Fora long moment Aahz and I considered the fallen man, catching ourbreath.

"'Relax,Skeeve! This'll be easy, Skeeve! Trust me, Skeeve.' Boy, Aahz, whenyou miss a call you don't do it small, do you?"

"Shutup, kid!"

Hewas rummaging through his pouch again. "I don't want to shut up,I want to know what happened to the 'foolproof spell you taught me."

"Iwas kind of wondering that myself." He had produced the mirroragain and was peering into it. "Tell you what, kid. Check hisaura and watch for anything unusual."

"'Shutup, kid! Check his aura, kid!' You'd think I was some kind of….Hey!"

"Whatis it?"

"Hisaura! It's a sort of a reddish yellow except there's a blue patch onhis chest."

"Ithought so!!" Aahz was across the clearing in a bound, crouchingat the fallen man like a beast of prey. "Look at this!!"

Ona thong around the man's neck was a crude silver charm depicting asalamander with one eye in the center of its forehead.

"Whatis it?"

"I'mnot sure, but I've got a hunch. Now play along with me on this. Iwant you to remove the shape warp spell."

"Whatspell?"

"C'mon,kid, wake up! The spell that's changing my face."

"That'swhat I mean. What spell?"

"Nowlook, kid! Don't give me a lot of back talk. Just do it! He'll bewaking up soon."

Witha sigh I shut my eyes and set about the seemingly pointless task. Itwas easier this time, imagining Garkin's face, then melting away thefeatures until Aahz's face was leering at me in my mind's eye. Iopened my eyes and looked at Aahz. He looked like Aahz. Terrific.

"Nowwhat?"

Asif in answer, the warrior groaned and sat up. He shook his head as ifto clear it and opened his eyes. His gaze fell on Aahz, whereupon heblinked, looked again, and reached for his sword, only to find itmissing. Also missing were his dagger and hand-axe. Apparently Aahzhad not been idle while I was removing the spell.

Aahzspoke first.

"Relax,stranger. Things are not as they seem."

Theman sprang to his feet and struck a fighting stance, fists clenched.

"Beware,demon!" he intoned hollowly. "I am not without defenses."

"Ohyeah? Name three. But like I say. relax. First of all, I'm not ademon."

"Knowyou, demon, that this charm enables me to look through any spells andsee you as you really are."

Sothat was it! My confidence in my powers came back with a rush.

"Friend,though you may not believe me, the sight of that talisman fills mewith joy, for it enables me to prove what I am about to tell you."

"Donot waste your lies on me. Your disguise is penetrated! You are ademon!"

"Right.Could you do me one little favor?" Aahz leisurely satcross-legged on the ground. "Could you take the charm off for aminute?"

"Takeit off?" For a moment the man was puzzled, but he quicklyrallied his forces. "Nay, demon. You seek to trick me intoremoving my charm that you might kill me!"

"Look,dummy. If we wanted to kill you we could have done it while you wereknocked out cold!"

Forthe first time, the man seemed doubtful. "That is, indeed, afact."

"Thencould you humor me for a moment and take the charm off?"

Thewarrior hesitated, then slowly removed the charm. He looked hard atAahz and scowled.

"That'sstrange. You still look like a demon!"

"Correct,now let me ask you a question. Am I correct in assuming from yourwords you have some knowledge of demons?"

"Ihave been a demon hunter for over fifteen years now," hedeclared proudly.

"Oh,yeah?" For a minute I was afraid Aahz was going to blow thewhole gambit, but he got himself back under control and continued."Then tell me, friend. In your long experience with demons, haveyou ever met one who looked like a demon?"

"Ofcourse not! They always use their magik to disguise themselves."

Fatlot he knew about demons!

"Thenthat should prove my point!"

"Whatpoint?"

Ithought for a moment Aahz was going to take him by the shoulders andshake him. It occurred to me that perhaps Aahz's subtleties were loston this world.

"Letme try, Aahz. Look, sir. What he's trying to say is that if he were ademon he wouldn't look like a demon, but he does so he isn't."

"Oh!"said the man with sudden understanding.

"Nowyou've lost me," grumbled Aahz.

"Butif you aren't a demon, why do you look like one?"

"Ahh. "" Aahz sighed, "therein lies the story. You see,I'm accursed!"

"Accursed?"

"Yes.You see, I am a demon hunter like yourself. A rather successful one,actually. Established quite a name for myself in the field."

"Inever heard of you," grumbled the man.

"Well,we've never heard of you either," I chimed in.

"Youdon't even know my name!"

"Oh,I'm sorry." I remembered my manners. "I'm Skeeve, and this…demon hunter is Aahz."

"Pleasedto meet you. I am known as Quigley."

"IfI could continue…."

"Sorry,Aahz."

"AsI was saying, I had achieved a certain renown among the demons due tomy unprecedented success. At times it was rather bothersome, as whenit was learned I was coming, most demons would either flee theterritory or kill themselves."

"Doeshe always brag this much?"

"He'sjust getting started."

"Anyway…one day I was closing with a demon, a particularly ugly brute, whenhe startled me by addressing me by name. 'Aahz!' says he, 'Before youstrike, you should know your career is at an end!' Of course Ilaughed at him, for I had slain demons more fierce than he, sometimesin pairs. 'Laugh if you will,' he boomed, 'but a conclave of demonsempowered me to deal with you. Whether you kill me or not, you aredoomed to suffer the same end you have visited on so many of us.' Ikilled him of course, assuming he was bluffing, but my life has notbeen the same ever since."

"Whynot?"

"Becauseof the curse! When I returned to my horse, my faithful squire heretook one look at me and fainted dead away."

"Idid no such thing! I mean… it was the heat."

"Ofcourse. Skeeve." Aahz winked slyly at Quigley.

"Atany rate, I soon discovered to my horror that the demon had worked aspell on me before he expired, causing me to take on the appearanceof a demon to all who beheld me."

"Fiendish.Clever, but fiendish."

"Yousee the subtlety of their plan! That I, fiercest of demon hunters, amnow hunted in turn by my fellow humans. I am forced to hide like ananimal with only my son here for companionship."

"Ithought you said he was your squire."

"That,too. Oh, the irony of it all."

"Gee,that's tough. I wish I could do something to help."

"Maybeyou can," Aahz smiled winningly.

Quigleyrecoiled. I found it reassuring that someone else shared my reactionto Aahz's smile.

"Urn…how? I mean, I'm just a demon hunter."

"Preciselyhow you might be of assistance. You see, at the moment we happen tohave several demons following us. It occurs to me we might be ofmutual service to each other. We can provide you with targets, andyou in turn can rid us of a bloody nuisance."

"They'rebloody?" Quigley was horrified.

"Justan expression. Well, what do you say? Is it a deal?"

"Idunno. I'm already on a mission and I don't usually take on a new jobuntil the last one's complete. The misinformed might think I wasquitting or had been scared off or something. That sort of thing isbad for the reputation."

"It'dbe no trouble at all," Aahz persisted. "It's not likeyou'll have to go out of your way. Just wait right here and they'llbe along."

"Whyare they following you, anyway?"

"Avile magician sent them after us after I was foolish enough to seekhis aid. The curse, you know."

"Ofcourse… wait a minute. Was that magician's name Garkin by anychance?"