Bali looked up, surprised as the elf that had caused him so much trouble walked over to his table and leaned over it. "Master dwarf, I believe there has been a grevious misunderstanding on both our parts. I would like to apoligize for your mishap."
"And I for yours," answered Bali gruffly. Perhaps the elf was only drunk: He's not such a bad chap after all!
**********************************
But he didn't notice the small blue tablet dropped into his ale. Kaldon, sitting across the room, did. Everything is going as I planned...
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Bali talked for awile without drinking. Then as he lifted the cup to his lips, he stopped. Reaching into it, he snatched out a blue tablet, and tossed it onto the table.
"Hah!! Eruantalon, look: that elf tried to pull your joke on me, but I got it out before it started fizzing!" There's something fishy going on here, Thought Eruantalon. It usually fizzes right away...
He was about to take a drink, but suddenly Burzdol came flying over, knocking the drink from Bali's hand. It crashed on the stone floor, littering its contents and broken shards from the beaker.
"Bali, you couldn't drink that. It was poisen!"
"But my friend, you couldn't be serious. That elf was just playing a little prank."
Eruantalon stepped in. "I think Burzdol's right. If that was sap, it would have fizzed immediately, and yours didn't. Look there!"
He pointed on the floor. The liquid had changed color, and now held a tint of blue. "That was poisen if I ever saw it."
They all sat back down. "Why that lousy elf!" Bali began. "If I had the chance -"
"Wait a minute Bali," said Burzdol. "Let me tell you something else I saw. You remember when the elf and man sat down at that table together? I swear I saw the man slip him a tablet. The elf probably thought he was just playing a silly trick on you."
"I don't know, Burzdol. What would a man want with me? I thought they were suspicous, but there's no reason to accuse a perfectly good man of such a crime! Now that elf..."
But Burzdol would keep an eye on that man from that day forth, with or without his friend's blessing...
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Across the room, Kaldon was seething.
One plot foiled already. And now I have an elf to remove. He knows far to much.
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