Page 53 of Sorcery, Swords & Scones
Cali tipped her head. “Good plan, but how do we do either of those without a mage?”
“And do not say we use your gran’s book,” Sass said. “You and I both know that’s as dangerous as my winging it with the amulet.”
Iris swiveled her gaze back to Erindil. “I suspect Lira’s uncle is being modest about his powers.”
Forty
“How’s it going in there?”Sass sidled up to Vaskel behind the bar and jerked her head toward the kitchen.
Lira and Korl had disappeared through the half doors, and Sass didn’t dare follow the two. Not when Lira was clearly unsettled about the appearance of her uncle and using him for his magic.
Vaskel made a low, raspy sound in the back of his throat. “Lira will come around.”
Sass sighed. She couldn’t help feeling that all this was her fault. “Learning that she has an uncle and a father who’s missing is a lot to absorb, and now we want to enlist her uncle as part of our solution? I get why she stormed off.”
Vaskel quirked a dark, peaked brow at her. “You might not have known Lira before she was happily baking in a tavern, but she can take a lot in stride.”
Maybe when it came to quests, thought Sass. But family was different. She should know.
“I do hope I haven’t caused problems.”
Sass and Vaskel swiveled toward the elf who’d glided up to the other side of the bar. To his credit, Erindil’s face was pinched and his forehead furrowed. He tapped his two pointer fingers togetherjust below his chin. “Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned the amulet’s enchantment.”
“You were only trying to help.”
Erindil beamed at Sass. “That’s kind of you to say, my dear.”
Sass returned his smile, glancing beyond him to the tavern’s great room, which had emptied considerably. Thrain had dragged himself up to his room to have, as he put it, “a proper lie-down,” and Cali had left with Iris to open the apothecary.
Erindil’s companions had taken up residence in the camp behind the tavern, evidenced by the lilting lute music wafting through the windows. Only Val remained near the hearth, and not even the lute could drown out her soft snoring as she half sat, half lay in her chair with her long legs stretched in front of her.
Vaskel seemed too wired for sleep, which didn’t surprise Sass. As a rule, Tielfings required little rest, which was why he looked alert, while she fought to keep her heavy eyelids from drooping. Lira’s elf uncle also looked as fresh as if he’d woken from a restorative sleep, but she chalked that up to elf immortality. Who had ever heard of an elf looking bedraggled? Sass couldn’t imagine Erindil appearing anything less than pristine.
Erindil gave the Tiefling an appraising look. “You were one of Lira’s crew when she was a rogue, correct?”
Vaskel nodded. “I was.”
The elf cut his gaze to Sass. “But you…?”
“I was not,” Sass told him. “We only met when we both arrived in Wayside.”
She didn’t bother explaining the entire story. Somehow, she suspected he already knew.
“And our crew first met Lira in this very tavern many years ago,” Vaskel said, his gaze wandering to one of the long tables. “And now we’ve all reunited here again.” His blue eyes darkened. “Almost all.”
Erindil cocked his head to one side. “It seems like your crew has expanded here.”
Sass liked the sound of that and enjoyed thinking of herself as part of a crew.
“When you find a good crew, you stick together.” Vaskel winked at Sass. “Even if you go your separate ways for a while, friends that are like family always find their way back to each other.”
Erindil eyed the Tiefling as if sizing him up and finding him worthy. “I couldn’t agree more.”
Korl emerged from the kitchen, his face giving away nothing.
“How’s she doing?” Sass asked.
“She’ll come around,” the orc said, mustering a weak smile.
