Chapter 10

I turned to stare at Catherine, wondering where in the hell we were. I wa ask her, when a four-foot-tall man appeared before us.

“What ta ‘ell be ya wanting? I has me a job to complete ‘ere,” the short male said.

The male stared at me, then his eyes flew wide as he spied Catherine.

“Hello Galin, I take it you are well?” Catherine asked.

“I’d be a sight better if ya no was here. What’s dis? Ya got another master. Huh, ya always get da ugliest ones,” the short male said.

“Galin, we need protection. He is going after Elvantor Hajib, we need all that,” Catherine started.

There was a huge boom, then the same evil dick, as I called him, appeared.

“Ah Galin, after I kill this one, I will entertain myself with you,” Elvantor Hajib said.

I just shook my head as a huge number of undead appeared. “Guess you aren’t too smart, I said as a bolt shot out of my shirt, knocking him out of the sky.

It then turned on the first twenty that were heading toward me. They melted if made of butter, they also didn’t arise. This caused them to halt a moment, then another bolt took another twenty.

Elvantor Hajib waved a hand as he and the undead vanished.

Galin stared at me then smiled a crooked smile, “me thinks me chances just improved.” He then turned to Catherine, “So what’s ya be wantin?”

Catherine smiled as she launched into a narrative that I had no idea what she was talking about.

Galin had his hand on his chin and beard as he thought for a few moments. “Aye, ‘tis possible. May need a few things, for dis power. Um, yes, gonna need a few things. Fraid ya gonna ‘ave ta get ‘em.”

Catherine smiled, “I pretty much figured that, give me a list, and I’ll start.”

Galin then turned to me with a curious look. “Ner seen dem deadens destroyed like that. How?”

I opened my shirt to show Galin as he hissed his appreciation. “The guardian of the daughters of the seas. The shield sword of ther sons of the sand. I swear I be seeing several of the shield crystals from several others. Aye ya been busy ‘ave ya not?”

“Master asked, and I have been doing all I can,” Catherine said.

Galin nodded his head then gasped, “ya ... ya ‘ave the bracers of shielding, I nay thought ta see ‘em again.” Galin then bowed, “what can I do for ya? If ya be going after tha’ bastard, den I’ll ‘elp ya. I ‘ope ya can ‘elp me people.”

“I have a great many shields, plus I have Felensar, a great sword. Though he and I can not do everything, the bastard has a great advantage. We’ve destroyed about forty though, he has a great multitude more. I don’t mean to insult you, Felensar, but we need more,” I said.

Again, Galin had his hand on his chin as he stroked his beard deep in thought. “Me thinks me ‘as a solution fer ya. Hold ‘ere a few moments and me ‘ill be back.”

Galin vanished a moment later my mouth hanging open, “He is coming back, isn’t he?” I asked.

Catherine was nodding, then I heard Galin’s voice come from the thin air. “Aye. ‘es a bold one ain’t ‘e. ‘Tis a good thing, ya be gonna be needin’ it.”

A moment later Galin appeared with four wicked-looking daggers, very sharp and lethal looking. “Damn, I said. “Those look dangerous.”

“Aye they be, put ya energy to dem. After you throw dem they will return to ya. Wherever yas had dem, they will be there,” Galin said. “No worry, every throw ‘ill be deadly, ya can’t miss, no matter.”

“So, I just have to power them up with my energy, any chance I can take more than one each time,” I asked.

“Oh ho, ho, now ya be wantin’ miracles, though in this case? Ya ‘ave a very good chance,” Galin said with a grin. “Now excuse me, I need ta be movin’, bastard’ll be back.”

We watched as Galin had a huge pack appear before him, then with a sideways grin he saluted then vanished.

Both Catherine and I were staring at where he had been, Catherine standing as close to me as she could. It was at that moment that I saw that she had a strange look on her face. What the hell was that?

At the home of Victoria Rayton, she was pacing the living room. She was anxious, she had promised and wasn’t thrilled about contacting her again.

It had almost been an hour now, and she was more nervous than she thought she’d be. An insistent knocking at her front door made her jump.

Opening the door, a female with long blonde hair was standing there. “Well, I was afraid when we did this all that time ago that it might unravel,” the woman sighed. “Aren’t you going to invite me in? I can’t just walk in after the agreement we made.”

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry please, come in!” Victoria said, the woman staring at her.

“So you actually did what you said you were going to. I find this new you to be more than agreeable. Had you been like this back then, things would have been far different than they are now,” the woman said.

Victoria sighed, “I wasn’t all there back then Tawny, I made a lot of mistakes. I was just a greedy human, I regret a great many things I did and the pain I caused,” here tears started to fall from her eyes. “I pushed them all away, and now I find that James and his wife’s daughter, is still alive.”

“You say that her memory is almost non-existent? Here I thought that the spell hadn’t gone that deep. From what you told me, John has encountered magic, powerful magic. I don’t really want to go to them, but in this case, I have no choice,” Tawny said.

“I assume that I will have to go with you. It’s been decades since I was before the council, not sure if I want to again,” Victoria said with a grimace on her face. “They had just been released and weren’t in the best of moods.”

“Yeah I know,” Tawny said, a sour on her face also. “Yes, you have to appear with me. We need to get all the information that we can about her before we go. Here I’ll take you,” she blinked her eyes and both of them vanished.

They both appeared a moment later in the living room of Catherine’s house. They were standing there a moment when Tawny started to shake.

“There was an extremely powerful Jinn here, by the great Jinn! We need to go now, before they return,” Tawny almost shouted, grabbing Victoria, blinking, then vanishing.

They appeared back in Victoria’s house. Tawny was still shaking, making several motions. “I hope I erased all trace of us being there.” She turned toward Victoria, “what in the hell are you mixed up in?”

Victoria just shook her head, “as far as I know, it’s the same as always.”

Tawny shook her head, “no, this is a dangerously powerful Jinn, I felt almost pure evil. I’d be almost defenseless against it. If it can trace us? We are dead, I don’t have half the power it does.”

Victoria’s mouth dropped open, damn it, what was her niece involved with? Now she and Tawny were involved as well. Shit, they might be in more trouble than they had ever been.

“We need to get the hell out of here as soon as possible,” Tawny said, then a moment later grabbed Victoria, vanishing.

Less than a minute later they appeared outside the Jinn council room. They walked in together, all the council staring at them gasping.

“We thought that the two of you had an agreement to stay apart,” the head of the council said.

They all looked accusingly at both of them. “I am sorry to disturb the council as I was not going to come back, as penance. I wouldn’t, but it seems that my brother’s daughter is starting to remember,” Victoria said.

This caused the entire council to gasp, “so what do you want of us?” the leader asked.

“Her brother has vanished, he is the only one that can contain her. He went into the military and neither of us can find him,” Victoria said.

“I see,” the council leader said. He then reached out to find the man, then his eyes went wide when he realized just who the man was.

Tawny saw this reaction though did not comment on it. For the moment she filed it away why did she think that the council was hiding something from them? Tawny was starting to get a bad feeling about this whole situation.

“At the moment I am not feeling where he is,” the leader lied. He couldn’t reveal that John Richards was supposed to rescue the female Jinn he was bonded to. “I can tell you that Elvantor Hajib has been released.”

“Released!? Isn’t the council stronger than him?” Tawny asked.

The leader sighed, “a lot of what the council could do they aren’t able to. Many things were done wrong when he was punished. Therefore, there is much that we can not do. We suggest that if you travel that you watch everything.”

“You do realize that if we can’t get John to her soon, that much that happened before? Could be far more dangerous now that she is grown. Hell, John doesn’t even know that she’s still alive,” Victoria said.

The entire council gasped when Victoria mentioned the event from years ago. “We will do all we can to locate him,” the leader lied again.

Victoria looked at everyone on the council smirking, she swore that they were all lying to her. From the almost worried looks on their faces, she knew that something was going on. Though just what that was she wasn’t certain at all.

Both females vanished a few moments later, appearing in Victoria’s house. “I swear that they are lying to us, though I’m not sure why,” Victoria said.

Tawny was nodding as she was certain they had lied. “I know that if Elvantor Hajib is loose and involved then it explains a bit. If you want, I can stay and keep a watchful eye on her.”

“It might if we both do, though we need to hide her for the time being. If I remember right, you have one of the best hide aways than anyone,” Victoria said.

“You’ve actually talked to her, how is her state of mind?” Tawny asked.

“When I was there, she was scared, feeling very alone. I think she was glad that I was there,” Victoria said.

Tawny sighed, “Its good that you can help her, though if worse comes to worst, without John we are screwed.”