Author Note,
Well, I have decided to try and make all my chapters long now. Nearly 2000 words each or so, try to give the story more substance. I have been keeping this story mellow for enough chapters I think; I am getting ready to kick it into over-drive. Action, battle, and finally... the climax. Do not get me wrong, I am not even a quarter way through the story, but in the next couple chapters it is going to begin picking up some pace.
Joeylejoker
Bartimaeus
The moment lived up to my expectations. The fact that all of Natty-Boy's little squad of terror now knew his birth name was too funny to bear. I watched as Nathaniel told the group to go train a bit at the north side of camp, with the exception of Faquarl whom he told to find 4 tobacco cans. After all the other spirits aside from me had left, Nathaniel sighed and looked at me. At that moment a little blue imp flew into the hut before he could say anything, as the imp rested on Nathaniel's shoulder, I flipped through the planes to get a better look at him. He was a fairly skinny little blue imp with lots of shaggy hair... boring. Suddenly, the imp left the tent, leaving Nathaniel smiling with delight. "If you are going to get the rosemary ready, please do not throw it at me. I am sure it is perfectly fine." I pleaded. He shook his head, "plenty of time to do that later. Right now, there is some business to attend to."
On that last note, he walked towards the door, opened it, and walked out. I trailed behind him in the form of Ptolemy, looking around carefully for any signs of danger. "Bartimaeus, if you are wondering where we are going, we are going to Dorchester bay." He waited for me to take the bait, however I remained silent. With a sigh he continued, "You see, the imp that came in, told me that Whitwell and her group of magicians are arriving, with the staff!" He looked at me expectantly. I did not give in so easily. "Well, stop talking, and let's go." I told him.
We walked through the tent, boy and Djinni. On the way to Dorchester bay, along the way, we noticed how we were not the only ones eager to see the staff. Throughout camp it had seemed as if half the magicians had come out to greet Whitwell and her reinforcements. As we neared the edge of the wall of huts, we could see Dorchester bay more clearly. A large metal and wood ship was just about 150 meters away from shore, just about to land. A large group had already gathered along the shore, made up mostly of magicians, with imps and Djinni ready at their shoulders. Nathaniel and I skipped (1) down a little incline, and onto the beach of the bay. As we cut our way through the crowd, numerous people yelled and told us to get out of the way. However, noticing it was Mr. Mean big bad Mandrake, they all shrank back. We worked our way slowly to the front to see Mortensen waiting for us. "Ahh, John, it is good that you have arrived. I knew it was a good idea to send the imp."
Nathaniel and I didn't really listen to him, or greet him for that matter. Yet he didn't seem to care, we were all occupied with the excitement of Whitwell's ship landing. I looked up at the deck of the ship, for a moment I thought I saw a flash of white hair and frail skin; no doubt Whitwell.
The ship landed, and immediately some Foliots ran to tie it up. After the ship was secured, a plank was lowered. Four Magicians and their Djinni came down the plank first, ordering their Djinni to clear some of the crowd away so there was a little clearing. Then down strode Jessica Whitwell, with Shubit, her Djinni, in cat form behind her carrying the staff in his mouth. Carl Mortensen made first interaction, "Ahh, Jessica! I welcome you to America." She looked at him, a bored but fierce look in her eyes, "Hello Mortensen." She turned her head, and saw Nathaniel and me. Her smile brightened, oh no; if she was anything like her apprentice, that meant trouble.
"Hello John."
Hello Jessica."
"I see you have the Djinni who helped you with the golem incident here." She said, gesturing to me. I decided to answer, instead of letting Nathaniel do so.
"Ello captain, Bartimaeus at your service. What do you want me to do, scrub the poop deck!" I swear I saw a thin smile appear across her lips, but it faded so quickly I knew it must not have been real. "Hello Bartimaeus." She said. Then snapping her fingers, she yelled, "Shubit!" The cat changed form into a business man, staff in hand; he handed it Whitwell. Taking it, she pointed it out over the crowed for dramatic effect, and said, "At first, I thought that I should wield the staff. After all, I am probably the strongest magician in our great empire. However, Devereaux thinks otherwise, he believes that the staff should go to our wonderful information minister. Of course, I cannot fight Devereaux, so..." She held the staff out to Nathaniel, "...I present to you, Gladstone's staff."
The look on Natty-Boy's face was to perfect, I thought he was ready to die for a second. He looked as if he could be stabbed a trillion times, and he would not care. As if he wanted to marry the staff (2). I broke his moment with ease, "Well, there doesn't seem to be a good bucket of water around here, but there is Dorchester bay. You of all people know I do have the nerve, eh Nathaniel?" His smile faded until he did not look quite so euphoric, he turned to me and whispered in my ear, "and there is a nice can of rosemary down in the bay, Bartimaeus, and you of all people know that I have the nerve (3). "Touché," I replied.
After the crowds faded, Nathaniel sent me to the training part of camp to meet up with the rest of his crew to train a bit. It is not that we needed training; it was just that sometimes we get a bit rusty, which is not good when your life depends on your performance in battle. I walked to the north side of camp, where the training area was. Essentially, a fence had been put up around 20 acres of grassy land, which had tons of large rocks, trees, hills, and other obstacles around it. At the entrance a big sign had been put up which said, "No Killing." At that moment, Faquarl exited through the gate. "Hello Bartimaeus, are you getting ready to train?"
In some ways, I liked being on the same team as Faquarl. We might hate each other, but we work well together. "Oh no, I am just standing around admiring this sign. Guess what; apparently it is not ok to kill." He gave a quick laugh, before turning into a roc and flying back into the training camp. Tearing my gaze away from the sign, I saw a large battle of about 40 spirits taking place in the area.
Every spirit was either blue or red, probably to symbolize their team. I looked around and saw Rekoj el Yeoj in his Italian commander guise, the commander wore blue. At the moment, he was duelling 5 Djinni. He was flipping through the air, every single detonation fired at him missing. Finally, he landed on a big rock, and rapidly fired 3 detonations at the Djinni. All three detonations met their mark. Then, jumping off the rock to avoid an inferno, the 2 last Djinni circled around him, one on each side. Finally, one of them fired a detonation, he dodged it easily. It spiralled over his crouched body, and into the other Djinni blowing the Djinni backwards. With one swift movement, Rekoj dodged another detonation and sent a deadly inferno at the last Djinni. It hit its mark, knocking the Djinni to the ground. Rekoj stood up straight, as if adjusting his posture, dusted himself off, then walked towards the gate where the 5 Djinni were recovering from their defeat.
Noticing me, he smiled,
"Hello Bartimaeus."
"Hi. Nice job there, 5 Djinni is, uh... good."
"2 Marids are harder."
"I will take your word for it."
With that, I changed into a blue gargoyle, and jumped into the fray. Arms swinging, claws, flashing, teeth snapping, wings trailing behind, I landed in the middle of the battle. Then dodging an attack, sent an inferno at the closest red sprit, he was a confused little foliot. Next minute, there were 3 greater Djinni trailing after me, I jumped, flew, and ran around the course (4). Eventually, they cornered me in the far side of the course, oh damn it. I knew I would not die, this was just practice. But, nevertheless, it would still hurt like hell. An inferno flew over my head, I narrowly missed it. Spinning around, I saw another Djinni about to shoot a detonation, when a spirit rammed into him. I flicked through the planes, and rolled my eyes, it was Faquarl. Well! Like I said, he and I work well together. I jumped into the quick little skirmish, Faquarl was in the form of a chef, jumping and ducking out of the paths of detonations. I went back to back with him, shooting detonations and dodging infernos. It was a good system; both of us took a Djinni to fight. I was circling with a Djinni whom was in the form of a lion, while Faquarl was exchanging magical attacks with a Djinni in the form of a jackal (5). The lion sprang; I rolled over as he fell to the ground where I had just been. Seizing the opportunity, I quickly I sent a strong inferno at him. It worked perfectly, he had fallen. At that moment I ran up to help Faquarl, he had been knocked to the ground where he was about to get a nice inferno. I considered leaving him for a moment, but then remembered; right now we were on the same team. I tackled the jackal; he flung me off, while Faquarl hit him with a detonation. We were closing in on him, when suddenly a hulking Afrit in the form of a roc landed beside us, whacking me 10 feet into the air and onto the ground. I rolled over and watched Faquarl dodge and inferno. Suddenly, there was a flash of blue and white, the Afrit was no longer there, instead, I looked around and saw the roc pinned to the ground by a smiling Rekoj el yeoj. The roc was just about to send a detonation up Rekoj's chest, when Rekoj flipped over the roc onto his other side. The detonation flew out into the air, as Rekoj kicked the roc onto its stomach, and put his boot on him. He then yelled out, "Rosso squadra! Il tuo ultimo Afrit è caduto prima di me, Rekoj el yeoj. La rinuncia, come la vostra lotta è ormai perduto!" Which in Italian, I knew meant, "Red team! Your last Afrit has fallen before me, Rekoj el yeoj. Surrender, as your fight is now lost." With that, he drove an inferno up the roc's spine. Turned to Faquarl and me, and winked, before walking towards the exit. Faquarl shared my astonishment, he, was good.
We trained for only an hour after that, an imp had arrived and told us that Natty-Boy wanted us back at his hut soon. We flew back with Rekoj and the rest of the group, Rekoj instructed us to be falcons. He was quite the control freak (6).
I had an idea of what we were doing when we landed in the clearing beside our master's hut (7). We walked up to the hut and entered, just what I had expected. The desk which contained ingredients has been moved into Nathaniel's pentacle; on top of it were 4 tobacco cans. Seeing us, he smiled. "Bartimaeus go inside your pentacle and shut up for the next few minutes, the rest of you, listen. I have bound you all to different tobacco cans filled with rosemary. Soon, they will be at the bottom of Dorchester bay. Here is the deal; the spell is set to confine you in them for all eternity in 3 months, unless I release it. You will all do what I say, and never let my true name be known to any being, and item..." He listed all the different things we could have done to let people know of his true name like usual, he was not very creative. I mean, come on! The same stupid stunt again? He could have at least made a slight change... a can made of silver for example. "-and to not store the name in a cup, jar, or any type of container." The whole group nodded; for once I thought his face had turned less pale... At that moment a large bang sounded. We all jumped at it, yet I was the first to run out of the hut and look for the source of the noise. I couldn't see anything past the wall of huts, so turning into a bird; I flew onto the top of Nathaniel's hut for a better view. Oh crap... at the west side of camp, I could see an army marching towards us. Foliots, Djinni, Afrits, and even a couple Marids were flying around in the air; human soldiers marching on foot. At the head of the group was a purple cloaked figure, wielding a staff made out of mahogany (8). The rest of my group, including Nathaniel ran out of the hut. "What is happening?" He yelled. I told him what I saw, I heard him swear under his breath. "Right, it looks like our first attack is coming."
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(1) Not actually skipped, just a brisk, delightful trot. Just pointing this out, because you all know... shout it as if it was the main line of some new hit song. And you were at that songs concert. 1, 2, 3, Humans are thick!!
(2) Which I am sure he did, mind you.
(3) I had to hand it to Nathaniel on this one; he was becoming as devious as me.
(4) It was a very well created scenario of what normal battles were like with me.
(5) Probably one of Jabor's old friends.
(6) Technically, Nathaniel is the control freak.
(7) Ahh, see? You want me to tell you, however I am going to leave that issue hanging to annoy you. After all, you can wait a couple more sentences, eh? If you couldn't, I would see a therapist about that if I were you.
(8) Do not ask me how I know this, I have served many places. Including, crafting guilds. Trust me, I know my wood.
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If you like my story... or even if you do not like it. Please check out "Through the fire and flames" by Allendra. It is a sequel to "just what i needed"
Hey guys, this chapter seems a bit rushed I know, but please think well of it. This is my longest chapter yet; I am trying to get into the habit of making longer chapters. That way, the story might have more substance. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It may be rushed, but it has been thought out I assure you.
Cheers,
Joeylejoker
