Robert Asprin's Another Fine Myth by Prince of Cats Literary Productions

Author:Prince of Cats Literary Productions [Asprin, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Prince of Cats Literary Productions

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“The secret to winning the support of large groups of people is positive thinking.”

–N. Bonaparte

People are staring at us, Aahz.”

“Relax, kid. They’re supposed to be staring at us.”

To illustrate his point, he nodded and waved to a knot of glowering locals. They didn’t wave back.

“I don’t see why I have to be the girl,” I grumbled.

“We went through that before, kid. You walk more like a girl than I do.”

“That’s what you and Frumple decided. I don’t think I walk like a girl at all!”

“Well, let’s say I walk less like a girl than you do.”

It was hard to argue with logic like that, so I changed subjects.

“Couldn’t we at least travel by less-populated streets?” I asked.

“Why?” countered Aahz.

“Well, I’m not too wild about having a lot of people seeing me when I’m masquerading as a girl.”

“C’mon, kid. The whole idea is that no one would recognize you. Besides, you don’t know anybody in this town. Why should you care what they think of you?”

“I just don’t like it, that’s all,” I grumbled.

“Not good enough,” Aahz asserted firmly. “Being seen is part of our deal with Frumple. If you had any objections you should have said so before we closed the negotiations.”

“I never got a chance,” I pointed out. “But since the subject’s come up, I do have a few questions.”

“Such as?”

“Such as what are we doing?”

“Weren’t you paying attention, kid? We’re laying a false trail for …”

“I know that,” I interrupted. “What I mean is, why are we doing what we’re doing? Why are we doing Frumple a favor instead of just paying his price?”

“You wouldn’t ask that if you’d ever dealt with a Deveel before,” Aahz snorted. “Their prices are sky-high, especially in a case like ours when they know the customer is desperate. Just be thankful we got such a good deal.”

“That’s what I mean, Aahz. Are we sure we’ve gotten a good deal?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, from what I’ve been told, if you think you’ve gotten a good deal from a Deveel, it usually means you’ve overlooked something.”

“Of course you speak from a wide range of experience,” Aahz sneered sarcastically. “Who told you so much about dealing with Deveels?”

“You did,” I said pointedly.

“Hmmm. You’re right, kid. Maybe I have been a little hasty.”

Normally I would have been ecstatic over having Aahz admit I was right. Somehow, however, in the current situation, it only made me feel that much more uncomfortable.

“So what are we going to do?” I asked.

“Well, normally I deal honestly unless I think I’m being double-crossed. This time, however, you’ve raised sufficient doubt in my mind that I think we should bend the rules a little.”

“Situational ethics again?”

“Right!”

“So what do we do?”

“Start looking for a relatively private place where we can dump these disguises without being noticed.”

I began scanning the streets and alleys ahead of us. My uneasiness was growing into panic, and it lent intensity to my search.

“I wish we had our weapons along,” I muttered.

“Listen to him,” Aahz jeered. “It wasn’t that long ago you were telling me all about how magicians don’t need weapons.

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