"Okay," I said, still staring down at the map at my feet, "but isn't there a risk I will just float away?" Standing above the map like this, it almost felt as if I was already floating.

"Good question, apprentice," Aahz said. "Just put a string on your foot."

"A what?" I looked up into my mentor's eyes. I could tell he was concerned with me even trying this. I didn't know if the concern was for me, or for what would happen if I failed, but at least he was concerned.

"A string, like a kid's balloon string," he said. "Imagine one tied from the foot of your real body to the foot of your imaginary body as it floats upward. Then when you want to return, just go back down the string."

I nodded. That was such a simple image, even I might be able to handle it.

"When you get a good view of all the flowing energy lines over and through the castle," Aahz said, "just do what you did with this map. Imagine them as you see them; then in one motion imagine them on the paper."

"Okay," I said. "I think I can do that."

"When you're ready," Aahz said, stepping back. "Just do it."

I looked at the map at my feet, putting the image clearly in my head. Then I let myself go.

That is what it actually felt like. I was letting go of what was holding me down. I was floating upward. I checked to make sure I had a string attached to my foot. It was there, so I relaxed and just kept going, floating upward.

I went above the energy line I had used to create the other map, through the roof of the castle, and then stopped, float ing right over the top of the golden castle in the beautiful sunshine.

Below me rivers of blue energy flowed, coming up out of the middle of the castle like a well, splitting and flowing off in dozens of directions over the mountains and valleys.

I let my mind accept all the different levels of energy flow, all the way down into the deepest area of the castle. I could see all the streams, all the different places they branched, and all the places they were tapped.

Then, when I had them all, I held the image, imprinted it on my mind, and then imagined it being overlaid in blue lines on the map at my feet.

It only took an instant. Then, with one last look at the beautiful colors of the energy and the surrounding country side, I tugged on the string attached to my foot and I was back in my body, just like that.

I opened my eyes and glanced at Aahz. My mentor was smiling like he had just won all the riches of the Bazaar at Deva.

"Amazing," he said. "Sometimes you just flat amaze me."

I was afraid to look down, so instead I stepped back.

Aahz picked up the map and held it for me to see. There, in black lines, was the first map of the castle I had done from the ceiling.

And over it were flowing lines of energy. The magik of the map was keeping the lines flowing in the image, just as I had seen it from above.

I didn't know what to say. He was holding something I had created, and it was beautiful and working as it should.

Better than it should. I had never expected the energy lines to keep moving, but they were.

"Come on, apprentice. Let's go show the rest what you did. Amazing, simply amazing."

He turned and headed for the door.

For the first time in all our time together, I had sensed a little pride in Aahz's voice. I might have been imagining it, but this time I didn't think so.

It was pride, and it made me feel good.

Chapter Sixteen

"Put your name on the map."

A. VESPUCCI

Everyone made great noises about the map I had created. And Tanda gave me a long and very nice hug. I didn't say much, since I was so proud of what I had done, I was afraid I'd ruin the moment by saying something stupid.

Finally, Aahz laid the map out on the table and said, "Let's get to work. We need to find on here where the spell Count Bovine placed over this dimension is drawing its power."

I studied the moving blue lines with everyone else, watch ing how they seemed to come up out of the floor plan of the castle and into the air.

The map was magik, so it even showed the different levels of the castle, like looking into a fishbowl. It was both beautiful and disconcerting at the same time.

"Look in the sub-level of the castle," Tanda said, pointing.

I let my eyes adjust so that I could see the plan of the castle that far down. I instantly saw what she was pointing at. The wide, thick river of energy that was pouring up from the ground suddenly thinned, like a good part of it had been drained away into an unseen drain. That unseen drain, using that much energy, could only be a spell large enough to control an entire dimension.

"I think you have it," Aahz said, nodding.

"I agree," I said, remembering what the energy below that point felt like while I had been floating, and what it felt like above that point.

"Where did you get this floor plan?" Harold asked, staring at it. "I've never seen anything like this before. That corridor isn't there, and I have no idea what that tunnel goes to."

I glanced at Aahz, who only smiled.

"You've seen this before," I said. "It's painted on the ceil ing of the library in there."

"No, it's not," Harold said, shaking his head. "This is a picture of the castle during Count Bovine's first days."

"Go look for yourself," Tanda said. "It took me a while to see it as well. Skeeve spotted it first."

Harold stared at us as if we had all gone nuts. I didn't blame him. If I had been living in a place for as many years as he had been trapped here, and a stranger had pointed something this important out, I wouldn't believe him either.

He huffed and stormed off toward the library.

"Okay," I said, "we know where Count Bovine tapped into the energy stream. How do we untap it?"

"We have to get down there," Aahz said. "Then we have to divert it for just an instant to break the link. That's all it will take."

I looked at the massive flow of energy rushing up out of the ground. I could tap into small energy streams, but I had no idea how a person would go about blocking something this large. And I wasn't sure I wanted to ask.

Harold came back in, looking stunned and embarrassed.

"If we manage to block this," Tanda said, "what do you think will happen?"

Aahz looked at the map. "Probably every spell ever put up by any of Count Bovine's people will be broken."

"My people will have their minds and free will back," Harold said.

"Yeah," I said, "and every vampire will suddenly be around every day of every month."

"Half of the population of vampires will be dead moments after they turn from cows," Aahz said. "And all the others will be without resources, clothes, shelter, and food, with the sun coming quickly."

"Do you think my people will remember all the years of having to submit to the round-up?" Harold asked.

"I have no doubt," Aahz said. "You still remember it before you were rescued from here, don't you?"

Harold nodded. "My people will hunt down and kill most of the remaining vampires."

"And you'll be free to leave," I said.

"If we can break the vampire hold on my world, I won't want to leave," Harold said. "I'll stay here and help my people rebuild."

I shook my head. It was all fine and good to plan what people would do if we succeeded, but I sure didn't see that happening any time soon.

"So no one has answered the question yet of how we stop that flow."

I didn't even want to try to bring up the point of getting down to that spot in the castle. We were way up at the top, and that breach in the main flow was way down in a sub-basement, where I doubted anyone had been in centuries.