What is that? Belot and I thought at the same time. Lamp-light approached, flat-footed plods coming right behind it. A narrow passageway that until then had remained hidden now bore an attendant.

I had Belot coil under his nearest crib. Then I pressed my back against my nearest wall.

A nursemaid, lamp cast out in front of her houndish nose, hobbled in.

Legs. Walking. Words I felt Belot think freely, almost whispering right over his teeth. From my obscure angle, it appeared the woman was passing the crib he hid under. I’m on the ground, Belot thought, making my heart leap, for my dominion over him was already beginning to wane. Making matters more perilous, he must have said it aloud. The woman had stopped. The lantern shook.

If Belot was discovered under a crib like some hideous snake, the woman’s shrieks would startle every babe and armed guard within a mile. Dagger honed, using each passing crib to conceal me, I made my way to them.

“Smoked pork?” the woman said. A lone crib now from her back, I saw her shrug her shoulders then resume her rounds. I sheathed my dagger.

We continued searching, and we may have done so all night if it weren’t for the imp flashing me a sudden vision. Yes, the imp. I at first elated, for this meant it knew it belonged to the House of Ordrid. The greatest of familiars, when one is joined with such a little fiend, the imp allows its master its cunning, to hear through its ears, and, I now gaped, the horrid sights seen through its eyes.

It showed me an entire scene unfold all in one instant:

Toadly was climbing through the open window back at Belot’s. His new hands he must have loathed, but they grasped the window superbly, as did his new legs, having bursting up from the ground below. His laughter while in his obese true form had sounded to me once like a creature being boiled alive. But now, as a bluish infant mottled in decay, they were little giggles. I had been tricked! He must have double backed as I made a fool of myself in the damn nursery. The giggles made their way into Belot’s parlor as Toadly scaled down the stool and apron and jumped nimbly to the floor.

It gave me some reprieve to see that Toadly stood over his old body, lying there dead and humiliated. I am sure in some singular way he thanked me too. For I had given to Belot a fate that any captive would dream to see their captor suffer. But more than that, cringing at the thought of the amount of his laughter that had been aimed at me, by killing Belot I had freed Toadly’s mind…and had even given him time to escape.