The Forbidden Wish(83)

I lift my chin and stare defiantly at him. “Even the darkest shadow may not stand before the light of the sun,” I shout. “Every child knows this.”

“You have broken the rules!” he shouts. “I said, ‘invincible to any and all forces either of Ambadya or of this world’!”

“The sun is not of this world. It belongs to the heavens and to the gods. Your shadow men will not come, not until night.”

“Surrender, Uncle!” Caspida calls. “Let no more die today! We can talk and settle this between us!”

He only snarls in reply and turns to disappear inside the palace. Caspida starts toward the doors, intending to pursue him, but I catch her arm.

“Princess, we have a bigger problem.”

“What?”

I point to Mount Tissia. Above its summit, dark clouds swirl and thunder, heralding the coming jinn. They give the mountain the appearance of an erupting volcano. “The Shaitan will be here any moment.”

Caspida pales. “I thought we had more time.”

“You have your fight here,” I say. “Let me handle Nardukha. Use your last wish to send me and Aladdin to Mount Tissia. It’s us he wants. If we don’t meet him there, he will come down on this city with the full force of Ambadya, and nothing will stop him then.”

“I can come with you.”

I shake my head. “This is where you belong, with your people.”

She looks around at the chaos, the housewives and butchers, fishermen and beggars, many armed with nothing but bare fists against the organized Eristrati and palace guard. Caspida’s eyes flood with pride and sorrow.

“You’re right,” she says, meeting my gaze. “But Zahra, you must stop him. We cannot become another Neruby.”

I nod grimly and take Aladdin’s hand. He smiles, but I see the worry in his eyes. My skin flushes with shame. If only there were some way to keep him out of this, to face Nardukha on my own. But the Shaitan would tear Parthenia apart stone by stone to find the thief. The least we can hope for is that he will spare the city and its people.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “Aladdin, I don’t know what will happen on that mountain. I don’t know if we can—”

“Have faith, Smoky,” he says softly, cupping my face in his palm, “This isn’t over yet. Whatever happens, we’ll be together.”

Caspida takes the lamp from her belt, as her Watchmaidens tighten their perimeter around us. The soldiers are regrouping, and half a dozen of them come charging toward the princess. Anxious knots twist in my stomach as they clash with the Watchmaidens, who barely hold their ground against the larger, stronger men.

“Hurry, Caspida!” I urge.

She nods and holds the lamp between us, her eyes meeting mine.

“I wish for you, Zahra of the Lamp, and you, Aladdin of Parthenia, to go with all speed to the summit of Mount Tissia, and there defend us all from the Shaitan and his jinn.”

At that moment the soldiers break through the Watchmaidens’ defense. Caspida whirls, drawing her sword, and throws the lamp toward Aladdin. He catches it, and the familiar bond forms between us once more.

I am filled with Caspida’s wish, golden swirls of glittering magic racing along my skin. But still I hesitate, looking around at the soldiers closing in on Caspida and her girls. They fight wildly, hair flying, steel glinting, Ensi’s poisoned powders shimmering in the sunlight. An Eristrati, wielding an Eskarr scimitar, makes a dash for me, his blade lifted. Aladdin moves like lightning, throwing himself in front of me and tackling the man, heedless of the weapon. He punches the man once in the jaw before the Eristrati throws him wide and leaps to his feet, his scimitar falling toward Aladdin’s neck. But the man freezes, gasping, when Caspida’s blade drives through his back.

“Go!” she shouts, blood streaked across her face, as she helps Aladdin to his feet. “This is our fight! Yours is on that mountain—so get out of here!”

She shoves Aladdin toward me, and he grabs my hand. I ache with magic, no longer able to resist the pull of Caspida’s third wish. Leaving her to her battle, I pull Aladdin close and draw a screen of red smoke around us. Our clothes fluttering, we hold tight to one another and lock eyes as the world spins around us.

The chaotic roar of the fight fades away, replaced by a deafening rush of wind. Aladdin crushes me against his chest, his arms wrapped tightly around me, and he presses his lips to my forehead.

“Together,” he whispers. “No matter what.”

I cling to him with all my strength, sighing a little as the last of the magic drains away.

Everything stops. The smoke falls away and dissipates. I let him hold me a moment longer before I pull away and draw a deep breath.

Here I stand once more, right where everything began, on the stony, chilly peak of Mount Tissia. Around us, the summit stretches wide before dropping away, the ground a series of stony plateaus. No plants or animals are to be found here, where the wind is sharp as knives, gusting around us with an eerie howl. Swirling clouds gather above and below the peak, obscuring the lands in every direction, until it seems we stand utterly apart from the world.

The alomb rises ahead, a massive structure built in the days when the gods walked the earth. Four corner pillars support a vaulting roof of black stone coursed with glowing blue veins, an ancient magic far more powerful than I could ever wield. It was quarried from the rock that once supported the great isle of Phaex, where the gods feasted every summer solstice, and which sank into the sea many ages ago. Once a doorway to either the godlands or Ambadya, now only the jinn use it, for the path to the gods has long been lost.