Chapter 31: The Strength of the Harem

Thanks to b0b for beta-reading this!

Friday, January 29th – Khoshilat Maqandeli, the Hidden Realm

Fire burned. Smoke choked Kyle, flooding the room. Zaritha and Aljihm's fires raged behind him. The sapphire room roasted. Kyle, Britney, and Zaritha had been lured here for a war summit. But instead of meeting with Sihab's councilors, one of Rashid's minions—an Unbound Ifrit named Aljihm—attacked them. Kyle didn't have time to figure out what was going on. The room filled with smoke. He had to hammer down the sapphire door to escape.

He raised his katana Earthbones up, golden light flaring from the blade, and slammed it down on the door. Another crack splintered across the blue, gemstone surface.

Kyle swayed, his lungs burning from the smoke he inhaled. He pushed down the wave of dizziness sweeping through him. He couldn't succumb to smoke inhalation. Britney crouched near the floor, pressing her shawl to her mouth.

Zaritha shrieked behind him.

Kyle drew up his sword a third time, slamming down. His sword struck the sapphire door. His knees buckled. He swayed, falling to his knees. Everything swam. He needed cool air. He needed to get out of here.

"I ... don't think ... it worked," he coughed to Britney.

Aaliyah ran down the hallways, her slippers slapping on the polished, brown stone. Teleisia ran at her side. Fear hammered in the young Djinn's heart. Her insane father had just tried to kill her. He was Unbound now, serving his enemy Rashid. Mindy and Carla had saved her, throwing themselves at her father to buy her time to escape.

She had to get to Kyle. Aaliyah tried to communicate with him, but he didn't respond. He must be in the counsel room! The counsel room, where Kyle had been summoned, was made of sapphire. No form of Djinn mental telepathy or magical scrying could penetrate sapphire.

Her sides ached from running. She wanted to turn into a whirlwind of dust and zip to Kyle, but her father had slapped a diamond necklace on her. Diamond anchored her. She couldn't assume a new form or teleport if Kyle were to summon her.

All she could do was run.

A woman screamed behind her.

Aaliyah threw a look over her shoulder. Mindy hurtled down the hallway, thrown by a cloud of billowing dust—Aaliyah's father in his whirlwind form. Mindy crashed in a heap on the ground, the concubine rolling. Her body bled from a dozen, small pinpricks, and her skin looked abraded raw in spots. Mindy gained her feet, growling, and charge down the hallway.

"Keep running, Mistress!" she yelled.

Mindy, like all the concubines, had been enhanced by Christy's magic, transformed into a warrior with reflexes, speed, and endurance far beyond a normal human's. Teleisia slid to a halt, turning to charge back at the dust cloud.

"Get to Master!" the ebony concubine shouted. "Hurry, Mistress."

Aaliyah kept running, turning the corner, racing towards the counsel chambers. She only prayed that the concubines could stop her father without getting killed. The sound of whirling dust and women fighting dwindled as she raced through the palace, cutting through open gardens, forcing her body to keep running to reach her husband.

She grew closer, entering into the bowels of the palace. Hope blossomed inside her. She was going to make it to her husband and be delivered from this nightmare. He could stop her father. He had defeated Burke by himself. And Britney would be with him. The Rakshasa was fierce in a fight.

"Watch out!" Ms. Capello shouted ahead. "There's another one coming from behind."

Aaliyah rounded the corner and tried to halt her running. Her slippered feet slid on the smooth stone, slipping out from beneath her. She fell on her backside as Ms. Capello, Shannon, and her daughter Chyna battled three of the massive homunculi that guarded the castle.

Chyna back-flipped out of the way of one of the towering, dust homunculi swinging a ram-do—a massive, two handed sword with a thick blade. Stone cracked where Chyna stood, the blade marring the marble.

"You're not touching my daughter!" bellowed Shannon, charging the homunculi in her purple silks. She kicked the towering automaton in the knee, dust billowing as it cracked. The leg folded and the homunculus leaned over, falling onto the tiles.

Chyna fell on it, punching her fist through the homunculi's chest before the automaton could rise, the construct falling back into dust. Ms. Capello ducked under a second sword strike, punching it in the groin, her fist shattering through surface. Dust leaked out and the homunculi staggered.

"What's going on?" Aaliyah shouted, climbing to her feet as Shannon dispatched the damaged construct.

"They attacked us the moment the doors closed, Mistress," Ms. Capello shouted as mother and daughter attacked the last remaining dust guardian. The teacher turned to the door, seizing the sapphire handle and straining to open it. Her hand jerked back. "That's burning hot. And Master's in there! He was banging on the door."

"He cracked it," Aaliyah gasped, striding forward. "Break it down. I can't communicate through the sapphire."

"Yes, Mistress!" Ms. Capello, her big tits bouncing beneath her purple, silk vest, drew back her fist and slammed it into the door. More cracks appeared. The door seemed weakened by Kyle, and the concubine's strength fractured it more.

"That's hurt," groaned Ms. Capello as she drew back her fist and punched again. She screamed in pain, grasping her wrist as more cracks spider-webbed across it."

"Are you okay?"

"I broke my hand," she gasped, her wrist twisted.

Christy looked up at the homunculus above her, raising up its sword. Her plan was unraveling quickly. She had planned on using Shadowedge, her staff, to teleport about the room and draw a magic circle. With the circle, Phillipa could ground out the magic animating the three constructs attacking them. Christy had drawn the first point, but when she teleported to draw the second, she had collided with Lois.

And the concubine had knocked the chalk out of Christy's hand. The chalk had rolled right to the feet of their attackers. Christy swallowed, looking up at the deadly homunculus. The witch was vulnerable now. Sable and Phillipa were safe behind the shield, and Lois had her enhanced reflexes.

The homunculus sword swung. Christy teleported away from the chalk and the sword strike, flashing back to the protection of Sable's shield.

"That didn't work out well," Phillipa said.

"Yeah," Christy muttered. "What attack spells so you know?"

"I only know sleep and pain spells. I don't think those will work against animated dust."

"Probably not," groaned Christy.

Lois danced about the room. She was the only concubine here, and though the Native American teen was nimble, it took all her effort just to keep the homunculi's swords from finding her flesh, let alone getting an attack in.

"So, do we just sit her under the shield until help comes?"

"I can go get help," Christy said. "Fatima and Fumi are just out in the garden. And Kyle's in the counsel room."

"Do you know where the counsel room is?" Phillipa asked, her black hair matted by sweat to her olive face.

"Nope. I guess it's Fatima and Fumi them."

"Banzai!" a young woman roared.

Christy recognized that shout. With a smile, she said, "Guess I don't need to get Fatima."

The young teen leaped through the curtains that shaded off the open archways from the garden, her flaming spear held before her. Kayleah and Ann, Fatima's two concubines, were right behind her. Ann's face was bruised and Fatima's red silks were covered in dust.

Her spear stabbed into one of the constructs. Fire flared, and the construct turned. Cracks formed across its body as it moved, dust sloughing off in hard chunks and falling to the floor. Fatima baked the dust homunculi into clay brick, the automaton cracking into brittle pieces around her spear's fiery tip.

"I don't know what's going on!" Fatima shouted as she charged the next construct. Ann, Kayleah, and Lois swarmed the third, their enhanced strength ripping the construct to pieces as Fatima's fire hardened and backed the other one.

"Me either," Christy sighed, stepping out of Sable's spell. "But I'm glad to see you."

Fatima turned, leaning on her spear. She looked fierce for such a small teen, her dusky body dripping sweat. "So, what is going on?" Fatima asked.

"We were attacked. We've been set up. Kyle and Aaliyah were lured away."

"Okay. Let's go and find them," Fatima grinned.

"I don't know where they're at," Christy complained

A woman's shout came through the walls. "We just follow the sounds of fighting," Fatima shrugged. "There's no way our husband's going down without tearing this place up."

Fumi lowered her bow as the last homunculi fell to pieces, blown apart by her wind. Toni gasped in pain, her leg twisted at strange angle. Alexina bent over the concubine, tending to her wound. Fumi turned back to the palace, sending wind before her to paint everything with stark clarity. She could only see thanks to Windfeather, her bow, showing her the wind currents flowing around solid objects.

The sound of fighting echoed from the palace. It wasn't just the three of them that had been attacked. "Stay with Toni and protect her," Fumi commanded.

"I'm supposed to protect you, Mistress," Alexina objected.

"I'll be fine. But she's hurt and vulnerable."

"But..." Fumi fixed her sightless gaze at Alexina. The concubine's face bowed. "Yes, Mistress."

Fumi ran across the garden, the wind whipping around her, pushing her forward. She leaped, the wind carrying her over a railing and into the palace itself. She paused, listening to the sound of women yelling and a great, roaring wind. It came from her left.

"Fumi!" Fatima shouted, emerging ahead as Fumi raced through the hallway.

"The fight's this way!" Fumi shouted, racing by. "Come on!"

"Right behind you!" laughed Fatima, the younger woman catching up, her yari held before as she ran. Behind them, Christy, the witches, and three concubines followed.

The party rounded a corner. Wind howled, thick with dust before them. A man seemed to stand at the center, controlling the dust-filled winds. Three concubines were battered about in the storm, their bodies tossed and battered.

"That dust is thick!" Fatima shouted. "Can you see in there, Fumi?"

"Our enemy stands at the center." Fumi drew upon Windfeather, reaching out to the wind, charming it to her whim. She calmed the fury roaring around the man, seeking to calm it.

"The weapons," boomed the man at the storm's center. "Why did I ever send those weapons away? I could have defeated Rashid with them! But I listened to that old hag!"

The man fought her control over the wind, trying to whip his dust about and hurt the concubines. But Fumi wasn't going to let him win. The winds were hers. She held Windfeather. Not this man.

Fatima led the charge, racing down the hallway. "Banzai!" she screamed, her spear rippling with heat.

Fumi channeled more of her personality through the bow, stilling all the dust in the air until it floated harmlessly, drifting down to the ground. The man just stood there, facing Fatima's charge. Ann, Kayleah, and Lois were on her heels.

"She can do it," Christy whispered, stepping up beside Fumi.

Fatima's spear stabbed into the man.

He laughed and became dust, slamming into Fatima. Her wife gave a startled yelp and then was buried in an avalanche of dust that swept down the hallway. It roared and rasped, the dust almost flowing like a water as it flooded the corridor. The concubines were swept up, screaming as they were pushed before the tide of dust that raced right for Fumi and Christy, eager to swallow them up.

Cool air rushed against Kyle's cheek.

The door shuddered. Something struck it from the other side, splintering it enough for a single crack to let air flow through, bringing hope to Kyle in the blistering inferno. Britney huddled against him, using what little moisture was in the air to try and cocoon them from the heat and smoke.

It wasn't much.

The sapphire the room was constructed from blocked all forms of mental communication, including his power to command the earth. But there was a chink in the armor. He slipped his commands through the crack, ordering the rocks that made the floors and walls of the palace beyond the sapphire room to slam into the door. A great, loud thud rattle the room, the door ringing as it cracked.

"You're doing it," hissed Britney.

He focused on his commands, fighting off the smoke choking him.

Another chunk of wall slammed into the door. Like shattered glass, shards of sapphire rained down on them as the door burst inward. Kyle groaned as a large piece struck his head. Pain flared as his head rang. Smoke billowed out in a great rush through the shattered door. Britney pushed him through, and they stumbled out into the hallway, coughing for breath.

"Kyle!" Aaliyah screamed and to his amazement, his Genie wife caught him as he staggered, pressing her body against him.

The hallway was littered in piles of dust and his concubines looked flushed from exertion. "What's going on?" Kyle coughed.

"My father's alive," Aaliyah whispered. "He attacked me. Tried to kill me. He's Unbound."

"Just like the Ifrit in there," groaned Kyle.

"The little houri!" a voice cackled from inside the counsel room. "So Khiana failed to kill you. Now I get the pleasure!"

An explosion rocked the floor. Zaritha hurtled through the shattered door in a streak of fire, slamming into a pillar and collapsing in a smoldering heap. Aljihm, his body blackened by fire and cracked by raw fissures, strode out of the smoke, flames dancing about him. The Unbound Ifrit gazed at Kyle's wife with murderous hunger.

Kyle commanded the stones, the floors ripping up, forming a wall from floor to ceiling about Aljihm, pressing in to crush the wild Ifrit. The stones began glowing cherry red, heat rolling off in waves as they deformed and began to melt.

"We cannot fight him here," Britney shouted. "It is too confined. He'll roast us."

"Ideas?" Kyle asked her, his lungs raw from the smoke. He commanded more stone to surround the Ifrit, buying them a few more moments.

"I'm coming for you, Aaliyah," cackled the Ifrit. "I want to hear your voice scream as my fire chars your flesh and cracks your bones."

"We should retreat to a location with more tactical advantage," Britney advised.

Kyle grabbed Aaliyah's hand, jerking her behind him as he ran. "Follow me! I have an idea!"

Christy cast her spell right before the wall of dust slammed into her and Fumi. The dust hit her shield, rolling around it, plunging them into darkness as they were swallowed. Christy clung to Fumi, fear hammering in her heart.

"Such young flesh," cackled the Jann attacking them. "I do so love them young and unspoiled. Once my daughter is dead, I will be sure to share my affections with the both of you."

"Ideas?" Fumi asked.

Christy wanted to answer, but she kept having to chant the spell, the words rolling out of her lips as she channeled the power of Ishtar. Fumi's arm tightened about her, pulling her in tight against the Japanese woman's body.

The green metal inlaid in Windfeather shone, filling their pocket with light. Fumi's all-white eyes seemed to glow emerald in the light. Christy's ears popped as air swirled about them, rustling their silk pantaloons.

Then the air exploded from Fumi.

Christy shrieked, her brown hair whipped into her face. The dust engulfing them was blown away by the typhoon Fumi had unleashed. Dust pushed down the hallway, falling in clumps on the brown stone. Fatima and the concubines staggered to their feet, coughing and gasping, skin rasped raw by the abrasive dust.

"That fucking asshole!" Fatima spat, her cheek oozing blood.

Fumi whirled, letting go of Christy. She staggered, falling into the corridor wall and turning to see Fumi's arrow streak down the hallway and strike the old man, his beard stained with rust. The arrow embedded in his shoulder.

But the old man's flesh became dust. "You cannot wound the earth," he cackled.

"But you can erode it with wind!" Fumi cried.

The arrow detonated into a squall. Dust blew into Christy's face, stinging her eyes with grit. She squeezed them closed, clamping her mouth shut. The wind died, and she spat dirt out of her lips, shuddering when she realized what that dust really was.

"Did you kill him?" Fatima asked, walking up, her cheek oozing blood. "I hope you killed him."

Dust swirled at their feet. "Erosion doesn't destroy the earth," wheezed the old man. "It merely transforms the earth. Eventually, the dust settles and the land is reborn."

Dust roiled down the hallway, undulating almost like flowing water, gathering back together. A figure was rising up out of it, the old man. Christy knew what to do. Her former coven had held Aaliyah with a magic circle. Her staff appeared in her hand, flashing out of the darkness. She folded space, appearing back in Kyle's bedroom.

The piece of chalk was right where she left it.

"What are you doing?" gaped Fatima when Christy flashed back, bending down to make the first point.

She didn't have time to answer. She crawled through the flowing dust, marking the seven points for the circle. Phillipa and Sable joined her. The pair were untouched by the dust, sheltering under their own shield spell. They surrounded the growing Jann, ready to help.

Christy completed the circle.

Phillipa and Sable powered it.

The energy connecting the Jann to the dust was severed. All the flowing dust settled. The Jann screamed inside the circle, his flesh appearing. But he was scrawnier, all bones, his dusky skin hanging off his bones, the majority of his flesh trapped outside the circle.

"Let me out!" he howled, slamming his fists against the invisible wall of the circle. "Let me out, pretty girls. I can give you such delights."

Fatima snorted. "I'll pass. You're a little more wrinkled than I like in a man."

"He is contained?" Fumi asked.

"So long as one of us maintains the spell," Christy said as Phillipa chanted.

"This is how they held Aaliyah," Fatima whispered. "Phillipa was the one maintaining that circle."