War of the Sultans

by Fuad Baloch

  Camsh nodded, then placed the scrolls on the table. Breaking the seals one by one, he started reading them.

  Her arms crossed across her chest, Nuraya stared at Jinan and Camsh in turn. The two most important men in her council. Neither of whom she could trust implicitly yet. All that Maharis had said about the inquisitor applied equally to Camsh as well. After all, how could she trust the son of the very same grand vizier who had first called for Ahasan, then turned to a nobody—a mere city guard—to take over her throne?

  Shoki’s words floated in her memory. The man had been giving her far too many warnings of late. For a nobody, he sure had developed an inflated sense of his self-worth. Was he right though? Could it really be that by pinning herself down in the middle of nowhere, she was curtailing her options? Wasn’t that what she had feared not too long ago—losing momentum by going too slow? Theaters of war had erupted all around the realm, and only those parties that were involved would be the ones benefiting from them.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw Camsh raise his head and clear his throat.

  “Go on,” she said.

  “Not great news I’m afraid,” said Camsh. He paused, shaking his head as if to apologize for what she had asked him to share.

  “Out with it!” she said, leaning in to grip the table’s corners once more.

  “After sending the customary salutations, the Reratish prince suggests he is still expecting to see you and enquires when that might be possible.” Nuraya scoffed, motioned Camsh to continue. “He doesn't really answer your question about what his intentions are regarding his stay in Istan. Nor does he offer any apology for what happened at Qwasad.”

  Nuraya exhaled. “So, a waste of time then. We gained nothing. There is to be no peace.”

  “Your brother, on the other hand, still seems inclined to play the diplomatic game. He still renounces you and neither extends you an invitation to visit him nor offers any help.”

  “Hmm,” said Nuraya. “Rabb has truly deserted me.”

  Pushing herself off the table, ignoring the wave of grief threatening to wash over her, she surveyed her choices. Not that many in all truth. She couldn't march down to Algaria, not with fifty thousand soldiers of the Zakhanan empire in between her and the capital. Nor could she face the Reratish in her diminished state. The magi that she had relied on before were engaged in a war of their own, their cause only tangential to her concerns. Her brother, the only one who could really help her, seemed to be taking sadistic pleasure in denying her succor. Shoki—even if she had wanted to strike a more formal alliance with him—commanded no armies of his either.

  One thing was clear.

  She couldn't stand still. That had never been her nature, nor would she be letting adversity slow her down.

  “Both of you,” she said, staring at the map that seemed more depressing the longer she looked at it. “Get out!”

  Chapter 24

  Shoki

  Shoki exhaled. “No, Jiza, you may not just walk into the middle of these men bathing in the stream. That’s not acceptable in human societies.”

  “Would that be considered an offensive act?” she asked, batting her eyelids.

  “Well, not quite… offensive as such,” Shoki said, unsure whether the djinn was really oblivious to the effect she had on men or was merely acting. “But… in poor taste.”

  “Your kind is most unusual,” she said, shaking her head, thrusting her chest forward. “If a djinn likes another, they merely say so, and that’s the end of it.”

  Shoki licked his lips, forcing himself not to look at her. She hadn't tied her hair today, the strands flowing softly behind her in the afternoon breeze. Jiza placed a hand on her hip, the bangles making a soft clinking sound, then cocked her head to the side. Shoki’s eye traveled to the arch in her back.

  No! Again, he forced himself to look ahead.

  “Shoki,” she said. “Have you given—”

  Bright yellow light flashed. A massive burst of energy that blinded Shoki. He stumbled back.

  “What—”

  More flashes of lightning assaulted his sight.

  “No!” shouted Jiza.

  Shielding his right eye with a hand, Shoki took a peek once the flashes seemed to have passed. The soldiers were running out of the water. They shouted at each other, their hands pointing at the clear skies. Shoki swallowed, the sense of immense wrongness settling in. “No,” he croaked.

  “Did you see the flashes?” shouted someone at Shoki. Some half-naked soldier holding up his pudgy belly, his eyes wide in shock.

  Pulling back his hand, Shoki took a look around. Everything seemed alright. Except for the excited chatter of the Sultana’s Hands, the surrounding forest was quiet, the leaves staying still on their branches. Swallowing, Shoki took a step forward. He was a good hundred yards from the stream, empty now that all the bathers had jumped out.

  “No,” he said, turning around to the soldiers. “Get back! You have to get—”

  Another burst of lightning flashed.

  Larger, ever greater than before. A massive wave accompanied by a dozen more.

  Shoki forced his eye open, looked around. More shouts filled the air, but the skies had returned to their normal blue once more. From the corner of his eye, he saw a fleeting figure. He squinted. A thin man. Black turban. Maharis?

  “Look over to the west!” came a shout.

  A hand gripped his arm. Jiza’s. “Shoki, we need to get away.”

  Shaking his head, he turned west. A wall of blazing fire was rising in the air. He blinked. A wall of fire? “Jiza, what’s—”

  The air filled with a whooshing sound accompanied by soft crackling. The tree closest to them creaked, a dozen or so smaller twigs snapping as if pulled by some invisible force.

  “We need to get away,” said Jiza urgently. “Now!”

  Dread numbing his limbs, Shoki stared dumbly at the wall of fire. He’d seen this phenomenon before, but it hadn’t been a wall before. Jadu or no, he did know what he was seeing. “Your people are here?”

  “Not my people,” Jiza snapped. “Drenpa’s!”

  A distinction that didn't really matter at the moment. “They found me. Just as Drenpa had warned. I need to—”

  A strong burning smell spread, making Shoki gag. Someone screamed. Some man no longer ashamed to admit fear in the face of the elemental forces.

  “Run!” said Jiza, yanking at his arm.

  “No!” he said.

  “It’s moving—”

  “—gods’ guts!”

  “—what are we going to do—”

  Shouts filled the air. Someone, a salar, ordered his men to form up, warning of the punishments he would mete out if they didn't jump into action. Shoki didn't turn around to see if the men listened, his eye glued to the shimmering wall of yellow fire hanging in the distance.

  Slowly, he turned east. His heart sank. Another wall floated in the air there as well. As he stood, the edges of the massive wall began curving inward, rushing out to either direction as if a father extended his arms for an embrace.

  “Shoki, what’s going on?” demanded a stern feminine voice.

  Blinking, he turned toward Nuraya. She still wore the same leather vest he had seen before, her eyes glinting in the unnatural light.

  “What in R-Rabb’s n-name is that?” asked Ranal Poolani, one of a dozen or so men standing behind her.

  “They are here,” said Shoki, not believing the words coming out of his mouth.

  “Who are they?” asked Nuraya again. “Magi?”

  “Djinn magi,” announced a harsh voice from Shoki’s right. His eyes stinging, Shoki turned to watch the inquisitor strut forward. His expression was grave, his sword dangling uselessly at his side. “They came after us before as well.”

  “D-d-djinn!” stammered Ranal, taking a step back. “Djinn magus!”

  “Told you all to not trust them,” snarled the inquisitor. “They are not a people one can reason with!”

>   Jinan stomped his feet then unleashed his sword with a flourish. “They’re going to meet their maker today. By the gods of Atishi and Fanna and Husalmin, each and every one of them is going back to the ash!”

  “Djinn?” said Nuraya, her voice faraway, her accusing eyes focused on Shoki. “Can you even fight them back?”

  Jinan shook his head, muttering angrily. Camsh leaned in toward Nuraya and began whispering in her ear. Stifling the bout of jealousy that shot through him, Shoki turned away.

  The walls were circling around them, forming a ring of fire. Hot enough now that he could feel beads of sweat running down his back. He raised a hand, dabbed at his forehead.

  “Not much we can do,” the inquisitor was saying. “These are likely not magi under the inquisitor’s control.”

  “Can a magus with the ability to counter fire help?” asked Shoki.

  “What of Maharis?” asked Ranal, looking around.

  “He’s gone,” said Shoki, before anyone else could reply. He paused. “I saw him slinking away.”

  “The bastard, running off at the first sign of trouble,” said the inquisitor. “Maybe it was him all along who brought this enemy upon us!”

  Not Maharis. They are here for me. The war of Nainwa has arrived here. Just as Jiza warned, the reflection has caught up with the image.

  “Should have killed him the first time he returned,” snarled Jinan.

  “L-look!” said Ranal, taking a step back, a hand pointing at the sky.

  Shoki did, then gasped. Small balls of fire were separating from the wall, floating around it like fluffs of cotton. He knew what came next.

  “Come along,” said Jiza, keeping her voice low.

  Shoki chuckled ruefully. “Too late. Nothing even you can do now. I should have warned them all. I should—”

  A dozen balls separated from the rest and began rising, higher and higher.

  “Oh, Rabb!” wailed someone.

  “Inquisitor,” barked Nuraya. “What are our options? If we cannot counter it, can we escape it?”

  Before Inquisitor Aboor could reply, shouts spread as the balls began hurtling toward them.

  “Run!”

  “Rabb help us!”

  Men shouted all around. None carried swords. Instead, they ran around like headless chickens unsure of what to do. Shoki nodded. That was exactly what they all were—meat that was about to be burned to a crisp.

  “Girl, are you a magus?”

  Shoki jerked his head around. The inquisitor stood in front of Jiza who glared right back at him.

  The ground shook. Men shouted. Tents to the far east burst into fire.

  “What’s it to you?” Jiza demanded, cocking her head to the side, completely unfazed by the inquisitor’s threatening eyes.

  “W-we can’t keep still!” wailed Ranal. “What do we do?”

  Nuraya cleared her throat and stepped forward. Surprised, Shoki watched her step beside the inquisitor. “Jiza, that’s your name, isn't it? If you do have the power to help, any help whatsoever, this would be the opportunity.”

  Again, the ground shook. A wave of hot air slammed into Shoki and he stuttered back. The inquisitor coughed but didn't budge from his position. Shoki turned his head up. Balls of fire, far too numerous to count now, filled the air, falling down like infinite droplets of rain. Relentless. Constant. There was a pattern though. Instead of falling everywhere, they were targeting the areas closest to the ring of fire, slowly inching inward. Alpha predators herding the prey into an ever-shrinking circle of death.

  Shoki’s legs threatened to buckle.

  “What kind of a magus are you, girl?” the inquisitor demanded. Despite the state they were in, Shoki grinned at the absurdity of the question. Married to his job, even now the inquisitor was fishing for weaknesses he could exploit later.

  “Step back,” Jiza said, then strutted over to him, proud and tall like a queen taking a stroll in her gardens. Shoki wondered whether the fire would impact her even when she had tethered herself to the human world. “You have forced me to reveal my abilities.”

  Shoki nodded dumbly.

  “Do you think you can focus?”

  Shoki chuckled. “Surrounded by approaching death? Nothing better to help clear the mind.”

  Jiza stared at him for a long breath. Shoki blinked. His mouth was getting drier. It was becoming harder to see clearly as well. Soon, the circle would be upon them, leaving them nowhere to hide—unless… unless he could accept the gift she had to offer.

  “I can gift you all of my well,” she said. “Completely draining myself. Once I do that, I won’t have anything for you or other magi for a good while. You need to be certain.”

  Shoki swallowed. Others were watching them closely now. Even Nuraya, her bright eyes focused on the djinn girl. Only the inquisitor stared at him. Shoki wondered if Inquisitor Aboor suspected she was a djinn like Mara as well. Then again, this wasn't the time for idle thoughts. He turned back to Jiza. “I don't know, but there will never be a better time to try.”

  She nodded, then placed her hand on his chest.

  A bolt of energy, freezing cold and numbing, smashed into him. Shoki stumbled back. Unlike the last time he had tried this with Jiza, the bolts kept coming, each stronger than the last.

  Time lost all significance.

  Nothing but the sensation of being a little dot of consciousness surrounded by the immense potential of jadu.

  He snapped his eye open, howled as more bolts thrashed into him. Dimly, he registered Jiza swaying on her feet, her eyes rolling back.

  She was done.

  Shoki nodded. He needed to seize jadu. Whatever sacrifice he had made at the Shahi Qilla didn't matter anymore. The Divide would have to hold even if he struck out with all his might. His eye found Nuraya, gaping at him now, her beautiful lips parted slightly. He had to save her.

  He had to!

  Shoki howled, feeling the air crackle with all the various energies that ran through it. He could feel—almost taste—the potential of the men and the two women around him.

  Closing his eye, he forced his mind to draw a blank.

  A task he had to perform no matter what went down around him.

  The world grew quiet.

  Nothing but the void. Waiting for him to reach out, seize jadu, become the abomination the worlds loathed, yet needed.

  He extended his fingers.

  This was the time.

  He found nothing.

  Again, he reached out. Found nothing.

  “No!” he screamed. Like a blind man thrashing to find purchase in the midst of a raging storm, he flailed about. He had to grab jadu. So much depended on it, both immediately, and for the help he had to render to Mara.

  Jadu slipped through his grasping fingers.

  “No!” he mewled, his eye snapping open, the void collapsing.

  Despite the heat, he could feel the mist gathering in his eye, a tear trickling down his cheek.

  He had failed.

  His eye found Nuraya. She stood still, her lips pursed, her hair streaming behind her, her outline colored by the orange fire creeping ever closer.

  “I…” he croaked, the voice so low even he couldn't hear it. He glimpsed Jiza running away.

  “The water!” he heard the inquisitor shout. “Get into it and start swimming.”

  “There’s a small island downstream,” shouted someone else.

  Shoki cast his eyes down, his shoulders slumping.

  He had failed.

  “Come, boy!” shouted the inquisitor, his hand grabbing Shoki. “Time to go.”

  “No,” he croaked. “I failed.”

  “It’s my time to make up for what I did to you,” snarled the inquisitor. “And even the likes of you are not going to deny me that.”

  Shoki opened his mouth to protest but found he had no strength to stop the inquisitor from dragging him toward the stream, its surface bubbling.

  Chapter 25

  Nuraya

&nb
sp; “Jump in,” shouted the inquisitor.

  Nuraya blinked, unsure of whether the inquisitor was serious, her heart thudding against her ribs. Even from ten yards away, she could see that the water surface was an agitated mess, steam billowing over it.

  “We’re going to get boiled alive,” shouted one of the soldiers who had joined them.

  “Stay and let the fireballs take you then,” snarled the inquisitor, dragging a dazed Shoki forward. Dabbing at her forehead, Nuraya forced her feet toward the stream. For an instant, she caught Shoki’s eye. The urge built in her chest to call out to him, see if he was alright. Then she saw Jiza, the magus girl shouting for his attention from a distance. Shoki whipped his head around, still looking dazed as the inquisitor kept dragging him forward.

  Nuraya turned away.

  “My sultana,” shouted Camsh beside her. “What do we do?”

  What do we do? Nuraya squinted, feeling a rush of adrenaline coursing through her veins. The djinn magi were responsible for this. The djinn! By Rabb, the thought was just as petrifying as the sight of the fiery walls closing in. She shook her head, refusing to cower. It wouldn’t be long until they would be squeezed in from all sides. Getting in the stream wouldn't really help as they would still be in its path.

  Then again, what other choice did she have? Whether she liked it or not, magi and their cursed ways had followed her once more—this time, in the form of the djinn. “Follow the inquisitor’s lead.”

  Shouts came from the left. Nuraya whipped her head around. Some four hundred yards away, her men were screaming, their limbs on fire. Those who could still move whilst set aflame tried running toward her. A good dozen crumpled to the ground, the contracting walls swallowing the rest.

  Shaking her head, vowing to avenge these deaths, she began trotting toward the stream.

  “Swim downstream,” shouted someone again.

  “I don’t know how to swim!” replied another panicked voice.