EPILOGUE—THE JINNI AND THE ISEKAI (END OF ARC ONE)
Ali was gone, but Shiro still watched the dunes in the direction his moon limned silhouette had receded.
Why do I feel this way?
For a long time Jessamine said nothing. But then finally she spoke. “You will see him again, Shiro. Of that I have no doubt.”
He turned and looked at her. Her features, so striking in the daytime, were harder to see now in the moonlight, but see them Shiro could.
“You said… you said you needed my help?”
She nodded slowly.
“Come with me.”
She turned and waded through the river. It glinted with the bright light of the moon. Shiro followed. The desert nights were cool, the water on his feet sending a mild shiver up his body. He followed Jessamine down the river and over a steep sandy embankment to the top of the hills.
She stopped under a group of palms and put a hand on the rough bark. In the moonlight, barely clothed except for the shawl over her shoulders that covered only most of her, she looked to Shiro like a dream.
His heart beat a little faster.
Jessamine turned and looked at him. With the moon behind her, he couldn’t see her features, but he knew she was smiling.
Somehow he could sense it. Feel it.
He joined her at the tree and together they peered out at the hills in the desert. All was quiet, except for the gentle rustle of palm fronds and the crickets in the grassy patches throughout the water holes.
“I am not yours, Shiro.”
“I know this,” he said. “You said. You demonstrated.”
“No.”
He looked at her. There was graveness on her face. “I belong to another.”
Shiro straightened. “What do you mean?”
“I…” she said, trailing off. “As a jinni, I bond to the one who makes a pact with me. I give that person my magical gifts in exchange for companionship.”
Shiro could feel his heart beating. Not with excitement or anticipation. He was simple aware of the quiet in the night, as he listened, as he became angry by what he was hearing.
Something is wrong, he thought.
Yes, she conveyed.
Then she continued in words spoken aloud. “The man I am bonded to is Darius al Hasarani.”
Shiro flinched.
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But he’s…
“Yes,” Jessamine said. “He’s the sultan of this empire. “He wasn’t always. He was just an adventuring vizier once. He craved the wind in his hair. He wanted fame. He wanted to be rich and to live a good life.”
“And he became the sultan?”
“I didn’t know he had his sights so high. Over the years, he became increasingly avaricious, and brutal. Doing anything, betraying anyone, until he rose to a position high enough in the military to command loyal troops willing to do his bidding.”
“What happened?”
“At first, he wanted more of a part in the Abassir Empire. When war came, he was the sultan’s only hope. He gave Darius unthinkable swaths of land, vast powers over his subjects, and wagons of gold.”
“And then be betrayed the sultan? I think I heard of this before. But I did not know the details.”
“It didn’t end there, Jessamine said. Darius began to conquer the neighboring kingdoms. He executed thousands of his own subjects for nothing more than his own unfounded suspicions. Where drink and wine couldn’t satisfy him, women did. He has the largest harem in the land. Hundreds of innocent, defenseless girls are taken from their loving parents where they go to his bed. He doesn’t even have the decency to marry and keep them. He tosses them out when he gets bored.”
Shiro nodded, not knowing what to say. The customs of these lands were certainly far different than what he had previously know, and so were the evils.
He was convinced that evil was much the same wherever one might find themselves, but there were particular evils in these lands, just as there were particular evils in his own.
“But… what do you want me to do?” he asked, not knowing what he could do.
“We could go our own way. Forget about Darius. I would still be able to lend you some small form of magic that I am free to bestow upon you. He may never find us. But you will grow old, Shiro, and you will die, never knowing the full power and bond we could share.”
It was a lot for him to take in. A question suddenly came to him. “How did you end up in the dungeon?”
She smiled ruefully. “Watching Darius sink into deeper and deeper pits of evil and depravity, I could no longer continue walking his side. I told him I would not grant him any of my magic. And I didn’t. He raided that ancient dungeon. Its true name is Mebkubazir—an ancient tomb of a civilization long past. He raided it, desecrated the tombs and put Akarilion and the Spiders there to guard me against intruders.
“I’ve seen some adventurers wander in over the years. Most left or were killed. None had ever reached Akarilion. You did. And you slew him.”
Shiro was shocked.
“Yes, Shiro. You freed me. But now what?”
He glanced out over the desert night, a gentle breeze brushing past him. Shiro was no warlord. He had no armies. How could he do anything against Darius al Hassarani, Sultan of the Abassir Empire?
“I’m not asking you to march into the palace and challenge him to a duel, Shiro. Let us go to Darshuun and find out information. Have you ever been there?”
He shook his head. I meant to go for… a certain reason.
“To find out how you came to be in these lands?”
“Hai.”
“We may find that answer.”
“A little honey for the fly?”
She chuckled. “You are no fly. You’re my adventuring isekai. My savior and my hope, Shiro.”
“Hmm.”
“Darshuun is the jewel of the empire. We can have a grand time. We may discover something that we don’t yet know, things that may aid you, or me, or even both of us. Say you’ll do it, Shiro?”
Her request was reasonable and so he nodded.
Then she shrieked. Shiro jumped, but before he realized what was wrong, Jessamine threw her arms around him. Her sudden weight nearly collapsed him.
“Thank you!”
“It would not hurt to see,” he added in agreement to her argument.
Then her demeanor changed.
“I’m glad the honey worked, Shiro, or else I’d have had to use the whip.” She said the words in that seductive tone she had met him with.
Shiro scoffed.
Then together they both looked out across the desert landscape for a moment before returning to the camel. They loaded the saddle with water, then Shiro mounted the animal with Jessamine sitting in front of him, his arms around her as he held the reins.
“Which way?” Shiro asked.
Jessamine lifted her arm and pointed.
“Then onward,” Shiro said, slapping the camel’s leather reigns.
“Onward,” Jessamine added. “To Darshuun, my prince.”
“Ha!” he said. “That’s quite enough honey, Jinni.”
Jessamine laughed.