The Conjurer (The Vine Witch #3)(45)
“What kinds of complaints?” Elena asked.
“My first mission,” he said and moved to sit on the majlis sofa. He rubbed the knee above his wooden leg as if it pained him, along with the memory. “I was tasked with ridding a burial site of ghouls.”
“Ghouls?” Elena sat beside him, and to her surprise, Sidra joined them, offering coffee and small butter biscuits filled with dates as she listened in silence. Payment for the storyteller? she wondered.
“I was armed with the collective knowledge of the world’s greatest sorcerers, yet I was still young and green enough to think that made me invincible.” He saw Sidra shake her head. “Yes, I was an arrogant fool. And it nearly got me killed.” He pointed to his wooden leg. “I’d tried entering the burial site with a few protective charms, a chant, and the symbols of the seven stars painted on my body. I thought they would see I was a member of the Order and scatter.” He wiped his face, reliving the horrifying moment. “The first ghoul I encountered broke through every defense I’d used as if they were made of straw. She slashed my leg clean off with one swipe.”
“Mother Ghulah.” Sidra’s eyes lit up, impressed.
“You’re saying ghouls are real?” Elena asked.
“Oh, they’re real,” Yanis said. “Some even suspect they’re related to the jinn.”
Sidra stiffened. “They are not jinn.”
“No,” Yanis said. “They are not.”
That seemed to please Sidra, but still she squinted at him. “And now you sell talismans behind a wooden stall in an infidel village. Maybe your leg wasn’t the only thing you lost that day.”
Elena winced. “Sidra, that’s hardly—”
“No, she’s right. I lost my nerve after that. I left the Order. Or as much as one can. They never truly consider you done, once you’ve received the training.”
Sidra watched him, tapping a finger against her coffee cup. “And now you think you can protect the people in this village from Jamra and his ifrit with your chalk drawings, sorcerer?”
“We’re going to try,” Elena said.
Sidra continued to stare at Yanis but with a different glint than she had before. When he set his cup down, she covered it with a saucer, then flipped it over, letting the remaining fluid drain out onto the saucer. “Was it Hariq who sought your help?” she asked, righting the cup again and running her finger over the lip to make a circle. “Or maybe it was the old one himself who summoned you?” She pinned her gaze sharp on Yanis before peering into the depth of his cup.
Yanis swallowed as he watched her read the dregs. “Both,” he said. “The old one knew about my past. It’s why he trusted me with such a delicate potion, but Hariq gave me my day-to-day instructions. I swear to you I don’t know what went wrong.”
Sidra curled her lip as if she’d expected to discover him in a lie yet again, but as she stared into his cup her eyes tensed in confusion. She turned the cup to see it from another angle before pushing it away. Elena wasn’t sure if jinn could cry, and yet there was unmistakable sadness in Sidra’s eyes when she looked up again.
“You have told the truth,” she said. “Which means I am a murderer.”
Sidra sank back against the cushions. Elena and Yanis didn’t dare make a move while the jinni seethed in the pain of learning a truth she hadn’t believed. Comfort wasn’t an easy thing to administer to one made of fire. And yet Elena remembered the kindness Sidra had shown her in jail when she’d offered her a blanket against the chill. Calling fire onto her fingers, Elena lit the firewood inside the brazier until a warm glow shone on all their faces. Sidra seemed to respond, turning to stare into the flames.
“Jamra has found me,” she said. “I tried following that phantom dog and instead ran into a jackal. He tricked me into revealing my location. And now he’s given me until morning to hand over the dagger, or else he’ll kill me and attack the village.”
“What? Why didn’t you say so earlier?” Elena knew time wasn’t something they had in abundance, but she’d thought they at least had the advantage of being hidden a little while longer.
“I have already cheated justice once. Perhaps I should let him kill me in the name of righteousness.”
Yanis leaned forward. “What dagger?”
“Do you know your sigils, priest?” Sidra sat up. “Do you know the seven signs that came into the world in the beginning? One assigned to each of the seven original kingdoms?”
“Of course. They were recorded in many of the ancient scrolls recovered from the cave of shadows. Two copies survive under the care of the Order.”
“You think these seals have only been around as long as your history books?” She slowly turned toward him. “The jinn were born before ancient civilizations. Before cities, before soothsayers and magi. My kind was there when the original sigils were unleashed in the world. The tension between the symbols holding the world in equilibrium, like a seven-pointed star. But the world is full of careless men. Always they seek to tip the balance with their greed and ambition. And now Jamra believes he is this close to possessing one of these sigils without the eye of your Order watching over it. One that will hurtle us all toward chaos.”
The sorcerer grew pale. “This dagger bears such a mark?”