The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) (26 page)

The
ball of blue flame flows from Jered’s hands over Kitra’s head and right at me.
The lead hands pinning me down disintegrate into dust. Then several things
happen at once.

Kitra
sees her opportunity and strikes, knocking Jered to the ground along with her.
Mira’s teeth clench, her eyes narrow, and she flies at me, Taj in her wake.
Behind them I see a hole opening in the wall, and I know what I must do.

“Jealous
much?” I ask Mira, holding her off with one raised hand. Inside I wave the
ruined ribbon that has choked me for a thousand years.

Her
eyes blaze with fire, and she attacks with a war cry. She is off balance.
Angry. I duck downward, thrusting her into the wall with all my strength. But
Taj is on top of me, and, no matter what his real feelings are, he must obey
his master.

We
clash in mid-air, tumbling downward in a tangle of arms and legs. Our magic
collides at the same moment, and we are each repelled across the passageway,
backsides scraping the dirt and hay. Taj crashes into Mira who has just righted
herself. I hurtle past Kitra and Jered, who struggle on the ground. I see fresh
claw marks scratched across his cheek.

I
skid to a stop by the two crouching figures I had aimed for. Sophie and Gabe
have just dropped from the hole. Gabe looks like a frightened mouse, head
skittering in every direction at once while Sophie is calm.

“You
have to get their stones from Kitra,” I say.

Gabe
steps forward, but I stop him with a hand.

“Only
a Magician can control them. You have to get it to Jered.”

“Right.”
He nods in a determined way and scrambles off toward the ground scuffle.

I’ve
made it just in time. Taj and Mira have come for me again, and this time they
combine their efforts. I doubt I can win, but I have to last as long as I can
or all is lost.

Thrusting
my hands out, I charge. They do not expect this brash action. They know as well
as I do that I cannot succeed. So I have taken them by surprise, and they are
momentarily divided as I hurtle through their center, parting them with my
magic as I pass.

But
Mira is not thrown for long; she reaches out her own fist and clenches the air
before her. Invisible hands constrict my throat, and I am yanked backward in
the air. I dangle, digging at my neck for release. Strong arms catch me from
behind and spin me around. Taj.

He
wrestles me to the wall, pressing me between himself and the stone wall until I
cannot move. Mira’s fingers continue to squeeze. Stars dance before my eyes as
I gasp for air. I make a strangled noise. Taj follows my gaze.

“Mira.
Our command was to stop. Not to kill, you naughty girl,” he says.

“Killing
her would stop her,” she says.

“No!
I want her alive,” screams Kitra.

Instantly
the fingers relax, and I suck in air with a greedy wheeze. How is it Kitra is
able to give the command? I struggle to see over Taj, which is not an easy task
given the hold he has me in.

As
I feared, Jered is on the ground, head in Gabe’s hands. His friend holds him,
as he coughs blood onto the ground.

“No,”
I rasp.

Kitra
smiles. “You actually care for him, don’t you?” she says, striding closer, so
that she is just below our feet. “Perhaps I ought to wait to kill him. Maybe
even have you do it. Slowly. Once you are mine, of course.”

“I
am free,” I manage to say.

“Enjoy
your five minutes, Leela. That’s all you get.”

The Beginning

am a slave to the man I loved.

Since
putting on the choker, Achan has commanded several things. First, I will not
harm the members of the Council. In fact, I must protect them from danger. The
moment Cephas approached me outside my cell I tried to strike him down, but the
burst of power rebounded on me, causing excruciating pain.

 Second,
I am to obey all of Kitra and Cephas’s commands as well, as long as they do not
harm Achan in any way or usurp his authority. His word is law. I fought harder
than I have ever done in my life when Kitra commanded me to kneel and kiss her
feet. Yet seconds later my lips grazed her slippers.

And
third, I will not tell Kitra or Cephas about the second half of command number
two. It is only a safeguard, after all. I have not bothered to test this one. I
learned quickly enough that the magic of the binding stone is thorough. Even my
attempts to set traps for my new masters have resulted only in harm to myself. 

“Stop
crying,” Kitra says, and at once my tears cease.

She
was not happy that Achan took me for himself. She had planned this only as a
last resort and wanted to find a way to make me her own. But Achan is not one
to miss an opportunity. Or so I am learning.

“Kneel.”

I
find myself on my knees before her. She is seated in a velvet high-backed chair I myself
fashioned. I wait, knowing she looks for a chance to punish me. And
now that I must obey, I am even more at her mercy than before.

“You
will bring us two other Djinn. You will not warn them in any way about what
awaits. You will simply lure them here. Can you think of a way to do this?” She
pauses, waiting to see if I am able to follow her uncomplicated orders.

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Yes,
Master.” I grit my teeth but choke out the word she seeks.

“Well,
what are you waiting for? Go!”

Not
knowing how else to obey, I end up searching for Taj and Mira. They are far too
easy to find in the treetops where we always meet. Both jump to their feet at
the sight of me.

“You
must come with me,” I say, concentrating on the way the leaves flutter in the
breeze. I want to say so much more, but the words catch in my throat.

“Slow
down, Lee. Where are we going?” Taj asks, his impish grin painful and beautiful
at the same time.

“And
where have you been?” Mira asks, folding her arms across her chest.

“I...it
is Rhada,” I say, and I hate myself for it. “You have to come with me.”

I
disappear, knowing Mira will follow. But will Taj do the same? He hadn’t the
same feelings for Rhada that Mira had.

But
he does follow. Perhaps he is worried about me.

I
stop outside of Kitra’s front door, Mira and Taj in my wake.

“What
is this, Lee?” Mira asks.

I
cannot look her in the face. “She is inside. They have her trapped.” How I wish
I could still cry.

Mira
and Taj burst through the door. Cephas is ready for them. He tosses the heavy
chains across their necks and drags them kicking into that awful room.

I
move to follow, but Kitra’s voice stops me short.

“No.
They must be weakened first. Then you will put these on them.” She holds out
two black velvet ribbons. One has a tiger’s eye in the center, the other a
ruby.

I
take them both with shaking hands. Everything inside of me is fighting the
command, but it is useless. I must obey.

“I
thought they had to agree,” I say weakly.

Kitra
considers me, head tilted to the side. I suppose she is deciding what to do
about my speaking out of turn, but when she responds, she simply answers my
question.

“You
have been free of the lead for a while. They will be bound by it. I will also
be protecting you with my own magic like a shield. Your power will be far
stronger than either of theirs. Something I could never accomplish. You should
be able to force it around their necks.”

Kitra
rises from her throne and circles me. She pulls me toward her by the back of my
neck, her touch sending tremors of fear down my body. “Once all of you wear
them, you will be unable to take each other’s stones off unless commanded. I
wouldn’t want you to have any false hope, now would I?” She releases me, and I
fall back onto the floor.

I
feel ill. I want to rise and run the other way, to tear at her face. Anything
but wait for her command and enter the room. Yet this is exactly what I do a
mere hour later.

I
wonder where Achan is. Perhaps that is why they are rushing to proceed. Kitra
may be afraid that he will stop it, so she cannot have her own slave.
Achan, where are you
?

Taj’s
face is a picture of terror as he cowers and cries against the wall. Mira’s
misty gaze is fixed unblinkingly on the decomposing corpse to her left. They
are both naked and wrapped in lead chains from their chests down to their feet.

Kitra’s
hot breath tingles on my neck. She is shielding me as promised, since I feel
nothing amiss.

“Do
it,” she commands, and I move forward, kneeling before Taj.

His
skin is clammy and yellow, his eyes sunken and round. I wonder how I looked the
day Achan burst in and presented me with a choice. Taj has no such choice. Just
a friend sent to betray him.

With
trembling hands, I reach forward and clasp the ribbon around his throat. I feel
it pull away from my hands and tighten around his neck. The tiger’s eye in the
center gleams for a moment.

“Now
the other,” Kitra says.

I
slide over to Mira, who barely glances my way. I hear the sound of heavy chains
hitting the floor and turn to find Taj sobbing at Cephas’s feet. The ogre holds
the end of the unraveled chain above him in one hand and clutches the matching
stone in the other.

I
swallow and turn back to Mira, who whimpers slightly. When I pull my hand away,
the ruby tightens about her neck, glowing like a flame.

“Why?”
Mira whispers.

I
open my mouth to respond, but Kitra has dropped her shield now that I have done
her bidding, and I collapse forward, writhing on the ground. I hear the bonds
being removed from Mira’s body, see a flash of red in Kitra’s hand.

“You
will soon see she had no choice,” Kitra says. “None of you do anymore.”

Déjà Vu

“
on’t
you remember, Leela?” Kitra calls, her voice light. “I have Djinn under my
control. I don’t need your consent.”