“Lord Magician!”
“Okay, okay. I said I was still working on it, didn’t I? What’s next. Big Julie? You said there were a couple things they wanted besides money.”
“You,” he said bluntly. “The Mob isn’t going to be happy until they get the Great Skeeve, Court Magician of Possiltum.”
“Me?” I said in a small voice.
“The Mob didn’t get to the top by ignoring the competition. You’ve made some pretty big ripples with your work, and the biggest as far as they’re concerned is making their army disappear. They know you’re big. Big enough to be a threat. They’re gonna want you neutralized. My guess is that they’ll try to hire you, and failing that, try for some sort of non-aggression deal.”
“And failing that. . . ?” Badaxe asked, echoing my thoughts.
Big Julie shrugged.
“Failing that, they’re gonna do their best to kill you.”
Chapter Nine:
“I don’t know why anyone would be nervous about going to see royalty.”
– P. IN BOOTS
“BUT why do I have to come along?” Badaxe protested, pacing along at my side as we strode towards the Queen’s chambers.
“Call it moral support,” I growled. “Besides, I want a witness that I went into the Queen’s chambers … and came out again, if you get my drift.”
“But if this will only solve one of our problems….”
“… Then it will be one less problem for us to deal with. Shh! Here we are.”
I had switched back to my Rodrick disguise. That combined with the General’s presence was enough to have the Honor Guards at the Queen’s chambers snap to rigid attention at our approach. I ignored them and hammered on the door, though I did have a moment to reflect that not long ago, I thought the biggest problem facing a king was boredom!