Then the large humanoid set Toede on the ground and smiled at the small hobgoblin.
'Charka,' it said, pounding its chest to indicate its identity, sending flecks of mud in all directions.
'Oh, you're very welcome,' said Toede, angry and disappointed that his expected meal not only could talk, but had waded out of the mire with plenty of energy.
The two stood there for a moment, regarding one another. Then the gnoll struck its hairy chest again. 'Charka!' it said.
'Right,' snarled Toede. 'It's not like this hasn't been riveting, but there are beetles out there I have to root around for.'
The gndll repeated the motion a third time. 'Charka!' it nearly shouted, pointing at the hobgoblin.
Toede sighed, and pointed at himself. 'Toede,' he said, then added, 'Lord Toede.'
The gnoll snapped its head back and howled in what Toede took to be a paroxysm of amusement. 'Name means 'King of Little Dry Frogs,' ' the creature said, smiling a wolfish grin (or close enough, from one with the head of hyena). Then, still chuckling, it sat down to unbind its feet.
It was only then that Toede noticed the lower extremities of the creature had been chained and weighted. A thick metal chain had been wrapped twice around the gnoll's ankles, and three suitably heavy morning stars had been threaded into the links.
The gnoll did not seem to be sufficiently depressed to be a suicide attempt, so Toede asked, 'How did your predicament come about?'
The gnoll looked up at him with the look animals give humans when they are asked to explain gravity. 'Hur?' said the gnoll.
'I was admiring your footwear,' said Toede, 'How were you fitted with such stylish fashion statements?'
The gnoll waved its massive hands. 'Speak humanjab-ber too fast. Talk real.'
Toede frowned, pointing at the chains. 'How?' he asked in a loud voice.
'Ah,' said the gnoll, pulling one of the morning stars free and tossing it on the dried ground. 'Bartha. Chief Bartha. Hate Charka. Beat Charka. Chain Charka. Leave Charka in mud to die.'
'And what could possess anyone to do this to such a charming and genteel creature?' asked Toede.
'Hur?'
'I said why?' repeated Toede.
'Bartha hate Charka,' said the gnoll, pulling another morning star out from the tangled mass at his feet, and starting to work on the third.
Toede waited for a moment. Nothing else seemed forthcoming, so he prompted. 'And this was because…?'
'Hut?'
'Why Bartha hate Charka?' Toede said, feeling his higher brain functions shutting down like street vendors in the path of a city patrol crackdown.
'Bartha hate Charka,' said the gnoll.
'Well, that makes sense,' added Toede.
'And Charka kill Bartha's brother,' said the gnoll.
'Ah,' encouraged Toede.
'And Charka kill Bartha's other brother,' added the gnoll. 'And Charka kill Bartha's mother.'
'There's a pattern forming here,' said Toede.
'And Charka kill Bartha's mother's brother,' recounted the gnoll. 'And Charka kill Bartha's mother's other brother,' finished the gnoll, as the chains slipped away from its ankles. The gnoll stood and stretched. 'So Bartha hate Charka. No good reason.'
'Let me guess your next course of action,' said Toede, smiling.
Puzzled, the gnoll looked at the hobgoblin.
'What Charka do next?' asked Toede.
The gnoll bared its teeth. 'Charka kill Bartha.'
'Never would have guessed,' said Toede. Before the gnoll could add anything, Toede said, 'Toede help Charka kill Bartha.'
The gnoll looked at Toede for a moment, then tilted its head upward and howled. Toede waited for it to subside, but it did not, at least not immediately. Charka dropped to its knees and howled again, panting hard, clutching its sides as if to keep its lungs from exploding.
'It's not that funny,' muttered Toede.
'King of Little Dry Frogs help Charka kill Bartha?' said the gnoll, then howled again. 'Maybe King of Little Dry Frogs bite Bartha's feet? Or King of Little Dry Frogs run up and punch Bartha in knee? Maybe King of Little Dry Frogs yell at Bartha and Bartha curl up and die?' More howling.
'That's enough,' said Toede and pointed a pudgy finger at the gnoll's chest (possible only now that the gnoll had dropped to its knees in amusement). 'I saved Charka's carcass, remember?' he said. 'Nice and noble thing to do, saving your life. What you do when someone saves your life?'
The gnoll looked puzzled, then a dawning light broke on its features. 'Ah! Gratitude!'
'Something like that,' asserted Toede, feeling his brain cells dying in droves with every passing moment.
The gnoll rose to its feet. It towered over the hobgoblin, holding out one beefy paw. 'Thank you!' it said.
Toede reached out and took the gnoll's hand, which reached halfway up his own arm. The gnoll shook it sternly, once, then let go.
'Bye now,' said Charka. The gnoll turned to go, picking up one of the morning stars as it lumbered to the edge of the swamp.
'Wait a minute,' bellowed the hobgoblin. 'That's it?'
Charka looked back. 'What it?'
Toede fumed. 'That's all? I save your smelly hide and all you say is 'thank you'?'
The gnoll pursed its brow. ' 'Thank you' not right humanjabber?'
Toede waved his hands. 'Right humanjabber. But I help you, you help me.' He spoke as slowly as he could bear, motioning with his hands.
'Help me how?' The gnoll's forehead furrowed more.
'Well, you could guide me out of the swamp,' said Toede slowly.
The gnoll shook its head like a wet dog. 'Bartha live in swamp. Charka go kill Bartha. Not go out of swamp. Bye now.
'Right,' said Toede. 'Well then, is Charka hungry?' That stopped the gnoll again. 'Charka hungry.' It nodded.
'So Charka go get food, no longer hungry,' prompted Toede. 'Then Charka kill Bartha.'
The gnoll scratched itself again, then brightened and slapped its forehead. 'Charka go hunting!' With that the creature started lumbering deeper into the swamp.
'Hey, wait for me!' said Toede, charging forward, but brought up short by the edge of the swamp itself. Gnolls seemed to know where the deep and muddy parts were, but that talent did not extend to hobgoblins. 'Charka, I can't follow you! You have to come back!'
The gnoll was about fifty paces away, with the murky waters now rising to its hips, well above Toede's height. The massive gnoll turned and shouted back at Lord Toede, 'Thank you!' then continued to wade deeper into the swamp. 'Bye now!'
Toede waved weakly. 'Hurry back!' he muttered. Perhaps the gnoll knew what it was doing and would return with food. He wondered how long it would take something that big to flush out a boar or a brace of geese, and how much it would demand for itself. Toede sat down and waited.
And waited. The shadows grew long as the sun set over the western hillocks, lighting up the sky with long strands of crimson and magenta. Mosquitoes and biting flies came up in small hordes and buzzed about Toede, still encased in mud, sitting, with his knees drawn up, beneath one of the willows.
Lunitari rose, bathing the land in a more subtle, reddish hue. Nocturnal creatures began to stir, answering their own internal clockworks.
