Page 10 of Potions & Pints
Luckily, it sounded like the voice was still on the other side of the room, close to the door and by the sounds of it, the question was posed to some of the other patrons.
Cionus was still behind the bar and Tan crawled over to him, touching the satyr’s leg to get his attention and hoping not to be kicked in the head as a result.
Luckily Cionus just peered down at him and then pretended to grab something from under the counter, leaning closer to Tan as he did so.
“Cionus, can you get rid of these guys?” the elf whispered. He hoped the satyr’s kindness in vouching for him at the docks that day might extend to the kindness of harboring him as a fugitive.
“Whoever they are,” Tan added. “I think it's better if I don’t meet them.”
Cionus frowned in response as he whispered, voice barely more than breath. “Sorry Tan, they look like elven soldiers — elite ones at that. If they’re asking for you by name, I’m not about to become an accomplice. I’m afraid you’re on your own.”
With that Cionus pulled a dishcloth from under the counter and stood up straight again, wiping down the bar and leaving Tan to panic.
“Curses,” he muttered under his breath. It seemed hiding was now no longer an option — he’d have to shift into running after all. By the sound of the voice, the soldiers were moving through the crowd and making their way towards the bar.
Tan usually considered himself to function well under pressure but years of double-crossing was starting to wear on him. He wasn’t the young smuggler he once was and a wave of anxiety crashed over him at the thought of being caught. But he knew he couldn’t give in to that now. He had to get out of there one way or another.
If the soldiers were still busy talking to patrons, he figured, there was a chance he could sneak out before they got much closer. If Cionus was willing to give him up, he needed to put that plan into action sooner rather than later.
Tan estimated he had just enough time to make a dash into the stock room and out through the back door from there. He just had to be quick.
Keeping himself bent low enough that the soldiers couldn’t see him, Tan scurried behind the bar and slipped into the open stock room. He finally stood once behind the wall but even as he was about to leave, he couldn’t help but sneak a tiny glance of the intruders around the corner of the stockroom wall.
Just as Cionus had said, they were elite elven soldiers, and there were even more of them than Tan had anticipated. Their expressions were stern and it was very clear they weren’t there for a friendly chat. The sight of them was enough to send Tan out through the back door in a matter of seconds.
In the darkness of the night, Tan kept to the shadows, just in case other soldiers were lurking. Soon though, those shadows receded a little by the light of a sudden flame and Tan realized he wasn’t alone in the alley after all.
He willed himself to stay perfectly still and hoped that the soldiers hadn’t heard the door close. If they had, and they came looking for him, it would only take a few moments for them to find him by the light of the torch.
But to Tan’s relief they didn’t seem to be coming any closer to where he stood and, at least for the time being he remained shrouded in darkness.
For a moment he wondered if they were just lookouts but then he heard one of them speak.
“We torch the whole place,” came a clipped voice. It was an incongruous shock to Tan — he’d been expecting the same Southern accent as he’d heard from the elves in the bar, but this man’s voice was different. The clipped vowels and sharpened consonants were all too familiar — it was the same voice he slipped into on occasion. This was a Northern accent.
“Casualties are approved,” continued the soldier and Tan suddenly realized what was happening. This set of soldiers — his fellow winter elves — were getting ready to set the tavern on fire.
As far as Tan knew, Cionus, the assistant Librarian, a dozen or so customers, and the Southern soldiers were still inside. But as a northerner himself, he was torn between two worlds. In theory, he still worked for the Queen herself, and his allegiance to the North ran deep. ON the other hand, he had to admit that his time in Sunfall had changed his views on southerners, at least a little.
It wasn’t something he allowed himself to think about very often — the truth of these warring sides of himself was far too uncomfortable to think too hard about. But no matter how he tried to avoid it, it seemed he couldn’t.
In fact, it seemed his life lately was just a series of difficult decisions between the two factions and in that moment in the alley behind the bar, he felt himself freeze.
The Northern soldier was still clutching the flaming torch but suddenly Tan heard a familiar voice.
“Hey! What are you doing?” It was Vir. Tan’s heart caught in his chest.
What is he doing here?
He didn’t want Vir getting involved in this. On the other hand though, he was happy to have been saved from having to make a decision himself.
Through the orange flicker of torchlight, Tan could just make out Vir stepping forward swiftly and plucking the torch from the elven soldier's hand.
“This is my favorite tavern,” Vir said and Tan could not only see, but hear the frown that the orc said this with. It wasn’t anger that came through, or even righteousness. It was sadness, disappointment. Tan almost found himself touched by it. Almost.
Vir plunged the torch into a nearby rainwater barrel, extinguishing its flame with a sharp and then lingering hiss. With this one motion, he’d saved the tavern from becoming nothing more than a burnt-out husk, not to mention the many lives that were still obliviously talking and drinking and laughing and interrogating inside the building.
Tan cursed under his breath. He was grateful that the tavern wasn’t about to burn down soon, but he’d been prepared to try and warn the inhabitants to flee — not to defend Vir against a dozen elite Northern soldiers while another dozen elite Southern soldiers waited inside, both sides seemingly – almost flatteringly – intent on capturing Tan himself. He’d rather hoped he could just escape and have both sides move on.
