There was a long silence as the assemblage stared at the missive. Then Massha cleared her throat.
“How much for just the ring?” she quipped, but from the tone of her voice she wasn’t expecting anyone to laugh.
Nobody did.
“I don’t get it. Boss,” Guido scowled. “Is this supposed to be a joke or sumpin’?”
“You and Nunzio weren’t around for the big finale, Guido,” I said. “Remember Queen Hemlock? Back on my home dimension of Klah?”
“Sure,” he nodded. “She was an okay skirt … a little creepy, though.”
“I guess it depended on which side of her favor you were on,” Tananda commented wryly, tossing the box back onto the table.
I ignored her.
“Bunny, you weren’t around for any of this, so…”
“I’ve picked up some of it talking to Chumley,” she waved.
“Well, Queen Hemlock had an interesting plan she wanted to put into effect after she married Rodrick: to combine Possiltum’s military strength with the wealth of her own kingdom of Impasse and fulfill her lifelong dream of conquering the world. Of course, she also planned to kill Rodrick if he opposed the idea.”
I picked up the box and toyed with it idly.
“I thought I had stopped her by giving Rodrick wedding rings that they thought linked their lives, rings that wouldn’t come off. The one in the box here is hers . . . of course, she had to cut off her finger to get rid of it. I hadn’t anticipated that.”
“I rather suspect she wanted her dream more than her finger,” Chumley said with a grimace.
“So it would seem,” I nodded. “Now she’s on the loose, with an army we inadvertently supplied her with back when I was Court Magician of Possiltum. I’m not the greatest military appraiser around, but I don’t think there’s anything on Klah that can stop her … unless M.Y.T.H. Inc. takes a hand in the game.”