Basset Afield

== Esteemed council members, I have for your consideration the Ballad of the Squire-Aspirants Basset and Emil Under the Tutelage of Tamboli and Janus ==
.
Inta the dark our intrepid boat leapt,
trading the flow o' cool water,
for nought but a prayer an' the grasp of warm air,
each of us sure of our place as a martyr.
-
Inta the dark our intrepid boat fell,
each of sure we'd not falter.
=
Our squires two had but one task,
ta do their damned best not ta fall out,
and despite knuckles tight an' shaking with fright,
I can attest that their courage won out.
-
Our squires two were sorely taxed,
The act of tranquility a rigorous bout.
=
Knights Tamboli an' Janus moved quick,
Knight Janus pruned cables lickety split,
While Tamboli a'grinning found spars needing pinning,
dark sinews winning 'gainst braces and bit.
-
In no time at all they set sail a'billow,
ta slow our descent ta the pit.
=
Basset with eyes all a'eager,
peered over the port with delight.
Misjudging his weight, he 'bout tumbled our freight.
Prompting a loud call ta “Sit tight!”
-
Basset with eyes all downcast,
felt in need of a giant to smite.
=
Bigears, Emil, cocked his namesake to starboard,
and peered over the side with great dread
to catch in his sight, as black as midnight,
an eye set in a massive bird's head.
-
Bigears, Emil, revealed us this beast,
filling our hearts with dark dread.
=
Yet with nary a glance the bird did lift off,
gliding away with not even a sound,
it spanned two dozen knights, head to toe in joined height,
or six Bassets, laid down on the ground.
-
With nary a glance the bird disappeared,
with seemingly no mind to wheel around.
=
Emil breathed in, Basset breathed out.
The beast cared not regarding our passage.
Mayhaps it was blind, or of unsound mind,
but we reached the bottom without damage.
-
Emil breathed out, Basset breathed in.
Our two knights fetched oars from our baggage.
=
In the dark our boat settled,
trading the rush o' warm air,
for the grasp of hot acid, in a lake none too placid.
Janus turned and warned us, “Beware!”
-
“Touch not the water, it burns!”
“Put in a man and recover nought but bones bare.”
=
Tamboli and Emil took up the oars,
the boat pushed along by wooden spoon,
“Keep rowing true, any direction will do.”
“We'll reach a wall afore the new moon.”
-
Spake Janus Shipsrat at the helm.
And off we went in the toxic lagoon.
=
Little of interest occurred in the lake.
At the onset we learned it nourished no life.
A lone fish tossed about, from the acid it leapt out,
It came near to sinking our boat in its strife.
-
Too dangerous to die slowly,
Tamboli cut loose its torment with a knife.
=
We slowed to a stop near an island,
our spoons had been et all away.
Janus always prepared, never despaired,
fetched new spoons to keep the acid at bay.
-
Basset then took up both oars,
treating pewter as if wood it did weigh.
=
The island was a cow, in point of fact,
Which, I tell ya, came as a surprise.
Above acid it laid reposed, yet below bone was exposed.
Onto it we tosssed our supplies.
-
Then Basset, with great strength,
threw across rope and allies.
=
With lines staked in place,
Basset leapt upon the cow,
And with a heave and a ho, brought in our ship to stow,
And collapsed after taking his bow.
-
With boat tied in place,
Tamboli patched the acid scarred scow.
=
A fire was built for the group,
Boiling water for tea and tar pitch.
'Twas a feat t'ignore Basset's rumbling snore,
and his occasional intemperate twitch.
-
The group settled down for a sleep,
Janus on watch for any treacherous hitch.
=
With her back to the fire, Janus whistled,
Then to a wind, her shadow wavered.
Before her landed a bird, so softly no one stirred.
From high up above, her tune it had heard.
-
With spear in hand Janus braced herself,
Giving a silent prayer to the Wyrd. 
=
Oddly, the bird pranced about.
It gave no notice to Janus or flame,
Until a snore it did hear, cocking toward Basset an ear.
Closer to the squire it came.
-
With a start Basset did wake,
Janus gave him no chance to exclaim.
=
With a grave face she quieted him,
With a brave face he obeyed. 
Again the bird pranced, it no longer advanced.
With absence of sound the bird was dismayed.
-
Janus was of a mind to wait out,
'Til Emil, by a dream, was betrayed.
=
Into the dark Emil called out.
A plaintive cry to ward off a threat.
To reality he awoke and on a cry did he choke.
By a beast of the night he was beset.
-
Into the dark the blind bird cawed out,
set upon by the raving beast, Basset.
=
Into its blind eye, Basset did thrust,
a spar left in the fire, a brand.
“I'd lie if I said, 'Well met!'And you're thinkin' the same, I bet!” 
The bird, however, was yet to be unmanned.
-
Not kenning its unfortunate plight,
the bird sought a desperate last stand. 
=
Blind in one eye, maimed in the other,
it raked Basset brutally with its beak.
It's burning eye smoked, the Devil's own it evoked.
In the chaos the camp fire grew weak.
-
All around them grew the darkness,
the fire's demise met by a shriek.
=
The only light left by which to see, 
blazed from the bird's socket, steadily. 
Soon Death's door would be crossed, but by whom? At what cost?
A talon sunk into a throat quite readily. 
-
The talon was a hawk's, on a spear,
thrown by Janus quite splendidly.
=
The bird, on its side, bled out.
A stream of blood quenched its eye.
Tamboli re-lit the fire, and Janus with much ire,
Sat and avidly watched the crow die.
-
Once completely assured of its death,
She tended her wounded ally.
=
Every action was done in silence,
Rest was warily regained. 
Tamboli, his turn, waited up, sipping tea from his cup,
'Twas time to move on once it was drained.
-
He nudged us awake and put out our fire,
to keep the quiet, none dare complained.
=
To be continued 
Category:Fiction