The Beginning Read Online Free Page A

instance.”
    Denaeh cocked her head so one side of her face was exposed to Jahrra. “Lake Ossar . . ?”
    Jahrra snorted. “Oh, they go out there as often as they can now. But Gieaun and Scede and I know it far better than they do.”
    Jahrra sat up now and rested her elbows on her knees, allowing her legs to dangle freely. Denaeh stood there, her left arm supporting the elbow of the arm whose hand was now thrust under her chin. Jahrra couldn’t make out her expression; her face was downturned.
    “And how deep is this lake?” Denaeh continued.
    “Probably only twenty feet at the most in the center,” Jahrra answered blankly, sitting up a little straighter and returning her focus on Denaeh.
    “And what sorts of animals live in this lake?” the Mystic asked casually, waving her free hand around as if trying to extend the smoky scent of burning incense.
    “Oh, nothing more dangerous than large trout and bass, frogs and tadpoles, turtles, and some water bugs. Leeches, maybe.”
    Jahrra counted the creatures off on her fingers, then after a few moments of silence, she chuckled and sat up fully on the large limb.
    The Mystic finally raised her head.
    “What is it?” she asked, looking truly confused since the first time Jahrra had met her.
    “Oh, I was just thinking about what else might live in the lake, and I remembered some stories Gieaun’s and Scede’s father used to tell us.”
    “What kinds of stories?” Denaeh pressed on, casualty still cloaking her voice.
    “Just stories to scare us. Stories about a lake monster. They’re harmless, but they sure scared me when I was younger.”
    A glint of mischief flared within the Mystic’s eyes, turning them for just a second from clear golden honey to living, burning sunlight. She smiled ever so slightly.
    “A lake monster, huh?” she said composedly.
    “Yeah, just legends to tell over a campfire really,” Jahrra answered lazily, letting her shoulders slouch under the weight of the fog.
    Denaeh paused for a moment, and Jahrra sensed that she was thinking carefully.
    “So, there’s no way that the lake is fathoms deep in the center, and it is in no way possible that a hideous creature lives at the lake’s bottom and comes up every so often to feed upon whatever disturbs the surface?”
    Jahrra stared down at Denaeh with a furrowed brow. Then, as the realization of what the Mystic was getting at set in, she smiled broadly, both hands set firmly on the mossy perch on either side of her. The silent sounds of the foggy wood were soon filled with the enchanting laughter of the two women, one very young and one very old.

- Chapter Two -
    The Plan
     
    Jahrra told Gieaun and Scede the very next day of the plan she and Denaeh had concocted. She rightfully gave the Mystic most of the credit, seeing as it really had been her idea. Gieaun giggled with glee and Scede took on the same impish grin that Jahrra herself had held the day before.
    “I don’t care if Denaeh is a Mystic or not, she sure has some good ideas,” Scede offered apologetically.
    He and Gieaun had finally struck up the courage to visit Denaeh. They’d found her strange and eccentric, but like their friend, they’d been impressed and awed by her stories and garden of outlandish plant life. The Black Swamp still frightened them, and although they acted as if they had no more qualms with the Mystic, Jahrra could tell that they still didn’t completely trust her. That didn’t keep them from being appreciative of her offer of help, however. The scheme she’d devised, in their eyes at least, was ingenious.
    The plan was simple and quite harmless in their opinion: they would construct a model of the lake monster, and they would use it to frighten Eydeth and Ellysian away from Lake Ossar. At first the three friends had no idea how to even begin such a massive project, for the creature they were to create had to be big, really big, and it had to be believable.
    “We just need to come up with a design