The Djinn Read online

  The bath, if possible, was even more magnificent than the bedroom. In the center was a tub big enough to accommodate three people. Along the sides, jets protruded. Pleasure flickered inside of her. Dropping the gown to the floor, she moved carefully down the steps and turned the faucets on, then lay back in the tub while she waited for it to fill.

  She'd always found that water soothed her. No matter how tired, or how emotionally drained she might feel, the rush of water always relaxed, comforted, soothed frayed nerves.

  When the water began to lap her chin, she sat up, reaching for the button that controlled the jets ... and froze, her hand still extended mid-air.

  For several thundering heartbeats, she thought that it was Raheem.

  Noticing her attention, he stepped forward, a smile on his face that sent a chill of pure terror racing along Elise's spine.

  “I am the djinn, Zeht."

  Chapter Nine

  Raheem had been racing through the stratosphere for some time before it occurred to him that he had no destination in mind, but the chill, thin air had cooled the anger from his blood.

  He paused, thinking.

  With a good deal of surprise, he realized that he had allowed emotion to cloud his mind and that it had prevented logical deduction. Now, very clearly, he could recall the look on Elise's face when she had sent him away. There had been no anger, no loathing. There had been pain—pain that had pulled the blood from her face until she had looked paper white. She could not have wanted to send him away if it hurt her to do it.

  He had not questioned that she cared for him very deeply until she had been so shocked that he might lose his powers. When that doubt had entered his mind, others he had not allowed himself to think about had flooded into his mind, as well.

  He had acknowledged the fear that must always have been in the back of his mind that she might not love him as she had John, that she might be with him and still yearn for another.

  He frowned. If humans were afflicted with so many doubts, and all the emotions attendant upon them, it was small wonder their world was such a chaotic mess. Perhaps, in truth, he would have difficulty adjusting to being a mortal?

  He shook that thought off. He had chosen. It had not been a true choice, because he had not been able to make another choice, but he felt no regret for it ... only unaccustomed confusion.

  In truth, despite his determination to try to understand these alien thoughts and emotions, in the back of his mind he could think of little beyond the urge to return to Elise.

  That had been the way of it almost from the first.

  Would she still be angry? Or had her temper cooled, as well?

  After several moments of thought, it occurred to him that there was one way that he could ensure a welcome.

  He would seek out Elise's mother and assure her that her daughter was safe. Elise would be pleased.

  * * * *

  The task he had set himself was not as easily accomplished as he had expected it would be. Locating her had not been the problem. He had gone to Elise's house and retrieved the image of her mother. A simple tracking spell had led him to her.

  She was cleaning her kitchen when he materialized.

  “Madam,” he said, bowing politely. “I bring you news of your daughter, Elise."

  The woman, an older, plumper version of Elise, stared at him blankly for several moments and let out the shriek of a thousand banshees. Gripping the broom she held in her hands she began to flail at him, striking him three blows before he had the presence of mind to dematerialize.

  He materialized again safely out of reach, hovering near the ceiling. “Cease, woman!” he commanded her.

  She gaped at him, screamed and began grabbing pots and pitching them at him.

  When he materialized the third time, he was directly behind her. Grabbing her around the arms to subdue her, he tried once more to reason with her. “I mean you no harm! I am come to give you news of your daughter, Elise."

  She stomped his foot that time.

  Enough was enough. When he materialized the fourth time, he put a binding spell upon her.

  “What have you done with my daughter, you monster!” she demanded furiously, trying to wrestle herself free of the bindings. “You'll wish for death if you've harmed one hair on her head!"

  Raheem glared at the woman, planting his fists on his hips. Finally, however, he saw the fear in her eyes and his own anger dissipated. He knelt in front of the chair he had bound her to. “On my honor, I would not harm her, or allow her to be harmed, madam."

  Some of the fear left the woman's eyes, but she studied him distrustfully. “Where is she? I went to her house. Most of her things are gone."

  “I have taken her to a place where she will be safe. She was concerned that you would worry. I came so that she would not be fretting over you."

  “Who are you?"

  “Am the djinn, Raheem."

  “Take me to her."

  Raheem looked at her in dismay. He was willing to do most anything for Elise, but he wasn't at all certain he wanted this she-devil in his palace. On the other hand, if he simply left her, then Elise would learn of it, eventually.

  “Very well, madam. But I will tolerate no more abuse from you, woman!"

  “The only promise I'll make, Mister, is to cut your heart out if she isn't alright."

  Raheem eyed her with some respect. It was small wonder Elise believed she could order him around when she had been spawned by this warrior female. He smiled faintly. Elise would breed fine sons for him.

  “You can wipe that sappy grin off your face. I mean every word of it!"

  Raheem glared at her, sorely tempted to place a spell upon her tongue. “Enough, woman! I will release you and take you to your daughter, but I give you fair warning, I will tolerate no more abuse from you ... even if it does anger Elise!"

  The woman looked at him in surprise. In a moment, something suspiciously akin to humor gleamed in her eyes. “I'll have to call her sister before we go, or she'll be worried about the both of us."

  Raheem nodded, pointing a finger at her to remove the binding spell, waiting impatiently while she called her other daughter. When she'd hung up, she brushed past him and left the room. Puzzled, Raheem followed her and found her in a bedroom, busily packing a suitcase.

  “What are you doing!"

  “What does it look like? You said you'd taken her to a safe place. I assume I'll be gone a few days."

  “Not if I can help it,” Raheem growled.

  “I assume you mean to marry her?"

  Raheem looked at her as if she'd sprouted another head. “Wed?"

  “You can't expect her to live with you in sin."

  “She is my concubine."

  The woman nodded. “I thought so. A small, quiet wedding will do."

  Raheem studied her thoughtfully for several moments. “Elise would want this?"

  The woman nodded, smiling faintly as she closed her suitcase. “You can just call me Carol,” she said, turning with her suitcase in her hand.

  Raheem studied her, frowning. “Elise has told you of me,” he said flatly.

  “Not everything, I'm sure ... but, yes. I was afraid she'd gone off the deep end. Glad to see I was wrong ... I'm ready, by the way."

  Disconcerted, Raheem merely stared at her for several moments. Finally, shrugging mentally, he lifted his hand, wrapped a traveling spell around her and dematerialized.

  He released her from the spell when they had entered the great hall.

  Carol looked around appreciatively and set her suitcase down.

  Raheem left her, striding swiftly toward the winding stairs that led up from the great hall.

  The maid met him before he'd ascended more than a half dozen steps, collapsing on the stairs in front of him, weeping, muttering incoherently.

  Brushing past her, Raheem took the remainder of the stairs at a sprint. When he'd checked every room he returned, furious. “Cease!” he roared, holding his hand out.


  The maid turned white, but ceased weeping and babbling as abruptly as if she'd been a faucet suddenly turned off.

  “Where is Elise?"

  “The evil one took her!"

  Raheem turned as white as the maid had been only moments before. “What evil one?"

  “He said he was the djinn, Zeht. And that you must come for your woman! He said you would know where to find her."

  Raheem glanced down at Elise's mother, his face grim.

  “Do you know?"

  He nodded. “He has taken her beyond the gateway ... where no mortal being can long survive."

  * * * *

  The sky was golden. That alone was sufficient to convince Elise that she had been torn from her own world and whisked into another one. Below them, she saw streaks of teal, and deep blue, and gold. The blur of colors made her head swim and she closed her eyes. Unfortunately, the sense of disorientation didn't vanish when the djinn, Zeht stopped abruptly. Elise was fairly certain she would have crumpled to the ground if he had not been holding her. With an effort, she opened her eyes to look around. They were standing, she saw to her horror, on a tiny wedge of rock barely a yard square. Below them, falling away almost into forever, were other slabs of rock, each slightly larger than the next—she supposed since she could see tips of different colored rocks jutting out here and there.

  Zeht released her abruptly and Elise screamed as she fell, certain she would roll off the edge. She landed with her upper body suspended over nothingness, anchored to the rock by nothing more than her lower body, unable to pull herself back from the edge.

  When Zeht grasped her ankles, she thought for several terrifying moments that he meant to push her over the edge. Instead, he clamped something cold around first one ankle and then the other. Dragging her back, he grasped a fistful of hair and hauled her up onto her knees, then placed a manacle on each of her wrists. When he released her, Elise glanced around and discovered that he had chained her to a needle of rock that shot up from the rock she'd landed on. It looked solid and relief flooded through her. She was actually almost grateful to be chained to the rock. At least, if she was right and it was as solid as it looked, she didn't have to worry about falling off.

  As the fear subsided, she realized her thighs, belly and breasts were stinging. Zeht had pulled her naked from the tub and had not allowed her to dress herself. When he'd dragged her back from the ledge, it had scraped her skin, she saw, leaving thin red streaks along her flesh. Curling up into a fetal position, she lay her cheek on her arm, fighting the dizziness that still plagued her. Breathing was an effort. She had no idea how high she was, but obviously too high if she had to labor so hard to breathe.

  After a while, she realized that Zeht had not left. Lifting her head, she looked around for him and discovered that he was hovering, crossed legged, just beyond the rock ledge, a smile of supreme satisfaction on his face.

  “Why did you bring me here?"

  “You are Raheem's play thing. He will want his pretty back."

  Elise stared at him a long moment, trying to think, but her head hurt, and she was nauseated, and scared and she finally realized it was virtually useless to try to think at this point. She dropped her head back onto her arm. “He won't come,” she muttered.

  “He will come."

  She shook her head, but it only made her more dizzy. “I sent him away."

  He burst out laughing. It seemed the more he laughed, the more he tickled himself, for it took him many minutes to control his laughter. He would stop, giggle and then begin to laugh all over again. “You sent ... Raheem? His Royal Majesty Prince Raheem? High Magician and ruler of all Middle World?"

  Elise lifted her head and looked at him. “Who?"

  “The second most powerful djinn in all of the world? For I, Zeht, Ruler of the High World, am the most powerful of all!"

  “Not Prince Raheem,” Elise corrected. “The djinn, Raheem, Guardian of the gateway."

  Zeht snickered. “Prince Raheem is the guardian of the gateway, for it is the gateway to his princedom, Middle World!"

  With an effort, Elise pushed herself upright to study the madman who was tormenting her. “That tiny bottle?"

  The amusement vanished abruptly. “You have the phial? The key?” He asked quickly, looking at her with keen interest. There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes now, though, that unnerved Elise. “Raheem must have been pleased to discover one so weak as you held it. This means he has destroyed the last of the three keys and closed the gateways mad King Yangi created eons ago and hid throughout the outer world."

  Elise was more than a little inclined to think, if anyone was mad, it was Zeht. “I don't think we're working on the same page,” she muttered. “I bought a tiny bottle. It was one of those things that summon a genie and then they have to grant your wishes."

  Zeht's eyes narrowed. “I never cease to be amazed at the weak minds of humans. Tell them one tale and by the time they have passed it to three others, it bears no resemblance to the original! There never was such a thing as you describe ... only the gateways, designed to allow mortals to enter our world—to steal our riches!

  The mad king, Yangi, had been enchanted by a beautiful human witch and would make her queen of all the inner world. He was the most powerful of all the djinn. The djinn were forced to combine their powers to best him, and Yangi and his witch were banished from inner world for all time. The great kingdom was split into three princedoms, the Lower, Middle and High world, for no one desired that one should have so much power again.

  In revenge, Yangi created the gateways, so that we could never be certain we were secure against the encroachment of the barbaric hoards."

  “He created them so that humans could come here?” Elise asked curiously, wondering why any would want to.

  Zeht eyed her with disfavor. “He created them so that he could return if he wished. We had banished him and sealed the borders against him so that he could not return—any djinn may pass, if he so pleases, save Yangi. He did it for amusement, for he claimed he had chosen to live among the mortals and had no wish to return, but we knew he had done it to prove he was still the most powerful of all and to plant a seed of doubt so that we would always have to be on guard."

  Good for him! Elise thought. “Interesting, but I fail to see what any of it has to do with me. You brought a human here, just as Yangi did."

  His eyes narrowed. “I have not brought you to make you my royal concubine, however. I have brought you ... as you humans put it ... as bait."

  Chapter Ten

  “You want to use me to get to Raheem,” Elise said, a shaft of fear causing her heart to skip several beats.

  Zeht laughed. “I might applaud you for your cleverness, mortal, save for the fact that I have told you as much."

  Elise blushed. “I'm just trying to figure out why you needed me,” she snapped. “If you're the most powerful, why not just defeat him and take what he holds? That's what this is about, right? You want the Middle World?"

  “I would not be accepted as ruler,” he snarled, “if I merely took it! I must make Raheem challenge me to a duel of sorcery and when I have destroyed him, I will be appointed, recognized as the most powerful."

  Elise gave him a look. “So ... the fact is, you're only the most powerful in your own mind? And ruler of the rocks? This is High World, right?” she said, gesturing toward the pillars of rock that could be seen in any direction.

  Zeht's snarl became a roar of fury. “How dare you mock me, earth spawn!"

  He held his hand up, like a traffic cop commanding a stop. The rock beneath Elise began to tremble, and then to shake, harder and harder, crumbling away inches at the time in dust and pebbles.

  Terrified, Elise screamed, covering her head and closing her eyes, expecting momentarily to feel the tiny platform she was chained to toppling from the peak it was perched on and falling endlessly before it reached Middle World, far, far below.

  The shaking stopped abruptly. When Elise peered
cautiously from under her hand, she saw Zeht was wearing the self-satisfied smile once more. “Now we wait."

  He left, but he didn't go nearly far enough, only to the next peak over, where he settled himself to watch her.

  Sick, scared to death and tired beyond belief, Elise dozed, but she had no more than drifted off when the rock began to shimmy once more. She woke screaming. The echo of Zeht's laughter bridged the gap between them.

  It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that he wasn't simply amusing himself. He obviously expected her terror to distract Raheem and give him an edge. With the best will in the world, however, Elise couldn't bite back a scream of fear every time he shook the rock he had chained her to.

  She had no sense of time, no idea how long she lay on the rock, shivering with fear and cold. It seemed it must have been days by her body's clock, for her lips were dry from lack of water and her mouth felt as if she'd had cotton stuffed in it. She'd screamed until the only sound she could make was a hoarse croak.

  She barely lifted her head when the shaking came again. As she blinked her eyes to focus, though, she saw Raheem and her heart leapt with joy. With an effort, she lifted her arms toward him.

  He reached for her and the rock began to shake again. Elise screamed hoarsely, flattening herself against it to keep from being slammed against the hard surface by the shaking. Raheem let out a roar of pure rage and frustration, whirling to confront Zeht as he laughed uproariously.

  “You can't break my spell! You'll pound her to death on the rocks yourself or topple it from it's precarious perch!"

  Elise looked at the two men in the distance in confusion, wondering why Raheem had not come to her. Finally, Zeht's words sank in. He'd surrounded her with a spell that Raheem couldn't breach without toppling the rock. If he tried, she would die.

  Hope died and desolation took its place. She had almost reached the point where she felt like throwing herself off, just so she wouldn't have to be afraid anymore. She didn't think she could take much more fear without degenerating into a blithering lunatic.