Chapter Thirty-Two—A Promise

Some time passed as Shiro followed the Black Cobra through the hills. At one point Shiro had glanced back suddenly at the sound of shouting on the road. That shouting had probably been more of the Scorpion Guard patrolling about in search for him after they had realized he had escaped.

The Black Cobra seemed unconcerned as they hiked between the passes of the hills, wading through rice fields and then finally coming to a rocky hill overlooking Urmia River and Darshuun beyond.

At several times Shiro had asked the man questions, only to be met with silence or grunts, acknowledging that he heard Shiro, and yet wouldn’t answer.

The morning was chilly and Shiro helped the other man build a fire. The morning sun hadn’t risen yet, but as the flames crackled, the Black Cobra, sitting down across from Shiro, said, “The other men you were with? They are your friends?”

Shiro wondered why he took so long to ask such a simple question. The Black Cobra looked at him, genuine curiosity on his face.

“Just one,” he answered. “Ali al Bashur. The other men were his slaves.”

Gods, Shiro thought, thinking of Hafza. She had worried this would happen.

“They are dead,” the top-tier adventurer said, his snake-like eyes piercing and villainous to behold.

Shiro glanced away to look out over the hills at the horizon. The thought of Ali having been killed—of Jessamine being utterly unresponsive to his presentence, and worse, taken, filled him with sorrow.

And now shame.

I should be dead as well.

“The one with the big mouth….” the Black Cobra said. “He is still alive.”

“Ali?” Shiro asked, his eyes widening as the shock of this statement hit him. “How do you know he is alive?!”

“The other wagon was taken away before yours,” he said. “I saw the man you call Ali—the one with you in Faridoon’s house.”

Kami-sama!

“I must go,” Shiro said, making to get up.

“Wait.”

“Why?” he asked. “I have to help my friend. And you still won’t answer my questions. Why did you save me?”

The Black Cobra siged.

“That woman you were with… in the alley,” he said. “She is your jinni companion?”

Shiro said nothing.

“I did not know,” he added. “I thought she was just a mage companion of yours.”

“What does it matter?” Shiro asked.

“I would not have attacked you otherwise, Shiro.”

“Why not?” he asked, his tone demanding.

“I… am the same. I too am jinni bonded. I now understand how you survived my poisoned blade. It was her—your jinni. She saved you, didn’t she?”

That realization just came to Shiro as the Black Cobra spoke the words. He didn’t know what to say, but almost had to look away to cover his emotional state.

“That is why she would not come out of the lamp, Shiro.”

Shiro’s eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat inside his chest. He crouched down next to the fire. “You know this? How? Why won’t she speak to me?”

“She can’t.”

“What do you mean?!”

“She is lost in a magical plane within her lamp,” he explained. “She will never return…”—Shiro looked at him in horror.—“unless she is able to find her own aural tether back to the root of her lamp.”

“What?”

“It is deep magic,” he said. “The void is vast. The lamp is her door in and out. It is her territory. She has been lost.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“I…” he glanced out over the horizon, his eyes scanning Darshuun. “I have been in your place once before. Before I was free. It was my jinni companion, Archaemenes—a dear friend to me, that saved my life and was lost to the void. That is why I have these eyes.” He gestured to his eyes with his fingers.

“How can I save her?”

He said nothing.

“Tell me.”

“I don’t know. Perhaps the only way is for her to save herself by finding her own way back. Archaemenes told me as much before he sacrificed himself for me. That is what I remember, anyway. It was some time ago.”

He grabbed his satchel and opened it, revealing a lamp, the design of which was altogether different than Jessamine’s. His lamp was tall with a coiling spout depicting that of a snake’s head and body.

“Archemenes was—is the jinni of the scale,” the Black Cobra said. “He gives his companion great abilities of the snake.”

Shiro didn’t ask what those abilities were exactly, and the Black Cobra didn’t tell. He only added, “I escaped my captivity in Mar’a Thul, my ancient homeland and struck out as an independent adventurer. I slowly gained the title you know me by, but my true name is Debaku. I’m from a tribe called Kwanza.”

It wasn’t often a complete stranger told others of his past, especially an enemy. Shiro wasn’t certain what to say, other than, “I am sorry for your loss.”

Debaku nodded.

“I will hinder you no further, Shiro Takeda.”

“Do you know where they took Ali?”

“I believe they were headed toward Qomu. It is a prison in the mountains on the coast.”

Nodding, Shiro had no need to ask about the lamp. He knew Darius had it in his secure possession in the Great Palace.

Shiro stood up, anger and determination filling him. His chest wound pained him, but he knew it would heal fully in time.

“What are you doing?”

The isekai hefted the sword he had taken earlier in the night. “I am going to free my friend.”

Debaku stood up. “Then I will help you.”

Shiro looked at him. “Why?”

“Because I cannot bear not to,” he said. “As a jinni bonded I cannot choose to do nothing, knowing Archaemenes would want me to help you. For the sake of your jinni.”

“Jessamine.”

“What?”

“Her name is Jessamine.”

Dabaku smiled with a nod. “I will help you rescue Jessamine, Shiro Takeda, and if that begins with freeing your friend, Ali, then I will help you with this too.”

Shiro nodded.

The Black Cobra pointed to a mountain not far off as the sun began to peek over the horizon, bathing them in golden-orange light.

“Do you see that mountain?”

“Yes.”

“That is Tobra,” he said. “I have a thing to do in the city. I will meet you there by sundown.”

Shiro nodded.

Debaku returned the gesture then started making his way back down the hill. Shiro lingered there for a time, thinking.

He would rescue Ali.

Then I will find a way to kill Darius.

Squaring his shoulders, Shiro began to make his way to the mountain called Tobra where he would meet the Black Cobra.

I will come for you, Jessamine.

By the kami—I swear it!