Ptolemy's Gate

my work. I wish to understand the mechanisms that divide us, human and djinni; I seek to redress the balance, build trust between us. . ."
    "Yeah, yeah. And while you do, I'm guarding your back and emptying out your privy pot."
    "Now you're making it up. Anhotep does that. I've never—"
    "I'm speaking figuratively. My point is—whenever I'm in your world, I'm trapped. You call the shots. Trust doesn't enter into it." The imp glared out through the membrane of its wing and let out another sulphurous eruption.
    "Will you stop doing that? I've got to sleep in this room tonight. So you doubt my sincerity, do you?"
    "If you want my opinion, master, all your talk of reconciliation between our peoples is nothing but hot air."
    "Is that so?" My master's tone of voice hardened. "Very well, Rekhyt, I take that as a challenge. I believe my studies are coming to the point when I can perhaps act as well as talk. As you know, I have studied accounts of the northern tribes. The practice there is for magicians and spirits to meet halfway. From what you and the others have told me, I think I can go one better than that." He threw his goblet aside, got up, and began pacing around the chamber.
    The imp lowered its wings uneasily. "What do you mean? I don't follow you."
    "Oh, you won't have to follow me," the boy said. "Quite the reverse. When I'm ready, I'll be following you. "

13

    The untoward incidents that took place during the Prime Minister's party at Richmond were swift and confusing, and it took some time to discover what had happened. Witnesses among the party guests were few, since when the carnage had erupted in the skies above, most had taken shelter headfirst in the rose beds and ornamental ponds. However, after Mr. Devereaux had gathered the magicians responsible for estate security, and they in their turn had summoned the demons guarding the perimeter, a picture of sorts emerged.
    It appeared that the alarm had been set off when a djinni in the form of a limping frog broke through the estate nexus. It was closely pursued by a large pack of demons, which harried their prey remorselessly as it fled across the lawns. The estate demons had quickly joined the melee, valiantly attacking anything that moved, so that one or two of the invaders were soon destroyed, together with three guests, an under-butler, and much of the antique statuary on the south lawns, behind which the frog took shelter for a time. In the chaos, the frog escaped by breaking into the house itself, at which the other invaders turned about and fled the scene. Their identity, and that of their masters, remained obscure.
    By contrast, the identity of the frog's master was soon established. Too many people had observed the events in the mansion's vestibule for John Mandrake to escape detection. Shortly after midnight he was hauled up before Mr. Devereaux, Mr. Mortensen, and Mr. Collins (the three most senior ministers remaining at the house), and admitted having given the djinni in question the freedom to return to him at any time. Under harsh questioning, Mr. Mandrake was then forced to give some details of the operation in which his demon had been engaged. The name of Mr. Clive Jenkins was mentioned, and five horlas were promptly dispatched to his London flat. In due course they returned. Mr. Jenkins was not at home. His whereabouts was unknown.
    Since Mandrake knew nothing about what his djinni had discovered, and since summoning the injured Bartimaeus immediately might well destroy its essence—without any answer being forthcoming—the matter was abandoned for the present. Mandrake was ordered to appear before the Council three days later, to summon his slave for interrogation.
    In the meantime the young magician bore the weight of general displeasure. The Prime Minister was beside himself with fury at the loss of his Grecian statuary, while Mr. Collins—who at the outset of the alarm had been the first to leap into the duck pond, only to be half drowned beneath one of the heavier lady guests—regarded him balefully from beneath his wad of toweling. The third minister, Mr. Mortensen, had suffered no particular injury, but had disliked Mandrake for years. Together they condemned him for his irresponsible and secretive conduct, and hinted at a broad range of punishments, though the details were left until the forthcoming Council meeting.
    Mr. Mandrake made no response to the accusations. Pale-faced, he departed the mansion and was driven back to