Gunnar seated himself comfortably and swung the nearly empty bag to and fro. “Ah, I told you that I carried great magic in the bag. With Piper’s help, Maya will be ours before midnight.”
Odin’s lethargy was gone now. “Gunnar, old friend! What magic was in that bag of yours?”
“The oldest magic in the world. Pieces of gold, diamonds, and rubies. When we left the Nebula I said to myself that if Grim Hagen owned everything here, it was quite possible that many would be eating very little. Knowing Grim Hagen, I said to myself, there will be a mad scramble for money and position. It would be the only kind of a world that Grim Hagen could fashion.”
Odin slapped him on the back. “Gunnar, you are a genius, a sheer genius.”
“Not at all. When I was a young man I learned such strategy from studying the world above me.”
Odin winced.
Gunnar continued. “Well, it has turned out even as I figured. Only more so. When traveling in far countries you should try to learn how the people live, Odin. It is enlightening. I had an old uncle who always said that travel broadens one. It must have, for he weighed nearly two-hundred when he died.”
“Please, Gunnar. When will we see Maya—”