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Chapter 5: Assembled Pawns
Mozenrath took a good minute to glare poisonously at Chaos, who had leapt off the chair and made his way to Halim's cradle. Perhaps it was Chaos' nonchalance as he dangled his tail above the gurgling babe playfully. Whatever the reason, the sorcerer did not appear amused.
"Well, you called me," Chaos chimed as Halim giggled, eagerly reaching up for the cat's tail, "and I rarely come when called. You don't seem bored. I told you I would liven up your labyrinth."
"What you are doing is helping her!" Mozenrath seethed, losing his patience. "I didn't ask for YOU to aid HER!"
"'We have to help her'," Chaos said, parroting the sorcerer's voice perfectly. "Nope, you actually did say that and I did. Besides, she didn't expect that to happen."
Mozenrath sneered as he turned away from the cat and went down the hall. He marched past stone walls, randomly engraved with intricate arabesque lines that formed his homeland's mark. Xerxes hovered beside him, looking back at Chaos nervously.
"This is what I get for asking an Incarnation for help," he grumbled as he climbed up stairs. Above his head, dizzying stairways going in and out of walls in dimensions that he could not possibly use, whether out of vertigo or simply not caring. He finally reached a trapdoor and pushed it up. He climbed up and into the meagerly furnished chamber, only a black divan and a size-varying assortment of terracotta jars the occupants. He pulled off the lid of the large one and reached his hand in. Xerxes looked as his master pulled out a hand full of black sand. "Well, I want something done; get somebody else to do it."
"Where's the fun in that?" Chaos asked, appearing and plopping down on the jar next to Mozenrath. "Then again you usually enjoy doing it yourself."
Mozenrath just looked at the cat, sourly. Xerxes scurried behind his master, apprehensively watching Chaos.
"Oh, black magic," Chaos said, interested. "You're really pulling out all the stops for her, but you do that anyway for everybody."
"Yes," Mozenrath muttered to himself. "She's not so special." The sand shifted from his hand to the other. "Yes, just another annoying kid. Keeping me awake at night, making me feel...unnatural-" He said "feel" with much scorn.
"But I can't help that, Amir." Mozenrath's eyes became saucer-size as he spun around and saw Dhandi standing behind him. The sand spilt through his fingers. "You became part of me that day and I you."
The sorcerer recoiled as the girl approached him and wrapped her arms around him. However, he doesn't push her away. Rather, he placed a hand on her head and slowly combed his fingers through her coarse hair. Xerxes hovered above the two, making queasy noises. Mozenrath blinked suddenly and stared at her, disgustedly.
"I will not be hoodwinked," Mozenrath seethed, pushing her roughly onto to the floor, "the least of which by you." As Dhandi fell to the floor, she transmogrified back into the sky blue Chaos.
"Oh, almost never on the first date," the cat replied, "but there's no denying it. You were acting most out of character because of her."
"It wasn't real," Mozenrath exhaled sharply as he turned back to the jars. "But let me guess," he grumbled, "Fate has decided to bring me and that brat together. I thought you didn't like Fate."
"I don't," Chaos leapt onto his shoulder, "but it wasn't Fate. It was me."
The sorcerer stared at the cat for a very long time. Though he didn't utter a word, his twitching eyelid and throbbing vein upon his right temple spoke volumes. Xerxes swam behind the jars, nervously. His master appeared to be on the verge of exploding.
"I take it you're still grasping it," Chaos grinned, "though it wasn't so much as planning to bring you together as giving you a little push in that direction and letting you play it out on your own."
Mozenrath growled as he reached for the cosmic feline, but only grabbed air as Chaos dissipated. The sorcerer snarled as he clenched his fist.
"WHAT RIGHT HAVE YOU TO TOY WITH ME?" he bellowed.
"I told you," the cat's voice chimed. "You needed some change and of course, she was most unexpected. All of the other elements assumed a fellow sorceress or even a princess of unnatural beauty would have been the one."
"You forget I'm married to my work," Mozenrath replied, curtly. "I CAN'T afford such weakness."
"Oh, but even then you believed it," Chaos smirked (if it was possible for a disembodied voice to do). "You also believed it a minute ago."
"What's there to believe?" Mozenrath explained levelly, though still maroon with anger. "I was merely playing with the emotions of an impressionable child to my own ends. The ritual required her to do it of her own will and I wouldn't be here defending myself if I hadn't been proactive with her motivation."
"Yeah," Chaos mewed, "but it got a little bit boring after you made your presence made to her genie with your usual threats, though the little foray into the Underworld was interesting. But, overall, it needed a twist."
"A twist?" Mozenrath repeated incredulously. "A twist-" He sputtered angrily as he pulled out shard of translucent violet amethysts from his belt pouch. "I can't be the butt of your jokes if I'm not here. Land of the Black Sand!"
He held the glowing shard above his head, as if waiting to attract a bolt of lightning. However, to his surprise, the shard made a few sparks before becoming dim. He inspected it for a moment, shaking it and tapping it against his palm a few times, before he grimaced sourly. The crystal that he had used to go in and out of the Chaotic Plains wasn't working and he had a fairly good idea who was behind it.
"I see you want me to stick around longer, Chaos," Mozenrath observed, calmly though scorn was clearly evident in his tone. "What is it now?"
"Just including you into the fun that Dhandi is going to have," Chaos replied, reappearing upon the sorcerer's shoulder. Mozenrath glared at him, bordering on resuming his fit. Chaos merely patted his cheek with one paw and leapt off. "Just call it game."
Mozenrath scowled as he pushed Chaos off. "I don't have time for it."
"Oh, but its house rules," the cat replied, landing gracefully the lid of one of the medium size jars. "Come to think of it, I don't have any rules."
Xerxes peered up and, with a frightened hiss, scurried back down as Chaos shot a mischievous look at him.
"I call this little diversion, 'First Kiss'," the cat said. "The only rule is to get a kiss from Dhandi before her time runs out."
"That's it?" Mozenrath replied, skeptically. "I have to kiss her before she-"
"Actually," Chaos corrected him, swatting at Xerxes, "SHE has to kiss YOU and something tells me neither of you have much time." The familiar hissed viciously as the feline Chaos Incarnate grabbed his tongue, stretched it out like a rubber band, and sent it shooting back into the eel's throat.
"What? What happens after her time runs out?" The sorcerer didn't like where this conversation was going.
"Not sure," the cat yawned, "but maybe I would like to keep you around a little longer. I don't many visitors here." Yep, Mozenrath did not like where this conversation was going. Just then the sorcerer glanced at the jar that Chaos was sitting on and a glint of cunning followed as he mentally recalled its contents.
"All right," Mozenrath asserted calmly, "I'll play your game and I'll make sure she does too."
Chaos leapt off the jar and onto Mozenrath's turban. "Glad to hear it," he purred happily. "I can't wait to see how this turns out."
The sorcerer frowned crossly, his arms crossed and fingers' drumming against them, when the feline disappeared one body part at a time until his Cheshire smile was left. Mozenrath lifted the lid of that jar and took a pinch of the olive green powder with in. He released it into the palm of his gloved right hand and sniffed it, the earthy scent of this ground herb burning into his sinuses and producing a twisted smirk on his face. Dusting the powder off, he scooped up the black sand that had spilt on the floor, held it in his gloved hand as it glowed blue, and blew it into the air. The sand swirled until it formed the screen like the one he had used to spy with in the throne. Upon it was the layout of the entire labyrinth, almost like a map, if maps had ant-size people moving across them.
"DeMoolah," he said to the screen, not noticing Xerxes nervously curling onto his shoulder. The screen blurred as it shifted across the labyrinth until it focused on the tall and lanky figure of Amin DeMoolah, best known, to his dismay, as...
"Butterfingers!" the sorcerer called out.
"My name is NOT Butterfingers," argued the thief, huddled over a tiny conch. "It's A-Ah, Master!" DeMoolah's indignation jumped to fevered groveling when he turned to look and saw Mozenrath's face hovering behind him. "O Merciful One for who I am nothing but a slug-"
"Save it," Mozenrath snapped dispassionately. "I have a job for you."
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A/N: Finally, I get this chapter done. I'm not sure if I did the dialogue between Chaos and Mozenrath right. For one thing, writing for Chaos is kinda like writing Genie for a lot of people. It's so darn hard to write an unpredictable character without making him...well, predictable.
Special thanks go to Shiera from the Aladdin Central messagboard for helping me through my writer's block.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, except for the baby Halim, unless Disney is planning to make another sequel or series spin-off.