and informs them that they have been commissioned to build Solomon's Temple on the Temple Mount and that they are to build it without using any magic whatsoever. Bartimaeus uses his trademark wit to infuriate Khaba and the magician unleashes his flail upon the djinn and threatens to place them in his essence cages (devices similar to the Mournful Orb in The Amulet of Samarkand) should they displease him a second time. At first, Khaba and his subordinate closely supervise the stages of construction but after a while they stop showing up at the building site and the attitudes of the djinn grow lax. They begin assuming nonhuman forms and start using magic to build the temple (both actions directly in violation of Solomon's edicts). Several days later, Solomon makes an unexpected appearance on the building site. The other djinn manage to revert to human form and disguise their use of magic but Bartimaeus is caught in the form of a pygmy hippopotamus in a skirt (a comic reference to one of Solomon's 700 wives, "the one from Moab"). The king interrogates Bartimaeus and the djinni reluctantly admits his guilt while covering for the other spirits. As Solomon prepares to use the Ring on Bartimaeus, the djinni resorts to grovelling to appease the king. Bartimaeus's pathetic display amuses Solomon, who agrees to spare the djinni's life and instead punishes him (and Khaba, whom Solomon blames for failing to keep his spirits in line) by sending them to hunt down the local bandits. Several days later, out in the desert, Bartimaeus and Faquarl find and defeat bandits attacking the traveller Asmira. Faquarl insists on eating her but Bartimaeus hopes she can intercede with Khaba on their behalf. Asmira is then escorted to Jerusalem by Khaba and manages to persuade him to reluctantly dismiss the two djinn. Faquarl gains his freedom but Bartimaeus is imprisoned in a small bottle by Khaba and his principal slave, the marid Ammet, as punishment for his earlier crimes. Asmira tries to use her feminine wiles to convince Khaba to get her near Solomon but fails. Asmira frees Bartimaeus from the bottle and commands him as his new master to help her kill Solomon. The pair sneak through the palace gardens and scale the tower wall to Solomon's chamber, evading obstacles through Bartimaeus' magical efforts. They encounter the king in his observatory and Asmira stabs him with