“Jahrra,” Hroombra whispered, speaking as if his voice might bring the Ruin crashing down upon them, “turn it over.”
Jahrra obeyed silently, becoming more confused and worried about the way the two dragons were behaving. She flipped the compass over, revealing the carved flower on the back. Both Jaax and Hroombra shot their heads up to look at each other in disbelief.
“Jahrra,” Jaax finally said, “where did you get this compass?”
His tone was stern and taut with tension. Jahrra took a deep breath and braced herself for the worst. She knew, for once, that she had to tell not the partial truth like she had with the unicorns, but the entire truth.
She took another deep breath, closed her eyes and opened her mouth to speak. “Last year, my friends and I went up to the Eight Coves. When we were on the beach, I noticed that there was a maze of tunnels that ran under the hill that cut the coves off from the southern beaches. We went exploring and found a smaller ninth cove, and once we stepped onto the beach, I spotted a cave that was halfway up the side of the cliff. We climbed the steps and found the skeleton of a pirate inside the cave. He had a book and this compass, and a pouch full of coins and gems. We traded something of our own for something of his. I left an interesting stone I once found at the lakes in his hand and took this compass.”
Jahrra finished her story without once looking at the dragons, glad she had enough sense to quickly change the location of where she had found the blue stone of Ehnnit Canyon.
After a few moments, when no one spoke, she braved a look up at them. Jaax, whose expression was hard to read, looked as if he might be slightly concerned. Hroombra, on the other hand, definitely looked troubled.
“Did you happen to look in the book?” Jaax asked, as patiently as his strained voice would allow him.
Jahrra reluctantly nodded. “I copied down some of the writing and symbols I saw in it, just in case someday someone might be able to recognize them for me.”
“Jahrra,” Hroombra said quietly, “you need to go get those writings and symbols and bring them back here, right now.”
Jahrra immediately obeyed her mentor’s command and ran to her room to get her journal. When she returned the two dragons were speaking very quickly in Kruelt, but her swimming mind couldn’t decipher what was being said. She hated that she hadn’t pick the language up as easily as she had other things, and she thought right now it would have definitely come in handy. Both Hroombra and Jaax stopped talking the moment she reappeared and looked down at her.
“Show them to us,” Jaax stated stonily.
Jahrra opened her journal up to the pages where she had written down the symbols. Jaax looked very closely at them in the flickering firelight and then allowed Hroombra to do so. When Hroombra was done, he gave Jaax a frail look.
“Jahrra,” Jaax finally said in a strained, weary voice, “you have to take me to where you found that book, first thing tomorrow. I need it, and you must get it for me.”
He took a breath and shot a look at Hroombra.
The older dragon nodded once, then told Jahrra without looking at her, “You may return to your room now Young Jahrra, there is much Raejaaxorix and I must discuss, all of which is not meant for your ears.”
Jahrra glanced between the two dragons, blinking in slight confusion. Hroombra wouldn’t meet her eyes, but Jaax did. The dismal look on the younger dragon’s face startled her, and before she could think of some excuse to defy either of them, she nodded her head in defeat and headed off to bed, only to face a night of seemingly unending darkness.
-Chapter Seventeen-
The Magehn’s Journal
Jahrra tried hard to fall asleep that night, but all she could do was lie wide awake in nervous thought. It seemed that without warning she no longer had control over her life; that everything she had once thought was insignificant suddenly meant everything in the world. According to Eydeth, an assassin was after her, and a compass she’d found in a cave frightened two dragons. What was going on? She could feel something changing in the world around her, but she didn’t know what that change was, or what it meant.
Jahrra decided that after she took Jaax to the Ninth Cove tomorrow, she would come back and have another long talk with Denaeh. She knew that talking to the Mystic this time meant that she might have to finally say everything out loud, about finding the journal, about the stranger on Sobledthe, but she didn’t care. Jahrra was worried, more so than she had ever been. Maybe Denaeh could ease her mind once more and offer her the logical explanation she always seemed to have at hand.
After several hours of tossing and turning, she finally fell into a restless sleep, drifting right into a mystical orchard draped in mist. Jahrra looked around at her surroundings, blinking in the strangely bright, foggy light. The tall grass surrounding her was a fresh green and a few white flowers dotted the landscape like fallen, faded stars. She looked up into the gray sky and saw that the trees were just starting to bloom, blossoms of buttercup and pink. Jahrra smiled at the sight, glad to find something pleasant and calming. It must have been just before dawn, because the light in the sky was slowly spreading, just as it always did in this familiar dream. As if led by some internal force, Jahrra took a few steps forward and then faced the tiny hillock where she would wait for the hooded figure to arrive. He never failed to make an appearance, and perhaps he had some comfort to offer this time.
As Jahrra waited, the eerie glowing light that rose from the distance began to engulf the scene surrounding her. She focused on the edge of the forest knowing what was to come, and, right on cue, a looming figure stepped up over the hill. Jahrra waited for him to stop and gaze down at her, but instead of stopping, he kept moving forward. For a fleeting second, she wanted to bolt and run away, but something told her to stay, something she couldn’t explain.
Jahrra took several deep breaths, trying to calm her fluttering heart as her familiar stranger moved ever nearer. He stopped five feet in front of her, like he had last time when he removed his hood. This time however, he made no reach for it. Jahrra forced herself to look up to where his face might have been, but she wasn’t afraid to look this time. Try as she might, however, she couldn’t see beyond the shadow of his hood. The pang of regret coursed through her as she recalled the time before, when she had recoiled from his attempted revelation. She had been afraid then, but now she wanted to know who this strange man was.
As she stood there, shading her eyes from the growing brilliance, he reached into his pocket and pulled something out of it. He held out his closed, gloved hand to Jahrra. To her surprise, her arm reached out, as if it had a mind of its own, and held out its bare palm. The gloved hand opened and as the carved stone compass fell into her hand, Jahrra woke with a start. She sat still in bed for awhile, breathing frantically and trying to calm her racing mind. Why did I wake up? Why do I always have to wake up before my dreams are over?! she thought furiously. Then she heard what had awoken her.
“Jahrra, it’s time to get up. We need to get to that book as soon as possible.”
It was Jaax’s voice, this time coming from the great room inside the Ruin.
Jahrra grumbled and rolled out of bed. That’s right, she thought in irritation. Jaax wants the pirate’s journal.
“Do you mind?” she asked grouchily as she pulled out her clothes to get dressed.
Jaax simply turned his head and walked away. Within ten minutes Jahrra was dressed and ready to go, but she still couldn’t shake the memory of the dream. Had the compass belonged to the man in her dream? Or had he led her to it, hoping it could do her some good? Or, she thought with a shiver, perhaps it is meant to bring me harm. Jahrra shook her head and focused on the task at hand. She refused to believe that the same figure who had helped her get over her parents’ deaths could bring her harm. He may only be a figment of her imagination, but she always felt that somehow he was a real person somewhere. She yawned and stretched her way out the doorway into the pre-dawn light, finding Jaax waiting for her.