t could not refrain from casting a lingering
look at the worktables. A withered leprechaun set eyes into the head of
a minikin hound. Furred fingers worked precious metals into invisible
filigree for the collarpiece of a dancing doll. Metallic feathers were
thrust with clockwork precision into the wings of a skeleton bird no
longer than my fingernail. The nose of the hound wabbled and sniffed,
the bird's wings quivered, the eyes of the little dancer followed my
footsteps.

Toys?

"This way," Evarin rapped, and a door slid shut behind us. The clinks
and taps grew faint, fainter, but never ceased.

My face must have betrayed more than conventional impassivity, for
Evarin smiled. "Now you know, Rakhal, why I am called Toymaker. Is it
not strange--the masterpriest of Nebran, a maker of Toys, and the shrine
of the Toad God a workshop for children's playthings?"

Evarin paused suggestively. They were obviously not children's
playthings and this was my cue to say so, but I avoided the trap. Evarin
opened a sliding panel and took out a doll.

She was perhaps the length of my longest finger, molded to the precise
proportions of a woman, and costumed after the bizarre fashion of the
Ardcarran dancing girls. Evarin touched no button or key that I could
see, but when he set the figure on its feet, it executed a whirling,
armtossing dance in a fast, tricky tempo.

"I am, in a sense, benevolent," Evarin murmured. He snapped his fingers
and the doll sank to her knees and poised there, silent. "Moreover, I
have the means and, let us say, the ability to indulge my small
fantasies.

"The little daughter of the President of the Federation of Trade Cities
on Samarra was sent such a doll recently. What a pity that Paolo
Arimengo was so suddenly impeached and banished!" The Toymaker clucked
his teeth commiseratingly. "Perhaps this small companion will compensate
the little Carmela for her adjustment to her new ... position."

He replaced the dancer and pulled down something like a whirligig. "This
might interest you," he mused, and set it spinning. I stared at the
pattern of lights that flowed and disappeared, melting in and out of
visible shadows. Suddenly I realized what the thing was doing. I
wrested my eyes away with an effort. Had there been a lapse of seconds
or minutes? Had Evarin spoken?

Evarin arrested the compelling motion with one finger. "Several of these
pretty playthings are available to the children of important me