War of the Sultans

by Fuad Baloch

  “Jump in!” bellowed the inquisitor, getting closer to the surface.

  Nuraya turned to look at all those who had made it here with her. Jinan, staring at the boiling waters impassively. Ranal, still decked in his finery, babbling away incoherently. The normally reserved Camsh pale and out of breath. The inquisitor drawing Shoki forward. Another dozen or so soldiers whose names she didn't know.

  Where was the magus girl? Her thoughts growing increasingly incoherent, Nuraya stood on her tiptoes. She couldn't see Jiza. What kind of a magus was she anyway?

  Why in Rabb’s name were the cursed djinn attacking her?

  “Oh Rabb, help me!” shouted a soldier, dressed in iron mail. Raising his hands, he jumped in the stream, began flailing immediately. “Help!”

  “Is it hot?” shouted another soldier, the words hard to hear over the sizzle and thrum of fireballs only a hundred yards away now.

  Nuraya shook her head, watching the soldier cry and struggle to keep afloat. A man brought up in the desert, someone who hadn't realized his folly of jumping in a body of water wearing heavy armor.

  Shouting, the inquisitor shoved his way past the soldiers and entered the water.

  “Follow him,” shouted Nuraya, then approached the stream as well.

  The steam stung her eyes, even as her skin started prickling from the massive heat of the approaching fire walls. Squeezing her eyes shut, her teeth gritted, Nuraya jumped into the water.

  She’d been bracing herself for the searing heat, hoping that if the end would come, it would be swift and that she wouldn't be conscious to experience it.

  The water was cool.

  Nuraya opened her eyes. She heard delighted, shocked whoops of others around her who’d discovered the same fact. Thankful for the mandatory swimming lessons her mother had arranged for her, Nuraya gulped in a deep lungful of air and began swimming downstream.

  A few panicked shouts came from behind her. More men who didn't know how to wade through these waters. Nuraya swallowed the anger spreading in her chest. A sultana couldn't keep everyone safe. A terrible, sad lesson kismet continued to teach her.

  She swam, clearing her mind to ensure fear wouldn't envelop her. She had to keep moving. One stroke after another. Never letting the tiredness catch up to her. Letting the cool currents carry her downstream. When she came out for another gulp, the wall of fire was a few feet away. Panic coursed through her. What would happen if she was to hit it?

  One of the soldiers swam past her, unable to slow himself down.

  She waited with bated breath.

  The soldier shouted as he ran into the wall of fire, continuing to shout even as he went through it.

  Taking in another gulp of air, Nuraya dropped her head into the water and kicked her feet.

  A golden tinge in the dark waters indicated the presence of the wall of fire overhead, but apart from that, she felt no discomfort as she passed it without incident. Not believing she was past danger, she continued to swim, keeping her head down, her lungs burning.

  Nuraya raised her head, inhaled greedily. When she finally looked back, her camp burned. The wall of fire had contracted into a fiery column, so tall she couldn't see the highest-most point unless she craned her head all the way back.

  Nuraya slowed down. Heads bobbed as they went past her. Ranal alternating between sputtering and shouting. Camsh, floating past on some piece of flotsam he’d found.

  Kicking her feet the way her tutors had shown, Nuraya maintained her position. The shock of what had happened was beginning to fade away, giving way to an almighty rage.

  She had been ambushed. By magi that happened to be djinn. And they had managed to not only destroy her forces, but they had also taken away any realistic chances for her to make a difference in the fight to save her realm. When was the last time mythical beings had stooped to disrupting affairs of a race they called their inferior?

  “Help!” came a weak shout.

  Nuraya turned around, caught sight of the inquisitor, his thin hair matted to his skull, the gray turban nowhere to be seen. He was still pulling along an unmoving body. Shoki.

  “Help!” shouted the inquisitor once more. “I…” He paused to sputter through the wet mustache. “I… cannot hold on!”

  Nuraya found herself approaching the men. Inquisitor Aboor’s wild eyes met hers. She nodded, reached forward with an arm, and grabbed Shoki’s collar.

  The down current took the inquisitor away, leaving the two of them in the bobbing waves. Nuraya pulled Shoki toward her, keeping her feet moving, and peered down. His eye was shut, but through the water, she could see his chest moving softly.

  Alive then.

  Thoughts ran through her mind. Here was the man who had taken her crown from her, and continued to keep secrets from her. The man who had killed her mother.

  The man whose life was now under her control.

  Her hands shook. It would be so simple to let go, let this man who quite possibly had a strong claim of his own over her throne, perish.

  She peered down once more to look at Shoki.

  The man who’d ended up being a magus.

  The man she had kissed.

  The man she had begun to love.

  Love?

  Startled by the last thought, Nuraya yelped, her fingers almost slipping.

  Shaking her head, convinced her mind was conjuring fantastical ideas to help her not give in to wild panic, she pulled Shoki forward, began swimming downstream.

  Shoki was a thin man, but tall, and Nuraya wasn't used to either swimming for long or pulling dead weight along with her. Not long after they set out, her arms began to tire. Oh, Unseen God, help me!

  Fighting off the tiredness that was creeping up on her, she continued west, forcing her mind to not dwell on the fatigue spreading through her core and extending out to the extremities.

  Keep going. Just keep going!

  The world started contracting, reducing complex matters to simpler affairs. She had to keep swimming, had to pull this man alongside her, had to find refuge. These were the only matters of import.

  Nothing else mattered.

  She didn't have the power to keep fighting the currents, now moving in different directions. She was losing strength. Fast. “No!” she cried out, raising her head at the clear skies. She couldn't lose this man. Would not accept another defeat. Far too many people had been taken from her, and she’d had enough.

  More cries came in from around her. She tried turning around, saw nothing but the tops of dark waves. A soft breeze blew in behind her. It picked up, the currents strengthening under her.

  “Sultana!” came a shout from her left. She turned.

  “I can take over from here,” said a soldier she didn't recognize. “Allow me!”

  She hesitated for just a second, unsure of whether she could trust him to not let Shoki drown. Then, nodding, she let go, pulled away.

  The soldier was an able swimmer—most probably a northerner judging by his fair skin—and pulled away smoothly, one arm clutching Shoki like a mother might her injured chick.

  Nuraya followed the pair, her body just as tired as it had been, but this time she couldn't keep her anger in check.

  They had been attacked.

  By djinn.

  More enemies she didn't have before.

  Why did kismet keep doing this to her?

  On and on she pushed herself forward, more out of sheer willpower than through discovering any hidden reservoirs of strength. To her left, she heard voices. Camsh and Jinan, pointing at something ahead.

  Nuraya craned her head back. A landmass spread out, encircled on all sides by water.

  An island?

  “Over there!” shouted Camsh, jabbing a wet finger toward the landmass.

  Nuraya squeezed her eyes shut for half a beat, then began swimming toward the island.

  Chapter 26

  Shoki

  The sky was dark when Shoki opened his eye.

  For long breaths, he rema
ined still, his limbs plopped beside him like dead tree trunks. Voices floated around him. Loud and boisterous accompanied by gales of laughter. Men trying their best to make light of their circumstances.

  Far fewer voices than he had grown used to traveling with Nuraya.

  Gently, he tried moving his digits. At first, he felt nothing, couldn't get his little finger to respond at all. He tried swallowing, then gagged, tasting the remnants of his last meal mixing in with some slimy, salty texture.

  Memories floated up.

  They had been attacked by the djinn. Jiza had gifted him her powers. It hadn't worked. He had failed and the ring of fire had continued contracting toward them.

  What had happened since?

  Where was he?

  Why had the djinn attacked them all and not just him?

  Feeling breath constrict in his chest again, he coughed.

  “So, you have indeed lost your capacity for jadu,” said a harsh voice to his right, the Nirdu accented in the northern manner which seemed to place extra weight on the consonants. “One less magus for me to worry about severing from the source.”

  Startled, Shoki tried getting up. A wave of crippling darkness washed over him. Shoki yelped and crashed back down.

  “If I were you, I’d take it easy for a bit.”

  His eye shut, Shoki forced his heartbeat to settle. More memories came back. After they had been attacked, the inquisitor had suggested they take to the water to thwart the djinn attack. A wise move. A Zyadi magus’s attack using fire as its well was likely susceptible to water. It must have worked.

  Except if he had fainted, how had he gotten away?

  He remembered the inquisitor’s hand pulling him forward toward the water. He had turned around to look for Jiza and seen her running away. She was a djinn. No matter the nature in which she had been tethered to his world, could it be that she really couldn't enter water, just like a human couldn't tolerate fire? Come to think of it, despite all the times she had hinted, Shoki couldn't remember one time when she had either washed her face with water or as much as wet her toes.

  Still lying prone, Shoki surveyed his surroundings. Stunted trees. Long, thick clumps of grass swaying in the gloom of night. No neighing horses either. Again, he registered how few voices spoke around him.

  “What happened?”

  “You’re safe, boy,” said the inquisitor. “And now, we’re even.”

  Shoki nodded, then more panic coursed through him. “What happened to the others in the camp? Are… are they alright?”

  “Both magi, Maharis and the girl magus you’d been trying to keep from me, are gone. They escaped—both of them. Didn’t I say the magi weren't to be trusted?

  Shoki was shaking his head but the inquisitor continued. “Maharis didn't use his well, not in front of me anyway, but I sensed the girl use hers—something I’ve not come upon before. If I get back there in time, I can most probably pick up her residue and chase her.” He paused. “Do you know what else I discovered about her well?”

  Shoki remained quiet.

  “It was tainted with the same filth that had followed your friend Mara’s foulness. Jiza is a djinn, isn’t she?” Again, Shoki remained quiet. Inquisitor Aboor chuckled. “How funny is that, eh? All my life I’ve chased magi, and twice now, two magi remained right under my nose without me realizing their nature.” He paused. “I couldn’t locate Mara’s scent after you two had left me for dead. Something I’ve not come across before. How did he do that?”

  Shoki sucked his teeth.

  “Boy, how in the seven hells did you end up with the djinn for company?”

  “Djinn?” came a strong, feminine voice from the opposite direction.

  Shoki blinked, forcing himself up. Despite the wall of darkness encroaching on his senses, he managed to prop himself up on one elbow. Falak, the larger of the two moons, was directly behind Nuraya, lending a silvery halo to her outlines. Her clothes hung heavy on her, her hair hanging in thick clumps over her shoulders.

  “Ah, so he has kept all this from you as well?” Inquisitor Aboor chuckled. “Our one-eyed friend here has friends in the so-called noble races. Jiza, the girl magus who he’d been keeping company with, was a djinn.”

  “A djinn,” repeated Nuraya, her voice calm but Shoki could feel a hundred questions threatening to burst through the surface. And the accusations that sat underneath.

  “Beings who’ve tormented humanity for millennia. Once, they, too, came under the dominion of my order—the order you tried to abolish, one devoted to keeping the realm safe from nefarious designs of magi, both human and non-human.”

  “Why did they attack us?” asked Nuraya, her voice still unnaturally quiet, cold.

  Shoki swallowed, cleared his throat. When he opened his mouth and tried to speak, his croak was barely audible even to himself.

  “Nothing to say?” she asked Shoki, her eyes reducing to narrow slits.

  “You should be thankful I was there,” said the inquisitor. “You’d have all died otherwise.”

  “Inquisitor, can you detect any such attacks before they happen?”

  “Well, no, but—”

  “Can you give chase and help me punish these magi who attacked me?”

  “I could give it a try, but if the past is any guide—”

  “Inquisitor,” said Nuraya calmly, cutting him off again. “If you can’t even do things as basic as these, what good are you and your order to me?”

  Inquisitor Aboor rose, his scowl deepening in the moonlight. “You know nothing about the sacrifices the brothers and sisters of my order have made over hundreds of year. No idea, whatsoever. So, shut your mouth before you really draw my ire!”

  Nuraya stepped forward, her finger raised. “Do not forget your place, Inquisitor. You and your weak order answer to me. Precisely because of this disrespect do you and your order find yourselves in this mess in the first place!”

  The two stood glaring at each other for a long, tense moment, neither stepping away.

  “Both of you,” Shoki croaked, forcing himself up on his rump. “Stop it.”

  They did, walking away from the impasse as they turned toward him.

  “Shoki, once you’re recovered,” said Nuraya, “I’m going to be demanding serious answers from you. And if I discover that it was your actions that brought this ruin upon my army, you’d better consider fleeing.”

  Shoki blinked. If she blamed him, why was she declaring her intentions this clearly? Was that her way of repaying the debt she owed him—letting him escape like he had her a long time ago?

  Nuraya stood glaring at him for another instant, then pirouetted and stomped away.

  “Do you want to tell me why the djinn attacked us?” asked the inquisitor. “I can help.”

  Shoki licked his lips. The queen had been an agent of the pari folk. Only gods knew how long Drenpa, clan leader of the djinn, had been deceiving his people? How could Shoki trust the inquisitor when he had already proven his fickleness? “I… don’t know.”

  The inquisitor glared at him for a long moment. “This mess, it’s bigger than all of us. I feel it in my bones. Not just a war between men. Something even worse.” He shook his head. “Talk to me when you’re ready and before it’s too late.”

  Shaking his head, Shoki adjusted his weight, sat up straighter. Water lapped up against the shore not too far from where he sat. He squinted. Everywhere he looked, he saw waves. Were they on some small island?

  Exhaling, he recalled Jiza’s instructions. Clearing his mind, closing his eye, once more he sought the calm of the void in which all forces of nature became his plaything.

  Nothing.

  Not even the faintest whiff of the raging current this time.

  Voices continued to speak around him. One of them belonged to Nuraya’s siphsalar, the smug, gregarious man who had become taciturn. Shoki pursed his lips, remembering how the queen’s attack had visited death upon Mona, the woman Jinan had fallen for. The siphsalar was arguing wi
th someone now. Camsh? Ranal? No, it couldn't be Ranal for the other voice sounded too rational. Camsh, then.

  Shoki stayed put, letting the world wash over him.

  The djinn magi had attacked them. Attacked him and Jiza, not caring for who else was beside them. Had they gone this brazen?

  Was it really Drenpa? How had he known where to find them? If he was out in this world, along with his minions, what did that mean for Nainwa? What was wrong with the djinn city anyway? And what had happened to Mara, the clan leader others knew as Azar? Mara, a djinn who had visited this very realm centuries ago, meeting a pari in the process.

  Blood magic. The djinn. The Reratish and Zakhanan invasion. The pari folk. Mara and the pari’s name on the tree bark—an act that had cursed his city. Somehow, they were all related. All aspects of one, giant war.

  This much he could sense more than ever. Something he had a feeling Nuraya was doing her best to ignore.

  Evidence. He needed to talk to Maharis and other magi to see what they knew.

  Shoki’s stomach churned, as more memories floated up.

  His ride through the strange village lined with perfect-looking faces. His conversations with the beings who had to be pari. Why had they gotten him to visit them? What was that stone he had helped them move? Something in his heart tugged at that memory. That stone—an artifact probably—was important. But how?

  Shoki swallowed the urge to scream, tear his hair out in frustration.

  How did it have any bearing on what was happening here?

  His head hurt. He had almost died in the recent attack, even when he had been actively trying not to go past his limitations. He was a nobody, was worth nothing, and had thus willingly ceded ground to others. Yet, kismet continued to come at him, its vengeful streak unfulfilled.

  Giving up the throne—not his to begin with—didn’t relieve him of responsibilities. If Nuraya was intent on focusing on temporal matters, then he had to act as the bridge between the inquisitors and the magi.

  He couldn't drift. Not now.

  “I can’t cook that,” said a voice somewhere behind him.