The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 31.1

When the sun rose, Nume and the others quickly packed her things to follow the army, which marched on immediately. As soon as they were on the move, Tarlequin told everybody what had happened at night. Most of them reacted shocked and expressed worry about Kran. Of course it was meant in a nice way but it made Nume feel even stronger that she should have gone with him. Shehated the thought of abandoning him when he needed her. Keeping her eyes on thearmy, Nume could see Bay walking next to it. The baymout kept sniffing the air andsometimes even soldiers standing close to her. But when one soldier held a handout to her, she hissed at him and walked to the other side.

At one point during the others' conversation, Nume turned around to look back one more time in the direction where the Open Wound lay. It was obviously not to be seen for they had already travelled a few days up north yet something else caught Nume's attention. An umeno followed them a few steps behind the rest of the group and nobody sat on its back. Nume looked around, trying to figure out who was missing. When she did, she immediately called to a halt.

'Where's Mersha?' Nume shouted in a panicked voice.

Nobody replied. Everybody just looked around, trying to find the boy while the army marched on regardless. When Nume turned to Tarlequin, he told her to ride on with the others while he and the fauns would go back and look for him for they could run fast enough to catch up before the army would be out of sight. As soon as they sped away, Nume rode up to Elgron and confronted him.

'What have you done to Mersha?'

'Who?' The man asked with a yawn.

'The young boy who was with us.' Nume angrily replied.

'I don't know what you're talking about.' Elgron said with a sly smile that made Nume want to rip his throat out. She couldn't tell whether he was bluffing or had possibly actually done something to Mersha. Yet she didn't know why anybody would harm the boy. After all, the army didn't even know he was a seer.

'Tell me where he is!' Nume insisted, trying to figure out whether Elgron knew anything at all.

'Well, if you kill most of my soldiers and hold a knife to my throat, I might tell you...' the officer spoke, still smiling. Nume swore and rode back to the others, there was simply no point in talking to this man. After all, she didn't even know whether he would have been able to do anything to Mersha in the first place.

Having to ride on while a child was left behind nearly drove Nume insane. She couldn't help turning around over and over again to look out for the others. When they finally returned, she felt that they hadn't found him before Tarlequin told her anything.

'I don't know how this is possible, the ground is still wet from that storm yesterday and still there isn't a single trace away from the camp! The only way he could have gone is back where we came from yesterday but we also checked that way, further than he'd have been able to walk within the time since we last saw him, and there isn't a single trace. It's like he just disappeared into thin air...' Pmerla, the only female faun with them, explained.

Now Nume felt absolutely devastated. She made her umeno stand still, willingly falling behind while the others moved on. At first, Tarlequin walked on with them but then he turned around and returned to her.

'I know you're not alright. I know you think you've lost Kran already and now also Mersha but you have to go on. There's nothing we can do for them, but there's still people out there who need us.' The faun whispered after a while of silence. Nume turned her face towards him, tears in her eyes.

'I don't think I can take this anymore. I'm not a born leader like Kran, I really, really don't know how to do this. It's all just too much...'

'No, it's not. I know you, you're strong. You just have to learn to let go sometimes. This isn't easy for me either, but I try to recover some strength as we march. Enjoy the way the air smells, it's so full around here... look up at the sky and try to see creatures in the clouds, do whatever it takes to let go of your worries when it's not absolutely necessary for you to focus on them. This following the army but being unable to do anything real is the worst, it's what takes us down mentally and they are very well aware of that. So don't let them get you. I don't know an answer to all the real problems we face these days but I know how to keep my head up high when everything seems to be falling apart. And I know I don't want to see you fall apart. So please, I beg you, breathe again, let go of it for just a moment.'

Nume let his words flow over her like warm water, easing the tensions in her muscles. When he finished, she opened her eyes and looked at him. Without warning, she jumped off the umeno and hugged Tarlequin. He was rather surprised but after a short moment of hesitation, he closed her arms around her.

'Thanks.' She muttered before letting go and climbing back on the umeno.

'Well then.' Tarlequin said, clearing his throat. 'Let's go save the world by talking about clouds. Can you see the baymout there? It only has three legs though...' He said, pointing at some distant cloud while walking on to catch up with the army.

'I can't see a baymout, but there clearly is a tree over there, look!' Nume replied.

'Well, we're walking next to a forest, you'll find quite some trees...' Tarlequin joked, earning a gentle kick from her to his shoulder. They both laughed for a brief moment, feeling better.

Mersha woke up feeling miserable. His whole body seemed to be in agony. He forced himself to get up and once he did, the pain faded away. Looking around, the boy realised in shock that he was alone. He was clearly still in the same place where he'd been last night but nobody else was there anymore. Also, judging by the sun, it must be nearly midday. Was it possible they'd moved on without waking him up? But why would they do that?

Looking around the camp, he found two paths in the muddy ground, but he wasn't sure which one was newer. Panic rose in him, if he went the wrong way, he'd probably starve trying to find somebody in the middle of nowhere. But then he remembered his mother's many lessons and went up to the path, eying the footsteps up closely.

Mersha could see grass that was stamped into the muddy ground underneath so he got back up and walked to the other path. There, the grass was already raising from the footsteps again. If he wasn't completely mistaken, that meant that he had to go the other way. Hoping for the best, the boy started to run. After a shorter time than he had hoped, however, he had to slow down and walk. He didn't have anything on him other than clothes, not even anything to drink.

Unless a miracle happened, he was sure he was going to die. There was no way he'd catch up with the army without his umeno before he'd die of thirst or hunger but walking on was his best chance. Every once in a while, Mersha closed his eyes in hope for triggering a vision, but none came to him. Even if he'd been able to see something last night, he still wasn't fully back to normal and it was frustrating to him. When he fell over his own feet and landed in the mud, Mersha couldn't help crying anymore. Between his sobs, he sent a prayer to the gods, begging them for mercy. Once he managed to stop crying, the boy got back up and marched on, repeating a sentence in his head as if it was going to give him strength.

I will not die today.

I will not die today.

I will not die today.

// So, there we go, here's the chapter you didn't get yesterday... I now know what I'm going to write in the next few chapters! Anyway, don't forget to vote and leave a comment below, thank you all so much :)