diff --git a/mongoengine/base.py b/mongoengine/base.py
index a8b89ef4..e4f3f5cb 100644
--- a/mongoengine/base.py
+++ b/mongoengine/base.py
@@ -706,7 +706,7 @@ class TopLevelDocumentMetaclass(DocumentMetaclass):
             meta['queryset_class'] = manager.queryset_class
         new_class.objects = manager
 
-        indicies = meta['indexes'] + abstract_base_indexes
+        indicies = [meta['indexes']] + abstract_base_indexes
         user_indexes = [QuerySet._build_index_spec(new_class, spec)
                         for spec in indicies] + base_indexes
         new_class._meta['indexes'] = user_indexes
diff --git a/mongoengine/queryset.py b/mongoengine/queryset.py
index 64f9441a..e3b2d99e 100644
--- a/mongoengine/queryset.py
+++ b/mongoengine/queryset.py
@@ -492,6 +492,7 @@ class QuerySet(object):
             spec = {'fields': spec}
 
         index_list = []
+        direction = None
         use_types = doc_cls._meta.get('allow_inheritance', True)
         for key in spec['fields']:
             # Get ASCENDING direction from +, DESCENDING from -, and GEO2D from *