03/04/21 Snippet, DUNGEON CLEANING.

Raymond Chandler knew what he was about.

Marta snorted when I brought it up. “Come on, Ike,” she said. “Cold, wet, dark, people good enough to kill us all and then take our stuff. You really miss that?”

“Well, sure. Don’t you?”

That got the dimples going. “Absolutely. But I’m a green-skinned savage from the wilds. You’re a civilized wizard, Scholar of the Chill, Keeper of the secrets of the Azure Wisdom. Not some spellchucker with the ink still damp on his journeyman rating. Where’s your dignity, man?”

I grinned back at her, then looked through the windows, for once. It really was a nice view up here. “I got plenty. Heck, I’ll trade half of it for my old knees back. Guess I just wish for the old days of sudden terror—” and that’s when I grabbed Marta and dragged her down to the floor, just before the windows shattered.