Ring Of Solomon by Stroud Jonathan

Author:Stroud, Jonathan [Stroud, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy, Magic, Fantasy, Young Adult, Humor, Adventure, Children
ISBN: 9781423123729
Publisher: Hyperion
Published: 2010-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

64Actually, it couldn’t really. Greater beings than marids do exist, and occasionally appear on Earth to spread chaos and dismay, but they are invariably summoned by cabals of over-ambitious or downright mad magicians. Lone individuals like Khaba (ambitious and mad as he undoubtedly was) couldn’t have such servants in their power; a marid, however, was manageable, just about. The fact that, in addition to Ammet, Khaba had eight djinn and several odds and sods like Gezeri under his control illustrated just how potent he was. Without his Ring, Solomon would have been severely threatened.

65Sycophantic, sickening – and unfortunately true. Here’s how it stands if you’re a middle-ranking djinni (fourth level, since you’re asking). You can be just as swash-buckling as you like and cavalier with it; you can scrap with other djinn (not to mention foliots and imps) with relative impunity, blasting them with spells to your heart’s content and scorching their bottoms with Infernos as they run away. You can take on afrits, too, at a pinch, providing you use your trademark wit to bamboozle them and lead them lumbering into peril. But marids? Well, no. They’re out of your league. Their essence is too great, their power too strong. No matter how many Detonations, Convulsions or Maelstroms you hurl at them, they absorb it all without much trouble. And meanwhile they’re doing something unfair, such as swelling to the size of a giant and seizing you and your fellow djinn by the necks like a farmer bunching carrots, before devouring you whole, a practice I’ve seen done. So you can understand I had no desire to fight with Ammet now, unless it really was the bitter end.

66I was paraphrasing an old battle-cry that we Sumerian djinn used to chant as we pushed the siege machines across the plains. It’s a shame that the good old songs go out of fashion. Of course, I don’t genuinely espouse anything so dreadfully savage. Although, saying that, human marrow is nutritious. In fact, it really puts a pep in your essence. Particularly if you get it fresh, grill it lightly, season it with salt and parsley, and— But we must return to our narrative.

67Which were pretty harsh at the best of times. Back in Khufu’s day, apprentice priests who made too much noise as they walked the sacred precincts were given to the sacred crocodiles. The theory was that if a boy was going to make unpleasant noises, he might as well do it to some purpose. Those crocs needed feeding once a month.

68In general I’m not one for burning books, this being a favoured pastime of all the worst rulers in history. But magicians’ stockpiles of knowledge (tablets, scrolls and, later, parchment and paper folios) are a special case, since they contain the names of spirits by the thousand, ready for future generations to summon. If they were all erased, theoretically, our slavery would cease at once. This, of course, is an impossible dream – but destroying Khaba’s reference library made me feel good.

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