"What?" she shrieked.
"See," Melvine hooted. "You wet your pants for nothing."
"Shut up, you carnival prize!"
I marched onward. The students followed me, still sniping at one another. How was I going to get through six weeks of this?
I swatted at the back of my neck. A fly had been circling me for some time, evidently deciding where it would be best to plunge in its stinger. Gingerly I prodded the welt.
"Everybody with sensitive skin might use a little of their magik for pest repellent," I suggested. "This hurts a lot."
"I can fix it, Skeeve," Tolk said eagerly. He bounded over and touched the sore spot. The pain died away instantly.
"That's great, Tolk," I said. "I appreciate it. But don't forget to protect yourself."
He frowned and cocked his head to one side. "Not sure how how how."
"Picture a suit made of magikal force that fits your body closely but doesn't cut off your air supply," I said. "Don't use too much power."
"I don't think I can do that," Bee admitted. "I never tried anything like that before."
"What do you know how to do?" I asked.
"I only know a few spells," he admitted. "I'm not up there like these ladies," he indicated the Pervects, "who've had the benefit of advanced education."
The Pervects turned their noses up at him. Bee looked downtrodden.
"Well, we can build on what you have learned," I said encouragingly. "What are they?"
"Well, I can do Dispell," Bee began. A dust-devil spun in our direction. I recognized it as one of the Sear natives. It whisked up Pologne's leg, heading for her color-coordinated backpack.
"Aaagh!" she cried, batting at her tiny assailant. "Get it off me!"
"Bee, use it now!" I said.
Bee pointed at the miniature whirlwind. "Dispell!"
The gray cone died away, leaving a bright red node about the size of my thumbnail. The little creature dropped off Pologne's leg and promptly dug itself into the sand.
"Ugh!" she said, stomping on the place where the Sear disappeared. "Disgusting!"
"That's very useful," I told Bee. "It's a good defense as well as being able to undo mistakes you make. What's next?"
"Well. Datspell."
Melvine chortled. "Why am I not surprised? And what's that do? Put the spell you just took off back on?"
"Nossir," Bee said, hurt. "Well, it means I can disguise myself pretty good. Like this!"
Suddenly, the skinny frame of the former corporal was replaced by a familiar image. A male Klahd with a big, hulking frame, wide shoulders that tapered down to a surprisingly small waist, big hands that almost concealed the miniature crossbow in his hand. I felt a smile spread slowly on my face.
"That's Guido."
The image vanished, and Bee's narrow earnest face reappeared. "Yessir. Sergeant Swatter, we called him. I really admired him, sir."
"Stop calling me sir," I said. "Just Skeeve. Datspell's pretty good, too. What else can you do?"
"Well," Bee said, "just a few little things. But I practice them all the time. Spoo!" he exclaimed suddenly as we began the descent down a steep hill. He seemed to levitate over a rock in his path.
"That's pretty good," I said. "You know how to fly."
"Oh, no, s—I mean, Skeeve. That's just Cantrip. I learned that in the army. It helps a lot when you're on maneuvers over rough ground. A lot of the guys came in with sprained ankles
and broken legs. Cantrip keeps me from falling over. 'Cept I gotta say 'spoo' to invoke it. It's 'oops' spelled backwards."
"How hokey!" Freezia exclaimed. Bee looked offended. I didn't blame him.
"Don't you use mnemonics in your magik?" I asked her innocently.
"Sure I do," she said. "But spoof She broke into giggles. "That's so silly!"
"If it works, then it's not silly. You'll see. Bee's going to teach us how to do it when we're back at the inn."
"Learn from a Klahd? Never!" Pologne declared.
I let the statement stand, and walked on in silence.
About four paces later, she spoke in a much smaller voice. "Of course, when I say Klahd, I don't mean you, Skeeve."
Chapter Seven
"7s it too late to try beads?" G. A. CUSTER
It took almost two hours to walk over the rough dry terrain to where we could draw from the force line. The hike back was worse. The sun had risen higher in the sky, and the glare was blinding. I was hot, and my feet felt like they had been pounded between two large flat rocks.
By the time we were back in my target area everyone was in a bad mood, including me. Everything Melvine said came out as a whine. The three Pervects sniped at one another verbally, but united to belittle the others. Tolk growled if any of us got too close to him. Bee still spoke politely, but clipped his words off sharply.
"It's hot, and I'm tired," Melvine complained. "Let's go back to Klahd and do this tomorrow. I promise to be more economical. C'mon, Skeeve, what do you say?" "Nope," I said. "This'll be fun. You'll see."
"Fun? This dimension is a drag!"
"Hey, you should go work for my cousin," Tolk sneered. "He's got the sullen-on-a-stick franchise for Lower Rangooza." "Meanie!" Melvine sniveled.
"Grow up!" Pologne said. "I'm sick of both of you. It's like traveling with my little brothers."
"All right," I said, coming to a halt under the largest tree on the hill. "You've got a list of twelve things. Find them all, and get them down there," I pointed to the spit of land poking out into the glittering sea. "Go for it." I sat down against the tree trunk with my hands behind my head. I had a great view of the whole test area.
The challenge was a simple one. All of the items were brightly colored and in plain sight. The Sear natives had
promised to keep from moving them until one of my students came within a couple of paces, and then they had to give a sporting chance, not dragging the item underground right away.
The other thing I had not told my class was that the natives had a very high body temperature. Freezia learned it the hard way when she spotted the first item, a bright blue cylinder. She and Bee noticed it at the same time. In spite of the Cantrip, Bee wasn't as fast on his feet as the graduate student. She dove for the cylinder, only to have it scoot from under her fingertips. Quickly, she brought the other hand smashing down, capturing the object. She plucked the tiny red Sear off the bottom of it.
"Ow!" she cried, dropping it. "They're hot!"
The little being, deprived of its shade, grabbed for the next nearest thing, Freezia's backpack. It started pulling at the strap with surprising strength. Freezia pulled back. Bee laughed at the sight of a full-grown Pervect having a tug-of-war with a creature a mere fraction of her size.
"What are you laughing at, you dolt?" she asked. "No, don't do that!"
The Sear, unable to take the backpack, crawled along the strap and wriggled inside. Freezia threw open the flap and began to excavate its contents, trying to find the intruder.
As her things began to hit the ground, more red dots came swarming up. They latched onto each item and began to drag them away. The Pervect suddenly looked up and saw her possessions disappearing.
"My compact!" Freezia shrieked, crawling after the nearest Sear. It was carrying a gold disk.
"Time!" I shouted. You don't have time! You already spent twenty minutes finding the first part!"
"I want it back! It's a Goochy San Channel!"
"You can get it later!"
She ignored me. The Sear vanished into a crack in the ground. She started picking away at the edge.
"Oh, my manicure!" she wailed as a chip of orange polish went flying. Furious, she pointed a broken fingernail at the earth. "Cavata!"
Stones and dirt began to scatter upward. She uncovered the gold disk, only to see it slip into another fissure. "No! You little thief!" The dirt flew faster. She disappeared behind the spray.
In the confusion, she had forgotten all about the cylinder. Bee picked it up and put it in his belt pouch, and went in search of the next item on the list.
With a full complement of magik under his belt, Melvine took to the air. With a pleased grin, he descended toward the spot where I had planted a folded yellow sheet. The look of alarm that crossed his face told me that the natives had appeared. They were going to beat him to it. Melvine whipped up a curlicue of wind and made it whisk around the circumference of the sheet to drive them back. I was glad to see him conserving energy.