"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.