Chapter 7: Follow, Follow, Follow

Jasmine had managed to find Carpet among a large pile of debris, but it took her forever to clear enough space to where she could try to pull him out. Even with that effort, she still couldn't manage it.

"You're really stuck in there, aren't you Carpet?"

Carpet hung his knobs as if he were sad, but then perked up when a familiar voice registered a distance away.

"Need some help, Princess?" Aladdin lowered himself down from over a group of rocks caused by the cave-in from before. Jasmine looked relieved.

"You're okay! You looked like you'd fallen into that dark abyss."

Aladdin shrugged. "Actually I did fall a ways down. But I'll explain later - we need to get Carpet and get out of here. Do you still have the herbs?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I almost lost them running from the cave-in, but luckily I found a way to get them back. It also led me to a path where I found Carpet. I still can't get him out."

Aladdin rubbed his hands together, grabbed one end of Carpet while Jasmine got the other.

"Okay, pull!" Aladdin said, and the two started pulling as hard as they could. It was odd because the sudden snap of Carpet coming free sent the Prince and Princess tumbling back into the sandy path, where they coughed while Carpet celebrated his newfound freedom.

"That was far easier than earlier when I was trying to get him out. You must be lucky, Aladdin." Jasmine stopped when she saw Aladdin looking at the place where Carpet had just been trapped. She followed his gaze, and gasped.

"I don't think I'm that lucky, Jasmine," he said, pointing to a mound of sand that had replaced where the heavy debris of rocks had once been. Carpet looked equally confused.

Aladdin stood, scooping a hand full of sand and letting it sift between his fingers. "Who could've done this? It wasn't even a moment before when all of this were rocks. It had to be someone wielding magic to do this much."

"Is someone really following us?" Jasmine said, looking over her shoulder. "But if it was, why would they be helping us now, when earlier..."

Aladdin shook his head. "No, it's someone different. Earlier, I'm pretty sure it was Mozenrath." He explained his encounter with the U-serpents, Mozenrath, and Xerxes, followed by the mysterious figure that had trapped Xerxes in a spider-like web and had also a played a flute that allowed him to escape from the U-serpents.

"I can't believe Mozenrath would team up with them, but who do you think helped you? Someone we know?"

"I have no idea." Aladdin looked over his shoulder at the path he'd come and around the area. He didn't see anything at odds, and it wasn't like he could see any obvious hiding places. "But if they're helping us, why would they think they need to hide from us?"

"Maybe we should try to reach out to them," Jasmine suggested. She cupped her hands around her mouth and called out. "Hello? Is someone there? We just want to thank you for your help. Please, don't be afraid." Both of them waited, even as Jasmine's voice echoed through the way, it was the only sound either of them heard.

"You think they're still there?" Aladdin asked.

"I don't know. But I hope they heard me. Let's go."

Aladdin and Jasmine boarded Carpet, and they sped through the underground to try to find a way back out of the Cave of Wonders.


Genie, Iago, Abu, and Safir all arrived in the Cave of Wonders treasure room.

"You think Daleel is somewhere with them?" Safir asked Genie. "What if Mozenrath or the U-serpents got to him?" He put his face in his hands again, sobbing. Abu climbed up a treasure mound and reached Safir's shoulder, patting the merchant turned magic wielder on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Safir, we'll find them. I have a foolproof solution!" Genie pulled out a strange remote control contraption, complete with many pushable buttons, a blinking screen, and two antennae.

"What's that supposed to be?" Iago asked.

Genie transformed into a professor with glasses, a long lab coat, and fluffy mustache. He spoke in an exaggerated accent. "It is only my latest invention, one that allows me to remotely track a certain magic carpet to wherever he might be at the present moment. If Daleel came here to find Al and Jas, then we'll find him wherever we find them. Observe." Genie pushed several buttons, but nothing happened. Genie's hopeful expression turned to a scowl.

"It's not working," Iago said dryly. "For a semi-phenomenal nearly cosmic powered being, does it ever occur to you that none of your stuff ever works?"

Genie gave him a side eye glance. "Oh, there's no need to jump to odd conclusions, my fine feathered friend. It just needs a little adjustments." Genie threw the contraption on the ground, started kicking, stomping and beating it along its sides. Safir and Abu watched Genie, wincing with each attempt.

Apparently, that's what it took for the controller's screen to light up and beat in a steady rhythm.

"See? Nothing to it." Genie said with a wink.

Safir peered over Genie's shoulder to the controller's screen. "If that contraption is to be believed, then the magic carpet must be somewhere below where we are."

"Does that mean we have to go underground? Really? That's a long dark way down, ya know?" Iago said.

"I don't know why you're complaining, Iago. It might be dark, but you can still fly down there," Genie pointed out, reverting to his normal voice.

"Just because I have wings does not mean I wanna see what's down there!"

"Well, for some of us who are flight-challenged," Genie said, using his magic to put parachutes on Safir, Abu, and himself, " we'll need the proper equipment. Last one down's a featherweight!" Genie tapped his heels together and jumped through one of the areas leading to the underground of the Cave of Wonders.

Abu looked down where Genie disappeared, shrugged his shoulders, then shouted "Look out below!" before disappearing down the hole.

Safir sighed. "I wonder how I get myself into these very precarious situations."

"I ask myself the same question all the time, and usually the answer is that I always get suckered in. Call it a guilt complex," Iago said, shrugging. But both of them, despite their hesitation, disappeared down the hole as well.

Aladdin sighed as they came to yet another dead end. "I guess we can't get out this way either. Mozenrath's magic closed off a lot of places we could've easily gone to get out of here."

"I guess we should backtrack to the last place we came, see if we can get out that way," Jasmine said, though she noticed the way Carpet seemed to sag a little. She ran her fingers along his fabric. "I'm sorry Carpet, I know you're tired. We all are."

"Not to mention we're running out of time to help Daleel. We need to get back. There has to be some way...Jasmine, look!" Aladdin's eyes widened, and the three of them noticed a warm shimmering light filling the cave, which seemed to clear the once blocked path in front of them and opening up to a familiar place. They were back on the path that would lead them to the treasure room.

"All right! I can't believe it." Aladdin said, but then an audible groan suddenly came from an area behind them.

Jasmine's eyes widened. "Did you hear that?"

"I did. Stay here, I'm going to see where it came from." Aladdin lept off Carpet, and backtracked a little down the path they came to where the sound came from. At first he heard something of a whimper, and then muffled shouts of "No, no, no!"

Someone was in trouble, but it was hard to tell who or what it was. Aladdin gripped a few rocks and started climbing to the origin of the sound, which led to a crawlspace. He imagined someone small would have an easier time making their way here, but he had trouble pushing himself through without effort.

Once he made his way through, Aladdin realized he couldn't stand in the space so he had to keep crawling through the path, his hands moving along sand. The area was dark, and he could barely see where he was going, but he followed the sound of muffled conversation. One of the voices he recognized almost immediately. Xerxes sounded particularly angry.

"Fool you are to help Aladdin. Master not happy. Trap me once, not trap me again! Must be stopped, must be stopped!"

Aladdin followed the sounds of struggle, into an open area where he saw Xerxes had wrapped himself around the neck of someone he was trying to restrain. Aladdin's chest grew tight as he recognized the figure, who looked pale from not being able to breathe.

"Daleel! Let him go, Xerxes!" Aladdin rushed over, grabbing a startled Xerxes by the throat.

"Stop, stop, stop! Let go now!" Xerxes protested, trying to wiggle out of Aladdin's grasp as Aladdin unwrapped the creature from Daleel's throat. Aladdin then stuffed Xerxes head between two rocks to where the creature couldn't get out quickly, leaving Xerxes flopping around trying to get out like a fish stranded on land.

Daleel coughed, gasping for air. He collapsed into Aladdin's arms as Aladdin rushed over to the boy. Daleel didn't seem to recognize him as he pushed against Aladdin weakly. "Please, leave me alone. Let me go..."

"Daleel, it's me! Easy, kid," Aladdin protested. Daleel stopped, and looked up. Aladdin noticed his eyes were glossy, clouded even.

"Aladdin?"

"Yeah, it's me," he repeated calmly. "How did you get here? What happened?"

Daleel sank against Aladdin weakly. "I'm sorry. You guys were in trouble, and I couldn't...I couldn't..."

"Wait - you were the one helping us from earlier, weren't you?"

"Yes. I had several visions of you guys being in trouble. Safir didn't believe me, so I - I used a spell to get here, and - I'm really sorry. I can't see anything so I didn't notice Xerxes followed me."

"You can't see me?"

Daleel shook his head. "I lost my sight a little while after I came up here. I'd been following you guys a while, and using my magic where I could help, but it's been affecting how I see things for a while. I can hear really well, though, so I knew you were around, but I thought Mozenrath was here and was about to attack me."

"Well, as long as I'm here, he's not going to. Come on, let's get you out of here."

"Wait - you're not mad at me?"

"Why would I be?" Aladdin knelt by the boy. "Worried, yeah, but mad, no. And the others are probably really worried about you too, especially with how sick you are. I am glad you helped us out, but the others are probably out of their minds wondering what happened to you. And if using your magic is making you worse, then you shouldn't do it. We'll figure out another way to get around. It's not worth losing you."

"Get me out. Out, out, out!" Xerxes complained a distance away. Daleel had been stunned into silence for a while, but then he threw his arms around Aladdin's neck, surprising even the Prince.

"Thanks Aladdin."

"Sure." Aladdin said, smiling. "Now let's go before Xerxes lets on to anyone that we're here."


Aladdin helped Daleel climb down the crawlspace from where they'd both entered the way. The boy still wobbled on his feet a little from the fever he held, but Aladdin was surprised that Daleel was still standing - all things considered.

"You really went through a lot getting here, didn't you?" Aladdin asked.

Daleel shrugged, even as he held Aladdin's arm as the Prince guided him down the way to meet up with Jasmine and Carpet. "If I were better, using as much magic as I did wouldn't be anything. I really wanna be a powerful sorcerer when I grow up. Edelina didn't teach me all that magic for nothing. Same as Safir."

"I'm sure if Edelina were here, she'd be proud of you. Safir too."

"I hope Safir's not too mad at me, leaving the way I did."

Daleel suddenly stopped walking and pulled on Aladdin's wrist. "Wait, stop a minute."

Aladdin looked over his shoulder, looking down at the boy."What is it?"

"You said Jasmine and Carpet are up ahead, right? I don't hear them. It's quiet."

Aladdin listened carefully and dropped his voice to a whisper, his brow narrowed. "You're right, it's too quiet. Stay close."

"Looking for s-someone, Aladdin?" The voice of the U-serpent came from above them. Faran had Carpet firmly restrained in his grasp, even as Carpet tried to fly away.

"Hey, let him go!" Aladdin said, standing at attention.

"Are you willing to trade, then? I can release the rug if you hand over the boy."

Aladdin's jaw set on edge, and he positioned himself in front of Daleel. "Not a chance."

"Well, then, you'll just have to do without your precious-s carpet then. Unless you dare to follow us-s, street rat. You might be s-surprised by how many of your friends-s we've come across-s."

As Faran ran ahead, Aladdin motioned forward. "Come on, I don't think we have any choice but to follow him."