Onesimply closes one's eyes and relaxes, trying to envision atwo-pointed spear in glowing yellows and reds suspended in midair.The intensity of the glow indicates the nearness to a force line; thedirection of the points shows the flow of energies. Rather like theneedle of a compass, whatever that is.

Oncewe had determined that Garkin had set up shop directly on a forceline, as Aahz had suspected, and established direction of the flow ofenergies, we had another problem. Which way did we follow it?

Thedecision was doubly important as, if Aahz was correct, there would bea team of Imp assassins waiting in one direction, very probably inthe direction we wanted to go.

Wesolved the problem by traveling one day's journey perpendicular tothe force line, then for two days parallel to the line in our chosendirection, then returning to the line before continuing our journey.We hoped this would bypass the assassins entirely.

Itworked, and it didn't.

Itworked in that we didn't walk into an ambush. It didn't work in thatnow it seemed they were on our trail, though whether they wereactually tracking us or merely following the force line back toIsstvan was unknown.

"Ikeep telling you, kid," Aahz insisted, "it's a good sign.It means we've chosen the right direction, and that we'll reachIsstvan ahead of his assassins' report."

"Whatif we're heading in the wrong direction?" I argued. "Whatif they're really following us? How long do we travel in thisdirection before we give up and admit it?"

"Howlong do you figure it will take for you to learn enough magik tostand up to a pack of Imp assassins armed with off-dimensionweapons?"

"Let'sget to work," I said firmly.

Helooked around, and pointed to a gnarled fruit tree strewn round withwind falls across the clearing.

"Okay.Here's what I want you to do. Stare at the sky or contemplate yournavel or something. Then when I give the word, use your power to grabone of those fruits and toss it to me."

Idon't know how many hours we spent on that drill. It's more difficultthan it sounds, mustering one's powers from a standing start. Justwhen I thought I had it down pat, Aahz switched tactics. He wouldengage in a conversation, deliberately leading me on, then wouldinterrupt me in mid-sentence with his signal. Needless to say, Ifailed miserably.

"Relax,kid. Look, try it this way. Instead of mustering your power fromscratch each time, create a small space inside yourself and store upsome energy there. Just habitually keep that reserve squirreled awayand ready to cover for you while you get set to level your big guns."

"What'sa gun?"

"Nevermind. Just build that reserve and we'll try it again."

Withthis extra bit of advice at my disposal the drill went noticeablybetter. Finally Aahz broke off the practice session and put me towork helping him with his knife practice. Actually I rather enjoyedthis task. It entailed my using my powers to levitate one of thefruits and send it flying around the clearing until Aahz pegged aknife into it. As an extra touch of finesse, I would then extract theknife and float it back to him for another try. The exercise wasmonotonous, but I never tired of it. It seemed almost supernaturalthe way the shimmering, somersaulting sliver of steel would dart outto intercept the fruit as Aahz practiced first overhand, thenunderhand, now backhand.

"Stopit. Skeeve!"

Aahz'sshout jolted me out of my reverie. Without thinking, I reached outwith my mind and… and the knife stopped in midair! I blinked,but held it there, floating a foot from the fruit which also hungsuspended in place.

"Hel-lo!That's the stuff, Skeeve! Now there's something to have confidencein!"

"Idid it!" I said, disbelieving my own eyes.

"Yousure did! That little piece of magik will save your life someday."

Outof habit, I floated the knife back to him. He plucked it from the airand started to tuck it in his belt, then halted, cocking his head toone side.

"Inthe nick of time, too. Someone's coming."

"Howcan you tell?"

"Nothingspecial. My hearing's a bit better than yours is all. Don't panic. Itisn't the Imps. Hooved beast from the sound of it. No wild animalmoves in that straight a line, or that obviously."

"Whatdid you mean, 'in the nick of time'? Aren't we going to hide?"

"Notthis time." He grinned at me. "You're developing fast. It'sabout time you learned a new spell. We have a few days before whoeverit is gets here."

"Days?"

Aahzwas adapting rapidly to our dimension, but units of time still gavehim trouble.

"Runthrough those time measurements again," he grumbled.

"Inseconds, minutes, hours…."

"Minutes!We've got a few minutes."

"Minutes!I can't learn a new spell in a few minutes!"

"Sureyou can. This one's easy. All you've got to do is disguise myfeatures to look like a man."

"Howdo I do that?"

"Thesame way you do everything else, with your mind. First, close youreyes… close 'em… okay, now picture another face…."

AllI could think of was Garkin, so I pictured the two faces side byside.

"Nowmove the new face over mine… and melt away or build up thenecessary features. Like clay… just keep that in the back ofyour mind and open your eyes."

Ilooked, and was disappointed.

"Itdidn't work!"

"Sureit did."

Hewas looking in the dark mirror which he had fished from his beltpouch.

"Butyou haven't changed!"

"YesI have. You can't see it because you cast the spell. It's anillusion, and since your mind knows the truth, it isn't fooled, butanyone else will be. Garkin, huh? Well, it'll do for now."

Hisidentification of the new face took me aback.

"Youcan really see Garkin's face?"

"Sure,want to look?"

Heoffered the mirror and grinned. It was a bad joke. One of the firstthings we discovered about his dubious status in this world was thatwhile he could see himself in mirrors, nobody from our world could.At least I couldn't.

Icould now hear the sounds of the rider coming.

"Aahz,are you sure…."

"Trustme, kid. There's nothing to worry about."

Iwas worried. The rider was in view now. He was a tall muscular manwith the look of a warrior about him. This was reinforced by themassive war unicorn he was riding, laden with weapons and armor."Hey, Aahz. Shouldn't we.:."

"Relax,kid. Watch this." He stepped forward, raising his arm. "Hello,stranger! How far to the next town?"

Theman veered his mount toward us. He half raised his arm in greeting,then suddenly stiffened. Heaving forward, he squinted at Aahz, thendrew back in terror. "By the Gods! A demon!"

THEwarrior's terror did not immobilize him long. In fact, it didn'timmobilize him at all! No sooner did he make his discovery than hetook action. Strangely enough, the action was to lean back in hissaddle and begin rummaging frantically through one of his saddlebags,a precarious position at best.

ApparentlyI was not the only one to notice the instability of his pose. Aahzsprang forward with a yell, waving his arms in the unicorn's face.Being a reasonable creature, the unicorn reared and bolted, dumpingthe warrior on his head.

"Bythe Gods!" he bellowed, trying to untangle himself from theungraceful heap of arms and weapons. "I've killed men for less!"

Idecided that if his threat was to be avoided, I should take apersonal hand in the matter. Reaching out with my mind, I seized afist-sized rock and propelled it forcefully against his unhelmetedbrow. The man went down like a pole-axed steer.