The Secret of Ka (16 page)

In the fifth scene, the man was handing his infant son to the djinn. I thought of what the carpet had said about the second wish. It looked like he had to hand over the baby to pay for the castle. Bummer.

In the sixth scene, the man was old, sick, and alone again, making what was probably his last wish. For on the seventh window he was young again, healthy. Yet he was not given a chance to enjoy his youth. In the final scene, the djinn had a noose around the man's neck and was leading him away to a fiery hell.

I feared that, after the third wish, the djinn did not merely own a person's body, but his very soul. He did not become just a slave, but a thrall.

I stretched out the carpet near the altar and spoke in a whisper.

"The first wish, the djinn must grant for free. The second wish, you owe the djinn. The third wish, the djinn owns you." I paused. "Are these the Laws of the Djinn?"

The stars spelled out the worst possible answer.

"Yes," it said.

"Oh, God," I whispered.

I had to act quickly. I had to save Amesh. Picking up the hilt of the sword, my fingers curled around and slipped under the fangs. Or else the teeth moved to meet my fingers, it was hard to tell.

Instantly the fangs lengthened and sank into two fingers.

The bite was excruciating. I reacted like anyone else would: I let go of the hilt and swung it wildly. I tried to pull my fingers free. This only made matters worse. The fangs tore my skin. I was no longer the one gripping the artifact. It was gripping me. And it wouldn't let go.

Yet not a drop of my blood spilled from the serpent's mouth. For an instant I thought it had not taken much from me. Then I realized it was able to absorb the blood and not show it. Terror overrode my reason. My fingers were still bleeding, still hurting, but the more I struggled, the worse it got.

Taking slow deep breaths, I willed myself to calm down. A part of me knew that if I did not have a solid grip on the hilt when the djinn appeared, it would be easier for it to control me. It made sense. The artifact was the tool it used to reach into our dimension. It didn't matter if the blasted thing was drinking my blood—I had to hold on to it to show I wasn't afraid.

A shimmering red glow formed above the altar. Quickly it assumed shape. It was twice the height of a man, but it was not human. It had four arms instead of two, an exaggerated torso that ballooned outward. Though it swelled in all directions, the djinn was not fat nor weak. Its four legs were short and strong—elephantine pillars that could support a twenty-foot stone statue. Despite its extra legs, it stood erect. Instead of clothes it was covered in silver and gold feathers.

Its head was large, round, and bald. In place of a nose and mouth was a beak; its sharpness matched the tips of its six-digit talons. Its eyes were those of a snake. The pupils were fiery red, their gaze infinitely cold.

Given these terrible parts, the djinn should have been hideous.

Yet it wasn't, not to me. Amesh's remark returned to haunt me. "It's magnificent," he had uttered when he had first beheld his djinn. Just staring at it made me dizzy. I had to shake myself to stay alert.

Still, when it wet its yellow beak with a black tongue, it left a red drop, which I knew for certain was my blood. But how my blood was being transferred from the artifact into its mouth was a mystery.

It knew who I was.

I was royalty. And it was pleased to see me.

It spoke. As before, the words did not emanate from the djinn alone, but from the walls as well. I glimpsed its thoughts, sensed it searching for my own. The creature was telepathic to a degree. At first I felt it wanted my friendship, but then I realized that was just a projection, a trick.

I was simply another client to enslave, another chance for it to advance its agenda, whatever that was. I sensed its intelligence, its experience—thick as an ancient book, with endless bloodstained pages of successful conquests.

"You are a welcome sight," it said. "What are you called?"

I almost answered against my will. I had to struggle to stop. I feared to think my name.
Be aggressive,
I thought.
Do not give it a chance to fully enter your mind.

"Thank you for making me feel so welcome, King..." I let the words trail off, before adding, "I'm sorry, I seem to have forgotten your name."

"Have you? I am disappointed. I was confident you would recognize me."

"But I do, Your Majesty. It's only your name that escapes me. Please refresh my memory."

It shifted to my right, a few feet away from the altar. I was not sure why. The candlelight glittered over its feathered body like a lantern over a treasure. I sensed that above all things, it wanted to make me a thrall, like the man with the noose around his neck in the final stained glass window.

I worried it was slowly gaining control. My fingers continued to throb. It was still drinking my blood. How much could it get out of two fingers? I supposed it depended on how long we talked. It licked its beak again, and another red drop appeared at the tip.

Tasty, beautiful girl,
I thought I heard it say.

"This is my home and you are my guest. It is proper for a guest to introduce herself," the djinn said.

I forced a smile. "But surely Your Majesty recognizes me?"

It made a disturbing clicking sound with its beak.

"Your taste is familiar. I think I recognize you by one of your ancient names." It paused. "You are an ancient, are you not?"

I chuckled. "Your Majesty plays with me. You have tasted my blood and know me. But as an old ally, you know I don't possess your great power. Please, let me show you the respect you deserve. Let me bow and address you by your proper name." Then, playing one of my aces, I said, "Besides, how am I to ask Your Majesty for the things I need when you won't share your full name with me?"

Things.
I was saying I wanted to make more than one wish.

"Pray tell me what you need. I am sure I can get it for you."

"My Majesty loves to jest. Surely you know I must make a formal wish for each item." I paused. "Tell me how I should phrase my requests."

"Tell me your first wish and I will teach you how to phrase it."

"You would grant my wish without a formal request?"

Again, he moved three more feet to my right. I found my feet locked to the floor. I had to twist my upper body to keep him squarely in view.

"For a female as beautiful as you, I would do this," he said.

"You flatter me! But I'm afraid neither of us will get what we want if we don't follow the rules." I hardened my tone. "I can't make a wish unless I know your name."

He hesitated. "You may call me Trakur."

The name of Amesh's djinn had been Darbar Aloya Ta.

Trakur could not be his full djinn name.

"The name Trakur does not tell me much about Your Majesty. Where you are from, your lineage. It does not even tell me the name of your father."

"My father is no more. He perished in the great war."

"A pity. What was his name?"

Again, he moved to the right and leaned close. I smelled the breath from his beak—an odor of fresh blood.

"He's famous among the djinn. You must know his name."

"I'm sure I do. Tell me anyway," I said.

"Why should I?"

I played another ace, sighing loudly. "Your Majesty, with all respect, I tire of this charade. I've come to you for help, but how can I trust you'll get what I need when you won't answer my simplest questions?"

"Tell me what you want and you shall have it."

"Tell me your name and I'll tell you what I need!" I shot back.

The djinn moved almost behind me. Still, my feet remained rooted to the floor. I had to twist far to the right to keep it in view. Finally, however, it seemed to tire of the taunting. It wanted to trap me. It wanted me to start making wishes.

"My father was Trakae Analova Ta," he said.

I smiled. "Of course, a great djinn. Then you must be..." To sort out the pattern, I had to assume that he had given me his first name first. I figured
Analova
stayed in the middle, especially since Amesh's djinn's name had also ended in
Ta.
"Why, you're the great Trakur Analova Ta!"

The djinn nodded. "I am well known in these parts."

"I apologize, Your Majesty. Never again will I forget such a worthy title."

He showed impatience. "Tell me your name and your first wish."

I continued to smile, although I was getting more and more worried about how I was going to free my fingers from the hilt. "But King Analova, now that I know who you are, we have so much else to discuss. Why, I have not even asked about your wife. How is she?"

Trakur drew himself up high. I had to bend my head back to follow. Again, he made that sickening sound with his beak, but this time a clot of blood spilled out and stained the altar. If his eyes had been cold before, they were now ice. Crystal shards from an arctic cave, they looked like they could slice me open.

"You lie," he said. "You are the one who plays the charades. You have been interested in my wife from the start. It is she you want, not I." He added in a deadly tone, "You must know the penalty of lying to a djinn such as me."

"But Your Majesty! When did I lie? I was merely trying to ... AHH!"

A burning pain erupted in my right side. It was so intense that I feared to lower my eyes and see what was causing it. But then I saw the invisible blade was no longer invisible. The carpet's warning had come back to me too late.

A silver sword had punched out of the hilt like a switch blade loaded on a spring. It had pierced my side, and I was bleeding badly. Yet the blood was not going to waste. The blade's shiny surface somehow absorbed it by the mouthful.

With the amount of blood I was losing, the knife had probably pierced an organ. If I tried to pull it out, my wound would change into a red geyser, and I would die in seconds.

"I want to make my first wish now, Trakur Analova Ta!" I cried.

He stood in front of me and clapped his talons in anticipation. I saw then how he had tricked me. He had kept pulling my attention farther to the side to force my torso closer to the tip of his hidden blade.

"Tell me what it is and I will grant it for you," he said.

"Remove this blade from my side and stop..." I stopped. I did not complete the wish because I realized I was making two at once.

"You wish me to remove the blade and stop the bleeding?"

"That's not my wish," I gasped. "You did not hear me say that."

"Your wish then. Speak it aloud!"

"Trakur Analova Ta, I wish for you to heal this wound."

He shook his head. "Impossible. The blade has impaled your side. You will continue to bleed until it is removed."

"I'll handle that. You just fulfill my wish."

"It is a deep wound. It may take time to heal."

"You're to heal it as fast as you can!"

Trakur considered. "What is your name?"

"None of your damn business."

"Without your name, I cannot grant your wish."

I dropped to my knees on the hard marble floor, sweat dripping into my eyes. Still, I kept my gaze focused on him. "You lie. You lie because you think I lied to you—and that you are free to do what you wish. But that is not true because you have failed to catch me in a lie. You are a djinn, and you must obey the Laws of the Djinn, Trakur Analova Ta. Fulfill my wish immediately!"

With that, I yanked the blade from my side.

Blood gushed from my side. The pain was so great that I almost blacked out.

Amazingly, the hilt released my fingers.

Trakur went very still. He closed his wicked eyes. I noticed the blood that only seconds ago had been swelling inside his beak had stopped. His mouth went dry. When I looked down, I saw that my blood was no longer pouring out. The pain in my side lessened but did not stop altogether.

Trakur opened his eyes. "Your first wish has been granted. What is your second wish?"

I set the artifact back on the altar.

The blade had disappeared.

"There will be no second wish. Carpet, come to me, please."

The carpet flew to where I knelt. It took all of my strength to turn so that when I let go and fell, I landed on my back on the carpet.

I couldn't reach for the tassels. It was okay; the carpet was an old friend. It would obey my commands and ask for nothing in return. Trakur appeared surprised by how quickly it responded to my orders.

"Take me out of here," I gasped, and felt myself rising upward. We moved fast, toward the ceiling. The carpet was in a hurry, and so was I. The djinn screamed beneath me, and I felt a wave of air as Trakur tried with all of his talons to knock me down. But either he was too far below or else he was not deep enough in our dimension to harm me.

As we cleared the roof and the stars became visible, I blacked out.

When I came to I was in my room, lying on the bed. The house was asleep. The majority of my pain was gone but I still would have appreciated a modern hospital with doctors and nurses and an IV drip loaded with morphine.

At least I had the carpet, my dear Carpet of Ka. It lay near me, on the floor. The window was open and the stars shone on its starry center.

"I thought I was so clever," I mumbled. "But he tricked me."

"You tricked him as well," the carpet replied.

"For all the good it did."

"You learned his name."

"I had to ask him for a wish! If I ask for another, I'll be in his debt."

"Perhaps one day you will be forced to ask. He is a very powerful djinn. Life is in the blood, and he feeds his power with blood. That is why he is the ruler of the djinn on this island."

I sighed. "I went there hoping to get his wife's name so I could invoke her into the pot I'm making. Now that hope's gone."

"Is it?"

I tried to sit up. "Isn't it?"

"The
Ta
at the end of the name is the same as your
mister.
Otherwise, when a female djinn marries, she takes on the name of the husband."

I had to laugh, although it hurt my side.