"I think it was a ninja dwarf," Wiz said wonderingly.
Danny frowned. "That sounds like a character out of a D&D game." He thought for a second. "A bad D&D game."
Bal-Simba looked up from the scrying stone and blinked as if to clear his vision.
Wiz leaned across the table eagerly. "Well?"
"I sense malign influences aimed at you and a definite violent intent." The big black wizard rubbed his temples. "It appears, Sparrow, that someone is trying to kill you-again."
"Who?" Wiz asked. "And why? And why a dwarf, for Pete’s sake?"
"That I could not discover," Bal-Simba said. "There is deadly intent and fixity of purpose. There are indications that non-mortals are involved, but that is all I know."
"Lisella?" Jerry suggested.
"Perhaps," Bal-Simba said slowly.
Wiz shook his head. "I don’t think so. Lisella is subtle. There’s nothing subtle about a dwarf jumping out of a tree waving a sword."
"Nothing very effective either," Danny said. "He missed us by a mile. Well," he amended under Wiz’s glare, "a good six feet."
"Maybe that was Duke Aelric protecting you."
Wiz snorted. "More likely it was incompetence."
Bal-Simba stood up. "Whatever it was, I think it would be best if you stayed within the Wizard’s Keep for a space."
"Fine by me. I’ve got more than enough to keep me busy for a couple of weeks."
"It may be longer than that," Bal-Simba told him. "Until we know who or what is behind this attack, you should stay where we can protect you."
"How long then?"
"I do not know. But my magic tells me whoever is after you is not easily discouraged. Until we have found the guiding hand you are in danger."
"You had to go after him yourself," Glandurg said disgustedly. "You couldn’t wait for the rest of us."
"Well, you said he had to be slain quickly," Gimli said defensively. "There he was coming along the trail and there I was, so…" He shrugged.
"You’re lucky he didn’t turn you into a rabbit," his leader told him, "instead of just throwing you over the cliff."
"Didn’t throw me," Gimli said sullenly.
"You jumped, I suppose?"
"Well…"
Glandurg looked around at the other dwarves. "Listen to me. No more striking half-hearted, do you understand?"
"Not much chance of that," Snorri said. "The wizard hasn’t stirred from his castle for days."
"Then we have run him to earth and trapped like a rat!" Glandurg gloated.
"Begging my Lord’s pardon, but how do we get him out of the trap now that we’ve got him in it?"
The dwarf leader frowned. There was more to this business than he had imagined and some of the details were proving quite annoying.
"We could tunnel in," one of the other dwarves suggested. "That whole bluff’s nothing but limestone."
The others shifted and murmured approval. Tunneling was something dwarves were comfortable with.
"How long would that take?" Glandurg demanded.
The dwarf who had made the suggestion eyed the distant cliff and castle.
"If we can sneak in close and drive the shaft steep up from the river level-oh-not more than two, three years, I should think," he finished brightly.
The leader shook his head. "That will not do, then. Our king promised the trolls speedy action." Besides he knew in a general way that two or three years was a long time for a human to stay in one place.
"You got a better idea then?" the other challenged.
"Of course I have."
"What then?" the other persisted.
The leader reddened. "Don’t be impertinent!"
"I’m not being impertinent, I just want to know what your idea is."
"I…" Over the shoulder of his questioner, the leader saw a flight of river swans glide down to the smooth river surface, their wings extended and motionless. As the swans touched down he had an inspiration.
"Backwards!" he proclaimed. "We will come at this alien wizard backwards!"
Twelve: PICNIC
Wiz paced to the window, looked down into the courtyard, paced back to his chair, sat down, picked up the scroll, got up and strode to the window again.
"I’ve got to get out of here," he said turning to face his wife.
Moira kept her eyes on the blouse she was embroidering with a pattern of moss rose and holly leaves. "So go."
"No, I mean I’ve got to get away from the Wizard’s Keep."
Moira looked up from her work. "You never wanted to go outside the castle before."
"Yeah, but I knew I could do it any time then. Now I’m cooped up here and its getting to me. I’m going stir crazy."
Moira put down her needlework and frowned. "With assassins about that is not safe, but if you feel you must, I can summon a troop of guardsmen…"
"No. That would be worse than not going out at all."
"Then you must stay in, I am afraid."
"Look, I could rig a spell that would protect me."
"Against what? Dwarves are clever and we do not know when or how they will strike again."
"We don’t even know if they’ll strike at all," Wiz said. "That may have been a fluke."
"Bal-Simba does not think so."
Wiz growled.
Moira took his hands in hers. "I am sorry, my love. I do not mean to sound unsympathetic. It is just that here you are safe. Outside the castle you cannot be protected."
"I feel like I’m wrapped in cotton wool and it’s suffocating me," Wiz protested. "It’s affecting my work. I just want to get away from everyone for a while."
Moira twisted her mouth sideways as she thought.
"I will speak to Bal-Simba," she said finally, "and see if he thinks it is safe."
"Where are we going anyway?" Wiz asked for the fifth time as Moira threw a light cloak over her new dress.
She smiled at him in the mirror as she adjusted the cloak on her otherwise bare shoulders. "To a special place. You will see."
Wiz stepped up behind her and put his hands around her waist. "Darling, any place is special with you. Especially in that dress."