Page 65 of Potions & Pints
He fell back on the sand with a wail he struggled—and failed—to suppress.
“I’ll go get him,” Tan said.
“No, Tan,” Vir said. “It’s too dangerous. If you go back there, they’ll send you to prison.”
Vir mouthed the last word.
“We have to do something, Vir,” Tan said firmly, but not unkindly. “These…happenings, they do not bode well. I fear if we do not figure out what is going on, and…reverse it somehow, there won’t be a world left. For any of us.”
“Frederick?” Pili said. “Are you sure?”
“He’s the most talented wizard I’ve ever known,” Tan said. “You?” Pili was forced to agree. “If anyone can save us, it’s Frederick.”
“I’ll send a note through the portal and ask Frederick to come,” the Librarian said.
“And who will bring him?” Tan said.
Truth was he was pretty sure Frederick might require some…extra persuading to make the journey.
“I don’t trust anyone to take him through the sea except me,” Tan added. “He may have magic, but I know how to sail. I got us here with no magic, remember?’
“I might have had something to do with that,” Pili said.
“And I couldn’t have done it without you, or Vir, or the others,” Tan allowed.
“This Frederick, he can fix this?” the captain asked.
“I don’t know,” Tan admitted. “But he’s probably our best shot.”
“I’ll go with—”
The captain’s offer was interrupted by another coughing fit. Tan winced. Pili walked away. Vir picked the captain up and moved him to a clean spot.
“Thank you,” the captain said. “You’re…mighty nice for an orc.”
Before Vir or Tan could respond to that, a woman approached them and asked for Vir’s help in getting the sailors off the beach and up to the town. He nodded and left with her.
Tan sat with the captain, asking questions about the voyage. By the time Pili got back, Tan was regretting his offer. The voyage into Gamlin Ait had been horrendous. The captain had described a storm several magnitudes worse than the one Tan had sailed through and it had lasted a week.
“Like the sea was toying with us,” the captain said. “Waiting for us to get in sight of land and then just flung us around so violently there was no one left on board. I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that.”
“The ship is salvageable,” Pili said when he came back. “And they are working on everything we need.”
“We?” Tan said.
“Of course, I’m going with you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes, I do. My father got a lot of things wrong…”
A shadow seemed to cross Pili’s face, cross his very soul. Tan was sure Pili was thinking of Ilduro.
“What does your father have to do with this?’ Tan asked.
“The one thing he wasn’t wrong about is that our people are the chieftain’s responsibility. Magical forces are about to tear our world apart. Surely my people will perish along with the humans, and the other elves. I can’t let that happen. I have to do whatever I can to stop it.”
“I can’t think of a better first mate,” Tan said.
