Mistlyn

Chapter 3: Meeting Dinjn

A cold draft woke me up. I looked around, shivering under my blanket. There was a huge silhouette of a strange creature near a cave wall.

"Who's there?" I said, my voice sounding shaky.

"Who's there?" repeated the creature, moving towards me.

"I asked you first," my voice quivered.

"And I asked you second."

The creature lit a torch on a wall, bringing it close to my face. "Who are you?"

"A prisoner of Rexon."

"A prisoner, eh? How would you like to be freed?"

I swallowed, hesitating. "What's in it for you?"

"Why so suspicious?" the creature laughed. Its white eyes shimmered in the fire of the torch. "But still, it just means you're a smart girl. How about I come back with a friend or two of mine. Will you be here?"

I nodded.

"Good," the creature patted my shoulder, its hand heavy and cold. "We'll save you from King Rexon." It turned away from me, heading towards the cave mouth.

"How did you get past all those guards outside the cave," I called out.

The creature turned around and smiled. Its mouth looked like a black hole. "Human eyes can see us better than Hardone eyes can," it said.

It turned to shuffle away again but stopped when I called out to it.

"You never told me who you are."

He turned around, a deep growl coming from deep within his gut, rising up into his chest. he let out a loud burp. "Dinjn is my name."

"But what are you?"

"My people are called Jinns."

"Like Genies?" I gasped.

"Jinn, not Genie. Genies are another race."

"Another race?" I said. "I've only ever heard about Humans, Hardones and Genies."

"Your Skeleton friend is another race."

The Jinn let out a sigh and shook his head. "You Alam are woefully uneducated about anything beyond yourselves."

"You know about Farsooth?"

"I know about a lot of things. Now, I have to go."

He left the cave, blowing out the torch. I was left alone again in the dark. Pulling the blanket up to my chin, I spent the rest of the night shivering, out of both cold and fear.