She was lucky he'd had a birthday party to preoccupy him. He might have gotten serious otherwise.
Chodo examined her critically from a few feet away. "Five pages? These are all?" He strained to lift several sheets of brass out of his lap. He seemed unaware that his place was being invaded.
"That's it, old man." The Serpent wasn't bothered by her situation, either. It seemed.
"They're damaged. Useless."
"Of course."
"Where is the book?"
A huge thug leaned in the door. "They're in the house." My heart jumped. But he didn't mean us. "Too many of them. Can't hold them off."
"Hold them in the hall out there, then You ought to be able to handle a few dwarves. Don't kill Gnorst. I need him alive."
"Yes sir." Like if Chodo said do it, it could be done.
I watched the witch Damned if she wasn't happy about the way things were going.
So was Chodo.
Interesting.
The kingpin eyed the witch again "Where is the book? I won't ask again."
"Fine. Then I won't have to listen to you anymore."
Chodo didn't get mad. He smiled, said, "Take her into that corner there." He murmured something to the man behind his chair, who moved him over behind a big barricade of a desk to my left I couldn't see him anymore.
Crask gave Sadler a thumbs-up
The uproar from the rest of the house had been moving closer Now the huge thug stumbled into Chodo's office. "I'm sorry, sir " He collapsed Chodo still didn't get upset.
A bunch of dwarves galloped in, Gnorst in their midst. He took in the setup, barked orders in dwarfish. For a moment there were a good thirty of them in there. Then some started drifting out. Most didn't want to go and a few flat refused Gnorst smoldered. I guessed he didn't want anyone figuring out that he had visions of becoming the new Nooney Krombach.
There were a dozen left when the flow stopped. Gnorst strutted over to the kingpin. His beard waggled like he was fixing to say something.
Chodo trampled his line. Amazing Put a little pressure on that old boy and he found all kinds of energy reserves. "Looks like six of one and half a dozen of the other, eh, Chet?"
Chet was one of the guys holding the Serpent. "Maybe seven to five."
The dwarves were baffled. Chodo was supposed to be dribbling in fear.
"I've waited a long time, Gnorst," Chodo said. "But patience pays. Today I get to see you die."
Dwarves peered around nervously. Gnorst's wicked little eyes went squinty. He wondered if he'd walked into a trap.
Chodo managed a little chuckle. "You're going to do it to yourselves. Because half of you are her creatures and half are Gnorst's." He continued, stirring them up. The old boy had balls that dragged the ground. And he was telling the truth. That was obvious. You could tell as soon as the short folks started eyeballing each other.
The witch yelled, "Don't!"
Chodo laughed.
The fur started flying
How'd he set them off so easy? One second they were calculating their chances, the next flying around hooting and hollering and stabbing.
The men holding the witch eased along the outside wall, toward Chodo. She didn't look so chipper now. Chet paused once to stick a shiv into some short guy who thought he'd be a hero and rescue the maiden not so fair.
It wasn't all dwarf hacking dwarf into chop meat, though. Chet got his before he could get behind the desk with Chodo and his coolie.
Crask made another thumbs-up sign. He and Sadler moved over some, got set.
Gnorst's loyalists were getting the best of the witch's boys. The last two broke for the doorway. The rest whooped in pursuit. I heard Chodo laugh again, softly, now through a gap opening in the wall of the secret room.
Gnorst caught on a step too late. Chodo made good his escape... . Only it wasn't so good, was it?
Crask and Sadler bopped the two guys with Chodo, cracked the witch a good one, made sure the wall was solidly in place. Gnorst had him a fit on the other side.
Crask said, "Hi, Boss."
Chodo was fresh out of good humor. He sighed. "You place your bets and take your chances, don't you, Mr. Garrett? But you can't beat the house forever. The wheel is fixed"
"You ought to know."
"I've rigged it often enough. I knew I should have tried harder to find that missing stone."
I tossed it into his lap. "I didn't need it. They killed all your pets." I nodded toward the wall. The dwarves out there had gotten awful quiet. I went to peek.
They were quiet, but there were a good forty of them out there now. Most just stood there staring at Gnorst. Gnorst didn't look a whole lot like Gnorst anymore. He was scared shitless.
His buddies had caught onto him. He'd been using them so he could grab the Book of Shadows and turn himself into another Nooney Krombach. And he'd given himself away here. His pals had fallen into what you might call an unforgiving mood.
He'd told me what dwarves though about Nooney and his book.
He started trying to yak his way out, but there was no hope in his voice and nobody was listening. Short folks started edging toward him, growling. I put the plug back in the wall.
"Well?" Chodo said, like he was in a hurry to get it over. Like he wanted to see if I had what it would take.
The witch wobbled to her feet. "Let's get a leash on her," I suggested. "Chodo asked a question I never heard answered. I'd like to know myself."
Chodo smiled feebly. "I knew you had a price, Mr. Garrett. It's a high one, admittedly, but it turns out you're human."
"I want to destroy it. If I have to lug it up to thunder-lizard country and dump it into a volcano."
He eyed me while Crask and Sadler rummaged for a choker for the Serpent. His smile faded, then returned. "You really would." He shook his head. "You understand about this afternoon?"
‘‘Not really."
"I believe you. My error. I appear to have been misinformed and thereby have moved to a false conclusion. But more than one source suggested you knew the whereabouts of the book. I wanted to ask about that. All I accomplished was to activate your enmity. Well. You can't beat the house."
"Why the hell would anybody think I'd know where the damned book is? I've been running myself crazy trying to get a lead on it."
Winger muttered, "We going to stand around jawing all night? We're going to have those runts out there after us real soon now. Let's do what we got to do and get."
"I think they're done. I don't think they'll be any more trouble."
She went to check through the peephole.
I looked at Chodo.
I couldn't do it. And he knew I couldn't. He smiled. And not like he'd won some victory but like I'd won one and he was pleased. He smiled even knowing he wasn't going to get out of anything. Crask and Sadler didn't have my sensibilities. They wouldn't forgive and forget.
Bigger smile on a devil's ugly face. "Look out for my baby, Mr. Garrett."
I nodded.
"She'll be fine," Crask said. And she would. That's the way those people worked. They counted women and children out, untouchable.
"Gods," Winger said from the peephole. She turned away pale, shocked. I decided I didn't want to see anything that would shock Winger.
Crask and Sadler eyed her, responding to the grim awe edging her voice...
The Serpent let Crask have it in the crotch. He folded up. She leaped at Chodo...
45
I like to make out that I'm fast on my mental feet, but usually I'm no quicker than anybody else. When a woman is involved, I can be frightfully slow. But I do have a knack for seeing right and doing right when my tail is on the line.