Read The Beginning for Free Online

full fall decor. They had heard many wonderful things from those who had been to the festival before. For weeks they’d held images of brilliant costumes and towering bonfires in their minds, their mouths watering at the very thought of eating caramel apples and spiced, roasted nuts. Jahrra had almost fallen out of the oak tree in the school yard several times as she’d tried to stretch her ears closer to catch a word or two from a tale someone had heard the year before. It was almost too much to endure, but finally, the time of the Harvest Festival was only a handful of days away.
    “I bet Denaeh will have an idea for our costumes,” Jahrra said, breaking the long, thoughtful silence as they entered the Wreing Florenn along the trail that followed the Danu Creek. It was a cool day, sun-brightened but fringed with coastal fog and Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede were dressed warmly.
    “Jahrra, are you sure you want to go see Denaeh today?” Gieaun said faintly as they passed under the towering trees. “I mean, I’m sure we can come up with our own costume ideas.”
    Gieaun, although she’d been into the Belloughs before, was still frightened of the strange swamp and the dank atmosphere that surrounded it.
    “No, no, Denaeh will have better ideas than us, I guarantee it,” Jahrra chirped, not detecting the hint of trepidation in her friend’s voice.
    “Besides,” she continued after awhile, “don’t you want to hear one of her Sobledthe stories?”
    Gieaun gave Scede a nervous look. Scede just smiled, trying not to take sides. He felt the same way that his sister did, but the idea of hearing a good story was too much of a temptation to insist they turn back.
    Once the group had descended further into the bog, the mist began thickening just as it always did and after an hour more of quiet travel, they finally reached the Belloughs. Denaeh poked her haggard head out of her cave at the sound of company, wrinkling her nose as if to detect a foul smell on the wind. When she saw that it was Jahrra and her friends, she welcomed them all heartily, transforming into her younger self.  Even Milihn, Denaeh’s strange raven-like bird who was usually shy around Scede and Gieaun, joined the small party.
    “He’s here to set the mood,” the Mystic teased as he cawed loudly from her shoulder.
    This was the first time Gieaun and Scede had ever seen the korehv up close, and they were dumbstruck by his size and color.
    “Don’t worry, he won’t attack you,” Denaeh said with a smile as she watched a timid Gieaun and Scede approach. “Usually, he takes to the deep woods when you two come along.”
    Jahrra, Gieaun and Scede climbed down from their horses and tied them to a nearby tree, letting them drowse in the somber atmosphere of the swamp. The Mystic stoked a tired fire beside her sleeping garden and once everyone was comfortably sitting on a great, fallen tree, she spread her arms wide for effect and began the tale she had promised them. The children all huddled close together, waiting to hear about some horrifying beast that ate people alive.
    “For it is said,” Denaeh began, pausing and looking at each of them with a frightful gaze, the fire’s smoke providing great effect, “for it is said that long ago, the world was peaceful. All creatures, great and small, lived in harmony together, and even the spirits of the earth and sky had no reason to be angry. But one day Ciarrohn, the god of the dead and evil, under the gaze of his parents’ eyes, began changing the beauty of this world.
    “He used dark magic to warp and transform what beasts of the earth he could capture, and soon he had an army of loyal and horrible servants, dark creatures that roamed the world searching out the good only to destroy it.
    “The ancestors of the creatures that Ciarrohn created still roam the earth to this very day. The boarlaque, for instance, is one such creature thought to be a result of his many creations.”
    Jahrra shivered as she