'Upstairs arguing with His Nibbs,' Nunzio grinned.
'As a matter of fact, I was looking for you to break it up when I found you had snuck out again.'
'Why didn't you say so in the first place?'
'What for? There's no rush. They'll be arguing until you get there. I figured it was more important to convince you to quit going out alone.'
I groaned a little inside, but I had learned long ago the futility of arguing priorities with Nunzio. 'Well, thanks again for the advice, but I'd better get upstairs before those two kill each other.'
With that I headed across the courtyard for the fountain stairs to our offices…
Courtyard? Fountain stairs?
What happened to the humble tent I was walking into a minute ago?
Weelll… I said I was a magician, didn't I? Our little stall at the Bazaar is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Lots bigger. I've lived in royal palaces that weren't as big as our 'humble tent.' I can't take any credit for this particular miracle, though, other than the fact that it was my work that helped earn us our current residence. We live here rent-free courtesy of the Devan Merchants Association as partial payment for a little job we did for them a while back. That's also how I got my bodyguards… but that's another story, Devan Merchants Association, you ask? Okay. For the uninitiated, I'll go over this just once. The dimension I'm currently residing in is Deva, home of the shrewdest deal-drivers in all the known dimensions. You may have heard of them. In my own home dimension they were called devils, but I have since learned the proper pronunciation is Deveels. Anyway, my gracious living quarters are the result of my partner and I beating the Deveels at their own game… which is to say we got the better of them in a deal. Don't tell anyone, though. It would ruin their reputation and maybe even cost me a cushy spot. You see, they still don't know they've been had.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yes. Heading for the offices. Normally after sneaking out I would stop by the stables to share breakfast with Gleep, but with a crisis on my hands I decided to forgo the pleasure of my pet's company and get to work. Gleep. He's the dragon Aliman was talking about… and I'm not going to try to condense that story. It's just too complicated.
Long before I reached the offices I could hear their voices raised in their favorite 'song.' The lyrics changed from time to time, but I knew the melody by heart.
'Incompetent bungler!'
'Who are you calling an incomplete bungler?'
'I stand corrected. You are a complete bungler!'
'You better watch your mouth! Even if you are the boss's partner, one more word and I'll…'
'You'll what? If you threw a punch the safest place to be would be where you're aiming.'
'Izzatso?'
It sounded like I had arrived in the nick of time. Taking a deep breath, I casually strolled into the teeth of the fracas.
'Hi, guys.' I pretended to be totally unaware of what was going on. 'Anyone want a bagel?'
'No, I don't want a bagel!' came the sneering response from one combatant. 'What I want is some decent help.'
'… and while you're at it see what you can do about getting me a little respect!' the other countered.
The latter comment came from Guido, senior of my two bodyguards. If anything, he's bigger and nastier than his cousin Nunzio.
The former contribution came from Aahz. Aahz is my partner. He's also a demon, a Pervect to be exact, and even though he's slightly shorter than I am, he's easily twice as nasty as my two bodyguards put together.
My strategy had worked in that I now had their annoyance focused on me instead of each other. Now, realizing the potential devastation of their respective temperaments individually, much less collectively, I had cause to doubt the wisdom of my strategy.
'What seems to be the trouble?'
'The trouble,' Aahz snarled, 'is that your ace bodyguard here just lost us a couple of clients.'
My heart sank. I mentioned earlier that Aahz and I have more money than we know what to do with, but old habits die hard. Aahz is the tightest being I've ever met when it comes to money, and, living at the Bazaar at Deva, that's saying something! If Guido had really lost a potential customer, we'd be hearing about it for a long time.
'Ease up a minute, partner,' I said more to stall for time than anything else. 'I just got here, remember? Could you fill me in on a few of the details?' Aahz favored Guido with one more dark stare.
'There's not all that much to tell,' he said. 'I was in the middle of breakfast…'
'He was drinking another meal,' Guido translated scornfully.
'… when mush-for-brains here bellows up that there are some customers waiting downstairs in reception. I called back that I'd be down in a few, then finished my meal.'
'He kept them waiting at least half an hour. You can't expect customers to…'
'Guido, could you hold the editorial asides for one round? Please?' I interceded before Aahz could go for him. 'I'm still trying to get a rough idea of what happened, remember? Okay, Aahz. You were saying?' Aahz took a deep breath, then resumed his account. 'Anyway, when I got downstairs, the customers were nowhere to be seen. You'd think your man here would be able to stall them or at least have the sense to call for reinforcements if they started getting twitchy.'
'C'mon, Aahz. Guido is supposed to be a bodyguard, not a receptionist. If some customers got tired of waiting for you to show up and left, I don't see where you can dodge the blame by shifting it to…'
'Wait a minute. Boss. You're missing the point. They didn't leave!'
'Come again?'
'I left 'em there in the reception room, and the next thing I know Mr. Mouth here is hollerin' at me for losing customers. They never came out! Now, like you say, I'm supposed to be a bodyguard. By my figuring we've got some extra people wandering the premises, and all this slob wants to do is yell about whose fault it is.'
'I know whose fault it is,' Aahz said with a glare. 'There are only two ways out of that reception room, and they didn't come past me!'
'Well they didn't come past me!' Guido countered.
I started to get a very cold feeling in my stomach.
'Aahz, 'I said softly.
'If you think I don't know when…'
'AAHZ!'
That brought him up short. He turned to me with an angry retort on his lips, then he saw my expression.
'What is it, Skeeve? You look as if…'
'There are more than two ways out of that room.'
We stared at each other in stunned silence for a few moments, then we both sprinted for the reception room, leaving Guido to trail along behind.
The room we had selected for our reception area was one of the largest in the place, and the only large room with easy access from the front door. It was furnished in a style lavish enough to impress even those customers spoiled by the wonders of the Bazaar who were expecting to see the home office of a successful magician. There was only one problem with it, and that was the focus of our attention as we dashed in.
The only decoration that we had kept from the previous owners was an ornate tapestry hanging on the north wall. Usually I'm faster than Aahz, but this time he beat me to the hanging, sweeping it aside with his arm to reveal a heavy door behind it. Our worst fears were realized. The door was unlocked and standing ajar.
Chapter Two
'Success often hinges on choosing a reliable partner.'
