After a pause, the Seraph spoke. “I was expecting you a few weeks ago, my lord.”

Jasper shrugged awkwardly, gesturing at his royal tunic. “Business got in the way.”

The man nodded, giving Jasper a cheeky wink. “Ah, I see; not all business is by choice, is it?”

Jasper started to speak, but the Djinn raised a finger to his lips. Stepping over to the fountain, he placed his hand in the water, touching the coin he had thrown in. The volume of the fountain raised rapidly until a veritable roar of the water echoed the walls so loudly that it sounded like they stood beside a mighty waterfall. But then, just as suddenly as the roar had begun, the fountain fell completely silent. The water continued to tumble into the basin, but not a sound reached his ears, nor could Jasper hear any of the other sounds that filled the busy temple.

“There,” the Djinn sat back down a few yards away from Jasper, training his eyes back on the water as if fixated on the fountain. “Now we can talk without any unwanted ears.”

Jasper started to stand up, to move closer to the seraph, but the man shook his head. “No, my lord, stay where are you. Anyone who passes by won't be able to hear what we're saying now, but they'd still be able to see us sitting together, so it's better to stay apart.”

Dropping back in his seat, Jasper cocked his head to the side as he examined the Seraph curiously. As enormous as Abnu, the Seraph was otherwise quite unremarkable, with the same black hair, with just a touch of curls, and the same dark eyes that the majority of Djinn sported. Two respectably large horns peaked about half a foot above his ears, but his skin was still quite pale, indicating the man was either not at as high a level as Jasper would have expected, or else he had undergone some alternate form of evolution. Can a Seraph become a Moon-kissed? He didn't know. Turning away, he stared at the fountain as he spoke to the man.

“So did Abnu find anything of use in the Keeper’s office?”

The Djinn’s lips twisted in a grimace. “Not as much as we had hoped,” he admitted. “He found a few suspicious letters - we think they're written in some sort of code, but we haven't cracked it - but he found nothing that gave us any new information on the cult. Well,” he corrected himself, “there was one thing of interest.” He pulled a letter out of his bag. “Here. We think it might be referring to you.”

Jasper flipped the letter open, skimming the contents quickly. The few, brief lines said little beyond telling the Keeper that she should keep an eye out for a legacy that might show up at the temple in the next few days and deal with him, “in one fashion or another.” The letter then went on to ask the Keeper if her daughter and grandchild were enjoying their stay in the village of Tzah Nūr. It was all couched in friendly language, but the implication was clear enough. When interested Jasper though was the description of the legacy: “a mage, a child of another sun.” Another sun? How would the cult even know I wasn't born here? There was nothing else of note, save for the simple signature at the bottom of the page, a one-word name: Barbartu.

The Djinn watched Jasper carefully as he read through the letter, his eyes boring into him with an unsubdued intensity, but he spoke with a careful casualness. “Did anything stand out to you?”

Jasper folded the letter up slowly, thumping it thoughtfully against his palm. “Why would you think this refers to me?” he asked, carefully, not sure how much he trusted them. He hadn't kept the fact that he was from another world a true secret - after all the phenomenon was well enough known on Corsythia, even if it wasn't particularly common - but neither had he gone around trumpeting the fact. Why would the Seraphs associate the letter with him? Unless they know more about me than Abnu let on?

The man cocked his head to the side, his gaze sharpening. “Abnu said there was something slightly strange about your fire. Like S̆ams̆a’s rays, but not quite. Are you a child of another sun?”

Is that true? No one else has mentioned that to me. Jasper shrugged noncommittally, dodging the question. “And what about this Barbartu? That’s ‘she-wolf,’ isn’t it? Is she a leader in the cult?”

The Djinn hesitated a moment, perhaps pondering whether or not to press his question, but let it drop. “The Keeper had quite a few letters from this Barbartu, spanning nearly twenty years; like this one, the language of the letters was always quite vague. There wasn't much information that could be gleaned for them, nor much that could incriminate them to the royal guard, just...." he trailed off, searching for the right words, "insinuations and implications, I suppose."

Curiosity sated, Jasper tried to hand the letter back to the Seraph, but Abnu's associate waved it aside. “Keep it. Maybe you’ll see something in it we didn’t.” The man paused before continuing. “Our investigation did find one other thing.”

“Oh?”

“We found one of their cult sites,” the Seraph explained grimly. “We’ve been keeping a subtle eye on those of ours who are still members in Nahrēmah's cult."

"You didn't make them leave?" Jasper asked, surprised.

The Djinn frowned, as a stormy looked seeped into his eyes. "Our elders have deemed it 'unsafe' to warn them; they fear that even some of our own might be working with the brotherhood of Yas̆gah, so if we warn our brethren, we run the risk of exposing our whole operation. The wisdom of their words cannot be denied but yet... it troubles me to leave our kin unaware of the snakes lurking in the grass." He sighed heavily, rubbing his eyes wearily.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"And the cult site?" Jasper reminded him.

The man shook it off, "Right, as I was saying, we haven't been allowed to warn our members of the danger from the brotherhood, but we have recruited a cadre of mages to cast tracking spells on them every few days, just to make sure they’re still safe and sound and where they're supposed to be. It paid off a couple of days ago. One of our kin in the cult disappeared, a young woman belonging to the Uṣṣurtu clan. Laḫanta," he spoke the name softly.

"We tracked her down by the next day and rescued her, or at least her body. Who knows how much is left of their mind.” A visible shudder shook the seraph's form, and he struggled to speak. "She had been tortured, mangled almost beyond recognition. They tied her to an altar and removed all her limbs, feeding her enough healing potions to keep her alive. They disfigured her face, and carved runes across her torso, all in preparation, as far as we can tell to feed her soul, not to themselves, but to their goddess. Our mages can regrow her limbs and fix her face, but the mind," he shook his head, "there's no healing spell for the mind."

Anger burned bright in his eyes, as he spat on the ground. "Suffice it to say, we gave them a taste of their own medicine. Even if they're fortunate enough to somehow resurrect, those cultists, at least, won't be bothering anyone ever again.”

"Oh?" Jasper inquired, "you can prevent resurrection?"

The Seraph smiled grimly. "No, no mortal can prevent resurrection if their god so wills it; we can, however, alter its nature. The soul naturally wishes to return to its original body, as long as that body wasn't destroyed and is in a theoretically safe place. We made sure those conditions were met, burying them in a large chamber deep, deep below the earth, a chamber with no access. Even if they awake, they will die alone in the dark."

The two fell silent for a moment, before the Seraph begin to root around in his bag, dragging something out of it. “And that, I believe, is more than enough information to fulfill Abnu’s promise to you.” He thrust the object - another letter - into Jasper’s hands. “Our elders are inclined to be willing to share more information with you - any enemy of the brotherhood is a friend of ours - but they wish to meet with you first. To get a measure of the man," he explained. "All the information you need to contact them is there. I hope to hear from you again, but if not, well," the man grinned, "good luck hunting those bastards.”

Jasper accepted the letter with a sigh, shoving it into his bag. Of course, they want to meet with me. Nothing can ever go easy, can it. But he stifled his irritation as he addressed the Seraph. “I can’t say I’m surprised, but I making no promise right now. I’ll think about it.”

The man nodded, “Fair enough,” and stood up to leave.

“Wait,” Jasper stopped him. “ Abnu was also supposed to watch over a...a friend of mine, a girl named Laylah. Is she doing alright?”

The Djinn's cheeks reddened, and he scratched his ear awkwardly, suddenly uncomfortable. “About that…she, um, well, she disappeared about a week ago. Left some note about someone coming to get her.”

“Excuse me?” Jasper stared at the man, disbelief fighting with anger for dominance. “You just let her go? Where is she? Her life could be in danger.”

The man shifted uncomfortably. “Well, she was with us for a few weeks and, then, she was just gone one morning. What were we supposed to do about it?”

Jasper snorted. “Look for her? You were supposed to be watching her because someone might want to kill her and you just let someone waltz in and abscond with her?” His voice rose in anger. “The one thing I asked Abnu to do, the one thing and…” Taking a deep breath, he cut himself off, releasing the air after enough seconds had passed to compose himself. Speaking more calmly, Jasper continued. “What did this letter she left say? Did it say who took her? Where she was going?”

The Seraph looked relieved at his questions, clearly glad there was something he could give Jasper. “Yes, it didn't say anything about where she was going, but there was the name of who she went with. It was…” His brow crinkled in thought. “I can't remember it, damn it. The name was something strange, not a language any of us knew. Maybe a name from one of the lesser Fey? Just a minute.” Giving up on remembering it, the Djinn rummaged through his pouch and pulled a small notebook out. He flipped through the pages rapidly, stopping near the back with a triumphant shout. “Found it!”

“The name was Jacinda. Jacinda Welles.”

Jasper could feel the blood leaving his face as the roar of his heartbeat swelled to block out every other sound. “Jacinda. Welles.” He repeated the words dumbly. “You’re sure about. Sure.”

“Here.” The man tossed the notebook to Jasper. He caught it, tracing a trembling finger down the page until he found the entry. The name stared back up at him, taunting him silently. After a long moment, he handed the book back to the Djinn with a forced smile.

“Thanks.”

The man hesitated. “I’m sure you could ask our elders to look for her, when you meet them.”

“If I meet them,” Jasper corrected, shaking his head. “But no. If this name is accurate, I doubt you'll be finding her anywhere near here.”

“So the name means something to you," the Seraph observed. "Are they Fey, as we thought?”

“No, no they’re not.” He replied quietly, offering nothing further. They didn't deserve to know.

Curiosity bloomed in the Djinn’s eyes but, sensing Jasper's quiet fury, he wisely chose not to pursue the question, tucking the notebook away silently instead. “Very well.” Standing up, the seraph walked over to the fountain and, bending over, plucked the coin up from the bottom. For a split second, a sound like static filled the air, and then all the sounds of the temple come rushing back. With a final nod, the Djinn left the courtyard.

Jasper stared at the tumbling water with unseeing eyes, the sound rushing over him unheard until he nearly jumped when a soft hand brushed against his shoulder.

“That name meant something to you.” Annatta's words were more of a statement than a question. Jasper nodded mutely. “Who-“

“Not here.” He muttered, and the Djinn dropped it. The tow waited in the courtyard for another few minutes, engaging halfheartedly in idle chatter until a handful of temple recruits wandered in. The recruits took up spots around the fountain, their hands piled high with street food, as they laughed and chatted. A few curious glances were sent their way, but no one dared bother the sullen noble and his bodyguard and, after a sufficient amount of time had passed since the Seraph's departure, they too got up from their seats and headed out of the temple, hoping no one had observed their little rendezvous.