Myth-Fortunes

Chapter 11

When Aahz and I left for Ghordon the next day, the subject of my date with Tananda was off the table by tacit agreement. I was pretty sure all of my partners had heard everything we had said to each other. On the one hand, I was a little embarrassed that my attempts to learn how to date had become a spectacle viewed by almost the whole group. On the other, having it known among my partners was not exactly public knowledge. It made me feel good to know that they cared about me enough to make certain I wasn't making a huge mistake. Not that I hadn't dreamed about finding someone like Tananda, but as I had said, and meant, she was the big sister who always told me the truth. I was lucky to have her and the others on my side. They'd all given me good advice on relationships before, but not really on how to get one started. As in so many other things, I needed to go back to square one and relearn the process from scratch. Fortunately, I had good as well as bad examples all around me.

The sun was just peeking over the eastern mountains when we popped into the building site. Ghords arrived on Camel-back, flying carpet, or hanging on to one another in a string trailed by a flying Sphinx.

"I always hated commuting," Aahz commented, watching the fliers descend onto the long pier. But these were frequent fliers, accustomed to the discomfort of their transit. They bent their legs just before they touched down so they didn't hurt their ankles, though the odd, squarish way they held their shoulders suggested that hanging from their arms all the way from the main city of Aegis threw their backs out somewhat.

The Scarabs were already there, burrowing upward in huge numbers. They lived just below the surface of the sand where it was cool. They were already at the tiny shrines that represented their ancestors, singing high-pitched snatches of verse, lighting incense, pouring out drops of beer and sacrificing berries to placate the Ancients into blessing their workday.

"Quaint," said Aahz, dryly. "C'mon, I want to talk to Beltasar before she gets going."

It was not difficult to locate the shop steward. She was at the center of a swarm of circulating Scarabs, all buzzing with orders as well as gossip.

She noticed Aahz as we approached. "Your framework is on the agenda."

"I've got a potential client stopping in around lunchtime. Will it be ready by then?"

"By morning break, if the magician has no trouble," the Scarab assured him. "Do you question our competence? I only have four hands!"

"Don't get your wings in a wringer," Aahz said. "Just trying to drum up some business."

"Who is it?" I asked, as we headed for the office building.

"An old acquaintance from Perv," Aahz said. "Bendix owns a law firm. Thought he'd like to take a look around. I'm not going in for the hard sell. Shouldn't have to. A deal this good will sell itself."

But Bendix was not as easily persuaded as Aahz thought he would. We stood at the top of the new invisible framework overlooking the unfinished pyramid. As Beltasar had promised, though the spells left the staff magicians panting, it was completed in time. Aahz had borrowed the illusion wand from Samwise, and pointed out all the future attractions of the site to Bendix, but the Pervish lawyer kept coming back to the same point.

"So you want me to invest in a big piece of nothing?" Bendix asked, as if astonished that he should even have to ask. He was taller and thinner than Aahz, almost as tall as me. His lower jaw thrust forward and his brow crouched over his eyes so he always looked as though he was scowling. At the moment, he was scowling. So was Aahz.

"Bennie, this is the chance of a lifetime," Aahz said, in his most persuasive tone. "Look over there at the finished one."

"But you're asking me to invest in something on which you haven't even broken ground. I like to see what's on the table before I write a check, Aahz. I don't like the idea of buying a siskin in a satchel."

"What's a . . . ?" I began. Aahz gave me a quick gesture to forestall the question.

"Is that one over there for sale?" Bendix asked.

"That's a rival operation," Aahz said, dismissively. "Not connected to this project."

Bendix was not so easily deterred. "Well, how do I buy a piece of that? Maybe you can introduce me."

"You couldn't afford it. It was privately funded. One owner."

"That guy has the right idea," Bendix said. "He the king or something?"

"Something like that," Aahz said, changing the subject immediately. "But he had to fork out the entire price of his pyramid. Your wife would never put up with that."

"You got that right! You should have heard her when I wanted a new crystal ball for the office."

"Well, this is just a small piece of the whole thing, and you get the benefit of everyone else's investment. All you need to finance is a millionth of the total. You can have bragging rights that you were in on this one from the start."

Bendix stroked his chin. "That's appealing. But how much are we talking for a nice spot near the top? Say, the third level?"

"Only fifty thousand gold pieces."

"What?"

I covered my ears to shut out the bellow.

Deals between Pervects were nowhere near as loud or shrill as those in the Bazaar, but they escalated a lot faster to imprecations and counter-accusations. I had more respect than ever for Aahz's vocabulary by the time he and Bendix paused for breath.

The Pervish attorney gasped in air in outrage.

"You've got to be out of your mind. You say you invested in this . . . this non-hole in the ground? I used to have some respect for your brain, buddy. The sun must have baked it out of you."

"I'm not nuts!" Aahz insisted. "It's a great deal! You'll never find one like it."

"No, not unless I want to help some scam artist move his late uncle's nonexistent millions out of the dimension! Fifty thousand! When I think what I went through over a crystal ball—you know Deplora. She'd tear my claws out. That's it. Forget it."

Bendix pulled a small device out of his pocket. With his eye on the small flat screen, he started moving it around. When it was in line with the wavy blue line in the sky, he reached for the red button below the screen. He was leaving. It looked like no sale. I gave Aahz a look of deepest sympathy.

Aahz's yellow eyes seemed to smolder into a blaze. He drew himself up as if calling on internal strength. Then he reached out and put out a hand to forestall Bendix. As if prying the words out of his mouth with a crowbar, he managed to eke out a single sentence.

"We . . . might be able to work out a . . . discount."

I was so taken aback at the concept that it took me a moment to remember to breathe. Aahz? Negotiating a discount? On a multi-thousand coin deal? For someone else? When it took all of us to remind him not to stiff waiters?

Bendix was similarly impressed. His eyebrow ridge shifted upward. He whistled. "You must really want this bad, Aahz. What's the catch? Pervects don't give something for nothing."

Aahz waved a hand. "It's not for nothing. Your partners are gonna be envious about your new asset. You can share the wealth with them—and I'll make sure you get a discount off your own stone in return."

"How much are we talking?"

Aahz countered the question with a question. "How many senior partners in the firm?"

Bendix turned up a palm. "Ten. But my name's first on the letterhead. What consideration are you willing to offer me, as most senior partner—and an old friend?"

"Five percent," Aahz said promptly, even though the words sounded as if they hurt as much as major surgery. "Each. If they each buy a stone of equivalent value, yours is half price. Find twenty prospects, and it's free."

Bendix eyed him. "Sounds too good to be true."

"It's the deal I'm getting from the developer. I'm getting such a great bargain I'm passing the savings on to you. I still get a piece of the action, but I'm more interested in sharing an opportunity. Like I said, it's once in a lifetime."

"That's not what the sales brochure says. There are going to be twenty of these pyramids here in two hundred years."

Aahz draped an arm over his shoulders and drew a panorama with the other palm. "Yeah, but this is gonna be the showpiece. The tallest. The most well-equipped. You get to choose the parts of your life story you want carved on the sides. Think of it, pal: your most successful cases engraved the way you want them remembered. Never mind the Pervish Law Review that'll get backed up in some hard drive somewhere. This'll be out where anyone can read it, forever. And how about your other exploits, huh? When we were young? How many babes in that cabana fell for you over that weekend? Wouldn't that look good in a stone frieze?" He nudged Bendix familiarly in the ribs. "It'll all be written in hieroglyphs—you don't have to tell Deplora what they mean."

Bendix was starting to get that same dreamy look that Aahz had had when Samwise talked him into buying. He snapped out of it momentarily, and the brow ridge went down again. He glowered.

"I'll bet every tooth in my head that you're not giving me the same discount you're getting."

"I'm full-time on site," Aahz snarled. "You want to set up shop here, too? I thought you had a full caseload."

"No, no . . . but you'll have to give me your word you won't let any of my partners have the same deal as you gave me. I want it to be exclusive, or there's no deal."

Aahz raised his hands. "What arrangements you make with your partners is up to you. I don't care if you charge them double. I don't care if they pay you in marshmallow bunnies as long as Samwise gets paid in gold. I'll even give you the contracts to sign them up yourself, so they never have to deal with me at all. Now, let's talk about location. ..."

By the time Bendix bamfed out of Ghordon, Aahz was strutting with pride. The Bendix Frimmis Wisten Katz and

Associates wing would almost fill the level third from the top. In keeping with Bendix's status, he took a corner tomb with a stunning view of the western mountains. "Things are looking up, partner," Aahz said.