Cassandra smiled humourlessly. She stood up a little straighter, holding her head high. Her wild hair was festooned with pieces of old bone.
‘Give me back the jann,’ she said. ‘Tell your ifrit to release him, and I’ll go in peace. We can part ways as equals, with no bad blood between us.’
Anna almost laughed.
‘I don’t think so,’ she said, squeezing the salt firmly. ‘I don’t think Caspar likes being your slave. And you’re not going anywhere.’
The witch stiffened. Anna turned and gave the crimson genie a nod.
‘Go and restrain that woman, please,’ she said. ‘And bring me the ring on her finger. I don’t want her causing any more trouble.’
The shaitan gnashed its teeth in delight. It leapt high into the air, grinning, swinging its mighty sword around to point at Cassandra; a new pair of flaming wings sprouted from its back, lighting the island with a devilish glow. It swooped towards the witch with a fearsome battle cry: a scarlet nightmare clad in shadows.
Cassandra slumped back against the tomb. She smoothed one hand across her bedraggled dress, brushing off a spot of dust. She sighed.
And with a sudden bound, she threw herself right into the genie’s path.
The shaitan screeched. It hastily beat its flaming wings, trying to pull up, trying to wheel away; but the witch tore through the air like a hurricane, latching onto a plate of dark armour and swinging up onto the genie’s broad shoulders. She cackled wildly as she drove the genie to the ground, digging her heels into its sides, laughing as the tattered ends of her dress were set alight.
Anna watched in horror as the witch stabbed her wand straight into the genie’s neck.
The great black sword clattered to the ground. The shaitan fell to its knees, gurgling, clawing at the awful cut in its throat. A dark, murky substance was spreading out from the wound, corroding the genie’s crimson skin into a rotted, scaly grey.
Cassandra pulled out the wand. With a final shudder, the genie froze in place, its wings disintegrating into ash. Its body had been turned to stone.
The marid in the sky roared. Lightning crashed down into the lake, illuminating the salty depths with a purple glow. The genie in the blue cloak let out a strangled cry, its golden features twisted in anguish. The ifrit at Max’s side hissed furiously.
Cassandra slid down the side of the stone warrior, flicking a spray of oily blood from her wand tip as she landed. She picked up the black sword, admiring the blade in the starlight. A cold smile curled across her lips.
‘Is this my consolation prize?’ she said. ‘You are kind. Perhaps I’ll put in a good word for you after all, when the time comes.’
Anna’s whole body was trembling. She turned around to see a new battalion of crimson genies lining up behind her, each one armoured in the same black metal as the first. They looked enraged.
‘I should have realised what you were,’ said Cassandra softly, her eyes fixed on Anna. ‘We could have found the ring together. I could have told you everything you’ve ever wanted to know – answered all those burning questions that have kept you up at night. I could have given you some company on this dark and lonely path.’
The shaitan drew their swords. Anna pointed at the witch.
‘Get her,’ she said, her voice quavering. ‘Get her ring. Don’t let her escape.’
She flinched as the crimson genies surged past her, wings erupting from their backs. The fiery host fell upon Cassandra as one, swords swinging, talons scratching, all trying to restrain the whirling figure at the centre of the brawl. There was a great flash of light as two black blades clashed against each other; a genie fell out from the melee, screaming, a long scratch already darkening its skin. Cassandra smiled savagely as she danced between the djinn, meeting their heavy blows with jabs and feints, laughing manically as crimson claws tore into her flesh. Another shaitan stumbled out from the fray, black blood dripping from its eye; in seconds it had frozen in place, its mouth stretched open in a silent scream.
But the genies were slowly pushing Cassandra back, and it was clear that soon she would have nowhere left to retreat. Dark waters lapped against the rock below as the witch stepped closer to the edge of the island, still fighting valiantly with sword and wand: the frenzied attacks of a warrior with nothing left to lose.
Max scrambled over to Anna’s side, passing her the white knife. Anna took it gladly, hoping that she wouldn’t have to use it.
A great blast of fire exploded from the centre of the battle. Smoke blew back across the island, blocking Anna’s view; she waved her free hand desperately, trying to clear it away. A shadow fell across her face; Anna struck out with the knife, hacking away at thin air, dreading the deathly touch of a wand at her throat.
The smoke blew overhead. Anna blinked, the white knife stuck out before her, still waiting for a blow that would never come.
Three crimson genies stood silently at the end of the island. The petrified remains of their comrades stood motionless around them, still posed in the throes of battle: statues to commemorate a conflict that had ended only seconds ago. Cassandra was nowhere to be seen.
Sitting on the very edge of the island was something small and pink. Blood dripped sluggishly from one end, pooling darkly on the stone. With a surge of revulsion, Anna realised it was a severed finger.
Wrapped around the finger was the silver ring.
16
THREE WISHES
THE LARGEST OF THE SHAITAN STOOPED DOWN to retrieve the finger from the rocks. It turned and strode back across the island, holding out the finger like a gift.
‘Ah – no – get rid of that, please,’ said Anna quickly. ‘I only want the ring. And please try to clean it a bit, if you can.’
The genie closed its hand. When it opened it again, the finger had disappeared. The witch’s ring sat alone in its great palm, silver and bloodless.
‘The body of the sorceress has slipped beneath the water,’ said the genie, its armour clinking softly. ‘What would you like us to do, master?’
Anna took the ring from the genie’s hand. The band buzzed gently against her palm, like a fly held against its will. The silver shone as brightly as ever.
‘No,’ said Anna. ‘I mean, you don’t have to go after her. The ring’s all I wanted. I don’t want any more of you turned into …’
She looked helplessly at the statues scattered around the battlefield. Her insides twisted with guilt.
‘Maybe their magic hasn’t died with them,’ said Max, remembering a line from the book of fairy tales. ‘Maybe they’ll come back as trolls.’ He smiled at her hopefully. Anna managed to smile back.
She turned to the ifrit with the majestic blue cloak. ‘Could you please wake up Caspar?’ she said. ‘I think we’ll need his help for this next part.’
The golden genie nodded. It placed its hand gently on the jann’s forehead, tracing a shape with its spindly fingers. It whispered something too quietly for Anna to hear.
Caspar’s eyes shot open. He jumped to his feet, looking this way and that, as if trying to decide which way to run. Then he raised his hands to his head, rubbing his face in confusion.
‘Something has changed,’ he said, his brow furrowed. ‘Something is very different.’
The marid in the sky growled. Caspar jumped, staring up into the swirling clouds in fear and admiration. Then his eyes fell on Anna, and on the silver ring in her hand. At once the jann dropped to his knees, prostrating himself on the stony ground.
‘You have defeated my master,’ he said. ‘You are my master now.’
Anna cringed. ‘No, I’m not,’ she said. ‘No way is that happening. I just need your help to put everything right. Back to how it was a thousand years ago, before Zareen came and mucked it all up.’
Caspar looked up at her in surprise. He rose slowly to his feet, standing awkwardly beside the two children. His eyes wandered guiltily over the many burns and bruises on Max’s swollen body.
Max stuck out his dead ha
nd. The skin was now crispy and black, with all sorts of colourful fluids oozing out from between numerous cracks. Anna wrinkled her nose in disgust.
‘That was a terrific fight,’ said Max to Caspar. ‘The best I’ve ever had. I think we should give it another go sometime.’
Caspar grinned. He took Max’s hand and shook it hard, sending a surge of sparks racing under Max’s skin. Some of the oozes started to look a little bit healthier.
Another fork of lightning zapped down into the lake. Anna managed not to jump, but she couldn’t stop herself from flinching as she looked up into the churning abyss. The marid’s face was still changing. Now it had three suns for eyes – no, a dozen – no, a hundred eyes, each one piercing through her forehead with its stare, burrowing into her brain like a swarm of fireflies. As Anna watched, the marid’s nose slowly elongated, growing out into a sabre-toothed muzzle. Horns sprouted from its ears, curling up into the stars.
‘Tell it to stop,’ whispered Caspar. ‘It will drive you mad if you don’t.’
Anna didn’t feel confident enough to tell the marid anything. Its mouth had split open now, revealing a thousand rows of electric teeth. But now they weren’t teeth at all, and the mouth was filled with bright blue arms, each one squirming like a maggot, fingers wriggling, nails lengthening –
‘Stop it,’ said Anna, squeezing the salt. ‘Stop changing. Just be still for a moment.’
She shivered as a hundred fiery eyes flashed as one. A ripple passed over the marid’s face, transforming its features one last time. To Anna’s relief, it settled on a look quite similar to a human – a human with three eyes and blue skin, but a human nonetheless.
‘What are we going to do now?’ said Max. ‘Are we going to take over the world?’
The golden ifrit made a small noise of disapproval. Max shrank down as its gaze fell upon him. Anna almost laughed – but then a very strange thought crept up at the back of her mind. She knew that taking over the world was a crazy, evil idea – but weren’t there other, good reasons to keep an army of fire warriors around? With the genies on her side, she and Max would never have to worry about running afoul of wicked fairies again. She would always have someone to send into battle, or to keep a lookout while she slept, or to bring her food, or to do anything, really. As the master of the great ring, she could make the genies do whatever she wanted. In fact, with the power of the genies behind her, she could make anyone do whatever she wanted …
‘Anna?’ said Caspar. ‘Are you all right?’
Anna blinked. Caspar was staring up at her, his face still bright with hope.
The strange thought vanished. Dreams of palaces and magic powers faded swiftly away, leaving Anna with an embarrassed feeling deep in her chest. She held up the silver ring and cleared her throat.
‘Listen up,’ she said boldly. ‘I am the master of the great ring, and I’m ready to make some wishes. So, everyone pay attention, please.
‘Firstly, I want this silver ring destroyed. I want to make sure Caspar the jann can never be enslaved by anyone ever again. That’s wish number one.’
The marid stirred. Anna’s fingertips began to tingle. Suddenly the silver ring was pulled from her grasp, floating into the air like a lost balloon. It sparkled in the moonlight as it rose through the night, the silver band gleaming – and then lightning was flashing, and Max was squealing, and Anna was ducking away as electric tendrils arced above their heads. When she looked up again, the ring had disappeared, its silver glint lost among the stars.
‘That was a bit dramatic,’ said Max crossly, brushing himself off.
But Caspar looked delighted. He held up his hands, wiggling his fingers with glee. One by one his fingertips caught alight, blazing with a happy yellow glow. Anna smiled. In one funny instant the jann had turned himself into the world’s weirdest candle.
‘How do you feel?’ she said. ‘Better?’
Caspar grinned. ‘I have not felt so fine in a thousand years,’ he said. ‘I would like to see a witch try to order me around now.’
He rolled the five flames into a single fireball, bouncing it from one hand to the other. Max giggled admiringly.
So Caspar was free. Time for wish number two.
‘Thanks for that,’ she said to the marid, trying to sound as friendly as she could. ‘My next wish is that I want all the other dangerous things buried in Zareen’s citadel destroyed as well. Get rid of all the things humans shouldn’t find – the magic rings, and the ghuls in jars, and whatever else Zareen managed to cook up. Free all the genies – I mean the djinn – and tell them that if anyone ever offers them a pretty trinket again, they shouldn’t be stupid enough to take it.’ Anna winced, realising what she’d said. ‘Not that you were stupid,’ she added nervously, not quite daring to meet the marid’s eye.
The clouds heaved as the marid waved its mighty hand. A new troop of genies dived down from the vortex, crimson muscles glowing, black armour clanking. They raced across the surface of the lake, sending ripples through the water with each beat of their blazing wings.
The ifrit in the blue cloak smiled beautifully. ‘A fine wish,’ it said.
Its voice was so lovely that Anna longed for it to speak some more, but the ifrit fell silent, regarding her with cautious curiosity. Anna looked down at her feet, letting a trickle of salt fall onto the rocks. She knew she could make the ifrit talk if she wanted to. She could even make it sing. This was her last chance to get everything she had ever wanted. This was her last chance to become the most powerful girl in the world …
‘Okay,’ she said, sighing. ‘Wish number three. As soon as we get back to the camp, I wish for you to tear a hole in the beach, to break the ring of salt. And sink this island too, while you’re at it. Then you can all go and be yourselves again, and spend the rest of your lives doing whatever it is genies do. That’s my last wish.’
And with that, Anna let the last of the salt slide from her hand, hoping that she wasn’t making a very big mistake.
The marid opened its gigantic mouth. Its teeth began to sizzle, crackling with electricity, each one as big as the moon. Anna braced herself, ready to run to the edge of the island, ready to dive into the lake to escape the incoming blast –
‘It is smiling,’ whispered Caspar. ‘You have pleased it greatly.’
Anna peered upward. It didn’t look much like a smile. She smiled back anyway. ‘You’re welcome,’ she said.
The marid smiled a little wider. Its face was rippling again now, changing into something wilder, more beastly. Sapphire scales ossified over its skin; horrible azure spikes pushed out through its spine. Anna covered her face just as the genie’s eyes began to multiply one last time.
When she looked again, the marid of the great ring was gone.
Max let out a triumphant whoop. Caspar threw his arms into the air, basking in the cool, quiet night. The ifrit in the starry blue cloak smiled warmly, its golden skin shining even brighter than before.
‘Your wishes will be granted,’ it said. ‘As soon as you are away, I will carry the island to the depths of the lakebed. The tomb of Zareen will not be found again.’ It paused. ‘It is a grand thing you have done for our people this night. It will not soon be forgotten.’
Anna nodded. All her energy seemed to be seeping away, and suddenly all she could think about was sleep. How long had they been on the island? She thought it must be past midnight by now.
‘We’d better go,’ she said, stifling a yawn. ‘The Professor’s still locked up in a boat, and he’s probably getting pretty worried about it. We’d better go and let him out.’
The ifrit waved a golden hand. Anna waved back. Then she turned and dragged her feet over to the tunnel, groaning as she thought about the climb back down. She hoped it would be easier without a wicked witch nipping at their heels.
‘I didn’t get a proper look at the tomb,’ said Max loudly. ‘I’ll just have a quick look now, okay?’
Anna barely heard him. She stumbled into the tunnel, al
most falling down the chimney hole as she blinked away her tiredness. Caspar rushed to her side, lighting her path with his hands as she stepped down into the gloom.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ she said, a little crossly. ‘I set you free, remember?’
‘Yes, you did,’ said Caspar. ‘And now I am free to help my friends whenever I like. I can stop you from falling to your death, and nobody can tell me otherwise.’
He grinned, his teeth glowing in the darkness. Anna rolled her eyes – she definitely hadn’t been about to fall to her death, she thought sleepily – but she grinned as well. She moved aside to let Caspar lead her down over the jagged stones, holding his hand to steady herself as she jumped down each step. Every time she touched his skin a surge of energy ran through her body, but it wasn’t quite enough to wake up her tired brain. Soon her exhaustion would be absolute.
She glanced up to see Max tumble through the tunnel entrance, scampering very quickly down the first of the stones. Anna narrowed her eyes. Something was flapping along in the darkness behind him – something that almost seemed to shine with a light of its own. Anna grabbed Caspar’s shoulder to stop him, waiting for her brother to catch up.
‘Where did you get that?’ she said suspiciously. ‘What did you just do?’
Max froze, his face cringing into the guiltiest expression Anna had ever seen. His dead hand was wrapped around a long piece of fabric – fabric that was a deep, dusky blue, with silver specks shining like stars. His other hand was balled into a fist.
‘I didn’t really mean it,’ he said hastily. ‘I mean, I only asked – I didn’t know if it was real or not. But then my hand was in the pocket with the salt, and the beach hasn’t been broken yet – and I didn’t really mean for it to be a wish, but I asked – and the genie, you know, it had to – it just gave it to me …’
Anna gasped as Max meekly held out the fabric. The cloak of the golden ifrit shimmered in the half-light of the tunnel – but now it didn’t look like a cloak. It looked like something else entirely.
Max’s eyes shone as he ran his shaking fingers along the hem of his magic carpet.
The Genie Rings Page 10