-Chapter One-
Refuge from the Storm
A shower of sparks rained down upon a nest of waiting kindling as Jahrra struggled to get a fire going. The icy sting of a single drop of precipitation hit the back of her neck and slid down her collar. Soon, others of its kind joined in, managing to break through the dense canopy of evergreens above to dampen the branches she was trying so desperately to set aflame. With renewed vigor, Jahrra struck her spare knife against the flint again and again, hoping to outrun the weather.
“Drat,” she muttered between clenched teeth. She wanted to pull the hood of her jacket up over her head, but it was more important to get the fire going first.
“Can I assist?”
Jahrra cried out and fell backward onto her rump. Growling with irritation, she glared up at the tall elf standing before her. In the few weeks they’d been on the road, she had yet to hear Ellyesce’s approach. He was as silent as a ghost and just as unnerving as one, too.
“I’ve almost got it,” she grumbled, climbing back to her feet and brushing off her pants. She reached for the knife and flint that had fallen out of her hands, then turned back toward the cold fire pit only to find the damp wood engulfed in a yellow blaze.
Jahrra glanced up at Ellyesce and blinked in surprise as the flames dancing on his fingertips slowly flickered out.
“Thank you,” she said in a begrudging tone.
She wasn’t all that grateful, truth be told. She really had been determined to get the fire going on her own. But no, Ellyesce had to step in with his elusive elvin magic and do the job for her. Even though her guardian clearly trusted this elf, Jahrra remained steadfast in her own doubts. He was too silent, too observant and far too mysterious for her liking. He’d arrived on their doorstep the night before their departure from Lidien, and despite having traveled together for several days, she had not yet warmed up to him. Not in the least.
Huffing out a breath of frustration, Jahrra pulled her jacket more tightly about her body and plopped down on a fallen tree limb to watch the fire dance and spit against the drizzling sky.
“Troubled thoughts?”
Ellyesce had receded back into his general quiet, so his voice startled her a bit. She glanced over at the elf, now leaning against a tree, his head and face hidden by the hood of his cloak. A few yards away, the horses whickered and shook rainwater from their necks. Jahrra cast a quick glance at Phrym, her marble grey semequin. Despite his unicorn lineage, he was much taller than his mother’s race and lacked the tell-tale horn protruding from his forehead. Nevertheless, he seemed well enough and looked to be in the same gloomy mood as she. Jahrra turned back to Ellyesce and shrugged.
“Of course not. Any eighteen year old girl would love to be sitting out in the wilderness, beneath a looming rainstorm, with an aloof elf for company.”
To her surprise, Jahrra’s sarcasm was met with amusement. Ellyesce barked out a small laugh, then turned his head so that he might see her. Jahrra’s eyes widened. Was that an actual smile on his face?
“I imagine you are not like any other girl your age,” was his jocund answer.
Jahrra bit her lip. She couldn’t argue with him there.
Taking advantage of the elf’s genial mood, Jahrra shrugged and replied, “No, I don’t suppose I am. However, this would be much more pleasant if it weren’t raining, or if we could be sitting in a nice, cozy cave instead. With plenty of good books to read.”
She couldn’t even draw in her sketchbook, what with the current damp weather. That, at least, would have given her something to do.
Ellyesce took a great breath and resettled his arms across his chest. He lifted his head and pointed it away from their campsite. “Perhaps Jaax will find a cave on his scouting mission.”
Jahrra didn’t think so, but she could always hope. Jaax had been gone longer than his customary hour, so maybe Ellyesce was right. She wondered if her dragon guardian had found any threats, and perhaps that was the reason for his delay. Jahrra clenched her teeth and willed herself not to worry. During their expedition north, her dragon guardian often left them for an hour at a time, three times a day, to make sure they weren’t being followed and to check that the road ahead was clear. Despite taking a more roundabout way to Nimbronia, the road they traveled was a wide one. It had to be, what with a dragon in their company. But they had been lucky so far to meet no one along the way. After all, it was only early spring, and winter still clung fiercely to the mountains. Most travelers and tradesmen would wait until later in the season to cross the peaks with their goods. And there was also the rumor that the Crimson King’s men had quietly infiltrated the Hruhnan Range, seeking out the human girl said to be residing in the great city of Lidien.
Jahrra shivered, but this time not from the cold damp that soaked into her clothes. It was an unnerving feeling, knowing that you were being hunted. Fortunately, she, Ellyesce and Jaax had managed to slip out of the city before the wolves could descend. Now, they just had to outrun them.
“Yours is a hard life, young Jahrra. I am sorry for it,” Ellyesce murmured from across the struggling fire, startling Jahrra a little.
She suddenly felt ashamed of her complaints from earlier.
“Life is hard for many,” she replied in a sober tone, then added with what she hoped was a nonchalant grin, “why should it be any easier for me?”
Ellyesce smiled, his teeth flashing from beneath his dark hood. “Aye, I won’t deny that. But for some of us, it is doubly hard.”
Jahrra cocked her head to the side. That sounded a little too familiar to her, as if the elf had survived his fair share of heartache and suffering. She would have contemplated it longer, perhaps asked him about it, but the beat of a dragon’s wings signaled Jaax’s return.
Jahrra released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and craned her neck to peer over the large boulders just behind her. In a nearby clearing, a large green, turquoise and copper scaled dragon was tucking his wings in close to his body. He lifted his head, his nostrils flaring as he tested the air for danger, before turning his silvery green eyes onto the partially hidden campsite. He regarded Ellyesce, and the two nodded a casual greeting to one another. Still, Jaax didn’t move. His eyes grazed the rest of the site, as if seeking something out. Jahrra stood, putting her back to the fire and rising above the boulder that blocked her from view. The dragon’s attention focused on her, and those hard eyes softened a little, the grim cut to his reptilian mouth relaxing ever so slightly.
Some of the tension in Jahrra’s body drained; relief at seeing her guardian safe and sound. It wasn’t too long ago, however, that she would have scowled at his return instead. All throughout her childhood, Jaax had been the bane of her existence. Well, one of the banes of her existence at least. When he was around, it was always business, in the learn-how-to-swim-by-jumping-right-in sense. He had never been gentle with her when it came to her training, and only in the last year or so had he finally given her a little more room to breathe. But now that they were on the road again, out in the wild where death could come from any direction, he’d taken up his old role of the domineering, overly protective mentor she remembered from her childhood.