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Our exchange was being followed closely by the gimlet eyes of the grandma from her perch by the fireplace, sitting so quiet and still that I had almost forgotten about her. Now, Argaty coughed discreetly to get our attention. Clathy sat up straight in her chair, hands on her lap, once again looking like a schoolgirl in the headmaster's study. The grandmother caught and held my eye. "That case has got to go," she reiterated, in a voice that was as firm in tone as her infirmities allowed, "I want you to take it away with you. Now." I looked at Clathy, who glanced at the elder, then back at me, and nodded. "Please," the younger Goblin added imploringly, "Just get rid of it. I want it out of my life, out of my home." "But I can't even touch it," I protested. Clathy sniffed and cracked a weak smile. "I'll transfer it to you," she said simply, adding, "I did it all the time with Vale." Bowing to the inevitable, I stood up and took the few steps to the table in the kitchenette. Clathy slid lithely from the chair and padded up beside me on bare feet. The glamour surrounding the briefcase became alert, flaring for a moment in warning. I looked from the corner of my eye at Clathy. She seemed calm, back in control of herself. She lifted her left hand, palm outwards, and uttered several syllables of esoteric power which sounded, as is the nature of Goblin magic, completely unintelligible to even the closest bystander. There was a flicker and a brief subsonic rumble, felt rather than heard. "There we are," she said, "All done. You can take it away now." "Want to tell me the keywords for the glamour?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "I can't," she admitted, "I've already forgotten." I frowned, turning to face her. "It's part of the spell," she explained, "Once I hand over control, the words just disappear from my head. Only Vale had the full set of powers, as far as I know. Only he could open the case safely." "So you can't tell me?" "No. Sorry. Oh, I know that I once knew them," she went on, sounding as if a great weight had been removed from her shoulders, "And I know that I have forgotten them several times in the past. But I can't tell you now what they were - and I could only speak those words once, anyway." Great, I thought, the deviousness of the finest Goblin magics. Vale must have forgotten to remove those limited powers from Clathy when he transferred his affections to Clunie. So now, I was supposed to be able to carry the briefcase safely, but I wasn't able to open it, nor was I able to allow anyone else to take it from me - at least, no-one who didn't want to be blown up with very limited warning. I wondered who else was able to pick it up, or open it. Magics like this typically limit the number of people for whom any particular action was safe, usually to no more than a handful. Maybe Clunie could safely touch it but, if Clathy's experience was anything to go by, she probably had no way of opening the thing, and had probably never seen inside it, either. This was going to take a certain amount of careful handling. With the same nervous care that a human would adopt when carrying a ticking bomb, I reached out with my left hand and picked up the case by the handle. The glamour didn't change, didn't react at all, although I was doubly careful I kept away from the locks that kept the briefcase securely closed. "I'll be going then," I said, addressing Clathy and her grandmother equally. Argaty nodded gravely at me, grudging approval etched in the set of her ancient shoulders. I collected my hat from the davenport and jammed it on my head with my right hand. I stepped towards the door but before I could reach the handle, I was intercepted by Clathy. "Thanks," she said, then added almost in a whisper, "Maybe we could get a drink sometime?" I looked her directly in the eye. She stood on tip-toes, reaching up to my face and planting a kiss on my cheek. It was all very demure and friendly, but I could not help but suspect that there was just a little warmth behind it, a promise of something more. Threat, more likely. "Well, perhaps we could, at that." She opened the door for me, smiled again and ushered me out, the locks clattering behind me.
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Part 21