The old man of the mountain

Rufus and the others had tried to persuade the djinns to let them in. Every time they got close to the gates, Div came to greet them but didn't say a word. When any of them took a step toward the gates, Div would turn into anything that would indicate if they got any closer, he would attack them. Once he turned into a tiger, once he turned into a wall.

Days turned and no resolution to the problem ever came. Except for one night.

It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. Rufus woke up, feeling like he had woken up naturally. He felt the urge to go outside.

Outside the tent was cold, as the chilly air blew in his face. He didn't know why he had gotten up, but something pulled him forward. He walked to the mountainside where all the birds slept on the pastures like sheep.

He then took notice and saw that the birds were not real, or what they seemed to be. They were a group of sassans, dressed in black gowns, wearing iron masks. They had light armor underneath the cloth, with small curved blades or crossbows.

Eerily similar to the assassins he had met at the capital of his kingdom. The ones queen Sasha had sent to kill him. But these seemed different like they were more professional and more serious. They didn't seem to threaten Rufus, but he was too confused as to what had just happened to care about such things.

He was ready to fight, but before he could summon any of his divine powers, an assassin was standing right in front of him. This sassanid assassin gave him a papyrus that Rufus grabbed without even thinking. He looked at it and then the assassin blew some sort of powder into the face of Rufus that got his vision to go black.

.

.

.

"Rufus, how long do you plan on sleeping?"

Edward stood above Rufus, kicking him, trying to get him up. It was late in the morning and everyone else was up. He still remembered everything but thought it was just a dream. He then felt he was grabbing onto something. It was the papyrus the assassin had given him.

He read it and it read, "The old man of the mountain wants to help you. Find and take the skulls of the night screamer to the djinns."

~~

Rufus decided to keep the fact he had met the assassins to himself and also the message that was given to him. He went to Rustam, who was riding atop his mount, and asked him," I wanted to ask you. What is a night screamer?"

Rustam stopped immediately what he was doing," A night screamer is a demon."

Rufus was taken aback. Rustam then questioned," Where did you hear from night screamers?"

"The selquks told that there had been spotted one in the red desert. I wondered what it could have been," Rufus gave a quick response.

Rustam sighed and explained," A night screamer is a type of demon that has plagued the sassan heaven for years. They are older than the city of secrets, or even the twin gods Xerxes and Arslan. Or at least some of them. They create more of their kind, the same way as any demon would, by strengthening the winds of pandora.

"They are foul and many times they are thought of no more as wild beasts. But do not let its beast-like behavior fool you. They can be intelligent and wise beyond measure, able to manipulate the weaker-minded."

Rufus then thought about the reasoning behind the skull but didn't want to pry into too much of information. He wasn't sure were these mysterious assassins on the side of the djinns and how would they act if they heard they wanted to help him. In addition, he had no idea who this old man of the mountain was.

Rustam saw that Rufus was deep in his thoughts and tried to relieve him, "Do not worry though, Rufus. A night screamer can never find this city. It is only open for the djinns and the djinns are too smart and sneaky to be aiding, even accidentally a demon. "

Rufus nodded but still couldn't shake off the feeling of unease. He decided to keep his thoughts and the message from the assassins to himself for now.