However incompetent he might be as a demon, he sure knew how to grovel.
"Ah!" smiled Aahz. "Therein lies the story."
I settled back. This could take a while.
"I was summoned across the dimensions barrier by one Garkin, a magician I have never cared much for. It seems he was expecting some trouble from a rival and was eager to enlist my aid for the upcoming fracas. Now, as I said before, I had never been fond of Garkin and was not particularly wild about joining him. He began growing unpleasant in his insistence to the point that I considered swaying from my normal easygoing nature to take action against him, when who should appear but Throckwoddle here who did me the favor of putting a quarrel into the old slime-stirrer."
Aahz acknowledged me with an airy wave. I tried to look modest.
"Naturally we fell to chatting afterward, and he mentioned he was in the employment of one Isstvan and that his action against Garkin had been part of an assignment."
"You answered questions about an assignment?" Higgens turned to me aghast.
"Yes I did," I snarled at him. "Wouldn't you, considering the circumstances?"
"Oh, yes ... of course... ." He darted a nervous glance at Aahz and lapsed into respectful silence again.
"Anyway," Aahz continued, "it occurred to me I owed this fellow Isstvan a favor for ridding me of a nagging nuisance, so I suggested I accompany Throckwoddle back to his employer that I might offer him my services, on a limited basis, of course."
"You could have waited for us." Brockhurst glowered at me.
"Well... I wanted... you see... I...."
"I insisted," Aahz smiled. "You see, my time is quite valuable and I had no desire to waste it waiting around."
"Oh," said Brockhurst.
Higgens was not so easily swayed.
"You could have left us a message," he muttered.
"We did," Aahz replied. "My ring, in full view on the table. I see you found it."
He pointed an accusing finger at Brockhurst. I noticed for the first time the Imp was wearing Garkin's ring.
"This ring?" Brockhurst started. "Is it yours? I thought it was part of Garkin's loot that had been overlooked."
"Yes, it's mine." Aahz bared his teeth. "I'm surprised you didn't recognize it. But now that we're united, you will, of course, return it."
"Certainly!" the Imp fumbled in his haste to remove the ring.
"Careful there," Aahz cautioned. "You know how to operate it, don't you? It can be dangerous in ignorant hands."
"Of course I know how to operate it," Brockhurst replied in an injured tone. "You press against the ring with the fingers on either side of it. I saw one like it at the Bazaar on Deva once."
He tossed the ring to Aahz who caught it neatly and slipped it on his finger. Fortunately it fit. I made a mental note to ask Aahz to let me try using the ring sometime, now that we knew how it worked.
"Now that I've explained about me, how about answering my question," Aahz said, leveling a finger at the Quigley statue. "Who is that?"
"We aren't sure ourselves," Higgens admitted.
"It's all quite puzzling, really," Brockhurst added.
"Would you care to elaborate on that?" Aahz prompted.
"Well, it happened about three days back. We were following your trail to ... um ... with hopes of reuniting our group. Suddenly this warrior gallops out of the brush ahead of us and bars our path. It was as if he knew we were coming and was waiting for us. 'Isstvan was right!' he shouts, 'This region does abound with demons!' "
"Isstvan?" I said, doing my best to look puzzled.
"That's what he said. It surprised us, too. I mean, here we are working for Isstvan, and were set upon by a man claiming to be sent by the same employer. Anyway, then he says, 'Behold the weapon of your doom!' and draws a sword."
"What kind of sword was it?" Aahz asked innocently.
"Nothing special. Actually a little substandard from all we could see. Well, it put us in a predicament. We had to defend ourselves, but were afraid to harm him on the off-chance he really was working for Isstvan."
"What did you do?" I asked.
"Frankly, we said 'to heck with it' and took the easy way out. Higgens here bounced one of his stone balls off the guy's forehead and froze him in place. We've been dragging him along ever since. We figure we'll dump him in Isstvan's lap and let him sort it out."
"A wise solution," commented Aahz.
They inclined their heads graciously at the compliment.
"One question I'd like to ask," I interjected. "How were you able to overtake us, encumbered as you were?"
"Well, it was no small problem. We had little hope of overtaking you as it was, and with our new burden, it appeared it would be impossible," Brockhurst began.
"We were naturally quite eager to ... ah ... join you, so we resorted to desperate measures," Higgens continued. "We took a side trip to Twixt and sought the aid of the Deveel there. It cost us a pretty penny, but he finally agreed to teleport our group to the trail ahead of you, allowing us to make our desired contact."
"Deveel? What Deveel?" Aahz interrupted.
"Frumple. The Deveel at Twixt. The one who...."
Brockhurst broke off suddenly, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. He shot a dark glance at Higgens, who was casually reaching for his crossbow.
"I'm surprised Throckwoddle hasn't mentioned Frumple to you," Higgens purred. "After all, he's the one who told us about him."
Chapter Nine:
"To function efficiently, any group of people or employees must have faith in their leader."
-CAPT. BUGH(ret.)
"YES, Throckwoddle." If anything, Aahz's voice was even more menacing than the Imp's. "Why didn't you tell me about the Deveel?"
"It ... ah ... must have slipped my mind," I mumbled.
With a massive exertion of self-control, I shot my most withering glare at the Imps, forcing myself to ignore the menace of the crossbows. I was rewarded by seeing them actually look guilty and avoid my gaze.
"Slipped your mind! More likely you were trying to hold back a bit of information from me," Aahz said accusingly. "Well, now that it's out, let's have the rest of it. What about this Deveel?"
"Ask Brockhurst," I grumbled. "He seems to be eager to talk about it."
"Well, Brockhurst?" Aahz turned to him.
The Imp gave me an apologetic shrug as he started.
"Well, I guess I've already told you most of it. There's a Deveel, Frumple, in residence in Twixt. He goes under the cover of Abdul the Rug Merchant, but he actually maintains a thriving trade in the usual Deva manner, buying and selling across the dimensions."
"What's he doing in Klah?" Aahz interrupted. "I mean there's not much business here. Isn't it a little slow for a Deveel's taste?"
"Well. Throckwoddle said... ." Brockhurst broke off and shot me a look.
"Go on, tell him." I tried to sound resigned.
"Well," the Imp continued, "rumor has it that he was exiled from Deva and is in hiding here, ashamed to show his face in a major dimension."
"Barred from Deva? Why? What did he do?"
I was glad Aahz asked. It would have sounded strange coming from me.
"Throckwoddle wouldn't tell us. Said Frumple was sensitive on the subject and we shouldn't bring it up."
"Well, Throckwoddle?" Aahz turned to me.
I was so caught up in the story it took me a few beats before I remembered that I really didn't know.
"Um ... I can't tell you," I said.
"What?" Aahz scowled.
I began to wonder how much he was caught up in the story and had lost track of the realities of the situation.
"I learned his secret by accident and hold it as a personal confidence," I said haughtily. "During our travels these last few days, I've learned some rather interesting items about you and hold them in the same esteem. I trust you will respect my silence on the matter of Frumple as I expect others to respect my silence about those matters pertaining to you."