Amurru’s yellow eyes held hers and the expression in them filled her with dread. ‘I was summoned during the night.’ He paused. ‘It is your brother, Empress.’ Amurru bowed his head. ‘He has been harnessed.’
Her stomach heaved and her legs wobbled. It felt like time stood still. Her brain was screaming that this could not be true, not Atym. Her eyes focused on Amurru.
‘But how could they get inside the castle?’ she choked out. ‘A harnessed genie cannot get in.’
‘Your father was not sure. But they think he was taken just outside the city walls.’
‘But Atym is confined to the castle.’
Amurru looked sad. ‘Your father thinks that Atym was somehow lured outside.’
‘What could possibly tempt Atym to do that? And how could he do that without someone seeing?’
‘Some genies passing by did think they saw something.’ Amurru reached out his stumpy, withered hand to her. ‘They thought they saw you.’
‘Oh, Atym.’ She dropped her face in her hands. ‘How could he let himself be tricked so easily?’
‘Your brother is only seven and he was missing you terribly.’ Amurru sighed. ‘The Emperor leaves this morning in search of him.’
‘How does he intend to do that? To take enough soldiers with him to go up against Vennum would leave the castle without enough protection.’
‘That is true,’ said Amurru. ‘That would leave the city most vulnerable.’
Her eyes flickered as suspicion dawned. ‘You did not answer my question, Amurru. How many does he take?’
Amurru’s gaze did not waver. ‘He goes alone.’
Her power rumbled in her chest, yearning to burst out and summon the fiercest of hurricanes. How could her father do this? It was exactly what Vennum wanted. In fact, Vennum couldn’t lose. Either her father would risk himself or he would risk the castle, because they all knew he would not abandon his son to Vennum. Not without a fight.
She turned to Amurru. ‘I must go back.’
‘And do what?’ asked Amurru. ‘Risk the destruction of the royal blood line?’
Her bangles jangled madly as she placed a hand on each hip. ‘What is the point of a royal blood line if there is no empire to return to?’
Amurru slid off the bed and shuffled to her. ‘Should Vennum succeed,’ he reached out a small, stubby hand to her, ‘then Genesia’s only chance to live on lies in you.’
She shook his hand off. ‘I will not stand back and watch while Vennum destroys my family.’
Amurru glanced at David. ‘Empress, you have no choice.’
‘Please, David.’ She placed her hand on his arm. ‘Unharness me.’
‘I am so sorry about your brother.’ He gently removed her hand. ‘But I will not unharness you.’
Understanding dawned as the small part of the conversation she had overheard came back to her. Amurru had asked David not to unharness her.
‘Please, David. You more than anyone know how it feels to have a loved one taken from you. Would you not have given anything to go after your father? To find him and bring him back, no matter what the cost to you?’
David took a deep breath. ‘Yes.’ His eyes darted to Amurru. ‘But it doesn’t change anything.’
‘You will not miss out, David.’ Her eyes pleaded with him. ‘I will grant all the wishes you can think of before you unharness me. In fact, I will even promise to return to you when my family is once again safe.’
He gave a violent shake of his head. ‘I can’t, Kora. I won’t!’
‘You can. Try to understand how important this is.’
‘I do understand and I know how you feel.’
‘Then free me. I can change things but I need to go now.’
‘I’ve seen Vennum and all his harnessed genies. Are you really powerful enough against all of them?’ His voice became louder, harder. ‘And even if you are, what then? You told me yourself that a genie cannot harm a human.’
‘Please, David. I beg you. I cannot do nothing.’
He stepped away from her. ‘I’m sorry.’
Frustrated tears sprang to her eyes but she held them in. ‘You stupid, selfish human, you have no idea what you are doing.’ Then she spun on Amurru. ‘Look what you have done. I shall never forgive you.’
‘I have done my duty, Empress.’ Amurru blinked his yellow eyes slowly at her. ‘Your father’s last command to me was to keep you safe here on Earth.’
She thought of her little brother, harnessed by Vennum, and her father leaving the castle all alone in search of him. What would he do? He must have a plan of some sort. Maybe he was even considering doing a deal with the Slaytians. Had it had come to that? Whatever his plan was, she knew he was unlikely to succeed alone. He needed help, her help! And yet here she was trapped on this stupid planet by a selfish, stupid human. She glared at Amurru, feeling betrayed. He had left her while she was asleep to manipulate David. She did not understand how Amurru could stand by and watch Vennum destroy their home.
‘Does my father have a plan?’ Kora asked, her voice quivering with rage. ‘It is a mistake for him to go off on his own like that!’
‘He did not say, Empress.’
‘But he is alone, Amurru. Alone outside the city walls.’ She threw her hands up in the air helplessly. ‘He will have to travel on foot, without the use of his magic!’ The very thought of this filled her with terror. What if her father was forced to use magic for some reason? Even the smallest trickle of power used out in the Genesian wilderness would lead Vennum straight to him.
‘He will be careful, Empress,’ said Amurru. ‘He knows his enemy well.’
‘He is so vulnerable, Amurru.’ She knew Amurru was trying to reassure her, but she also knew the enormous risk her father was taking. ‘How could I bear it if Father was also harnessed by Vennum?’
Amurru’s eyes were full of sympathy. ‘Your father has promised to be in touch for your birthday, and he said to tell you that he loves you very much.’
The tears she had held back stung her eyes again. She had not cried since she was a small child and she certainly wasn’t about to do so now in front of Amurru and David. She turned her back on them. If they refused to help her then she would figure out a way to get home on her own. Her birthday was still seven days away. She could not wait that long for news. She refused. She would help her family, and no stupid human or armourowl would be able to stop her!
For friends and fathers
Kora heard the front door of the house slam. She knew that David had only been waiting for his mother to leave for work so that he could summon her. At least that was one bonus of being kept a secret, he could only summon her when they had complete privacy.
She suspected that David wanted to talk. But that was only because he felt guilty about his refusal to unharness her. Her forehead creased into a scowl. And he should feel guilty. But what good would talking do? The only thing that would help her father now was action. She needed to do something. She had to come up with a plan.
‘Kora?’ David’s voice floated into her globe. ‘Please come out. I want to talk to you.’
She shook her head. Why should she go to him? She didn’t feel like talking right now. She crossed her arms, staring at Amurru defiantly. But Amurru only blinked at her until finally she relented. If she didn’t go, David would only wish it.
She shimmered into his room, an angry retort on her lips. But she swallowed her words when she saw him. He stood in the middle of the room, a silver tray in his hands. On it was a steaming cup of tea, a mound of chocolate chip cookies, and two crumpets dripping with melted butter and honey. A little vase on the tray held a couple of yellow daisies from the garden. Her anger drained away as she realised it was for her.
She stared up at his face. ‘You made all this for me?’
‘Who else?’
‘But you went to so much trouble. You could have just wished for it, David.’
‘I wanted to do it for you myself.’ He shrugged as
he put the tray down on the desk. ‘It’s not the same if you have to make it yourself. Even if you do use magic.’
She sat down on the edge of the bed and David passed her the tea. He propped himself against the edge of the desk, watching her. ‘Go on, drink it,’ he said. ‘It’ll make you feel better.’
She doubted that. It would take more than a cup of tea to make things better. But she lifted the cup and sipped. It was hot and sweet and milky. And David was right, it did calm her nerves a little. She looked up at him and smiled.
‘Thank you.’
He shrugged. ‘It’s nothing.’
She didn’t answer, but she was touched. No one had ever made her anything before. At least, not without using magic. She took another sip of her tea and waited for him to speak.
‘Kora?’
‘Mmm?’
‘I really am sorry about Atym. And your father.’ He stared down at his feet. ‘But I just can’t let you risk your life, too.’
‘I know you mean well, David, but surely it is my decision to make.’ Kora shook her head as she spoke. ‘It is not for you to decide whether I risk my life. And it is not for Amurru to do so, either.’
‘But if I did let you go,’ said David, ‘what good would it do? What could you do to help either of them?’
‘I would think of something.’
David stood and strode across the room, agitated. ‘You told me yourself that no genie can harm Vennum because he is half-human. You would only risk being harnessed by Vennum yourself. Surely that would only make things even worse for them?’
Kora shrugged. ‘I do not know what I will do yet, David. But I will come up with a plan.’ Her voice remained defiant but in her heart she knew he was right. There was so little she could do. ‘He is my father, David. How can I sit by doing nothing when he is in grave danger? If I could just go back to Genesia, at least I would be there to comfort my mother. She waits alone in the palace not knowing whether any of her family is safe.’
‘Can’t you just open one of those viewing portals? Then you could see for yourself whether they are safe?’
She shook her head. ‘I could never do that from here. It would take an incredible amount of power to open a portal on Genesia from Earth. Even if I was powerful enough, using so much magic would certainly attract Vennum’s attention.’
‘Okay, but what about your mother?’ he asked. ‘She could use one to keep an eye on your father? Or to see where Atym is?’
Again she shook her head. ‘No, a viewing portal does not work that way. A portal can only be opened onto a specific location, not onto a specific genie or person. You remember the one I opened onto Panda Rock the other day, when we watched Vennum and his genies?’
‘How could I forget?’
‘I was able to open that one because I had been there. I had a fix on the exact location. Vennum could be on Earth right now and I would not know. I could only open a portal to view him if I knew his exact location.’
He nodded. ‘I guess it’s just as well it works that way, otherwise Vennum would have been able to find us using one.’
Kora stepped towards him, her mind swirling with ideas. ‘Yesterday you asked me if I would help you find your father. What if I could help you find him?’ Her voice was filled with hope. ‘If I did, would you release me so that I could go and find mine?’
David stared at her. ‘I don’t need to bargain with you, Kora. I can just wish that you find my father.’ He glanced away. ‘I don’t have to unharness you afterwards.’
Kora’s mouth dropped open. ‘You would do that? You would let me find your father for you, while you refuse to allow me to search for mine?’
She could see uncertainty flicker in David’s eyes. But then his face hardened. ‘You are trying to blackmail me,’ he said. ‘But it is an entirely different thing. No lives will be put at risk by searching for my father.’
She turned away from him, the intense disappointment making her shoulders slump.
‘I can’t believe you would do that to me,’ he said. ‘You would want me to live without my father, just because you can’t be with yours?’
She stared out the window, thinking over his words. Finally she turned back to face him. ‘You are right, David,’ she said. ‘It is wrong of me to ask you to suffer just because I must. And you have suffered for five years. It is too long. Let us do it today. Right now.’
She tipped her head. ‘Go ahead, David. Make your wish.’
The cave
‘What do you mean you can’t find him? I wished it.’ David mashed his hand through his messy hair. ‘You have to find him.’
She frowned in concentration. ‘I am sorry, David.’ She placed the photo of David and his father down. ‘He is not here to be found.’
David dropped his head into his hands and took a few deep breaths. When he lifted his head his gaze was steady but sad. ‘I wish,’ he said, ‘to go to my father’s grave.’
She felt the agony behind his words. Her power rumbled around in her chest seeking the answer to his wish but something wasn’t right. She could feel the pull to a place, but she knew it was not his father’s grave. She increased her power and continued to search. ‘David,’ she finally said, ‘I cannot find him.’
‘What do you mean? Why not? If you’re supposed to be such a powerful genie then why can’t you find him?’
‘If he was anywhere on this Earth I would have found him.’ She swallowed her own frustration. Why could she not find him? ‘It is as if he has vanished from the planet.’
David stared blankly at her. ‘But how could that be? People don’t just vanish into thin air. You must be doing something wrong. I thought you could find anybody anywhere?’
‘I am not doing anything wrong. I should be able to locate any full-blooded human anywhere on the planet.’
‘Then how come you can’t find my father?’
‘I cannot explain it, but there is something odd,’ she said. ‘I felt a kind of pull to a place.’ She laid a hand gently on his shoulder. ‘It is not your father’s grave but I do feel it may be where your father died.’
She felt his shoulder shudder. ‘I wish then,’ he said, ‘to go to the place my father died.’
The power that had been previously flowing directionless through her body gathered force and burst out, transporting them instantly.
She blinked in the harsh light. They were standing on scorching hot sand at the entrance to a cave in the middle of the most desolate place she had ever seen. The land was barren and endless.
She squinted up at David who was standing still, looking shell-shocked. ‘You think my father died here?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Inside the cave.’
She watched his shoulders rise and fall as he took a few deep breaths. Then he ducked his head and entered the cool darkness of the cave.
He stopped abruptly and touched a place on the cave wall, then crouched in front of it. The wall was darker here and she walked over to see what he was looking at.
‘Is this my father’s blood?’
She leaned in to examine the dark, red-black stain. ‘Yes.’
David sank to his knees in the cool sand and bowed his head against the wall.
‘But his body isn’t here?’ His voice was thick with emotion.
‘No,’ she answered hoarsely. ‘I am so sorry, David.’ She gently touched his arm and left him in the cave, his head leaning against the jagged wall. The hot, bright sunlight was a welcome relief from the icy fingers of death that seemed to lurk within the cave. With her own father now so vulnerable on Genesia, her heart ached in sympathy for David.
She summoned a cushion and a weather shield and sat down to wait. Her thoughts whirled around and around. She knew, without a doubt, that David’s father had died in that cave, but where was his body? It really was as if he had vanished. If she could find out what had happened to David’s father when he died, they may be able to find his grave.
It was believed that if
a genie was powerful enough, that genie could open a viewing portal back into a past time. Few genies had ever been brave enough to try it and those that had, the stories went, had wound up dead, or nearly dead, from the exertion of using such an extreme amount of power. But just how powerful would you have to be? How much power would it require to open a portal through time and space, and how long could that portal be held open for?
She could taste the desire to try it. To be the first genie to ever achieve it, but now was not the time. That amount of power would draw Vennum immediately.
David’s long shadow cast over her as he stepped out of the cave. His eyes were tinged with red, but his voice was even when he spoke. ‘Thank you, Kora.’
‘I am sorry we did not find your father.’
‘At least I know now.’ David plonked down on the cushion beside her. ‘He’s not ever coming home.’
Her heart twisted painfully imagining his grief. ‘Is it better to know?’ she asked. ‘Or do you wish you could still hope?’
‘I’m not sure.’ He wiped the sweat from his brow. ‘But I do know that everybody, living or dead, has the right to come home. He deserves to be laid to rest close to the people who loved him. Please, Kora. Is there any way, any way at all, for us to find his body?’
Two birds with one stone
Kora paced restlessly around her globe, deep in thought. ‘You should try to stay calm, Empress,’ Amurru said, his voice gentle. ‘Your anxiety will not help the situation.’
‘You may be happy to sit here waiting for my father to be harnessed.’ She shook her head angrily. ‘But I cannot! I must come up with a plan to help save him.’ Her forehead creased in a deep scowl. ‘And the rest of my family. All Genesia depends on it.’
They heard the front door of the house bang shut. David’s mother had left for work. Through the viewing screens Kora saw David stride into the bedroom. In the next instant his voice rang out. ‘I wish to come in and talk with you, Kora.’
She turned to watch David materialise in her home. He appeared next to Amurru’s chair, shivering a little from the shock of transportation. ‘I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that,’ he said, glancing around the globe.
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