Page 28 of Potions & Pints
Vir gazed back from a moment, then suddenly he broke into a hopeful smile.
“Well, there has to be a way! You got through once before didn’t you? How did you do it then?”
The orc looked expectantly at Tan and this time Tan broke eye contact. He glanced down at the floor for a second, then looked over to Pili. The water elf was staring back with a knowing look.
“Well,” said Tan slowly, bringing his eyes back to meet Vir’s unwavering gaze. “We didn’t actually get there. At least, not by boat. In fact, we would have all drowned if it wasn’t for Pili here. He and his tribe saved me and some of my crew.”
The words brought an untold sadness to his heart as the thought of one lost member in particular haunted him. But he brushed the thought away before it could cut too deep. He’d been avoiding that memory for years and he wasn’t about to start poking at it now.
“And in exchange,” he continued, leaving the pain behind. “I brought a human wizard, Frederick and his best friend to Lameria. The wizard’s best friend was Pili’s brother, Idrulo.”
Tan cast a smile in Pili’s direction, as if reminiscing on old times but the water elf was glaring back at him. It took Tan off-guard and for a moment he wondered if he’d said something wrong.
Have I mispronounced Pili’s brother’s name?he wondered. There was sometimes a throaty inflection that Tan could never quite hit and he imagined he’d accidentally transformed Idrulo’s name into a curse word or something.
But it soon became clear that’s not what Pili was upset about.
“Tell the truth Tan,” the water elf said, crossing his arms and frowning.
Tan could hear an edge of anger in the water elf’s voice and the smile suddenly slipped from his face. He didn’t know what Pili was so angry about, nor did he understand what other truth he expected to hear. For once in his life, Tan wasn’t lying.
“Iamtelling the truth,” he uttered, bewildered, but a lifetime of dishonesty had a habit of catching up to someone. The first evidence of that was distrust. “I understand that you’re upset I didn’t express my condolences earlier, but you’re acting like I killed him myself! Damn it, Pili, he was myfriend!”
“I can’t believe you!” Pili cried to a still-confused Tan, throwing his hands up in the air at the same time. “We’ve been on this boat together for weeks, you’re about to meet certain death, and you still can’t do me the courtesy of admitting what you did?”
Pili’s eyes flared with anger and pain as he spoke, but Tan was at a loss. He had no idea what he was supposed to have done. Pili, it seemed, was more than happy to explain though.
“If you won’t say it, then I will,” Pili continued, his blue-green cheeks turning yellow in what Tan knew to be the water-elf equivalent of a blush.
“You convinced my tribe you were a northern noble and then you took my brother — you practically kidnapped him! Once you reached the Northern Royal Court, you forced him to marry Princess Namys! If you hadn’t taken him, he’d still be alive. It’s as much your fault as the assassins that he’s dead!”
Tan stepped back, fully aware that every eye was on him now, while the ship steered itself closer to the Heaving Sea. But he hardly cared. He was being accused of something heinous — something he had no part in at all. Idrulo, he knew, came with him willingly and fell in love with the Northern princess.
Aside from giving him passage to Lameria, he’d had no part in any of the rest of Pili’s accusations. He hadn’t even taken him to the North — Idrulo had found his own way there.
Tan, of course, had nothing to do with the assassination of the couple either. Rumor had it that Princess Namys’ own sister had them killed in a brutal attempt to secure the throne for herself. Tan might have been a scoundrel, but he was no murderer.
“I swear that’s not what happened,” he finally managed to say, and there was almost a hint of pleading in his voice. He looked at Vir, who was staring at him along with the others and silently willed the orc to believe him.
But Pili’s voice cut through his thoughts.
“You’re still lying Tan, I know you are,” Pili continued, scowling. “I went looking for my brother and found the wizard, Frederick, along the way. He told me what you did to the people of Sunfall, that you’re a liar and a thief.”
From his pocket, Pili pulled a moonstone and Tan suddenly clutched at his own trousers. There was no mistake — this was the same moonstone Tan had stolen from Sunfall, and his stomach dropped with dread. He was certain Vir would never speak to him again after this.
He couldn’t even lie to get out of this part without Vir thinking he was lying about the rest of it too. Besides, Pili had the moonstone, which meant he had proof.
The water elf held the stone between his thumb and forefinger, letting the morning light filter through the shards of milky rainbow inclusions.
“Frederick told me you poisoned the moon elves there and took off with their moonstone while they were recovering. Is that true or isn’t it, Tan’ithril? Sounds awfully similar to what happened to our former captain and his crew.”
Tan could do nothing more than stare silently, mouth agape at what had just transpired. He didn’t dare look at Vir this time though. He expected all he’d find in the orc’s eyes now was disappointment and hatred.
Pili simply scoffed at Tan’s silence before slipping the moonstone back in his own pocket.
“I’ll return this to Sunfall,” Pili said, frowning at Tan. “Just as soon as I find the people who murdered my brother and bring them to justice.”
Tan couldn’t bear to stand there for another moment, gaping like one of the trout swimming across the ceiling back in the bar in Lurg. Instead he cast one last look at Pili and broke through the circle, making sure not to look at Vir as he left.
