Karanissa started to say something, then stopped to pick a spriggan off a nearby chair and fling it out the door into the hallway. It ran away squeaking; she watched it go, then looked intently around the room.
“There aren’t any more in here, so we can make plans.”
“Are you sure? I do have an idea, but I don’t want them to hear it.”
“Of course I’m sure! I’m a witch; I can tell when someone’s listening.”
“Good. Kara, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get the mirror; we’re too big and obvious. But I don’t think they can see any better than we can; the servants should be invisible to them, just as they are to us-”
“To you, maybe,” she interrupted him. “I can see them if I try.”
“To me, then, or anyone who doesn’t have witch-sight. Anyway, if you order the servants to find the mirror and bring it to us, or just to smash it, I don’t think the spriggans will be able to stop them. We’ll have the problem halfway solved.”
“That’s a good idea, except how will they know which mirror to smash? I don’t want them breaking every mirror in the castle!”
“How many mirrors could be lying around out of place? Just to be sure, have them bring the mirror to me; I’ll know the right one when I see it.”
“All right, I’ll tell the sylphs; you can tell the little one.” “Nuisance, you mean.”
“Nuisance, yes. I still can’t get used to calling it that; Derry and I never had names for any of them.”
Tobas shrugged. “It’s useful, sometimes.”
“I know it is; I should have thought of it years ago, really. I’ve wasted so much time. I know I couldn’t have gotten out of here without a wizard, but it seems as if I could have done more while I was here. You’ve done more to the place in a couple of sixnights than I did in four hundred years, learning those spells, conjuring up the spriggans, and so forth.”
“Oh, it’s been more than a couple of sixnights, it must be more than a month by now, I’m sure.”
“Well, all the same, these spriggans hiding everywhere and getting into everything, they’ve reminded me what a mess this place is, all full of clutter that Derry left around. The servants keep it dusted, but they don’t know enough to put things away or keep cabinets and doors locked, and the spriggans have been all over the place.”
“They’re harmless, really,” Tobas said, hoping it was true. It seemed to be, so far.
“I know that, but they get into everything! Damn them anyway! If I see one more little footprint in my dinner, I swear I’ll start killing them, I’ll burn their slimy guts out! And when they spilled everything out of the drawers in my bedroom...”
“They were just exploring, I guess.”
“I know, exploring through all my private things! Scattering my clothes everywhere!”
“They don’t know any better.” Tobas hoped that was the reason and that the creatures didn’t have a malicious streak.
“I know, but my clothes...” Her voice trailed off, and for a moment they sat silently across from each other, Karanissa staring at the tabletop, Tobas letting his eyes roam about the room, but always coming back to the witch, her flowing black hair, her fine, dark features, her slender figure.
“Tobas,” she asked, looking up again “what do the women wear in Ethshar of the Spices?”
Startled, he answered, “I don’t know, just clothes. Tunic and skirt, mostly; the fine ladies and some of the magicians wear gowns.”
“Tunic and skirt?”
“Certainly, the same there as anywhere else.”
“What do they look like?”
Tobas began to laugh, then realized that her question was serious, that he had never seen her wear anything but gowns and dresses. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Your clothes are fine as they are; most women can’t afford any so fine.”
“I don’t want to seem strange, though. Four hundred years, styles must have changed.”
“I suppose they have, but really, you’ll be fine as you are.”
“What about hair? Do the women wear their hair long? Do they put it up?”
“I don’t really know,” Tobas admitted. “I mean, I never really thought about it. They don’t wear it short, but I’ve never seen any as long as yours.” Karanissa’s hair, worn loose, reached her waist. “I guess they trim it a little below the shoulders, or tie it up in back.”
The witch reached up and tugged at her hair. “Should I cut mine, then?”
“No, don’t! It’s beautiful just the way it is, really!” He half rose and reached out, taking he hand that held the hair.
“I want to fit in, though. I’ve been listening to you and working on my accent, not just with witchcraft, because I want it to stay even when I don’t think about it. Had you noticed?”
Tobas grimaced. “I didn’t realize it was intentional,” he said. “But I had noticed, and I had meant to warn you about it. I have a Pirate Towns accent, as it’s called; you don’t want to talk the way I do.”
“But the language must have changed...” “Oh, yes, it certainly has, in Dwomor it’s an entirely different tongue now. But your accent is lovely; it’s old-fashioned, elegant.”
“I don’t want to be old-fashioned, though; I want to fit in.”
“You’ll never fit in; you’re too beautiful. You’ll always stand out.”
“Oh, you’re just being silly!” She pushed his hand away.
“No, I mean it!” He took her hand again, then leaned forward and kissed her, more to his own surprise than hers.
The table lifted slightly and slid out of the way, which Tobas took as encouragement; witchcraft could be handy.
Almost an hour later a spriggan glanced in the door and squealed; Tobas heaved a convenient boot at it, and it ran off.
Karanissa giggled.
“What are you laughing at, woman?” Tobas demanded.
“Oh, I don’t know, the spriggan, I guess. They are kind of cute.”
“A little while ago you were threatening to flash-fry the little monsters.”
“A little while ago I was frustrated and angry.”
“Well, I’m glad I was able to help with that; now, if I could get rid of the spriggans’ mirror and find us a way out of the castle, we’d be all set. Nuisance! Here, Nuisance!”
Wet footsteps pattered into the room, and something foul began dripping on the carpet. “Nuisance, I want you to find the mirror those spriggans took from the study and bring it to me; got that?”
Nuisance made a noise like a strangled cat and scampered away. Tobas sighed. “Do you think he understood?”
“Oh, probably,” Karanissa said. She turned and addressed empty air, giving the two sylphs the same instructions Tobas had given Nuisance. The air stirred slightly, and they were gone.
“You know,” Tobas said, “I wonder whether Derithon made Nuisance intentionally, or whether it was an accident like the spriggans. I can’t find any spell in the book that would produce something like that.”
Karanissa shrugged. “I really don’t know; it was in the castle when I first came here, and I never thought to ask. I just took it for granted, another little bit of wizardry, as incomprehensible as the rest.”
“Wizardry doesn’t all have to be incomprehensible — at least, I don’t think it does.”
“Compared to witchcraft, it’s all madness, if you ask me, remember, wizardry uses raw chaos.”
“Well, maybe, but it makes order out of it, sort of.”
“Oh, it does, does it? Like that jar-opening spell? That’s so orderly and efficient.”
Tobas grinned. “You argue well, witch.”
She punched him in the ribs; he retaliated by grabbing her around the waist and pulling her toward him, and the two of them rolled, giggling, across the carpet.
They ended up against a wall, Karanissa on her back and Tobas sitting astride her. “Aha, wench!” he said. “You’re in my power now!”
She laughed, then put the back of one hand to her forehead. “Oh, mercy, master! What will you have of me?”
“What have you got?” he asked wryly.
