The Heirs

Chapter 26- Nature's Child

higher still and higher
from the earth thou springest
like a cloud of fire;
the blue deep thou wingest,
and singing still dost soar,
and soaring ever singest
-

"Can djinns even fight?" Tempesta asked, looking between Seraphina and Cleo. "Are they not ghosts? Wouldn't weapons just pass through them-"

Orieus shook his head, "No, my dear. They are not ghosts. They are- they are spirits, but they have bodies. They are between Heaven and Hell- just like we all are. They can be killed."

"Spirits." Chyler frowned at her father. She had not been taught to fight ghosts, or anything ghost-like. But it would be better than the Giant War. Easier, she hoped. She had lost a brother in that- she would not lose more family. "Like wraiths?"

"Yes." Cleo, who had been uncharacteristically quiet around the Narnian soldiers, spoke up. The others in the tent turned to face her, and she went on loudly, "Wraiths possess animals, yes? Djinns do the same, but they are not limited to animals."

"I remember King Peter telling me once that he and his siblings had encountered a pack of wildcats during a quest. They had been possessed by wraiths- Queen Lucy and Queen Sanya refused to let them be killed." Orieus recounted, catching Seraphina's eye as he spoke her mother's name. "Alas, I do not know how they drove out the wraiths from their bodies-"

Seraphina knew, but she felt terrified at the idea of saying it. There were so many gathered here- fauns, centaurs, a Minotaur, dryads- and she had always been anxious about speaking up.
But she was going to fight in a real war for the first time, soon. She had had sex for the first time, mere hours ago.
She could do one more thing for the first time. People did say events happened in threes, after all.
"W-wraiths are weak spirits." She just had to focus on what she was saying, not on how many were listening to her speak. She was talking to herself, in her room, reciting a monologue from her favourite romance. "They simply knocked out the wildcats, and the wraiths left their bodies. They cannot hold on a single host for long- but d-djinns are different. Djinns are powerful- they are strong. Once a djinn gets hold of your body and your mind- there is no- no way to return. That person is as good as dead."

"It's true." Cleo spoke again, nodding at the Princess. "We Rihaayan children are warned with the prospect of djinns if we go to forests before dark, if we don't tie our hair- many things, most of them nonsense and just to scare us into obeying our parents. But after all I have seen and heard in the past day- some things are true. They have to be. Seraphina- she researched djinns, after I spoke to her-"

"I did!" It was easier to talk with someone familiar. "Djinns have magic- usually related to the air, or to fire. Djinns do hide in trees, but not to scare children into going back home- but to drain them of blood. Djinns are not all bad- as General Orieus spoke-" she bowed her head at the aged centaur, "they are between the Heavens and Hell, like we all are. But djinns are supposed to be given the blessing of the Heavens, or the b-blight of Hell. That's just the religious explanation, though, it may not be real. Beliefs differ. But the fact we receive from this bit of scripture is that their species is not wholly evil."

"So-" Rhayne looked at the Princess, tilting their head, "there are good djinns?"

Cleo did not like the silly hopefulness in the centaur's voice, "Not in the battle we are about to face."

"We cannot fight at Cair Paravel." Marus, a faun and an Admiral, said, looking at the General. "The castle is not prepared to be a battleground- and there is nowhere to place defences. Not to mention, the Hospital Wing is overflowing with patients of some sort of disease-"