"How bazaar!"

RIPLEY

The Bazaar at Deva was like no other place in the universe, or at least that's what Aahz kept telling me. And from my few times in the Bazaar, and what little of the different dimen­sions I had seen, I was beginning to agree with him.

The Deevels, the residents of Deva, were known as the best traders and negotiators. Now, granted, Aahz, as a Pervect, could be tight with a penny, but as Aahz had warned, a Deevel could trade you out of the penny and the pocket you kept it in, and leave you naked and thinking you were better off for the deal.

The Bazaar was the logical extension of that ability. They had set up the trading capital of all the dimensions, a bazaar that now stretched seemingly forever. Demons, which was a catchphrase for Dimension Travelers, were allowed to set up booths and try to make a living doing whatever it was they did best.

I don't think anyone really knew how far the Bazaar ex­ tended, since the tents and booths seemed to always be chang­ ing and moving. When I asked how long Aahz thought it would take me to walk across the Bazaar, he said if I was lucky, only five or six months, but he doubted I would make it alive.

It seems that the Bazaar at Deva was also a very danger ous place, which was why I was doing my best to keep up with Tananda and Aahz as they headed through the crowds. I had no idea why this area was so jammed with Demons. It smelled like someone was boiling old shoes, and most of the demons in this area were covered in white and red scales that flaked at the slightest touch. And in my hurry I was bumping into a lot o f them. By the time we came to a stop in front of a blank-l ooking tent with the flap closed, I was sweating like it was a hot summer day, and scales were stuck all over me.

"Might want to brush those off," Aahz said, glancing at me and shaking his head.

Neither he or Tanda seemed to have any on them at all. I had no idea how they had managed that and still moved so fast.

"Why?" I asked, half-heartedly pushing the white and red scales off my sleeve.

"They're acid," Tanda said, reaching over and flicking a scale off my forehead with a polished nail.

I picked up the speed of my brushing, working at getting every one of the hundreds of scales stuck to me.

Tanda and Aahz just laughed.

"Little help with the back?" I asked, shaking my entire body as hard as I could.

Tanda laughed even harder as I turned around and her hands worked over my shoulders, down my back, and across my rear. Any other circumstances I would have enjoyed the feel, but standing in the middle of a crowd with acid scales all over me sort of deflated any thoughts of enjoyment.

Aahz just stood and shook his head, staring at the tent, until I was finished and Tanda had inspected my hair and neck and other areas for a stray scale. I didn't know that we had both missed one in my left shoe until I looked down and saw that my shoe was smoking. It was one of my best pairs, too.

As I kicked off the shoe and emptied the acid scale onto the ground, Aahz looked at me and bared his teeth in a grin.

"Just count your blessings it didn't go down your pants."

I looked at the hole the scale had burnt into my shoe and shuddered.

"Want me to check you to make sure?" Tanda asked, smiling.

"Thanks," I said, putting my shoe back on. "Maybe later."

"I still don't like this idea," Aahz said, turning to stare at the tent, which was clearly why we were on Deva.

Tanda shrugged. "Neither do I, but we don't have much of a choice, do we? You know anyone who might know what or where a vortex is?"

Aahz shook his head, obviously trying to think of some one.

"I just don't like the price we're going to pay."

"It doesn't have to be that bad," she said.

Aahz said nothing.

I finished one more last check for scales and glanced at the tent we were standing in front of. There was no sign, no indi cation that anyone was even in it. The crowd in the street seemed to give it a wide berth as well.

"I just wish I knew what we were walking into," I said. "A little hint would be nice."

"You're staying out here," Aahz said.

I glanced around at the flowing crowds of white-and red- scaled acid demons and shook my head. "Not a chance."

"We need to stick together," Tanda said, taking my side. "We may have to move quickly."

"That doesn't sound good," I said.

Aahz made his disgusted noise, then looked me right in the eyes.

"Not a word comes from your mouth in there. Under stand?"

"Sure," I said, making a motion across my mouth that I had sealed it.

"Here," Tanda said, smiling at me. "Let me help you with that."

She put her wonderful hand against my mouth. The smell of her skin was that of distant flowers; her touch was soft. She ran her hand along my mouth as I had done, then patted my shoulder.

"That was-"

My mouth wouldn't open!

I tried again.

The words sort of jumbled inside and the only noise that reached my ears was "Thrrrgggg wgggggeeee."

I tried to shout "What did you do?"

What got to my ears was "Wgggggghhh dggggggghhh ygggggghhh dgggggggghhh"

My lips were completely glued together. And the harder I tried to force them apart, the more painful it became.

"I didn't know you knew that one," Aahz said to Tanda, completely ignoring my struggle. "I've wanted to use it a hun dred times."

She smiled at my mentor. "There are a lot of things you don't know about me."

Well, as far I was concerned, sealing my lips wasn't some thing I had ever wanted Tanda to do with anything except maybe a kiss. I tried to tell her so, but again nothing sounded like a word.

"Let's do this," Aahz said, nodding in satisfaction at my condition, then stepping toward the tent.

"Don't worry," Tanda said, smiling at my struggle as she took my arm and followed Aahz. "It's just temporary. Trust me, it's for your own good. And ours as well."

Not for the first time, it occurred to me that for some one who claimed not to have enough magikal talent to be a magician, Tanda occasionally displayed a lot more knowl edge and skill than I had as the Royal Magician of Possiltum.

At the tent flap Aahz didn't even hesitate or knock, if knocking was possible on a big tent. He just stepped inside and Tanda led me right behind him.

The place was huge.

No, huge didn't describe it. On either side of us the tent seemed to fade off into the distance. This was the first time I had seen one of the Bazaar tents that had bigger insides than outsides. Aahz had mentioned them, but until I stepped into the massive room on the other side of the tent flap, I had no idea that such a thing was really possible. I was going to have to have Aahz teach me the magik involved so I could do that with our rooms back at the palace.

The tent was dimly lit and had a polished marble floor and dark, wooden-looking walls. There was almost no furniture. A simple wooden desk sat on the side of the room facing where we had come in. A massive map of what looked like dimen­ sions filled the wall behind it.

A woman sat at the desk, not looking at us at all. What­ever had Aahz and Tanda so worried about being here wasn't clear on first glance. The room felt odd, but not threatening, besides it being a hundred times larger than the tent holding it. We all stopped a few feet in front of the desk, with Aahz clearly in the position to do the talking.