Myth-Ing Persons By Robert L Asprin

“Matt, buddy” I said through clenched teeth, “get that hand off my shoulder before it loses a body.”

As I said, even on our short trip back from Limbo I had been so underwhelmed by Matt that I no longer even bothered trying to be polite or mask my dislike for him. He could grate on my nerves faster than anyone I had ever met. If he was a successful con artist, able to inspire trust from total strangers, then I was the Queen of May.

“Matt’s just kidding,” Luanna soothed, stepping between us.

“Well I’m not,” I snarled. “Just remember you’re welcome here any time you get fed up with this slug.”

“Oh, I imagine we’ll be together for quite some time,” Matt leered, patting Luanna lightly on her rump. “With you big shots vouching for us we should be able to beat this swindling rap . . . and even if we lose, so what? All it means is I’ll have to give them back their crummy twenty gold pieces.”

Aahz’s hammering stopped abruptly . . . or maybe it was my heart.

I tried vainly to convince myself that I hadn’t heard him right.

“Twenty gold pieces?” I said slowly.

“Yeah. They caught on to us a lot quicker here at the Bazaar than I thought they would. It wasn’t much of a haul even by my standards. I can’t get over the fact that you big shots went through so much trouble to drag us back here over a measly twenty gold pieces. There must be more to this principle thing than I realized.”

“Ummm . . . could I have a word with you, partner?” Aahz said, putting down his hammer.

“I was about to ask the same thing,” I admitted, stepping to the far side of the room.