“Wise,” Bal-Simba nodded.
“I was thinking of having the demon unfreeze him-oh, I dunno, say at high noon on the next market day. The square should be nice and crowded about then.”
“That’s nasty,” Danny said. “I really like it.”
“You get that way when you play consultant,” Wiz grinned back. “That and hanging around politicians.” He snapped his fingers. “Speaking of which, I’d better get down there and set up the spell. Don’t want to leave it to the last minute. Also I’ve got an errand to run at the town hall.”
Bal-Simba cocked an eyebrow. “More consulting?”
“No,” Wiz told him as he stood up from the table, “I’ve got to see a man about a house.”
Wiz’s errand at the town hall took somewhat longer than he had expected. But not nearly as long as it would take in Cupertino, he thought as he pushed his front door open. The council may have had politics down to a blood sport but at least they hadn’t invented lawyers yet. As part of his efforts to gum up the works Wiz had considered introducing them to the concept, but he had saved it as an emergency tactic if things really got dire. Common decency if nothing else, he thought. Llewllyn hadn’t been in his office at the town hall and Wiz was just as glad.
As he tugged the front door closed Malkin came up from the kitchen.
“Where is everyone?” he asked as she reached his floor.
“Oh they’re around,” she said breezily. “Your wife’s down in the kitchen, ‘helping’ Anna.”
“ ‘Helping’?”
“Allaying her suspicions about what you’ve been up to with her. The big black wizard is in the front parlor, along with one of your friends.” She grinned. “They’re supposed to be meditating, but every so often they get so deep in thought they start to snore. Your other friend is upstairs working at your desk. Says he’s surfing, but there’s not a wave to be seen.”
“That’s just a figure of speech,” Wiz told her. “What about you?”
“Oh, I’ve got some errands to run.” She paused. “Leaving, eh?”
“Probably tomorrow. I’m done here.”
She nodded. “That’s the way of it.”
There was a longer pause.
“What about you? What are you going to do once I’ve left?”
Malkin laughed. “Oh, I’ll go back to the Bog Side, away from all these high-toned folk like the town council and their fancy ways. I’ll be taking the air, as you might say. You’ve stirred up a right hornet’s nest here and I’m minded to see how it goes on for a bit.”
“I mean, you’ll be all right and everything?”
Malkin laughed again and Wiz thought it sounded a bit brittle.
“Me? Fortuna, I’ve looked out for meself all these years. I’ll do just fine on my own. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an errand to run.” She loped up the stairs toward her room.
“Malkin.”
The tall thief paused at the top of the stairs and looked back. “Yes?”
“I meant what I said about appreciating your help. Thanks again.”
“Any time, Wizard. Any time.” With that she disappeared down the hall.
As Wiz turned back toward the kitchen there was a hammering on the front door.
“What in the . . . ?” Anna was halfway up from the kitchen, but he waved her back and tugged the door open himself.
As soon as the door cleared the latch it flew open, sending Wiz reeling backward. Llewllyn burst through, waving his arms. He was flushed, sweaty and almost completely out of breath.
“Flee!” he gasped. “There’s a dragon . . . Anna. Run. We must . . . run or be . . . burned where we stand.”
He tried to push past to the kitchen but Wiz put his arm around him.
“Relax. The dragon’s dead. It’s all over.”
Llewllyn turned back to Wiz and blinked. “Dead?”
“Very dead. There’s no danger.”
“But . . . but, but . . .”
“Look, we’ve got houseful of company, so if you can just put off seeing Anna until tonight I’m sure she can explain the whole thing.” He gently turned the sometime bard and would-be magician around and guided him back toward the front door.