Another Point of View

Disclaimer: Don't own trilogy, don't sue

All right people, first thing I'd like to say is thank you for the thirty hits for my story but please REVIEW! Now this is now the long battle between the Huns and the Romans and Nero's in the fray of it all. But in this chapter BARTIMAEUS will appear; though not for a long time, his wise cracks will take up only about a page, but he's here people. And it might not be like the way Jonathan Stroud has made him but I'll try. Now time for the story to begin…

Chapter 3

Somewhere near Chalons-en-Champagne in the Catalauian Fields, 451 C.E.

Nero

At dawn, Attila gave his army a moral rising speech. I was in the left wing of the with my demi afrits. And like the others in my company, I wasn't listening (we djinni don't need speeches to raise our moral unlike the foliots and imps).

Finally the charge was on. The plan was that the Hun allies secure a camp on the right side of the ridge (the Catalauian Fields had risen up steeply on both wings, leaving a mini valley in the middle) while the Huns went to take the centre. The allies were able to take the right side without any resistance (no duh since there wasn't any Romans) while we had a little—no wait—a lot of trouble.

The Romans were already there when we charged barbarically (of course we did, the Huns were barbarians) though they weren't in proper formation so we still had a chance. Our forces smashed though the first line and then, the real fighting began.

There were personal fights, in the air and on the ground, all over the place though it was intense, really we didn't stand a chance.

My company was the one at the far left and was taking on a bunch of demi afrits, ghuls and mid level djinn. The ghuls were easily taken out with no one dying, as they just wanted to gulp you down but the demi afrits were a small problem.

Alfonso was the first to die. He was swallowing demi afrit after demi afrit with no sign of stopping. Because of him, we were the group that went the farthest for the first ten minutes. There were a lot of demi afrits for Alfonso to eat (like about fifty ghuls, two hundred demi afrits and thirty mid level djinn which are about levels four to seven, its kinda hard to tell the difference).

About when Alfonso had eaten around one hundred spirits, the Roman spirits (this section was all spirits) saw that everyone needed to focus on Alfonso. When we saw all the Romans turn their attention on him, we put numerous shields on him; mine was the first and strongest (I had taken out at this point about five ghuls, and two demi afrits. My second was at the back pushed aside by everyone, and my favourite demi afrit, Lyra had about seven ghuls, and one demi afrit).

But even with such magical shields they were easily taken out, mine destroyed by a bull who, this time in a boy guise, also killed Alfonso with the final Detonation).

My second in command, Famosly, was pretty pissed off at one, he was out of the action and two: that his friend, Alfonso was dead. So he shoved aside all the demi afrits in our company (in which another two were dead, one of them killed by the same boy with a strong binding Convulsion) including me in the middle of the company and was at the front of the line throwing his renowned Infernos all over the place, ripping up demi afrits but suddenly he was swallowed into nothing just as he was finishing off the last of the demi afrits and out came a high level afrit with a massive silver axe.

Everyone, belonging to Romans or Hunnish masters jumped out of the way and I was the only one, out in the open like a sitting duck. I saw I couldn't get without getting axed so I decided to throw a fancy Hydrogen but, it was easily reflected by the afrit's silver axe and it fell into the centre of the valley (where I realized that all the Huns were retreating and that soon my raggedy group of twenty-five out of the fifty would soon be surrounded).

I decided how I would end this duel between the afrit and me. Apparently, the afrit heard about my Tale of the Four Afrits (it was actually made into a song but now is lost) and wanted to see my power even though it was unfair that he had a silver item.

I quickly looked around and saw a silver long sword to even out he fight. I dived for it as the afrit swung his axe where my torso was. I fell upon the sword ignoring the cold essence of silver close by and brought the sword up to meet the axe once again swinging at my stomach.

We were sparring for a few minutes and the other spirits had come to watch. I had a plan to get my feet going and get the feeling of using a sword in my hands and then strike hard. I did that and the result: total victory.

I whacked and poke the sword time again and again and soon the afrit was too slow on one block and was incapacitated. Once that happened, the Romans roared in surprise and started to charge and released their magic at me.

I turned around and shouted at my group, " Fall back to camp! Fall back!" We turned into flying animals and raced off to the right ridge.

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Bartimaeus

Despite my greatness, usually in a war I don't really kill that many spirits, well at least not of significance but hey, that doesn't mean I'm not important.

Anyway, in this war, I'm on a roll! I've got a seventh level djinn, five demi afrits and a bunch of human warriors.

I got in this battle between the Huns and the Romans in a desperate situation. The Romans thought that they got the Huns under control when they gave them a lot of land and gold (all magicians love power and money plus land equals power and the more they had, the more power. Seems ridiculous to me since gold is only some thing shiny, rare, but just shiny nothing special and land, you got millions of acres and it's just a place to live on also nothing too special about it) and they did kept the Huns at limit, but only for three years. With the emperor's daughter causing some attention and the death of the Frank king, there would naturally be chaos and war especially with marauders and barbarians.

Attila was marching fast with a vast army and the Romans needed to make one fast. I was one of the rushed spirits summoned only with five hundred others. But it was time that the Romans didn't have so when they marched to their allies, they only had a thousand men and five hundred spirits recruited. So the "great" Romans went to their "pitiful" allies for help! And they got the forces needed and by the time Attila reached Aurelianum, his rivals had an equal amount of men.

Now here I was in the midst of a great battle. After the last of the demi afrits from the Huns had fallen back, I decided to travel the skies and observe how much we were winning.

Since we got to the crater first with large numbers, it was easy to repel the massive Hun numbers and when that happened, the Huns fell back and sent the others back to the camp. And when it was that easy, there was going to be some chasing and slaughtering.

I decided not to join in the killing and relax as much as I could before the Huns reacted and pushed back again even though the majority of the Huns were mortal men.

I glided above the battlefield watching organized Romans take out easily the savage muddled Huns and some fat afrits disemboweled several mid level djinni. But what really interested me was the fourth level 1 djinni hat held the line by blasted our high level djinn to the ground powerfully. This might be the djinn bodyguard of the leader, Attila and was rumored to take out afrits single-handed 2 and had fifty battle-hardened spirits under his command and was invincible 3. Right now he just finished off a low level djinn and was about release a Spasm at a horla slashing at a tall lightly armored human Hun warrior brandishing a massive axe.

I dropped down as a huge eagle and just as the fourth level djinn was swallowing a Roman archer; I grabbed him by my talons and rushed up. The djinni was smart and changed into an elephant but I was Bartimaeus of Uruk and I had fought a thousand battles and won them all! A two-ton elephant wasn't going to stop me from dropping the guy two feet up, which I did.

He only dropped about half a metre when he changed into a demon crow and let loose a minor Inferno. I dodged it.

"You seem to be a spirit of great power," I said sarcastically about the pitiful Inferno as we circled each other.

He was a young one and did not understand sarcasm so he replied, "Of course I am! This is only my second master and they call me Afrit Killer,"

"I'm so surrrrrree that they call you that; why don't you prove it?" I wanted to get this annoying bug off my back 4. I pointed at a fourth level afrit, tearing up the tired line ofunnish men and djinn. "Try taking out that guy without any silver weapon and if you get luck killing it, you have to try it again. But wait! Not only do you prove your title but you do me a favor too 5,"

Head strong, he flew down to face the afrit and prove to me his unlikely title. Yes, this was going to be fun.

I was quite surprised at what he did to crush the afrit, which he did literately. Mr. Show Off flew down and then changed into the elephant again and smashed the afrit under a large foot. And just to be sure, he twisted his foot left and right. The Hun crowd cheered and the Romans looked grim. The djinni knew I was looking so just to show me off even more, he decided to kill another afrit. He swung the tusks at a third level afrit. It dodged the tusks easily, which is what the djinn wanted him to do. He let loose duel Detonations and to my shock, it blew the afrit right into dust. The battlefield was silent, save for the other wings of battle. I decided to take the chance and slip away from death; I knew that the djinni would come to gloat and eventually kill me.

1- I was astonished that it was still alive throughout all the battle; until my appearance, I was at the back shoved aside by every human and imp.

2- I highly doubted that when I first heard it that would later change

3- Well, not anymore. They were more like hardened by the large amounts of human blood spilled since there were only about a dozen left.

4- During this banter, he had been throwing Convulsions and Detonations left and right which was quite annoying since I just wanted to talk

5- The afrit kept bugging and bugging on how he was an afrit and I wasn't for the whole seven-day journey here; just because I said my title.

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Nero

After my meeting with the mysterious djinn who killed my second, the remaining dozen demi afrits (those who were left that I knew well were my favourite Lyra, Jacksoness who scored several kills and Amandonia) we came back to camp to defend for the Romans hadn't arrived there yet.

As we kept holding and retreating, I wondered about the djinni. Who was he and what was the weird voice he was using (silly me, I hadn't heard of sarcasm until the next master). He appeared to be a strong one with a long career; he had killed a high level djinn, a bunch of demi afrits and about a dozen human soldiers with silver items and was still ready for more. What was even more suspicious was that he had left and was nowhere to be found.

I was knocked out of my thoughts when an imp rapped on my helmet and started its report. There were only a hundred men here and about two dozen spirits, with only two afrits, seven djinn not including me and the rest imps or foliots. We were a few feet from the camp where loud noises came of panic as it prepared for the minor siege from the Romans and allies.

"Sir, the Ostrogoths have returned with two hundred men and fifty spirits where twenty five spirits and half of the men returned to camp, the rest staying here," it paused. "Now can I go back to camp?" (I worked the imp to his exhaustion just so he could return to camp). I was thinking of putting him up to more when I saw the faint figures of the horlas stumping their way up the hill. I waved the imp away and got ready for the large charge.

The beasts easily broke the weak wall of stoutly piled bricks. They had spears, iron spears. We all slowing backed up until be realized how many horlas there were, about a thousand. Some of the ones who were cowardly or this was their first major battle ran off and quite surprising, about forty-five point eight-six percent of the defense (that's quick math for you) were gone. Others lost morals and ran also back to the camp. The rest of us, men and spirits (mostly spirits) knew that this was suicide to hold. So we followed the cowards, leaving the piercing cries of laughter behind us.

---

Bartimaeus

The men were laughing their heads off 1 and djinni, afrits, alike; us spirits were scratching our heads wondering how stupid the Huns could get.

We created an Illusion! And the defendants 2 didn't even know! It was one of the easiest spells that magicians can whip up with barley any exhaustion, and yet, we fooled everyone!

After the men finished their gay joy 3 their focused and started toward the fortified camp, that is if you can call it that.

There were carts and wagons sealed up by Binds and about ten dozen of imps lined the "wall" watching for us. They easily saw the men, squealed and ran off to sound the alarm and it was huge. A Discharge 4 flew into the air, exploding when it was about a metre high making a strident sound, like a thousand bulls screaming at one time 5.

We ran up throwing spells at the cart making no effort, until a low level marid came out of nowhere and chucked duet Discharges at a rotting carriage and it made a huge explosion making a crater in the ground.

Now Attila is really going to get it.

1 Some imps were literally doing that and we had to clean up that up. What a waste of time

2 The Huns were originally the attackers; now it changed so quickly.

3 Back then, it meant happy, not the other meaning

4 It's a type of spell that only marids can conjure. It is a whitish colour can take out six mid level shielded djinni at the same time I had a master who tried to make a spell to protect himself from his enemies only to have him killed from exhaustion.

5 Trust me, it's loud.

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Nero

I was just resting up when the head marid that belongs to Attila's second in command sounded the alarm. I wearily got up and gathered my raggedy tired group of demi afrits. We went to the front "gate" (There was no gate; Attila had no plans to push forward with only twenty-five thousand troops left versus a lot more Roman infantry. But was really harsh was that all our cavalry was dead.)

Men were pouring in and they started to slowing push us back, but not without heavy casualties. Our line of men with silver spears held them steadily.

My team went into the fray with caution. Fortunately none of the Roman spirits had come so we just gobbled up the humans, recharging our energy like the other twenty djinni and five afrits at the gate. Abruptly, a low level, massive marid smashed through our binds and released a Discharge that atomized two, high level djinni and a low level afrit.

Jacksoness went all crazy at that sight and put all his energy into his wild Detonations as they flew blasting into every Roman spirit and man, mortally wounding or cremating them. He paused for a second and then sent about ten Hydrogen Blasts (must of taken a lot out of him) at the marid. It didn't have a shield erected so when it took nine Blasts, it was demolished (the tenth flew into a second level djinni and wounded her badly). All the Romans lost moral and backed up a little. Jacksoness, tired and hunched, turned to me with huge smile.

Out of the clouds, came the same djinni I met earlier with the voice, in roc form. I saw him aiming for Jacksoness and Jacksoness didn't see him. I shouted to him, but he was to full of pride and of content to hear me. I was too far away to get to him in time and I couldn't hit the roc since it went so fast. Besides, if Jacksoness even noticed in time, he would be too tired to fight back or get away. So I watched in horror, as the roc grabbed him by the armpits and threw him into the air. Then, his mouth opened one metre wide and he swallowed Jacksoness. The roc turned into a tiger.

By this point only Lyra and Amandonia of my group had survived. Lyra was being careful; she was taking cover by a wagon, the handle on one end on fire. She popped up when it was clear throwing a heavy item or a spell, every now and then she got a kill. Amandonia was a king cobra sinking her poisonous teeth into anything near her (including our own men) and the djinni noticed her threat. This time I attempted to warn her, but she was too engrossed to hear me; besides the djinni was going really fast that there was a sound following him. Amandonia managed to see the djinn but it was too late; she was already in his mouth.

Hastily, a dozen mid level afrits burned their way to where Lyra and I were and in half a minute, the only ones remaining were a few freaked out men with their wooden shields and silver tipped spears, Lyra and I in the burnt gate. The two of us slowly made our gradual, quiet retreat.

The same djinni followed me silently. I got separated from Lyra and was lost among the burnt tents, bodies and wood. I saw lots of activity half a kilometre away (Attila's camp was huge since it had to house tens of thousands, though I'm guessing there's only about ten thousand spirits and humans altogether) but between me was a scorched wasteland.

I was half way past the badlands when the djinni landed in front of me as a massive bat. I sighed. "You again,"

"Yeah me again," the djinn landed and was an Egyptian boy.

"Can you not leave me alone?"
"Apparently not,"

"Well then at least tell me your name so I know who I kill,"

"Bartima—wait a minute! Who said you have the ability kill me? I am Bartimaeus of Uruk! I am Sakhr al-Jinni, N'gorso the Mighty! I have won a thousand battles and won them all! So what makes you think you can kill someone that's been in a thousand battles?"

I ignored his titles (though it literally shook me a little and the Huns might hear the loud voice he used) and replied; "I've noticed you're only a fourth level, same as me so we're even. BUT, I have the ability to kill any afrit as you saw…"

"So what if you can kill any afrit, I have been at the Battle of Al-Arish where half a million utukku faced my small Egyptian army where I survived it and killed over a thousand of em' which I bet you can't,"

"Yeah well…"

Apparently, he thought the conversation was over and tossed me into a weak wooden tower. I looked up. I creaked a little, sounding like it would hold, but then the whole thing fell and I was buried painfully under it (there was some silver amulets in the tower). I tried digging myself out but then Bartimaeus threw a sturdy mobile on top of me. My essence broke through the remains of the tower and crushed the silver amulets. I yelped in terrible pain as Bartimaeus walked over to me.

"Well, well looks like the Afrit Killer has just been beaten by an 'only fourth level djinn'," I tried pushing the wagon up but the silver sapped my energy. I stopped.

"And look, here comes some iron arrows," He turned into an armadillo and took cover from a barrage of hundreds of iron arrows. One went straight through my left leg. I screamed in pain.

At the wrong timing, Lyra came after the arrows stopped and Bartimaeus turned back into the boy. She shouted to me a few metres away. "Nero!" It caught Bartimaeus' attention and he sent a Detonation at her. It caught her off guard and threw her quite a while away (like to where the remaining Huns were).

"Nero eh? Looks like Caesar named you after royalty… oh that's a good one…"

I watched in horror as he picked up several bodies with silver armor and he grabbed the copses by the legs and put them armor on left leg. He clapped his hands to clean them and he walked away.

So here I was, painfully with iron and silver with my form slowing changing into liquid. I had managed to slip out of the cart a little, now only my legs were stuck. But I didn't make any more progress then that.

Several hours later in dawn, Attila sent out imps to find any survivors and there was only one imp in each area. It was my unlucky day that the same imp I had worked to exhaustion had found me.

He came when the sun was at about seven o'clock searching obediently. I called him over hoping like all the other imps he forgot about the works I did to him. No such luck with me.

"Well looks like the great Nero, Afrit Killer is stuck under a woolden cartdm," said the imp with mock in high toddlerish voice.

"Just shut up and let me out of here,"

"No way, after what you did to me," (the imp was one of those spirits who enjoyed their service, even though I liked mine in Rome, not anymore).

"See you Nero,"

"IMP! LET ME OUT OF HERE," I said it loud enough to bust any human's eardrums. The imp just hummed and left searching for others.

"When I get out of here, you'll be in my stomach in a second!"

Which would be soon; Attila summoned me and I left in a blur of colours with a sigh of relief nearly, nearly forgetting about the imp.

When I came to, Attila was pacing his pentacle impatiently. When he saw me, his faced turned furiously and I braced myself,"

But he was calm, which I never expected (after this, I was careful even with imps). "I will dismiss you forever for you're failure."

I turned furious and cut him off. "FAILURE?! FAILURE! WHAT FAILURE. WHO WAS THE MASTERMIND FOR ALL YOU'RE "GREAT BATTLES" AND WHO WAS IT THAT SAVED YOU FIVE TIMES DURING THE BATTLES IN GAUL?" (I'll tell about this later, I'm on a roll) "ME! SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT DAMN FAILURE I DID IT'S PROBABLY YOU MESSING UP MY PLANS!"

He raised his voice. "Failure to win the most important battle in my life!"

"WHAT! First of all you created this dumb plan, not I and secondly, what's the failure? Sure you lost all your damn horses but we killed a lot of Romans! So…"

He rudely interrupted me and dismissed me for good.

I thought he was one of the worst masters ever. Though despite that, if it weren't for him, I would have never been known; he secretly made a book and said in it that I was the best there was and because of that, I got a lot of titles (but was always exhausted) and was feared because I had new titles : "Afrit Killer", "The Scourge of the Romans" (even though they brought me into the world) and "The Mind and Arm of Attila's Huns".

All right people, that's all please, review; would it torture you to say several words nonetheless good words or bad?