“You will not tell him who you are!” I snapped. “You will keep your damn mouth shut!”
Vahab frowned at me from between the talons of Cassandra the rhuk.
“Why?”
“Because goddess only knows if he hates you too!” I wiped a hand across my face, digging into the anger at Vahab.
Reyhan reached up and touched my face. “Don’t cry.”
I smiled down at her, feeling the edges of it wobble. “Sorry, kid.”
“We’re safe now, aren’t we?” she whispered as she turned her face into me, snuggling close. I looped an arm around her tiny body.
And I lied to her, the way my parents had lied to me. “Yes, we’re safe now. You rest if you can.”
A lie, but one that I could hope would turn out more like a truth.
*_*_*
Hours of flying over the last of the desert and into the mountains had my anxiety riding so high that if someone had lit a match near me, I was sure I’d explode.
Pazuzu was the next step to get officially closer to Asag. But Maks was the other way.
With the Storm Queen.
“Balder, I hope you are right about this.” I kept a hand on his neck. From my shoulder, Lila snorted.
“This is a terrible idea, and I don’t approve at all. Do you realize you are so wound up that we haven’t even tried to stump each other with Will?” She tugged on my earlobe and then put her head gently against mine, pressing against my temple. “And yes, I am worried about Toad too. He is not very good at staying alive on his own.”
“What kind of a name for a man is Toad?” Vahab shouted across from his perch. “Really, that’s a shame. Is he ugly? Because if he’s ugly I think he will never find himself a woman.”
I glared at him, remembering what Lilith had said about keeping Vahab happy. While I’d yet to see him perform a lick of magic, I had no doubt there was something kicking around in him. “You know, for a powerful Jinn, you surely are the most useless one I’ve ever met. Not an ounce of magic other than a bit of a smoke show and an attempt at intimidation.”
He shrugged and spread his hands wide, his eyes sparkling as we flew. “You know, I find it fascinating that you think the most dangerous Jinn is also the most powerful. I’ve never found that to be the case. Take you, for example. Not even a flicker of magic in you that I can see, and yet you have a demon chasing you across a desert as if you are the most dangerous thing to him. Isn’t that interesting to you?”
It was not. I looked away from him as Cassandra let out a scream that cut the air and made the hair stand up along my body with a rush of pure adrenaline.
“There, ahead!” Lila pointed. I faced forward and sucked in a sharp breath at the sight before me.
Clouds swept away from the top of a mountain, centered between two other mountain tops to reveal a castle set front and center.
Blue stone blocks made up the entirety of it, glittering as though cast through with stars. Spire after spire rose up through a few remaining clouds, each tip of the spire topped with a crystal sun, the rays pointing out in every direction.
“I’m counting over fifty spires,” Lila breathed. “That’s even bigger than the Ice Witch’s castle.”
“Yes,” I said. “And no easy way for us to get away unless we can convince Fen to carry us?”
I looked across at Vahab and Fen, and the sinewy dragon shook his head. “I cannot carry large loads. My frame is not built for it.”
If we landed on that mountain top, in what was apparently Pazuzu’s home, we had no way to escape.
In other words, we were about to be royally and completely fucked.
9
“Cassandra, we don’t want to land here!” I yelled up at the rhuk, her wings spread wide enough to block out the sun. Pazuzu’s home was getting closer and closer, the blue stone stunning in its beauty and also terrifying in that I could see there was no way out. And while there was no ‘good’ place to land in the middle of a mountain range, the tippy top of a giant fucking mountain was probably the worst of all the bad options. Especially with horses on board and no way to get them down the goddess-cursed mountain if we needed to make a run for it.
“It is where we are going,” she yelled back at me, ducking her head down so she could give me a solid stare out of one dark eye. “You will thank me later. Trust me.”
“Oh, I doubt that,” Lila muttered. “If I could size up, I could take us away!”
I reached up and put a hand against her side. “I know, my friend, I know.”
And I did. Because I felt the limitations that were placed on us, how hard it was to do what we needed to do. And the frustration was massive.
The sweeping castle seemed to open up as we flew closer. Check that, the castle did open. The massive, glittering blue stone that made up the structure shifted, chunks grinding as they moved to accommodate the large bird carrying two horses and riders, creating a perfect landing pad.
Cassandra slowed her wingbeats and tried to drop us carefully, but the horses were ready. Both Balder and Dancer surged forward, jumping out of her talons the moment she released them. We skittered across the blue stone courtyard, trotting a few steps before turning around.
Reyhan curled in tighter to me. “I don’t think I like this place. It’s cold.”
She wasn’t wrong. The bite of the mountains was sharper here in the courtyard and our clothing was not made for the wintry cold. Weird that we hadn’t felt the cold while flying? Or perhaps that was just the adrenaline?
Balder snorted and shook his head, his hooves clattering on the stone. I patted him on the neck. “Oh sure, now you get antsy. A little late, my friend, to change your mind.”
Lila slid down the back of my cloak and hid under the hood, shivering. I took note that Fen did the same thing with Vahab. “Lila. See if you can slip away, unseen,” I whispered. “Take Fen and see what you can see.”
“Stealth mission,” she whispered as she slid down my back and out from under my cloak. “I am on it.”
I didn’t look for her, but did see Fen suddenly slide down Vahab’s back and away to the left. From the corner of my eye, the two tiny dragons climbed the blue stone and slid in through a narrow window.
“Be careful,” I whispered to my sister friend, even though she couldn’t hear me.
The rhuk settled in behind us, sighing heavily. “I am spent. I must rest.”
In other words, we weren’t going anywhere, anytime soon.
I didn’t dismount Balder. Not even when a portion of the stone in front of us slid left and right, revealing an opening out from which our host stepped.
He looked the same as when I’d seen him in the dream world with Mamitu. Dark hair and eyes, a deep sun-kissed skin and an edge to him that screamed of danger and magic.
He wore a midnight blue outfit, form-fitting pants, tunic and cloak that hung from his shoulders. Like the blue stone, there was a glitter in the material that seemed to me to be a spattering of stars.
“I like his shirt,” Reyhan said.
I held her a little tighter, but spoke to Pazuzu. “Your bird brought us here, Pazuzu.”
Ignoring us, he strode across the open space to Cassandra, holding his hands up to her. She bowed her head, placing her closed beak into his cupped hands. “Beautiful, how did you escape the storm bitch?”
For a moment I thought he meant me, and my ire bristled.
“This one freed me from the Storm Queen.” Cassandra blinked and rolled her eyes to me, never taking her beak from her master’s hands. “I am home.”
“You are home. And I am beyond happy to have you here.” He kissed her beak and a great fat tear slid from her eyes and down across his fingers.
Only then did he turn to us, tucking his tear-stained hand behind his back.
He gave a half bow from his waist. “You found the Vessel of Vahab.” His eyes slid to my companion on my left. “And you brought him with you?”
I shrugged. I should have known he’d reco
gnize the Jinn. “What was I supposed to do with him?”
“Kill him is the answer that most would give.” Pazuzu sighed. “But as always, he’s found his way out of a rather tight predicament.” And then he smiled at Vahab. “How did you like that vase?”
Vahab smiled right back. “Lovely; I felt it rather large for my time there, but I am not one to complain.”
I looked at Pazuzu in time to see the skin around his eyes and mouth tighten.
“You two going to fight?” I asked. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind seeing Vahab smacked around a bit.”
Pazuzu snorted and looked away from Vahab, though it seemed to cost him an effort. “You and many, many others, young Desert Cursed.”
My turn to grimace. “I really wish you wouldn’t call me that.”
“The truth stings, does it not?”
“Like a fucking hornet’s nest on my ass,” I mumbled.
Pazuzu gave a low chuckle. “Come, let me feed you and give you your next task.”
If I hadn’t already been sitting I might have fallen over. “No, my mate is—”
“Is trapped with the Storm Queen, yes? Rather a bit of a pickle if you ask me. She does not like to give up the things she believes are hers, such as the rhuk that are born here in the mountains.” Pazuzu spun and flipped his cloak out behind him, the stars in the material glittering, drawing my eyes.
They did more than draw Reyhan’s eyes. She leapt off Balder’s back and ran after the man who’d brought us here before I could grab her.
“Reyhan, no!”
She slid to a stop only when her fingers brushed against the material, sliding it across her hand. “It’s pretty.”
I dismounted and hurried over to her, taking her hand and pulling her away from Pazuzu. His eyebrows were high. “Cat shifter, is she? They always like the sparkles.”
I tugged her so she was a little behind me. “And you use the sparkles to draw them to you? To trap them?”
He shook his head. “No. It is not so devious as that. I just like the flair of them.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him, but I followed him in through the opening in the stone wall. I mean, we could have stayed on the rooftop, but it was cold. Too cold for us, and too cold for Balder and Dancer. “What about the horses? They can’t stand this weather.”
“The rhuk will keep them warm,” Pazuzu said with a wave of his hand over his head. “Pet. Take them in.”
“Of course,” she said, and I watched as she spread her wings and dragged the horses in under her. Like a hen with her chicks, which brought a smile to my lips. Balder nickered, and lay down next to her, then poked his head out from under her wing. Dancer followed his lead though her eyes held far more suspicion.
“They will be safe and warm,” Pazuzu said. “I will send feed and warm water for them as well.” He snapped his fingers and there was movement in the air. The feeling of something brushing past me.
But there was no one there.
“Is it a ghost?” Reyhan whispered. I picked her up quickly and settled her on my back.
“No idea.”
Pazuzu kept on, and I followed, noticing that Vahab had been rather quiet since their back and forth. I glanced over at him.
His face was stonier than I’d seen it in the short time I’d known him. “Didn’t get the reception you were hoping for?”
His brows furrowed. “Paz and I were good friends. I do not like believing that he turned on me to save himself. Which is what I take from his comments about the vessel.”
Interesting.
“Or maybe you turned on him?” I offered. “I mean, you are a Jinn, after all.”
He shot me a look. “What kind of Jinn have you been dealing with?”
“The worst.”
And then my words were dry in my mouth because the scene in front of me stole them away. The stones behind us slid closed and the space we stood in lit up.
The glittering sparkles inside the stone now glowed, giving off enough light to see by. The space adjusted, stairs leading down placing themselves in our path so that there was no opportunity to do anything but follow. The lights moved and danced, flickering and drawing the eyes as though we walked amongst the sky and the stars. There was no space ahead or beyond, we just . . . were.
“This is fucking pretty,” Reyhan breathed, and I choked.
“We don’t use that word, remember?” And I cringed even as I said it. “Or at least you don’t.”
Reyhan snorted. “You use it all the time.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Vahab said.
With my mouth clamped shut, because no, I couldn’t argue it, we descended the long flight of stairs, the moment of feeling as though we floated amongst the stars gone.
The expanse opened up to a ridiculously high ceiling covered with chandeliers of every size and shape, crystal, gold, silver, candelabras.
I blinked as two small dragons slid across the ceiling, clinging with their tiny claws as they inspected things.
I looked away as Fen bit Lila on the tail.
Goddess, she was going to be pissed if he ended up being ‘the one’. Which only made me smile.
Perhaps something good would come out of the introduction of Vahab and Fen.
“Welcome. Please sit and rest, eat. Drink.” Pazuzu waved his hands wide, and tables appeared in front of us, covered with more food than I’d seen in my entire lifetime.
Reyhan leapt off my back and ran for the closest thing—suckling pig. She tore a leg off and bit into it. While I had a little more restraint, it wasn’t much.
Living in the desert, you learned to eat and drink when you could. As worried as I was for Maks, I knew I’d be better served to save him on a full belly. That being refreshed and full was a better way to face a battle.
I moved toward the table and tried to take it all in before I actually scooped something up. Cheeses and fresh breads that still steamed, butter melting through the slices, sweet jams and thick pots of mashed root vegetables, ice cold jugs and steaming jugs full of liquid spices and trouble . . . fresh ice pears, frost grapes and little, tiny things that I wasn’t sure what to make of. I picked one up.
“That’s a prawn. From the Sea of Storms.” Pazuzu sat himself down. “Peel it and eat the flesh. You cats always like the seafood.”
Peeling off the shell, I popped the tiny thing in my mouth and had to fight back the moan. After that the food was a blur of tastes and scents that I ate until my belly ached at the edges and I was sure I was going to puke it all up.
“Enough,” I whispered, pushing my chair back and grabbing a goblet of steaming wine. Something warm.
Nope, not wine. Mulled tea. Even better. I took a sip and looked across at Pazuzu. “Well played. Now, what is this task you have for me? And why should I take it instead of going for Maks?”
Pazuzu sat across from me. Vahab and Reyhan sat on either side of my chair.
Our host clasped his fingers together and put his mouth to the edge of them. “If you do not take the three tasks the way they are given, you will never be able to face Asag. It is a part of the rules.”
“Why not?” I asked, and was surprised when Vahab answered me instead of Pazuzu.
“Because there are rules to demons. That is the one downfall to them. They have rules and if you follow by them and beat them at their own game, then you win, and they are sent back to the realm of demons. That is what was done when Asag was brought here by Soleil and Nico, the first demons.” He picked at his teeth with a thin bone.
I stared across at Pazuzu. “You can tell me more than Mamitu?”
“She does not know as much as I in regard to Asag. I have . . . more dealings with him than I’d like and so I have gleaned more information than she.” He pulled a face and picked up a goblet, swirling it. “Vahab is correct. If you follow the rules and win the game, then you can send Asag back to the realm of demons. But you must understand too one very important thing.”
He lifted his eyes and I li
fted my chin. “And what is that?”
“The game is rigged.”
10
I grimaced as if my tea had gone sour. “Of course the game is rigged. I mean, that is no surprise to me that Asag rigged this so that he would never lose his hold on this side of the walls.”
Pazuzu sighed. “As I said, demons are bound by rules. There must always be a way to send them back to the realm of demons. But once they are here, they will do all they can to make sure any who would seek to remove them face near impossible tasks.”
“Near impossible,” I said. “But not impossible.”
“That is the game,” Pazuzu said. “And as such, I give you the next task in front of you.”
I clutched the goblet harder and waited for the proverbial bomb to drop. But he hesitated. I finally prompted him. “And? Spit it out, man.”
Vahab laughed. “He is no more human than I am.”
“Semantics,” I threw at him. “What is the task?”
Pazuzu settled back in his chair. “You need to steal an item from the Storm Queen.”
A barking laugh rippled out from Lila up on the ceiling, but I wasn’t sure anyone else heard it over my own howl of laughter. It took me a few moments to calm myself. Because of all the things they could ask me, stealing an item from a powerful being was right up my alley.
I finally slowed and caught my breath. “What kind of item?”
“A diamond,” Pazuzu said. “A very large, yellow diamond, roughly the size of a small melon.”
Too easy, this would be too easy, and that made my laughter dry up. There had been nothing easy about getting to Vahab, there would be nothing easy about getting to the diamond. I looked over at my Jinn companion to see him swirling his drink as he stared at Pazuzu. His eyes were thoughtful, and him being this quiet made me nervous. My spine twitched as if my tail were available to tick back and forth. “What’s so special about this diamond? Does it hold the first demon in it?”
Pazuzu shook his head. “No, this diamond holds the source of all magic. And it is why the Storm Queen remains sovereign in a realm ruled by a demon. She is its protector and draws strength from its proximity. You must steal it from her. And then you must carry it with you through your remaining task until you face Asag.”
Kingdom of Storms (The Desert Cursed Series Book 8) Page 7
