Mything Persons

Massha's belt assisting me, I barely managed to slow

our descent to a moderate crawl.

"What happened there, partner?" Aahz called.

"How did you know that thing was going to yawn?"

"Call it a lucky guess," I grunted, still concentrating

on keeping us from crashing. "I'll explain later."

"Check the landing zone," Guido warned.

I sneaked a peak.

We had been at our task longer than I thought. The

sidewalk below was crowded with vampires strolling

here and there as Blut's legendary nightlife fired up.

"I don't think we can bluff our way through this

one," Aahz said calmly. "Any chance you can steer us

around the corner into the alley? There doesn't seem to

be as much of a crowd there."

Before I could answer, something flashed past us

from above with a flutter of leather wings.

"JAILBREAK!" it screamed, banking around the

corner. "Murderer on the loose! JAILBREAK!"

Chapter Thirteen:

"I've never seen so damn many Indians."

—G. A. CUSTER

THE words of alarm had an interesting effect on the

crowd below. After a brief glance to see us descending

into their midst, to a man they turned and ran. In a

twinkling, the street was empty.

"What's going on?" I called to Aahz, unable to

believe our good fortune.

"Beats me!" my partner shouted back. "I guess none

of the normal citizenry want to tangle with an escaped

murderer. Better get us down fast before they figure out

how badly outnumbered we are."

I didn't have to be told twice. Our escape had just

gotten an unexpected blessing, but I wasn't about to

make book on how long it would last. I cut my magical

support, and we dropped swiftly toward the pavement.

"What was that that blew the whistle on us?" Massha

said, peering up into the darkness where our mysterious

saboteur had disappeared.

"I think it was that Vic character," Guido answered

from below me. "I got a pretty good look at him when

113

114 Robert Asprin

he bolted past me back at the Woof Writers."

"Really?" I asked, half to myself, twisting around to

look after the departed villain. "That's one more we

owe him."

"Later," Aahz commanded, touching down at last.

"Right now we've got to get out of here."

Guido was beside him in a second. I had to drop a

ways, as with the extra weight removed from the rope,

we had ceased to sink.

"C'mon, Massha!" I called. "Cut the power in that

thing. It's not that far to fall."

"I'm trying!" she snapped back, fiddling with the

belt buckle once more. "The flaming thing's malfunc-

tioning again!"

The belt setting had changed. Holding the rope, I

could feel that there was no longer an upward pull.

Unfortunately, Massha wasn't sinking, either. Instead,

she hovered in mid-air about fifteen feet up.

"Hey, Boss! We got company!"

I followed my bodyguard's gaze. There was a mob

forming down the street to our left, and it didn't look

happy. Of course, it was hard to tell for sure, but I had

the definite impression that their eyes were glowing red-

der than normal, which I was unable to convince myself

was a good sign.

"Maasshhhha!" I nagged, my voice rising uncon-

trollably as I tugged on the rope.

"It's jammed!" she whimpered. "Go on, take off,

Hot Stuff. No sense in all of us getting caught."

"We can't just leave you here," I argued.

"We don't have time for a debate," Aahz snarled.

"Guido! Get up there ahead of us and keep the street

open. We can't afford to get cut off. Okay, let's go!"

With that, he snatched the rope out of my hand and

took off running down the street away from the crowd

with Guido out front in point position and Massha

MYTH-ING PERSONS 115

floating over his head like a gaudy balloon. For once, I

didn't object to him giving orders to my bodyguard. I

was too busy sprinting to keep up with the rest of my

group.

If the watching mob was having any trouble deciding

what to do, the sight of us fleeing settled it. With a

howl, they swarmed down the street in pursuit.

When I say "with a howl," I'm not speaking figura-

tively. As they ran, some of the vampires transformed

into large, fierce-looking dogs, others into bats, pre-

sumably to gain more speed in the chase. While Aahz

and I had been chased by mobs before, this was the first

pack of pursuers who literally bayed at our heels. I must

say I didn't care much for the experience.

"Where are we going, Aahz?" I panted.

"Away from them!" he called back.

"I mean, eventually," I pressed. "We're heading the

wrong way to get back to our hideout."

"We can't hole up until we've shaken our fan club,"

my partner insisted. "Now shut up and run."

I had certain doubts about our ability to elude our

pursuers while towing Massha overhead to mark our

position, but I followed Aahz's instructions and

pumped the pavement for all I was worth. For one

thing, if I pointed out this obvious fact to my partner,

he might simply let go of the rope and leave my appren-

tice to fend for herself. Then again, the option to run-

ning was to stand firm and face the mob. All in all,

running seemed like a real good idea.

Guido was surprisingly good at clearing a path for us.

I had never really seen my bodyguard in action, but with