Robert Asprin's classic fantasy seriea, now available in audio! A M.Y.T.H.-adventure in combat....Having defeated the mad wizard, Isstvan, Skeeve, and Aahz have taken over the remote inn that was the enemy's hideout. They're generally safe from visitors, and if not, Skeeve's growing magical abilities allow him to disguise himself and his friends as such repulsive serving staff that potential guests flee, screaming. Skeeve has grown bored of studying magic at the isolated inn, however, and one visitor who does not flee offers him an invitation for employment as court magician in the kingdom of Possiltum. Seeing a chance for easy profit and a little on the job training for his apprentice, Aahz agrees. Skeeve defeats the other applicants in a trial of magic to win the position, and that's when the fun really starts - the pair find out they've actually been hired in lieu of a professional national army or mercenaries to defeat a huge military invasion! They've also been used as pawns in a game of influence between the king's advisors ..and General Badaxe is particularly unhappy that he got a magician for the kingdom's money instead of a few thousand soldiers. Even if they win, they'll most likely be killed by one court faction or another. What can a poor apprentice wizard and his demon teacher do? 1) Call on some good friends. 2) Cheat the odds. 3) Do whatever it takes to win!Weapons of M.Y.T.H.-destruction...."Now that we've got a minute," Skeeve said, "would you mind telling me what your plan is? "Well," Aahz explained, "the way I figure it, we aren't going to overpower them. There are only seven of us and thousands of them. So the name of the game is Delay and Demoralize.... Right off the bat we've got two big weapons going for us. "The gargoyle and the dragon?" Skeeve put in helpfully. "Fear and Bureaucracy," Aahz said. "What's Bureaucracy?" Skeeve asked. "The organization to get things done that keeps things from getting done," Aahz continued. "In this case, it's called the chain-of-command. An army the size of the one we're facing has to function like a well-oiled machine or it starts tripping over its own feet. I'm betting that if we toss a couple of handfuls of sand into the gears, they'll spend more time fighting each other than us." For once, Skeeve wished he hadn't asked Aahz for an explanation.
