Chapter 28 Elf Hornpipe

"Once upon a time," said Aegias, "men could travel freely between the two worlds." They sit on the side of the road.Aegas struggled to tear the plastic wrapping off a bag of fresh tobacco. "Later, you fought a terrible war with us." "Who are you?" Gigi asked. "At that time, you called us Danu, the Danu gods. After that, after a long time, you began to call us elves." "Then are you an elf?" "We are human beings," Aegas said, "but call it whatever you want, no one is better `duo`. .c `n "There will be a rally to protest." He put on the voice of a drunk young man, "Hey you, who elf are you calling?"

Gigi laughed.Aegas was still clumsily tearing off the wrapping paper: "However, we cast a spell on you..." "magic?" "Just a little bit. But you have a lot of people there, and you're better at commanding armies than we are, and we don't know how to fight. We'll never be of much use in your world." He managed to rip the plastic off at last. paper, and clumsily fumbled for the tinfoil inside, "I don't know why, we can only turn some people into pigs." "Become a pig?" Gigi asked. "As long as we get the chance," said Aegias, "we can change up to one or two at a time, which is no match for an army."

"You're lying," Gigi said.He couldn't believe it, even though he thought of Davely and his sheepskin drum as he said it, "You can't really turn a man into a pig, can you?" "Of course," Aegas said, "and it's easy." He stuffed the tobacco into a clay pipe, lit it with a purple lighter, and continued, "Some of your storybooks say we've been defeated. It's not true. Maybe it's a little bit true—everything has an end, and the end of this war is that we're allowed to go back to Tenaog, and stay here forever, never to set foot in your world. "

"I don't understand," Gigi said, "if our people have the chance to live forever, why would they choose to stay in the original world and wait to die?" "They never believed in us," said Aegias, puffing out a puff of smoke, "and they need time, they want a past and a future, they want the ability to transform their world, to accumulate wealth and power. to Ireland, so they don't fear death because they can look forward to the afterlife." "Does human beings have an afterlife?" Gigi asked. Agnes shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "Why should I care?"

Gigi totally got it. "So," he said cautiously, "if we have to go through life and death and you don't, does that mean you are... immortal?" "No," Aegas said, "I will die just like you. The only difference between us is that you have forgotten how to use magic. But if you were born here, you will die like me. The difference between the two worlds Yes, your world has time, we don't." He glanced at the sky, "At least, we don't have time until time starts leaking." Gigi tried to understand the words, but they were too profound for a teenager, even a genius.

"You mean time leaked from our world to yours?" "Indeed," said Aegas. "Is that why we're always running out of time?" "you are right." "And you have too much time." "It's too much." "My God," Gigi said, "we've got to do something to fix it. Where's the leak?" "That's the sticking point," Agas said. "We don't know where the leak is." Gigi was full of strength, the feeling of laziness after passing through the secret room disappeared, and the chaotic thinking that accompanied him was also gone.All the ramblings he heard suddenly connected, like a vague shadow suddenly brought into focus.

"Well," said Gigi, "for thousands of years—in our time, of course, the two worlds have been pretty well sealed off." "It is sealed with the film of time." Aegas said, "It is a flowing wall between two worlds." "But now," says Gigi, "all of a sudden there's a leak." "We've checked the obvious borders on both sides," said Aegas. "Some of us have been to your side, and some of us, like Anne Caulff, are still in your world searching. In fact, two-way There aren't many passages, and most chambers are sealed from one side or the other."

"What do you mean by channel?" "You like to call it a secret room, but we don't." Aegas said, "We can freely enter and exit from any place." He pointed his thumb at the alchemy shop behind him, "If I want, I can go through there, And then it's Sydna Tobin's store. It's not particularly clever, but I can do it." "How did you do it?" "I don't know," Agas said. "It's something that comes naturally to me, like you're born to breathe." "Then have you been back and forth many times?"

"I should say no. When the sun is still overhead, we only go there occasionally for entertainment, or as a last resort." Gigi thought for a while and said, "Is there a film of time in every place?" "Yes, it's everywhere, but some places have had to close," Aegas said. "Then something must have broken the membrane of time," Gigi said. "It seems to be so," said Aegas, "but I don't know how it happened, and you have seen it, it will not be broken. During that war, a group of your young people were eager to try and determined to destroy it. I To see them try to split it with swords and axes, but those actions, it was as ridiculous as trying to dig a hole in the sea."

"But now there is a hole," Gigi said. "Was there a hole before?" "Once upon a time? We don't have the word 'once upon a time,'" Agas said. "Of course there were other leaks, but no harm was done." "What kind of leak?" Gigi asked. "For example, music, it can be transmitted from here to the four directions, and it can also be transmitted from other places to here." "Does time slip away with it?" "Never before," Agas said, "and I don't see the possibility of it now." "Maybe we better check it out," Gigi said.

"Of course you can if you want to," Agas said. "The Winkles Bar is a good place to check." They got up and walked back down the street.Brian, who had been lying next to Gigi while they talked, got up and followed. After arriving at the square, Aegas handed the violin case to Jiji and said, "You take it and go first, and I'll borrow a violin and chase you later." "Don't play music," Gigi said. "The second rule of anxiety is, don't listen to music." "If there's no music, how are we going to check for music leaks?" Aegas said. Gigi had no choice but to admit that he was right, and obediently took the violin.Aegas crossed the road and headed for the sleepy Maggie's house.Instead of following him, Brian limped along the main street toward Winkles' bar, right behind Gigi.