"Naw.Weather-control devices. They're scattered through the whole Bazaarinstead of hanging together in one section. Something about thedevices interfering with each other."

"Areall the displays that spectacular?"

"Thatisn't spectacular, kid. They used to do tornados until the otherbooths complained and they had to limit their demonstrations to thetame stuff. Now hurry up!"

"Whereare we going anyway, Aahz? And what is that smell?"

Therepulsive aroma was growing noticeably stronger.

"That,"proclaimed Aahz, coming to a halt in front of a dome-shaped tent, "isthe smell of Pervish cooking!"

"Food?We came all this way so you could have a meal?"

"Firstthings first, kid. I haven't had a decent meal since Garkin called meout of the middle of a party and stranded me in your idiotdimension."

"Butwe're supposed to be looking for something to use against Isstvan."

"Relax,kid. I haggle better on a full stomach. Just wait here. I won't belong."

"Waithere? Can't I go in with you?"

"Idon't think you'd like it, kid. To anyone who wasn't born on Perv,the food looks even worse than it smells."

Ifound that hard to believe, but pursued the argument gamely.

"I'mnot all that weak-stomached, you know. When I was living in thewoods, I ate some pretty weird things myself."

"I'lltell ya, kid, the main problem with Pervish food is keeping the goofrom crawling out of the bowl while you're eating it."

"I'llwait here," I decided.

"Good.Like I say, I won't be long. You can watch the dragons until I getback."

"Dragons?"I said, but he had already disappeared through the tent flap.

Iturned slowly and looked at the display behind me.

Dragons!

Therewas an enormous stall stocked with dragons not fifteen feet fromwhere I was standing. Most of the beasts were tethered at the backwall which kept me from seeing them as we approached, but upon directviewing there was no doubt they were dragons.

Curiositymade me drift over to join the small crowd in front of the stall. Thestench was overwhelming, but after a whiff of Pervish cooking, itseemed almost pleasant.

Ihad never seen a dragon before, but the specimens in the stall livedup to the expectations of my daydreams. They were huge, easily ten orfifteen feet high at the shoulder and a full thirty feet long. Theirnecks were long and serpentine, and their clawed feet dug greatgouges in the ground as they shifted their weight nervously.

Iwas surprised to see how many varieties there were. It had neveroccurred to me that there might be more than one type of dragon, buthere was living proof to the contrary. Besides the green dragons Ihad always envisioned, there were red, black, gold and blue dragons.There was even one that was mauve. Some were winged and some weren't.Some had wide, massive jaws and othershad narrow snouts. Some had eyes that were squinting and slanted,while others had huge moon-like eyes that never seemed to blink. Theyhad two things in common, however: they were all big and they alllooked thoroughly nasty.

Myattention was drawn to the Deveel running the operation. He was thebiggest Deveel I had ever seen, fully eight feet tall with arms liketrees. It was difficult to say which was more fearsome in appearance,the dragons or their keeper.

Hebrought one of the red dragons to the center of the stall andreleased it with a flourish. The beast raised its head and surveyedthe crowd with seething yellow eyes. The crowd fell back a few stepsbefore that gaze. I seriously considered leaving.

TheDeveel shouted a few words at the crowd in gibberish I couldn'tunderstand, then picked up a sword from the rack by the wall.

Fastas a cat, the dragon arched his neck and spat a stream of fire at itskeeper. By some miracle, the flame parted as it hit the Deveel andpassed harmlessly on either side of him.

Thekeeper smiled and turned to shout a few more words at his audience.As he did, the dragon leapt at him with murderous intent. The Deveeldove to the ground and rolled out from under the attack as the beastlanded with an impact that shook the tent. The dragon whirled, butthe keeper was on his feet again, holding aloft a pendant before thebeast's eyes.

Ididn't understand his move, but apparently the dragon did, for itcowered back on its haunches. The Deveel pointed forcefully and itslunk back to its place at the back of the stall.

Asmall ripple of applause rippled through the crowd. Apparently theywere impressed with the ferocity of the dragon's attack. Me, I wasimpressed by the pendant.

Thekeeper acknowledged the applause and launched into another spiel ofgibberish, this time punctuated by gestures and exclamations.

Idecided it was about time for me to go.

"Gleep!"

Therewas a tug at my sleeve.

Ilooked around. There, behind me, was a small dragon! Well, he wasabout four feet high and ten feet long, but after looking at theother dragons, he seemed small. He was green with big blue eyes andwhat appeared to be a drooping white mustache.

Fora split second I was panicky, but that rapidly gave way to curiosity.He didn't look dangerous. He seemed quite content just standing therechewing on….

Mysleeve! The beast was eating a piece of my sleeve! I looked down andconfirmed that part of my shirt was indeed missing.

"Gleep,"said the dragon again, stretching his neck out for another mouthful.

"Goaway!" I said, and cuffed him before I realized what I wasdoing.

"Gleep?"it said, puzzled.

Istarted to edge away. I was unsure of what to do if he cut loose witha blast of fire and therefore eager to avoid it.

"Gleep,"it said, shuffling after me.

"Gazabkp!"roared a voice behind me.

Ispun and found myself looking at a hairy stomach. I followed it up,way up, and saw the dragon keeper's face looming over me.

"I'msorry," I apologized readily. "I don't speak yourlanguage."

"Oh.A Klahd!" The Deveel boomed. "Well, the Statement stillstands. Pay up!"

"Payup for what?"

"Forthe dragon! What do you think, we're giving away samples?"

"Gleep!"said the dragon, pressing his head against my leg.

"Thereseems to be some mistake," I said hastily.

"I'llsay there is," the Deveel scowled. "And making it. We don'ttake kindly to shop-lifting Deva!"

"Gleep!"said the dragon.

Thingswere rapidly getting out of hand. If needed Aahz's help or advice, itwas now. I shot a desperate glance toward the tent he was in, hopingbeyond hope to see him emerge.

Hewasn't there. In fact, the tent wasn't there! gone, vanished intothin air, and so had Aahz!

"WHEREdid that tent go?" I demanded desperately.

"Whattent?" The keeper blinked, looming behind me.

"Thattent," I exclaimed, pointing at the now vacant space.

TheDeveel frowned, craning his neck, which at his height, gave himconsiderable visibility.

"Thereisn't any tent there," he announced with finality.

"Iknow! That's the point!"

"Hey!Quit trying to change the subject!" The keeper growled, pokingme in the chest with an unbelievably large finger. "Are yougoing to pay for the dragon or not?"

Ilooked around for support, but no one was watching. Apparentlydisputes such as this were common on Deva.

"Itold you there's been a mistake! I don't want your dragon."

"Gleep!"said the dragon, cocking his head at me.

"Don'tgive me that!" the keeper boomed. "If you didn't want him,why did you feed him?"