'I can't believe that there's been no heroic attempt to rescue you, little guy,' Vergetta told the paperweight in the middle of the table. 'Nobody throwing themselves on the ramparts, no one scaling the walls, nobody battering down the door. Looks like all your friends are a bunch of Wuhses, eh?' She laughed heartily at her own joke. The Wuhs didn't join in.
'There was a retraction in the
Vergetta looked dubious. 'Why which one? Why he got in our way, or why he apologized?'
'The apology is the weird part.'
'Looks to me like he backed out of his contract with Shorty over there,' Tenobia declared, aiming a manicured thumb at the Wuhs on the table. 'Nothing's happened for a week. He probably went back to his batcave with a big fat zero. Probably just figured out he's as likely to get paid as we are.'
The can hanging from the wall jangled. Niki frowned at it, then went over to pick it up. She listened, the scowl growing deeper.
'Something's wrong at Factory #9,' she told the others as she let the cylinder drop. 'The Wuhses are refusing to sign in.' The can clattered again. She snatched it up and shouted into it. 'I'm coming! What?' She threw it down. 'Factory #2. They're protesting for better parking spaces.'
'I'll go,' Tenobia volunteered. 'I'll give them
'Don't all of them walk to work?' Nedira inquired. 'It's probably a notion one of them picked up on another dimension,' Tenobia snarled. 'Ironic, isn't it? They found something for free that's still a pain in the rump!' She vanished.
The can jangled again. And again. The Pervects grabbed for it, another rushing off to handle each fresh situation.
'Hold on!' Vergetta shouted, as Charilor was about to blip out to handle a riot at Factory #3 about microwave popcorn privileges. 'This is too fishy. Someone's trying to get us all going in a dozen directions at once.'
'Skeeve,' Oshleen sniffed. 'He's back! But where?'
A shout from Caitlin made the remaining four turn around.
'We got him,' the smallest Pervect announced smugly. 'He's trying to read our computer again!'
Her hands danced over the keyboard. Vergetta smiled her admiration as a ball of blue lightning built up in the air around Caitlin's head. As the little Pervect hit ENTER, the surge dove back into the computer and down the line. She crossed her arms. 'That'll fix him.'
I jumped to catch Zol as a jagged ball of power leaped out of his notebook, knocking him flat. We were in a room of the castle on the same floor as the Pervects' headquarters waiting until the room was empty. Gleep sat in a corner happily crunching up more Kobold treats than I had ever let him have before.
'What happened?' I demanded.
Bunny lifted the little gray man's head. His eyes fluttered open.
'Coley,' he gasped. 'Where's Coley?'
I lifted the notebook and handed it to him. The screen had been blown outward, and all the lights were dark.
'No!' he cried. 'Oh, Coley!' He cradled the little computer, patting its case and rocking it. Tears ran down his face. The computer was ruined. Zol muttered nonsense to himself.
I was shocked. It was the most emotion I had ever seen from the impassionate little Kobold.
'They're joined for life,' Bunny reminded me.
'Zol, we've got to move soon,' I whispered. 'How many are left?'
The Kobold whimpered at me, his big dark eyes open and anguished.
'He's in no shape to help us,' Tananda whispered back. 'A Kobold and his computer are one of the great love stories in all the dimensions.'
I made a quick decision. I pulled the D-hopper out of my boot and handed it to Bunny.
'Take him back to Kobol. See if they can do anything for Coley. We can handle the first part, at least.'
Bunny nodded. 'I'll be back as soon as I can.' She kissed me. My heart sang. 'Good luck!'
I grinned. 'No warrior ever got a better sendoff to battle.'
She blushed prettily and pushed the button.
'That leaves three of us,' Tananda reminded me.
After their cowardly attack on Zol I was more determined than ever to drive the Pervects out. 'That will be plenty.'
We hefted our weaponry and sneaked into the anteroom. Gleep's stomach rumbled audibly behind me.
'Shh!' I hissed.
Gleep looked at me apologetically. 'Gleep sorry.'
The Pervects weren't listening for small noises. They were shouting at one another. A clanging noise added to the clamor. I crawled close enough to the door to listen.
'More riots!' the eldest one yelled. 'What is it, every single Wuhs in Pareley decides this is the day to protest our rules? They're insane.'
The jangling came again. 'Hello! Factory #8. Fix it yourselves, you miserable sheep! One of you go. Hurry.'
I heard a
Mentally I complimented Kassery and Bunny. They had been riding herd on the designated protest teams all week long. Bunny in particular had been incredibly good about getting them to promise to cooperate at the designated moment. With her background in handling Mob men, the Wuhses didn't have a chance to waffle or back out. It looked like all her convincing had paid off.
'Let them riot!' shouted the elegant one in the jumpsuit. 'Who cares if the Wuhses riot? There's a magician gunning for us. Concentrate on him! Find him!'
'That power surge ought to have knocked him out,' the little one at the computer snapped. 'He's flat on his back. He ought to be easy to find. Follow the power line. Take a tracer from my CPU.'
If they had a means of locating computers by magik I was glad Bunny and Zol were no longer in the dimension. I peered through the crack in the door. Four left. Weren't they ever going to leave?
'Gleep?' my pet asked quietly. He wore a collar filled with anti-magik dust. I hoped that would protect him from the fire spell. If he felt any heat at all he had orders to back off and lure the Pervects to him. It would have the same effect of clearing the room that I had in mind.
I glanced in through the doorway. The old one, the very young one, the elegant one and the tough one in the miniskirt were still in there. Time was running away! How could I get in and lay my anti-magik floor if they didn't leave? Time to take action!
I gestured over my head. Gleep gave me a happy grin, nudged open the door with his nose, and trotted playfully into the middle of the Pervects' chamber.
'Well, look at that, a little pet dragon,' the elder Pervect said, bending over to beckon Gleep to her. 'Come here, little dragon-cutie-pie. What are you doing here?' 'Dragons aren't native to this dimension,' the little one warned her. 'It's some kind of trick…!' But it was too late.
POOT!
'Aaaaugggh!'
The inevitable happened. The effects of processed carbohydrates hitting dragon digestive juices manifested itself strongly in the enclosed room. The air didn't actually turn green, but it smelled as though it should have. Gleep stood in the middle of the stone floor, looking very pleased with himself. Then he stuck out his long, forked tongue and blew a raspberry at the four Pervects. Flicking his tail playfully, he galloped out of the room. The Pervects let out a cry of fury, and went running out after him, past us and into the hallway. I checked the status of the spell to make sure the little flames were pointing inward now, hoisted my buckets and charged in.
'Hurry,' Tananda urged me. 'Phew!'
The gaggingly awful smell Gleep had left behind drove me to my knees, but I used a form of the 'pushing' spell I knew to clear out the air.
'Look!' I cried joyfully, pointing to a clear glass globe on the table. 'There he is!' A small figure was jumping up and down inside it. Wensley.
