Bursting through the door of the Bazaar"s leading fast food establishment, I saw that it was empty of customers except for a troll munching on a table in the corner.
Terrific.
I was expecting to deal with Gus, the gargoyle proprietor, but I"d settle for the troll.
"Skeeve!" the troll exclaimed. "I say, this is a surprise. What brings you to the Bazaar?"
"Later, Chumly. Right now I need a lift back to Klah. Are you busy with anything?"
The troll set his half-eaten table to one side and raised the eyebrow over one mismatched moon eye.
"Not to be picky about formality," he said, "but what happened to "h.e.l.lo, Chumly. How are you?" "
"I"m sorry. I"m in a bit of a hurry. Can we just...."
"Skeeve! How"s it going, handsome?"
A particularly curvaceous bundle of green-haired loveliness had just emerged from the ladies" room.
"Oh. Hi, Tananda. How "bout it, Chumly?"
Tananda"s smile of welcome disappeared, to be replaced by a puzzled frown.
" "Oh. Hi, Tananda?" " she repeated, shooting a look at the troll. "Does anything strike you as strange about that rather low-key greeting, big brother?"
"No stranger than the greeting I just got," Chumly confided. "Just off-hand, I"d say that either our young friend here has forgotten his manners completely, or he"s gotten himself into a spot of trouble."
Their eyes locked and they nodded.
"Trouble," they said together.
"Cute," I grimaced. "Okay, so I"m in a mess. I"m not asking you to get involved. In fact, I think I"ve got it worked out myself. All I want is for you to pop me back to Klah."
Brother and sister stepped to my side.
"Certainly," Chumly smiled. "You don"t mind if we tag along, though, do you?"
"But I didn"t ask you to ..."
"When have you had to ask for our help before, handsome?" Tananda scolded, slipping an arm around my waist. "We"re your friends, remember?"
"But I think I"ve got it handled ..."
". . . In which case, having us along won"t hurt," the troll insisted.
"Unless, of course, something goes wrong," Tananda supplied. "In which case, we might be able to lend a hand."
"... And if the three of us can"t handle it. we"ll be there to pull you out again," Chumly finished.
I should have known better than to try to argue with the two of them when they were united.
"But... if ... well, thanks," I managed. "I didn"t really expect this. I mean, you don"t even know what the trouble is."
"You can tell us later," Tananda said firmly, starting her conjuring to move us through the dimensions. "Incidentally, where"s Aahz?"
"That"s part of the problem," I sighed.
And we were back!
Not just back on Klah, back in my own quarters in the palace. As luck would have it, we weren"t alone. Someday I"ll have time to figure out if it was good luck or bad. The King was trussed up hand and foot on my bed, while Ma.s.sha and J. R. Grimble were each enjoying a goblet of wine, and apparently each other"s company. At least, that was the scene when we arrived. Once Ma.s.sha and Tananda set eyes on each other, the mood changed dramatically.
"s.l.u.t," my new apprentice hissed. "No-talent mechanic," Tananda shot back. "Is that freak on our payroll?" Grimble interrupted, staring at Chumly.
"Spoken like a true bean-counter," the troll sneered.
I tried to break it up.
"If we can just..."
That brought Grimble"s attention to me.
"You!" he gasped. "But if you"re Skeeve, then who"s...."
"King Rodrick of Possiltum," I supplied, nodding to the bound figure on the bed. "And now that everybody knows each other, can you all shut up while I tell you what our next move is?"
Chapter Thirteen:.
"Marriage, being a lifelong venture, must be approached with care and caution."
-BLUEBEARD.
THE wedding went off without a hitch.
I don"t known why I had been worried. There were no interruptions, no missed lines, n.o.body protested or even coughed at the wrong time. As was previously noted, Queen Hemlock had handled the planning to the last minute detail . . . except for a few surprises we were holding back.
That"s why I was worried! My cronies and I knew that as gaudy and overdone as the Royal Wedding was, it was only the warm-up act for the main event. There was also the extra heat on me of knowing that I hadn"t shared all of my plans with my co-conspirators. It seemed that was another bad habit I had picked up from Aahz.
Grimble and Badaxe were at their usual places as mismatched bookends to the throne, while Chumly, Tananda, Ma.s.sha, and I, courtesy of my disguise spells and Badaxe"s pull as general, were lined up along the foot of the throne as bodyguards. Everything was set to go ... if we ever got the time!
As dignitary after dignitary stepped forward to offer his or her congratulations and gifts, I found little to occupy my thoughts except how many things could go wrong with my little scheme. I had stuck my neck out a long way with my plan, and if it didn"t work, a lot of people would be affected, starting with the king and subjects of Possiltum.
The more I thought, the more I worried until, instead of wishing the dignitaries would hurry, I actually found myself hoping they would take forever and preserve this brief moment of peace.
Of course, no sooner did I start hoping things would last then they were over. The last well-wisher was filing out and the Queen herself rising to leave when Grimble and Badaxe left their customary positions and stepped before the throne.
"Before you go, my dear," Rodrick said, "our retainers wish to extend their compliments."
Queen Hemlock frowned slightly, but resumed her seat.
"The Chancellor of the Exchequer stands ready to support their majesties in any way," Grimble began. "Of course, even with the new influx of wealth into the treasury, we must watch needless expenses. As always, I stand ready to set the example in cost savings, and so have decided that to purchase a present for you equal to my esteem would be a flagrant and unnecessary expense, and therefore..."
"Yes, yes, Grimble," the King interrupted. "We understand and appreciate your self-sacrifice. General Badaxe?"
Grimble hesitated, then yielded the floor to his rival. "I am a fighting man, not a speechmaker," the General said abruptly. "The army stands ready to support the kingdom and the throne of Possiltum. As for myself ... here is my present."
He removed the axe from his belt and laid it on the stairs before the throne.
Whether he was offering his pet weapon or his personal allegiance, I found the gesture eloquent beyond words.
"Thank you. General Badaxe, Grimble," Queen Hemlock said loftily. "I"m sure I can ..."
"My dear," the King interrupted softly. "There is another retainer."
And I was on.
s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up my courage, I dropped my disguise and stepped before the throne.
"Your majesties, the Great Skeeve gives you his congratulations on this happy event."
The Queen was no fool. For one beat her eyes popped open and on the next she was staring at the King. You could almost hear her thoughts: "If the Magician is there, then the man I just married is..."
"That"s right, your majesty. As you yourself said in our earlier conversations, "Royalty has married royalty." "
While it might have been nice dramatically to savor that moment, I noticed the Queen"s eyes were narrowing thoughtfully, so I hurried on.
"Before you decide how to express your joy," I warned, "perhaps I should explain my gift to the throne."
Now the thoughtful gaze was on me. I expressed my own joy by sweating profusely.
"My gift is the wedding rings now worn by both king and queen. I hope you like them, because they won"t come off."
Queen Hemlock made one brief attempt to remove her ring, then her eyes were on me again. This time, the gaze wasn"t thoughtful.
"Just as the fate of the kingdom of Possiltum is linked to the throne, as of the moment you donned those rings, your fates are linked to each other. By the power of a spell so simple it cannot be broken or countered, when one of you dies, so does the other."
The Queen didn"t like that at all, and even the King showed a small frown wrinkle on his forehead, as if contemplating something he had not previously considered. That was my signal to clarify things for him . . . that there was an implication to the rings that I hadn"t mentioned to him.
"This is not intended as a "one-sided" gift, for just as Queen Hemlock must now protect the health and wellbeing of her king, so must King Rodrick defend his queen against all dangers ... all dangers." The King was on his feet now, eyes flashing. "What is that supposed to mean. Lord Magician?" As adept as I was at becoming at courtly speech, there were things which I felt were best said in the vernacular.
"It means if you or anybody else kills her, say, on your orders, then, you"re dead. Now SIT DOWN AND LISTEN!!" All the anger and frustration I had felt since figuring out the King was trying to double-cross me, but had been too busy to express, found its vent in that outburst. It worked. The King sank back into his chair, pale and slightly shaken. I wasn"t done, though. I had been through a lot, and a few words weren"t enough to settle my mind.
"Since I accepted this a.s.signment, I"ve heard nothing but how ruthless and ambitious Queen Hemlock is. Well, that may be true, BUT SHE ISN"T GETTING ANY PRIZE EITHER! Right now. King Rodrick, I have more respect for her than I have for you. She didn"t abandon her kingdom in the middle of a crisis."
I began to pace back and forth before the thrones as I warmed to my topic.
"Everybody talks about "our duty to the throne." It"s the guiding directive in the walk-a-day life of commoners. What never gets mentioned is "the throne"s duty to the people." ". I paused and pointed directly at the King. "I sat in that chair for a while. It"s a lot of fun, deciding people"s lives for them. Power is heady, and the fringe benefits are great! All that bowing and sc.r.a.ping, not to mention one heck of a wardrobe. Still, it"s a job like any other, and with any job you sometimes have to do things you don"t like. Badaxe doesn"t just parade and review his troops, he has to train them and lead them into battle . . . you know, as in "I could get killed out here" battle. Grimble spends unG.o.dly hours poring over those numbers of his for the privilege of standing at your side.
"Any job has its pluses and minuses, and if the minuses outweigh the pluses, you screw up your courage and quit... unless, of course, you"re King Rodrick. Then, instead of abdicating and turning the pluses and minuses over to someone else, you stick someone else with doing the job in your name and sneak out a back door. Maybe that"s how people do their jobs where you were raised, but I think it"s conduct a peasant would be ashamed of."
I faced them, hands defiantly on my hips. "Well, I"ve done my job. The kingdom has been protected from the immediate threat. With any luck, you two will learn to work together. I trust King Rodrick can dilute the queen"s ambition. I only hope that Queen Hemlock"s fiery spirit can put a little more spine and courage into the King."
This time it was Queen Hemlock who was on her feet. "Are you going to let him talk to you like that. Roddie? You"re the king. n.o.body pushes a king around." "Guards!" Rodrick said tightly. "Seize that man." It had worked! King and Queen were united against a common foe ... me! Now all I had to do was survive it.
One more mind pa.s.s, and my comrades stood exposed as the outworlders they were.
Queen Hemlock, unaccustomed to my dealings with demons, dropped into her seat with a small gasp. The King simply scowled as he realized the real reason for the presence of my friends.
"Your Majesties," Badaxe said, stepping forward. "I am sworn to protect the throne and would willingly lay down my life in your defense. I do not see a physical threat here, however. If anything, it occurs to me both throne and kingdom would be strengthened if the Great Skeeve"s words were heard and heeded."
"I am not a fighting man," Grimble said, joining Badaxe, "so my duty here is pa.s.sive. I must add, though, that I also feel the Lord Magician"s words have merit and should be said to every ruler." His eyes narrowed and he turned to face me. "I challenge, though, whether they should be said by a retainer to the court. One of our first duties is to show respect to the throne, in word and manner."
"That much we agree on, Grimble," Badaxe nodded, adding his glare to the many focused on me.
"Strange as it may sound," I said, "I agree, too. For that reason, I am hereby tendering my resignation as Court Magician of Possiltum. The kingdom is now secure militarily and financially, and in my opinion there is no point in it bearing the expense of a full-time magician ... especially one who has been insolent to the throne. There is no need to discuss severance pay. The King"s reward for my last a.s.signment, coupled with the monies I have already received from the Exchequer, will serve my needs adequately. I will simply gather my things and depart."
I saw Grimble blanch slightly when he realized that I would not be returning his bribe. I had faith in his ability to hide anything in his stacks of numbered sheets, though.
With only the slightest of nods to the throne, I gathered my entourage with my eyes and left.
Everything had gone perfectly. I couldn"t have asked for the proceedings to have turned out better. As such, I was puzzled as to why I was sweat-drenched and shaking like a leaf by the time I reached my own quarters.
Chapter Fourteen:.
"Some farewells are easier than others."
-P. MARLOWE.
"So, where do you go from here?" Tananda asked.
She and Chumly were helping me pack. We had all agreed that having incurred the combined wrath of the King and Queen, it would be wisest to delay my departure as little as possible. Ma.s.sha was off seeing to Gleep and b.u.t.tercup as well as saying her goodbyes to Badaxe.
"I don"t really know," I admitted. "I was serious when I said I had acc.u.mulated enough wealth for a while. I"ll probably hole up someplace and practice my magic for a while . . . maybe at that inn Aahz and I used to use as a home base."
"I say, why don"t you tag along with little sister and me?" Chumly suggested. "We usually operate out of the Bazaar at Deva. It wouldn"t be a bad place for you to keep your hand in, magik-wise."
It flashed through my mind that the Mob must have started its infiltration of the Bazaar by now. It also occurred to me that, in the pre-wedding rush, I hadn"t told Tananda or Chumly about that particular portion of the caper. Having remembered, I found myself reluctant to admit my responsibility for what they"d find on their return.