"See?"I whispered. "There are some advantages to civilization."

"Shutup, kid," Aahz hissed back.

"Soeven though I know you'd love to beat these two to a bloody pulp, wecan't let you do it. They must be hanged in accordance with the law!"

"What?"

I'mnot sure if I said it, or Aahz, or if we cried out in unison.Whichever it was, it was nearly drowned out in the enthusiastic roarof the crowd.

Asoldier seized my wrists and twisted them painfully behind my back.Looking about, I saw the same thing had happened to Aahz. Needless tosay, this was not the support we had been hoping for.

"Whatdid you expect?" the officer sneered at us. "If you wantedhelp from the military, you shouldn't have included us on your listof customers. If we had had our way, we would have strung you up aweek ago. The only reason we held back was these yokels had given youextra time and we were afraid of a riot if we tried anything."

Ourwrists were secured by thongs now. We were slowly being herded towarda lone tree in front of one of the open-air restaurants.

"Hasanyone got some rope?" the officer called to the crowd.

Justour luck, somebody did. It was passed rapidly to the officer, whobegan ceremoniously tying nooses.

"Psst!kid!" Aahz whispered.

"Whatnow?" I mumbled bitterly.

Myfaith in Aahz's advice was at an all-time low.

"Whenthey go to hang you, fly!"

"What?"

Despitemyself, I was seized with new hope.

"C'mon,kid. Wake up! Fly. Like I taught you on the trail."

"They'djust shoot me down."

"Notfly away, dummy. Just fly. Hover at the end of the rope and twitch.They'll think you're hanging."

Ithought about it… hard. It might work, but… I noticedthey were tossing the nooses over a lower limb of the tree.

"Aahz!I can't do it. I can't levitate us both. I'm not that good yet."

"Notboth of us, kid. Just you. Don't worry about me."

"But…Aahz…."

"Keepmy disguise up, though. If they figure out I'm a demon they'll burnthe bodies… both of them."

"ButAahz…."

Wewere out of time. Rough hands shoved us forward and started fittingthe nooses over our heads.

Irealized with a start I had no time to think about Aahz. I'd need allmy concentration to save myself, if there was even time for that!

Iclosed my eyes and sought desperately for a force line in the air.There was one there… faint, but there. I began to focus on it.

Thenoose tightened around my neck and I felt my feet leave the ground. Ifelt panic rising in me and forced it down.

Actuallyit was better this way. They should feel weight on the rope as theyraised me. I concentrated on the force line again… focus…draw the energies… redirect them.

Ifelt a slight loosening of the noose. Remembering Aahz's lectures oncontrol, I held the energies right there and tried an experimentalbreath. I could get air! Not much, it was true, but enough tosurvive.

Whatelse did I have to do? Oh yes, I had to twitch. I thought back to howa squirrel-badger acted when caught in a snare.

Ikicked my legs slightly and tried an experimental tremor. It had theoverall effect of tightening the noose. I decided to try anothertactic. I let my head loll to one side and extended my tongue out ofthe corner of my mouth.

Itworked. There was a sudden increase in the volume of the cat-callsfrom the crowd to reward my efforts.

Iheld that pose.

Mytongue was rapidly drying out, but I forced my mind away from it. Toavoid involuntarily swallowing, I tried to think of other things.

PoorAahz. For all his gruff criticism and claims of not caring for anyoneelse but himself, his last act had been to think of my welfare. Ipromised myself that when I got down from here….

Whatwould happen when I got down from here? What do they do with bodiesin this town? Do they bury them? It occurred to me it might be betterto hang than be buried alive.

"Thelaw says they're supposed to hang there until they rot!"

Theofficer's voice seemed to answer my thoughts and brought my mind backto the present.

"Well,they aren't hanging in front of the law's restaurant!" came anangry voice in response.

"Tellyou what. We'll come back at sundown and cut them down."

"Sundown?Do you realize how much money I could lose before sundown? Nobodywants to eat at a place where a corpse dangles its toes in his soup.I've already lost most of the lunch rush!"

"Hmm…It occurs to me that if the day's business means that much to you,you should be willing to share a little of the profit."

"Sothat's the way it is, is it? Oh, very well. Here… for yourtroubles."

Therewas the sound of coins being counted out.

"Thatisn't very much. I have to share with my men, you know."

"Youdrive a hard bargain! I didn't know bandits had officers."

Morecoins were counted, accompanied by the officer's chuckle. It occurredto me that instead of studying magik, I should be devoting my time tobribes and graft. It seemed to work better.

"Men!"the officer called. "Cut this carrion down and haul it out oftown. Leave it at the city limits as a warning to anyone else whowould seek to .cheat the citizens of Twixt."

"You'retoo considerate." The restaurant owner's voice was edged withsarcasm.

"Thinknothing of it, citizen," the officer sneered.

Ibarely remembered to stop flying before they cut the rope. I bit mytongue as I started into the ground, and risked sneaking it back intomy mouth. No one noticed.

Unseenhands grabbed me under the armpits and by the ankles, and the journeybegan to the city limits.

Nowthat I knew I wasn't going to be buried, my thoughts returned to myfuture.

First,I would have to do something to Frumple. What, I wasn't sure, butsomething. I owed Aahz that much. Maybe I could restore Quigley andenlist his aid. He was supposed to be a demon hunter. He was probablybetter equipped to handle a Deveel than I was. Then again,remembering Quigley, that might not be a valid assumption.

Thenthere was Isstvan. What was I going to do about him? I wasn't sure Icould beat him with Aahz's help. Without it, I wouldn't stand achance.

"Thisshould be far enough. Shall we hang them again?"

Ifroze at the suggestion. Fortunately the voice at my feet haddifferent ideas.

"Whybother? I haven't seen an officer yet who'd move a hundred paces froma bar. Let's just dump 'em here."

Therewas a general chorus of assent, and the next minute I was flyingthrough the air again. I tried to relax for the impact, but theground knocked the wind out of me again.

IfI was going to continue my efforts to master flying, I'd have todevote more time to the art of forced landings.

Ilay there motionless. I couldn't hear the soldiers any more, but Ididn't want to run the risk of sitting up and betraying the fact Iwasn't dead.

"Areyou going to lay there all day or are you going to help me getuntied?"

Myeyes flew open involuntarily. Aahz was sitting theregrinning down at me.

Therewas only one sensible thing to do, and I did it. I fainted.