The Wizardry Consulted (Wiz, #4)(84)

Malkin looked shy. “He’s the first man I’ve ever met I didn’t have to look down on.”

Wiz was tall by this world’s standards and Malkin could look him square in the eye. Jerry was a head taller than Wiz, which made him about the biggest man around, save Bal-Simba. He was still heavy, but after several years of more exercise and the diet full of vegetables, grains and fiber eaten in this world he was no longer exactly fat.

Wiz looked at his friend.

“I’ve never met anybody like her before,” Jerry said simply.

Considering that Jerry had never been in jail that was probably true, Wiz reflected.

Wiz turned to Moira. “I don’t suppose this is some kind of infatuation spell?” he asked with a tinge of desperation in his voice.

Moira looked amused. “Infatuation, yes. A spell, no. Only the age-old magic between man and woman.”

Wiz put his head in his hands and moaned.

“Is there aught I can do?”

“Yes, warn the people at the Wizard’s Keep to nail down anything they want to keep.” He considered. “And tell them to use big nails.”

Jerry and Malkin had moved to the corner, intent on some private matter and oblivious to the other people in the room. She had her hands on the rough stone walls and was apparently explaining to him how to scale a wall at a corner. Jerry was just looking at her, ignoring what she was saying.

“I think Jerry has finally met his match,” Moira said approvingly. “She seems quite taken with him as well.”

“She probably just wants a place out of jail,” Wiz said sourly.

Moira looked speculatively at the couple in the corner. “No, she is really in love, I think.”

“Worse,” Wiz groaned.

“Well,” rumbled Bal-Simba. “At least it shall not be boring.”

“That,” said Wiz Zumwalt, “is exactly what I am afraid of.”