Prologue

"Once more, come on, that's a girl, one more push…"

The laboring mother gave a final cry of anguish and pushed with all her might.

"There you go, here she is, your baby girl…oh my…" The doctor's cheerful voice turned worried.

The exhausted new mother didn't here him, but her sister did.

"What? What is it doctor?" she asked hurriedly.

The doctor was holding the silent baby girl up, she wasn't breathing. Then he turned her upside down and smacked her bottom. He did this again and again, then, just when they were losing hope, the child found her voice and her first cries rang out into the night. A mutual sigh of relief washed over the people in the hospital room. The doctor then took the little girl over to a small bath of warm water and bathed the child of the mothers blood and tied the umbilical cord in a knot. The exhausted mother then caught her breath and started asking for her baby. He dried the child off and held her up to the candle light. They were lucky the night was warm, it was the end of summer and fall would be creeping on soon. But there was so many thing about this child that chilled the man who held her. Even by the candle light, despite the fact that she was breathing and had had a warm bath the girl was still deathly pale but appeared to be in perfect health. She also had a full head of silky soft crimson hair, not only was she not supposed to have all that hair but her mother's hair was deep black and that made it even stranger. What chilled him the most however was the child's eyes. They were large and a deep lavender color when only moments before they had been green. This was not a normal baby. He decided however to ignore it for now, the mother was human, maybe his imagination was playing with his mind. "Did you write down the date of birth?" he asked the child's aunt.

"Yes, the last full moon of summer, 1375. Place, Cairo, Egypt."

"Very good, all looks well here." He said to her and then he walked back to the mother's bedside. "Here's your daughter." He handed the baby to the mother so she could hold her for the first time. She cuddled to the little girl warmly and cooed.

"My Emesta."

"Is this the child's name?" Her sister asked.

"It is…Emesta." She replied, lost in her baby's smile.

The aunt glanced at the doctor and then back at her sister.

"Iris, I must ask you, who shall we put down as the father?"

Iris smiled serenely at her sister's worried face and replied softly. "Kechtaba."

Both Sister and Doctor were taken aback in shock. "The Chief of the palace guard?"

Iris nodded.

The doctor was a kind man who loved Iris's sister very much, he knew word of this could never leak.

He took Iris's sister aside. "Mistra, your sister and her child must leave this place, if the council find out your sister fell pregnant to an Afrit they'll kill her and destroy the baby."

Mistra's eyes filled with tears. "I know, it's what I feared."

"Wait and lay low until she's fit for travel, then sneak them out of the city, I'll follow when it's safe."

Mistra nodded and went back to her sisters' side where she tried to wake her. He turned to look out the window, thinking over his hurried plan when he heard Mistra's cry of anguish. He turned to see her knelt down by her sisters bed in tears.

He moved to them quickly. Iris lay there with the same serene look on her face, her baby held in her arms. The baby was quiet, gazing at her mother with an unusually serious look on her tiny face. Iris was dead.

Prague, 1812, 437 years later

I watched from the shadows I had just hidden myself in, I was out of breath from running and my hair was falling in my eyes. I pushed it back with the sweat on my brow and waited. I didn't have to wait long. The wolf came into the small square and stopped. I was hidden up on a ledge between two houses, in the dark. The wolf turned around and sniffed the air in a few directions then stopped when he was facing me.

"I know you're up there." He said.

"Fair enough, but you haven't caught me just yet." I replied.

"Oh, I will."

I ran off again, jumping down off the ledge and down a small alley way behind the houses. Then I rounded and corner and hit a dead end. I let out a few choice swear words.

"Now that's not very nice language for a lady, now is it Em."

I turned to see that the wolf blocked my escape. I gave in and slid to the ground out of breath. "Alright, you win"

"Of course I did, I do every time." He said as he came up to where I sat.

"Not every time." I protested.

"Sorry Em, but it's every time." He replied then started licking my face.

"Ewww, get off will you, that's gross, yuck! Dog breath." I squirmed under the wolfs bulk.

Then the wolf vanished to be replaced by a boy with dark skin and black hair. "Alright, no more wolf then." He said, and proceeded to continue licking my face and neck.

I laughed and pushed at him playfully, this act used to disgust me, but I had gotten used to it and I didn't mind. I admit I actually enjoyed it. But it was still part of our game for me to pretend to protest.

"Bartimaeus! It tickles, stop."

But I was laughing too much to sound serious about making him stop.

Then he did stop and his face looked pained. He hunched over on hands and knees groaned. I knew why.

"Don't fight it, just go, it hurts when you fight it." I pleaded.

He looked at me and his eyes showed his regret.

"It's ok, just go see that magician and then we can play later."

He nodded and vanished. I sighed and knew I'd be due back at the palace soon anyway, I went in search of water so I could wash Bartimaeus's saliva off me, I didn't mind the game, but it was still gross.

"Look Emesta, we know you're pretty, you don't have to be so vain about it."

I looked away from the water I'd been staring at and frowned at her comment.

"That wasn't very nice." I said.

She shrugged. "Neither is staring at yourself all day, we have work to do, come on Emesta."

I sighed and glanced once more at my reflection before moving away. It was not vanity that compelled me to gaze at my reflection so often, but regret. At the age of eighteen I had simply stopped growing and 429 years on I didn't look a day older. I used to wonder why, but I don't anymore, there's no point. I never knew my parents, I was raised by my aunt and uncle until they died, then I raised myself. I remember asking about them once, but my aunt said she'd tell me later and never did. I wasn't the only one to notice my lack of aging, so it was that I constantly had to go from place to place to hide my secret. A vagabond with no home, no friends and no answers.

Now I'm in Prague, I work in the palace, I stand by and look pretty for his majesty when he's bored. It's not so bad and I even made a friend here.

He came in with one of the Emperor's magicians though he wore the guise of a guard, I could see him for what he really was. I wasn't sure why, I've always been able to see the difference between humans and the magical entities they summon. When they both came to a halt in front of the emperor he was only about a meter away from me. He made a show of bowing floridly, mocking his master and then his true form persisted to make rude signs and gestures that the others couldn't see. I couldn't help but start to laugh and quickly muffled it with my hand. He turned and gazed at me with genuine surprise when he realized I'd been able to see his antics and I felt him searching the planes while probing into me for answers. His eyes widened for a moment and then he grinned and winked at me. I didn't know why. Then I found out his name.

"Bartimaeus!" The magician said sharply and Bartimaeus rolled his eyes and turned to face his master. I smiled and stored away what I had learned for future reference.