The soap opera guy said "Lady Filima" and executed a deep bow of greeting, but she just gave him a quick nod and pa.s.sed him by. He seemed to want to say more, but zipped up.
Velma was bursting with six kinds of news, but rattling too fast for me to make much sense of it. Filima had the same problem.
"You"re saying that Botello has taken over Anton?" she asked. "But Botello"s dead."
"Just bodily displaced," said the guy helpfully. "He"s been in h.e.l.l these past two weeks and when the chance came for him to possess someone he took it. Now he"s out and about on this side of Reality."
"Botello"shere ?" She went green. Knowing what I now knew about how her marriage ended, I couldn"t blame her reaction. "Alive?"
"He"s using Anton"s body. Everyone thinks he"s Anton," Velma clarified.
Filima swayed. Not that she was anywhere close to keeling over, just a touch off balance. Soap-guy moved in, though, and swept her up in his arms.
"Cadmus, what are you doing?" she demanded. "Put me down."
He did so, but on a comfy settee. "I"m sorry. It"s all my fault."
"What is?"
"He"s sort of been helping Botello, honey," said Velma. "It"s kinda complicated."
"Helpinghim?" Filima shrieked. She fought clear of his grasp. He fell away a few steps and hung his head low. If the word contrite hadn"t already been invented he"d have inspired it just then.
"But he"s trying to make up for it. Scream at him later; we gotta get Anton out of h.e.l.l and heard you have a wizard rooming on the premises."
"There he is!" said Cadmus, pointing at yours truly. "Hah?" I said. "Not that again. Someone wanna bring them up to speed?"
"He"s the one Botello wanted me to find," said Cadmus the soap king.
"You"ve talked to Botello?" Filima wanted to know.
"He kept coming through my scrying mirror. Always in a nasty humor. Told me to find a cat-faced man, that he was a wizard of great power."
I repeated the "hah?" and went the rest of the way down to join them. "This guy in h.e.l.l knows me?" That didnot sound good.
Velma went "Oh!" She stared a second, then I got the kind of melting look I love to see on women. She came closer and touched my face. I flared my lip whiskers invitingly. "Oh! He"s real! Lord Perdle was going on to everyone that it was a mask."
"Just lil ol" me, lady." I wondered how she was at belly rubs. She looked like my sort of gal, beautiful, friendly, and extremely fond of cats.
"You"re so soooffft. . . ." she cooed.
Well, parts of me were. She ran her hand up over my ears, making them twitch, which was great. Much more and I"d be purring like a fine-tuned Mercedes.
"Velma," said Filima. "This is Myhr, but he"s not a wizard. His friend Terrin is, and he"s upstairs."
"Does he look like you?" Velma wanted to know.
"Not a bit. I"mmuch more handsome."
"Then you"re his familiar?"
My whiskers drooped a bit.Not the first time I"d heard that one. "We just hang together."
"He isn"t a wizard?" said Cadmus. "But Botello told me-"
"He was wrong then, wasn"t he?" Filima"s voice was full of mood-destroying venom. "What else was Botello doing?"
Cadmus dropped his gaze. "He had me helping a bit with his magical experiments, but I swear I didn"t know he"d be up to this sort of harm, the h.e.l.l-river, that is."
Velma reluctantly tore herself away from me. Darn. "Yeah, lissen to the guy. He"s on our side for this."
"When you hear what we"ve been through . . ."
Then they were all talking again except for Shankey. I went over to stand next to him and watch. Things got pretty intense for awhile until they sorted themselves out. It boiled down to Cadmus and Velma wanting help to do a seance so the dispossessed Overduke Anton could himself tell them how to get him out of h.e.l.l. Sounded kind of nuts to me, but maybe it would save me a trip to the Otherside. To avoid that I"d gladly hold hands around a table and wait for someone to start cracking their toe joints. "We"ve not much time," said Cadmus. "Botello has people out trying to find me. He could come through the gates at any minute. He won"t be stopped by clan protocols."
Then we all gave a big jump when someone banged on the front doors.
Shankey drew his sword, went to a side window, and peeked through. He relaxed a bit and unlocked things. Debreban, breathless, sweating, and a bit singed, staggered in and spotted Cadmus.
"My lord, he"s on his way here!" he announced.
No one asked who "he" was. "How long have we got?" Cadmus asked.
"I last saw him in the bell tower area. I took his horse and escaped, but he"ll likely find another. He"ll be here soon!"
"How did you get past the gate guards?" Shankey wanted to know as he re-locked the doors.
"I didn"t." Debreban abruptly grinned. "Stood on the horse"s back and hoisted over the wall. No one saw me."
"They"ll spot that horse if they haven"t already. Did it have the ducal colors on the saddle or tack?"
Debreban spread his hands. "I was too busy trying to get out of the way. Lord Botello threw flames at me. Twice!"
Cadmus stepped in. "What? Flames? How?"
"I don"t know, my lord, but it had to be some kind of magic."
"Of course it was, but he shouldn"t be able to do that. The spontaneous generation of fire, much less projecting it . . . the magical power required is unimaginable!"
"Unless you have abig chunk of it stored away." This conclusion came from Terrin.
We all looked toward the shadow-bathed stairs. Nearly invisible in the dark, he was seated partway down, hands clasped loose between his knees, and had apparently been listening in for some time.
"That"s Terrin," I said to the newcomers. "He"sthe wizard."And you"re welcome to him, att.i.tude and all.
They gave him a good look.Not what they expected.
"What do you mean by that?" asked Cadmus. "Stored away magic?"
"If this is the same a.s.shole who"s been s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g things around-"
"It is, and I must ask you to moderate your language. There are ladies present."
Terrin looked down his nose at him. "Bite me." Cadmus took a step forward, eyes blazing. He began to draw his sword.
Filima put a quick, firm hand on his arm. "We need him. What he says is nothing I"ve not heard before and thought myself. Let him talk."
He looked surprised that she"d spoken to him and strangely grateful. Not as though he was glad to avoid a fight with Terrin, more like hearing her voice made things all right for his whole life. Oh, yeah, he had it bad for her, terminally baaad. Cadmus reluctantly subsided with a nod, but there was still tension in his frame. He"d want to bust holes in walls. That or kiss her.
Terrin cleared his throat to get everyone"s attention. "If it"s Botello, and if he"s on this side of Reality tossing magic around like that, then we have a change in plan to make."
I got hopeful. "So I don"t have to go to h.e.l.l?"
"I didn"t say that."
"What, then?"
"We just make sure he does what we want. Filima knows him best, she can help us figure out something."
"And just what is it we want?" she prompted.
"To delay him without getting everyone killed. If he"s throwing fire around it might be a little tricky."
"He"s after me," said Cadmus. "Except for Debreban, I"m the only other person he knows is aware of his possession of Lord Anton."
"And me," put in Velma.
"He can"t know you"ve found out about him."
"a.s.sume the worst, that he has. Go on."
"Well, if we make it look like I"ve not yet reached Darmo House he won"t have any reason to come here. I"ll leave and see to it he"s led elsewhere."
Debreban shook his head. "My lord, protecting the Burkus clan is my duty. We need to hide you and the lady here while I lead him away. Lend me your clothes and sword and-"
"Blast you, you will not.I"m the one with a debt to pay-"
Filima got between them. "You"re forgetting one thing: Botello is not an idiot. He"ll search this place no matter how many fake trails you leave on the outside. He will come in regardless . . . because of me."
"I won"t allow it," Cadmus stated, looking all manful.
"Yoo hoo?" said Terrin, waving. "He"s a p.i.s.sed-off jerk who can throw fire and who knows what else.
Do you really want to get in the middle of a domestic disturbance with him? I don"t think so. Filima, lemme ask you this: Botello"s in Anton"s bod, only you pretend you don"t know it. He"s gonna knock onyour gate in the middle of the night. What would you normally do?"
"Let him in of course. He"s the overduke, after all."
"That"s right. Once in, what do you think he will do when he sees you? Especially if he thinks he"s got you off-guard?"
Her eyes narrowed, her lips thinning to a smile. "I understand."
Cadmus went red in the face. "Filima, I absolutely forbid you go anywhere near him!"
"I handled him before, I can do it again," she said. "You don"t know what"s at stake."
"Lady . . ." Debreban spoke up. "Begging pardon, but from what I saw he"s not in his right mind. He won"t react the way he used to."
"Then I"ll just have to be careful. I know he"s changed, and certainly for the worst, he"s been in h.e.l.l for two weeks for gawd"s sake."
I sincerely hoped she wouldn"t say "poor Botello" again. "Couldn"t we just hide behind the door, lure him in, then knock him out?"
Terrin showed teeth. "I was wondering when someone would come to the next part of my master plan."
My a.s.s, I thought. He was just getting us do his thinking for him.
"That won"t take care of the guards he"ll have along."
"Debreban and I can see to them," said Shankey.
"But it"s treason to raise a weapon to the ducal guard," said Filima.
"No weapons will be necessary, my lady. Not as long as we have kegs of beer handy and a store of sleepers in the apothecaria."
I took that to mean they stocked some kind of Mickey Finns in the house. "Aren"t there rules against drinking on duty?"
He shot me a funny look. "Huh?"
"Never mind, after tonight there will be."
Chapter Sixteen.
In h.e.l.l Whatever t.i.tles and respect he"d enjoyed as overduke were entirely useless in the end, Anton decided.
The only things that counted with this demonic lot-aside from demonstrating any apt.i.tude for inflicting pain-were magical power and knowledge. Apparently little of either were to be had in this realm.
Anton found himself bereft of his store of magic. Botello must have stripped him during that awful moment when they"d traded places. b.l.o.o.d.y thief. He"d not taken Anton"s inherent knowledge, though, so not all was lost, just in a very, very bad place. Perhaps in time he could renew his energies. Only he didn"t want to spend that time here.
The demons had shown in a most graphic way the consequences of lying to them, not on his own person, but upon some other hapless souls already in residence. Anton, after suppressing a strong urge to vomit, felt pity for them, but forced himself to be pragmatic. They were here because they"d brought it on themselves in some way. He was not of their number and reasonably certain the demons knew it. Though he was made uncomfortable, and thoroughly frightened, they"d not committed torture on him, just a few sharp nudges to keep him alert. Because of that tiny blessing, he was coming to the conclusion that they honestly didn"t know what to do with him.
"Where is Botello?" they"d asked.
"He"s gone Otherside," he"d replied. "He"s taken my place, is using my body, having put me in this one."