A Siege of Cranes, by Benjamin Rosenbaum

A Siege of Cranes (the link is to Rosenbaum's The Ant King collection) is quite a unique story, challenging to get one's mind around and yet pretty darned fascinating as well.  Marish is found in the remains of his village, destroyed by someone or something.  He is not thinking too well, but decides to pursue it.  He meets an unlikely but capable Anubis-type fellow, and together they discover that the destroyer is The White Witch.  Their pursuit involves djinns and other strange beasts, and the companions don't quite cooperate perfectly, but no matter.  Marish here is quite impressive as a creative thinker, he is quite good at resolving what look to be battle situations without any battle at all.  A really interesting fantasy--I didn't feel like I was reading a human tale in a fantasy world.  The world was truly alien in its view, but with recognizable points of reference.  Good stuff, worthy of its World Fantasy Award short story nomination in 2007 and of 3 stars.