Fox Spirit Jinn 
By Sonja Blue

Prologue 

Marakesh 
999 AD

A tall and skinny woman with wild black hair hurried through the market
place, rudely pushing though the people who were not wise enough to
quickly move out of her way after viewing her wrinkled and cranky face. 
Underneath her robes she held a hard object tightly clutched to her
narrow.  Finally the woman gave a sigh of relief as she reached her
destination, a small door which was the back entrance to The Eyes of Ma,
a wizard's shop. She then started slamming her fist onto the small blue
painted door,  "Baja! Baja!" She yelled, "Open the door and let me in.
Quickly!"

"I hear you woman. Stop your caterwauling," a grumble from the other
side of the door.

"Baja. I have it, I have it." The old woman tried to yell quietly, as
she did not want to gain the attention of any nearby thieves wondering
what she has. "If you are quick -"

The woman's speech was cut short as the little blue door flew inwards to
be replaced with a similar thin, wrinkled and cranky face, much like her
own face as the old man at the door was her twin brother. "What Tika,
what have you? The crabs, have you been slutting around again. One
hundred and fifty eight years old and your still getting someÉ actually,
I think I'm jealous."

"No! The Lamp, you moron," said Tika, glaring. She thrust her precious
object into the face of her brother's face. In her hands, Tika held an
ornate bronze lamp. The Lamp shined in the candle lit hallway. Its broad
and round belly decorated with curving designs. It had a long slender
spout and the top part of the handle curved up into a flat point.

"By Allah's pubes! Is it truly The Lamp?" Baja the wizard said as he
took The Lamp from his sister and curiously tried to look down its
spout. "The Lamp of the Jinnai Balcoja. Our father's Lamp." Baja's
excitement grew as he felt the magical energy of The Lamp; energy that
had it's own signature. It was truly The Lamp that had held Tika and
Baja's father a slave to whoever owns it for almost one thousand years.
Tika and Baja were only half-human, as their mother was a former mortal
owner of The Lamp.  It was their half Jinn heritage that gave them the
power of wizardry and to live a long life. "HowÉ where did you find it?"

"I stole it." Tika announced with glee. "A fat merchant had it, did not
even know what he had in his possession. But never mind that, it will
soon be dusk. The best time for making requests of the Council of the
Jinn. We can finally free our father."

Fourteen minutes later found the two twins upon the roof of The Eyes of
Ma, both were kneeling within the wide circle of candles with a brazier
burning incense standing before them on its tripod legs. Between the
brazier and the twins was The Lamp. As the sun started to make its
descent, the twins started a low toned chant. As the twins ended their
chant, the sun completed its descent and the only source of the light
was the circle of candles. There was silence as the twins waited in hope
that the Council of the Jinn had heard their plea for an audience.

Two heads of wild black hair raised in startled surprise as the incense
cones in the brazier crackled and popped all at once and burst into a
frenzied flame. Tika and Baja watched the brazier with a combination of
fear and fascination as the flame started to emit smoke of the seven
different rainbow colours. Slowly each separate cloud of smoke started
to form into the giant figures of the most powerful jinn, the Ifreets.

"Who calls on the Council of the Jinn and for what reason?" Boomed the
looming figure of the Jinnai that had formed out of a cloud of blue
smoke. His skin was a dark woody colour and his hair and sleek beard was
a dark metallic blue.

"MÉ MÉ My Lord, Baja and Tika, son and daughter of the Jinnai Balcoja."
Tika said, bravely looking into the black and ember lit eyes of the
powerful Ifreet that had spoken first.  "We want to request that you
will allow our father to be freed from his life of servitude to the
lamp, he hÉ has already served almost a thousand years and we have The
Lamp." She said, taking a hold of The Lamp and holding it aloft.

Tika and Baja did not know the total rules and protocol of the Jinn, but
they were convinced their father would be released because he had almost
served a thousand years and it was his own children in possession of The
Lamp.  The twins had looked almost all their life for their father's
Lamp. It was a tragedy that the last time they had seen their father was
when they were eight years old.  On the last day Baja and Tika saw
Balcoja, it was the day their mother was killed and The Lamp passed into
the hands of an evil owner. Even now that they had possession of The
Lamp, they could not call forth their father from the lamp or even free
him, because those who were blood relations of the Jinnai of The Lamp
had no affect on the power of The Lamp.

After a moment of silence from all seven Ifreet, the blue Jinnai
suddenly burst into laughter. Smirking and snickering sounds also came
from the others. The twin's shoulders drooped in disappointment as they
realised that the Council of the Jinn found their request ridiculous. At
least they were laughing; the Council did not appear to be angry or
inclined to smite them on the spot for their affront.

"Hamid," said a Jinniyah, interrupting the blue Jinnai's chortles. Her
looming figure arose out of a cloud of soft orange; her eyes were a
gentle brown. "The Jinnai Balcoja is loved. Might we at least consider a
parole sometime in the future instead of his sentence of life
imprisonment?"

"May I, may I." Said a Jinnai with green hair and beard sticking in all
directions and a spiral of green smoke continually moving around him.
"May I. At least, at least inform these children of the Jinn why their
father is so tied to The Lamp, The Lamp."

"Of course," said Hamid the blue Jinnai.

"Marvellous idea," said the gentle brown-eyed Jinniyah with a cheerful
smile.

The Jinnai with the wild green hair moved forward until he was hovering
directly over the twins. Baja and Tika were both afraid as the green
Jinnai moved closer to them, yet they were also starting to feel an
inkling of hope once again.  Tika sneaked her arm through Baja's arm,
seeking comfort and reassurance.

"The Jinn, the Jinn," started the green Jinnai. Then paused for a
moment, a vague and faraway look in his green eyes.

"Yes, yes," said the orange Jinniyah. "That was a wonderful beginning,
could we hear the rest now?"

"Johan likes to frequent the opium dens," said Hamid the blue Jinnai in
a confiding whisper to the twins. Hamid crossed his eyes in a comical
mimic of the green Jinnai.

"I heard, I heard that!" said Johan the green Jinnai. "Now where was I
-"

"Nowhere yet, nowhere yet," said Hamid.

"As you, as you know, the Jinn," said the Johan the green Jinnai,
pointedly ignoring the blue Jinnai. "Are all beings of great power and
ability, but we are a wild and undisciplined lot, not to mention
juvenile." Johan looked towards Hamid at this point in his monologue.

Johan continued, "there are many reasons a jinn becomes a slave to a
talisman." Johan pointed to The Lamp, "Talismans like The Lamp. One of
the reasons is that it is compulsory for all new jinn to serve a master.
It is because whenever a new jinn comes into being, the jinn has no
morals and little concept of responsibility. And yet they are beings of
immense power. So the master that they serve in their juvenile years is
responsible for the jinn's actions. After a few centuries of servitude
it is hoped that the Jinnai has learned responsibility and worked out
his own morals. If the jinn's current master has not yet freed the
Jinnai, higher jinn at this point will intercede in the Jinnai's behalf
to free the jinn from his servitude.

Another reason that a Jinnai can become tied to a talisman is when an
evil sorcerer tricks a Jinnai into a spelled object, like the lamp or
bottle. If we could, we would free these jinn, but unfortunately they
are often silent about their plightÉ something to do with the binding
spell I think."

The constantly in motion green smoke that spiralled around Johan slowed
down, as Johan paused in thought, thinking of all those poor abused
jinn, unable to cry out for help. Baja opened his mouth about to speak,
but Johan the green Jinnai answered his not yet spoken question with,
"but this is not the case with your father Balcoja."

Giving the twins a serious and direct look from his green eyes, Johan
continued his lecture. "




TBC

Thoughts? Ideas? A kick up the bum? sonjablue@optushome.com.au