Jahrra was sure she had just shut her eyes, but that didn’t stop the familiar morning sounds of birds singing and the shuffling of someone next to her packing up.
“Wake up you two! Let’s get a move on before it gets too hot!” Scede snapped as he tied his sleeping mat onto Bhun.
Gieaun simply moaned and pulled her pillow over her head.
“Ugh, you and that wretched pillow!” he said in disgust.
After much coaxing and a few threats, Scede finally got the two girls to get up and pack. Just as the sun was starting to peak over the eastern hills, the trio had their horses cantering down the road leading south. The hills to the left of them cast a great, looming shadow over their heads and onto the Little Oorn Plain, which seemed to stretch on forever into the west. Before long, they came to a wide wooden bridge that spanned the Oorn River. The river was running low this time of year, and Jahrra noted many copses of willows and sycamores growing like thick tufts of green and silver fur along the river bank. Once on the other side of the bridge, the horses picked up their pace with everyone hoping to cover as much ground as possible before the sun breached the hilltops and began to roast them.
As they rode, Jahrra inched her map out from the small front pocket on Phrym’s saddle. She’d been secretly glancing at it every so often for the past several hours, and in the process had discovered that Ehnnit Canyon, the small ravine where she was to collect the apples, had a distinctive fan-shaped wash that spilled out onto the Oorn Plain. Jahrra quietly tucked the map back out of sight, trying to fight the excitement and apprehension that was making her nerves grow taut.
“At last, some shade!” Scede was saying thirty minutes later.
The horses picked up their speed once they spotted the patch of trees and soon Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede were throwing down blankets and stretching their tired muscles. To everyone’s delight, Gieaun discovered a hidden spring bubbling out from behind some rocks. The three friends filled their water skins and then tied the horses up near the small pool below the spring, finally sitting down to eat once everything was in order. While they ate, Jahrra took out her journal and began sketching a few of the animals and plants she’d seen that day. After she was done with that, she pulled out her map to check and see how far their destination was from their current location.
Only an hour or so away, according to this map, she thought. Now all that remained was to convince her friends that it was a good idea to explore Ehnnit Canyon.
“Are we anywhere near those hidden canyons you were talking about?” Scede’s question startled Jahrra, but she remained cool.
“Well,” she replied, trying not to sound too anxious, “the closest canyon is about an hour from here, but we could always keep moving if it looks boring once we get there.”
She bit her cheek and scoured the map once more to distract herself as she waited for a response.
“Is there anything written next to it, like a name?” Gieaun asked lazily as she finished up some wild berries, licking her fingers clean.
“I don’t know. It’s not labeled on this map, but when I copied it from one of Master Hroombra’s maps, I copied this symbol next to it.”
Jahrra pointed to the intricate ‘x’ painted on the map. “I asked him what it meant and he said it stood for a place of interest, like a famous landmark or a historic battle site,” she lied.
“It’s not labeled? How’s that?” Scede stood up and was now coming over to look at the map.
“It’s, it’s labeled,” Jahrra quickly stammered, tripping over her own tongue. “It just isn’t in the common language. It looks like some kind of ancient runes or something, but you can try if you like.” Jahrra handed the map over as Scede knelt down beside her.
He scrutinized the map for a few moments, then handed it back. “Why didn’t you bring the other map?”
“I was in a hurry when I packed. I grabbed this one without reading it closely,” Jahrra lied again, trying hard not to sound irritated. She had purposely brought the map written in Kruelt. She could read just enough of it to know where they were going without enlightening her companions.
Scede was glaring down at her suspiciously.
“Look,” Jahrra said, “we’ve made it this far without getting lost, the map isn’t totally worthless. The worst that can happen is we’ll get to this canyon place and there’ll be nothing there. If that happens we can just turn around and come back the way we came. Sound good to you?”
Jahrra looked at Scede with raised eyebrows, and then she looked over at his sister. Gieaun was splayed out on the blanket, using her arms to prop herself up. She seemed to be reveling in the coolness of the shade and the satisfaction of a full stomach.
“Sounds alright to me,” she answered. “She’s right, Scede. We’ve followed the map easily so far; why not check this place out? If it were unsafe there would be something drawn to warn us off, right? And Jahrra said Master Hroombra told her that the symbol meant it was a good place to visit. You need to stop acting so suspicious. Jahrra isn’t up to anything.”
Jahrra cringed inwardly and lowered her eyes. Scede simply nodded and sat down next to his sister, his face dark in skeptical contemplation.
The three friends stayed within the grove for another half hour. They then returned to the spring to fill up their canteens once more and to retrieve their horses, dousing themselves in the cool water before leaving. The sun was now blazing hotter than ever, and Jahrra only hoped that they would have enough water to last them until they reached the canyon. She breathed a sigh of relief as Gieaun and Scede led the group southward. So far she had managed to trick her friends into following her, but she was also aware that they still had several miles of travel left and Scede could uncover her secret plans at any moment.
The final length of the trip took a bit longer than Jahrra had anticipated, the heat of early afternoon as real and daunting as fire. Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede slowed their horses to a steady walk as Jahrra checked the map. Below the symbol marking the entrance to the canyon was the familiar fan-shaped wash with a dark entry way painted in.
“This must be the mouth of the canyon,” she said, showing the image to Gieaun. “We must be close.”
Jahrra squinted and shaded her eyes from the blazing sun, looking into the distance, trying to spot the canyon’s entrance. Just as she felt she could take the heat no longer, she saw it, about a mile off. Stretching for leagues upon leagues in front of them, the bronze foothills met the flat, sun-seared lowlands in an almost perfect conjunction. Jahrra could just make out a small, irregularity against the smooth curve of the hills in the distance. She knew that this had to be the entrance to Ehnnit Canyon. She pulled Phrym out of his slow walk, causing him to start and snort irritably. He had had his head down and was concentrating on blocking out the swelter. Stopping only meant standing in the sun even longer. Jahrra reached back into her pack and fumbled for her spyglass.
“What’s the hold up?” questioned Scede.
“I think we may be nearly there. See that wash spreading from the hills in the distance, just to the east?” Jahrra held the spyglass up to her eye with one hand and pointed with the other.
Scede and Gieaun held their hands to their eyes and they too squinted to make out the landmark.
“Here, the map shows it.” Jahrra pointed to the spot on the map and moved to hand it over to Gieaun, but something stopped her short. She hadn’t seen it before while they were resting in the shade. The writing was faded and was now just visible in the light. Above the fan wash on the map were a multitude of Draggish words.