extremely close haircut, as if she'd angrily hacked off hair too singed to save. 'Dear Zandria, is this uncomfortable approach absolutely necessary?'
'Where are the ring and the dagger, Jack?' the mage replied. 'I found the Tomb's riches; I fought a deep dragon to keep them; I lost comrades and friends in doing so. I have no patience whatsoever for your petty larceny. You stole prizes that I worked very hard to acquire, and I want them back.'
'You chased off the dragon? Excellent! When and where shall we meet to count out my two-elevenths share of the loot?'
'Your impudence was tiresome the first time you crossed my path, you sniveling little worm,' Zandria snapped. 'How dare you bring up such a matter, when you abandoned the field and left my company to stand alone against that monster?'
Jack shoved Zandria's boot from his chest and stood up as quickly as the blink of an eye, jamming one finger at her. 'How dare you bring up the circumstances under which I departed the fight, when you went out of your way to make sure I would not show up in the first place! We had a deal, Zandria, and you broke it before I did!'
'You insinuated yourself into my company! I didn't ask you to eavesdrop on my conversation with Ontrodes, I didn't ask you to illicitly copy my notes, and I most specifically did not ask for your help!'
'But you accepted my aid when I had something useful for you, by which I refer to the solution to the Guilder's riddle. You would not have found the tomb at all if it hadn't been for my interference, and you sought to reward me by cutting me out of my agreed-on share. So who's the thief here, dear Zandria?'
The mage's eyes burned dangerously. 'Choose your words carefully, Jack Ravenwild. You are an instant away from annihilation.''
Jack deliberately turned away from her to straighten his chair and took his seat again. He drank one sip from his mug and wiped his hand across his mouth. 'Very well. Sit down, dear Zandria, and we'll examine the situation rationally. Both parties have claims and both have damages, so let us try to find a compromise that suits the situation.'
'I have no interest in negotiating with you. Give me what is mine, and count yourself lucky that you walk away in the shape you were born to.'
'I have always responded poorly to threats. In this case, I will make an exception. We have the Guilder's hoard; I want my two-elevenths. And, aside from the hoard, we have the Orb of Khundrukar-presumably in your possession-which I also was promised a two-elevenths stake in.'
'I made no such promise!'
'Examine our contract, Zandria. The wording runs something to the effect of 'all items and treasures discovered in the Guilder's Tomb and any other regions jointly explored.' The Orb is certainly included in that.' Jack fished around in his coat pocket and found a small pipe. He rarely indulged in pipeweed, but this seemed like an appropriate occasion. He tamped leaf into the pipe and lit it with a minor magic. 'I would be willing to forfeit my two shares if you will forfeit your claim to the Orb.'
'Impossible,' Zandria said. 'The Orb is not subject to discussion.'
'If we remanded this matter to the local courts, I am certain they would uphold my claims on two-elevenths of the treasure, and they would assign me two-elevenths ownership of the Orb.' Jack puffed on the pipe a moment.
'However, I have no particular wish to engage in an ugly legal battle with such a dear comrade as you. I would prefer a more informal and mutually satisfactory arrangement.'
The mage glared at him for a long moment, thinking hard. Then she shoved her wand back into a holster at her hip and drew up the chair opposite Jack's. 'I'll see to it you receive your two shares of the hoard. You give me the magical items you stole. You are bound by that contract, too, and I have a nine-elevenths ownership of the ring and the dagger. Does that meet your requirements?'
Magical items? Clearly, Zandria believed that the ring and the dagger were enchanted, which meant that they were more than mere baubles to be pawned at the first opportunity. In fact, magic rings had a reputation for potentially concealing extraordinary powers. Jack had thought that the gems and coins he'd stuffed into his pockets were the prize for his efforts in Sarbreen, a few hundred crowns of loot quickly converted into cash. But if he had a magic ring and an enchanted dagger in his possession, he might have scored far better than he'd thought.
Of course, there was no point in acknowledging this to Zandria. Jack carefully controlled his reaction and frowned studiously. 'I accept two shares for the two items for the sake of argument, as long as we add the value of the ring and dagger to the hoard before calculating my cut, but the Lady Mayor's advertised reward for your Orb is ten thousand gold crowns and a noble title. What value shall we place on that?'
'We cannot split a noble title,' Zandria said slowly, as if explaining weighty matters to a child.
Jack smoked and nodded thoughtfully. 'I propose this: we place eleven marbles into a bag, two black, nine white. We shake up the bag and hand it to an impartial stranger, asking him to draw one marble from the bag without looking. If he draws a black marble, I win the entire reward due the finder of the Orb. If he draws a white marble, you win.'
'I will not settle this question by gambling! Who knows how you might fix such a game?'
'We seem to be stuck,' Jack remarked. 'Clearly, you want the title. I will settle for cash. I'll give you ring and dagger for two-elevenths of the hoard (including the value of ring and dagger!) You give me the ten thousand crowns for the Orb's reward and keep the title.'
The mage winced, but nodded. 'Done. Now give me the ring.'
'Not so fast,' said Jack.
It was a shame to give up a chance at the noble title, but frankly, he preferred cash in hand, and he had too much on his mind to do a proper job of holding the Red Wizard over the barrel. Beside, he had no idea what Zandria might do if he made it too hard for her to deal honestly with him. He looked at Zandria and studied her for a moment, making a great show of thinking things through carefully and slowly.
'While I have no real idea of the value of those two items, your intense interest in them would seem to indicate that they are quite valuable indeed. Therefore, I will hold the ring and the dagger as security against my cut of the treasure and ten thousand gold crowns. I will redeem them when you make good on my agreed-upon share of the loot.'
'Security?' asked Zandria incredulously. 'Your impudence is beyond compare! I should incinerate you where you sit, and take both ring and dagger from your smoldering corpse!'
'You might do that, of course, but you would be disappointed. You see, dear Zandria, I do not have either ring or dagger on my person at the moment.' That, of course, was a bald-faced lie; the ring nestled in Jack's vest pocket, while the dagger was tucked into his left boot. 'Why don't we plan on meeting here again in, say, two days? That will give you time to turn in the Orb and collect the reward. Do you agree?'
The mage rolled her eyes, but nodded. 'Fine. I agree.'
'Excellent! Then let us share a drink to commemorate the agreement.'
Jack signaled the waitress, but Zandria waved her hand in disgust. 'I have no interest in toasting your health, Jack Ravenwild. I will assemble the money you require. Be warned: if you fail to produce the ring and the dagger, I will not entertain any further negotiations. I shall simply kill you on the spot regardless of repercussions or arrangements. I admit that may cause me some small trouble, which is why I did not end your life tonight, but you will be a smoking corpse, Jack, dead as every slaying-spell at my command can make you. Do not try my patience again.'
The Red Wizard stood and turned on her heel, marching out of the room with her fury blazing like a brand in the night. Longshoremen and teamsters twice her size caught one glance of the expression on her face and fell over themselves trying to get out of her path. Jack raised his goblet to her back and smiled.
'Your health!' he called. 'I shall see you in two days!'
Jack lingered another hour at the Tankard, enjoying the sense of security engendered by passing time in a room crowded with familiar faces while he planned his next move. Zandria had given him much to think about; he fished the ring out of his pocket and examined it again. It was a single piece of smooth gray stone flecked with red, quite handsome in its own way, although not particularly valuable at first glance. He whispered a few words and worked a minor magic to detect whether or not it was enchanted, and blinked in surprise-the stone ring radiated
