Chapter 6: A Run-In With Bluesteed and a Genie

Kairo silently followed Jan down a long, white corridor. So long he felt walking down it was a new form of torture: there was no end in sight. The only sounds he could hear were their footsteps.

He found this walk and silence unnerving. What were they going to do to him? Was he to face that scary, handsome prince again? So many questions circled his mind like water going down a drain.

But finally, Jan stopped their walk before a smooth and seamless section of white wall. Kairo's thoughts were paused. He wanted to ask why they had stopped until Jan performed the same etched-door-opening spell, and they faced a view of the outside.

Kairo's eyes lifted with awe. He saw vivid white and yellow peach blossom trees clustered in quaint groups near the start of a valley and a snow-capped mountain range. Before the trees were lush and colorful wildflower patches and pocket meadows.

His heart raced with both nostalgia and surprise, for this scenery bore an uncanny resemblance to landscapes he would see on Earth.

"This is the Outer Courtyard Fields to the harem, stables and barracks." Jan stood poised as he faced the scenery.

"Harem?" Kairo's voice betrayed a quiver of keen interest.

Jan chuckled. "Of course our illustrious Demon Prince would have many lovers and admirers eager to stay close to him."

Kairo frowned as he thought back to his first meeting with that man. Indeed, the prince was handsome but also terrifying. He shook his head at the thought, but the idea of a harem sounded interesting. It was every man's dream to be adored unconditionally by many beautiful women. He would be lying to himself if he didn't find the thought of having an attractive woman on his arm desirable.

"Can anybody visit the harem?" He boldly asked with hope in his eyes.

Jan laughed heartily, which eased into a malicious smirk. "You could, but you would face the death of a thousand cuts by a Capon's saw blade before being chopped to tiny food pieces for the Shriekers."

Kairo gulped as he felt the terrifying warning sink in to make his hands and eyes go twitchy. "A trip to the harem equals a certain and painful death. Noted."

Jan's expression eased into laughter again. The boy was highly amusing. Kairo heaved a weary sigh, feeling his life was heading for a wrong turn. If only he had seen that closet and lamp's suspect properties in the ad's images, he wouldn't have been in this mess. Still, while he wasn't in a cell, there was still a chance for situations to turn around, he hoped.

He continued to follow Jan down a moonstone paved path that lead to a set of unremarkable stone buildings and stables.

"By the way, what are Shriekers?" Kairo innocently asked in his usual deadpan manner.

Jan nodded, acknowledging the question and happy to answer him.

"The Palace of Princes is built on top of a lake. Beneath the lake are man-fish creatures with limited intelligence and size of a child. They have three mouths full of sharp tiny teeth, which make up their face."

"Then how do they see or smell?"

Jan further explained that the Shriekers had no eyes so relied on vibrations and the proximity of aura energy to hunt their prey. However, they had excellent olfactory senses at their ears and could sniff their food miles away. Because they had many mouths to manage, they usually ate their food in small portions, so their one stomach didn't fill too quickly and bloat beyond recovery.

"If a Shrieker eats too much too fast they will implode from within."

Kairo nodded with understanding and better context of why these creatures were feared. He suspected they also doubled as an underground sentry.

They continued their walk in a comfortable silence this time, and eventually arrived before an enormous white stone barn-like building where rows of fancy silver carriages were lined up near its rear.

"Genie! You're going to get us in trouble!" A small and slender girl galloped at high speed for them. She was flustered and clearly running for her life.

Kairo frowned when he saw that the bottom half of the girl's two legs resembled a horse. Her rear-end was well-rounded and shapely within her flowing blue and white frilly lace gown.

"Oh no!" The girl gasped with fright when she saw Kairo too late and slammed into him to pin him to the ground.

Kairo's attention and mind were fixated on the girl's perky and cute horse ears, which twitched nervously. They were horse ears!

"Did I just enter a Furry Kingdom?" He wasn't sure what to think of this, as he didn't know too much about the novel genre Martin was interested in. Never in his life did he imagine he would see an actual furry before him. Or in this case, pinning him down.

"Lady Bluesteed, you run too fast." A cheerful voice came up behind them.

"Lady Bluesteed?" Kairo gulped as he stared into the girl's round and bright blue eyes among long curved lashes. Tufts of her tumbling and silky, long blond hair tumbled about her smooth and dainty cheeks that were flushed with a soft mauve.

"I, I'm so sorry." She whimpered with her apology with soft tones from full, lush lips that soothed his pain. His mind was too focused on the beautiful yet odd blend of human-horse beast on top of him to respond.

"Hah! Way to go in landing yourself a boyfriend. Knock them down and keep them pinned before they have the thought to run away." The other stranger slapped his knee jovially and gave the girl a thumbs-up.

"Boyfriend?!" Kairo gasped.

Jan chuckled and helped the horse-girl stand. "Did you forfeit a challenge again?"

Lady Bluesteed toed the ground sheepishly before him with a hoof. "It's not that I want to avoid it, but those prunes make me scratchy."

"Prunes? As in the dried fruit? I guess if you're allergic it would be painful." Kairo blurted candidly.

Both gave him odd and puzzled looks.

"Ah! You must be that alien my brother was talking about!"

Kairo faced the stranger to get a good look at him. He shrank back when he saw the Demon Prince standing before him. Yet, the man looked slightly different. His hair was shorter with streaks of green to match his sparkling eyes. And he wore far less jewelry, a green mage coat over a white tunic and pants held together by many layers of belts, buckles and small pouches.

"I've been waiting for you." The man stomped the ground for emphasis: his ankle leather boot making a deep footprint. He was pouting with his hands on his hips.

Kairo began to sweat and stammer with excuses. The man's expression switched to one of jovial laughter again.

"You're right Jan. He is amusing." The man slapped Kairo's back with a suggestion to relax.

"I'm not the Demon Prince. That's my brother. My name is Genie."

Kairo let out a sigh of relief. At least this crazy man didn't show intentions of ripping out his gizzards and feeding them to the Shriekers.

"Right. Kairo. Please take care of me." Kairo formally introduced himself with a weary bow. It was proving to be a very exhausting day or night, he still wasn't certain what to call a calendar or time in this world. For now, he'd view everything based on his own world conventions.

"Great stuff. Now that introductions are out of the way. Time for your wizard tests. Let the pain begin." Genie chuckled with a slight wicked smirk and tone to his words.

Kairo heaved a long sigh. Of course, getting away from trouble was too good to be true.