"I cannot blame him," Moira said weakly.
"This thing is also," Wiz added, "immune to lightning bolts, and whatever spell Malus was throwing at it But we still don’t know what it is or what it was after."
"We can hazard a guess on the last, I think," rumbled Bal-Simba from his oversized chair at the head of the table. Although he had been physically present for the whole conference he had spent most of it receiving reports and communing magically with others of the Mighty.
"An attack?" Arianne asked.
"More likely a scout," the great black wizard said slowly. "Something sent ahead to spy us out and discover our defenses."
"So you don’t think it was alone?"
"It seems unlikely. What we know now seems to suggest a being controlled or commanded from elsewhere, not an independent entity."
"Any idea who or where?"
Bal-Simba shrugged. That is as yet unknown. Perhaps we can discover more when the Council of the North meets this evening." He heaved himself erect. "Now if you will excuse me, I must consult directly with the Watchers. My Lords, My Ladies." He sketched a bow and left.
"Are you sure you’re all right? Do you want to go lie down?"
"No, I am fine."
"You don’t look it," Danny put in. "You’re white as a sheet and you look awful." Moira looked up. "A fine thing to tell a woman, I am sure."
"Well, you do," Danny said defensively.
"Perhaps you had better go lie down, darling. You really don’t look well." Moira reached out and patted Wiz’s hand. "Perhaps I will. Dealing with strange magics seems to take a lot out of me."
"Well," came a female voice from the door, "all alive I see."
Wiz looked up and saw a stout woman standing at the door. A boy and girl were peeking around her from either side and a dragon was looking over her shoulder.
"Oh, hello Shauna," Wiz said. "Any reason why we shouldn’t be?"
Shauna was nurse to Ian, Danny and June’s son, and mother of Ian’s playmate Caitlin. In addition to looking after the children and mothering June as needed, she provided a strong dose of common sense for the programming team.
"Fortune, but you should hear the stories being bandied about in the town!" She looked at Moira, "Do you know you and Wiz both are dead a dozen times over? And each death grislier than the last?"
In spite of himself Wiz grinned. "And there are a dozen eyewitnesses to each death, no doubt." He took a pull on his mug of tea.
"Folk are bolting their doors strong tonight," the stocky woman agreed. "Fact is, I’ve never seen them so frightened. It will put a damper on this year’s fair, I’ll tell you."
Moira stood up suddenly. Then I am going back to the fair."
Wiz spewed tea all over the table. "What?"
Moira reached for her cloak. "I said I am going back. The people need reassurance."
"You’re sick and you’re going to bed."
"People need my help and I am well enough for that"
Wiz started to protest, realized this was another one of those arguments he wasn’t going to win and changed course.
"Then I’m going with you," he said grimly.
"How much reassurance is there if I am in the company of the mightiest wizard of the North? No, if this is to be effective you must not come."
"Look, we don’t know what that thing was or what it can do. I’m not going to let you go down there alone."
Moira put her cloak down on the table and turned to face him. That ’thing’ is gone."
"And what happens if you nearly pass out like you did this morning? That’ll be a lot of reassurance for everyone."
"I will manage."
"You’ll manage better with the proper company, My Lady," Shauna said, looking closely at Moira. "No, not you," she added before Wiz could open his mouth. "I’m the one to go with her."
Wiz had the feeling he’d just missed something important and an even stronger feeling that the situation was getting out of control.
"Still, I’m not sure it’s safe."
"As safe as anywhere," Moira retorted.
Arianne nodded. Three of the Mighty have examined the rest of the fair and found nothing more. This thing harmed no one and I have alerted the Watchers in the castle. With them on guard it will not be able to sneak close again. Meanwhile, Bal-Simba has summoned the Council of the North to meet to consider what more is to be done."
"Besides, Fluffy will protect us!" Ian said.
Wiz raised his eyebrows and looked past the boy at the twenty-foot dragon standing behind him. The dragon’s tongue was lolling out and he was panting like a particularly dumb dog.
Fluffy was a very young dragon, hardly older than Ian. Like all immature dragons he was not very smart. But unlike most of them he was more or less a house pet- a circumstance that aroused considerable comment in the Wizards’ Keep and even more among the townsfolk.
Fluffy had attached himself to the programmers as a housecat-sized hatchling. When Ian was born, the two became inseparable. Originally the programmers had called him Little Red Dragon, or LRD for short. But Ian insisted his name was Fluffy and, wildly inappropriate as the monicker was, it stuck.
If there was trouble the dragon was only likely to make it worse, but separating Ian and Fluffy made them both mope, so if Ian went to the fair it was a foregone conclusion that Fluffy was going too. The prospect did nothing to raise Wiz’s enthusiasm for the expedition.
Danny, meanwhile, had grasped the critical point "Us?" he demanded of his son.
"Who said anything about you going?"
"Shauna’s going," Ian said. "You always said we should stay close to Shauna, especially if there’s trouble."
While Danny was at a loss over the eight-year-old’s logic, Shauna’s daughter saw her opportunity and moved in for the kill. Caitlin was a couple of years older than Ian, with a mop of jet-black hair, apple cheeks and great dark eyes. She had her Ph.D. in cute with advanced graduate work in wheedling.
"We want to go to the fair," Caitlin protested.
Danny tried for a compromise. "You can go to the fair tomorrow when it’s open." Tomorrow’s too late," Ian protested "Everything will be up by then." Wiz wasn’t sure why it was more interesting to watch the booths go up than to see them once they were up and open, but that was clearly the general opinion. Even Fluffy managed to droop sadly at what he’d be missing.