Disclaimer: everything belongs to Mr J. Stroud. if they belonged to me this wouldn't be on .

Authors Note: i love reviews. hint hint.

Chapter 4

Ptolemy swivelled in his sitting position.

The spirit kneeling before him rose to his feet.

Now would've been the perfect time for an obscenity*.

(*Shit, was the word that came to mind.)

I was a lion-headed warrior at this point, tall and muscular, with a flowing main and teeth like daggers. It was a guise that would have instilled fear in any great entity. But this was Ammet.

"You are not Faquarl."

"He felt like a swim, might be a while."

He smiled, and not in an 'I'm gonna kill you now' way, like he actually found what I just said mildly funny*.

(* I swear, if I wasn't scared out my wits before, I was now.)

He was looking at me like I was something curious. A confused expression took over my lion's face which Ammet must've noticed.

He obviously hadn't looked on the seventh plane,* but even if I had been just some other spirit this was just weird.

(*I wasn't looking forward to the outcome if/when he did.).

Things couldn't get much worse.

"So you're the djinni who cares for this boy?"

You have got to be kidding me!*

(*Disregarding the fact that this situation was now bordering on apocalyptic. Who the hell has long meaningful conversations about slavery with the entity that's intending to torture and murder them!)

Ptolemy had the decency to look guilty.

Ammet spoke next in a matter of fact tone. "If Faquarl is indisposed then this makes my offer a lot easier to make. Our initial orders were to kidnap the boy, get whatever secrets he may be hiding and then kill him. We intended to torture it from him, I was looking forward to it in fact, but I would make an exception and kill him quickly if he gives us his secrets willingly."

"That's mighty good of you."

As far as I could see I only had one option. I blasted Ammet with everything I had i.e. a dentonation the size of my head*. Khabas form shattered into wisps and dissipated. It wouldn't last long.

(*the lions head, just in case you were wondering.)

"Run!" I screamed at Ptolemy.

He scrambled from the floor and legged it past me. I turned to follow the kid into the unlit depths of the rows of scrolls, back the way I'd come. I just had time to see Ammet start to pull himself together* before I disappeared from view.

(*No pun intended.)

It took about ten minutes of us winding our way through the maze of shelving units before Ptolemy realised something was off.

"Rekyht?" He whispered in my lion's ear. He was holding my upper arm at this point due to us running in the dark. Wisp-lights would've been a problem right then as they'd have led Ammet straight to us. "You do remember the way out of this library, don't you?"*

(*Well, no, actually I'd been too busy looking for Ptolemy to pay much attention to looking where I was going. I was pretty sure it was in this general direction though…maybe.)

"Yes, yes, of course I do," I said with my trademark self-assurance.

"You don't sound very self-assured."* I was looking on the seventh plane so I could see his expression. The raised eyebrow. I opened my mouth to speak.

And a detonation blasted the shelving to our left to bits, fragments of wood shot everywhere. The one's that hit me didn't matter, Ptolemy though would be left with a couple of cuts and bruises. Blood seeped through the now ripped sleeve of his tunic and there was a small cut on his head.

I grabbed the boy by the arm, dragging him up the aisle. The time for stealth was over. I was about to sprout wings when another attack sent me flying forwards, Ptolemy dragging along the floor behind me.

I heard Ammet shout from behind us as we got rather unsteadily to our feet, Ptolemy limping on his left foot and me with essence trailing from my hairline and into my eye. I wiped it away with my hand. My back hurt too, from where the convulsion had hit it, something wet trickled down from the point of pain.*

(* This whole situation was ridiculous. we'd been arguing about how not to get Ptolemy killed, and now Ptolemy was getting killed because of it. The world's worst writer wouldn't even come up with this one.)

Ammet was standing not three metres from us, Khaba's guise reformed in all its hideous glory. He looked vaguely annoyed, amazing considering I'd tried to blow him to pieces, he should've been furious.

"I said I'd do you both a favour, don't throw it back in my face or I'll kill you both." It was a warning. It wasn't much of one, what did he think, I was going to just give him over saying 'oh that's fine, just kill him quick'?

Ptolemy was behind me. I knew I didn't have the strength left for another attack that would blow the marid apart, and no doubt he'd just see it coming anyway. I made a quick decision.

"Ptolemy," I hissed at him." Get out of here." And to my great relief, that's what he did, disappearing back into the black maze of scrolls.

Ammet laughed. "You wish to die first do you? Well that's fine, I'll just find your master later."

And with that he pounced. I dodged the attack, downsized, became an average lion* and, with perhaps more agility than a bog standard lion would usually have, scrambled up one of the scroll shelves, another attack missing my tail by inches.

(*and I mean 'average' in that I wasn't a lion-headed warrior. I was still sleek of coat, shiny of eye, etc)

Ammet didn't bother with the shelves he turned into a grey rhino and rammed his way through them*. The remains of the scroll case fell to the floor around him. He saw me running up the next aisle at full speed. He followed. It was a game of cat and mouse now.

(*It wasn't pretty. He was all warts and lumpy folds of skin. No elegance what-so-ever.)

To be fair, I am the noble djinni who wiped the floor with him the first time. I like to think I wasn't quite down and out yet. Besides, I'm the great Bartimaeus of Uruk, you don't get rid of me that easily.

At least not without me getting a last word in anyway.