Ring of Aandaleeb: The Hidden Ones (The Djinn Chronicles Book 1)

by Hutchins, S. S.

  A voice could be heard faintly from the tree, “You are on sacred land and you are not welcome here.”

  Chapter Nineteen: Coming back

  Wally looked back and forth between Yoshi and Silas. “What are you talking about?”

  “Listen, my sister was a mujahedeen, basically a priestess, a Sihr magic user. It is said that, if done right, humans and djinns can enter into barzakh—a kind of djinn underworld. Once there, they are in suspended animation. If the humans survive their entrance and awake successfully, the ancients say, he or she will, or can, become a djinn.”

  Yoshi nodded at Wally, confirming the truth of it. “The family’s bodies were never recovered from that fire.”

  Wally thought about this for a moment. He did not dare hope this to be true, because if it was this meant he could redeem himself and his inability to watch over the family. This could actually change how he felt about himself. To relieve the burden for him and to pay back his blood ties to her would be a blessing.

  “What do we need to do to find out if this is the case?” Wally did his best to hold back his excitement.

  “This is ancient magic, Wally, we need three djinn to combine their energy and layer tapestry upon tapestry to break into the barzakh. It is very difficult and we need time.” Silas had a gleam in his eye. This was the Silas Wally had known. It felt good to see him with the mischievous look on his face.

  “We can head back to my place and fortify it to perform the ritual.” Wally felt hope for the first time in a long time, “Yoshi you up for a road trip?”

  Yoshi pulled the giant butcher knife from the block, wiped the fish guts and blood off with his apron, grinned wickedly and said, “I don’t know two other people who I would like to go save the worlds with more.”

  A knock at the front door gave them pause; a second knock followed. Yoshi yelled towards the front door “We’re closed!” and they heard footsteps walk away.

  “Nobody important.”

  A loud crash came through the Sushi restaurant’s door. They could all tell it was the elite ghoul guard. The stench of the graveyard yard mixed in with a kind of damp desert night air. They shot into the back room, copper edged scimitars in hand, ready to kill. They disappeared for an instant and an assassin appeared in front of each of them.

  In the nick of time, Yoshi came straight down with the butcher knife, lopping off the assassin’s sword hand. Then the assassin became invisible, reappearing right behind Yoshi. For all his girth, he moved like a ballerina with lightning feet. He spun around before the assassin could finish materializing and chopped off his head. A foul stench immediately permeated the air and then the assassin dissolved into sand.

  Instantly, Wally turned into a stone Jackal. He snapped and gnashed at his assassin, just as he appeared in front of him. Metal met stone; a clang rang in the backroom. The Ghul assassin furiously attempted to break into the hard outer shell of the stone. Yet Wally would not let go of his arm. As long as he held on to the assassin’s arm he could not dematerialize. Wally shook the assassin and threw/released him into the side of the wall. He hit it and blasted into a torrent of sand.

  Silas handled his assassin the most elegantly. He pulled his own sword from his robe and met the ghul’s sword. The clang of copper against silver is almost a deafening sound, but instantly the two began to disappear and reappear, clang, clang. The smell of the dry desert air and the wet smell of a graveyard flashed up, down, sideways, until it bled into the street.

  Silas parried and thrust, counterthrust, dematerialized, materialized, up, down and sideways. Silas had not had a workout like this in quite some time. He rematerialized behind the Ghul, said some words and cut his legs off. The Ghul hit the ground like a sack of potatoes.

  Yoshi ran out, giant butcher knife in hand, and Wally in jackal form followed him. Djinn all around gawked at the scent. Silas knelt down beside the struggling, legless Ghul. Silas knew he could not say anything; the Ghul assassins had long prided themselves on the fact that they cut their own tongues out upon initiation. Yet Silas could still smell rotten human flesh on his breath.

  “Tell your dog headed master I am coming for him.” Silas pushed the image of a tapestry with his mind and right hand straight into the chest of the Ghul. The Ghul collapsed in on himself and he began to scream, then he disappeared.

  “I see you haven’t lost any of your usual charm,” Yoshi said with a half-hearted grin. He knew that the Ghul would barely survive a teleportation of that sort and, if he did, his body would never quite be the same again.

  Wally had heard of Silas’ brand of Sihr use, but to see it, he was slightly relieved that he was on his side. The djinn in the street backed up and stared at Silas as if he were evil incarnate. Silas dropped his robe revealing his bare chest, a crisscross patchwork of light scars and tattoos swam across his body in languages that were old when the djinn were new.

  “Look upon me if you dare, but this day you have seen ghuls attack in a city that is off limits to them. A wind of change has come, my friends. Either you fight it or are consumed by it. The Ifrit and the ghuls have begun to bring about Armageddon and my friends and I are about to stop it.” Silas waved his hand at Yoshi and Jackal formed Wally.

  “The sushi guy?” someone from the crowd yelled incredulously.

  “The boy in green sent you from Qaf; the only way to get back to your home is to let a little blood,” Silas said as he walked up to Jackal/Wally. Wally shook off his form. Silas cut Wally’s right index finger with the silver blade and collected it in his palm. He mumbled some words, but Wally only understood the word home. Silas walked up to Yoshi and Yoshi shook his head no, then used his own butcher knife to nick his index finger. “I only feed my blade,” Yoshi said, as Silas collected the blood in his hand with Wally’s and mumbled something about strength. Silas finally cut his own index finger and mingled his blood with the other two. He dripped the blood in a circle on the ground as he chanted, walking clockwise.

  The drops of blood sought each other out, drop by drop, until they formed a perfect circle. Then an image appeared, like a hologram, of Wally’s home, the circle instantly became a tapestry design that would take them there the instant they could see Wally’s home.

  Silas grinned over his shoulder at Yoshi and Wally, “There are many ways to make tapestries or mandalas; before there was wool, cotton, or silk, there was only blood. These are the best tapestries around. Silas stepped in, while yelling over his shoulder, “Shrink down, Yoshi.” Then he disappeared.

  Wally stepped through and disappeared.

  “I still can’t believe the sushi guy is helping us.”

  Yoshi shrank himself, stepped through the portal and, right before he disappeared, one of his exotic fish monstrosities burst through the front of the store. He could hear the screams as the portal folded close behind him. Yoshi smiled.

  Chapter Twenty: Touching base

  Henry had never been happier to see someone than he was at that moment. Wally had stepped through the portal, a little ragged, but safe. A small sense of sanity had come back to him, regardless how insane it was to have a 5,000-year-old grotesque guardian, who you originally thought killed your family.

  Wally looked up at Henry, smiled and embraced him. A mixture of emotions—relief, happiness and a sense of completeness—washed over his face. Henry could tell that Wally was also happy that he and Sarah had survived. This was a start…

  “This is Yoshi…”

  A small, blue, smurf-like djinn waved, then began to expand in size, getting larger until a rotund djinn with blue skin and a giant butcher knife stood before them—as far from being a little, blue smurf as you could get.

  “This is my friend and an important person for Henry to know, Silas.”

  Silas stood in the center of the room, light scars and tattoos all over his body. Henry recognized him, in a déjà vu type of way. He had never met this man, but by the way he looked at Henry he could tell there was an affinity. Something in the eyes
was both familiar and stood out for Henry.

  “Hello,” Silas gave a weak wave to both Sarah and Henry.

  “We have to secure the apartment. Without Sihr protection, we have to make ourselves invisible to all manner of magic that may stray too close to us.”

  Henry looked around at the apartment, it was fairly trashed. Furniture was upended, glass was shattered everywhere and it was all in complete disarray. It looked there had been a battle royale in Wally’s apartment.

  “Henry, I need you to help us out,” Wally said, emphatically.

  “We need the strength of three djinn to bind and make this place safe once again.” Silas took his place at the top of the triangle.

  This triangle sat on the floor in a faded chalky outline. Silas stood at one point, Yoshi stood at a second point and Henry stood at another. Silas led the other two into the incantation. It was a low, guttural sound. Then Henry felt the familiar warmth in his stomach and it flowed into the triangle melding with Silas and Yoshi. Then it expanded outward covering the entire building. Henry’s one green eye began to see the haze of magic enveloping the building and then, without warning, the building was completely invisible to his green eye.

  “Great job, guys! Thank you, this will finally allow me to rest. I have been changing back and forth between stone and human. It has played a terrible toll on me.”

  Henry looked over and he could see a grey pallor to his skin, with fine cracks, like those found in stone. For once, Henry was speechless. He could see how fragile his protector really was.

  “What’s going on?” Henry’s high pitch relayed concern.

  “The twilight Sihr of the djinn cities is powerful. They enhance djinns, Grigori and all manner of the first nations. On Earth, being one level removed from Qaf, our weaknesses appear and we need recharging.” Silas sat down, folded his legs and seemed to prepare himself. Yoshi did the same thing. Henry stood out on the balcony of the condo.

  “Listen Henry, I am going to go on the roof and put myself in a slumber, at nightfall we will continue this discussion. Nothing can find us or harm us here, now. There are several rooms; you and Sarah can have your pick. See you at dusk.”

  Wally changed into a stone bear, climbed up onto the roof and was gone.

  Silas looked over at Henry and Sarah. “While, Sarah, I do not suspect you need a lot of sleep, you do need some rest. Take a break and pick a room to get some rest.”

  Sarah nodded, all of a sudden she felt the wave of fatigue in her bones and she knew she needed to get some rest. She went into one of the back rooms.

  Henry watched Silas and Yoshi curiously as they were about to close their eyes.

  “You look as if you are about to enter into a trance,” Henry said as Silas closed his eyes.

  “It’s something like that. Yoshi and I will go mass-less, invisible and intangible. We will be here, but not here, between the veils. It is here where we will recharge our energy. Since you are only half djinn, I suggest you attempt something similar as you fall asleep. Just make sure you draw a circle around your bed with that chalk over there.”

  Henry looked over at the table where the chalk was and looked back to Silas and Yoshi, but they were gone. Just a hazy shimmer could be seen with Wally’s special eye where they had sat before.

  “Get your rest and we will speak soon.”

  Henry went and found a room. It was decorated simply, which was fine by Henry. He sat down on the edge of his bed and he could feel the weight of the last two days bear down on him. He had heard his Aunt Sadie’s song and he felt like he had a good idea of where the Book of Solomon was. It felt as though, for once, he may be able to get something right.

  That was the key, the ability to do something right for once.

  He looked down at his hands and they were slowly fading and his body felt unusually light. This must have been what Silas was telling him about. He could feel the fatigue leaving his body. It felt like tingling electricity running around his body, warmth spreading from his stomach, feeding his limbs. This is what power really feels like.

  “I am sorry, nephew.” A shadow stepped off the wall; an 8ft tall djinn stepped into view.

  Henry struggled but found he could not move, somehow he was paralyzed. Then he noticed it, a rug on the floor, a rug right underneath the bed, a rug that was telling him everything and nothing at the same time. This was a binding rug. He had forgotten to protect himself with a circle, now he was being bound.

  “It’s okay, nephew, there is no need to struggle. I am Asmodeus, the half-brother of the last Suleyman, author of the book, the architect of Armageddon.” Asmodeus had ebony colored skin with a full robe and turban. He walked to the edge of the rug and looked down at Henry.

  Henry was annoyed. “How did you get in here? The spell keeps out our enemies.”

  “As with most spells of that nature, it doesn’t address that which is already inside. I knew you would be back, my spy made certain of it, so I waited.”

  Henry felt frustrated. It seemed as if they were being out played. There was a spy amongst them. He was stuck in a limbo-like state; what else could go wrong?”

  Asmodeus held up a ring, a ring made of copper and brass. “This is by no means the ring of Aandaleeb, the ring I created with your great grandfather, but it will do. Now I will bind you to the ring; it will not last long, but it will last long enough to retrieve the book.”

  Asmodeus leaned over and looked into Henry’s eyes. Nothing. Asmodeus raised an eyebrow. “I cannot see your true name, this is unusual. But it will not deter me. The sins of the father are visited upon the son. I will use your family name “Bayman” to bind you to the ring.”

  Asmodeus created a quick tapestry in the air, mumbled some words and shoved his ring into the center of the image.

  Henry’s soul burned as if it was on fire. Then a brand appeared in the center of Henry’s chest—the brand of Asmodeus.

  Asmodeus smiled, “Good, it has worked. Now you must do my bidding, little djann. Take me to the book.”

  Henry tried to fight it, but the brand burned bright in his chest, he knew if he would just do what he said the burning would stop. Then he heard Aunt Sadie’s voice.

  “Follow the drinking gourd, follow the drinking gourd, follow the drinking gourd.”

  As if in a trance, Henry opened a portal and he and Asmodeus walked through. The portal disappeared and nothing was left in the room.

  Chapter Twenty-One: Watching the watchmen

  Sarah had awoken in this darkness many times before, but it felt different. The fear that she had normally felt when she was here was gone. Being in the tree she felt different, she felt more like herself, even though she barely knew who she was. The slithering and rustling in the dark she recognized. She didn’t need to extend her glow out to know that Samyaza was once again trying to intimidate her. She reached deep in her soul and pulled out her sword and blazed the entire room bright.

  Screaming and moaning could be heard as the creatures were blinded, she could now see that she was in a cave, and silhouettes of creatures and monsters shrunk back.

  “Sarah stop this!” Samyaza said with authority. Sarah turned off her light sword, more out of curiosity, less out of fear.

  “Where did you get that?!” Samyaza demanded as he slithered mere inches from her face.

  “It was gift,” Sarah said, defiantly.

  Samyaza slithered back from her, almost as if pacing. The skittering of the other creatures in the darkness could be heard, along with what passed as voices murmuring frantically in the background. Sarah could sense the unease and she liked it.

  “Please … daughter, tell me, who gave you this gift?” Samyaza tried to force as much charm as possible into his voice, but Sarah could read past it and saw it for what it was. She could not yet tell where this game was headed, but she knew that what she was dealing with was dangerous. No matter how she dealt with it, this creature was not her father, but she also knew it wouldn’t hesitate to kill her if
given the opportunity.

  “When I was trying to find the Book of Asmodeus, the White Haoma Tree gave it to me to save her.” Sarah had spoken the truth, but she could sense the unease that rolled around the room. Skittering and chittering moved like wild fire. This was now exactly what she expected.

  “Enough!” Samyaza said to the invisible crowd; it was obvious he was now near rage. Sarah had never seen him quite like this before. She had seen him angry, but this was a whole other level. In the dark, she could vaguely make out the outline of Samyaza slamming a spider-like shadow into the wall. Silence broke out in the room.

  Samyaza slithered up to Sarah, right behind her, whispering in her ear very cautiously, as if expecting something to happen. “What else did the tree do for you?”

  Sarah hesitated, she did not want to talk about how she felt when she left the tree, even though she could not remember what happened, just alluding to her liberation might trigger more violence.

  “The sword was it? There was no book if that’s what you are asking.”

  “Anything else?”

  “I was fighting for my life against a djinniyah named Amirah. She knew who you were and made it a point to try to kill me, twice.”

  Something like a chuckle came from the back. Samyaza slithered, backing away from Sarah. Sarah could tell that much of the anger had subsided. It sounded like a hundred voices speaking at once.

  “I’m sorry … my daughter, this is an old vendetta between her and me. I am sorry you have to be involved at all.”

  Samyaza slithered around Sarah, encircling her, forcing her to brighten her glow.

  “Are you sure there was nothing else, that the tree gave you?”

  Sarah began to feel fear as Samyaza tightened in on her like a boa constrictor.

  “I taste fear in the air … and I taste the truth. But I can also sense that this may be too much work for you, daughter. Araqiel, Rameel, Kokabiel, Armaros, Sariel, come here.”