before you!'
The two combatants on the floor turned to see who was yelling. Both their mouths dropped open.
'Who let that old fool out?' Barrik snarled.
'Calypsa! Be careful!'
'Grandfather!' Calypsa shrieked with joy. Then she regained her poise. She sneered at Barrik. 'You villain! You, who would keep the great Calypso in durance vile! You tried to disgrace our family! You sought to trick me! You shall die!'
'I will kill you, wench,' Barrik exclaimed.
'One shall live, and one shall die,' Calypsa countered, sounding melodramatic. They kept circling one another, looking for openings.
'What's the significance of the Dance of Death?' I asked the old man. 'Isn't it just a dance, like all the others?'
Calypso straightened his thin back. 'Sir! All our dances have meaning! The death dance is a challenge and a geas. Once it is begun, it can be interrupted, but never ends until one of the participants is dead!'
'Ayieee!' Calypsa shrilled. She held Ersatz horizontally over her head, the point aiming at Barrik. 'Honor must be satisfied!'
She charged him. The Dile wizard leaped away. He felt in his cape pockets, his hands tangling in the thick velvet.
Calypsa advanced upon him. Just before she got in slashing range, he whipped a wand out of a pocket and leveled it at her.
'Parry four!' Ersatz yelled. Calypsa brought the sword down in a twinkling and twisted the blade up and to the left.
Barrik withdrew in surprise and attempted to riposte. 'Parry six! Now, fleche!'
Calypsa rose on her toes and bounded toward the startled wizard. She swung Ersatz up and across. The wand went flying.
'Attagirl!' I shouted. Gleefully, I slapped the nearest henchman on the back. 'What do you think of that?'
'Ten silver pieces on the wench,' the henchman said promptly.
'What?' I demanded. 'You think I'm going to bet against my own contender?'
'I will take your action,' a large, ochre-skinned reptile said. 'Fifteen says she can't touch him. He is the great enchanter!'
'Fifteen says she guts him,' the first henchman said.
'I will take both of you!' the big guy insisted.
'You can't wager on whether he'll kill her or not!' Tananda said. She looked shocked.
'Who says?' I stood gleefully collecting bets. 'I'm going to win.'
Calypsa thrust the huge weapon, then recovered onto one long foot. Barrik backed up, clapping his hand to his chest. He looked at it for blood, but Calypsa had missed him by a scale. He had been taken by surprise once, but it would take some work to pull that off again. He held out his hand and the wand jumped back into it. Calypsa narrowed her eyes.
Suddenly, the Dile jumped toward her, pointing the wand. A bolt of lightning jumped from its tip. Almost of its own volition, Ersatz dipped in front of her body, deflecting it.
The bolt cracked off the blued steel and rebounded. Barrik threw himself to the floor as it blasted over his head. It hit a huge ceramic vase on a pedestal, which exploded.
'Now, press your advantage, child,' Ersatz said. 'He is off guard. Ballestra!'
Calypsa leaped and lunged. She would have gutted Barrik, but he rolled bonelessly to his feet. He aimed the wand at Calypsa again.
'No!' Calypso cried. He tried to break away from my side to help her.
'Stay back,' I said. 'We've got this under control.'
'But she is just a girl.'
'She's your granddaughter,' Tananda said. 'Believe in her. She'll make you proud, I promise.'
'Yes,' the old man said, his eyes gleaming. 'She is my granddaughter.'
The two combatants circled each other. Barrik was starting to wheeze. He didn't have the stamina to keep up with a trained dancer. I knew sooner or later he would start to play dirty tricks.
I left Tananda guarding Calypso. The old man was gazing at the action. I headed to the opposite end of the audience chamber. With henchmen pressing coins into my hands I was still collecting bets.
I spotted Chin-Hwag on the floor. The Purse coughed up one more coin. She gave me a fishy embroidered eye. I signed toward Barrik. She nodded. If there was anything she could do to help, she was ready.
I had no idea what I could do against a powerful magician when the time came, but I could direct operations. A rattling sound attracted my attention to the rafters, where Payge fluttered in and balanced on a fancy carved boss.
Barrik started muttering. Tananda sent me a high sign. She was feeling a drain on the lines of force passing through the castle.
'Penny-ante, cheap, showboating legerdemain!' Bozebos muttered darkly. I opened my hand and looked at the face in the gem.
'What's he doing?' I asked.
'Oh, calling up a whirlwind,' the Ring said. 'That sort of thing went out with seances and disembodied floating faces outside the window.'
'What?' I sputtered.
I dove for a spot behind a heavy pillar as a gray funnel cloud dropped out of the ceiling and joined Calypsa on the
dance floor. The henchmen backed up, giving the miniature tornado plenty of room.
She tossed her head. She had no trouble staying out of its way. The pasa doble became a troika, with Barrik trying to avoid Calypsa and his own creation. He snarled and whipped a hand. The whirlwind got larger.
'Can you tie a knot in that windbag?' I asked the Ring.
'No trouble,' he said. The sapphire next to the base glowed, and the funnel cloud constricted. It squeaked like a deflating balloon, and vanished. Barrik looked perturbed.
'Who dares to interfere with me?' he demanded, glaring around him. He leveled the wand, and green flame spurted out in a ring. The henchmen wailed and ducked to avoid their master's spell. I kept low. Fire is one of the few things that can hurt my thick Pervect hide.
'Exterie vaunterie bellerie,' came Payge's soft voice from the rafters. Barrik's flames went out. He started to look frightened.
'Who is doing that?' he asked, his voice an octave higher than before. He turned to Calypso. 'YOU must be responsible for this! I knew the dancing was some kind of front! You are both magicians! Confess!'
He whipped up the wand. Waves of green light radiated toward the old man. I held up the Ring, but Tananda had Asti in her hands. From the bowl of the Cup arose a cloud of pink smoke. Green met pink and burst outward.
BLAM!
Half the henchmen in the vicinity were knocked off their feet. Barrik sprang to his feet, fuming. He faced Calypso.
The old man held himself proudly, pushing aside the wand.
'You don't scare me, tyrant. The Calypsos will withstand anything you can throw at them.'
Barrik eyed him keenly. He looked like a guy who knew his way around lines of force. I wasn't wrong. He glared.
'The magik isn't coming from you! It is the Hoard that defends you! I shall destroy them!'
Magnificently, Barrik turned and aimed his wand at the heap of golden treasure on the floor.
'A load of magikal junk is no match for Barrik the Enchanter!' he declared. A blaze of white light shot out of the wand, landed on the pile and exploded, sending shards of white-hot metal flying.
Calypsa threw herself toward him, but too late. Even at that distance I could recognize a thermite grenade. Barrik must have some high-tech weaponry around to supplement force-line based magik.
