Chapter 10: The Escape

By Conception.Creation

Disclaimer: The Bartimaeus trilogy is property of Jonathan Stroud

A/N: Nari, thank you for both your reviews! It's great to have you reading my story, I'm glad you're excited about it. If only more people would review: (

Several cold-blooded cult members and one weepy British girl loomed in front of me. I took a discrete step back towards Kitty, who was still slumbering unaware in the sand. I wasn't sure what these blokes were up to, but I knew I had to get her out of there. A gloating smile plastered itself over the mountainous Samir's ugly mug. He lifted his weapon, pointing it straight at Ptolemy's head.

"Silver bullets," He said, "Move and your dead."

This seemed like a good time for diplomacy.

"Hey," I said affably, "Easy with that thing. I thought we had a deal here. We look for the magician, you leave us alone, remember?"

Samir sneered.

"Save your lies, demon. This little witch told us everything!"

Everything? What was he talking about? I looked over at Rebecca. As I understood it, there wasn't much to tell.

Rebecca stumbled forward and let out a woeful wail, which didn't really do much for my newborn respect for her. She started gibbering nearly incoherently.

"Bartimaeus, I am so sorry! It's not my fault, I couldn't help it! They hurt me, and I told them! I'm sorry!" She blubbered.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"About Kitty!" She wailed, "I told them about Kitty; that she's the magician!"

Uh oh, the stupid chit had blabbed about the Thracian djinni's incredible claim. That was unlikely to soothe the big, crazy man's bloodlust. But all was not necessarily lost.

"Err, that?" I said, "That's ridiculous, don't believe everything you hear. The spirit was obviously trying to make a distraction." It might have even been true. I had my suspicions, yes, but we djinn aren't really known for our honesty. This could all be one big misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, Samir seemed unconvinced.

"You made fools of us, convincing us that you were not a threat. If we hadn't come across this pathetic excuse for a magician–" Here he gestured towards Rebecca, who I admit, did look rather unimpressive in her tearful dishevelment, "–You would have returned to your evil, destructive ways. But now I know the truth! We shall destroy you!"

Samir pointed his weapon towards Kitty's prone form. I was not about to let the man shoot her, not after she had just managed to survive a close run in with a powerful spirit. I stepped in front of her, arms crossed. I did my best to look intimidating.

"You think I shall have any difficultly destroying you, djinni?" The large man laughed, "These bullets will pierce through your essence with ease. And after you are dead, I shall kill the girl too!"

For a moment, I was certain I was about to die. I braced myself for the inevitable gunshots and subsequent pain. But nothing happened. Samir was looking over my shoulder, eyes fixated on something behind me. I turned around slowly, pretty sure that I wasn't going to like what I saw.

It was Kitty herself that was the centre of attention. A strange, iridescent glow was radiating off her skin almost, but not quite, like an aura. She twitched and writhed in her sleep, as though she was trying to escape from her own flesh. The light emanating from her body seemed to pulse and intensify and take on a life of its own. It stretched and squeezed itself out from her pores, gathering around her. Kitty's own aura spun with a million dazzling colours. Strange energies poured from her body and sizzled outwards, raising the hairs on my arms and crackling in the hot air around us.

I watched with horrified fascination as the light finally extricated itself from Kitty's body and coalesced above her head. As it took a solid shape, it was now obvious what it was.

A tiny imp had formed from the pulsating light. Fresh from the Other Place, it had somehow used Kitty's body as a conduit to Earth, pushing itself out of her very skin. Right in front of Samir and his posse, too. The imp took a moment to get its bearings, then burst into action, hurtling itself towards the biggest target in the area…Samir.

The imp sailed towards the man, claws extended. It gave a hideous screech, jaws gaping wide…Then Rat-tat-tat! The sound of a firing weapon. The imp was obliterated by a flock of silver-coated bullets that punctured its essence with a burning cold that I could feel all the way over from where I stood. The imp's life-essence dispersed with a faint pop. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Kitty as she jumped a foot in the air, finally woken by the commotion.

I looked at Kitty. I looked at Samir. This was not good.

Samir aimed his weapon at Kitty. His latest brush with the supernatural hadn't fazed him in the least. Kitty, for her part, looked utterly dazed. Her aura was churning again, like it had done back at Birket Siwa when she'd had her bizarre nightmare.

"What's going on here?" Asked Kitty faintly. The poor girl looked terribly pale and worn out, whether from her injury or from her recent stint as a channel to another realm, I can not say.

Samir was all compassion.

"I was just about to kill you." He said.

Kitty's eyes widened in alarm.

"But I thought–"

"You thought we'd come to an arrangement? Why yes, we did. And you delivered, in a way. Thank you for bringing me the magician responsible." He grinned humorlessly.

Kitty's questioning eyes landed on me, looking for some kind of explanation.

"Erm, what Samir's trying to say is that I was right, you're the magician we've been looking for." I said, "You've been acting as some kind of portal to the Other Place as you sleep. Piper over there ratted you out."

Rebecca hung her head. A myriad of Kitty's volatile expressions danced over her face as she tried to wrap her head around the situation she had awoken to. Samir interrupted her contemplation.

"So if you're up to speed now, I'll be taking you back with me. Werfel will be most interested to hear of this new development. I didn't know a portal between worlds was possible."

It was time to go.I moved fast, mindful of Samir's silver-loaded weapon. As I hurtled towards Kitty I sent off a dazzling Illumination. I closed my eyes as the white hot light burst from my fingertips. While everyone was blinking the stars from their eyes I wrapped my arms tightly around Kitty and zoomed away over the desert sand, zigzagging to avoid Samir's furious bullets, shot blindly in a wide circle around him. He was lucky he didn't hit any of his companions.

Kitty screeched in pain, but it was no use worrying about her ribs now. If I didn't get us away she'd have more to worry about then a punctured lung.

"After them!" Called Samir, apparently recovering. I heard the roar of the ignition of the 4x4 behind me. The vehicle shot over the smooth sandy ground in hot pursuit of us. Samir and Co. leaned out the windows, firing away at the flying boy and the shrieking girl that he carried.

Modern technology was no match for this djinni, however. I was outpacing them, nearly reaching the narrow gap in the crop of boulders that marked the exit of the valley we'd been trapped in. The sound of gunshots faded into the distance as I flew on towards it.

But something was wrong. I could sense some kind of presence ahead of us. I sifted through the planes, looking for the source of the disturbance. Oh no.

Our spirit friends had chosen this moment to regroup. There seemed to be more now than ever, though their true number was hidden by a hazy black concealment that was just now beginning to fade away. I heard Kitty gulp as the leering spirits became visible on the plane she had access to.

I dropped to the ground and released Kitty. She doubled over, clutching her chest and hissing in pain. There was no way she would be able to fight her way out of this.

Behind us the sound of gunfire was drawing closer. Samir and his buddies were catching up. We had nowhere to turn to.

Kitty placed a hand on my shoulder. Her eyes were dark and serious.

"Bartimaeus," Kitty said, speaking slowly, "There's no way out, and I can barely move as it is. But you… you don't have to die here. You can escape to the Other Place."

I glared at her.

"Not you too!" I said. Why does everyone I care about end up giving up their lives for me? I couldn't bear any more of that kind of pain. And to be perfectly honest, I had the feeling that Kitty's death would be the most painful of them all.

"Please, Bartimaeus." Kitty pleaded, "We haven't got much time. There's nothing you can do here. If you go at least one of us can live on." She gave a sad smile.

"No!" I cried, pulling away from her, "I've had enough of this 'Let's sacrifice ourselves for Bartimaeus' fad. You set me free; you can't force me to go if I refuse. If you go down, I'm going down too."

Tears gathered in the corners of Kitty's eyes.

"I don't want you to die," She whispered.

"And I don't want you to die," I answered earnestly, "But Kitty, death right now beside you is better by far then spending the next five hundred years wondering if I could have saved you. Trust me, I know from experience."

Kitty's smile was wobbly. She took my hand gently in her own.

"We die together then?"

"Together." I repeated.

The crowd of spirits drew towards us. Sticky drool dripped from a dozen hungry jaws. Narrow eyes glimmered in anticipation. I clutched Kitty's hand tightly. So this was how it was going to end, then? After five thousand years? Suddenly Kitty straightened up, her voice urgent.

"Bartimaeus, I'm the one who summoned these spirits here, yes?"

I grimaced.

"Pretty much. I'm eternally grateful for that, by the way."

Kitty frowned in concentration, her eyes never leaving the motley horde of creatures loping towards us.

"Maybe we don't have to die today," She said.

Before I could ponder her statement, she stepped out to meet the advancing spirits. Her posture changed, she stood taller. Behind us the 4x4 pulled up. I didn't even care about them at this point. Getting shot was hardly as upsetting as being swallowed by a ravenous djinni.

"Spirits!" Kitty shouted, "I have a charge for you!"

Some of the entities in the front ranks slowed their advance. Kitty continued, encouraged.

"I command you to attack the men in that vehicle," Kitty called, pointing towards Samir and his men.

The spirits sped up, rushing past us and falling upon the men. They cried out in surprise, letting loose a burst of gunfire. A few spirits fell, crumbling away into ashes after being pumped with silver. Then utter chaos. The spirits ripped into the vehicle. Bullets, twisted pieces of metal from the 4x4, and even a limb or two went sailing through the sky.

"Clever," I said, pulling Kitty to me once again and springing into the air.

"Where are you going?" Kitty asked, arms wrapped tightly around my waist. I was flying in the wrong direction, back towards the boulders where we had first been ambushed.

"We've left something behind," I said, turning round a bend. The forlorn figure of Rebecca Piper came into view. Samir had abandoned her when we had tried to make our escape.

I swooped down, using my free hand to grab Rebecca by the collar of her shirt. She gave a surprised yelp before realizing who it was that had abducted her.

With both girls firmly in hand I swung back around, rocketing out of the valley back towards Siwa, leaving the cacophony of feral roars and gunfire far behind us.