Page 29 of Knight's End
“Yes, that wizard. He’s an odd duck, but glad he’s on our side. When the sultan and his horde flew overhead and circled the city, I thought we were goners—”
The man’s thoughts must have projected clearly to Blue, and I think he might have sent them through to all of us without meaning to, because suddenly we saw the sultan and his entourage floating in midair, their midsections dissolving into colorful twists of smoke as they hovered above my capital like vengeful ghosts. It seemed like the sultan had brought his harem with him, for he was surrounded by beautiful women who wore no armor, simply embroidered silk, with gold bands adorning their wrists, gold cuffs along their ears, gold rings piercing their bottom lips. They flew slowly over the town, almost like a parade of terror. The sultan smiled and waved at those who came out and screamed and pointed at him. He didn’t stop his slow flight until he was right over the center of the town, his twist of navy smoke swirling around as the wind picked up.
My stomach dropped even though what I watched was a memory. I knew what came next.
The djinn women linked hands and closed their eyes as Sultan Raj wove his hands through the air.
The captain hadn’t been able to hear the sultan’s words, but the intent was clear. They were going to attack. A golden haze formed in the women’s hands, as if the wish was so strong, it had to manifest in physical form. Raj reared back his muscular arm and pointed. The women launched a gold jet of magic—
Shouts and screams sounded off in the memory, and I cringed because they were so loud inside my head as Blue sent us the captain’s thoughts.
The ball of magic spread out as it flew through the air, flattening like dough, spreading out until the sunlight filtered through the dark gold fog and turned all the faces around the captain a sickly orange color.
But then a single phrase had blasted through the streets, as if spoken through a bullhorn. “Wishes were made to grant happy ever afters, not cause sad disasters.” Donaloo hadtsked. “A djinni who makes others wish mean things, loses his rings.”
Sultan Raj had roared when one of the women in his harem had gasped, reaching for her hand.
But the ring fell, glinting in the afternoon sunlight.
Raj opened his hands and pushed out his wish, diving at the same time to try to recover his ring.
But Donaloo’s voice spoke again. “Mirror mirror oh, so fair, reflect only what the sultan wants to see—everywhere.” A giant bubble, shimmering with rainbow color, appeared to encase Marscha. The golden wish magic hit the bubble and was absorbed by it; the bubble wobbled as it ate the magical attack.
An evil smile spread over Raj’s face when he saw what he wanted—when he saw what we’d seen—a flattened capital. Then his hand reached the bubble and closed around something.
A little ping and a wobble of the bubble were the only things I could tell happened. Did the ring hit the bubble? Did it get out? Or bounce back?
Another ping confirmed the ring had fallen back down and rolled on some cobblestones somewhere.
But Sultan Raj glanced at his own hand, satisfied. A tiny bubble shimmered on his hand. So … the enchantment was making him see his ring, making him see what he wanted, even though it wasn’t there—
My thoughts were interrupted as Donaloo’s words blared through the captain’s memory once more. “If any citizen finds the sultan’s ring and brings it to the palace so I can destroy that sarding djinni, I’d be much obliged. Oh, and I’ll grant you a spell.”
I put a hand to my forehead and laughed as I rubbed away the tension. Sarding Donaloo. Thank the gods he was helping Evaness.
The captain looked at all of us, not realizing we’d just watched his memories. “Sorry about that, just—been a bit of a day, you know?”
“Oh, yes, I do.” I nodded, forgetting I was still a rabbit-faced man. “Thank you, Commander. We’ll make sure your service is noted.”
He gave me a bit of an odd look but nodded before marching briskly out of the room.
Blue sat down and put his head on the table, worn out after projecting all those thoughts. I poured him a glass of water and knelt beside him.
“How could Donaloo wish for a ring? I thought you said they no one could wish for a ring—”
“Loopholes,” he grumbled. “Donaloo … I’m guessing he just wished that the ring was lost or something.”
“What about us? Could we wish that the ring was found?”
Blue bit his lip. “Not by us. And we ultimately want the ring to wish him ill. Rings are … not alive, but magical enough to sense intent. We want the ring to destroy Raj, thereby destroying the ring.”
“Can we wish Raj was just suddenly an idiot? Or didn’t have any more magic? Or couldn’t make more wishes?” I brainstormed.
Blue shook his head. “He made wishes years ago to protect himself from all those sorts of attacks. Don’t you think they’ve been tried over the centuries?”
“Can you help me find a loophole?”
He sighed. “I’ve been trying to figure out a way to destroy him since I was eight. Haven’t yet. But I’ll try.”
