Stone Cold
Story by Jill D. Weber
Main Characters copyrighted by Walt Disney Corp.
The Gorgon and other minor characters are mine
There were snakes in her hair... the snakes *were* her hair... and they
were driving her mad. Their constant hissing pounded on her ears, their
emotions pounded on her mind, and their shifting weights pounded on her
scalp. They were only still and silent when they were digesting... or
when one of THEM came and fed the hunger that had nothing to do with
their bellies.
Another came. Xola could feel his greed through the snakes'
supernatural senses as soon as he set foot on her mountain. Her snakes
hissed hungrily but she smiled. Anything that distracted the snakes...
that distracted her *from* the snakes, was welcome.
The brawny bandit moved guardedly through the maze-like caverns. T'zumn
paused once or twice to make sure he had his equipment. The map that
he'd taken from his last victim was no longer needed. His sword was
loose in its scabbard and came easily to his hand.
His former girlfriend's silver backed mirror was likewise ready to
hand. T'zumn touched it and snarled as he thought of how Harika had
objected to his taking it. "But it's the only nice thing that I have!
Why don't you buy your own mirror!"
The beating he'd given her for her disrespect would ensure that she
wouldn't want to look in a mirror for a long time. In revenge, T'zumn
had sold everything Harika owned except for what she was wearing. Then
he kicked her out. He was tired of her anyway. The little money she
made as a seamstress wasn't enough to support him in the style to which
he intended to become accustomed.
T'zumn soon found what he was looking for. The cavern walls were hidden
by fine silk hangings. The floor was hidden under a multitude of
brilliantly hued rugs, which in turn were littered with piles of gold
and silver. There were crowds of chests and bags and boxes and casks
filled with gleaming ingots and glittering jewels. Scattered about was
furniture of every size and shape, all elaborately carved and inlaid.
Every flat surface groaned under masses of intricately wrought
tableware, candlesticks and knickknacks. Amidst the clutter of riches
stood the statues.
There were dozens of statues, in various poses of aggression and fear.
T'zumn smiled when he saw them. *They* had failed. *He* would not!
With this much treasure he never have to work for another robber baron
again. *He*, T'zumn , would be the greatest robber baron of them all.
He would raise an army.
He'd subjugate the Seven Deserts and make himself emperor. He would
crush all who stood in his way, and settle scores with anyone who had
ever thwarted him. Instead of having simpering little seamstresses, he
would have Queens and Princesses in his harem!
And all he had to do to win all that was to kill a monster. Too easy.
There was a laugh behind him. "Too easy, indeed," mocked a sultry
voice.
T'zumn started to turn, then stopped himself, and pulled out the mirror
he had brought for this purpose. "So, you can read my mind, monster?"
"Clearly, man," the sultry voice mocked. "And you haven't had an
original thought yet."
T'zumn could see her reflection now, gliding towards him from the
gloom. She was human from the waist up, snake from the waist down. Her
snakey hair writhed and hissed. Her face was veiled, as if in modesty,
but her mocking voice proved the lie of that posture.
"Come a little closer, and I'll show you how original I can be, witch"
he snarled.
"What? With that little mirror?" the gorgon laughed. "You think *that*
hasn't been tried before?" She raised her veil and met his gaze in the
reflection. Her eyes were cool and grey, like marble.
T'zumn felt his muscles lock. The gorgon laughed again. "Fool, it only
works if the reflection is blurry. Otherwise, you *can* see my eyes
clearly..."
T'zumn couldn't move his head, or even his eyes. All he could do was
stare at the mirrored gaze and his hand. The gaze became colder and his
hand began to... change...
"You wanted luxury, man," she laughed, her voice growing fainter as his
ears transmuted. "Now you shall dwell among riches for eternity."
***
It was cold and the small stash of money that Harika had managed to
hide from him was soon gone. She had made her way to Agrabah, having
heard that the Sultan there was kindly and generous to those in need.
Rumor proved truth for once, she told him about her plight, and of her
former boyfriend's plan to kill the medusa and plunder her treasure.
Frankly, she hoped the medusa won, but T'zumn was a tough and crafty
fighter. The Sultan was appalled that such a creature could be so close
to the trade route he hoped to open between Agrabah and the Greek city
states. *Somebody* would have to investigate.
***
This night was cold and the snakes were uncomfortable. The majority
spent their time trying to put a layer of other snakes between them and
the night air. The minority distained such futile efforts, electing
instead to try to stuff themselves down Xola's cleavage.
Where were greedy opportunists when you needed them?
***
"Jasmine is going to kill me," muttered Aladdin. He held the blue lamp
higher. It's cool, blue light revealed nothing but rock and spider
webs.
The lamp's warm voice replied: "Nah, she won't kill you. Put you in
traction, maybe..."
"Thanks, Genie, you're such a comfort," Aladdin snorted. He paused to
shift his climbing rope from his right shoulder to his left one, then
to adjust the brass lamp to a more comfortable position in his sash. He
wished the Magic Carpet was with them, but Carpet had gone with
Jasmine.
If they had waited, Jasmine would have tried to stop them. Or worse,
she would have insisted on coming with them. Heroes were a pain, the
young hero decided (admitting to himself that Jasmine had cause to make
the same complaint).
"Hey, you're the one who volunteered to investigate the report that
there was a medusa in this area. Not me."
Aladdin shrugged, and shivered in spite of his red, fleece-lined parka.
"I'm sorry, but I had to check out Harika's story. She was certain that
her ex-boyfriend was going to try to kill the medusa. And even if he
chickened out, the medusa will be in danger if this trade route opens.
Who knows what sort of creeps might try to steal her trove?"
The lamp blinked. "Um, Al, I don't know how to tell you this, but
medusas generally don't need protecting. They're DANGEROUS!! People
need protecting from THEM!"
Aladdin's grin flashed in the genie-light. "I know. That's why I said
that Jasmine is going to kill me. However, I think that we should try
to make a treaty with the medusa. It will be a lot better all around if
she doesn't attack the caravans, and the caravans don't attack her."
They rounded a corner and stopped. There were torches lining the
walls, so Genie *poofed* into his two legged form. This section of the
cavern was *NOT* dank and barren!
"Whoa! I haven't seen so much pelf in one place since the Cave of
Wonders went ballistic!" Genie said. He waved his hands and both he and
Aladdin were wearing wrap around sunglasses.
"Wow," Aladdin said, pulling down the glasses to take a better look.
"Well, the part about the treasure was right, but where's the medusa?"
Then he saw the statues. "Are those statues... alive?" Aladdin
whispered.
"Well... sort of," Genie said unhappily.
"Whoa, can you break the spell?" absently, Aladdin pushed the glasses
back up his nose.
"I don't think so," Genie said uneasily. "You know that mixing magics
is dangerous. I have a suspicion that in this case it's even more
dangerous than usual."
"Come on then, maybe we can talk the medusa into changing them back if
we assure her that we won't let them hurt her."
"Yeah, right, but who's going to keep the medusa from hurting us?"
Genie wondered.
***
The snakes were agitated. They were standing on end, like so many
reptilian question marks and exclamation points, the better to feel the
disquieting emanations coming from the newcomers. Xola could feel them
too.
She could not read one of the newcomers at all, which was disturbing.
The other was more than disturbing. It was... concerned? For HER? Now
that was a twist.
Xola wasn't sure that she liked the idea of somebody being concerned
for her. It reminded her of when she was human. The contrast between
then and now was so painful, she preferred to forget that she had not
been born this way. The snakes definitely didn't like it, though why
somebody's concern would upset them was beyond Xola. Perhaps they
didn't like not being able to read one of them.
"Hello? Is anybody home? Can we talk?" a youthful male voice hailed
from the other room.
Xola cocked her head. This was *definitely* not in the monster manual.
She decided to tackle the unknown head on. She glided through the
passageway to the treasure room.
"I am home, much to your regret," she hissed.
"No ma'am," the youthful voice denied. She saw him standing in the
middle of the treasure room and still couldn't make head nor tails out
of him. He wore a decent coat over ragged pants. He was surrounded by
riches, and was not gaping at it. He held a mirror, yet he did not try
to view her through it. Instead, he kept his eyes respectfully
downcast. He did not appear to be armed with anything other than the
mirror, but where was the other intruder?
"Why are you here?" she demanded as the snakes jiggled and peered in
every corner of the room for the spare intruder that they knew was
close by. She was puzzled by a strange device the intruder was wearing
around his eyes. It looked like dark glass or smoky topaz had been
wrapped around his face to make a mask. Could it be some sort of
magical protection against her gaze?
"I want to make a treaty with you," was the youth's shocking answer to
her question.
"A... treaty?" Xola gasped.
All the snake heads snapped in the intruder's direction. Xola glided
closer, swaying seductively. The youthful intruder held his ground and
watched her serpentine body approach without flinching.
"What do you mean, treaty?" Xola demanded.
"I would like you to agree to not attack the trade caravans that we
hope will be coming along this route," the youth said.
"And what would I get in return?" Xola asked haughtily.
"Well... I don't have all the details worked out," the youthful
intruder admitted. "But I'm sure we can figure out some way of keeping
thieves from trying to steal your treasure."
`Stop the intruders?' thought Xola. `Stop the only distraction these
snakes have?' "NO!" she cried.
She grasped the youthful intruder by the chin and forced it up until
she could see her reflection in the dark, glassy material that hid his
eyes. She could see her eyes get that steely look they acquired when
she focused her power.
The youthful intruder stiffened, then collapsed. Automatically, the
gorgon caught the limp human in her arms and lowered him to the floor.
Xola was shocked. `LIMP?'
She squeezed his arm, it was still flesh. She looked left and right and
met the gaze of equally bewildered snakes. "Why didn't he turn to
stone? Have my powers diminished? And where is the other one?"
Absently, she picked up the youthful intruder's mirror and glanced into
it to see if she looked different. A human, not her reflection, looked
back at her.
She and her snakes did a double take as they realized that this WAS
Xola's reflection, her OLD reflection, the one with hair instead of
snakes. The gorgon stared at the reflection of her human self for a few
shocked minutes.
Then her reflection changed, growing fangs and snakey hair. One of the
snakes flashed out of the mirror and bit her hand. There was only one
thing Xola could do, and she did it.
She fainted.
"Whoa, that worked better than I expected it would," Genie said,
morphing back into himself. The snakes writhed and hissed at him. "Hey,
I don't say things about YOUR mothers," Genie complained. He stepped
over to the recumbent Aladdin. "Al? Buddy?"
Aladdin rolled onto his back, with one hand over his eyes. "I'm okay,"
he said. "What about the medusa?"
"I injected her with a little sleepy-bye potion," Genie said. "But I
think she fainted before it took affect."
Aladdin sat up and cautiously removed his sun glasses. "Is she sedated
or not?" he asked. He pulled a silk scarf from his pocket and moved to
blindfold the medusa.
Genie intercepted him. "Better let me, she's have a really bad hair
day." He created some pink armor, then he moved forward to blindfolded
the medusa, ignoring the snakes. When the snakes bit at him, they got a
mouthful of pink.
Much to Aladdin's bemusement, soon huge pink bubbles were coming out of
the snakes mouths.
"Care for some bubble gum?" Genie asked.
***
Xola woke up some time later with a nasty headache. She could feel the
heat from the torches, but she couldn't see anything.
She felt panicky for a moment until she realized that her blindness was
due to a scarf tied around her eyes. There was another scarf tied
around her hands. It wouldn't take her long to get free, but she could
sense her captors' presence through her snakes. One of them coughed to
get her attention.
"Well?" the gorgon demanded. "What are you waiting for?"
"Actually, we're waiting for you to wake up," a cheerful voice said.
This must be the second intruder.
"Why, so I could feel it when you cut my head off?" Xola demanded
sourly. She still couldn't sense any weapons on them, much to her
puzzlement.
"I told you, we're not here to hurt you, we are here to make a treaty
with you," the youthful intruder spoke this time.
"And you always establish diplomatic ties by binding your host?" Xola
said sarcastically.
"I find it difficult to do anything when I'm a statue," the youthful
intruder said calmly. "By the way, my name is Aladdin, this is Genie.
We're representing the Sultan of Agrabah."
"A *genie*?" asked Xola. "As in, lives in a lamp, grants three wishes,
that sort of genie?"
"That's what I am," the cheerful intruder admitted... well...
cheerfully. "But I'm a free genie now, I don't do wishes."
"Figures,"grunted Xola. There was a long pause, then she figured out
what they were waiting for. "My name is Xola," she grumped.
"We'll untie you if promise to behave," Aladdin said.
Xola sighed. "Very well, I won't attack you," she said sourly. The
scarf around her wrists disappeared as if by magic. Well, considering
one of the intruders was a genie, it probably was magic.
"Can you control the eye thing?" the genie asked. "I hate you leave you
blindfolded, but, hey, Jazz would kill me if I brought back a garden
statue instead of a fiance. Women are touchy that way."
"Really? I can't imagine why," Xola said sourly. "Statues are so much
easier to deal with." There was no answer to her sally. "Very well,"
she sighed. "I only turn people into stone when I look into their
eyes."
The scarf around her eyes disappeared, too. She found herself looking
at a big, blue genie and a short, dark human. Aladdin's eyes were
uncovered and he was still politely looking at the floor. However, he
was facing her, which she thought was brave of him. Of course, her gaze
hadn't hurt him before, so maybe he knew something that she didn't.
"Now about that treaty," Aladdin said. "We would like you to agree to
not attack any caravans going past your territory. We would also like
you to change these people back into flesh and blood."
"I can't, I don't know how," Xola admitted. "And I don't want you to
stop the intruders."
"You like turning people into stone?" Aladdin asked, as if the idea
hadn't occurred to him.
"It's a gorgon thing, besides, they entertain the snakes," Xola said,
somewhat defensively. Actually, the snakes got their powers from the
intruders' greed and she got her powers from the snakes, but she didn't
say so. She wondered if her magic didn't work against Aladdin because
of his lack of greed.
"I'm afraid we can't let you keep turning people into stone," Aladdin
said apologetically.
Xola sighed. "I have no intention of stopping. I don't see why you're
worried about these creeps, anyway. They're all criminal types."
Aladdin shook his head. "It's wrong. Besides, if you keep it up, sooner
or later some hero type will come along to kill you."
The genie coughed before this conversation could go any farther. "We
may be able to find a way to change you back into a human," the genie
said diffidently. "That should solve everything."
She could be human again? The thought made her tingle all over. The
snakes wailed and wrapped themselves around her shoulders like a
serpentine cloak. Xola shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut for a
moment. Then she looked at the genie. "What would happen to the snakes
if you turned me into a human?" she asked.
The Genie hesitated. "I'm not sure," he said. "I'm not even sure that
there's a way to make you human again, but Al and I will start looking.
We have lots of magic at our disposal."
The snakes were giving her little serpentine kisses and hissing
pathetically in her ear. Xola sighed. "No, I can't let you hurt my
snakes. I'll just take my chances as I am." She looked at Aladdin.
"I'm sorry, Aladdin, but I can't agree to your terms. I will not go out
of my way to attack people, but anyone who comes into my lair is fair
game, as far as I'm concerned."
"Suppose we have a way to turn you human that wouldn't kill the
snakes?" Aladdin offered.
"I don't know," Xola said. "I'd have to think about it, but you'll have
to show me the cure, first. Until then, things stay as they are."
"I see," Aladdin said in disappointment. "We'll still try to prevent
people from coming. We also intend to find a way to turn these people
back into people."
Xola nodded. "Fair enough," she said. "I'll allow people to come and go
as long as their sole purpose is to restore the statues into human
beings, not that they're very good human beings. Now, if you'll please
leave? You're upsetting my snakes."
Aladdin and Genie made their way out of the medusa's lair.
"Well, it could have gone worse," Aladdin sighed. "That wasn't exactly
the treaty that I wanted, but she won't attack the caravans, so I guess
that's close enough."
"Could have gone worse!?" Genie choked. "I almost had a heart attack
when she gave you the hairy eyeball! How come you weren't turned to
stone when she looked you in the eye?"
Aladdin gave him a sideways look as he replied: "She didn't. I had my
eyes closed."
Stone Cold by Jill Weber