Kemamonit Returns

by Paul Edwards

  Chapter ten

  It was midday and the men were getting ready to crawl onto their sleeping carpets when Peter and I saw a small dust devil take form about a hundred yards away. It started to come towards us, meandering back and forth.

  The dust devil would fade and then grow stronger as it moved, the men around us stared at it as if mesmerized.

  "It is a Jinn, we must stay clear," one of them muttered while making some sort of superstitious gesture with his hands.

  I grabbed Peter's hand and pulled him with me as I walked towards the twister.

  "Nonsense, it is just the wind," I said, trying to sound like an overconfident know it all.

  The twister flared up suddenly becoming much larger, it made a sorrowful howling sound.

  "Kem... Peter... no! You must run! It is a Jinn!" I heard Heb yell.

  I turned and smiled at Heb, he and the men around him were frozen in fear, I could tell they wanted to try and stop us but could not bring themselves to confront the Jinn.

  Peter and I were soon standing in front of the twister, it was a roaring tornado now, I turned and waved to the men for a final time then the Jinn pulled us in and carried us away.

  "Hated the movie... loved the idea," I said to Peter as we were swept off our feet.

  Peter and I were sitting in a cool transparent bubble in the midst of the large dust devil. I had designed the spell to make the twister rise and fall in intensity like a real one would, it also darted around erratically.

  I looked up and saw a thick layer of dirt and dust resting on top of the transparent bubble, I had added this feature to hide us from any overhead observation when the twisters winds would subside.

  "How long is this going to take?" Peter asked.

  I flicked a few squares on my bracelet and the twister disappeared while at the same time we were transported forward about five hundred feet coinciding with another dust devil whipping to life to cover our arrival.

  "I can do these jumps while we're alone, but once we have observers I'll have to stop and then keep the wind up to obscure us."

  "Can you make me a pillow?"

  I conjured up a thick pillow and gave it to Peter, he put it behind his head and went to sleep.

  I started to make bigger and bigger jumps, the desert was relatively flat and I could see two or three miles ahead. I avoided the regular caravan routes so we wouldn't raise any suspicion.

  I estimated we had made half the distance to our goal when the sun started to descend down the horizon. I had some used the travel time to send my daily message to everyone back home.

  Gwen had sent a message back to me saying that they had left the city and had gone to my office in nineteen-thirty-seven Los Angeles for safety.

  Gwen was using her time there to help Mr. Selznick in the production of my film. She said he could be quite difficult but she was still able to persuade him to follow the notes that I had laid out.

  She also said Mr. Bay was quite helpful and had a lot of wonderful idea's about using enormous explosions to add excitement.

  I felt my brows furrow, I had not watched the entire movie we were basing this on, but I had not remembered any large explosions, they must have come at the end, I thought to myself.

  I had our twister vehicle drop us off near a large rocky hill when it started to get dark, I conjured up a small square building made up of the same colored stone as the landscape. Once Peter and I had entered we it were in a large comfortable room complete with a couch a bed and a full meal laid out on a small coffee table.

  "There's a shower through there," I said pointing, I then closed and barred the cabin's door.

  I plopped down on the couch as Peter walked over to the shower door. I picked up a large glass off the table and filled it with a pitcher of water and ice cubes.

  I took a long drink, the water was flavored with a bit of lemon, I put the glass down and felt an enormous wave of exhaustion flow over me. I struggled to keep my eyes open for a few seconds then fell fast asleep.

  I woke up in the darkness, I was in bed, I could feel Peter next to me breathing regularly. He had taken my clothes off and put me to bed.

  I felt a surge of anger, both at Peter and myself, it would have been our first night together were we would have been truly alone. I felt my stomach grumble loudly, I had not eaten either.

  I quietly slid out from under the covers and off the bed, the room was freezing, Peter must have found the temperature controls. There was enough light that I could dimly make out the rooms furniture. I walked over to the small coffee table and conjured up a small light, I saw a large pizza sitting on it. I picked up a piece and bit into it, it was cold but still quite delicious.

  I quickly gobbled up three more pieces while drinking a bottle of beer, I was starting to shiver in the cold air, when I finished I climbed back in the large bed snuggling up against Peter in order to try to get warm. His body is like a furnace, I thought to myself, I was comfortable in no time.

  The next day we left early in the morning in our twister mobile. I was getting quite good at making the huge jumps so we were making much better time than yesterday. We passed over the Euphrates river as a large water spout scaring the crew of a boat.

  It was mid afternoon when the twister disappeared for the last time depositing us near one the farms lining the side of the Tigris river. I could see the walls of a large city far to the north.

  "There is a small village on the river, we will hire a boat," I said.

  Peter and I were now disguised as a laborer and his wife, we were on a well worn path that led towards the river. I grabbed Peter's hand and we started walking.

  "What about my knee?" Peter asked.

  "It's a fifteen minute walk," I replied.

  We soon came upon a small wooden dock next to a cluster of two story white washed homes, there was an older man sitting next to a small skiff mending a net.

  "Hey... we need a ride," I said as we got close.

  He turned and looked at us, a long needle clenched between his teeth.

  "What did you say?" He said.

  I realized I was still speaking Egyptian, I had a small gift with languages and I had travelled all around this area in my younger days, so I understood him.

  "Is that boat for rent?" I asked in Assyrian.

  "Depends," he said in an offhand way.

  The one thing I had really enjoyed about the modern era was that for the most part, for small purchase's, nobody haggled anymore. I remembered going grocery shopping for the first time and being done in under an hour.

  In the past it would have taken three hours, most of it spent in pointless negotiations. The sad part was that for each item I was trying to purchase, both the merchant and I already knew exactly what the final price would be.

  "Twenty deben copper, take it or leave it," I said brusquely.

  He stared at me, I pulled Peter's hand as I turned to leave.

  "Wait.... by the gods... I agree," he said standing up quickly.

  "What was that about?" Peter asked as we walked towards the skiff.

  "I gave him an offer he couldn't refuse."