The Battered Lamp Ch. 26

"Always," sighed Christy as she nuzzled up to the other side.

"Good," Aaliyah smiled. "Because the Marids have taken the form of your loved ones." She pointed at the other women. "You must defeat them before they capture me again."

"They'll never capture you!" Kyle growled, standing up and summoning his sword. He looked out at the women. Britney, the witches, his concubines, and Fumi's forms all rippled. They weren't the women he loved. They were hideous monsters parading in their flesh. "I won't let you harm my wife!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Britney glared in frustration at Shannon and her concubines ringing around her, Phillipa, Sable, and Fumi. Beyond, she could see Kyle writhing with the fake Aaliyah. Christy and Fatima cavorted with him, both fallen under the spell of her milk. Britney did not know what that thing was. She wanted to strike out, but the stubborn concubines were obeying their master.

"Look at them," she hissed. "Since when does Aaliyah have breast milk?"

"Master gave us orders," Shannon repeated.

"That's right," Alexina nodded, her blonde hair swirling about her body.

"I am your mistress," Fumi repeated. "So stop surrounding us and help us save Kyle."

Shannon frowned, glancing over her shoulder.

"Look at them. Fatima and Christy have fallen under the spell," Fumi continued. "They went over to save Kyle and now they are joining him. Her milk is like my pheromones. They can control people with lust."

"She's a succubus?" gasped Toni.

"I think they're right, Mom," Chyna said. "Aaliyah's pubic hairs aren't shaved. She couldn't have grown a bush that thick in a day. Besides, she knows Master's preference."

"We need to pull them apart and figure this out," Lois agreed. She was the most dominant of Kyle's concubines, the only one not submissive. "This doesn't feel right. I'm with Fumi."

"They'll never capture you!" Kyle roared, rising up from Aaliyah's embrace. "I won't let you harm my wife!"

His sword appeared in his hand.

"Scatter!" Britney yelled and grabbed her mate, pulling Phillipa tight.

The concubines all moved with inhuman grace thanks to their enhancement. Britney scooped her mate into her arms and leaped as Fumi used wind from her bow to rise up into the air. The ground quaked and erupted where they had been standing--Kyle used his sword to control the element of earth.

"This is bad," Phillipa gasped as they landed in the brush.

"Ishtar, touch my enemies' minds and put them to sleep!" Christy called out, and Mindy, Carla, and Ann fell to the ground, enchanted by Christy's spell.

"This is getting worse," groaned Phillipa.

"Work a counter spell," Britney growled. "We need to find a way to contain them."

She reached into Waterclaw and guided the oasis's water. It rose in an undulating column, flowing through the air as Britney guided it. The water surrounded Kyle, Fatima, Christy, and the impostor, forming a dome of crystal water around them, rippling and flashing sunlight.

"I hope that works," she muttered.

Red blossomed inside the dome. Fire slammed into the water. Britney fought against Fatima's passion, trying to keep the barrier from boiling away. Britney poured all her will into Waterclaw, her strips growing dark across her face.

The ground shook beneath her feet.

Britney reacted without thought. She seized Phillipa and jumped again. Dirt sprayed her back and a palm tree groaned, crashing to the ground. Her barrier didn't seem to stop Kyle from commanding the earth to attack them.

"I am going to gut that impostor!" Britney hissed, letting Phillipa go, then turned and sprinted at the dome. It was a foolish act, but the change was on the Rakshasa, and she craved blood.

"Be careful," Phillipa shouted.

The Rakshasa leaped, her triangular dagger thrust before her. The water parted, opening up to allow Britney to sailed through. She landed on her feet before the fake Aaliyah. The impostor yelped in surprise, milk leaking out of her breasts. Britney growled in fury and punched her katar at the impostor's stomach.

A sudden wind caught Britney, pushing her back and slowing her attack.

"Help me, Kyle!" the impostor shrieked as she nimbly danced away from the tip of Waterclaw.

Kyle rounded on her, hatred burning in his eyes. "You tried to kill my wife!"

Fear beat in Britney's heart as the ground rumbled beneath her.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Fumi stared at the dome of water Britney just leaped into, hoping the Rakshasa could accomplish something. Her own heart beat like a madman on drums. The man she loved was trying to kill her, and she didn't know what to do about that.

The globe of water suddenly contracted into a ball, exposing Kyle, Christy, and Fatima. The ball of water was thrown into the air by an eruption of the ground, landing on the shore of the empty oasis. The water parted, revealing Britney standing at the center.

"That's my wife!" Kyle roared and rocks began ripping out of the ground, hurtling at Britney. The Rakshasa whipped thin tentacles of water in front of her, smacking the rocks out of the air. The missiles came faster, but Britney never lost her cool.

Fatima's fire roared at several of the concubines, distorting Fumi's green vision as the air roiled from the heat. Fumi could only hope the concubines dodged the attack. She couldn't worry about them now. Fumi saw her chance and drew back her bow, aiming at the impostor Aaliyah. Shannon and Missy dashed at Fatima, but Christy cast a spell, driving the concubines back.

Fumi ignored it all and fired her arrow at the fake Aaliyah.

Her arrow flew true, guided by the winds. Suddenly, the air whipped up around Aaliyah, blocking Fumi's vision. Her arrow disappeared into the turbulence. When the air died, the fake Aaliyah held her arrow in her hand, twirling it.

"Nice try," Aaliyah laughed. "Using a Si'lat arrow on me is cute."

Is that what she is? A Si'lat? That made her a Djinn.

Fumi detonated her arrow, unleashing a gale of wind that threw Christy to the ground and should have sent the impostor sprawling as well. But her wind seemed to roll harmlessly off the Si'lat. Because Si'lat are made of the wind, like Jann are made of the earth.

"Fatima, the one with the bow is firing arrows at me!" the fake impostor gasped. "Save me."

Fatima turned, setting her spear, and charged at Fumi. The air distorted around the burning tip of Fatima's yari. Fumi flinched, her body remembering the pain of being burned by Zaritha's fire. She reacted without thought, firing an arrow at Fatima's feet.

The arrow landed and a gale exploded from it, throwing Fatima back. Fumi winced, hoping she didn't hurt her wife. But Fatima could be as ruthless as Britney with her spear.

"What are we going to do?" Phillipa gasped.

"I don't know," Fumi groaned. "Kill the impostor somehow."

Kayleah and Teleisia fell on the fallen Fatima, pinning her to the ground. For a moment, they held the small woman down. And then fire burned around Fatima. Heat roiled against Fumi's face. It was an inferno. Kayleah and Teleisia burst from the flames, crying in pain. Fire crackled, catching the green plants on fire, filling the air with boiling distortions that Fumi couldn't see through.

"You bitches!" snarled Fatima from the inferno.

Phillipa grabbed one of the burned concubines, casting a healing spell as Fumi summoned a great wind to drive back Fatima's flames. Fatima threw her fire at Fumi. So Fumi directed the wind, deflecting the hissing fireballs to the side and setting more plants on fire.

Christy appeared next to Fumi from the darkness. "Ishtar, defend your servant..."

Fumi couldn't let Christy finish her spell. She turned her gust, slamming it into Christy. Her wife's words faltered as the sudden blast knocked her off her feet, hurtling her towards a group of the concubines. They seized Christy, clamping hands over her mouth.

Finally, something in our favor.

Christy vanished, warping away with the power of her staff.

"Bitch!" Fatima snarled.

Heat rushed towards Fumi.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"You tried to kill my wife!" Kyle snarled over and over as he whipped rocks at the Marid pretending to be Britney. The evil creature used water to protect herself, blocking his attacks, proving she was a vile Marid.

This was getting nowhere.

So he charged forward.

The water, rotating around the Marid in snake-like tendrils, surged forward. Kyle commanded the rocks before him to rise up before the water. The Marid's attack struck the rock, but instead of being stopped, they flowed around the rock.

"Fuck!" Kyle snarled as the water hurtled towards him. But the water didn't slam into him. Instead, it rushed past him, swirling in a contracting sphere about him. The water almost touched him as it completely engulfed him. He moved his arm, the force of the rushing water slapping his hand back.

He was imprisoned.

"You have to stop fighting me," the Marid shouted. "I am Britney."

"Your lies are pathetic! Britney would never try to kill Aaliyah."

"I will kill anything that threatens you. I swore to protect you, Kyle. When we met in the second grade. Remember the science fair? We were partnered together."

"If you're Britney, why would you have to kill my wife?"

Through the distortion world of roiling water, the evil Marid's wavering form strode around his rock shield. Kyle struggled to batter through the water, but it slapped him back every time.

I have to do something about her water.

"That is not your wife!" she yelled. "Believe me, Kyle."

"Why would I believe a filthy Marid?"

He commanded the ground beneath him to open, dropping into the earth. He controlled the element. With Earthbones, he ordered the rocks and dirt to open a path before him. He could feel where she stood, sensing the minute vibrations in the earth. Her steps circled; she was wary of where his attack would come from next.

Kyle was beneath her, ready for his strike.

He rose up, bursting from the ground behind her, dirt falling from his body. He raised his sword up, swinging a brutal cut at her back. But the Marid spun, impossibly fast. She had a katar in her hand, the triangular, punching dagger lunging right for his chest.

Kyle flinched, expecting the cold pain of the dagger plunging into his chest.

The strike didn't land. The Marid stopped the katar right before hitting him.

His sword came down and she dodged to the left. His blade struck the ground. His ground. As she rolled, he raised the stone around her. She smacked into a upthrusting boulder, growling as she struggled to her feet.

"Please, Kyle!" she shouted as he pivoted and swung at her again. "You are my best friend!"

Kyle... Aaliyah's voice whispered in his mind.

The Marid caught his sword on her katar and was knocked back by the force of his blow.

Can you hear me, Kyle?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Ayubbad Wasteland

Cool earth was beneath her. She drew strength from it. The earth was pure and her body absorbed it, replacing her flesh tainted by the foul poison burning through her. Her body imbibed the strength of the earth. The wound on her neck knitted together, replacing her torn muscle and skin with the dirt until her flesh was once more unmarred.

Aaliyah opened her eyes.

For a moment, fear beat through her. Where is the Ghul?

And then she saw Zaritha's head lying on her stomach. The Ifrit's body trembled and shook, a festering wound devouring Zaritha's flesh. The Ghul's poison consumed her body. Aaliyah feared for herself, remembering the painful bite to her neck.

Aaliyah's hand went to her throat. There was no wound, only piled dirt. "You healed me," Aaliyah whispered. "Instead of saving yourself."

Zaritha didn't answer.

Aaliyah sat up, trying to see where she was. Rust-red rocks stretched as far as she could see, the wind hazing the air with bleeding dust. It was the blasted wasteland of the Ghul. She couldn't stay here. She needed help.

Her eyes opened wide. I'm outside of the Sapphine Caves.

She was no longer surrounded by telepathy blocking sapphire.

Kyle, she sent out. Kyle, can you hear me?

Aaliyah! Are you okay? Are the Marids still attacking you?

No, she answered. Wish me to your side, my love. Please.

I wish you were by my side.

Aaliyah's power responded and she teleported, her body folding up and then unfolding beside him. "Kyle!" she gasped. Britney was lying before him, blood smeared on her head, while Kyle hammered his sword down at her. "What is going on?"

"That's not Aaliyah!" a woman shouted.

Aaliyah turned to see herself, naked, milk leaking down her breast. She gaped in astonishment, her eyes darting about. The air was filled with the roar of a fire and the shouts and cries of women. Everywhere she looked was chaos. Christy was casting spells at the concubines, and Fatima and Fumi warred with wind and flames.

"What is going on, Kyle?" she asked her husband.

Kyle turned to face her, looking down at her, then at the impostor. "Aaliyah?"

"She's an impostor," the fake Aaliyah shouted. "Kill her, Kyle, before she puts you under her spell."

I'm not the fake! she screamed into her husband's mind as he raised his sword. His eyes were glazed, his mind befuddled.

But you are, he responded.

If I was the fake, why am I speaking in your mind? Is the other one doing that?

"Kill her, Kyle!" shouted her impostor. "Please, my love."

"But, what if she's real?" Kyle asked, shaking his head.

Britney stood up behind Kyle in a low crouch. Aaliyah shook her head at the Rakshasa. Then the Djinn faced her husband and his brandished weapon. She sent out her thoughts to his mind: Only the real Aaliyah can talk to you like this. It's because of our bond. You freed me from my lamp. You're the only one that can command my powers. Make a wish. Prove that I am your Djinn.

His sword lowered.

"No!" the impostor screamed. "You can't believe her lies. I'm your wife!"

"You could be a trick," Kyle groaned, his face twisting in painful indecision. "You could just be speaking in my mind."

Then make a wish. In your thoughts! Prove which one is the real one!

I wish for the real Aaliyah to be at my side, Kyle thought.

Aaliyah granted his wish, flashing the few feet to stand beside him. "It is me, my love."

He glanced at the fake.

"Don't be deceived," the impostor cried out, her hand sliding up to her breast and squeezing out a drop of milk. "Remember who fed you and gave you such bliss."

Kyle trembled, his muscles tensing as he warred with himself.

"Use your sword," Aaliyah whispered. "Stone is truth. And the truth banishes lies."

"I will know the truth!" he roared and his sword burned with golden light. He slammed the point into the ground. A burst of golden light rippled from the blade, racing across the ground, Aaliyah, and Britney on its way to reach the fake.

"No!" The impostor flinched as the golden light rippled past her. Her figure rippled. She grew taller, her body more willowy and her breasts swelled, becoming heavier than Aaliyah's. She was a dusky beauty, her lips lush and cruel.

"Your lies are undone, Si'lat!" Aaliyah hissed at her.

"So they are," the Si'lat laughed. "Such a pity." Her hand flicked forward and a green knife, made of compressed air like Fumi's arrow, tumbled through the air at Aaliyah's breast.

Kyle moved before Aaliyah, pushing her back. He grunted in pain as the green dagger buried into his shoulder. "That's my wife you tried to kill!" he growled and the earth shook.

The Si'lat danced as the earth erupted around her, dagger-like spikes bursting forth in clouds of dust, trying to seek her flesh. She moved with grace, her hands flicking another pair of daggers at Kyle. He swiped his sword to the side, knocking them from the air.

"You bitch! You tricked us!" screamed Fatima and a gout of flame soared at the Si'lat.

The Si'lat leaped out of the way of the fire as Britney surged around Kyle, racing at the impostor. Aaliyah smiled as fear danced in the Si'lat's eyes as Britney's katar punched at her flesh. She dodged the attack, whipping around Britney like the wind flowing around a pillar.

Kyle flicked his sword. A piece of one of the jagged rocks thrust out of the ground broke off and hurtled at the Si'lat. She dodged the first one, her black hair flowing. But not the second one. It struck her in the side.

"No!" she gasped, stumbling into Britney's punching dagger. Waterclaw penetrated between the Si'lat's breast, blood pouring down her cheek. She fell to the ground, gasping and wheezing before them.

Britney twisted her dagger, frowning. "There is something wrapped about her heart. A chain."

"Break it!" Kyle screamed. "Kill the bitch, Britney!"

"Your will!" Britney roared.

"No!" the Si'lat cried as Britney shoved harder with her dagger.

The Si'lat's body rippled. Water squirted out of her mouth and nose. More ripped out of her stomach. Then her flesh billowed away on the wind as she let out a strangled cry. A heart appeared, impaled by Waterclaw and wrapped in a diamond chain. The chain fell apart, the shattered links landing on the sand in a puddle of water. The heart beat once more, then blew away like the rest of her flesh.

Fatima strode up. "Is that really you, Aaliyah?"

Aaliyah smiled, looking around as her bedraggled family began to gather around. Teleisia, her concubine, limped forward, leaning on Phillipa's arm. Christy helped Toni to her feet and Fumi tramped forward with Kayleah and Shannon.

Then Kyle, his shoulder bleeding, hugged her. "It's really you," he whispered. "How?"

"Zaritha," she whispered. "Kyle, you need to wish her here."

"Why?" he asked. "She's our enemy. She took you."

"Not anymore. She saved me and was badly wounded. She's still alive." Aaliyah squeezed him harder, his blood wetting her chest. "She's your concubine, Kyle. She was caught between two masters, but she made the right choice and came to my rescue."

"Okay," Kyle sighed and made his wish.

Aaliyah's power reached out and summoned Kyle's concubine to him. Zaritha appeared on the ground, her body trembling and covered in a sheen of sweat. A quiet whimper escaped her lips.

"What's she doing here?" Fatima asked.

"She needs your fire," Aaliyah said. "She's been poisoned by one of Rashid's servants. A Ghul that almost killed us both."

Fatima raised her eyebrows. "She kidnapped you and landed us in this mess."

Aaliyah broke away from Kyle and walked over to the younger woman and hugged her. "She is one of our concubines, and she is wounded."

"Why are we forgiving everyone that kidnaps you, Aaliyah?" Fatima sighed.

"Because they are all Kyle's women," Aaliyah answered. "So will you be obedient to our husband's will."

Fatima let out a snort of laughter.

"Heal her, Fatima," Kyle said, his voice firm. "If she was injured protecting Aaliyah, then she deserves to be healed.

"Fine, big bro," Fatima sighed.

"You were able to forgive me," Christy smiled. "I'm sure you can forgive Zaritha."

"I haven't forgiven you yet," Fatima muttered, striding over to the Zaritha. "So, what do I do?"

"She is an Ifrit. She is fire made flesh, and she needs fire to restore her flesh. Engulf her with your passion."

"I can do that," Fatima laughed and fire burned hot, engulfing Zaritha.

"Wait, that is a Si'lat that attacked us?" Britney asked. "Air made flesh?"

"Yes, she was," Aaliyah answered, looking over at the links of chains. What were those?

"Then she will heal. She blew away on the wind. She will absorb it."

"She is dead," Zaritha coughed, sitting up and staring at the shattered, diamond chain. "She can't heal from what you did."