'She's right,' agreed Tenobia. 'We've got to hang in here until we get them up and running, and make it stick.'
Paldine groaned and clutched her head. 'Oh, I just want to leave here and never come back!'
'What if we set up one big score that would net all the money the budget would need for the sixty days, including our fee,' Caitlin suggested, a wicked look in her eyes, 'but that the Wuhses would be responsible for? Then we could leave. The kingdom would be in excellent shape, financially if not socially.'
'And what would happen when the creditors descended?' Nedira chided the little Pervect. 'It would take them less than a week to use up two months' worth of money. Where can we increase revenue
'Well, there's no more money to be made out of Pareleyan exports,' Paldine stated, firmly. 'I'm already straining the markets for handweaving. Their books of poetry went over like a dead horse. We were doing pretty well in the factories that assemble housewares. If only Vergetta and Charilor,' she glared at the stocky young female, who went to lean against the wall with her arms folded, 'hadn't blown their caper on Deva we'd have had a virtually infinite customer base.'
'And that was our idea?' Vergetta snarled. 'Forget it. If I ever get my hands on that Trollop, I'll paint her wagon, just before I fix it for good.'
'We did,' Charilor smirked. 'We smacked her and her two henchmen around fairly thoroughly. We paid in advance, if you look at it one way.'
'Well, I don't!'
'Please!' Nedira shouted over the others' voices.
'I believe,' Monishone spoke up for the first time from her work station close to the window, 'I may have the solution.'
The others turned to her. Of the group she was easily the best magician, though Vergetta believed she hated all technology, unnatural for a Pervect. 'So what you got, baby?'
The slender, delicately built female came forward. Her blue silk robes clashed horribly with her green scales, but it was the traditional color for ceremonial magik. She pulled back her wide sleeve so the others could see the small device balanced on her palm. 'This.'
'Glasses?' Niki asked. 'So you're leaving the Luddite contingent at last?' Where Monishone was the technophobe, Niki was the technophile. If something broke down Vergetta didn't bother to try and fix it herself; she always called Niki.
'Don't be stupid,' Monishone stared at her haughtily. 'They're storytelling goggles.'
'Come again?' Niki demanded. 'What's the difference between those and virtual-reality headsets?'
'Because they're magikal, wirehead,' the smaller Pervect spat. 'They work, unlike the crap you play with.'
'All right, all right, no more fighting,' Vergetta soothed them. 'We just fixed the wall again last week.' She swooped down and snatched the spectacles out of Monishone's hand. 'How do they work?'
'Just put them on.'
The elder female hooked the ear-pieces over her large ears and settled the frame on the bridge of her nose. 'So what am I supposed to see?'
'Do you see the little books in the corner? Pick one and flick a tiny bit of power at it.'
'And…?' Vergetta pressed. Monishone waited, a little smile on her lips. 'Aaaaagggghhh!'
Niki leaped forward, and plucked the spectacles off Vergetta's face. 'What's wrong?'
The elder Pervect grabbed them back. 'Give me those! It's wonderful!' She put them back on.
'What's wonderful?' Tenobia asked, taking them away and propping them on her own nose. 'Wha— wow!'
'Let me see,' Oshleen insisted, hooking the eyeglasses with one long claw. She stiff-armed the shorter female with one arm while she put them on. 'Fantastic! I could almost pluck those jewels off the walls!'
'Inconsiderate bitches,' Charilor snarled, twisting Oshleen's arm up behind her back. With her free hand she felt around the other's face until she got the spectacles.
'Ow! You hit me in the nose!'
'Let me see!' Nedira demanded, pushing the others out of the way until she reached Charilor.
'Enough!' Vergetta bellowed. The stone room shook until the hanging lamps danced. Eight of the Ten stopped squabbling and turned to look at her. Monishone stood with her arms crossed, wearing a smug expression. 'Give me those! Now!' She put out an imperious hand to Charilor. Very reluctantly, Charilor peeled the goggles off and put them on Vergetta's palm. 'You all sit down, and you wait until I am finished with these, and then everyone may have a turn! Just because I'm the oldest doesn't mean I can't kick your behinds from here to tomorrow!'
Shamefacedly the rest of the Ten settled down into their favorite seats to watch her. The only sound was that of Caitlin's fingers clicking on the keys of her computer. Vergetta nodded and resumed the goggles.
Inside the glasses it was dark except for the tiny glowing bookshelf in the upper left edge of her field of view. It didn't take a master magician to manipulate the individual books. The merest touch of power caused each one in turn to open and display its title page to her. A pink one was entitled
'Anything you like,' Monishone confirmed.
Dragonfest looked good. Vergetta went back to it and opened it again. With the merest touch of magik she turned the first page.
Suddenly she was not seeing the tiny book, but a landscape that surrounded her completely. In the distance were three active volcanoes spewing smoke into the gray sky. Her feet shifted on the uneven ground. She looked down, and realized she was standing on a mountain of gold coins and jewels. She started to bend to pick up a handful of treasure.
'Hiyyaaaa!' a voice screamed behind her. The jewels scattered. She turned around to see a little being clad in shining silver armor waving a sword at her. He stood no higher than her knee. He plunged forward, waving the brand. It flashed down and hit her in the knee.
'Ow!' she roared. A jet of flame shot out of her mouth, narrowly missing the knight. 'Hey! I'm the dragon! This is great!' She stopped to examine her hands. They were long, slender blue paws with gleaming red nails. 'This clashes, baby.'
Abruptly, a narrow band of rainbow light appeared next to her right hand. 'That one,' she decided, pointing at a stripe of burnt orange. 'Always go for the complementary color.' Before she'd finished speaking the nails had turned orange. 'Very nice. Now, for you, you little
But the knight didn't wait around for her to revarnish her fingernails. He hauled his tin behind down the hill as fast as his fingerlong legs would carry him. It took no trouble at all, even walking dragon fashion on all fours, to catch up with him. Vergetta grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, rolled back on her long, scaly tail, and started slapping his face from one side to the other. 'You don't pick on a lady like that! Didn't your mama tell you anything? Behave yourself!'
She had the knight blubbering like a baby in no time. When he had apologized no fewer than fifty times she let him drop to the ground. He picked himself up and started running. With a puff of breath she gave him a hot seat to remember her by. He vanished over the crest of the hill. She bent down at last to count the treasure in the hill.
When she took off the goggles her eyes were wet with tears. 'That vas beautiful, darling,' she told Monishone. 'Brilliant! You're a genius! It's a Pervect fantasy.'
All eight of the others pushed forward, grabbing for the glasses. 'Me next!' 'No, me!' 'Me!'
'Everyone gets a turn, in order of age. Caitlin?'
The little girl jumped down from her chair and ran up to Vergetta, her hands up. The older female held the spectacles just out of reach. She pointed an admonitory forefinger.
'What do you say?'
'Gimme, you old trout!'
Vergetta beamed and patted the child on the head. 'Isn't she darling?'
The rest of the group watched Caitlin's face as it twisted and contorted. Her mouth occasionally gaped open
