The Stardust Thief （The Sandsea Trilogy, #1）
Chelsea Abdullah
For my mother, who fostered my love of words and writing.
My father, who taught me the power of remembered tales.
And my sister, who always asked for one more story.
This one’s for you.
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The Tale of the Jinn
Neither here nor there, but long ago…
Our world belonged to the jinn, those doomed creatures who roam our desert like lost spirits. Unlike us humans, who were created from the earth, the gods crafted the jinn from an ancient flame that allowed them to live for hundreds of years and gave them the power to use magic. This is why some jinn can change shape and others can breathe fire or travel the world in the blink of an eye.
For a time, the jinn did as the gods commanded: they loved and nurtured the world they were given, and there was peace. But while most jinn were grateful to the gods, there were seven jinn kings who were dissatisfied with their meager magic, and they expressed their discontent by destroying the land. They created winds so wild they blew the water from lakes and oceans, and flames so hot they burned away fields of grass, leaving behind nothing but sand.
When the gods saw the havoc the kings had wreaked, they decided to punish them. They gave them what they desired most—they made their magic more powerful, but at the cost of it being uncontrollable. The magic was so strong it burned holes in the sand, sinking the jinn cities and causing the jinn to vanish from this world.
In the wake of their disappearance, the gods created us humans. Magicless and mortal we may be, but we are the gods’ faithful servants.
There are some who believe we must use our faith to restore life to this barren world. They say the only reason we have any nature left is because there are hunters who capture escaped jinn and sacrifice them to the gods. They claim that a jinn’s silver blood is filled with life—that it can turn sand to water and make trees and flowers bloom.
But our faith need not be so twisted.
Remember, Layla, not all jinn are evil.
Loulie had buried many things since her mother last told her that story.
Her name. Her past. Her parents.
But the story, she had never forgotten.
1
LOULIE
When Loulie al-Nazari was told by the One-Eyed Merchant to meet on a small and humble dhow, she expected, quite reasonably, a small and humble dhow. But the dhow was not small, and it was not humble. It was, in fact, quite the opposite.
The Aysham was a behemoth of a ship, with full sails, a spacious deck, an impressive assortment of rooms, and a lofty crow’s nest. It was, by any measure, a very nice ship. Had she been here as a passenger, she would have enjoyed exploring it.
But Loulie was not here as a passenger. She was here as the Midnight Merchant, an esteemed magic seller, and she had come to meet with a client who was keeping her waiting long past their scheduled meeting time. I will call for you the first hour of moonrise, his message had said. Only, the hour had come and gone, and Loulie was still waiting for him on deck, dressed in the star-patterned merchant’s robe that made her stick out like a sore thumb.
She turned her back on the gawking, well-dressed passengers and focused on the horizon. There were no familiar constellations in the sky, and the night was dark and gloomy, which hardly helped her mood. For what was probably the dozenth time that hour, she sighed.
“I wish you were in your lizard shape,” she said to the man standing beside her.
He angled his head to look at her. Though his stony expression barely shifted, Loulie perceived a very slight height difference between his brows. He was most certainly raising one at her. “And what good would that do us in this situation?”
“You could sneak belowdecks and find our client’s room. You’re useless in your man shape.”
The umber-skinned man said nothing, but his silence was easy to decipher. Loulie had known him for nine years—long enough to understand all his mannerisms and magics. She was no longer surprised by his shapeshifting or by the fire that danced in his eyes when he grew emotional. Right now, he was quiet because he knew she would not like what he had to say.
“We’re offering the man magic,” Loulie said. “The least he can do is be on time for a meeting he proposed.”
“Don’t think too hard on it. What will be will be.”
“Sage advice, oh mighty jinn,” she mumbled beneath her breath.
Qadir’s lips twitched into a brief smile. He enjoyed toying with her—he was the only one who got away with it.