Wonderful 55.

The Nomads Plains...

The sand dragon sir Percavelle Lé Dic was attacking finally dies when Helbe the elven thief levitates a large rock, and shoves into the gullet of the large creature, causing it to choke to death. Members of the group reclaim any arrows and bolts that can be used again from the bodies of the two dead sand dragons.
Then with the sun up in the morning sky, they gather the two nomad children, and the body of the other that was killed, and get underway again.
The two children were not in the least reluctant to go with them, after all none of them, with the exception of maybe Lisell Maera looks anything like a townsmen. Even Shur Kee the monk, who is short enough to pass for a townsmen of Belinswae, doesn't look like one thanks to his slightly slanted eyes, and the slight golden hue he has to his skin tone.
It also helps that Riley Hait the mercenary ranger can speak the nomads language fluently, for it's exactly the same as the dialect of the southern tundra hordes, which Riley as Zubutai Timaginson actually is.
The group head directly to the east, keeping the long sand to their south, the tribe the children belong to are eastwards, Narladene the ground pixie has gone ahead to check the tribe's camp out.
As they ride, they learn that the boy's name is Tamilane, and the girl is his younger sister Pallen. The boy who was killed, and is now wrapped in a blanket across one of the pack horses, was their friend Banigur.
The boy, who is riding behind Tamric Drubine is doing the majority of the talking as Riley Hait converses with him and his sister Pallen, who sits infront of Lisell Maera, on her horse. Both of the nomad children have no fear of the horses, and though their particular tribe haven't been horsemen in many generations, they instinctively know what to do as they ride with the older youngsters from south of the equator.
In a break in the conversation he's having with young Tamilane, Riley Hait the mercenary ranger turns and looks at Helbe the elven thief and says to him in the elven language "They were out early looking for some missing stock" the human ranger who was raised and trained in the elven principality of Envadarlen continues with "When that first sand dragon attacked them" he then adds "It probably killed their missing goats too".
"I know" says Helbe the elven thief, who continues with "Being a magic user does have an advantage you know" for the young elven noble read the minds of the two nomad children, and the ranger Hait as they were talking.
The mercenary ranger sourly smiles when he figures out what the elven masterthief means, then Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman dryly says "Is nothing private around you?" the elven magic user grins, then says to Riley Hait "Nope, not really" then he nods ahead, and says in a more serious tone of voice "Their camp is ahead, probably less than a mile away, i can hear it".
The elven princeling tosses the reins of his mount to the mercenary ranger and says to him "I'll check things out, and see what Narladene has found" Helbenthril Raendril blurs himself then shifts away.
"Er?" says the ranger Hait, who then adds in the dialect of hordes of the southern tundra "I'm not exactly sure" in reply to Tamilane quickly asking him "Is he a spirit walker?". The nomad youngster who took on a five tonne, thirty foot long sand dragon, with just a pair of long daggers and lot of courage, not to mention a fair bit of luck, then says "He flew before, now he just disappeared" Tamilane, like his sister who has never seen an elf before, but knows that some of them live to the north of the plains, and have heard of what they look like, adds "That elf sure acts like a spirit walker, able to do things others are unable to do".
"Oh you mean spells?" says the ranger Hait, who then adds an ancient word in the dialect of the barbarian hordes of the southern tundra "Palendanuk" that has been long out of use for multiple generations, for thousands of years.
"Yes that's it" says the boy Tamilane, Riley Hait nods, then says "Yes he is" the mercenary ranger from south of the equator continues with "A spellcaster, specifically in his case a magic user". Both of the nomad children look at the ranger Hait with wide eyes, then the older sibling Tamilane says "We hear legends of spirit walkers like we used to have in the tribes countless moons ago" he continues with "Never would i of thought i would get to meet one".
Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman blinks in surprise, then he says to the two nomad children "You mean to say there's no spellcasters, or spirit walkers in your tribe?" the mercenary ranger continues with "In any of the tribes on the plains?".
"None that i know of" says Tamilane, who then adds "But I'm only nine, and I've only visited a few of the other tribes" he then adds "But from the legends told by the tribal bard, there hasn't been spirit walkers amongst us since there was green grass across some of the plains, and when all of the tribes had herds of horses".
That's odd, the ranger Hait thinks to himself, as he knows that wherever you find any human population, you'll find spellcasters. True, they might only be a tiny percent of the population, but they do exist. So finding a fairly decent sized population of human beings without any practitioners of spellcraft, is very odd indeed.
As the mercenary ranger thinks over this, infront of him, Dalinvardél Tanith the elven spy says "Their camp is just up ahead" the elf from the principality of Alínlae in the Southlands who is riding next to sir Percavelle Lé Dic, continues with "It's fairly well hidden".
Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson and the others can't see it yet, it doesn't help that the newly risen sun is shining in their faces, but the mercenary ranger takes the word of the elven spy, as his eyesight is far better than any of their's.
"Percy go back and give Shur Kee a hand with the pack horses" says the ranger Hait, who slows down too to let the monk in the order of Bru Li to catch up. Once he's alongside the pack horses, the mercenary ranger from the elven principality of Envadarlen takes the blanket wrapped body of the dead nomad child, and lies it across his knees. Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman then rides forward to the front of the group, where he finds that Helbe the elven thief has returned.
"We've been spotted" says the elven prince to the ranger Hait, the young elven noble continues with "There's the welcoming party now" Helbenthril Raendril who is speaking in the elven language, then adds "The tribe's leader is the one with long hair, that's braided more intricately than the others" he follows this with "Wearing a half sword".
Riley Hait nods in understanding as he and the others see what seems to be people popping up out of the ground, which in actual fact are just a group of nomads climbing up out of the cuttings that make up their camp, that are cleverly hidden along a wide area of flat ground.
A few of the nomads come up a bit closer to the mounted group, they're the hunters who first spotted the group from south of the equator.
"The rest of you stay back" quietly says prince Helbenthril Raendril in the elven language, he repeats in the common language for Shur Kee the monk and sir Percavelle Lé Dic who can't speak the language of the elves, then the elven masterthief murmurs to the ranger Hait "Have those two nomad children come with us".
The group come to a stop, and dismount about thirty yards from the nearest of the nomads, who are predominantly armed with spears and long daggers. Though Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson sees a few with bolas and whips, weapons that are also common to the hordes of the southern tundra. He also notices that there's almost as many women as men awaiting them. Something else the nomads have in common with hordesman of the vast southern tundra. Where the women are expected to fight for, and defend the hordes just as much as the men.
After Riley Hait tells the two children Tamilane and Pallen to come along, the mercenary ranger carrying the blanket wrapped, dead body of their friend Banigur. Walks forward with the elven magic user, who he hopes is casting something to divert any misunderstanding that might occur. The young elven noble is indeed doing something like that.
The two nomad children rush forward when they see those they recognise, Tamilane and Pallen call out to their fellow nomads as Helbe the elven thief and Riley Hait the mercenary ranger walk behind them.
The two from south of the equator stop a bit back as the two children are greeted by some of their tribe, then as Narladene the ground pixie appears on the right shoulder of the elven princeling, who is the only one able to see her at the moment. A number of the nomads move forward, including the tribe's leader.
"Greetings" says the Riley aka Zubutai the barbarian hordesman in his native dialect as the nomads come to a stop, and stand about a dozen paces away.
"Greetings" says the tribal leader in reply, who looks them over, along with the rest of the group further back, momentarily pausing as he looks at Lisell Maera, before staring at Tamric Drubine with his bright blue eyes and blond hair, something he's never seen before on a human.
"No townsmen?" asks the leader of the nomad tribe "No townsmen" says the ranger Hait "Well that's obvious" murmurs one of the other nomads beside the leader of the tribe. Who has seen elves a few times in the past crossing the hot, arid plains that the nomads call home, but never humans who weren't nomads, townsmen or half breeds.
The nomads who are surprised to find that one of the strangers can speak their language so fluently, listen to Riley Hait say "We came across the children a few miles to the west of here, near the sands" the mercenary ranger continues with "They were being attacked by a pair of sand dragons" Riley aka Zubutai Timaginson holds out the dead child wrapped in the blanket in his arms, and says "Unfortunately we got their too late to save this boy".
One of the nomad hunters moves forward, and takes the dead child from the ranger Hait. The hunter rolls back the top of the blanket, then quietly says to the other nomads "Banigur".
The tribe's leader winces, so do the others, while the one who murmured earlier to his leader, mutters "Fuck" as they look at the blanket wrapped body of one of their children.
The tribe's leader looks back at Tamilane and Pallen who are chatting away with some of the others further back, then he looks at the mercenary ranger and the elven masterthief and asks "And the sand dragons?".
"Dead" replies Riley Hait, the leader of the tribe looks around the two of them, to where the rest of the group are standing patiently with the horses, then he says "Sorry for your losses" the tribal leader then adds "How many did you lose?".
"None" replies the mercenary ranger who is in actual fact, a hordes outrider from the southern tundra. More than a few of the nomads within listening distance, including the tribes leader and those with him, lift their eyebrows in surprise. Then after he clears his throat, and looks up at the sun in the morning sky, which promises another hot day on the hot nomads plains, then looking back at young Tamilane and Pallen, the tribal leader says "Thank you for bringing back our children" he follows that up with "Welcome to you strangers, let us get out of the sun, shall we?". . . . . .