As we waited for the dragon to catch up, I had time to reflect that for once I felt no moral or ethical qualms about taking part in one of Aahz's schemes. If the unsuspecting Rodrick the Fifth was taken in by our charade and hired us, I was confident the king would be getting more than he bargained for.
Chapter Four:
"If the proper preparations have been made and the necessary precautions taken, any staged event is guaranteed success."
-ETHELRED THE UNREADY
THE candle lit at the barest flick from my mind. Delighted, I snuffed it and tried again. A sidelong glance, a fleeting concentration of my will, and the smoldering wick burst into flame again. I snuffed the flame and sat smiling at the familiar candle.
This was the first real proof I'd had as to how far my magical powers had developed in the past year. I knew this candle from my years as Garkin's apprentice. In those days, it was my arch nemesis. Even focusing all my energies failed to light it then. But now...
I glanced at the wick again, and again it rewarded me with a burst of flame.
I snuffed it and repeated the exercise, my confidence growing as I realized how easily I could now do something I once thought impossible.
"Will you knock it off with the candle!"
I jumped at the sound of Aahz's outburst, nearly upsetting the candle and setting the blanket afire.
"I'm sorry, Aahz," I said, hastily snuffing the candle for the last time. "I just-"
"You're here to audition for court magician," he interrupted. "Not for town Christmas tree!"
I considered asking what a Christmas tree was, but decided against it. Aahz seemed uncommonly irritable and nervous, and I was pretty sure, however I chose to phrase my question, that the answer would be both sarcastic and unproductive.
"Stupid candle blinking on and off," Aahz grumbled half to himself. "Attract the attention of every guard in the castle."
"I thought we were trying to attract their attention," I pointed out, but Aahz ignored me, peering at the castle through the early-morning light.
He didn't have to peer far, as we were camped in the middle of the road just short of the castle's main gates.
As I said, I was under the impression our position was specifically chosen to attract attention to ourselves.
We had crept into position in the dead of night, clumsily picking our way through the sleeping buildings clustered about the main gate. Not wishing to show a light, unpacking had been minimal, but even in the dark, I had recognized Garkin's candle.
All of this had to do with something Aahz called a "dramatic entrance." As near as I could tell, all this meant was we couldn't do anything the easy way.
Our appearance was also carefully designed for effect, with the aid of the Imps' abandoned wardrobe and my disguise spells.
Aahz was outfitted in my now traditional "dubious character" disguise. Gleep was standing placidly beside Buttercup disguised as a unicorn, giving us a matched pair. It was my own appearance, however, which had been the main focus of our attentions.
Both Aahz and I had agreed that the Garkin disguise would be unsuitable for this effort. While my own natural appearance was too young, Garkin's would be too old. Since we could pretty much choose the image we wanted, we decided to field a magician in his mid to late thirties; young without being youthful, experienced without being old, and powerful but still learning.
To achieve this disguise involved a bit more work than normal, as I did not have an image in mind to superimpose over my own. Instead, I closed my eyes and envisioned myself as I appeared normally, then slowly erased the features until I had a blank face to begin on. Then I set to work with Aahz watching carefully and offering suggestions and modifications.
The first thing I changed was my height, adjusting the image until the new figure stood a head and a half taller than my actual diminutive stature. My hair was next and I changed my strawberry-blond thatch to a more sinister black, at the same time darkening my complexion several shades.
The face gave us the most trouble.
"Elongate the chin a little more," Aahz instructed. "Put on a beard... not that much, stupid! Just a little goatee!... That's better!... Now lower the sideburns... okay, build up the nose... narrow it... make the eyebrows bushier ... no, change ‘em back and sink the eyes a little instead ... for crying out loud change the eye color! Make ‘em brown... okay, now a couple of frown wrinkles in the middle of the forehead.... Good. That should do it."
I stared at the figure in my mind, burning the image into my memory. It was effective, maybe a bit more sinister than I would have designed if left to my own devices, but Aahz was the expert and I had to trust his judgment. I opened my eyes.
"Terrific, kid!" Aahz beamed. "Now put on that black robe with the gold and red trim the Imps left, and you'll cut a figure fit to grace any court."
"Move along there! You're blocking the road!"
The rude order wrenched my thoughts back to the present.
A soldier, resplendent in leather armor and brandishing an evil-looking pike, was angrily approaching our crude encampment. Behind him the gates stood slightly ajar, and I could see the heads of several other soldiers watching us curiously.
Now that the light was improving, I could see the wall better. It wasn't much of a wall, barely ten feet high. That figured. From what we had seen since we crossed the border, it wasn't much of a kingdom, either.
"You deaf or something?" the soldier barked drawing close. "I said move along!"
Aahz scuttled forward and planted himself in the soldier's path.
"Skeeve the Magnificent has arrived," he announced. "And he-"
"I don't care who you are!" the soldier snarled, wasting no time placing his pike between himself and the figure addressing him. "You can't-"
He broke off abruptly as his pike leaped from his grasp and floated horizontally in mid-air until it was forming a barricade between him and Aahz.
The occurrence was my doing, a simple feat of levitation. Regardless of our planned gambit, I felt I should take a direct hand in the proceedings before things got completely out of hand.
"I am Skeeve!" I boomed, forcing my voice into a resonant bass. "And that is my assistant you are attempting to threaten with your feeble weapon. We have come in response to an invitation from Rodrick the Fifth, King of Possiltum!"
"That's right, Bosco!" Aahz leered at the soldier. "Now just run along like a good fellow and pass the word we're here... eh?"
As I noted earlier, all this was designed to impress the hell out of the general populace. Apparently the guard hadn't read the script. He did not cower in terror or cringe with fear. If anything, our little act seemed to have the exact opposite effect on him.
"A magician, eh?" he said with a mocking sneer. "For that I've got standing orders. Go around to the back where the others are."
This took us aback. Well, at least it took me aback. According to our plan, we would end up arguing whether we entered the palace to perform in the king's court, or if the king had to bring his court outside to where we were. Being sent to the back door was not an option we had considered.
"To the back?" Aahz glowered. "You dare to suggest a magician of my master's stature go to the back door like a common servant?"
The soldier didn't budge an inch.
"If it were up to me, I'd ‘dare to suggest' a far less pleasant activity for you. As it is, I have my orders. You're to go around to the back like all the others."
"Others?" I asked carefully.
"That's right," the guard sneered. "The king is holding an open air court to deal with all you ‘miracle workers.' Every hack charm-peddler for eight kingdoms is in town. Some of ‘em have been in line since noon yesterday. Now get around to the back and quit blocking the road!"