Jinn's Dominion (Desert Cursed Series Book 3)

by Shannon Mayer

  The flail left my back and Vic swung it around, testing the weight. I dropped to my knees and the twin spike balls barely missed my head.

  “It’s light,” Vic said. “Too light for battle. This can’t be the flail of Marsum.”

  I held my breath. I needed to save Lila. “Flail, I know you can hear me. If I am your master, if you belonged to my mother, then you can do as I say. Take his life!” I yelled the words and Vic laughed.

  “Kill the dragon,” Vic said.

  “PLEASE!” I screamed. I was desperate. Because Maks wasn’t going to save her. Because I had no pride when it came to saving the sister of my heart.

  I whipped my head around to see Maks still holding Lila, but his eyes were blank, and his hands hadn’t moved.

  “Maks, you know you can’t do this! You can’t kill her! She saved us both! Please, Maks, if there is anything left of the man I knew, you won’t do this!” I begged and didn’t care that I begged. I had no pride left to me if it meant I could save her.

  His throat bobbed with a heavy swallow, but he didn’t move to do anything, so I counted that as something. Lila sobbed, her body shaking even while she was pinned down. The sapphire stone, along with the other two, were in my bag, tucked away because that had seemed like the best idea. If we got out of this, I was never letting her take it off.

  “Remember the țuică, Maks?” I said. “Remember that night we almost died in the snow? When you helped me out of the river? You are not a killer, Maks. You aren’t. You aren’t like them.” His eyes flickered closed as I kept speaking. “Please, hate me all you want. Take me to Marsum. But don’t kill her. She doesn’t deserve to die.”

  The third Jinn approached him. “Give her to me, whelp, if you can’t be a man and do as you’re told.”

  Time seemed to slow, and I wished with all I had that there was some magic in me, that somehow, I could free Lila, that I could undo the magic that held her.

  Please, please let me be something more, not for me, but for her. To save her.

  There was a moment where Maks and I locked eyes. And then Lila let out a screech and her wings snapped out from her body, unleashed as she shot into the air, winging hard for height. “Shoot her!” Vic hollered.

  “GO!” I yelled up at her. I didn’t know where she’d go, only that she had to. But she was as fierce as she was little and she listened about as well as I did when it came to running from a fight.

  There was a rush of something falling, the whistle of wind over her body, and then she was just there, dropping out of the sky, barrel rolling and avoiding the Jinn’s mist. She belched as she went over the nameless Jinn, and green acid poured from her lips, sparking and dancing as it fell on his upturned face.

  He screamed as the droplets hit him and then she was away again, heading for camp. “In the bag!” I yelled after her.

  If she could get the sapphire then maybe we could get out of here. Maybe. Hope whispered through me.

  “You mean these?” Vic held up the three stones. Clear diamond, blue sapphire, and deep emerald winked back at me.

  I slumped. I knew Lila wouldn’t leave me, but I didn’t know how to keep her safe. Vic hauled me to my feet and then lifted me with ease so I was draped across his saddle, my ass not far from one of his hands.

  He laid a hand on my butt. “I can see why you wanted to fuck her, Maks. She really does have a nice ass.” He gave it a squeeze, then a swat, and I gritted my teeth. A low hiss slid out of me and the horse under us shied to the side.

  Vic gave me a sharp slap on the other cheek. “Knock it off, cat.”

  I made myself stay still as the third Jinn managed to gather himself up. He mounted Balder again, wobbling, whimpering, one hand to his face. I grimaced at his unbalanced seat, knowing how much it would throw my horse off.

  “Let’s go. That dead giant is stinking the place up,” Vic growled. “Bart, stop your whining and get your head in the game.”

  “It fucking hurts!” he howled. “I can’t make it stop burning.”

  I laughed even though the laughter jammed my gut against the rounded pommel of the saddle. “It’ll burn until there is nothing left to burn, dumb ass. It’s acid. It will eat its way through anything. And don’t try to help him, Vic. If it gets on you, then you’ll be missing fingers in no time. Strike that, fucker. Help him all you like.”

  He swatted my ass for the third time and from across the way came a low growl. I lifted my head enough to see Maks staring hard at Vic. Even in the dark, the way he watched what was happening said it all.

  Maks was still in there, somewhere. He’d let Lila go, and now seeing Vic spank me repeatedly was giving him some serious issues about just who was touching me.

  “You think he’ll save you yet?” Vic laughed and urged his horse forward, obviously unbothered by the fact that one of his buddies was whimpering in pain and clawing at his own face or that the other was obviously pissed at him and had death in his eyes.

  The thump of a body hitting the ground caught my ears. I twisted to see only a glimpse of Bart as he writhed on the ground. Maks caught Balder by the reins and tugged him along.

  “He let Lila go. That means something,” I said finally. Vic grunted.

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “Um, yeah, dumb ass, he did.” I squirmed as if trying to get comfortable when really, I was trying to see if I could get my fingers near either of my blades. Besides having my arms pinned, they were clamped in the middle of my back. I had a small blade tucked tightly to my lower spine, but I wasn’t sure if I could reach it, if it would do me any good. A blade against magic was not really something I saw going well for me. But I couldn’t stop trying.

  “You are exactly what Marsum said you are,” he muttered. “Which is bothersome. Because if he was right about you, then perhaps the rest of his words are true.”

  I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or not. And for the first time in a long time, I figured it might be best to stay quiet.

  Maks rode up beside Vic. “It means we need to be careful. One on guard at all times. One watching her at all times.”

  “You think I’m a fool? As soon as Bart heals, it will be two watching her at all times. I don’t trust you, Maks.” Vic put a hand on the back of my head and ran his fingers through my locks. If not for the way he gripped at the tangled mess, I would have said he was trying to be seductive. “And you still want her, which means she can control you yet.”

  He jerked my head up sharply, putting a bend in my back that had me whimpering. I didn’t try to bite back the noises. If I let Maks see the trouble I was in, then maybe I could get him to save me yet. Control him, no. But maybe if he saw me suffer, it would spark the protectiveness I knew was in him. A foolish hope, a part of me knew that, but I still wanted to try. I didn’t want to totally give up on him.

  Vic let my head go and I slumped again. Time ticked by. The rolling gait of the horse lulled me into a sleep that was fitful and far from restful. They rode through the night and at dawn they stopped and made camp.

  The werehyenas were staked at the edge of the camp, their chains tied down by Vic’s magic.

  “I think Marsum will like these new pets.” He patted one of the oversized canids on the head. The creature’s deep gray eyes met mine while it suffered itself to be treated like a mutt. I gave it the slightest of nods and it narrowed its eyes at me. I shrugged. If the werehyenas didn’t want my help freeing them, then I wouldn’t when I got free. And I would be damned if that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Four hours to rest, then we go again,” Vic said.

  Maks nodded and went about setting up the camp, not unlike how he did when we had traveled together.

  “Well trained, isn’t he?” Vic sat next to me and the mist rolled from his fingers. He moved my arms to the front and bound them once more, my fingers laced and unable to respond to even a small command from me. Best I could do was glare.

  “Fuck you.”

  “I’d like to, but Marsum ma
de it clear the only person getting your sweet ass is him. That being said, anything else goes as far as I’m concerned.” Vic leaned in close and I let out a small growl as I bared my teeth. I might not have the jaws of a lion, but even on two legs, I had overly sharpened canines. He laughed, caught my head and kissed me hard, plundering my mouth with his tongue. I fought to get away, but bound as I was, there was not much I could do but bite him. I twisted my head and cut his lip with my canine, tasting blood as he pulled away—magic, that’s what he tasted like, magic and the desert, and I didn’t dislike the flavor, which bothered me. I grimaced and shook my head. “You taste like shit.”

  He licked his lips and ran a hand through his hair. “You taste a little like a clear spring after a year in the desert. I might have to take another drink later.” He grinned at me, his eyes full of lust.

  I stared up at him, hating him. Hating the Jinn. Hating everything that was happening.

  A sound I knew well lit the air and I forced myself not to move, not to react to it.

  A blade coming free of a scabbard.

  Vic turned and dropped to a knee as said blade whistled through the place where his head had been only a moment before. He reached for the flail.

  “Are you insane? You just lost the bounty on your head. Do you want your father to kill you?” Vic roared as he launched at Maks, the flail coming free. I pushed off and slammed my body into the back of Vic’s knees, dropping him and bringing the flail to the ground as well.

  Maks sidestepped the two of us and brought the handle of the long sword down hard on Vic’s head. Vic rolled to the side, groaning, his hand releasing the flail. The bonds on my arms and legs wavered and then were gone. I lurched forward and Maks caught me with one arm. He lowered his forehead to mine. “Run, Zam.”

  I reached for his face, not hesitating for a second. “Come with me, Maks.”

  “No, he’ll take me again if he thinks you’ve gotten away.”

  He, meaning Marsum. I cupped his face. “Please tell me we can undo this.”

  Maks shook his head. “I will always love you, Zam.”

  I pulled him to me, kissing him hard and he kissed me back as fiercely as he ever had. A part of me hoped that like any fairy tale, the kiss of your true love would be enough to save him, but I knew it wouldn’t. Love wasn’t enough.

  It was never enough.

  I let him go, bent and scooped up the flail, then went to the bags where the three stones were. I took them back. Maks watched me as I considered Vic on the ground.

  “Goodbye, Maks. I will always love you,” I whispered.

  The pain in his face and eyes tore at me like claws dragged through my flesh. Good gods, this ache in my heart was like nothing I’d ever felt. Not even losing Bryce could compete with this pain of knowing Maks was trapped, that there was no saving him from a madman. I ran for Balder and leapt onto his back, put my heels to his sides and bolted away before I could say anything else.

  Before Maks could say anything else.

  The werehyenas howled after me. But what did I care? They would kill me and take the stones. It was obvious they did not want nor need my help.

  From above me came the sound of leather-clad wings, and then Lila slammed into my chest. She knocked the wind out of me as she clambered to wrap her wings around my neck. I leaned over her, leaned over Balder’s neck and let him have his head.

  The Jinn behind us would not give up now that we were in front of them. And there would be no second chances for us.

  There was no more time to be subtle.

  We would race into the desert with death and enslavement in front and behind.

  What a fucking day.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Balder, Lila, and I galloped for a solid hour as fast as he could take us. Sweat foamed along his neck and down his sides before I asked him to slow. Even then, he plunged forward as if he could keep going. He probably could, but we were a few hours ahead of the others now, I had no doubt. The other horses didn’t have the build for speed. They were warhorses meant for carrying big men and armor. I frowned, thinking of Batman. What had happened to him? Maks loved that horse.

  I leapt off Balder and walked beside him, giving him a rest. The terrain was shifting into a more desert-like look even here near to the water. The ground was sand in places and the heat of the day had begun to climb even in that short span.

  “Lila, are you okay?”

  She was still curled tightly to my chest, and she’d been quiet the whole time we’d galloped away.

  “No.” She shook her head. “I’m not okay.”

  Panic lashed me and I put a hand to her back. “Injured?”

  “I thought we were both dead there,” she said. “And that Maks would be the one to do it.” A shudder went through her and I knew why. Her own father, her own siblings, had been sent to kill her. To weed her out because she was weak. I looped Balder’s reins over his neck but continued to walk beside him. I reached for my bag and pulled the sapphire stone out. “You need to wear this, Lila. It gives us an edge.”

  “I don’t want to be like the Ice Witch,” she whispered. “I don’t want to go mad with power like my father.”

  “And I don’t want to end up bound by the Jinn again. You carry the sapphire, and for now, I will carry the diamond. We will leave the emerald in the bag.”

  I pulled the blue stone out first. The sapphire was about the size of my fist. I took a piece of leather strapping from my bag and wrapped the stone until there was no blue showing. Then I slid the thong over her head and set it up like a harness so the stone didn’t move and shake. “How’s that?”

  She leapt off my shoulder and into the air, flew around a few times and then came back. “I barely feel it. Shouldn’t it be heavy and make me unbalanced?”

  “Was it heavy and unbalanced when you used it against the gorcs?” I asked.

  She shook her head. “No, but I thought it was a heat of the battle kind of thing where I just didn’t notice it.”

  Even as I looked at her, the stone seemed to get smaller and blend in better with the leather straps and the scales on her body. I frowned again. “Well, it looks to be making itself at home.”

  “I want a safe word,” she said suddenly. “Like if you start to see me go crazy, a word that tells me I have to take it off.”

  I raised my eyebrows at her. “Okay. Banana pants.”

  She laughed. “What’s a banana?”

  “My dad said it was a kind of fruit that was yellow and looked like a dong.” I grinned, knowing full well we were avoiding all the messy stuff that had just happened. That our joking hid the ugly truth of the day.

  “Banana pants it is.” She shook her head and moved to my shoulder, wrapping her tail around my neck, her tiny claws clutching the edge of my ear. “That was nasty back there, Zam. That was scary.”

  “Yup.”

  “Marsum will try to use me to hurt you, just like he’s using Maks,” she said. “We need a plan.”

  She was right on both counts. “We’re still a week from the edge of the Jinn’s Dominion.” I paused and looked behind us as if we could see the Jinn on our tail. “If we go east again, we could hug the shoreline. That’ll give us drinkable water for a few days yet. It doesn’t go completely saline until the southern tip. There are plenty of fish to be had. Footing isn’t bad, less likely to get any stone bruises on Balder.”

  “The storms, though,” Lila said.

  “Right, but we have to assume the Emperor now has his sights on Shem, and Shem is headed the other way.”

  She tightened her hold on my ear. “Maybe. I don’t think we can assume anything.”

  Her words reminded me of what Destry had said. I quickly filled her in on the giant queen’s belief that the Emperor had poisoned the land and wiped out her clan because she wouldn’t buckle to his whims.

  “You think she was right?” Lila asked.

  I pulled out the magic dust Destry had given me. “She believed it enough to give
me this.”

  I held the leather bag out to Lila and she poked at it with the tip of her nose. “What is it?”

  “Magic dust, apparently. No idea if it’s anything or just ground-up mushrooms.” I put it back under my cloak. “But she thought it was important. She said if I sprinkled it on me I would be strong, strong.”

  Lila blew out a breath. “I don’t like any of this.”

  “Neither do I. I can’t turn away from the others, Lila. But I won’t be mad if you—”

  “Don’t even think it,” she growled and pinched the edge of my ear hard enough to draw a yelp from me. “We’re in this together whether you like it or not. You’re my sister.”

  I smiled. “Thanks.” I mounted onto Balder and moved him into his ground-covering trot. We couldn’t really slow down. I had no doubt the Jinn would ride their mounts into the ground, fueling them with their magic to keep them going until they dropped dead.

  I kept Balder to the east, along the seashore. The ground was hard enough that following us would be difficult, and I had Lila sweep the hoof prints with her wings, flying back and forth across the sections that showed a scuff or a turn of soil.

  We rode between the hills, pushing hard to the south. I kept looking back, fully expecting a cloud of dust announcing the Jinn on our asses yet again. I swallowed, my throat tight as I thought of Maks. He’d hurt Vic and let us go. There was going to be hell to pay for him. Was that why they weren’t on us? Because they were too busy hurting Maks?

  I let myself find the energy that was Maks. It was the same pulsing colors as before, wrapped in sickness. I’d not even asked him how he was dying, why he hadn’t said anything about it in all the time I’d known him.

  It felt as though a hand wrapped around my heart and squeezed it hard enough to slow its beating. Lila, flying beside me, must have seen my face change. “What is it?”

  “Thinking about Maks. He’ll be punished for letting us go. And he’s sick, Lila. So sick.”

  “It wasn’t him,” Lila said softly. “He didn’t change anything. I could feel his magic holding me.”