“What’s that?”
“You’ve lost your powers. That makes it four of us against three of you.”
“Look at your four,” Brockhurst sneered. “A woman, a half-trained apprentice, a broken-down demon hunter and a Pervert.”
“Broken-down?” Quigley scowled.
“Easy, Quigley . . . and you too, Tanda,” Aahz ordered. “Your three are nothing to brag about either, Brockhurst. Two Imps who’ve lost their powers and a fat madman.”
Surprisingly, this seemed to revive Isstvan’s humor. The Imps were not amused.
“Now look, Aahz,” Higgens began, “if you want a fight….”
“You miss the point entirely, gentlemen,” Aahz said soothingly. “I’m trying to avoid a fight. I’m merely trying to point out that if this comes to a fight, you’ll lose.”
“Not necessarily,” Brockhurst bristled.
“Inescapably,” Aahz insisted. “Look, if we fight and we win, you lose. On the other hand, if we fight and we lose, you lose.”
“How do you figure that?” Higgens asked suspiciously.
“Simple!” said Aahz smugly, “If you kill us, you’ll have lost your only way to get out of this dimension. You’ll be stuck forever on Klah. By my figuring, that’s losing.”
“We’re in agreement there,” Brockhurst mumbled.
“Oh, stop this bickering!” Isstvan interrupted with a chuckle. “Aahz is right, as usual. He may have lost a couple of fights, both magical and physical, but I’ve never heard of anyone out-arguing him.”
“Then it’s a deal?” Aahz asked.
“It’s a deal!” Isstvan said firmly. “As if we had any choice in the matter.”
They shook hands ceremoniously.
I noticed the Imps were whispering together and shooting dark glances in our direction. I wondered if a deal with Isstvan was binding on the Imps. I wondered if a handshake was legally binding in a situation such as this. But most of all, I wondered what Aahz had up his sleeve this time.