"Relax,kid. That's the back-up team. They'll be waiting a ways off and won'tmove until tomorrow at the earliest. It's professional courtesy. Theywant to give this bozo room to maneuver. Besides, it's tradition thatthe assassin who actually does the deed gets first pick of any randombooty lying around before the others show up to take even shares.Everyone does it, but it's considered polite to not notice some ofthe loot has been pocketed before the official split."

"Howdo you know so much about assassins, Aahz?"

"Wentwith one for a while… lovely lass, but she couldn't keep hermouth shut, even in bed. Sometimes I wonder if any profession reallyguards its secrets as closely as they claim."

"Whathappened?"

"Withwhat?"

"Withyour assassin?"

"Noneof your business, kid." Aahz was suddenly brusque again. "We'vegot work to do."

"Whatare we going to do?"

"Well,first we bury the Imp. Maybe it will throw the others off our trail.With any luck, they'll think he grabbed all the loot and disappeared.It wouldn't be the first time."

"No,I mean after that. We're getting ready to travel, but where are wegoing?"

"Kid,sometimes you worry me. That isn't even magik. It's common sensemilitary action. First, we find Isstvan. Second, we appraise hisstrength. Third, we make our plans, and fourth, we execute them, andhopefully him."

"Urn…Aahz, could we back up to one for a minute? Where are we going tofind Isstvan?"

Thatstopped him.

"Don'tyou know where he is?"

"Inever even heard his name before today."

Wesat in silence staring at each other for a long time.

"ITHINK I've got it figured out, kid."

AsAahz spoke, he paused in honing his sword to inspect the edge. Eversince our trek began he had seized every opportunity to work on hisweapons. Even when we simply paused to rest by a stream he busiedhimself working their edges or adjusting their balance. I felt I hadlearned more about weapons in the last week just watching him tinkerthan I had in my entire previous life.

"Figuredwhat out?"

"Whypeople in this world are trained in weapons or magik, but not both!"

"How'sthat?"

"Well,two reasons I can see just offhand. First off, it's a matter ofconditioning. Reflexes. You'll react the way you're trained. Ifyou've been trained with weapons, you'll react to crisis with aweapon. If you're trained in magik, you'll react with magik. Theproblem is, if you're trained both ways, you'll hesitate, trying tomake up your mind which to use, and probably get clobbered in theprocess. So to keep things simple, Garkin only trained you in magik.It's probably all he had been trained in himself."

Ithought about it.

"Thatmakes sense. What's the other reason?"

Hegrinned at me.

"Learningcurve. If what you told me about life expectancy in this world iseven vaguely accurate, and if you're any example of how fast peoplein this world learn, you only have time to learn one or the other."

"Ithink I prefer the first explanation."

Hechortled to himself and went back to sharpening his sword.

Oncehis needling would have bothered me, but now I took it in stride. Itseemed to be his habit to be critical of everything in our world, andme in particular. After a week of constant exposure to him, the onlyway I would worry is if he stopped complaining.

ActuallyI was quite pleased with my progress in magik. Under Aahz's tutelage,my powers were growing daily. One of the most valuable lessons I hadlearned was to draw strength directly from the earth. It was a matterof envisioning energy as a tangible force, like water, and drawingnew energy up one leg and into my mind while releasing exhaustedenergy down the other leg and back into the earth. Already, I couldcompletely recharge myself even after a hard day's walking just bystanding motionless with my eyes closed for several minutes andeffecting this energy exchange. Aahz, as always, was unimpressed.According to him, I should have been able to do the energy exchangewhile we were walking, but I didn't let his grumbling dampen myenthusiasm. I was learning, and at a faster pace than I had dreamedpossible.

"Hey,kid. Fetch me a piece of wood, will you?"

Ismiled to myself and looked around. About ten feet away was a smallbranch of deadwood about two feet long. I leisurely stretched out afinger and it took flight, floating gently across the clearing tohover in the air in front of Aahz.

"Notbad, kid," he acknowledged. Then his sword flashed out, cuttingthe branch into two pieces which dropped to the ground. He picked upone of the pieces and inspected the cut.

"Hmmm…there may be hope for this sword yet. Why did you let them fall?"

Thislast was directed at me.

"Idon't know. I guess you startled me when you swung the sword."

"Oh,really?"

Suddenlyhe threw the stick at me. I yelped and tried to duck out of the way,but it bounced painfully off my shoulder.

"Hey!What was that for?"

"Callit an object lesson. You know you can control the stick because youjust did it when you fetched it for me. So why did you duck out ofthe way? Why not just stop it with your magik?"

"Iguess it never occurred to me. You didn't give me much time tothink."

"Okay,so think! This time you know it's coming."

Hepicked up the second piece of wood and waited, grinning evilly, whichwith pointed teeth is easy. I ignored him, letting my mind settle;then I nodded that I was ready.

Thestick struck me squarely in the chest.

"Ow!!"I commented.

"Andthere, my young friend, is the difference between classroom andfield. Classroom is fine to let you know that things can be done andthat you can do them, but in actual practice you will never beallowed the luxury of leisurely gathering your power, and seldom willyou have a stationary target."

"Say,uh, Aahz. If you're really trying to build up my self-confidence, howcome you always cut my legs out from under me every time I startthinking I'm getting someplace?"

Hestood up, sheathing his sword.

"Self-confidenceis a wonderful thing, kid, but not if it isn't justified. Somedaywe'll be staking one or both of our lives on your abilities, and itwon't do us any good if you've been kidding yourself along. Now let'sget down to work!"

"Um…have we got the time?"

"Relax,kid. Imps are tenacious, but they travel slow."

Ourstrategy upon leaving the hut had been simple. Lacking a specificdirection for our search, we would trace the force lines of the worlduntil we either found Isstvan or located another magician who wouldbe able to steer us to him.

Onemight ask what force lines are. I did. Force lines, as Aahz explainedthem, are those paths of a world along which its energies flow mostfreely. In many ways, they are not unlike magnetic lines.

Onemight ask what magnetic lines are. I did. I will not quote Aahz'sanswer to that, but it was not information.

Anyway,force lines are a magician's ally and enemy. Those who would tap theenergies of those lines usually set up residence on or near one ofthose lines. This makes it easier for them to draw upon the energies.It also makes it easier for their enemies to find them.

Itwas Aahz's theory that searching the force lines was how Garkin waslocated. It was therefore logical that we should be able to findIsstvan the same way.

Ofcourse, I knew nothing of force lines or how to follow them, at leastuntil Aahz taught me. It was not a difficult technique, which wasfortunate as I had my hands full trying to absorb all the otherlessons Aahz was deluging me with.