Myth-Taken Identity by Robert & Nye Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye

Author:Robert & Nye Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye [Asprin, Robert & Nye, Jody Lynn]
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781592220298
Publisher: Diamond Comic Distributors

FOURTEEN

“What do you mean, you didn't see which way he went?” Moa repeated, for the hundredth time, as hordes of shoppers filed by on every side. “You were flying right over his head!”

“Yes,” Massha asserted patiently, though I could tell she was embarrassed. “I almost had him, when he vanished, right there in front of Cartok's. Two strangers ran off from that point in exactly opposite directions. I didn't know which one to follow.”

“He had a confederate in the crowd,” I reasoned. “Wily. I might have used a tactic like that myself.” Moa glanced at me, then shook his head as if to clear it.

“Woofle, could you—” He made some passes with his hands.

Woofle performed a gesture or two. The others looked more comfortable when he finished, but a couple of passersby nearly jumped out of their skins at my apparent transformation. “Thank you. I prefer to talk to you face-to-face. It's very disorienting.”

“But effective,” I pointed out. “It worked. We almost had him.”

“But we didn't,” Moa reminded me. “He got away clean, and we don't know any more than we did before.”

“Nope,” I corrected him. “We learned something very important: whoever they are, these impostors don't know what they're doing.”

“Huh?” Chumley asked.

“What do you mean, Aahz?” Moa pressed. “They're just as much of a pain in the you-know-where as before. More, if we have to put up with them harassing innocent customers!”

“Nope,” I corrected him. “They're less. We were wrong. We thought Rattila had employed a bunch of shapeshifters to gather power for him. I proved last night that the cards themselves make you change, not magikal talent. Those impostors, whoever they are, know how to use those cards, and they make use of some of the abilities of the people whose personalities they're stealing, like charm or strength, but nothing that doesn't rely on instinct. That's why I think they're not magicians. I'm betting none of them are. They don't know what they're doing. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to get close to the Skeeves. The kid may not be the most experienced magician in the world, but he packs one hell of a magikal punch, and he knows how to fly as well as a bunch of other things that I taught him. None of them have an instinct for magik. We're lucky. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all mall-rats, or something else of a low order of evolution.”

“Notta chance—” Parvattani scoffed. Then he glanced at Eskina. “I suppose-a it's possible,” he conceded.

“It is likely,” Eskina exclaimed, energetically. “Those would not challenge Rattila for his power.” “So what's our next move, Green Genius?” Massha asked, looking more enthusiastic than she had before.

“We could use some more firepower, but I don't want to involve anyone else,” I thought out loud. “I don't want anyone else finding out that these crooks are making a fool of Skeeve.”

“Woofle will help,” Moa stated. Reluctantly, the financial Flibberite nodded.

I lifted a finger. “Good. That's one.”

“Aahz! Hey, Aahz!”

A female voice calling my name attracted my attention.

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