his plans." He had a sudden horrible thought, and a
wingtip went to his chest. When he clutched the vial
containing the messages, he relaxed. The demons
had ripped off his backpack, but they'd missed the
chain and vial hanging around his neck. A good
thing he'd taken care to put the messages there for
safekeeping.
He eyed the sky. "1 guess they think they got me."
"Who thinks they got you?" asked Oun, the second
hummingbird.
"The demons. They must've been sent after me by
Markus the Ineluctable, that new advisor I just told
you about. Opiode warned me to watch out, but
there wasn't anything I could do. They were just too
fast for me"
"Demons, wow!" said Spin. "About time we had a
decent scrap." He turned to his two companions. "I'll
go find Wix and the rest of the gang and we'll—!"
"Hold on a minute," said Pandro. The humming-
bird pivoted in midair. "You don't want to go looking
for these things."
"We're not afraid of anything that flies"
"I'm sure you're not, but these were different." He
shuddered, remembering that cold, barren contact
on the back of his neck. He made a chopping motion
with one wing. "And they've got teeth, not just bills.
They'll take you apart."
THS MOMENT OF THE MAGICIAN 37
"Condor crap!" snapped the second hummingbird,
^darting through the air and striking out with lefts
1 and rights at imaginary opponents. "We'll pull their
wings off! We'll—!"
"Do nothing of the kind," said the spokesman for
the trio, "because there aren't any demons around."
Oun's crimson chest feathers flashed. "There aren't?"
^ "Seen any demons lurking about? Either of you?"
is; "Well, no." Both looked abashed and finally land-
Is ed on the platform. "Not actually." Spin lifted slightly.
|l "But if Pandro here could lead us to them..."
t The raven shook his head violently. "Thanks, but
; I've got a job to do. Anyway, if they were still looking
',,-for me, I'm sure you would've seen them by now.
They brought me down, but they didn't kill me." He
flexed long black wings and rose from the platform.
No damage to the vital shoulder muscles. Consider-
ing that he'd recently missed death by inches, he felt
pretty good.
"Listen, thanks for your help, but I'd better be on
my way. I'm beginning to share some of that
Salamander's concern about what's happening in the
world."
"Phooey," muttered Spin, "who cares what some
^-old wizard thinks?"
"Some might," said the third flier thoughtfully. He
Stared at Pandro. "Fly high, cousin, and don't look
back."
"Don't worry." Pandro rose skyward. "And while
I'm gone, consider this: Opiode the Sly believes that
^ihis new wizard may have evil designs that extend
^|even beyond Quasequa. Perhaps even to your forest."
•/IY "Then he better not come here," hummed Spin,
'" l?dardng and jabbing at the air, his wings a blur.
I'yFlying demons or no flying demons, we'll send him
^running without his tailfeathers."
38 Alan Dean Foster
Pandro's voice was faint now with distance. "He
doesn't have any feathers. I told you, he's a human."
Spin settled back onto his branch. "A human. Now
what would a human want with us?" He shrugged,
turned to his companion Oun, "What say we go
round up Wix and the rest and have ourselves a
good punch-up anyway?"
"Yeah, sure!" They zoomed toward the next
emergent.
The third member of the trio held back and
struggled to grasp the import of the raven's words.
Then he shrugged and flew off to join his friends,
That's the trouble with being a hummingbird.
One's attention span is so damned short.
Ill
"But I know that she loves me!"Jon-Tom spoke as he
paced back and forth in the turtle's bedroom. There
was plenty of headroom even for his lanky six feet
two inches because Clothahump had thoughtfully
expanded the internal dimension spell another foot.
For that matter, the entire tree was filled with
rooms that shouldn't have been, thanks to Clotha-
hump's wizardry. The turtle wasn't engaging in any
wizardry now, though- He was lying on his plastron
among the mass of strong cushions which served
him as a bed, his arms crossed under his horny chin.
Only his eyes moved as he followed the nervous
progress of the upset young spellsmger.
"You know, I was once in love myself, lad."
That revelation was sufficient to halt Jon-Tom in
his tracks- "What... you?"
Raising his head, the turtle peered indignantly at
|jt the tall and tactless young human through hexagonal-
pi tensed glasses-
'My "And why not me?" He looked suddenly wistful.
ij^lt was about a hundred and sixty years ago. She was
.ytquite attractive- The colors and patterns in her shell
^ reminded one of flatly faceted jewels, and her plas-
^ tron was smooth as polished granite."
m 39
Alan Dean Foster
40
"What happened?"
Ctothahump sighed. "She threw me over for a
slick-talking matamata. I believe her tastes were rath-
er kinkier than mine." His attention snapped back to
the present.
"So I am speaking from some experience, my boy,
when I tell you that this Talea does not love you.
Besides which, you are a spellsinger with a promis-
ing future and can do better- She is nothing but a
petty thief."
Jon-Tom didn't turn away from the wizard's gaze.
"It's not her profession I'm interested in. She saved
my life and I saved hers and we love each other and
that's that"
"It is not 'that' or anything else," argued the imper-
turbable turtle. "I do not for an instant deny that she
is brave and courageous. I wish I could also add that
she is thoughtful. Brave and courageous do not
automatically translate into love, however. As for
thoughtful, if she were that and she did indeed love
you, she would be here now."
Jon-Tom looked uneasy. "Well, you remember how
she is. Flighty, high-strung, nervous, especially around
you."
"Me? Now, boy, why should she be in the slightest
nervous around me?"
"You are the greatest, most powerful sorcerer in
the world. You make a lot of people nervous."
"Do I? Dear me," said the turtle, "I thought I only
made a lot of people irritable. Take my advice, my
boy, and put her out of your mind. She will interfere
with your studies, which you neglect as it is." He
brushed dust from one ot the bed pillows and frowned.
"Have to get Sorbl to clean this place up, if I can
corner the little sot long enough to put a dirt hex on
him."
"Damn it, 1 know that she loves me!" Jon-Tom
THE SSOUKMT OF TOT MAGICIAN
41
spoke with unaccustomed intensity. "I know she does.
1 can feel it. She's just... she's just not quite ready to
make it permanent, that's all. She needs more
reassurance, more encouragement." He stared at the
wood chips carpeting the floor. "Of course, that
would be easier to do if I had some idea where she
is."
"You'll never get a wild type like that to settle
down." Clothahump removed his glasses and squinted
through one eye as he gave them a perfunctory
cleaning, then set them back on his beak. "Why not
just marry her and then go your separate ways?
There's so much world left for you to see."
"I warn to see it all with her." An uncomfortable
pause followed. Then Jon-Tom moved to the bed