'I don't know. It seemed like a good idea when Matt first explained it to me. I was dying to get away from the farm, but I didn't know how to do anything but farm work for a living… until Matt explained to me how easy it was to get money away from people by playing on their greed. 'Promise them something for nothing,' he said, 'or for so little that they think they're swindling you.' When he put it that way, it didn't seem so bad. It was more a matter of being smart enough to trick people who thought they were taking advantage of you.'
'… by selling them magical items that weren't.' I finished for her. 'Tell me, why didn't you just go into the magic trade for real?'
Her head came up, and I caught a quick flash of fire in her sad blue eyes.
'We didn't know any magic, so we had to fake it. You probably can't understand that, since you're the real McCoy. I knew that the first time I saw you at Possletum. We were going to try to fake our way into the Court Magician spot until you showed up and flashed a bit of real magic at the crown. Even Matt had to admit that we were outclassed, and we kind of faded back before anyone asked us to show what we could do. I think it was then that I…'
She broke off, giving me a startled, guilty look as if she had been about to say something she shouldn't.
'Go on,' I urged, my curiosity piqued.
'It's nothing, really,' she said hastily. 'Now it's your turn. Since I've told you my story, maybe you won't mind me asking how you got started as a magician.'
That set me back a bit. Like her, I had been raised on a farm. I had run away, though, planning to seek my fortune as a master thief, and it was only my chance meeting with my old teacher Garkin and eventually Aahz that had diverted my career goals toward magic. In hindsight, my motives were not discernibly better than hers, but I didn't want to admit it just now. I kind of liked the way she looked at me while laboring under the illusion that I was someone noble and special.
'That's too long a tale to go into just now,' I said brusquely. 'There are still a few more answers I'd like from you. How come you used our place as a getaway route from Deva?'
'Oh, that was Vic's idea. We teamed up with him just before we started working our con at the Bazaar. When it looked like the scam was starting to turn sour, he said he knew a way-off dimension that no one would be watching. Matt and I didn't even know it was your place until your doorman asked if we were there to see you. Matt was so scared about having to tangle with you that he wanted to forget the whole thing and find another way out, but Vic showed us the door and it looked so easy we just went along with him.'
'Of course, it never occurred to you that we'd get stuck with the job of trying to bring you back.'
'You better believe it occurred to us. I mean, we didn't think you'd have to do it. We expected you'd be mad at us for getting you involved and come after us yourself. Vic kept saying that we shouldn't worry, that if you found us here in Limbo he could fix it so you wouldn't be able to take us back. I didn't know he was thinking about setting up a frame until he sprang it on your partner.'
I tried to let this console me, but it didn't work.
'I notice that once you found out that Aahz was being framed, you still went along with it.'
'Well… I didn't want to, but Vic kept saying that if you two were as good as everyone said, that your partner could get out of jail by himself. We figured that he'd escape before the execution, but with the whole dimension hunting him as a fugitive that he'd be too busy running for home to bother about catching us.'
I was starting to get real anxious to meet this guy Vic. It also occurred to me that of all the potential problems our growing reputation could bring down on us, this was one we had never expected.
'And you believed him?'
Luanna made a face, then shrugged.
'Well… you're supposed to be able to do some pretty incredible things, and I don't want you to think I don't believe in your abilities, but I was worried enough that I sneaked back to let you know what was going on…just in case.'
It was almost funny that she was apologizing for giving us the warning. Almost, but not quite. My mind kept running over what might have happened if she had believed in me completely.
'I guess my only other question is who is this citizen that Aahz is supposed to have killed?'
'Didn't anybody tell you?' she blinked. 'It's Vic. He's from this dimension… you know, a vampire. Anyway, he's hiding out until the whole thing's resolved one way or another. I don't think even Matt knows where he is. Vampires are normally suspicious, and after I sneaked out the first time, he's even gotten cagey around us. He just drops in from time to time to see how we're doing.'
Now I knew I wanted to meet friend Vic. If I was lucky, I'd meet him before Aahz did.
'Well, I do appreciate you filling me in on the problem. Now, if you'll just come back to Blut with us and explain things to the authorities, my gratitude will be complete.'
Luanna started as if I had stuck her with a pin.
'Hold on a minute! Who said anything about going to the authorities? I can't do that! That would be double crossing my partners. I don't want to see you or your friends get hurt, but I can't sacrifice my own to save them.'
An honest crook is both incongruous and infuriating. Aahz had often pointed this out to me when some point in my ethic kept me from going along with one of his schemes, and now I was starting to understand what he was talking about.
'But then why are you here?'
'I wanted to warn you. Vic has been thinking that you might come into Limbo after your partner, and he's setting up some kind of trap if you did. If he was right, I thought you should know that you're walking into trouble. I figured that if you came, you'd look up the Dispatcher, so I waited there and followed you when you showed up. I just wanted to warn you is all. That and…'
She dropped her eyes again and lowered her voice until I could hardly hear her.
'… I wanted to see you again. I know it's silly, but…'
As flattering as it was, this time I was unimpressed.
'Yeah, sure.' I interrupted. 'You're so interested in me you're willing to let my partner sit on a murder rap just so you can watch me go through my paces.'
'I already explained about that,' she said fiercely, stepping forward to lay a hand on my arm.
I stared at it pointedly until she removed it.
'Well,' she said in a small voice. 'I can see that there's nothing more I can say. But, Skeeve? Promise me that you won't follow me when I leave? You or your friends? I took a big risk finding you. Please don't make me regret it.'
I stared at her for a long moment, then looked away and nodded.
'I know you're disappointed in me, Skeeve,' came her voice, 'but I can't go against my partners. Haven't 'you ever had to do something you didn't want to do to support your partner?'
That hit home… painfully.
'Yes, I have,' I said, drawing a ragged breath. 'I'm sorry, Luanna. I'm just Worried about Aahz, that's all. Tell you what. Just to show there're no hard feelings, can I have a token or something? Something to remember you by until I see you again?'
She hesitated, then pulled a gossamer-thin scarf from somewhere inside her outfit. Stepping close, she tucked it into my tunic, then rose on her tiptoes and kissed me softly.
'It's nice of you to ask,' she said. 'Even if I don't mean anything to you at all, it's nice of you to ask.'
With that, she turned and sprinted off down the road into the darkness.
I stared after her.
'You're letting her go!?'
Suddenly Massha was at my side, flanked by Guido.
'C'mon, Boss. We gotta catch her. She's your partner's ticket off death row. Where's she goin'?'
'To meet up with her partners in crime,' I said. 'Including a surprisingly lively guy named Vic… surprising since he's the one that Aahz is supposed to have killed.'
'So we can catch 'em all together. Nice work, Hot Stuff. Okay, let's follow her and…'
'No!'
'Why not?'
