“Before we were so rudely interrupted,” Tanda gasped at last, “you were starting to say something, Aahz. Have you got a plan?”
“Now I do,” Aahz smiled, chucking her under the chin. “And believe me, doing it without you would have been rough.”
That had an anxious sound to it. Tanda’s main calling, at least the only one mentionable in polite company, was Assassin.
“C’mon, Aahz,” I chided. “Tanda’s good, but she’s not good enough to take on a whole army.”
“Don’t bet on it, handsome,” she corrected, winking at me.
I blushed but continued with my argument. “I still say the job’s too big for one person, or three people for that matter,” I insisted.
“You’re right, kid,” Aahz said solemnly.
“We just can’t… what did you say, Aahz?”
“I said you were right,” Aahz repeated.
“I thought so,” I marveled. “I just wanted to hear it again.”
“You’d hear it more often if you were right more often,” Aahz pointed out.
“C’mon, Aahz,” Tanda interrupted. “What’s the plan?”
“Like the kid says,” Aahz said loftily, “we need more help. We need an army of our own.”
“But Aahz,” I reminded him, “Badaxe said-“
“Who said anything about Badaxe?” Aahz replied innocently. “We’re supposed to win this war with magik, aren’t we? Well, fine. With Tanda on our team, we’ve got a couple of extra skills to draw on. Remember?”
I remembered. I remembered Aahz saying he wasn’t worried about Tanda leaving with Isstvan because she could travel the dimensions by herself if things got rough. The light began to dawn.
“You mean…”
“That’s right, kid,” Aahz smiled. “We’re going back to Deva. We’re going to recruit a little invasionary force of our own!”