"So what you’re saying is there is no romance in the world, in any world?"
"No, but I think there is another element, one that comes between the doing and the hearing. That is what turns something frightening or wearying or utterly miserable into a romance. I think that element is in the mind of the teller."
She paused and looked out over the battlements to the fleecy clouds. "I think you confuse what is outside with what is within you. The dragons, or the freeways, those are the external things. It is not the deeds or the things that make a romance, it is what you do with them inside yourself.
"My lady, do you remember the day you arrived, when the dragon cavalry swept over the keep? You made us see them in a way we had never seen them before. I think that is the real secret of romance. Not places or people, but the ability to look at the World and see the romance that is there."
Judith quirked one side of her face up into a smile. "You may be right. I sure don’t seem to be having much luck finding that quality outside of me."
"But you have it inside, Lady. That is better than not having it at all."
"I guess you’re right," Judith said, fumbling a well-used handkerchief from her gown’s sleeve. "Thanks."
"You are mor than welcome, My lady. Just stay out of the aeries, please."
As the days dragged on Wiz came to know his pursuers well enough that they developed distinct personalities. There was the fat one who hated to exercise and who searched perfunctorily and never a place that was hard to reach or might be dangerous. There was the one who was addicted to laying in ambush, but whose fondness for onions and persistent flatulence gave him away. There was the lean one with the long arms who seemed to delight in rooftops and other high places.
And then there was Seklos. Seklos of the keen nose, who never seemed to rest and who searched relentlessly, who poked into every nook and cranny and who checked everything.
This couldn’t go on. He would slip sooner or later. So far only more luck than any mortal deserved had kept him alive and free. But that couldn’t last.
Meanwhile, the longer this murderous game of hide-and-seek went on, the more likely it was that there would be a war. It wasn’t just his life that was on the line here—although that is a major consideration, he thought, it was the fate of the entire World.
Well, if he couldn’t run forever and he had to survive, there was only one thing to do. He didn’t want to fight the Dark League, but they would not rest until he was dead. He had no way out so he had to fight them to the death.
Yeah, but whose death? He shook the thought off and began to consider methods of fighting back.
This place was odd, Wiz thought. It was a tower in the shadow of what had obviously been a major palace. But the tower was squat and ill-proportioned with doorways big enough to drive a truck through.
The peculiar proportions were emphasized by the fact that the top was missing, blasted away during his attack on the city. But it was sound up to the fourth level, which was where Wiz was standing now.
The room was large and roughly circular, with a single large French door that led out onto a tiny balcony overlooking the street below. It gave a wonderful view of the city, but aside from that seemed useless.
So did the contents of the room. It had either been stripped or hadn’t had anything in it to begin with. Just a few stone benches around the walls and some miscellaneous trash on the floor.
He was about to leave when he heard voices outside. Someone was coming up the street below and it could only be wizards of the Dark League.
Normally Wiz would have run away, but his new resolve made him step out on the balcony to check out the situation.
The situation could not have been better. Laying on the balcony were several large blocks of stone which must have fallen when the top of the tower went. Coming up the narrow street were two wizards of the Dark League and one of them was Seklos!
Wiz picked up one of the blocks of stone and rested it on the carved stone railing. Then he watched the wizards get closer and closer and smiled.
"… dragging me all the way up here," the other wizard said as they came closer. Wiz recognized him as the cautious one.
"Because this is where he must be," Seklos said. "Fool, do you not see that the quicker we catch this most troublesome bird, the sooner we can leave this place?"
Wiz put both hands on the block and held his breath.
"But why me?" the other wizard asked.
He never got his answer. At that moment they came under the balcony and Wiz shoved the rock over the edge.
Wiz watched with a sinking heart as the stone smashed into the pavement and shattered a good arm’s length behind his intended victim. He scuttled back from the edge dislodging a shower of pebbles in the process.
Seklos’ companion gaped at the shattered rock on the pavement behind them. "Dangerous place." He looked up at the tower nervously. "The stones are loose."
Seklos looked up at the parapet. "I do not believe in such accidents." He turned to his companion. "Go, spread the word that this area is to be cordoned off and searched most carefully. I think we may be near our Sparrow."
As he pounded down the stairs, Wiz realized he had made a serious mistake. There was only one door to the tower and that was just around the corner from where the wizards had been standing. If he didn’t get out the door before Seklos came looking for him…
Too late! He was still nearly a flight from the bottom when Seklos came through the door and into the tower. As quietly as he could, Wiz backed up the stairs.
Seklos came on, staff in hand, ready to strike at the slightest sound or movement. Wiz moved back up the spiraling stairs ahead of him. There was no time to open a door and no room to squeeze past his pursuer. The only place he could go was back into the room where he had thrown the rock.
That’ll still work, he thought, fighting down the panic rising inside him. He can’t see me and as soon as he comes into the room I’ll be able to slip around him and get down the stairs. Moving as quietly as he could, he eased through the door and made for the far end, next to the window.
Seklos strode into the room and sniffed the air. His head swung this way and that like a hunting dog tracing a scent. Wiz stood stock still, afraid to breathe. Two more steps and he would be far enough in that he could get behind him and out the door.
Seklos took a single cautious step into the room and scanned from side to side. The wizard stopped short. "What…" Then his face split in an evil smile.
"A cloak of invisibility? Clever Sparrow. Oh, very clever indeed. But did they not tell you never to stand in a sunbeam wearing a tarncape?" He raised his hand and flicked his wrist in the direction of the window. Wiz had a glimpse of something silvery flying through the air. Instinctively he dove and rolled.
Behind him the stone wall exploded into flame. Wiz hugged the floor and squinted his eyes shut to block out the heat.
Dust! Wiz thought frantically. The dust gave me away! Seklos must have seen his outline in the sunlit dust motes. He raised his head and saw Seklos blocking the doorway, his staff extended in front of him. Behind him a wall of luminous blue blocked the doorway.
In desperation, Wiz hefted the halberd. He knew he couldn’t get in under the staff with the shorter weapon, so he threw it at the wizard, sidearm so it spun horizontally.