Emily's Saga

by Travis Bughi

  The voice laughed again, and Emily felt another chill run up her spine. The voice seemed both full and hollow at the same time. As it passed her, she could almost feel the noise like a gust of wind. Takeo looked at his drawn katana and then scowled and swore.

  “What is it?” Emily asked.

  “The weapons,” Takeo said. “She gave them to us, so she says we’re in her debt.”

  “Ah! Rotten, frigid hell!” Koll swore. “I knew these weapons were trouble. I told you both!”

  Emily’s jaw dropped, and she looked at her bow. Damn! Were they really so easily shackled? Emily cursed and gritted her teeth. Despite the cold, stale air, her hands were sweating, and she felt smothered by a heat that gave no warmth. It was a strange feeling, almost like an aura, and Emily could only compare it to that of an angel or vampire—yet, at the same time, unlike either one.

  “How do you know my name?” Takeo asked the jinni. “And what do you want from us?”

  “Thou durst still to ask questions?” The voice sounded astounded. “What gall, but alas, thou wert always strong-willed, wert thou not? Honest, me thinks it odd that thou dost not already know. Did we not spend such fulsome time together? Thy waxing neglect for my role in thines presence here insults me.”

  Takeo stammered and squinted one eye. Emily could hardly make sense of anything the jinni was saying, and her confusion made her muscles clench. Then, suddenly, the hood on the figure began to withdraw. Its head did not move, its hands stayed still, and yet the hood moved anyway, pulling back just a hair to allow the torchlight to reveal the face of an old woman. Her ancient features—wrinkled face and droopy cheeks—looked normal and pale in the torchlight, and Emily wondered at that. Then, suddenly, the old woman’s face went blue, like her hands, and her eyes turned pitch black. Her silvery hair, though, remained as such.

  “Hast thy recollection improved?”

  The creature’s lips moved in time with the voice, but the sound seemed to originate from nowhere and everywhere at once. Takeo gasped and let his katana fall forward until its tip buried into the sand. His eyes went wide and his jaw slackened.

  “No,” he said. “It can’t be. It’s you, the merchant. They . . . they killed you. I . . . I watched them do it. They made me watch.”

  “I hath perished?” the old woman balked mockingly. “Dearest me! Why did nary a soul tell me? Oh! Whatever shall I do? I must impart this wit to the other jinn! They shall be displeased to learn immortality canst be so easily overcome. Then again, perhaps I shall not. I dost hate them so.”

  She laughed, her body shifting ever so slightly now that her face was revealed. Her teeth were exposed, as black as her eyes, and Takeo continued to stare with his mouth hanging open. Koll gritted his teeth and looked from Takeo to the jinni while Emily kept her eyes on the strange creature. She was trying to figure out what that aura meant, and why it felt so . . . evil. Koll ended his shifting gaze and focused on the jinni. He narrowed his eyes and raised his weapon. The jinni stopped laughing as Koll came forward.

  Quickly, the jinni lifted one blue hand with a single finger extended. From the tip, a whirling ball of fire shot out and slammed into the ground at Koll’s feet. Where it hit, it exploded into a cloud of flames and burning sand. The viking, Emily, and Takeo, yelped and leapt back, shielding themselves from the flaming bits that rained down on them.

  “Trow naught those foolish thoughts,” the jinni advised. “Now then, no more delays. I hath already purchased thine consent. Bring forth the angel!”

  The trio gaped. They all understood those last words. Takeo and Koll exchanged a glance and then slowly turned to look at Emily. The jinni’s eyes softened and focused on her, too, smiling in a combination of relief and intrigue. Emily gawked back, a feeling of dreadful foreboding washing over her.

  “I’m not an angel,” Emily stuttered. “I’m not!”

  “Well, that thing damn sure isn’t talking about me,” Koll said.

  “Or me, Emily,” Takeo said.

  “But I’m not an angel,” Emily said, looking at the jinni now. “I swear to you, I’m not!”

  The jinni watched the short exchange—her bushy, silver eyebrows furrowed. Her black eyes showed no movement, but Emily could feel the gaze nonetheless. The jinni placed one long nail on her nose and squinted.

  “Hm,” the jinni muttered, “interesting.”

  The jinni stood, her body rising as if pulled by unseen strings rather than by any effort on her part. Her black robes cascaded down her body, flowing in a breeze that shouldn’t exist. Emily felt a heavy rush fall upon her heart and then watched, still in awe, as the jinni floated into the air, rising on nothing at all and gliding effortlessly towards them. Her feet, blue skinned and ending with claw-like black nails, hung lifelessly beneath her.

  All three humans withdrew a step but stopped when they realized the futility of running. The jinni floated over them, and then around to circle above Emily alone.

  “Thy voice has the essence of truthfulness,” she said, “and yet, me senses dearth lie. I canst feel the presence of an angel within thee. You wit this to be true.”

  Emily bit her tongue. She didn’t like something in the jinni’s tone, though what it was exactly, she couldn’t be certain.

  “Yes,” the jinni took a deep breath, as if Emily were a fresh dish full of strong spices, “tis true! Ah, I could feel thee when thou wert yet weeks away. I wit it then, this moment, I hath awaited. How long hath it been? Centuries? More than centuries? A lifetime? But what tis a lifetime when death is no fere and dost remain distant? You wert human once, wert thou naught? What tis thy name? Emily? Yes, Emily. Human once—no! Wait! Thou art still! Ah, yes, the stench of mortality. Such a strong taint, despite how easily it canst be banished. I beseech thee, child, art thou prepared to die again?”

  Emily needed no translation for that threat. She drew her bow and pointed the arrow at the jinni. This was not the first immortal she’d dealt with, and likely, it would not be the last. The others followed her lead, and Takeo raised his katana while Koll leveled his axe.

  “Are you?” Emily asked.

  The jinni laughed, the dark voice bouncing across the stone room. Only her face moved to mimic the sound. Her body hung limp as a corpse.

  “Oh, dearest girl!” the voice said. “Thou mistake my question. I mean, dost thou desire to die again?”

  Emily kept her bowstring taut. She didn’t like this conversation, not one bit. It made her stomach churn and her heart beat irregularly. She was finding it difficult to breathe. Her head felt heavy, and her mind felt a sharp tug.

  “No,” Emily answered, honestly.

  The jinni gave a short nod and drifted slowly away, her lips pulled back into a hideous smile as she floated backward to once again rest on the cushioned throne. Emily eased the tension on her bow, though she kept the arrow pointed towards the jinni.

  “You just read my mind,” Emily said. “I felt it. You know I’m no angel.”

  “Tis true,” the jinni’s smile widened to reveal her black teeth. “Thou art familiar with my kind?”

  “Only your products,” Emily answered, “and I have nothing good to say about them.”

  “Oh, durst thou be so brash,” the jinni sighed. “How do thee wit they art mine? Art there naught other jinn about? Though, nary as sharp or lucky as I! Look at what I hath wrought! To seek and lure an angel’s shadow, tis a monument to my resplendent power! But let me beseech thee another question, little girl: how fares mortality?”

  “It’s worked so far,” Emily answered.

  “Hath it? I believe thou is a liar. From what I hath witnessed, mortality hath been an atrocious burden upon thy soul. Despite the abundance of allies at thy hand, thy enemy hath reigned victorious over thee at every corner. Only but once hath the tide been turned in thy lifetime of errors. Twould be a comedy were it naught so marred by tragedy! One such event, as aware thou surely art, wast so costly that the world wilt nary know a sacrifice of equal measure.”
>
  Emily was finding it difficult to follow the jinni’s words. She seemed to speak in riddles and of things in Emily’s life that should be understood. Emily felt ashamed to admit that not everything the jinni was saying made sense. She had the feeling she was being taunted and was too stupid to understand.

  And that made her angry.

  “You speak oddly,” Emily said.

  The jinni laughed again, and Emily decided she hated that laugh.

  “What do you want?” Emily demanded. “Stop your stupid games, and tell me what you want!”

  “Such impudence,” the jinni smiled, “and I only wish to help thee.”

  “And what if I don’t want your help?”

  “Ah, thou continues to jest. Come off it, child! There exists nary a mortal who dost not fancy a jinni’s help. Surely there must be something thee desires? Is there truly naught thou would wish for? Nothing? Anything at all? Eh, mortal?”

  Emily swallowed before she responded. The aura around her was intensifying, and it was sweltering.

  “Are you offering me immortality?” Emily asked.

  “Ah! Immortality! That tis thy wish? It shall be wrought, as thou commands.”

  The jinni’s limp hands lifted up into the air, and Emily felt the winds about her bear down on her soul.

  “NO!” Emily shouted. “No! Wait. That’s not what I said. STOP!”

  The jinni froze again, and the aura hesitated. Its slimy claws still pressed into Emily’s skin, so much so that she shook to rid the feeling. The jinni gave Emily a frown and tilted her head.

  “Come now, child,” she flashed her black teeth. “Surely thou wishes to see thy enemy lay broken? Dost thou wit the task at hand? Nary a nemesis shall thee meet with such an arsenal to bear. Heliena is a queen regnant! Her husband leads many a legion of trained soldiers, nary a soul less measured than the men beside thee. They hath near conquered a nation stooped in war for hundreds of years, and thou trows to influence this course with thy mere presence? Ha! Come off it, child! Thou art frail, liken to a single drop of water in an ocean storm. Let me free thee of thy mortal coils, and revenge will be all but assured.”

  Emily let the words wash over her. She was listening clearly now and beginning to understand the jinni’s ancient speech, and she’d also be lying if she said the temptation wasn’t there. She’d already died once—nearly three times, actually, if one counted the poison used on her as of late—and then there was the fact that she’d almost drowned, and the time Takeo had spared her life; come to think of it, her life actually was a tragedy of errors. What she was attempting to do—what she had already done—was a constant rolling of the dice where luck was rarely on her side. She was always outnumbered, often underpowered, and woefully inexperienced. The only attribute that had gotten her this far was her ability to learn quickly from others.

  In that regard, it was helping her now. Emily knew that her chances were slim as always, but she knew better than to accept a bad deal when she saw one. She drew her bow back and aimed at the jinni.

  “You must think I’m a fool,” Emily said. “You don’t think I know about the deals you jinn make? You’ll give me immortality—that I’m sure of—but at what cost? Will I lose my arms? Will I die of sunlight? Your gifts don’t come free, and your insistence that I take this deal of yours only tells me how strongly it falls in your favor. I may be fighting a difficult battle, but I’m not falling for a trap. If I have something you want, you’ll have to come and get it.”

  The jinni’s smile disappeared. Her bushy brows narrowed and her blue lips curled up into a snarl. The old, wrinkled face wrinkled more with a horrid scowl, and Emily felt her heart weigh heavily again. The jinni’s aura washed over her in an invisible wave, and she felt a blackness slide over her skin.

  “As thou wishes,” the jinni said.

  There was a weak gust of air from behind them, bringing with it a human scream and an inhuman snarl. They whirled around to see Jabbar and Eisa fall into the room beneath the cellar. Eisa crashed to the ground; Jabbar landed on all four limbs.

  The rakshasa was bleeding profusely from several slashes down his right side and a vicious bite mark on his left shoulder. Jabbar’s paws and jaw were covered in blood, and Eisa’s scimitar was dripping with the stuff. Jabbar stumbled to his feet, but despite his visual condition, didn’t seem to have trouble remaining up. Eisa scrambled to his feet as well, and Emily felt her chest tighten when the pair looked at them.

  “Finally,” Jabbar snarled.

  Chapter 28

  “Where’s the girl?” Eisa demanded.

  Emily shook in surprise and stared at Eisa. What game was he playing at? She drew her bow and aimed it at him, but then gasped when she saw nothing. Her arms, her bow, her arrows—all of it responded to her touch, but her eyes saw nothing. She looked down to where her body should have been and saw only sand. Whirling back, she shouted to Takeo and Koll, but they looked just as shocked as she felt. Their eyes gazed at the spot she’d just been, and their faces gave no recognition that she had spoken.

  “I . . . I don’t know,” Takeo gasped. “Emily!”

  “Takeo!” she shouted back.

  They canst not hear thee, dearest, came the jinni’s voice. Now, bequeath thy power!

  Emily felt her body lift in the air and float on nothing. Her eyes told her she was moving toward the jinni, but when she looked around, she saw no jinni at all.

  Meanwhile, Jabbar and Eisa entered the room.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Jabbar said. “We’ll find her eventually. I can smell her. She must be hiding.”

  “Where did you find those weapons, slave?” Eisa practically spit the question.

  Eisa held his scimitar down and back as he advanced, while Takeo held his katana high and in front. Takeo exchanged a look with Koll, and the viking nodded.

  “You deal with the wee child,” he said. “I’ll handle the fur ball.”

  “I’ll make it quick,” Takeo nodded. “You’ll need my help.”

  Koll didn’t deny it and paced away from Takeo. Jabbar split off to meet him.

  Above them, Emily’s slow trail through the air was nearing an end. She lashed out with her hands, trying both to grab and grapple with the force that moved her. She cried out again, but no one heard her. She came to a stop just shy of the throne, and then the old jinni’s voice boomed in her head once more.

  Did thou trow I would release thee for naught? Dost thou wit the onerous planning I suffered for this!?

  “What do you want from me?” Emily shouted with invisible lips and inaudible voice. “Leave me alone!”

  Thou could hath accepted my offer, the jinni sneered. That would hath made this a simplicity. Now I shall be forced to take it from thou!

  A blackened spike of pain slammed into Emily’s mind, and she shrieked.

  Behind her, Eisa was now within a pace of Takeo, and Koll was a step-and-axe-swing away from Jabbar.

  “Where did you get that pathetic strip of metal?” Eisa asked Takeo.

  “That’s twice now you’ve asked that question,” Takeo replied. “Fear does have a way of lingering in the mind, doesn’t it? I trust you remember our last spar?”

  “I was unprepared then,” Eisa snapped. “This time, I think you’ll find your luck has run dry.”

  “I don’t rely on luck. I’ve never had it.”

  Takeo leapt forward and lashed out with his katana. Eisa parried and countered, but Takeo dodged. The clashing of blades became a constant rhythm, the only noise of their fight as neither opponent made another sound once they began. Both preferred to let their weapons speak.

  Near them, Jabbar was crouched and snarling. He growled low in a tone that echoed off the stone walls and made the place hum. Koll held his axe ready for a swing, not daring to close the distance and lose the advantage his weapon gave him.

  “What are you waiting for, huh?” Koll challenged. “Do I frighten you, fur ball? You want to see how much I’m worth? Come and see!”
>
  Jabbar said nothing. He snorted like a pegasus, and his mouth chittered with hunger. The wounds on his legs and shoulder were already clotted, and he walked easily upon on the ankle Emily had gouged with her dagger. Koll circled the rakshasa carefully, always keeping his axe side nearest the beast.

  “Come on!” Koll roared. “Come and meet your doom!”

  Jabbar roared and launched at Koll, and Koll swung his axe with all his might. The bladed edge cleaved into Jabbar’s back, just a fraction too slow to strike his side, and blood spewed across the sand. Jabbar’s momentum was not affected, though, and he slammed into Koll like a minotaur, sending them both crashing to the ground.

  I hath awaited this moment so long, the jinni cooed in Emily’s mind. Oh, how I hath envied the angels, to wield such endless strength. Me thought they’d visit never. After all, why would they? Holed up in their grand metropolis with their grand people worshiping their grand power! Bah! When Quartus’ aura cameth through Takeo, I could dearth believe it, and yet it lingered on him, a scent in the breeze, so faded that I hadth looked twice to remove my dubiety. I wit thou wert coming, and I altered the fabric of fate to lure thou hither! Oh, little girl, thou should hath accepted my deal. This shall be a most painful experience for thou . . . mortal.

  A psychic stab of pain shot through Emily’s head like a lightning bolt, and she screamed. The pain was truly unbearable. It was worse even than the basilisk poison that had once almost killed her. Were it not her mind that was under attack, she would have fainted. As it stood, though, the pain kept her agonizingly awake.

  Bequeath it to me! I dost naught care if I canst only wield one! GIVE IT TO ME!

  “NOOO!” Emily yelled back.

  As the probing knife of pain wrenched into her skull, she fought back however she could, hardening her thoughts and trying to push the knife out. It was not the first time someone had been in her mind, and she used that knowledge to keep her head from splitting open.