'It can't be that bad,' Aahz snapped. Balu said nothing, his forepaws busy beneath the sand. In a moment, he kicked out into the quicksands and set out due east across the desert. The other Camels bade him a mournful farewell.
I shrugged. 'Maybe it could.' We had met plenty of powerful magicians in our time, some of whom wanted to kill us, like The Ax (who became a close friend later on5), some of whom were actually insane, like Istvan, and some of whom just liked being the only ones in town with power.
As we cut across the expanse of desert, Samwise's low-rise project disappeared behind the sand dunes. In no time you wouldn't have been able to tell anything was there except for the tiny shapes of glyphs flying around and the magikal framework that thrust upward from the partially-finished pyramid. Ahead lay the gleaming white of Diksen's building. At sand level, it was awe-inspiring and beautiful, but from a magician's point of view, it was completely overshadowed by the much smaller shape hovering behind it, yards above the desert floor.
Yes, so a ball of water was ostentatious in an arid dimension, but it was truly impressive.
Aahz and I offered guesses on what kind of power structure he used to keep its shape, and whether he had problems with evaporation or not. I looked forward to friendly discussions with Diksen. I admired his imagination.
We were able to get within a dozen yards of the pyramid's base. The afternoon sun glared at us from the tilted white wall. I had to throw up a sheet of magik to keep us from being toasted from sheer reflected heat. Balu veered around the square foundation and made his way toward the glimmering office building, which looked just like a giant crystal ball.
I took a good look around. Samwise had been right. I saw no security measures, not even lines of force laid down to prevent intruders. Diksen clearly felt he had no reason to populate his remote fortress with the army of guards that Samwise employed. I felt a twinge of envy for the kind of reputation that could keep people away without what I considered the minimum of actual protection. I said as much to Aahz.
'Don't count him out yet, kid,' Aahz said, peering even more critically at the two structures than I had. I felt a little annoyed, but I had nothing on Aahz when it came to functional suspicion. He'd saved me before by assuming the worst about other people. I hated to think that I was naive— but I had to be honest: in comparison with him I was naive. Still, I hardly ever found a problem with assuming the best about other people.
Diksen was so unconcerned about intruders that our Camel managed to glide directly underneath the wavering sphere.
'How do we get in?' I asked.
'It's water,' Aahz said. 'We'll swim.'
Making it look good for Balu, Aahz held out his arms and pretended to be dredging power up from one of the force lines underneath the desert floor. I sat watching him, but I was the one who really internalized some of the available magik and lifted us straight off the Camel's back.
'Wait for us,' Aahz called down to Balu. The Camel nodded nervously at us, and the sand in front of his chest began to roil. He was glyphing to his wife again.
'Blub!' I exclaimed, as my head plunged through the water barrier. Aahz grinned at me, bubbles filtering out between his teeth. I had not been paying attention, as he had, to how high we were rising. The outer shell of the sphere was more than eight feet deep. Once I was completely surrounded by water, I kicked with both my feet, desperate to reach air.
My lungs burned. My cheeks bulged as I struggled to hold in my half-breath. A solid rim that rested on the interior surface came into view. I swam to it, grabbed the edge, and pulled myself up. There, I lay there on my back, gasping in as much air as I could.
'Good afternoon,' a young Ghordess said. She sat crosslegged on the floor, which I now observed ran in a broad ring all the way around the bottom level of the bubble of water. A fold of her linen skirt was stretched across her knees to create a level platform. On it lay a papyrus sheet inscribed with a dozen symbols. The feather pen in her hand was black with ink at the end, as if I had interrupted her in her work. 'May I help you?'
'Hey, baby,' Aahz said, with an ingratiating grin. 'We'd like to see your boss.'
She regarded him primly. 'Do you have an appoint-ment?'
Once I had recovered from nearly drowning, I realized that she was a very pretty girl by Klahdish standards. She had a narrow face with large, dark eyes and high cheekbones. She wore the usual headdress, but I noted that there was a hole in the middle on top of her head to make room for three tall feathers like the one in her hand. The rest of her hair hung like long strands of black down. A couple of large, sand-colored cats sat on pedestals behind her and batted at the erect plumes. It seemed to annoy her, but she did not chase them away or even chastise them.
Even though there were no chairs, the rest of the office was modern, even more modern than Bunny's back at M.Y.T.H.,
Inc., headquarters. A computer, a philosophical device with which I had become familiar in Kobol, sat on a low table behind her. The three rows of keys were marked with hieroglyphs. Ornamented chests stood with their lids flung back to expose rolls of papyri with colored labels stuck to the uppermost edge. From where I sat I tried to read the glyphs on the labels, but I was too far away. A sharp glance from the secretary reminded me I was snooping. I gave her a grin.
'We're new in town,' I explained. 'Visiting magicians. This is Aahz, and my name is Skeeve. We thought it would be polite to drop in on Diksen and get to know him a little. We'll probably be around for a month or so.'
She beamed at us. 'That is good news!' she said. 'He will welcome you with a full heart.'
'See,' Aahz said. 'That's not what we heard.'
'Oh, no, he enjoys conversation with other magikal practitioners.'
One of the cats took a swipe that bent all three feathers over the girl's eyes. She raised a hand to straighten them, and the cat recoiled with a protesting mew.
'Oh, I am sorry!' she exclaimed, turning to bow to the animal. She put her hands together and closed her eyes, intoning a phrase I couldn't understand, but which sounded like the ancient Aegistian that some of the Ghords on site used to offer apologies to the ancestors.
'Why don't you just shoo them out?' I asked.
She gave me a look of outrage. 'They're sacred cats! I can't do that. You can't tell them to stop. They must do whatever they are divinely inspired to do.'
'She must just like being inconvenienced,' Aahz said. 'Beats working. How's your boss's schedule looking for now, sweetheart? Has he got a couple of minutes?'
'I will ascertain. It is not my employer's custom to be interrupted in the middle of the day, yet he would be pleased to become acquainted with you as brothers in the arts magikal, of that I am sure.' She put aside the letter she was writing and picked up a scroll on the edge of the table near the computer. 'Hmm,' she said, unwinding it. 'It would appear that he has finished his noonday meal and meditation. For the next hour he will be reading from ancient texts.'
'How ancient?' Aahz asked. 'Like a millennium ago, or last week?'
'Oh, very ancient,' the girl assured him solemnly. 'But it is a forgivable interruption under the circumstances, and the texts will become even more ancient in the waiting. It would be an honor to assist the three of you to meet. My employer will take great pleasure in your visit.'
She raised her eyes to the heavens and put her hands out, palms up. 'O great Diksen, he of the endless wisdom . . . ' she chanted.
'Looks like Samwise was wrong,' Aahz said to me. 'He said Diksen wouldn't stop for visitors. The guy sounds reasonable to me.'
'... Worker of wonders, son beloved of Maul-De and Omphalos, brother to—did you say Samwise?' the girl asked, halting her invocation.
'Yeah,' Aahz said. 'We're working with him on the big project across the way.' He gestured vaguely toward the west. Through the wall of water the partially-finished building was a wavy blob.
The girl stood up, scattering the sacred cats and her manuscripts.
'I apologize deeply to you honored gentlemen, but I must ask you to leave.'
'What about meeting Diksen?' I asked.
The girl's cheeks flushed. 'He is not available. I am greatly sorry, but no one will be allowed in to see the
