Into the Unknown (The Djinn Kingdom Book 4)

by LJ Andrews

  Lurlina’s arms trembled as her muscles clenched harder. Her head shook just slightly, and Raine wondered if the electric power from the stones was having some ill-effect on her. Just as Raine was about to step forward and force Lurlina’s palms off the stones, the Djinn released the Kismet. She smiled, calm and relaxed as if nothing had happened.

  The smoke had cleared from the center glass, and it rested once again into a clear oval. Raine’s brow furrowed when she took notice that the two stones were out of their cups and on the tabletop, both leaving a black, charred ring where they rested. It was as if the power of the device had launched them from their resting points, burning through the air.

  “Are you all right?” Raine asked, her voice trembling from uneasiness.

  “I am quite well,” Lurlina said brightly. “I believe I was successful in spotting Nova’s vein of fate. I supplied her a nudge toward Kale. The power burned bright. I am confident she will accept the idea.”

  Lurlina returned the two stones into their silver boxes and floated past Raine, holding the door open to the stairs. Raine followed apprehensively. Her comfort and peaceful feeling being in the temple was slowly returning, but not fast enough to push the foreboding pumping through her blood that what she’d just witnessed had very little to do with Nova’s affection for Kale Tucker.

  ***

  “How long ago did it happen?” Kale cried, tossing random supplies into a leather satchel furiously.

  Since the report of the attack on Silva, the island had been in an uproar. Men and women who could spare themselves prepared food rations and sharpened the points of their curved swords. Several men rushed to the docks to prepare a small fleet of the dark vessels. Through the mouth of the cave, Nova watched as the thin, triangular sails fluttered to life against the harsh wind, surely bringing an Eastern storm to their small corner of the kingdom.

  “I’m not certain. All I know is Phoenix attacked Koning first; King Beaumont is dead, and then since Silva is closest, he moved on from there.”

  Kale sighed angrily, shoving a double-barreled pistol into the satchel. Buckling a leather belt loaded with a new cutlass and two flintlocks, he threw the bag over his shoulder just as Atlas emerged from a side tunnel.

  The black bandana he’d worn aboard the Star’s Vengeance had found its way back to his head, holding his dark hair out of his face. He had crisscrossing straps over his chest holding numerous knives and odd, silver balls the size of a small egg. His shirt was rolled halfway up his arms, revealing the old pirate seal tattoo, reminding Nova of his choice to join Smythe’s crew not long ago.

  He cleared his throat, absently pretending to check one of his pistols on his belt before walking closer to Kale. “I uh… I want you to know I’ll do everything I can to get your family out safely.”

  Kale paused, his brow furrowed in surprise. “Thanks, Atlas.” Slowly he held out his hand, shaking Atlas’s quickly before they separated, looking around the room as if they’d never shared an allied moment.

  “You! Girl!” someone shouted behind Nova. She turned quickly, seeing Kobb wheeling closer. He’d taken off the peg on one leg, so his pants flopped around with every push.

  “Ye should let me have a look at that dagger. I’ma make it so nice fur ye,” he said holding out his hands for the jeweled hilt.

  “No, thank you,” she said, clutching her belt. “It works just perfect.”

  “Well, how do ye know my changes won’t make it e’en better? Ye never know girl, ye just might need what I wants to do to that blade. It may just save yer hide someday.”

  “Thank you, Kobb, but there really is not time. I must go,” she said with frustration.

  “Wait, a dern minute.” He scowled, speeding closer. He held out a small pistol wrapped in coils and a barrel as wide as the entire gun. “Take this at least.”

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “Them coils right there are wrapped throughout the chamber. It will propel them steel balls with such a force, ye can shoot through the hull of that ship if ye want.”

  “Nova, they’re leaving,” Kale said anxiously, watching as final provisions were loaded to the dark pointed ships.

  “Uh…thank you, Kobb. I really must go,” she said, tucking the strange gun in her belt and following Kale.

  “We’re shoving off!” Varick hollered from the mouth of the cave. Kale took Nova’s hand and together they ran toward the docks. Her father stopped her before she could trail the winding path to one of the smaller of the ships. “Nova, you could be useful here. The island needs defending. Hadwin is joining us to Silva.”

  “Father, I can’t stay behind,” she sighed. “The Tuckers are on Silva. I have to help them.”

  “Varick, ye have to let her face this,” Briggs said, hauling a large canvas bag full of clanking swords toward the ships. “We all agreed she has to be the one to do this. I know it be hard, but she be capable of this.”

  Briggs winked at her, though she sensed his underlying concern for her as well. She smiled lovingly at her adopted uncle before facing her father again.

  Varick pursed his lips tightly but nodded, releasing her arm. “You must promise to stay safe,” he said softly. Nova kissed his cheek and hugged his broad shoulders tightly before running toward the mouth of the cave.

  Kale helped her up over the tall lip of the main deck from the gangplank before joining the helmsman on the small quarterdeck offering the fastest route to his home island.

  Nova stared into the vast sky, clouding over in the blackness of the coming storm. The chill in the wind sent shivers up her spine as she held tightly to the rail of the ship when the vessel dipped low, shoving away from the coast.

  Glancing over her shoulder, the bumps along her arms coated her entire body and an instinct to watch her back piqued to life. No longer was it only the wind chill raising the hair on her neck. Nova looked around the deck watching the darkly clad sailors hoist the sails, tugging on the rough rigging and heaving barrels of gun powder below deck. No one was paying any attention to her, not even Kale who was checking a compass with the helmsman and Atlas. She rubbed her arms, allowing the clenching darkness to fill her chest on the defensive. Something was wrong, the power could sense it. She didn’t know what it was, but she was enrobed completely in an unmistakable notion that someone, somewhere was closely watching her.

  Chapter 9

  A City Burns

  A black wall met the stern of the lead ship in the fleet. Made from thick smoke and swirling ash, the ominous tower was the final stepping stone to the coast of Silva. Nova marveled at the destruction to the beautiful royal island. The once gilded palace now was nothing but a burning black shell of the grandeur that once was.

  She held her breath as their ship sailed swiftly along the jagged coastline of the biggest island in the kingdom. It was eerily silent; no more screams, nothing but charred homes and lost lives remained of Koning. Kale’s shoulders tensed near hers, and she could almost read his thoughts for she imagined they were much the same as her own. What was to be found on Silva?

  Koning had been the great fortress of the kingdom. The largest naval port island protected its borders and the entire island had been encircled by a marble wall with guards at every post. Not to mention the numerous guards stationed throughout the town and palace grounds. But none of the royal provisions had been enough to stop Phoenix. Though Silva was a wealthier island, it had nowhere near the same protections. For the first time since leaving the micro-island, Nova feared the worst for the Tucker family.

  “Prepare to disembark,” Varick shouted from the quarterdeck.

  The band jolted to action. Kale cocked the hammer on one flintlock pistol. Atlas clasped the hilt of the curved sword on his side and glared in her direction.

  “If Raine is with Phoenix, I am going for her and then I’ll join you at the Tuckers,” he called out.

  Nova nodded, silently hoping Raine was nowhere near the destruction they were sure to face.

 
“This enemy is more than we have faced. The pirate is but a shell of a man, fueled only by the power of the Great Djinn,” Hadwin shouted over the bustle of preparation. “These people are innocent. And we will fight for them, just as we have fought for our own below! Stay true. Stay strong. Fight fierce!”

  As he finished his statement the ship nudged with a jolt against the coastline, and the gangplank flew from the deck to the ground. Swiftly, yet with no cries of battle, the band of shadows leapt into action, ready to fight to the death for the people of Silva.

  The black shroud surrounding Silva had concealed the nauseating smell of burnt forest mingled with burning flesh. Nova covered her mouth with her palm and ran through the thick smoke. As if the smoke had encapsulated the island, once through the heavy wall, the air cleared slightly so they were able to see what was in front of them, though Nova wished she couldn’t.

  The town was ablaze and the people in the town center of the island ran, screaming for sanctuary as people clad in dark blue tunics rolled and flipped after them. Women huddled over their small children as their husbands fired muskets from behind broken barrels and wagons. The large buildings burned, creating terrible walls of fire which burned their faces the closer they moved to the chaos.

  From the corner of her eyes, Nova watched as the band of shadows used the dark smoke to their benefit, becoming nearly invisible as they stalked closer to their people who were currently their enemy. Maddox was close to them; though his face was masked from below his eyes, she knew it was him from his taller form and the blue crystals in the hilt of his sword.

  Maddox crept behind another from the Below who was ready to execute a young man covering a younger girl who sobbed uncontrollably. Before the blade fell, Maddox emerged from the cover of black smoke, spinning silently on his heel as he swiped his blade cleanly through the lower spine of the attacker. The young man pulled the crying girl from her feet and ran toward the coast quickly, never looking back to see Maddox silently and without a second’s pause slip back into the heavy smoke.

  Nova scanned the crowd for her father. She found him near the burning blacksmith shop with Briggs. They fought against three agile fighters. Their long black hair was braided behind their necks, but with their faces unmasked, it was clear to see the hatred painted in their features. Varick and Briggs slashed their blades, both with a pistol in their opposite hand. In one motion, Briggs ducked around Varick and slashed the heel of one leaping attacker, while Varick shot a clean shot through the chest of another. As Varick’s opponent fell dead, Briggs finished the other with a fatal blow with his sword once the man was subdued from his ankle injury.

  They worked like a fine-tuned machine with one another. Varick slapped Briggs on the back in congratulations without seeing the third attack was back, readying to leap from a wall which was the only wall left standing of the fine china and porcelain shop Jenna had loved to visit frequently.

  The woman held small knives in both her hands and had a perfect aim for both her father and Briggs’ necks.

  “Father, Briggs, look out!” Nova shouted, darting toward them and grappling for the dagger, but coming up with the coiled gun instead.

  Her chest tightened with the powerful fury, desperate to protect these two men she loved. With each step, the earth seemed to quake slightly, enough to cause the woman on the wall to turn her attention toward her for the briefest moment. Nova stopped, feeling a dark burn surge through every inch, powering her desire to destroy this woman who posed such a great threat. She wanted to prove what a nothing this woman was; the woman was no match for her and Nova would show her what true power looked like.

  Cocking the hammer of Kobb’s pistol, she took aim and fired as Varick and Briggs turned to see their hidden executioner. With a powerful kick, the bullet fired, speeding toward the wall where the woman stood.

  Nova focused intently on her shot, feeling as though time slowed as the bullet blazed onward. The wall was shaking because the woman suddenly had a difficult time keeping her balance. Finally, the bullet hit the wall, bursting into a fiery hole. The blast site sent a web of fissures and cracks spanning the wall. The woman on top clutched the crumbling structure as piece by piece it began to fall. Nova smiled in satisfaction, inwardly praising Kobb and his design. A small bullet had ultimately caused the heavy wall to implode on itself and the woman fell with it.

  Briggs took the initiative of wrapping two thick ropes around the woman’s wrists and ankles before rolling her into a building which had finished burning and only glowing embers burned along the skeleton of the shop.

  Her father watched her, his eyes knowing and filled with relief before he ran deeper into the burning town, crossing blades with anyone who engaged.

  Behind her, Kale had attempted to run up the lane toward the Tucker residence but was ambushed by a quartet of fighters. Two members from the band of shadows had come to his aid. One slender woman, dressed completely in black, wrapped her legs around the neck of a robust man; she lifted herself up so she faced him while still staying locked around his neck, and hit him several times in the eye before twisting her torso so he twisted with her and fell to the ground, broken and lifeless.

  Kale took on two attackers once a member of the band met the fatal end of another curved blade. Kale held both pistols in each hand, firing and striking one pursuing enemy in the shoulder. The woman screamed in pain but kept after him while her companion threw a small knife toward his neck. The point narrowly missed his artery as Kale ducked and rolled into the smoke-filled trees surrounding the lane.

  “Help him, Nova,” Atlas’s demanding tone came up from one side. He was bleeding from his temple and had lost his black bandana. The flintlock pistol in his hand was smoking from a recent shot, and the sharp side of his cutlass was coated in hot, burgundy blood. “Phoenix isn’t here. The only place we have to go now is the Tuckers’. Get rid of them.”

  Nova released a deep, throaty growl in frustration as the burning power ignited in full force, pushing all her sensitivities to the far recesses of her heart and mind. There was no place for compassion here.

  “Come on, then,” she shouted, rushing toward the lane.

  Nova cried out furiously, swiping her dagger cleanly across the chest of the woman Kale had shot. Nova took her by surprise, and as she died, her face remained frozen in the stunned expression. As the Djinn power fueled her movements, the surrounding landscape seemed to respond. Snapping wood and cracking branches filled the screams from the burning town. Kale looked up from the ground and rolled away quickly just as a heavy palm tree swayed and toppled forward. The woman who had chased after him leapt out of harm’s way.

  Nova cried out again, trembling with heavy energy as another tree snapped in two, and another behind it, and another to the side. Trees lining the lane to the upper hillside snapped and fell until finally, with a crushing blow, a thick, spikey trunk landed hard on the woman’s knees. Nova felt bile rise to her throat when the air sounded with the cracking of bones.

  The woman screamed in pain, pinned on her back beneath the tree trunk. Atlas sprang into action, glancing over his shoulder and smiling.

  “That’s more like it,” Atlas praised as he darted by.

  Atlas raised his cutlass over the woman, ready to deliver the fatal blow, but Kale ran in front of him.

  “Move, Tucker,” Atlas shouted.

  “Kale, move,” Nova agreed, feeling the raging darkness consume her.

  “No,” he responded defiantly, glaring at both of them. “You know they aren’t acting on their own.”

  “She wouldn’t think twice about killing you,” Atlas snarled, his knuckles whitened as he tightened his grip around his cutlass.

  “She could be someone’s sister in the band. She could be someone’s mother. Nova, what if your mother was here, fighting without a thought. Should we just destroy her?”

  Nova opened her mouth to respond, but found the words stuck like a thorny vine trailing the lining of her throat whenever she tr
ied to speak.

  “That isn’t the same,” Atlas seethed.

  “Isn’t it? What about Raine? She’s been taken—what if they were controlling her. She would technically be our enemy. So, we should just kill our friend, then?”

  “Enough,” Nova said. “Your point is made.”

  “Is it?” he asked. His eyes were knowing and filled with a sense of disappointment that filled her arrogant soul with stinging shame.

  “Then what do you propose, Tucker?” Atlas said snidely.

  “We leave her until this is over. Then load her onto the ship. Her injuries aren’t fatal, though uncomfortable, I’m sure.”

  “I will never go with you,” the woman spat from beneath the tree. Her accent was soft and distinguished, just like those living in the band of shadows.

  “I’m not sure you’ll have a choice if you want to live,” Kale said sharply. “We will take her back with us when we’re through. I’m going to my family. If you both seek more blood, I suggest you head back toward the town.”

  Kale’s words struck her to her core, breaking the thick, maddening power away from her better judgment. Shaking her head as if needing to see clearer, she was ashamed of her twisted desire to show her power by killing their enemies. Was she so easily lost? The power hadn’t frightened her for months, but tonight as people surrounding her were dying, she feared she may lose herself on Silva Island.

  “You’re welcome for saving you,” Atlas said sarcastically. “Let’s go, then. We don’t have much time.”

  The lane curved through the glowing palm and bamboo forest. All three were tense and alert as they passed in the dark, but they could hear only distant rustles amongst the foliage. Nova was certain many of the band had created a perimeter throughout the forest in case any of Phoenix’s crew retreated.

  The burning buildings from town created an ethereal glow along the tops of the palms, and as they stepped onto the Tucker property, screams from town were replaced with new cries of terror. They paused, utterly stunned, at the scene before them.