ICLOSED my eyes for concentration. This was more difficult thandrawing energies from the force line directly into my body. I pointeda finger for focus, pointing at a spot some five yards distant fromme.

Theidea of drawing energies from a distant location and controlling themwould have seemed impossible to me, until Aahz pointed out it was thesame as the candle-lighting exercise I had already mastered. Now itdid not seem impossible, merely difficult.

Confidently,I narrowed my concentration, and in my mind's eye saw a gleaming bluelight appear at the designated point. Without breaking myconcentration, I moved my finger overhead in a slow arc. The lightfollowed the lead, etching a glowing blue trail in the air behind it.As it touched the ground again, or where I sensed the ground to be, Imoved my finger again, moving the light into the second arc of theprotective pentagram.

Itoccurred to me that what I was doing was not unlike forming thenormal flat pentagram Garkin had used at the hut. The only differencebeing that instead of being inscribed on the floor, this was etchedoverhead with its points dipping downward to touch the earth. It wasmore an umbrella than a border.

Theother major difference, I thought as I completed the task, was that Iwas doing it. Me. Skeeve. What I had once watched with awe, I was nowperforming as routine.

Itouched the light down in its original place, completing thepentagram. Quietly pleased, I stood for a moment, eyes closed,studying the glowing blue lines etched in my mind's eye.

"Terrific,kid," came Aahz's voice. "Now what say you damp it down abit before we draw every peasant and demon hunter in the country."

Surprised,I opened my eyes.

Thepentagram was still there! Not imagined in my mind, but actuallyglowing overhead. Its cold blue light gave an eerie illumination tothe scene that negated the warmth of our little campfire.

"Sorry,Aahz." I quickly eased my control on the energy and watched asthe lines of the pentagram faded to invisibility. They were stillthere. I could feel their presence in the night air above me. Now,however, they could not be seen by normal vision.

Morefor the joy of it than out of any lack of confidence, I closed myeyes again and looked at them. They glowed there in shimmeringbeauty, a cooler, reassuring presence to counter the impatience ofthe red-gold glow of the force-line spear pointing doggedly towardtomorrow's path.

"Sitdown, kid, and finish your lizard-bird."

Wewere out of the forest proper now, but despite the presence of thenearby road, game was still plentiful and fell ready victim to mysnares. Aahz still refused to join me in the meals, insisting alcoholwas the only thing in this dimension worth consuming, but I dinedfrequently and royally.

"Youknow, kid," he said, looking up from his endlesssword-sharpening. "You're really coming along pretty well withyour studies."

"Whatdo you mean?" I mumbled through a bone, hoping he wouldelaborate.

"You'rea lot more confident with your magik. You'd better watch yourcontrols, though. You had enough energy in that pentagram to fryanything that bumped against it."

"Iguess I'm still a bit worried about the assassins."

"Relax,kid. It's been three days since we set 'em up in that ambush ofQuigley's. Even if he didn't stop 'em, they'll never catch up with usnow."

"DidI really summon up that much power?" I urged, eager for praise.

"Unlessyou're actually engaged in magical battle, wards are used as awarning signal only. If you put too much energy into them it can havetwo potentially bad side effects. First, you can draw unnecessaryattention to yourself by jarring or burning an innocent bystander whoblunders into it. Second, if it actually reaches a magical opponent,it probably won't stop him; just alert him that he has a potentiallydangerous foe in the area."

"Ithought it was a good thing if I could summon up lots of power."

"Look,kid. This isn't a game. You're tapping into some very powerful forceshere. The idea is to strengthen your control, not see how much youcan liberate. If you get too careless with experimenting, you couldend up helpless when the actual crunch comes."

"Oh,"I said, unconvinced.

"Really,kid. You've got to learn this. Let me try an example. Suppose for aminute you're a soldier assigned to guard a pass. Your superiors putyou on the post and give you a stack of ten-pound rocks. All you haveto do is watch to see if anyone comes, and if they do, drop a rock ontheir head. Are you with me so far?"

"Iguess so."

"Fine.Now it's a long, boring duty, and you have lots of time to think.You're very proud of your muscles, and decide it's a bit insultingthat you were only given ten-pound rocks. Twenty-pound rocks would bemore effective, and you think you could handle them as easily as theten-pound variety. Logical?"

Inodded vaguely, still not sure what he was driving at.

"Justto prove the point to yourself, you heft a twenty-pound rock, and,sure enough, you can handle it. Then it occurs to you if you canhandle a twenty-pounder, you should be able to handle aforty-pounder, or even a fifty-pounder. So you try. Then it happens."

Hewas getting so worked up I felt no need to respond.

"Youdrop it on your foot, or you pull a muscle, or you keel over fromheat exhaustion, or any one of a hundred other things. Then where areyou?"

Heleveled an accusing finger at me.

"Theenemy strolls through the pass you're supposed to be guarding and youcan't even lift the original ten-pound rock to stop them. All becauseyou indulged in needless testing of idiotic muscle power!"

Iwas impressed, and gave the matter serious thought before replying.

"Isee what you're saying, Aahz, but there's one flaw in your example.The keyword is 'needless.' Now in my case, it's not a matter ofhaving a stack of ten-pound rocks that would do the job. I have ahandful of gravel. I'm trying to scrounge around for a rock bigenough to do some damage."

"Trueenough," Aahz retorted, "but the fact remains if youoverextend yourself you won't be able to use what you already have.Even gravel can be effective if used at the right time. Don'tunderrate what you've got or what you're doing. Right now you'rekeeping the finder spear going, maintaining the wards, and keeping mydisguise intact. That's a lot for someone of your abilities to bedoing simultaneously. If something happened right now, which wouldyou drop first?"

"Urn…."

"Toolate! We're already dead. You won't have time to ponder energyproblems. That's why you always have to hold some back to deal withimmediate situations while you rally your energies from otheractivities. Now do you see?"

"Ithink so, Aahz," I said haltingly. "I'm a bit tired."

"Well,think about it. It's important. In the meantime get some sleep andtry to store up your energies. Incidentally, let the finder spear gofor now. You can summon it up again in the morning. Right now, it'sjust a needless drain."

"Okay,Aahz. How about your disguise?"

"Hmm…better keep that. It'll be good practice for you to maintain boththat and the wards in your sleep. Speaking of which…."

"Right,Aahz."

Idrew my acquired assassin's cloak about me for warmth and curled up.Despite his gruff manner, Aahz was persistent that I get enough sleepas well as food.

Sleepdid not come easily, however. I found I was still a bit wound up overcasting the wards.

"Aahz?"

"Yeah,kid?"

"Howwould you say my powers right now. stack up against the devils?"