"That isn't enough reason to not learn," Aahz scowled.
"Well, I haven't heard any reasons yet as to why I should." I scowled back at him.
"Look, kid," Aahz began coaxingly, "It isn't so much flying as floating on air."
"The distinction escapes me," I said dryly.
"Okay, kid. Let me put it to you this way. You're my apprentice, right?"
"Right," I agreed suspiciously.
"Well, I'm not going to have an apprentice that can't fly! Get me!?" he roared.
"All right, Aahz. How does it work?" I knew when I was beaten.
"That's better. Actually it doesn't involve anything you don't already know. You know how to levitate objects, right?"
I nodded slowly, puzzled.
"Well, all flying is is levitating yourself."
"How's that again?"
"Instead of standing firm on the ground and lifting an object, you push against the ground with your will and lift yourself."
"But if I'm not touching the ground, where do I draw my power from?"
"From the air! C'mon, kid, you're a magician, not an elemental."
"What's an elemental?"
"Forget it. What I meant was you aren't bound to any of the four elements, you're a magician. You control them, or at least influence them and draw your power from them. When you're flying, all you have to do is draw your power from the air instead of the ground."
"If you say so, Aahz," I said doubtfully.
"Okay, first locate a force line."
"But we left it when we started off to see the Deveel," I argued.
"Kid, there are lots of force lines. Just because we left one of the ground force lines doesn't mean we're completely out of touch. Check for a force line in the air."
"In the air?"
"Believe me, kid. Check."
I sighed and closed my eyes. Turning my face skyward, I tried to picture the two-headed spear. At first I couldn't do it, then realized with a start I was seeing a spear, but a different spear. It wasn't as bright as the last spear had been, but glowed softly with icy blues and whites.
"I think I've got one, Aahz!" I gasped.
"It's blue and white, right?" Aahz sneered sarcastically.
"Yes, but it's not as bright as the last one."
"It's probably further away. Oh well, it's close enough for you to draw energy from. Well, give it a try, kid. Hook into that force line and push the ground away. Slowly now."
I did as I was instructed, reaching out with my mind to tap the energies of that icy vision. The surge of power I felt was unlike any I had experienced before. Whereas before when I summoned the power I felt warm and swollen with power, this time I felt cool and relaxed. The power flow actually made me feel lighter.
"Push away, kid," came Aahz's voice. "Gently!"
Lazily I touched the ground with my mind, only casually aware of the curious sensation of not physically feeling anything with my feet.
"Open your eyes, kid! Adjust your trim."
Aahz's voice came to me from a strange location this time. Surprised, my eyes popped open.
I was floating some ten feet above the ground at an angle that was rapidly drifting toward a horizontal position. I was flying!
The ground came at me in a rush. I had one moment of dazed puzzlement before it slammed into me with jarring reality.
I lay there for a moment forcing air back into my lungs and wondering if I had broken anything.
"Are you okay, kid?" Aahz was suddenly looming over me."What happened anyway?''
"I... I was flying!" I forced the words at last.
"Yeah, so? Oh, I get it. You were so surprised you forgot to maintain the energy flow, right?"
I nodded, unable to speak.
"Of all the dumb ... look, kid, when I tell you you're going to fly, believe it!"
"But... ."
"Don't 'but' me! Either you believe in me as a teacher or you don't! There's no buts about it!"
"I'm sorry, Aahz." I was getting my breath back again.
"Ahh... didn't mean to jump on you like that, kid, but you half scared me to death with that fall. You've got to understand we're starting to get into some pretty powerful magik now. You've got to expect them to work. A surprise-break like that last one with the wrong thing could get you killed, or me for that matter."
"I'll try to remember, Aahz. Shall I try it again?"
"Just take it easy for a few minutes, kid. Flying can take a lot out of you, even without the fall."
I closed my eyes and waited for my head to stop whirling.
"Aahz? "I said finally.
"Yeah, kid?"
"Tell me about Perv."
"What about it?"
"It just occurred to me, those Imps seemed scared to death when they realized you were a Pervect. What kind of a reputation does your dimension have?"
"Well," he began, "Perv is a self-sufficient, standoffish dimension. We may not have the best fighters, but they're close enough that other dimension travelers give them lots of room. Technology and magik exist side by side and are intertwined with each other. All in all it makes a pretty powerful little package."
"But why should anyone be afraid of that?"
"As I said, Perv has a lot going for it. One of the side effects of success is an abundance of hangers-on. There was a time when we were close to being swamped with refugees and immigrants from other dimensions. When they got to be too much of a nuisance, we put a stop to it."
"How?" I pushed.
"First, we took the non-contributing outsiders and ran 'em out. Then, for an added measure of insurance, we encouraged the circulation of rumors of certain antisocial attitudes of Pervects toward those from other dimensions."
"What kind of rumors?"
"Oh, the usual. That we eat our enemies, torture folks for amusement and have sexual practices that are considered dubious by any dimension's standards. Folks aren't sure how much is truth and how much is exaggeration, but they're none too eager to find out firsthand."
"How much of it is true, Aahz?" I asked propping myself up on one elbow.
He grinned evilly at me.
"Enough to keep 'em honest."
I was going to ask what it took to be considered a contributing immigrant, but decided to let it pass for a while.
Chapter Eleven:
"One of the joys of travel is visiting new towns and meeting new people."
-G. KHAN
"AH! What a shining example of civilization!" chortled Aahz exuberantly as he peered about him, delighted as a child on his first outing.
We were sauntering casually down one of the lesser used streets of Twixt. Garbage and beggars were strewn casually about while beady rodent eyes, human and inhuman, studied us from the darkened doors and windows. It was a cluster of buildings crouched around an army outpost which was manned more from habit than necessity. The soldiers we occasionally encountered had degenerated enough from the crisp recruiting poster model that it was frequently difficult to tell which seemed more menacing and unsavory, the guards or the obviously criminal types they were watching.
"If you ask me, it looks more like mankind at its worst!" I mumbled darkly.
"That's what I said, a shining example of civilization!"
There wasn't much I could say to that, not feeling like getting baited into another one of Aahz's philosophical lectures.
"Aahz, is it my imagination or are people staring at us?"
"Relax, kid. In a town like this the citizens will always instinctively size up a stranger. They're trying to guess if we're victims or victimizers. Our job is to make sure they think we're in the second category."
To illustrate his point he suddenly whirled and crouched like a cat, glaring back down the street with a hand on his sword hilt.
There was sudden movement at the windows and doorways as roughly a dozen half-seen forms melted back into the darkness.
One figure didn't move. A trollop leaning on a windowsill, her arms folded to display her ill-covered breasts, smiled invitingly at him. He smiled and waved. She ran an insolent tongue tip slowly around her lip and winked broadly.