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.When Tadhg returned, Puck asked, “Why do you look so young? What’s your story? My father said that you’re three-hundred years old.”Tadhg glanced down the bar and confirmed that all was well before he began.“Three-hundred and nine, to be exact.Do you really want the whole story?”Puck was excited that Miles had sent him here, that he was letting him meet an old friend.“Yeah,” he said sincerely.“I really do.”Tadhg leaned forward, elbows on the bar.He looked pensive, as if thinking about where to begin.“Okay, here goes.I was born in 1701 into a nice Catholic family in Northern Ireland.Back then, everyone was poor, so when I was seventeen, my parents were lucky enough to find me an apprenticeship with an apothecary.His name was John Flannery.He was a good man with a knack for healing.It broke his heart to see people sick.When I first went to him, he was in the habit of trading goods or services for medicines, but eventually, people became too poor and had nothing to trade.Flannery didn’t care.I worked for him for seven years, mixing powders and liquids, crushing herbs, and watching as he dispensed endless amounts of medicine free of charge.In that time, he became like a second father to me.”Puck was very proud of himself when he thought that he had figured out where the story was going.“He was a magician?”Tadhg nodded.“A very kind one.That’s also how he could afford to be so generous.In better times, he had traveled through Ireland and Scotland, selling his potions, and he had a bit of a nest egg.Anyway, there was one spell he couldn’t seem to master, the one spell he needed more than anything.I didn’t even know he was trying until the fifth year I was with him.He was getting older and wearing down.Sometimes he would rush into a back room, and I would hear him coughing.I wondered why he didn’t heal himself.In time, he confided in me.He explained what had been under my nose for years.He was using magic to heal the community, but he hadn’t found a spell to prevent natural aging.He could cure an enormous range of illnesses, but he couldn’t slow down the damage of time.”“He was dying?” Puck asked.“He was.For two years, he taught me everything he could.We stayed up nights, trying concoctions that would make you ill just to hear of them.In time, we found the secret quite by accident.Word came to us that an immortal had taken up residence in a neighboring town.John had always warned me to steer clear of other magical types, especially immortals.”“But wasn’t he trying to become immortal? He was trying to cheat death,” Puck reminded Tadhg.“He was, but he was doing so without hurting anyone.A lot of immortals become that way through much more dubious methods.John despised anyone who benefitted from the pain of others.I offered to visit this alleged immortal and investigate the rumor, but John forbade it.However, when John’s health went into rapid decline, I was sure that there was some knowledge to be gained from this immortal, so the next time I was given leave to visit my family, I set out on the two-day trip to see the immortal instead.”“Did he kill you?” Puck asked.He was thinking of vampires, who have to die before they become immortal.“No, I’m still as alive as you are.However, he was very forthcoming.When I explained myself, he gladly provided the one ingredient that could save John.He filled a small vial with his own blood and told me that if John drank it of his own free will, his search would be over.I rushed back to the apothecary shop, ready to be a hero, only to find that John had died in my absence.”“You drank it, didn’t you?” Puck asked.“You’re an eager little fella, aren’t ya?” Tadhg joked.“Yes, I did.”“What was it like, becoming immortal?”“It wasn’t like anything.At first, I didn’t even think it worked, but years passed and I didn’t age.Other people died, but I didn’t.I had to move around a bit, people notice when they’ve known you for thirty years and you still look twenty-four.In time, I met other immortals who were able to educate me on the exact powers that blood had instilled in me.I might have never known if I hadn’t been educated on the matter.In the course of the last three hundred years, my status and powers have risen with every century mark that I pass.”“Are you as powerful as my father?”Tadhg laughed and reached across the bar to give Puck a playful punch in the arm.“Aren’t you adorable?” Puck instinctively put his hand to the spot on his arm that had been hit.The gesture made him feel childlike.Tadhg smiled and continued, “Your father is powerful, but he has limits that I don’t have [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]