Blind God's Bluff A Billy Fox Novel - By Richard Lee Byers Page 0,92

biological requirements to address.”

“Thanks.” I headed for Timon, who was waiting for me impatiently as usual, but without Gaspar playing seeing-eye dog. It was a relief to get out of the stinging haze of the Pharaoh’s smoke, but only until I stepped into my boss’s stink zone.

“I have some pointers for you,” he said.

“That’s great,” I answered. “But I may not need them.”

Timon frowned. “Don’t get cocky.”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I’m thinking of throwing the game.”

The frown changed to a scowl. “Joke when you’ve won.”

“I’m not joking. All your subjects want to get rid of you. And even though I’ve only had a couple little tastes of the way you torture them, I see their point.”

“Why do you care how I treat them?”

“Considering everything they’ve tried to do to me, that’s a good question. But I just do. Anyway, here’s the deal. When I win, you give me Tampa, just like you were going to give the underwater part of it to Murk. That’ll still leave you with the five other fiefs I’m going to win for you.”

“Otherwise, you’ll make sure you lose.”

“That’s it.”

He sneered. “You’re bluffing. You’re a born gamester. It would damage your sense of self to do less than your best.”

“You’re right. But it would also hurt it to leave you in charge. So this is the compromise. We renegotiate our deal, or screw you.”

“Are you so stupid that you don’t understand what you’re risking? That night with the skull. That can be every night from now on. It can be your whole reality.”

I remembered Rufino, felt cold inside, but made myself smile anyway. “But I’m betting it won’t. Not if the Pharaoh tells you to get off his lawn, which I think he will. Because when you and I were flying together, I noticed what the permanent part of your version of dreamland looked like. And it wasn’t the whole earth. It was just Tampa. That makes me think you can’t mess with people from a long way off.”

“Then I’ll have to mess with you right now.” He rattled off a string of words in that jaw-breaking magical language I’d heard him use before. Naturally, I couldn’t understand it, but I heard him say “Billy Fox” a couple times in the middle. When he was done, he looked at me and waited. For me to apologize or drop to my knees or something.

“Sorry,” I said. “But I guess you needed my real name to make that work. And way back when we were first making our deal, I had a feeling I shouldn’t give it to you.”

In case you’re wondering, the “Billy” part was right. And I was “Billy Fox” to a lot of people, including the guys I gambled with. But “Fox” was actually short for “Foxcroft.”

“Very clever,” Timon snarled. “But sometimes clever people are so busy being clever that they miss the obvious. Like the fact that I can see again. Not perfectly, but well enough to take on the Pharaoh if I need to.”

I stiffened my index and middle fingers and stabbed them into his eyes. Moe himself couldn’t have done it any better. Timon yelped, staggered backward, and clapped his hands to his face.

“How about now?” I asked. It was the only sound in the room. He and I had been talking too softly for most people to realize we were arguing, but everybody was staring now.

Timon lowered his shaking hands. His eyes were a raw, seeping mess again. It made me hopeful and sick to my stomach at the same time.

“Grab him!” he screamed.

Some of the Tuxedo Team started toward me. Whether or not they’d heard about the big plan, they were too scared of Timon to disobey a direct order.

“You better think this through,” I told him. “Remember, nobody else will play for you. That’s why you needed to partner up with me in the first place.”

“Well, if I’m about to lose my lordship, then I don’t have time to deal with you as you truly deserve. But I promise to make these last few moments truly painful.”

Hands grabbed me from behind.

I’d been afraid this would happen. Timon couldn’t just knuckle under to extortion. That would cost him the other lords’ respect, and be just as bad as losing his lands. And the eye poke had only made it worse.

But I hoped he might still agree if I left him some wiggle room. If he didn’t have to cave completely in front of everybody. “Hang on,” I said.