I haven't read Guli 1 yet, so I'll assume the terminology is explained there.
Tabitha the murt needs to be named sooner. Wait...if Tabitha's the murt and Guli's riding the murt, how is it possible for her to beat him?
Hober is a name from George R.R. Martin, although an obscure one. Or maybe it was 'Hobar.' Ah...looked it up, it's actually Hobber. Like I said, very obscure though, so I doubt it matters. Not to mention the fact that George R.R. Martin uses just about every name in the universe...
Having the song similar from our world is a little jarring, given that everything else is so different.
I like the description of the woman in white.
Size confusion. Guli talked about being a small boy and fitting into the pygmy cave, but later he describes himself as giant. If he's bigger than the rest of his adopted family, he probably doesn't think of himself as "a small boy."
If besmin is harder than steel, what are their picks made of? Besmin?
I like the Kaldo hunt description. I also like the description of the riding people, and when Guli hurt them.
I think you'd serve yourself most by simplifying down to the elements that matter most and sticking with those. I love the depth of your world and the backstory, but so much is in there that it feels muddled to me.
Guli feels a lot younger than eight in his thoughts, definitely younger than twelve. He thinks like I'd expect a four-year-old to think, very impulsive with no understanding of adult responsibilities. For example, an eight-year-old is unlikely to run into his parent's bedroom demanding an answer to his question right now.
If he's as big as his brother, why didn't he work in the mines sooner?
I'd like to see some more emotional depth to Guli. He seems to be motivated more by curiosity than a sense of loss. I'm not getting much sense of his internal conflict between loving his adopted parents and not knowing about his past.
It seems odd to me that his family can't understand him wanting to know and remember where he came from. It's hard to imagine anyone being that un-empathetic, unless there's some detail to the culture I don't understand. It seems like a straw-man discussion.
I liked this chapter more than some of the others, because there was a definite conflict and a definite sense of motion. And I like Guli as a character, though he feels a lot like all of your other child characters--voices that may be too similar.
