Page 2 of Potions & Pints
“He’s really not!” came a stranger’s voice from behind him.
Tan and the captain turned to see a colorfully dressed orc and a gray-bearded satyr coming toward them. Tan had no idea what they were talking about — he’d never seen them before in his life — but he wasn’t in a position to turn down help.
“See? These are my friends,” the elf exclaimed, finally wrenching himself from the captain’s grip. He cast a hopeful eye at the pair. To his relief, they nodded.
Despite himself, he was reminded of his friends back in Sunfall — Urza and Neda. He’d done something similar for them when the trio arrived there, with Tan vouching for the pair when no one else knew them. He had to catch himself though.Former friends, he thought vaguely.
And after what he’d done, no vouching would get him back within the city walls.
“That’s right,” replied the orc, breaking Tan’s concentration with a wide smile. “Now I think you owe our friend an apology.”
The captain’s face contorted into a scowl. “He’s lucky he’s getting out of this at all. I’d take that and leave.”
Tan didn’t need to be told twice and neither, it seemed, did the others. They quickly turned, leaving the captain to capture some other unsuspecting vagabond instead.
As soon as they cleared earshot, Tan let out a deep exhale. He wasn’t too keen on the company, but he had to admit these two had just saved him from an awful fate.
Besides, it seemed he didn’t have much of a choice — the townspeople didn’t seem to want him and the sailors seemed to want him a little too much. He mustered what little humility he had.
“Thank you,” he uttered as he followed the unlikely pair through the center of Lurg.
The satyr just grunted in the way satyrs did, while the orc simply grinned in Tan’s direction, very much unlike the way orcs did. Tan was beginning to feel uneasy. The old satyr struck him as a little suspicious, and the grinning orc was making him feel something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Whatever it was, it was uncomfortable.
Neither of them said another word until they stopped outside a tavern, nestled between a general store and an alleyway. Outside hung a sign — one of those hand-painted wooden signs that stuck out from the wall and hung from a couple of chains.
This one saidThe Trout Trapin large serif font and featured an image of a fish. Tan frowned. He wondered what they were doing there.
The satyr pulled on the tavern door, gesturing for Tan to enter. This time he even spoke.
“Go on,” he said, and it was clear this was a demand, not a request.
Tan swallowed hard. Whatever he was getting himself into, he only hoped it was better than the indentured servitude he’d just escaped.
Inside the bar it was dark and noisy. A long wooden countertop ran the length of the right-hand wall, while the rest of the bar was cluttered with tables and chairs. Creatures of all races littered the seats, many of whom were chatting noisily among themselves.
The walls were redbrick covered in fishing paraphernalia — nets and buoys, fishing rods, crustacean traps, shells. Across the ceiling swam a dozen or so imitation trout. At the far end of the bar was a rudimentary stage which, for now, was empty.
“Alright?” Tan finally ventured, after the satyr and orc had stepped inside. “And?”
If this was some kind of mugging, he was an unlikely target and this was an unlikely setting. But he didn’t know Lurg well, and after his run-in with the ship captain, anything was possible.
Who knew? Maybe word had reached this little island about his theft of the moonstone and now others were looking to do to him what he’d done to the people of Sunfall. Even if it served him right, the stone was something he definitely couldn’t part with.
The elf looked between his two captors, weighing his chances of winning if it came to a fight. With the orc’s rippling muscles and at least one foot of height on Tan, he realized he didn’t stand a chance.
But it was the satyr who stepped forward first. “We need a bartender, and you’re it,” he said matter-of factly. Tan almost burst out laughing.
“We heard there was a half-drowned elf looking for work,” added the orc, smiling as usual.
This time it seemed to be at his own joke.
“This is your lucky day.”
2
“Is it?” Tan asked, a hesitant smirk on his lips.
He was happy that he wasn’t being mugged, and he was, of course, looking for work. But something about the way this was all happening was suspicious.
