From beneath the sack I heard a whining voice: “But master, it’s heavy, and I can’t see.” I now saw a pair of spindly legs under the sack, twinkling in their efforts to keep pace with the wizard’s long stride.
“Watch out!” I cried. “There’s—”
But my effort to warn the servant of the portmanteau just ahead of him did not come in time. In an instant, the little legs tripped and the gigantic sack went flying.
At the sound, the sorcerer spun about. A look of great fury came upon his face.
“Unspeakable wretch!” he cried. “Did I not entrust to your care the safekeeping of my possessions?” And so saying, the wizard began smiting the prostrate servant with his staff.
“Hold there, sirrah!” I exclaimed. “It was but an accident! Your man could not possibly have seen the obstacle before him—did he not tell you himself that he couldn’t see? If there is any fault here, it is yours alone. You should have warned him.”
The wizard’s look of wrath was transferred onto me.
“You are impudent, youth!” he bellowed.
Ignoring him, I stepped over and took the arm of the servant, who was now on his knees, shaking his head. I lifted the tiny fellow to his feet.
“Th-thank you, s-sir,” he stammered. His voice was very clear and sweet.
I did not reply, so great was my astonishment. I had thought the wizard a strange looking fellow! His servant, I now perceived, was a dwarf. And while I myself did not share the general prejudice against dwarves, I was struck speechless by his appearance. For, truly, this was the hairiest and ugliest dwarf I had ever encountered. It was only the freshness of his voice which enabled me to determine that the servant was a young man—not much more than a boy, really. From his appearance alone, I would have thought him an ancient and horrid sub-human, a miniature demi-troll, escaped from some cavern of the earth.
But the boy seemed harmless enough. He immediately dove under the sack, positioning himself to lift it. I reached down and seized a fold of the sack, attempting to aid him.
The thing was unbelievably heavy! I am a large man, well muscled and strong, but I do not think I could have possibly lifted it by myself. Yet here was this dwarf—smaller than a stripling—even now hoisting the monstrous sack onto his back. In but two seconds, he was back on his feet.
“Thank you very much for your help, sir,” came his little voice from beneath the sack.
“Not at all,” I replied.
“Cease and desist this unconscionable chitchat, wretched dwarf!” exclaimed the wizard. “By your clumsiness, you have already delayed me!”
I had had quite enough of this fellow, thank you. I stepped up to him and said: “You, sirrah, are the only wretch about!”
The wizard’s face began to redden with anger. But after a moment he turned away.
“Bah!” he exclaimed. “I have no time to bandy words with a layabout. The coach to Prygg departs momentarily, and I cannot afford to miss it. Good day to you, sirrah, and may we never meet again!”
“My sentiments exactly,” I growled to his retreating back.
* * *
Little did I know then . . . Not only was I destined to meet again with the wizard and his servant, but in the years to come my life and fate was to become inextricably intertwined with theirs.
Indeed, the first coil of that intertwining was even now upon me. For no sooner did I emerge from the archway onto the plaza, looking about for a means of transport to the Royal Palace, than a black coach came careening up. A half-dozen black-garbed men were precariously perched on top. goimr secret police was painted on its side in bold red letters. In slightly smaller letters beneath:
Classified information!
Tell no one on pain of death!
As soon as the coach stopped, the men on top leapt to the ground. The doors to the coach opened and another half-dozen men spilled out from the interior. I was so struck by the improbable sight that I stood motionless. My artist’s sense of perception was attempting to determine by what magic means so many men—beefy types, to boot—had managed to fit inside the not very commodious coach. I would have done better to have noticed the fact that every other person in the crowded plaza had disappeared.