Hey everyone!

I really wanted to do this chapter from Barty's view, but when I wrote the first paragraph it just sucked. So I decided to do the smart thing, and take it from the view of Rekoj. Sorry this is late, I had some trouble deciding where I would take the story from here, it's hard to write when you do not know where you are exactly going, you end up just typing out a whole load of nonsense. So, that is pretty much what this chapter is, a whole load of nonsense. Hopefully it will set up the next chapter to come quicker, and to be better.

joeylejoker

Rekoj El Yeoj

A wet branch wacked me in the face, my pace did not falter though. I continued swiftly sprinting through the forest, moving too fast for my feet to make much noise on the damp leaves which littered the ground.

I looked up to make sure I was going in the right direction, and sure enough through all the wet leaves which hung in the tree tops, hiding the sun from the forest below. I could make out the mountain. My destination.

I quickened my pace, the faster I got there the better.

Ok, so most of you might think, 'why is he trying to get Nathaniel? He should want his master to die, so he can go back to the other place...'

Well, you are all wrong. I will not give up a battle, or hold back when my comrades are in danger. May not be what most spirits would do, but since when do I care? Obviously, I am not a normal spirit. I have a certain level of will power greater than any other Afrit or Marid...

I burst through a few trees and into a clearing. Took another glance up at the mountain and frowned. There was movement up there, and... A glint of silver caught my eye. I did not have to check, I knew what it was. We had used silver guillotines in the days of Rome.

I had to delay the execution a bit longer, and then maybe I would have enough time to get to the peak. I fired as powerful a detonation as I could muster. It hit the side of the mountain, right near the top and the guillotine.

Not paying much attention to the growing amount of faces looking down on me. I quickly turned into a roc, and started ascending to the peak.

I flew the height of the mountain in seconds, and once at the top, took the crowd by surprise. While they were still stunned at my sudden appearance, I sent infernos at the guards around Bartimaeus, Nathaniel, Faquarl, and Ascobal. The guards were immediately burned to crisp, and their enchantments were broken.

"Quickly, Quickly!" I urged.

Faquarl turned into a gargoyle, and jumped off the cliff. I watched as he started to fly away from the mountain, "come on!" He yelled back at our group. But the rest of the group did not hear, we had already been engaged in combat.

Bartimaeus had a shield put up around him and Nathaniel as he fired detonations into the crowd of Djinni. Negabor and Ascobal were duelling multiple spirits, and I fought what appeared to be the only two Afrits present.

They were not hard. The first one who jumped on me I flung off the cliff, and incinerated with an inferno. The next one came up from behind, but was struck by one of the detonations that Bartimaeus was shooting randomly. He fell to the ground, and I quickly sprang; sending 4 detonations ramming into him, he exploded into grey dust.

I surveyed the top of the mountain; Faquarl had flown back and was massacring a group of Foliots. Negabor and Ascobal were still dodging attacks shot by many Djinni, and the shield Bartimaeus had put up had been destroyed. I put up a fresh, stronger one around them, and started picking off the Djinni who were firing on Negabor and Ascobal.

However, I noticed 2 spirits holding back from the battle; lingering around the guillotine. Before I could give them much thought, Faquarl ran towards them. He had finished with the Foliots. However, 5 meters away he stopped. Staring at them, he continued towards them, walking now.

I turned my attention back to Negabor and Ascobal, they had finished with the Djinni and were striding forward towards Faquarl and the 2 spirits by the guillotine. Bartimaeus and Nathaniel had also finished their battle, and were walking towards the guillotine.

I surveyed the top of the mountain, and it was only then that I noticed a magician leaning forward on his staff near the guillotine as well. He was the same one from the battle. He did not attack though, he simply watched as our group gathered around the 2 spirits.

I walked towards them as well, "who are they?" I asked. No one bothered answering, instead Bartimaeus spoke. "Impossible," he muttered silently, staring intently at the 2 spirits.

"Who are they?" I asked again, not as nice as before.

"Old friends," Bartimaeus answered simply.

"No, I mean who are they reall-"

"He is Jabor," Bartimaeus interrupted, gesturing at one of the Djinni. "And she is Queezle." He said softly, looking at the other Djinni.

"But how, you are both supposed to be dead."

"We are," said Queezle.

Before anything else could be said, a laugh echoed across the mountain peak. It took me a second to realize it was coming from the magician, "reunited at last I see." He glanced around at all of us, still smiling. "However, I am sorry to say that your reunion might not last so long."

None of us spoke; we all just continued to stare. "Oh go on," he urged, "you were speaking a moment ago. Which means you're not retarded, or a mute." He surveyed us again, "well... the boy might be, he doesn't look too bright." He smirked at Nathaniel.

None of us even snickered; however I think I noticed Bartimaeus working really hard to keep from bursting out laughing. He sighed; "well I guess there is nothing to do now but..." he trailed off, staring out into space.

He kept on staring, until finally – after a few minutes – he stopped. Instead, the silence that had taken place was broken. He had started to laugh. It started as a little giggle, but grew louder and louder until he was laughing crazily like a maniac. We all just watched him; our reaction was not surprised however. I guess most of us had seen stranger things in all our years of service.

His laughing stopped abruptly, "ahh yes, where was I? Oh yes, now I remember!" He raised his staff.

Finally, our code of silence was broken... "WAIT!" Nathaniel cried. The magician's eyes narrowed and he lowered the staff a few inches. "Yes?"

"I still do not get what is going on here? You take us prisoners instead of killing us, your bring us back here to kill us instead... we run into two random Djinni who tell us that their dead," he gestured to Queezle and Jabor, "yet nothing is explained!"

The magician was quiet for a minute, "you know... I think I was right, you really are not too bright."

Nathaniel just scowled at him.

"Well then, I guess I might as well point out the obvious. Where you are now, is one of the most powerful places in the worlds of both Djinni and Men. You are in the realm of the dead; we want to kill you so that you will join us. However, rather than kill you in battle, we think a ceremony is more civilized." He stopped, to see if we were following.

"What we plan to do after you are all good and dead is well... it varies. You, young boy will be sent to the mines far under this mountain. There, you will join the rest of your race. You three," He gestured at Bartimaeus, Faquarl, Negabor, Ascobal, and I. "Will join our ranks, the wonderful spirits who control the realm of the dead!"

"I have a few questions about this," I interjected.

"Number one, you are not a spirit."

He stared off into space again, and quickly his face turned euphoric again, and his voice changed. It was high, and cackling, like the voice of a witch, "Ohhhhhhhh, that's a difficult little matter!" The magician screeched, he jumped around a bit, and did a flip. "You see, I am a spirit and at the same time am not! Hehehehe!"

We all seemed to take a small step back, "explain." I said sternly. His mood swings were getting annoying.

His smile suddenly faded, and he came to a stop. "Do you know of the spirit, Ramuthra?" He asked, his voice suddenly normal again. Most of us nodded, except for Ascobal and Negabor. "He is one of the most powerful spirits, above the strength of the marids." The magician explained, "where ever he walks, the planes bend, and reality goes into havoc. One time, when I crossed paths with Ramuthra, the spirit who was accompanying me and I had our souls combined into one. After that, he attacked us with balls of fire. Our Souls –"

He suddenly cut off, and started staring off into space. He suddenly turned his attention back to us smiling with that crazy look in his eye that he got just before he went totally insane. His voice once again went high, and cackling. "Our souls crossed into the realm of the dead, bound together for eternity!"

The magician raised the staff to us, "see you in the mountain." He said with a smile.

Suddenly, his head jerked to the right. "Get out of my head!" He screamed, his voice was normal all of the sudden. "Haha, yes... struggle little human!" The other voice cackled. "Shut up!" The normal voice screamed again.

Both the spirit and human kept battling back and forth, "I think this might be a good time to go." I whispered to the rest of the Djinni, they all nodded. Except for Bartimaeus, he was staring at Queezle who was staring back at him.

"Now!" I shouted.

Immediately, the whole lot of us flew up into the air, except for Bartimaeus and therefore Nathaniel. "Bartimaeus, come!" I shouted, sending a detonation as reminder into the ground beside him. He jumped back to reality, and looking around his surroundings realized what was happening.

"Oh." He said simply, as he sprung into the air, holding Nathaniel around the waist. However he was looking back over his shoulder, watching Queezle. She was on the verge of tears. "Bartimaeus!" She whispered, her hand reaching out as if she could try and pull him back. Bartimaeus had no tears in his eyes; however his sorrow was not well hidden.

He hung his head, hiding his eyes. He remained that way until we were about 100 meters from the plateau. "We have to go back." He stated. We all looked at him, shocked. "Why?" I asked. We hovered in this air, staring intently at him.

"We cannot leave Queezle, plus what about the British army?" It was obvious he was more interested in Queezle, and that the army was just an excuse to go back. "Plus, Mortensen and Whitwell are also being held there." He said to Nathaniel.

"Bartimaeus," I said sternly, "Queezle is dead, she cannot leave the realm. The British army has probably already been killed, and it is not like we have a chance of fighting off a whole legion of dead spirits."

Bartimaeus was silent, all of us were. When finally Nathaniel broke the silence, "we have to go back." He said simply. "Are you insane?" I yelled, "I have just rescued you guys from having your heads chopped off there."

"Rekoj el Yeoj, it is the realm of the dead we are talking about here. How can we possibly, just walk away? Think about how the world would be if we could interact with the dead! Plus, Whitwell and Mortensen might still be alive in there." I could see that my argument was nearly finished; I could see one of the real reasons why Nathaniel wanted to go back.

It was a powerful reason which could get a magician to do just about anything, it was glory. If he made contact with the world of the dead, the fame would be incredible on his behalf. Just looking at him, I could see he was day dreaming about what it would be like; for the world of the dead and the living to be able to interact, and because of him.

"Nathaniel," I said softly, "It's not worth it. Why do you think the world of the dead has not made contact with us?" My question was rhetorical, but I still paused. "It is not meant to be, and the chance that you could shape the world in such a drastic way is near impossible."

His smile faltered, and he looked at me, "so you admit there is a chance." He said, before I could say anything he continued, "in that case, we are definitely going back."

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Hey everyone, seems I kind of am forming the rest of the story in my mind. A couple nice chapters of running around the world of the dead are in store. So keep checking in, once again I am sorry this is late. But when I finally worked out what I would do, and started writing the chapter. I had a sort of family reunion like thing to go to... anyway, please review! And if you are wondering, I estimate us being at around 3/5 or 2/3 through the story.