Jackson spotted the Aquestria he’d seen on the beach — one of the largest in the group. It bore a familiar set of claw marks down its neck and front shoulder. This was the one he’d connected with earlier. This was the one he wanted. He brought up his Djinncyclopedia app and gave it a quick scan to see how much of a fight he could expect.
Level 21
“Jackson, it’s too high of a level!” Fiona said. “You won’t —”
Ignoring Fiona, Jackson slid the empty ring on the middle finger of his left hand and punched the air in the direction of the big Aquestria. A beam of white light shot out of the ring and struck the Djinn on the side. All around them, the Aquestrian herd panicked, surprised by the unexpected light and the new apparent threat from Fiona and Jackson on the rock.
As soon as the beam hit the Aquestria, it reared backward, legs and feet flailing out before it. Grabbing his left wrist with his right hand, Jackson struggled to maintain the beam. The Aquestria bucked, kicked, and spun, like a Broncolt in the rodeos favored in the western regions. In spite of all that, Jackson held on. His muscles screamed in protest — it felt like gripping a rope with a water funnel on the other end. Several times he almost pitched off the edge of the rock, or was nearly thrown hard onto his side but Jackson refused to relent. Little by little, the beam began to change to a magnificent aqua blue color and the exhausted Aquestria was pulled toward the rock, one foot at a time.
“Steady…” Fiona said in a tense voice. “Nice and easy now…”
Jackson gritted his teeth, too focused to answer. Fiona had grabbed him around the waist in an effort to keep him from being yanked off the rock. Together, it seemed like they’d gained the upper hand over the Aquestria. As it hit the deeper water, it swam right up to the foot of the rock below them in slow movement, mouth open, gasping for air.
Jackson knelt down on the edge of the rock to close the gap, but even the short distance was still too much to completely rein in the Aquestria.
“I’m…going…to have to…get in the water,” he managed between grunts. Sweat poured down his face and his arms felt like they were about to pop out of his shoulders.
“Are you crazy?” Fiona hissed in his ear. “You get in that water and the rest of the herd will drown you in seconds.”
Jackson grunted again and pulled, but the connection wasn’t strong enough to complete the taming process. He let out a huge breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding and let the beam of light go just a little slack while he thought of what to do next. The immediate relief of pressure was heaven on his screaming joints.
“Didn’t…think this through,” he gasped.
Fiona made an irritated sound. “You never do! Now we’re stuck here while —”
As if sensing Jackson’s slight relaxation, the Aquestria surged away from the rock in a burst of reserve strength. Unprepared, Jackson and Fiona were pulled off the rock by the Djinn ring’s taming beam. The sudden release of tension between the Djinn and the ring sent them surging forward… right onto the back of the Aquestria Jackson fought to control.
All at once, the ring made a pinging noise, indicating a successful capture. Rather than putting the Aquestria into stasis, however, the ring served only to bind Jackson on the Djinn’s back. Fiona, who had somehow managed to keep hold of Jackson’s waist, squeezed so hard Jackson thought she might break a rib. Back in the shallows, the Aquestria bucked and kicked and snorted, clearly not tame at all.
“Nice going!” Fiona shouted. “What’s your brilliant plan now?”
“Working on it!” Jackson said, his voice jarred by the constant struggle with the Aquestria. As his vision heaved and jerked around him, Jackson saw the Arkodon closing in on another attack. Somehow, the Aquestria sensed it as well. Its instinct for self-preservation drove it back into the deep part of the water.
“Go. Into. Your. Ring!” Jackson growled in frustration. But no matter how hard he willed the energy, it refused to pull the Aquestria inside. According to Jackson’s holo-watch, the Djinn technically belonged to Jackson, but without it actually being in the ring, it was anything but tamed.
And then water began swirling around them, faster and faster until the calm little pond raged worse than the storm they’d encountered on the ocean.
“Let it go!” Fiona screamed. “Just let it go!”
Jackson fought to break the hold of the ring’s energy lasso. It refused to give way. “I can’t!”
A sudden, terrible thought filled Jackson’s mind: what if the Djinn went under with him still bound to it?
“Let go!” Jackson yelled over his shoulder to Fiona. “You need to let go before we go underwat —”
The Aquestria reared up, almost throwing Fiona off of its back. And then it dove straight down into the pool.
Dark water filled Jackson’s vision and nostrils. With his free hand, he grabbed Fiona’s wrist, still wrapped around his waist. Even muffled underwater, the current and torrent created by the Aquestria whirled and thundered around them. He couldn’t see anything, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t do anything. Jackson tried with all his might to release the ring and swim free, but it acted as a magnet, holding him to the Aquestria as it dove deeper and deeper.
All at once, Fiona’s struggling grew faint and Jackson felt her grip around his waist slacken, and he threw his free hand back to grab her. He shouted, but only bubbles came out. His lungs grew tenser and he wanted nothing more than to take a breath. They were going to drown. He was going to die and he’d killed Fiona, too. Nothing could help. Nothing could be done. Jackson gave one last tug, but the energy beam from his ring to the Aquestria’s shoulder blades between Jackson’s legs held just as firm as ever. The last thing Jackson remembered thinking was that no matter what happened he couldn’t let go of Fiona’s arm.
Bright spots sprinkled his vision. Where was the light coming from? Somewhere in his foggy mind, Jackson knew he was drowning.
Chapter Twenty-Three
A wave of water exploded around Jackson, followed by a blinding light and an intense heat completely unlike the cold, dark embrace of the Splitrock pool. Jackson felt himself being thrown in the air and then slammed onto his side. The effect made him spew up a stomach-full of water and it took several long moments of hacking and gagging for him to draw a ragged breath.
He groaned and rolled over, reflexively raising his arm to shade his eyes from the sun’s rays. Through hazy thoughts, he realized he was laying in the sand and gathered enough energy to sit up. The movement sent a wave of nausea coursing through him and he immediately doubled over and dry heaved between his legs. When at last the feeling left, he sat up to take in his surroundings.
Fiona lay a few yards away, hacking and coughing just like Jackson. Summoning the last of his energy, Jackson crawled over to her. “Are you okay?” he wheezed.
Wiping spit and water away from her nose and mouth, Fiona shot him a half-exhausted, half-furious look. Her bedraggled hair fell down over a gaunt face and sunken eyes. “Do I look okay?”
“I mean, you look alive. That’s something.”
Fiona took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
Jackson suddenly became aware of the crashing of waves and the cry of avian sea Djinn in the air above them. Still squinting, he looked around and realized they were on a beach. Several feet behind them, a small creek rushed down over broken rocks into a wide, shallow inlet. Fiona seemed to have registered their surrounding at the same time.
“Are we…”
“We’re at the end of East Splitrock Creek,” Jackson finished. With a shaking hand, he pulled up his map on his, thankfully, still-functioning holo-watch. Sure enough, the tiny dot pinged their located on the western side of the island, right where they’d wanted to be. He also looked down at the Djinn ring on his middle finger, next to the one with the amber stone that was Asena’s. It pulsed with dark blue light and vibrated lightly against his skin.
“Congratulations,” Fiona said in a hoarse voice.
“You didn’t kill us and you caught a new Djinn. I’m not sure if you’ve got the best or worst luck of anyone I know, but you definitely have some kind of luck.” Fiona crawled on her hands and knees over to the creek and started splashing her face with the water.
Jackson sat back, his mind still struggling to understand how they’d made it from the pool to the western side of the island, miles away. The water from the creek flowed strong down the hillside into the inlet, but as far as Jackson could tell, it wasn’t deep enough or running fast enough to have possibly carried them so fast and so far before they would have run out of air.
Instead of questioning his so-called luck, Jackson decided to take another look at his new Djinn. He pointed the ring out toward the beach and released the newly-tamed Aquestria. The Water-Elemental equine appeared in a flash of dark blue light, then snorted and pawed at the sand with its webbed feet. Between the fight with the Arkodon, their underwater travel, and the stress of being tamed, Jackson knew it was probably as worn out as he and Fiona were. Before approaching the Djinn, he raised his holo-watch and did another scan. Since the Djinn belonged to him now, a more in-depth chart appeared.
GENERAL STATS AND INFO
Djinn: Aquestria
Level: 21
Name: N/A
Element: Water
Species Rarity: Somewhat Common
Tamer: Jackson Hunt
HP (Hit Points): 270/270
EP (Elemental Power): 34/95
XP (Experience): 965 to Next Level
DJP (Djinn Points): 40 Unallocated
Attack: 85
Defense: 65
Speed: 90
Accessories: None
Items: None
Status: Neutral
Bond: 10%
Move Set: Swipe Left to See More >>>
Jackson nodded as he looked at its stats. They admittedly weren’t quite as high as he had anticipated them to be, but given that there were 40 DJP unallocated, that left plenty of room for him to help it catch up with his other Djinn. From the looks of it, the strengths of the Aquestria lay in Attack and Speed, with Defense, EP, and HP being on the more moderate side — though it was hard to really tell without allocating them, which he would do as soon as he possibly could. And while he was at it, he’d probably want to come up with a name.
He swiped left on his holo-watch and checked out the Aquestria’s Move Set.
Move Set
Water-Elemental: Fountain Shot (10 EP) Water Channel (6 EP/mile), Aqua Torrent (10 EP), Whirlpool (15 EP), Tidal Charge (20 EP), Wake Gallop (50 EP)
Plain-Elemental: Attack, Bite, Headbutt, Wild Kick, Charge
Jackson looked at the Water Channel move and squinted. 6 EP/mile? What’s that mean? He tapped on the ability and an explanation popped up.
Water Channel allows a Djinn to move rapidly between connected bodies of water at a rapid pace, no matter how shallow. When performed within a herd, it also creates a vortex that allows them to bring their young along with them without having to drain any EP.
Jackson looked over at the shallow inlet where he and Fiona had emerged and then back at the Aquestria. He scratched his head. How did that work physically?
“Hey Fiona, check this out,” Jackson said, crawling over to her and sitting down on the edge of the stream. He showed her the Aquestria’s Water Channel ability. “Isn’t that crazy? I had no idea they could do that.”
“You’re unbelievable,” Fiona said. “We almost just died and you’re already acting as if none of that just happened.”
“Hey, if you’d been the one to just catch a Djinn, you’d be doing the same thing.”
Fiona narrowed her eyes and glared at him, though her smile betrayed the scolding look she was trying to give off. “Now if you’ll excuse me,” she said, holding her stomach. “I’m just going to sit over here and die real quick.”
Jackson stood up and fought back a wave a dizziness. It soon passed, however, and after a drink of his own, he felt much better. He guessed that Fiona’s adverse effects from the Water Channel had something to do with her associated seasickness but didn’t think it would be good to point out that particular revelation at the moment. Jackson walked down to the edge of the water, where the beach provided him with a better view to the north and south and, hopefully, a better signal to reach Black. Before he tried that, however, he wanted to give his new Djinn a second look.
The equine Djinn snorted and stamped its webbed feet in the surf but made no move to run in the time Jackson had spent looking at its stats and Move Set — a good sign. Jackson couldn’t help but admire the Aquestria’s powerful body. In place of hair, its hide looked slick and rubbery like a wet suit, with dapples of darker blue and deep emerald green on its hindquarters. Its seaweed mane curled around its gleaming neck. The short time in stasis had begun to heal some of the Aquestria’s wounds from the Arkodon, but Kay would be needed to help speed up the recovery process.
Jackson looked over the Djinn’s stats and moves once more, extremely glad the Aquestria’s level was high enough that he might be able to use it in the Battle Royale — just another added bonus. After letting the Djinn settle down for a moment, Jackson approached it slowly, talking in a soft voice, hand outstretched.
“That’s a good boy,” Jackson said after his first short step. “Thanks for your help. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
The Aquestria’s attention remained focused wholly on Jackson but it made no move to run or attack. Jackson went out into the water and came within a couple feet of the Djinn, the tide lapping up to his knees. When his fingers were mere inches away from the Aquestria’s nose, it jerked back with a snort out of reach.
“I’ve heard Aquestria can be pretty skittish,” Fiona said from back on the beach where she had apparently been watching. “We’ve only ever had one on the ranch and dad and one of the trainers did almost all of the handling themselves. Nobody else was allowed to work with it.”
Jackson nodded without turning away from the Aquestria and approached again. Once more, the Djinn seemed on alert, but this time it only let out a loud blow when Jackson’s fingers lighted on its nose. Jackson inched closer until he could get his entire hand on the Aquestria. He ran his fingers gently down the length of the Djinn’s face. The skin felt just like it looked, slick and soft, with a thin layer of some kind of mucus that Jackson guessed was to keep the Aquestria’s hide damp even out of the water. After a few pets, he took another step and the Aquestria snorted and balked away again.
“Okay, okay,” Jackson said holding up his hands. “I get it — baby steps. Trust me, I’ve been down this road before. I’ve learned not to force it.”
He and the Aquestria watched each other for a few more moments, understanding growing in their eyes.
“What should I call you?” Jackson said, more thinking aloud than actually asking the Djinn. As usual, his mind zipped back to some of the old matches he watched growing up. He remembered the tamer Hazel Atwell had an unbeatable Otterain she named Triton.
“How does Triton sound?” Jackson asked the Djinn.
“Triton?” Fiona said. “Didn’t you already name Asena after another professional tamer’s Djinn?”
“Yeah, so?”
“So, do you have any original ideas?”
“Oh, and Sabrina and Rebel are much better?”
Fiona just snorted in response and smiled. “Your Djinn, your decision.”
“Triton feels right,” Jackson said, entering the name on his holo-watch.
After giving Triton one last admiring glance, Jackson smiled and returned his newest Djinn to his ring. He felt the holo-watch vibrate indicating a small Bond increase.
Bond: 15%
It wasn’t a bad start, but there was still a long way to go. As much as he liked the process of raising his Bond with a Djinn, it was time-consuming. And time wasn’t really a luxury he had.
Jackson then released Scrappy and Asena. As expected, both of them had made it through the la
st day and a half unscathed inside the safety of stasis. Asena, happy to be out of her ring, raced up and down the beach playing fetch with a stick, while Scrappy and Rebel rose into the sky to search for signs of Black and her ferry. From what he could tell, they were around where they needed to be. All they had to do was wait.
Fiona lounged on the edge of the beach under the shade of a large palm tree. Jackson stole a few glances her way when it looked like she’d drifted off to sleep, trying to work out what would happen between them. The information about Kay had put him on edge and, even though they’d shared a kiss, he felt more anxiety than in the days prior. Recovering the Everore and getting back in time for the Battle Royale seemed like a much simpler task to focus on, but they were coming down to the wire. They’d lost a couple days thanks to the storm, and their buffer for getting back was quickly running out.
A long melodic cry from Rebel caught Jackson’s attention. He looked up to find Rebel and Scrappy gliding down toward them, both calling out in excitement. Jackson looked down the beach to the north and saw Black’s ferry approaching. After a quick pat of thanks to Scrappy, Jackson returned the Scoundrook to his ring as Fiona wakened from her doze and realized what was going on.
The boat seemed to be back in perfect working order, even if it lacked the sun-bleached canvas over the deck from before. Jackson could see Black steering the boat up the small inlet bay at the helm and, as soon as they reached the shallow water, Kay jumped off the side and rushed toward Jackson and Fiona.
She hit Jackson hard enough he stumbled back and almost went down in the sand. After a long, tight hug, Kay smacked Jackson hard in the shoulder. “You idiot! Do you know how much I was worried about you two?”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jackson saw Fiona go stiff and look at the ground. Kay launched into a dozen questions, firing off one after another before Jackson had a chance to answer any.
“All right, all right, you can fill us in on the boat,” Black growled. “We’ve wasted enough time with this little excursion. Let’s get you to the right island so I can get some rest while you jaunt off again. Luckily, I was able to repair the boat on the way here, so we should be going much faster, barring any other mishaps.”
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 70