Tanis the shadow years (d2-3) by Barbara Siegel, Scott Siegel Page B

horizon and turned the sweeping gesture into a bow.
    Tanis chuckled despite himself. Scowarr, on the other hand, appeared unwilling to encourage anyone's humor but his own. Instead, the humorist studied the ship riding the waves in the harbor to the south.
    "Have you ever used the mustache spell?" asked Tanis.
    "What? And gotten run out of Ankatavaka?" Kishpa threw his head back and roared with laughter at the thought of the entire elven village wearing mustaches. Facial hair was a rarity among elves.
    Yeblidod and Tanis joined the laughter, while Little Shoulders Scowarr waited for the right moment to spring a joke of his own. When the others finally quieted, he said, 'There was this farmer who had a daughter-"
    "Quiet!" ordered Kishpa, cutting Scowarr off in mid- sentence. "Listen!"
    Over the sound of the thrashing sea came the thunder of drumbeats. The four grew somber.
    'The human army is advancing," said Tanis.
    "I shouldn't have spent so much time here," Kishpa spat out angrily, his mood instantly dark. "I'm needed on the battlements, and I waste my time here saving two who care nothing for my village."
    'That's not true," Tanis said defiantly. He had to get into the village if he was going to find Brandella and his father. If it meant taking sides in the war, then that's what he'd do. "I've fought humans before, and I will fight them again," he declared. "I told you I'm loyal to those who call me friend. You saved my life. I will fight by your side to protect you and those you care about. And so will my friend. Isn't that right, Scowarr?"
    "Me?" The slender human looked shocked. His voice squeaked. "Fight?" He grew pale.
    Tanis nodded sharply. Scowarr hastened to recover, casting nervous glances at the wizard whose magic had rescued him from a deadly tumble into the sea-and whose magic, presumably, could reverse the process just as easily. "Yes, of course, without question," he gibbered. "Just give me a sword. A stick. Anything you say."
    "Very convincing," said Kishpa, his voice dripping sarcasm. He turned partially away from the half-elf and the funny man, speaking to an obviously embarrassed Yeblidod. "Of course, all our elven allies will be delighted to have a human they do not know fighting side by side with them." The mage whirled and began to stomp off through the wildflowers.
    Tanis sidestepped to intercept Kishpa's passage; the mage glowered. "A matter easily addressed," the half-elf said. "We'll bandage his head as if he were badly wounded."
    "You can cut up my last shawl for the bandages," volunteered Yeblidod in a soothing voice, seemingly anxious to resolve the dispute.
    "Scowarr's clothes are already so tattered that they could just as easily be elven as human," Tanis continued, ignoring Scowarr's wounded look. "Besides, his stature is such that, once his head is covered, no one will doubt that he is elven-just as long as he keeps his jokes to himself," he added pointedly, glancing in Little Shoulders's direction.
    The mage looked at Yeblidod, out to sea, and back at the village, where the sounds of a populace preparing for defense shivered through the moist air. Then he shrugged. "We'll need anyone who will fight. Bandage him on the way," Kishpa said. "Come now. We'll be needed on the barricades."
    The truth of his words could hardly be doubted. A mere fraction of an instant passed between the utterance and the moment when Tanis, Kishpa, and Scowarr found themselves on the battlements surrounding the village of Ankatavaka. The dwarven woman was nowhere to be seen.
    Neither Kishpa nor Scowarr nor any of the elven defenders who surrounded them seemed either surprised or perplexed by the newcomers' sudden appearance. Tanis's first thought was that Kishpa had cast a spell that had sped them to this place. Yet the half-elf had heard no uttered words of magic nor any mention of a spell. His head spinning, Tanis finally realized that the old mage, fighting for his life on a sandy beach three days west of Solace,