"Here!" I said, tossing the charm to him. "I believe this should settle our accounts."
He caught it deftly and gave it a fast, squinting appraisal.
"This?" he said. "You want to purchase a hatchling dragon for this?"
I had no idea of the charm's relative worth, but bluffing had gotten me this far.
"I do not haggle," I said coldly. "That is my first and final offer. If it is not satisfactory, then return the charm and see if you can get a better price for an attached dragon."
"You drive a hard bargain, Skeeve." The Deveel was still polite, but his smile looked like it hurt. "Very well, it's a deal. Shake on it." He extended his hand.
There was a sudden hissing noise and my vision was obscured. The dragon had arched his neck forward over my head and was confronting the Deveel eye-to-eye. His attitude was suddenly a miniature version of the ferocity I had seen displayed earlier by his larger brethren. I realized with a start that he was defending me!
Apparently the keeper realized it too, for he jerked back his hand as if he had just stuck it in an open fire.
"... if you could call off your dragon long enough for us to dose the deal?" he suggested with forced politeness.
I wasn't sure just how I was supposed to do this, but I was willing to give it a try.
"He's okay!" I shouted, thumping the dragon on the side of the neck to get his attention.
"Gleep?" said the dragon, turning his head to peer into my face.
I noticed his breath was bad enough to kill an insect in flight.
"It's okay," I repeated, edging out from under his neck.
Since I was already moving, I stepped forward and shook the keeper's hand. He responded absently, never taking his eyes from the dragon.
"Say," I said. "Confidentially, I'm rather new to the dragon game. What does he eat ... besides shirts. I mean."
"Oh, a little of this and a little of that. They're omnivorous, so they can eat anything, but they're picky eaters. Just let him alone and he'll choose his own diet ... old clothes, selected leaves, house pets."
"Terrific! "I mumbled.
"Well, if you'll excuse me I've got other customers to talk to."
"Just a minute! Don't I get one of those pendants like you used to control the big dragons?"
"Hmm? What for?"
"Well... to control my dragon."
"Those are to control unattached dragons. You don't need one for one that's attached to you and it wouldn't work on a dragon that's attached to someone else."
"Oh," I said, with a wisdom I didn't feel.
"If you want one, though, I have a cousin who has a stall that sells them. It's about three rows up and two rows over. It might be a good investment for you. Could save wear and tear on your dragon if you come up against an unattached dragon. It'd give junior there a better chance of growing up."
"That brings up another question," I said. "How long does it take?"
"Not long. It's just three rows up and...."
"No. I mean how long until my dragon reaches maturity?"
"Oh, not more than four or five centuries."
"Gleep!"
I'm not sure if the dragon said that or I did.
Chapter Nineteen:
"By persevering over all obstacles and distractions, one may unfailingly arrive at his chosen goal or destination."
-C. COLUMBUS
"C'MON. Gleep," I said.
"Gleep," my dragon responded, falling in behind me.
Now that I was the not-so-proud owner of a permanently immature dragon, I was more eager than ever to find Aahz. At the moment, I was alone in a strange dimension, penniless, and now I had a dragon tagging after me. The only way things could be worse would be if the situation became permanent, which could happen if Aahz decided to return to Klah without me.
The place previously occupied by the Pervish restaurant tent was definitely empty, even at close examination, so I decided to ask the Deveel running the neighboring booth.
"Um ... excuse me, sir."
I decided I was going to be polite as possible for the duration of my stay on Deva. The last thing I needed was another dispute with a Deveel. It seemed, however, in this situation I needn't have worried.
"No excuses are necessary, young sahr." The proprietor smiled eagerly, displaying an impressive number of teeth.
"You are interested in purchasing a stick?"
"A stick?"
"Of course!" the Deveel gestured grandly around his stall. "The finest sticks in all the dimensions."
"Aah... thanks, but we have plenty of sticks in my home dimension."
"Not like these sticks, young sahr. You are from Klah, are you not?"
"Yes, why?"
"I can guarantee you, there are no such sticks as these in all of Klah. They come from a dimension only I have access to and I have not sold them in Klah or to anyone who was going there."
Despite myself, my curiosity was piqued. I looked again at the sticks lining the walls of the stall. They looked like ordinary sticks such as could be found anywhere.
"What do they do?" I asked cautiously.
"Aah! Different ones do different things. Some control animals, others control plants. A few very rare ones allow you to summon an army of warriors from the stones themselves. Some of the most powerful magicians of any dimension wield staffs of the same wood as these sticks, but for most people's purposes the smaller model will suffice."
"Gleep!" said the dragon, sniffing at one of the sticks.
"Leave it alone!" I barked, shoving his head away from the display.
All I needed was to have my dragon eat up the entire stock of one of these super-merchants.
"May I inquire, is that your dragon, young sahr?"
"Well... sort of."
"In that case, you might find a particular use for a stick most magicians wouldn't."
"What's that?"
"You could use it to beat your dragon."
"Gleep!" said the dragon, looking at me with his big blue eyes.
"Actually, I'm not really interested in a stick."
I thought I'd better get to my original purpose before this conversation got out of hand.
"Ridiculous, young sahr. Everybody should have a stick."
"The reason I stopped here in the first place is I wondered if you knew what happened to that tent."
"What tent, young sahr?"
I had a vague feeling of having had this conversation before.
"The tent that was right there next to your stall."
"The Pervish restaurant?" The Deveel's voice was tinged with horror.
"Gleep," said the dragon.
"Why would you seek such place, young sahr? You seem well-bred and educated."
"I had a friend who was inside the tent when it vanished."
"You have a Pervert for a friend?" His voice had lost its friendly tone.
"Well actually... urn ... it's a long story."
"I can tell you this much, punk. It didn't disappear, it moved on," the Deveel snarled, without the accent or politeness he had displayed earlier.
"Moved on?"
"Yeah. It's a new ordinance we passed. AU places serving Pervish food have to migrate. They cannot be established permanently, or even temporarily at any point in the Bazaar."
"Why?" I asked.
"Have you ever smelted Pervish food? It's enough to make a scavenger nauseous. Would you want to man a stall downwind of that for a whole day? In this heat?"
"I see what you mean," I admitted.
"Either they moved or the Bazaar did, and we have them outnumbered."
"But what exactly do you mean, move?"
"The tents! All that's involved is a simple spell or two. Either they constantly move at a slow pace, or they stay in one place for a short period and then scuttle off to a new location, but they all move."
"How does anyone find one, then, if they keep moving around?"