The Beginning (19 page)

Once he saw that they understood, he continued, “Another four miles north will bring you to a sign that reads
Longuinn Valley
. Follow the road west and it will take you through the hills. You will have to stop in the hills the first night, but be sure you are far from the Cohn Forest before you make camp.”

Cahrume looked the children sternly in the eye, and then added in a more serious tone, “The Cohn Forest is a formidable place, even more so than the Wreing Florenn. If you keep heading west on that road, you will eventually end up in the southern part of the Longuinn Valley. You should be able to find your way from there. I would go with you, but I cannot leave this canyon.”

He finished in a regretful tone, but shook his great feathery head and bid them farewell.

“Travel quickly. It looks like we may be getting an early rain storm in a few days’ time.”

Jahrra looked up at the clear, cloudless sky and shook her head. It didn’t look like a storm was coming, but she thought it best not to say anything. The three children waved once more and set off on their horses, heading north along the trail the draffyd had instructed them to follow.

Cahrume shouted out after them, reminding them to stay beyond the perimeter of the woods and not to camp until they were far from its edge.

“The wild creatures know that you are here now. I cannot stop all of them from taking advantage of easy prey,” the draffyd warned, “but if you keep to the trail and keep a steady pace, they should not harm you.”

“Thank you for everything Cahrume!” Jahrra called from Phrym’s back as she and her friends disappeared up the trail. “I do hope we meet you again! I’ll give my regards to Denaeh.”

Cahrume nodded nobly, willing with all of his might that these three children might make it through the wilderness safely.
Very interesting
, he thought as he watched them go, a bit of humor and admiration dancing in his eyes,
very interesting indeed
.

The draffyd thought about his unlikely meeting with the Nesnan girl and her two Resai companions. In all his years guarding this canyon, he had spoken to no one, except for the Tanaan humans so very long ago. Cahrume released a deep and long sigh, regretting their demise. They had understood the honor and respect that Ethoes and all her creation deserved.

He shook his head and focused his thoughts on the three young visitors now disappearing between the hills. The two Resai children were what they claimed to be, there was no doubt about that. But the girl, could she really be a Nesnan? The draffyd wasn’t entirely sure. There was something different, something unusual, and something not quite
complete
about that one. She was familiar, yet so strange and extraordinary, like the fading memory of a dream upon waking.
Archedenaeh knows something that I do not
, he thought.
I will just have to bide my time and wait. All will reveal itself in the end.

Cahrume turned and walked over to the edge of the cliff where Ethoes’ Apple Tree stood, still glowing with the joy of receiving visitors, especially one visitor in particular. The draffyd stretched out across its mossy feet like an attentive watchdog, his mind aflame with a thousand different thoughts and just as many worries.

***

The first leg of the children’s journey through the wilderness was slow going, but they remembered Cahrume’s advice and made sure not to stop, even when the thick brush tore Scede’s shirt. “It’s alright,” he said, looking down at the rip in his sleeve, “it’s better than being torn to shreds by a sehnna’s claws.”

As they pushed their way through the layers of thick scrub in the hot sun, Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede passed the time by discussing the story Cahrume had told them.

“I wonder if the Tanaan prince is still out there somewhere,” Gieaun said aloud as soon as they reached the canyon between the hills.

“If he is, he’s sure to be far away from the mainland,” Jahrra postulated. “He’s probably living on an island far in the western ocean where the Crimson King can’t find him.”

“I bet Master Hroombra knows where he is. He knows everything,” Scede put in.

“Yeah, but he would never tell us,” Gieaun insisted. “I wonder if Denaeh knows anything . . .”

Gieaun would have said more, but she happened to catch a glimpse at her brother’s face and quickly clammed up. She didn’t want to put him back in a foul mood.

After awhile, the three riders dissolved back into silence and let their surroundings entertain them. Luckily, the small canyon Cahrume had told them about wasn’t very narrow, and they could easily lead their horses in a single file line with plenty of room on either side of them. It was a cool and rocky gulch, but it wasn’t as beautiful as the aqua and apricot Ehnnit Canyon, and there wasn’t a trace of water. Jahrra reached into her pocket and clutched the chunk of stone she had collected that morning. She thought to herself that one day, when she had saved some money, she would have it set into a pendant or carved into a ring.

Scede and Gieaun reached the northern end of the ravine first, with Jahrra and Phrym trailing behind. Jahrra had been distracted by the bead on her bracelet, for she was trying to decide if she could still feel the twinge of magic or if it was just her imagination. She finally gave up, assuming it was her imagination after all. When she finally caught up to her friends and realized that they had stopped, she couldn’t help but wonder why they were so very quiet.

“What is it?” she asked fearfully. She glanced past them and caught a peek of what they had been looking at. The trail ended where it met up with an old road, just as Cahrume had said. What the draffyd hadn’t mentioned, however, was what they would find along the edge of the Cohn Forest.

Jahrra pulled Phrym up next to Bhun and then gasped once she finally spotted what had kept her friends so silent. There, hanging on a tall wooden pole, was a decomposed carcass of some wild animal. Jahrra had seen many dead animals before; it was nothing new to her eyes, but there was something about the way this animal hung, as if it had been tortured and left to die. Jahrra peered down the road, first to the east and then to the west, and noted that every hundred feet or so there hung another carcass or skeleton on a pole similar to the one in front of them.

“What lives in this place?” Scede queried in a chilling tone.

“Maybe Cahrume forgot to tell us about something,” Jahrra murmured quietly.

All three of them shivered at the thought of some strange creature capturing them and eating them alive, leaving their remains on a pole just like these poor animals.

“Perhaps it-it’s just a war-warning, to stay out of the woods?” stammered Gieaun, gripping Aimhe’s reins tightly.

“Cahrume wouldn’t send us this way if it were dangerous,” Jahrra insisted. “He said it was safe himself.”

“No,” corrected Scede in a morose tone, “he said it was
safer
than going down Ehnnit Canyon, not safe.”

Jahrra frowned. She didn’t like the look of the path ahead of them. The forest backed right up against the steep hills with only the old road between them.

“I think the best way to go about this situation is to get past these woods as fast as we can. Even the trees look unpleasant,” she finally said, eyeing the forest with suspicion.

So Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede turned their hesitant horses to the left and began traveling along the dusty road as quickly as they dared. The time ticked by slowly, and every now and then a frightened bird or a creaking branch spooked Phrym, Aimhe and Bhun. The horses felt a tense sensation of fear surrounding this place, just as their riders did. Finally, after what seemed like ages, the three friends spotted the lake in the distance, glittering like a welcoming beacon.

“We need to get away from this forest!” Gieaun pleaded, and they continued on without resting or even looking out across the placid lake.

Jahrra had never felt so uneasy before, not even when she entered the Black Swamp for the first time. She had always felt calm around trees, and just a few hours ago she’d learned that she was more connected to them then she had thought. Something about
these
trees, however, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She felt as if they were watching her, as if they had invisible eyes that bore into her soul. Phrym shivered, reflecting his master’s mood, and Jahrra clicked him on nervously.

The children trudged on and the forest continued to watch, but it wasn’t the trees that held the three riders in their sight, it was something else. Some wild thing eyed the trio closely, scarcely breathing in case the young ones noticed they were being followed.

The spy had been sent here from far away, sent by another, one capable of great evil. A rumor had been brewing all over the land, a rumor about a prophecy from long ago. The report traveled quietly and slowly, spreading like a sluggish disease, but it had reached the far corners of Ethoes, even into the far northeast where an immeasurable danger lay sleeping. This was why the foreigner was here; to see if there was truth behind this ancient prophecy and all of the rumors surrounding it.

The creature blinked and refocused its attention on the three children it had been following for over an hour. The dark onlooker grinned maliciously as it recognized one child in particular. Not the two Resai, obviously siblings and no doubt of Elvish blood, but the other girl had very few elfin traits, if she had any at all. She was the tallest of the three, with golden hair and grey-blue eyes, yet this wasn’t the first time the creature had gazed upon this particular child. For quite some time now it had stalked her, listening for any clues that might give her away as the chosen one.
Yes, the promised one
, the creature thought to itself bitterly.
That is why I’m here, to find the promised one that so many have begun talking about once again. But could she really be human
, the stranger mused,
and not Nesnan as that old dragon claims?

Yes, the dragon and the girl had spoken many times and the foreigner had heard them, but that old Korli lizard had never told the girl, or anyone else for that matter, that she was human.
But he would keep the truth from her, for her own safety
. Its lip twisted in thought.
And why would an old dragon be so concerned about a Nesnan child in the first place?

The creature spat, curling its lips in disgust. It hated Nesnans, hated all beings of Elvish descent for that matter. But here it was, thousands upon thousands of miles away from home, following a girl around like a starved flea, waiting for the right time to bite.
No, a dragon shouldn’t be concerned with a Nesnan child. Unless . . . unless she was really a human.

Yet, there was still so much doubt. Nesnans had enough human blood in them to deceive anyone who had never seen a true human before, and this particular foreigner had been born after the fall of the Tanaan. The only way to be sure was to wait for the dragon to say something or for the girl herself to claim she was human. Until that moment, the creature would continue to watch from a distance and continue to be silent, waiting until it could make its move. Slowly and quietly, the spy crept back into the silent woods, and as it did so, the horses stopped dead and looked straight into the trees, their chests rumbling with abject alarm.

“What is it?” Scede asked rather frantically, tensing up to match Bhun’s attitude.

“The horses must have smelled or heard something,” Jahrra whispered harshly, her eyes wide with fear. “Let’s just keep moving. The sooner we get away from here the better.”

They urged their horses into a faster pace, and after several nervous minutes, they finally reached the trail that led through the hills and into the Longuinn Valley.

“Oh, finally!” Gieaun breathed, looking truly relieved for the first time the entire day. “C’mon, let’s not stop–”

But she was cut off when she noticed Jahrra staring wide-eyed into the forest. Both Gieaun and Scede followed her gaze and suddenly caught sight of what she had seen. Just beyond the edge of the Cohn Forest there stood a unicorn, a real live unicorn. This rare sight quickly brought Jahrra’s memory rushing back to the day she had found the unicorns in the Wreing Florenn, and she couldn’t help but stare, her body rigid with excitement. This one was just as beautiful as the others and it looked like a mare, coppery red in color. The lovely creature lifted her graceful head and noticed the three riders and their horses standing stark still, gazing at her in mesmerized wonder.

“Wow!” Gieaun whispered breathlessly.

Scede just gawked, not believing what he was seeing.

Jahrra swallowed hard, her thoughts lost among her disbelief. She felt Phrym tense below her, knowing he would want to move towards this other animal, this creature whose blood called out to his. And Jahrra would have let him, despite the fact that approaching the magical animal would mean crossing the macabre barrier that surrounded the Cohn Forest.

Phrym moved to step forward, but every one of his muscles tensed and a bone-chilling fear gripped Jahrra’s stomach as a baleful howling filled the air. The unicorn stiffened only for a moment, then took off deeper into the forest as several horrifying creatures broke through the undergrowth, their evil intent obvious.

The monsters, visions from Jahrra’s worst nightmare, barreled down on the graceful animal and although the unicorn disappeared over a small rise in the land before she could witness its demise, Jahrra had no doubt that the demonic wolves had captured it. A strangled whinny, sounding like a glass chime breaking upon a stone floor, was quickly overshadowed by snarls and growls. Jahrra felt the blood drain from her face.