It is known that wizards love to call on spirits and dump all sorts of black work on them: build palaces, fight enemies, look for treasures, and so on. King Solomon, for example, with a simple ring could easily summon countless hordes of these industrious creatures. No wonder his kingdom prospered. By the way, remember Bartimeus? That genie who has a boneless tongue. He was still involved in the stories with the Amulet of Samarkand and the Eye of Golem and was most directly related to the opening of the Gates of Ptolemy. Bartimaeus boasted not in vain that he had conversed with King Solomon. He was silent only about the circumstances under which this conversation took place, and about his role in the events that almost ended very badly for the entire Ancient world. This is not a continuation of the famous "Bartimeus Trilogy" .. This is the beginning of it, the prehistory of it .. No less exciting, I must say .