The book turned out to be far more boring than Jayde had expected, rather than magic, it was about the history of magic. Jayde decided instead to go and see what Mozenrath was doing. He had left his lab quite some time ago so Jayde magiced a compass that she has just zapped into existence, to find him. The compass led Jayde down a long dark corridor and into an equally long room. Jayde saw Mozenrath at the other end of the room so she zapped the compass away and raised herself an inch off the floor so that she could move without her footsteps making any noise. She tiptoed up behind Mozenrath, lowered herself to the ground and wrapped her arms around him.
"Aur-argh!" Mozenrath yelled in suprise. "Don't do that... you nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Lighten up, Moze." Said Jayde. "You need to relax more. I think you can trust me, you know."
"Don't call me Moze. I hate that name." Said Mozenrath. "And while I may be able to trust you, I have many enemies. They would delight in creeping up behind me and strangling me."
"Whatever." Jayde said. "So what are you doing?"
"Making an amulet." Said Mozenrath. "A magical amulet."
"Well of course it's magical. It's an amulet." Asked Jayde. "Why are you making an amulet?"
"To give to you." Said Mozenrath. "For being such a nice person and coming to stay with me."
"What does it do?" Asked Jayde. "Because if it turns me into a Mamluk, I don't want it."
"It's a secret." Said Mozenrath. "And if I told you it would no long be a secret."
"No secrets." Said Jayde.
"You can talk." Said Mozenrath. "How many time have I asked you a question only to have you change the subject?"
"I think will call in my favour now." Said Jayde. "Is that alright with you?"
"OK." Said Mozenrath. "So what do you want? You want to know what the amulet does, right?"
"Wrong."
"What then?" Asked Mozenrath. "I would have thought that's what you would want, given the situation."
"I am going to tell you who I am and where I am from." Said Jayde. "You must promise not to kill me and not to hold my identity against me."
"It cant be that bad." Said Mozenrath. "I'm a dark sorceror and you don't hate me... I don't think."
"Do you promise you won't kill me?" Continued Jayde. "And do you promise that you won't hold my identity against me or do anything nasty because of who I am?"
"You didn't mention the doing nasty things part before." Said Mozenrath. "But of course. You know... I love you."
"Me too" Said Jayde. "I love you too. I don't know how I know this so early but I love you."
"Go on..." Promted Jayde. "I promise, now you can say who you are and stuff."
"I am from Agrabah" said Jayde. "I am, though I haven't been there for a long time, from Agrabah."
"Thats not bad." Said Mozenrath. "I was expecting something sinister or ground shaking."
"I'm not finished." Said Jayde. "I'm from a very affluential part of Agrabah."
"So you're a rich person from Agrabah." Said Mozenrath. "I'm not very popular with them at the moment."
"I'm still not finished. A very affluential part of Agrabah known as the palace."
"Ah nuts... It keeps on going and going, doesn't it."
"I am Princess Jayde of Agrabah. Eldest daughter of the Sultan." Finished Jayde.
"Oh..." Mozenrath trailed off. "That means... I can't hold you hostage now..."
"Yes cheeky." Replied Jayde. "I am actually travelling home to claim the throne instead of my sister. So soon, although hopefully not too soon as I value the life of my father, soon I will be the Sultana of Agrabah."
"You're THAT pricess of Agrabah? The one that massacred all those people and ran away?"
"Don't believe everything you hear." Replied Jayde. "But yes, and you know our homelands are kind of at war..."
"That means we will be enemies. We will be at war..." Said Mozenrath. "I'm going to have to surrender."
"There is another solution." Said Jayde. "One that does not include the compulsory painful torture of yourself in the Agrabah dungeons as an obligatory condition of surrender."
"Name it. It will be done... Anything to avoid the dungeon for five years." Said Mozenrath. "Because I would have to surrender so I wouldn't have to fight you."
"Well." Began Jayde. "One of the conditions of my inheriting the throne is that..."
"Yes...?" Said Mozenrath. "I'll do it, just name it."
"I must marry before my sister, Jasmine."
"You... want me to be your sultan?" Asked Mozenrath. "You want me to be the absolute ruler of Agrabah with you? Is that what you're implying?"
"I would be honoured." Said Jayde. "And thanks for saying with you. Most suitors I have met consider ruling to be a one man job."
"But that means I would have to live at the palace... With the street rat." Said Mozenrath. "Which would be less good than the torture, I think."
"You would be one step closer to ruling the seven deserts." Tempted Jayde. "And we could have alot of fun as well."
"And I would be with you..." Said Mozenrath. "But ruling the seven deserts would be fun so having fun does not count as an as well."
"Yes, that's true. So I should have said and we could also have a lot of other fun as well." Said Jayde. "But I have two more conditions."
"What would those be?" Said Mozenrath. "This sound too much like a business deal. I just want to get to know you and now we're engaged. A bit fast."
"Condition number one: No tyranny." Said Jayde. "You may not eject any elected council from the city unless the people ask you to."
"Awww." Said Mozenrath. "I wasn't going to do that anyway. I told you I just wanted to be with you."
"And condition number two... I get to see what is under that gauntlet of yours." Said Jayde. "You didn't even take it off when..."
"Do you have too?" Asked Mozenrath. "The gauntlet really doesn't ever come off."
"Yes." replied Jayde. "I intend to marry the whole of you, possibly without the gauntlet."
"No." Said Mozenrath. "That's really not nescessary."
"I will have to see one day." Said Jayde. "Why not today."
"No, you won't. I'll never make you see. Problem solved." Said Mozenrath. "See? Now I won't have to take off the gauntlet. Ever."
"You are my fiance. You will please take the gauntlet off?" Asked Jayde. "Now!"
"No." Said Mozenrath. "We agreed no tyranny but you're being a bit of a bully now."
"No secrets remember." Said Jayde, but she smiled now and was more tender. "I told mine. Please?"
"No...okay, Fine." Mozenrath finally gave in to his persistent fiance. "But only because you asked nicely."
Mozenrath slipped the gauntlet off, revealing a hand of clean white bone.
Jayde stared for a minute before she remembered a spell she had learned from a witch-doctor on one of her travels.
"Give me the gauntlet, please." She requested. "I would like to have a look at it."
"Why?" Asked Mozenrath. "What you see now is all it is."
"Just do it, trust me." Said jayde. "Don't make this like taking it off was."
Reluctantly, Mozenrath handed the gauntlet to Jayde and as soon as he let go of it she zapped it out of existence.
"Hey! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!?" Mozenrath screamed atJayde. "I need that!"
"Give me your hand." Jayde said, with a tone of authority.
Mozenrath did as she asked. He didn't really have much choice anyway,
probably noticed that at that point Jayde had started a very complicated spell and was already glowing from all the magic she was summoning.
Jayde muttered some magic words as she held Mozenrath's hand, covering it with her magical glow. Jayde shut her eyes and a trance seemed to come over her, when she opened her eyes a moment later, Mozenrath could not see her pupils, her eyes were white only.
She released his hand and pointed a finger at him with bolts lightning shooting out of her finger, covering Mozenrath.
"What.... Augh... Are... You... Doing... To... Me?" Mozenrath yelled at Jayde, in between bursts of pain from the lightning bolts. Jayde seemed to wake from her trace and she called to him.
"It's nearly over!" She called over the wind that was now screaming around the room. Slowly the last of the lightning drained from Jayde to Mozenrath and the wind died down. It took a few more seconds for the glow to subside before Jayde could clearly see Mozenrath crumpled on the floor in front of her.
"Mozenrath." She said urgently, as she shook him awake. "That magic will have taken alot of energy from you but I still need you awake to see this and recognise it so the spell stays permanent."
"What are you going to do to me now?" Mozenrath asked as Jayde kneeled beside him.
"Nothing." Jayde replied as she helped him to sit up. "Look at your hand now."
Mozenrath's gaze dropped from his assailant to his hand which had been previously previously skeletal but it was now covered with flesh and skin. It was a normal hand.
"....." Moznerath was unable to say anything, his mouth opening and closing around silent words as he flexed his hand experimentaly.
"It doesnt hurt." He whispered. "I haven't seen my hand like this for many years... and it doesn't hurt."
Mozenrath looked at Jayde.
"Thankyou." He said. "But how did you do it? No spell I know of can do that?"
"You're welcome." Said Jayde. "All of your spell book were from around here, right? Because that spell was foreign. You wouldn't have been able to find it in any book, in any library withing a few thousand miles from here."
"But what about the gauntlet?" Said Mozenrath. "Last time, when my hand was... not skeletal, the power of the gauntlet was alot greater. Now I could probably conquer the world like I missed out doing when I put the gauntlet on in the first place."
"You cannot wear it now." Said Jayde. "I won't allow it."
"But without it... I have no magic." Said Mozenrath. "I need magic."
"Wrong." Said Jayde as she took his hand again. "Well, you do need magic I guess, but you can have magic without the gauntlet."
This time a warm orange glow transferred from Jayde's hands to Mozenrath's hand and all he felt is a funny tingling in his fingertips.
"Now try it." Said Jayde. "You may find that your hand works now as it did before, though your magical signiture be changed slightly."
Mozenrath pointed his hand and, to test, he shot a bolt of orange light. "I am really speechless now." He said. "What did you do?"
"I performed a healing spell on your hand then I charged your hand to perform like the gauntlet would."
"A healing spell? So you have both creative magic and healing magic?" Said Mozenrath. "Most people I have heard of who are high in one magic field are pitifully weak to uselessness in all the others. Like I only had destructive magic."
"Come, you must rest now." Jayde told Mozenrath. "There will be time to discuss magic potential later."
Mozenrath tried to stand but fell back on his butt. He was too weak. "Sit down." Jayde told him. "I can handle this."
Mozenrath obeyed and Jayde released a bolt of purple fire which made Mozernath rise from the ground. Jayde walked back to his room with Mozenrath floating behind.
"This is demeaning." He muttered, but Jayde ignored him.
Jayde set him down in his room and helped him into bed. It was not long before Mozenrath was asleep. Jayde, bored, decided to explore the citadel while Mozenrath slept. She had not seen any mamluks yet after all.
"Aur-argh!" Mozenrath yelled in suprise. "Don't do that... you nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Lighten up, Moze." Said Jayde. "You need to relax more. I think you can trust me, you know."
"Don't call me Moze. I hate that name." Said Mozenrath. "And while I may be able to trust you, I have many enemies. They would delight in creeping up behind me and strangling me."
"Whatever." Jayde said. "So what are you doing?"
"Making an amulet." Said Mozenrath. "A magical amulet."
"Well of course it's magical. It's an amulet." Asked Jayde. "Why are you making an amulet?"
"To give to you." Said Mozenrath. "For being such a nice person and coming to stay with me."
"What does it do?" Asked Jayde. "Because if it turns me into a Mamluk, I don't want it."
"It's a secret." Said Mozenrath. "And if I told you it would no long be a secret."
"No secrets." Said Jayde.
"You can talk." Said Mozenrath. "How many time have I asked you a question only to have you change the subject?"
"I think will call in my favour now." Said Jayde. "Is that alright with you?"
"OK." Said Mozenrath. "So what do you want? You want to know what the amulet does, right?"
"Wrong."
"What then?" Asked Mozenrath. "I would have thought that's what you would want, given the situation."
"I am going to tell you who I am and where I am from." Said Jayde. "You must promise not to kill me and not to hold my identity against me."
"It cant be that bad." Said Mozenrath. "I'm a dark sorceror and you don't hate me... I don't think."
"Do you promise you won't kill me?" Continued Jayde. "And do you promise that you won't hold my identity against me or do anything nasty because of who I am?"
"You didn't mention the doing nasty things part before." Said Mozenrath. "But of course. You know... I love you."
"Me too" Said Jayde. "I love you too. I don't know how I know this so early but I love you."
"Go on..." Promted Jayde. "I promise, now you can say who you are and stuff."
"I am from Agrabah" said Jayde. "I am, though I haven't been there for a long time, from Agrabah."
"Thats not bad." Said Mozenrath. "I was expecting something sinister or ground shaking."
"I'm not finished." Said Jayde. "I'm from a very affluential part of Agrabah."
"So you're a rich person from Agrabah." Said Mozenrath. "I'm not very popular with them at the moment."
"I'm still not finished. A very affluential part of Agrabah known as the palace."
"Ah nuts... It keeps on going and going, doesn't it."
"I am Princess Jayde of Agrabah. Eldest daughter of the Sultan." Finished Jayde.
"Oh..." Mozenrath trailed off. "That means... I can't hold you hostage now..."
"Yes cheeky." Replied Jayde. "I am actually travelling home to claim the throne instead of my sister. So soon, although hopefully not too soon as I value the life of my father, soon I will be the Sultana of Agrabah."
"You're THAT pricess of Agrabah? The one that massacred all those people and ran away?"
"Don't believe everything you hear." Replied Jayde. "But yes, and you know our homelands are kind of at war..."
"That means we will be enemies. We will be at war..." Said Mozenrath. "I'm going to have to surrender."
"There is another solution." Said Jayde. "One that does not include the compulsory painful torture of yourself in the Agrabah dungeons as an obligatory condition of surrender."
"Name it. It will be done... Anything to avoid the dungeon for five years." Said Mozenrath. "Because I would have to surrender so I wouldn't have to fight you."
"Well." Began Jayde. "One of the conditions of my inheriting the throne is that..."
"Yes...?" Said Mozenrath. "I'll do it, just name it."
"I must marry before my sister, Jasmine."
"You... want me to be your sultan?" Asked Mozenrath. "You want me to be the absolute ruler of Agrabah with you? Is that what you're implying?"
"I would be honoured." Said Jayde. "And thanks for saying with you. Most suitors I have met consider ruling to be a one man job."
"But that means I would have to live at the palace... With the street rat." Said Mozenrath. "Which would be less good than the torture, I think."
"You would be one step closer to ruling the seven deserts." Tempted Jayde. "And we could have alot of fun as well."
"And I would be with you..." Said Mozenrath. "But ruling the seven deserts would be fun so having fun does not count as an as well."
"Yes, that's true. So I should have said and we could also have a lot of other fun as well." Said Jayde. "But I have two more conditions."
"What would those be?" Said Mozenrath. "This sound too much like a business deal. I just want to get to know you and now we're engaged. A bit fast."
"Condition number one: No tyranny." Said Jayde. "You may not eject any elected council from the city unless the people ask you to."
"Awww." Said Mozenrath. "I wasn't going to do that anyway. I told you I just wanted to be with you."
"And condition number two... I get to see what is under that gauntlet of yours." Said Jayde. "You didn't even take it off when..."
"Do you have too?" Asked Mozenrath. "The gauntlet really doesn't ever come off."
"Yes." replied Jayde. "I intend to marry the whole of you, possibly without the gauntlet."
"No." Said Mozenrath. "That's really not nescessary."
"I will have to see one day." Said Jayde. "Why not today."
"No, you won't. I'll never make you see. Problem solved." Said Mozenrath. "See? Now I won't have to take off the gauntlet. Ever."
"You are my fiance. You will please take the gauntlet off?" Asked Jayde. "Now!"
"No." Said Mozenrath. "We agreed no tyranny but you're being a bit of a bully now."
"No secrets remember." Said Jayde, but she smiled now and was more tender. "I told mine. Please?"
"No...okay, Fine." Mozenrath finally gave in to his persistent fiance. "But only because you asked nicely."
Mozenrath slipped the gauntlet off, revealing a hand of clean white bone.
Jayde stared for a minute before she remembered a spell she had learned from a witch-doctor on one of her travels.
"Give me the gauntlet, please." She requested. "I would like to have a look at it."
"Why?" Asked Mozenrath. "What you see now is all it is."
"Just do it, trust me." Said jayde. "Don't make this like taking it off was."
Reluctantly, Mozenrath handed the gauntlet to Jayde and as soon as he let go of it she zapped it out of existence.
"Hey! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING?!?" Mozenrath screamed atJayde. "I need that!"
"Give me your hand." Jayde said, with a tone of authority.
Mozenrath did as she asked. He didn't really have much choice anyway,
probably noticed that at that point Jayde had started a very complicated spell and was already glowing from all the magic she was summoning.
Jayde muttered some magic words as she held Mozenrath's hand, covering it with her magical glow. Jayde shut her eyes and a trance seemed to come over her, when she opened her eyes a moment later, Mozenrath could not see her pupils, her eyes were white only.
She released his hand and pointed a finger at him with bolts lightning shooting out of her finger, covering Mozenrath.
"What.... Augh... Are... You... Doing... To... Me?" Mozenrath yelled at Jayde, in between bursts of pain from the lightning bolts. Jayde seemed to wake from her trace and she called to him.
"It's nearly over!" She called over the wind that was now screaming around the room. Slowly the last of the lightning drained from Jayde to Mozenrath and the wind died down. It took a few more seconds for the glow to subside before Jayde could clearly see Mozenrath crumpled on the floor in front of her.
"Mozenrath." She said urgently, as she shook him awake. "That magic will have taken alot of energy from you but I still need you awake to see this and recognise it so the spell stays permanent."
"What are you going to do to me now?" Mozenrath asked as Jayde kneeled beside him.
"Nothing." Jayde replied as she helped him to sit up. "Look at your hand now."
Mozenrath's gaze dropped from his assailant to his hand which had been previously previously skeletal but it was now covered with flesh and skin. It was a normal hand.
"....." Moznerath was unable to say anything, his mouth opening and closing around silent words as he flexed his hand experimentaly.
"It doesnt hurt." He whispered. "I haven't seen my hand like this for many years... and it doesn't hurt."
Mozenrath looked at Jayde.
"Thankyou." He said. "But how did you do it? No spell I know of can do that?"
"You're welcome." Said Jayde. "All of your spell book were from around here, right? Because that spell was foreign. You wouldn't have been able to find it in any book, in any library withing a few thousand miles from here."
"But what about the gauntlet?" Said Mozenrath. "Last time, when my hand was... not skeletal, the power of the gauntlet was alot greater. Now I could probably conquer the world like I missed out doing when I put the gauntlet on in the first place."
"You cannot wear it now." Said Jayde. "I won't allow it."
"But without it... I have no magic." Said Mozenrath. "I need magic."
"Wrong." Said Jayde as she took his hand again. "Well, you do need magic I guess, but you can have magic without the gauntlet."
This time a warm orange glow transferred from Jayde's hands to Mozenrath's hand and all he felt is a funny tingling in his fingertips.
"Now try it." Said Jayde. "You may find that your hand works now as it did before, though your magical signiture be changed slightly."
Mozenrath pointed his hand and, to test, he shot a bolt of orange light. "I am really speechless now." He said. "What did you do?"
"I performed a healing spell on your hand then I charged your hand to perform like the gauntlet would."
"A healing spell? So you have both creative magic and healing magic?" Said Mozenrath. "Most people I have heard of who are high in one magic field are pitifully weak to uselessness in all the others. Like I only had destructive magic."
"Come, you must rest now." Jayde told Mozenrath. "There will be time to discuss magic potential later."
Mozenrath tried to stand but fell back on his butt. He was too weak. "Sit down." Jayde told him. "I can handle this."
Mozenrath obeyed and Jayde released a bolt of purple fire which made Mozernath rise from the ground. Jayde walked back to his room with Mozenrath floating behind.
"This is demeaning." He muttered, but Jayde ignored him.
Jayde set him down in his room and helped him into bed. It was not long before Mozenrath was asleep. Jayde, bored, decided to explore the citadel while Mozenrath slept. She had not seen any mamluks yet after all.
