Hewas also wearing Garkin's boots, which fitted him surprisingly well.I had raised minor protest at this, until he pointed out Garkin hadno further use for them but we did. Pragmatism, he called it.Situational ethics. He said it would come in handy if I was seriousabout becoming a magician.

"Hey,kid!" Aahz's voice interrupted my thoughts. He seemed to beoccupied rummaging through the various chests and cupboards of thehut. "Don't you have anything here in the way of weapons?"

"Weapons?"

"Yeah,you know, the things that killed old Garkin there. Swords, knives,bows, stuff like that."

"Iknow what they are. I just wasn't expecting you to be interested inthem, that's all."

"Whynot?"

"Well…I thought you said you were a magician."

"Wearen't going to go through that again, are we, kid? Besides, what'sthat got to do with weapons?"

"It'sjust that I've never known a magician who used weapons other than hispowers."

"Really?How many magicians have you known?"

"One,"I admitted.

"Terrific.Look, kid, if old Garkin didn't want to use weapons, that's hisproblem. Me, I want some. If you'll notice, Garkin is dead."

Itwas hard to argue with logic like that.

"Besides,"he continued, "do you really want to take on Isstvan and hispack with nothing but your magik and my agility going for us?"

"I'llhelp you look."

Wewent to work rummaging for weapons, but aside from the cross bow thathad killed Garkin, we didn't find much. One of the chests yielded asword with a jewel encrusted handle, and we discovered two knives,one white handled and one black handled, on Garkin's workbench. Asidefrom those, there was nothing even remotely resembling a fightingutensil in the hut. Aahz was not overjoyed.

"Idon't believe this. A sword with a cruddy blade, bad balance, andphony jewels in the handle and two knives that haven't been sharpenedsince they were made. Anybody who keeps weapons like this should beskewered."

"Hewas."

"Trueenough. Well, if that's all we've got, that's what we'll have touse."

Heslung the sword on his hip and tucked the white handled knife intohis belt. I thought he would give me the other knife, but instead hestooped down and secured it in his boot.

"Don'tI get one?"

"Canyou use it?"

"Well…."

Heresumed his task. I had a small knife I used to skin small gametucked in my own belt inside my shirt. Even to my inexperienced eyeit was of better quality than the two Aahz had just appropriated. Idecided not to bring it to his attention.

"Okay,kid. Where did the old man keep his money?" I showed him. One ofthe stones in the fireplace was loose and there was a small leatherpouch hidden behind it. He peered at the coins suspiciously as theypoured into his palm.

"Checkme on this, kid. Copper and silver aren't worth much in thisdimension, right?"

"Well,silver's sorta valuable, but it's not worth as much as gold."

"Thenwhat's with this chicken-feed? Where's the real money?"

"Wenever really had much."

"Comeoff it… I haven't met a magician yet who didn't have a bundlesocked away. Just because he never spent any of it doesn't mean hedoesn't have it. Now think. Haven't you ever seen anything aroundthat was gold or had gems?"

"Well,there are a few items, but they're protected by curses."

"Kid,think for a minute. If you were a doddering old wreck who couldn'tfight your way out of a paper bag, how would you protect yourtreasures?"

"Idon't know."

"Terrific.I'll explain while we gather it up."

Inshort order we had a modest heap of loot on the table, most of ititems I had long held in awe. There was a gold statue of a man withthe head of a lion, the Three Pearls of Kraul, a gold pendant in theshape of the sun with three of its rays missing, and a ring with alarge jewel we took from Garkin's hand. Aahz held up the sun pendant.

"Nowthis is an example of what I mean. I suppose there's a story aboutwhat happened to the missing three rays?"

"Well,"I began, "there was a lost tribe that worshiped a huge snaketoad…."

"Skipit. It's an old dodge. What you do is take your gold to a craftsmanand have him fashion it into something with a lot of smallout-juttings like fingers or arms or…" He held up thependant. "… rays of sun. It gives you the best of twoworlds.

"First,you have something mystical and supernatural, add a ghost story andno one will dare to touch it. Second, it has the advantage that ifyou need a little ready cash, you just break off a ray or an arm andsell it for the value of the gold. Instead of losing value, the priceof the remaining item increases because of its mystical history, thestrange circumstances under which it was torn asunder, purelyfictional, of course."

Strangelyenough, I was not surprised. I was beginning to wonder if anythingGarkin had told me was true.

"Thennone of these things have any real magical powers or curses?"

"Now,I didn't say that. Occasionally, you stumble across a real item, butthey're usually few and far between."

"Buthow can you tell the real thing from a fake?"

"Itake it that Garkin didn't teach you to see auras. Well, thatfigures. Probably was afraid you'd take his treasure and run. Okay,kid. Time for your first lesson. Have you ever daydreamed? You know,just stared at something and let your mind wander?"

Inodded.

"Okay,here's what I want you to do. Scoot down in your chair until yourhead is almost level with the table. That's right. Comfortable? Fine.Now I want you to look across the table at the wall. Don't focus onit, just stare at it and let your mind wander."

Idid as he said. It was hard not focusing on a specific point, so Iset my mind to wandering. What to think about? Well, what was Ithinking about when the candle almost lit. Oh yes. I am Skeeve. I ampowerful and my power is growing daily. I smiled to myself. With thedemon's aid, I would soon become a knowledgeable sorcerer. And thatwould just be the start. After that…

"Hey!"I said, sitting upright.

"Whatdid you see?"

"Itwas… well, nothing, I guess."

"Don'tgive me a hard time, kid. What did you see?"

"Well,for a second there I thought I saw sort of a red glow around thering, but when I looked at it squarely, it disappeared."

"Thering, eh? It figures. Well, that's it. The rest of the stuff shouldbe okay."

Hescraped the rest of the loot into a sack, leaving the ring on thetable.

"Whatwas it?"

"What?Oh, what you saw? That was an aura. Most people have them. Someplaces do, but it's a sure test to check if an item is truly magical.I'd be willing to bet that the ring is what old Garkin used to frythe assassin."

"Aren'twe going to take it with us?"

"Doyou know how to control it?"

"Well….no."

"Neitherdo I. The last thing we need is to carry around a ring that shootsfire. Particularly if we don't know how to activate it. Leave it.Maybe the others will find it and turn it on themselves."

Hetucked the sack into his waist band.

"Whatothers?" I prompted.

"Hmmm?Oh, the other assassins."

"Whatother assassins?" I was trying to be calm, but I was slipping.

"That'sright. This is the first time you've tangled with them, isn't it? Iwould have thought Garkin…."

"Aahz,could you just tell me?"

"Oh!Sure, kid. Assassins never work alone. That's why they never miss.They work in groups of two to eight. There's probably a back-up teamaround somewhere. Realizing Isstvan's respect for Garkin, I'd guesshe wouldn't send less than six out on an assignment like this, maybeeven two teams."

"Youmean all this time you've been fooling around with clothes andswords, there's been more assassins on the way?"