The Finding (27 page)

Jaax turned his gaze to Hroombra and said simply, sternly, “Unicorns have not been in Oescienne for . . .”

“Nearly five hundred years.”

Hroombra finished the statement with both a tone of wonder and revelation. Jahrra just stared back, not knowing what to say, not understanding the relevance of this fact.

The young dragon looked back to Jahrra, trying hard to read her expression. There was a glimmer of truth in the young girl’s eyes; he couldn’t deny that. But there couldn’t be unicorns in Oescienne, it just wasn’t possible . . .

“Hroombra, you and I know that what she claims is impossible!” Jaax snapped, growing irritated with his own thoughts.

He was no longer concerned with whether or not Jahrra was telling the truth. He was just concerned with what it meant if she
was
telling the truth.

“Jahrra, you may go and play with your friends now, we’ve detained you three long enough,” Hroombra said, sounding serious all of a sudden.

Jahrra turned to Gieaun and Scede, grateful to be free of her small ordeal but wondering what had turned Jaax’s mood so quickly. She shook her head in annoyance. The last thing she wanted to do right now was to untangle the inner workings of the mind of the great Raejaaxorix. Instead she began walking with Gieaun and Scede as they led the other horses up to the stables. When they were far away from the dragons however, Jahrra began chastising Scede for mentioning the incident with the unicorns.

“I’m sorry! I completely forgot. Those smoke rings were distracting!” he said between tight teeth.

“I’m sure they were,” Jahrra answered sarcastically.

“Oh, it’s alright!” she continued after seeing the crestfallen look on Scede’s face. “We didn’t have to tell them
exactly
where we went, so there was no harm done, after all.”

They trudged along uphill in the warm afternoon sun, too busy chatting to pay any heed to the two dragons watching them carefully.

As soon as they were out of earshot Jaax immediately cut into Hroombra, “What could you possibly be thinking?” he snipped.

“Jaax,
unicorns
,” Hroombra breathed dreamily, unaffected by the Tanaan dragon’s shortness. “You can’t ignore this. The return of unicorns to Oescienne was foreseen in the prophecy.”

“You mean an amendment to the prophecy. Don’t forget who it was that claimed to have foreseen unicorns returning,” the young dragon growled. “The girl has a great imagination, you’ve told me so a number of times. She most likely saw a deer and let her thoughts run away with her. And that nonsense about hearing them, that was a coincidence. She could’ve heard about a unicorn’s voice anywhere. She might’ve stumbled upon the description in one of your books.”

Jaax forced out this last remark with a finality that stated the conversation was over. He turned aggressively and started walking more briskly toward the Ruin in what appeared to be a fouler mood than was necessary.

“Besides,” he shot over his shoulder, “we can’t follow the prophecy word for word. It’s still possible that it’s only a way to give us poor creatures hope in a time of hopelessness.”

“There’s always hope, Jaax,” Hroombra retorted, “and I believe more than anything in this foretelling, I must. I’ve waited too many years and have seen too much suffering.”

Jaax answered Hroombra without turning around this time.

He merely spoke louder so that the older dragon could hear him, “I’m through with this conversation Hroombra. The prophecy is and always has been simply a code to give false hope. I’ve spent hundreds of years trying to decipher its meaning and message to no avail. There’s nothing absolute about it. Every claim and every statement within it can have a hundred different meanings. I’ve spent too many years getting my hopes up when I saw the signs, only to have them dashed away. I wouldn’t rely on it if I were you.”

“If that’s the truth,” Hroombra said with renewed determination, “then why did you bring Jahrra here to begin with? Why did you spend so many years looking for her? Admit it Jaax, we all cling onto hope, even if we have to wait centuries for our hopes and wishes to come true.”

Jaax couldn’t see Hroombra smiling, but he could hear it in the old dragon’s voice, “I don’t know what has happened since I last heard from you to bring you to say such things, but I know it’s only a passing phase. You’ll trust in the prophecy again, I know it.”

The younger dragon eased a bit and nodded stiffly before he stalked off to go and rest in the main room of the Ruin. His journey had been long, and he’d been traveling farther and more frequently than usual. He’d flown to Oescienne almost non-stop from Nimbronia, the great city in the Hrunahn Mountains to the north. The king of the Creecemind dragons was still refusing to choose sides in the festering turmoil that could boil over any day now, and Jaax was beyond frustrated with him and his people. Did they not realize the magnitude of the threat in the east?

It was this frustration that had put him in such a dire mood just now, and he regretted it. He now took the anger and disbelief he’d aimed at Jahrra and focused it on those who refused to help with the resistance of the Crimson King, especially the dragon king of the north. Jaax had been told to return only when he had the chosen one with him. He couldn’t see how presenting an eleven year old girl to the Creecemind dragons would sway their allegiance to his side, and there was no way he could take Jahrra on such a long journey without telling her the truth. All Jaax could do was forget the north for now and hope the Tyrant remained inactive until Jahrra was older.

Jaax sighed as he suddenly remembered the main reason he’d made this journey to Oescienne in the first place. Jahrra may be too young to know the truth, but she was old enough to prepare for her future, even if she had no idea what that future was. His purpose in coming back to Oescienne now was to make sure she was learning what she needed to learn, and one of the things she was lacking in was self defense and basic fighting skills. Someday she would be taking on many foes, both elf and beast alike, and she needed to be prepared to defend herself.

Jaax laughed softly at this thought. She was only a child, what level of fighting skills could she possibly possess? That didn’t matter, however, for no matter how ill-prepared she might be, she could become better with the proper training.

Jaax had expected this; he knew that Hroombra would not have thought of defense lessons. What he hadn’t expected was this nonsense about a herd of unicorns in the fields just beyond the Ruin. And her reaction to seeing him . . . He’d expected the girl to be a little distant, but he hadn’t expected the cold dislike that practically oozed from her. Now Jaax allowed himself to give this a little thought. Had Hroombra somehow left out some form of discipline on Jahrra’s part? Had he softened because of her great loss and been easier on the girl than he normally would have?

Jaax had already seen signs of a lack of discipline in the young girl. Had she not been disrespectful the very moment she saw him? That was all he needed, an out of control little brat and her wild stories about magical creatures to make this visit less than unpleasant.

Jaax shook his head to clear his mind. If Jahrra was turning out to be an impossible child, then he would just have to find a way to work around it, or repair it. He already knew she would be averse to the trip they would be taking the next day, so Jaax decided to go to bed early and enlighten her in the morning.

I’ll need all the rest I can get if I’m to spend the day with her tomorrow
, he thought to himself as he stepped through the dragons’ entrance of the Castle Guard Ruin. He walked into the great room and curled up in the corner away from the fireplace and slowly drifted off to sleep, trying not to think too much about the prophecy or of unicorns.

***

Jahrra had been enjoying a particularly wonderful dream of racing unicorns through the forest with Phrym when a sharp, authoritative voice shattered the enchanted scene.

“JAHRRA!”

Jahrra woke with a snort, not quite sure what had awoken her. The flash of gold and silver and the musical notes of unicorns crying out still echoed in her mind.

“Wake up!” the rude voice came again. “Let’s get this over with while the day is still young.”

Jahrra turned one tired eye up to her window and saw the silhouette of Jaax’s massive head glaring through, black dragon-shape against the near black of pre-dawn.

“What?” Jahrra said, closing her eyes again.

It was far too early to think, to do anything but sleep, and she had no idea what Jaax was talking about.

The dragon took a deep breath, let it out in a huff and said rather plainly, “I’ve come to Oescienne for one purpose: to see how good you are at fighting and defending yourself and I don’t have all day to do it.”

Jaax seemed a little irritated, Jahrra thought. Perhaps he was still angry about yesterday, or maybe he hadn’t slept well. She didn’t really care. All she cared about was being woken up so early.
Fighting and defending myself? What on Ethoes is he talking about? I must still be dreaming.
Jahrra pondered sleepily as the cool air enticed her to stay right where she was.

“I’ll not ask you again!” demanded Jaax’s grumpy voice, shattering all hopes of this all being a dream. Not a dream, a nightmare.

Jahrra tempted herself with the idea of staying in bed just to spite him, but she didn’t want to see what would happen if she did. He was bad enough in his normal, non-agitated mood. She got up and dressed quickly, not wanting to anger him further.

“Good morning, Jahrra,” Hroombra greeted as she shuffled into the main room of the Ruin. “Are you excited about your new lessons?”

Hroombra sounded a little guilty, and Jahrra gazed at him through half closed eyes and said, “New lessons? Huh? What’s going on?”

She was too tired to be annoyed that she hadn’t been told about this sooner, but it was too late to do anything about it now.

“We discussed it last night and decided that it would be best if you took part in some extra-curricular activities. I know you think going on adventures with Gieaun and Scede is enough, but I think this will be better for you. We’ve even found you two trainers who are excellent in teaching swordsmanship, archery and advanced riding skills. I’m sorry, I did mean to warn you in advance, but Jaax insisted you start right away.”

Of course he did
, Jahrra thought heatedly as she dug the heels of her hands into her eyes, attempting to drive away the sleep,
only Jaax would think up ways to make me miserable.

She grabbed something for breakfast and made her way to the door, braiding up her hair while she held a biscuit in her mouth. She was still confused by this sudden change in her daily life, but she was curious nonetheless. She found Jaax standing in the great field, looking towards the north, towards the path that led to the old castle.

Jahrra tied off her long braid and took the biscuit out of her mouth.

“Should I go and get Phrym?” she asked, not caring if she sounded dumb.

Jaax just turned his head to the side and nodded once, slowly returning his gaze to where it had been before.

I’ll never understand that dragon
, Jahrra thought as she traipsed through the cold, wet grass.
Waking before sunrise and signing me up for some defense lessons without telling me
.

Jahrra’s pants were soaked up to her knees by the time she reached Phrym’s stable, but she didn’t care, they would dry when the sun came up.
Hours from now
, she thought sarcastically. Phrym poked his head out over the gate, wondering what could be making so much racket this early in the morning. When he saw that it was Jahrra, he gave a happy whinny. Jahrra couldn’t help but smile back at Phrym’s cheerfulness. If only she had the same positive attitude about this whole strange morning.

“I brought you an apple as a peace offering for getting you up so early,” she said as she fed him the fruit.

Phrym didn’t seem to mind at all that Jahrra had awoken him early; he was just glad to get the apple. Jahrra quickly saddled him and cantered over to where Jaax stood. She pulled Phrym to a stop just behind the dragon’s shoulder and waited. He still stared off into the woods, but Jahrra waited for him to speak first.

“Are we ready to go?” he asked sardonically, returning his gaze to her face.

Jahrra responded with the same tone, “Phrym and I are ready. I don’t know about you.”

Jaax gave her an annoyed look and then started off, Jahrra and Phrym keeping their distance behind him.

“So, where exactly are we going then?” she asked through a yawn once they reached the main road.

“Somewhere where I can test what skills you have, or lack thereof.”

Jahrra ignored Jaax’s last comment and wondered why they couldn’t just stay where they were, but she wasn’t about to question him further while he was in his foul mood. They walked down the well-worn road for several more minutes. Jahrra thought the trip would’ve been more pleasant if there had been conversation, but she couldn’t imagine a pleasant conversation with Jaax.

Instead of starting a discussion that would more than likely end in an argument, Jahrra passed the time by listening to the sounds around her and taking in the early morning grandeur. The birds were starting to sing and the owls were heading off to bed, and the smaller animals were searching noisily in their morning breakfast hunt. The sky was no longer solid ink but the washed-out blue and grey of the approaching dawn. Jahrra breathed in the cold air as the warmth of the sun’s first golden rays touched her face.