I pried omega watches one eye open and blearily tried to focus on the room. A chair toppled noisily to the floor, convincing me the blurred images my mind was receiving were due at least in part to the irregular vibrations coming from the floor and walls. One without my vast storehouse of knowledge (hard won and painfully endured) might be inclined to blame the pandemonium on an earthquake: I didn't. The omega speedmaster logic behind this conclusion was simple. Earthquakes were extremely uncommon in this area. A dragon and a unicorn playing tag wasn't. It was starting out as an ordinary day . . . that is, ordinary if you're a junior magician apprenticed to a demon. If I had been able to predict the future with any degree of accuracy and thus foresee the events to come, I probably would have omega seamaster stayed in bed. I mean, fighting has never been my forte, and the idea of taking on a whole army . . . but I'm getting ahead of myself. The thud that aroused me shook the building, accompanied by the crash of various dirty dishes shattering on the floor. The second thud was even more spectacular. I considered doing something. I considered going back to sleep. Then I remembered my omega speedmaster watches mentor's condition when he had gone to bed the night before. That woke me up fast. The only thing nastier than a demon from Perv is a demon from Perv with a hangover. I was on my feet and headed for the door in a flash. (My agility was a tribute more to my fear rather than to any inborn talent.) Wrenching the door open, I thrust my head outside and surveyed the omega terrain. The grounds outside the inn seemed normal. The weeds were totally out of hand, more than chest high in places. Something would have to be done about them someday, but my mentor didn't seem to mind their riotous growth, and since I was the logical candidate to cut them if I raised the point, I decided once again to keep silent on the subject. Instead, I studied the various flattened patches omega seamaster watch and newly torn paths in the overgrowth, trying to determine the location or at least the direction of my quarries' movement. I had almost convinced myself that the silence was at least semipermanent and it would be all right to go back to sleep, when the ground began to tremble again.

I sighed Angel's trumpet and shakily drew myself up to my full height, what there was of it, and prepared to meet the onslaught. The unicorn was the first to come into view, great clumps of dirt flying from beneath his hooves as he ducked around the corner of the inn on my right."Buttercup!" I shouted in my most authoritative tone. A split second later I had to jump back into the shelter of the doorway Finally loosened into beauty to avoid being trampled by the speeding beast. Though a bit miffed at his disobedience, I didn't really blame him. He had a dragon chasing him, and dragons are not notoriously agile when it comes to quick stops. As if acting on a cue from my thoughts, the dragon burst into view. To be accurate, he didn't really burst, he thudded, shaking the inn as he rebounded off the corner. As long as the lid was sealed I said, dragons are not notoriously agile. "Gleep!" I shouted. "Stop it this instant!" He responded by taking an affectionate swipe at me with his tail as he bounded past. Fortunately for me, the gesture went wide of its mark, hitting the inn with another jarring thud instead. So much for my most authoritative tone. If our two faithful charges were any more obedient, I'd be lucky to escape with my life. Still I had to stop them. Whoever came up with the immortal quote about waking sleeping dragons had obviously never had to contend with a sleeping demon. I studied the two of Meanwhile we others will be charging them them chasing each other through the weeds for a few moments, then decided to handle this the easy way. Closing my eyes, I envisioned both of them, the dragon and the unicorn. Then I superimposed the image of the dragon over that of the unicorn, fleshed it out with a few strokes of my mental paintbrush, then opened my eyes. To my eyes, the scene was the same, a dragon and a unicorn confronting each other in a field of weeds.zm