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tiny magic, very minor wizardry, but it impressed Pandro nonetheless. A good
impres-
sion the raven would carry with him all the way back to Quasequa.
"No, no other message. Tell Opiode if he feels the need to convey additional
information to me to send you back again."
"Oh, no, sir! He may send more information back to you. but I won't be
bringing it. I've had enough of wizardly goings-on. Humans from other worlds,
face-
less demons, no thank you, sirs! I'll inform him you're sending help down to
Quasequa and I'm sure-
he will be heartened by that, but if he wants to thank
THB MOMENT OF THE MAOJCUUV 89
you he can do it himself. I've had more than enough of such doings. Never
again."
"Don't you mean 'nevermore'?" Jon-Tom asked him.
Pandro eyed him oddly for a moment before bow-
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ing a last time. Then he left, closing the heavy wooden door behind him.
"Hope for the better rather than for the worst,"
said Jon-Tom after the raven had taken his leave.
*TU start packing our supplies."
Clothahump coughed softly. "What do you mean
*our* supplies, my boy?"
Jon-Tom hailed in mid-stride. "Now, wait a minute.
What about all that business about your being
'courageous, brave, and bold'?"
"Dear me, is that what he said?" Clothahump was studying the ceiling. "I
thought certain he said
'courageous, brave, and old.' Because that is an accu-
rate description. In any case, I'm certainly not about to leave my work here
to embark on some long hike simply to salve the injured feelings of a deposed
wizard. As 1 said, this hardly sounds to me like a crisis"
"No crisis, eh? Some evil sorcerer from another world throws a colleague of
yours out of office and is scheming to take over an entire city with
who-knows-
what eventual aims in mind, and you don't call that a crisis?"
"It's not my city, and I'm not the one who's been deposed. As for Opiode the
Sly's being a colleague.
I've never worked with him and know of him only by reputation."
/ "That's one hell of a cold attitude."
"I would rather say realistic. However, I did say I
would send help, and so I shall. You are so con-
vinced that this Markus the Ineluctable is from your world that I wouldn't
think of putting off the day of
Alan Dean Poster
60
that meeting by so much as an hour. I would only slow you down, my boy." He
indicated the duar
Jon-Tbm cradled against his side.
"You can handle anything that comes before you.
You now know enough of this land and have mastered sufficient of your
spellsinging skills to extricate your-
self from any minor difficulties." He grinned. "Should this Markus turn out to
be as belligerent as Opiode feels, you can always threaten him with a
bouquet.'*
Jen-Torn gave the wizard a sour look. "What would
I do without your confidence and support?"
"Oh, I support you, my boy, I support you. Your
talent is developing nicely. I merely try to keep a close watch on the
diameter of your head, lest in a dangerous moment of overconfidence it grow
too large.
"Opiode desires speed in this matter and so do you. I would be an encumbrance
to you both. I am quite confident of your ability to manage this matter on
your own."
"What if he's not from my world?" wondered
Jon-Tom, suddenly thoughtful. "What if he is some strange demonic being in
human guise? That raven's description of his attire and his attitude, those
don't make him sound much like an old friend from back home"
"Then you must deal with him as the circum-
stances dictate," the wizard told him firmly. "I can't wet-nurse you through
maturity."
"I'm already mature."
"Then act like it." He winced. "Besides, my arthri-
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tis is acting up."
"Funny how your arthritis always seems to act up whenever there's a long
journey to be taken."
"Yes, it is peculiar, isn't it?" Clothahump admitted without batting an eye.
He lumbered toward his bedroom, peered through the doorway. "Ah! Sorbl
THE MOMENT Of THK XAOICIAW 61
has excavated my bed. I can hear him shearing away in there. Presumably he is
not so drunk that he has cut off either of his wings." He raised his voice.
"Sorbll How are you managing in there, you useless befeathered sot?"
"I am tired. Master," came the faint reply from somewhere deep within the
thorny brambles. "These vines are tough." A pause, then, "Can't you just magic
them away?"
"Perhaps I could, but I did not acquire an appren-
tice so that I might engage in menial labor. Besides, a little exercise is
good for the system, especially when that system is overloaded with ethyl
molecules."
"With what. Master?"
"Liquorish magical symbols."
"Not me, Masteri I would never I"
Clothahump closed the door to the rosebush-ridden bedroom, shutting off
Sorbl's too-emphatic protesta-
tions of innocence. He turned back to jon-Tom, peered up at him over steepled
lingers.
"Opiode has a reputation for exaggeration, my boy, and all salamanders are
notoriously paranoid. I
know that you will enjoy the journey to Quasequa. It will be a long but
pleasant trip. The city itself is rumored to be most beautiful, constructed on
a series of islands out in the middle of a body of water called the Lake of
Sorrowful Pearls. If 1 were a hun-
dred years younger, I would not hesitate to accompa-
ny you."
jon-Tbm was nodding knowingly. "Sounds delightful.
In fact, it sounds a lot like our recent relaxing vacation jaunt to distant
Snarken."
Clothahump shifted his eyes away from the tall youth- "Ah, any excursion can
be dogged by unforeseen bad luck." He cleared his throat self-consciously.
"This time you will encounter no oceans to cross, no mo-
rose moors to traverse. Merely shallow tropical lakes
03 Alan Dean Footer and lagoons, such as the one on which Quasequa itself is
constructed. A land of moderate tempera-
tures and quiet beauty. A veritable paradise com-
pared to these cold Bellwoods. Often's the time I've thought of traveling
there with an eye toward retir-
ing in such a place."
"You'll never retire. You like your reputation too much."
"No, 1 mean it, my boy. Someday I will consider it seriously. Perhaps when I
turn three hundred."
"When you hit three hundred 1 hope I won't be around to see it."
"Yes, your unquenchable desire to return home.
Perhaps this Markus the Ineluctable will turn out to be helpful."
"You're just trying to make me feel better about going off without you, but
you're right. I'd go anywhere, under any conditions, if I thought there was a
chance I could get a little closer to home."
"And what of Opiode's concerns?"
"Maybe he exaggerates, just like you say. If this
Markus is from my own world, I'm sure that if the two of us can get together
and chat for a while, he'll
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be as happy to see me as I will be to see him, and we can work something out"
"And if he's not of your world, and Opiode does not exaggerate?"
Jen-Tom took a deep breath. "In that case, I've got my duar. If it comes to a
battle of sorceral skills, I
think I can handle anything." Except my own mistakes, he added silently to
himself-
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