Page 24 of The Void

Something about the city just didn’t feel right. It was as if they were on the set of a movie and nothing but this one building was real.

While they waited for the general, Lucas leaned closer to her.

“There’s something strange about this place. I can’t put my finger on it,” he whispered.

“I was thinking the same thing. I mean, why are there only a couple hundred people and why do they all live in this building?”

“They do?” he asked, sounding surprised.

Before she could answer, a man who appeared to be in his early forties walked in. He was without a doubt the most muscular man she had ever seen. He was followed by six other men, just as impressively built.

The man’s eyes ran over her slowly, then Lucas. Instantly, she could tell he wasn’t impressed with them.

Without speaking to them, he moved further into the room and started barking orders in a different language to the men.

“I guess that proves that only a handful of people here speak English,” Lucas said to her quietly.

The general jerked his head towards them and looked at Lucas as if he was shocked that he would speak while he was.

Lucas’s eyebrows shot up in question and in challenge.

She wanted to remind him that he didn’t have his strength or ability not to be injured, but she was too afraid to talk, lest she gain the general’s attention. Instead, she nudged Lucas with her elbow when the general turned and continued to speak to his men.

It wasn’t until she focused that she started to understand what he was saying.

“Your team will need to work extra to get the job done. I expect your men to see to it that there aren’t any more disturbances,” he barked at one man, who nodded and then quickly rushed from the room.

Then the general turned to another man. “I want you to double your men on the front gate.” He pointed to another. “Take some of your men and have them patrol the southern walls as well.” Then he waved them both off.

Once they were alone with him in the room, Mia stepped forward and, in the same language, said,

“General, we can see that you’re busy. Maybe we should conduct this meeting another time?”

The general’s eyes narrowed, then he glanced over to Lucas, who nodded as if understanding the man’s silent question about whether he too understood the old dialect of Mandarin.

Surprisingly, the general’s next words were in English.

“We’ve been instructed to speak the new tongue around you,” he said, motioning to them both. “No one said you knew our language,” he continued in broken English.

“No one asked,” Mia replied.

The general’s eyes narrowed, then he sighed. “Sit.” He motioned to some chairs, then walked over and sat down behind a large desk.

She and Lucas sat down.

“You’re the djinn?” he asked Mia.

She nodded. “Mia. You’re the general?”

“Tibbo,” the man answered, then he looked at Lucas. “You?”

“Lucas. And I’m with her.” Lucas motioned towards Mia.

“Has she fulfilled the second prophecy?” he asked them.

Mia looked at Lucas, who shrugged at her.

“Maybe you can enlighten us about just what the prophecies are. And how many of them there are,” Mia asked.