Wishes are the most common thought that human beings have; we wish without noticing, we wish without thinking, we wish without considering… without wondering who it will affect.
In a land where sand and sunlight ruled and where oasis's were treasured and water was considered more valuable than gold there was a man who was on his way to getting whatever he wanted… whatever he wished.
The night was lit by a pale sliver of moonlight that colored the sands white and silver, giving the world a magical glow.
Atop a dune a dark horse stood and astride the magnificent beast was a tall man, his black robes filled with wind and sounding like the wings of a hundred bats, making him look ominous; forbidden; deadly.
The Grand Vizier Jafar was a frightening figure; his name infamous on the streets of Agrabah, whose lights could be seen twinkling in the distance; the one beacon of life and civilization in a sea of sand.
His face could have been carved of wood for all the expression he had… save for his eyes; dark eyes that flared with unholy fire and dangerous anger… anger that made all who beheld it tremble in terror, whether it was directed at them or not.
Jafar held a dark beauty, something that belonged in the underworld, something wanted but only in the dark fantasies that are frowned upon and this dark man had only three wishes; wishes that would be granted tonight.
"He's late!" squawked the incredibly intelligent bird upon his shoulder. In the lack of true light the bird looked liked a dark shadow amidst others but in the sunlight his plumage was glorious crimson and royal blue… Iago the parrot was the only creature Jafar trusted besides himself.
"Of course he's late," Jafar purred out, his voice inflectionless. "He is a worthless thief… But he has served his purpose and will be dealt with shortly."
"What if he can't go into the Cave of Wonders?" Iago wanted to know, Jafar smiled slightly; a strangely bland expression that showed very sharp teeth.
"If he does not survive or if the cave rejects him we will not have to dirty our hands with his filthy blood."
Iago was silent and the pair watched the small speck of a man gain land, driving his horse much too hard. Jafar felt a prickle of disgust that did not show on his face; the horse had been a loan from Jafar himself to the thief and he was treating it as something to be bought in the bazaar for little more than pocket change.
The vizier quieted his thoughts and instead turned to the image of what he most longed for; power; the title of sultan and all that came with it… Namely the beautiful Princess Jasmine.
Jafar felt a shiver of longing run through him and was confused by it; the dark man had never felt love for another before and the feeling of his heart being squeezed and then chased into his throat was both painful and the most wonderful thing he had ever experienced.
Jasmine with her expressive brown eyes and the golden-bronze skin… all that beautiful black hair; a thick tumble of darkness that was the his temptation…
A bitter coil of anger suddenly rose up and gripped Jafar's soul, twisting through his emotions like a weed in a garden; the beautiful Jasmine who he loved with all of his being; that one thing he could never have; the one thing he wanted more than power…
He would never have her… No matter how deep his love; no matter how true his intentions; rank separated them.
Jafar had never wanted to love the princess, had tried to hate her; tried to find fault and all that had accomplished was to show him that, in his eyes at least, she had no fault; had nothing to hate.
What made it worse was the fact that she loved him in return, would often sneak out of her room in the evenings, risking her father's anger, just to watch him as he dealt with the petty things of their beautiful Agrabah.
Jafar had convinced himself that if she had not loved him back he would not pine for her so… would have destroyed his feelings for her or, at least, buried them.
The sound of hooves pounding against sand warned the Vizier to rein in his emotions and once again shield himself from those who would use knowledge as a weapon.
A small, thin man with greasy hair and bulging eyes rode towards Jafar, the smile on his face smug and arrogant; the thief was sure of his welcome.
Jafar would enjoy killing this man when the time came.
Gazeem, the thief, dismounted and hit the ground heavily, gazing up at Jafar with a smile of rotted teeth… the Vizier decided to knock the wretch down from his perch and gave him his most dangerous look.
"You are late," he hissed into the darkness, his voice a sibilant whisper in the night. Gazeem's smug smile suddenly dropped and fear replaced it.
"A thousand apologies, O, patient one," he whispered.
"You have it then?" Jafar asked, the warning and the threat blatant in his voice; if Gazeem had failed in his task his death would be an agony of weeks of torture… The Grand Vizier would make sure of that.
The triumphantly smug look was back in Gazeem's face, "I had to slit a few throats but I got it!"
Jafar held out one long, spindly hand for the first clue on his way to getting his wish and was denied when Gazeem snatched his hand away, palming the sliver of gold.
"I am not such a fool as that," Gazeem smirked, "I will have my treasure first."
Iago lifted off from Jafar's should and dove, snatching the bauble from Gazeem's hand and dropping it into Jafar's awaiting one. Jafar smirked slightly, taking especial pleasure in Gazeems sudden cry of pain as Iago's sharp claws bit into his soft skin.
"Having so little faith is not a trait of a wise man," Jafar warned. "I will give you what you deserve and more."
Jafar reached inside his robes and pulled out the opposite side of the bauble Gazeem had just delivered to him, he lifted the two pieces to his dark eyes and held his breath in anticipation.
The peel of moonlight revealed what Jafar held; the two halves of a whole; a golden medallion carved into the shape of the sacred scarab beetle, studded with rubies, emeralds and sapphires; it was worth a small fortune on the streets.
Jafar had no need of money and could have more than such mundane things as treasure if Allah favored him.
Carefully, aware that Gazeem was watching his every movement with wary eyes, Jafar began closing the distance between the two halves but when they were an inch apart they snapped together and the bauble began to glow with fierce radiance, the chips of jewels glowing against the gold that held the light of a miniature sun as the carved wings began to beat fast enough to stir wind in Jafar's face.
With the joining came a tremendous clap of thunder and heavy storm clouds began to materialize above them, blotting out the beauty of the night sky with their shadowy bulk.
The roar of thunder and flash of bone colored lightning startled the horses into rearing and the golden beetle, the thing that would give Jafar power and the princess, suddenly whizzed off, and the clouds followed.
"Quickly! Follow the trail!" Jafar ordered, his voice a whip crack of command.
He put his heels into his horse's sides and set out after the glowing trail just as Gazeem was mounting up.
The sands melted around him as he roared after the golden, glitter of light that left a delicate trail of shining dust behind it; he was fast but the golden beetle was getting to far ahead.
"Faster!" he bellowed at his horse and felt the beast lay it's neck flat and fly of the dunes, it's nostrils flaring in the cold desert night.
Jafar came to a great dune and saw that the scarab had spilt and fitted themselves among the glittering grains of sand, but had retained their fierce glow.
The dune shifted and churned, a screaming roar echoing from the ground beneath his horses hooves. The stallion danced in fright and reared up onto his hind legs, pawing at the air that suddenly seemed alive with something… untouchable. Over the booming thunder, Jafar heard his horse lift its voice in a terrified scream that eerily matched the one coming from the sand.
The dune rose, reshaped itself into the form of a great lions head, its ears laid back in anger and annoyance. His great eyes glowed with that furious light of the scarab beetle bauble, lighting the entire land with its fierce glow.
Gazeem rode up beside him, but his horse knew that the person on its back was not in control and tossed him with a sharp rear that sent Gazeem sliding off into the soft sand where he sat, his legs sprawled in front of him as he stared at the cave of wonders with his mouth hanging agape and his bulging eyes wide.
Jafar watched in irritation as the horse Gazeem had ridden galloped away into the night, no doubt to be lost to the thieves that patrolled the dunes and guarded the oases. He looked down at Gazeem with barely disguised disdain and then back at the great lion head in front of them.
"After all my years of searching," Jafar murmured, "after all the time I wasted… The cave of wonders…"
"By Allah," Gazeem breathed, his already bluging eyes, nearly popping out of his skull in his absolute shock. Jafar felt a sneer curl one lip up in cold disgust at having to share the moment with such a low life. But he could still serve a purpose.
Jafar jerked his horse's reigns sharply and nudged the beast to stand in frond of Gazeem, who looked up at him with a look that suggested he might finally be understanding what he had gotten himself into and who he now served.
Moving with liquid, snake-like grace, Jafar surged down and grabbed the collar of Gazeems greasy robes and then pulling him up, breathing in the stench of wine and onions on his breath. Jafar could no longer hid his sneer and did not try to keep his voice a gentle hum.
"Remember, you disgusting fool, when you enter the cave of wonders you will see all of your treasure… All that sparkles and shines is yours but you will give me the lamp first!" Jafar snarled into Gazeems face and felt the man quail under his wrath.
The Grand Vizier tossed the petty thief away and the man hit the sand with a solid thud. He pushed himself to his feet just as Jafar was controlling his mount to dance to the side with graceful steps.
Gazeem stood and approached the great, dune with hesitant steps. Jafar watched him go with that same, cold sneer on his face. As Gazeem stepped out of hearing range, Iago turned to his master and gave him a shrewd look with his beady, parrot eyes.
"Where'd you dig this idiot up, Jafar?" he asked, his voice reflecting the same disdain in the Vizoers face.
Jafar lifted one long finger to his smirking lips and shushed the bird, then turned his burning eyes back on the petty thief.
He didn't know what he expected but when the lion's head shifted and his great, glowing eyes focused on Gazeem as he stepped in front of him, Jafar felt surprise blossom in his chest.
"Who disturbs my slumber?" the lion asked in a shuddering, booming voice, his great mouth glowing as fiercely as his eyes. Jafar felt a sharp thrill when he saw stairs within the lion's mouth, descending deep into the pit of the earth; surely that was where the lamp was hidden!
"It is I," Gazeem spoke in a trembling, sliding voice as he dropped to his knees and bowed his upper body in deference to the great lion. "I am… Gazeem… a humble thief."
The lions eyes narrowed and burned upon the form of the thief, scrutinizing him and Jafar had a very good idea that the lion was looking at more than his soiled clothes and rotting teeth. After a long, tense moment the lion spoke in his star-shaking voice.
"Know this, Gazeem of Agrabah, only one may enter here; one whose worth lies far within! A diamond in the rough."
Gazeem stood and took a few steps back, looking towards Jafar with a question is his bulging eyes. The vizier hissed out an exasperated breath between tightly clenched teeth and then said, "What are you waiting for, you fool? Go on!"
Gazeem turned from Jafar and stepped towards the lion who held his mouth wide open, the glorious, blazing light that issued from beneath the dunes. He walked with a hesitant gate and looked nervously over his shoulder once or twice before he got to the great sand-cats lip and there he hesitated for a long moment, know doubt breathing a prayer to Allah.
Then he carefully lifted his foot and place it, oh so tentatively, on the lions lips and scrunched his shoulders tight, his head dropping to his collar bone as if he expected a blow to fall.
Jafar waited with baited breath for a long moment… and nothing happened. Gazeem released a long, tight breath and stepped more heavily onto the lip of the lion.
The great cat screamed into the sky and the lighting that had greeted the joining of the scareb bauble flashed… but this time it was brighter than a thousand lamps and shamed the sun with its fury.
Jafar's Horse reared again and it took all of his mastery of the beasts of burden to keep the horse from bolting.
The lions head collapsed in on it self, the lion still roaring and, beneath that terrible, pained noise, the sound of Gazeem screaming his terror and pain. Jafar roared in disappointment, giving voice to negate the inevitable collapse of his cave of wonders and another collapse of his dreams.
Then, ringing through the tormented night, came the caves voice, still powerful and fearsome but slowly fading into non existence, "Seek thee out, the diamond in the rough!"
Jafar looked back at the cave and saw the two pieces of the scarab tremble and then tumble from where they had set themselves into the sand; rolling down the side of the dune and into the surrounding sand.
The night quieted and lightened, the clouds vanishing as quickly as they had come and the sand once again turned to its pale, silvery-blue beneath the eyelash of the moon.
Iago, who had been blown back by the strength of the collapse, lifted himself from beneath a pile of sand, wheezing and coughing as he shook grains from his glorious feathers.
"What? WHAT WAS THAT?!" the parrot screamed as he lifted himself into the air and then fetched the two pieces of the scarab bauble. "We go through all that trouble to get this stupid thing open and what do we get in return!? A dead thief, that's what we get!"
Jafar extended one hand and felt the two pieces of cold metal drop into his palm, "Patience, Iago. Patience! Gazeem was obviously less than worthy."
The parrot dropped onto Jafar's shoulder and continued to squawk and shriek as he passed back and forth on his master's shoulders, going on and on about whatever it was that he was complaining about; Jafar was too busy thinking to listen.
The wheels and cogs in his head were spinning at top speed, thoughts raced around as he matched up what the Cave said against what he knew… and he hit upon the answer.
Jafar lifted his hand and grabbed Iago's beak, stopping the incessant tyrade of screams, curses and such, his dark eyes glowing with excitement.
"Yes… Yes! That's what we need to do, Iago! 'Seek thee out, the diamond in the rough'! We must find him… this… Diamond in the rough."
Iago looked at his master curiously but could not glean what the dark man meant by this… but he knew that to speak to Jafar while his thoughts were impassioned would mean earning his disdain so Iago kept his questions to himself.
"Come, Iago," Jafar said, his face once again set in its unreadable lines as he turned his horse around, towards the glittering speck of Agrabah. "We have been away from our home for too long… and many things need to be done before we can return."
Yes, many things had to be done before they could return to the gave of wonders and fetch the lamp so that Grand Vizier could finally have whatever he wished.
Whatever…. He wished.