hands in my lap in the increasingly uncomfortable quiet.
The translator breaks the silence. “Tell us how you knew King Mactogonii.”
“Well, we didn’t ever meet him,” I admit again. Tig lets out a tiny breath next to me. So I tell them the whole story. How King Mactogonii disappeared last year. How no one in our kingdom had any idea where he went. I tell the little I know about Brogan seizing power and the work camps and the rebellion. I end with another quick summary of our escape into the Valley of Fire and then our ending up here.
“This is the first anyone in our kingdom has heard of the king. At least now we know he wasn’t assassinated. Our main problem is still Brogan. Our people can’t help anyone until after we win the rebellion.” As I let the translator relate everything back to the queen, I wonder if I could be hung for making statements about our kingdom’s political position. There is silence again. “How is Crypta dying?” I ask.
This sparks another series of chirps and squeaks, followed by a quick low chirrup from the queen. I hear her slide off her throne, and she and her guard patter out of the banquet hall.
Our translator apologizes. “Queen Crypthania has excused herself for the day. She has many duties to attend to.” The Urodela shuffles forward and speaks in what it must think is a lower chirruping voice. “I can’t remember ever seeing her this upset.”
“We would help if we could,” I say. I can feel our chances of the Urodela taking us back home start to slip away.
Our interpreter takes my hand with his three tiny fingers. “Come with me,” he says. I scoot out from the table and follow the Urodela. I feel Tig’s tail brush my leg to let me know he is right next to me. We take several turns once outside the banquet hall, through mossy corridors, wide streets with Urodela cheeping, and a bare rock tunnel that proceeds for several minutes. I take the opportunity to find out more about our guide.
“What’s your name?” I ask. The little creature whistles a short phrase that ends with a high cheep. I wait for a follow up explanation but none comes.
“Oh. Well, let me try.” I try to imitate its whistle-chirrup and come nowhere close. A series of short whistles sounds like laughter to me.
“Mactogonii had a hard time with that one, too. It’s an easy name in our language. He just called me Cheep.”
This makes me grin, but it also introduces the subject that’s been on my mind. “Tell us more about King Mactogonii. How did he get here? Why did he choose you to speak Lingua Comma?”
“Mactogonii said he came in through an ogre lair on the Eastern side of the Valley of Fire. We are new to the Valley of Fire ourselves, so we don’t know all the entrances. There are many of them. He was making his way west and found me. I was on advance spotter duty. We’re supposed to warn the city if something dangerous is coming through the tunnels. You were found by a vanguard patrol, which is good because it took the whole patrol to carry you back here.”
“Thanks again for that,” I say. Cheep ignores my interruption and continues his story. Our feet make faint, whispering echoes on the tunnel around us since there is no moss underfoot. The echoes help me get my bearings, and I can occasionally sense tunnels leading off to the left and right.
“Mactogonii found me, and after I saw that he meant no harm to the Urodela—”
Tig interrupts. “How did you see that? Did he catch you and sit on you to tell you that? I’ll bet as an advance spotter you were supposed to patter back as fast as your little legs would carry you if you saw a great gallumping human sneaking through the tunnels.”
Cheep’s fingers tighten on my hand, and I feel him move forward a pace so that he can see around me to respond to Tig. “I would have warned them, but I didn’t have to!” says Cheep, his rising voice taking on more of a squeak. “Mactogonii explained what he was doing
The translator breaks the silence. “Tell us how you knew King Mactogonii.”
“Well, we didn’t ever meet him,” I admit again. Tig lets out a tiny breath next to me. So I tell them the whole story. How King Mactogonii disappeared last year. How no one in our kingdom had any idea where he went. I tell the little I know about Brogan seizing power and the work camps and the rebellion. I end with another quick summary of our escape into the Valley of Fire and then our ending up here.
“This is the first anyone in our kingdom has heard of the king. At least now we know he wasn’t assassinated. Our main problem is still Brogan. Our people can’t help anyone until after we win the rebellion.” As I let the translator relate everything back to the queen, I wonder if I could be hung for making statements about our kingdom’s political position. There is silence again. “How is Crypta dying?” I ask.
This sparks another series of chirps and squeaks, followed by a quick low chirrup from the queen. I hear her slide off her throne, and she and her guard patter out of the banquet hall.
Our translator apologizes. “Queen Crypthania has excused herself for the day. She has many duties to attend to.” The Urodela shuffles forward and speaks in what it must think is a lower chirruping voice. “I can’t remember ever seeing her this upset.”
“We would help if we could,” I say. I can feel our chances of the Urodela taking us back home start to slip away.
Our interpreter takes my hand with his three tiny fingers. “Come with me,” he says. I scoot out from the table and follow the Urodela. I feel Tig’s tail brush my leg to let me know he is right next to me. We take several turns once outside the banquet hall, through mossy corridors, wide streets with Urodela cheeping, and a bare rock tunnel that proceeds for several minutes. I take the opportunity to find out more about our guide.
“What’s your name?” I ask. The little creature whistles a short phrase that ends with a high cheep. I wait for a follow up explanation but none comes.
“Oh. Well, let me try.” I try to imitate its whistle-chirrup and come nowhere close. A series of short whistles sounds like laughter to me.
“Mactogonii had a hard time with that one, too. It’s an easy name in our language. He just called me Cheep.”
This makes me grin, but it also introduces the subject that’s been on my mind. “Tell us more about King Mactogonii. How did he get here? Why did he choose you to speak Lingua Comma?”
“Mactogonii said he came in through an ogre lair on the Eastern side of the Valley of Fire. We are new to the Valley of Fire ourselves, so we don’t know all the entrances. There are many of them. He was making his way west and found me. I was on advance spotter duty. We’re supposed to warn the city if something dangerous is coming through the tunnels. You were found by a vanguard patrol, which is good because it took the whole patrol to carry you back here.”
“Thanks again for that,” I say. Cheep ignores my interruption and continues his story. Our feet make faint, whispering echoes on the tunnel around us since there is no moss underfoot. The echoes help me get my bearings, and I can occasionally sense tunnels leading off to the left and right.
“Mactogonii found me, and after I saw that he meant no harm to the Urodela—”
Tig interrupts. “How did you see that? Did he catch you and sit on you to tell you that? I’ll bet as an advance spotter you were supposed to patter back as fast as your little legs would carry you if you saw a great gallumping human sneaking through the tunnels.”
Cheep’s fingers tighten on my hand, and I feel him move forward a pace so that he can see around me to respond to Tig. “I would have warned them, but I didn’t have to!” says Cheep, his rising voice taking on more of a squeak. “Mactogonii explained what he was doing
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