The remaining Afrits stopped their panicked flight and quivered in the air before Mount Nibo, uncertain what they should do. As more lightning forked around them, they slowly retreated to the cavern and, with great reluctance, offered a salaam to Jafar al-Sharif.
“Speak your wish, O wizard,” said one of the Afrits in the front, “and if it is within our power we shall grant it.”
“You will carry me and my party and our horses and all our gear to the castle of Varyu, king of the winds, where we shall converse with him on a matter of utmost urgency.”
“But the king of the winds does not deal with humans,” one Afrit protested from the back row.
Jafar al-Sharif raised his staff once more and lightning again flashed through the skies as a warning, though none touched any of the remaining djinn
