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long as it emphasizes Heavenly values and virtues, it doesn't serve Hell's
ends, and that's more than can be said for most of them."
They arrived at the castle, where elfin grooms took their horses, and they
entered and went to the Great Hall.
They settled down in comfortable, fur-covered chairs, and a servant brought
them a tray of delicacies, and another brought drinks. Ruddygore, still
formally attired but with hat taken, settled back and looked somewhat relaxed.
"I can tell that you have been arguing over children again," he said casually.
They both jumped. "What!" Tiana cried. "How did you know?" She had visions of
spies all over the place.
VENGEANCE OF THE DANCING GODS
32
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"Because it's something that would happen if boredom weighed heavily upon you.
I know you both too well."
"Well, it's out of the question," Joe growled.
"Why?" the wizard asked him. "Oh, I agree when it comes to Tiana, but you're
both weres. You can become each other. The genes would be the same."
"You mean me have the baby?" Joe was aghast.
"Certainly. Oh, at thirty-six hours a month I fear the pregnancy would be
about fifteen or sixteen years to term, but what of it? A simple spell would
continue you every were-period until it happened, although you'd have to make
certain that you did in fact become Tiana each time or heaven knows what you'd
give birth to in the end, but it's possible."
Joe shook his head in wonder. "No, I don't think so."
"Well, perhaps there are other ways. We'll see."
"It is the first night of the full moon tonight," Tiana reminded him.
"Oh, yes I know. Don't mind me. I'm here for a brief rest and to do some
studying anyway. Something is up.
I can smell it. Something that I feel both here and on
Earth, and that means something big. I want to find it and nip it in the bud
before it bites all of us."
Macore was a small man dressed in a dark gray tunic with an integral hood. The
hood, of course, was down now, in the bright daylight and in the company of
familiar friends, and revealing a darkly handsome man with an angular face,
always clean-shaven, and a nose perhaps a bit too big but of which he was
inordinately proud.
He was not surprised to find Ruddygore away, although his usually reliable
sources told him that the old boy was due back almost any time now. Macore was
one of the few who knew where Ruddygore went on these frequent and sometimes
long business trips, although he'd never been to Earth, and all he knew about
it was what he'd learned from associating with Joe and Marge in the old days.
JACK L. CHALKER 33
The old days, he thought sadly, sitting in a small recep-
tion hall and picking at the fine meal Durin, Ruddygore's elfin master chef,
had prepared for him. How quickly the time passed, he reflected, and how much
older he felt.
Not that he wasn't physically as good as he ever was, but now more of that
speed and quickness came from spells and elixirs, dearly bought, instead of
through natural training, as it had been not too many years ago.
He wondered, sitting here, why he felt so depressed.
Things were not, after all, that bad, and he really had no complaints. The
life of a thief was a lonely one, but he had chosen it, rather than being
forced into it. Those who were forced into it were amateurs and tended to
remain so. He had only sympathy for them. He, now, was dif-
ferent. He was rich, he was famous or infamous, depending on who heard the
name and under what cir-
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