Myth Alliances

"Yes." Monishone demonstrated. "Just touch the star, then bring your finger to the star on the next pair of goggles. Anyone you touch becomes part of the group. Of course it means all of you have to have that story in your pair..."

"More recharging fees," Tenobia crooned, licking her fangs, "and no significant outlay except for royalties to the bards. We can make a fortune. They'll forget about every other personal entertainment device they've ever had! Hundreds of dimensions will be clamoring to get their hands on this!"

Paldine shook her head. "You'd be surprised. Of all the dimensions that support magik, only a few fall into the right niche. Many are too advanced for a toy like this, but many more aren't at the level to buy this or use it. I'd say thirty or forty at most."

"That would be plenty," Oshleen emphasized. She smacked her riding crop down on the desk.

"It's more likely to be ten or twelve ... why are you dressed like that?"

Oshleen polished one of her brass buttons on the front of her jacket. "It puts me in the mood for strategy," she explained.

"Bah," Paldine snorted. "Like you know from strategy."

"Listen, fishface, you think that a winning smile will cause people to pour gold down on you ..."

"Enough!" Vergetta roared. "Back on topic, please, darlinks. We can't talk among ourselves without arguing?" She paused and blinked. "Dammit, I sound like those wretched Wuhses."

"What will it take to manufacture these glasses?" Nedira wanted to know. "I've made several dozen pairs on my own," Monishone informed her. She snapped her ringers and a box floated into the room and set itself down in the center. "If the test marketing works out, we'll have the Wuhses make the rest."

"A better use for those factories than tea towels and bobble hats," Loorna said.

"What'll we do to keep them from walking away with a big handful of product?" Tenobia asked, sourly. "These are potentially a lot more valuable than tea towels."

"We'll put a whammy on the section working on it," Niki suggested. "They'll leave any conscious memory of the goggles inside. But the glasses won't be operational. They haven't got the talent to enchant them."

"It will take enchantment on our part to set the spell. It's quite simple, but does take a lot of power. We don't have to worry about anyone jumping in and duplicating these," Monishone grinned ferally. "No one can do what we do."

"All right, then," Vergetta stated. "Places, girls. Caitlin, get away from that thing. You'd think it was attached to you at the fingertips."

Reluctantly, the smallest female jumped down from her console and came to take her place with the rest of the Per-vect Ten standing around the table. They joined hands.

"Shouldn't we lock the door?" Nedira asked.

"Why?" Charilor asked with a smirk. "No Wuhs would ever come in here unless we invited them. Besides, they'd be incinerated if they walked through our security spell."

"Reach for the line of force," Monishone instructed them. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back. "Draw all the power inside the circle."

"For these?" Niki scoffed. "We don't need all of it."

One hot yellow eye opened and glared at her. "It's a comprehensive spell, you mechanical imbecile! It depends on forming an atmosphere of power. We have to place all of the component spells in a cascade, and the structure can't exist outside of the circle!" "How'd you do it, then?"

Monishone glared at her. "One pair of goggles at a time!"

"Oh," Niki yawned. She rolled her eyes. "All right."

"Shut up, then. Bring in all the power."

The major force lines that ran through Pareley didn't go underneath the castle, something that had proved to Vergetta that the Wuhses didn't know a damned thing about magik, which was all right, since they had little aptitude for it, anyhow. The closest one, a weak arrow, lay on the other side of the moat. A much stronger sky line, lying at perpendicular angles to the first was just a little farther away. In their minds they glowed soft green and bright yellow. Slowly, but with gathering intensity, the circle bounded by their arms and bodies filled with light. Their shadows, knife edged, crept up the walls until ten black shadows loomed over them like giants watching from the sidelines.