Page 9 of Kiss of Ice

Blue-grey tendrils of power uncurled from around him, whipping out in a flash to grasp the shaitun before he could disappear. They held him in place, their fragile form concealing their formidable strength, as Salaq drove a silver blade into the shaitun’s scrawny chest.

He knew the knife wouldn’t kill him, but the silver would mute his ability to shimmer.

“You can’t run from me, Ravij.” A coil of steely blue delicately curled round the shaitun’s throat and tightened. “Or have you forgotten who you belong to?”

“Please master! Please don’t do this!”

“I created you from the ether all those centuries ago,” the jinn said, his face pitiless. “And now I return you to it.”

“Master, I beg of you. I want to live!I want to live!”

The shaitun wept as the jinn recited the mantra of discorporealism. The words washed over him and he felt his body begin to tear asunder.

“Arjeuk iilaa alhawa’i. Ana ajealuk fi alhawa’i. Ant la akthara.”

“I want to live! I want to…”

With a pitiful wail, Ravij dissolved into nothingness. The silver blade clattered to the ground.

Salaq picked it up and wiped it on his sleeve. He felt not one iota of sorrow for the creature who had served him faithfully for his entire life. He only wished he could get rid of his other problems so easily.

He allowed his Marid power to dissipate and turned his mind to other matters. The memory of Rajiv was already gone.

Ren removed her hand from the boy’s forehead. She’d used her power, such that it was, to cool him down and take the edge off his fever. He looked more comfortable already, though she knew the effect would only be temporary.

Thankfully, the medicines she’d brought would be more useful. She turned to the elderly kobold hovering by the bed and handed her the bag.

“Gods bless you, Ren.” The fae carefully took the medicines. “This will see the lad right as rain.”

“I hope it’s enough, Tovah. I wish I could give you money but…”

“But your father accounts for every cent you spend. I know.”

“He’s a good man, he’s just preoccupied with other things lately. Otherwise I’m sure he would have helped you himself.”

“You don’t have to explain anything, Ren. I’m just grateful you were able to find the remedies. I shall not ask how you came by them, mark you. I have a feeling I won’t like the answer.”

Ren bent low and hugged the little kobold, inhaling her familiar scent of soap and lavender. The smell she’d grown up with.

“I still miss having you around as my nanny,” she said.

“Hush now, silly girl. You’re far too old for a nanny.” The kobold patted her on the back. “You don’t need me anymore. Your father was right to let me go. And I have a grandson to take care of.”

“I know.” Ren straightened, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. She glanced at the child in the bed. “Give him a big kiss from me when he wakes up.”

“I will. Now you’d better get back before your father wonders where you are. It’s a long ride back to Valkar Castle.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got Mistral. He’s the fastest horse in the empire.”

“The way you ride used to frighten me to death, girl. Don’t fall off.”

“Tovah, you know I never fall off,” she said reproachfully. “Now look after yourselves. And if you need anything else, send word to me.”

She left the tiny hovel Tovah and her grandson called home. It stood at the end of a row of equally ramshackle houses in a rundown suburb of Arjhan – one of several that had sprung up in the last few decades.

When had poverty crept into the capital, Ren wondered, as she led her horse out of the lean-to? The cities of Nush’aldaam had always been wealthy. Yes, out in the sticks – the Hinterlands, the Wolds, the forest villages of Feyir – there were communities who scratched a living. But in the urban areas, and especially in the gleaming city of Arjhan, everyone had a job. Everyone had income. Or at least, that’s how it used to be.

But when Mazhab the Golden One had deteriorated after the loss of his son, so had everything else.

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