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Chapter 13
Lost in my thoughts,I didn’t notice Zand return until the whoosh of his carpet blasted my hair all over myface.
Elated to see him again, I jumped up to greet him with a long hug. One I didn’t want to ever end, but knew it must—we had to save ourbrothers.
“What did you find?” My words came out fast. “Where are ourbrothers?”
Zand’s forehead pinched. “They were both removed from the lamp and are being held in the vizier’stower.”
Tension in my stomach eased a little, knowing my brother was not being kept prisoner in those filthy dungeons where his illness might havedeteriorated.
“Your brother is chained to the floor.” Zand ground his teeth as if he was preparing to smash something. “The guards have laid hands onhim.”
“What?” I grabbed a rock and heaved it at one of the bridge’s columns, chipping off someconcrete.
Fire boiled in my chest. The fire of life and death. Together, my genies and I would save everyone we loved, destroy the vizier, and live out our days by the ocean. With every passing second, my mind raged with wildfire. I had to leave and get my brother and Kaza back before it was too late. Before I could catch up with my feet, they had carried me halfway up theriverbank.
Zand and Dahvi shouted behind me, their words white noise barely registering above the crackling and spitting of the blaze set off inme.
A hand caught my arm and yanked me back. It took a few seconds before it dawned on me that Zand had stopped me. Dahvi stood closely behind him, his bodyrigid.
“I’m going to make that wretch, the vizier, pay.” Venom coated my words. It shocked me at the same time. I hadn’t spoken of anyone like this since I cracked a chair over the orphanage director’shead.
“Azar, we can't rush in there.” The tone in Zand’s voice told me that would not bewise.
“The vizier has laid traps everywhere," headded.
I pressed my hands to my hips. "I'm a thief, remember? I can get inanywhere."
"These traps are invisible to human eyes," he replied. "Existing on higher planes. Like where my brothers and I arefrom.”
A terrible dread scratched at my gut. How the hell did the vizier know how to do that? Something told me I wasn’t going to like theanswer.
The tightness in Zand’s mouth told me he didn’t like the answer either. “The vizier is a powerful sorcerer, versed in the arts of darkmagic.”
Haunting memoriesof my first meeting with the vizier sprang to mind. His eyes had turned black, and I’d felt a sickening dread as my life force had bled into his dark flames. Dear gods, I’d almost met myend.
I waved my hands around as I paced. “You’re both genies. Can’t you protect us against the vizier’s darkmagic?”
“To an extent,” said Zand. “We use light magic for the purpose of good, only. It, like dark magic, has its limits. But for the right price, let’s say a sacrifice, dark magic can beenhanced…”
I didn’t like the way his words trailed off and braced myself for a dump of bad news. A sacrifice? Like my brother’s or Kaza’s life? A pit opened up in mystomach.
“Let’s just say,” said Dahvi, finishing for his brother, “we’re not sure how powerful this dark flame is. We’ve heard rumors about how it corrupted our Mother Queen. When she used it to siphon energy from the Marid djinn, granting her more power, the darkness overwhelmed and killedher.”
What a horrible story, but secretly, I hoped the same fate befell the vizier. Would serve him right for playing with dark things he shouldn’t messwith.
“Well,” I said, lifting my arms high out of frustration. “What’s theplan?”
“Black magic is most powerful at the peak of the night,” explained Zand. “As the sun sets, his power will grow stronger. We must get him at his weakest. Trap and bindhim.”
I glanced up at the golden orb, sitting at the midday position in the sky. Light magic at its strongest. With two genies by my side, I had no doubt we could defeat the scumbag vizier and get Ali and Kazaback.
“Can we somehow trap the vizier in the lamp?” Iasked.
Both Zand and Dahvinodded.
“To get the lamp, we will need to sneak in,” saidZand.
