Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin

To illustrate his point he suddenly whirled and crouched like a cat, glaring back down the street with a hand on his sword hilt.

There was sudden movement at the windows and doorways as roughly a dozen half-seen forms melted back into the darkness.

One figure didn’t move. A trollop leaning on a windowsill, her arms folded to display her ill-covered breasts, smiled invitingly at him. He smiled and waved. She ran an insolent tongue tip slowly around her lip and winked broadly.

“Um…Aahz?”

“Yeah, kid?” he replied, without taking his eyes from the girl.

“I hate to interrupt, but you’re supposed to be a doddering old man, remember?”

Aahz was still disguised as Garkin, a fact which seemed to have momentarily slipped his mind.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. I guess you’re right, kid. It doesn’t seem to bother anybody else though. Maybe they’re used to feisty old men in this town.”

“Well, could you at least stop going for your sword? That’s supposed to be our surprise weapon.”

Aahz was wearing the assassin’s cloak now, which he quickly pulled forward again to hide his sword.

“Will you get off my back, kid? Like I said, nobody seems to be paying any attention.”

“Nobody?” I jerked my head pointedly toward the girl in the window.

“Her? She’s not paying any more attention to us than she is anyone else on the street.”

“Really?”

“Well, if she is, it’s more because of you than because of me.”

“Me? C’mon,Aahz.”

“Don’t forget, kid, you’re a pretty impressive person now.”

I blinked. That hadn’t occurred to me. I had forgotten I was disguised as Quigley now.