A Circle of Celebrations: The Complete Edition (4 page)

“It’s the only way,” I said. While she dressed, I had gone back to Valentinius’s shop in Deva and cut a few deals. Three of his helpers, wearing disguise spells to keep the servants and nobles from fleeing to the hills in terror at the sight of Deveels, put up pink, white, and red decorations and laid out tables with loads of inexpensive Affection Day trinkets. Aahz insisted on coming along.

“To protect my investment,” was the way he put it. To keep an eye on me, was far more likely. I also brought General Badaxe along, but only with a promise that he obey my instructions.

We joined the Queen on the steps of the castle keep. A crowd of townsfolk hovered at the gates, watching in wonder at the notion of a free party. Queen Hemlock never entertained. The tax funds that weren’t spent on necessary kingdom infrastructure went for her expansion plans of the border of the country. Hemlock wore a tightly kirtled red dress with a slit up the front of each thigh all the way to her waist.

Guido was up on the battlements. Nunzio was outside the gates, listening to the people and watching out for Shilldon. With Bunny’s permission, I’d reached out to Don Bruce for some of his other Enforcers. Instead of wearing their usual snappy suits, they wore the same tunics and hose to fit in with the locals.

“This is a terrible waste of money,” Grimble said, watching the crowd at the gate.

“It’s an investment in one of your key personnel,” Aahz said. I had left him untransformed. “That’s like saying you won’t fix the drawbridge because masons cost money.”

“The drawbridge won’t drink four tuns of wine. Four!”

“Six,” I said. “I want to make sure we have plenty. I don’t know how long it will take to smoke Shilldon out.”

Grimble was aghast. “Six! That’s not what we agreed. Take two of them back to the cellars!”

“Too late,” I said, cheerfully. “They’ve already been tapped.” I looked at the sky. The sun had sunk to the top of the peaked cylinder of the Magician’s Tower. “It’s time.”

Massha squeezed my hand.

“Hit it, Guido!” Aahz shouted. The huge Enforcer raised his hand to the armored man-at-arms on the battlement.

With a creak of long-suffering wood and metal, the portcullis lifted. All the nobility within a four-hour ride led the way on handsomely caparisoned steeds, but they were quickly surrounded and passed by the hordes of commoners making for the refreshment tables. Guido and the Enforcers, dressed to match the local Klahds, blended in with the visitors, looking for anything suspicious.

“You’re on, kid,” Aahz said, clapping me hard on the back.

I kicked my heels together, and the little wings lofted me upward. The crowd gasped and pointed. Some of them shrieked in terror, but most of them cheered for me. I held up my hands.

“Welcome to the Affection Day party!” I announced. “Thanks to the generosity of Her Majesty, Queen Hemlock of Possiltum, you’re invited to enjoy an evening of revelry, music, and dance.”

“And booze!” a man called from the midst of the crowd.

“Find that man and lock him up,” Hemlock said, with a bored wave of her hand. The guards pushed past her and into the heart of the throng. The man dropped his foolish grin and tried to get away, but the mob was too thick. He was dragged away by his heels, yelling and protesting. I watched in horror. The rest of the people didn’t seem unduly upset. They were used to their queen’s capricious temper.

“C’mon, kid!” Aahz growled.

I pulled my wits together. “Let the festivities begin!”

They all cheered again, and headed for the beer kegs, where kitchen servants were pouring mugs of pink Affection Day ale as fast as they could. The band, hired from the Wild Tonsil Inn in Winslow, struck up a fast reel. Girls dragged reluctant men into the open square and began to dance with them. Carny, a disguised Deveel who normally dealt cards in the Even-Odds, a gaming establishment in which I had had a financial interest, drew people into a lover’s quiz. Within minutes, he had managed to elicit blushes, indignant shouts, and laughter from his contestants and audience. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time, crowding together and having fun.

Satisfied, I settled back to the floor.

“That’s it for me,” Hemlock said, hoisting her heavy skirts in both hands. “I don’t intend to stand here and watch ugly peasants get plastered on my coin. I’m going inside. If any of the handsome ones drop out of the quiz, bring them to me. Grimble, keep an eye on everything. If anyone breaks anything, bill it to Master Skeeve.” She strode away.

“Yes, your majesty,” JR Grimble said, bowing and scraping. I had never been so glad to have left a job. I don’t know how I put up with working for Hemlock as long as I had.

Massha was tapping her foot to the music. I had to admit, the Winslovak band was good.

“I don’t see Shilldon,” she said in a low voice. “Or Hugh.”

“Hugh’s not here,” I said, tersely. “I’m here as his proxy.”

“Good,” Massha said, with a sigh. “I don’t want him to get hurt. This looks like it’s turning into a nice shindig. Want to dance, Boss?”

“No,” I said. “This party’s only a subterfuge. Setting it up was the easy part of my assignment. You’ve got the hardest part. Can you do it?”

She moved from foot to foot, but it wasn’t the music making her vacillate.

“Are you sure this is the only way to find Shilldon?”

“Yes. We’ve got to draw him out, and you’re the only bait we have. Are you ready?”

She squared her big shoulders. “I can do it.”

I had had Valentinius set up a small table all by itself at one side of the courtyard. It was bespelled with one of Massha’s aversion charms so none of the revelers would sit down at it. It had been placed deliberately so it fell into a gloomy shadow between the flickering light of the two nearest torches. With a great heave of her shoulders, she pushed her way past the dancers and musicians, and sat down heavily on one of the two stools. It groaned like a lost soul under her weight, but anything that drew attention to her was good.

She planted one elbow down on the small table.

And sighed.

And dabbed at her eyes with a dainty hanky.

And sighed again.

A server, hastily called into service by Aahz, sped to her side with a frothy-headed mug of Affection Day ale. Some of the pink liquid sloshed onto the tabletop. She ignored the beverage, except to draw little designs in the spill, concentrating on them.

I waited.

A cheer went up from the contest booth, where Carny had just drawn the winners of the first round of the True Confessions game. Massha watched them with an expression of woe. But no one came to sit down beside her. The revelers polished off their first mugs of ale and went back for refills, laughing and joking with one another. Young men and women paired off, then decoupled and found new partners. Where was Shilldon?

“Do you see him yet?” Aahz asked.

“No,” I murmured back, scanning the crowd. “But he could be disguised as anything.”

“Or nothing,” Aahz said, suddenly. “Watch Massha.”

I did. She raised her head and looked at me.

No, not at me. Her focus seemed to be much closer to her. Her eyes went wide with shock, and her mouth dropped open. She was frightened! I started toward her. Aahz pulled me back.

“No. Watch.”

I yanked my arm loose from his grasp, but I didn’t move.

Massha’s eyebrows went up, as though listening to a question. The corner of her mouth crooked upward, and she modestly dropped her gaze. Then she looked up toward me again. Her eyes darted from side to side as though studying something intently. Her lips parted slightly. One of her hands went forward and flattened on the table. She smiled.

“So that’s how he brought those love notes to her,” I said, enlightenment dawning. “He’s invisible!”

“That’s a tricky piece of magik,” Aahz said, with a critical glance. “How much power is he pulling down?”

I opened my mind’s eye and looked at the empty stool. Suddenly, I saw a shimmering outline of a large man.

“He’s there,” I said. “And there’s something really strange about him. It doesn’t look like a spell. He’s not pulling magikal energy from the force lines below the castle.”

“Has to be a device of some kind,” Aahz said. “A cloak or a ring.”

“She’s acting as if she can see him,” I said. “How can we be looking right through him if she can see his face?”

“That’s one sophisticated piece of hardware, whatever it is. I’ve read about items like that in the catalog from a Pervish manufacturer I know. Doesn’t come cheap. He’s been planning this for a long time. Massha’s in real trouble.”

I watched her, helplessly. If I hadn’t known better, I would say she was carrying on one half of a flirtation, one that was progressing steadily. She took a stray lock of her lank orange hair between thumb and forefinger and pulled it back over her ear.

“But what can he do? He can’t just sweep her out of here.”

“No, that’s the beauty of it,” Aahz said, narrowing his big yellow eyes. “He’s convincing her to go with him of her own free will. Look at her face.”

Since the Jahk was invisible, I could see right through him, in more ways than one. Even with Hugh Badaxe madly in love with her, Massha had admitted to me she’d never felt really attractive. To have someone who insisted that he couldn’t live without her had to be pretty overwhelming. Shilldon made her feel beautiful.

“I’m going over there,” I said. “I’m going to tear his cloak off and reveal him to everyone!”

Aahz clamped a scaly hand on my arm and hauled me back again.

“Calm down, kid,” he said. “There’s no way you can take him. This is a Jahk. He’s used to competing—and winning. And if he’s about Massha’s age, he has twice your experience, and probably a hundred magik items, all of which he’s an expert at using. And it looks like he’s charming as hell. She was scared out of her mind to meet up with him. Now she’s acting like a kitten. That’s a powerful personality. What do you have?”

I fumed for a minute on Massha’s behalf, then I stopped to think about it. Hard. Then, I smiled.

“I have you.”

He grinned, showing all of his four-inch pointed teeth.

“Right. That’s not all. You’ve got special abilities today. You’ve been sworn in as an Affection Day messenger. What’s that suggest to you?”

I clutched the bowstring that stretched from my chest to my hip.

“I can’t shoot him! What if he really is Massha’s one true love?”

He eyed me.

“And what do you really think the odds of that are? Think! She told you he never went through the Affection Day ritual with her. He said he didn’t need to. What’s that suggest to you?”

“That he’s sure it isn’t true,” I said. I eyed him, speculating. “Does the arrow really help you identify your real love, or just someone who
could
love you?”

“The effect’s temporary,” Aahz said, his voice a low, amused purr. “It just adds spice to the relationship. Do you think I’d be sending you out to a dozen honeys if I thought they’d all be coming for me at once?”

I felt my eyebrows rise. Then I reached for my bow.

“I think I have an Affection Day delivery to make.”

I marched across the crowded square. The dancing couples waved and smiled at me as I passed.

“Shoot us!” a middle-aged matron cried, crushing one of the disguised Deveels in a passionate embrace. The Deveel looked terrified. “He’s marvelous!”

“I’ll be back,” I said.

Massha glanced up at me as I approached. For just a moment, I saw the outline of a handsome face with a pronounced jaw, then it vanished.

“Skeeve, what are you doing?” she asked.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friend?” I asked, pointedly turning to the empty stool. In my mind’s eye, I could still see the outline of a body. It was much larger than mine, with shoulders twice as wide and hands the size of my head. I wasn’t going to let mere size intimidate me. Massha was counting on me!

“Um, sure,” Massha said. Her voice trembled. “Skeeve, this is Shilldon. He’s … he’s the love of my life.”

The face I had glimpsed appeared again. Shilldon wore a self-satisfied smirk. Even though I wanted to punch him out, I was struck by how absurdly handsome he was. I was good at spotting illusions, and this was no illusion. He had wide, chiseled cheekbones, a noble brow, clear green eyes, and a mouth that was at once masculine but soft. By comparison, he made me feel like a scarecrow, and the ridiculous messenger suit didn’t do anything to help.

“Nice to meet you, Shilldon,” I said. “When are you leaving Klah?”

The smirk broadened.

“As soon as I can convince this gorgeous lady to come with me,” he said. His hand appeared on top of Massha’s on the table. His fingers squeezed hers tightly—a little too tightly. “I’ve been searching for her for years.”

Massha’s mouth smiled, but her eyes screamed
Get me out of this!
I nodded to her reassuringly.

“That’s really nice,” I said. “But you know she’s married.”

“So what?”

Now I really wanted to kick him. I kept my tone friendly.

“If you really loved her, you’d pay attention to the way she wants to live. And that’s not with you, or wouldn’t she have stayed with you?”

“But she’s my true love,” Shilldon said, turning his handsome face to her. “The one that got away. I want her back. Isn’t that right, my darling? You’ve been waiting for me all this time, sad and lonely?”

Massha melted toward him longingly. Even I was beginning to be affected by his charm. It dawned on me that maybe that was being generated by a magikal gizmo, too.

“What if she doesn’t want you?” I asked.

“Of course she does!” he said. He looked deeply into Massha’s eyes. “Sweetheart, why don’t you throw this skinny pipsqueak over the wall, and we’ll go off and live happily ever after?”

Never breaking the intense gaze, my former apprentice flicked her wrist. A huge wave of energy hit me under the chin like an uppercut. I sailed upward toward the courtyard battlements, flying end over end.

I flapped my arms to stop spinning. It took me a moment to get my wits back and used a handful of magik to stop my outward trajectory. I hovered for a moment, working my jaw to make sure it was still intact. That blow had hurt! Shilldon was a master manipulator, getting Massha to attack me instead of doing it himself. That was it! He had to go.