"Couldn't you help me?"
"No time. I've got to move."
"Couldn't I come with you?"
"You'd just get in the way, maybe even get me killed."
"But without you. I'll be killed!"
I was getting desperate, but Aahz was unimpressed.
"Probably not. Tell ya what, kid. I've really got to get going, but just to show you I think you'll survive, I'll show you a little trick you might use sometime. You see all this crud Garkin used to bring me across the barrier? Well, it's not necessary. Watch close and I'll show you how we do it when our apprentices aren't watching."
I wanted to shout, to make him stop and listen to me, but he had already started. He spread his arms at shoulder height, looked heavenward, took a deep breath, then clapped his hands.
Nothing happened.
Chapter Three:
"The only thing more reliable than magick is one's friends!"
-MACBETH
AAHZ scowled and repeated the gesture, a bit quicker this time.
The scene remained unchanged.
I decided something was wrong.
"Is something wrong?" I asked politely.
"You'd better believe there's something wrong," Aahz snarled. "It's not working."
"Are you sure you're doing it right?"
"Yes, I'm sure I'm doing it right, just like I've been sure the last fifty times I did it!"
He was starting to sound annoyed.
"Can you...."
"Look, kid. If I knew what was wrong, I'd have fixed it already. Now, just shut up and let me think!"
He sank down to sit cross-legged in the center of the pentagram where he began sketching vague patterns in the floor as he mumbled darkly to himself. I wasn't sure if he was trying some alternate incantation or was simply thinking hard, but decided it would be unwise to ask. Instead, I used the time to organize my scrambled thoughts.