Jahrra turned her eyes back on the malicious boy standing in front of her.
“Alright, I’ll do it,” she said, starting to feel angry and frightened at the same time.
The crowd began sniggering and whispering amongst themselves, the twins looked wickedly pleased, and Gieaun and Scede looked like they were melting from the inside out.
“Jahrra!” Gieaun hissed. “You can’t do this, you’ll fall for sure! And your clothes! What are you thinking!?”
Jahrra was afraid Gieaun would go into hysterics, but she refused to back down. She shrugged off her jacket and handed it to a rather stunned Scede, then pushed up her loose sleeves and stared up the face of the water-slick cliff with stony determination.
It didn’t look too daunting. The tops of the oak trees grew right up against the wall about twenty feet up, and the top of the falls couldn’t be much higher than that. Jahrra raked her eyes over the damp wall in front of her and saw a system of gnarled roots protruding from stone and soil. She smiled weakly, knowing that these would make the climb easier.
The two competitors moved towards the base of the narrow fall, Jahrra doing her best to step on the large stones protruding from the pool so that she wouldn’t get her boots wet. She risked a glance at her friends. Gieaun had managed to snatch her suede jacket out of Scede’s hands and was now clutching it in a very distressful way, her brother beside her looking just as anxious.
Jahrra glared over at Eydeth. He looked her up and down as if she were something unsightly, then turned his eyes towards the canopy above. Everyone crowded in closer to the scene and Ellysian stepped up onto the closest bench, raising one white-gloved arm.
“On my signal,” she piped, sounding quite pleased. “Ready, set, CLIMB!” she roared and the two children grasped the closest root and began pulling themselves up.
Everyone began cheering excitedly, and Jahrra had to take a deep breath to clear her mind. Many of the children were cheering for Eydeth but most of them were just making noise.
“Come on, Jahrra!” Scede managed as his sister cringed.
The climbing proved slightly harder than she had thought and she lost her footing many times on the slippery rocks. Despite her slow progress, however, she was able to keep up with Eydeth, who seemed to be struggling just as much as she was.
By the time the two were within five feet of the highest oak branches, Jahrra was ahead. She pushed her way through the leaves and discovered that the top of the canyon was only another ten feet or so away. Alright, she thought to herself, gritting her teeth, you can do this, you can beat him.
She heard the crowd gasp slightly as she pushed her way through the leaves before Eydeth, smiling a little as she picked up her pace. A few moments later Eydeth rustled through the canopy behind her and the cheering increased. Jahrra risked a look back and saw that he was within three feet of her boots. She also noticed that they had been shielded from view by a thick screen of leaves.
The sun had already gone down over the western wall of the valley, and Jahrra shivered from the cooling temperature seeping into her bones. The icy water trickling down the wall had successfully soaked through her blouse and skirt, coating her skin with goose bumps and causing her to shiver. She quickly regained her focus and continued to pull herself upward, despite her numb fingers. She was almost there, a few more feet and she would be the winner.
Jahrra smiled triumphantly as she reached for the final hand hold that would aid her past the top of the cliff. Just as her fingers grazed the rough tree root, however, something tugged on her foot and she slipped, losing her grip and falling off balance. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Eydeth was just beneath her, his right hand wrapped tightly around her ankle.
“Hey!” she shouted in frustration as Eydeth tugged again.
He was tightly wedged against the cliff with one arm hooked around a sturdy root, the other free to pull on Jahrra. He yanked again, even harder this time, forcing Jahrra to grab onto a clump of weeds, gratefully anchored securely to the soil. She hung from the side of the cliff like a fish on a hook, her now free feet kicking and scraping against the rock wall.
“What’re you doing!?” she screeched, starting to feel herself panic.
“Do you really think this was about a competition?” Eydeth breathed. “Please, I wish you weren’t even here, so now you’re going to pay.”
With a glint of malice in his eyes, Eydeth reached out, grabbed hold of Jahrra’s ankle once more, and jerked down one last time.
With a stifled scream her grip failed, her icy fingers unable to hold on any longer. Jahrra grasped desperately for anything that might stop her from falling down the canyon wall, but it was no use. All she could get her hands on were the slicks of muddy earth that had been dampened by the fall and a few larger roots that snapped as she caught them.
She slid down the cliff face at an alarming rate, becoming muddied and scratched as she did so. She crashed into the canopy and broke through, screaming in fear. Just as she prepared herself for impact, something caught her leg and jerked her to a stop, throwing her violently backward to hang upside down fifteen feet above the ground. She glanced up and noticed her entire leg, from the knee down, was entangled in a net of branches. Jahrra swallowed past her tight throat as she tried to fight back the coming tears and overwhelming nausea.
“JAHRRA!!!”
The combined voices pronouncing her name sounded familiar but so far away.
Gieaun and Scede sprinted toward the cold, hard paving just below their best friend. The sight of Jahrra falling suddenly through the tree tops and then becoming caught in the trees’ bows was enough to give them each a heart attack.
Jahrra simply hung where she was, too stunned to register what was being said to her.
“Jahrra! Jahrra! Oh no, are you alright!?” Gieaun was screeching in panic, still clinging to the jacket as if this would offer her some comfort.
Jahrra groaned and tried to piece together what had just happened. She looked around and saw that she was hanging in mid-air; she hadn’t hit the ground. A wave of relief rushed over her, but she soon realized she was stuck, and when the shock of the ordeal gradually passed, she felt the pain slowly crawling up her leg. Oh no, I’ve broken something! she thought despairingly. Master Hroombra is going to kill me! But she knew she couldn’t stay there, hanging and dripping muddy water in misery forever.
“I n-need help-p-p ge-eh-etting d-down-n-n!” she chattered through clenched teeth and tears of pain, her frustration and embarrassment growing by the minute.
She was becoming light headed from her upside-down position and her shin felt like it was on fire. She blinked at the strange distorted world below her and wondered if it looked strange because of how she was hanging or because of the sensation of blood filling up her head. She did notice the entire class gathered around beneath her, looking glum and slightly worried.
“Quick! Someone go get help at the house!” Scede yelled to those surrounding them.
Two ginger-haired children, a brother and sister Jahrra recognized from coming to her aid before, hurried off to fetch help. Fifteen agonizing minutes later they returned with a servant from the house.
“Sorry it took so long, but he was the only one who would listen to us! Everyone else was too busy dancing and talking!” the boy yelled up at Jahrra.
She could barely see the people standing below her through her blurred vision, but she spotted the two children who’d run off to fetch help and a taller, dark-haired young man standing next to them. It was funny how friendly and concerned everyone became when she was in actual danger, Jahrra thought bitterly.
The young man promptly told Jahrra to hold on just a bit longer and began to climb the tree as fast as he could. Jahrra was comforted that help was finally here, but she was growing cold and tired, and her leg was throbbing, her head pounding.
What bothered her most, however, was the thought of what Hroombra would say when he saw her. She’d ruined the nice new clothe
s he’d gone to so much trouble to get for her and she’d let her anger and stubbornness get the better of her. She felt hot, fresh tears forming in her eyes again and knew that they were not meant for the pain and humiliation she felt at losing to Eydeth. They were for the shame she felt for letting Hroombra down.
The young man reached Jahrra in no time and managed to gently untangle her, carrying her back down the tree like an over-sized rag doll. Once on solid ground, he set her down to see if she could stand on her leg, and surprisingly she could, but not without a little help.
Everyone was gathered around to gawk at her as if she had narrowly escaped death, and Jahrra was starting to think that she had. She shivered and lowered her head, feeling suffocated by all of the staring faces. Her hair had come loose from Gieaun’s earlier efforts and it was now tangled with twigs and dead leaves. Her palms and arms were covered in cuts and abrasions beneath the dirt and grime, and there was a raw scrape running down her shin.
Gieaun pushed her way through the crowd and flung her arms around Jahrra, her face shining with tears. The force of it knocked her off balance and both girls fell to the ground, adding a few more bruises to Jahrra’s already bedraggled state.
Jahrra barely noticed. The entire unfolding of events had her dazed and all she wanted to do was get to somewhere warm, even if it meant being in a stuffy mansion full of disapproving, haughty party guests.
Scede came over and pulled them both up, looking very relieved that his friend was finally safe from immediate harm. Jahrra murmured a weak thanks as the young servant draped a blanket around her shoulders. Once she was able to walk without collapsing, the entire group began the journey back, Jahrra in the middle with the young man on one side and Scede and Gieaun on the other to help. Everyone clamored timidly around Jahrra like guilty marauders waiting to catch a wobbly vase before it crashed to the ground.
As they began their slow progress back towards the house, it was clear that Jahrra had become the center of attention. It was no surprise, then, that nobody noticed Eydeth’s form climbing carefully down the canyon wall except for his sister. Once both his feet were on level ground Ellysian stalked up to him in that obscene dress of hers and demanded, “What on Ethoes just happened?! Did you push her or did she fall?”
Eydeth brushed off his mud-stained pants and tunic and turned to his sister with a sneer.
“I pulled her down, of course.”
Ellysian was taken aback and donned a patronizing look.
“What?” demanded Eydeth, annoyed at his sister’s condescending glare.
“Oh, I’m not disappointed that she fell, that was a nice little trick you just came up with,” she answered haughtily, crossing her arms smoothly.
“Well, what’s the problem then?” Eydeth growled.
“If mother and father find out what really happened . . .” began Ellysian angrily.
“They won’t!” Eydeth cut her off. “And if someone tells them, I’ll just say it isn’t true. Who’re they going to believe, those three Nesnan-lovers or their own children?”
Eydeth looked like a prize rooster who’d just lost the first fight of his life and Ellysian would have laughed at him, but it wasn’t worth the effort.
After thinking about the situation for a while, Ellysian saw that her brother was right. She wasn’t about to concede however, without adding her own thoughts. She screwed up her mouth in an unpleasant smirk and said, “Too bad your plan completely backfired.”
“How do you mean?” Eydeth asked, pausing in his attempt to scrape off the layers of moss and icy mud. Jahrra may not have been hurt, but she had been ridiculed.
“Now everyone is sympathizing with her, and she’ll most definitely tell them the whole story. Mother and father we may be able to fool, but everyone else knows how much we despise the Nesnan and her friends.”
Eydeth stood up straight, dark, muddy water dripping from his hands, and narrowed his eyes. Slowly he began to see the truth in what his sister said and his expression turned from disappointment to anger.
“Don’t worry,” Ellysian added as they walked back to their house in the growing darkness, “we’ll find a way to get back at her, somehow.”
-
Chapter Fifteen -
Friends in Unexpected Places
The sight of Jahrra being half carried, half dragged back to the house by her friends and one of the servants must have been quite a sight for the lord and lady of the great house to behold. Fortunately, they were too busy indulging their adult guests to notice not only the large party now approaching, but also the fact that they had been short twenty or so children for quite some time now.
The knowledge that she might’ve been missed didn’t bother Jahrra one bit. In fact, she was greatly pleased by it. The last thing she wanted to do was draw more attention to herself by causing a scene among so many disapproving people. The large, strangely-silent mob stopped at the bottom of the staircase leading up to the back patio, eyes still wide with shock from what had happened in the canyon.
The young man who had come to the rescue turned, left Jahrra to lean against Scede, and addressed the other children, “Now, I’m going to take this young lady into the kitchens so she can clean up. I suggest the rest of you return to the party and enjoy the rest of your night.”
The Nesnan man, who didn’t look much older than Jahrra’s oldest schoolmates, had a kindly tone of voice and seemed genuinely concerned about Jahrra’s recovery. He also seemed quite aware of how this scene would be received by the host and hostess. Jahrra had a feeling that he knew the master and mistress of the house would be more horrified at the idea of a girl covered in mud than at the fact she’d nearly been killed.
The young servant looked over the children once again, his eyes dark and his mouth set sternly. He clasped his hands casually in front of him, as if patiently waiting for an unruly party guest to finish a long-winded complaint. It seemed to work because gradually the school children began shuffling their way up the stairs, leaving only Scede and Gieaun remaining.
“Now, how about it?” he asked, jerking his head toward the stairs after the other children.
“She’s our best friend,” Gieaun said, tears swimming in her eyes as she hugged Jahrra’s overly-abused jacket. “Can’t we go with her?”
She looked up at the young man with pleading eyes, and he sighed, dropping all pretenses. “Of course, of course. I just hope you three don’t mind spending the rest of the evening in the kitchen with us lowly servants.” He smiled warmly and Jahrra cheered up a bit.
The young man went on to explain to them that the two children who came and got him told him all about what had happened.
“It just isn’t right, treating people so. I know how you feel.”
He patted Jahrra on the shoulder and instead of heading up the stairs they took a narrow stone path leading under the raised terrace and across a narrow footbridge over the creek.
“Where exactly are we going?” asked Scede cautiously.
“To the lowest level of the house, where the kitchens and servants’ quarters are,” he replied. “Don’t worry. The partygoers won’t venture down here. You’ll have a chance to clean up and get something to eat. And if you wish to stay, you’re welcome to partake in our own humble celebration of the Solsticetide.”
He smiled down at the younger boy and Scede returned the gesture weakly.
Jahrra thought her rescuer had a charming smile and although his face showed that he was tired, his dark brown eyes laughed when he grinned. At the other end of the footbridge there was another stone deck, one that was attached to the north wall of the house. The young man led the children up to a wooden door and knocked at it strongly. A few seconds later a short, rather round woman jerked the door open in alarm.
“Lahnehn! Where ya’ been? We been lookin’ all over for ya’!” she exclaimed.
She seemed quite perturbed and relieved at the same time. Her face was pink and shining with sweat as if she’d been slaving over a
stove all day. Her light brown hair was streaked evenly with gray and was tied back tightly in a bun, all except for a crown of lose tendrils that floated around her tired face. Her brow was furrowed and her small russet eyes were narrowed.
“Many sorrys Mrs. Addie, but you see I was called away for an emergency of sorts,” the young man explained guiltily as he gestured towards Jahrra. “This young lady was enticed up the falls at the end of the canyon by our young master, and she fell only to be caught by a patch of oak branches.”
“Oh, my!” the older lady retorted.
Her stern demeanor softened for a heartbeat but hardened once again as she placed her hands on her hips.
“That youngin’ is too brash I tell ya’, far too brash gettin’ others into trouble. Come in dearie, we’ll fix ya’ up. I’ll call in some of the younger ‘uns to get ya’ cleaned up and then we’ll fetch ya’ somethin’ to eat. Thank goo’ness for the oak tho’. Ethoes herself musta been watchin’ out for ya.”
The woman shoved her sleeves farther up her plump arms and fluttered off in a flurry of skirts while the young man led the children into what could only be the kitchen. The warmth of the room was welcoming to Jahrra, who was dripping and freezing from the cold mud that coated the entire front of her body.
As she stood waiting to thaw out, she scanned the large room now surrounding her. There were three long, heavy wooden tables stretched across the floor, all of which were covered in food awaiting preparation. Four great stone ovens were set deep in the wall at the far end of the hall with a doorway and staircase, presumably leading to the upper levels of the house, placed on either side of them. On the right hand side of the kitchen was a great basin for washing and preparing food, and on both sides of this basin was a door leading to another room.
The kitchen was buzzing quietly with the sounds of boiling water and simmering soups, but it wasn’t yet clattering and roaring with the clamor caused by busy chefs trying to get dinner ready on time. Jahrra sighed sleepily, detecting the subtle flavors of fresh herbs and spices hanging in the warm air.
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