Tam had never spent so long wandering the tunnels before. His feet were aching, and his tail was stiff. He wished he could crawl on all fours like the kobolds of old, or grow a pair of wings and fly down the tunnels. Instead he walked, dragging a clumsy nuisance of a tail behind him.
Bow and Dut were both doing much better. Once they had eaten together, the two bonded in a way that transcended the language barrier. Dut held Bow by the hand, carefully enunciating a few words to a scouting song as she walked, leading Bow through the melody and the dark.
“Scouts are brave and Scouts are clever.” She sang.
“Scouzzar bravind Scouzzar cleverrr.” Bow echoed.
“Scouts beat magic, metal and weather.”
“Scouzzbeet magic, metelan weverrr.”
Dut laughed a hacking snort of a laugh. She’d recognized these tunnels, and felt safe enough in this area to let her guard down.
Tam kept half an eye open anyways. It was all he could manage, with his sight slowly returning in his right eye.
The tunnel was much more narrow, here. They walked in single file, their heads ducked below the low ceiling.
“So don’t be scared or go berserk, ‘cause no one knows how magic woooorks!”
“Sodonbezzerk or gobeezerk… cuzwunozzz.. magic wooooorkz!”
Dut cheered for Bow as he copied the way she held the final note for an extra bar.
Tam joined in the applause, “Bravo! I don’t think I’ve heard that song before.”
“Of course you haven’t, book boy, I made it up!”
“Really? I don’t think I’ve heard you sing before. You’re a great singer, how come you don’t take part in the hymn circles?”
“‘Cause they are boring, and stupid, and I’m too dumb to memorise the song, but I also can’t just make up the words?”
“I don’t think you’re dumb. Even if you don’t know how magic works.”
“No one knows how magic works, dummy.”
“Sure we do!”
“Uh, no we don’t.”
“There’s a story about it in the book of Kathonia.”
Dut shrugged and said, “I don’t suppose ya’ want to open it up and read it to me?”
“No need,” Tam responded, “That is to say, it’s one I’ve memorised and recited many times. I often use this very tale when first sharing the holy word with the hatchlings. Are you sure you’ve never heard this one before?”
Dut shook her head,
“Maybe you heard it from my father. It’s the one about the arranged marriage.” Tam clarified.
“How does that narrow anything down? Every story I was told as a kid ended with the Dragon marrying the prince or princess, except for when they married the knight.”
“Those are all made up, and the marriages aren’t arranged in those stories. This is the real tale of when Kathonia stopped the wedding of Anathrys and Scykera!”
“O aurachu?” Bow asked.
What saying?
“Na niw gau Kathonia ryfeit na daullpo gau anathrys gwy na hwna orch, blarch fetheit Scycera syr nen cwei.”
The story of Kathonia stealing the dowry of Anathrys to the First Mother, and guiding Scykera into her embrace.
“Aura uw?”
… say again?
“Gwiaif niw. Gwgwntaif niw.”
Magic story, kobold story.
“Cwell, pewt?”
We stop, I read?
“Ble”, he said, patting Bow on the shoulder.
Yes
“We’ve been walking a while. Let’s sit down while I tell you the story and Bow reads along.”
“We’re getting close to the campsite, we can stop there.”
“Could there be more of those goblins squatting there? I don’t want to run into that again and get unlucky this time. We’ll take a break now and get there with more strength.”
“Fine. Is the story a long one?”
“Not particularly. Like my father said; a good story is always short enough to be remembered, but long enough to be worth telling, and this is a very good story.”
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