The Rusty Jug - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lia didn’t want to open her eyes after realizing that she was awake again. She didn’t want to feel the pain, or see the bloody bruises. Why am I even alive?

Slowly, she realized that she wasn’t in any pain, and – more importantly – that someone was breathing next to her. She opened her eyes as little as she possibly could and still see out of them. She surveyed the richly decorated room in disbelief. I don’t understand! Why am I here? In a soft, silk covered bed no less?

She took almost a full minute to shift her head until she could see who also occupied the bed. She had no desire to wake him or if he was awake, she didn’t want him to realize that she was conscious. The first thing she noticed was that he was so gorgeous that she had a hard time breathing as she looked at him!

She firmly pushed that thought into a locked compartment in the back of her mind, and continued observing him. He wore silk clothing in a style that definitely looked foreign, even though it was a simple pair of pants and a shirt. It must look strange to me because it is made out of silk, she reasoned.

Determining that he was deeply asleep, Lia decided to sit up, and figure out how to leave. She didn’t know why he had brought her here, but she was never going to make the mistake of relying on someone ever again! I only have myself now.

Lia discovered that she was wearing clothing very similar to his, only she also wore some sort of robe over her pants and shirt. Everything fit her very loosely, but other than that, they were almost exactly her size. These clothes probably cost a fortune! Maybe I can sell them for some quick cash.

Lia spent at least an hour looking for a way out. The spacious room she was in was clearly a bedroom, complete with an utterly huge bathtub and closet full of clothes. There were only two doors that she could find. One led to a room that she assumed must be a library –Or do rich people call it a study? It had a desk and hand-carved wooden chair; a comfortable looking oversized armchair, and a ton of books.

The other room looked like a kitchen, but definitely not a modern one full of convenient appliances. Rather, it looked like a kitchen that belonged to a wealthy medieval lord, or something. It had a smallish room off in a corner that contained nothing but an odd wooden chair. She examined the chair, and though it had no water in it – or other identifying marks – it looked very reminiscent of a toilet.

No matter how hard she searched the three rooms, Lia could not find any other doors or windows or even cracks in the walls that might allow her to escape. She paced in frustration, and made certain that her breath did not make any noise despite her agitation. Now what am I supposed to do?

She returned to the room full of books – which also had its own door connecting to the kitchen – and conducted another quick search for an exit. Finding none, she decided to look through the books. Reading was the one activity that her gang leader had allowed her to do that didn’t somehow earn him a profit.

Almost all of the books were written in characters that had no meaning to Lia. Of the ones written in an alphabet she recognized, none of them were in English. They weren’t even in Spanish which she might have had some luck in trying to decipher.

“Great!” She whispered sarcastically. “I’m in a room full of books, and I can’t even read any of them!”

“If you wish, I can make it so that you can read them,” Jin informed her.

Lia bit back a startled gasp, and any reaction to his sudden appearance, and turned to face him.

“What do you mean? Do you mean that you will teach me to read in all of these languages?” She asked.

“Nothing so tedious. I mean that if you say; ‘I wish to be able to read all of these books,’ I will then be able to grant your wish. I can grant you three wishes to be exact; anything your heart desires…” Jin explained.

Lia smirked. “Sure, and did you also plan to tell me that according to the stories, every wish you grant goes unpredictably wrong, and someone gets hurt?”

Jin chuckled. “So, you have heard of me! The stories you refer to only tell half of the truth. The wish is always granted in exactly the manner I visualize it. Therefore, they are not going wrong, just not as the wisher intended.”

Lia couldn’t believe that he actually believed he was a genie, but decided to play along until she could figure a way out of here.

“Why would you want to grant the wish in a way that hurt someone?”

Jin tilted his head thoughtfully. “Well, there are a few reasons. First of all, the witch who cursed me thought that I would be under the control of others, and I continually prove her wrong by asserting my control. Secondly, there isn’t any entertainment to be had while I am trapped in my eternal prison, so I like to have as much fun as I can while I am out of here, and lastly… those who temporarily release me from my prison deserve to suffer. Most of their wishes are selfish and pathetic.”

Lia was now certain that this man was a psychopath. “Let me out of here!” She demanded.

“I don’t know if I can. Generally someone has to free me from the outside… Mistress.”

Lia nearly bit her lip in frustration. She wondered why he had saved her, and nursed her back to health if he was just going to mess with her like this until she likely died anyway. Does he just like playing sadistic games with people? If so, how can I beat him at his own game?

Jin grinned. “You could always wish for me to let you out of here.”

An idea so brilliant struck Lia that she nearly gasped in triumph. I know exactly how to beat him at his game!

“I wish for you to be as a slave under my control! You will do exactly as I tell you to, even if I don’t say the words ‘I wish.’ You will use your power to do exactly what I order you to, and it will not count as my other two wishes unless I actually say the words ‘I wish.’ Lastly, everything I tell you to do will turn out exactly as I visualize it. Do you understand me? You are under my complete control!” There! If he is really serious about playing this game by his rules, then he has no choice now but to play by my rules!

Jin’s face lost all color, and he felt a tight squeezing in his chest. Usually, no matter how many clarifications of or restrictions on a wish the wisher made, Jin was still able to turn the wish around to his will. This time, her very first sentence took awake any ability he had to manipulate her wish, and so all of conditions were in full effect.

He felt like he couldn’t breathe, and forced himself to say out loud the words that were screaming in his head. “Yes, Mistress.” Immediately he felt better, but now he almost hated her, and sincerely hoped that she would make her third wish as soon as possible. Surely lonely boredom for centuries would be better than complete slavery!

“Good. Now get me out of here!” Lia ordered.

Jin pulled her close to him, and put an arm around her waist. “Yes Mistress,” he muttered as their surroundings changed.

Lia looked around; they were definitely not inside his rich home anymore, but the bad news was that they were standing on a trash heap in the city dump, in the pitch black darkness of night. The same trash heap – in fact – that Lia had bled all over. What the?

Lia studied her surroundings a bit more carefully, noticed the rusty jug at their feet, and snapped her gaze back to him. “You really are a genie!” She exclaimed, feeling a little bad that she had wished him to be her slave.

“Yes, and that is my bottle… my prison,” Jin confirmed.

Lia bent to pick it up. “If this gets into another’s hands, will they then be your master?”

“No. It is true that that can and has happened, but you bound me to you with your blood as you summoned me. No one can take me from you until you have made your third wish… or die,” Jin answered honestly.

“I see… Well, I don’t wish to die, so I order you to protect me at all costs,” Lia stated.

“Yes Mistress,” Jin replied with a formal bow. “I shall do everything in my power to protect you from death.”

“Oh, and from now on, you should call me by my name, Lia.”

Should, but not must. This is not an order. Jin didn’t know how to respond to this, so he said nothing.

“Now, let’s get out of here,” Lia suggested. She began to make her way out of the dump – she hoped – choosing the direction they were already facing. The effort was enormous since the garbage kept shifting under their weight.

Lia bit back gasp of sudden and unexpected pain, and tested her ankle to see if it was sprained. This caused Jin to feel a tightening around his chest that prevented him from breathing until he realized that he was breaking his orders by not protecting her.

He scooped her up, and magically jumped from heap to heap. He surveyed the place as they nearly flew along, and was grateful to find a fence signifying the end of it. He gathered a bit of force, and leapt extra high in order to clear the tall wall of a fence surrounding the dump.

“What kind of place is that? Why does it have so much trash in it?” Jin asked.

“Didn’t they have garbage dumps where you came from?” Lia wondered.

“No… Everything was either burned, or made into something new,” Jin answered.

“Sounds very environmentally friendly,” Lia remarked. Again, Jin didn’t know how to reply, and so he merely shrugged.

Lia spotted someone disappearing in the distance, and mentally swore. Outwardly, she maintained her cool. She had far too much training in self control to lose it over something so minor.

“Looks like someone was keeping watch to see if I survived. By rights, I should be free, but something tells me that they won’t let me go so easily.”

Jin wondered again what had happened to her. Normally, he was not interested enough in his masters to ask about their situations, and usually they told him their entire life story whether he wanted to hear it or not. In this instance, he had a feeling that she might just keep everything to herself, even though it might be information he’d need to know in order to protect her. Besides, his curiosity got the better of him.

“How did you come to be thrown away looking like you were two inches from Death’s door?” He tactfully didn’t mention that his magic had healed her ribs, one of which had punctured her lung. She really would have died soon if he hadn’t fixed her up.

She shook her head. “Later. Right now we have to get out of here, and find a place to hide, or something.”

Jin still carried her, and so it was easy for him to simply continue carrying her until they were hidden by a thick patch of evergreen trees. He felt certain that they were safe… for the moment. He healed her sprained ankle, and set her on the ground.

“Now will you tell me?” He demanded.

“It’s simple really,” Lia tried to smile, as if what she was about to say did not hurt her. “When I was eight years old, a gang killed my parents as they were mugging them. I was too numb from shock to cry or fight as they decided to take me with them. They raised me to be a gang brat, or in other words, a kid who always did exactly what the gang told me to, without asking questions.

“I finally decided that I’d had enough of the violence and killing. I wanted out! I’ve always known what that meant… One does not ever just leave the gang; they are in it until they die. So, by telling them that I wanted out, I was telling them that I wanted to die…

“It’s a ritual… they rape and beat anyone foolish enough to dare want out… beat the fool to death, but if the fool just so happens to live… I am free!” Lia ended her explanation with an exclamation of something very close to hope. It was something she hadn’t had in a long time, and she didn’t trust in it now.

“You knew what they would do to you before you said anything, and you asked to leave anyway?” Jin was incredulous with amazement! He had never met anyone who would have done as she had. Everyone he had ever met would have simply tried to run away when no one was looking… but then they would have spent the rest of their lives looking over their shoulders, waiting for the day they were found.

Even more incredible to him was the fact that she hadn’t immediately wished for revenge on all of the gang members who had hurt her. If it were me, I would have wished for the longest, most horrible, excruciating death possible for all of them! He could not fathom why she held back.

Lia laughed. “What else could I do? I felt like I was dead anyway. At least this way I reasoned that I would be dead in actuality… or free…”

Jin thought this over in silence for a few moments. “Now what? What do you wish to do now?”

Lia smiled an actual, honest to goodness, real smile. “I was accepted into a college… I plan to go live in the dorms… I chose a college in a state far from here, and I have a little over a month to get there…”

“What is college?” Jin wondered.

“A college is a place where people go to learn things in the hope that, one day, they can use the things they learned to earn money to live off of,” Lia explained.

“Then why not just wish for money?” Jin demanded.

“I suppose I could, but I  want to learn new things. I want to learn how to earn money to live off of,” Lia said.

“So, wish to learn! I can grant you any knowledge you desire!” Jin exclaimed in frustration.

Lia cast him a shrewd look. “You are only allowed out of your prison for as long as I still have both life and remaining wishes, right? So why are you in such a hurry? Does being under someone else’s control chafe you so badly?”

 She paused for a moment, and then added softly, “Doesn’t it get lonely in there by yourself?”

Jin flushed, but would never admit to her how right she was. No other master has ever asked me such things! They were far too eager to use their wishes, and only took as much time as they needed to attempt to use them wisely. Not that it helped them…

Lia could almost read his thoughts as they crossed his eyes, and didn’t feel the need to make him answer her. She felt it would be just cruel to order him to utter his private thoughts out loud. No matter what she was made to do over the years, she had always managed to hide what she thought. My thoughts were the only thing I truly owned. I cannot force him to give me something I would die before I gave to another.

She suddenly felt incredibly tired, and made herself as comfortable as she could considering that she was laying on the cold hard ground. She was asleep in no time, and Jin remained awake to guard her for about an hour before he decided to get some sleep as well. He had no idea how much longer until morning, but even a little rest would help him protect her better if needed.

He decided to keep her warm with his body heat, and used his magic to surround them in an aura that would keep them clean, dry, and cushioned. He didn’t know if she would appreciate his kindness, but he knew that he would not like to sleep on the hard ground. Besides, this way she kept him warm too.

Go To Chapter 3