While they got ready to leave for home, Jahrra found that she was reluctant to part with the great tree. It felt like she was about to say goodbye to a dear friend she wouldn’t be seeing again for a very long time. Cahrume reassured Jahrra that she needn’t worry.
“Nothing shall harm this sacred one, I promise you that,” the draffyd avowed with a wry grin.
Jahrra walked away halfheartedly, the colors of her surroundings once again fading away as she pulled her fingers from the smooth, cool bark. The Apple Tree’s sadness stung like an insect bite the moment Jahrra parted with it. She stood in the shade of the great canopy for a few moments longer, soaking in the Tree’s unique magic before collecting Phrym and joining her friends who were already mounted. She fed him one of the apples before climbing into the saddle and then turned him toward the game trail that headed northeast just behind Bhun and Aimhe.
“This trail continues north until it cuts through those two hills,” Cahrume instructed, jerking his head towards the two small peaks in the distance. “Travel for about one mile down the narrow gulch ahead until the trail meets up with an old road known only to the folk and beasts of the wilds. Take that road for about three or four miles, always heading west and always staying between the Cohn Forest and the hills. You will then come to a crossroads that lies just to the east of a small lake. Follow the eastern edge of the lake, and continue to stay on the edge of the forest, always stay on the edge of the forest.” Cahrume stressed this last statement and the three children nodded somberly.
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.