Copyright (C) 2009 Jenna Elizabeth Johnson
All Rights Reserved
The Legend of Oescienne - The Finding is posted for your reading enjoyment only and not to be reposted anywhere else. Thank you and happy reading!
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHASING UNICORNS
The day looked very promising. The sun was out, the air was warm and it was the first day of the weekend. Jahrra lay in bed wondering what she would do this fine spring day. She yawned one last time and stretched herself out of bed, smiling gleefully at the thought of having the entire day free to do whatever she pleased. A chorus of birds camped out in her garden only added delightful charm to the mood of the morning.
Jahrra stood and moved to the window of her small room, looking out across the field to the stables. Huh, she thought with a grin, I swear he can read my mind.
Phrym had stuck his head out of his stable and was looking across the grounds right back at her, his face a tiny gray splash of color no bigger than her fingernail. He tossed his head a few times and let out a good natured whinny, weakened by the distance between them, but enthusiastic all the same. You're right Phrym, Jahrra thought dreamily, a ride sounds just fine.
Things hadn't changed much since winter. The days had gradually grown warmer and longer, and school had started up again, but life still went along as it always did. The landscape had gradually turned from brown and grey to green and gold, and although it was still a few months off, Jahrra was already counting down the days to summer.
The schoolyard, not surprisingly, was still the last place she wanted to be. Eydeth and Ellysian were just as horrible as usual, but Eydeth seemed to have taken more of a role in terrorizing Jahrra. Before the mishap in Kiniahn Kroi, he usually just stood back and let his sister do all of the talking and sneering. But ever since the Solstice, Eydeth had been more willing to be the frontrunner in Jahrra's torment.
The increasing support from some of her classmates made it easier, but this only aggravated the twins more than ever. Granted, Jahrra's classmates weren't exactly walking over and befriending her, but they seemed to react less to the twins' remarks and often shot them small looks of disgust.
In fact, the siblings who'd run for help at the party in Kiniahn Kroi were the only ones who'd purposely approached Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede with offers of friendship. They introduced themselves as Pahrdh and Rhudedth one day after school and from that point on, they became good friends. Perhaps things were looking up after all.
Jahrra sighed and returned her thoughts to the present. I won't think about school, I'm going to do something fun today, she told herself.
She quickly dressed and headed toward the main room of the Castle Guard Ruin. Hroombra was already there, studying his books and manuscripts as usual. He peeked up over his reading glasses and smiled tiredly.
"Where are you off to this morning Jahrra?" he asked casually.
"Oh, just for a ride," she answered in all truthfulness. "Then maybe I'll go over to see what Gieaun and Scede are up to."
She often had something more mischievous in mind than a simple ride, but today she could explore with a clear conscience.
"Whatever you have planned, do be careful," Hroombra replied, looking back down at his work.
"Of course, I always am."
Jahrra quickly grabbed a few chunks of bread and cheese and packed a small lunch for later. As she crossed the uneven field that stood between the Ruin and the stables, she gratefully breathed in the fresh air. It was full of moisture and flavor and smelled and tasted of the rain that had fallen only a few days ago. Its scent was of warm, moist earth combined with the unique smell of new growth; the comforting aroma of spring.
She closed her eyes as she walked and happily imagined the field covered in blossoms, nodding and brushing softly against her skin; the bright yellow sun daisies, the blue and indigo lupines, the red paintbrush, the creams, butters, lavenders and violets of the wild pea plants, the deep yellow ochre of the fiddle necks, and the brilliant orange of the poppies. Jahrra began to skip as she got closer to the stable, and Phrym, sensing her gusto, joined in with a dancing of his head.
"Alright Phrym, I'm here," she laughed. "Ready for a ride?"
Phrym greeted her with a rough nuzzle, nearly knocking her over. She sighed in admiration, remembering when his shoulder came up to her own. Now it was above her head.
Jahrra saddled Phrym in record time and soon they were cantering across the lush fields, kicking up condensation and startled doves. Jahrra decided to take Phrym along the western edge of the Wreing Florenn and then on towards Wood's End Ranch. Gieaun and Scede were helping their parents with the sheep this weekend, and Jahrra figured they would be in one of the back pastures. Every spring, Nuhra and Kaihmen counted their stock and helped the ewes with the new lambs. Scede and Gieaun were now old enough to work alongside their parents and Jahrra wanted to lend a hand as well.
Jahrra kept Phrym a good hundred yards away from the looming forest as they traveled; she was still a bit leery of its deep shadows and strange quiet. When they were halfway to the ranch, Jahrra pulled back on the reins for a short rest. She and Phrym caught their breath and took in the wonderful scenery of the vast rolling fields spreading out all around them.
It was then that Jahrra had a sudden urge, almost as if someone were whispering into her mind, to glance over at the edge of the Wreing Florenn, only a stone's throw away. The tall trees looked suddenly peaceful, not menacing, in the bright, warm sunlight. Her whole life, Jahrra had been warned away from these woods. Kaihmen's tales and her own father's warnings from her earlier years had frightened her away from the Wreing Florenn. But now, seeing the silvery blue and green of the eucalyptus leaves and the cool, inviting depths of the wood, she had trouble curbing her sudden curiosity.
"I did tell Gieaun and Scede that I'd go in there someday, when I was braver," Jahrra whispered to Phrym while keeping her gaze glued to the forest's edge. With an unexpected spurt of gumption that seemed to come from nowhere she added, "Well, I feel brave now. How about you Phrym?"
Phrym let out a nicker of apprehension as Jahrra slowly led him towards the forest's edge, her eyes snared within its depths as if she were under a trance.
"It's alright Phrym, we won't go in too far," she encouraged, patting his neck gently.
They slowly approached the edge of the trees and Jahrra let out a quiet gasp when she noticed that their branches were covered in thousands of butterflies. Many were dancing around in the air all around them, their burning orange and golden-beige wings flashing vigorously like falling leaves.
"You see! Anything that attracts so many butterflies can't be that bad!"
Phrym, who was now stepping nervously and eyeing the shadows suspiciously, didn't seem as sure as his rider. Nevertheless, with a gentle nudge from Jahrra's knees, he crossed the barrier between field and forest and they immediately became engulfed in a sudden, profound silence.
Jahrra gazed up in wonder at the trunks and canopies of the massive trees. They were the tallest she'd ever seen in Oescienne, and they were absolutely beautiful. Beneath Phrym's unsure feet was a game trail littered with blackened leaves, stiff sheets of bark and fallen branches looking like the skeletons of tiny houses. Shoots of thin wild grass, imitating bright green needles, poked through the layers of leaves and bark. A soothing scent of eucalyptus oil, wild mushrooms and a strange smell Jahrra didn't recognize drenched the air, and her skin prickled warmly as if a magical breeze flowed over it. The silent forest seemed almost unnatural, particularly since Phrym's footfalls barely made a sound. Wait until I tell Scede and Gieaun I was in the Wreing Florenn! she thought smugly. They'll never believe me!
Just as Jahrra was imagining Gieaun's frightful reaction to going into the forest alone, something moved in the corner of her eye. She quickly turned her head and caught another flash of movement, the strange magical feel of her surroundings bending for a mere second. Something was retreating into the forest. It was too big to be a boar or a fox, too small to be another horse, yet it couldn't have been a deer.
Jahrra gazed into the depths of the forest, trying hard to catch just one more glimpse of the strange animal. Phrym drew closer to where Jahrra had seen the creature, and she saw movement again, this time deeper in the forest. She thought the blaze of color was gold, but she knew that nothing living in southern Oescienne could be that particular shimmering metallic color.
Making up her mind in a hurry, Jahrra clicked at Phrym, who had suddenly dropped his fearful anxiety and now seemed just as curious as she was. If Phrym isn't afraid anymore it can't be too dangerous, she mused.
The semequin stepped forward, snapping a large twig as he moved onward. It was the first sound he made after stepping past the tree line, and whatever it was that Jahrra had seen took off running into the heart of the woods.
"Yaah!" Jahrra kicked into Phrym, causing him to bolt abruptly into a quick sprint.
The beast, whatever it was, moved quickly and smoothly, almost as if it had been born to slide like liquid past the tree trunks and branches that hindered Jahrra and Phrym's way. It dashed and darted and zigzagged like living smoke, making it difficult to follow.
Come on Phrym! Keep up! Jahrra encouraged in her mind as they crashed awkwardly through the underbrush. After about ten minutes of pursuit Jahrra pulled Phrym back. He was exhausted from the constant ducking and dodging and both of them shared a good number of scratches and bruises from the trees.
"What was that thing?" Jahrra wondered aloud, out of breath from the excitement.
She was a bit discouraged they hadn't caught up with the animal, but the realization that they'd run deeper into the Wreing Florenn greatly out-weighed her disappointment. They stayed for a little while in the shade of the trees in order to recover from their pursuit and discover where they'd ended up. Jahrra grimaced when she realized they'd lost the trail they'd been following. A sudden chill prickled her skin as she wondered, not for the first time, if all the rumors about monsters and robbers were true.
The film of magic that had surrounded them at the foot of the forest had dissipated, and now Jahrra felt nervous and edgy. After a few minutes passed, she turned Phrym around to try and make out which way they'd come when suddenly the semequin turned his head and gazed back towards the center of the forest. His nostrils flared and his ears perked forward.
"No Phrym, we have to find our way out of here before we get even more lost," Jahrra hissed, pulling on the reins firmly. But Phrym kept on looking in the same direction and snorted with a small nicker.
"No Phrym, no!" Jahrra pleaded, trying to keep the panic down in her voice.
Phrym began walking farther toward the heart of the forest and Jahrra kept whispering threats to him as she tried desperately to get him turned back around. He had never disobeyed her like this before and she again wondered, with cold dread, what it was they had chased. After another fifteen minutes of walking, trotting, and unsuccessful attempts at getting Phrym turned around, Jahrra and her semequin came upon a tall row of thick brambles.
Jahrra stopped fighting Phrym and looked up at the wall of thorns.
"Where are we now?" she asked as they followed a small path leading to an opening in the thick wall that stood over her head.
Phrym walked right up to a small slit in the bramble hedge and peered through, his smoky eyes wide with interest. Jahrra leaned forward in the saddle to see what was so fascinating to him and almost fell off his back in surprise.
There, in a large clearing in the woods, stood a small herd of unicorns. Jahrra had never seen unicorns in her life and had only been told by Hroombra what they looked like. He'd once told her that they'd inhabited Oescienne hundreds of years ago, but had since vanished from the province. Yet here she was now, gazing upon some of the most magical creatures in existence.
Jahrra rubbed her eyes and took a few breaths, thinking she was hallucinating, but when she glanced back through the gap in the wall they were still all there. The small, horse-like creatures looked like the many illustrations she'd seen in Hroombra's books and manuscripts: they had slender, petit bodies and were a little larger than a deer, a little smaller than a standard horse. Their necks and feet were feathered with generous amounts of corn silk hair and their tails, almost like that of a lion's, were smooth, ending with a generous amount of that same satiny hair at their tips.
The most interesting characteristic about the unicorns, Jahrra thought, were their horns. Not straight and twisted the way many people believed, but smooth and curved back slightly over their foreheads like a bow. Jahrra remembered Hroombra telling her that this was because it made it easier for branches to pass over the horns as the unicorns made their way through the thick forests they inhabited.
As Jahrra gawked at the magical creatures before her, Phrym moved ever so slightly and Jahrra's attention was shifted to a single animal. He had a mane and coat of gold and was slightly bigger than all of the others, and his horn was almost twice as long. This must be the stallion, Jahrra decided. He must've been the one we saw at the edge of the forest.
The stallion stood proud and tall, the filtered light of the forest glancing off him like a great bronze statue. His color was breathtaking; like the sun reflecting off rippling water in the late afternoon, like the dew drops on a spider web caught between the morning light and the fading darkness. Jahrra had never seen such a color on any living creature before, and she was captivated by it.
Jahrra twitched convulsively when, suddenly, the gilded animal before her slowly, yet attentively, turned his head to look directly at her and Phrym. The stallion's gaze was cool and calculating, and Jahrra was sure he was debating whether or not the curious semequin and his rider were a threat to his mares. The stallion stared at the pair a bit longer and then turned his eyes back onto his herd. Jahrra realized, with a satisfied thrill, that they weren't considered a threat and the herd kept on grazing in peace while she and Phrym watched in wonder.
Over the next half hour or so Jahrra carefully counted seventeen mares, the one stallion and about six foals. She especially liked the foals. They looked very much like Phrym had when he had been young. The youngest ones didn't have horns yet and their feet were free of the fine, silky hair of the adults. The older foals had anything ranging from small nubs suggesting future horns, to several inches of new growth.
The colors of their coats were just as amazing as the creatures themselves. There was, of course, the golden stallion, but the mares and foals ranged anywhere from bright pearly white to dark silver, gold-red and copper. All of the unicorns had a metallic sheen to them and some of them had slightly darker manes than their bodies. Their hooves matched their coats, but appeared more metallic, as if made of pure gold or silver or bronze, and their horns were the same. The mares had horns that ranged between one and two feet and the stallion's horn looked almost three and a half feet long.
Jahrra took it all in, every last detail, because she knew that she may never see this sight again. Suddenly she had an idea. She quietly took out the journal she kept in Phrym's worn saddle bags and quickly began sketching the animals.
As she drew, Jahrra started looking around at all of the other details of this enchanted scene. The meadow the unicorns grazed in consisted of thick patches of dark green, mottled clover that was bursting with pink blossoms. Creamy yellow buttercups and periwinkle bluebells dotted the terrain and a faint burbling sound pulled her eyes towards the far end of the meadow where she spotted a shallow pool.
For the first time since arriving to this magical meadow, Jahrra noticed that the towering trees were not of the typical eucalyptus found in most of the Wreing Florenn. Aspen, elder and birch had taken their place, and instead of the thin, scraggly grass on the forest floor there grew the delicate clover, soft mosses and feathery ferns found near damper soil.
Butterflies, dragonflies and what Jahrra couldn't help but imagine were fairies, fluttered around the meadow lazily in the filtered, mid-morning sun. The entire scene was exactly what Jahrra would imagine finding in Felldreim or Rhiim, but not here in Oescienne.
A soft breeze soughed through the golden-green leaves above and jerked Jahrra's attention back to the stallion and his herd. He was looking back at Jahrra and Phrym again, bowing his noble head ever so slightly. The unusual gesture caught Jahrra off guard and she had to grab onto Phrym's mane to keep from falling. Had the stallion really greeted them?
While Jahrra sat wondering about the unicorn's acknowledgment, he reared up and emitted a melodic, chime-like whinny. The sound sent more shivers across Jahrra's skin and she smiled, tears welling up in her eyes against her will. She had no idea the sound of unicorns could make someone feel so happy and carefree. It was such a beautiful resonance, and it held a joy that reached straight into the soul.
His mares answered back in various chime-like tones, and Jahrra felt every scrap of sadness lingering in her heart shatter like a thin sheet of ice upon a stone floor. The stallion then turned and slowly led his herd out of the meadow and deeper into the Wreing Florenn while Jahrra and Phrym watched them leave. Once the very last one disappeared into the beckoning trees, the magic that had buzzed in the meadow seemed to seep away with the breeze. The brilliant colors of the scene faded away into the dull, ordinary tints of the world. The rich emerald turned to olive, the bright bluebells faded to cobalt and the rosy pink clover blossoms blanched nearly white.
Phrym had no objections to Jahrra turning him around now; he seemed mesmerized by what had just occurred and was easily led. When Jahrra had Phrym faced the way they came, she was surprised to see a tiny trail leading through the underbrush and back around the tall eucalyptus trees. Jahrra smiled, knowing that the trail was probably there the entire time; she'd just been too distracted to notice it.
Several minutes after leaving the meadow they came out of the forest exactly where they had entered it and soon Phrym was running across the field, heading south towards Gieaun's and Scede's ranch. They approached the familiar fence surrounding the back pasture, and Jahrra was pleased to see the family was nearby with a group of ewes and their newly-born lambs.
Jahrra pulled Phrym right up to the fence and called out to her friends enthusiastically, "Gieaun! Scede! Wait until you hear what I saw!!"
The two siblings looked up and then glanced at their parents. Jahrra saw Kaihmen and Nuhra nod and Gieaun and Scede came trotting over on Bhun and Aimhe.
"Mother and father said we could be done for the day. So what did you see?" Scede said, not sounding too excited.
"Come on, I'll tell you on the way," Jahrra replied, smiling impishly.
"On the way to where?" Gieaun asked suspiciously, opening the gate from Aimhe's back.
"You'll see!" Jahrra replied in exasperation.
The three walked their horses down the dusty road for about a mile before Jahrra finally stopped Phrym.
"Alright, you have to promise you'll believe me and promise you won't tell anyone!" Jahrra hissed in all seriousness.
Gieaun and Scede both adopted a worried look on their faces that said, "Great, Jahrra has gone and done something foolish again".
"Alright," Gieaun finally said aloud.
"We promise," Scede added, holding his hand to his heart.
Jahrra pulled out her journal and opened up to the page where she'd drawn the unicorns. "Look," she said, holding up the book and smiling from ear to ear.
"Are those, unicorns!?" Scede gaped in disbelief, grasping Bhun's saddle horn to keep from falling off.
"Jahrra! Where on Ethoes did you see unicorns!? Are you sure they're unicorns?" Gieaun added, unable to contain her excitement.
"This is why you have to promise not to tell anybody!" Jahrra said sternly. "Phrym and I were riding in the fields and I happened to glance over to the edge of the Wreing Florenn. I know I promised not to go in there alone, but I thought that just going in a few yards wouldn't hurt."
"Oh, Jahrra! Are you crazy!?" Gieaun moaned in vexation. Aimhe shifted restlessly beneath her.
Jahrra just gave her a guilty look and continued on with her story, "Well, anyway, we only went in about ten feet, I swear. But then I saw something, something strange. I couldn't resist going after it."
"Jahrra!" Gieaun hissed again, her eyes wide with horror, "It could've been anything! It could've been a boarlaque!"
Jahrra ignored Gieaun's dramatic claims and continued on, "We chased after it for fifteen minutes or so, and then stopped. It was then I realized we had gone too far into the forest."
"You think so?" Scede inquired sarcastically, crossing his arms across his chest and giving Bhun free rein to pluck lazily at the field grasses.
Jahrra made a face at him and kept talking. "I wanted to turn back but Phrym started walking forward, farther into the forest."
"Oh, sure, blame it on Phrym," Gieaun huffed, placing her hands on her hips and giving Aimhe the same freedom as her brother's horse.
Jahrra pushed on, undeterred. "After awhile we came upon a small meadow surrounded by thick bramble bushes. Phrym stepped up to a gap in the wall of thorns and looked in. I stood up in the saddle and looked in as well, and there, before my very eyes, was an entire herd of unicorns!"
Jahrra sat back in the saddle with her hands resting on the pommel. She gazed, unsmiling but attentive, at her two friends. Gieaun looked flabbergasted and Scede had a smile of surprise on his face.
"Do you think they're still there?" he asked energetically, forgetting his officious posture.
"No," Jahrra said in a disheartened manner, "they left the meadow and that's when I left the forest."
"Maybe some of their hair got caught on a branch or something," he mused, shrugging slightly.
Jahrra sat up quickly in the saddle and stared, wide-eyed at her friend. Phrym nickered in slight irritation.
"I didn't think of looking!" she blurted.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Scede asked, unable to hide his grin.
"NO!" gasped Gieaun, horrified, knowing exactly what they were planning on doing. "We're NOT going into that forest. Are you nuts?!"
But Scede and Jahrra had already urged Phrym and Bhun into a steady trot down the gentle slope and Gieaun had no choice but to follow after them.
"You two are going to get us killed!" she yelled after them as she tried to catch up.
By the time the three friends reached the edge of the forest it was just before midday. They sat upon their horses several feet away from the woods, gazing into the trees.
"You go first," Scede suggested timidly to Jahrra.
"Are you afraid, Scede?" she teased.
"No! I, uh . . . you just know the way already, that's all," he recovered rather clumsily, fidgeting with Bhun's reins.
Jahrra shook her head with a smile and walked Phrym down the trail that led to the meadow. This time she paid attention to where she was going.
"Come on you two!" she called when she saw they weren't moving. "There's nothing to be afraid of!"
She could hear the two siblings arguing and finally, Gieaun stepped in followed by Scede. Jahrra could barely hear the other girl grumbling about "death" and "monsters", but she only grinned and focused on the path ahead of her. After a half an hour the group found themselves in the place where Phrym and Jahrra had first stopped.
"Where are we?" asked Gieaun nervously, looking up at the trees as if their branches might reach down and strangle her.
"It's only a little while longer. This is where we stopped the first time."
Jahrra turned Phrym slightly to the right and up the tiny trail she hadn't seen before and in no time they reached the solid wall of brambles.
"We're here!" she exclaimed, causing her two friends to flinch.
Jahrra led Phrym into a quick walk and they came around the corner and up to the break in the wall. Phrym and the other two horses could easily step through, but Jahrra wondered if the unicorns wouldn't come back if they did. They tied up their horses and slowly stepped into the meadow.
"Wow!" Gieaun exclaimed. "This looks like a scene right out of one of Master Hroombra's fairytales!"
After soaking up the peace of the meadow for a while, Jahrra led her friends to where she'd last seen the unicorns before they disappeared into the forest.
"The stallion bowed his head at me. Then he led his herd this way."
"He bowed his head at you?" Gieaun asked in disbelief.
Jahrra nodded and Gieaun looked over at Scede. He simply shrugged his shoulders and continued after his friend. The way the unicorns had left was quite obvious; there was a large break in the brambles straight ahead and a well worn path leading out.
As the three approached the opening, Jahrra kept her fingers crossed that the unicorns had left some of their corn silk mane behind. She was the first to reach the brambles, and as her eyes raked the edge of the opening, her heart skipped a beat. Not only was there a chunk of unicorn hair, but there were several in a variety of colors.
"Wow!" Scede breathed, sounding more excited than Jahrra could ever remember.
"Real unicorn hair!" Gieaun put in, running the small distance to the opening in the hedge.
The three happily began to gather as much as they could shove in their pockets and carry back to their saddlebags.
"Too bad we can't show mother and father," Scede said, sounding slightly disappointed. "They'd kill us if they knew we went into the Wreing Florenn!"
Once they'd gathered enough hair to make their own unicorn if they wanted to, the three friends returned to their horses and began the journey out of the forest. They decided to spend the rest of the day helping Jahrra in her garden and then perhaps try talking Hroombra into telling them a story or showing them another map of Ethoes.
The ride back through the trees passed quickly but not uneventfully. By the time they reached the field, Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede were overcome by a fit of laughter. Gieaun had been trailing behind when she thought she saw someone in a red cloak following them. She instinctually tensed, spooking Aimhe and frightening the other horses into a run. When Scede and Jahrra looked back behind them, all they could see were several shrubs in full scarlet bloom. They laughed at Gieaun and told her she was paranoid, but something behind them made a crackling noise and all three screamed, urging their horses past the last row of trees.
"There very well could've been someone following us!" Gieaun said, trying to catch her breath.
"Yeah, the terrifying shrub monster!" Scede wheezed, barely able to stay in Bhun's saddle.
Gieaun just crossed her arms and tried to look annoyed. "Nothing is blooming right now, Scede. It's too early!" she insisted, but gave up when she couldn't hold on to her composure any longer.
"Come on. Let's race back to the Castle Guard Ruin," Jahrra said, wiping a tear from her eye.
"Oh, you always win! You have Phrym!" Scede complained.
They raced anyways. Phrym, Bhun and Aimhe tore across the rolling fields heading north. After several minutes they met up with the Danu Creek and turned to follow it westward. Jahrra and Phrym streaked far ahead of everybody else, frightening birds and other creatures that were bathing, drinking or foraging for food in the creek bed below.
Within ten minutes Jahrra came into view of the crumbled structure she called home. She gradually slowed Phrym to a walk and then turned him around to see where her friends were. A few minutes passed before Jahrra finally heard the horses thundering up the trail. She turned Phrym back toward the Ruin and kicked him into full speed once again, hoping Gieaun and Scede got the impression she wasn't too far ahead.
Jahrra smiled as Phrym trotted up to her home, her two friends and their horses trailing far behind. She turned and waited for them, grinning as they pulled up.
"You two almost beat us!" she laughed, knowing it wasn't true.
"Yeah, right!" said Gieaun. "You were so far ahead we never would've caught you!"
Jahrra smiled. "Sure you would've!"
Jahrra was so intent on convincing her friends she hadn't left them in the dust that she didn't notice the shadow of the Castle Guard Ruin suddenly growing larger behind her. Nor did she see the look of sudden disquiet crossing both her friends' faces or the sudden unease of Bhun and Aimhe.
"No, they wouldn't have," said an overbearing, stony voice above her shoulder. "You were much too far ahead."
Jahrra's smile instantly faded and her blood turned to ice water. She knew that voice, that cool, calculating, dominating voice. It had been a long time since she'd last heard it, but it wasn't a voice she could easily forget.
She turned her head, hoping that it wasn't who she thought it was, that her hearing had been affected by the magic in the meadow. She slowly looked up at the dominating figure standing just behind her and almost melted when she saw the large, unyielding Tanaan dragon smirking down at her. She closed her eyes and slowly realized that her perfect day had just come to an end.