Myth 18 - MythChief Asprin, Robert (urban books to read TXT) 📖

block it. My hands were not strong enough. I tried using magik to block the paper inside, but my spell exploded outward in a shower of blue sparks. Marmel scooped endless armloads of white rectangles into the corner to get them out of our way, but he was being buried. If we didn't stop the flow, we'd be smothered underneath a mountain of paper. I caught his arm and signed to him. We scrabbled to the top of the heap and crawled around behind the box. Together, we got ahold of the tiny lid. I used a huge burst of magik to block the flow for just a second. We forced the lid over the box and slammed it down. I grabbed the catch with a fin-​ger of magik power and locked it solidly. The avalanche of papers ceased. Marmel rolled over on his back, panting. I wiped my forehead and looked around.

Hundreds of folded documents filled more than a quar-​ter of the floor. I unfolded one of them. It was a long, skinny map. As I drew my finger from the indicated point

A to point B I saw landmarks and roads as if I was walking along the streets myself. After some thought I realized that the illusion was a Triple-​D map of Zoorik, leading from the fabled Bank of the Gnomes to the Pleasure Gardens and the Zeughausbierundwienerrathskeller, a restaurant that served beer in yard-​high glasses. I tossed it to one side. Marmel and I opened more of the papers, hoping that one of them was the missing will, but they were all Direc-​tory of the Diverse Dimensions maps, yet another one of the old man's collections. I kicked my way through the drifts of charts and graphs and started going over the man-​telpiece. At least one of the gizmos on display was giving off some powerful magik.

Suddenly, I felt a twang! Something had set off one of my alarm threads. I signed to Marmel. The two of us jumped behind the head of the bed. I plunged the room into dark-​ness. Narwickius's thugs were here now! They weren't waiting for daybreakthey were coming after midnight. Leave it to them to split hairs.

I gathered in another supply of magik from the lines of force to replace what I had expended in playing mapmaker. In any case, the scads of maps would upset the intruders' footing. I could catch them by surprise. Marmel could no longer hear or see; it would be up to me to subdue the inter-​lopers.

I waited. My traps told me exactly where the newcom-​ers were. They had opened a window at the rear of the house and were coming up the back stairs to the upper cor-​ridor. Patience, I told myself, as I felt my heart race. You've done this a number of times. Unless they outmagik you, it doesn't matter how many of them there are or how big they are.

Closer, now. I couldn't see anything, but a careful out-​reach of magikal force told me that my opponent was pack-​ing at least some firepower himself. Yes, one wizard was all I could sense. If there were any more bodies behind him, they were set to rely on brute strength. I took a deep breath.

The intruder was a professional. The door opened smoothly, not upsetting the wards I had placed upon it. I readied a handful of power that would stun my opponent long enough for us to tie him up with a souvenir jump rope from the Temple of Shirli in Lahlipop. I put a hand on Manners arm to tell him to stay in place.

Then I leaped.

The intruder ought to have been one pace inside. No body interrupted my headlong flight, as I slammed into the corner of the door. I saw red and orange stars dance before my eyes. Shaking my head, I cast

around. How had he moved so quickly?

I found out the answer in the next heartbeat. A body dropped down on me from the ceiling. I thrust the full blast of magik in my hand into its face. Its hands closed upon my throat. I grabbed back, mentally gathering more power for a burst of light. My fingers sank into soft flesh that covered steel-​like tendons. My attacker let go with one hand, and I felt something thin whip around my neck and tighten. I reeled as my breath was cut off. I used magik to try to loosen the tie. It stretched a tiny bit, enough to let me suck in a little air. My head was spinning, but I let loose with a paralyzing blast of magik.

Ker-​POW.

Instead of leaving my opponent stunned and helpless, the spell backfired and exploded in a brilliant green glow. By its light I saw a heart-​shaped face somewhat distended by partial strangulation but entirely recognizable.

“Tananda!” I shouted. It didn't matter that I couldn't breathe; my spell dampened the sound anyhow.

She recognized me, too. Her eyes widened just as the green fireball faded. I felt the garotte around my neck re-​lease. Limply, I fell to the floor. With stars dancing across my vision, I undid my darkness spell. As I lay gasping, the torches on the wall kindled into life once more, lending feeble light to the room. Tananda stood with her hands on her hips, looking down on me. Her mouth was moving.

“Wait,” I mouthed, and dispelled the cloud of blue magik that comprised the silence spell