The Bonehill Curse (13 page)

‘A simple fisherman stood holding the bottle and staring at me, slack-jawed and drooling. His face creased into a mask of greed as I told him my tale of woe and gratitude.

‘“My first wish?” He leered at me and then glanced down the coast. “My neighbour lives but a mile from here. He has everything I have not. A beautiful wife, a fine boat, happy children. How I hate him. Bring me his head.”

‘“His head?” I repeated.

‘“Has all that time in a bottle made you deaf?” the fisherman snapped.

‘“Has this man wronged you?” I asked. “Has he taken something that is yours?”

‘“You swore to grant me three wishes,” the man said, narrowing his eyes at me. “Now do as I say.”

‘I still can’t think of that first poor soul without a shiver of remorse. He sat quietly at his hearth after a hard day mending nets and pitching his boat. His pretty young wife sat teasing the children at his feet.

‘Until I burst in, that is.

‘“Now bring the wife and make her agree to marry me,” the fisherman snarled when I returned with his neighbour’s head. “Terrify her. Threaten to eat her children if she does not agree.”

‘
Just you wait,
I thought, as I returned to the house where the woman still crouched in the corner of the room, her wide-eyed children clinging to her
.

‘“You have done well.” The fisherman grinned a crooked grin and hugged the woman to him. “Now return to your bottle.”

‘“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “But your third wish. You could have wealth and power, all that you desire.”

‘“I have this woman, her husband’s boat and twice as much sea to fish now, thanks to you,” laughed the fisherman. “And I can sell you on to the next man who wants three wishes for a fortune and then that’s his lookout. Now go, return to your bottle.”

‘With a heavy heart, I slipped back into my black prison and listened. I listened as he drove the poor woman to an early grave and her children became his slaves, all thanks to me.

‘Time hardens you, Necessity Bonehill. Man’s cruelty toughens your heart, burns it to a hard, blackened cinder.’

‘Let Azuli live,’ Ness cried, lashing her hands out into the white mist as if she could grab the djinn. ‘I beg you. Let him live. You don’t have to be so wicked.’

‘
I don’t think I can help myself any more
,’ the djinn whispered. ‘
Besides, it seems the matter of Azuli is out of my hands. Four days to go, I believe
.’

Ness sat up suddenly, gasping for breath. Once more she lay in Jabalah’s house. It was quiet. The morning’s activity had begun outside.
Day four
, Ness thought.
What now? How can I ever get an answer to my question if I can’t find my parents?

She leapt up, calling for Suha.

Suha came running in from the kitchen, drying her hands. ‘Necessity, what is it?’

‘Azuli,’ Ness gasped, grabbing Suha’s shoulder. ‘Where is he? I must see him.’

‘Steady, my dear.’ Suha smiled, trying to ease Ness back into her bed. ‘It is a miracle but Azuli has come through the fever –’

Suha didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence as Ness jumped up and hurried out into the street, ignoring the stares and the coldness of the cobbles on her bare feet. She barged past wide-eyed old men carrying bundles on their shoulders and women with crates of squawking chickens, straight to Hafid’s quarters, past Jabalah, who stood open-mouthed as she thundered into Hafid’s chamber.

Azuli was sitting up, devouring a huge chunk of fruit cake. Taimur sat grinning at his son. Ness threw herself forward and pulled Azuli into a tight hug, sending cake and plate spinning on to the floor.

‘Azuli! Thank God you’re all right. I thought you’d be . . .’ Her voice trailed off as she became aware of the stony looks that greeted her.

‘Miss Bonehill,’ Jabalah said, wrapping a large blanket around Ness’s shoulders. ‘However pleased you might be to see Azuli fit and well, I’m not sure it is becoming to charge through the streets in your nightdress and to appear so unclothed before the Elders of the Lashkar.’

‘Oh, sorry.’ Ness gave a shy grin and glanced around, noticing Hafid was there. She pulled the blanket tight about her. ‘But what happened? How did he recover?’

Azuli gave a beaming smile of his own. ‘I’m tough. Allah must have given me the constitution of an ox. No djinn can defeat me.’

‘The brains of an ox, I’d agree, running off with our greatest weapon,’ Hafid murmured. ‘Praise Allah that you survived but I suspect it was more than your robust good health that saved you, Azuli.’

‘The djinn is toying with us perhaps,’ Taimur said, getting to his feet. ‘Like a cat with a mouse.’

‘With the sword gone, we cannot defend ourselves,’ Jabalah sighed, rubbing a fleshy palm across his forehead. ‘Even with it, it was doubtful we could defeat the djinn.’

‘Our options are greatly reduced but there is still some slight hope,’ Hafid said. ‘We must continue to seek the djinn and fulfil our promise. We must try to destroy him or we must die in the attempt.’

Arrogance diminishes wisdom.

T
raditional proverb

Chapter Eighteen

E
nemy at the
G
ate

‘Hope?’ Taimur glowered at Hafid. ‘What hope is there? Without the sword, what weapons do we have against the djinn?’

‘The wisdom of Sulayman is ancient,’ Hafid croaked, stroking his chin. ‘But we have forgotten much of it over the centuries. We have relied too much on one weapon. Our people have hunted and fought many djinns. They can’t all have found victory with one clean blow of a silver sword!’

‘There are other ways to stop the djinn?’ Ness said, a shiver of excitement running down her spine.

‘There is always another way,’ Hafid murmured, staring intently at Ness. She shivered, forgetting he was blind. ‘Your father, for all his faults, knew that. Or how could he have outsmarted the djinn in the first place?’

‘We think that Father asked seven people to open the bottle,’ Ness said, not liking the way Hafid spoke about her father as if he were gone already. ‘The last one would have wished it back into the bottle and the others were supposed to share their new good fortune with him.’

‘Ingenious,’ Hafid murmured, shaking his head. ‘What is it about the number seven?’

‘The djinn gave me seven days,’ Ness said, her heart sinking. ‘Did he need time to settle old scores? Did he put off granting my wish so he could kill Lumm and Cullwirthy? He would have got Quilfy too if the vicar hadn’t done it first. If only I’d known.’

Hafid lifted his head, and if Ness hadn’t known he was blind she would have sworn he was staring at her. ‘And what was it you wished for, Necessity? You still haven’t told us.’

‘If I’d known what I do now, I’d have wished for the djinn’s death,’ Ness whispered, casting a backward glance to the gates and the horrors beyond. ‘As it was, I made a foolish wish about my parents.’

Hafid nodded and smiled. ‘You wished they loved you?’

Ness gave a start and felt her face flush red.

Hafid sighed. ‘Not foolish at all, if I understand things correctly.’

‘Thank you,’ Ness muttered, staring at the ground.

‘But time is not on our side. Bonehill was a clever man but he did not defeat the djinn alone,’ Hafid said, raising his voice. ‘We must make a trip to Jesmond Street.’

‘Jesmond Street?’ Ness said, frowning.

‘A wise man lives there,’ Hafid said, nodding his bald head. ‘An antiquarian scholar and an old acquaintance of your father’s. He may be able to help us.’

‘Some dusty scholar of books and a friend of the Bonehill’s into the bargain?’ Taimur snorted. ‘It’s a warrior we need now, not some short-sighted old librarian!’

‘Forgive me, Taimur,’ Hafid said, giving a tight smile, ‘but I fear it is you who is being short-sighted. It is brains, not brawn, that will win this battle.’

Ness opened her mouth to speak but an ashen-faced old man hobbled in and whispered to Jabalah, who turned a similar colour on hearing what he had to say.

‘Hafid,’ Jabalah said, his voice shaking. ‘I have bad news. It seems we have company.’

‘The djinn?’ Hafid asked.

Jabalah shook his head. ‘No, but it must be the work of the djinn. Come with me.’

Ness followed the old men as they shuffled out into the street. Jabalah led them to the blue gate, where a crowd jostled and stared through the peephole used by the guard. Cursing, Taimur pushed and shoved people out of their way until a path had been cleared. A green-tinged mist trickled under the gate, chilling them.

‘It would seem the djinn has found us,’ Hafid murmured, shaking his head.

Squeezing her way forward, Ness pressed her eye to the hole and gasped, nearly staggering back at the sight before her. The mist was thick outside but Ness could make out line upon ragged line of Pestilents, standing mute and still as stone. From the clothes, Ness could make out gentlemen, dockers, costermongers, servants and maids. They stood, milky-eyed, grey-skinned, their arms slack at their sides. Waiting.

‘Zaakiel’s army of the dead,’ Azuli said, placing a steadying hand on Ness’s shoulder.

‘I’m told all three gateways are covered,’ Jabalah murmured. ‘Nobody can get in or out.’

‘Why doesn’t the djinn just come and face us?’ Taimur snapped.

‘The wound Azuli inflicted has weakened him,’ Hafid said. ‘Zaakiel must be containing us until he has recovered. Only then will he attack.’

‘Then we are doomed.’ Jabalah leaned heavily against the gate.

Taimur stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders. ‘We will not give up so easily. Think of the sacrifices that have been made in the past. Think of our children. Hafid will keep the djinn out so we have some time to prepare,’ he said. ‘Do not give up hope, my friend.’

Azuli stepped to his father’s side, staggering a little. ‘I will fight with you, Father,’ he said. ‘I will make amends for the shame I have brought on you.’

Taimur smiled and ran his fingers through Azuli’s black hair. ‘You should never be ashamed of your bravery, my son. You have the heart and courage equal to any Lashkar.’

‘We can all fight,’ Ness said, her stomach tightening.

They couldn’t win, she knew that. The number of Pestilents would grow as the contagion spread. The djinn would send an endless number to destroy them. When the time came, they would break down the gates and overrun Arabesque Alley. But she would rather fight than do nothing. The silence stifled her. Ness shivered, pulling the blanket tighter around her neck.

‘This makes things more difficult,’ Hafid said, resting on his stick. He suddenly looked so much older. ‘At present, we are only safe if we stay within Arabesque Alley. Any who venture forth will no longer be under my protection and will succumb to the djinn’s plague.’

‘Not quite anyone,’ Ness muttered, partly to herself.

Hafid lifted his head and gave a hopeful smile. ‘You’re right, Miss Bonehill,’ he said. ‘You have proved singularly resistant to the pestilence, as do most who command a wish. If we could get you out . . .’

‘What?’ Taimur stared at Hafid in disbelief. ‘You aren’t serious.’

‘I survived the fever,’ Azuli said, stepping forward. ‘I don’t believe it can harm me again.’

‘Azuli, no!’ Taimur cried.

‘Please, Taimur,’ Hafid said. ‘They are both right. Nobody else is able to leave.’

‘But the djinn will follow them,’ Taimur said.

‘The djinn is weak. This may be our only chance,’ said Hafid. ‘We will strengthen the gates and watch the Pestilents while Azuli and Miss Bonehill seek this man in Jesmond Street.’

‘Please, Father.’ Azuli grabbed Taimur’s sleeve. ‘I’ve learned my lesson. Caution will be my watchword. Let us go. Let me regain my honour.’

Taimur looked from Ness to Hafid to Azuli and heaved a long sigh. ‘Very well,’ he said at last. ‘But if all looks lost, Hafid, I will not stand by and let those creatures overrun the alleys.’

‘If all looks lost, Taimur, neither will I,’ Hafid said.

‘But how will you get Miss Bonehill and Azuli past the Pestilents?’ Jabalah frowned.

‘Azuli knows more than one way out,’ Hafid said, giving a throaty chuckle.

‘Indeed.’ Azuli grinned and winked at Ness. ‘But you’d better put on something other than a nightdress if we are going out into the city.’

The thick, foul-smelling fog filled Arabesque Alley and the surrounding streets when Ness, now dressed, met Azuli again. Women had gathered their belongings in sacks and baskets and were dragging them to the upper storeys of the buildings. Nobody screamed or shouted; they merely helped each other as quickly as they could. These people were used to danger, Ness knew. They packed up and moved on in the night, setting up home wherever they must. They had done it for centuries. But this time they were trapped.

At the gate, the old warriors watched the immobile mass just outside. Some sharpened their swords and cleaned their guns. Others struggled with beams of wood scavenged from their own homes and wedged them against the wood of the gate to guard against intruders.