Traitor to the Throne

‘You can power an army that doesn’t fall when faced with bullets,’ Shazad filled in, understanding what it was we’d all seen the night before. The gravity of what we were facing moved between the four of us. ‘That doesn’t tire or eat. That can stand against Miraji’s enemies.’

‘Including us,’ I said, grimly. ‘How do they work?’

Leyla shrugged, looking miserable. ‘The same way all magic does. Words, words, words.’

‘So how do we stop them?’ Shazad interrupted before Leyla could tumble down some rabbit hole of self-pity.

‘It’s almost impossible.’ Leyla shook her head, tears squeezing out of her eyes. ‘You’d have to destroy the power source and—’

‘The machine,’ Jin said. He took a step forward and Leyla flinched away from him. I put a hand on his arm, stopping him. He might technically share the same blood as Leyla, but he was a dangerous-looking tattooed stranger to her, not a brother.

‘How do we do that?’ Shazad asked. ‘We’ve got enough gunpowder to blow the whole thing if we can—’

‘No,’ Leyla said hurriedly, her eyes wide and panicked. ‘You’d destroy the whole city!’ Like in the story of Akim and his wife. Djinni fire out of control. ‘The Djinni has to be released, not unleashed. The energy released with the right words. Same as he was captured with.’ Then Leyla looked straight at me. ‘Amani bound him. She’s the only one who can unbind him.’

And just like that, everyone was looking at me. If I’d known I was doomed to get this much attention I might’ve brushed my hair.

Chapter 41

‘I’m not going to lie to you all.’ Ahmed looked around the kitchen crowded with rebels. ‘This is going to be a challenge.’ It was a good thing for morale that Ahmed wasn’t a Demdji. If he couldn’t lie, I was pretty sure he would’ve struggled to use the word challenge instead of, say, disaster.

We were two dozen or so packed to the rafters around Shazad’s kitchen, leaning against the colourful tiles that swirled around the walls like steam off a fine dish, our heads bumping pans that hung from the ceiling. Shazad stood next to Ahmed, at his right hand like she always did. Jin was leaning on the fireplace; if you didn’t know he was injured, you might not even guess he was using it for support. Sam had retreated to the back, letting his hand pass in and out of the wall absentmindedly.

I cradled the cup of strong coffee in my hands. I’d slept a few more restless hours, but not enough. There were faces that should have been here that weren’t, people who had died in the escape from the valley. There were new faces I didn’t know. Still, even in the strange setting, it felt just like it used to in Ahmed’s pavilion in the camp. We’d lost that home, but we were still fighting to make a new one.

The curtains in the kitchen were red, drawn against peeping eyes on the street. They turned the room bloody as the dawn.

A new dawn. A new desert.

‘We’re outnumbered,’ Ahmed said, ‘outmanoeuvred and outgunned.’

Jin caught my eye across the room, an eyebrow going up as if to say, Not much of an inspirational speech. I snorted.

‘And out-Demdjied, judging by those things at Auranzeb,’ someone muttered from the back. A ripple of assent went through the room. The rumours of the Abdals and their strange powers had spread frighteningly fast. Shazad said there were already signs of it snuffing what sparks of dissent we’d been able to ignite in the streets.

‘Yes, thank you, Yasir. And that’s where we start.’ Shazad took control easily as she stepped up to the table. Ahmed ceded the room to her. I had an image of Shazad next to Ahmed on the throne. As his Sultana as well as his general, her head dipped over some problem with a golden crown slipping down her brow. It would suit her. ‘We have three problems of pressing urgency right now, and thanks to our real Blue-Eyed Bandit, now returned to us – no offence,’ she tossed over her shoulder at Sam, ‘we might have solutions for them.’

‘Even if she did create one of those problems in the first place,’ Hala muttered.

I ignored her. As I stepped forward, eyes followed me. I might not have been back long but I’d already noticed the change. I wasn’t just the Blue-Eyed Bandit any more; I was the girl who had made it out of the palace alive, who had stood toe to toe with the Sultan and escaped. ‘The first problem is that we need an army, a true army that can go up against the Sultan’s. If we can forge an alliance with Lord Bilal, then we have a fighting force. We’ve arranged a meeting with Lord Bilal a few hours from now. Before dark. By the end of it, here’s hoping we’ll have an army.’

‘Assuming he hasn’t already fled the city,’ Hala added.

‘Did you get more pessimistic since I left,’ I asked, ‘or did I just forget what a pain in the ass you are?’

‘Well, you know what they say about absence making the heart grow fonder.’ Hala shot a fake smile my way. ‘Isn’t optimism what got you captured in the first place?’

‘Please keep in mind how many ways I know to kill you both if you don’t shut up,’ Shazad interrupted before we could descend into an all-out brawl. A laugh went around the room, lightening the weight of the mood.

‘Our second problem,’ Ahmed said, trying to get the room back on track, ‘is that even if we do get an army, we can only stand against another army of flesh and blood. Not one made out of mechanical parts and magic. Which is why we need to get Amani to that machine.’