The keys to paradise, p.32
The Keys to Paradise, page 32
She opened her mind, concentrating on the simple, emotion-laden message she wished to send.
Beast, free us! With this went her fears, her hopes, her overpowering need to insure Anji’s safety.
The beast outside became agitated, looking up to the sky and then out into the desert. Petia experienced the panic as if it were her own. Vague pictures formed, confusing ones. She tried to sort them out to use them.
Sleek, Petia sent, knowing the beast’s name, at least within her own mind. Fire!
Petia shook with the exertion. So much effort for such small information. And Petia didn’t even know if this simple plan might work, if Sleek would understand.
The female beast hesitantly piled dried branches against one side of the bottle. Her movements, the way her shadow bobbed across the translucence of the bottle-prison, showed her confusion. But she obeyed the emotionally charged commands Petia arrowed in her direction.
‘Sit quietly,’ Petia cautioned the others. ‘The storm of emotion confuses me, and I might need to reach her again.’
‘What’s happening?’ demanded Keja. Giles silenced him with a curt gesture. Keja fell into a sullen silence.
Sitting quietly by the glass, Petia closed her eyes. She tried to follow Sleek’s movements, occasionally encouraging her with mind-murmuring yes! and good! Petia tried to remain relaxed when she sniffed – when Sleek sniffed! – the first curl of smoke.
The brush outside burst into flame, visible through their glass confinement. Giles had to motion Keja to silence; he saw Petia’s difficulty in keeping contact with the beast outside.
Petia urged Sleek to pile on more brush, to keep adding to the fire until it was so hot that she could not come near enough to throw more wood on. Finally, Petia received a blast of outright fear of the flames from the beast.
Petia collapsed in a limp heap. ‘There’s nothing to do until the fire burns down. Let’s hope that the heat crystallises the glass enough for your sword to do its work.’
They sat in silence, watching the flames leaping outside the glass. When the piled brush became ashes, Petia motioned to Giles. He pulled his sword again and approached the glass. Weak as he was from the heat, he walked with firm stride and confidence.
Petia’s eyes glowed when she lightly brushed across his emotions. Giles put on no act; he radiated confidence and this buoyed her own sagging spirits.
Giles thumbed the sword’s inscription and placed its tip against the glass. It quivered and hummed, then broke through. A small triangular piece of glass fell to the sand. A second blow caused larger pieces to break off. Within a few minutes he had enlarged the opening enough for all to crawl through.
Petia was the first one out. She dashed to Sleek. Petia threw her arms around the beast and cried, ‘Sleek, you were wonderful!’
The others poured out of the glass enclosure into the midday sun. By comparison with their bottle prison, the desert seemed cool.
‘Keja, see to the water. Everyone must be nearly dehydrated. Careful with it, but a double ration for all.’
When everyone had drunk their fill, found shade wherever they could and regained some measure of strength, Giles called Red Mane, and the humans together. ‘We can’t stay on the Track any longer. The djinn were bad enough. If Red Mane is correct, the Skeleton Lord knows about us, and wants us dead. We must be careful from now on and anticipate another attack or we might not be so lucky.’
It took a good deal of urging to get the group moving after their ordeal. They understood but were weary and thirsty and not inclined to go on. It took Giles some time to convince Red Mane that his only hope of regaining Shahal was to attack, not to retreat.
Giles wondered if he believed that himself. But it got the beasts back onto the Track. For the key, Giles would do anything – or almost anything. Where would he draw the line?
* * *
When they first saw the oasis, shimmering on the horizon, they thought it a mirage. But the beast who had scouted assured Red Mane that it was real. As eager as the party was for water, their strength neared its end. They could only struggle on until they reached the promised cool, green place.
Adrenaline pumped through their veins as they reached the rim dividing desert from oasis and sent them rushing forward to plunge their faces into the pool. Giles ran among them, cautioning them not to drink too much or they would be sick.
‘Giles,’ shouted Petia, ‘you are like an old woman, a nanny!’ She threw water at him. For a moment, Giles bristled, then relaxed and joined in the play. The water felt good against his skin.
Anji took a small drink, then led the lirjan to one end of the pool. The pack animals drank noisily, but in a moment he pulled them away from the pool and tethered them to a tree nearby.
Anji started back to the pool, then froze, eyes wide. He swallowed, then called out in a voice almost too low to be heard, ‘Master Giles. A djinn!’
Giles swung around, hand on sword. Anji pointed to the pool. Only a small swirl of bubbles rose from the depths.
‘Master Giles, truly I saw a djinn. He came from beneath the water and looked around as if he didn’t believe what he was seeing.’
‘Quiet,’ Giles ordered. He stood, watching. The bubbles surged to the surface at a quicker rate now.
‘The djinn are not usually harmful,’ Red Mane said, sidling up next to Giles. ‘I truly believe that the one who swept up Petia and Anji in the dust devil did not know that they would be injured. Their fun is a bit malicious, but they are only playing. Perhaps you can trick this one in return, and he will leave us alone.’
‘How would we do that?’ Giles asked.
‘We must lay a trap for him. He is a shy one, to disappear like that,’ Red Mane answered.
Anji kept his eyes on the pool, hoping to see the djinn again. Keja and Giles sat with him, wondering what they could do to disarm the djinn. Otherwise, they were certain to suffer some indignity from the creature sooner or later.
‘I wonder if djinn like wine,’ Keja mused. ‘Or maybe ale. What I wouldn’t give for a flagon now.’
‘Yes, wine.’ The voice ebbed across the water from the centre of the pool.
‘Do we have a djinn who talks?’ Giles asked.
‘You were speaking of wine?’ The djinn rose from the water, torso visible. His arms were folded across his chest and muscles in his brown shoulders rippled.
‘Good evening,’ Giles said, more calmly than he felt.
‘Good evening. You mentioned wine? A good one, I trust, of fine vintage – and not too dry. I loathe dry wines. Comes from being in the desert for so long, I suppose.’
‘Yes. A splendid drink, is it not?’ Giles agreed, relaxing somewhat. It was difficult to feel menaced by this creature who prattled on at such lengths. ‘Warms the stomach and is good for the constitution.’
‘You have some, then?’ the djinn asked.
Forever after, Giles would not know what prompted him. ‘Yes, we do. Would you like some?’
No answer came. The djinn seemed to dissolve. The next moment it appeared, dry, in front of Giles.
‘Where is it?’ the djinn asked eagerly.
‘Wait,’ Giles said. ‘Just a minute now. We can’t afford to let you have the entire wineskin.’ He motioned to Keja behind his back. ‘You seem anxious. We can’t let you drink it all. And we expect something in exchange. Wine is not easy to obtain out here in the desert. You, of all, uh, people, must realise that.’
‘Oh, it’s been so long since I’ve had a drink of wine,’ the djinn moaned.
Keja turned and walked away. ‘Careful with that skin now, Keja,’ Giles called after him. ‘There’s only a little left.’
‘Where? Where is it?’ the djinn cried.
‘In a moment. What do we get in return?’
‘Anything, what would you like?’
‘I don’t know what you can give us,’ Giles said. ‘Food, perhaps. Directions to Shahal. Something to protect us from the sun. I don’t know. You tell me.’
‘Yes, yes,’ the djinn replied anxiously. ‘All those. Now the wine, please.’
‘It’s over this way. Follow me. There’s a slit in the skin, though. You must be careful. You’ll have to crawl in. That should be no problem.’
The djinn drew himself up, disappeared into a vaporous puff, then appeared again. ‘Of course not.’
The goatskin lay flat on its side. Keja had emptied the last of the water from it.
‘Just crawl in there,’ Giles said. ‘But you be sure to leave some for the rest of us.’
The djinn disappeared again. All that could be seen was a slight puffing of the goatskin.
‘Quick, the stopper,’ Giles whispered.
Keja thrust the stopper into the mouth of the goatskin.
‘There’s no wine in here.’ The anguished cry was muffled by the goatskin.
Giles knelt by the skin. ‘What a shame. I seem to have made a mistake in hinting some might be found there,’ he answered.
‘You will suffer for the indignity you heap upon me!’ shouted the djinn. ‘I promise eternal vengeance!’
‘We’ve had enough of your tricks. We don’t want any more. We’ve captured you.’
‘You can’t do that. I haven’t harmed you. I never wanted to be a djinn. The Skeleton Lord did this to me as punishment. I’m really a man.’
‘We don’t believe you,’ Giles said. ‘Djinn tell lies, too.’
Petia came to kneel by Giles and Keja. ‘What are you going to do?’ she whispered.
‘Worry him a bit, then strike a bargain.’ He held his finger to his lips while the djinn continued to plead. They listened as the creature alternately begged and threatened, grinning at having turned the tables on a djinn.
‘Please let me out,’ the djinn pleaded. ‘I was a caravaner once, a scout and a guard. I know this area well. I can help you on your travels. Is there anyone out there? Oh, no, don’t abandon me here forever! Not in a smelly goatskin! How degrading!’
Giles spoke up as if he had been away. ‘Are you still shouting in there, djinn? I thought you might be asleep by now. We were getting ready to bed down for the night.’
‘Please. Please let me out. It’s stuffy in here – awful. I will help you, I promise. I really am a human. I was cruelly turned into a djinn by the evil Skeleton Lord.’
‘We can’t keep him in there forever, Giles,’ Keja whispered. ‘We need the goatskin. It’s the best water bag we have.’
‘I know,’ Giles said. ‘I just want to scare him a little. Maybe he’ll be useful to us. If not…’ He shrugged.
‘How did you get changed into a djinn?’ Giles asked, lifting his voice so the trapped djinn could hear.
‘I told you. The Skeleton Lord. He turned me into one. He used a spell from a big book.’
‘A likely story,’ Giles said, beginning to enjoy this. He couldn’t forget a djinn – maybe this one – had threatened Anji and Petia with the whirlwind. ‘I think we’re going to leave you inside the goatskin.’
‘Wait!’ the djinn cried. ‘Wait, please, I beg you.’
‘Beg me to do what?’ Giles goaded.
‘I… I have many powers, having once been human and now trapped in this djinn form.’ The goatskin rippled with agitation. Giles shoved the toe of his boot into the side and watched the side jerk back. ‘I hate the Skeleton Lord for what he’s done to me. And you must, also. You must!’
‘Why?’
‘He imprisoned you in the glass bottle. I saw!’
Giles said nothing. The djinn had witnessed their imprisonment but had done nothing to free them. He didn’t feel overly inclined to aid the creature now.
‘Together,’ the djinn cried, ‘together we can defeat the Skeleton Lord. He is not invincible.’
‘And you are?’
‘Together we can defeat him. I know it. You… you can help me return to human form. And I can help you find something worth more than gold!’
‘Water is more precious than gold in the desert,’ said Giles. ‘We have the water we need. What is it you’re referring to?’
‘A key. The Skeleton Lord has a special key!’
Keja started to shout out in joy but Giles restrained him. Hardly able to contain his own excitement, he kept his voice calm when he said, ‘A key? We have no need of a key – but perhaps we can strike a deal. You sound contrite.’
‘I am!’
Giles motioned for Keja to uncork the goatskin. A wisp of smoke gushed out, then hardened and rose into a column. And the column didn’t stop growing until the powerfully muscled djinn loomed a full twenty feet over their heads.
With a single twitch of his massive hand, the djinn could kill all in the camp. He reached down for Giles.
Ten
Giles Grimsmate’s sword whirred as it slid from his sheath – but the movement came far too late. The djinn’s immense hand scooped up Giles and held the man dangling and kicking helplessly a dozen feet above the ground.
‘Stop him!’ Giles heard Petia shriek. From Red Mane came a frightened growl. Of Keja, Giles saw and heard nothing. And he had no time to wonder about the small thief. Giles stared directly into an unwinking, dinner-plate-huge bloodshot eye. Arms trapped at his sides by vaporous fingers turned iron-hard, Giles felt the life fleeing his body. Every breath was harder to suck in than the last.
As he began to pass out, he heard the djinn’s plaintive voice. ‘Are you all right?’
Giles couldn’t answer, but faintly, as if from a great distance, he heard the sounds of a sword hacking at flesh.
As suddenly as the djinn had picked him up, the creature released him. Giles fell heavily to the ground, shaken and not sure what had happened. When his eyes focused he saw Keja clinging to the side of the giant djinn, slashing away with his sword.
‘Stop him, please, oh please stop him. That hurts!’
‘Keja,’ Giles croaked out. ‘Get away.’
The small thief obeyed warily. They all expected further mischief from the oversized djinn.
‘I was overcome with joy at being released. I meant only to thank you,’ the djinn said with hurt dignity. ‘I did nothing to inspire such attack.’ The djinn smoothed away wrinkles in the magical substance of his body and began to shrink until he was hardly taller than Giles.
Petia shook her head. Keja glowered. They didn’t know whether this djinn would be peaceable.
‘What is your name?’ Petia asked. ‘It’s difficult to talk to you when we don’t know your name.’
The djinn hung his head. ‘I’d rather you didn’t use it. I have shamed myself before you, and for that I must do penance. If you must address me, just call me Djinn. When I have my own body back, then I’ll give voice to my name.’
Petia nodded with understanding. Her Trans talent tapped into the djinn’s flow of emotions, which almost staggered her with contriteness.
‘Have you lived here long?’ she asked.
‘What is time to a discorporated soul? I don’t even know how long ago it was that the Skeleton Lord placed this curse upon me.’ Giles thought the djinn held back misty tears only through extreme effort. ‘The other djinn don’t play with me – they go and do their pranks by themselves. Even among other djinn, I am an outcast.’
‘What do you do?’
‘I sit, I watch the strange happenings in the desert. Little else amuses me.’
‘What strange occurrences are these?’ Petia prompted.
‘Like a man who has appeared in the desert. He is white, like the two men with you, lovely lady. He dresses in black and rides an immense black horse. I went to see him because he is not of the desert and therefore an amusing curiosity for one such as myself who grows bored with this disembodied existence. I never found out what he seeks.’ Djinn crossed arms only less muscular than his larger form as he went on. ‘And the desert tribesmen move west, about a day’s journey north of here. I don’t think they will visit this oasis. There is another closer to their path.’
Petia turned to Giles and asked, ‘This man in black who Djinn saw. Could he be the same man we encountered in Dimly New?’
Giles frowned and did not answer.
‘I see there are beasts with you. I leave them alone. Smelly, awful creatures, though I must admit that this form does not permit me the sense of smell. Damn you, Lord! Why did you have to rob me of my own body?’
The beasts slowly gathered around, staring at Djinn. Giles guessed this was their first opportunity to see one of the spirits without also being on the receiving end of a prank.
‘Will this one will help us regain our home?’ Red Mane asked. The doubt in his voice radiated for all to hear. The beasts began muttering among themselves.
‘Shahal?’ Djinn asked. ‘I know the place. Used to trade there until the Skeleton Lord…’ Djinn’s voice trailed off. ‘If it is your will – and if I can regain my body – I’ll help you into Shahal.’
‘A fair enough trade,’ Giles said. Keeping his voice level, he added, as if making a last-minute comment. ‘That key you mentioned. Perhaps it would look nice around the lady’s neck.’ Giles indicated Petia.
‘Yes, a token of esteem!’ Djinn cried.
‘Such a fine token,’ muttered Keja.
Giles ignored Keja’s snide remark and continued to delve into Djinn’s story, intent on finding out as much about Shahal and the surrounding countryside, the Skeleton Lord, and what they could expect when they arrived there, as possible.
‘Are there other humans who were changed into djinn?’ he asked.
‘I doubt it. I think the Skeleton Lord did it on a whim, just to see if the spell worked. I’ve met other djinn in the desert, but they were real djinn and always had been.’
Red Mane summoned up enough courage to ask about the desert traveller in black. ‘What do you know of him?’ Giles and the others listened with interest.
‘Nothing, really,’ Djinn replied. ‘He looked fearsome. I followed him for a while, but I didn’t materialize to him. He wasn’t travelling fast; he seemed to be searching for something – or someone.’
