Everyone started murmuring again, but it was a low, secretive murmur that suggested they were exchanging their own personal fears and terror tales of the swamp. Jahrra burned with humiliation and horror, coming close to tears.
No, I won’t cry in front of them! she thought, her fury suddenly engulfing her mortification. She tried hard to focus on anything else but the children sniggering and whispering about her, but all she could hear were Eydeth’s words repeating themselves in her head: I’ve heard that there are monsters living in there, and we all know the stories about the witch. The bravest of men won’t go within a mile of it, and I heard from the most reliable of sources that even dragons are afraid of it. Who would have thought, a dragon being afraid of a witch? But you aren’t afraid, Nesnan, oh no, you’re brave . . .
For some reason or another, one line in particular rung louder than the others: Even dragons are afraid of it . . . Are dragons really afraid to enter the borders of the Black Swamp? Jahrra wondered, grateful for something, anything that would distract her from the fear, aggravation and shame she felt for snaring herself in Eydeth’s trap. Her common sense told her that this was a lie invented by the twins, yet she couldn’t help but remember the time she and Hroombra had visited the Castle Ruin and his fear of lingering in the woods after dark.
Jahrra suddenly pictured Jaax being afraid of going into the dreaded swamp, but as hard as she tried, she couldn’t get a clear image of that particular dragon being afraid of anything. Has he ever gone into the Black Swamp of Oescienne? she wondered. No, she told herself with a slight tinge of bitterness left over from her last encounter with the dragon, he’s never around long enough to stretch his wings let alone explore the haunted corners of the province. But this is something he would definitely disapprove of.
Eydeth continued to stare Jahrra down, waiting for her to back out, but she was feeling braver by the minute. How bad could it be? she wondered, I’ve been taking defense lessons and I’m much more prepared than I normally would be to face anything that might be in there. Jahrra shivered when she remembered the stories about the witch, though. Those frightening tales had caused her more nightmares than any of the others combined. But they are just stories, she reminded herself firmly.
Whether her face showed it or not, she couldn’t tell, but Jahrra decided right then and there that she would accept the twins’ challenge. If there was a monster or hag in the swamp she would just have to face it; there was no way she could back down after her overdrawn display of conceit.
She looked over at Gieaun and Scede and she could almost feel their eyes begging her not to accept. They’d be angry with her for her decision, but they didn’t understand. She had to do this, she had to defeat Eydeth and Ellysian this time. As unfair as their dare might’ve been, she had to prove to herself she could be just as brave as she claimed.
“Well, Nesnan?”
The sudden question snapped her out of her train of thought. Eydeth gazed in her direction with a cold emptiness in his eyes. I can’t let him win, she thought miserably. I’ve got to see this through.
“Do you think you’re brave enough to go into the swamp?” he asked coolly. “Or are you just like all the other Nesnans around here, content with slaving away all day and giving into their superstitions? Do you think you’re braver than a dragon?”
Jahrra shot Eydeth a fiery look, despising the way that he belittled everyone who was even remotely different or less fortunate than himself. She looked again at Gieaun and Scede, and Rhudedth and Pahrdh. She could see that even though their gazes begged her not to accept, there was a glint of knowledge in their eyes; they knew exactly what she was going to do.
Jahrra returned her stormy eyes to Eydeth and tried as hard as she could to look through him as he did her, and answered, “Name the time and the place.”
The Resai twins bared their vile grins.
“Tomorrow morning,” Eydeth said sadistically, “an hour after sunup, at the forest’s edge on the bank of the Danu Creek. Don’t be late.”
Jahrra found it hard to sleep that night for a number of reasons. First, she was still bristling about how easily she’d fallen into the twins’ trap. Secondly, she was nervous and terrified about what she was about to do the next morning, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself the witch didn’t exist. And finally, she was feeling overwhelmingly guilty about the lie she had told Hroombra.
The old dragon had warned her so many times not to go into the Wreing Florenn, and not only had she disobeyed him once, but she was about to do it again. Worse yet, she was going to wander into the deepest part of the forest. It was a long time before she finally drifted into a restless sleep full of strange and dark dreams.
Jahrra rose early despite her grogginess, dressing in her usual leather pants and loose tunic, adding a vest to help fight off the chill of the morning. She paused only long enough to pull her long hair into a messy braid before grabbing her thick riding cloak on the way out of her room. She hastily packed a lunch, sneaking around the Ruin so as not to disturb the great sleeping reptilian mountain that was Hroombra.
She saddled Phrym just as quickly, looking mournfully towards the Danu Creek flowing peacefully out of the Wreing Florenn. The creek was fed by a natural spring, deep within the heart of the forest. This spring also filled up the basin between the two rows of hillocks in the center of the great wood. This soggy basin was the infamous Black Swamp.
Jahrra shivered and wondered if Eydeth and Ellysian were already waiting for her on the edge of the forest. Them and the entire school, she thought, a feeling of dread slowly filling her hollow stomach. She’d been too nervous to eat breakfast. Jahrra and Phrym walked gravely across the field, still gray in the early morning light. They met up with the creek and headed east towards the forest.
As they trudged along, Jahrra thought about her friends’ offer to go along with her. Despite the fact that Gieaun was terrified out of her wits and still angry that Jahrra had actually accepted the challenge, she wouldn’t let her friend go on such a dangerous endeavor alone.
Jahrra cringed when she recalled her friend’s wrath from the day before.
“Have you gone quite mad?” the Resai girl had wheezed. “Jahrra, what’s the matter with you? You can’t go into that swamp! Don’t you know what’s in there? It’s not just any witch but an evil witch of Ciarrohn that lives in the hollow of the hills, you remember the story. Jahrra! You’ll most definitely be killed, and then Eydeth and Ellysian will have won for sure!”
Jahrra pushed Gieaun’s voice and Scede’s dark eyes to the back of her mind. In the end they had agreed to go with her, refusing to let their best friend go into dangerous territory alone. Jahrra had almost cried; she wanted to be brave, but she couldn’t imagine doing this without them.
Phrym’s rumbling whicker pulled Jahrra from her reverie. Up ahead, the towering trees of the Wreing Florenn were beginning to swallow the Danu Creek. Jahrra felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach. She hadn’t realized how far they had traveled. They came around one more bend of the shadowed stream and saw the entire school standing on the edge of the forest like a funeral procession. Jahrra thought she was going to faint. She spotted Gieaun and Scede off to the side on their own horses and she timidly led Phrym over to them.