Chapter 10: Shifting

Jasmine shared a look with Abu as they remained in something of a dungeon hall in Lamrai. Grenden had confined them - Abis Mal and Haroud included, but Grenden and Carpet were nowhere in sight.

At present, Abis Mal wept loudly not too far away from them.

"Sir, if you were a proper villain at this point, you would not be crying and carrying on this way," Haroud said.

Abis Mal sniffled loudly. "You don't get it, Haroud, we're doomed. Doomed, I say! That sorcerer's gonna destroy us all - he's gonna turn us all into...into..."

Haroud sighed. "Mincemeat, sir?"

"Yes, something like that." He blew his nose on a hanky that he pulled from his pocket.

Jasmine hugged her arms, looking down at where Abu whimpered at her feet. "We need to find a way out of here and back to Agrabah. I'm worried about the city, and Aladdin too. Is there anything you can do, Abu? At least to see where Carpet and Grenden went."

Abu looked afraid, but seeing the glossy look in Jasmine's eyes, he couldn't say no. He puffed out his chest and gave her a salute, even as his stomach did somersaults. It wasn't like he planned to play hero twice that day. He was hungry and hadn't eaten since earlier. He screeched a few words, which Jasmine understood with a small smile.

"Don't worry about leaving me with Abis Mal and Haroud. I think right now they're a little occupied. Even then, I think if we're going to get out of here, they'll have to work with us - it's a temporary truce. Just hurry back before they change their minds."

Abu nodded, and scurried along the stony wall of their confines to try to find an opening. He couldn't go by the door since it was sealed with magic and gave no indication of what was outside.

He managed to squeeze through the narrow space of a stone plate that wasn't wielded the whole way shut, leading into a small turn in the underground palace that took him back to one of the main rooms. He recognized one of the main doors to Lamrai, and wondered briefly if he could find some way to get to Aladdin, Genie and Iago and warn them about what was going on.

But then he realized he would be better off trying to find a way to help everyone escape, and then worry about opening the door.

He scurried away, trying to follow the last place he'd seen Grenden.

But not before something snatched him up by his tail, making his frantic screeches bounce in an echo off the walls.


Genie held up another dark vine for Aladdin to walk under safely as they moved through the city.

"Agrabah hasn't seen this side of thorny weeds in...ever," Genie said, frowning.

"I can't believe we've been chopping down so many of these and they just keep growing back like nothing happened!" Aladdin's shoulders slumped as he sighed. "It's a wonder that the merchants made it to the end of the city when they did."

"Maybe they were already close to the edge of the city before all these weeds started spouting. I'm kinda hoping no one got caught in the cross-weeding, if you know what I mean."

Aladdin rolled his eyes. "Still...is there anything you can think of that might get us through this faster?"

"I can think of one method. It's time to bring out the powerful stuff. Hold your nose, it's gonna get stinky!" Genie transformed into an exterminator, a tank by his side with a long nozzle spray that he aimed towards the patch of black,thorny vines ahead of them. Aladdin held his nose while Genie sprayed a long mist of green smoke towards the vines. At first, the area cleared as the vines withered. Aladdin managed to step over the long, seemingly dead stretch of them, just before they grew back.

"Well, at least they give us some time to cross before growing back that way."

Genie scratched his head. "These weeds are even magic-proof, to an extent. I used the best I could get, too."

Aladdin started to say something when he heard a cry for help in the distance.

"Somebody! Help Me! I can't get out!"

Aladdin felt his back tense. "Come on, I think they're calling from that way." He pointed ahead and Genie followed, spraying his magic mist where they needed a path to clear.

As Aladdin made his way ahead of where Genie cleared a path for him, he recognized the figure calling for help. He remembered Warek all too well, back when they'd rescued the merchant from a tough imp wandering around the Moonstone Oasis named Jatika. Warek had come to live in Agrabah with his wife, Kesa, and his camel, Dyna shortly after that scuffle. It'd been one encounter that Aladdin remembered all too well, and the prince valued his friendship with the merchant. Jatika was long gone, but Warek had always been grateful to the group, especially after they saved his life several more times after their first meeting.

"Warek, hang on! Can you move at all?" Aladdin called.

"Aladdin! I thought I was the only one still left in the streets! The vines came fast and everyone scrambled to get inside their homes. Unfortunately, I was trapped. I don't want to move because I think the thorns may skewer me!"

"He's not kidding. These things are more pointy than several saw-toothed daggers." Genie put his finger over one of the thorns and pricked his finger. "OUCH!" Genie put a finger to his mouth and winced, but quickly recovered and held up his exterminator nozzle.

"Hold your nose, I don't think you wanna get a whiff of this."

Warek obeyed as Genie sprayed his magic vine killer. The vines fell away, and Aladdin stepped forward, pulling Warek out of the small cramped space into an open area of the city just before the vines grew back, with sharper tips.

Warek wiped the sweat from his brow. "That was close. If I'd been there a moment longer, they would've impaled me just for slumping over. Thank you, my Prince."

Aladdin held up his hands, palms forward. "Even after all this time, I'm still not used to people calling me 'prince.' Aladdin or Al's fine." Aladdin's smile faded as Warek looked to the sky above them and winced.

"What a devilish sight the sky holds over Agrabah. I'm not sure what happened either, only that it must be a being that wields powerful magic."

Aladdin's fists curled at his sides. "Yeah, we have an idea who's doing it, but we're trying to go through the city and help anyone we can on our way to the palace, among other things. When did this all happen, anyway?"

Warek rubbed the underside of his nose. "It was just on the cusp of evening. The first thing that went up was the dome around Agrabah, many of us wondered why it was getting dark so soon. And then came the vines. They slithered like serpents on the sands through the street before growing to what you see now." He swallowed hard. "I should also warn you that there have been shadows lurking here - things that look like monsters."

"And these are monsters of the two-legged variety?" Genie asked, hoping he had it right this time around.

Warek nodded quickly, waving his arms frantically. "Yes, yes! And they were huge! They were about as tall as the stand over there and very lean." He pointed over to a nearby, intact merchant stand ahead of them. " And, well, you can probably see the damage of what some of the monsters have done over that way. Several merchant stands and parts of buildings that aren't occupied. They moved so fast that it was hard to see them." He pointed south of where they stood, and Aladdin felt his breath shudder as he exhaled.

Genie grimaced. "All that destroyed by the monsters? Something tells me I don't want to tangle with those guys anytime soon if they do that kind of damage."

Before Warek could reply, a loud hiss cut through the night air, causing Warek to shiver from the top of his turban to his feet.

Aladdin looked equally worried. "What was that?"

Warek's voice barely rose above a whisper. "That was them."

A closer inhuman cry made them all turn, looking up at the top of a nearby building. A long lanky figure with billows of shadow surrounding it in the frame of the dim light that shone through the dome's cover over the city.

It howled with rage.