The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 39.2

After successfully landing in Nuir-ksad, they had to wait. Since there were so many of them and even the gseiruts were on the mountain, Nume was sure some dragon on the lookout would eventually see them. But that didn't make waiting any more pleasant. The weather was nice but due to the strong wind blowing over the mountaintop, it was quite cold.

To pass some time, Nume had another look at the landscape that had already struck her as off when she'd been there for the first time. The whole flat surface of the mountain was stony with only small patches of greyish grass every now and again. There were no animals to be seen, not even small crawling ones and Nume soon realised none of their gseiruts ate any of the grass.

'I wonder what's up with this place...' Nume muttered towards Kran. He shrugged and kept his eyes on the sky.

'They say it's holy.' Feyn explained. 'I don't know much about it but it seems to be some sanctuary, people say it's impossible to die here. Something must have happened eternities ago when this place first rose over K'haren. I mean, look at the mountain, it doesn't look very natural, does it?' The harpy said, nervously flapping her wings. She was right, Nume had a strange feeling looking at Nuir-ksad.

It wasn't just the surface, the whole mountain was surreal and felt like a huge bolder that had been shaped into this strange cylindrical form with a spiral path leading up to a flat top had just been dropped out of the sky. Remembering the last time she'd been her, Nume thought the ground around it had been all soft hills with few rocks and bolders which now seemed rather strange given that all of Nuir-ksad was made of stone.

But before she had time to elaborate on her studies, Nume was distracted by nervous murmuring passing through the rows of phraio. They'd spotted dragons in the distance and said dragons now approached quickly. At first, Nume was baffled, thinking Zar'gno was with them. But when they were very close, she realised it was just another dragon looking much like him, but with wings that were slightly bluer than Zar'gno's cyan ones. The other dragons, however, were still the same ones they'd met last time.

There were the two dark green dragons flagging the group, a nearly black dragon with blue dots to the left of the leader and a brown dragon with red stripes on its belly and neck to the right. The leading dragon, however, did indeed resemble Zar'gno a lot. Nume wondered whether they might be related closely for they both had slightly see-through membrane on their wings, only the colour differed. But once the dragons landed, Nume saw that this dragon was a bit smaller than Zar'gno and the rest of its group with nearly fragile claws and a thin neck. When it spoke, its voice wasn't as low as the dragon voices Nume had heard before.

'Carrier of the amulet, step forth.' The voice commanded. Nume's hand automatically found the chain she was now so used to wearing. She never took it off, not even to sleep. Ever since Sethara had died, Nume made sure to keep in on her at all times. But because she never took it off, she'd nearly forgot she had it at all. With one swift movement, she pulled it out of her shirt and showed it to the dragon as she stepped in front of it.

When the dragon lowered its head, looked at the amulet and roared loudly, Nume wasn't surprised. She'd expected it to happen again, remembering the last time, but everybody except for her and Kran seemed to be shocked and terrified. The gseiruts flew off immediately, circling high above, making panicked sounds.

'Thanks...' Nume muttered sarcastically.

'Forgive me, it's a tradition.' The dragon now said, looking up at the gseiruts with great interest.

'They belong to us.' Kran quickly said, pointing at the scared creatures.

'What a pitty.' The dragon spoke, looking at Kran now. 'And who are you, if I may ask?'

'They're the outcast!' The red striped dragon hurried to explain.

'Ah, so you're the ones due to whom I now have this post?' The dragon said, blinking slowly. 'I suppose I should thank you for making my precursor retire. You made it possible for me to become the youngest formation leader in our history.' The dragon said with quite some pride swinging in his voice.

'Well, congratulations to that.' Nume said, hoping it was the right thing to say. 'May I inquire your name?' She felt like that would be the words Kran's mother might have used and it felt very strange to her.

'I am Garou, official leader and advisor of group 14 of the dragon king's outposts.' The dragon said, folding its blue wings over its grey back.

'Group 14? How many groups are there?' Kran couldn't help asking.

'There are 21, but I don't know whether we're supposed to tell you this...' Garou said, now nervously twitching its tale. 'What have you come here for?'

'We want to make an offer to the dragon king.' Feyn said. When the dragon set its eyes on her, it seemed to be pleased.

'Ah, a harpy. Might you tell me why you've all disappeared recently? My partner used to spend a lot of time with you folks and was rather confused to find you all gone all of a sudden.' The dragon said, much to the other dragons displeasure. Nume could see how they got nervous and tensed but none of them dared to speak up.

'We had to do something for all of K'haren. And we're still on it, actually.' Feyn replied cryptically.

'Oh. Does that mean when I lay my egg, it will have to hatch without a sitter?' The dragon asked nervously, confusing Nume a lot. Didn't the dragons hatch their own eggs?

'When will you lay it?' Feyn asked, sounding like some sort of professional.

'A few moons from now. I mean, of course I could ask a lower cast dragon to hatch it, but who knows what they'd teach it...' Garou spoke, nervously eyeing up the other dragons who didn't even seem to be offended by the comment.

'Well, if you let us speak to your king, we might find a solution for your problem.' Feyn said with a smile. That sufficed to convince Garou, she ordered for them to fly on the gseiruts and follow the dragons into the mountains. But once the dragons took off, it took another while until Luthi dared to land again, followed by the females.

// There we go again, I've got to run so I'll keep this author's note short, please vote and comment below, I'd appreciate it ;)