Jahrra’s heart began to race, and she could feel her arms and legs tingling, only this time it wasn’t because of her magical armlet. She couldn’t bring herself to glance over her shoulder, and she couldn’t coax her dry, swollen throat to speak. She just looked helplessly at the boys as they continued to stare like graveyard statues at the man Jahrra could feel approaching. As soon as the boys got over their shock, however, they turned and ran as fast as they could.
Jahrra felt helpless, frozen, petrified, and she began to shake. She now realized that it hadn’t been a trap; that this person had nothing to do with Eydeth. She tried her deep breathing technique again, but breathing couldn’t help her now, nothing could help her. Stop it! her inner voice screamed. You’ve survived many years of hard training just for this kind of situation, pull yourself together! Jahrra reached out her trembling arm and placed her hand against a tree for support. Suddenly, she stopped shaking and felt a flicker of ease rush over her quaking body, her armlet tingling once again. I can handle this, she thought as the calming magic spread through her body. I know what to do.
As the sound of the boys’ crashing back through the dark woods faded away, Jahrra slowly began to turn around. She knew she didn’t want to see what was there, but something made her turn, a voice, this time not her own, calling from somewhere beyond reach, telling her she must see . . .
She looked directly into the middle of the meadow, and there she saw him, the man who’d tried to abduct her. The stranger was fumbling for what looked like a long cloth that had covered his face. He wasn’t nearly as close as Jahrra had thought he would be, and was now falling back further and further away from her. He managed to pull the scarf over his face before Jahrra could get a good look at it, and his eyes were shrouded in the shadows cast by the silvery moonlight. He was wearing a heavy, hooded type of jacket or coat, and his pants and boots looked rather ordinary if not a bit threadbare in the dim moonlight. If Jahrra were to place him, she would assume he was a common thief who’d just been trying to rob her. But why did Eydeth and his thugs look at him as if he were a demon?
Jahrra didn’t stand around long enough to ponder the question. She took advantage of the stranger’s scrabbling and began to run again, to run back to the path that led out of these dangerous woods and to her friends. She didn’t even care if she stumbled upon Eydeth and his group. She figured they had been scared witless and wouldn’t be coherent enough to try and capture her again. She slowly regained her nerves as she made her way through the dark, hoping that the stranger had kept on going in the opposite direction.
Why did he back off after I got away? she wondered as she pushed past the prickly branches, moving further and further away from the meadow. I was standing still long enough for him to grab me again, so why didn’t he? Maybe it had something to do with the wooden beads laced around her wrist. Perhaps their magic had helped her after all. Or maybe it was because Eydeth and his friends had seen the stranger’s face. Yes, that must’ve been it, Jahrra told herself with a chill. I must thank Eydeth someday, she thought with sour humor. He unknowingly saved me.
Scede and Pahrdh were untying Gieaun and Rhudedth when Jahrra finally emerged from the woods.
“Jahrra!!!” squeaked Rhudedth, still sitting in the dirt, her brother trying to cut her hands free. “What on Ethoes happened in there?! Why did you go running off? Why did Eydeth and his friends come charging out of the woods like they’d seen a ghost!?”
The girl was almost in hysterics, and her brother was trying to calm her down. Jahrra looked around at her friends. Gieaun and Rhudedth had been crying, Pahrdh appeared to be pretty shaken up, and Scede looked dazed and more worried than Jahrra had ever seen him.
“I’m alright, but what about you guys?” Jahrra was still winded from the tight grasp the stranger had had on her, but she was more concerned about her friends at the moment.
“All we know,” Scede began quietly, holding his hand gently against the side of his head, “is that you yelled at Eydeth to chase you and then he and three of his friends took off after you, leaving two behind to guard us until they returned. We waited probably a half an hour or more before Eydeth and his goons came tearing out of the trees, making the most noise possible, and screeching, yes screeching, at his friends to “run and run fast”.”
Scede exhaled unsteadily, looking whiter than ever. “They listened to him without blinking and they all took off running towards town, leaving us all tied up here.” He took a deep, shuddering breath and whispered, “I thought you had died.”
“Jahrra,” it was Gieaun that spoke this time, in an eerily calm voice, “what happened in there?”
Jahrra hesitated for a moment. Of course they would want to know what really happened, but she wasn’t about to tell them, at least not now. Scede and Gieaun would panic and say this was just like all the other times she talked them into doing something dangerous. Pahrdh and Rhudedth might not ever associate with her again if they knew she was prone to being attacked by strangers. They would also insist that she tell Hroombra, which was something she couldn’t bring herself to do. He would worry too much, and she was alive after all, so why bother frightening everyone?
She darted her eyes over to Scede, noting the white tusks protruding from his mask, and blurted, “It was a boar! A great big boar that came crashing through the underbrush!”
Jahrra’s four friends looked as if they’d been broadsided by a bear.
She swallowed the anxious lump in her throat and continued, “I ran until I came to a break in the trees, and while I caught my breath, Eydeth and his friends caught up to me. Just as they stepped into the clearing, this wild pig came flying out of nowhere! I jumped up the closest tree and watched as it chased after Eydeth and his friends.”
Jahrra ended her speech with a very dramatic breath. Everyone gazed at her quizzically, but they were too tired, their nerves too jumbled to wonder if she was telling the truth.
“Weren’t you afraid the boar would come after you once it stopped chasing Eydeth?” Rhudedth asked timidly.
“Sure, but I was also worried it would get you guys.” Jahrra smiled, pleased with her own quick thinking.
“I think we should go back into town, who knows what else is in that wood,” Pahrdh said, eyeing the dark edge of the trees suspiciously.
Everyone, not surprisingly, agreed with him. They dusted themselves off and examined any injuries they might have received, Gieaun affectionately cleaning off the cut on her brother’s temple as he squirmed in annoyance.
“Too bad we couldn’t finish the scavenger hunt,” Jahrra mourned as they plodded back along the deserted road.
It was easier to dwell on her disappointment than to think about the fear she had felt in the woods. Everyone gave her a scathing look, so she didn’t press the matter.
“Oh, here Jahrra,” Scede said, handing her the raven mask once they’d put some distance between the woods and themselves. “It fell off when one of the boys tried to grab you. You should put it on, it’s still Sobledthe Eve, and there’s still a lot to do when we get back into town.”