Wish Aladdin Retold Page 5

  The smile died. "What did you say?"

  Aladdin swallowed. "Of...of course." With shaking hands, he pulled the ring from his finger. "Come and get it."

  Gwandoya's eyes blazed. "I will not set foot in that cursed city! Anyone who steals from it is turned to – "

  A great rush of wind came from behind Aladdin, so powerful that it pushed the boulder door shut, leaving Gwandoya outside. The man could be heard shouting and hammering outside, but the rock didn't move.

  "What in heaven's name..." Aladdin began, risking a glance over his shoulder.

  "I said not to give it to him," Kaveh said calmly, pressing his back to the boulder and folding his arms.

  Realisation dawned. "You opened all the doors. Even that one. No man could move that stone. Not even Gwandoya, now you're in here with me. What are you?"

  "I told you. I'm the servant of the ring," Kaveh said smugly. After a moment, he relented and added, "My previous owner charged me with protecting the city. Only one who wears my ring can open the door from the outside when it is closed, and no outsider may pass through the city gates with gold from the city that does not belong to him."

  Dread curdled in Aladdin's belly. "What happened to the ones who tried?"

  Kaveh waved his hand behind him. "They made a generous contribution to the city's wealth."

  Aladdin approached what appeared to be a line of dusty statues. He lifted his torch and reached to brush the dust off the nearest one's face.

  "By all that's holy!" Aladdin jumped back. Bugra's horrified face stared back at him, above a tunic that bulged with the treasures he'd tried to steal. Too heavy for him to carry, Aladdin realised, for they'd cursed him into a gold statue. He swallowed. "What have you done to him?"

  Kaveh shrugged. "My master wanted me to just kill them, but who wanted decaying corpses stinking up the city gates? Especially if no one was home. So I thought gold statues might be better. When the prince returns, he can melt them down for the treasury."

  "Will that hurt them?" Aladdin asked.

  "Of course not. They're dead. Does a chicken feel when you roast its corpse?"

  Unbidden, Aladdin's stomach growled even louder this time. "I would much prefer a chicken to a statue," he admitted.

  Kaveh clapped his hands. "I can help you there. I know where the prince's store rooms are, where he keeps a lifetime supply of honeyed dates, among other delicacies."

  Though he was now trapped in an underground city with a strange man who glowed blue, while another madman hammered on the gates, for the first time since he'd left home, Aladdin began to feel the tiniest bit better about his future. Any future that held honeyed dates had to be good, he was sure of it.

  TEN

  "Your Highness, the woman is here," the maid said, bowing low. There was a slight emphasis on the word 'woman' that made it sound like an insult.

  Maram set down her sewing, already inclined to be grateful to Aladdin's mother. She'd never much liked sewing, but she'd needed to do something with her hands to still her impatience. Now the search was over, she could stop. "Is she alone?"

  "Yes, Princess."

  Maram fought to hide her disappointment. "See that she is served refreshments while she waits. I will be there directly."

  Maram chose her favourite gown, a jewelled thing that impressed even the richest kings, for this audience, and struggled not to tap her foot with impatience as her maids dressed her. Her reflection was quite dazzling to behold, Maram fancied, turning this way and that in front of her mirror. Too dazzling for a woman Aladdin had described as a simple spinner?

  Of course it was.

  She ordered her maids to bring her the plainest gown she owned. Maram should have known better. They brought her a gown of a purple so deep, it appeared black, with a matching veil. Tiny glass beads sewn onto it only helped complete the illusion, for they were invisible against the black. To the casual observer, she appeared to be in deep mourning, but once light hit the fabric, it glimmered like the starry sky over the desert. It was far from plain, but it would have to do.

  When her maids had made sure the veil covered all but her eyes, as befitted a princess at a public audience, Maram headed out of her apartment into the palace proper.

  As she approached the room where she'd asked Aladdin's mother to be shown to, she heard raised voices. No, one raised voice – a wailing woman, rising over the softer male voices in the room.

  Maram's heart constricted in her chest. Had something happened to Aladdin? No, surely not. She stepped into the room, unnoticed.

  A woman in black rose up onto her knees, clutching the hem of a guard's tunic in her white-knuckled hands. "Please, tell me what you have done with my son. He's a good boy, he would not do anything to offend the Sultan. Take me instead!" She collapsed on the floor, sobbing, before she accosted the other guard with a similar plea.

  Neither guard seemed to know what to do with the woman, and they both looked relieved to see Maram.

  "You may go," Maram said, then surveyed the room. "Where are the refreshments I asked for? See that they are brought here immediately."

  "Yes, Your Highness." The two men bowed and hurried out.

  The woman threw herself full length on the floor before Maram. "Your Highness, please have mercy on a poor mother. Tell me why you have imprisoned my son."

  "Aladdin is in prison?"

  The woman let out a wail. "It is a mistake, a misunderstanding! My son would never do anything to offend the Sultan!"

  Maram shook her head. "Mistress, please, get up. Tell me what has happened to Aladdin."

  The woman rose to her knees, wiping her eyes with her veil. Hers was black, though so threadbare Maram could see through it. "I do not know. He left to find work, as he does every morning, but he did not return. No one has seen him. Then some guards came to my humble house and told me to come with them to answer questions about my son. Please, Your Highness, tell me what he has done!"

  Maram beckoned one of the guards back into the room. He stood in the doorway, reluctant to enter any further. "Send a man to the prisons, to see if a man named Aladdin is held there, and if he is, find out what his crime may be."

  The man bowed deeply. "I will, Your Highness, but we already checked there. There is no prisoner of that name anywhere in the city. The only Aladdin we could find is reputed to be this woman's son, so we brought her. As she said, the man has not been seen for days."

  Maram nodded and dismissed him. "Mistress...please, can you tell me your name?"

  "This humble mother is called Sadaf, Your Highness."

  "Mistress Sadaf, please, sit with me." Maram gestured to the table where – finally! – the food and drink had been laid out. She gestured for one of the maids to shut the door behind her and Maram was alone with Aladdin's mother. Only then did she unwind her veil so that Aladdin's mother might see her face.

  Sadaf crept timidly to the cushion Maram indicated, still not raising her eyes to Maram's face.

  Maram settled on her own cushion. "Mistress Sadaf, I have invited you here to..." What could she say? She wanted to ask where Aladdin had been since that day in the bathhouse, but if she had no idea where he was... "I wish to ask about your son," Maram said finally. "Is it possible that he has left the city?"

  Sadaf shook her head. "Aladdin has never stepped out of the city gates, Your Highness. He was born here, and he has never left. So when he did not come home, I thought..." She covered her mouth, but not fast enough to hold in a sob.

  "We will find him," Maram said, though she had no idea how. If her father's men hadn't found him inside the city by now, it stood to reason that he was either not in the city or he was dead. No, surely not dead.

  Sadaf burst into noisy tears. "Thank you, Your Highness. I do not know what we have done to earn such kindness, but if there is anything I can do to repay you, tell me, and it is yours."

  "If he returns...when he returns," Maram corrected herself, "Send him to the palace to see me."

  "Who s
hould he ask for, Your Highness? If my son came to the palace, asking to see a princess, he would surely be turned away," Sadaf said.

  She was right. No one would see Aladdin the way Maram did. "Tell him to ask for Princess Maram. No, he is to tell the guards that Princess Maram commanded him to present himself at the palace." They would believe that.

  "As you command, Your Highness." Sadaf bowed low.

  "No, I don't. I ask..." Maram stopped, lost. "Mistress Sadaf, please understand me. It is not a command. That is only what he must tell the guards. Tell Aladdin...tell Aladdin that I wish to see him, and if he wishes to see me, what to say to the guards." There, that sounded better.

  Sadaf's knowing eyes were upon her, and Maram didn't know where to look.

  "My son is as charming as his father. I do not know how you came to meet him, Your Highness, but if my son is in prison, then it is because he is accused of being a thief," Sadaf said.

  "Aladdin is a thief?" She didn't want to believe it. If he was a thief, surely he would have stolen something from her in the bathhouse. He hadn't touched her jewels, her clothes...nothing.

  Sadaf smiled faintly. "My son has never stolen anything in his life, or so I had thought, but a princess's heart is something so precious, so priceless, perhaps he could not resist." She bowed low once more. "I will do as you ask, Your Highness, if I am lucky enough to see my son alive again."

  Without waiting to be dismissed, Sadaf backed out of the room, and left.

  Maram couldn't seem to close her mouth. Were her feelings for Aladdin that obvious? Surely she did not look as hopelessly enamoured of him as the royalty of the northern lands were of her. Surely not.

  She shook the silly thought out of her head. What she looked like and what Sadaf thought didn't matter. Aladdin was missing, and if he'd been missing long enough for his mother to despair of his return...he must be found.

  ELEVEN

  Aladdin woke to find his head pounding, as though he'd drunk too much wine. As if he could afford to drink wine. "Where in heaven's name am I?" he asked the inky darkness.

  "Tasnim, the forgotten city," a familiar voice replied, as a glimmering blue ball appeared and expanded to become a man. Kaveh.

  "And why does it feel like a camel stomped on my head?"

  "That would be the cask of Prince Firdaus' private reserve you drank." Kavek sounded amused. "It's powerful stuff, or it was a century ago, when he first bought it. Now it must be strong enough to kill an ox. I told you to drink sparingly, but you told me you were too thirsty."

  Aladdin lurched to his feet. "Well, now I don't want wine. I want water. I'm sure I saw a well around here somewhere."

  "You won't find any water in it. Why do you think all the people left? Without water, the city would die."

  Kaveh began to tell a story about a ruling prince who vanished when the water did, and the fate of his people, but Aladdin shut him out and concentrated on looking for water. His mouth tasted like rats had nested in it and used his throat for a privy. He never wanted to drink wine again.

  In the faint blue light from Kaveh following him, Aladdin came to one of the wells he remembered. A dusty bucket lay on the ground beside the well, so he hooked it up to the rope and lowered it into the depths, praying for the splash.

  He'd almost lost hope when he heard it – though the sound was faint and deep. Aladdin let the bucket drop lower, then began hauling it up again, hand over hand. It was heavier than before, he was certain of it.

  When the bucket rose into sight, the blue reflection on the surface of the liquid of the brimming pail was enough for him to let out a hoarse cheer.

  "I wouldn't drink that if I were you," Kaveh said.

  Aladdin ignored him again. He lifted the bucket to his lips and only then did the stench reach him. Aladdin coughed. "What is that? It can't be water."

  Kaveh grinned. "Well, it was once water. Before some bastard pissed it out, maybe, and threw it down the well before he left the city. Where it's been festering ever since."

  Aladdin gagged and tipped the bucket's contents back where they'd come from. "Is there no water in the city at all?"

  Kaveh shook his head. "That's what I've been trying to tell you. There's no water here. The only liquid to drink in this city is wine."

  Aladdin had drunk enough wine to last him a lifetime. "So where's the nearest source of water?"

  "Half a day's ride, back the way we came."

  Of course it was. The oasis where Gwandoya had first called a halt, Aladdin would wager.

  "How long would it take to walk?"

  Kaveh eyed him critically. "Forever. You wouldn't last the distance, not as starved as you are. You'd need to stay here for a month at least, emptying the royal larders, before you had sufficient strength."

  "There isn't enough water here to last a month."

  Kaveh brightened. "But there is more than enough wine, even after seeing the way you drink it. You'll need a flask or two for the journey, for it is at least a full night's march to the oasis."

  "A month? My mother will go mad with worry over me. I must set out as soon as night falls."

  Kaveh shook his head. "And I thought you were a bright one. You will not survive, you fool. And what of the treasure you wanted to take back to win your princess? Even if you had the strength to make it to the oasis before the sun rises, you would not be able to carry anything of value back with you. If you return home, it will be poorer than when you left."

  The princess? Maram was the least of Aladdin's concerns now. But taking something home as payment seemed like a good idea. At least he'd have something to show for this foolishness. "What of the curse that prevents thieves leaving with their ill-gotten goods?" Aladdin asked suspiciously. "Are you trying to get me turned into a statue like the others, so that I can enrich the city, too?"

  "I'll carry it out," Kaveh said. "The curse doesn't apply to me. Why, I could proclaim you as the new Prince of Tasnim, rightful owner of the city and all its riches, and no one would contradict me!"

  "A prince?" Aladdin tried to sound sceptical, but the tantalising thought of walking into the Sultan's palace, being announced as a prince, before asking for Maram's hand in marriage, was too strong to resist.

  Kaveh smiled. "A fitting husband for a princess, if you carry a suitable gift for her and for her father."

  For even just the chance of seeing Maram again, it was worth the risk. "A week, then. In seven days, when the sun sets, I will set out for the oasis."

  "And while we wait, I shall show you all the secrets of Tasnim, and its treasures." Kaveh's grin broadened. "Treasures fit for a princess, as you shall see. What the prince kept in his harem was vastly superior to what he locked in his treasury."

  "I thought you said everyone was gone. Do you mean to say the women are still here?" Aladdin asked, horrified. "We have to save them!"

  "The prince's concubines were the first to leave, taking all their jewels with them. I am sure they are as far from the city as they can get." Kaveh's eyes glowed brighter. "No, it is what they did not take that I must show you."

  Aladdin nodded. "Then let me find a flagon of wine, if there is nothing else to drink in this place, so that I may break my fast and drink to the vanished prince's health, before I steal his most precious treasures." This did not sit well with Aladdin, but what other choice did he have?

  "As the Prince of Tasnim, you cannot steal your own things. They are yours, as is everything in the city. You shall see." Kaveh said. "I have proclaimed it, therefore it must be so!"

  Aladdin sighed. He'd gone from one madman's clutches to another, and still he had none of the promised wealth either had lured him with. Oh, he still had the blackened lamp, tucked into his tunic, but what use was such a thing here? Still, this madman had the only light in the city, and he was the only man who could open the doors, so Aladdin followed him deeper into the labyrinth. It seemed the most sensible thing to do.

  For the moment.

  TWELVE

  Kave
h pushed open the city gates, then peered outside. "There's no one here," he reported. "Just like I told you."

  Aladdin breathed out a sigh of relief. If Gwandoya wasn't waiting for him, then perhaps he would be able to make it home alive. He still had a desert to cross, a daunting thought even with Kaveh's help.

  "Do you have the wineskins?" Aladdin asked. He would drink the contents tonight, and refill them with water when they reached the oasis. After he had drunk his fill of water for the first time in a week.

  "I have the wineskins, and everything else you wanted. I may not be a particularly powerful djinn, but I do have some talents," Kaveh said with a sniff.

  Talents such as carrying enormously heavy loads, or moving heavy things, Aladdin knew now. And to be visible or not, as he chose, along with whatever he was touching. A week with the man had given him a greater understanding of both Kaveh and the city of Tasnim. But there was still one question he hadn't answered...

  "Why are you helping me again?" Aladdin asked.

  "To see this princess of yours," Kaveh replied. "I told you that."

  Aladdin sighed. Kaveh could keep his secrets. Aladdin had enough to worry about. "Let's go, then, or we will never reach the city where she lives."

  The sun might have sunk behind the desert dunes, but the sand still held its heat, which bit at Aladdin's boots. Boots Kaveh had insisted he take from the prince's things, along with suitable clothing for braving the desert. So now Aladdin wore fabric finer than even Kaveh, and leather so soft he wanted to stroke it. So if he died in the desert, at least his corpse would be well-dressed, Aladdin consoled himself, then snorted. Small consolation for failure. He did not intend to fail. He intended to live, and return home to his mother, and maybe, just maybe, see Maram again.

  It was hope that kept him trudging through the desert dunes until the sun rose high in the sky, following Kaveh's directions even as the heat shimmered off the sand and blinded him. Every valley seemed an oasis, but when he reached it, there was no water to be found.

  It was nearly noon when Aladdin reached the oasis, and he threw himself face down in the water, gulping his fill. He would have drowned there, perhaps, if not for Kaveh, who dragged him into the shade formed by a stand of palm trees. Aladdin fell into an uneasy doze, which turned into sleep as the sun sank once more.