The Bride of Mozenrath by Jill Weber
Summary: Mozenrath decides he needs a magical woman in his life...
Rating: G
Categories: Aladdin
Characters: Other, Abu, Aladdin, Carpet, Genie, Iago, Jasmine, Mozenrath
Genres: Comedy
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Published: 12/05/04
Updated: 12/05/04
Index
Chapter 1: Part 1
Chapter 2: Part 2
Chapter 3: Part 3
Chapter 4: Part 4
Chapter 1: Part 1
Disney's Aladdin:The Bride of Mozenrath
By Jill Weber
Part 1 of 4
Characters (c) by Walt Disney Corp. (Except, interestingly enough,
Aladdin himself, because he's been in the public domain for thousands
of years, which is why his story keeps getting told... it's cheap...
however, his image, as created by Glen Keane, is copyrighted)
For Michele Lee, Honywumpus, Questy and Snake Eyes
There are many pleasant sights to wake up to. Mozenrath sitting
at the edge of your bed is not any of them. Princess Jasmine gasped
and pushed back as far away from the evil sorcerer as she could get.
Automatically, she pulled her sheets up to her neck with one hand and
groped for a weapon with the other. She also yelled, very loudly, for
the guards.
Mozenrath laughed. "Save your breath, Princess," he mocked.
"There is nobody around to hear you but myself, my familiar and my
mamluks. Can't you tell where you are?"
Jasmine's hand encountered a heavy silver vase. She picked it
up, spilling water and roses onto her bed. She looked around, the
furniture was hers, so were the wall hangings, floor coverings,
flower vases and knickknacks (right down to the portrait of Aladdin
that she had painted and placed on her vanity).
However, instead of the warm, gold veined marble of her father's
palace, the walls and the ceiling were the gritty, grimy, gray
blocks, that she associated with the...
"Land of the Black Sand," she gasped.
Mozenrath's familiar, the airborne sand eel that he called
'Xerxes', slithered over and snatched the vase from her hand. She let
it go, realizing it would do her little good at the moment.
"Naturally," Mozenrath said unctuously, inclining his head
'graciously'.
"You stole my whole BEDROOM? Are you CRAZY?" Jasmine blustered.
She looked around again. The only thing missing was Rajah. This was
the first time she felt more than alarm. Mozenrath had no mercy for
people, he wasn't likely to show any to an attacking tiger.
Mozenrath shrugged. "They say genius and insanity are close
relatives. But really, Princess, would you rather that I throw you
into my dungeon? Dressed like this?" He plucked at the sleeve of her
diaphanous robe to draw attention to its thinness. Over his
shoulder, he sniggered: "Look, Xerxes, she's blushing. Isn't that
cute?"
Jasmine's face turned maroon, but her expression was one of
fury, not embarrassment. (It's not like her nightclothes were more
revealing than her day wear. In fact, they were somewhat less,
counting the robe).
"What have you done with Rajah?" she snapped, her large, brown
eyes glaring from between strands of her glossy black hair.
Mozenrath drew one knee up and folded his hands on it. He
shrugged. "I only hit him with a minor sleeping spell. You wouldn't
have wanted him to bite me, would you?"
"No," Jasmine agreed drily. She pushed a strand of hair out of
her face. "I'd hate for him to get food poisoning." The strand of
hair fell back into her face.
Mozenrath smirked. "How typically sweet and sentimental of you,
Princess."
"What do you want with me?" Jasmine demanded.
He shrugged again. "Well, what does a man usually want when he
comes to a beautiful maiden's bedroom?" he leered, plucking at her
sleeve again.
"Nothing you want," Jasmine scoffed. Impatiently, she pushed her
hair out of her eyes again and jerked her sleeve out of Mozenrath's
hand. "I know that the thought of touching me disgusts you almost as
much as it disgusts me."
"I dispute the 'almost', " Mozenrath sniffed. Fastidiously, he
wiped his hand on Jasmine's sheet. He rose languidly and gave a
mocking bow. "Well, it's breakfast time," he said. "You WILL join me
for a light repast, won't you?"
Jasmine sighed. "Do I have a choice?"
"You COULD starve to death."
Jasmine crossed her arms and glared between strands of hair.
"I'll think about it."
Mozenrath laughed. "I'll leave you to your cogitations, then. I
need to get back to my crystal ball so I can see the expression on
the Street Rat's face when he finds out that I have you!"
"How will he know it was you that kidnapped me?" Jasmine asked.
"I made it... rather obvious... even for him," he added snidely,
even though he admitted to himself that Aladdin was not stupid. He
bowed and backed out of the door with overdone formality.
As soon as he was gone, Jasmine leaped out of bed and yanked
open the door. There was a dirt encrusted wall behind it. "Figures,"
Jasmine snorted. She went to the window hangings and pulled them back
to find yet another filthy gray wall. Mozenrath's face appeared.
"Really, Princess, you didn't think it would be THAT easy, did you?"
the face smirked.
Jasmine slammed the curtains shut on it.
The Sultan wasn't worried yet, but he was concerned. It wasn't
like Jasmine to sleep so late. It also wasn't like her to be up and
about without at least saying good morning. Naturally, he went to her
chambers to see if there was anything wrong.
He found plenty wrong. Except for a bound and groggy Rajah and a
few miscellaneous items, Jasmine's room was completely empty. No
furniture, no clothes, no Jasmine.
In shocked silence, the Sultan surveyed the room again. The
scattering of miscellaneous items contained just about anything
Jasmine owned that could be classified as a weapon. Then his gaze was
attracted to the hall door. Shock was replaced with a mixture of fury
and horror and he bellowed for his guards... and Aladdin.
Jasmine stood in front of her wardrobe, one hand on her hip, the
index finger of the other hand on her lower lip. "Oh, dear," she said
in a mocking tone. "Whatever is the appropriate ensemble to wear for
breakfast with a maniacal, magical kidnapper?"
If Mozenrath was listening, she wanted to show him that she was
NOT scared. Then it occurred to her that he might be doing MORE than
listening. The idea of giving Mozenrath a peep show was not
appealing.
She dug into the back of her wardrobe. Her 'Ram-Jazz' (as Genie
termed it) outfit was there, but not her whip. The bow the Galifemme
Queen had given her was gone, as was her sword. She looked in her
vanity, the picklocks that Sadira had given her were gone. More
hunting around revealed that even her nail scissors, hair pins and
broaches were gone. Mozenrath was obviously not planning to leave her
with anything sharp. She sighed and went back to the wardrobe.
The sight of her 'street mouse' outfit, as Aladdin teasingly
called it, helped her decide what to wear. She pulled one the brown
robe and tied it securely. On her head went the camel colored hood
with its long ends that could be used to veil her face. She added a
pair of cream colored bag-trousers over her night wear rather than
pulling off her pajama bottoms and putting on her usual harem pants.
She decided that boots would be better than slippers and sat down at
her vanity to put them on.
Earrings and necklace were added as a matter of form. The more
herself she looked, the less she felt Mozenrath had power over her.
She picked up the portrait of Aladdin and said: "I wish you were
here." She sighed. "Better yet, I wish I WEREN'T here.
Two of Mozenrath's green skinned, shambling, half-dead mamluks
showed up soon afterwards, giving her to suspect that the wizardling
HAD been watching. She shivered slightly and pulled the belt of her
robe tighter. Then she pulled herself up in her best 'Crown Princess
posture' and followed her guide. The other mamluk followed five steps
behind. Obviously somebody had coached them on VERY old-fashioned
royal etiquette.
The room they escorted her to was large, but the dim lighting,
forest of pillars, and low, cobwebby beams gave it a claustrophobic
feel. There were potted plants scattered here and there, most of
which looked as perky as the servants. "Mamluk Ficus, what a
concept," Jasmine muttered to herself.
Mozenrath reclined at the head of a long table, one leg casually
draped over the arm of an overly ornate throne. On the wall behind
him was the only really clean object in the room, a sparkling silver
mirror in an antique ebony frame.
Mozenrath rested his chin on his fist as he watched Jasmine's
approach with mocking eyes. "So, what do you think of my humble
abode?" he drawled.
"I'm amazed to find a home that is even more filthy than
Aladdin's," Jasmine said acidly. There was a table setting at the
foot of the table and she approached it.
Mozenrath tensed and his eyes narrowed dangerously. "That STREET
RAT..."
Jasmine met his gaze cooly. "Lives in a hovel. What's your
excuse?" She looked down at the small, plain chair, then picked up
the napkin and made a point of dusting the chair.
Mozenrath suddenly relaxed and laughed with mock geniality. "You
know how it is, Princess. Good help is SO hard to find." He waved his
hand as Jasmine sat down and a mamluk came up to push her chair in.
Not realizing the mamluk was holding the back of her seat,
Jasmine scooted the chair in herself... and ripped one of the
mamluk's arms off.
Jasmine looked at the arm, then at the mamluk, in disgust. "I
see your problem," she said icily.
Mozenrath gave a short laugh. To the mamluk he said: "Take
yourself down to the... (to Jasmine) armory, shall we say? (to the
mamluk) and have that reattached.
Jasmine sighed. "Spare me your attempts at humor," she said.
"What do you want with me?" She made a face at her filthy napkin and
dropped it in a handy potted plant.
Mozenrath just gave her a tight smile and snapped his fingers.
Another mamluk came up and slapped a bowl and a mug on the table in
front of Jasmine. Jasmine looked at the bowl of rice and mug of
unidentifiable brownish liquid with repugnance.
Mozenrath picked up a wine goblet and took a sip. He raised and
eyebrow when he noticed that Jasmine was not eating. "What's the
matter, Princess?" he pouted. "Rice and tea not good enough for your
oh so sensitive royal palate?"
Jasmine glowered at Mozenrath. "It's bad enough that your mamluk
had to put his thumb in the bowl. Did he really have to LEAVE it
there?"
Mozenrath snorted. "Now who's trying to be humorous? Spare me,
Princess, I didn't kidnap you for your wit, such as it is."
The mamluk's thumb tried to crawl out of the rice. Jasmine
backhanded the bowl, sending it flying off the table to splinter
against a pillar. The shards and rice fell into the potted plant, on
top of her napkin. Soon after, the mamluk's thumb squirmed out of the
pot and made for the kitchen.
Jasmine leaned back in her chair and glared at Mozenrath. "Fine,
if you don't want me for my sparkling beauty OR my sparkling wit,
then (she leaned forward and smacked the table with both fists) WHAT
DO YOU WANT!"
Mozenrath laughed. "Oh, so impatient! Oh, very well." He sat up
straight and steepled his fingers in front of him. "I have decided
that it is time for me to take a wife."
Jasmine pushed back from the table, a look of horror and
loathing crossing her face. Both emotions were mirrored by Mozenrath.
"Not YOU!" he said fastidiously. "YOU are covered with ALADDIN
cooties. You don't fit my requirements, anyway. You are too arrogant
and mundane for me. I want someone more feminine, more domestic, more
MAGICAL!"
Jasmine relaxed a trifle. "And you can't find anyone?" she asked
tartly. "How strange."
Mozenrath glared at her, then stood up gracefully and began to
pace. "True, it's very strange, but most magical females I've met
have an attitude as bad as yours. So, I asked myself, who is REALLY
good at finding things? Particularly magical beings? Hm?"
Jasmine caught Mozenrath's drift. "Aladdin."
Mozenrath smirked. "Given sufficient motivation, your pet street
can be very effective."
Jasmine picked up her mug and toyed with it. "And you think I am
sufficient motivation?"
Mozenrath's smirk widened. "You know how easily he's lead around
by his emotions, Princess." He rubbed his chin with his bare hand.
"He'd do anything to keep YOU from harm."
Jasmine raised the mug, but interrupted herself in mid gesture.
"What makes you think he won't just rescue me?" She paused, then
added snidely: "Like I rescued him at Dagger Rock?"
Mozenrath's eyes went cold, but his smile remained. "Let's see
what he is doing right now." He paced over to the mirror. Jasmine was
not especially surprised when he waved his gauntleted hand and the
mirror started to glow. While he was distracted, Jasmine sniffed her
mug, made a face and added the contents the pile of the rice, shards
and napkin in the potted plant.
The mirror stopped glowing and Jasmine could see inside her
bedroom. Her father and Aladdin were standing tensely in the middle,
anxiously reading a message on the wall. Genie floated behind them,
looking enraged. Carpet floated in front, tassels to his hem like he
was putting his hands to his mouth in horror. Abu was crooning and
petting an ill looking Rajah. Iago was perched on Aladdin's left
shoulder, also looking ill.
Her father grasped Aladdin's arm. "You must save her!"
Aladdin looked determined. "I will. I can handle Mozenrath."
Mozenrath snorted.
Iago waved a wing under Aladdin's nose. "Excuse me? Am I the
only one who's figured out that..." he grabbed Aladdin's ear and
yelled very loudly, blowing Aladdin's hair awry. "THIS IS A TRAP!"
Aladdin shrugged him off irritably. "No kidding, Socrates, but
we have to do what Mozenrath wants... for now."
Mozenrath smirked. Jasmine was extremely tired of that
expression. "Do what Mozenrath wants all the time, Street Rat!"
Mozenrath laughed.
"In your dreams," Jasmine muttered.
"No, in reality, Princess," Mozenrath said smugly as he turned
to face her. "He'll do exactly what I want, because YOU will do
exactly as I want!" He looked at her empty mug and smiled.
Jasmine cocked her head and looked at him warily. "What do you
mean?"
Mozenrath buffed his nails against his cloak and said smugly. "I
put a love potion in your tea. The one I'll use on my intended. In a
few moments, you'll fall desperately in love with me."
Jasmine leaped to her feet, knocking her chair over backwards.
"YOU! You are the most despicable..." she caught herself, and without
missing a beat changed her speech from furious to flirtatious.
"Desirable man I've ever met!" she cooed. "I never noticed how
incredibly handsome you are!" She slunk toward him the way she'd
slunk toward Jafar.
Mozenrath's smirk got even slimier. "Well, you ARE a princess, I
suppose I'll have to make allowances for your limited mental
capacity, too much inbreeding, no doubt."
Somehow Jasmine managed to force herself to throw her arms
around his neck and hugged him hard enough to choke. At least this
way she didn't have to guard her face.
Mozenrath made a sound of disgust and pushed her away.
Immediately, Jasmine fell to her knees. "How EVER can I prove my
undying love to you, my most beloved Mozie?" she simpered.
She could hear Xerxes making gagging noises. She'd have to be
careful of her face, no matter which way Mozenrath was facing, Xerxes
had eyes, too. She looked up at Mozenrath adoringly.
Mozenrath smiled and patted her head. "First, get yourself
dressed up, the 'peasant girl' look is NOT you." He looked at his
shoes, then kicked them off. "Next, do something about these shoes,
will you? They're a disgrace."
He snapped his fingers and a mamluk appeared. "Follow him, he'll
show you where the cleaning equipment is."
Jasmine managed to look like she'd had her lifelong dreams
fulfilled as she picked up Mozenrath's shoes and trotted off after
the mamluk.
Mozenrath watched her go and rubbed his hands together
gleefully. "Wait until Aladdin gets a load of her now!"
The border of the Land of Black Sand was easy to spot. It's
where the gold sand of the regular desert collided with the namesake
black sands. It wasn't a knife sharp division, the two colors swirled
together, as if some artist had attempted to mix them.
Mozenrath picked a black sand dune several yards away from the
whirls of color and gestured at several mamluks. The green-skinned,
shambling, half-dead warriors sank into the dune in strategic
locations. Just a little insurance, Mozenrath planned on killing
Aladdin. He preferred to do it AFTER Aladdin found a wife for him,
but he wouldn't really object to not getting a wife if he could see
Aladdin die slowly and painfully.
Chapter 2: Part 2
Part 2 of 4Xerxes swam up to Mozenrath and hissed. "Master, Hero come!"
Mozenrath strode to the top of the dune that concealed his
mamluks and struck a dramatic pose. A few minutes later, the youthful
sorcerer could see Aladdin coming over a sand dune, alone and on
foot, as per orders. Aladdin wore a hooded cloak of indeterminate
color over his regular street clothes. He also had a walking stick in
his hand that MIGHT be a sword stick, but Mozenrath didn't care. A
sword wouldn't help the Street Rat now!
Mozenrath rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. "This is
going just as planned." He slid partway down to meet Aladdin, but
stopped midway, forcing Aladdin to look up at him.
Mozenrath smiled broadly. "AL! How NICE of you to drop by!"
"Nice-sssss," Xerxes hissed.
Aladdin scowled. "Don't call me 'Al' you MONSTER! Where's
Jasmine? What have you done with her?" He tightened his grip on his
walking staff until his knuckles turned white. Even the walking staff
was looking a trifle pale where he held it.
Mozenrath smirked. "She's healthy and safe. I haven't done
anything to her, except make her more... congenial."
Aladdin glared at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?"
Mozenrath spread his hand and said blandly: "Just a little love
potion, that's all."
Aladdin surged forward, raising his stick. "You flea-bitten,
son-of-a..."
Xerxes snapped at Aladdin's face, forcing the street rat to jump
back. Aladdin stumbled downhill, keeping his balance with an effort.
As he stumbled, he shifted the stick in his hands to take a swipe at
Xerxes. The eel snarled and snapped at Aladdin's hand.
Mozenrath shook a finger at Aladdin. "Uh-uh-uh, mustn't annoy
the man who has your pretty-pretty princess at his mercy."
Mozenrath's tone went glacial. "Such as it is."
Aladdin trembled with rage, but held his temper and his tongue.
Mozenrath smiled triumphantly. "That's better." He gestured and a
puff of black smoke rose from the dune. Jasmine, dressed in an overly
elaborate golden gown appeared.
She ran over to Mozenrath's side. She would have preferred to
run to Aladdin, but she KNEW that Mozenrath had set a trap. If she
tipped her hand now, she could wind up in even worse trouble, and
this stupid dress was NOT designed for fighting. She hoped she could
tip off Aladdin to her ruse without tipping off Mozenrath.
Aladdin looked at his fiancee anxiously. "Jasmine are you all
right?"
She looked down her nose at him. "And what business is it of
yours... Street Rat?" she asked disdainfully.
The look of hurt and uncertainty on Aladdin's face made
Mozenrath throw his head back and laugh. Xerxes followed suit. In
that one moment of her captors' inattention, Jasmine looked into
Aladdin's eyes and twitched her head in a negating manner.
The hurt and bewildered expression remained on Aladdin's face,
but not in his eyes. When Mozenrath looked at him again, Aladdin
'forced' his face to change to a glare. "You despicable monster! What
have you done to her?" he demanded.
Mozenrath touched the tips of his fingers together and smirked.
"Weren't you listening? Or are you just being especially slow at
comprehending today? I gave her a love potion. She'll do anything I
tell her to do." His smile went from smug to predatory. "Even die."
Aladdin felt a chill hand touch his heart. If Mozenrath
discovered Jasmine's bluff... "What do you want from me?" he demanded
harshly. He didn't have to hide his fear, Mozenrath would
misinterpret it.
Mozenrath smiled unctuously. "That's more like it, Street Rat."
He examined his nails for a few minutes before answering. "I want a
wife."
Aladdin lunged, only to be knocked down by a blast from
Mozenrath's gauntlet. Aladdin landed on his back, losing his grip on
his walking stick. Mozenrath jumped after him, kicking the walking
stick well away before kicking Aladdin in the stomach.
Aladdin clutched his stomach and rolled away. He started to push
himself up, then Mozenrath kicked him in the side, sending him
sliding head first down the dune. Aladdin tried to stop his slide
with his hands, but only succeeded in cutting his left hand on
something under the sand.
Mozenrath started to follow Aladdin downhill, but Jasmine
wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Stop, most beloved Mozie,"
she whined in un-Jasmine-like tones. "You'll get your SHOES dirty,
and I just CLEANED them!"
Mozenrath gave her a suspicious look, which faded when Jasmine
allowed a few crocodile tears to slip down her face. "Oh, all right,
Little Princess." He shrugged Jasmine off and allowed Aladdin to get
to his feet.
Jasmine moved back a few steps, but remained ready to pounce if
Mozenrath looked ready to blast at Aladdin again. Aladdin glared, his
ribs hurt, but he wasn't going to give Mozenrath the satisfaction of
seeing him rub them. His hand hurt, too, but he didn't rub that for
an even more pressing reason. He didn't want Mozenrath to realize
Aladdin had found his trap. There was something sharp hidden
underneath the dune, and Aladdin was willing to bet he knew what.
"Don't get your fez in an uproar, Street Rat!" Mozenrath
sneered. "I don't want the PRINCESS!" he spat the word out as if it
were an epithet. "I want someone more magical, someone more
FEMININE!"
Jasmine had to bite her tongue to keep from responding to that.
"Yah, feminine!" seconded Xerxes.
Jasmine kept her tongue between her teeth to keep it from
sticking out.
"Then where do WE come in?" Aladdin asked grumpily. He put his
clenched fists on his hips, at least partly to hide the blood on left
one.
Mozenrath rubbed his hands together. "You are SO good at finding
magical beings that I've decided to grant YOU the honor of finding me
a suitable bride. Once you have done so, the Princess is yours
again."
Aladdin's scowl returned. "How do I know you'll keep your end of
the bargain?"
Mozenrath smiled genially. "You don't." He paused. "Now be quick
about it. I expect your first candidate to be presented to me in
three days. Oh, and don't try to sneak into the Citadel to rescue
your precious little princess. If I spot you any closer than this,
and she will kill herself, won't you my dear Little Princess?"
Jasmine batted her eyes at Mozenrath, in as breathless a voice
as any dizzy dancing girl, she said: "ANYthing for YOU, my most
beloved Mozie, dear!"
Mozenrath held out his arm and she took it. "Come along, Little
Princess, YOU have a lot of work to do." They started to walk away
and Mozenrath said over his shoulder. "Oh, do hurry before she gets
dishpan hands. I understand that will diminish her market value."
Aladdin leaned forward, as if he meant to charge uphill again.
Xerxes swam in front of his face, gloating. "Market value! Market
value!"
Aladdin crossed his arms so Xerxes wouldn't see the blood. "How
will I let you know if I find someone?" he shouted after Mozenrath.
Mozenrath paused. "Oh, how silly of me." He reached into his
belt pouch and threw a small golden bell at Aladdin. "Come to THIS
spot and ring this. I'll hear you. Ciao!"
With a dramatic swirl of his cloak, Mozenrath, Jasmine and
Xerxes were gone. Aladdin picked up the bell and his walking stick,
turned and trudged back the way he had come.
It wasn't until he was well with in the golden sands, and well
out of sight of the meeting place did he plant the walking stick into
the sand. "There was something sharp under the sand," he told the
'stick', holding up his left hand to show the cut.
The stick sprouted eyes, a mouth and a sharp nose. Then it
sprouted arms so it could rub its chin. "Hm," Genie said. "That area
isn't zoned for a landfill."
"It's not zoned for a cemetery, either," Aladdin said, adopting
Genie's phrasing without really understanding it. "But I'll bet it's
loaded with mamluks."
Genie puffed into himself and took Aladdin's hand to examine it.
"A cemetery filled with the shambling half-dead, interesting. Would
that make it a semi-cemetery?"
Aladdin rolled his eyes as Genie cleaned and bandaged the cut.
"Whatever, let's get out of here before Mozenrath realizes that I
wasn't alone."
He took of his cloak and threw it in the air. Genie one finger
zapped it, changing it back into Carpet. If they had gotten a chance,
the plan had been to grab Jasmine and fly. Mozenrath hadn't given
them that chance.
As they flew into the afternoon sun, Genie asked. "You think he
didn't know Rugman and I were there?"
Aladdin shook his head. "I don't know," he replied. "I hope he
didn't, for Jasmine's sake."
Meanwhile, back at Mozenrath's Citadel, Jasmine followed
Mozenrath into his Great Hall. So far, this was the only room that
Jasmine noticed any care being taken with. It was all grey and black,
but showed none of the filth of the other rooms. Aside from a few
broken beams, it actually looked presentable. Mozenrath threw himself
into his throne and Jasmine bowed low in front of him.
"How may I serve you, most beloved Mozie?" she cooed. Mozenrath
looked ill. 'Serves him right,' Jasmine decided. She also decided to
cool it before Mozenrath got suspicious.
Mozenrath frowned at Jasmine. "First of all, stop calling me
'most beloved Mozie'. Call me, 'My Lord'. It's much more dignified."
Jasmine bowed her head. "As you wish, mos... My Lord," she said
sulkily
Mozenrath leaned back in his throne. "That's better, my Little
Princess. Next you can clean this place up a bit. I wouldn't want you
to be held captive in a place even dirtier than Aladdin's hovel!"
Jasmine frowned, then covered up by saying. "But mo... My Lord,
I can't clean the Citadel all by myself! I'm a PRINCESS!"
Mozenrath frowned, then shook his head. "Ah, yes, I forgot the
inbreeding for a moment." (Jasmine managed to keep a pleasant
expression on her face with great difficulty.) "Very well, I'll
arrange for the mamluks to follow your orders."
Mozenrath waved one of the mamluks over and muttered a short
incantation, ending with a snap of his fingers and a 'Make it so.' He
turned to Jasmine and said: "Follow him."
Jasmine dropped a pretty little curtsey as she'd learned to do
as a child and followed the mamluk out the door. To her great relief,
the slimy little eel didn't follow.
The kitchen wasn't anything to write home about, unless your
family was into horror stories. All the flat surfaces were coated
with the same black grit that pervaded Mozenrath's kingdom (such as
it was). The fire in the fireplace gave off more smoke than anything
else, and the soot fallout added to the general dinginess of the
room. The piles of pots, pans and dishes had begun to grow mold, and
the sink was so choked with dirt and debris that the mamluks standing
next to it looked clean by comparison.
"I take it Destain was a bachelor, too?" she said drily to her
guide.
"Ur,"said the mamluk.
"I couldn't have put it better myself."
Jasmine sighed and shook her head. "I could ALMOST feel sorry
for Mozenrath." Then she snorted. "Then, again, the scumwad deserves
everything he gets, including food poisoning, and I hope it's soon."
There was a covered bowl on the table, Jasmine removed the cover
and was surprised to be rewarded with fresh, clean apples. She picked
one up, sniffed it and took a bite. She leaned against the wall and
tried to think of what to do next. She had to get out of there,
quickly. Mozenrath wouldn't be taken in by her act for long.
For one thing, if he called her 'Little Princess' one more time,
she was going to throttle him. She took another bite of apple and
swallowed. Then asked one of the mamluks by the sink. "So, is there
any cleaning equipment in this dump?"
"Ur," said the mamluk.
"Oh, that's helpful. Can you speak up?"
"Ur ur," denied the mamluk, with a shake of his head.
Jasmine blinked. "You ARE answering me, aren't you?"
"UR," replied the mamluk, nodding.
She straightened up from the wall. "Very well, fetch cleaning
equipment." The first mamluk shambled off, dripping non essential
anatomy as he went. Turning to the next mamluk, she pointed to some
buckets. "Clean those out and fetch in some clean water."
The mamluk was only able to carry one bucket. There was
apparently something wrong with his left hand. Jasmine sighed. "How
can I even pretend to clean when my assistants are falling apart on
me?" She looked at the third mamluk. "You, bring me some gloves."
The third mamluk shook his head. "Ur ur."
Jasmine cocked her head to one side. "No gloves?"
"Ur."
Jasmine snorted and started pacing. "I have lots of gloves," she
told the uncomprehending mamluk. "And Mozenrath so kindly brought all
my belongings with me. Unfortunately, the kind of gloves I own aren't
exactly suitable..." she stopped pacing and grinned wickedly.
"They're so very inappropriate..." she looked at the mamluk and made
a snap decision. "You, come with me."
Mozenrath paid no attention to the mamluk dusting cobwebs from
the ceiling when he entered the Dining Hall. Nor did he note the
peculiar list one of the one potted plants had developed. He headed
straight to the mirror on the wall and gestured.
A scene sprang into view. The Sultan of Agrabah's throne room,
complete with distraught Sultan. Aladdin and Genie were also there.
The Flying Carpet was hovering over the throne, and Abu was on
Aladdin's right shoulder.
Suddenly the loud mouthed Iago flew into view and crash landed
on Aladdin's left shoulder. Mozenrath saw the parrot's beak move, but
couldn't actually hear anything. He scowled and gestured again, to
turn the sound volume up. As he did so, Aladdin shook the parrot off
his shoulder irritably. "Ow, IAGO!"
Iago flew over to Genie and landed on his shoulder. "What's up,
Bird man?" Genie asked.
"Read the script," Iago huffed.
Much to Mozenrath's disgust, Genie whipped out a sheaf of paper
and a pair of wire rimmed reading glasses.
Iago pulled a quill pen out from somewhere, scratched something
out and scribbled onto the paper. "Can't you even spell my name
right?!"
"Humph," Genie grunted uninformatively. "Oh, you blew your line,
Al," Genie added, handing the script to Aladdin.
Aladdin glanced at it and said: "I prefer to improvise, thank
you."
"This is STUPID," Iago said. "You know Mozenrath won't keep his
word. I say we just cut our losses and forget Princess Jasmine." He
flew over to the Sultan's shoulder. "There are lots of girls in the
world who would LOVE to be a princess! You can adopt yourself ANOTHER
daughter!"
The Sultan glared, but before he could speak, Aladdin
interrupted. "Put a sock on it, Iago," he said, giving Genie a
meaningful look. Genie obliged by zapping a sock over Iago's beak.
Iago flapped around, glaring at everybody.
"We've ALL had enough of your cynicism." Aladdin said. The
Street Rat put one hand on the Sultan's shoulder and gestured with
the hand holding the script. The Sultan's eyes followed the 'script'
for a moment, then he looked at Aladdin.
"I think we can trick Mozenrath," Aladdin bragged. "We've done
it before, it's no biggie."
Abu nodded his head and agreed enthusiastically.
Mozenrath growled to himself.
"What did you have in mind, my boy?" the Sultan asked eagerly.
"Yes, do tell, BOY," Mozenrath muttered.
Aladdin looked at Genie and grinned broadly. "Mozenrath wants a
magical wife?"
Genie grinned and poofed himself into a gorgeous blonde wearing
a blue velvet dress. 'She' whipped out a small mirror and powdered
her nose. "Then a magical wife he'll get!" 'She' fluffed and preened
and said in sultry tones: "Well, let's get me to the church on time,
big boy!"
Mozenrath waved his hand and the picture disappeared. However,
he was too busy snickering to notice the reflection of the spying
princess. "This is even better than I hoped!" Mozenrath chortled.
"All I have to do is plant a Crystal of Ix at the ambush site and
I'll get Aladdin's Genie as well as his little princess!"
Jasmine growled softly to herself. "That mirror has GOT to go."
Genie poofed back into his usual form, but he still held the
compact in his hand. "The bird man was right, Mozenbreath WAS
watching, but now he's changed the channel." He pliffed the compact
out of existence, and conjured a cylinder with writing that said:
"Moze-Buster." Genie strapped it to his wrist. "This handy little
gadget will let us know if Mozenrath starts peeking again."
Aladdin handed the sheaf of papers to Genie. Most of the pages
were filled with gobbledy gook, except where Iago had written 'HES
WATCHING'
"You forgot the apostrophe," Genie told the parrot as he pliffed
the paper to a recycling bin some 1600 years into the future.
"What d'ya want?" Iago screeched. "Good grammar or good info."
"Good work, Iago," the Sultan praised. "But how did you know
that Mozenrath was watching?"
"Because that's what I... er... That's what Jafar would have
done," Iago barked. He fluffed his feathers. "There are certain
advantages to having an inside look at the methods of a madman."
The Sultan glared at his late enemy's former sidekick, but said
nothing.
"Whatever," Aladdin said. "The important thing is now Mozenrath
THINKS he knows what we are up to. Which means we have to get
somebody ELSE to be the bride of Mozenrath."
"Oo?" asked Abu, looking pointedly at Iago.
Genie blinked at the monkey. "Monkey boy has a point. Who?" he
asked, also looking pointedly at Iago.
"Oh, no, you don't!" Iago snarled flapping backwards away from
them. "I won't do it! I refuse to participate in any plan that
requires getting within grabbing distance of Moze."
"Iago, my daughter's life is at stake!" pleaded the Sultan.
Genie floated circles around the parrot. "Aw, c'mon Iago! I
can't do it, AL can't do it, and neither Carpet nor Abu can talk!" He
added in wheedling tones. "I'll let you keep the dress!"
"What part of 'NO!' don't you understand!" Iago said,
backwinging desperately. "Besides, Mozengoon wants a MAGICAL bride,
remember? I can't do magic!" He landed on Aladdin's shoulder and
tried to hide under the Street Rat's poofy black hair. "How about
Sadira?"
Genie snapped his fingers. "Of course! The witch of the sand
turned street rat/sneak thief!" He put his finger to his lower lip
and rolled his eyes. "Or... was that the other way around?"
"She's perfect," was Iago's somewhat muffled response. "She's
female. She's magic. She OWES Al for that nasty spell that had him
running around the seven deserts thinking he was the great
Dragonslayer."
Aladdin shook his head, causing Iago to lose his balance. Abu
pushed him off of Aladdin's shoulder. "No, She won't do," Aladdin
said.
Iago flapped over to hide behind Carpet. Carpet patted him on
the head. Aladdin smiled crookedly. "Don't panic, Iago, you won't do
either." Iago emerged, wiping his forehead with the back of his wing.
"The mood Mozenrath will be in, we don't DARE use an ally."
Genie's bottom half transformed into a mirror image of his top
half, giving the effect of an hour glass with two heads. Both held
its right elbow with its left hand, while it tapped its chin with its
right forefinger. "Well, it won't be easy to get a total STRANGER to
act as Mozenbait."
Genie emphasized his hour glass figure by turning his midsection
into an hourglass. The sands running from the top half to the lower
half made the lower head sneeze and glare indignantly. "And we're
running out of time," the upper head added.
The Sultan shook his head. "We can't endanger an innocent by-
stander, not even to save Jasmine," he said firmly and unhappily.
Aladdin sighed. " You're right. We can't use a stranger or a
friend. Mozenrath is liable to go up like Vesuvius after we rescue
Jasmine."
Iago flapped back to Aladdin's shoulder. "Assuming that we do."
Aladdin brushed him off irritably. "If we fail, we're done for,
which is all the more reason we can't endanger a friend or a
stranger."
Genie poofed his lower self into legs. "Well, if can't use a
friend, and we can't use a stranger, that only leaves one category,
Al."
"An enemy," Aladdin said ironically. "A female, magical enemy."
His lopsided grin reappeared. "Which narrows the field down
considerably. There's Mirage..."
Genie poofed into a scrawny blue alley cat. "Feline femme
fatale... heavy on the fatale."
Aladdin nodded and said: "Or Saleen."
Genie morphed into a merman, fishing pole in one hand and a fish
shaped bowl of tuna salad in the other. "Dish of a fish, a mermaid to
DIE for."
Abu hid under Aladdin's vest. "I know, Abu, I don't like this,
either." He sighed. "Anyway, I really don't think we can take on Evil
Incarnate today."
Genie changed into a fisherman, retaining his pole. His other
hand now held a picture of Saleen, who red headed woman from the
waist up and spikey tailed lion fish from the waist down. "That
leaves Miss Sea Witch, who tried to steal you from Jasmine. And when
that didn't work, she tried to turn you into a shark!"
"I haven't forgotten," Aladdin said drily.
Genie waved the fishing pole like it was a magic wand and the
picture of Saleen transformed into a picture of a large octopus. "And
leave us not forget her heavily armed cohort, Armand!"
Aladdin shook his head. "I haven't forgotten him, either. And
yes, I know that even though he helped us when I was turned into a
shark, it wasn't because he's ethical. It was because he wanted to be
Saleen's only pet."
Genie waved the magic fishing pole one more time, and the
picture of Armand turned into a display case of various types of
bait. "So, how do we lure Miss Fish Styx into cooperating? She's too
cunning to bite at just any bait!"
Aladdin's grin had a touch of madness in it. It actually SCARED
Genie. "We bait our hook with the one thing she keeps trying to get,
but can't." Genie opened his mouth to protest, but Aladdin silenced
him with a gesture and tapped his own chest. "Me."
Chapter 3: Part 3
Part 3 of 4The next morning, it was Mozenrath's turn to wake up to a
nightmare. He walked into his dining hall and stopped dead in his
tracks. Xerxes twisted desperately to avoid him and wound up gaping
so much that he ran into a pillar.
The dining hall was a lot cleaner than the last time he'd been
in it. The walls had gone from off-black to almost dove gray. The
cobwebs were gone, the furniture sparkled and the floor looked clean
enough to eat from. That was what he had wanted, his problem was with
the table, which now sported silver candlesticks and the silver vase
of almost fresh roses (from Jasmine's room). Even worse was the fresh
hole in the wall surrounded by frilly curtains (from the bed in
Jasmine's room).
The mamluks were busy knocking another hole in the wall.
Mozenrath opened his mouth to bark an order when he took a good look
at his mamluks. His words died in his throat, leaving his jaw
dangling in a very un-wizardly fashion.
The mamluks were wearing dresses. Not just any dresses, mind,
but fancy silk dresses with lots of lace, frills and other
frou-frou... plus elbow length gloves. The dresses had been slit up
the side seems to make them fit, showing the rags underneath and
making the whole picture even more incongruous. Much the same effect
could be achieved by spreading sugar icing over dung.
"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!" Mozenrath bellowed.
Jasmine, now dressed in her usual sea-green outfit, hurried out
from somewhere. "I'm making things pretty, as you ordered, My Lord."
Mozenrath stalked forward, ripping frills off his mamluks as he
passed them. "I did NOT order 'pretty'!" he snarled. "I ordered
'CLEAN'!" He looked around. "And I DEFINITELY didn't order a HOLE in
MY WALL!"
Jasmine blinked back tears.(Easy to produce with all the
cleaning vapors in the air.) "But My Lord. How can I clean up if the
mamluks keep dripping mamluk parts all over everything? The dresses
are ONLY until I have proper uniforms made!" She wiped the bridge of
her nose with the back of her hand. "Meanwhile, don't they look
cute?"
Mozenrath snarled at her. "CUTE?!? Mamluks aren't supposed to
look CUTE!" he raged. He ripped the curtains down. "And I DON'T NEED
WINDOWS! They compromise my security and they let in too much light!"
He points his gauntlet. A bolt of blue black flame leaped out of his
hand, closing up the wall and turning the curtains into ashes.
"YOU are not in charge here!" he bellowed at Jasmine. "I am the
master of everything here!"
Jasmine gritted her teeth to keep from yelling back. She'd been
unable to sleep, even knowing that Mozenrath had no designs on her
body. Being this helpless had kept her from doing more than catnap in
a chair. She'd amused herself by having the mamluks clean and trying
to figure out how to destroy that gossipy mirror.
The mamluks refused to touch it and wouldn't let her touch it
either. This was the only thing they had refused orders about. She
needed to destroy that mirror, but she also needed to keep up her
pretense. She managed to turn her snarl into a whine. "I thought you
liked me!" That was a BIG mistake.
Mozenrath turned to look at the chair where Jasmine had been
sitting. "No, YOU are the one who drank the love..." he stopped in
mid-word.
Jasmine followed his eyes and hissed. During the night, the
potted plant she'd dumped the tea in had twined ardently around the
post. She'd missed that in the dark, or she would have destroyed the
plant.
Mozenrath swung back to look at her, fury in his eyes. "You
DIDN'T drink that potion! You've been FAKING!" He advanced
menacingly. "Did you think you could make a FOOL of me!"
Jasmine snarled back. "I'm about twenty years too late for
THAT!"
Mozenrath snarled and blasted at her with his gauntlet. Jasmine
dodged behind a slow moving mamluk. The bolt hit the mamluk,
scattering silk and less mentionable remains around the room.
"Is that the best you can do? Make a mess? And on your nice,
clean floor, too!" Jasmine jeered.
Mozenrath laughed. "And here you cleaned my Citadel for me,
Princess. How SWEET of you to work so hard." He blasted at her and
she dodged behind another slow moving mamluk.
"ME? Work for YOU?" she laughed, dodging mamluk segments. "All I
did was delegate." She snatched up a mamluk arm and threw it at
Mozenrath. By then, even the slowest of the remaining mamluks had
fled the room. Jasmine dodged behind a pillar, which Mozenrath
promptly blasted.
Jasmine scooted from pillar to post, throwing mamluk fragments
at Mozenrath to keep him off balance. She managed to stay one jump
ahead of Mozenrath's blasts. When she came to the entwined pillar,
Mozenrath blasted it, and the plant, to splinters.
Jasmine ducked and covered her head to avoid the blast and the
splinters. "Serves you right, tattletale," Jasmine muttered to the
plant remains. She dove toward the table, grabbing a silver
candlestick as she passed it.
"Amateur! " she hooted, spinning around to throw the
candlestick. "You couldn't hit a sand dune you were standing on!"
Mozenrath blasted at her again. Instinctively Jasmine parried
with the candlestick. The bolt was deflected, but the force ripped
the candlestick out of her hand.
Jasmine stooped under the table. Mozenrath blasted at it,
splintering the chairs on his side. Jasmine slipped out the other
side. She stood up and grabbed the silver vase. Mozenrath blasted at
her once again. She held up the vase and deflected the blast. This
time she was ready for the shock. She deflected a second shot as she
ducked behind chairs. She managed to retain her hold of her pathetic
weapon even though the metal heated rapidly.
Mozenrath destroyed all the dining room chairs, but Jasmine
managed to deflect any blasts that she couldn't avoid. Gracefully,
the princess danced around the table, then almost fell when her left
foot suddenly stopped moving. She looked down. A severed mamluk hand
had grasped her ankle. The mamluk parts she had strewn around were
creeping toward her like something from one of Genie's elaborately
illustrated campfire stories.
Mozenrath smiled and lowered his gauntlet. "Looks like you've
LOST, Little Princess."
Desperately, Jasmine swung the heavy vase and released it.
Mozenrath laughed when the vase didn't even come in his direction.
"Your aim..." he started to sneer.
His gloat was interrupted by the sound of shattering glass. He
jerked around in the direction of the noise to see the remains of his
hideously expensive magic mirror crashing to the ground amidst sparks
and small explosions.
Mozenrath turned his attention back to Jasmine, who was now
wrapped in mamluk parts like some bizarre mummy. "That's seven years
bad luck, Little Princess," he snarled, pulling back his gauntlet and
firing it up. "Starting NOW!"
"SA-LEEN!" yelled Aladdin. He squinted over the waves at the
first rays of the rising sun.
"This is a BAD idea!" screeched Iago, flapping his salt-laden
wings. "This is the WORST idea you have EVER come up with, and THAT'S
saying something!"
"You're right," rasped Aladdin tiredly. His eyes felt grainy and
his vocal cords felt like he'd been eating live coals. "If you have a
better idea, don't be shy."
Abu snickered.
"Oh, shut up, furball," snarled Iago. Then, sounding more like
Aladdin than Aladdin did at the moment, he bellowed: "SAAA-
LLLLEEEEEEEEEEN!"
They'd been searching along the coast for Saleen all night. They
had even tried the island where Saleen had turned Aladdin into a
shark. Now they were back in the area where Jasmine had first met the
mermaid.
Aladdin was tired, but the thought of sleep had been kept from
his mind by his fear for Jasmine. Aladdin, Iago and Abu were kneeling
on Carpet, watching the waves for any sign of the water elemental.
Aladdin was 'dressed up' for his interview, wearing jade green pants
and shirt with a forest green vest, turban and cloak. A gold earring
dangled from his left ear lobe.
A small door appeared in the earring and Genie, wearing a yellow
sou'wester peeked out. "No sign of the target on Sonar, Cap'n!" he
reported with a salute.
"Keep looking, Genie," Aladdin rasped. "We've got to find her."
He leaned over Carpet's hem. "SA-LLEEEEN! We want to talk to you!"
"I forget, do we have a plan 'B'?" Iago inquired snidely. He
flapped his wings in a futile effort to dry them.
Genie pulled a beehive out of his pocket and held it up. A
stream of honey bees swarmed out and dumped honey all over Iago.
"Will you QUIT?!" howled Iago, spattering honey all over his
colleagues. Abu began scraping honey off Carpet and eating it. "I
mean, if this cockamamie scheme doesn't produce results, we gotta
come up with something else. I don't WANT another princess. I just
got THIS one broken in!"
"We'd better start thinking of another plan," Aladdin admitted.
"This looks like a bust. We'll try until the sun's up, then head back
for Mozenrath's place for a showdown. For now, Genie, go back inside.
I don't want her to see you."
Genie slammed the door shut and the outline of the door 'zipped'
out of sight.
"Lower, Carpet," Aladdin instructed. "As low as you dare."
Reluctantly, Carpet, inched closer to the waves. "SA-LEEN!" bellowed
Aladdin as loudly as his raw throat would allow. Aladdin leaned even
farther over Carpet's hem. "SA--"
A wave curled over Carpet's edge and yanked Aladdin underwater.
Instinctively, Iago launched himself from Carpet, only to be brought
down by a combination of salt and honey.
"We have a winner," he muttered. "If you can call this winning."
The inside of the earring was spacious, at least for the
shrunken Genie. The ceiling was vaulted, a crystal chandelier hung
from the center. One wall was lined with pictures of Aladdin and
Jasmine, one was covered with pictures of Abu and Iago (the Iago
dartboard was taken at an especially flattering angle.) The third
wall had a life sized, autographed portrait of Genie's girlfriend,
Eden, the green skinned genie of the bottle.
The fourth wall had an entertainment center, complete with big
screen television, VCR and stack of video tapes, including Aladdin,
Return of Jafar, Jasmine's Enchanted Tales, Little Mermaid and Jaws.
Genie was sitting in a bean bag chair, ignoring the popcorn popper
that was spewing popcorn all over his Mickey Mouse hooked rug. He was
chewing his nails nervously (and with typewriter sound effects) as he
watched developments. He could intervene at any time, but picking the
wrong time would mean curtains for Aladdin and Jasmine.
On his screen, he could see Aladdin spinning helplessly as he
was dragged under water. Aladdin's left arm was pinned to his side by
Armand, Saleen's sidekick. The octopus wrapped six arms around
Aladdin and started to squeeze. Saleen swam around them, laughing and
flicking her spikey fish tail. Everything had a greenish hue, except
for Aladdin, who was turning blue.
Saleen clapped her hands. "So, decided you couldn't live without
me, did you, handsome?" she gloated. "What's the matter? Catfish got
your tongue?"
Aladdin lifted his free hand to his throat and rolled his eyes.
Genie pulled on an aqualung and prepared to jump in, in spite of
possible consequences.
Then Saleen relented. "Guess if I want answers, I ought to let
you catch your breath... at least long enough to speak. And this had
better be good! You interrupted my beauty sleep!"
She made a throwing motion at Aladdin and a surge of bubbles
frothed around the drowning Street Rat. Seconds later, Aladdin
started breathing again... and so did Genie.
Saleen flipped her fin and circled lazily around Aladdin and
Armand. "Let's not beat around the sea weed. You wouldn't endanger
yourself without a good reason, what is it?"
Aladdin scowled. "Revenge against that treacherous Princess who
I THOUGHT loved me!"
Saleen's eyes brighten and she coiled around Aladdin's shoulder
like a cat, all but purring. "You mean you and Ms. 'He worships the
ground I walk on' had a lover's quarrel?!"
Aladdin twisted his head to look at her. "QUARREL?" he cried.
"The prissy little snot dumped me for my worst ENEMY!"
Saleen laughed and darted away. "Really? And WHO might that be?"
"An evil wizard named Mozenrath."
Saleen disappeared in a swirl of bubbles. Then she was back,
holding a big book covered with scales. The title read: "The Big Book
of Evil Elementals, Djinn and Mages. "Never heard of him," she
muttered. "Can't be much of a wizard."
Aladdin snarled. "HE says his the premier sorcerer of our age!"
Saleen sniffed disdainfully. "So? You're not very old. A
sorcerer your age is pretty callow." She flipped through the book. "I
don't see him in here," she complained, holding the book so Aladdin
could read it.
Aladdin reached out his free hand and flipped a few pages.
"Here, with a 'z'."
"Oh." Saleen tilted her head and studied the page. "He's kind of
cute... for a human."
Aladdin managed to keep from throwing up, but just barely. "I'm
glad you think so," he said. "I was hoping you'd be willing to help
me trick him."
Saleen swirled around him, depositing the book somewhere out of
Aladdin's sight. "So? What does tricking him have to do with finding
him cute?"
Aladdin took as deep a breath as he could manage with three
fourths of Armand's arms digging into his ribs. "Jasmine is staying
at Mozenrath's Citadel. He says he wants a wife, but I think he's
just stringing her along. If something BETTER came along, I'm sure
Mozenrath would dump Jasmine like a bowl of rotten Odiferous cheese."
Saleen twined herself around Aladdin's shoulders again. Aladdin
was beginning to feel claustrophobic. He was also beginning to worry
that she'd look too closely at his earring.
"What makes you think that Mozenrath will prefer an elemental to
a princess?" she asked, idly twining a strand of his bangs around one
finger. "YOU didn't."
Aladdin growled the best he could in such suffocating
circumstances. "I thought she was in love with me! That I was
important to her! But she LIED! Mozenrath isn't as sentimental as I
am. He's only interested in POWER! He'd drop her in a Gomorrah second
if someone as beautiful and powerful as YOU came along!"
Saleen floated off, preening. But there was still skepticism in
her eyes when she looked at Aladdin. "So now I'm better than your
princess, but you refused to be mine before!" She twitched her tail
thoughtfully.
Aladdin gave her an adoring look. "I've finally come to my
senses," he said, trying desperately to convince her. "I'm all
yours... forever!" he paused, then added. "As soon as I THROTTLE the
life out of that faithless princess!"
Saleen actually looked a little flustered. "Wait here a minute."
She swam off, gesturing for Armand to follow. As soon as Armand
released him, Aladdin slumped with relief, taking his first full
breath since he had been pulled underwater.
Armand swam over to Saleen and she showed him Mozenrath's entry
in the book. "According to this, Mozenrath is pretty hot stuff. He
probably has Princess Jasmine under some sort of spell." She gave
Aladdin a sideways flirtatious look that was wasted, because the
Street Rat wasn't looking at her. He had his eyes closed as was
apparently trying to get as much air into his lungs as he could.
Saleen snorted and turned her back to Armand. "But as long as
Lover Boy back there doesn't know it, I see no reason to pass this
opportunity up. It will be SO much fun to see his face when he
realizes that he strangled an innocent..." she had a giggle fit and
couldn't continue for a moment.
Armand made a grumbling noise. He pointed several tentacles at
Aladdin, and used two more to form a noose. Just in case his point
wasn't coming across, he used yet another tentacle to make throat
slashing gestures.
Saleen just flipped a hand at him. When she could stop giggling
she said. "Oh, Armand! I KNOW it could be a trap! But he's not
malicious enough to come looking for me just to do me harm, he's a
HERO! Besides, I can handle him, even if he brings his genie into
play." She giggled again. "And even his precious genie can't save him
from that bargain!" An evil grin passed over her face. "As soon as he
murders Jasmine, he's MINE!"
"I KNEW this was a bad idea!" wailed Iago. The parrot lay in the
center of the Magic Carpet, both wings covering his eyes. Abu
chattered anxiously as he ran around Carpet's hem, looking for any
sign of Aladdin. Carpet circled anxiously, also looking for any sign
of his friend. Suddenly, water fountained upwards, carrying Aladdin
and Saleen with it. Carpet swooped over, grabbed Aladdin, and twirled
(as per orders) as if to escape.
"Carpet!" Aladdin barked. He pulled back on Carpet's hem,
'forcing' Carpet to come around. Iago and Abu clutched at each other,
not needing any acting skill at all to reveal their dread. One wrong
move would see them all turned into shark chow.
Saleen watched this display through narrowed eyes. She held
herself upright, with her hands on hips, scowling at all of the land
dwellers. When Carpet flew back to her, she snorted and waved her
hand at her lower body. Her fin turned to legs and her clothing
turned into a gold dress. Her peal jewelry remained the same.
"I still don't see what the big deal over legs is," she said to
Aladdin. She gave him a shark's grin. "You'll LOVE having a tail...
and gills." Before Aladdin could respond to that. She suddenly
reverted to 'charming young girl', though as far as Aladdin knew, she
was none of the above. She twirled around like any a human girl on a
normal date. "What do you think of the dress?" she asked, as if
honestly wanting his opinion.
Aladdin steeled himself and held out his hand. "Maybe something
a little less flamboyant," he suggested. "Perhaps, sky blue?"
She took his hand and stepped across to Carpet. "Like your
genie?" she asked drily. But her dress faded to Genie/sky blue. "Mind
your manners, fishbait," she muttered to Carpet.
Aladdin ignored Carpet's slight shudder. "It's my favorite
color," he told Saleen. "That's why my former Genie wore it all the
time."
"Former Genie?" Saleen asked, with a raised eyebrow.
"I freed him," Aladdin said truthfully, intentionally leaving
out minor details, like exactly WHEN he had freed Genie, or that
Genie helped him now for friendship's sake.
Saleen smiled brightly when she fancied that she didn't have
Genie to deal with. Then she sat gracefully and pulled Aladdin down
with her. "Well, let's go, guys!" she said gaily. "The sooner we get
to Mozenrath, the soon I can claim my prize!" She snuggled up to
Aladdin, who managed to not pull away, shudder or be ill.
They reached the border between Agrabah and the Land of the
Black Sand. Aladdin looked at Saleen and raised an eyebrow. "You
ready to play your part?" he asked.
Saleen fluffed her hair. "Of course, my pet, ring away."
Aladdin rang the bell with one hand, with his other, he tossed
his earring over his shoulder to Carpet. Carpet, Iago and Abu
disappeared around a sand dune.
"That's seven years bad luck, Little Princess," Mozenrath
snarled, pulling back his gauntlet and firing it up. "Starting now!"
Mozenrath's glare was almost hot enough to fry eggs. "Do you have ANY
idea what I had to go through to GET that mirror?" he snarled,
advancing on Jasmine.
Jasmine hitched backward the best she could in her mamluk
straight jacket, stopping only when she backed into a pillar. She
answered sardonically. "You mean, you DIDN'T pick it up in the
marketplace?"
She thought Mozenrath was going to explode from internal
pressures. "NO! I had to go on an extremely hazardous quest to
appropriate that thing! Fighting a dragon at the end of it was the
EASY part. Not to mention all the work I put in afterwards to make it
WORK RIGHT! And, unlike your pet Street Rat, I don't have a GENIE to
do all the HARD stuff!"
Jasmine sniffed disdainfully. "'Appropriate!' Steal it, you
mean. And you're always insulting Aladdin for being an EX thief. As
for doing all the hard work, if you had a few friends, or even a few
employees, you wouldn't HAVE to do everything by yourself, you snotty
little low-life BRAT!"
Mozenrath gaped at her speechlessly for a moment, then he pulled
back his arm and Jasmine thought she was done for. Then Mozenrath's
gesture was interrupted by a loud chime.
Mozenrath's head snapped around. Xerxes sideslipped over to him,
being careful to not get between the black fire and the princess. "Is
Bell you gave Hero!" Xerxes announced.
Mozenrath nodded. "So it is." He glared at Jasmine. "It looks
like you've been saved by the bell, Little Princess," he said. "For
now..." he made a sudden gesture. There was a flash of light and
Jasmine was enveloped in darkness before she could even try to duck.
Mozenrath materialized on the booby trapped dune. He looked
across the border at Aladdin and Saleen and smiled icily.
"Congratulations, Street Rat," he sneered. "I thought you would push
the deadline, but it took you less than a day to find someone
suitable... assuming she IS suitable."
Aladdin spread his hands. "You blackmailed me into this because
I'm good," he reminded Mozenrath blandly. "You won't find a more
powerful, more beautiful, more magical female than Saleen." He was
laying it on with a trowel. Saleen looked at him with sudden
suspicion, but before she could speak, Aladdin looked around.
"Where's Jasmine?" he asked.
Mozenrath gestured and Jasmine appeared, handcuffed to a mamluk.
"She's here, but I want to examine my potential bride first." He
gestured to the back of the dune he was standing on. "Wait down
there," he ordered gruffly. Jasmine pulled the mamluk out of sight
and Mozenrath gestured for Aladdin and Saleen to come closer.
"Saleen," Aladdin said with a grandiose bow. "This is Mozenrath,
Lord of the Land of the Black Sands. Mozenrath, this is Saleen,
Daughter of the Water, Belle of the Swell."
Mozenrath eyed Saleen sardonically. "Charmed, I'm sure," he
said, bowing pretentiously.
Saleen eyed him warily. This wasn't the kind of reception she
had been expecting. She turned her suspicious look on Aladdin, and
got an encouraging smile in return. She turned back to Mozenrath. "My
pleasure," she said guardedly.
Chapter 4: Part 4
Part 4 of 4Genie smoked out of the earring and stuck it in his pocket.
"Iago, you and Abu go left, Rug Man and I will go left." He blinked.
"Um."
Iago gritted his teeth. "You go left, we'll go right!"
"Gotcha!" Genie said. He and Carpet started to sneak off.
"Hey!" Iago objected. "How come *I* get stuck with the monkey!"
Genie sighed. "Because each group should have one member who can
TALK!" he hissed. "Now shut up and get moving!" He and Carpet were
out of sight before Iago thought to ask why Genie didn't take the
monkey instead of the Carpet.
Iago picked up Abu and flapped off with him rather than walk on
the icky Black Sand. Carpet also elected to fly. Genie was the only
one who ignored the gunk underfoot, so he was the one who triggered
the mamluk ambush. Neither he nor Carpet noticed the movements under
the sand. Their attention was fixed on their target.
Genie scowled. "Mozenwretch is trying to fool us," he growled to
Carpet. Carpet turned his hem towards Genie and tilted it
inquiringly. "Note that the 'mamluk' has both hands bound, yet
'Princess Jasmine' only has a cuff on one hand. Plus mamluk jaws
aren't usually so thoroughly sewn together," Genie pointed out.
Carpet looked, then clenched his tassels and took up a boxing pose.
Genie shook his head. "Leave this to me," he said grimly.
The 'mamluk' and 'Princess' Jasmine started back when the air in
front of them suddenly filled with sky blue smoke. A blonde woman in
a pink sheath skirt, frilly white blouse, pink high heels and
carrying a huge pink purse appeared in front of then. 'She' preened
'her' hair, then minced closer.
"'Scuse me, Genie-kay here," 'she' said in a credible Joan
Rivers impersonation. (Not that either of the two 'she' addressed
recognized it as such.) 'She' turned to 'Princess Jasmine'. "Have you
tried our latest sunscreen, hon?" 'She' reached into 'her' purse and
whipped out a large banana cream and super glue pie, which 'she'
slammed into 'Princess Jasmine's' face.
Then she minced over to the 'mamluk'. "Hon, we have GOT to do
something with that complexion!" 'She' whipped an atomizer out of her
capacious purse and sprayed a light lavender mist into the 'mamluk's'
face, then at 'Princess Jasmine'.
When the mist cleared, Jasmine was the one with both hands
chained and the mamluk was futilely trying to pull the pie off its
face. Genie smoked back into his usual form. "You BOTH look better
that way." To the mamluk, he added. "Leave it on, it suits your
complexion."
"Thanks, Genie," Jasmine sighed. She rubbed her sore mouth. Then
she held up her chained hands. Iago flew over with Abu, who made
short work of the Jasmine's handcuffs. "Thanks, guys, I thought...
Look out!"
The warning was too late. Mamluks started coming from every
direction except straight up. One seized Jasmine from behind, pinning
her arms. A quartet emerged from underground and started a four way
tug of war with Carpet. Considerably more than four jumped Genie and
started dragging him underground. Iago and Abu grappled with the
mamluk holding Jasmine, for all the good they did, it may as well
have grabbed them.
Jasmine squirmed and struggled to no avail. "Let me go!" she
cried. She was astonished when the mamluk obeyed. Jasmine yelled at
the other mamluks. "Let them go! Back off!" The mamluks released
Carpet and Genie and backed away, looking to Jasmine for further
orders. "You can stop now, guys," Jasmine told Iago and Abu, who were
still battering away at their chosen victim.
Iago looked around, blinking. "Wow, how'd you do that?" he
asked. Abu jumped off the mamluk and clambered onto Jasmine's
shoulder. The capuchin monkey looked around in awe.
"I'm not sure," Jasmine said. Then she rubbed the bridge of her
nose. "Wait a minute."
"A minute it is," Genie said, whipping out a very small
hourglass. "So, what's with all the mamluks?" he asked when the
minute glass ran out.
"Mozenrath had them following my orders..." Jasmine started.
"Whoa! You talked Mozenwretch into giving YOU power over his pet
shambling half dead?" Genie whistled. "You ARE good, Princess-woman!"
"He thought I was under his love potion, and he wanted me to act
as his cleaning lady," Jasmine said drily.
"You sure fooled Dr.Franken-brat, Princess!" Iago said,
admiringly.
"Don't be silly, Mozenrath is too good at fooling himself. But
how did you lure him out here?"
"We brought him a prospective bride," Genie told her.
Concern appeared on her face. "He intends to use that love
potion on his bride. You didn't bring some Sadira..."
"Nope, Saleen," Genie said.
"Saleen?" Jasmine gasped.
"Saleen," Genie confirmed. He poofed himself into a hefty
soprano wearing Viking costume. "I think it's time to end this little
party!"
Jasmine, Abu and Iago hop onto Carpet and sail off, Genie flying
behind them on a sky blue, pudgy pegasus.
Saleen's alarm was growing. This was NOT going how she pictured
it. Mozenrath didn't seem interested in her at all, yet he obviously
expected Aladdin to bring him a female magic user. Instead he was
approaching Aladdin, who was backing away with very evident alarm.
"Now, AL, old buddy," Mozenrath purred. "You wouldn't DREAM of
trying to save you're precious little princess by palming a ringer
off on me, would you?"
Aladdin held his hands up in a placating manner. "MOZE, buddy!
Would *I* do something like that to you?" He smiled unctuously and
unconvincingly.
"In a Gommorah minute, you little sneak thief! Especially when
you have that pet Genie of yours to help you!"
Saleen, putting her hands on her hips. "I am NOT a genie!"
Mozenrath snorted. "Right, I'm supposed to believe that and
waste a perfectly good love potion on that FREAK?!" he challenged
Aladdin.
"Freak!" shrieked Saleen, starting to get very annoyed.
"Freak!" confirmed Mozenrath. He waved his hand and black sand
blew off a familiar crystal.
"A crystal of IX!" shrieked Saleen. "You wretched little..."
Mozenrath didn't notice that the last part of the tirade had
been directed at Aladdin. "Ix-tal-AR!" he bellowed. A bright beam of
light shot out, it swept over Aladdin without pausing, then stopped
on Saleen.
"You wretched, sand-eating, land lubbers!" Saleen shrieked at
both males as she was hauled into the Crystal.
Mozenrath turned to Aladdin, sneering. "Think you can fool me,
you sniveling little thief? Now I have your princess AND your genie!"
"Wrong, you BRUTE!" was Jasmine's caustic reply from behind him.
Mozenrath whirled into Jasmine's right cross. When he could
focus his eyes again, he saw Jasmine standing above him, hands on
hips, mayhem in her eyes. Carpet floated just behind her, radiating
fury. Genie-as-Brunhilda wore a yellow wig, sat astride a blue
pegasus and had a black expression on his face that made Mozenrath
glad that genies could not kill.
"That's for the 'little princess', Little Boy," Jasmine snapped.
She moved back a few paces in anticipation of Mozenrath's
retaliation.
Mozenrath leapt to his feet and blasted at Jasmine. Genie placed
a reflective barrier between Mozenrath's blast and the princess,
forcing Mozenrath to dodge his own magic. Snarling, he clenched his
right fist. A blue black glow emanated from his gauntlet as he
prepared another attack. "YOU!" he sputtered, too angry to even come
up with an adequate insult.
"Us," Genie-Brunhilda said blandly. He steered his steed over to
the Crystal of Ix. "Funny, I never saw a jewel wearing a woman
before, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around!" He
threw back his head and let out a high 'C' that was sharp enough to
cause everyone to wince. Nothing else happened. "Let me try that with
the Boom Box," he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a
metallic box covered with fine metal mesh.
Screech box, was more like it, the others decided as Genie tried
again. Abu, Iago, Saleen and the humans to tried to block their ears.
Carpet shuddered violently, sank to the sand and tried to bury
himself. The Crystal of Ix shivered, then splintered into a thousand
and one fragments.
Carpet darted out of the sand to protect Jasmine, Abu and Iago.
Genie turned himself into a transparent, blue wall with a golden lamp
embossed on it and threw himself between Aladdin and a really close
shave. Mozenrath had to protect himself with cape and magic.
Mozenrath turned on Genie and Aladdin, pulling his gauntled hand
back to throw black, burning death. "You tricked me!" he bellowed.
"Duh!" Aladdin said, sticking out his tongue.
Before Mozenrath could fire, Carpet and company plowed into him
from behind. Abu pulled Mozenrath's turban over his eyes. Jasmine
swept Aladdin off the sand and Genie grabbed onto Carpet's rear hem.
Genie's costume disappeared and his legs became a rocket. Blue smoke
and red sparks flew out from the rocket as Genie boosted Carpet up
and out of Mozenrath's range.
"Next stop, AGRABAH!" Genie chortled. "Please keep your hands
and feet inside the Magic Carpet at all times, and no smoking
please!" (The blue smoke disappeared, leaving only red sparks
drifting behind)
Saleen jumped gracefully from the shattered crystal, changing
back to her normal mode of dress as she did so. "You arrogant,
idiotic, dry land TOAD!" she shrieked. "How DARE you treat me like
that?"
Mozenrath left off snarling after the departing heroes to snarl
at this annoying female. "I'M idiotic?" he asked. "YOU'RE the one
whose friends abandoned you to MY tender mercies, you little would-be
witch!"
"Would-be WITCH! I am an ELEMENTAL!" Saleen shrilled. "And THEY
aren't MY friends. They're just pests. All I want is another pet and
that Aladdin is MINE as soon as he kills his faithless princess!" she
blurted out. But as soon as she said that, she realized that Aladdin
must have been lying. Mozenrath's words confirmed her suspicions.
"Kill Princess Jasmine?" he laughed. "Not even if she HAD been
unfaithful! He's too tenderhearted. Besides, he KNEW she was under my
spell..." he too stopped when he remembered how Jasmine had fooled
him. "Idiot female," he muttered.
Saleen's eyes narrowed. "Really?" she snarled.
Mozenrath looked at her in sudden speculation. An elemental
could prove very useful to him. Maybe Aladdin had tricked HIMSELF
this time. "Not YOU, the princess," he said, trying to sound
conciliatory. "You and I obviously have a lot in common, why don't
you come to my place so we can discuss how to get revenge on our
common enemies?"
The alliance lasted until Mozenrath slipped some love potion
into Saleen's wine. She drank it, then informed him that love potions
didn't work on elementals.
"But if you're so BOUND and DETERMINED to have a wife..." she
cooed, advancing on him with an ominous smile.
The Sultan hugged his daughter like he never intended to let her
out of his arms again. Then he turned around and gave Aladdin an
equally warm welcome. "My boy, you've done it again!" he beamed,
slapping him on the back. "I certainly glad THAT'S all over with!"
Iago made a wry face. "For now, anyway," he squawked. "I doubt
that either Mozenrath or Saleen will forgive and forget this little
fiasco."
Aladdin shrugged and draped an arm around Jasmine's shoulders.
"So? It's not like our situation is any worse. They were both after
our hides before this." He kissed Jasmine's cheek, then continued
before Abu or Iago could make editorial comments. "And YOU are in
even less danger than before. This time, it was Jasmine and I who
conned them. They may forget about you entirely... for a while."
Iago fanned his wings furiously, but before he could speak, he
was again forestalled. (Twice in one scene, this is noteworthy.) This
time, it was Genie's entrance that cut him off. "Oh, Princess-woman,
I have retrieved your belongings, but..." he hesitated.
Jasmine smiled ruefully. "I know, EVERYTHING is going to need a
thorough cleaning." She remembered the outfits the mamluks were
wearing. "Except for what needs to be burned."
Genie shook his head. "No, everything is quite clean, it's
just..." He shook his head again, for once at a loss for words
(another notable occurrence). "You'd better come see for yourself."
They trooped up to Jasmine's room and stopped, aghast, just
inside the doorway. Iago fluttered around the room, but refused to
land on anything. Abu took one peek and then hid under Aladdin's
vest. Aladdin tightened his grip on Jasmine's waist. Appalled, she
leaned against his shoulder and looked around.
"It's... it's..." Jasmine sputtered.
"Pink," Aladdin supplied.
"PINK!?" Iago squalled. He flapped over and landed on Jasmine's
shoulder. "IT'S NOT JUST *PINK*, IT IS PAINFULLY, POINTEDLY,
PROMINENTLY, PEEVISHLY, PENETRATINGLY, PERILOUSLY, POISONOUSLY,
PESTIFEROUSLY, PROFANELY, PRETERNATURALLY, PATHOLOGICALLY,
PRESUMPTUOUSLY, PERFIDIOUSLY, POSITIVELY, PALPABLY..."
"Pink," Aladdin broke in, bemused. Practically everything in the
room, except the walls and floor, was now pink: the furniture, the
bedding, the rugs, the clothing, the knickknacks, the jewelry, even
the mirror was painted with non-reflecting coat of pink.
The Sultan shook his head in perplexity. "Until walking in on
THIS, I'd have said there's no PUTRID shade of pink." He looked at
Genie. "Genie, what did you do?" he asked plaintively.
Pouting, Genie peregrinated around the room, adding a welcome
touch of sky blue to the color scheme. "Hey, everything was like this
BEFORE I repossessed it from Perpetrator Lad." He popped into a
patron of the arts persona, complete with top hat and morning coat.
He peered down through his monocle and proclaimed: "I believe the
precise term for this perturbing pigment is 'puke pink'."
Aladdin closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose as if
the prolonged exposure to the potent pinkness pained them. "Mozenrath
couldn't possibly have planned on pinking everything," he said. "It
must have been painted without his permission."
"Oh, how very PERCEPTIVE of you!" shrieked Iago.
"Enough with the 'P's already!" Jasmine growled, grabbing Iago
by the beak. To the others, she said: "No, Mozenrath's not the
decorator type. So how did my things get dyed... pink?"
Genie flashed into a deerstalker cap, an Inverness cape, and
blew some soap bubbles out of the meershum pipe that was clenched in
his mouth. "A very good question, my dear Watson!" He puffed on his
pipe, producing more bubbles. "I think we should investigate the
current goings on at Chez Perversity."
He pointed the stem of his pipe at Jasmine's mirror, a stream of
blue sparks fought the pepto-bismol pink coating. The blue sparks won
and the mirror cleared. First it showed a reflection of the
perniciously pink room, then it shimmered and showed the Citadel.
Everything of Mozenrath's had been turned varying shades of
pink, including the floors, ceilings and walls. The now salmon-
skinned mamluks were plodding around in lacy puce uniforms. Even
Mozenrath's clothes had been transmuted into a skin tight silk outfit
of every shade of pink imaginable, and many that weren't.
Mozenrath had his elbows on a fuchsia tablecloth covered with
magenta bunnies. His head resting on his hands as though he had a
very BAD headache. In the background, the watchers could hear Saleen
singing off color songs about the joys of pink.
"Xerxes?" Mozenrath said. Xerxes, wearing a frilly pink baby
bonnet swam up to him.
"Master?" the wonder slug asked pitifully.
Mozenrath gave Xerxes a weary look. "If I *EVER* even mention
the possibility of even THINKING about getting married, I want you to
bite me."
"Hard!" Xerxes agreed.
By then Genie was laughing too hard to keep the picture in
focus. "Well, we won't be hearing from THEM for a while!" he
sniggered.
Iago sighed. "But when we do..."
Aladdin shrugged. "Like I said before, Mozenrath can't hate me
any more than he does." He grinned at the mirror. "But maybe he'll
think twice before he goes in for kidnapping again. Come on, guys, I
haven't had anything to eat since yesterday and I'm starving."
Jasmine hugged him. "Good idea and, while we eat, I think it's
time that WE took the initiative."
Everyone looked at her expectantly and Jasmine gave them a
bright smile. "Well, as long as the mamluks obey my orders, I think
we should use that to make Mozenrath's life even more miserable than
it is now." Her smile turned into a malicious grin. "Especially if we
can do it in a way that will make it look like Saleen's responsible."
She paused for a moment. "Come to think of it, we should also do
something nasty to Saleen and make it look like Mozenrath's work.
After all, if they're fighting each other, then they are NOT
attacking US!"
Aladdin laughed. "I like your thinking, " he said, hugging her.
"In fact, I like you, too, my Princess." Then he kissed her, with her
willing cooperation.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" clamored Iago. "Do we always have to
end things with a kiss!?!"
Genie picked him up by his tail feathers and held him so they were nose to beak. "We COULD end this by bleaching your red feathers pink," he threatened blandly.
Iago gagged and rolled his eyes. "Oy, vey. Awright, then, end it with a kiss!"
XXXX KISS! XXX