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japegrins. Ironclaw waited until the fire-breather landed, using the footpath as a runway and skidding to a halt far too close to his dirt-board for comfort.
    The japegrin with the most badges on his uniform jumped down and said, "Are you Ironclaw?"
    "Who wants to know?" asked Ironclaw cautiously.
    "Never you mind," said the japegrin. "I'm one of Fleabane's senior operatives."
    "And who's Fleabane?"
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    "President of Andria," said the japegrin.
    Ironclaw didn't like the sound of this at all.
    The japegrin fiddled with his belt so that the wand hanging from it was more visible. "Granitelegs said we'd find you here."
    Ironclaw eyed the wand. "What do you want?"
    "The spell that crosses people over the Divide. You were the one who calculated it -- and you memorize everything. It's common knowledge. Thornbeak told us."
    "Thornbeak told you?"
    "She's one of the prisoners in the library."
    Ironclaw stiffened. "What exactly do you mean by prisoner?"
    "All the librarians and historians are under house arrest while they look for this dimension spell. You may not be the only mathematician to have worked it out."
    "Well, I've forgotten it," said Ironclaw. Although it was a lie, it still pained him to say it.
    The japegrin drew his wand. "We've had orders to, er ... persuade you if you seemed reluctant."
    "Really," said Ironclaw, eyeing the wand again. It was an ugly thing, thick and blunt and black.
    The japegrin tapped a rock with it, and a shower of sparks arced to the ground. "I want you to send Toadflax here into the other world."
    The second japegrin stepped forward.
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    "Then I want him to come back again," said the first japegrin, "so I know you haven't sent him somewhere else entirely."
    "Go dunk your head in a cuddyak-pat," said Ironclaw.
    The senior japegrin aimed his wand at Ironclaw's dirt-board and flicked his wrist. A sheet of flame rushed across it, melting the sand into something resembling black glass. "I can do the same to you," he said. "Or I can simply start by singeing your wing feathers so that you can't fly."
    Ironclaw fought to suppress his fury. I can get rid of one of them, he thought. I could just recite the first part of my spell and freeze Toadflax where he stands. And then I need to deal with the other one. I ought to peck his eyes out for ruining my dirt-board, but I can never summon up enough enthusiasm for that sort of thing. "You win," he said, which wasn't something he could remember ever saying before. "I need freckle-face there standing with one foot on either side of the Divide."
    "The Divide?" queried Toadflax, looking around.
    "The watershed." Ironclaw sighed. "Don't you know anything? It's right there, on the ridge."
    When everything was as it should be, Ironclaw recited the spell. Toadflax seemed to shift a little way to the right, and then he froze.
    "What's the matter?" snapped the senior japegrin. "Why hasn't he disappeared?"
    Ironclaw scratched his rump with his hind leg and looked
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    thoughtful. "There's some sort of barrier preventing the spell from completing," he said. "Is he wearing a talisman?"
    "No."
    "An amulet?"
    "No."
    "Well, there's something strongly magical on his person," Ironclaw announced, waiting for his adversary to come up with the reason himself.
    Finally the light dawned and the japegrin said, "It must be his wand. It's a heavy-duty one."
    "Oh, right," said Ironclaw innocently, making a move to relieve the frozen figure of the offending item.
    "Oh no you don't," said the japegrin quickly. "I'll take charge of that, thank you," and he stepped across the Divide himself.
    Ironclaw gabbled the spell again as rapidly as possible, and the japegrin suddenly realized what was happening. He reached for his own wand, but his arm lost its momentum, as though it had changed its mind, and his fingers fixed in an empty grasp. A grimace of awful realization froze, like a mask, on his face.
    Nice one, thought Ironclaw, feeling pleased with himself. He turned to the fire-breather. "I