The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 30.1

When darkness fell, Bay left Luthi and Feyn behind, running on regardless. They couldn't see enough in the dark but she sure did. And now that she was so close, there was no stopping her. Her master's scent was nowhere but she had decided to save his friends instead. For when she had come upon their scent anew, it had been full of fear and worry. One of the two, the male, was clearly in distress.

Unfortunately, his scent was no longer on the ground so Bay lifted her head and sniffed the air. She could smell many other of his race now and also many Luthis. The scent was still rather fresh and it had turned dark a while ago so they couldn't have come too far. Bay turned around a few times, sniffing the air, before she decided where she'd continue. In the end, it was a sound rather than the smell that convinced her.

She'd heard him shout. Bay was sure it was him for she had memorised his voice on the first day they'd met. Right before her master had beaten him up. Back then, she hadn't understood why her master had changed his mind regarding the two small creatures, but now she had an idea. She could smell the comfort he radiated when he had been around them. But now her master was gone, she thought. Though he couldn't be gone, she'd smelled him only just today. Yet he wasn't with her and his scent was inconsistent. Bay didn't care about not knowing how it was possible, she knew what it meant and that was all that mattered. It meant that she had to do everything to find him. For now, that meant saving his friends.

Cutting sharp to the right, she rushed into a forest. The hill was steep and there were many roots on the ground yet her paws never failed to find safe ground to run across. When the forest cleared, Bay slowed down. She could smell them clearly now. They hadn't come this way but they had been around somewhere close for a while and they possibly still were. Peeking through the last line of trees, she could see a fire she'd already smelt long before but not considered important because nearly all small creatures made fires eventually. It didn't guarantee it were those she was looking for.

The bright light made it hard for her to see past it but it lit up a small area around it where she could see many of the small creatures huddled together. They were all facing away from her so she decided to sneak out of the forest and to the other side from where she could hopefully see more. After only a few steps, one of the Luthis must have sensed her for it started squeaking in panic. With just one jump, Bay disappeared back into the forest.

One of the small creatures walked over to the Luthis and talked to them, trying to calm them down. When they wouldn't, he lifted up a branch and swung it, shouting at them. Bay growled silently in anger which caused the poor Luthis to panic even more. She hadn't wanted that. Now the man swung his branch and hit it at the head of the Luthi closest to her. In rage, Bay jumped forwards, grabbed the man with her mouth and dragged him into the forest.

The stupid creature wouldn't stop shouting and screaming, drawing everybody's attention on them so she shook him and spat him out. He landed hard on the ground and went quiet. Bay quickly ran away from him, surrounding the camp to the other side. The Luthis now all pressed themselves between large boulders that were scattered all over the clearing. Most of the small creatures had taken up torches and marched into the forest while yelling something over and over again. A lot of them, however, had remained around the fire. Most of them were young ones and there were also some females that smelled of old age.

Coming closer from behind them, Bay could smell a single grown male and it was the one she was looking for. Yet she failed to see him anywhere. By the time she realised he was probably in the middle of the remaining crowd, a young creature had spotted her and started crying. In distress, Bay licked her teeth and growled. More and more of them now turned around and stared and screamed.

Hoping for the best, she roared at them and pretended to attack. Within moments, they all ran away towards the Luthis, hiding between the bigger bodies. The only person that remained was the male she was looking for. He seemed to be hurt, his heartbeat was unnaturally slow and he was lying on the ground, motionless. Bay walked over to him and sniffed his body. She didn't know what to do next. When all of a sudden, the males and other females came back out of the forest with their torches, Bay carefully picked her male up with her mouth and ran away.

It wasn't exactly easy to run with a hugh limp creature in your mouth. Usually, you didn't have to pay attention to it for it was probably dead or going to die any moment. But now, Bay didn't want that so she tried not to hit the creature against any roots or stems while she ran through the forest. Once she was far enough away from her pursuers to feel relatively safe, she slowed down and sniffed the air.

In her hurry, she'd gone in the wrong direction. She wasn't heading back to Luthi and the other winged creature but away from them. Bay carefully dropped the male to the ground and walked around, sniffing the air on and on. When she couldn't make out any familiar smells, she roared in distress before lying down in a ball around the limp body with its slow heartbeat.

'Did you hear that?' Tarlequin asked Nume. It was his shift and she was fast asleep, at least she had been until he poked her and repeated his question.

'Hear what?' Nume said with a yawn. 'Is it my turn already again?'

'No, I've heard something and I think it was...'

'A baymout.' One of the other fauns had woken up and interrupted Tarlequin.

'Don't worry, there's loads of them around here but they won't attack as long as we stay close to the fire...' Nume said in her sleepy state.

'But it's not just any baymout...' Tarlequin said.

'Are you scared?' The other faun teased him. Tarlequin shut him up with an angry glare.

'I know this roar, it's been in so many nightmares of mine, that must be Bay.' Now Tarlequin had Nume's attention.

'Are you sure?'

'Absolutely. Also, baymouts don't usually roar in the middle of the night. She must be desperate.' With these words, Tarlequin got up and walked a few steps away from the camp. Looking away from the fires, he could see the silhouette of trees and hills in the distance. The red moon was shining down on them, allowing him to even make out some moving shadows in the dark. Creatures of the night, he assumed.

'But if she's really out there...' Nume said, causing Tarlequin to jump. He hadn't noticed her getting up and following him. 'How can we find her?'

'We can't.'

'Great.'

'But she can find us.' Tarlequin smiled at her, his face creepily illuminated by the fire. He got out his flute and was about to start playing when Nume interrupted him.

'Wait! You'll only wake everybody up. It's no way loud enough so she'll hear it... We might as well just shout for her...'

'Oh, trust me, she'll hear it. Bay knows this sound and if you insist, I'll only play the tones most of us can't hear...' When Tarlequin blew into the instrument, it didn't make a sound. Nume looked at him with raised eyebrows until the fargo who'd come with them woke up and covered his ears, swearing loudly.

'What exactly...' Nume was interrupted by yet another roar. 'Well, let's hope it's really her and not a pack of wild baymouts...'

//Or is it? You never know who else might have heard that... Don't forget to voteand leave a comment below, thank you :)