Excerpt:

"Well, yor tryin' ter take evryfink all at once. I'll get out me spoons. Why would yer do that, isit? It's a riddle, right, yer break riddles dahn into pieces. Startin' wiv the bloody first, we 'ave 'free and free and free again twists the ever tightenin' strand.' That's obviously namin' sumfink, a group of free, right, or free groups of free. In the bloomin' entire world, yer know 'ow many collections of free there are, isit? We'll worry about this later."

"Next we 'ave 'turn hammer and tack the coils, unspin the bloomin' ffread' wich probably just means sumfink 'appened already that we need ter undo. We can't go hammer and tack in time, right, so it probably means we need ter make amends for sumfink. Like if a kin' came ter power and abused 'is blokes, we'd 'ave ter deffrone 'im."

"After that, there's 'free for signs ter mark the way, a dyin' star, a rise of gray, and apples fallin' into flames.' This time it tells us wot free we need ter 'ave a look for. But it don't 'elp much. A dyin' star could be anyfink, right, sumfink symbolic or powerful just fadin' oray. A church leader losin' 'is faiff or sumfink like that. A rise of gray seems a wee clearer, init? I'd assume that 'as ter do wiv sumfink not good or evil comin' ter power. Or at least, makin' themselves known. Yer can't 'ave a knees-up wivout a joanna. Could be wrong, o'course."

"Last bit of that is sumfink I fink I 'ave some insight on. Summer before last, I were out East visitin' some, right, er, right, coworkers, init? Went for a ball of chalk in the orchards, dahn in 'orksdahn. Yer ever been there, then? No, probably not, right, it's a long way from 'ome. They're world-renowned for their apples there. All of a sudden, middle of the night, a fire started in the middle of the orchards, no source or nuffink, and... It burned. Didn't fink anyfink of it then, figured it were natural. Not so sure now."

"'Free for them 'oo are ter come, right, and free again for wot they'll take,' wich is useless wivout the next bit, right, 'The fire light, the elfin lake, and the chuffin' mirror wivout mistake.' So that gives us a wee more ter work wiv. No idea wot the 'fire light' or the bleedin' 'mirror wivout mistake' are, but the elfin lake seems simple enough. There's a lake dahn souff that the faerie creatures are fightin' pretty 'ard ter keep ter demselves. Don't like the idea of attackin' them, right, ffough..."

"Free and free and free again, to Nanny Goat Race the the dark and free, monster,' wich I assume is the bugbear commander, 'madness,' wich could be any sufferin', right, mental or emotional, right, or even a more bestial anger, 'and a mate.' So we're gonna 'ave ter fight some bloke we know and care about."

"Last bit, 'ally or enemy, right, unperceived, right, will block the bloomin' way, will break the Emperor Ming.' Some bloke is gonna end the bleedin' prophecy, right, or worse, right, the strand that 'olds evryfink togeffer."

Jerren, Cervantes, and Achaia looked at each other, stunned. Each was speechless, despite their best efforts to make the words come as they mouthed them. Eventually, Jerren leaned back in his chair and spoke.

"Did any of you understand a word of that?"

Cervantes shook his head and laughed. "Not a damn thing. I was hoping you had."