"Whatkind of a favor?" Aahz asked suspiciously.

Foronce I was in complete agreement with him. Something in Frumple'svoice did not inspire confidence.

"Asmall thing, really," the Deveel purred. "Sort of a decoymission."

"We'drather pay cash," I asserted firmly.

"Shutup, kid," Aahz advised. "What kind of a decoy mission,Frumple?"

"Youmay have noticed the young couple who entered my shop ahead of you.You did! Good. Then you have doubtless noticed they are not on thepremises currently."

"Howdid they leave?" I asked curiously.

"I'llget to that in a moment," Frumple smiled. "Anyway, theirsis an interesting if common story. I'll spare you the details, but inshort, they're young lovers kept apart by their families. In theirdesperation, they turned to me for assistance. I obliged them bysending them to another dimension where they can be happy free oftheir respective family's intervention."

"Fora fee, of course," Aahz commented dryly.

"Ofcourse," Frumple smiled.

"C'mon,Aahz," I chided. "It sounds like a decent thing to do, evenif he was paid for it."

"Quiteso!" beamed the Deveel. "You're quite perceptive for one soyoung. Anyway, my generosity has left me in a rather precariousposition. As you have no doubt noticed, I am quite concerned with myimage in this town. There is a chance that image may be threatened ifthe couple's relatives succeed in tracking them to my shop and nofarther."

"Thatmust have been some fee," Aahz mumbled.

"Nowmy proposition is this: in exchange for my assistance, I would askthat you two disguise yourselves as that couple and lay a false trailaway from my shop."

"Howmuch of a false trail?" I asked.

"Oh.it needn't be anything elaborate. Just be seen leaving town by enoughtownspeople to ensure that attention will be drawn away from my shop.Once out of sight of town, you can change to any disguise you likeand return here. By that time, my preparations for your cure shouldbe complete. Well, what do you say? Is it a deal?"

"PEOPLEare staring at us, Aahz."

"Relax,kid. They're supposed to be staring at us."

Toillustrate his point, he nodded and waved to a knot of gloweringlocals. They didn't wave back.

"Idon't see why I have to be the girl," I grumbled.

"Wewent through that before, kid. You walk more like a girl than I do."

"That'swhat you and Frumple decided. I don't think I walk like a girl atall!"

"Well.let's say I walk less like a girl than you do."

Itwas hard to argue with logic like that, so I changed subjects.

"Couldn'twe at least travel by less populated streets?" I asked.

"Why?"countered Aahz.

"Well,I'm not too wild about having a lot of people seeing me when I'mmasquerading as a girl."

"C'mon,kid. The whole idea is that no one would recognize you. Besides, youdon't know anybody in this town. Why should you care what they thinkof you?"

"Ijust don't like it, that's all," I grumbled.

"Notgood enough," Aahz asserted firmly. "Being seen is part ofour deal with Frumple. If you had any objections you should have saidso before we closed the negotiations."

"Inever got a chance," I pointed out. "But since thesubject's come up, I do have a few questions."

"Suchas?"

"Suchas what are we doing?"

"Weren'tyou paying attention, kid? We're laying a false trail for…."

"Iknow that," I interrupted. "What I mean is, why arc wedoing what we're doing? Why are we doing Frumple a favor instead ofjust paying his price?"

"Youwouldn't ask that if you'd ever dealt with a Deveel before,"Aahz snorted. "Their prices are sky-high, especially in a caselike ours when they know the customer is desperate. Just be thankfulwe got such a good deal."

"That'swhat I mean, Aahz. Are we sure we've gotten a good deal?"

"Whatdo you mean?"

"Well,from what I've been told, if you think you've gotten a good deal froma Deveel, it usually means you've overlooked something."

"Ofcourse you speak from a wide range of experience," Aahz sneeredsarcastically. "Who told you so much about dealing withDeveels?"

"Youdid," I said pointedly.

"Hmmm.You're right, kid. Maybe I have been a little hasty."

NormallyI would have been ecstatic over having Aahz admit I was right.Somehow, however, in the current situation, it only made me feel thatmuch more uncomfortable.

"Sowhat are we going to do?" I asked.

"Well,normally I deal honestly unless I think I'm being double-crossed.This time, however, you've raised sufficient doubt in my mind that Ithink we should bend the rules a little."

"Situationalethics again?"

"Right!"

"Sowhat do we do?"

"Startlooking for a relatively private place where we can dump thesedisguises without being noticed."

Ibegan scanning the streets and alleys ahead of us. My uneasiness wasgrowing into panic, and it lent intensity to my search.

"Iwish we had our weapons along," I muttered.

"Listento him," Aahz jeered. "It wasn't that long ago you weretelling me all about how magicians don't need weapons. C'mon, kid.What would you do with a weapon if you had one?"

"Ifyou want to get specific," I said dryly, "I was wishing youhad a weapon."

"Oh!Good point. Say… ah… kid? Are you still looking for aprivate place?"

"Yeah,I've got a couple possibles spotted."

"Wellforget it. Start looking for something wide open with a lot ofexits."

"Whythe change in strategy," I asked.

"Takea look over your shoulder… casual like."

Idid as I was bid, though it was not as casual as it might have been.It turned out my acting ability was the least of our worries.

Therewas a crowd of people following us. They glared at us darkly andmuttered to themselves. I wanted very badly to believe we were notthe focus of their attention, but it was obvious that was not thecase. They were clearly following us, and gathering members as theywent.

"We'rebeing followed, Aahz!" I whispered.

"Hey,kid. I pointed them out to you, remember?"

"Butwhy are they following us? What do they want?"

"Well,I don't know for sure, of course, but I'd guess it has something todo with our disguises."

Isnuck another glance at the crowd. The interest in us did not seem tobe lessening at all. If anything, the crowd was even bigger andlooked even angrier. Terrific.

"Say,Aahz?" I whispered.

"Yeah,kid?"

"Ifthey're after us because of our disguises, why don't we just changeback?"

"Badplan, kid. I'd rather run the risk of them having some kind of grudgeagainst the people we're impersonating than facing up to theconsequences if they found out we were magicians."

"Sowhat do we do?"

"Wekeep walking and hope we run into a patrol of soldiers that can offerus some protection."

Afist-sized rock thudded into the street ahead of us, presumablythrown by one of the people following us.

"…or…." Aahz revised hastily, "we can stop right nowand find out what this is all about."

"Wecould run," I suggested hopefully, but Aahz was already actingon his earlier suggestion.

Hestopped abruptly and spun on his heel to face the crowd.

"Whatis the meaning of this?" he roared at the advancing multitude.

Thecrowd lurched to a halt before the direct address, those in the rearcolliding with those in front who had already stopped. They seemed abit taken aback by Aahz's action and milled about without direction.