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"Can't stand the stuff," he admitted "The other
46 Robert Asprin
boys in the Mob used to razz me about it, but it makes
me break out in a rash."
Terrific. We probably had the only Mob member in
existence who was allergic to garlic. Another brilliant
idea shot to hell.
"Well," I said, heaving a sigh, "now we know what
we're up against."
"Ummm... say. Hot Stuff?" Massha said softly.
"All kidding aside. Aren't we a little overmatched on
this one? I mean, Dark and Deadly here can hold up his
end on the physical protection side, but I'm not sure my
jewelry collection is going to be enough to cover us mag-
ically."
"I appreciate the vote of confidence," Guido smiled
sadly, "but I'm not sure my hardware is going to do us a
lick of good against vampires. With the Boss out of ac-
tion on the magic side...."
"Don't count me out so fast. My magic may not be at
full power, but I can still pull off a trick or two if things
really get rough."
Massha frowned. "But the force lines...."
"There's one little item I've omitted from your
lessons so far, apprentice," I said with a smug little
grin. "It hasn't really been necessary what with the
energy so plentiful on Deva ... as a matter of fact, I've
kind of gotten out of the habit myself. Anyway, what it
boils down to is that you don't always tap into a force
line to work magic. You can store the energy internally
like a battery so that it's there when you need it. While
we've been talking, I've been charging up, so I can pro-
vide a bit of magical cover as needed. Now, I won't be
able to do anything prolonged like a constant disguise
spell, and what I've got I'll want to use carefully
because it'll take a while to recharge after each use, but
we won't be relying on your jewelry completely."
MYTH-ING PERSONS 47
I had expected a certain amount of excitement from
the staff when they found out I wasn't totally helpless.
Instead, they looked uncomfortable. They exchanged
glances, then looked at the sky, then at the ground.
"Ummm... does this mean we're going on?" Guido
said at last.
"That's right," I said, lips tight. "In fact, I probably
would have gone on even if my powers were completely
gone. Somewhere out there my partner's in trouble, and
I'm not going to back away from at least trying to help
him. I'd do the same if it was one of you, but we're talk-
ing about Aahz here. He's saved my skin more times
than I care to remember. I can't just...."
I caught myself and brought my voice back under
control.
"Look," I said, starting again. "I'll admit we never
expected this vampire thing when we started out, and
the limited magic handicap is enough to give anyone
pause. If either or both of you want to head back, you
can do it without hard feelings or guilt trips. Really. The
only reason I'm pushing on is that I know me. Whatever
is up ahead, it can't be any worse than what I would put
myself through if I left Aahz alone to die without trying
my best to bail him out. But that's me. If you want out,
go ahead."
"Don't get your back up. Hot Stuff," Massha chided
gently. "I'm still not sure how much help I'm going to
be, but I'll tag along. I'd probably have the same prob-
lem if anything happened to you and I wasn't there, that
you'd have if anything happened to Aahz. I am your ap-
prentice, you know."
"Bodyguarding ain't much, but it's all I know,"
Guido said glumly. "I'm supposed to be guardin' that
body of yours, so where it goes, I go. I'm just not wild
about the odds, know what I mean?"
48 Robert Asprin
"Then it's settled," I said firmly. "All right. As I see
it, our next stop is Blut."
"Blut," Massha echoed carefully.
"That's right. I want to look up this Dispatcher
character and see what he has to say. I mean, a town is a
town, and we've all visited strange towns before. What
we really need now is information, and the nearest
source seems to be Blut."
"The Dispatcher," Massha said without enthusi-
asm."
"Blut," Guido repeated with even less joyful an-
ticipation.
It occurred to me that while my assistants were bound
and determined to stay with me on this caper, if I
wanted wholehearted support, I'd better look for it
from the natives... a prospect I didn't put much hope
in at all.