'I... got it.'
Massha beamed as I shook hands with my new partner and swept out of the shop.
We turned into a side street where I dropped my disguise.
'Whew,' I said.
'Not too bad,' Massha greed. 'A little extra in the kitty. I looked at her books. She's pulling in almost ten gold coins a week profit already.'
'Sounds kind of marginal to me,' I said. 'Around here, ten gold coins is nothing.' I started to turn back. 'Maybe we could just make do with ten percent. Or five.'
'Hold it right there, Hot Pants,' Massha said, dragging me back by my arm. 'Don't let your heart get in the way of the real reason we did that. Hermalaya needs the bucks, and you don't want anyone to get the idea that you're a pushover. You handled one difficult situation pretty well. Let's go back to Bunny and turn in this money. We're doing pretty darned well right now. Don't forget that.'
We went back and handed over the funds.
Bunny tilted her head as we explained the day's work.
'I wonder if you should get credit for the subsidiary rights, Skeeve,' she said. 'No offense, but you didn't strike the bargain.'
I felt my face go scarlet, but she was right. I couldn't take Massha's glory away from her.
'Okay,' I said. 'Chalk that contract up to experience. Hermalaya gets the money no matter who gets credit for it.'
'No,' Massha said. 'It's his. We work as a team in the field, Bunny. We always have, We play off each other's strengths and weaknesses. I was there. I just jumped in. He would have gotten around Hepzibiltah in the end, but he was starting off from the wrong place, and it would have taken a much longer time. I just cut through some of the thicket. He did finish off the negotiation in the end.'
Bunny smiled at her. The two of them had become very good friends over the years.
'Okey-dokey,' she said. 'I get it.'
I breathed a sigh of relief as she inked in the profit under my name. In spite of setbacks and disappointments, I was collecting a pretty impressive sum. I just wondered what other booby traps Aahz was setting for me. I might have to lay a surprise or two of my own.
'Come on,' I said, pulling Dervina along with me through the dank, chilly corridor of the Foxe-Swampburg castle. Centuries of Hermalaya's ancestors glared down at me from fancy gold frames in between sconces giving off a faint, blue light. 'He'll be glad to see you.'
'But aren't we expected?' the Gnome asked. The fussy little creature kept tapping her fingertips together over her little round midsection.
'Constantly,' I assured him.
Most of the hallway was deserted, now that about half the servants and almost all the courtiers had been dismissed, I knew where we were going, because I could see the two guards flanking the door two-thirds of the way up the hall. Dervina looked nervous as we passed them, which I put down to the local livery. Over their already feral faces, the guards wore helmets of bronze cast into the likeness of insane wolves with slavering jaws and anatomically correct dentition, giving each of them almost as fearsome a snarl as a Pervect. The fur cloaks over their shoulders looked like they might have been skinned off the backs of defeated enemies. Dervina gulped.
'Hi, boys,' I said, slapping the one on the right as we went by him. ''The big guy's expecting me.'
Theirs was not to reason why, I figured, since they didn't stop us. On the other side of the door, we were halted by an ice-cold look from Matfany himself.
'What are you doing here. Mister Aahz?'
''Business,' I said, amiably, hoping to engender the same mood from him. It didn't work. The gaze grew even more chilly.
'Mister Aahz, I informed you that it would be best if you made an appointment before bursting in. I am very busy most days and don't have time to drop everything on a whim. Perhaps I didn't impress you enough with the importance of my position here and the respect that derives from it?'
'Sure you did, sure you did,' I assured him. 'And that is why Dervina here wanted so much to meet you in person.'
I stepped aside. The Gnome bowed over her folded hands. Matfany peered at her over his glasses and rose to his feet.
'Ma'am, I apologize. I am afraid I just didn't see you there.'
'Perhaps we should leave, Mister Aahz,' Dervina said, nervously. 'If Prime Minister Matfany is too busy
... ?'
'Not at all, ma'am,' Matfany said, automatically turning on the courtesy. He came around the document- strewn desk with his hand extended. 'Please, be welcome in Foxe-Swampburg. How may we serve you?'
'She's looking for a little something in a library or a symphony hall,' I said. 'What have you got?'
Matfany put on a pained smile. 'We have a couple of fine libraries, ma'am,' he said. 'The Orchestra Hall is where the orchestra plays, but we've also got an opera house. Both of those are pretty popular.'
'I can show them to you on the map,' I said, brandishing my chart. I glanced at his desk and at my prospect. It had taken me weeks and half a dozen favors to get an appointment with anyone in the Zoorik banking industry. Dervina was the only banker willing to talk to me about Foxe-Swampburg. Evidently their bond issues were down below an F-rating, and no one in Zoorik wanted to even talk about Foxe-Swampburg and money in the same sentence. She liked the idea of a cultural center with her name on it, but being more cautious than the Geek or Gribaldi, she wanted to see the place first. We needed to wow her. 'You haven't got a lot of room here. Let's move into the throne room and take a look at the map in there.'
'Let's not, sir,' Matfany said, just as firmly. 'This is my office. It is where I do business. Pray allow me, ma'am?'
He escorted Dervina to his chair and helped her to sit down. He rang a handbell on his desk. When one of the masked guards looked into the room, Matfany beckoned to him.
'Will you go ask the kitchen to bring this lady some refreshments? Would you like coffee, tea, or a little something stronger?'
'Oh, tea, thank you!'
I would have liked something a lot stronger and in decent quantity, but Matfany ignored me and my wishes. Efficiently, he tidied everything off his desk and spread out the map facing our guest. When the tea arrived on a cart pushed by a surly maidservant in a frilly pink apron, Matfany took it from her. He fussed over Dervina, fixing a cup for her just the way she liked it. I finally caught him alone by the door when he went out to ask for a few more lamps over his desk.
'Look, pal,' I hissed at him, 'this gal could mean a bucket of money. I don't want her to think the two of us don't get along. You have been torqued off at me for days.
You have a problem with me? Let's hear it. You want my help, or not?'
Matfany pulled himself up to his full height and looked down his nose at me.
'That encounter in your offices continues to trouble me, sir. I need your help for the kingdom's sake, sir, but I will not have you blackening the name of our princess.'
I blew a raspberry. 'Former princess, pal, let me remind you, since it was you who booted her out. Remember?'
Matfany looked pained. 'Also for the sake of our nation, as I told you, but you must understand, I still have the greatest respect for her.'
'Fine!' I snarled. 'I won't insult her anymore. But this Gnome is a serious prospect who wants her name on a feature in Foxe-Swampburg. Keep the charm going, and it'll pay off in gold, remember? Prosperity equals respect?'
