K.F. Zuzulo

page 2

"No," Ali Qadir said. "You are one of the djinn. You are a follower of Iblis, the fallen one."

A low rumble coursed through the genie’s chest and spilled from his mouth in a grunt of laughter. "Ali Qadir bin Saud," he said. "Have you not heard? It is you who fell. It is man who betrayed his God."

The smoky-topaz colored eyes were knowing. The face was unbearded and set in sharp angles, as though carved from granite. A long crease cut below each eye and ran down to the lower jaw. On the left cheek, the scar formed the number seven; on the right, its image was mirrored and reversed.

Palms raised upward in mock supplication, the creature spoke. "I am a simple being, bound to the deceits of men." His image quivered and became denser. "And now I am bound to you, Ali Qadir." He swept one heavily muscled arm before him and lowered himself to one knee in a bow. Metallic rattling from a set of wide gold cuffs on each wrist echoed through the tent.

"Rais," Ali Qadir called.

The captain swept through the flap and immediately froze, his eyes wide beneath a heavy brow.

"Rais," Ali Qadir repeated. He gestured to a dark corner. "My sword."

Rais walked in a broad circle around the kneeling figure but did not take his eyes from him. With the sword in hand, he moved next to Ali Qadir and handed him the weapon.

Ali Qadir paced slowly around the djinni. "Tell me your name, spirit," Ali Qadir said. "I will not be bound to the unholy one."

Shadows shifted with the movement of the djinni when he stood. He held his hands behind his back and looked down upon Ali Qadir. "I am Zubis, forgotten servant of King Solomon." A dervish of sand blew through the open flap, as though the desert remembered its captive.

Ali Qadir bent and retrieved the copper lamp that had been regurgitated by the desert in the previous night’s sandstorm. Its caramel-colored surface showed the pitted history of millenia submerged in an ocean of sand. Its parched tomb had not allowed the copper to oxidize to green. There was no top opening for the deposit of oil. A thin spout jutted from the side — a chimney for smoke from which the djinni had issued. Unfamiliar glyphs marked the entire lamp.

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