The Ring of Solomon

Plot summary

The tale begins in Jerusalem, where the djinni Bartimaeus serves Ezekiel, one of King Solomon’s seventeen High Magicians. Solomon rules with a powerful Ring. Ezekiel orders Bartimaeus to fetch a magical artifact from the ancient city of Eridu. After succeeding, Bartimaeus outwits the magician, tricking him into commanding the artifact against himself. A jet of water blasts Ezekiel from his protective circle, and Bartimaeus devours him. Freed by the magician’s death, the djinni returns to the Other Place. King Solomon, offended that a lowly djinni killed one of his magicians, commands Khaba, an Egyptian among the seventeen, to summon Bartimaeus back and punish him. Solomon also proposes to the queen of Sheba, but she refuses.

In the Sheban capital of Marib, Queen Balkis receives a message from a fierce marid claiming to serve Solomon: pay forty sacks of frankincense or be destroyed, with two weeks to comply. Balkis sends her loyal guard captain, Asmira, to Jerusalem to assassinate Solomon.

Back in Jerusalem, now under Khaba’s control, Bartimaeus endures humiliating tasks: counting grain, treating sewage, and collecting artichokes. Worse, he must work alongside his old rival, Faquarl. Khaba gathers his eight djinn and announces they are to build Solomon’s Temple on the Temple Mount, using no magic whatsoever. Bartimaeus’s sharp wit angers Khaba, who lashes the djinni with his flail and threatens to imprison them in essence cages—devices like the Mournful Orb—if they displease him again.