Jinx On The Divide by Elizabeth Kay

the brandee returning with his lamp. "If they find Rhino, you'd need to carry three humans at once. I think you should go and get Ironclaw."
    "I can deal with it," said Fuzzy indignantly. "I'm not a hatchling anymore."
    The brandee kicked Nimby irritably with his foot. "When I
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    say up, I mean like a feather on the breeze, not pumice shooting out of a volcano." He sat down and crossed his legs. "Up, curse your knots." The carpet lifted off and bore the brandee away.
    Fuzzy was aware that napping off on a rescue mission on an empty stomach was a bad move, so she treated herself to a peck of lunch at the fly-in restaurant on the cliff face. She got to talking with a chatty old carrionwing called Scoffit, who turned out to be OK and not smelly at all. Scoffit told her the locations of the rescue huts in the mountains, which might be useful in the event of a blizzard. Scoffit also warned her about the molten rock that could spew from crevices, and the superheated steam that could shoot out of a lake. And for once, Fuzzy was prepared to listen to advice, even if it did come from an old crone on her way to a shrieking convention, with feathers that would have made a moth-eaten duster look up-market. Scoffit was only the second carrionwing she'd met, and she found herself revising her previous opinion. Appearances weren't everything -- Scoffit had traveled to the north to guest in a squawk band, and how smooth was that? Mind you, a little scarlet polish on those craggy old claws wouldn't hurt, and a decent feather shampoo ...
    She finished her meal, and said good-bye to Scoffit. Then she launched herself off the cliff with a particularly nifty backflip and reverse plummet, soared upward again, and set a course due north. Fuzzy to the rescue! It had a nice ring to it.
    ***
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    Squill's HQ was a sprawling stone building, with a lot of outbuildings such as stables and storerooms. A huge tree stood within the grounds.
    "You can't come in here," said the guard.
    "Why not?" asked the brandee, shifting the rolled-up carpet he was carrying to his other arm.
    "You're a nomad, aren't you? No nomads. No tangle-folk, no ragamuckies, no brazzles, no brittlehorns, no one-eyes, no lickits ..."
    "I get the picture. However, although I may look like a nomad, I am, in fact, a brandee." The brandee extracted his lamp from somewhere in the folds of his clothing. "I am beholden to no one at the moment."
    The guard stared long and hard at the lamp. If he just had the guts to snatch it, he could have wealth beyond his wildest dreams -- and the most beautiful japegrin maiden in the world. His fingers started to itch, and he licked his lips.
    "Don't even think about it," said the brandee, running his hand over the hilt of his dagger. "I heard you have a scientist here, and I want to meet him."
    "Nobody meets him," said the guard. "On the other hand, if you could grant me one little wish I might ..."
    "It's against the rules," said the brandee.
    "No one need know. She doesn't have to be the most beautiful maiden in the world. Just as long as she isn't thin, or lopsided, and she doesn't bite ..."
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    The brandee cast the japegrin a withering glance, turned on his heel, and left.
    He waited until they changed the guard, and then he tried again.
    "You can't come in here," said the new guard. "No nomads, no ragamuckies, no tangle-folk ..."
    "I'm not a nomad," interrupted the brandee. "I am a prince from a far-off land, and I have come to present this beautiful magic carpet to your thane."
    The carpet in question made some muffled remark.
    The guard glanced at his clipboard. "Nothing about it in the schedule for today," he said. "Prince ... er?"
    "Prince Goodbody," said the brandee, using the first name that came into his head.
    "You could see his secretary."
    "All right," said the brandee, and he made his way to the waiting room.
    A sorry collection of individuals was waiting to see Squill's secretary. In one corner, a ragamucky was sobbing quietly into a