by J F Mehentee
‘Take off your bracelet,’ he said.
She saw Shephatiah step out of a portal and approach Emad.
‘We’ve evacuated the city,’ he said.
‘Council members, to your positions,’ Emad called.
With Navid’s help, Roshan turned around. Including Emad, only five djinn remained in the room. One of them was Behrouz. All five rushed to the north-facing window.
‘Come on,’ she said.
Her brother frowned.
‘Your bracelet. Whatever they’ll do, they must do it with what’s left of their own energy. For now, you can’t help them.’
Although she wanted to keep it on, Navid was right. She slipped the bracelet off and dropped it into her tunic’s pocket.
Navid led her to the window. Her steps felt lighter and less draining.
Water spilled through a portal in the square below. Before it hit the ground, the water spun to create four separate vortices.
‘Increase their rotation before you send your stream into the city,’ Emad said, his forehead beaded with sweat. ‘It has to be the force of the water and not our magic that hits those soldiers. If there’s too many soldiers with iron shields, direct the water at a building’s walls and bring it down on them.’
Roshan watched the water snake its way through Baka’s streets. A vortex struck a wall and rebounded against a retreating infantryman, sending rider and horse on a collision course with the one behind them.
Such resistance until the end was admirable but pointless. They’d lost the city. What was the point of fighting? They needed to leave.
A loud crash came from her left.
The golem had pulled the left door off its remaining hinge. It entered the city with one broad sweeping step and brought down a line of animal stalls with a single kick.
Roshan slipped her arm from her brother’s shoulder and sat down cross-legged. Navid didn’t object.
Baka was done for. The war council would realise that soon enough. Until then, she might as well close her eyes and surrender to exhaustion.
17
Roshan rose above the city and drifted until she hovered halfway between Baka and the encampment. From where she floated, she saw how the dome protecting the city had collapsed.
Guardsmen, mounted and on foot, streamed across the golem bridge and into the city. A long clang rang out. To her right, the golem who’d reduced one of Baka’s doors to splinters and crumpled copper now used its hammer to batter the ziggurat. The dome surrounding it failed to prevent the iron hammerhead from striking the building. Part of its wall caved in.
Other than her father, her brother, Behrouz and three other djinn, no one else remained to defend the city.
Roshan recalled the two triremes anchored at sea. She rose a little higher before being buffeted by a breeze and sent eastward. Two men and a woman stood on the eastern ramparts. They wore the white tunics and leggings of magi and stood over a glowing symbol they’d carved into the battlement’s brickwork. They chanted an incantation and waved their hands over the symbol. Farther eastward, out to sea, another giant golem, this one made from the beach’s pebbles, rocks and boulders, waded through the water and towards the ships. Last night, Emad had ordered all the djinn’s children be moved to one of the triremes. She remembered the narrow alleyway in Arshak and poor Daniyel. If she didn’t do something, and do it quickly, the children on the trireme would suffer the boy’s fate.
Roshan hung in mid-air, unable to decide whom to help first: those in the ziggurat or the children out at sea?
Roshan made a swift, painful choice. She raised an orange-rimmed portal with a thought. She had to save the children and the rest of the djinn evacuated to the ships.
‘That’s the wrong choice.’
Roshan turned and found herself standing on the sand between the encampment and the city. She faced Manah. The lamassu pointed with his chin at the encampment.
‘That’s where you should go. The only way for all of this to end is to kill Sassan. Your power has faded. Use what’s left to stop Sassan and put an end to his madness.’
She glanced back at the ziggurat and saw a dust devil. The debris from the city’s destruction appeared and disappeared behind the swirling column of sand. It bumped against the golem hammering the ziggurat and tore a chunk from its back. Within a few heartbeats, the gap the dust devil had made refilled with sand.
The golem ignored the whirlwind and struck the ziggurat’s third tier with a blow that cut through a section. The tier collapsed, spilling over the sides of the building. In the same moment, the dust devil stopped revolving. Sand and debris spilled into the city, billowing dust and burying her brother, father and Behrouz.
Roshan’s bracelet burned and then turn icy cold.
The children, the others on the second ship.
Manah remained impassive, unaffected by the death and destruction. Roshan curled her hands into fists.
‘Don’t take your anger out on me,’ Manah said. ‘You should be angry with yourself. The fall of Baka and the end of the djinn are your fault. You’ve been passive for fear of hurting the djinn.’ Manah surveyed the city, its ziggurat obliterated. ‘It’s ironic, don’t you think, that by doing nothing to avoid harming the djinn, you killed them.’
Roshan touched her bracelet and felt nothing. They were all dead.
Roshan’s fell to her knees. She looked up. Manah had gone. The giant golem stood immobile over the spot on which the ziggurat had stood.
From behind her came the rattle of chains. Looking over her shoulder, she saw a shackled woman approach. Exhausted, Roshan pushed herself up. It took a while to recognise Yesfir’s face beneath the swellings, bruises and cuts.
‘You’re dreaming,’ Yesfir said through puffy lips. She pointed at Baka with manacled hands. ‘But all this will become real if you don’t wake up.’
18
Roshan woke to the sound of cheering. She rubbed her eyes, reached into her tunic’s pocket and touched her bracelet. Across from her, Navid and the five djinn stared raptly out of the north-facing window. Navid and Emad had their arms on each other’s shoulders as they pointed and cheered.
Although her tiredness hadn’t entirely disappeared, she felt stronger and steadier on her feet. Roshan dragged herself over to the window as quickly as her stiff joints allowed. What she saw below caused her to cover her mouth.
From the sand heaped on roofs, inside courtyards and along streets and alleyways, Roshan assumed that hosing the city with seawater had undone all the golems. But that hadn’t made her want to cheer. Manticores, huge manticores, ran down Baka’s streets and across rooftops. The manticores dwarfed the guardsmen, whose heads barely reached their shoulders. Roshan saw a female manticore, up on a roof, impale an archer with its stinger, raise the thrashing guardsman into the air and fling him at a cavalryman below. Another used its tail as a club. Worse were the claws. A male manticore jumped from rooftop to rooftop as it chased a mounted guardsman on the street below. His horse clearing the street and entering the square beneath the ziggurat sealed the guardsman’s fate. The manticore pounced and swiped as it passed over the fleeing horse and rider. The rider’s torso flopped backwards onto his horse’s croup and then slid off, while his legs remained attached to the saddle’s stirrups.
Roshan turned away. Navid did too.
‘I can’t imagine our Zana becoming as large and as lethal as those manticores down there,’ her brother said. ‘Emad and I counted twenty-five of them. He’s hoping more will come to our aid.’
Roshan had seen what Zana was capable of in Derbicca. It wasn’t difficult to imagine that one day, he could slice a man in half with a single blow. No, what she found harder to accept was the high magus giving up now the djinn had allies.
Roshan glimpsed Shephatiah appear out of mid-air.
He announced himself with a ‘Your Highness.’
Along with everyone else, she and Navid approached the djinni, eager to hear his report.
‘Go
ahead, lad; spit it out,’ Emad said.
‘I spotted six manticores running towards the enemy’s camp.’ Shephatiah glanced at Behrouz. ‘One of them is Zana. So far, they’ve used the rocks to remain hidden. I could only see them from the top of the ziggurat. I don’t think those watching from the encampment’s tower will have seen them.’
Behrouz rubbed the back of his neck.
‘He found the pride,’ he said. ‘Zana said he would rescue Yesfir.’ He shook his head, his eyes wet. ‘The boy’s keeping his word.’
Shephatiah looked from Behrouz to Emad. He hadn’t finished. Emad nodded for him to continue.
‘Another golem is being built. Its feet, ankles and calves are visible. And there are more riders heading our way.’
Everyone absorbed the news with bowed heads.
Circles rimmed the djinn’s eyes, and the flames surrounding their irises were mostly orange. Emad’s were yellow. As if they’d prematurely aged, their complexions had turned pallid.
What are they going to do when that giant golem is complete? Unless the manticores withdrew from the city, they wouldn’t be able use water to hold back the troops and the golem. My auric energy’s gone. What do they hope to achieve by defending the city?
‘Roshan.’
Emad studied her through narrow eyes.
‘What are you thinking?’
Unsure how he’d react to the truth, she hesitated, until she remembered some of what the manacled Yesfir had said.
…all this will become real…
‘Manah visited me while I slept,’ she said, then told everyone about her dream. When she’d finished, she said, ‘All this won’t stop until we put an end to Sassan.’
The coldness in her voice, the matter-of-factness of her words shocked her. The high magus had to die. She then volunteered herself to do it.
‘Absolutely not,’ Emad said. ‘You look shattered. It’s best we head for the ships and leave.’
Before she could reply, Navid spoke.
‘Everyone’s shattered,’ he said. ‘I hate to admit it, but Roshan’s right. I don’t know how far you intend sailing those ships, because, as I understand it, the seal has a long reach. Once he knows how to use it, what’s there to stop the high magus from summoning the djinn from wherever they’re hiding? You can’t keep running. We need to take back the seal, even if it means killing High Magus Sassan.’
Emad scratched his chin.
‘I agree.’ He sighed. ‘But that doesn’t mean I like your proposal.’ He tapped his bracelet. ‘Taking it off, Roshan, was a good idea. Here and on the ships, we’re all spent. I think we have enough auric energy left for one more assault. With Sassan here, so close to Baka, we have to attack when he least expects it.’ He gazed up at the ceiling. ‘Unless Armaiti is watching us.’ He pointed at himself and then two others. ‘I, Shephatiah and Rabbu will stay here and keep the high magus and his general busy.’ He nodded at Roshan. ‘You and Behrouz find a way to take the seal from Sassan.’ He faced Navid. ‘Go with your sister. It’s my hope that, compared to the rest of us, you’re immune to the seal. If anyone can take that ring from him, it’s you.’ Emad then faced Shephatiah. ‘Go down and get a manticore’s attention. Tell her what we’re going to do. Tell her the manticores must stay on the roofs.’ He touched his forehead. ‘And tell them I said thank you.’ He waved his hand. ‘All right, let’s get ready.’
Roshan glanced at her brother. Had her suggestion just sent everyone to their deaths?
‘I know,’ Navid said. ‘This probably won’t work. But things are desperate. We have to try.’ He held out his arms.
She stepped into his hug.
‘Roshan, Navid.’
Emad approached, his brow furrowed.
‘I don’t like this one bit,’ he said. He bowed his head and paused. ‘In the last few days, I’ve lost Aeshma and my brother. For all our sakes, please come back. As a djinni trying to save his people, I want you to go, and I want you to save us. But understand that letting you go is the hardest decision I’ve ever made.’
Navid was the first to embrace him. Roshan joined them.
They untangled themselves at the same time Behrouz arrived.
Emad craned his neck.
‘Promise me you’ll take care of these two and you’ll bring back my niece.’
‘I will,’ Behrouz said.
Emad traced an arc between the three with his index finger.
‘If it’s too dangerous, come back. Don’t get captured and be used against the djinn. Return here, or else meet us on the ships. Got that?’
Roshan, Navid and Behrouz nodded.
She slipped her bracelet back on. Roshan didn’t plan on channelling auric energy to the djinn. Through it, she could feel Emad’s presence and the other djinn. The sensation galvanised her. At the first sign of danger, she’d take it off. For now, she needed to feel all those lives, needed to know there was a reason to fight the fear making her legs tremble. If conserving her auric energy wasn’t enough to help her confront Sassan, she had another way—a more drastic way—to renew her energy.
19
Sassan’s heart sank at the view from the platform.
Guardsmen, their boots pounding the wooden steps, rushed up and down, carrying either reports from the front line or new orders issued by General Afacan and two of his senior officers.
Below and to his left, twelve magi, double the number required, worked on the new golem’s construction. Even with twelve of them, only the golem’s feet, ankles and calves protruded from the sand. They were taking too long. Sassan fought the urge to shout at them to hurry. He glanced to his right.
The general appeared untroubled by the manticores. Their appearance and the reports of them killing guardsmen complicated Sassan’s life. The manticores were a private race who hadn’t involved themselves in empire affairs—until now. The emperor wouldn’t be happy when he heard how Sassan had made him a new enemy.
Sassan braced himself, then gripped the railing. The tower swayed as if the nails holding it together had come loose.
Why, he wondered, have you brought me this far, God, if you’re going to abandon me and let victory slip from my grasp? Why didn’t you warn me about the manticores? Are you unhappy with me?
The question made him want to break something. He’d done everything God expected of him, endured unbearable pain which had left him unable to think clearly for more than an hour without another dose of poppy juice. The reports coming in described how streams of water gushing from a portal had swept back the small golems, the large golem and the guardsmen. And then the manticores had appeared inside Baka and massacred the survivors.
‘General,’ he said, ‘what are you doing about those manticores?’
The general turned from his officers.
‘I’m about to order more archers into the city. Under protection from cavalry, they’ll make their way up to the ramparts. From there, they’ll be high enough to be out of the manticores’ reach.’
It sounded like a good plan. Sassan glanced at the bow he kept close by. And if the female djinni turned up, he’d shoot her with the sabaoth’s arrow.
‘Very good,’ Sassan said. ‘It won’t be long before the golem is ready.’
The general’s brow bunched.
‘There’s no need for another, High Magus. Without your golems, we would never have made it inside Baka. The men are fighting hand-to-hand. The smaller golems could help by distracting the manticores. For now, we don’t need a larger one.’
Sassan’s cheeks flushed. Was the general patronising him? He tightened his grip on the railing. If he let go, he’d stomp off and make himself look petulant. Should he need his help, the general would ask for it. Sassan needed to wait and pray to God for guidance. Baka wasn’t theirs yet. After Baka had surrendered and he’d mastered the seal, the victory itself would be more important than how they’d taken the city.
Sassan let go of the railing and straightened. He had the sabaoth’s arrow and
the seal, each one proof enough he was God’s chosen. The lack of poppy juice and the manticores’ arrival soured his mood. God still guided him, and God needed him to relax.
Two columns of infantry trotted out from the camp, archers running between them. Once those men reached the ramparts, they’d make short work of the manticores, although it would take several arrows to stop each one.
Sassan thought he had his feelings under control when rows of red, blue and yellow winked on and off in front of his eyes. His undershirt stuck to his armpits and back, and Sassan’s palms turned sweaty. He shuffled back from the railing as the colours brightened and the seizure claimed him.
‘General—’ he managed, before the convulsion swept the world from under his feet and he blacked out.
Sassan opened his eyes and found himself standing just beyond the cordon of guardsmen surrounding the encampment. The eagle-headed spirit stood next to him, its wings spread, hiding his own shadow behind them.
The spirit wrapped its arm around his waist, and Sassan gasped as it lifted him into the air. His body slipped a little in its grip.
This is a vision, he told himself. You won’t fall.
They rose higher. His side pressed against the spirit’s as it banked to its right and towards a line of jagged outcrops. There was no need to fly over them to see the six manticores, a pair of them much smaller than the others. They all streaked towards the encampment.
A hundred paces farther down from them, three djinn stepped out of a portal, bringing the manticores to a halt. One of them was the young female djinni who’d appeared in his dream.
The view below rippled, and he stood again inside the encampment where the djinni and the daevas were being held. The spirit pointed. Sassan followed its taloned finger. The three djinn and the manticores passed down a corridor of tents and entered the area he’d arrived in.
Now that he understood the purpose of the vision, Sassan turned to thank the eagle-headed spirit but found it had gone.