The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 18.1

The next morning there was an uncomfortable silence in the air. When Raf had been gone, Nume and Kran had talked about what he had revealed to them. After a long discussion, they started questioning why they considered it worse for him to kill his parents than countless strangers including the rider the day before. Of course they didn't know for sure but they strongly assumed that Raf had killed him and many others.

In the end, they decided not to talk about it anymore. Kran refused to apologize to Raf and Nume didn't feel strong enough to keep up a happy conversation so she didn't even try. Somehow, her brain was just filled with one thought: She had to make Sethara's death worth something.

They had decided to keep going north to talk to other tribes who hopefully wouldn't try to sell them. So without saying much, they travelled on. Within just half a day, they found the first tribe. But it wasn't a phraio tribe: It was a pack of frago. Nevertheless they decided to stay and talk to them. As they had expected, the furry people had already heard of them. Some of them remained suspicious but others greeted the strangers joyfully.

There weren't any houses or tents whatsoever since the tribe was just travelling from one place to another. They told them about a big cave they'd previously lived in but they said it had been flooded and now there wasn't enough space for them anymore so they had moved on. Usually, they'd have gone to a cave up in the mountains but recently, the dragons had denied them entry. Thus they were forced to search for a new cave in phraio territory.

'We know that there's a big forest further down in the south so that's where we're going. Out here, a phraio could spot us from a distance and might even aim at us with those horrible bows of yours.' A young female frago explained to Nume and Kran. Raf was talking to the only grownup male frago, their pack leader.

'There aren't any phraio in the forest, are there?' A child standing next to the woman asked Nume with big eyes.

'No, not that I'd know of. At least not if you go deep inside. Most phraio tribes travel, some don't, but then they usually stay just outside the forest so they can chop the wood and have enough space for their tents.' Nume explained with a smile. She liked how curious the little girl was but it disappointed her how scared she seemed to be.

'Did you run away to form a new pack?' the child then asked.

Nume raised an eyebrow and replied: 'No, I ran away because I didn't want to marry my friend here.' She leant over to Kran and poked him in the side, earning another poke in return.

'So this man is your pack leader then?' The girl said, pointing at Raf who was standing a few feet away, still deeply sunk in a conversation with the male frago. 'And you've married him instead?'

'What? No!' Nume shouted and laughed. 'I am not married to anybody, darling.'

'But if you travel with two leaders, how do you know which one of them will be the father of your cubs?' the little girl asked, unaware of just how rude that question was.

'Oh, Mel!' Her mother scolded her. 'You can't just walk around asking strangers such questions.' The girl looked up at her with big eyes. 'You know, things work differently for phraio...'

The mother slowly pushed the girl away from Nume and Kran, talking to her in a low voice and giving them an apologizing smile before disappearing in the small crowd of other female frago and their children.

'Yeah, how do you know?' Kran teased Nume. She poked him in the side again.

When Raf finally finished his conversation with the male frago, they both came over to the others and the furry man shook Kran's hand, giving him a broad smile.

'Thank you, thank you very much!' he spoke.

'Oh, well, for what?' Kran asked in confusion.

'Your blessing, my lord.' The frago replied. Nume's and Kran's jaws dropped simultaneously.

'That's not a big deal, really.' Raf said before either of them got a chance to speak. 'We've come to help, you know.'

'It is a big deal to me and my family!' The frago insisted. 'Anybody who isn't our enemy is our friend.'

These last words still echoed in Nume's head when they left again. She was playing around with the necklace thinking about just how kind all those creatures they had met had been. Well, except for the dragons. And the phraio. Why was it that they didn't strive for peace the way the other creatures in K'haren did?

Nume sighed loudly whereupon Kran looked over at her and gave her a weak smile. Today, neither of them was flying Luthi; he followed Bay all on his own now. Therefore they sat comfortably on his back and didn't need to pay attention to where they were going.

'Do you still want this?' Kran asked when Nume sighed again.

'Want what?'

'This. The prophecy... being the Outcast.' He replied.

'Well, I'd rather just sit and wait for the world to get better on its own... But it won't. And if we can really change K'haren to the better then that is our duty, isn't it?'

'But do you want it? That frago called me his lord... I don't want to be idolised like that. I've grown up as the grandson of the Great Leader and that already never appealed to me. Somehow, it's rubbish if everybody only sees you as a role but not as a person...'

'Does that mean you don't want this?' Nume asked.

'I don't know. I wish we could just go back home, end this whole Great Leader structure and live our normal lives again.' He admitted.

'But they wouldn't want us back home. They just don't understand us. I bet they'd still try to convince us to get married...'

'Well, if they decide to skip the Parmetho...' Kran mentioned the deadly ritual as if it were some truism.

'You mean the hanging, burning and feeding us to wolves?' Nume asked. She had not known about the ritual until Kran had mentioned it to her and Raf once. Despite that not being too long ago, it felt like ages to her.

Fortunately, she couldn't remember any phraio being punished that harshly in her tribe before. But then again no phraio, other than Kran and her, had committed a crime worthy of this punishment in her lifetime. Though she didn't exactly think refusing to marry somebody was such an enormous crime. But raising a revolution against all phraio in K'haren might count... Kran himself, the firstborn grandson of a Great Leader, had just casually mentioned overthrowing an ancient system of leadership to her. If there had ever been any chance for their parents to forgive them, Nume was sure it was gone by now. What had they become?

Well, she knew the answer to that question: they had become the Outcast.

'I do want this.' She finally said. 'I think it's time for things to change. People should be free to marry those they love, not those their parents choose for them. And as Sethara said, we're following leaders with no other qualification than being born a Torein, that should change, too. I'd much rather be led by somebody who actually knows what they're doing. Oh and the secret-keeping has to end! It's not fair that the rest of us doesn't get to know that dretho, sirens and frago are actually real and not just stories!' Kran smiled at her while she continued. 'And while we're on it, we can also teach them to stop believing they could own others. They have no right to oppress anybody, be it wives or other species. Remember flying over the Dragon Mountains? They looked so great, there were forests and open fields and streams and so much more, it wasn't just one big field chopped into the woods and stamped upon until no grass would grow anymore. And those poor frago deserve to be treated better, their children shouldn't have to be scared of us...'

'Sethara would be proud of you.' Kran said when Nume ended her speech. He'd hoped to make her happy with the remark but instead he saw a tear roll down her cheek so he moved over and hugged her. 'I'm sorry.' He said.

'It's alright. You know, it's just... that was only last night. She died last night.' Nume's voice broke.

'I know.' He said, still hugging her tightly, hiding his face so she wouldn't see the tears on his own cheeks.

// Don't forget to leave a vote and a comment ;)