It seemed funny after all these years to take the lead in what was essentially a "people" situation. Usually I handled the tactics... okay, and occasionally the money... and left the people-handling to Skeeve. It was his part of the partnership to keep my abrasive personality from alienating too many people, particularly our friends. With him off in a blue funk, however, the task fell to me, and I was badly out of practice. Heck, I'll be honest, I was never in practice for this sort of thing. Ironically, I found myself trying to think of what Skeeve would say and do at a time like this.
"So, Quigley," I said, trying to smile warmly, "what exactly seems to be the problem?"
He fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, it's a long story. I ... I'm not sure where to begin."
I suddenly remembered that non-Pervects tend to get nervous at the sight of Pervect teeth and dumped the smile.
"Why don't you start at the beginning? How come you're having money problems? You seemed to be doing all right the last time we were here."
"That's when it started," he sighed, "the last time you were here. Remember how they used to settle who was going to be the government around here? With the Big Game?"
Actually I hadn't thought about it for years, but it was starting to come back to me as he talked.
"Uh-huh. The Big Game between Ta-hoe and Vey-gus each year would decide who would get the Trophy and be the capital for the next year."
Quigley nodded vaguely.
"Right. Well, that's all changed now. When you guys won the game and took off with the Trophy, it stood the whole five-hundred-year-old system on its ear. For a while there was a faction that maintained that since you had the Trophy in Possiltum, that's where the capital should be for a year. Fortunately, wiser heads won out."
It was nice to know that there were some hassles that passed us by. I noticed that in spite of himself, Skeeve had perked up and was listening as Quigley continued.
"What they finally decided was that a Common Council should run the government. The plan was put into action with equal representation from both city-states, and for the first time in five hundred years the government of the dimension stabilized."
It actually sounded like some good had come out of our madcap caper. That made me feel kind of good. Still...
"I don't get it, Quigley. How is that a problem?"
The magician gave a wry smirk.
"Think about it, Aahz. With the feud over between the two city-states, there was no reason to maintain two magicians. It was decided that one would do just fine."
"Whoops," I said.
" ‘Whoops' is right. Massha was their first choice. She had served as magician for both city-states at one time or another, and, frankly, they were more impressed with her than with me ... especially after I let their hostage demon escape at the Big Game. When they went to tell her, though, she had disappeared. That left them with me."
I found myself wondering if Massha had signed on as Skeeve's apprentice before or after she knew about the organizational change and Quigley getting the boot.
"She's working with us over on Deva," Skeeve commented, finally getting drawn into the conversation.
"Really? Well, I suppose it makes sense. After you've gone as far as you can go on the local level, it's only natural to graduate into the big time."
"I still don't see how you ended up behind the eight ball financially," I said, trying to steer the conversation back on course.
Quigley made a face.
"It's my contract. I ended up having to take a substantial pay cut under the new situation. My salary before was adequate, but nothing to cheer about. Now ..."
His voice trailed off.
"I don't get it," Skeeve said. "How can you be making less money for serving two city-states than you made working for one?"
"Like I said, it's my contract. There are clauses in there I didn't even know about until the council hit me with them."
"What kind of clauses?" I frowned.
"Well, that the employer has the right to set my pay scale is the biggest one I remember. ‘... According to the need of the community,' and they pointed out that with no feud, my workload, and therefore my pay, should be reduced accordingly. Then there's the ‘No Quit' clause ..."
"The what?"
"The ‘No Quit' clause. In short, it says that they can fire me, but I can't quit for the duration of my contract. If I leave, I have to pay my replacement, ‘sub-contractor' I think they call it, myself... even if they pay him more than they were paying me. That's why I'm stuck here. I can't afford to quit. By the time I got done deducting someone else's wages out of whatever I was earning on my new job, I'd be making even less than I am now. I can't believe I could land a position making more than double what I'm currently earning. Not with my track record."
For a moment I thought Skeeve was going to offer him a position with our company, but instead he groaned and hid his face in his hands.
"Quigley! How could you sign a contract with those kind of terms in it? Heck, how could you sign any contract without knowing for sure what was in it?"
"Frankly, I was so happy to find work at all I didn't think to ask many questions."
"... There's also the minor fact," I put in, "that when he was getting started in this game, he was all alone. He didn't have a teacher or a bunch of friends to look over his contracts or warn him off bad deals."
It was getting harder and harder to keep the Kid from getting too intolerant of other people's mistakes. Even that not-too-subtle admonishment only had partial success.
"Well, he could have asked me," he grumbled. "I could have at least spotted the major gaffes."
"As I recall," I tried again, staring at the ceiling, "at the time you were working as the Court Magician at Possiltum... without any kind of written agreement at all. Would you have come to you for contract advice?"
"All right, all right. I hear you, Aahz. So what is it you want me to do, Quigley?"
I caught the use of "me" instead of "us," but let it go for the time being.
"Well, it's a little late, but I'd like to take you up on your offer. I was hoping you could look over the contract and see if there's a way out of it. My time is almost up, but I'm afraid they're going to exercise their renewal option and I'll be stuck here for another three years."
"Don't tell me, let me guess," I winced. "It's their option whether or not to renew your contract. You have no say in the matter. Right?"
"Right. How did you know?"
"Lucky guess. I figured it went nicely with the ‘No Quit' clause. And I thought slavery had been outlawed... ."
"Just exactly what are your duties these days, Quigley?"
Skeeve had been maintaining a thoughtful silence on the sofa until he interrupted me with his question.
"Not much, really," Quigley admitted. "More entertainment than anything else. As a matter of fact, I'm going to have to be leaving soon. I'm due to put on an appearance at the game this afternoon."
"The game?" I said. "They're still playing that?"
"Oh, certainly. It's still the major activity for entertainment and betting around here. They just don't play it for the Trophy, is all. It's been a much less emotional game since you guys trounced the locals, but they still get pretty worked up over it. I'll be putting on the after-game entertainment. Nothing much, just a few ..."
I glanced at him when he failed to finish his sentence, only to discover he was snoring quietly in his chair, sound asleep. Puzzled, I shifted my gaze to Skeeve.
"Sleep spell," he said with a wink. "I figured it was only appropriate. After all, I learned that spell on our last trip here after our friend here used it on Tananda."
"Don't you want to hear more about the contract we're supposed to be breaking for him, or at least take a look at it?"