MA02 Myth Conceptions Read Free Page A

announce your coming.”
    I raised my hand to wave good-bye, but he was already moving at a rapid pace, urging his mount to still greater speeds, and ignoring me completely.
    “Excellent!” Aahz exclaimed, rubbing his hands together gleefully. “A court magician! What a soft job! And the day started out so miserably.”
    “If I can interrupt,” I interrupted. “There’s one minor flaw in your plan.”
    “Hmm? What’s that?”
    “I don’t want to be a court magician!”
    As usual, my protest didn’t dampen his enthusiasm at all.
    “You didn’t want to be a magician, either,” he reminded me bluntly. “You wanted to be a thief. Well, here’s a good compromise for you. As a court magician, you’ll be a civil servant ... and civil servants are thieves on a grander scale than you ever dreamed possible!”

“ NOW LET ME see if I’ve got this right,” I said carefully. “You’re saying they probably won’t hire me on the basis of my abilities?”
    I couldn’t believe I’d interpreted Aahz’s lecture correctly, but he beamed enthusiastically.
    “That’s right, kid,” he approved. “Now you’ve got it.”
    “No, I don’t,” I insisted. “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard!”
    Aahz groaned and hid his face in his hand.
    It had been like this ever since we left the inn, and three days of a demon groaning is a bit much for anyone to take.
    “I’m sorry, Aahz,” I said testily. “But I don’t believe it. I’ve taken a lot of things you’ve told me on faith, but this ... this goes against common sense.”
    “What does common sense have to do with it?” he exploded. “We’re talking about a job interview!”
    At this outburst, Buttercup snorted and tossed his head, making it necessary for us to duck out of range of his horn.
    “Steady, Buttercup!” I admonished soothingly.
    Though he still rolled his eyes, the unicorn resumed his stoic plodding, the travois loaded with our equipment dragging along behind him still intact. Despite incidents such as had occurred back at the inn, Buttercup and I got along fairly well, and he usually obeyed me. In contrast, he and Aahz never really hit it off, especially when the latter chose to raise his voice angrily.
    “All it takes is a little gentleness,” I informed Aahz smugly. “You should try it sometime.”
    “While you’re showing off your dubious rapport with animals,” Aahz retorted, “you might call your dragon back. All we need is to have him stirring up the countryside.”
    I cast a quick glance about. He was right. Gleep had disappeared ... again.
    “Gleep!” I called. “Come here, fella!”
    “Gleep!” came an answering cry.
    The bushes off to our left parted and the dragon’s head emerged.
    “Gleep?” he said cocking his head.
    “Come here!” I repeated.
    My pet needed no more encouragement. He bounded into the open and trotted to my side.
    “I still say we should have left that stupid dragon back at the inn,” Aahz grumbled.
    I ignored him, checking to be sure the gear, hung saddle-bag fashion over the dragon’s back, was still secure. Personally, I felt we were carrying far too much in the way of personal belongings but Aahz had insisted. Gleep tried to nuzzle me affectionately with his head, and I caught a whiff of his breath. For a moment, I wondered if Aahz had been right about leaving the dragon behind.
    “What were you saying about job interviews?” I asked, both to change the subject and to hide the fact I was gagging.
    “I know it sounds ridiculous, kid,” Aahz began with sudden sincerity, “and it is, but a lot of things are ridiculous, particularly in this dimension. That doesn’t mean we don’t have to deal with them.”
    That gave me pause to think. To a lot of people, having a demon and a dragon for traveling companions would seem ridiculous. As a matter of fact, if I took time to think it through, it seemed pretty ridiculous to me.
    “Okay, Aahz,” I said finally. “I can accept the