“The djinn is a shapeshifter and conjurer. Most are charged to guard the dead or sacred objects. Of these some may appear harmless. Do not fool yourself lightly. Powerful magi may be tolerated. Lesser mortals will be devoured. Of all djinn to avoid are the daemon djinn. These are malevolent tricksters. No parchment records any record of a return by thaumaturgical archaeologists that have quested for these creatures.” Jeremiah Delalande, Lecture on the mythical djinn.
“Love of my life, God grant the years
At the Gates of Silent Memory, Fields of the Nephilim
Confirm the chrism – rose to rood!
Anointing loves, asperging tears
In sanctifying solitude!
That holds my heaven and holds my hell.”
“Every time I see you there
I Love the Darkness in You, 69 Eyes
In the place moonlight
Dancing there all alone
With a grave in your mind.”
“And I came to a river of fire in which the fire flows like water and discharges itself into the great sea towards the west. I saw the great rivers and came to the great river and to the great darkness, and went to the place where no flesh walks.”
The Book of Enoch, Chapter XVII
This is another short story for this month’s prompt as I explore the world of Dragon Stone.
BLOGBATTLE prompt word Motionless
Dragon Stone: The Daemon Djinn
Naz sat watching the foot of a mountainside while sitting on a fallen standing stone on a hill nearby. The significance of such debris passed him by. However, the motionless creature he was observing seemed to be staring back with equal interest. Why he seemed to stumble from one crisis to another was frustrating. At his side was the dragon staff. Why The Sapphire had chosen him was baffling.
It seemed to grin back as his mind pondered that conundrum. He held the Stone in his palm, his eyes never leaving the creature.
“It’s a djinn, Naz.”
“What’s it doing here?” The dwarf continued watching.
“No idea, ask it.”
Naz turned his head toward the elf, “You are joking, yes?”
Yish shrugged, “Either that or sit here until the sun waxes on the horizon.”
“Not likely.” Naz stood up. “Besides, that mountain will cast a shadow long before the sun sets.”
“Aye, and the last mountain caused chaos to be unleashed. Are we sure this isn’t another trap?”
Naz turned back to the djinn. “No, but it still doesn’t explain why that’s here.”
Yish joined him, her bow hanging loosely in her left hand. “Maybe we should just leave. Go back to the Cromlech and leave everything apart from what we left Tor Angra with.” She paused, noting Naz was sitting on a fallen monolith. It was part of an ancient circle. Realising this, she looked back toward the djinn. “Naz, this is no ordinary hill.”
The dwarf spat on the ground and rose. “You mean just leave, disappear and begin anew somewhere else?”
“A dream my friend. I have no idea what abandoning Dragon Stones does. Hunters we can cope with, but wayward Dragons are something else.”
Naz glared at his staff. Try it, Dwarf. A dare which made him reconsider. “Maybe not then. But not a hill, you say.”
“The standing stones. Look around. They once formed a circle protecting this barrow.” She reconsidered the djinn. “That might be guarding whatever lies buried here.”
Naz looked down. If they were stood upon the grave of some ancient, long, forgotten beast, then it was not too disparate from being fooled by the Necromage. That ended up in disaster and a mountain that had grown around his conjurer’s bubble. Some said this was the earth’s way of interring toxic civilisations.
“Perhaps we should just leave. My mood for further pursuers is waning. It is only a matter of time before the hunters pick up our trail again.”
“Not like you to fear engaging the enemy, dwarf.”
Naz chuckled, “True elf. But each time we do, things grow more complicated. Besides, how do you fight a djinn?”
“With caution.” Yish stood up. “Or tactics. If we draw it away from the cave, we may find something of use inside.”
“Such as?”
“An Elder Portal. We could lose the hunters by transgressing a portal.”
“And if the exit is a rock?”
“Then no more disasters can follow us,” Yish smirked. There were ways to decide if a portal held clear passage. It was impossible to know where it might lead unless it held decipherable runes. It could just as easily put them back where they once were. She was in the world of The Black below the cliff, with Naz facing the ruins of the Keep in Tor Angra. That was when everything first began crumbling. Even now, their chronology was in some doubt. The chronomantic aftershocks made it impossible to know exactly which time stream they were travelling in. Instinct said the Keep had fallen and that they were responsible for the Necromancer escaping his conjurer’s bubble. If so, she was directly guilty of the fall of Tor Angra and the subsequent imprisonment of her beloved Amanuensis.
“Stop it Yish.” Naz saw her eyes swelling again. “What’s done is done. Right now we have our predicament to solve.” He was watching the djinn again. Somehow, it had drifted closer. A daemon draped in a cloaked shroud now stood very close to the barrow. What were mountains, had become craggy skeletal forest that blocked out the sun. Mist oozed across the ground.
Yish broke her reverie. “A perception field Naz. A powerful one. This is not a battle we can win.” She grabbed the dwarf’s arm and backed off.
Naz held his axe in one hand, clutching the staff in the other. The effigy of The Sapphire turned to rest its eyes on the shadow. Around his neck, the Dragon Stone thrummed in warning. “We could retreat and circle the blind side. If your theory about a portal holds, then we may have a chance to solve two problems.”
For a moment, Yish remained silent. The Jade Stone had pulsed weakly for the first time since The Amanuensis gave it to her. Dragon or him? Could he know they were in trouble? “Agreed, then I am more inclined to take your suggestion up.”
“Which one?”
“To leave and disappear.”
The dwarf gave a half-hearted smile and began a slow retreat. Ahead, the daemon djinn moved forward. Great skeletal hands moved beneath the sleeves of its shroud. “The Stone, dwarf. Give me the Stone.” Its voice grated like fingernails on a chalkboard.
The staff’s Dragon carving snarled in response, its eyes turning red as the Stone around Naz’s neck turned from gentle throbbing to pulsing rage. “Not while I live, fiend.”
The djinn emitted a hollow scream resembling those rumoured lost souls clawing from the very pits of hell. “So be it.” Its arms began rising as if to begin a conjuration.
Yish grabbed the dwarf by the arm, “Run.”
As they turned, the ancient barrow had transformed from present to past. In the centre stood a circle of stone megaliths no longer broken and covered in moss and lichen, with an altar stone in the centre and behind it a great stone structure that contained well-trodden stone stairs lit by sconces.
“It’s an illusion field. Take no notice and flee.”
Naz shook his head, and the field collapsed. His kind was supposed to be immune to such sorcery. Ahead was the path by which they had arrived. Not far in, it split, and that was where he assumed another led down to the cave where he had first seen the djinn.
Yish was already running. “To the right elf. The corner should break its line of sight.”
She heard but made no response. Fear gripped her as old words of Delalande crept in.
“Fear the djinn that appears in your path. Offer no discourse and back away slowly. Under no circumstances engage this adversary unless you are a master sorcerer. If, by chance, you encounter one in a hypogeum, then its source is bound to a well within. These act as guardians and Oracles. Only then can you safely speak, but even so, beware the words of the trickster. They are a poorly understood species for good reason.”
Above, crows circled like vultures, sensing the stench of death. Naz reached the bend and pulled Yish into the descending path hoping the daemon djinn had now lost sight of them. Without thinking he slowed and began to breathe deeply. If a fight were necessary he needed to slow down and make ready. Yish had notched an arrow as if reading his mind.
“We go down, Naz. If the path leads to the cave, then so be it. If not we leave.”
Ah, it’s good to see Yish and Naz again, these two old friends. I really do love how their friendship feels authentically deep, the dialogue between them natural. I know these characters have occupied a space in your mind for some time now, and you can really feel it as a reader. They’re fully fleshed out characters with depth and nuance. Not an easy thing to nail down.
And, as usual, I really dig the mystical, oppressive mood you drape over the surroundings, like a caul. Can practically smell the sodden earth and the lingering damp in the air.
Excellent writing, as always, Gary!
Thanks Joshua. They are long established as you know. In fact they are in the one I mentioned in my reply to you… not as part of the tale, but mentioned in it because their fate is dependant on the Amanuensis escaping the Prison of Ice.
Speaking of which that is now split in two. I figured 239 pages was saying too long. So now its back to POI relating to the Amanuensis, Wayland and Elijah of Darrow and Rise of the Necromage which is all him and a few newer cast members.
I’m also struggling through cartographer 3 to create world maps.
Very kind to say the words conjure up the atmosphere too. It comes with that fascination of old civilisations, Knights Templar… who were exonerated by the pope at the time too. Amazing what appears in old documents.
I’ve also almost found a Stone for each of the 13 Dragons now too. Few other twists in the books.
A resonate and colourful narrative Gary once more showing the strength of the bond between Yish and Naz. Vivid landscape and an evocative take on the nature Djinn in the world of DS.
Many thanks Roger. I’ve just been working on a new piece relating to Aurelia Wrenn and the Amanuensis which has opened new doors. Also have a map program at last too haha
Forge on with your Epic Gary. Best wishes with that map👍
Another well written chapter, friend 🙂 I pictured this so clearly – as if I were watching a LOTR scene or the tv show Rings of Power! Always, in awe of your writing. 🙂
Many thanks Helen. The plot keeps widening and I have to split POI in half. That said I have a working title so the Necromage and Wayland can be given justice so POI returns to what it was supposed to be about the Amanuensis, Yish and Naz. The volumes should be POI and Return of the Crow, although Flynne has been advanced in the Letters of the Amanuensis and is herself ensnared in the same conjurer’s bubble along with another prophecy way in the future after the War that’s looming. I need a decent map builder now!
I’d say 🙂 Map builder! I’m amazed how you keep everything straight lol
With great difficulty lol. I tend to have a master character document and cut and paste who I need into the working documents. I’ll have a look at map builder though. That part really needs work now.