I wasn't in a hurry I decided to hear what he had to say.

"I'm glad I caught you in time," he said, struggling

to catch his breath. "While I don't usually meddle, you

really don't want to go in there!"

"Why not? I was just...."

"Do you know who lives there?"

"Well, actually I thought...."

"That is the dwelling of the Great Skeeve!"

Robert Asprin

Something about this busybody irritated me. Maybe

it was the way he never let me finish a sentence. Any-

way, I decided to string him along for a while."

"The Great Skeeve?"

"You never heard of him?" The Deveel seemed gen-

uinely shocked. "He's probably the most powerful

magician at the Bazaar."

My opinion of the busybody soared to new heights,

but the game was too much fun to abandon.

"I've never had too much faith in magicians," I said

with studied casualness. "I've found for the most part

their powers are overrated."

The oldster rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"That may be true in most cases, but not when it

comes to the Great Skeeve! Did you know he consorts

with Demons and has a dragon for a familiar?"

I favored him with a worldly smile.

"So what? Deva is a crossroads of the dimensions.

Dimension travelers, or Demons as you call them, are

the norm around here. As a Deveel, your main liveli-

hood comes from dealing with Demons. As for the

dragon, there's a booth not eight rows from here that

sells dragons to anyone with the price.''

"No, no! You don't understand! Of course we all

deal with Demons when it comes to business. The dif-

ference is that this Skeeve is actually friends with them