The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 15.1

That same evening, around nightfall, they were taken outside. Nume was glad to leave the smelly little cell they had been kept in, all four of them together. Four men came to take them away and to everybody's surprise, they left Tarlequin inside the cell and pushed the others on without any explanation whatsoever.

They were led outside and Nume saw Raf's hand nervously twitch around the hilt of his sword. She didn't know why he did not just attack, maybe he considered it to be too dangerous inside the city. They were taken to a far end of the city that Nume didn't remember at all, there they were pushed into somewhat of a cart, drawn by a creature Nume could hardly see. She concluded that it had to be an umeno due to the rather small size though. They were wingless creatures that were distantly related to the gseirut, showing the same nostrils on their necks but they had long legs and could walk great distances drawing or carrying heavy goods.

Once the three of them were inside the cart, another metal lock shut close and Nume was certain there was no way for them to escape. Her eyes found Kran's in the dark and he didn't look any less concerned than she was. But when she looked at Raf, she saw a slight smile on his thin lips. He was up to something. If just he'd tell her what his plan was. But the men were still close by, discussing something in low voices.

All of a sudden, the cart started moving. They were shaken around pretty badly inside it and Nume could hear somebody moan. When she saw it wasn't either of her companions, she realised that there were probably multiple carts, all filled with people.

Nume had never understood why a phraio would have the right to buy or sell other phraio but it was a common custom on the northern tribes. In her tribe, nobody owned any other phraio. Well, technically, every husband owned his wife for she was to serve him, but he could not sell her and nobody had ever bought one from another tribe. That was considered inacceptable. At the same time, being technically sold for your parents' benefit was totally fine.

If they were already going to change all phraio, Nume decided to not just change the way they treated other species and the lands they travelled but also the way they treated fellow phraio. But when she thought about it so confidently, she couldn't help questioning where that confidence had suddenly come from. After all, she still wasn't all comfortable with being part of the prophecy, or was she?

Nume's thoughts were interrupted when the carts came to a sudden halt. It was now completely dark and she didn't have a clue what could have caused them to halt. Despite being relatives of gseirut, the umeno could see just fine in the dark and wouldn't need a break for days at a time if kept at a slow pace. She looked around the cart they were in when a cloud revealed the blue moon for a short moment. There was not much to be seen, the cart was pretty much empty and obviously meant for phraio judging by the barren cage. When Nume looked up, she saw Raf cut off a piece of cloth from his shirt and throw it out through the bars. She wanted to ask him what he'd done that for but he shushed her by lifting a finger to his lips.

Then the cart moved again. After a while, Nume could hear Raf's sword cut through some more cloth. She moved over a bit to Kran and whispered: 'What's he doing that for?'

Kran, who sat closer to Raf, leaned over and whispered the same question into the half-dretho's ear. The answer came not much later: 'Bay.'

For a while, hope raised in Nume's chest. Could Bay really find them? baymouts were known for their great sense of smell but she might already have lost track after Nuir-ksad. After all, they had been carried far away by the dragons and hadn't left a trace. Still Nume held onto the hope since it was the only one she had.

They travelled on all night. At some point, Raf asked Kran to hand him his shirt because Raf's was now so badly cut apart that it might get noticed. Kran was shaking badly soon, sitting there without his shirt, so without being asked to do so, Nume moved closer to him and hugged him for warmth, praying for Bay to find them soon. They had lost their backpacks with their jackets in the prison cell, seemingly, the other phraio meant to keep or sell them but didn't care about Raf's sword. Nume didn't understand why. Although, if they intended to sell him as a man hunter, it was rather appropriate to give him a weapon he could deal with. But to leave it with him in the cell and ever since seemed rather foolish to her.

But then Nume remembered Raf's tale: He'd told them dretho didn't use any weapons. Maybe, just maybe, the phraio might have thought he used it only as a threat? But still, he could just give it to Kran or her if he did indeed refuse to use it. That they had not disarmed him just didn't make any sense to her at all.

Slowly, Nume was getting used to not understanding things, after all, she also couldn't understand why Raf had not yet used the weapon. She'd seen him draw his sword on her and Kran before so he surely did use it at times. Wondering about all these things, she soon entered a light sleep that was frequently interrupted by the cart shaking badly, causing her head to swing hard against Kran's shoulder.

The bright sunlight was warming them comfortably by midday. Nume was hungry and tired from the exhausting journey. Raf still dropped pieces of cloth every once in a while but not as often anymore in fear of being caught. When the sun had risen, Nume had spent a few hours trying to figure out how many carts there were and how many phraio were caught in each. When they had come to a big turn of the road, she'd finally managed to count the carts in the caravan.

Shockingly, there were more than a dozen carts drawn by one umeno each. Nume guessed there to be about four or five phraio in a total of ten carts, the others were loaded with goods. Another umeno carried a single heavily armed phraio and they patrolled up and down the caravan. He'd previously been eating some deliciously smelling food and Nume would have given anything to get some. She hadn't eaten for a whole day and the smell was driving her insane.

But now, shortly after midday, they had still not been given any food. Nume glanced into the distance, imagining how Bay would run up to them and eat the patrolling phraio alive. For a moment, the cruelty of the thought shocked her, but then she thought to herself that he was responsible for the lives of all the phraio he was helping to sell. Suddenly, the method didn't seem too cruel anymore.

Then she felt Kran poke her in the side. He was looking at something in the corner of his eye and Nume looked over his shoulder without attracting attention. It took a moment for her eyes to focus on the tiny dot in the distance, quickly growing bigger. And then she saw a second one high above the first one in the sky.

// Well, guess who :)