The Wizardry Consulted (Wiz, #4)(29)

“I noticed you’ve already met Dieter,” Rolf said casually as they worked their way through a dessert that was mostly berries, whipped cream and some kind of strong liqueur.

“After a fashion. He came to see me the first day.”

Rolf smiled knowingly. “He is dynamic, isn’t he?”

Wiz put down his spoon. “He is also about as subtle as a hand grenade in a barrel of oatmeal.”

Rolf chuckled. “I think I understand the reference, but what is a ‘hand grenade’?”

Wiz thought about how to explain high explosives to a culture that didn’t even have gunpowder. Then he thought about what Moira said about his explanations. “Let’s just say it’s something that doesn’t belong in an oatmeal barrel.”

Again that engaging toothpaste smile. “You know one of the things I enjoy so much about you, Wiz? Your outlook is refreshing.” He gestured from the wrist. “Like a breath of clean air into a musty closet that has been closed up too long.”

Considering his performance this morning a breath of hot air was more like it, Wiz thought. But he made an appropriately modest reply.

“Refreshing nonetheless, Wiz. We have been a backwater for too long. It has narrowed us, cramped our vision.” He leaned forward over the table. “Wiz, we need to change and I think you are going to help us make the changes we need so badly.”

He used my name twice in two sentences, Wiz thought. Here it comes.

“Wiz, that is one of the reasons I hoped we could meet. I wanted to offer you my support in your program. You’re going to do great things for us, I know. In fact I’d go so far as to say your coming marks a new beginning for this town and its people.”

Great, Wiz thought. I am not only supposed to slay dragons, I’m supposed to work bloody miracles.

“You understand I have a very limited brief. I am a consultant on dragon problems, not a general management consultant.”

“Your formal brief, true. But I think you underrate your importance just now. As a wizard of great power, a defeater of dragons and an outsider with new ideas, the whole Council is compelled to listen to you.” He paused and cocked an eyebrow. “And very frankly I doubt the present regime will allow you to do much about dragons.”

That was so true that Wiz could only nod.

“Where do you fit in all this?”

“Fundamentally I think we want the same things.”

Just then what Wiz really wanted was to go home to the Wizard’s Keep and Moira. But that wasn’t one of his options until he got this mess straightened out and he couldn’t do that unless he stayed alive. He jerked his attention back to what Rolf was saying.

“You bring us change. But the change has to start at the top. We need new blood on the Council and especially we need a new mayor.” He waved a hand in a self-deprecating gesture. “Oh, not necessarily me. But someone with the vision to see the way we must go and the determination to see that we can get there.”

“What’s wrong with Mayor Hastlebone?”

Rolf sighed. “I am afraid he is too much under Dieter’s influence. He can see nothing but old solutions to our problems.”

“Dieter does have some ideas for doing things differently,” Wiz pointed out.

“Dieter’s solutions are more of the same old medicine. More taxes to strangle the life out of what little trade we have left.” He shook his head. “No, money will not solve our problems. Not without a complete restructuring and a reawakening of civic discipline.”

He leaned across the table and touched Wiz’s hand. “Wiz, we must-what was your phrase?-reinvent ourselves. Yes, ‘reinvent.’ A new city, a new culture rising out of the ashes of the old. Why, the possibilities are . . .” Rolf trailed off, seemingly transfixed by something infinitely far off over Wiz’s right shoulder. Then his attention snapped back to Wiz and he was all business again. “ . . . rather remarkable,” he finished smoothly.

A chill ran down Wiz’s spine. “Look, I’m flattered that you think so highly of me, but . . .”

Rolf held up a hand. “When someone says they are flattered it means they are preparing to turn you down. Don’t, I beg of you. You don’t have to say yes, but leave the matter undecided, please.”

“I will certainly try to keep an open mind.”

Let’s see, Wiz thought as he made his way back across the square. I’ve been in town less than ten days and I’ve already made two powerful enemies. At least Rolf would be his enemy as soon as he figured out that Wiz had no intention of supporting his schemes. Dieter wanted to loot the town. Wiz suspected Rolf’s desires ran deeper and more dangerously. The man didn’t want money, he wanted power. Probably a lot more power than a mayor had ever had before.

Of the two Rolf was probably the more dangerous. Dieter’s hostility was open. With Rolf you’d never see the knife coming until it was buried in your back. You could see Dieter coming, but that didn’t mean you could dodge. He touched the ring of protection on his finger. It would place him in stasis if he was under immediate physical threat. If the damn spell had any sense I’d have been frozen solid a couple of days ago, he thought sourly.

Not a living soul was waiting to greet Wiz when he got home. Widder Hackett, however, was.

“Well Mr. Wizard, I hope you enjoyed your stroll around town because there’s been the netherworld to pay while you’ve been gone.”