The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 33.1

'That's my umeno, isn't it? The one I rode on all these years ago?' Mersha walked up to the spare umeno and smiled on and on. He didn't even give Nume time to reply before he mounted the creature and looked at her accusingly. 'Hurry up, will you?'

For a moment, Nume stood frozen, but then she regained control over her body and quickly mounted her own umeno.

'Where are we going?'

'To the army. Not this one,' Mersha waved at the soldiers who were getting ready to leave their camp. 'By now, they should know where their queen and king are, so they will change their path. We want to go there, too, but not as slowly as they are. Leave your people with them to continue your job and follow me.'

Nume got the strange feeling that Mersha was very used to giving orders and immediately wondered who would have listened to him wherever he had been. She still didn't understand how he was suddenly grown up. The mention of time travel had caught her off-guard. If Tarlequin had been there, she'd have asked him whether such a thing was actually possible for she had never even heard of it in stories.

When Gaplae came running towards her, rather late as Nume thought since a stranger had appeared out of nowhere a while ago, she quickly explained to him that said stranger was Mersha and that they had to do something. She told him to continue their task and ignored his plea to come with them.

'We'll meet again once this army finds the queen and king, at least I think that's how it works. Anyway, I have to go.' She bent down so she could whisper one last sentence into Gaplae's ear. 'Something's up with that man, I can't let him go just like that, we have to figure out what he's up to.'

'Sfero? Are you there? I've brought some food. It's nice and fresh, I bought it from one of the tribes...' Cedaamu entered the cave they were hiding in and walked to the back where his friend was sitting on his bed.

'By bought you mean stole, I suppose?'

'I would have paid for it had they not attacked me!' Cedaamu insisted.

'What about next time, you defend yourself by throwing coins at them instead of daggers?' Sfero said, gladly taking one of the fruits Cedaamu offered him.

'If you give me coins that are big enough to smash their skulls.'

'Enough. We really have to work on your temper. But there isn't much time left, my friend. That journey I have to go on, I think it's time for me to leave soon.' Sfero said between two bites.

'So you've mastered your gift then?' Cedaamu asked.

'No more than before. I'm afraid I can only jump that far at a time, despite having come here once in one jump from a time way ahead of ours...'

'What was it like there? You never talk about it.' Cedaamu tried his luck once more.

'It was dark. But there was also hope and that's all one needs during dark times. I shall leave soon, my friend, and I shall jump several times to reach where I'm going.'

'But isn't that dangerous? If you jump without having a vision of when you're going, you might end up stuck in a wall somebody built there.' Cedaamu remembered the many lessons. Ever since Sfero had started taking Cedaamu with him on his jumps, he had insisted on him learning more about it. 'Anyway, why can't I come with you?'

'I've told you so many times already...' Sfero replied with a sigh.

'Yes, I know, I just need to hear it one more time. Maybe today I'll come up with a good enough counterpoint.'

'You have to take the long way around, I'd take it with you, but, unfortunately, I will not live long enough. I have to take the shortcut so I can meet you once again many centuries from now...' Sfero recited his own words.

'...In the end, you'll be there to meet my wife. Alright, I get it, I just don't believe I'll ever get married. Look at me, this world hates me. How could anybody ever love me?' Cedaamu said, letting his guard down for just a moment.

'Don't be like that, you know I love you.'

'Yes, like a friend or maybe a son. That's not the same.'

'Listen to me, you will get married, but not to the person who will love you. But don't worry, we'll fix that. Now, it is important that, when I leave, everybody is convinced I'd have died. It shouldn't be that hard, after all, hardly anybody knows I existed in the first place. But still, whenever you mention me to anybody, make sure to emphasize my death.' Sfero said once again.

'Well, it shouldn't be that hard. After all, you'll be gone. You might as well just die.' Cedaamu replied bitterly. He still didn't approve of being left behind.

'Now that is mean! I will not die until centuries from now. Look at me, I will meet you again. But enough of this now, let's finish our meal and go for a walk, shall we? I will not be leaving for a few more days anyway.' Sfero said and smiled when Cedaamu nodded.

'How do you know where to go?' Nume had to shout so Mersha could hear her for they were riding at full speed.

'I don't!' he shouted back. 'I just go wherever the umeno tells me it doesn't exactly want to go. It can sense where they are and it is frightened.'

Nume wasn't fond of his answer. They might just be going somewhere else entirely. But there was nothing she could do but hope for the best. They rode on for quite a while until both umenos came to a sudden halt. Now they were standing upon a hill, looking down on a sea of shadowy soldiers lead by a grey dragon.

'Is that...?' Nume started.

'The dragon king. Yes, it is indeed.' Mersha replied before she could finish her question. 'It looks like Cedaamu has him exactly where we need him.'

'Cedaamu?' Nume asked confused.

'Oh, you know him as Raf'ney-krush, I think. A name the dragon king himself has given him.'

'So Raf is with them then? He's married to the queen and is now their king?' Nume concluded.

'Exactly.' Mersha replied without any explanation as to how he knew this.

'What do we do then?' Nume asked, surprised about trusting the stranger. She still wasn't sure whether it was truly Mersha, though she had to admit that they had the same eyes. Maybe it was his father? After all, Mersha had said he didn't know his father. He'd travelled with his mother when they'd found him.

'We congratulate them on their marriage.' Mersha said, smiling at her. Then his smile vanished. 'Listen up, this is important, I have a plan but it might not work. If it works, we're fine and back to only fighting all of K'haren's ignorance without the army's involvement. If it doesn't work, well, then I guess we just hope for the best.'

'What's your plan?'

// You didn't really think I was going to answer that question in this chapter, did you? I mean, it's a great cliffhanger, how could I resist it? Anyway, thanks for reading, don't forget to vote and leave a comment below ;)