Oops! I Caught a Genie!

Chapter 34

Mangoo strutted over the threshold of the building, I followed more cautiously. The doorway led to hallway, the hallway was lined with pictures of the past council members. Nearly all of them were frowning in their picture frames.

Eventually the hall opened into a large room with five seats on the wall opposite to the hall. The middle seat was raised about six inches above the others, the council spokesperson sat there. His long white hair was draped over his shoulders, contrasting with the black and purple robe he wore. An amulet was visible around his neck, it depicted a knot in the center of a circle, the symbol of the council. The djinn next to him wore robes in the colours of their class. Green for the two Sila and red for the two ifrit. The purple robe belonged to the Marid. The Vetala were not represented on the council.

"What business have you with the council?" The Marid leader boomed.

"We bring news of the binders." Mangoo said, his confident demeanor gone.

"Then speak."

"Fritz disappeared from Salado twenty human years ago, if you remember. I searched for half that time. It wasn't a voluntary disappearance, a binder called Aaron Spevil drugged him and took him to a storage facility in Arizona where he tortured him for years."

"Where is this Aaron Spevil?" One of the Ifrit council members asked.

"Deceased," Mangoo said, "He sealed Fritz in a watch and that is where he was for twenty years."

"How is this relevant?" A Sila asked. Now normally Mangoo would have made some snappy remark about interruptions, but these people seemed to frighten him.

"We visited the Elder djinn..." He said holding up his hand when the council members displayed anger, "let me finish. We were looking for advice because Fritz was curious. Binders came and attacked us, the Elder is now dead. Fritz was taken to a large ship and tortured. It took me days to locate him. The Binders seem to be preparing for an offensive movement."

Mangoo stopped talking and stared at the Marid council member.

"He is withholding information," One of the Sila hissed.

"Perceptive as ever sir," Mangoo said, "However, that information is not available at the moment."

The Sila hissed and looked about ready to try and strangle Mangoo but the Marid in the center intervened.

"Calm yourself Hasmal, he is bringing information of his own free will. As long as the information he did bring is truthful, I see no reason to be aggressive."

"I assure you, you have the relevant information." Mangoo said with a dip of an imaginary hat. I fought the urge to roll my eyes. At least he was protecting Nora...

"Rhubis." The leader of the council boomed. There was an awkward pause before I remembered, that was me! My second name, that I hadn't heard in over twenty years. My bad.

"Hsh-What?" I said.

"Do you confirm Rokhi's story?" I fought the urge to grumble, I would never understand the council's need to be so formal. To be clear, just like humans djinn have somewhat of a surname. We have three names, a casual name that friends use, a formal name that the council insists on using, and a family name. Parents choose the first and second name and the third is just passed down.

"Fritz," Mangoo hissed, "snap out of it."

"Yes, his information is accurate!" I said quickly. One of the council looked at me oddly, it was one of the Sila. The female one. She cocked her head to the side.

"There is something off about his aura." She said to the other members. I flinched, Sila were energy djinn. I could make an educated guess as to why my 'aura' was off...

The Marid shifted his gaze to me and then the to Sila.

"What do you see?"

"It is constrained. He does not have full control over it."

Mangoo and I exchanged a worried glance. I started to inch back.

"No Rhubis, stay where you are." The Marid commanded. I stiffened, obeying his command.

"The binders must have done something to him." The Sila whispered.

"No!" I yelped, "well, yes, they did torture me but this wasn't their doing."

Mangoo's eyes widened and he looked at me like I had just told everyone where his porn stash was.

"Who's doing was it then?" One of the Ifrit asked.

"Aaron Spevil," I said carefully, I really did not want to give Nora away, "he somehow managed to get his hands on a binding spell."

A small gasp was heard from among the council.

"And where is this Spevil now?" "Deceased, sir," I said.

"Why is the binding still in effect?"

"Well... Um... He wasn't the one to use the spell..."

"Do you know who did?"

"Yes, but they were unaware of the consequences."

"Ignorance is no excuse, why have neither of you broken the binding?"

"Because it wasn't their fault! They had no knowledge of their heritage."

"So you both have been fraternizing with the enemy?"

"They're not the enemy!" I cried. This was going downhill fast.

"No," Mangoo cut in calmly, "this person has inside knowledge, we are training a double agent. They have already convinced one of the binders who has been raised and trained by them to turn."

"As long as this information comes to us first and the informants are disposed of afterwards, you may continue."

"I agree to these terms." Mangoo said.

As always, I swear I don't bite....