“Sorry,” Scede breathed in frustration, “Gieaun thought she’d left something behind and we had to turn back.”
“You don’t have to say it so harshly,” his sister retorted. “I may have left it and then what would I have done?”
Scede rolled his eyes. “It was only her precious pillow,” he explained to Jahrra. “And she could’ve done without if she really wanted to rough it.”
Gieaun turned pink at this comment and abruptly looked the other way, her nose stuck in the air.
“That’s alright,” Jahrra remarked with amusement. “It shouldn’t take us all day to get to the crossroads anyway.”
“Are you sure it’s safe to travel to the crossroads alone?” Gieaun asked, forgetting about her irritation at her brother.
“Of course it is,” Jahrra insisted. “It’s a well traveled path and the farmers use it all the time. Plus, there are three of us and our three horses, we’ll be fine.”
“What about Hirihn Wood? I heard that bandits wait behind the trees and ambush traders!” Gieaun said in her usual, paranoid way.
“Oh, don’t be such a coward Gieaun! We’ve been to the Belloughs and back for Ethoes’ sake, we can handle anything!” Jahrra bellowed in aggravation.
She jumped onto Phrym and kicked him into a quick walk. “C’mon you two! We have miles to cover today!”
Scede flashed an impish grin towards his sister and jogged Bhun after Phrym. Gieaun let out a sound that was a cross between an uncomfortable sigh and a whine, and slowly followed after them.
“Not so fast Scede! Jahrra! Wait for me!”
She brought Aimhe up to speed with the other two horses and soon the three were on their way down the road towards the Oorn Plain.
Jahrra had always been told that the late summer months were the hottest in this part of Oescienne, and today was no exception. The early morning crept towards mid-day, the heat gradually rising to an almost unbearable temperature. The dust from the barren dirt road created a choking, terra-cotta haze and the sun seemed to bake the shadows of the three horses and their riders against the dry hills.
“Are there no trees at all in this part of the country?” Gieaun panted in exasperation.
They’d been traveling for several hours along the road that ran between the Oorn River and the southern Longuinn Hills, but had only seen a few stray trees along the way, but nothing to provide ample shade.
“I see a small grove about a mile up ahead!” Scede suddenly called out to the two girls riding just behind him. “That must be Hirihn Wood.”
Gieaun squinted into the distance and then gulped nervously as the dark wood grew nearer, finally giving the hot and tired group their first chance to rest. Gieaun may have feared these trees, but Jahrra was more than grateful for the shade after their hours of travel. She pulled out the map she’d brought along and glanced over it.
“Yep, this is Hirihn Wood,” she said, focusing on the dark blotch of ink that represented trees on the map.
Gieaun let out an anxious cry, and Scede gave her an annoyed look. “For goodness’ sake Gieaun! This wood can’t be any worse than the Wreing Florenn!”
The dark pines weren’t very tall, but the tangled branches and needle-carpeted forest floor gave the place a very suffocated and cramped feel. A narrow path curved around the thick, branchy trunks of the trees and continued on to what only Jahrra and her friends could assume was the other side of the main road they had just left.
“You were right, Gieaun,” Jahrra said with a grin on her face. “This would be the perfect place for a group of robbers to attack!”
“Not funny!” she retorted hotly.
Suddenly, a bird cawed from a treetop somewhere above and Gieaun let out a blood-curdling scream. The horses jerked their heads up in surprise and Jahrra and Scede had to pull Phrym and Bhun around in small circles to calm them as Aimhe reared.
“Good one, Gieaun!” Scede growled. “It was only a crow!”
“Sorry! This place gives me the creeps!” Gieaun answered angrily.
“Let’s keep moving then,” Jahrra added as calmly as she could.
By the time they left the tangled trees behind, it was already well past mid-day. The three riders picked up their pace so they could reach the crossroads before sunset.
After another several hours of baking heat and blinding sun, Jahrra slowed Phrym to a stop and held her hand up to shade her eyes. She gazed into the heat-tainted distance, spotting the great Oorn River winding up from the south and curling down from the tall hills far ahead. To the south and east the mountainous landscape continued as far as the eye could see, and perhaps much further than that. The hills and gentle, rolling land that stretched all around the three riders was the dry and brittle color of fired clay.
After getting her fill of the scenery, Jahrra sat back down in the saddle and contemplated the scene just ahead of her. The sandy ribbon of road stretched far into the distance, intersecting another similar path that ran south across the river and north into the southern Longuinn Hills. The crossroads were no more than a half mile away, and it looked very lonely out here in the middle of this barren wasteland.
Jahrra clicked her tongue at Phrym and he obediently trudged onward, taking on an easy pace in the sweltering heat. Once they finally reached the point where the two roads met, Jahrra stopped Phrym completely and let the suffocating silence engulf her. She gazed up with pinched eyes at a sign post holding heavy wooden planks etched with the words of their possible destinations. The sign pointing east read The Cohn Forest – Oorn Lake, the sign pointing west, where the children had come from, read The Lakes – Lensterans. The sign pointing north read The East Hills – Longuinn Valley, and the sign pointing south said The Little Oorn Plain – Rhoorn Valley.
Jahrra reached into one of her saddle bags and pulled out her small spyglass. She stood up in the saddle and held the instrument up to her eye, focusing on a small patch of green up against the eastern hills in the distance.
“What is it?” Gieaun asked, waving her hand limply at a cloud of small flies.
“It looks like a small wooded canyon with what might be a creek running into the Oorn River,” Jahrra answered, spyglass still held up to her eye. “I suppose that’s the best place to make camp for the night, and we should be doing that pretty soon. We still have to find something to eat before it gets dark.”
It took the children half an hour to reach the gully, but once there they tied their bedraggled horses up to an oak tree overlooking the stream. The trio then went out to hunt, returning with a few wild fowl and a basket full of berries. Jahrra started a fire and Scede prepared the birds, roasting them on a crude spit over the sweltering coals. They ate and went to bed early, eager to get moving before the heat swelled up in the morning.
Jahrra stared up at the glittering stars as her friends dozed quietly next to her. She sighed inwardly and closed her eyes, trying to rest her mind. Her conscience had been grinding on her the entire day. She knew that she should tell Gieaun and Scede the truth about Ehnnit Canyon. What was the big deal anyway? It wasn’t like the canyon was dangerous or anything like that, right? All she was going to do was gather some apples, how hazardous could that be?
It’s because Denaeh wanted me to come, and they wouldn’t approve of me doing any favors for Denaeh, she thought miserably. She knew that her friends had never really trusted the Mystic, and they wouldn’t be happy if they found out they’d been dragged along on this strange mission. Oh well. What’s done is done. Hopefully they’ll never suspect anything at all. Jahrra tucked these feelings away and after another few deep breaths, she was fast asleep.