Another two days later, they were back on their way. Raf had returned the evening before with many long leather belts they had then used to enlarge Luthi's gear. At first, the gseirut didn't really approve of this, he had sniffed them and sneezed, causing his whole neck to be sticky with snot. But once they were fixed onto the rest of his gear, he didn't seem to mind too much anymore.

This morning, Nume had casually asked Raf where they were going next and he'd said they were going to the sea. It didn't exactly make sense though for they were still heading north and Nume was sure the sea lay eastward. But later on that day, she felt the wind grow stronger and soon she could hear waves crashing into the stony cliff they were standing on. It was similar to the Open Wound and a big river's estuary mouth was to be seen far below. The river must have dug its way through the hard stone of the cliff that no hand or spike could have penetrated.

'Fly down there and wait for me, don't get too close to the cliff walls or the water!' Raf warned before starting a slow and dangerous path down the cliff together with Bay. Nume offered Tarlequin to fly with them but he turned the offer down with a smile.

'I'm good at climbing.' He said with a smile. Then he swiftly ran after Raf, easily finding his path from one safe ledge to the next, never even tripping with either of his hoofs.

Once back up in the air, Nume enjoyed the view over the sea. She wondered why Raf had warned them not to get close to the cliff walls. The waters, on the other hand, she could understand. Neither of the two could swim and the river seemed to be dangerous with its vague depth and many rapids. Maybe he was afraid some lose stones might fall off the cliff. After all, they were still cursed and thus such a misfortune wouldn't be very surprising. But then again they were getting ever closer to the Dragon Mountains and that wasn't exactly safe either.

Down by the border of the river, the grass was growing high and many flowers could be seen. Some of them made strange sounds in an attempt to attract insects. Others smelled of raw meat and a rare kind even changed its colour every few heartbeats. It switched back and forth between blue and orange.

'Don't touch it!' Kran yelled when Nume had climbed of and was just about to reach for one.

'Why not?' she asked hesitantly.

'Poison. If you pick it, it will sting you and the poison can kill you within minutes.' He explained.

'Is that another thing your father has taught you?' she asked, withdrawing her hand.

'Yes, they're called Moodswings. Quite fitting, don't you think?' he joked. Or at least she thought he was joking. But when she looked at him, he seemed to be rather serious.

'Moodswings?' she asked sounding very sceptic.

'Yes.' He repeated. 'Because at first, they'll do anything to get your attention but if you dare touch anything other than their bloom, they'll sting and kill you...'

'Very nice. Any other deadly plants I don't know about?' Nume said, not expecting a yes.

'Oh well,' Kran started. Nume once more had this feeling that he was going to keep talking for a while now but she didn't care too much so she rolled her eyes and asked why he knew all those things if they weren't considered worth telling other phraio.

'Before my mother became the future Great Leader's wife, she used to work as an alchemist. You don't necessarily need to have magic in yourself to use the one you find around you, she used to say. But nobody took over the shop once she got married and that's why our tribe no longer has an alchemist.' Kran said. Nume hadn't known that. How could she not know that?

Before she could say anything else, she noticed Raf waving at her from a distance. He'd made his way down and now seemed to want them to fly over to where he was standing. When they arrived, he made Bay and Luthi stay while the others followed Tarlequin along the wall of the cliff. The goat-man walked swiftly but the others had some trouble keeping up because the ground was covered in boulders of different sizes so they had to walk carefully.

'Come on!' he'd urge them frequently. They had nearly reached the border of the sea when he suddenly stopped and Raf nearly ran into him. Tarlequin ignored his swearing and turned towards the wall. There was a gap in it, just about wide enough for him to fit through and a small stream of water came out of it.

Carefully now, the goat-man made his way into the gap. His hoofs made it harder for him to walk on the slippery stones. Raf waited for Nume and Kran to follow in before he himself entered. Once they had walked a few steps, the gap opened up and became a big cave. Soon they came to the first crossing and without a moment of hesitation, Tarlequin took the path to the right and went on.

'Where are we going? What is this place?' Nume whispered. The stream was still there but it seemed to be smaller now and it was the only thing to disturb the otherwise complete silence.

'Just wait...' Tarlequin said. Nume was sure he enjoyed her curiosity.

The further they went the more of a maze they were in. Nevertheless the goat-man seemed to know his path for he never hesitated. Nume was already growing tired when, all of a sudden, Tarlequin stood absolutely still.

'What is it?' she asked.

'Shush!' he replied. He listened for a while, then he walked on slowly.

Soon after, they came to yet another big hall within the cave. There was a small lake in it and no path for them to continue. Nume was almost certain that they had got lost.

'There we go!' Tarlequin spoke with pride.

'Nowhere, middle of, is this were you wanted to go?' Kran said.

'It is indeed.' Tarlequin said. 'This,' he pointed at the lake. 'is Sethara's home.'

'What?' both Kran and Nume said at the same time. The goat-man nodded and smiled.

'But why did we come here?' Kran mumbled after a moment of silence. There was nothing interesting to be seen in the hall and if they wanted to talk to Sethara they could just have called for her again, he thought.

'Because she has something we need.' Raf said. Then he bent down and touched the surface of the lake with a fingertip.

The water immediately curled up and moments later, Sethara appeared like so many times before, diving out of the water. She looked very surprised and not too happy to see them. Before she could say anything, Tarlequin bowed low. He urged the others to do the same and the two phraio did while Raf refused to do more than nod his head.

'How dare you lead them here?' Sethara shouted in anger. Her voice had lost all softness.

'Out of pure necessity.' Tarlequin said in a similar manner. 'You know why we're here. We need the amulet.'

'You cannot have it.'

'But why not? You don't need it here anyway. Unless you're planning on leaving this little pond of yours sometime soon, there really is no point in you keeping it to yourself.' He purred.

'It was given to me and I am the only one who is thought to have it. Ever.' She spoke, still cold and angry.

'Oh come on,' Raf interrupted the two. 'You want us to fulfil this little prophecy so you ought to help us.'

'And what do you think you're going to use my amulet for?' she asked Tarlequin, ignoring Raf.

'It will allow us to walk through the mountains and into the king's halls unharmed.'

'But why would you want to go there?!' she exclaimed.

'To summon an army.' Raf replied. Nume and Kran didn't have a clue what they were talking about. What king might they be referring to?

'That is not what you need to do! The Outcast is supposed to give them a chance, once they've failed, an army will raise on its own.' Sethara said, regaining some self-control.

'Once we've failed?' Nume dared to say. 'I'd much rather hear you say if we fail...'

Everybody looked at her for a moment. Then Sethara turned back to the horned men.

'Why do you want to go there?' she asked again.

'The prophecy must be spread.' Tarlequin said softly now. 'The curse has been initiated, the spell broken, everybody will now talk about the prophecy and the outcast but the dragons have shut themselves off, they will not hear about it. And even if they did they wouldn't believe it unless we go and show them the Outcast. Show them that we have two phraio on our side, that times have indeed changed.'

'The dragons? You want to take us to the dragons?' Kran said, sounding more frightened than he had hoped.

'To the dragon king, to be more precise.' Raf said.

'Great...' Kran mumbled.

'Once we convince them to help us, the phraio won't dare not listen.' Tarlequin spoke. Sethara thought about this for a moment.

'You will get my amulet.' She finally spoke. Tarlequin sighed happily. 'But,' his expression turned grim when he listened to her condition. She wanted his flute in return.

'No.' he spoke.

'Then you may now leave. I will not give it to you unless I can be sure you have a reason to bring it back to me, little thief.' She replied.

'Not the flute.' Tarlequin nearly begged. 'I need it! Without it, nobody will listen to me...'

'You can have another instrument instead. Something less... magic.' She offered.

He sighed and asked what she had in mind. Without replying, Sethara dived under and reappeared only moments later. In her left hand she was holding an amulet made of silver with four blue stones in it, a big one in the middle and three around it. In her right hand she carried a small roundish horn with many holes in it.

'What's that?' Tarlequin asked.

'A flute. Just a little different. And less magic.' She explained.

'And that's the amulet?' Raf asked.

'It is.' Sethara said. She hovered over to Nume and put it around the woman's neck. 'Don't give it to them, no matter what they tell you.' She whispered into Nume's ear.

'Why not?' Nume asked.

'Because it might just kill them. I'm not sure, the legend goes that any man wearing it will choke to death immediately. I'm not very keen on trying it out.' Sethara explained with a rather inappropriate smile. Nume wasn't so sure whether the siren had just come up with this to hinder Tarlequin from taking the amulet for himself. Sethara then took the flute from the goat-man, who didn't look amused at all, and handed him the horn instead.

'It will serve you well.' She promised. 'Now leave and don't make a noise! Pray to the gods that nobody has followed your steps. This place was supposed to be secret.' With these words she gave Tarlequin a last angry glance before she dived back under and remained hidden.

// Dragons, finally! Well, at least soon :) Let me know if you enjoyed this (rather long) chapter!