Oops! I Caught a Genie!

Chapter 25

We opened the door to the chamber where Fritz was being held. He appeared to be asleep, his chin rested on his now clothed chest and his eyes were closed. It did not look very comfortable and I wanted very much to release him from the chair.

"Can I untie him?" I asked. Shullat just looked at me like I had lost my mind. I frowned and leaned against the wall, I was planning on waiting until he woke up because he looked exhausted but Shullat threw a metal bolt at his arm.

Fritz's head snapped up. The bolt fell to the floor, it had hit Fritz's sleeve and had not caused damage.

"What do you want?"

"Nora wanted to talk to you." Shullat answered Fritz's question icily.

"Is this another one of your tricks?" Fritz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Be nice! Both of you!" I cried.

Both boys turned confused expressions toward me. I ignored it and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Have a civilized discussion, or I will smack you both," I demanded.

"Pardon?" Shullat said.

"He threw iron at me!" Fritz protested.

"You're an abomination!" Shullat snapped.

"At least i'm humane."

"You-"

"Shut up!" I shouted, "you're just shouting insults without explaining them. Why do you hate eachother so much if you've never had a civil conversation?"

They both looked at me like I had lost my mind, but I felt that I had made a rational point.

"Don't be so prejudiced, you two may be jerks but you have a nice side to you."

"You are lucky that no one is observing your actions at this time," Shullat said.

"I agree, they believe you can still become one of their fighters." Fritz said.

They exchanged a cold look but I was happy that they agreed on something, even if it was for me to stop talking.

"Shullat can you at least try to see him as a person? He's a lot like us, there's no need for all the hate. Same to you Fritz."

"I will try to see things from your point of view Nora." Shullat said.

"No need to be so formal, especially to Nora. Have you ever tried to wake her up without a mug of hot tea in your hand?"

"Yes, she woke on command." Shullat replied.

Fritz turned to me with a pout.

"You nearly killed me when I woke you up without caffeine."

"Do you know if Liana is okay? I'm really worried." I asked him, changing the subject away from my caffeine addiction.

"She was fine last time I saw her, she escaped out of the back."

"She's probably died of exposure then." Shullat said grimly.

"She's a smart girl... She may not have access to magic, but she has certain tools to help her." Fritz said while giving me a pointed look.

"Do you think she found the tools?" I asked.

"I don't know, they were pretty well hidden, but I think she'll find them."

"Tools? What tools could help with that?" Shullat asked curiously.

"My heat lamp and food supply," Fritz said.

"Doesn't a heat lamp require electricity?" Shullat said.

"I'm a djinn, we have our ways."

Shullat frowned and glanced at me looking like he wanted conformation.

"He's very fond of saying that." I told him.

"I'm also fond of soft beds and food, and freedom," Fritz piped up, "While i'm on the topic of freedom, when can Nora go home to her family? She was only supposed to be gone for two days."

"She will not be leaving unless Captain Lennart allows her to."

"Captain Lennart?" Fritz said.

"He is in charge of this floating base."

"So we're on a ship?" I asked.

"Yes, but that is all I can say."

"How come no one's spotted the ship on radar? It must be huge!" I exclaimed.

"We are in possession of a magical device that makes it difficult to be seen by radar or sonar devices. The sound and radio waves hit but it does not register."

"How did you obtain this device?" Fritz asked him.

"I'm just one of the physical trainers, you think I know? I've heard rumor that they found it on a dead djinn."

Fritz grimaced, but seemed to get over it quickly as he shook his arms to jingle his chains.

"These are chafing." He complained, looking Shullat in the eye.

"I'm not stupid. Those are keeping you from using magic."

"Do you do this to all of your guests? Why does Nora have energy restricting bands on? She has no idea how to use her energies."

"You're our prisoner, and she technically is as well. Also, they are for the safety of everyone involved. Young binders have been known to accidentally kill themselves by using too much power too fast."

"That is logical." Fritz said. Surprisingly, I detected no sarcasm in him tone.

The conversation went well from there, they discussed the war and why it had begun. I learned that both sides were basically at fault. A small group of djinn disagreed with the binder queen's annexation of some djinn territory and she was assassinated. The binders had retaliated by perfecting their namesake spell, the binding spell, to enslave a large portion of the djinn population. They used these new slaves to fight against the other djinn. Both djinn and binders went into hiding and that is how it has been until present day. The slaves perished in the war, Fritz explained, mercy killings by the free djinn. He said that the slaves had begged to be free and there was only one known way to free a djinn from the ancient binding spell. Death.

After this cheerful conversation Shullat informed us that our visiting time was up and that I was to go back to my room (or cell) and rest for tomorrow's training.

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Do well in whatever you are doing! (School, work, life in general, health)