'What's that?' I managed at last.
Guido was decked out in a long dark coat and wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses.
'These? These are my work clothes,' he said proudly. 'They're functional as well as decorative.'
'They're what?'
'What I mean is, not only do people find 'em intimidating, the trench coat has all these little pockets inside, see? That's where I carry my hardware.'
'But…'
'Hi, Hot Stuff. Nice outfit, Guido.'
'Thanks! I was just telling the Boss here about it.'
Massha was dressed… or should I say undressed in her work clothes. A brief vest struggled to cover even part of her massive torso, while an even briefer bottom was on the verge of surrendering its battle completely.
'Ummm… Massha?' I said carefully. 'I've always meant to ask. Why don't you… ummm… wear more?'
'I like to dress cool when we're going into a hot situation,' she winked. 'You see, when things speed up, I get a little nervous… and the only thing worse than havin' a fat broad around is havin' a sweaty fat broad around.'
'I think it's a sexy outfit,' Guido chimed in. 'Reminds me of the stuff my old man's moll used to wear.'
'Well thanks. Dark and Deadly. I'd say your old man had good taste… but I never tasted him.'
I studied them thoughtfully as they shared a laugh over Massha's joke. Any hope of a quiet infiltration of this unknown dimension was rapidly disintegrating. Either Guido or Massha alone was eye-catching, but together they were about as inconspicuous as a circus parade and an army maneuver sharing the same road. Then it occurred to me that, not knowing what things were like where we were heading, they might fit in and I would stand out. It was a frightening thought. If everybody there looked like this…
I forced the thought from my mind. No use scaring myself any more than I had to before there was information to back it up. What was important was that my two assistants were scared. They were trying hard not to show it, but in doing so, each was dropping into old patterns, slipping behind old character masks. Guido was playing his 'tough gangster' bit to the hilt, while Massha was once more assuming her favorite 'vamp' character with a vengeance. The bottom line, though, was that, scared or not, they were willing to back my move or die trying. It would have been touching, if it weren't for the fact that it meant they were counting on me for leadership. That meant I had to stay calm and confident… no matter how scared I felt myself. It only occurred to me as an afterthought that, in many ways, leadership was the mask I was learning to slip behind when things got tight. It made me wonder briefly if anyone ever really knew what they were doing or felt truly confident, or if life was simply a mass game of role-playing.
'Okay. Are we ready?' I asked, shrugging off my wandering thoughts. 'Massha? Got your jewelry?'
'Wearing most of it, and the rest is right here,' she said, patting the pouch on her belt.
While I will occasionally make snide mental comments about my apprentice's jewelry, it serves a dual purpose. Massha's baubles are in reality a rather extensive collection of magical gimmicks she has accumulated over the years. How extensive? Well, before she signed on as my apprentice to learn real magic, she was holding down a steady job as the magician for the city-state of Ta-hoe on the dimension of Jahk solely on the strength of her collected mechanical 'powers.' While I agreed with Aahz that real magic was preferable to mechanical in that it was less likely to malfunction (a lesson learned from first-hand experience) I sure didn't mind having her arsenal along for back-up.
'You know that tracking ring? The one you used to find the king? Any chance there's an extra tucked away in your pouch?'
'Only have the one,' she said, waggling the appropriate finger.
I cursed mentally, then made the first of what I feared would be many unpleasant decisions on this venture.
'Give it to Nunzio. Tananda and Chumley will need it to find us.'
'But if we leave it behind, how are we going to find your partner?'
'We'll have to figure out something, but we can't afford to divide our forces. Otherwise, even if we get Aahz, we could still end up wandering around out there trying to find the other half of the rescue team.'
'If you say so. Hot Stuff,' she grimaced, handing over the ring, 'but I hope you know what you're doing.'
'So do I, Massha, so do I. Okay, gang, let's see what our backyard is really like!'
From the outside, our place looked a lot more impressive than the side that showed in the Bazaar. It really did look like a castle… a rather ominous one at that, squatting alone on a hilltop. I really didn't study it too close, though, beyond being able to recognize it again for our trip out. As might be expected, my main attention was focused on the new dimension itself.
'Kinda dark, ain't it.'
Guide's comment was more statement than question, and he was right.
Wherever we were, the lighting left a lot to be desired. At first I thought it was night, which puzzled me, as so far in my travels all dimensions seemed to be on the same sun-up and sun-down schedule. Then my eyes adjusted to the gloom and I realized the sky was simply heavily overcast… to a point where next to no light at all penetrated, giving a night-like illusion to the day.
Aside from that, from what I could see, this new land seemed pretty much like any of the others I had visited:
Trees, underbrush, and a road leading to or from the castle, depending on which way you were facing. I think it was Tananda who was fond of saying 'If you've seen one dimension, you've seen them all.' Chumley, her brother, argued that the reason for the geologic similarities was that all the dimensions we traveled were different realities off the same base. This always struck me as being a bit redundant… 'They're all alike because they're the same? C'mon Chumley!', but his rebuttals always left me feeling like I'd been listening to someone doing readings in another language, so of late I've been tending to avoid the discussions.
'Well, Hot Stuff, what do we do now?'
For a change, I had an answer for this infuriating question.
'This road has to go somewhere. Just the fact that it exists indicates we aren't alone in this dimension.'
'I thought we already knew that,' Guido said under his breath. 'That's why we're here.'
I gave him my best dark glare.
'I believe there was some debate as to whether or not we were being lied to about Aahz being held prisoner. If there's a road here, it's a cinch that neither my partner nor the ones he was chasing built it. That means we have native types to deal with… possibly hostile.'
'Right,' Massha put in quickly. 'Put a sock in it, Guido. I want to hear our plan of action, and I don't like being kept waiting by hecklers.'
The bodyguard frowned, but kept his silence.
'Okay. Now, what we've got to do is follow this road and find out where it goes. Hug the side of the road and be ready to disappear if you hear anybody coming. We don't know what the locals look like, and until I have a model to work from, it's pointless for me to try to disguise us.'
With those general marching orders, we made our way through the dark along the road, moving quietly to avoid tipping our hand to anyone ahead of us. In a short time we came up to our first decision point. The road we were on ended abruptly when it met another, much larger thoroughfare. My assistants looked at me expectantly. With a shrug I made the arbitrary decision and led them off to the right down this new course. As we went, I reflected with some annoyance that even though both Massha and Guido knew that I was as new to this terrain as they were, it somehow fell to me to choose the path.
My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of voices ahead, coming our way. The others heard it too, and without word or signal we melted into the underbrush. Squatting down, I peered through the gloom toward the road, anxious to catch my first glimpse of the native life forms.
I didn't have long to wait. Two figures appeared, a young couple by the look of them, talking and laughing merrily as they went. They looked pretty normal to me, which was a distinct relief, considering the forms I had had to imitate in some of the other dimensions. They were humanoid enough to pass for Klahds… or Jahks, actually, as
