“Eaugh.” With a gasp, Jasper came back to himself. His first impression was pain. His only impression.
Hot, searing pain filled every molecule of his body, an active, vibrating sensation that left him feeling like a balloon about to burst. Even the dim light in the mausoleum was enough to sear his eyes, and he quickly sealed them shut, whimpering as a brand-new pulse of pain lanced through his skull.
Jasper flinched - or at least his body tried to flinch - when a hand closed around his chin, but the myriad of broken bones in his body refused to budge. The hand tried to open his mouth and shove something inside, but Jasper resisted with what little strength he had left. Can’t….let….the….cultists…win.
“Selene’s Grace, Jasper. Stop fighting me.” A familiar voice rang in his ears but, deciphered through a veil of mind-numbing pain, he couldn’t grasp the meaning.
“Move aside,” someone else spoke. A rougher hand grabbed hold of him and yanked at his jaw. It opened with a painful crack and the hand shoved something inside. He tried to spit the thing out, but the hand crimped his jaw closed.
“You know who I am, Jasper. Unless you want to die for real, swallow the Lifesaver now.” He didn’t know who she was, but the urgency of her brusque tone breached through his confusion just enough for him to cooperate and, with some effort, he managed to choke the pill down his throat.
His jaw was yanked open again and something else was shoved in his mouth. “This one too,” the voice that he was starting to recognize as Barbartu commanded. Oh well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Realizing there was little point in continuing to distrust the woman at this point, Jasper dutifully swallowed the second pill.
As it slipped down his throat, the pain began to slowly ebb away. He lay there, his eyes shut tight, his breath rough and ragged, until the pain in his head had diminished enough for him to risk it and, tentatively, he cracked an eye open. Tsia loomed above him like a nervous mother hen. Her eyes were full of concern as she reached down and gripped his hand, squeezing so tight her knuckles turned white. “Are you okay?”
Jasper didn’t answer as his gaze locked on the…thing that stood beside her, something that his addled mind could only interpret as a monster. It was a strange man-beast hybrid with short fangs and pointy black ears and dangling…boobs? He stared at it in utter confusion, unable to make sense of what he was seeing, and something like chagrin flickered across its face.
“I forgot you haven’t seen me in my true form before,” she sighed. “It’s still me, Barbartu.”
“You’re not a Djinn?” He asked dumbly, his still injured brain unable to reconcile the strange woman standing beside him with the red-skinned warrior he’d fought in the capital.
“Congratulations, Sherlock. You found me out,” she replied dryly. “No, I’m not a Djinn and, yes, I did reference something from Earth.”
He opened his mouth again, a thousand questions on the tip of his tongue, but the not-Djinn cut him off. “How about you hold your questions till after class,” she smirked. “For now, I need you to drink this.” Reaching into her bag, she pulled out what appeared to be a can of Orange Crush. A familiar pop and sizzle echoed in the room as she pulled the tab, and held it to his mouth. “Drink up,” she commanded.
Jasper pulled his mouth away. “Is that what I think it is?” He demanded.
Barbartu rolled her eyes. “Yes, but also no. It’s soda, or pop as you midwestern barbarians call it, but it’s also a little something special. Believe me, it’s a way better healing potion than the medieval crap they have around here.”
She held it back to his lips, and this time he didn’t resist. The sickly sweet, carbonated taste of artificial orange flooded his mouth.
“Chug, chug, chug,” Barbartu chanted with a laugh. Unamused, Jasper gulped it down. After more than a year deprived of any modern drinks, the sugary soda tasted like heaven and he drank greedily. That is, until, a blinding flash of pain lanced through his right arm, accompanied by a crack loud enough to be mistaken for a gunshot, and he jerked his head away. “What the hell was that?” He gasped out.
“That was your ulna snapping back in place. Believe me, you would not want to have seen the angle it was at before,” she reassured him.
“That hurt like hell,” he protested. “I thought you said this stuff was better.”
“It may hurt, but unlike the healing potions here, it doesn’t leave you half dead on your feet,” she retorted. “Now chin up, and chug like a man.”
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She pressed the can to his lips and reluctantly he choked it down, wincing as waves of pain radiated from every part of his body, punctuated each time by the same noisy crack. Yet, by the time he had drained the last dregs from the can of Crush, Jasper had to admit he felt like a new man.
He sat up gingerly, not quite trusting his newly reformed bones, and flinched as Tsia wrapped up in a hug. “Selene’s grace,” she gasped out, tears forming at the edge of her eyes. “I thought I was dead. I thought you were dead. I-I-,” she stuttered to a stop, overwhelmed by her emotions, and buried her face in his shoulder.
Unsure how to respond, he patted her back awkwardly and shot Barbartu a mute cry for help. The strange-looking woman crossed her arms with a smirk and ignored him. As he tried to pry Tsia off of him, Jasper’s eyes trailed to the other side of the room and he froze. From the angle he was sitting at, he couldn’t see her face but, even though the chains that had bound her dragged loosely on the ground, Annatta lay motionless.
“Is she…” he began and trailed off, turning to Barbartu. “She isn’t dead, is she?” The words tasted like ash in his mouth. Annatta was only here because of him, collateral damage in a conflict she wasn't even involved in. And the last time she was here, her entire party was wiped out. Because of you.
“No, but she seems to be in a coma,” Barbartu replied. “Unfortunately, it seems the brethren weren’t bothering to give her food and drink. Really, it’s astounding she didn’t die before we got here.”
“Can’t you heal her,” he asked. “Give her some of that pop you just gave me?”
Tsia unburied her head from his shoulder and glared up at the woman. “Yes, why can’t you?” she demanded. “I thought you said you needed stronger medicine, but Jasper was in way worse shape, and you healed him.”
“And if I had helped her, I wouldn’t have been able to help Jasper. I had one only can of Crush left and it was earmarked for him.” Barbartu gestured towards Jasper. “Would you have preferred me to let him die?” She crossed her arms and waited expectantly.
“Well, no…” Tsia admitted hesitantly. “But-“
“I know what I’m doing,” the woman cut her off. “And frankly, I think I’ve earned the benefit of the doubt. Besides, I already promised you I’d help get this Djinn back to the surface. There will be healers there who can help her, for a price. A price I’m sure his uncle will be willing to pay.”
Jasper watched the conversation between the two of them with mixed emotions. The whole thing was Barbartu’s fault. Well, maybe only in part, he corrected himself. Kas̆dael was the one who had set him on the collision course with Yas̆gah and the cult, after all, not Barbartu.
But she had been the one who had orchestrated Tsia and Annatta’s capture. Without her, their lives might not have been in danger. Without her, maybe he wouldn't have had to die.
And yet…Barbartu had also freed his friends from their chains and saved his life. Not to mention the fact that she had basically handed Yas̆gah to him on a silver platter, for reasons he had yet to deduce. Quite frankly, he didn’t have a damn clue what to make of her.
“Are you done staring?” Raising her eyebrow, the woman jiggled her chest. “Like what you see?”
Jasper quickly looked away, thankful for once that his red skin hid the blush that rose to his cheeks. “I wasn’t staring at that,” he protested. “I was just trying to figure out why you helped us. You say you’ve earned the benefit of the doubt, but honestly, I don’t get it. What’s your game? Were you one of them? A double agent?”
“How ever could I have misjudged your noble intentions,” she replied with a smirk. “But no, I was never one of them - not by choice anyway. I was simply playing the part I had to play. I promise, before I leave, I’ll explain everything to you. But for now, maybe let’s focus on getting out of this hellhole before one of those dead things comes sniffing round. Yas̆gah started to hunt them down, but thanks to you, she didn’t get to finish the job. Unfortunately, I’d imagine the ones that are left are pretty riled up and - I don’t know about you - but I’d really rather not feature on today’s lunch special.”
Bending down, she snatched Annatta off of the coffin and heaved the Djinn over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. “You coming?”
----------------------------------------
Their progress was slow and uncertain. The drink Barbartu had given him had healed most of his wounds entirely, but the candies she had fed Tsia were not as powerful. The princess struggled to pick her way through the uneven lava fields that surrounded the mausoleum, stumbling often on the loose rubble and fallen boulders that littered the all-but-ruined road. And her physical weakness alone wasn't the only factor; while Jasper was immune to the oppressive heat that swelled around them, the sweat poured down Tsia's cheeks like rain in a summer storm and her breathing came hard and labored.
Like Jasper, Barbartu seemed unaffected by the heat. Even with Annatta dangling over her shoulder, she plowed through the rough terrain as nimbly as a mountain goat, and quickly drew some distance ahead. From time to time she’d stop, glaring impatiently as the two struggled to catch up with her, and then she’d take off again.
Eventually, an arm latched onto his, followed by the full weight of her body, as Tsia sagged against him, struggling to keep going. At first, he tried to help her along but eventually, giving up, he swept her up in his arms and trotted after Barbartu. The broken lava plains slowly faded behind them, replaced by the endless dark of the fallen city, and as the first homes began to appear, the formerly flat road began to slope upwards once again, indicating that they had stumbled on the way back to the surface. The two soldiered on in silence, each bearing their burden, for what felt like hours until Barbartu finally called for a stop.
“I had hoped we could make it out immediately,” she sighed, “but clearly the girl needs to rest. If we run into any enemies on the way, the last thing we need is two unconscious bodies to protect.” She clucked her tongue in disappointment, but led him towards one of the ruined homes that lined the street. She slid Annatta to the floor and returned to the door, her hands twisting with the start of a spell. “Sleep,” she bid them, “and I’ll keep watch.”
Jasper laid Tsia down on the ground and sat down a few feet away. He had no intention of going to sleep, but as he sat in the silent, endless night, his eyes flickered closed and he succumbed to the sandman's charms.