The Bonehill Curse

by Jon Mayhew

  ‘After the merchant had eaten,’ her mother read, ‘since he was a devout Mussulman, he washed and knelt to pray. Just then a terrible djinn, all red with rage, appeared, holding a cruel scimitar.

  ‘“Stand up, merchant,” cried the djinn. “Stand up that I may kill you, because you have murdered my only child.”

  ‘The merchant was terrified and protested his innocence. “How could I have murdered your child?”

  ‘“How?” the furious djinn roared. “Did you not just now throw one of your date stones away without even a thought?”

  ‘“I did,” the merchant said, fearing for his life. “But, kind djinn, I meant no harm!”

  ‘“No harm?” exclaimed the djinn. “My son was walking past and the stone struck him in the eye, killing him in an instant. Therefore you must die!” So saying, the djinn flung the merchant to the ground and raised the scimitar to cut off his head.’

  ‘Did the djinn love his son very much?’ the little Ness asked her mother, her voice echoing through Ness’s own lips.

  ‘As much as life itself,’ her mother said, burying her face in Ness’s hair. ‘As much as I love you, my only wish, my dear Necessity.’

  Tears stung Ness’s eyes as the young Ness pulled away from her mother and lifted her face upward. ‘Would Papa kill the merchant if he’d killed me?’

  But Ness didn’t hear the answer. She could only stare at her own infant image. The little girl’s eyes burned with a blue flame; they had no pupils, irises or even eyeballs, just two burning chasms. There was no candle, in fact; the shadows danced to the light of the child Necessity’s eyes.

  The waters of the pool swirled and shifted. Ness found herself in the scene, wrapped in her mother’s arms, as she screamed. A dark shadow loomed over them and Ness saw the scabbed and peeling face of Zaakiel closing in on her. The blue light from her eyes seemed to sharpen every detail. Scaly fingers closed around her throat and Ness clawed at the face, gouging at the stitched eyes. Bile rose in her throat as the djinn blinked his crusted eyelids open and Ness found herself dazzled by a burning flame as blue as the light of her own eyes.

  The nursery vanished now and the coldness of the water seeped into her bones. She pushed away from the djinn, kicking at the hand that gripped her ankle. Glancing down, she could see dim, human shapes reaching up from the fronds of weed that swayed at the murky bottom of the pool.

  Something hooked an arm under her shoulder and she felt herself being dragged towards the surface. Ness gripped the arm and kicked again at whatever clawed at her leg.

  The heat of the oasis hit her as she broke the surface. Grinning, Azuli heaved her on to the bank. Suddenly the water in her body became real once more and, giving a choking gasp, Ness vomited black liquid on to the mossy ground beneath her.

  The water boiled behind her and she heard Azuli hiss a curse as he dragged her further back from the edge. Ness turned to see pale hands grasping upward from the pool, splashing the water and clawing the muddy bank as they reached for her in vain.

  ‘Azuli!’ Ness panted, hugging him. ‘You’re safe, you’re . . . How? I thought . . .’ She stopped and ran her hand over her once-broken arm. ‘My arm,’ she murmured. She felt strong, revitalized. ‘That has to be the Pool of Life.’

  ‘And you had to go and fall in it,’ Azuli said.

  ‘I’m so glad you’re safe!’ Ness hugged him again. ‘Tell me what happened!’

  Azuli gave a grin, wincing from a split in his lip and the hug. His face was filthy and a purple bruise blossomed on his temple. His grin faded and he looked pale and serious.

  ‘The carpet threw me off. I was lucky – a web of creepers broke my fall and left me dangling like a worm on a hook. It took me half the night to cut myself down without breaking my neck! But I think if I’d got down sooner I wouldn’t be here now. I saw some horrible things crawling along the jungle floor below me.’ Azuli cast his eyes to the ground for a second.

  ‘I can imagine,’ Ness whispered, thinking of Grubb and the camp.

  They sat in the clearing in silence for a moment. The pool filled the centre of the glade, which was walled in by the thick blackness of the oasis. Thick, dark, glossy-leaved plants fringed the water. A few reeds sprouted between them. The pool looked unremarkable and yet there was something faintly disgusting about its black water and the surrounding plants.

  ‘I was trying to find the edge of the oasis when I heard you crashing through the trees. So I came looking for you – just in time to see you fall in! What was down there?’

  ‘It was horrible.’ Ness shuddered. ‘Like a dream. Mama was reading me a story from The Arabian Nights and then the djinn came. His eyes, they were blue fire . . . but so were mine . . .’

  Ness told him every detail that she could remember; of the vision in the pool; she told him about Grubb, the bloodsuckers, how she’d shattered her arm and ribs and yet they were healed and stronger than ever.

  ‘It doesn’t make sense.’ Azuli frowned, shook his head. ‘Scrabsnitch said that the pool gives the answers a seeker needs. Do you think you had some kind of answer?’

  Ness shook her head. ‘It’s a very confusing one if it is an answer.’

  ‘Well,’ Azuli said, standing up and striding towards the pool, ‘there are two of us so we have two chances. Maybe I can get some answers.’

  ‘Azuli, no!’ Ness cried. ‘There are things down there. Horrible, half-decayed things.’

  ‘Can they be any worse than the djinn or the Pestilents?’ Azuli said, glancing back at Ness.

  As if in answer to his question, the water began to boil. A filthy brown scum fizzed on the surface, a stench of rotten vegetation and earth filled the clearing around the pool.

  Slowly a huge figure rose from the centre of the pool. Ten times the size of Ness or Azuli, it towered over them, waist deep in the seething waters. It looked human in shape but a composite of many crushed and distorted corpses. The torso was made up of bodies, decayed and twisted together. Limb after twisted, broken limb wrapped and tangled one around another to form its arms. Its head too was composed of many human heads crushed together like so much clay or mud. Ness could see eyes blinking from its cheeks, mouths opening and closing like drowning fish. The skin melted back into the waters, dripping brown and green.

  ‘Who disturbs the Sleepers of the Amarant?’ the creature said, its voice wet and rattling.

  ‘My name,’ Azuli croaked, stumbling backward from the pool’s edge, ‘is Azuli, son of the Lashkars of Sulayman. Who . . . who are you?’

  The creature tilted its hideous head slightly as if thinking. Four eyes blinked in its forehead and then vanished under a tide of molten flesh. ‘We are those who came here seeking the Amarant and never left,’ the Sleepers said. Ness stared at the bodies writhing in its huge form. ‘Tortured souls snared by the siren glow of the Flower of Life.’

  ‘Can you help us?’ Ness called, choking on the stink from the pool, disgusted to think she had just fallen into that water, inhaled it. ‘I need to find my parents.’

  ‘The Pool of Life has healed you, Necessity Bonehill,’ the Sleepers gargled. ‘It has shown you something of what you need to know. Your parents are held by the djinn Zaakiel.’

  ‘Then tell me more,’ Azuli demanded, taking a step forward.

  ‘Once, we could see all lives, all futures. We knew everything that had been and would be,’ the Sleepers wailed. ‘The Amarant burned bright in the Pool of Life and we guarded it jealously.’

  ‘But someone took the Amarant,’ Ness murmured. ‘And you were left here with no purpose?’

  ‘The Amarant is no more,’ the creature said, and Ness thought a sob caught its voice. ‘Stolen by the greedy. Only the merest traces of it exist. Our power wanes. We cannot see clearly.’

  ‘Nevertheless,’ Azuli said, ‘I would know how to find the djinn Zaakiel and destroy him.’

  ‘On the highest house on the highest hill,’ the Sleepers whispered, melting back into the pool. ‘There Zaakiel vi
ews his destruction and revels in it. You will know how to destroy him.’ It swept a dripping hand across the ground in front of them. ‘But remember: sometimes the simplest story holds a seed of wisdom in its heart.’

  A sword glinted silver in the moss. Next to it lay a golden cross and beside that a wooden platter piled with dates.

  ‘Take sustenance, then choose your weapons carefully.’

  With a final sigh, the Sleepers of the Amarant slipped back into the Pool of Life.

  Azuli leapt forward and snatched up the silver sword, giving it a few test swings. ‘It’s beautiful,’ he whispered. ‘Maybe with this we’ll have a chance.’

  ‘I’m not sure.’ Ness shook her head. ‘Besides, it doesn’t have Zaakiel’s name carved in the blade.’

  ‘We could carve it.’ Azuli’s eyes burned with excitement. ‘Remember how Morris’s bullets hurt the djinn?’

  ‘They didn’t kill him outright though,’ Ness mused, stroking a finger over the cross. She picked a date from the platter and popped it into her mouth. ‘What about this cross?’

  ‘What, are you going to hit Zaakiel with the cross?’ Azuli snorted, taking a fruit too and chewing it. ‘No, the sword is the weapon.’

  ‘I wonder,’ Ness said, picking up another date. ‘You take the sword then.’

  Azuli whirled the blade, but stopped, suddenly deflated. ‘Not that it matters.’

  Ness frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

  Azuli threw his hands in the air. ‘We’re trapped here – the carpet is gone. How are we going to get back?’

  A loyal friend is worth more than gold.

  Traditional proverb

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Escape from the Jungle

  Azuli threw his hands to his sides. ‘It’s useless,’ he muttered. ‘We are thousands of miles from London.’

  ‘Then we have no choice. We’ve got to find that carpet,’ Ness said, squinting up into the canopy of the oasis and chewing on another date.

  ‘It’ll be long gone by now,’ Azuli murmured, following her gaze.

  ‘I think not.’ Ness beamed, pointing above her head.

  High up, the carpet hung limp. A branch pierced its middle, trapping it. Briars and creepers snagged and tangled themselves around it.

  ‘It must have got stuck up there when it crashed through the trees and threw you off,’ Azuli said, running to the bottom of a wide trunk and peering up. ‘I’ll climb up and free it.’

  ‘We’ll climb up,’ Ness said, spitting out and pocketing the date stones. She joined him and grasped a low branch.

  The tree bark cooled Ness’s hands as she climbed. It felt smooth, slippery at times, but there were enough branches radiating out from the central trunk to make climbing easy. Azuli’s panting echoed with hers across the jungle as they went higher and higher.

  Ness’s mind wandered with the monotony of the climb. Why didn’t the bloodsuckers kill me? Did the djinn mark me as his own in some way? And what about London? Will we get back in time and what will we find if we do?

  ‘Er, Ness,’ Azuli said, looking down – but beyond her, to the ground below.

  Ness turned and stared down. Pale faces glared back at them, shrouded partly by the foliage of the trees, but Ness caught a glimpse of khaki and a flash of sharp white teeth.

  ‘Bloodsuckers?’ Azuli croaked, watching as two of the soldiers began clambering up the tree towards them.

  ‘Climb up, Azuli, quickly,’ Ness hissed. ‘Fast as you can. They aren’t after me – I don’t know why – but they’ll want you. Get that carpet free then I’ll hold them off.’

  Azuli scrambled towards the flapping carpet like a frightened squirrel, slipping every now and then.

  ‘Give us the boy,’ the captain called up. His voice still had the clipped tone of an officer but something cold lurked under the surface sound. ‘You can go free, girl. We cannot feast on you.’

  ‘Why not?’ Ness spat. ‘Not good enough?’

  ‘Give us the boy,’ the captain snapped.

  ‘Go to hell!’ Ness snarled back.

  The captain allowed a smirk to twist his pointed features, then he barked an order in a language Ness didn’t understand. The bloodsuckers moved steadily, purposefully. Ness climbed more slowly, allowing Azuli to gain height.

  The first soldier reached out for her ankle. Ness pulled her foot up and then slammed it back, her heel catching the creature in the eye. With a roar, the bloodsucker put his hand up to his face and Ness, sensing his loss of balance, gave him another kick to the shoulder.

  The soldier jerked back, waving his arms in the air as he sought stability. But his weight had shifted too far off the branch and Ness watched with satisfaction as he fell, bones cracking as he bounced from branch to branch and finally landed on the ground with a thump, forcing the captain to take a step back.

  ‘I’m nearly there,’ Azuli called.

  The branches were thinner near the top, bending and cracking under their weight. The carpet began twisting and pulling at the briars that snagged it, like a wild animal in a trap, but the sharp branch was punched through its middle like a meat hook, holding it tight. Azuli stretched to reach the far corner of the carpet.

  Something gripped Ness’s ankle and she glanced down to see the second bloodsucker’s triumphant grin. Ness tried to kick but the creature’s grip held. With a gasp, she hooked her arms over the branch above her, desperate not to be dragged off and thrown to the ground so far below. She tried to lash out but he had her legs pinned. Slowly, the weight on her legs increased as the bloodsucker bore down. Her shoulders burning with the effort, Ness wriggled to keep hold of the branch.

  ‘You’ll not drag me down,’ she hissed, staring at the leering creature.

  A shaft of warm sunlight lanced down from above as Azuli struggled through the canopy. The bloodsucker gave a hideous scream and Ness screwed her eyes up, glimpsing the seared flesh of his face in the light. She couldn’t block out the stink of burning flesh. The soldier’s grasp relaxed and Ness risked a look as he fell to his doom, trailing stinking smoke.

  ‘It’s the daylight!’ Ness called up. ‘Grubb said something about them not being able to live in the sunlight.’

  But more bloodsuckers were scrambling up the tree. Ness climbed higher to where Azuli tugged at the edge of the rippling carpet.

  ‘I can’t get it free!’ he groaned.

  ‘Never mind that,’ she said. ‘Help me pull these branches apart.’

  The soldiers came closer, eyes fixed on Azuli, clambering branch over branch with ruthless efficiency.

  Ness tore and snapped at thin branches, becoming reckless and swinging on some of the thicker limbs until they creaked. Azuli hacked at the canopy with his silver blade.

  The captain shouted commands from below and the creatures increased their climbing pace.

  ‘Faster, Azuli,’ Ness panted, ripping at the leaves above them. Azuli gave a mirthless grin and swung his blade harder, sending branches and stems fluttering to the floor below.

  Gradually, a hole appeared in the treetops and the fierce light of the desert replaced the cool shadows. Screams sounded beneath them and Ness glanced down to see more blackened skin and smouldering corpses falling on to their comrades. A pang of pity stabbed through her. These were men once, with families; they didn’t ask to be changed. It was the oasis that bred this evil. She wished she could burn the whole thing down.

  The captain stared up from the dank ground, malice burning in his eyes. He shook his fist and then vanished into the darkness of the jungle.

  ‘We did it.’ Ness grinned at Azuli, leaning over to hug him, then wobbling to regain her balance.

  ‘Ness, look out!’ Azuli yelled.

  Ness spun round to see the carpet working itself free from the branch. A huge rent hung in its centre; the carpet had been hurling itself back and forth to widen the hole. Now only a few strands held it.

  Ignoring the dizzying drop below, Ness threw herself at the carpet, grabbi
ng the corner as it launched free.

  ‘Here we go again!’ she said through gritted teeth.

  Azuli leapt on to it too and hooked his arm through the hole, grinning fiercely.

  The carpet whisked upward and Ness dragged herself to the front.

  ‘Now listen,’ Ness bellowed at it. ‘You can’t win. I won’t let you. Just behave and take us back to London.’

  Ness’s stomach seemed to force its way into her throat as the carpet gave a few rebellious dips, dives and somersaults, but then it flattened out and began to accelerate skyward.

  A cool breeze fanned Ness and Azuli as they watched the oasis shrink through the hole in the middle of the carpet.

  The day dragged by and, despite the carpet’s incredible speed, the landscape below remained stubbornly brown and arid.

  ‘What if it’s taking us in the wrong direction, just out of spite?’ Azuli whispered at one point.

  Ness shook her head. ‘It wouldn’t dare. We travelled for a long time to get here. We just have to be patient.’

  Easier said than done, Ness thought. What on earth awaits us in London?

  The air gradually grew cooler then bitterly cold. Cloud obscured their view of the land below and it seemed to Ness that they flew in another world, comprised of mist and fog.

  The journey rolled on. Ness and Azuli huddled together for warmth – as best they could with a huge gaping hole between them.

  ‘Do you think we can stop the djinn?’ Azuli muttered after long hours of silence.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she replied, feeling the date stones in her pocket. ‘But we have to try.’

  ‘What do you think your vision in the pool meant?’ Azuli said, frowning.

  ‘I don’t know exactly,’ Ness murmured. ‘What I wanted was a way to destroy Zaakiel.’

  ‘The blade will do that,’ Azuli said, smoothing his palm along the flat edge of his scimitar.

  ‘No. Remember what Hafid said about brains winning this battle, not brawn?’ Ness replied. ‘If nothing else, I’ve learned my lesson.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Azuli said.