"Behold, the Mousehole!" Wiz Zumwalt said, standing in the lobby of his new secret headquarters and gesturing grandly. Moira, who was standing beside him, only sniffed.
The Mousehole—no one could remember who came up with the name—was a one-story complex of glass and stone raised overnight by magic. It meandered beneath the trees in a small valley like a giant's game of dominoes. In addition to the labs and workshops, the complex included wings of private quarters for the programmers, wizards and their servants and helpers, storerooms and, most importantly of all, a room for their soon-to-be-acquired computer.
Wiz put his hands on his hips and surveyed the scene. With its airy spaces, hidden fluorescent lighting and non-static carpeting, the complex would not have looked out of place in a Silicon Valley industrial park. Of course, it did have a few features most Silicon Valley complexes lacked—such as windows that opened and the smokeless torches in brackets along the walls because the electricity wasn't hooked up yet.
"You know," Wiz said, "the Wizard's Keep has a lot of atmosphere, but this is still pretty neat."
"This is still madness," Moira responded grimly. "I just hope we do not all live to regret this."
"You mean you hope we do live to regret it."
"You know perfectly well what I mean!" the hedge witch snapped. "And here on this island, of all places!" She growled in frustration, crossed her arms and turned away.
Wiz came up behind her and put his arms around her. "I don't like it either, darling. But we've got to be able to use a computer and that means taking risks."
He felt her stance begin to soften. "And they don't patrol this island regularly. So we're safer here than anywhere else. Besides, we've taken precautions."
In fact the precautions had taken more time than the buildings. Not only was the glass carefully dulled to avoid any hint of reflection and the stone colored to match the surrounding rock, but powerful blocking spells had been erected over the place. From the air the valley appeared as simply another hill. Magical emanations were blocked. Even infrared, UV and radar signatures were tightly controlled.
Moira sighed. "Oh, I know, love. But on the same island as our enemies!"
"It's a big island. We're nearly a hundred miles away from them. As long as we don't have dragons flying in and out of here or something we'll be safe enough."
"I suppose," Moira said in a tone that suggested she supposed nothing of the sort. But she relaxed and turned back toward Wiz.
He smiled down at her. "Besides, look at the bright side. In this world there are no dwarves trying to kill me."
Glandurg was bent over his locating talisman. For two days there had been no sign of the Sparrow even on his searching device. Now he was attempting a difficult spell to increase its power temporarily.
His followers were crowded around the stump where he sat, watching as he poured all the magical energy he could muster into the device. The sweat was running down Glandurg's brow and even Gimli was uncharacteristically quiet.
The device pulsed, flickered and then lit with a faint blue glow. Within it a shadowy arrow pointed south.
Glandurg jumped up off the stump so quickly he almost knocked Ragnar over. "South! The alien wizard has gone south." His face split in a wide smile. "Excellent. We have driven him from his hole and now we can follow him. He will not be so well protected in his new lair." He jumped up on the stump and struck a heroic pose.
"This time we shall not fail!" he proclaimed in ringing tones.
The other dwarves listened politely, but with a notable lack of enthusiasm.
"This means the griffins again, doesn't it?" Thorfin asked glumly.
"I don't see why we don't just grab the thing now," Danny complained as he and Wiz made their way back to their quarters. "It's been nearly a week since we got here and we can't do anything until we get that computer."
It was well past midnight and the halls were deserted. The support staff was small and was not on duty around the clock. Even Jerry had turned in an hour ago, leaving Wiz and Danny to finish reviewing the results of their search for a "candidate" computer system.
"Because it's still legal," Wiz told him. "They haven't done anything they aren't supposed to yet."
"But we know they're going to."
"But they haven't. So we don't touch it."
"Like, the KGB is really going to use a supercomputer in the United States."
"It's the GRU—military intelligence—and they're still legal."
"Bullshit!"
"Maybe," Wiz said firmly. "But that's the way we're going to play it."
They walked on in silence. Their feet made no noise on the carpeted floor and the dim light from the ceiling panels had a bluish cast that made it seem even dimmer.
As they came around a corner, they saw movement ahead. Instinctively they both froze. Then Wiz realized it was June.
June was always cat-quiet when she moved, edging along the walls of a room as if she was afraid something would grab her. Now she was moving even more stealthily. She kept her back to the wall and stepped sideways with large cross-body steps that carried her along utterly without sound.
Danny moved to say something, but Wiz put a cautionary hand on his arm. As silently as she had come, June disappeared down the cross-corridor.
"What's June doing sneaking around like that?"
"She's not sneaking!" Danny fired back.
"All right, she's not sneaking. What's she doing?"
Danny dropped his eyes and didn't say anything.
"Danny . . ." Wiz began dangerously.
"She's . . ." He took a deep breath. "Well, she's watching."
"Watching who?"
"That elf dude. She doesn't trust him."
"That's obvious. Any special reason?"
"Because he's dangerous. Because he doesn't belong here."
"He's our ally."
"How do we know that? Because he says so?"
"Because he is," Wiz told him with a lot more firmness than he felt.
"Look man, June knows elves. She lived with them for hundreds of years, right? She doesn't trust him and that's good enough for me."
"He's saved my life a couple of times and that's good enough for me," Wiz retorted. "Look, I told you once before you don't have to like him, but you're going to have to work with him. If you or June can't handle that, I'll have to send you back to the Capital."
Danny just snorted and turned away.
The only thing worse than flying over the ocean, Glandurg decided, was flying over the ocean at night. It was bad enough to look down and see nothing but water beneath you, but it was worse to look down and not see the water you knew was there.
This whole trip was worse than anything he had imagined. He was cramped and sore after hours of hanging from a griffin's talons. He was mortally tired, but he could not get any sleep. He was chilled nearly to the marrow from the night cold and wind. He was still half-airsick from the terrible fog bank they had gone through a while ago where everything was suddenly wrong. Now the griffin that bore him was laboring and wheezing as if from exhaustion.
Well, at least Thorfin had stopped moaning and Gimli wasn't retching any more. The next time I make a journey like this I will insist on aflying carpet, he declared to himself. It costs more, but the extra comfort is worth it.
The truth of the matter, he admitted to himself, was that he didn't want to make a journey like this. Not ever again. Not even the quest was worth this misery. He would have gladly ordered the griffins to turn around and take them home if it didn't mean flying for hours and hours more.
A sudden move by the griffin jerked him out of his misery and sent a new thrill of terror through him. The griffin had banked and seemed to be losing altitude. Glandurg's heart jumped into his throat at the thought of going down in the ocean.
Then his dwarvishly keen nose caught a new smell mingled with the iodine-and-salt odor of the ocean. A smell of mud and decay that was like perfume to him. Land! There was land ahead.
Glandurg fumbled with half-numb fingers for the thong around his throat. The talisman was glowing brightly and the arrow pointed sharp and clear straight ahead of them.
"We have got to do something about June," Wiz told his wife the next morning over breakfast. "Now she's taken to sneaking around after Duke Aelric."
"I know," Moira said calmly.
"Huh?"
Moira laid down her slice of bread. "Love, not everyone is as oblivious to what goes on around them as you are. And more importantly, Duke Aelric knows as well."
"He said something?"
"He is an elf. He knows."
"Great!" Wiz sighed. "All we need to do is insult Aelric."
"Has he told you he is insulted?"
"No, but you know how touchy he is."
Moira reached from the jam. "Just so. If he were insulted, you would know it. I take it he has said nothing?" She cocked her head. "No? Then it does not concern him and should not concern you."
Wiz grunted. "Anyway I'm going to send June back to the Capital."
"Danny will not like that."
"Then Danny can go back too. Dammit, she's not supposed to be here in the first place!"
Moira looked amused. "Perhaps not. But do you seriously think you can keep her and Danny apart?"
Wiz considered that. "With a moat full of crocodiles, maybe."
"I would bet on June over the crocodiles. No, love, I am not sure even death could separate those two."
"So I send them both back."
"Wiz, I do not mean to tell you how to mind your business," his wife said in a tone indicating she was about to do exactly that, "but I think that would be unwise for two reasons."
Wiz started to say something, but Moira held up her hand to stop him.
"First, what can Danny accomplish back at the Capital? He needs to be with you and Jerry to be effective, does he not?"
"Yeah, but . . ."
"And second, do you think anyone at the Capital can control him?"
Wiz thought about that. "Right. He doesn't listen to anyone except Jerry and me and half the time he doesn't listen to us." He sighed. "Okay, he stays and that means June stays. But for Pete's sake will you use whatever influence you have with her to get her to lay off Aelric?"
"I have already spoken to her and I will do so again. But I fear she is even more resistant to direction than Danny. Besides, in this case she has a very strong motive for following Aelric."
"Danny says it's because she doesn't trust him."
"I am sure that is true. But I think there is more to it. She spies on him because she fears him."
"And that's why she doesn't trust him."
Moira shook her head. "Again, I think that is true in part. But mostly I think she follows him because it is a way to rise above her fear. She somewhat controls the thing she fears, you see."
"Not exactly, no."
"Nevertheless it is so."
"Sheesh! I dunno. This whole thing used to be so simple. There were good guys and bad guys and it was easy to tell the difference. Now . . ." He shrugged.
Moira reached out and took his hand. "You have managed well enough so far."
"Yeah, but you'd think this saving the world business would get easier with practice. It just seems to get harder and more complicated every time."
"Let us hope this is the final time, love."
"Yeah," Wiz said fervently and squeezed her hand.
"Besides," Moira went on brightly. "There is a positive side to this, you know. You said we needed to do something about June. June is doing something about herself. It is helping to heal her."
"That's something, I guess."
They ate in silence for a while.
"Moira?" Wiz said at last.
"Yes, love?"
"Do you trust Duke Aelric?"
The redheaded witch considered. "Not trust, exactly. I think that as he says, his goals and ours run together on this thing. Besides, Bal-Simba says he is worthy in this and I trust Bal-Simba."
Wiz hesitated. "You really don't like him, do you? Aelric, I mean."
Moira paused. "Nooo," she said at last. "I do not like him."
"You seemed to like him well enough when we met him in the Wild Wood."
"He saved our lives in the Wild Wood."
"But you never said anything that indicated you don't like him."
Moira sighed and bit into her bread and jam. "Liking or not-liking an elf is like liking or not-liking a mountain," she said around the mouthful of food. "An elf or a mountain simply is and you must accept that."
"Well, I like him," Wiz said firmly. "And I trust him too."
He turned back to his own breakfast. Just maybe not as much as I used to, he thought as he reached for the butter.
Even for humans, the place was strange looking, Glandurg thought as he crouched on the hill looking down on his enemy's new lair. It was only one story, even if it did run out in all directions. The stone of the walls looked solid enough, but the place had windows as big as doors! Not a moat or a crenelation to be seen.
Not even a log palisade. He snorted silently. The place was defenseless.
There was a tiny noise in the bushes and Ragnar slithered back into view. Glandurg and the others crowded around him.
"Dwarf-proof!" he said disgustedly. "Whole bloody place is spelled against us."
Glandurg wanted to beat his fist in the dirt in frustration. But it would not do to lose control in front of his followers. "Then we will wait and watch," he said between gritted teeth. "The wizard cannot stay within forever."