Kobolds could go a long time between meals, their metabolism entering a state of emergency hibernation when food was scarce. Tam didn’t know if the same applied for Bow. Bow’s stomach was growling, and it seemed that every five paces they wanted to stop and take a rest.
Tam might have given the kid those breaks, but Dut refused to slow down, and she was leading the way.
With the deprivation of all sight for what felt like hours of walking, Tam’s other senses were going wild. He was burning hot, and then suddenly ice-cold. The splashing of water ended as they left the river behind them, but he could swear he could still hear the rushing rapids directly underfoot, even on dry soil. Now his nose was playing tricks. He smelled a rich earthy smoke with hints of drying meat, just like a root-bake from when he was a hatchling. It was an intoxicating scent, pulled straight from the happiest days of his life.
He took another deep whiff, trying to trick his brain into recalling more of that fond memory.
“Do you smell something?” Dut asked.
“Maybe. I’m definitely smelling smoked salmon, but it’s probably just my imagination.”
Dut sniffed at the air in short rapid breaths. Tam could hear her tongue flicking out to taste the direction the smell was coming from.
“Good catch. I smell it too. This way.”
Tam was pulled onwards by the wrist, and bow was dragged along in turn.
As the smells got stronger, Tam could also now begin to see something. There was the light of a fire bouncing down this tunnel, just making the edges of the walls faintly visible. The sound of a crackling flame tempted the trio onward.
Bow finally seemed to notice the smell and sound of cooking ahead, and no longer needed to be pulled along. Now they were pulling ahead of Tam, desperately tugging at the hand around their wrist.
“Sbi!”
Food!
Dut slapped Bow across the face.
“Shut up!” She hissed under her breath.
Bow rubbed their cheek, tears forming in their eyes.
“Shh, shh, it’s okay.” Tam knelt beside Bow, grabbing their shoulders.
“You keep the kid right there. I’ll scout ahead.”
“Wait!” Tam held out his elven knife, “Take this.”
Dut clasped Tam’s hand between hers, and took the blade.
Tam went back to soothing Bow. He ran his fingers through the fine golden-white hair, gently humming a lullaby as he groomed them. Bow leaned into Tam’s body, clutching his tunic in their fists. Tears soaked into his shoulder, and Tam embraced Bow. He’d be a shoulder to cry on, something he didn’t have after the death of his mother. He cried alone, once she was gone. First crying the tears of loss, then crying in pain when adults stepped on his tail.
Kicking and stepping on tails was a common way to punish children. Usually done as a warning for not minding the space it took up behind them, or for flicking it around when they were meant to be still. For Tam this punishment came whenever he got distracted, lost in his thoughts or reading a book.
Whoever was taking care of him that day was what decided the severity of the whooping. When it was an aunty who managed hatchlings half his age, he got kicks to the tip and swats at the base. When it was the old grannies, they’d step right on the middle, between the joints. Worst was when he was with any of his uncles. They’d yank him by his tail and pull him to his feet, wrenching at the tip and bending it ways it didn’t go.
That was the way they treated spare children amongst kobolds. Deviation and cluelessness were beaten out of them. What Dut had done to Bow was exactly what was done to her by every adult she knew.
Suddenly, there was a scream. Tam tensed up, holding Bow tight as the death cries sounded out. It wasn’t Dut. It had to be whoever was cooking the food, ambushed and executed once Dut saw the opportunity. It wasn’t a clean kill, with the scream continuing to draw out for another fifteen seconds until it finally faded to a whimper.
Bow shuddered beneath Tam’s arms, and the pair stayed locked in place while they waited for Dut to return. Tam wanted to hum the lullaby again, but his throat was caught. He wasn’t even breathing. Without even thinking about it, he’d started to hibernate again. He took a long breath in through his nostrils, and out through his mouth.
Bow was doing the same, slowly breathing in and out, their eyes red from tears.
“Sbi?” They whispered.
Food?
“Ble.”
Yes.
Tam could see Dut coming now, with a smoked fish skewered on a stick. She was chewing at the head as she walked, and waved at Tam to get up.
“Come on. There’s a few more by the fire. Good job keeping the kid quiet, I managed to get the drop on them with that knife. Cuts clean, perfect size and weight. Mind if I hold onto it?”
“Actually I do mind.”
“Tam, you’re blind. The kid is more prepared for combat than you right now. You’ll get it back, I promise.”
“Why did you ask if you weren’t gonna listen to me?”
“Because we’re reasonable adults, capable of reasoning with each other, and you still need my help. Getting your permission to do things I was gonna do anyways means you don’t need to waste time complaining and I don’t need to waste time listening to those complaints.”
Tam huffed, “Fine. Let’s eat.”
Rounding the corners to where the embers of fire still glowed, Tam stepped into a puddle of pooling black blood. Dut had made quite a mess butchering the goblins that were camping here. The two corpses lay flat on the ground, throats slit and torsos stabbed.
Over the fire was another three skewered fish. Tam grabbed two, bringing one over to Bow, who was standing on the far side of the inky black puddle. Dut was already crunching on the bones of her first skewer, and was eyeing the last one. Each bite had a snapping sound, as the stick and bones cracked beneath her jaw.
“You talk about how good my knife is at cutting, and then don’t even use it to scale the fish.”
Dut gulped, made a hacking cough as a larger chunk refused to be swallowed, and finally cleared her throat before speaking, “Eating the scales is good for you. Gives you the nutrients to have a healthy shedding.”
Tam gave her a suspicious look as he scraped at the fish’s flesh with a claw. “You’re just gonna give yourself indigestion. The scales on these fish aren’t the same thing as the shed-scales. You’d get just as much nutrition eating the hair off a goblin’s head.”
“I suppose you’d know all about keeping your skin perfectly clear, oh glistening one!” She said in a mock-draconic accent.
This idle chatter over a meal was something Tam hadn’t had in a while, let alone a full meal of cooked meat. Sure, the mushrooms they farmed in the village were filling, but they were bland and slimy, no matter how long they cooked for. And one couldn’t exactly call a grubworm paté cooked meat either. This was a luxurious feast in comparison. All Tam needed now was a cold drink.
That would be perfect.
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