"You sures abouts dis?"
"Skwisgaar, it ams fine," Toki sighed, leading the elf towards the troll encampment. "Joo ams withs me, nobodies attacks joo. Trolls ain't dats rude."
"What dat s'pposeds to mean?" Skwisgaar demanded.
An indistinct mutter was his only answer.
"Looks, can I stops fors de minute and knocks out a bow? I feels much better withs one. I remembers hows from rangers camp."
Without waiting for an answer, the elf drew a long dagger from his belt and hacked at a yew sapling.
"No! Leaves it!" Toki ordered. "You gots your duar and dats knife! Bes happy with dat!"
"It only takes a second," Skwisgaar protested.
"Looks, bows and arrows pisses trolls off! I don't sees why you wants one anyways; I don't gots a club!"
"Likes you couldn't uses dat duar likes an axe!" the elf sneered. "Why exactly trolls hates bows? Dey been hits with them too many times?"
"Bows ams weapons dat ams lackings in honor," Toki announced stiffly, as if repeating something he had heard many times before.
"'Lackings in honor'? What de fucks does dat mean?"
"It ams fancy way to say 'Stops being a pussy'," the troll growled. "You wantses to kill somebody, you gets rights up in deir face and letses dem know who's doings it."
"Likes I could kills a troll wit' de brutes force! You tooks an arrow rights above joos heart and shooks it off!" Skwisgaar pointed to the tiny red mark that should have been a mortal wound. "Why woulds anybody's try? Dat ams unlogical!"
"See? See? Elves ams cowards! Dey fights with arrows and poisons and traps! Likeses dats time whatses dat old Elf King invited de Goblin Generals to a feast and poisoned all de foods!"
"What's about dats time dat Troll Queen throwed a feast for de Fairy Court, den slaughtered dems all once dey was drunk?"
"Dats was totallys differents! She didn'ts poison de foods! Nobodies hads to get too drunks to fight!"
"Dat ams stupid! Trolls ams stupid! Dis is why elves hates trolls, 'cause elves hates stupid!"
"And trolls hates elves 'cause dey is cowardly sneakings thieves who would shoots deir own spellsinger in de back!"
Skwisgaar lunged for Toki. The troll didn't flinch, but when his elf compatriot latched onto Toki's fu Manchu and yanked, he squealed like a girl. Skwisgaar kneed Toki hard in the stomach and was about to sneer something about the cowardice of elves when the troll backhanded him across the clearing.
Both spellsingers froze when Skwisgaar's duar clunked loudly against the ground. In a second, the elf had the instrument cradled in his arms, his long fingers dancing over the strings as he assured himself there wasn't any damage. At the light playing, the duar's magic powered up, surrounding Skwisgaar in a violet haze.
"Times out," the elf declared, slipping the strap over his head.
"Okays, times outs," Toki agreed, slipping his own duar off of his back.
The pair set about carefully placing their instruments out of harm's way. Skwisgaar's duar kept slipping off of the stone he set it against. Seeing this, Toki pulled off the fur wrap he wore and slung it over the stone.
"Here, puts it on here; dat way if it falls it ams on something soft."
"Goods t'inking."
They balanced their duars against the stone and reach other, the heads touching. Light, graceful and beautiful subtly touching raw, brutal, unrestrained strength. It was a reflection of their playing and what things they were capable of when they forgot they were troll and elf and both pretended to be men.
"Right. Times in," Skwisgaar declared and punched Toki in the kidney as hard as could.
"Littles elf bitch!" the troll growled.
Toki socked Skwisgaar in the gut, knocking the elf back across the clearing. The fair spellsinger wheezed and coughed, curling up in a ball around his stomach. Something that might have an attempt to rise turned into a listless flop. The elf gasped raggedly and curled up tighter.
"Skwisgaar?" Toki said uncertainly.
No answer, just more labored breathing.
"You okays?" Toki asked, drawing nearer. "I didn't hits joos dat hard . . ."
A pained groan rose from the mess of tangled blond hair and the elf rolled onto his knees, mostly by accident.
"Come ons, yous can gets up," the troll coaxed, rubbing Skwisgaar's shoulder.
Skwisgaar brought both fists up in a double-handed punch to Toki's groin.
As the troll folded up into his own private world of pain, the elf spellsinger staggered upright, still clutching his stomach.
"S-stupids troll . . ." he wheezed, then stomped on Toki's tail as hard as he could.
The troll let out a deep, brutal snarl that reached into Skwisgaar's hindbrain and flipped all the switches having to do with recognizing immanent danger.
"You ams startings to fuckings PISS ME OFF, Skwisgaar!" Toki roared, pulling himself upright.
The troll spellsinger abruptly stopped and looked around. Skwisgaar followed suit.
They were surrounded by trolls.
The troll warriors were big on paint and blunt instruments and short on clothing. Two that were so huge they looked like mobile walls flanked the duars, in case either spellsinger made a lunge for his instrument.
One with his hair roached into a Mohawk and a necklace of fairy skulls around his neck stepped forward and cast an appraising look over the two spellsingers. His bloodshot gaze finally settled on Skwisgaar.
"Dat," he declared. "Is de bravest elf I have ever seen."