Chapter 2

The night before, an old acquaintance dropped in to visit. He was unexpected, and marginally welcome. Tommy, though fun, was always trouble. His main problem was his desire to impress other people.

More importantly, he wanted other people to owe him favors.

Tommy had been around as long, if not longer, than Hep and Scroat. He was also a bit of a creature of habit. He had a bag of tricks, and although it was small, he loved each one of them and used them as much as he could.

So after he'd enjoyed Hep's hospitality, he planted his tobacco pouch on Hep's bookshelf and waited until the time was right to make his exit.

By the time Hep found the tobacco pouch, Tommy was long gone.

When Hep noticed the addition to his bookshelf, it took him a while to figure out where it came from. When he finally realized that Tommy had left it behind he muttered something profane to himself, and started packing.

He had to return Tommy's property. He couldn't have kept it even if he'd wanted to. No, he had to play the game, because as a god, he had no other choice.