When the crowd finally quieted down, the Nesnan man standing in the middle, the one dressed in black, raised his arms over the crowd and uttered a blessing in a strange dialect. Jahrra could have sworn it sounded like Kruelt, but she couldn’t tell for certain and Hroombra had assured her that no one else in Oescienne spoke it.
All the people bowed their heads, and Jahrra mimicked them, nudging Gieaun and Rhudedth to follow suit. When he was finished, the elder looked up and addressed everyone in the common language, “Good evening, good Sobledthe, and welcome to Lensterans!”
The crowd cheered, and Jahrra and her friends joined in with everyone else.
“The rules to this scavenger hunt are simple: you’ll be given the first clue, and after that you must decipher the riddles on your own. The locations of each of the five clues will lie along the paths that run throughout the city and up to two miles within the outlying fields.
“The clues will not be deliberately hidden in any way; it is up to the group or individual to decide which path he must take. There is no time limit, but once the final prize is found, the fireworks will be set off, and the bonfire and celebration will begin shortly afterwards. All competitors are encouraged to return to town once the signal is given. Now, go out and compete fairly!”
The first set of fireworks was lit and the signal to begin the scavenger hunt exploded as a thousand glittery stars burst into the approaching night. A great bustling and murmuring began as the many throngs of people tore open the envelopes containing the first clue. Scede and Pahrdh did the same and all five friends began to read furiously in the fading light:
My belly paRts the sand as I move,
My back Reflects the sky.
In summeRtime I leave a gRoove,
In winteR, I am satisfied.
The five companions read the riddle several times, juggling the words over and over again in their minds. Jahrra could hear Gieaun and Pahrdh whispering the words incoherently under their breath, and all around her the murmur of low voices ensued.
“The River!” Gieaun hissed frantically after a few minutes of reflection. “It has to be!”
She looked up at her friends, the horse-head mask hiding the expression on her face.
“I think you’re right,” Pahrdh added, pulling down his own bear’s mask. “Quick, back down the main road, the same way we came into town!”
“Belly parts the sand,” he was muttering as they walked quickly together back towards the river, “the river bottom running along the earth. In winter the rains fill the river, and in the summer the river runs very low, leaving a groove. It has to be it!”
The five of them moved quickly down the cobblestone road until they reached the traffic bridge fifteen minutes later, all breathing heavily and clutching their sides.
“Alright,” said Scede, panting from the combination of brisk walking and jogging, “I don’t think the next clue would be on the traffic bridge, but maybe on the foot bridge?”
“I think you’re right, Scede,” Rhudedth added, tugging on his arm. “Look.”
She was pointing down near the edge of the river, about a couple hundred yards away. They could see the flickering light of a torch in the distance. It stood still for a few moments before it began moving east up the riverbank.
“Quickly!” hissed Jahrra as she jumped past her friends, almost getting snagged on Rhudedth’s golden butterfly wings. She didn’t even wait for them as she started running down the small dirt road that intersected the main street.
The fields were sunken below the town’s main avenues and the small dirt road they now traveled down ran parallel to the river’s natural levee to their left. Jahrra knew that as long as they stayed on this road they’d eventually intersect the path leading up to the foot bridge.
About half of the fields had already been harvested and the twilight shadows cast by the baled hay and bundled corn added an unnerving effect to the spooky feel of this Sobledthe Eve. Jahrra tried hard to block out the images of evil spirits and goblins her imagination couldn’t help but conjure up, and her stomach lurched when she recalled what Denaeh had once told them about the spirits of the dark. Jahrra shook these dreadful thoughts from her mind and soon felt the cool fall air pulsing through her lungs as she jogged. Before too long, the group reached the trail that climbed the levee up to the footbridge. Jahrra grinned, her thoughts of evil spirits gone for the moment.
“Alright,” she gasped as her friends caught up, “the footbridge must be this way.”
They all climbed the steep levee to find that a narrow wooden bridge did indeed span the river ahead. It allowed only two to pass together and had a railing to keep pedestrians from falling off. In the center of the bridge, there appeared to be some sort of plaque or sign attached to the railing. Jahrra quickly slid over to it, threw back her mask, and began to read in the flickering torchlight that Pahrdh provided:
StrAight As the hAckles on A dog we stAnd, fluid yet rigid,
AlwAys clothed, And never bAre.
We Are AlwAys moving, except when frigid,
Yet we go nowhere.
“What’s with all the out-of-place capital letters?” Rhudedth asked in frustration as she rubbed her glittered face.
“I’m sure it has a purpose,” claimed Scede as he removed his mask to get some fresh air.
“Alright, let’s focus,” Jahrra snapped, trying to remain patient. “What’s straight but at the same time capable of bending or moving?”
“Nothing,” snorted Gieaun, crossing her arms in an annoyed fashion.
“It has to be something, Gieaun. They wouldn’t give us a clue that doesn’t have an answer!” Jahrra retorted, her voice rising unintentionally.
“Well, you’re the one who insisted on taking part in this stupid scavenger hunt! You wanted a challenge! Why don’t we leave you here and you can figure it out on your own?”
Before Jahrra could give her rebuke, Pahrdh cut in, “Hey, calm down, we can do this! It can’t be that hard. Let’s start with the main parts of the clue.” He read it aloud once more and then glanced up, looking truly perplexed. “So it seems to be a little bit of a contradiction, but riddles are supposed to be that way, right?”
“Why don’t we just start listing off things that are straight, and then go from there?” Rhudedth squeaked, trying to keep her wings from getting bent by her pressing friends. “At least that’s a start. But we’d better get off this bridge. We could be giving this clue’s location away to other people.”
Jahrra quickly took out the small piece of charcoal she’d brought along and jotted the riddle down on the back of the paper with the first clue. The group then moved back down onto the main road and huddled around the parchment, reading the riddle again and again. After naming off a variety of objects that were straight (fence posts, roads, arrows), they moved onto another part of the clue.
“What can move but at the same time goes nowhere?” Jahrra asked, trying hard to keep the frustration out of her tone.
“Corn stalks are straight, but they can move in the wind, and scarecrows can move in the wind as well,” Gieaun said, looking out into the dark fields for inspiration.
“Maybe the next clue is attached to one of the scarecrows in the fields?” Rhudedth offered weakly.
“Yeah! And scarecrows are always clothed, that has to be it!” Gieaun added excitedly.
“Wait a minute,” Jahrra said, holding up a black raven’s wing. “Always moving, except when frigid. When is it frigid?” she asked, addressing the entire group.