The Forbidden Wish (24 page)

T
HE SIX OF US VANISH
from the cliffs in a swirl of smoke, and Nessa's playing ceases. I just have time to glimpse Zhian shifting to smoke and racing toward Mount Tissia and the alomb atop it, to return to Ambadya.

We do not have much time.

The crest of the sun rises from the sea just as the girls and I appear on the steps leading up to the palace. At the top, Aladdin is on his knees, struggling against the guards who are shoving his head down, one of them lifting a sword. The sight sends a spasm of horror racketing through me, and as Caspida and the Watchmaidens stumble, disoriented, I spring into motion. The power of the princess's wish still courses through me, silver-bright as the moon, and I shape it instinctively. I stride quickly up the steps toward the executioners, throwing out a hand.

Tigers of smoke and wind materialize behind the soldiers around Aladdin. The men cry out in shock and terror as the
phantom beasts spring, tackling them to the ground and dragging them away from the thief. Swords and lances clatter on the stones. When their job is done, the tigers evaporate into the air. With a snap, I release the rest of the remaining magic, and thick vines burst from the ground and tether the soldiers down, pinning their arms at their sides.

There is no longer any point in hiding what I am. And so I ascend the stair in a gown of red smoke and silk, long and fluttering and coiling, driven by a singleness of purpose and a clarity of thought that I have not felt in a very long time. I have lost my last and only chance at freedom, and I regret nothing. The ring I made for Aladdin disappears from my pocket and reforms on my finger, glinting in the dawn.

Aladdin rises, using a fallen sword to cut the rope binding his wrists. His eyes widen, and when I reach him, I don't hesitate.

I throw my arms around him and kiss him deeply, pouring all the fear, despair, and hope of the last day into that touch. He responds at once, one hand on my back, pressing me to him, the other in my hair. His lips are urgent and intense, and I feel his own fear and relief, the adrenaline coursing through him.

When we break apart, he rests his forehead against mine and laughs hoarsely.

“If I am dead,” he murmurs, “then let them kill me a thousand times, just so I can be greeted like that on the other side.”

“I thought I'd lost you.”

“Thought I'd lost me too. But you came.”

“I had help.” Pulling reluctantly away, I look to Caspida and the Watchmaidens, who are running up the steps.

“Trouble!” Ensi warns, pointing behind us, and we turn to see more soldiers gathering outside the palace.

Caspida curses. “They know we're here.”

The soldiers are getting closer, their spears flashing in the dawn light. The Watchmaidens brace themselves, looking small and delicate in the wave of men rushing toward them, until a barrage of arrows is suddenly loosed from a row of archers to the left. We retreat down the steps and behind a low stone wall as the arrows clatter on the stair where we'd been standing. The sound of shouting and clanging weapons gets louder as the men draw nearer. Raz leans around the wall, firing arrows and holding the soldiers at bay for a few moments.

“Sulifer has the entire army and the Eristrati under his control,” says Nessa. “We won't even make it to the doors!”

“Wish for the city,” I say urgently, “and I will deliver it to you! Caspida, you
must
see that this is the only way!”

“I can't!” she shouts, her composure cracking as she meets my eyes. “Don't you understand? If I use jinn magic to fight Sulifer, then I'm no better than he is! Then I'm no queen at all!”

“But we have no army,” says Nessa gently.

“Your Highness,” says Aladdin suddenly, “you don't
need
an army.”

She gives him a questioning look, and he turns and waves a hand at the city spread below.

“You have the
people
. They've been waiting for months for the Phoenix to give the signal. They will follow you anywhere!”

Caspida's eyes brighten a little, but then she shakes her head. “I can't ask them to fight my battle for me, not against armed and trained men.”

“This isn't just your battle,” Aladdin replies. “This has been our fight for years. It's our families Sulifer has been tearing apart, our lives he has crushed. We've only been waiting for the right person
to lead us, and here you are. They wear your colors, paint your sigil on the walls. Maybe you didn't set out to create a revolution, but the revolution has been waiting for years for the right spark. Let us fight, and we will all take back our city together.”

Caspida looks around at her girls, and they all nod. To Aladdin, she opens a hand in assent. “Go, then. May Imohel grant you speed.”

His eyes burn with purpose, and he begins slipping away, squeezing my hand before letting go.

“I'll bring help,” he says. “Hold them off as long as you can.”

And then he's gone, dashing down the stair and dodging the few arrows fired after him. I stare in disbelief, unable to bear seeing him disappear after only just getting him back. But Caspida still holds the lamp, and I cannot follow.

“I'm out,” says Raz, throwing down her bow and dropping her empty quiver. “They're coming.”

“Watchmaidens,” says the princess, looking at each of her girls in turn, her gaze finally settling on me. “Are you with me?”

Khavar, her snake coiled tightly on her forearm, draws a short dagger and licks the blade, her eyes glinting with a feral light. “In victory or death, I will be at your side, sister.”

“And I,” the others echo.

“And I,” I murmur, and they glance at me, surprised. I lock gazes with Caspida. “If you won't wish for the city, then let me fight with you.” Slowly, my silk robes harden into shining battle armor, and twin swords appear behind my shoulders.

Caspida secures the lamp on her belt and nods. She grasps my hand, her pulse pounding through me like a battle drum. “In victory or death, jinni.”

With that, she stands, and we rise behind her.

There are about twenty soldiers marching toward us, all lancers.
They are too near us now for the archers to continue firing without hitting their own men.

Caspida leaps onto the low wall and cries out, “Men of Parthenia! I am your true queen! Stand down, or be found guilty of treason!”

The men exchange glances but don't stop advancing.

With a heavy sigh, the princess twirls her knives, then nods to us. We charge from behind the wall, the Watchmaidens calling out in ululating tones like the wild mountain warriors of old.

Ensi takes the lead, laughing madly, and the Watchmaidens draw their veils over their faces as she slings the first handful of blue powder. It hits three soldiers, blinding them, and they scream and drop their weapons to claw at their eyes. Ensi launches herself off the ground, flipping over their fallen forms to sling more powder at the next row of men.

Then the rest of us clash with the soldiers, steel ringing against steel. I stand back-to-back with Nessa, my ears roaring with the sound of battle. We fall into a rhythm, parrying, slashing, dodging lances. I keep glancing at the steps, hoping to see Aladdin leading in reinforcements, until the soldiers close in on us and I'm forced to focus on fighting.

The Watchmaidens are cunning, and they draw the soldiers apart. Any one of the girls is the match of two soldiers, but we are outnumbered nearly four to one, and more soldiers will doubtless arrive any moment once Sulifer learns we are here.

A man swipes at my legs with his spear, trying to trip me, and I leap over it and spin, my sword catching his arm and forcing him to drop the weapon. He lands on his knees, white with pain, and I knock him unconscious with the hilt of my sword. With a moment to breathe, I look around and see we are being pressed back, their
numbers proving too strong. More soldiers come running in from our left, and I hear Sulifer shouting above them:

“Kill the traitor queen! Bring me the lamp!”

I drop my hands and shut my eyes, letting myself dissolve into the wind, scarlet smoke. I swell and expand, filling the wide avenue and obscuring the soldiers' vision. The new arrivals skid to a halt, confused and disoriented, slashing blindly in the fog.

“Fall back!” Caspida cries. “To me!”

The Watchmaidens follow the sound of her voice, and I cover them as they retreat behind the wall. While the girls catch their breath, the soldiers advance from the palace, their ranks swelling with black-clad Eristrati. They press on slowly, blinded by my smoke but driven onward by Sulifer's commands. I withdraw to join the princess, shifting back into my human form.

“They are nearly upon us,” I say. “Thirty, forty, perhaps fifty of them, and more coming. We won't last five minutes.”

Above us, the sky is growing darker despite the sun rising. Black clouds gather near the summit of Mount Tissia, and I know that Zhian has reached Nardukha, and that our time grows thin. I watch the mountain anxiously, knowing the real battle waits at its peak.

“We have no choice,” murmurs the princess, drawing me back to the battle at hand. “Sisters, I am sorry I have led you to this.”

“We would have it no other way,” says Nessa, and the others nod and grasp hands.

“If we're to die,” says Raz, “let us die fighting.”

At that moment, a shout turns our heads.

“For the Phoenix Queen!” the cry goes up. “For the people!”

Aladdin appears, running down the street, carrying a sword he got from who knows where. Behind him, a horde of people are racing, gripping knives and scythes, staves and camel whips.
Butchers, carpet sellers, fishmongers, housewives, Parthenians of every age, size, and trade, men and women both, raise up a mighty shout.

“For the Phoenix Queen!”

“For the people!”

And even a few scattered cries of “For the Tailor's Son!”

They all wear red armbands, and someone waves a huge banner with a phoenix sigil on it, likely stolen from a temple to Nykora, the phoenix goddess. Aladdin whoops and cheers them on and whistles when he catches sight of us. He's flanked by Dal and Balak, the girl and the doorman from the Rings.

Behind us, the soldiers falter, realizing their numbers are not so great, not when faced with the people they've oppressed, cheated, and enslaved for years.

Somewhere toward the palace, Sulifer is screaming, “Fight, you fools! They're only peasants with sticks!”

But many of those sticks are sharpened or on fire, and someone hurls a flaming brand at the soldiers. It lands harmlessly in front of them, scattering embers, but it breaks the courage of the armed men. They retreat, but not quickly enough.

Aladdin reaches me just as the fighting breaks out. He is laughing wildly, throwing his head back and crowing. Leaping up onto the wall, he pulls me after him, waving his sword like a madman.

“As soon as I told them who the Phoenix really was, that she needed our help, they dropped everything!” he says. “Look at them! They're fantastic!”

“And look at you,” I reply, smiling. “The revolution of one. Whatever happened to not fighting for lost causes?”

“I guess I found a cause worth fighting for,” he murmurs, leaning in for a kiss, but then his eyes fix on something behind me,
and his face hardens. I turn to see Caspida standing near the palace below a second-story balcony, her sword upraised and her Watchmaidens surrounding her. Above her, Sulifer leans over the railing, his eyes furious.

“He won't even come down and fight,” Aladdin growls. “The coward.”

“Come on.” Grabbing Aladdin's hand, I plunge through the battle, dodging spear and sword, until we reach Caspida's side.

“Come down, Uncle!” the princess calls. “It is finished!”

“You think some rabble with kitchen knives makes you a queen?” he returns.

Caspida glances back at the people, fighting tooth and nail against the better-equipped soldiers. To her uncle she replies, “They're
exactly
what makes me a queen.”

“Then let's see how they fare against my
real
army.” He pulls from his cloak the black ram's horn I made for him last night. Caspida frowns uneasily.

“What is he doing?” she asks.

“Just watch,” I murmur.

Sulifer raises the horn to his lips and sounds the call. It rings across the grounds as the vizier lowers the horn and its blast echoes away. Caspida is very still, her hand clenching the hilt of her dagger.

Behind us, the men and women continue fighting, the peasants moving in packs like wolves. More of them flood in from the city, until the noise is deafening. Sulifer sounds another blast, but it is nearly drowned out by the fight. He lowers the horn, his eyes settling on me, demanding an explanation.

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.”