David stood as best he could, focused on the djinn before him. Although he had a habit of being head strong, he wasn't stupid, after all your brain is in your head. He wouldn't tempt fate if he didn't have to.

I'll wait for the djinn to make the first move. If he doesn't feel like attacking me, I can make it out of here alive. I'll get scolded by E.D., but I'll make it out alive none the less.

He continued to stand in as good of a fighting stance as he could muster, waiting.

Jakob muttered the command, and some energy entered his body. He felt as one of the vertebrae in his back slid into the correct postion again. He uttered the second command, then stumbled over to Serrevia. "you need to protect us," he whispered in her ear, then he put the chain around her neck. He said the command one last time, and after a few moments the ruby was completely void of colour. "I hope that's enough."

David heard Jakob mutter something. He moved his eyes to see his red amulet being placed around his djinn's neck. The gem lost some of its color and the djinn began to move again.

So that thing heals? Well, at least now E.D. won't completely chew me out. Hopefully the djinns fight one another. Then, I might have a chance to escape.

Andraa groaned and slowly sat up. Now she was not only battered and bruised, but she was weak. She got herself propped against the wall behind her and took in the situation. Her foliot was trying to get a good angle to obey her command from--after all, she always told it to attack discreetly--but the djinn was watching too closely. Andraa tried standing up and groaned again, aware of how tired she was--something that rarely happened to her.

((Oh, and if no one minds, I'm editing Andraa's profile again (specifically her "special item") because I'm reading the books now and understanding things a lot better...))

(( Yay! Anade is reading the books! Are you enjoying them? ))

Jakob removed the talisman and wrapped it around his wrist. Then he turned around to face the demon who had hit him. "Serrevia, capture that Djinn! I must know his master!"

((:D Very much.))

Andraa shook her head and slowly stood up. "Drop the beggar, Serrevia, I can deal with him." Andraa's voice sounded even raspier than a few minutes ago. And though she was standing up, she seemed more bent and deformed. Her eyes flashed, showing anyone who dared look into her eyes how bad this commoner was going to get it if he tried anything else.

Moments after Serrevia let go of David per Jakob's orders. He stood up and looked at the lady who was with Jakob.

"You're going to fight me? Were you born clueless or did you get that way through working at it? Look at us, and I mean everyone and every djinn here. Jakob can barely move. Serrevia, as you called her, is at best 1/4 her strength. Moments ago I would have said closer to 1/3, but by using her teeth to take of my gauntlets, I absorbed part of her energy. Since it was brief and through her bones, which are a poor energy cunductor, it didn't give me any backlash, but wasn't enough to help me get back to 100%.

Which leads me to you and me. Neither of us are who we pretend to be, I'm not a begger and you fight too well to be a magician. But, one thing we are honest about is that we are both at about 1/5 of our strength.

Meanwhile, that djinn..." David pointed to the other djinn that Serrevia was going after. "is still at 100%. My point is, we need to work together to beat it if any one here, except it, is going to get out alive."

He could tell the girl was suspicious about his proposal as he walked over to pick up his gauntlets. He stuffed them in his pocket, not wanting to risk touching a djinn again, and said, "Here's my proposal. You, me, Jakob, and Serrevia swear to not harm each other and work together for the rest of the night. What do you say?"

Wonderful. For a while, I was the most vulnerable creature there. Now, being the strongest, they are all making aliances to try and kill me. This is not what I was counting on. I was quite hoping that they would continue to fight among themselves, and I could watch, but I simply wasn't that lucky.

I'm feeling that this was perhaps becoming too long of a battle. One of us had to die, give up, or leave eventually. Besides, it was nearing the time that I had to return, and the longer I stayed here, the worse my punishment was bound to be.

But for now, I figured it would be fun to just chuck a Detonation at Serrevia.

Well, that was annoying. I turned into a stone Gargoyle and leapt at the foliot, running it straight into the wall. Afterwards, I flew onto the air and aimed a powerful Detonation directly at the foliot, which hit him and exploded. That should take care of him. I was seriously considering the leaving idea.

Jakob looked at the beggar with disgust. "What, and work with a commoner?" Jakob spat the last word out, then stood up very straight. "I may be covered in mud and water, splattered with a copious amount of blood, but I still have my dignity." He *humphed* mightily, tunred around, and slipped in a puddle.

"You obviously wouldn't survive as a commoner, magician." David spat as Jakob did when he said "commoner". "There is no dignity in death. If you are going to die, die trying to survive. Your precise dignity can be won back another day. Now, will you help and us and order your djinn to treat me as an ally or do you choose to die in the rain, beaten and bruised when you had superior numbers?"

He nodded to her, a little confused as to how he had gotten on the ground in the forst place. "Okay, Serrevia," he shouted, "we'll be allies with this... person for now. But don't let your guard down!" Jakob took a step forward, but it sent pain lancing up his left leg. He said the command, but it didn't work. The ruby was out of power. He gasped and leaned heavily on Andraa, then reached down and rubbed his thigh painfully. "A lot of help I am," he groaned, wincing from the pain.

(( Accidental double post? ))

Jakob leaned into Andraa, smiling slightly at her compliment. "You're right, I do have a Djinn. Serrevia, uh, keep attacking that Djinn! Make sure he doesn't escape!" Suddenly he noticed Andraa was buckling at the knees. It was the amulet. "Damn it, why did I have to give you tha thing?" He tried to tear it off, but it held fast. He couldn't even get it over head, as the chain had shortened considerably. He took his weigth off her and shouted at Serevia, "a little help please!"

((:oops: Yeah, but I got it cleaned up...))

Andraa turned to Jakob quickly. "No. Let Serrevia--and that commoner--battle the djinn. Help if you can. I can get it off, if you can stand on your own." At least, she hoped she could. What had Farrar said about this amulet...?

Jakob nodded, canceled his orders to Serrevia, then stood back from Andraa. He leaned against a wall heavily and endured the pain that lanced up his leg like fire. "I'm okay," he said with a wince, "how can I help?"

David took a deep breath and charged, knife in hand, at the unknown djinn.

"Serrevia take him high, I'll flank him and strike low!"

The Detonation missed by only a hair, but I was fast enough to spare some agony.

"I'm thinking you're something of an idiot, so I'll be nice", I said, charging right back at the beggar. A simple knife wasn't going to do much in terms of penetrating stone. And Serrevia could hardly move, since she was still so weak, in addition to the energy that was taken from her to toss that nice little preseant. As I took flight on my rocky wings, I aimed another of my own Detonations back at her.

His knife attack missed by a long shot. He was too slow and even if he was fast enough, he still had to contend w/whatever monsterous form this djinn took.

I'll never beat him like this. Jakob and his girlfriend are useless and Serrevia is only at half...energy.

It's a gamble but it's our only gamble.

"Jakob! Do we have a sworen argeement that after this fight, none of us will kill each other until we meet again?"

Jakob hesitated for a second, then nodded heavily. "I won't attack you, commoner, not until we meet again. Serrevia, I order you to do as the beggar says."