Tauren Tale

Chapter 2: Gaia's Tears

“What’s he saying?” Jorga whispered.

“Something about me being big, I think.” Sanja cleared her throat and tried to remember the polite greetings that Elizabeth had taught her. “Is it a pleasure to meet you, ma’am. My name is Sanja of the clan Lion Paw. My brother is this, Jorga.”

Sanja reached out her hand and the man visibly flinched. After a moment of hesitation, he reached his tiny hand to her primary finger and made an effort to shake it. He smiled wide and greeted the two in most cheery fashion that she had ever heard.

“I am so pleased to make your acquaintance, young Tauren. I'm relieved to find that my rescuers are children!” he intoned without pausing or fumbling for words. “You have traveled over harshest land and through the darkest night. I owe you everything, despite how your allegiances brings fright. I am Kazbo Fizzgimbels, ace mechengineer. Brotherhood of Sprockets, and tweaker of gear. Transcriber of the arcane symbols and cataloger of relics...”

The introduction rambled on – the lines rhyming like a poem – but Jorga looked to his sister for explanation. “I can’t understand his words,” he whispered from the side of his mouth. “Do you think he's struck his head?”

“I think he said his name was 'Kazbo',” she whispered back. “He speaks the language that Elizabeth used, before she became Thurg’s slave.”

“You can understand it?”

“Some of it,” she admitted, “but I don't have any idea what some of his words mean.”

“It will be sunrise soon,” she explained slowly in Common. She offered him a drink from a water skin that was almost as large as the man himself. “Then we can lead you back to my village. I doubt they can help fix your flying thing, but you can eat and rest there. They can guide your walk home.”

Even in the torchlight, Kazbo seemed to turn a little pale.

Because of their alliances, the Gnomes and Tauren were enemies. But before the war, they had no prior grievances with one another. The Tauren tribes lived simply, with almost no technology. The Gnomes used technology in everything they did. Both races had magic, but the Tauren's was nature-based and the Gnomes used only arcane spells.

Had it not been for the world-wide struggle, it seemed unlikely that the Gnomes and Tauren would ever cross paths. The Tauren had been content to roam the prairie with the seasons, and the Gnomes researched the arcane obsessively from within their mountain fortresses.

As it was, it was hardly surprising that neither of the children had heard of the Gnomes before, much less seen one.

“Walk...?” he gasped. “But Kazbo's dirigible has merely been scratched. The stiches are torn; gears bent; and the lanyards unattached. I could fix it complete in an hour or less. With the right tools, Kazbo could even compress...” His words drifted off and he pulled on his beard, lost in thought.

“Perhaps the concept is flawed, yes, that's what I think. Why should it float in the air, like a cork in the sink? My craft needs a tether, and to grab clouds with a hook! Never have I seen such a design; not in scrolls or a book.” His eyes lit up with inspiration. “Brachiation of the heavens, like an atmospheric chimpanzee! No other craft will rival its efficiency.”

Sanja and Jorga shared a wordless look but the Gnome showed no sign of stopping. “Largely unchanged of course, but the engine requires modifications; ratcheting gears, modulators, and a samoplange to reduce vibrations. Kazbo will need the use of your forge and to borrow some tools; ore or ingots, bronze framework, and a few lesser jewels.”

This made as much sense to Sanja as anything else the little man had said.

“Well...” Sanja stammered, “I'd like to help, but I don’t think I’m strong enough to carry your craft down the mountain. I suppose you could ask some of the grown-ups back at the village. A couple of them could pick it up easily enough...”