The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 35.1

Luthi landed in the Open Wound at the worst time possible. Everybody was up and about, hurrying from one place to another. The gseirut found it to be rather interesting and wouldn't stand still for longer than a moment. Tarlequin asked the dwarves to wait on Luthi while he went looking for somebody who didn't look that busy. Climbing off the gseirut, he had to be careful for the ground was slippery from rain earlier that day and Luthi kept walking around regardless. It didn't take Tarlequin very long to find their improvised building Nume and Kran had used to stay in. There, he found Pmerla, Toma and some other familiar faces.

'Tarlequin, welcome back, where are the others?' Toma greeted him.

'Still after the army, I've come with a group of dwarves. Many of them are injured and there are two dead bodies amongst them. We'll need help, they refuse to accept treatment before their friends are properly buried.' Tarlequin explained. 'How's Kran doing?'

'A little bit better. In the morning, he was still very fevery, but now, his temperature is back to normal. However, he's full of bruises and cuts, what happened to him?' Pmerla asked.

'Didn't Zar'gno tell you? Where is he anyway?' Tarlequin wanted to know.

'He said something about Kran's family having done this to him but I just can't believe it. The dragon left this morning, saying he'd go looking for you guys. You should have seen him when you came here.' Pmerla said.

'We didn't, but he might have been flying too high up above the clouds. With all those people on his back, I didn't want Luthi to fly too high.' Tarlequin said, carefully avoiding that he'd simply preferred staying at a height he supposed he could survive falling. 'Why is everybody outside so busy? Is there something going on?'

'They are scared. Ever since the army was here and you left, we have to go into lock down mode at night. Therefore, we gather all our belongings in an easily defendable area, meaning by the cliffside where we've already built some stone houses. There, we rest for the night while some people keep watch. Throughout the day, that would be far too small an area so we bring everything back outside.' Toma explained matter-of-factly.

'Alright, that can't keep going like this forever, but it can wait for now. So, how many people can come and help me with the dwarves right now? We'll also need water for them to drink.' Tarlequin said.

'All of us here can come and I'll call for some of the children to get water, they're a real blessing, they're all ever so nice.' Pmerla said with a smile.

'And I'll help, too.'

Tarlequin turned on his heels to look at Kran who was standing in the doorway. He had to lean against the frame to stand upright and yet looked like it cost him all of his energy.

'Kran!' Tarlequin said, jumping over to his friend and giving him a gentle hug, trying not to make his wounds hurt even more. Kran groaned nonetheless.

'You can't help anybody before you've helped yourself, go back to bed!' Pmerla commanded.

'I can help.'

'Look at you, you can hardly keep on your feet.' She insisted.

Kran was about to say something again but Tarlequin interrupted him. 'Remember when I was hurt back in our camp?' The faun asked. 'You wouldn't let me do anything for days. Now, do me a favour, get better, rest. I will be with you as soon as possible and tell you about everything you've missed out on, alright?'

'Is she alright?' Kran asked, referring to Nume. Tarlequin nodded and smiled. After another moment of hesitation, Kran let Tarlequin help him back to his resting place while the others left to help the dwarves.

With a few mighty beats of his wings, Zar'gno landed nearly gently next to a very disturbed umeno, Bay and three people. He was glad that he'd finally found them, it had taken him a while. He'd found Gaplae and the others earlier on and asked them where Nume had gone to. They had all pointed in the same direction so he'd flown there but found nothing. Then he'd spent the rest of the afternoon and early morning searching for them.

'Zar'gno, it's good to see you again!' Mersha said, jumping off his umeno and running towards the dragon. Zar'gno immediately noticed that something was wrong. He knew the smell but had thought it belonged to a young one. But the person standing in front of him was a grown man.

'Mersha?' The dragon asked, nervously twitching his wings.

'Yes, it's me.' The man said, looking up to the dragon with a smile.

'Do all of your specimen change so quickly? You must have an incredibly short lifespan...' Zar'gno commented which caused Nume to laugh. He took that as a no but couldn't understand what had happened.

'It's a bit more complicated than that. I've fallen back in time, grown up and only just returned.' Mersha said, putting it very simple. That, Zar'gno thought, made sense.

'Alright.' The dragon said. 'Welcome back.' Then he turned to Nume and asked where the army had gone to. When Mersha replied, Zar'gno had to ask him to say it three times over before he fully understood. The concept of time travel wasn't very strange to him, there was a clan of dragons spending all their time theorising on what were if it were possible and that there probably were creatures who could go through time. In his rebellious years, Zar'gno had spent too much time with said clan. However, his knowledge about the queen of the night's army had been slightly less elaborate.

'What do we do next then?' The dragon finally asked when he thought he understood the whole thing about the army of the night.

'We still have to save K'haren. The harpys are on our side now, they're building up a network so everybody learns about everything that's going on in K'haren. This way, we hope to make people see the truth and no longer close their eyes from all the bad things that are happening.' Nume explained. This was news to Raf as well, Zar'gno could tell by the surprised expression on the man's face.

'And how do you intend to save K'haren?' The dragon asked again.

'By showing them how to be better. For now, we can keep up our system with the Open Wound as a place for people to find shelter, but for long termed things, we should change people's minds so there is no longer a need for such a place. Everybody should be living together in peace and tolerance, just sending all those who are different away won't help.' Nume explained, earning agreement from all sides.

'There's just one thing I'd like to change about that plan.' Mersha said. 'We should no longer call the valley Open Wound. It is healing through all the positivity you've brought into it. I've seen it in the past, it was a marvellously beautiful place, I'm sure Raf will agree with me. Back then, it was called the valley of healing. It was were those in need went and that's exactly what you've turned it into now again.'

'Valley of healing? I like that.' Nume said.

'Then so be it. Let's go home, to the valley of healing!' Mersha said theatrically.

// Here we go again, don't forget to vote and leave a comment below, thank you.