The Deveel was struggling desperately now, trying to
free his hand.
"Now then, how many customers have you scared
away from my business with your tales about what a
fearsome person I am? "
The Deveel tore loose from my grip and vanished into
the crowds, sounding an incoherent scream of terror as
he went. In short, Aliman left. Right?
I watched him go with a certain amount of mischie-
vous satisfaction. I wasn't really angry, mind you. We
literally had more money than we could use right now,
so I didn't begrudge him the customers. Still, I had
never really paused to consider how formidable our
4 Robert Asprin
operation must look from the outside. Viewing it now
through a stranger's eyes, I found myself more than a
little pleased. Considering the dubious nature of my
beginning, we had built ourselves quite a reputation
over the last few years.
I had been serious when I told Aliman that I didn't
have much faith in magicians. My own reputation was
overrated to say the least, and if I was being billed as a
powerful magician, it made the others of my profession
more than a little suspect in my eyes. After several years
of seeing the inside of the magic business, I was starting
to wonder if any magician was really as good as people
thought.
I was so wrapped up in these thoughts as I entered our
humble tent that I had completely forgotten that I was
suppoised to be sneaking in. I was reminded almost im-
mediately.
The reminder came in the form of a huge man who
loomed up to block my path. "Boss," he said in a
squeaky little voice that was always surprising coming
from such a huge body, "you shouldn't ought to go out
alone like that. How many times we got to tell you...."
