"WHAThappened?" I demanded of Aahz.

"Hey,kid. I was on Deva, too. Remember?"

"Urn…hey, guys. I hate to interrupt," Tanda interrupted, "butshouldn't something be done about disguises?"

Shewas right. Being on Deva had made me forget the mundane necessitiesof our existence. I ignored Aahz's sarcastic reply and set to work.

Aahzreturned to his now traditional Garkin disguise. Tanda was fine onceI changed her complexion and the color of her hair. After a bit ofthought, I disguised Gleep as the war unicorn. It was a bit risky,but it would do as long as he kept his mouth shut. Me, I left asmyself. I mean, what the heck. Tanda liked my looks the way theywere.

Fortunatelythe sun wasn't up yet, so there weren't any people about to witnessthe transformation.

"Say,handsome," Tanda commented, observing the results of my work,"you're a pretty handy guy to have around."

"Hisname's Skeeve," Aahz grumbled.

"Whatever."Tanda murmured. "He's got style."

Shesnuggled up to me.

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

Iwas starting to feel awfully popular.

"Ifyou can spare a few minutes, kid," Aahz commented dryly, "wedo have a mission, remember?"

"That'sright," I said, forcing my attention away from Tanda's advances."What do you think happened to Frumple?"

"Eitherthe citizens of Twixt got wise to him, or he's off to tell Isstvanwe're coming, would be my two guesses."

"Who'sFrumple?" Tanda asked.

"Hmm?Oh, he's the resident Deveel," Aahz said. "He's the one whohelped us get to the Bazaar."

"…at sword point," I added sarcastically.

"What'sa Deveel doing here?"

"Allwe know is that rumor has it he was barred from Deva," I toldher.

"Hmm…sounds like a bit of a nasty character."

"Well,he won't win any popularity contests."

"Itoccurs to me," Aahz interrupted, "that if either of my twoguesses are correct, we'd best be on our way. Time seems to berunning out."

"Right,"agreed Tanda. "Which way is Isstvan?"

"First,we've got to pick up Quigley," I inserted.

"Why?"asked Aahz. "Oh, I suppose you're right, kid. We're going toneed all the help we can muster."

"Who'sQuigley?" Tanda asked.

"Later,Tanda," Aahz insisted. "First help us see if there'sanything here worth salvaging."

Unfortunately,there wasn't. In fact, there weren't even the charred remains ofanything left for our discovery. Even the garish sword I had leftbehind seemed to have vanished.

"Thatsettles it," Aahz commented grimly as we completed our search."He's on his way to Isstvan."

"Thenatives might have taken the sword after they burned the place,"I suggested hopefully.

"Noway, kid. Even yokels like these wouldn't bother with a crummy swordlike that."

"Itwas that bad?" Tanda asked.

"Itwas that bad," Aahz assured her firmly.

"Ifit was that worthless, why would Frumple take it with him?" Iasked.

"Forthe same reason we've been lugging it around," Aahz saidpointedly. "There's always some sucker to unload it on for aprofit. Remember Quigley?"

"Who'sQuigley?" Tanda insisted.

"Well,"sighed Aahz, "at the moment he's a statue, but in duller timeshe's a demon hunter."

"Swell,"she commented sarcastically. "Just what we need."

"Waituntil you meet him," Aahz rolled his eyes and sighed. "Ohwell, let's go."

Ourdeparture from Twixt was blissfully uneventful. On the road, werehearsed our story until, by the time we finally dug up Quigley andsprinkled him with the restoring power, we were ready to present aunited front.

"Really?Turned to stone, you say?" he said, brushing the dirt from hisclothes.

"Yes,"Aahz assured him. "They were looting your body when we launchedour counterattack. It's lucky for you we decided to come back andfight at your side."

"Andthey took my magik sword and my amulet?"

Ifelt a little uneasy on those subjects, but Aahz never batted an eye.

"That'sright, the blaggards'" he snarled. "We tried to stop them,but they eluded us."

"Well,at least they didn't get my war unicorn," muttered the demonhunter.

"Urn…."I said, bracing myself for my part in this charade. "We've gotsome bad news about that, too."

"Badnews?" Quigley frowned, "I don't understand. I can see thebeast with my own eyes and he seems fit enough."

"Oh,he's fine physically," Aahz reassured him. "but before theydisappeared, the demons put a spell on him."

"Aspell?"

"Yes."I said. "Now he… urn… well… he thinks he'sa dragon."

"Adragon?" Quigley exclaimed.

"Gleep!"said the dragon.

"Andthat's not all," Aahz continued. "The beast was so wild atfirst that only through the continued efforts of my squire here werewe able to gentle him at all. Frankly, I was for putting the pooranimal out of its misery, but he insisted he could tame it and yousee before you the results of his patient teachings."

"That'swonderful!" exclaimed Quigley.

"No.That's terrible," corrected Aahz. "You see, in the process,your animal has formed a strong attachment for my squire…stronger, I fear, than his attachment for you."

"Hah!Ridiculous," Quigley proclaimed. "But I do feel I owe youan additional debt of gratitude, lad. If there's ever anything Ican…"

Hebegan to advance on me with his hand extended. In a flash, Gleep wasbetween us, head down and hissing.

Quigleyfroze, his eyes bulging with surprise. "Stop that!" Iordered, cuffing the dragon.

"Gleep!"said the dragon, slinking back to his place behind me.

"Seewhat I mean?" Aahz said pointedly.

"Hnun…."Quigley mumbled thoughtfully.

"That'sstrange, he never defended me that way."

"Iguess we'll just have to buy him from you," I said eagerly.

"Buyhim?" Quigley turned his attention to me again.

Aahztried to catch my eye, shaking his head emphatically, but I ignoredhim.

"That'sright," I continued. "He's no good to you this way, andsince we're sort of to blame for what happened to him…."

"Thinknothing of it, lad." Quigley drew himself up proudly. "Igive him to you as a gift. After all, if it weren't for you he'd bedead anyway, and so would I, for that matter."

"But…"

"No!I will hear nothing more." The demon hunter held up arestraining hand. "The matter is closed. Treat him well, lad.He's a good animal."

"Terrific,"muttered Aahz.

"Gleep,"said the dragon.

Ifelt miserable. It had occurred to me that our plans involved takingshameless advantage of Quigley's gullibility. As he was my onlyfellow Klahd in this adventure, I had wanted to force Aahz intogiving him some money under the guise of buying the "warunicorn." It would have salved my conscience a bit, butQuigley's generosity and sense of fair play had ruined my plan. Now Ifelt worse than before.

"Actually,Quigley," Aahz smiled, "If there's anyone you should thank,it should be Tananda here. If it were not for her, we would be indire straits indeed."

"It'sabout time," mumbled Tanda, obviously unimpressed with Aahz'srhetoric.

"Charmed,milady," Quigley smiled, taking her hand to kiss.

"She'sa witch," added Aahz casually.

"Awitch?" Quigley dropped her hand as if it had bitten him.

"That'sright, sugar," Tanda smiled, batting her eyes at him.

"PerhapsI should explain," Aahz interrupted mercifully. "Tanandahere has certain powers she has consented to use in support of ourwar on demons. You already noticed I have regained my normalappearance?"