round? Please?" I interceded before Aahz could go for
him. "I'm still trying to get a rough idea of what hap-
pened, remember? Okay, Aahz. You were saying?"
Aahz took a deep breath, then resumed his account.
"Anyway, when I got downstairs, the customers were
nowhere to be seen. You'd think your man here would
be able to stall them or at least have the sense to call for
reinforcements if they started getting twitchy."
MYTH-ING PERSONS
"C'mon, Aahz. Guido is supposed to be a body-
guard, not a receptionist. If some customers got tired of
waiting for you to show up and left, I don't see where
you can dodge the blame by shifting it to...."
"Wait a minute. Boss. You're missing the point.
They didn't leave!"
"Come again?"
"I left 'em there in the reception room, and the next
thing I know Mr. Mouth here is hollerin' at me for los-
ing customers. They never came out! Now, like you say,
I'm supposed to be a bodyguard. By my figuring we've
got some extra people wandering the premises, and all
this slob wants to do is yell about whose fault it is."
"I know whose fault it is," Aahz said with a glare.
"There are only two ways out of that reception room,
and they didn't come past me!"
"Well they didn't come past me!" Guido countered.
I started to get a very cold feeling in my stomach.
"Aahz, "I said softly.
"If you think I don't know when...."
"AAHZ!"
That brought him up short. He turned to me with an
angry retort on his lips, then he saw my expression.
"What is it, Skeeve? You look as if...."
"There are more than two ways out of that room."
We stared at each other in stunned silence for a few
moments, then we both sprinted for the reception room,
leaving Guido to trail along behind.
The room we had selected for our reception area was
one of the largest in the place, and the only large room
with easy access from the front door. It was furnished in
a style lavish enough to impress even those customers
spoiled by the wonders of the Bazaar who were expect-
ing to see the home office of a successful magician.
There was only one problem with it, and that was the
10
Robert Asprin
focus of our attention as we dashed in.
The only decoration that we had kept from the previ-
ous owners was an ornate tapestry hanging on the north
wall. Usually I'm faster than Aahz, but this time he beat
me to the hanging, sweeping it aside with his arm to re-
veal a heavy door behind it.
Our worst fears were realized.
The door was unlocked and standing ajar.
Chapter Two:
"Success often hinges on choosing a
reliable partner."
—REMUS
"WHAT'S that?" Guido demanded, taking advantage of
our stunned silence.
"It's a door," I said.
"An open door, to be specific," Aahz supplied.
"I can see that for myself!" the bodyguard roared. "I
meant what is it doing here?"
"It would look pretty silly standing alone in the mid-
dle of the street now, wouldn't it?" Aahz shot back.
Guido purpled. As I've said, these two have a positive
talent for getting under each other's skins.
"Now look, all I'm askin'...."
"Guido, could you just hang on for a few minutes
until we decide what to do next? Then we'll explain, I
promise."
My mind was racing over the problem, and having
Aahz and Guido going at each other did nothing for my
concentration.
"I think the first thing we should do, partner," Aahz
11
12 Robert Asprin
said thoughtfully, "is to get the door closed so that we
won't be... interrupted while we work this out."
Rather than answer, I reached out a cautious toe and
pushed the door shut. Aahz quickly slipped two of the
bolts in place to secure it.
That done, we leaned against the door and looked at
each other in silence.
"Well? What do you think?" I asked at last.
"I'm in favor of sealing it up again and forgetting the
whole thing."
"Think it's safe to do that?"
"Don't know, really. Not enough information."
We both turned slowly to level thoughtful stares at
Guido.
"Say, uh, Guido, could you tell us a little more about
those customers who came in this morning?"
"Nothing doin'." Guido crossed his arms. "You're
the guys who insist on 'information for information.'
Right? Well, I'm not telling you anything more until
somebody tells me about that door. I mean, I'm sup-
posed to be your bodyguard and nobody bothers to tell
me there's another way into this place?"
Aahz bared his teeth and started forward, but I
caught him by the shoulder.
"He's right, partner. If we want his help, we owe him
an explanation."
We locked eyes again for a moment, then he shrugged
and retreated.
"Actually, Guido, the explanation is very sim-
ple. ..."
"That'll be a first," the bodyguard grumbled.
In a bound, Aahz was across the room and had Guido
by the shirt front.
"You wanted an explanation? Then SHUT UP AND
LET HIM EXPLAIN!"
MYTH-ING PERSONS 13
Now Guido is no lightweight, and he's never been
short in the courage department. Still, there's nothing
quite like Aahz when he's really mad.
"0—Okay! Sorry! Go ahead. Boss. I'm listening."
Aahz released his grip and returned to his place by the
door, winking at me covertly as he went.
"What happened is this," I said, hiding a smile.
"Aahz and I found that door when we first moved in
here. We didn't like the looks of it, so we decided to
leave it alone. That's all."
"That's all!? A back door that even you admit looks
dangerous and all you do is ignore it? And if that wasn't
bad enough, you don't even bother to tell your body-
guards about it? Of all the lamebrained, half...."
Aahz cleared his throat noisily, and Guido regained
control of himself... rapidly.
"Aahh... what I mean to say is ... oh well. That's
all behind us now. Could you give me a little more in-
formation now that the subject's out in the open?
What's on the other side of that door, anyway?"
"We don't know," I admitted.
"YOU DON'T KNOW?" Guido shrieked.
"What we do know," Aahz interrupted hastily, "is
what isn't on the other side. What isn't there is any di-
mension we know about."
Guido blinked, then shook his head. "I don't get it.
Could you run that past me again ... real slow?"
"Let me try," I said. "Look, Guido, you already
know about dimensions, right? How we're living in the
dimension Deva, which is an entirely different world
than our own home dimension of Klah? Well, the
people here, the Deveels, are masters of dimension
travel to a point where they build their houses across the
dimension barriers. That's how come this place is bigger