by J F Mehentee
The young female djinni was coming to him.
Armed with the knowledge and confident that once she was dead, the djinn would offer no resistance to his commands, Sassan woke.
General Afacan knelt over him. He tried to rise. The general pressed down on his chest.
‘You’re not well, High Magus,’ he said. ‘You were carried you down from the tower.’
Sassan shook his head. His lips stretched into a grin.
‘I’ve never felt better, General.’ He pushed the general’s hand away and sat up. ‘I had a vision. We can expect some visitors quite soon. If they’re to receive a proper reception, we must hurry.’
20
Roshan’s portal stopped short of the six manticores, all of whom slid to a stop.
‘Father!’ Zana cried. He ran into Behrouz’s arms.
Roshan swallowed while djinni and manticore embraced. Behind them, the five manticores, three females and two males, watched the reunion.
‘They’re even bigger close up,’ Navid whispered.
She and her brother bent to share a hug with Zana, careful to avoid the quills beneath his short mane.
Zana made the introductions. The female who looked to be about Zana’s age was Nahrian, and the two other females were Gula and Ri. The ebony-skinned male was Vul, and the other was Samdan. All five wore a white cross-shaped scar on their right shoulder.
‘We saw you from the ziggurat,’ Behrouz said.
Zana cast a wary eye at Behrouz.
‘And you’re here to help us rescue Mother?’ he said.
From the way the manticores regarded them, Roshan got the impression they weren’t looking for permission to rescue Yesfir. They needed to word their answer carefully.
‘Emad has evacuated Baka,’ she said. ‘We’re going to stop the high magus so that the djinn won’t have to keep running. Since there are others in the camp, including Yesfir, we’ll rescue them, too. If it helps, I can raise a portal that will open behind the encampment.’ She glanced from Zana to the adult manticores. ‘Would that be acceptable?’
Without deliberating, Ri nodded.
‘It is,’ she said. ‘Vul will go with you. There are many guardsmen and you will need help.’
Behrouz thanked her. He faced Zana and said, ‘As soon as you’ve found Yesfir and the others, let me know and I’ll raise a portal to Emad’s ship.’
Roshan raised a portal big enough to accommodate the manticores. She had to lock her knees to prevent herself from falling. Ri stepped through the portal. Gula, Nahrian and Samdan followed. Before he stepped through, Zana looked back at the four of them. He gave a determined nod before he disappeared.
‘Zana’s scared,’ Behrouz said. ‘He hid it well, but I could tell.’
Roshan collapsed the portal and raised a second, one that opened beneath the tower. Her skin had turned clammy, and her light-headedness meant she had to squat while she waited for them to enter the portal. Navid frowned at her.
Keep going, she told herself. Think of the children on the ship.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said to Navid. ‘I just need to get my breath back.’
He shook his head.
‘Stay here.’
To lie down and sleep for an hour was tempting.
She rose and gave Navid a weak shove before he could complain.
Inside the encampment, Vul had already whipped, battered and clawed his way through the cordon of guardsmen blocking their way.
A golem twice Navid’s size charged them.
Behrouz recited an incantation. A knife appeared in his hand. Roshan blinked, and someone cried out. Behind the golem and close to the tower, a magus fell, hands clutching his chest and the knife’s hilt jutting from it.
Behrouz punched through the immobile golem, returning it to dust and sand.
Roshan raised her arms, her hands framing the tower ahead of her. About to recite an incantation, she shook her head. She imagined her hands enclosing the tower and clapped.
The edges of the tower fractured first, and its middle section disintegrated a heartbeat later. The men on top, three of them dressed in the black leggings and tunic of a guardsman and the other in a magus’s all-white, fell. None of them landed well.
Roshan’s legs gave way, and she landed on her bottom.
While Vul continued to tear into the guardsmen with his stinger and claws, Navid pulled her up. Her arm draped across his shoulder, they joined Behrouz, who stood over the remains of the tower. He gripped a scimitar.
‘Is that him?’ she said when they reached the fallen magus.
Already exhausted, Roshan wanted to collapse when she saw the magus’s glassy stare.
‘No,’ Navid said. ‘It isn’t.’
Roshan looked up and yelped. Three guardsmen approached, their shields raised and spears levelled at them.
Behrouz took a backwards step.
‘Iron,’ he said, and groaned.
A stinger pierced the middle guardsman’s chest. It lifted him screaming, making him a head taller than his comrades. Before the other guardsmen could turn, Ri batted them out of the camp—one towards Baka and the other beyond the encampment. With an expert flick of her tail, Ri hurled the impaled guardsmen into the air.
Nahrian appeared in front of the older lioness. Blood smeared her mouth and her eyes shone with excitement.
‘Zana’s found his mother,’ she said.
Behrouz stepped past Roshan and knelt before Nahrian.
‘Where?’
Nahrian half-turned. She looked eager to return to where she’d come from.
‘Come with me. I’ll show you.’
Behrouz stood and faced the twins.
Navid’s grip on Roshan’s shoulder tightened.
‘It’s a trap,’ Navid said. He pointed at the dead magus. ‘It’s like before; they’re expecting us.’
Behrouz shrank at Navid’s reminder.
‘You’re probably right, but I have to try,’ he said. He slipped his bracelet off and put it in his tunic’s pocket. ‘You two should continue looking for the high magus.’
Roshan recalled the events of two nights earlier.
‘If it’s a trap,’ she said, ‘the high magus and the seal will be at the centre of it.’
Navid’s grip hadn’t loosened.
‘I don’t like this,’ he said.
Neither do I, Roshan thought.
‘Change into a rat,’ she said. ‘I’ll carry you until we reach Zana. Then hide. If it is a trap, there’s still a chance you can save us.’
Navid squinted at her, and the bridge of his nose crinkled.
‘Are you mad? You can hardly stand.’
‘I’ll carry her.’
The voice belonged to the lion, Vul, who stood behind her. His gaze flicked from Navid to Roshan.
‘I’ll shift. You’re too weak to hold on to my mane.’
Calls came from behind the tents. On her left, spearheads bobbed towards them.
‘Do as I say, Navid. We have to go.’
Her brother scowled at her before disappearing beneath a cloud. She bent down so Navid could run up her arm, then gasped when arms scooped her up. She tilted her head to see Vul appraising her, his broad shoulders bare.
He’s naked.
Navid laughed as Vul followed behind Nahrian and Behrouz, the lioness Ri clearing a path.
‘At a time like this, my sister’s embarrassed,’ Navid said.
Too exhausted to argue, she closed her eyes and rested her cheek against Vul’s chest.
‘Wake up,’ Navid said. ‘You need to put me down.’
Roshan opened her eyes and had to remind herself where she was. She told Vul to stop.
His forearm slid from beneath her knees as he planted her back on her feet.
‘Thank you,’ she said, without looking back.
Roshan counted a dozen daevas, their faces grey and their eyes red-rimmed from having to wear iron for so long. They stood huddled together between two tents, the flaps p
ulled back to reveal their emptiness. Manacles lay in a heap and to one side. The lioness Gula, naked and human, bent over an unconscious daeva and removed the pins from his manacles. Samdan, the lion and still a manticore, stood guard.
‘Remember what we agreed,’ Navid said.
She put him down. Navid scampered over to one of the empty tents and burrowed beneath it.
Roshan stepped forward. She raised her hands and dropped them. It took less effort to think a portal to the ships than raising one with Core power.
The orange-edged portal appeared a blink later.
‘Go,’ she said to the daevas. No one had moved. ‘Prince Emad is waiting for you,’ she added.
Her father’s name spurred them into action. Gula carried the unconscious daeva to the portal. Two of the daevas took him from her and passed through.
Dizziness made it hard to stand.
‘Where are the others?’ Navid said.
Before she could answer, a familiar voice called her name.
‘Roshan—hurry.’
The call came from ahead of her and belonged to Behrouz. Until that moment, Roshan hadn’t noticed Behrouz’s and Zana’s absence.
Once all the daevas had departed, the portal collapsed.
Again, without warning, Vul swept her up.
Ri bounded forward. Vul turned. Gula had shifted back into a manticore.
‘I’ll be right behind you,’ Gula said.
Vul nodded. He sprang forward to catch up with Ri.
Roshan squeezed her eyes shut against the rising dizziness. At the back of her mind, the lack of resistance they’d encountered on their way to and during the daevas’ rescue confirmed Navid’s suspicion: they were running into an ambush.
‘Don’t let them see you,’ she told her brother.
They entered a clearing surrounded by tents. There was no sign of guardsmen.
Vul slowed to a halt. Up ahead, Roshan saw Behrouz with his back to her. A little to one side of him, far enough for Roshan to see part of her face, stood Yesfir. Neither djinni moved, spoke or reacted to their arrival.
So, this was the trap. Both djinn were likely under the seal’s influence. The high magus had to be nearby. The only way for her to draw him out was to take the bait.
‘Put me down, please, Vul,’ she said.
Her feet touched the ground, making her wobble.
She knew she was spent. In her current state, she wasn’t a threat to anyone. She had remained conscious only because she’d stopped channelling auric energy. Roshan had hoped for a swifter recovery. Now she’d have to rely on the contingency plan she’d thought up before leaving Baka.
‘That’s not a plan,’ her brother said. ‘It’s a gamble.’
She straightened at the sound of Navid’s voice. No sooner had she conceived the plan, she’d hidden it. She knew Navid would have protested. And if he knew it, if they’d discussed it previously, she’d have increased the chances of Armaiti hearing it, too.
‘I would have asked you to help me with this, Navid,’ she said. ‘But for now, stay out of harm’s way until I need you.’
Roshan closed her mind to Navid’s voice, then turned to Vul.
‘I have to reach Behrouz,’ she said. ‘I’d need you to accompany me.’ Vul canted his head and raised an eyebrow.
‘We’ve walked into a trap, but I think I can turn it to our advantage. When we’re halfway, injure me. I planned on asking my brother to break my arm. I wasn’t sure he could, but you could do it easily. If I don’t start walking now, I’ll pass out.’
She managed a step and then another. Vul placed a supportive arm around her.
‘Thanks,’ she said, her voice a whisper.
Each step required a supreme effort. Roshan reminded herself of Yesfir sacrificing her auric energy to heal the wound she’d sustained inside Persepae’s chancery. She thought of the inquisitive little boy, Ehsan, who’d surrendered his auric energy to Fiqitush before he and his family left for Baka. And then she remembered how Fiqitush had kept a watchful eye on her and Navid.
Halfway to Behrouz and Yesfir, Vul moved so fast, Roshan didn’t know what he’d done until she saw her hand and wrist hanging from the middle of her forearm at a right angle.
She’d expected pain. She only felt the bones slide against each other as she cradled her broken left forearm. The sensation made her gag. Roshan ignored the sour taste in her mouth.
‘Go,’ she said to Vul. ‘Find Zana.’
She slid her feet two steps before her vision clouded. Up ahead, Behrouz and Yesfir hadn’t moved.
‘Roshan, what are you doing?’ Navid cried, his voice filling her mind.
Roshan sank down to one knee, the throb from her broken forearm filling her body. She listed between consciousness and unconsciousness. The ground in front of her darkened. The cloudiness, however, had disappeared.
She looked up. Behrouz loomed over her.
‘It’s working,’ she said, and smiled.
Behrouz either hadn’t heard her or ignored her. He raised his hand, until it was shoulder-high, and struck her.
21
Water gushed through the streets below, driving back horses and soldiers and flattening the heaps of sand that were once golems. Manticores stood or sat on rooftops. They watched the empire’s debris float past, waiting for the water to subside.
‘Your Highness,’ Shephatiah said.
Emad heard concern behind the words.
‘What is it, lad?’
Shephatiah pointed at his own eyes, then nodded at Emad.
Emad saw how the flames around the youth’s irises remained orange. He ground his teeth when he understood what the lad had tried to tell him.
‘Have they gone out?’ he said. He couldn’t bring himself to say Am I a daeva again?
Shephatiah shook his head.
‘They’ve turned yellow.’
Emad looked across at the other djinni, Rabbu, five decades older than Shephatiah. The flames circling Rabbu’s irises were also yellow. Between them, it might be possible to soak the city one last time. His memory of standing outside Derbicca, Aeshma beside him, and the lack of auric energy to maintain a protective dome made him change his mind.
‘We must conserve what energy we have left for helping the ships escape,’ he said. ‘There’s no one left in Baka. It’s time to go.’ He nodded at both djinn. ‘Go down and tell the manticores we’re leaving. Please tell them they have my thanks and the djinn’s thanks for all their help.’ He raised a hand before they left. ‘Once you’re done, head for a ship. I’ll stay behind and wait in case those in the encampment don’t see the beacon and return here.’
Shephatiah raised a portal to the steps below. Rabbu left first.
‘Good luck, Your Highness,’ Shephatiah said, and stepped through.
Emad thought, I’ll have to speak with the lad about this Your Highness business.
Up on the third tier, the silence felt as if the city were condemning him for abandoning it.
Emad raised his forearm and touched his bracelet. He closed his eyes and concentrated when he found it hard to sense the others. Navid’s constant shape-shifting meant he didn’t always wear his bracelet. That might explain why he didn’t sense his son. As for his daughter, his niece and her husband, there were only two reasons he couldn’t sense them: either they all hid beneath a protective dome, or they were all dead.
He’d played no role in the twins’ upbringing, but he was the one who’d sent them off into danger and possibly their deaths.
I can’t even be a father, he thought. Fiqitush was mad, thinking I could lead the djinn.
Except for the fallen viewing tower, the encampment looked no different from the west-facing window. As if sensing victory, more guardsmen rode towards the city.
Baka and the djinn were finished. Fiqitush’s dream was over before it had begun.
Emad made his way over to the stairs leading up to the fourth tier. The ships needed to leave now, before the zealot and his
soldiers realised where everyone had disappeared.
Up on the ziggurat’s topmost tier, Emad circled the shoulder-high pile of wood. A sulphurous smell, lamp oil soaked up by the dry wood, filled the tier.
Emad checked his bracelet. Still nothing.
Tears of anger and frustration wet his cheeks. One man’s zealousness had brought an entire nation to its knees, while God and a sabaoth had ensured the djinn never recovered from Solomon and the seal. Loss soon replaced the anger. He’d lost everything. First, his childlike cousin and then his brother—both within days of each other. And now the high magus had taken his niece and his children—Shafira’s twins—from him. He rubbed away tears with the sleeve of his tunic.
Now isn’t the time to mourn, he said to himself. There’s still work to do.
Emad held out a hand, ready to recite the incantation to start a fire. Out at sea, once they saw the lit beacon, the two triremes would weigh anchor and row. They were to head north, hug the shoreline until it ran out and turn westwards so land remained visible from the port bow.
Ahead, the manticores began to leave. They bounded up the stairs to the northern ramparts, vaulted the crenellations and disappeared as they rounded the corner where cliff met beach.
It had been unbelievably easy for the empire—for Sassan—to defeat the djinn. There had to be some way of striking back, landing a blow against the empire and—more importantly to Emad—the high magus.
‘The djinn aren’t sailors,’ he said out loud. ‘You can’t leave them to figure things out on their own. They’ll probably clash oars as soon as they start rowing.’
Back in Derbicca, he’d missed his chance to kill Sassan while Behrouz had exchanged sword blows with his general. With the djinn’s departure, Sassan was bound to enter Baka and survey the city. It was desperate of Emad to think he could make a difference. He had no choice. Even if they sailed away, Sassan had the seal and the means of summoning back those who remained djinn.
Emad lit the beacon, took the stairs down to the square and waited under a dome of invisibility and silence. If the high magus didn’t enter Baka within the hour, or if magic or iron protected him, Emad would leave knowing he’d tried to end the djinn’s plight. Then he’d have to hope Tarana’s son, Zafran, and his band of mercenaries honoured their contract and killed the high magus.