‘Many truths, Tathenal.’ Garelko waded back on to the shore. ‘By gleaning examination of myriad details, I conclude, for example, that the dragon did not make that cairn of stones in which was entombed Ravast’s battleaxe.’
‘Indeed? Then did it not crush its own skull either?’
‘I wager that gift belonged to Erelan Kreed.’
‘Why, such perception in old Garelko! But can you be certain that it was not the ravenous crayfish that scuttled in sudden ambush, whilst the wounded beast wallowed in the shallows?’
‘Your mocking words, Tathenal, well match your ignorance. I felt the snip of pincers and can tell you, only a fool would underestimate their vicious efficacy.’
‘A foolish dragon, at the very least,’ Ravast suggested as he emerged from the hut and made his way down on to the shoreline. ‘Tathenal, I see you have collected for us another tree. Will you add it to the seven others and make for us a neat pile?’
Tathenal scowled up at him. ‘The dream felt very real, pup. I tell you, we all came close to drowning, and if not for the ship I built, blessed as I was by premonition, we would all be dead now.’
‘Dead in your dream realm, you mean.’
‘And who is to say that such realms are lacking in verisimilitude, Ravast? Indeed, that realm may well be the repository of our precious souls, and should we die in it, we would awaken with lifeless eyes and an insatiable predilection for funereal attire. Dour and solemn may well describe your tastes in fashion, but not mine!’
‘But Tathenal,’ said Ravast, ‘by all means build your timbered salvation, only do it in your sleep, in the realm where it will be needed.’ He gestured at the uprooted trees now lining their camp. ‘These will avail you not, unless you envision a ship able to ply waters both real and imagined.’
‘Wise observation,’ observed Garelko, now studying Tathenal with some scepticism. ‘And one which had already occurred to me, since it is the eldest who know wisdom. Perhaps, in reconsidering Ravast’s words, it would be better to conclude not wisdom, but the youthful quickness of the youthful mind, that so swiftly rushes to the place of obvious absurdity, particularly when contemplating someone else’s efforts.’
‘A rush to ill-considered judgement, you mean,’ retorted Tathenal. ‘Near children such as Ravast are incapable of understanding nuance in matters of the metaphysical. Lost on him, as well, is my gracious generosity in offering him a berth upon my vessel.’
‘I see no vessel,’ said Ravast. ‘I see trees, branches, leaves and roots.’
‘It is the superior mind that can observe this meanest material, and yet see in it a sharp-prowed monument to maritime majesty.’
‘They buried my axe,’ Ravast said, ‘fearing that it was all that remained of us. We came too late, alas, to see the wet stains of our wife’s tears, as she flung herself atop the rock-pile, tearing hair from her scalp in reams of grief and whatnot.’
‘I looked for but found no clumps of hair,’ Garelko said. ‘No, it’s far more likely that she has already taken young, all-too-handsome Hanako to her furs, and if her mighty will reveals the power she imagines it to possess, why, already she swells with illegitimate child. I see her, here in my mind’s eye, already sated and, curse that Hanako, satiated as well! The smugness of her glinting regard haunts me! The faint smile of womanly victory over us, in all those battles we never recognize, even as our blood drips. I see it, hovering like a knife above my heart, to make sudden blur towards my beleaguered manhood!’
‘That cut is years old, Garelko,’ Tathenal said. ‘An eel made lifeless by age, flopping no more.’
‘Ravast, come to my aid. Young and old must ally, and by stinging rebuke savage the one who possesses not enough of either. Tathenal, by all means build your boat, but we must leave you behind, and rush to the moment when we stumble upon our disloyal wife, as she thrashes in the arms of Hanako the adulterer. You and I, Ravast, we shall unveil the cuckold’s razor beak, and see in our wife’s wide eyes that first flowering of fear and dread! And then, with her dignity squirming beneath our heel, we shall grind her into misery and remorse, and so win a cornucopia of favours!’
‘Bright fruit and venomous nectar, more like,’ said Tathenal, sneering. ‘When I see you both flounder in deep waves, and hear your piteous cries, why, I will blithely sail past you both, and offer up the meanest flutter of fingers.’
‘When next you see me in your dreams,’ Ravast said, ‘observe as I rush to the flood, inviting every lungful of sweet water. Welcome my carcass, Tathenal, as it rolls to and fro, and be at ease, knowing I died happy.’
Garelko grunted. ‘Ravast, you’ve not been married long enough to have lifeless eyes. In perusing my reflection this morning, in the lake’s mirrored surface, I was shocked at the dullness of my own gaze.’
‘Our shock is long past,’ said Tathenal. ‘Yours is a gaze, Garelko, that can blunt a sword’s edge, and by wit you bludgeon us all. My poor humour reels bruised and struck senseless. So by all means, take the pup and be off, both of you!’
Ravast turned back to the hut. ‘We’d best dismantle our abode, Garelko, since it was by our own hands that it was thus raised.’
‘A moment there! Where will I sleep?’
‘Why, Tathenal,’ said Ravast, ‘you can sleep in your boat.’
Garelko laughed. ‘Sweet dreams, Tathenal! Hahahaha!’
‘Very well,’ sighed Tathenal after a moment’s consideration, ‘I will accompany you, to ensure that you are safe, as I alone among the three of us happen to be in my fighting prime. The pup is too wild and wayward and still thinks himself a hero, whilst the ancient man of creaking bones can scarcely lift his weapon.’
‘Ah,’ said Ravast, ‘we can leave the hut then, for the next party of fools.’
‘You confess your spite!’
‘I confess nothing, except, perhaps, a sudden laziness. Now, have we not lingered here long enough? We have a treacherous wife to hunt down!’