A Scoundrel's Song

27

Not for the first time on this journey, Niico found himself bound, surrounded by angry-looking people and wondering why he ever agreed to all of this in the first place. Not that these were normal people that gathered around him and Antioni. Not normal for Larissa, at least. Niico knew his country was not the most welcoming of Other-Kin, but their animosity rode even higher against these folks.

Kannai. A whole group of them. All fur and muzzles and teeth and tails. Those that had tails, that was. He saw more than a few who only had stubs where their tail once sat. A sure sign that some of these people were once slaves and, this time, it was unmistakeable. Unlike Akafa, there were no other reasons to explain these scars of captivity.

Larissa had outlawed slavery years before, along with the other nations that comprised the Three Kingdoms, Garthae and Hathbad, but that did not mean the people of these nations welcomed the sometimes nomadic Kannai, bereft of a homeland of their own since long before the last Upheaval. Though Niico still refused to believe there were other lands beyond the Three Kingdoms, and he wasn't too certain of Garthae and Hathbad, for that matter.

Which was odd, considering that he still wished he could visit the fabled Tarkar's Bridge, but he was a man of countless contradictions and liked to keep it that way. The Kannai, like the Driadin and, especially in recent times, the Fae, were often treated with disdain by most Larissans. Niico was not most Larissans. He was unique. He knew he was unique. It was only others that chose not to believe so. Still, he found himself a little worried about their current captors, though no-one could tell. His calm demeanour betrayed nothing of his internal fears.

"Please! Oh, Patrons! Please do not eat me! I beg of you!" Although some fears may have leaked through. "Eat him! He's far more plump and tender. I'm just skin and bones. A mere slight of a human. Less than a mouthful of nutritious flesh. A pittance of nourishment."

"I don't think they're going to eat us." Antioni looked around at the gathered Kannai, eyes wide with wonder. "I've never seen a Kannai before. They really do look like dogs. Is that insulting? I think that's insulting. How else should I refer to them?"

"Shut up! Show some dignity!" Niico struggled with the bonds that felt as though they tightened with every movement. "Listen up, you ... people! You had best let us go. Right now. We have friends, powerful friends, that will stop at nothing to rescue us. You think you've suffered before, but we have a man of such strength, of such brutality and deadly efficiency, he will ... he ... he ... Oh, for Patrons' sake!"

His words drifted away as he saw another wagon appearing out of the darkness, into the light afforded by the fires within the Kannai camp. A familiar wagon, with familiar people walking ahead of it, all bound. Even Akafa who, if Niico's eyes didn't deceive him, was not covered in blood as Niico would expect, but walked as though he wanted to arrive bound and cowed. Pel looked as though she had better things to do and Herit skipped beside their Kannai captors, talking at a rapid pace, though Niico could not hear her words.

"No, we're perfectly fine, Antioni. Our friends will save us. Akafa alone could defeat an army. Pelenia is as cunning as the most cunning of creatures that most people consider the epitome of cunning. Everything will be fine." Niico groaned and barged his shoulder into Antioni. "Why did I ever listen to you. Look at the mess you've got us in."

"Mister Niico! Look! Dogs! On two feet!" Herit escaped the clutches of the Kannai escort, though they didn't really try to stop her, and dropped to her knees before Niico. "You take us to the most wonderful places, Mister Niico!"

"Herit! Sit and be silent." Akafa reached them and folded his long legs beneath him, taking a seat beside Antioni. "They are not dogs, but Kannai. A proud people who have suffered much. Show more respect."