Part 2 of 4
Xerxes 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."
The Bride of Mozenrath by Jill Weber