FOR THE MONTH OF JULY SETARA'S GENIE IS ON SALE FOR ONLY 99 CENTS AT
I didn’t set out to be a hero. All I
wanted was a little romance in my life, just the slightest bit of
adventure. Was I seeking danger? Did I wish to consort with demons?
Heavens, no! I will have to admit, though, the idea of being the
future wife of a rich merchant was highly unappealing.
When the mountain raiders kidnapped me,
I thought that I’d have neither adventure nor much future at all.
Especially when the raiders threw me into the cave as a sacrifice to
the demon who supposedly ruled within the mountain.
I’m happy to say that Basit wasn’t
a demon at all, but a genie in search of a new master. I wondered
what happened to his old master, and he assured me the man died of
natural causes. I also wondered why Basit wasn’t in a bottle or
lamp as the legends say. Again, he assured me that only the stupidest
of djinns would get themselves caught in that manner. Genies choose
their masters, and Basit thought that having a female master—a
mistress, so to speak—would be a nice change of pace.
Once he forced me to figure out how to
get out of the cave, he continued to be of little help. Well, that’s
not entirely true. He did change a camp dog into a sheik (a handsome
one, of course) when I asked him to, but that didn’t work out
entirely. It seems that Basit prefers to have his charge (that’s
me) figure out how to rescue herself. Sheik, when returned to his dog
self, became my close companion from then on. So, something good did
come from my wish for a rescuer. It just turned out not to be as
romantic as I first believed.
Once I had tasted freedom and a touch
of adventure, I hungered for more. It occurred to me that some other
poor soul might be thrown into the cave for the demon to eat (even
though there never was a demon), and it was up to me to rescue them.
I wasn’t sure how to get Basit’s
attention, since he simply disappeared once I was safely home. It
turned out that calling him worked eventually. I’ll have to say he
sometimes takes his own sweet time to answer my summons. Not a very
obedient djinn. I got used to him, though, and we enjoyed many
adventures together. But our first adventure (after my initial
rescue) turned out far different than I imagined. There was, indeed,
a lost soul within the cave, but not exactly what I expected.
Throughout our adventures, I gained the
dearest of friends. Who would believe I could love demons,
fire-breathing horses, sentient eagles, or even a genie? There are
many more brave and true companions I met. They taught me the meaning
of love, loyalty, and bravery. Yes, they made me a hero. For that,
I’ll be forever grateful.
Note: Several
of Setara’s unusual friends take part in the following scene.
Briefly, pirates had stolen a mare, the beloved of Hasib (a talking,
fire-breathing horse). The friends, determined to rescue the horse
confront a nasty array of pirates. All of them show great bravery,
but Setara leads them, willing to risk her own life to aid her
friend, Hasib.
In just the time that Sulawesi guessed
it would take them, the little troop arrived at a dune overlooking
the cove where the thieves’ galleon lay in the water. The thieves
were already at the beach, preparing a pair of small skiffs to row
out to the galleon. The thieves tied the stolen horses together, one
horse to the next; nose to tail. A sailor on the ship was rigging a
sling to the yardarm. Clearly, they were planning to make the horses
swim out to the galleon.
“We need to hurry before they leave
the beach, or we’ll not catch them,” Setara said.
“I’m sure I can find something to
delay their departure,” Basit replied.
“Allow me,” Sulawesi said,
spreading his wings. He soared down toward the beached skiffs. The
rest of the troop went over the top of the dune and hurried toward
the thieves as fast as they could through the shifting sand.
Setara gasped as she struggled to run
but made little progress. “Basit, can you make this a bit easier?
Make the ground hard.”
Basit waved his hand, and the sand
became firm beneath their feet, allowing the motley crew of
adventurers to run toward the captured horses.
The thieves looked up, pulling out
knives and swords. Setara thought maybe she hadn’t planned this out
well enough but drew her own small knife and hoped for the best. A
scimitar appeared in Basit’s hand. The two demons bared their claws
and fangs. Hasib puffed real flames with every leap. Sheik barked
furiously as he ran. Setara hoped they looked fearsome as they dashed
toward the thieves.
The thieves also had a formidable array
of sharp weaponry and did not appear afraid of the strange group
attacking them. The two groups met in a clash of swords, knives,
howling demons, a diving eagle, a leaping dog, and a flame-throwing
horse.
“Let go of those horses!” Setara
screamed and leaped at a thief. She slashed her knife downward,
cutting a long rent in the thief’s sleeve. He rounded on her with a
sword, and she held her knife up to block. The sword slid off her
knife blade, but the man immediately drew back his arm again. She was
not ready with her knife, so she ducked her head, hoping to evade the
sword slash. She heard a scream and looked up to see the thief flying
away from her. “What the...”
A snort that sounded much like a laugh
came from her left. She turned to see Hasib with a horsy grin on his
long face and his powerful hind legs hitting the ground where the
thief had been a mere second before.
All around, her friends were struggling
with the thieves. Those confronted by Azizah and Kairav lost their
will to fight and went running down the beach as fast as their legs
could carry them in the loose sand. Setara thought it was a wonderful
thing to have demon friends.
Sheik had bitten down on the arm of one
of the thieves and was shaking the man back and forth. Basit laid
about with swift strokes of his scimitar, forcing the men back toward
the ocean. Unfortunately, another skiff had just come ashore with
several more pirates. The thieves now outnumbered them nearly three
to one.
“Basit! You must do something,”
Setara shouted. Basit didn’t seem to hear her as he beat off the
attack of one of the thieves. She wondered why he didn’t use magic
but had no time to think about it. She saw a thief slash down on
Kairav, sending the pool demon staggering back with a deep cut, blue
blood pouring down his brawny arm. Another smacked Azizah on the side
of the head, sending her reeling. Sheik yelped in pain, but Setara
could not spare a moment to look while she fended off a muscular
thief wielding a heavy club.
Things weren’t going very well at
all.
* * *
TALES OF ABU NUWAS: SETARA’S
GENIE
A girl,
a genie, a few demons. Would could go wrong?
Abu Nuwas sits in the bazaar telling
stories to the passersby he can tempt to pay. He relates the
adventures of the bored daughter of a rich merchant, Setara, and her
genie, Basit, as they encounter the creatures of legend and folklore:
a lonely cave demon seeking a home; a flying, fire-breathing horse
who has lost his mate; a dragon searching for his family; an evil
genie hunting for the man who bottled him; and a merboy prince cast
out of his undersea kingdom.
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