“Come, Milihn,” she commanded in hushed tones. “There is much more at work in this grand, unfurling scheme than what I’ve previously foreseen.”
The bird grumbled, then took two hops and leapt from his tree, gliding down to fly ahead of his master, a black, silent ghost leading the way.
-Chapter Five-
A Spy and a Familiar Face
No one slept well that night, and Jaax didn’t sleep at all. Just before sunrise, Ellyesce shook Jahrra awake to tell her they were going to throw together a quick breakfast and even have a fire.
“Really?” she breathed, imagining hot oatmeal with dried apples and raisins.
Ellyesce grinned and swung the soldier’s charm in front of her. “They are several miles behind, just past our last campsite. There hasn’t been any movement all morning. We are at least a full day ahead of them, and despite the fact that we must climb yet another mountain, the road grows much easier a few miles up. If we hurry, we’ll establish a sizeable lead on them once again.”
Jahrra couldn’t help but reflect Ellyesce’s chipper mood as she moved about the campsite, packing up her bedroll and pulling out a clean change of clothes. She had been wearing the same tunic and pants for three days, and she desperately wanted to don some fresh ones. A small waterfall trickled down a crevasse a few dozen yards away from where they camped, gathering into a small pool that was just the right depth for bathing.
Jahrra cast her guardian a look, his eyes trained on the trail behind them. Something was bothering him, she could tell. Something more than the distant squadron or two of scarlet-caped soldiers nipping at their heels. Setting her clothes aside, Jahrra walked over to him.
“What is it?” she queried.
The green Tanaan dragon gave a slight shake of his head and exhaled through his nose. He sat in that false relaxed pose she had seen so often in cats. His tail even twitched when he lowered his head, keeping his shoulders rigid in case he had to attack.
“Something is off,” he murmured. “I know Ellyesce is using his powers to track our enemy, but I fear there could be more than the Tyrant’s warriors on our trail.”
Jahrra felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise, and for a slight moment, she could have sworn she felt someone’s eyes watching them. Shaking away her nerves and chalking the feeling up to nothing more than a lack of sleep, she sighed and said, “Well, I hope not. But I was wondering,” she paused, thinking how to phrase her question.
Jaax gave her a quizzical look. Jahrra offered a sheepish grin and shot her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the pool. “Is there enough time for me to clean off all the dirt I’ve accumulated over the past few weeks?”
For a small moment, Jahrra thought her guardian was going to tell her no. Instead, he nodded tersely and said, “Very well. I’ll even warm it for you, but make it quick.”
Not wanting to waste a minute of this unexpected gift, Jahrra turned and ran through the campsite, grabbing her spare clothes, some soap and a drying cloth as Jaax moved toward the shallow water, blasting it with a stream of his emerald fire. When the water began to steam, he stopped, just as Jahrra skidded to a halt beside him.
She stripped off her boots and socks and tested the water with a toe, her face melting in bliss at the welcome heat.
“Thank you!” she sighed dreamily.
Jaax fought a smile, then turned to give her the privacy she needed.
“No dawdling,” he cast over his shoulder. “We need to be on the road in fifteen minutes.”
The moment her guardian disappeared behind a screen of manzanita and other thick shrubs, she commenced with peeling her soiled clothes from her equally grit-encrusted body.
As the sound of splashing and a cheerful sigh greeted his ears, Jaax chuckled lightly and shook his head in amusement. Despite their pressing need to get to Cahrdyarein weighing heavily upon him, he couldn’t deny Jahrra her simple request. He knew it would take him and Ellyesce at least a quarter of an hour to heat the breakfast and pack up from the night before, so allowing Jahrra this one luxury wouldn’t burden them in the least.
Ellyesce glanced up from his task of stirring the cooking oatmeal when the green dragon stepped back into camp.
“Jahrra wished to take advantage of our remaining time here by washing the trail grime off in the pool of water below the falls,” Jaax drawled dryly in response to his friend’s curious expression.
“Ahhh,” the elf said, smiling. “You can’t blame her. If we had more time, I’d be doing the same.”
Jaax shook his great head. “No, I can’t. She’s eighteen years old, Ellyesce,” he murmured, in a rare moment of rumination. He turned his eyes onto his friend. “She shouldn’t be evading assassins out in the wilderness, while on her way to challenge a tyrant king possessed by an evil god. She should be back in Lidien, attending classes and studying, spending nights out with her friends.”
“And courting young men?” Ellyesce added, a mischievous glint to his eye.
The look Jaax cast his way made him laugh again. “Appropriate young men, of course.”
“And by appropriate, do you mean human, Ellyesce?” Jaax pressed, his voice losing what whimsy it had held mere moments ago.
The elf’s good cheer faded in a flash. He had not thought of that. Being the only human in the world might prove a bit difficult.
“Surely there are some fine young Nesnan men out there who are around her age. And it would only be courting, Jaax. No long term commitments. Like you said, she is only eighteen.”
Neither of them spoke of the other obvious reason a long term commitment for Jahrra would be out of the question. In fact, Jaax regretted the conversation taking this turn, because when he did think about that reason, a cold darkness always descended, threatening to steal his breath and slowly suffocate him.
Jaax sighed, casting those dismal thoughts to the side and focused instead on what Ellyesce had initially meant with his comment. This was not a subject he’d given much thought to, though he probably should have since Jahrra was well beyond the age to start taking notice of the opposite gender. If anyone had stood out to her, she had never been obvious about it. Though there was no doubt they had noticed her. He had seen the way the young men in Essyel Hall watched her whenever she attended one of the Coalition meetings, but was his ward aware of their attention? Did she even care? Was she, like him, so focused on the fate that awaited her that all those other details of her life simply paled in comparison? And just like that, Jaax was once again revisiting that dark place he loathed more than anything, the place where the future beckoned and showed him all the horrible possibilities for himself and Jahrra.
The dragon had been so deep in his thoughts that he started in surprise when Ellyesce spoke next, only a few feet from him now.
With a somewhat somber voice, Ellyesce said, “We will worry about it if, and when, it happens.”
Jaax nodded, and the elf turned away, heading back to check on the oatmeal.
“Oh, and Jaax,” he added in that old language only the two of them understood, “whatever Ethoes has in store for us, do not put her life, or yours, on hold because you are awaiting something better, something safer and more secure. It doesn’t work that way. Sometimes opportunities are presented to you because that is the only time they can bloom. Do not ignore the rays of sunshine breaking through the clouds around you, believing the skies are entirely clear down the road. Trust me,” his voice fell to a whisper, his eyes growing distant, “I know of these things.”