least fifty times!”

  Everyone had fallen down laughing as they imagined Ellysian flinching, and they’d begged Kihna to tell more.

  Suddenly, Rhudedth’s friendly voice cut into Jahrra’s happy reminiscing and she was brought back to the present.

  “Oh, don’t you just love the ocean!” she sighed aloud as the horses stepped onto the soft, sandy trail opening out onto the shore.

  The Oorn River curved out to the sea just to the north, slicing through the dunes and beach sand like a sapphire serpent cutting a groove through the desert sand. The view, like always, was breathtaking. The blue ribbon of water was lined on either side by the pale sand, and to the east it swept against the wetlands that eventually became scattered woodlands behind the dunes.

  The six friends encouraged their horses into a gallop and then set them to a run, racing down the beach and tearing across the shallow delta of the river, startling a large flock of birds and sending a plume of briny water soaring into the air.

  “Can you believe the Great Race is only one year away?” Pahrdh breathed as the children slowed their horses to a stop next to some trees on the other side of the river.

  “Ugh, don’t remind us!” Kihna groaned, trying to catch her breath. “Eydeth can’t stop talking about how he’ll be old enough to enter the race and how he is definitely going to win first place with his father’s prize semequin.”

  She shook her head in annoyance, her light blonde hair looking like a streamer of delicate dune sand caught in a gust of wind.

  “I say we just forget about the twins and the race, and focus on Gieaun’s birthday,” Rhudedth added, not wanting to dwell on their common enemy.

  As the day progressed, however, the girls couldn’t keep the boys from talking about the upcoming race. “It’s nearly twenty miles long and only the best semequins can enter!” Pahrdh chattered excitedly to Scede, ignoring Kihna’s and Gieaun’s baleful looks.

  “What is so great about this race anyway? And for goodness sake! It’s a year away!” Gieaun said exasperatingly, finally ending all talk about the race.

  With the boys’ enthusiastic discussion finally over, the conversation turned to the Fall Festival and Sobledthe.

  “I can’t wait!” Jahrra practically yelled. “I’ll finally be old enough to go to Lensterans without adult supervision and stay the whole night! And I’ll be able to take part in the scavenger hunt!”

  “You and that scavenger hunt,” Scede mumbled, rolling his eyes dramatically. “Honestly, that’s not the only interesting thing that happens at the festival.”

  “Oh, come on, it’ll be great! Don’t you think it’ll be fun Gieaun?”

  Gieaun had no opinion either way, so she remained silent, shrugging her uncertainty.

  “You three are going, aren’t you?” Jahrra turned her questions on Rhudedth, Pahrdh and Kihna, since her other two friends refused to comment further.

  “I think so,” said Rhudedth, “and I think that Mahryn is coming too.”

  Rhudedth grinned and gave Jahrra an impish wink.

  Jahrra shrank back and slouched. Mahryn was Rhudedth’s cousin from Glordienn, and it was common knowledge that he was quite fond of Jahrra. Jahrra had nothing against him, he was a nice boy, but he stared too much and never said more than three words together.

  “Oh,” she managed, barely holding back a grimace, “that would be nice. I haven’t seen him in awhile.”

  Scede and Gieaun grinned, and Jahrra tried to ignore them. She was just thankful he lived so far away and didn’t go to school with them. She couldn’t imagine how Eydeth and Ellysian would treat him. She shivered at the very thought of it.

  The group laid out their picnic blankets and ate their lunches, reveling in the fine weather and laughing at the shore birds chasing desperately after sand crabs while trying to avoid the encroaching waves. Before they realized it, the day was over and the children ruefully headed back home in the rich, golden light of the setting sun. Jahrra, Rhudedth, Pahrdh and Kihna waved goodbye to Gieaun and Scede as they disappeared down the driveway leading to Wood’s End Ranch, turning north as they made their way home. The four remaining companions tore down the road and around the town of Nuun Esse as they raced towards the Castle Guard Ruin.

  “You’ll never catch us!” Jahrra called as she and Phrym jumped an old broken fence marking a fallow field.

  “Of course we won’t!” Pahrdh shouted breathlessly from his laboring horse. “You have Phrym!”

  Several minutes later, Jahrra slowed a lively Phrym to a stop in front of his stable. While they waited for the others, Jahrra gave her friend a good pat on the neck. Phrym whickered energetically, trying to convince her to let him cut loose once again.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t run so far ahead of everyone all the time,” she whispered, smiling.

  Phrym cocked his ears backwards and let out a small snort, as if doing such a thing would injure his pride.

  Jahrra laughed. “You’re right, but maybe we could go just a little slower next time.”

  The three riders came thundering over the hill just as Jahrra was climbing down from Phrym’s back.

  “I know Phrym is a semequin, but I’ve never seen a horse move so fast! Too bad you can’t enter the Great Race next year; you two would beat everyone by far!”

  Pahrdh’s expression glazed over as he imagined his friend and her smoky semequin leaving all the other racers in the dust.

  “Oh please!” Kihna breathed as she brought her white mare up next to the others. “I thought you were done talking about that race!”

  The three of them bid farewell to Jahrra and headed north towards Aldehren. As they disappeared over the edge of the Sloping Hill,
Jahrra sat on Phrym’s wood pole fence and watched as he danced around his corral. After a few laps, he trotted up and leaned his neck gently against her, forcing her to grasp the rough wood so that she wouldn’t fall over backwards.

  “It would be amazing to run in that race,” she admitted to him, “but we’ll have to settle for our races down the country roads I suppose.”

  Jahrra reached over and scratched Phrym on the neck. She quickly jumped off the fence and turned to face him in the darkening light. “We’ll have to dream about races later, Phrym. Tomorrow we have lessons with Yaraa and Viornen, and you and I both need to rest.”

  She kissed his silvery-dappled forehead and began the downhill walk towards the Ruin.

  As she trudged through the long grass, Jahrra gazed up at the sky, searching for the first stars of the night. Tomorrow she would be going back to her usual summer routine. Her days, like many of the summer days before, would be filled with hard, physical work with the elves and the constant struggle against Kruelt with Hroombra. Jahrra sighed, realizing that she would have only a few chances to see her friends over the next few months, but knowing all too well it would soon be over and she would be back in school once again.

  As the weeks passed, however, Jahrra grew more and more advanced in her complicated defense lessons. She could now make herself relax and concentrate on the task at hand in the most stressful of situations, and had even trained herself to hold her breath for nearly a minute. She was now able to defeat Yaraa in a sparring contest while Srithe, Strom, Samibi and the family dog danced around them making a huge racket, and Viornen found it increasingly difficult to break past her defenses while they practiced fencing maneuvers. Jahrra’s aim with a bow and arrow was close to perfect, and the tricks she could manage while on horseback rivaled those she read about in Hroombra’s old books of ancient sagas.