Robert Asprin - Myth 13 - Myth-told Tales by Robert Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye

Author:Robert Asprin & Jody Lynn Nye [Asprin, Robert & Nye, Jody Lynn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-15T00:43:34.268000+00:00

M.Y.T.H. INC. PROCEEDS

By Jody Lynn Nye

The Klahd with the pinstriped suit coat stretched tight over his massive shoulders accepted the cup of tea offered to him by Bunny. Guido declined cream or sugar, as his habit, which I knew well, dictated. His cousin, Nunzio, not quite so muscular but more affable, accepted both. The fact that both were of a mind to take tea in the sitting room of our renovated inn when they were clearly rushed by other concerns told me how deep those concerns were. I settled myself at their feet to eavesdrop openly upon the proceedings.

“Much obliged,” Guido said, taking a deep draught— less, I believed, to assuage thirst than to get the courtesies out of the way. He was never one for a cup of tea where coffee or ale were also on the menu, and he knew both were to hand. Bunny, who knew his mores, seemed to be using his acceptance of the ritual as a test to find out how desperate the Mob enforcers were to obtain the help of my pet. Bunny was nearly as protective as I of Skeeve’s studies. The ruffled white pinafore that the red-haired female wore over her tight, green dress was a concession to her attempt to play hostess as well as guardian, but it did not conceal her voluptuous figure any more successfully than her mannered hospitality hid her annoyance and worry. Guido turned to the lanky, blond-haired male reclining in the chair to his right.

“Like I was sayin’, Skeeve . ..”

“Cookie?” Bunny asked, handing around a plate of tiny, pink-sugared dainties. Guido obediently reached for one.

In my long study of the lesser species, the ability to juggle a container of hot liquid, a plate of delicate comestibles, and a difficult conversation was the mark of a being with its wits about it. Guido passed the test. Nunzio went him one better. When the plate came to him, he selected two of the sweet biscuits, one for himself, and one that he held out on his palm for me. In deference to my pet’s affection for this creature, as well as my taste for the sweets, I scooped the cookie off the hand with my tongue.

Nunzio reached out to ruffle my ears.

“Attaboy,” he said, in his high-pitched tenor. “What a good dragon!”

“Thank you for your consideration,” I attempted to say, but my immature vocal chords emitted only a sound: “Gleep!”

“You shouldn’t be spoiling his appetite,” Bunny said, reproachfully.

“Nunzio couldn’t spoil that dragon’s appetite if he fed him the whole plate and his right arm,” Guido said. “Miss Bunny, we respectfully request that you relax. We are not here to ask the Boss to set foot out of his self-imposed exile. All we want is his advice.”

Bunny eyed him with the suspicion of one who had heard such assurances before. “Promise?”

“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Guido said, suiting his motions to the former part of his pledge, no mean feat while holding a delicate porcelain cup in one’s fingers.

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