"Hey,kid. Don't beat on yourself," Aahz's voice was surprisinglysympathetic. "It's not your fault if Garkin was tight with hissecrets. Nobody expects you to have learned something you were nevertaught, so there's no reason you should expect it either."

"Ijust feel so stupid," I said, not turning. "I'm not used tofeeling stupid."

"Youaren't stupid, kid. That much I know. Garkin wouldn't have taken youfor an apprentice if you were stupid. If anybody here's stupid, it'sme. I got so carried away with the situation, I forgot myself andtried talking to an apprentice as if he were a full-blown magician.Now that's stupid."

Istill couldn't bring myself to respond.

"Heck,kid." He gave my shoulder a gentle shake. "Right now youcan do more magik than I can."

"Butyou know more."

"ButI can't use it. You know, kid, that gives me an idea. With old Garkindead there, you're kind of cut off. What say you sign on as myapprentice for a while. We'll take it from the top with me teachingyou as if you were a new student who didn't know a thing. We'll takeit step by step from the beginning. What da ya say?"

Inspite of my gloom I felt my spirits lift. Like he said, I'm notstupid. I could recognize a golden opportunity when I saw one.

"Gee,that sounds great, Aahz."

"Thenit's a deal?"

"It'sa deal," I answered and stuck out my hand.

"What'sthat?" he snarled. "Isn't my word good enough for you?"

"Butyou said…."

"That'sright. You're my apprentice now, and I don't go around shakingapprentices' hands."

Iwithdrew my hand. It occurred to me this alliance might not be allroses and song.

"Nowas I was saying, here's what we've got to do about the currentsituation…."

"ButI haven't had any lessons yet!"

"That'sright. Here's your first lesson. When a crisis shapes up, you don'twaste energy wishing for information or skills you haven't got. Youdig in and handle it as best you can with what you've got. Now shutup while I fill you in on the situation… apprentice."

Ishut up and listened. He studied me for a moment, then gave a smallsatisfied nod, took another gulp from the brazier and began.

"Now,you have a vague idea about other dimensions because I told you aboutthem earlier. You also have firsthand experience that magicians canopen passages in the barriers between those dimensions. Well,different magicians use that power in different ways. Some of them,like Garkin, only use it to impress the yokels; summon a demon,visions of other worlds, that kind of schtick. But there are otherswhose motives are not so pure."

Hepaused to take another gulp of wine. Surprisingly, I felt no urge tointerrupt with questions.

"Technologyin different dimensions has progressed at different rates, as hasmagik. Some magicians use this to their own advantage. They aren'tshowmen, they're smugglers, buying and selling technology across thebarriers for profit and power. Most of the inventors in any dimensionare actually closet magicians."

Imust have frowned without realizing it, but Aahz noted it andacknowledged it with a wink and a smirk.

"Iknow what you're thinking, Skeeve. It all sounds a little dishonestand unscrupulous. Actually, they're a fairly ethical bunch. There's aset of unwritten rules called the Smugglers Code they adhere topretty closely."

"SmugglersCode?" I asked, forgetting myself for a moment. Aahz didn't seemto mind this time.

"It'slike the Mercenaries Code, but less violent and more profitable.Anyway, as an example, one item in that code states you cannot bringan 'invention' into a dimension that is too far in advance of thatdimensions technology, like bringing guided missiles into a long bowculture or lasers into a flint and powder era."

Ikept my silence with great difficulty.

"AsI've said, most magicians adhere to the code fairly closely, but oncein a while a bad one crops up. That brings us to Isstvan."

Igot a sudden chill at the sound of that name. Maybe there wassomething different in the way Aahz pronounced it.

"Somesay Isstvan isn't playing with a full deck. I think he's been playingwith his wand too much. But whatever the reason, somewhere he'sgotten it into his head he wants to rule the dimensions, all of them.He's tried it before, but we got wind of it in time and a bunch of usteamed up to teach him a lesson in manners. As a matter of fact,that's when I first met Garkin there."

Hegestured with the brazier and slopped a bit of wine on the floor. Ibegan to doubt his sobriety, but his voice seemed steady enough as hecontinued.

"Ithought he had given the thing up after his last drubbing. We evengave him a few souvenirs to be sure he didn't forget. Then this thingpops up. If he's hiring cross-dimension help and arming them withadvance technology weapons, he's probably trying to do it again."

"Dowhat?"

"Ijust told you. Take over the dimensions."

"Iknow, but how? I mean, how does what he does in this dimension helphim rule the others?"

"Oh,that. Well, each dimension has a certain amount of power that can bechanneled or converted into magik. Different dimensions havedifferent amounts, and each dimensions power is divided up or sharedby the magicians of that dimension. If he can succeed in controllingor killing the other magicians in this dimension, he can use itsentire magical energy to attack another dimension. If he succeeds inwinning there, he has the power from two dimensions to attack athird, and so on. As you can see, the longer he keeps his plotmoving, the stronger he gets and the harder he'll be to stop."

"Iunderstand now," I said, genuinely pleased and enthusiastic.

"Good.Then you understand why we've got to stop him."

Istopped being pleased and enthusiastic.

"We?You mean us? You and me?"

"Iknow it's not much of a force, kid, but like I said, it's all we'vegot."

"Ithink I'd like a little of that wine now."

"Noneof that, kid. You're in training now. You're going to need all thepractice time you can get if we're going to stop Isstvan. Bonkers ornot, he's no slouch when it comes to magik."

"Aahz,"I said slowly, not looking up. "Tell me the truth. Do you thinkthere's a chance you can teach me enough magik that we'll have achance of stopping him?"

"Ofcourse, kid. I wouldn't even try if we didn't have a chance. Trustme."

Iwasn't convinced, and from the sound of his voice, neither was he.

"HMMM…Well, it's not a tailored jump-suit, but it will have to do."

Wehad been trying to outfit Aahz in a set of clothes and he wassurveying the results in a small dark mirror we had found, turning itthis way and that to catch his reflection piecemeal.

"Maybeif we could find some other color than this terrible brown."

"That'sall we've got."

"Areyou sure?"

"Positive.I have two shirts, both brown. You're wearing one, and I'm wearingthe other."

"Hmmm…."he said, studying me carefully. "Maybe I would look better inthe lighter brown. Oh, well, we can argue that out later."

Iwas curious as to his attention to his appearance. I mean, hecouldn't be planning on meeting anyone. The sight of a green, scalydemon would upset most of the locals no matter what he was wearing.For the time being, however, I deemed it wisest to keep quiet andhumor him in his efforts.

Actually,the clothes fit him fairly well. The shirt was a bit short in thesleeves due to the length of his arms, but not too because I wastaller than him, which made up for most of the difference. We had hadto cut off some of the trouser legs to cover for his shorter legs,but they, like the body of the shirt, were not too tight. I had madethe clothes myself originally, and they tended to be a bit baggy, orat least they were on me. Tailoring is not my forte.