“And so you shall!” Azzie cried. “Frike!”
“Yes, master?”
“Get into the pentagram.”
“Master, I really don’t think – ”
“Don’t think. Just do it.”
Grumbling, Frike hunched his way into the center of the pentagram.
“I’m sending you to Athens. Pick up all the lady’s garments you can. I’ll bring you back in a few minutes.”
Ylith said, “There’s a fur-collared deep blue dress in the anteroom. It’s the one with three-quarter-length sleeves. Please be sure to bring that! And in the little closet near the kitchen you’ll find-”
“Ylith!” Azzie said. “We can bring more clothing later, if there proves to be a need. Right now I’m in just the slightest hurry.”
Raising his hands, Azzie recited a spell. Frike vanished in mid-grumble.
“Well now,” Ylith said. “We are alone. Azzie, why didn’t you call me sooner? It’s been centuries!”
“I was in the Pit. Lost track of time,” he explained.
He escorted Ylith to the big couch that was pulled up to the fire. He brought her wine and a plate of little cakes he knew she liked. They settled down onto the couch, and Azzie employed one of his minor music spells to call forth a chorus of popular airs of the day. He sat down beside her and looked deep into her eyes.
“Ylith,” he said, “I have a problem.”
“Tell me about it,” Ylith said.
Azzie did, forgetting Frike for several hours, so earnest was his explanation. When he finally conjured Frike back, it was dawn, and the servant arrived yawning, draped in ladies’ clothing.
Chapter 5
Azzie took Ylith to the lab where Charming and Scarlet, now entirely assembled, lay side by side on marble slabs, veiled with two linen tablecloths, since Azzie had often observed that people look better slightly clad than not clad at all.
“They make a cute couple, don’t they?” Azzie said.
Ylith sighed. Her long, mobile face was beautiful one moment, sinister the next. Azzie tried to adjust his perception so that he would see only her beautiful side, but it was difficult; witches have obscure feature cyclings. Azzie had felt ambivalent about Ylith for a long time. Sometimes he thought he loved her; sometimes he hated her. Sometimes he tried to solve the problem by attacking it head-on; sometimes he preferred to forget it in favor of simpler problems, such as how best to spread evil and further the general bad. Sometimes – a lot of the time – he didn’t know what to do. He loved her but he didn’t always like her. But she was also his best friend, and when he had a problem he turned to her.
“They’re real cute,” Ylith agreed, “except for the lack of eyes. But you know that.”
“It’s why I’m showing them to you,” Azzie said. “I’ve already told you that I’m going to enter them in the Millennial contest. They are going to act out the Prince Charming tale, entirely on their own, no urging from me, utilizing the famous free will that all intelligent creatures are said to possess. And they are going to come to the wrong conclusion and condemn themselves forever. But I need eyes for them, not just any eyes: special eyes. I need enchanted eyes. I need them in order to give the story that special air, that flavor, that fairy-tale savor- if you know what I mean.”
“I understand perfectly, my dear,” Ylith said. “And you want me to help? Oh, Azzie, you are such a child! What gave you the idea that I would find eyes for you?”
Azzie hadn’t considered that. He scratched his scalp – scaly-that’s what the Pit did to you every time-and considered. He said, “I thought you’d do it because it’s the right thing to do. I mean, you want evil to win as much as I do, don’t you? Consider if good rules human destiny for the next thousand years: it could put you out of business.”
“You have a point,” Ylith said. “But it is not entirely persuasive. Why should I help you? I do have a life of my own, and other business in progress. I’m into administrative work for the coven, and I’ve been doing some teaching. . . .”