Trinka and the Thousand Talismans

by Christy Jones

Chapter Eleven

  Cat Spat

  All three girls stood in silence for a moment, contemplating their next move. Sabirah was just about to speak when a bone-chilling howl, more startling than the sudden flames, erupted from the depths of the caves.

  “What was that?” she shrieked, quaking behind her older sister.

  “I think,” Jamilah said quietly, “That was the sound of a misticat on the prowl.”

  “But she’s never made a sound like that before!”

  “Well, she’s never been loose in a jewel cave before,” Jamilah retorted.

  “How do we know which way she went?” Sabirah questioned. Trinka held the lantern up and saw that the cave ahead of them widened and split into three separate paths.

  “We’ll just have to split up and search.”

  “We can’t! We’ve only got one lantern!”

  Another terrible shriek from the lost misticat raised them off their feet just as a poof of flames shot from the cave floor, sending them all sprawling against the wall for safety.

  “This place is booby-trapped!” Sabirah yowled. “I’m getting out of here!”

  “You want Nefertari back, don’t you?” Jamilah argued. “We can’t just leave her here.”

  “If we stick close to the walls,” Trinka began slowly, “there should be enough light from the fires. They only seem to come up in the middle of the path, right? So if we each take a path and stay close to the walls…”

  “I’m taking the lantern because I’m the oldest,” Jamilah interrupted. She tore the handle from Trinka’s hands.

  “No, I should have it because I’m the youngest!” Sabirah grabbed it then stumbled backward under its weight, nearly catching her skirt in another poof of flames. “It’s heavy!” she whined, staggering out of the way just in time.

  “You take it,” Jamilah ordered Trinka. “I’m taking the path to the left.”

  “Then I’m going to the right!” Sabirah stalked off in a huff.

  Why am I not surprised? thought Trinka. Well, here goes. She edged her way down the center tunnel. All was quiet except for the occasional popping sound of small flames erupting from the path. Trinka stepped carefully aside, keeping her eyes out for gorglum and her ears open for signs of Nefertari. The howling rose again, closer this time.

  I wonder if she really does hunt jewels, Trinka mused, ducking under a low overhang. When she emerged, she stopped short at the incredible sight before her eyes. The largest jewels she or―she imagined―anyone had ever seen studded the walls from top to bottom, each one flashing like a thousand lanterns every time the light of the flames shot up.

  Trinka’s shielded her dazzled eyes with her free hand, and she noticed a new sound, like something hard hitting against glass. When she could see again, she was startled to find a gorglum working right next to her, chipping out a plate-sized jewel with resounding clinks. His solemn eyes appeared expressionless as he pried the jewel free with his long, stony fingers, dropped it into the brimming sack on his back, and stepped around her to work on the next one. Similar clinking came from up ahead, and in the dim lantern light, Trinka could see a whole group of gorglum working.

  Then, as the flames shot up, they instantly disappeared. When the flames died down, she could see a colored ornament glowing from the floor where each of the creatures had stood. One by one, the ornaments quivered, and the group of gorglum rose in their places. Some popped back into shape almost immediately while others rippled out slowly.

  Trinka had seen Grble transform many times, but never a whole family at once.

  The thought caught in her mind. This was Grble’s family. What if he didn’t want to leave and go back with her, wherever she was going? What if Ewen was right, and this really was where Grble belonged? What if she had come all this way for nothing? Trinka swallowed hard and her eyes stung a little as she eased herself onto the floor, the rough walls of the cave scraping her back as she slid down. Before she could stop it, a tear rolled off her cheek and dropped to the sand. It sparkled for a moment, then glinted green.

  Quickly, Trinka cleared her eyes and saw that there was one more ornament still on the ground. She reached down to brush the sand off it, when it whooshed into shape and she found herself patting Grble’s head.

  His mouth flopped open in surprise, and his eyes wobbled back and forth.

  “It’s you!” he finally uttered.

  “I thought the first gorglum out front was you.” Trinka grinned.

  Grble’s eyes shone like bright green crystals until his joyful look quickly turned to alarm.

  “Go now!” he urged.

  “But I came all this way to see you,” Trinka protested. A burst of flames erupted from the floor. She fell back, away from the heat, and shielded her eyes as the gigantic gems reflected back the thousands of sparks jumping from the fire.

  “Go, it’s not safe for you here,” Grble repeated.

  “But I have to find my cousins’ cat.”

  Grble’s response was muted by another terrifying howl, this one the fiercest and closest of them all, so loud that it shook the rock they were standing on.

  “There’s no time to explain,” Trinka gritted her teeth as another howl pierced the darkness. “Let’s get her and get out of here! She must be around here somewhere.”

  They padded along the cave wall, dodging flames at every step.

  “Do you hear something?”

  “Of course I hear something,” Grble answered, his eyes bobbing nervously as the misticat’s howl echoed through the caves.

  “No, like human voices,” Trinka explained, then grimaced as she distinctly heard familiar whining coming from the other side of the cave wall. Her cousins’ paths had inevitably intertwined, and they emerged through an opening together, their long skirts in tatters from scraping against the jewels and rocks.

  Trinka gasped as she caught sight of the view ahead of her. In the center of the small, hollowed out room before them, a gigantic, perfectly clear jewel pierced the rock, hanging down from the ceiling of the cave like a chandelier in the City of Mirrors on Ellipsis. Except this one, rather than being made of thousands of jewels all balanced together, was a single perfect piece, its massive form encircled by a pale purple, proudly purring creature with her tail wrapped possessively around the jewel.

  “Nefertari,” Trinka sighed.

  “I told you she would find the biggest jewel!” Sabirah squealed.

  “At least she’s not howling anymore,” Jamilah commented, putting a hand to her forehead.

  “That’s because a gorglum’s here to dig it out for her,” Sabirah pointed at Grble.

  “We can’t just take it,” Trinka protested.

  “You can if I give it to you,” Grble answered, “and I will.”

  Trinka dropped down and peered intently into her former companion’s deep, round eyes. “Grble, do you want to stay here, where you belong, with your family?”

  His eyes glistened, not because of watering from irritation from the fires, but from something much deeper within. Something that Trinka knew all too well.

  “If I get the jewel for you, will you take me with you?”

  Trinka squeezed Grble’s long, stony fingers, to a chorus of “ewws” from her cousins.

  “If you want to go, I’ll take you with me no matter what.”

  “But that thing must weigh a ton! How will we ever carry it home?” Jamilah demanded.

  “I’ll carry it,” Trinka decided wearily, and drew the genie purse from her pocket. It meant her cousins would have to find out about it, but that was better than spending eternity in a fiery jewel cave. She held the little purse open and centered it directly below the point of the jewel. It was as tall as Jamilah and as wide as Sabirah, at least, but Trinka could only hope that if the lantern fit into the genie purse, this monstrosity would too. Her cousins craned their necks and watched as Grble slowly pried the top of the jewel loose with his long, chisel-like fingers. Nefertari still refused to let go of her pr
ize, and as the jewel started swaying and jolting, she began supplementing the gorglum’s clinks with sharp little yowls.

  A mighty crack resounded through the chamber as several handfuls’ worth of stone came tumbling down from the cave ceiling. Sabirah and Jamilah bolted away in alarm, but Trinka had to stand still to keep the genie purse in place. All at once, Nefertari gave a terrified shriek and sprang from the jewel onto the unsuspecting Sabirah, whom she clawed frantically until Jamilah took her and let her mist herself back into her bottle.

  Trinka clenched her teeth and braced her legs as the sharply pointed jewel fell. She didn’t know if she could take its weight, but it slid easily into the purse, which still seemed as light as when it was empty. Trinka brushed the dust and sand from her face and snapped the purse shut with satisfaction. She couldn’t believe it had gone so well.

  She looked back to the ceiling where Grble had been working, but he had already dropped to the floor. There was nothing where the jewel had been but a big, gaping hole like the burrows in the cliff wall outside. Except this hole seemed to be filled with a river of…

  “Fire!” Trinka shouted and tried to grab Grble, but the gorglum had already turned into an ornament on the cave floor. Jamilah and Sabirah screamed and tried to dash toward opposite exits at once, smashing into each other and ending up sprawled on the floor.

  The flames poured from the hole in the ceiling, filling the side of the room that her cousins had just gotten away from. They scurried toward Trinka, trying to ease their way to the exit behind her, but a sudden burst of flames blocked that passage too.

  Trinka grabbed for Grble’s ornamental form, then dropped it with a cry as the burning hot metal seared her hand. Instantly, she tore the aquarock from its hiding place and stuttered the words to make it spew forth a small stream. The cool water felt good on her hand, but she had to jump back as the water and sparks met and great pops of steam hissed and went flying.

  She scooped up Grble again, hastily shoved him in her pocket, and raised the aquarock high with both hands. “Mayim unda hudor!” she shouted with all the power she could muster. A torrent of water blew from the aquarock and collided with the fire, dousing it with a crash, as the water flowed heavily into the fire and kept on flowing. The water soaked the ground and sloshed around her ankles. It was all Trinka could do to keep standing in place, holding on to the rock amidst the crashes of water. The cave was beginning to flood, and she could hear her cousins splashing and shrieking.

  “Batsa ur vesi!” Trinka finally managed to cry out, and she felt her arms drop as if they were almost ready to fall off, and the torrent from the aquarock stopped flowing. Trinka sank against the wall, exhausted, and only the drip, drip, drip of the final drops from the aquarock could be heard splashing into the water. The water soon began to disappear as well, as it quickly soaked into the sandy ground, leaving only a wet glop where the raging flood and flash flames had been.

  Trinka turned, dripping wet from head to toe, and found her cousins huddled against the wall in much the same state, coughing and spluttering. They stared back at her for a moment and, for once, seemed to have nothing to say. Trinka caught the handle of the lantern as it swirled by her in a puddle.

  “Have you got Nefertari?” she asked shakily.

  Jamilah clutched her necklace and nodded.

  “All right,” Trinka glanced around the cave for the last time. “Let’s go.”

  Sabirah got her voice back. “I’ve been saying that all day!”

  Trinka slipped the aquarock into her genie purse and lit the white part of the lantern again as she led the way back into the tunnel. For the first time, an uneasy thought struck her. They had found their way into the caves, but would they ever find their way out? Her eyes swept along the pathway, searching in desperation for any kind of sign that might guide the way. Some of the surroundings looked vaguely familiar―a jutting rock, a low place in the ceiling, an extra-large jewel placed just so, but Trinka couldn’t remember whether she had seen them while coming or going, from far or from near.

  At that moment, the thought of being back in her aunt’s dreadful palace suddenly seemed like the most welcome thing in the world, and she longed to flop down into that softly cushioned bed while her tired legs rested. She was past feeling hungry, but the lack of food inside her made her feel empty, like she would soon have no strength to go on. She looked back at her cousins, still struggling along behind her. Jamilah’s expression was unreadable, but Sabirah wore a pout at least three times the size of her face. Trinka continued the long walk through the tunnel, convinced that any route, any choice, had to be better than staying where they were.

  At last, Trinka could see light―real light, not just the glow of the fires―streaming in through small openings up ahead. Her face began to relax, and the lantern swung freely from its handle. Grble was safely in her pocket, they had survived close encounters with the fires of the jewel caves, and she had even managed to get through an afternoon with Jamilah and Sabirah. She stepped joyfully over a heap of rock and then stopped so suddenly that Sabirah bumped into her from behind.

  Sabirah was about to emit a squeal of protest when the noise that Trinka had heard came again, making them all stand as still as stone.

  “What was that?” Sabirah squeaked.

  Trinka swallowed hard. The noise was the sound of feet, and the cracks of light came, not from the many openings they had seen in the cliffs, but from the sparse gaps in the rows between enormous bodies.

  “It’s the guards,” Trinka said in a strangled whisper. “We’ve come up right behind them.”

  “Who cares? I want to go home!” Sabirah demanded loudly.

  One of the guards turned and clearly spotted them. Trinka’s instincts told her to turn and run, but the guard made no further move. Why weren’t the guards coming after them?

  “We’ll just have to find another way out,” Jamilah decided.

  Trinka gently pulled Grble from her pocket.

  “We’re behind the guards,” she whispered. “Do you know another way out?”

  Grble whooshed into shape, his eyes bobbling nervously. “There is no other way out for humans,” he stated quietly. “Only other ways in.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense!” Sabirah protested.

  “Yes it does,” Jamilah returned soberly. “Why have the djinn guard all the openings if no one can get out except through one?”

  “Well, you’re the one who got us in here! Why didn’t you think of that then?”

  Jamilah’s cheeks turned crimson. “Fine, then I’ll be the one to get us out of here too.”

  Trinka watched in horror as her cousin determinedly stomped toward the opening. Sabirah smugly followed, and in the end, Trinka decided she was better off with them than left in the caves by herself. All the confidence she had felt in the jewel caves faded as she came face-to-waist with one of the guards at the entrance. Grble melted into ornament form instantly.

  Trinka’s face went white as she quickly slipped Grble into the genie purse inside her pocket. The lantern rattled tellingly in her nervous hand.

  “So, you came to steal the treasures of the jewel caves,” the tallest guard accused.

  “We didn’t steal anything!” Sabirah squeaked. Trinka almost laughed nervously at that statement, as it occurred to her that the biggest jewel in the entire cave was hidden in her purse. Still, one of the resident gorglum had given them permission to take it.

  “But one of you is a slave?” another guard demanded suspiciously.

  “She…” Sabirah began, pointing at Trinka.

  “Is our cousin,” Jamilah finished firmly. “And we are the daughters of Vashti. We simply came here on an outing and got lost inside the caves. Now, if you don’t want the bahir to think poorly of your services, you will release us at once.”

  Trinka looked at her cousin with admiration for the first time. Jamilah stood her ground, chin high, eyes blazing, as the guards consulted with each other uncertainly.
>
  “My mother would hate to tell Bahir Faruq anything that makes him unhappy,” Jamilah continued defiantly.

  At this, the guards began to look as nervous as Trinka.

  “They are just kids. And if her mother knows Bahir Faruq,” one of them began.

  The tallest guard turned to them. “You are free to go,” he announced.

  The guards stepped aside, and the girls emerged from the cave, shivering, wet, and shaken. Trinka didn’t really start to breathe again until they were quite a distance past the cliffs.

  “I’m cold!” Sabirah wailed miserably, clutching her shredded sleeves.

  “So am I!” Jamilah snapped irritably.

  Trinka shakily blew a large, wobbly bubble of light for them to walk in. From her purse, she carefully drew out the box of red-hot beads from the marketplace, snapped it open, and picked up a piece for each of her cousins.

  “What is it?” Sabirah asked suspiciously.

  “Candy,” Trinka murmured, popping a piece in her own mouth. Instantly, the flavor erupted on her tongue and sent tingling sparks of warmth into her legs and hands.

  “Mmm, hot candy,” Jamilah agreed.

  With a final suspicious look, Sabirah slid hers into her mouth.

  “Ooh, it’s good!” she exclaimed. “I want more!”

  “No, one is enough,” Trinka objected, but her cousin wrested the box from her hands and poured a handful into her mouth.

  “Sabirah!” Jamilah reprimanded, but her sister was already screaming across the sand with steam pouring from her mouth and nose and even her ears. The burst of light from the popped lantern bubble looked like sparks shooting off from her as she ran.

  Jamilah fell to the sand, shaking with laughter, and Trinka stood by helplessly as her younger cousin ran circles around them, breathing off the hot flames inside her.

  “It’ll probably burn a hole in your stomach and you’ll never be able to eat again!” Jamilah gasped in hysterics.

  “It will not!” Sabirah shrieked, finally winding to a halt. It briefly crossed Trinka’s mind that it was a good thing Ickle and Fiszbee hadn’t rushed out to join in Sabirah’s wild new “dance.”

  “I wonder what mother will say when she sees your tongue,” Jamilah gleefully got to her feet. Trinka carefully blew another light bubble as they huddled together to continue walking. “Maybe if you eat some more we can use you as a torch for the banquet tomorrow night.”

  “It’s all her fault!” Sabirah whined accusingly, with curls of steam still whispering from her lips. “We’re going to get in big trouble. And we missed dinner!”

  “She didn’t stick all those candies in your mouth. And if it weren’t for her, we’d still be in the caves, trapped and turning black as burnt bread,” Jamilah snapped.

  “If it weren’t for her, we never would have gone to the stupid caves,” Sabirah retorted. “And if we did, nothing would have gone wrong. She’s the cause of everything that goes wrong here!”

  “Shut up, just shut up!”

  Sabirah gave Trinka another reproachful look as she finally fell silent. She stalked off in a huff, staying as far from the other girls as she could without popping the bubble of lantern light with her turned up nose.

  At last, the lights of Aunt Vashti’s garden came close enough to shine across the outline of the back steps. As Trinka prepared to make her weary legs climb up them one more time, Sabirah burst the edge of the bubble, bolted up the stairs and into the palace.

  “Stupid little snot,” Jamilah muttered.

  “She is your sister,” Trinka ventured. Much as she resented Annelise’s perpetual perfection, meeting her cousins made her awfully glad that she and her siblings didn’t quarrel all the time. “And without her, you’d have no one to argue with.”

  Jamilah stopped short, halfway up the steps. Trinka swallowed and wished she could swallow her words with it. Finally, Jamilah’s blazing eyes turned away. Just as they reached the top, the terrace door flew open and Aunt Vashti emerged, dress flapping, eyes sparking, as she glowered at them. Sabirah stood right at her heels like an over-attentive servant.

  It did not cheer Trinka to note that her cousin was smiling.

  “I told her how you forced us to go to the caves with you and almost drowned us,” she announced proudly from her place behind her mother’s skirts.

  “How dare you risk the lives of my precious daughters with your idle foolishness,” Aunt Vashti’s voice ripped through Trinka. “After all that I’ve done to feed and clothe and look after you, what’s the first thing you do? Do you look after your chores? Do you try to be polite and helpful around the house? Or do you deceive me and go running off to waste water on some jewel-cave fire!”

  Oh no, thought Trinka. So that’s what this is all about. If Sabirah had told her about the aquarock…

  “You think you’re pretty clever, don’t you, pretending to slave up and down the steps all day, wasting water from my cistern, when you have enough water to keep us all supplied for a lifetime right in your hands!”

  “No!” Trinka shouted.

  “Where is it?” Aunt Vashti demanded, her black eyes boring into Trinka’s. Trinka’s teeth clenched as every muscle in her body seemed to tighten. That rock was hers, and nothing could make her tell anybody where it was.

  “You’re going to be difficult about this, aren’t you?”

  Trinka set her jaw defiantly, and Aunt Vashti’s painted lips grew even thinner.

  “Well then,” Aunt Vashti simmered, “I can see I’m going to have to resort to this.” She drew out a small object, like the one Pimlico had used to get her up the stairs to the palace, and snapped it on.

  Trinka felt her body start to tremble, gently at first, until she was shaking uncontrollably. Without warning, her hands flew to her pockets and jacket and began pulling out everything―her genie purse full of treasures, Grble’s ornament, the vial from Annelise, and at last, the aquarock. Trinka gritted her teeth and tried to resist, but despite all her mind’s efforts, her body drew it out and held it toward Aunt Vashti.

  Without a word, she snatched it with one hand and snapped off the device with the other. Trinka fell backward as all her muscles that had been straining in conflicting directions suddenly let loose.

  Aunt Vashti’s eyes gleamed as she fingered the sought-after aquarock in her hands, staring at it hungrily.

  “This is it, girls,” she whispered.

  “You still need the right words,” Sabirah pointed out loudly.

  “And we shall have them shortly.” She turned again toward Trinka, who still lay sprawled on the terrace floor. “Now, are you going to give them to me willingly, or do I have to prepare the boiling oil?” She smiled sweetly.

  Trinka’s brow began to sweat. Aunt Vashti’s charm could force her to do things, but could it force her to say things?

  “Well, I’m waiting!” Aunt Vashti demanded. “What have you got to say?”

  Trinka bit her lip in thought for a moment until the perfect response hit her. “You’ve always said children should be seen and not heard, Aunt Vashti.”

  Sabirah giggled, and Aunt Vashti whirled and turned on her instead. “Sabirah. You were there when she used it. What did she say?”

  Sabirah’s nose wrinkled, and she stomped her foot in annoyance. “Well, I can’t remember. I was too busy trying not to get burnt up!”

  “Jamilah,” Aunt Vashti commanded. “You’re older. Surely you remember!” But Jamilah only looked at Trinka briefly and shook her head.

  Aunt Vashti’s lips parted, as if a great rage were bubbling up inside her. Trinka’s cousins always tended to cool off after bickering for awhile, but her aunt looked like she was only growing hotter.

  “You are a deceitful, conniving little two-faced liar!” she hissed at Trinka, and it seemed that at any moment flames might start leaping from the depths of her eyes as they had from the darkness of the jewel caves. “It’s no wonder your mother didn’t want you!”

  Trinka leaned bac
k against the pots on the terrace, her cheeks as hot as if she had just swallowed a mouthful of candies.

  Aunt Vashti had resumed ranting uncontrollably and pacing across the terrace, but Trinka felt someone tugging at her arm, pulling her to her feet.

  “You’d better go upstairs while she’s not looking,” Jamilah whispered. “She’ll cool off faster if you’re not around.” Numbly, Trinka stood and slipped away.

  Quietly, she closed the door to her room behind her and flung herself onto the bed, the cool covers smooth against her hot, dirty skin.

  Her cousins mad at her, her talismans gone, the aquarock taken away, Grble out of the fire and into the clutches of Aunt Vashti. How could a day that started out so good go so wrong? And that wasn’t the worst of it. Aunt Vashti’s display had hardly improved her mood, and then that remark about her mother not wanting her…

  Why do I let her upset me so much? She’s just trying to be mean.

  Because it’s true, she responded to herself. My mother didn’t want me. Why else would she go away?

  A knock at the door disturbed Trinka’s thoughts. She buried her head in the pillows and didn’t respond.

  The knock sounded again.

  If that was Aunt Vashti, Trinka thought darkly. The knock came again, more sharply this time.

  “Are you in there?” a familiar voice demanded.

  Trinka thought about saying “no,” but she figured her cousin would come in anyway, so she swung open the door.

  Jamilah had changed into a plush, purple, floor-length robe that looked as soft as pillows and as beautiful as a ballroom gown.

  “What’s the matter?” she demanded as she invited herself into the room.

  “I was just noticing your robe,” Trinka faltered.

  Her cousin shrugged and pulled out the vanity chair. “I have at least a dozen spares, if you want one. They’re very comfortable.”

  “Uh, no thanks,” Trinka answered uneasily as she sat on the edge of the bed, across from her cousin.

  “I wish I could wear one all the time. Instead of dresses. Oh, here, I brought this for you.”

  Trinka accepted the after-dinner candy Jamilah held in her hand.

  “I thought you might be hungry. It’s not very tasty, but at least it will keep you going. I would have tried to sneak you a roll or something too, but my sister ate them all. Mother wasn’t going to feed us, but of course that didn’t last long. She found out that punishing Sabirah by not giving her food is really more like punishing herself.”

  Trinka couldn’t hide a small smile as she put the candy into her mouth. It sank to her stomach instantly, and she felt as full as if she had eaten an entire meal. “Is she very mad at you?”

  “Oh no, not half as mad as she is at you,” Jamilah yawned. “She’s mostly just vexed about the water thing.”

  Trinka’s heart sank, and she wondered if the real reason her cousin had come here was to try to get her to spill the words that worked the talisman.

  “Of course, she’ll cool off eventually, but as long as she doesn’t think up words like ‘Mayim unda hudor’…”

  Trinka’s head snapped to attention. “You knew?”

  Jamilah shrugged and toyed idly with the little bottles on the vanity. “I’m not deaf, and I’m not stupid. That’s my sister’s job,” she added, unable to resist a nasty remark. “Anyway, it’s not her rock. And you did save our lives today. And Nefertari’s.”

  For a moment, the two of them looked at each other, as if they were really seeing each other for the first time.

  “Thank you,” Trinka said. “We wouldn’t have gotten out of there at all if it weren’t for you. I never would have been brave enough to talk to the guards like that.”

  Her cousin shrugged. “Well, I’d better get to bed. I’ll see you at the banquet tomorrow night.”

  “If your mother lets me go. Not that I want to.”

  “You should go,” Jamilah advised from the doorway. “After all, Amir will be there, and that means…” she looked as if she were about to say something, then thought the better of it and stopped.

  “What?” Trinka asked.

  Jamilah shook her head. “Never mind. You’ll find out soon enough.”