“Um…I think we’d better figure something out fast,” Kay said, nervous.
A stab of fear pierced through Jackson’s desire to reach Asena. He had no other Djinn on him and the entire pack of Lyotes was approaching. Sunshine let out a whimper in Kay’s arms.
Pushing aside his whirling emotions, Jackson stretched out his left hand and focused his entire attention on Asena. All at once, like pushing a hand through a thin layer of ice on a pond, Jackson found Asena. Her presence was weak and faint, but clearly there, an immense relief in and of itself. Pulling with all of his might, Jackson felt a faint twitch from the ring on his hand. He opened his eyes just as Asena’s essence shot toward him in the familiar orange light. As soon as she was placed in stasis within the ring, Jackson could only feel the faintest vibration, an indication of how serious her condition was.
“Jackson, we’ve got to go, now!”
Kay’s composure was completely gone as the Lyote pack formed a semi-circle around the two humans. Jackson placed himself between Kay and the wild Djinn and started to back toward the trees. Their only hope was to make it out of the clearing before the Lyotes decided to attack. If the pack charged, they didn’t stand a chance.
One of the larger Lyotes snapped its jaws and advanced, a low, feral growl rising from its chest. Following the lead of the big Lyote, the others started to draw in around them. With no other means to defend himself and Kay, Jackson raised his fists.
“Really?” Kay said. “You’re going to try and fight them with your fists?”
“You got a better idea?” Jackson said. “Kay, you’ve got to run for the —”
All at once the Lyotes froze in place. At the same time, Jackson heard the faintest trilling whistle, almost like a high-pitched buzzing in his ear. The shrill note sounded again and the Lyotes sank to the ground, whining. Once more and the animals lay shaking, completely cowed.
“There’s no danger now.”
Jackson turned and saw Vega holding out his holo-watch. When the high-pitched noise blasted the clearing again, Jackson realized it was coming from the researcher. He twitched, realizing how much pain the noise-sensitive Lyotes must have been in.
“I’m sorry it had to come to this,” Vega said. “I truly hope your Lyote suffers no permanent harm — I only needed her to distract the pack. Between the full moon and Asena about to evolve, the Lyotes were in a very delicate position I wouldn’t have been able to take advantage of otherwise.”
“Stop that!” Kay shouted as several of the Lyotes let out long, agony-filled howls. “You’re hurting them!”
“These beasts were about to tear you to shreds,” Vega said, sounding almost indignant. “Do you really want me to stop?”
Kay didn’t answer.
“Get out of my way,” Vega said. “I’ve wasted enough time with you.”
Jackson clenched his fists and stared Vega down. “We can’t let you take these Djinn.”
“I’m sorry?” Vega’s tone grew less tolerant in an instant.
“I don’t care if I have to fight you myself. I’m not letting you steal them.”
Vega sighed and reached into his battered suit jacket with his free hand then leveled a pistol at Jackson. “You’re really making this hard. Move now. I don’t want to do it, but I’ve gotten to the point where I just don’t have time for you.
A terrible, gut-wrenching feeling tore at Jackson, but he saw no other option. He and Kay stepped aside. Kay kept her eyes glued to the researcher the entire time.
“This isn’t right,” she whispered.
“I know,” Jackson replied in a quiet voice so Vega couldn’t hear.
“Thank you,” Vega said politely.
The researcher lowered the arm bearing his holo-watch and reached into another interior pocket of his jacket. The item looked almost like a set of brass knuckles that Jackson had seen a few times at the Underground fights, except each of the interlocked finger hole was set with a stone. Jackson had a pretty good idea what the item would do.
A moment later, five beams of white light shot out of the ring bar and struck five of the stunned Lyotes. In their current state, the normally-powerful Djinn were helpless to put up a fight. A few seconds later, the Djinn were sucked into the interlocking rings.
Jackson couldn’t believe his eyes. Vega had effortlessly caught five extremely rare wild Djinn. Vega grinned as if he’d achieved his life’s work, and from what Jackson could tell, he just may have. The other Lyotes snarled, but were still kept in check by Vega’s holo-watch.
“Remarkable, isn’t it? Unfortunately, we were only able to build one working model in time for the trip. Originally, the concept of the ring bar and the stun application was going to be sold to Djinn trappers and wranglers. But then we realized it just made so much more sense to use the combination to capture rare, powerful Djinn ourselves instead.”
“So what happens now?” Jackson asked. He’d tried to scan the forest behind Vega for any sign of Fiona or Black, but so far no one had shown up. With no other option, he hoped he could keep Vega stalling on the slim chance that one of them was still coming.
“Now comes the difficult part,” Vega said, raising his weapon again. “Trust me when I say I’m not a killer. But it’s become clear that you have no interest in letting this go once we leave the island.” Vega took a deep breath. “To be honest, keeping you alive for as long as I have is something only an idiot would do. Even now, I’m stalling.” Vega swallowed.
Jackson and Kay had their hands up. This was do or die time. Literally. He somehow needed to bridge the ten foot gap between him and Vega without getting shot. And then he remembered.
Vega had two of Jackson’s Djinn in his coat pocket: Scrappy and Triton.
“Well, say something,” Vega said. “I can’t kill someone who won’t talk back.”
Without wasting another second, Jackson immediately focused his concentration on remotely summoning the Djinn from the rings. Scrappy was easy to find. Although the Scoundrook had been recalled into his ring prior to Vega’s holdup, Scrappy could tell that something was off, and a wave of relief seemed to wash over the Djinn when he felt Jackson’s Bond.
But Triton was another deal altogether. With a limited Bond of 30%, Jackson couldn’t focus hard enough to find him. And when he did, he was met with nothing but fear and resistance from the Aquestria.
Doesn’t matter, Jackson thought. I only need one.
A blast of purple and obsidian light shot out of Vega’s inside coat pocket.
The man let out a scream and shot his gun into the air. Kay flinched as Jackson ran straight for the researcher, tackling him to the ground and knocking the firearm from his hand.
Jackson punched him once, then twice, and thrust his hand inside the man’s pocket, retrieving his Djinn rings.
“I got it!” Kay called out, picking up the weapon.
Jackson stood up and placed both rings back on their respective fingers and summoned the Aquestria over to Vega’s four o’clock. With Scrappy hovering to Vega’s eight o’clock, they effectively had the man surrounded. Vega stood up and his eyes went from the Scrappy to Triton and to Jackson and Kay, a mix of confusion and frustration plastered on his face.
Though there was one expression Jackson was surprised was not on his face. Fear.
“I’ve been told my whole life that I’m too soft,” Vega said. “That I don’t have what it takes to achieve anything above mediocrity. To do what needs to be done. It looks like they were right.”
“Let the Lyotes go,” Jackson said.
“Or you’ll what?” Vega said. He tapped his holo-watch three times, and the high-pitched noise halted.
Jackson looked around him and noticed the stunned Lyotes start to stand. He cursed silently at himself, praying that the Djinn would back away for fear of being stunned once more. They didn’t. Only a few seconds passed before they started to growl and close in.
“Vega, what are you doing?” Jackson said.
“Wh
at needs to be done,” Vega said, his teeth gritted, and blood trickling from his lips. “I didn’t work this hard to achieve mediocrity.”
The remaining Lyotes started to close in on Jackson and Kay’s rear. Jackson really didn’t want to have to fight a pack of wild Djinn. With them being an endangered species, it felt completely immoral, but with each step they took, Jackson realized he had no choice.
“Triton. Get ready.” Jackson said, pulling up the Water-Elemental’s stats. It had yet to be healed from its battle with the Volcanogre, and as such, its EP was still recovering, but it had enough for one more Wake Gallop.
“Wait, Jackson,” Kay said. “Don’t fight them. We still have the edge here.”
“You can’t shoot him, Kay.”
“That’s right,” Vega said, stepping forward. “You can’t shoot me.”
“Don’t come any closer,” Kay said, raising the gun with both hands shaking.
“You don’t want to do this,” Vega said in a calm voice as he took another step toward Kay.
The leader of the Lyote pack let out a hair-raising cry and unleashed a Fire Bark toward Jackson. He had the briefest moment to command Triton to counterattack.
Triton threw his head back, and a cascade of water poured from its body and thundered toward the remaining pack, smothering out the Fire Bark. The other members of the pack didn’t even register the attack before it washed them away. The attack wouldn’t knock them out, but it would at least buy them some time and at least —
Bang!
Jackson turned to see Kay standing, both hands on the gun, her eyes wide in shock. “Holy hell,” Kay said, hands shaking.
“You shot me!” Vega gasped out, hunched over, cradling his right hand.
“I didn’t…I didn’t mean —”
“You shot him?”
“He was trying to grab the gun from me!” Kay said.
“You blew off my finger!” Vega cried out. He held up his bleeding hand, and where his pinky finger once was, Jackson only saw blood.
“Oh, gawd,” Kay said, raising her hand to her mouth. “I’m gonna be sick.”
“You shot me!”
“You came at me!”
“That does it,” Vega said, his teeth gritted and his eyes narrowed. Any semblance of civility had left his face. “I tried being nice. But no more!” He punched the air with his free hand and out shot the familiar bolts of vermillion light. Four of his recently-captured Lyotes emerged from their rings, teeth bared and hackles raised.
“You can’t control them yet,” Jackson said.
“I don’t need to control them,” Vega said, his left hand bleeding and tucked in close to his chest. “And besides, I only need to take one with me.”
“Crap, look!” Kay said, pointing behind him.
Jackson turned to see the pack fully recovered from Triton’s attack and headed their way once again at full speed.
Triton, Fountain Shot! Jackson commanded his new Djinn, but he was met with a buzz from his holo-watch, where the notification Insufficient EP popped up. Crap! And that was the lowest EP-heavy attack.
Scrappy! Jackson turned to his airborne monster. Mini-Twister! Scrappy dove in and unleashed a barrage of wind that coalesced into a small cyclone that slammed into the pack. It knocked them back a bit. Focused on a single Djinn, the attack could have done some harm, but with it trying to hold back an entire group, it only worked to slow them down and anger them.
There was no way they could take them all on, especially with low HP and insufficient EP.
“Scrappy, look out!” Kay cried out.
The Scoundrook let out a cry of pain as it was swatted down from behind by one of Vega’s Lyotes. A whinny came from Triton, who suddenly found himself trapped between a couple of Vega’s Djinn and the remaining pack. The Water-Elemental Djinn instinctively started to kick and buck as the Lyotes attacked, sending only one of them flying as the other two latched on — one onto its shoulder and another its rear.
“Scrappy, get up!” Jackson said aloud.
In spite of its pain, the Scoundrook listened, hovering in the air. That surprise attack had been a critical hit, but true to his name, Scrappy wouldn’t go down for long.
Get ready for another Mini-Twister, Jackson said.
His watch buzzed. Insufficient EP.
This was it.
Dive-Bomb! Scrappy flew up into the air and darted down toward the pack leader, slamming into its side and taking it to the ground.
This was how it ended.
Triton! I’m sorry I couldn’t be a better tamer for you, but we can’t go down without a fight. Jackson could feel his new Djinn’s fear, but felt his resolve with it strengthen under the duress of the battle. Headbutt!
The Water-Elemental Djinn followed orders, taking down the nearest Lyote.
We won’t go down without a fight, Jackson thought as the dozen Lyotes closed in on all sides. He looked behind him and saw that Kay allowed Sunshine into the fight, ordering the Djinn to use its Taunts to slow down the pack.
“Hey, Kay. You remember that time I convinced you to come to an island?” Jackson said to Kay, whose back was up against him.
“Yeah, that was a terrible idea.”
“The worst. Next time, try to talk some sense into me.”
“I may as well try to stop the sun from going down every night,” Kay said.
And then came the sound of another howl.
The Lyote pack stopped in its tracks.
The howl rang out from the skies above, as if circling them. Each of the Lyotes followed the sound with their heads, as if they could see its source.
Jackson squinted into the sky. Wait, could he see its source? From above, a large airborne Djinn — a Valcorous — descended, the howling emanating from it. Seated on top of the majestic bird Djinn was Black, a large wind instrument pressed to her lips. She gave Jackson and Kay a nod and flew off, the howls going with her.
The Lyotes around them let out loud barks, their animus toward Jackson and Kay immediately forgotten. They darted off toward the howls, in pursuit of what Jackson really didn’t understand.
He looked around. He, Kay, Sunshine, Scrappy, and Triton were all worse for wear, but safe. And then Jackson saw him. Not too far away in the distance, he saw Vega’s figure scrambling to get back into the thicket of trees. If he made his way in, he’d likely be very hard to track down, even if this was an enclosed island. Knowing Vega’s resources, he could somehow manage to find a ride off.
Jackson took off in a sprint. Vega was much closer, but he had a hell of a head start. He wouldn’t make it.
Jackson cursed.
Vega hopped into the treeline, but a huge gust of wind blew him backward, and out emerged Fiona and Rebel.
“I think you lost something!” Fiona called out to Jackson.
“You know, technically I haven’t done anything wrong,” Vega said, holding up his hand as a medic wrapped his bleeding hand. “I never left the island with anything, and she’s the one who shot me.” He pointed over at Kay, who gave him an angry glare back.
“It was an accident! It only happened when you tried to steal the gun from me. And you’re a poacher!” Kay said. She turned to Black, who had recently descended from the back of her Valcorous after herding away the remaining Lyotes. “By the way, he still has one of them in his weird ring bar.”
“Is that so?” Black said. “Hand it over, Fancy Suit.”
Vega tightened his lips and raised his hand that held the trinket.
“You expect me to take it off for you?” Black said.
Vega motioned to his bandaged hand in response.
Black frowned and roughly pulled the bar from his fingers.
“I still haven’t done anything wrong,” Vega insisted. “All Djinn are accounted for, and no illegal activity has been followed through on.”
“Tell that to the rangers,” Black said. “I don’t think they’ll see it as you do.”
As if on cue, a dozen species o
f flying Djinn bearing human riders appeared over the ridge and landed nearby. After a quick word with Fiona, three took off and descended to the two separate spots where Heath and Sloan were tied up.
“You all should really let me go!” Vega yelled as he continued his futile struggle against the rangers. “I have friends in high places, you know.” They forced him down on the ground where he slumped over like a kid who’d been told he wasn’t getting any dessert.
Jackson squatted down in front of the researcher. “I hope you rot in prison for a long time.”
When Vega raised his head, his anger was palpable. “And I hope you work as hard for something as I have my entire life only to see it crumble down in front of your very eyes.” He gave a hapless smile. “Good luck in the Battle Royale.”
Before Jackson could ask the researcher what he meant, a pair of rangers joined them and had Jackson return to his friends. Glancing over his shoulder, Jackson saw Vega watching him go with a spiteful, sneering expression.
“We’ll have to wait for a helicopter to transport him back to the mainland,” one of the rangers, a brawny man with a ruddy face and a thick black beard, said. “We’ll also have a few questions for you as well. We can give you a ride to your Ferry, but you’ll have to make your own way back.”
“That’s fine, Ned,” Black said. “I’ll make sure they get to you safe. We should be in by this evening.”
Jackson blinked and realized for the first time that the morning sun was just starting to warm up the horizon with a soft orange glow. All at once, the fatigue and stress of the last few days caught up with him and he wanted nothing more than to lie down on the ground and sleep. But he couldn’t — Asena was still depending on him.
“Isn’t there a faster way back?” Jackson asked Black and the ranger, Ned. “There’s something wrong with my Lyote — I think she needs medical attention.”
“Your Lyote?” the ranger asked, his face wrinkling in concern. “Where did you get a Lyote? They’ve been on the endangered no catch list for almost twenty years.”
“He didn’t poach her, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kay cut in. “She’s papered and certified and right now she needs help! Isn’t there anything you can do?”
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 77