Djinn Unleashed

by Mark Albany

  “Cyron?” I asked, tilting my head in thought. The name was familiar to me, but it took me a few seconds to place a face to it. “Oh right. He’s another noble, well above Vis in station and power. The two have never been rivals at all, but they seem to have a kind of relationship of love as well as hate, since the two seem to be the only ones who can tolerate each other in the Emperor’s court.”

  “Well, be that as it may, Vis was terrified of the man,” Aliana said softly, her hand running idly up my side. “He and Pollock appeared to be under this Cyron’s thumb. From what I could tell—and this is something I’ve heard before, and not from Vis’ servants—Pollock and Vis were trying to pry themselves out from under the man’s power. Stealing the parchment, which would have led them to me if you hadn’t encountered me first, was supposed to be the first step in achieving that. When that failed, they turned on each other, trying to point blame. They failed, and now both are fearing the man’s wrath. Odd little humans.”

  I nodded, although I mused that it wasn’t that odd to fear a man like Cyron. Lesser, perhaps, in standing than others in the court, but that was only because he was considered unlikeable by the rest, which made rising in the ranks difficult. Even so, he was more powerful than his station let on.

  “Wait,” I said. “Pollock knew about what you were. He said djinn specifically, by name. To everyone else I know, the djinn are no more than children’s fiction, and yet to him, well, you were real. More importantly, he knew what he was looking for. I don’t remember his exact words but…”

  “Temporal scars from my portals,” Aliana said softly. “And spikes in power that were unique to my kind. What is your point?”

  “If Cyron is the one who’s behind all this,” I said, speaking softly, “he would be the one behind getting that parchment in the first place. Maybe not the one behind stealing it, but if it was what someone might need to find you, that says he was looking for you. For my part, all I did was stumble onto you through sheer luck.”

  “Magic, and the parchment, actually,” Aliana corrected me with a small smile.

  “Right,” I agreed, not wanting to get into that argument again. “But that would mean that Cyron was looking for you specifically. A man like him wouldn’t go looking for something everyone else thinks is a fairy tale unless he had something in mind for you. Something that made Vis and Pollock, politicians and cowards under ordinary circumstances, rise against him and try to stop whatever it was he was planning.”

  Aliana narrowed her eyes, taking a deep breath as she pondered what I’d just said. Sure, most if not all of it was conjecture, but it fit what had been happening so far.

  “If Cyron was looking for me,” Aliana said, finally breaking the silence, “what the fuck would he want?”

  “You’re powerful,” I said bluntly. “You have a great deal of magical knowledge and ability. If Cyron had encountered the ring before me, he would have had control over you. Which, I’m still not entirely sure how that works?”

  “It’s complicated,” Aliana replied. It wasn’t the first time she’d given me that answer and honestly, I was getting tired of prying.

  “Anyway, if he had that amount of control over you…” I paused. It was painful to even think about her being forced into the will of a man as foul as Cyron.

  “There’s no telling what he would have done,” Aliana completed for me, leaning closer to stroke my hair. From the way her wings had fallen still, I realized that thought made her blood run cold, too.

  “Cyron, like Vis or Pollock, is an ambitious man,” I murmured. “He wouldn’t have put his plan entirely on finding something that nobody was really sure existed in the first place. He would have had alternatives.”

  “You’re not thinking what I think you’re thinking, are you?” Aliana asked, staring at me.

  “We have to find a way to stop him from doing whatever it is he’s planning. Which means we have to find out what he wants to do, first.”

  “I’m hearing a lot of ‘we’s in that plan of yours,” she said in a warning tone. “I still don’t think you’re ready to go back there.”

  “We wouldn’t be here if you could find out what was happening yourself,” I said. “From what I’ve been able to figure out, you wouldn’t be able to get through them and keep your field of… perception alteration intact.”

  “Excuse you,” she said, leaning closer. “I can get in just fine, thank you very much. It’s getting out that proves to be the greater difficulty.”

  “I can help,” I whispered, tracing my finger over her cheek. It still made me smile to feel just how hot her skin was to the touch.

  “You’re still not ready to go back alone,” she said with a small smile.

  “Well, that’s what you’ll be there for, isn’t it?” I asked with a small, teasing smile, making her laugh in response. I leaned in to press a light kiss on her lips. She moaned softly, running her fingers through my hair in a way that sent chills down my spine.

  “How about your sister? How is she?” I asked after we parted lips.

  “I can’t ever get close enough to see her in person,” Aliana whispered, looking away. “I can still find her through the orb, but I’ve been having some trouble with it of late. It just goes to show what happens when you put a magical seeing orb in the hands of a dimwit who thinks that it’s just a pretty bauble.”

  “Why can’t you get close enough?” I asked. She refused to meet my glance, turning onto her back to stare at the roof of the cave.

  “I’m not sure how,” she finally replied. “It’s been so long. So much has happened since we parted ways. I thought it would be forever the last time we saw each other. It was difficult, and I’m not sure I can face that again.”

  I turned onto my back as well. These kinds of conversations were easier to hold when the participants weren’t looking at each other, I realized with a small smile.

  “Not to be disrespectful,” I said, keeping my voice low. “But wasn’t it you who told me that walling these sorts of things off walls a part of yourself off as well? If you don’t address this, it’ll just get more and more difficult, until you can’t anymore, and you’ll end up regretting that missed chance for the rest of your life.”

  “Using my words against me,” Aliana said with a soft chuckle. “Well played, Grant. Well played.”

  “I thank you,” I replied with a grin. “So, it’s decided? We head on over to the city. We work together to try and find out what it is that Cyron is up to. And if we find anything of note, we can bring it to Norel. She seems to be in a position to be able to do something about it if the man’s plans prove to be devious enough, and we can take advantage of that to get you two together again. What say you?”

  She turned over to face me, leaning in to kiss my cheek. “That sounds like a good plan. I’ll sleep on it, and let you know.”

  I wrapped my arms around her shoulder, smoothly avoiding her wings, and pulled her closer as we drifted off to sleep.

  13

  I was getting used to having someone with me in bed. Summer was starting to turn into fall and the nights were getting colder out in the wilds. Having someone to share that cold with, especially in the absence of a real bed or anything in the way of sheets or pillows, made the experience a bit less like survival and a bit more like living. Besides, the fact that her skin was hotter than what one would find with humans was an added boon in that regard.

  I woke up before Aliana, the first time that had happened since we got out here. I made my way out, rubbing my eyes, making sure to move as quietly as possible as I stepped out of the cave as nature called. Once finished, I walked down to the waterfall, taking a moment to splash my face with the cool water to help me wake up. As the water stilled once more, I looked into my reflection. There wasn’t much about it I liked, I realized. There was a gaunter look about me. The muscles in my shoulders and arms were more defined, but the stubble growing over my cheeks made me look like a wild creature of the forest.

&nb
sp; It hadn’t yet been a month and I already looked like a man who hadn’t seen the light of civilization in decades. I scratched my chin, still scowling at my reflection before turning back around and heading back to the cave. What made it worse was the fact that Aliana literally hadn’t changed from the moment we arrived. She was still as mouth-wateringly gorgeous as she had been when we first got here. As delightful as that was for me, I was having difficulties understanding how she could stand to be around me.

  When I got back to the cave, I realized Aliana had been up for a little while, setting out what food was left from what she’d stolen the day before. I sat down beside her, next to the fire, taking a bite out of the bread and dried meat and chewing slowly as I watched the flames licking at the last of our wood. One of us would have to go chop more sometime today.

  That was assuming, of course, that we were going to be staying around long enough to make use of it.

  I looked at her, realizing that she was staring at me as well. Though her gaze was on me, there was an absent look in her eyes that told me that her mind was far, far away. I moved closer close to her as I looked outside.

  “What’s on your mind?” I asked in a soft voice. I knew what was on her mind, but I didn’t want to intrude on what might be a private moment.

  She looked over at me, smiling as her mind came back to us. She reached out to gently run her fingers over my cheek. It was a soft touch but sent chills through my body and made me smile back.

  “Just thinking over what we were talking about last night,” she said quietly. “If we were to find out what Cyron was up to, how would we go about it?”

  “We would probably have to get in beyond the outer wards placed on the walls of his mansion,” I replied, cocking my head as I tried to remember what the place looked like. I had been there a few times, but I had been isolated in the servant’s quarters for the duration, so I didn’t know much about the layout. Whenever Vis had sent me off to steal from someone, he’d always had some plans laid out so I knew where to get in and out once I’d found what he’d wanted.

  Just thinking about the man was enough to set my blood boiling, I realized, grinding my teeth. Aliana seemed to read my mind. She reached out to stroke my cheek again, this time on the other side, pulling my attention back to her.

  I looked at her, trying to push aside the cloud of red that had descended on me for a moment and forced a smile.

  “How do you propose we get there?” I asked after a couple of moments. “Well, I assume we’ll being using one of those odd portals of yours, but how do we get past the wards?”

  “Would it interest you to know that I can get us inside any location without triggering the wards that protect it, when I know what to prepare for?” Aliana asked, chuckling. “If we find our way inside, we won’t need to alert anyone to our whereabouts.”

  I thought about it. “That’s useful, I suppose, but I would guess that if Cyron is concealing something, he’ll have made precautions that extend inside the borders of his mansion. No, we have to get close enough to tell when the wards are being reset by his familiars. Maybe we could find a way to forge our entry through their inexperienced hands?”

  “Seems simple enough,” Aliana said with a smile. Yes, I supposed something that would have given even grandmasters pause would be simple enough. “Do you have anywhere in mind?”

  “There’s a library connected to his mansion by walls,” I replied with a smile. “It’s also connected to the Lancer’s guardhouse, but they don’t make use of it. In fact, it should be rather deserted around this time of year. The men that care for the books are usually off to the mountains to catch sight of the Midnight Sun.”

  “How do you know about this?” she asked.

  “I have an interest in books,” I replied. “And in learning. It was always kept limited by Vis, since he had a very simple goal in mind for all his familiars; just enough knowledge to make them useful, but never enough for them to be capable of independent thought.”

  Aliana looked down. I could see the thoughts churning in her head. I could tell she was having second thoughts about helping me pursue my vengeance, even though she knew it was what had driven me thus far. I could understand why she was thinking that, but it didn’t change the fact that I was going to kill the man the next time I saw him. Vengeance in the moment, and a lifetime of apologies to make up for it once it was done.

  I snapped back to reality. “If we’re leaving, we should probably clear any trace of our having stayed here. Wouldn’t want us to be tracked down, would we?”

  “I guess not,” Aliana said softly, leaning back in her seat as we finished what remained of our food stores. It was an interesting feeling to not have to worry about them anymore. So many problems that came with living out here in the wild would be discarded, only to be replaced by the more pressing concerns of survival back in my hometown.

  Hopefully, they would come with a razor. The stubble growing on my face itched hellishly.

  It was almost midday by the time we were finished covering any trace of our living here. I knew there wasn’t much chance of the cave being discovered this deep in the forest, but there was no sense in not being careful.

  Aliana joined me by the waterfall after she was finished, smiling and moving closer to me.

  “Are you ready?” she asked.

  “Yes,” I answered, turning to face her.

  “I’m going to need to look into your mind to find this library,” she said, running her hands up my chest and placing them on my temples. “And maybe, as I do, you can figure out how to do this for yourself through the connection.”

  I nodded, closing my eyes as I felt her consciousness pressing into mine. It was a two-way connection, I realized. Just as much as she was reaching into my mind, I could see into hers with equal clarity. There were more than a few things hidden away in the deep, dark recesses that I assumed she didn’t want me to see, but those that weren’t were rather interesting as well. It was nice to know that she was just as aroused by me as I was by her, and even more interesting, that she was having a bit of trouble focusing her mind as she was thinking about the last time we’d been this close to each other.

  “Focus,” she chided softly, although I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or to herself. I felt her find the image of the library I’d told her about. Once the connection was established, she parted from me, pulling away to create the portal. After a few seconds, she reached out and grabbed my shoulder and I felt the familiar sensation of vertigo rushing through my body as I was pulled, twisting and turning, through whatever it was that opened.

  We came out just as quickly as we’d entered, dropping into a small room full of dusty scrolls. The smell of old parchment was all I could focus on for a moment as we recovered from the transportation. I took a breath, fighting back the nausea that was starting to rise in the back of my throat. I leaned back, inhaling slowly as I looked around, trying to come to terms with the fact that we were in a room with actual walls and ceilings again. And a window, I realized, looking up at the only source of light illuminating the room.

  I moved over to a couple of the scrolls. We were in the history section of the library, I realized, not something that was visited often even when the place was bustling with activity. Today, it was just as abandoned as the rest of the place.

  I found a scroll depicting the massacre at Vizier’s Castle in close detail, and found a seat nearby to dig into it.

  “What are you doing?” Aliana asked, watching me.

  “Reading,” I said, pointing at the scroll. “Or, trying to, anyway. Whomever has the job maintaining these scrolls should lose it.”

  “Don’t you think we have more important things to do at the moment?” she asked.

  I looked up at her. “Did I forget to mention? The familiars don’t replace the wards until sunset. Cyron is superstitious when it comes to performing the rites while in full view of the sun and the moon. I’m not really sure where that comes from, but it does
give us a reliable schedule.”

  “Oh,” Aliana grunted then chuckled. “And you forgot to mention that?”

  “Well, I did have some ulterior motives,” I said with a grin. “For one thing, I would have been too distracted to train, and knowing you, you would have made me do it anyways. Besides, I was banned from this library for a while so I wanted a chance to be where I could learn while we waited.”

  “Oh,” she grunted again. “So, you manipulated me.”

  “Masterfully,” I said with a grin. “But come on, who wouldn’t want to spend a nice afternoon being distracted by some well-written books and stories of the past, as well as those that cover the various magical aspects I’m trying to master?”

  “Someone who was around for some of those historical events, or the person who already knows about the various magical aspects you’re trying to master,” Aliana said a soft voice.

  “Oh, right,” I said. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that she was at least fifty years older than I. The fact that she was infinitely more powerful did come up more often, which was why I blamed myself entirely for forgetting it. “So, what do you think we should do?”

  “Well, you assume I would have had you training all day,” she said, plucking the scroll out of my fingers and tossing it to the side as she took its place on my lap, making sure to wiggle her ass into me a bit before draping her arms around my neck. “When we would have had so many other things to occupy the time.”

  I almost lost track of what she was saying, my thoughts still on the scantily-clad posterior pressing very closely, actually right on top of my cock. For some reason, I was trying to keep from having any kind of reaction she’d be able to notice. I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen me like that before, and in a lot of cases, she seemed to actually encourage it. Some old habits were hard to get rid of.

  It seemed like she could sense my internal struggle. Like my arousal, she seemed to be encouraging it, shifting herself over my lap a bit more, like she was trying to get more of a reaction as she leaned in closer. I could feel her breasts pressing into my chest as her lips glided lightly over my jaw. I could hear her saying something but I couldn’t quite make it out. Besides, if I leaned back to see her lips, I had little doubt she would follow me and that would leave us in an even more compromising position.