The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 16.1

Nume kept her head low while walking through the tent rows. She tried to look as confident as possible in order to not attract any attention but her hands were shaking badly so she hid them by folding them behind her back. Her one and only quest was to find Tarlequin, free him and bring him back safely. Kran and Raf had stayed with the phraio from the caravan, they were busy freeing them. Raf had tracked the rider down and returned with the key.

At first, Kran had wanted to come with her, but it turned out the first phraio they freed fled upon seeing Raf so Kran stayed, trying to convince them not to run away. Many of them were in a state too bad to survive in the wild by themselves. So Nume had gone all by herself, accompanied only by Luthi. It had taken some time to untie all the umeno from the gseirut and tie them to one another instead. Now Nume was inside the same town again and Luthi was waiting at a good distance. She'd feared that landing in the middle of the marketplace with him would attract too much attention and a female phraio travelling on her own was sure to raise some suspicion.

Making her way through the rows, Nume realised she didn't really have a clue where to start looking for Tarlequin. She hoped he'd still be in the same prison cell but she wasn't exactly sure where it had been. Last time, she'd payed too much attention to details instead of the actual way they walked. But once Nume came to a big tent that had a dragon drawn on the entry, she remembered where she was.

A few moments later, she found herself back inside the tent that had the prison cells in it. But they were all empty. Not a single captive was to be seen. In fact, there weren't any phraio around anywhere at all, as Nume slowly started to realise. Where might they be?

She walked back outside and paused, listening. For a moment, she thought she'd heard a laugh. But now it was all quiet again. Very slowly now, Nume moved on, walking towards where she remembered the caravan to have stood before they left. Then she heard laughter again. It came from the other end of the city and was only carried over to her by the wind. At first, Nume wasn't sure what to do, but when she heard a few clear notes played by a flute, she knew where to go.

Following the sound of the flute, Nume made her way to the other end of the city. The laughter was much louder now and Nume felt very uncomfortable upon hearing it. When she finally arrived at the source of all the noise, her mouth stood open in surprise. She'd expected to see Tarlequin surrounded by phraio fascinated by his stories and the flute but what she saw surpassed all her expectations.

The whole city had gathered around him, his legs were tied together but other than that he stood freely, playing on his new small horn flute. The phraio around him were mostly sitting on the ground, some were laying, they were either asleep or passed out. And the few ones that were still standing seemed to be blind drunk. Somehow, he must have convinced them to drink in the middle of the day.

Nume wasn't even noticed by anybody when she climbed over all the people towards Tarlequin. The man who had laughed so horrifyingly loud before was now quiet, he just giggled at times. Tarlequin looked at Nume and something shone in his eyes but he kept playing. She hesitated, uncertain what to do. Maybe if she tried to untie him, somebody would come back to his mind and stop them. But maybe this was their best chance. Nume wasn't sure just how drunk they were and some were still standing and cheering.

So she waited patiently, standing next to Tarlequin, smiling as if she were just one of them. Nume had never heard the tunes he was playing before and she wondered where they might come from. Then she considered their options. If she untied him quickly enough and they managed to climb back over all the phraio surrounding them, they could easily outrun the drunk people. But if anybody reacted in time, they'd be doomed. How much longer could they stay? How long would it take for the last phraio to get too drunk to do anything at all?

Leaning in unobtrusively, she started talking to Tarlequin in a low voice. She told him that Luthi was waiting for them outside the town and that the others needed their help. Nume then went on to explain the options she'd come up with but Tarlequin cave her a somewhat confusing look.

'Don't you want to leave?' Nume asked. By his facial expression, she could tell that he wasn't so sure. But when he saw how surprised she was by that, he stopped playing and spoke to the crowd. His voice was as soothing as always and soon he had everybody's full attention. Well, at least of everybody who was still somewhat in shape. He told them a short heroic story and ended by stating that he had to go get another instrument, he explained how it was magical and they just had to hear it.

The crowd seemed to believe him, so drunk and captivated by his words were they. To Nume's surprise, they actually made space for him and her to pass through and just let them go like that. One young man attempted to follow him but Tarlequin turned around and explained to him just how important it was for him to stay with the others and be their protector.

'We'll be right back and then I shall tell you how the great dragon master rose to power...' the faun spoke. The young phraio seemed to be content with that answer and stumbled back to his friends.

As soon as they were out of sight, Nume started running. At first, Tarlequin stayed behind, but he soon caught up with her. She wanted to ask him why he'd considered staying, how he managed to get them all drunk any many more things but she was too busy running and breathing. That man was just completely unbelievable, she thought to herself. He'd actually convinced them to let them go just like that. Well, he'd fooled them. Still Nume was deeply impressed.

'I'll run.' Tarlequin said when they arrived at Luthi's side.

'What?' Nume asked. 'It's way too far, we'll be faster if you just ride on Luthi.' She insisted.

'I can easily keep up with his speed. I've done that for days before we reached Nuir-ksad, don't you remember?' he replied hastily.

'But look at you, you're completely out of shape!' Nume was right, he had probably not eaten for days and his legs were shaking. Also, Nume was sure she smelled the odour of the drink because of which the others had got drunk. And when she mentioned it, Tarlequin didn't deny having had a few cups himself. Now the man eyed Luthi up fearfully.

'But...' he started.

'But what?' Nume said, climbing up already.

'I'm...' Tarlequin began again. With a sigh, he manage to spit it out: 'I'm afraid of flying...'

'Really?' Nume asked with raised eyebrows. He nodded. 'But flying is great!' she insisted. Nume had always loved flying, especially when she'd been able to fly by herself for the first time. It was just so very different from just sitting on a gseirut's back while it followed other gseiruts' path.

With only a few sentences, she convinced him to at least give it a try. Despite looking absolutely terrified, Tarlequin finally gave in. He needed Nume's help to climb on Luthi's back because his legs and hoofs hindered him and once he was on top of the creature, he hugged Nume tightly from behind. Throughout the whole flight, he didn't dare to let go of her for a single moment.

'You know, if I fall off, at least I won't fall alone...' he'd joked when she'd asked. In an attempt to comfort him a little, Nume kept talking throughout the whole flight. It didn't take very long until they reached the others and it had been a fairly comfortable journey yet Tarlequin obviously couldn't wait to get off.

Once his hooves where back on the ground, he walked on shaky legs for a few steps, them plunked himself on the ground and sighed loudly, thanking the gods for having landed safely. The others eyed him up and Kran was just about to make some comment but Nume shushed him before he could say anything.

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