Free Jalia on the Road (Jalia - World of Jalon) by John Booth Page A

if carved out of a single piece of stone. The castle design was made up of circles and curves with the front gates in the shape of an ellipse. The gates were massive, rising to the top of the wall and being at least twenty feet across.
    The gates were shut and the two humans could not imagine how creatures as small as the sand fairies could ever move something so massive. As if reading their minds, the King answered their unspoken question.
    “There is a small door in the left hand side of the gate. It is too small to see from here. Come on, we are nearly there. Let us hurry.”
    The King ran down the far side of the dune, paying no notice of the rope binding his hands behind his back. Jalia and Daniel were forced to chase after him, stumbling through the soft sand in their efforts to catch him.
    They caught up with him at the small door, which was wide open. The three of them tumbled through it together. Hands reached out to grab Jalia and Daniel as soon as they got inside.
    “Magic Ring, kill them all,” Jalia screamed as hands reached to cover her mouth, but nothing happened. Daniel was gagged so quickly he had no time to issue a command to his dagger.
    King Jurd was cut free and strode over to Jalia. He dragged the magic ring from her finger and held it up in the light of the castle walls before placing it on his finger.
    “It will work again when it has been rested for a few hours. Take this woman to my room where I’ll have her this night. Take the boy to the dungeons,” Jurd commanded. His men started to obey, but he stopped them with a gesture.
    “But before you take the boy, take his dagger from him and put it in my trophy room. Then torture him to find out how it works. Tomorrow morning we will throw him off one of the spires and enjoy the sight of his body splitting on the flagstones.”
    Daniel knew he had only seconds to give them a chance to escape. He squirmed free of his captors long enough to push into Jalia and thrust his dagger down Jalia’s skirt. To the fairies, it looked as though he was trying to escape. They did not see what he did with the dagger.
    Daniel was pulled away from Jalia and searched. As soon as the dagger’s sheath was discovered to be empty, the fairies searched him and then started looking about on the ground to see if he had dropped it. None of them thought of searching Jalia.
    Jalia felt the dagger slide down her underwear passed the small of her back to nestle between the cheeks of her bottom. Her jacket offered some concealment, but she was terrified the fairies would see it. There was also the problem that its blade was razor sharp. ‘Great trick, trader boy,’ she thought, ‘Pity you never told me how to work the damned thing when you had the chance.’
    Jalia pondered the problem of how to get the dagger to work. ‘Daniel knew how to make the ring work. Therefore, the correct phrase would be something like Magic Dagger do this. After all, that was what he had suggested I try with the ring.’ Jalia was pleased with her reasoning. When her gag came off, she felt she stood a good chance of killing some of these bastards.
    King Jurd grew tired of his men’s search for the dagger. “He must have dropped it when he ran down the dune after me. We will search for it at first light. Take him away and prepare the woman. I haven’t had a human girl for a long time and the thought appeals. I love the way they scream.”
    Their captors dragged Daniel and Jalia away in different directions. Daniel managed to slip his gag out of his mouth for a second, managing to push it out with his tongue and shouted, “Sword”. For his trouble he was thrown to the floor and kicked unconscious.
     
    Jalia was dragged away from Daniel, struggling and kicking with all her might, which greatly amused the fairies holding her. They took her to a sumptuously furnished room and tied her spread-eagled to the bed. Without realizing it, they came close to cutting a chunk out of her bottom as the knife