"All right, pilgrim. This is between you and

me!"

—A. HAMILTON

I had hoped to make my approach unobserved, but as I

flew upward, the crowd below let out a roar that drew

the attention of the combatants on the roof. Terrific!

When I wanted unobtrusive, I got notoriety.

Reaching a height level with that of the vampire, I

hovered at a discreet distance.

"Put away the nasties," I called to Tananda and

Guido. "He's not getting away by air."

They looked a bit rebellious, but followed the order.

"What's with the Peter Pan bit, partner?" Aahz

shouted. "Are you feeling your Cheerioats, or did you

finally find a force line?"

"Both." I waved back, then turned my attention to

Vic.

Though his eyes were obscured by his sunglasses, I

could feel his hateful glare burning into me to the bone.

"Why don't you just call it quits?" I said in what I

161

162 Robert Asprin MYTH-ING PERSONS 163

hoped was a calm, soothing tone. "It's over. We've got

you outflanked."

For a moment he seemed to waiver with indecision.

Then, without warning, he threw Luanna at Aahz.

"Why can't you all just leave me alone!" he

screamed, and dove off the roof.

Aahz somehow managed to snag the girl's hurtling

form, though in the process he lost his balance and

tumbled backward down the roof peak, cushioning the

impact with his own body.

I hesitated, torn between the impulse to check on

Luanna's welfare and the desire to pursue Vic.

"Go get him!" my partner called. "We're fine!"

That was all the encouragement I needed. Wheeling

to my right, I plunged after the fleeing vampire,

What followed was one of the more interesting ex-

periences of my limited magical career. As I mentioned

before, my form of flying magically isn't really flying

... it's controlled levitation of oneself. This made en-

thusiastic pursuit a real challenge to my abilities. To

counterbalance the problem, however, Vic couldn't

really fly either'... at least he never seemed to flap his

wings. Instead, he appeared content to soar and bank

and catch an occasional updraft. This forced him to

continually circle and double back through roughly the

same area time and time again. This suited me fine, as I

didn't want to wander too far away from my energizing

force line now that I had found it. The idea of running

out of power while suspended fifty feet in the air did not

appeal to me at all.

Anyway, our aerial duel rapidly became a curious

matching of styles with Vic's swooping and circling in

his efforts to escape and my vertical and horizontal

maneuverings to try to intercept him. Needless to say,

the conflict was not resolved quickly. As soon as I

would time a move that came close enough to an in-

terception to justify attempting it again. Vic would

realize his danger and alter his pattern, leaving me to try

to puzzle out his new course.

The crowd loved it.

They whooped and hollered, their words of en-

couragement alternately loud and faint as we changed

altitude. It was impossible to tell which of us they were

cheering for, though for a while I thought it was me,

considering the approval they had expressed when I first

took off to join the battle. Then I noticed that the crowd

was considerably larger than it had been when I entered

the fray, and I realized that many of them had not been

around to witness the beginning of the conflict. To

them, it probably appeared that a monster from another

dimension was chasing one of their fellow beings

through the sky.

That thought was disquieting enough that I spared

some of my attention to scan the surrounding rooftops

on the off-chance that a local sniper might be preparing

to help his fellow countryman. It turned out to be the

wisest decision I had made.

As I was looking over my shoulder, I plowed full

force into Vic, who had doubled back on his own path.

The feint would have probably worked if I had seen it,

but as it was we collided at maximum speed, the impact

momentarily stunning us both. I managed to grab a

double handful of the vampire's turtleneck as we fell

about ten feet before I adjusted my levitation strength

to support us both.

"What's the matter with you!" I demanded, trying to

shake him, which succeeded only in moving us both

back and forth in the air. "Running away won't help."

Then I realized he was crying.

Somehow, this struck me as immensely unfair. I

164 Robert Asprin

MYTH-ING PERSONS

165

mean, how are you supposed to stay mad at a villain

that cries? Okay. So I'm a soft tough. But the crying

really did make a difference.

"I can't fight you all!" he sobbed, tears streaming

down his cheeks. "Maybe if I knew some magic I could

take one of you with me ... but at least you're going to

have to work for your kill!"

With that he tore loose from my grasp and swooped

away.

His words stunned me so much I almost let him es-

cape. Fortunately, I had the presence of mind to call out

to him.

"Hey, dummy! Nobody's trying to kill you!"

"Yeah, sure," he shouted back. "You're up here just

for the fun of it."

He was starting to bank toward the street, and I knew

I'd only have time for one more try.

"Look! Will you stop running if I quit chasing you? I

think there's a major misunderstanding here."

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw that I was

still where I was when we collided. Altering his course

slightly, he flared his wings and landed on a carved gar-

goyle ornament jutting out from the side of the build-

ing.

"Why should you want to talk?" he called, wiping his

face with one hand. "I thought nothing I could say

would change your mind."

"You'd be surprised," I shouted back. "Say, do you

mind if I land on that ledge near you? I feel pretty silly

just hanging here."

He glanced at the indicated ledge, and I could see his

wings flex nervously.

"C'mon," I urged. "I'll be further away from you

there than I was when we started this chase back on the

roof. You'll still have a clean shot at getting away if I try

anything."

He hesitated, then nodded his consent.

Moving slowly so as not to alarm him, I maneuvered

my way to my new perch. Truth to tell, I was glad to get

something solid under my feet again. Even using magic,

flying can take a lot out of you, and I was relieved to get

a chance to rest. Now that I was closer, I could see that

Vic was breathing heavily himself. Apparently his form

of flying was no picnic either.

"All right," I said in a much more conversational

tone. "Let's take this thing from the top. Who says

we're trying to kill you?"

"Matt does," the vampire responded. "He's the one

who filled me in on you and your pet demon. To be

honest with you, I had never even heard of you until

Matt explained whose home we had stumbled into."

"Matt?" I frowned.

Then I remembered. Of course. The third member of

the fugitive party. Luanna's old con artist partner who

nobody had been paying attention to at all. A germ of

an idea began to form in my head.

"And he says we're out to kill you?"

"That's right. According to him nobody crosses the

Great Skeeve or makes a fool of him and lives... and

using your house as an escape route definitely quali-

fies."

The reputation thing again. I was beginning to realize

why so many magicians preferred to lead the lives of

recluses.

"That's crazy, Vic." I said. "If I tried to kill every-

body who's made a fool of me, I'd be armpit-deep in

corpses."

"Oh yeah?" he shot back. "Well. if you aren't out to

166 Robert Asprin MYTH-ING PERSONS 167

kill me, why did you send your pet demon after us?"

Despite my resolve to settle this thing amicably, I was

starting to get annoyed.

"First of all, he's not my pet demon. He's my partner

and his name is Aahz. Secondly, I didn't send him. He

knocked me out cold and came himself. Third and final,

he was never out to kill you. He was trying to bring you

and your cohorts back to Deva so we wouldn't get stuck

paying off the people you swindled plus a hefty fine.

Are you getting all this, or am I going too fast for you?"

"But I didn't swindle anybody," the vampire pro-

tested. "Those two offered me a job helping them sell

magic charms. I didn't know they weren't genuine until

Matt said the customers were mad and we had to run. I

suggested we hide out here because it's the only place I

know besides the Bazaar."

"Uh-huh," I said, studying the sky. "Next you'll be

saying you didn't frame my partner or sound the alarm

on us when we tried to spring him."

, Vic's wings dropped as he hung his head.

"That much I can't deny... but I was scared! I

framed the demon because it was the .only way I could

think of to get him off our trail for a while. I really

thought he could get loose on his own, and when I saw

you at the Woof Writers', I knew he was going to get

away. I sounded the alarm hoping you would all get

caught and be detained long enough to give us a head

start. Looking back on it, they were pretty ratty things

to do, but what would you do if you had a pack of killer

demons on your trail?"

Now that I could identify with. Chumley's words

about Vic and I being alike echoed in my ears. I had had