The Tribes of K'haren - Completed

Chapter 41.1

'What did we miss out on?' Kran asked while Nume was busy hugging Tarlequin and then Raf.

'Nothing.' The half-dretho said once Nume let go of him again.

'Liar. He was nearly killed. Twice.' Tarlequin said with a grin that confused Kran.

'What? What happened? And how is that so funny?' Kran asked.

'Nothing special, Mersha warned us the queen might be plotting something and he was right. She paid a man hunter from the far away north and that guy nearly managed to decapitate Raf... Luckily, I could intervene in time.' Tarlequin said with pride.

'How?' Nume asked sceptically.

'Like a coward. He stabbed him from behind and then made sure the bastard wouldn't die. What a cheap way of attack. But at least that way, he had to suffer for longer. Though he escaped two nights later, trying to kill me once more before he finally fled back to whatever hole he'd crawled out of.' Raf explained without caring much. 'But if things like this keep happening, I'll have to go on a hunt myself.'

'You can't even defend yourself, you're still under a spell, remember? Can't attack unless attacked first...' Tarlequin said with a sly smile.

'I'm sure his lovely nature will help him with that...' Kran muttered, tiredly rubbing his eyes.

'What are you trying to say?' Raf said, standing tall in front of Kran.

'Nothing, nothing at all.' Kran said with a smile not unlike Tarlequin's.

'What he meant is that you have lots of friends who'll gladly help you whenever you need anything.' Nume said, trying to calm Raf down a little who was openly pissed now.

'So you'll help me kill the queen then?'

'No, that would kill you as well, idiot...' Tarlequin sighed.

'Then you'll help me torture her?' Raf tried again.

'No!' Nume and Kran simultaneously shouted.

'But-' Nume added. 'we'll help you find her and make sure she's no threat to you anymore. If that's what you want...'

'Not worth bothering. As I've said, I'll see to it if that keeps happening. Otherwise, may she rot somewhere, I couldn't care less.' Raf said, followed by silence.

'So, where are the others?' Kran asked, referring to Mersha and Zar'gno. He couldn't see the dragon anywhere and would have expected Mersha to step out of the crowd of people in the city by now.

'The two are often out and about together, visiting places. Mersha has developed a certain habit of drawing everyplace he goes to and Zar'gno loves being stared at and admired by those who used to fear dragons...' Tarlequin said, not sounding too happy about it. 'They left us with all the work here. Just like you, actually.'

'Hey, we were on an official quest!' Nume insisted with a smile. She knew they'd been gone for longer than they should have but travelling was just too nice. In the end, Zar'gno had carried them half way back and dropped them off near the tavern as they requested. From there on, they'd travelled by themselves. The journey had been a few days long and boring at times but they'd also met some people and had enough time to talk properly to each other once again. Now they both new that they liked their place in K'haren but also strove for more.

'It's not just K'haren, after all.' Kran had said at some point. 'There's so much more out there, why would we only save people hear and not everybody else?' Nume could only agree with him on that but they'd decided to put that off until things calmed down completely in K'haren. But now that they returned to the valley of healing, they saw that everything was going well, even if they'd taken a few days off.

'Official quest to nearly get lost all by yourselves?' Raf asked with raised eyebrows.

'Exactly.' Kran said with a broad smile. 'But only nearly.'

'So, what's the plan for tomorrow?' Nume asked.

'What plan? Who works with plans here? I thought it was just pure chaos and we always tend to the most urgent things first...' Tarlequin laughed.

'If that's how you handle things, I think it's good we're back.' Nume said and Kran nodded in agreement.

'But you didn't come to stay, did you?' Raf asked, guessing just right.

'How do you know?' Kran asked.

'It's just not like you. The two of you can't stay in one place for long and you've already spent way too much time in this city. Why don't you talk to Mersha about that, I'm sure he could recommend you some places.' Raf said. 'I've personally been to quite some places, too, but only ever in K'haren.'

'Wait, you can't just send them away!' Tarlequin shouted. 'We need you guys here.'

'No we don't, they're nothing special, you're just trying to make them...' Raf said, sounding harsher than Kran supposed he meant it.

'They are the outcast.' Tarlequin insisted.

'Yes, and they've done their job, look around you, everything's getting better. No let them be themselves again, I know what it's like to pretend to be someone you're not.' Raf said, pointing at the city.

'Don't we get a say in that?' Nume asked.

'No.' Both Raf and Tarlequin replied. Nume sighed.

'Alright, then I will indeed go talk to Mersha, you two figure this out for yourselves first.' She said, turning around, taking Kran's hand and rushing away.

'Where are we going, they said Mersha and Zar'gno aren't there.' Kran said while he hurried after Nume.

'No, but Luthi is.'

'We can't just fly away with him, you know all females will follow and the others need them here.'

'Alright, then we'll find Feyn and talk to her!' Nume said, slightly bothered.

'And what makes you think she's here?'

'The fact that I can see her.' Nume snapped, pointing at a pair off wings showing up from behind a house as Feyn unfolded them nervously.

'Wait!' Kran said, making a full stop when Nume refused to listen. He was still holding her hand tightly so his sudden stop hindered her from walking on and she spun around, angrily staring at him.

'I hate that you grew stronger than me.' She hissed, causing him to smile.

'Slow down a little, alright?' Kran said. 'We're not in a hurry. Just, tell me, do you really want to go away?'

'We've discussed that before, haven't we?' Nume now said calmly.

'Yes, but, back then, it was all just hypothetical, it makes a different when it's actually about to happen.'

'Not to me.' Nume said, then she carefully added: 'Do you no longer want to leave K'haren?' When he hesitated, she hurriedly continued. 'I mean, we'd come back, right? It's not forever, just to see something else and we'd still be doing it together. I just hate how the others behave like parents towards us these days while everybody else looks up to us as if we were their parents in turn...'

'No.' Kran said, causing Nume to hold her breath. If he wouldn't come along, she wouldn't want to leave. 'No, it doesn't make a difference to me. I still want to go.' Nume sighed and hugged him.

'Great! Then let's go find Feyn to figure out where the others have gone to.'

// I don't know why but in this chapter, I couldn't help thinking of Tarlequin and Raf as an old married couple... Did you get that impression as well? Let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote, thanks!