Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy

by Derek Alan Siddoway

  Jackson didn’t give Kay the chance to say no.

  “Jackson, go and buy a Djinn taming ring first thing after leaving, and then get home and start packing your bags.”

  “Tell me again what it is you’re doing?” Jane asked Jackson while he continued stuffing clothes and a random assortment of snacks into his backpack. “It just seems like there’s got to be another way to find a nice Djinn besides going on a safari expedition.”

  “I don’t want a nice Djinn,” Jackson said. He’d explained things to Jane a half-dozen times but she just wasn’t getting it. To her credit, at least she hadn’t told him no flat-out. That in itself was a huge step in their relationship.

  “Look, Briggs says wild Djinn are better than ones bred in captivity and ranch-raised. Besides, we don’t have the money for me to buy a registered, domestic Djinn — they start at almost ten thousand suns.”

  “And don’t you work for one of the most renowned Djinn breeders out there?” Jane asked.

  “The Satos have already done so much,” Jackson said. “And I already got Asena from mom. I guess I want to try and do this on my own.”

  Jane folded her arms and Jackson could tell she was struggling to keep her old worrisome self from busting out. “This doesn’t seem like the safest way to go about things, is all I’m saying.”

  Jackson looked up just in time to see Jane brush away a tear from one eye. He knew how hard this must be for her — his mother had disappeared in a plane crash while going on a search for a rare Djinn. To Jane, it had to have felt a little bit like the same scene was playing out again with her grandson.

  “I promise we’ll be safe,” Jackson said. “And we’ll only be gone a couple of days. People do this all the time, and Briggs has been on a ton of taming expeditions.”

  Jackson thought it was best not to mention the gruesome scars his mentor had acquired on one such expedition. Jane still looked worried, though, so Jackson wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in tight.

  “If I don’t get a second Djinn, I’m ineligible for training camp,” he said. “Besides, Asena will take care of me, right, girl?”

  Asena, sitting on Jackson’s bed next to his crammed backpack, lifted her head and wagged her tail. The action brought a smile out of Jane. Before the conversation could continue, however, a blast rang out from the street below, followed by forlorn honking that sounded like a dying trumpet.

  “That must be Briggs!” Jackson said. He grabbed the backpack off the bed and rushed downstairs, Asena at his heels. Excited to get going, he flew out the door before even putting on his boots.

  The truck in the driveway stopped him dead in his tracks. He’d forgotten just how banged-up the thing looked.

  Briggs’s pickup had probably once been a beautiful shade of forest green, but it was so spotted with rust and sun marks that it looked like a derelict attempt at camouflage. The pitted exhaust pipe trailing up one side of the cab sputtered and spat smoke out into the clear, cool spring morning. Jackson was surprised it had made it from the warehouse to his house and didn’t have much faith in reaching the preserve.

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  Jackson tore his eyes away from the truck at the sound of Kay’s voice. She must have pulled up on her bike while he was eyeing the vehicle and now stood with her Fenkit Djinn, Sunshine, on her shoulder, her duffel bag on her bike handles, and an aghast expression on her face. As if in answer, Briggs hopped out of the truck and slammed the door. It sounded like a bag of tin cans being smashed with a hammer. Jackson noted that he left the vehicle idling.

  “Are you sure that’s legal?” Jackson asked.

  “What, you don’t remember my trusty pickup?”

  “I was hoping you had a more reliable vehicle in addition to the trusty pickup,” Kay said before Jackson could answer.

  “Me and this old gal have been through a lot together,” Briggs said. He gave the truck a healthy smack on its hood, and Jackson saw a handful of rust flakes float down from the wheel well onto the road. “I just had the license renewed and the emissions checked!”

  “That thing passed an emissions test?” asked Kay.

  “Surprised?”

  “Yes!” Kay said, her eyes wide. “I’m not going anywhere in that death trap.”

  “Oh come on, Kay,” Jackson took her duffel bag and tossed both his and hers into the bed of the truck. “It’ll be an adventure! How many people can say they’ve actually ridden in a diesel truck? It’s like riding in a piece of history!”

  “It’s a piece of something, all right,” Kay muttered low enough Briggs wouldn’t hear.

  “Ah…hello?” Jane appeared on the doorstep leading into their building, looking almost as petrified as Kay. She glanced around as if making sure none of the neighbors in their complex were watching.

  “Hello!” Briggs’s demeanor changed at once. He limped up to the front steps and offered a hand to Jackson’s grandma. “It’s good to meet you, madam. The name’s Cassius Briggs.”

  “Ah…yes,” Jane said while Briggs shook her slack hand. “I’ve — I’ve heard quite a bit about you from Jackson.”

  “I hope it was all good!” Briggs said. His cheery disposition bewildered Jackson, who’d thought Briggs incapable of any feeling beyond that of a surly Gruffoat. “I just want you to know that your grandson will be in good hands with me, madam.”

  “I…I can see that.” Jane hadn’t taken her eyes off of the pickup truck. “Where was it you said you were going again?”

  “Rocky Point National Preserve,” Briggs said. “It’s about a fifteen hour drive altogether, but when you’re riding in old Bess, it’ll feel like a lot less than that.”

  “Old Bess — is that the name of your, uh… truck, Mr. Briggs?”

  “Please, call me Cassius.”

  The conversation had gone about as far as Jackson wanted it to go, on both sides. He stepped between Briggs and his grandma and wrapped his arms around Jane.

  “Love you, bye!” he said. After giving Jane a quick peck on the cheek, Jackson put his arm around Briggs’s neck and steered him back toward the pickup.

  “What’s the rush?” Briggs asked. “Your grandma and I were just getting acquainted.”

  “No time for small talk — haha!” Jackson forced a laugh and turned his attention to Kay.

  “I. Am. Not. Riding in that thing.”

  Jackson let out another strained laugh and gently took Kay by the elbow, leading her toward the passenger side of the smoking truck. “I’m sure it’s way better inside…”

  “Guess what, Jackson? It’s not better inside.”

  “Hey, I can hear you, you know,” Briggs grumbled from the driver’s seat.

  Kay didn’t seem to care, and to be fair, she had a point. The inside of the truck featured a cracked dashboard battered, dirty leather seat covers, and a complete lack of ventilation, let alone air conditioning. As a result they rode with the windows down; three grown people shoved into the front seat of a truck that hadn’t been able to comfortably fit anyone in probably two decades.

  “You can always sit in the back with Asena,” Jackson offered.

  True to her nature, Jackson’s Djinn refused to go into stasis within the Djinn ring for the trip. Her tongue hung out and a slather of saliva dripped onto the seat in the half cab behind them, but Briggs didn’t seem to mind. Nor did Sunshine, who was relegated to a small corner of the backseat, but he was small enough and never seemed to mind being in close quarters with Asena. Kay’s nose wrinkled, but whether it was from the smell of Asena, Briggs, Jackson, or the overall grunge of the pickup, Jackson didn’t know.

  “How much farther did you say this was again?” Kay asked.

  Jackson had graciously given her the window seat and her head hung out, red hair flapping in the breeze as the old truck somehow sputtered and struggled down the highway. For Jackson, it was a new adventure. Whenever he’d left Tyle, it was always by the monorail. The highway took a different path, winding and cur
ving through farmlands and woods.

  “A solid fifteen hours, probably,” Briggs said. “How about you put some of that energy to use and check the map?”

  Jackson started tapping on his watch, but Briggs shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Service is pretty spotty out here, kid. I’ve got a real map in the glovebox. Take that out and have a go.”

  Kay found the map they’d looked at back in the warehouse office, but this time one of the highways from Tyle to the preserve had been highlighted.

  “According to this map, there doesn’t seem to be any rest areas or stores or…anything along the way,” Kay said in a flat voice. “What happens when we have to go to the bathroom?”

  “Now, if I recall, there’s maybe one restroom along the way,” Briggs said.

  “Fine. One,” Kay said. “One over the course of fifteen hours.”

  Briggs shrugged. “We’ll pull off and you can find a tree to go behind.”

  “At least tell me you have toilet paper.”

  “Leaves ain’t good enough for you?”

  Jackson could almost feel the anger radiating off of Kay and decided it was a great time to change the subject.

  “So…what kind of Djinn are we looking for, exactly?” His mind flashed with images of all sorts of rare and powerful Djinn that would wow and impress the competition at training camp.

  “What you need is something that complements Asena’s Elements,” Briggs said. They hit a bump in the road and Kay moaned. “She’s both a Fire and Earth-Elemental, so ideally, we’re looking for a Wind or Water-Elemental — something that offsets Asena’s Fire and Earth move set that she’ll be expanding as she gets stronger.”

  Now he had a direction in mind, Jackson pulled up his Djinncyclopedia, which was downloaded to his holo-watch and didn’t need a net connection to work. He began a search, filtering every known Djinn in his system that wasn’t a Water or a Wind-Elemental.

  “What kinds of Water and Wind-Elemental Djinn are there in Rocky Point?” he asked his mentor.

  “Oh there’s Marimots, Wolverends, Wapitelks, Moostags, Ribbitoads, Scorbbles, and a whole lot more,” Briggs said. “There’s a few that I’ve got in mind — mostly Water-Elementals. Wind-Elemental Djinn are great and all, but they’re damn difficult to capture at your skill level — unless you want something low-key like a Magglecaw. With Water-Elementals, it’s easier to capture something at this stage that’ll turn into something more special down the line. With Wind-Elementals, they usually have to be pretty amazing Djinn from the get-go in order to be worth your while.”

  Jackson continued flipping through a number of Djinn. Briggs glanced sideways at the projections as they appeared in revolving 3D images on his dashboard. He checked most of them off the list, either because they weren’t that rare or couldn’t be found in the Rocky Point preserve.

  “There,” Briggs said, stopping Jackson on a particular Water-Elemental Djinn. The thing had a long, skinny body with triangular ridges along its back and tail. Its reptilian figure ended in a long, pointed nose with gaping teeth and short, stubby legs. Jackson pulled up the Djinn’s info:

  Djinn: Groggle

  Element: Water

  Groggle is a Basic-Form, Water-Elemental Djinn. Groggles were once on the verge of extinction before being saved and bred in captivity circa one hundred years ago. They were then released in Rocky Point National Preserve where 100% of the population currently resides. Groggles are exceptionally aggressive Djinn who usually travel in packs alongside rivers or lakes. While they are easy enough to sneak up on thanks to their poor hearing and vision, once they latch on to a Djinn as their prey, there is little that will deter them from taking down said prey.

  “That thing looks like Asena could swallow it in one bite,” Jackson scoffed. He doubted the reptile’s short legs allowed it to move very fast on the ground, and environmental arenas that would work to a Water-Elemental’s advantage were a rarity.

  “Don’t be so sure, kid,” Briggs said. “Groggles have a killer defense because of that scaled hide. They also have a ton of hit points and can really pack a wallop — it’s the perfect tank to pair with your faster, Fire-Elemental Lyote.”

  “Yeah, but —”

  “But what?” Briggs asked, irritated. “You want to do this right, you’ve got to trust me, remember? I’m telling you — a Groggle is the Djinn for you.”

  The longer Jackson looked at the revolving image of the Water-Elemental Djinn, the more it seemed to grow on him. By the time they pulled into the parking lot, and Kay made a mad dash for the restroom (the only one on their long journey), Jackson promised himself he wouldn’t settle for anything less than a Groggle of his own.

  Chapter Eight

  “Oh, thank goodness, we’re here,” Kay let out with a relieved sigh as they pulled into the parking lot of the Rocky Point Visitor’s Center. “I thought I was gonna hurl.”

  “Get the first aid kit out of the backseat, will you?” Briggs asked Kay, bringing the truck to a stop.

  “No, that’s okay. It was just those last 30 minutes of twists and turns,” Kay said. “I feel much better now that we stopped.”

  Briggs shot her a puzzled look. “What? No, it’s not for you.”

  Kay frowned and reached into the backseat of the cab for a large chest with a cross on it, which she then shoved into the older man’s arms. “Here!”

  “What good would a first aid kit do for carsickness?” Briggs said, but Kay didn’t even answer.

  He opened the lid of the first aid kit and licked his lips. A moment later, he produced a cold bottle of beer, damp from the condensation inside of what Jackson realized wasn’t a first aid kit at all, but a cooler. Briggs gave them both a wink before popping the top and taking a long swig.

  “Has that been there the whole time?”

  “What do you think?”

  “Do you have any more food in there?”

  “Sorry, only the essentials.” Briggs patted the cooler. “I’d say I earned it.” He took another healthy swig before turning to Kay, Jackson, and Asena. “So you all wait out here while I go inside and get our passes and the rest.”

  For being a world famous Djinn preserve, Rocky Point didn’t look like all that much. A large, circular parking lot and small visitor’s center were the only things in sight. While Briggs was inside filling out his permit forms, Jackson, Kay, Sunshine, and Asena got out and stretched their legs, glad for the space and cool, fresh air. It was a nice relief from the cramped quarters of the rusted, exhaust-filled pickup.

  A road beyond the visitor’s center was framed in an archway with the words “Welcome to Rocky Point National Preserve” overhead. From a number of informational signs outside the center, Jackson gathered the preserve was also a tourist destination in addition to being a place for tamers to capture new Djinn. As Briggs had explained on the way up, they’d be trekking off the beaten path, far away from the scenic view tourists enjoyed on the main road.

  “The best Djinn stay way back in the wilds, away from humans,” Briggs had told them. “You better be ready to rough it.”

  “Hey, Kay, did you see this?” Jackson pointed to a monitor on the outside of the log visitor’s center. It showed a very large and fancy lodge that looked more like a luxury hotel than a cabin set inside a Djinn preserve.

  “Red Pine Outfitters.” Kay read the scrolling advertisement below the name. “It looks like some kind of Djinn taming company. You hire their guides and they take you out into the field to help you find rare, trophy Djinn. Maybe this is the connection Briggs has?”

  “Man, I hope so,” Jackson said. He pictured them sitting inside the fancy lodge with a big meal spread out before them. Afterward, he could see them sitting by a roaring fire to ward off the mountain chill and then settling into a big, soft bed before going out on another taming expedition. Briggs had a habit of making things sound a lot worse than they actually were. Jackson had hoped this was one of those times and that all the talk about roughing it was ju
st that.

  The sound of tires crunching on the asphalt caused Jackson, Asena, and Kay to turn. A large, white SUV pulled into a parking stall next to Briggs’s truck. Even without being in a comparative distance to the rust bucket of a pickup they’d ridden in, it was easy to see the value of the new vehicle rivaled that of a thousand green trucks.

  Jackson wondered who would drive such an expensive vehicle onto a Djinn preserve. The windows were tinted, so he couldn’t see inside, but a moment later, the driver’s side door opened and closed. When the driver of the expensive SUV came into sight, Jackson felt his heart skip and a rush of adrenaline hammer him.

  “No way!” Jackson whispered under his breath.

  “I’m guessing that’s some famous Djinn something or other that I don’t know,” Kay said. She’d become used to these encounters over the past year of Jackson’s taming career.

  “That’s Lei Kaleo!” Jackson whispered back, his voice high and giddy. “He’s one of the best tamers in the Gold League right now!”

  Lei approached the sidewalk outside of the visitor’s center and then frowned and headed back toward his SUV. He opened the door and a much younger version of the famous tamer sat in the passenger seat, fiddling around with the holo-screen of his watch. Jackson didn’t hear what passed between them, but the younger one — obviously Lei Kaleo’s son, based on how similar he looked — got out of the car with a roll of his eyes and followed his father toward them and the lodge.

  Jackson couldn’t decide if he should say hello or pretend like he didn’t recognize the man. He didn’t need to worry. Lei’s eyes glazed over them, but the tamer stopped when he spotted Asena sitting at Jackson’s feet.

  “That’s a good looking Lyote you’ve got there,” Lei said. “Wow, I haven’t seen one of these in years.”