A Fiend in Need
Part 1: A Rude Awakening
"Faster, Carpet!" Aladdin yelled, looking over his shoulder as a massive mamluk lumbered towards the hero and his companions in the canyon. Well, it wasn't so much as a single body as it was an amalgamation of several mamluks. Abu shrieked and clung to Iago tightly as the mamluk golem swatted at them like one would a housefly.
"I wanted to stay with the Sultan," Iago cried, "but noooooo, they say 'Iago, we need help', 'Iago, we need to stop Mozenrath from using the Jewel of Khan Struck', 'Iago, we need you to act as bait for Mam-zilla here'!-"
Just then Abu pulled his fez over the complaining parrot. Iago continued to protest, muffled. Aladdin shook his head.
"We need to get the jewel away from Mozenrath," he said, when he pulled at Carpet's tassels. Suddenly, Carpet took a sharp turn up, narrowly avoiding the giant golem's hand. "Genie!"
Suddenly, in a puff of smoke, Genie appeared. The jinni of the Lamp's face was covered with shaving cream and in both hands a foaming electric toothbrush and a razor. Aladdin looked at him curiously before recovering. Genie took a look at them and then at the giant lumbering golem, his pupils shrinking and his mouth drooped with fright. He then pulled out a small rectangular box and press on it. It rang as he held up to his elfin ear.
"Hey, Eden," he spoke into the box, "I'm gonna be late for an itsy-bitsy bit. Uh-huh. Kisses!" He pressed a button and the little box disappeared in a puff of smoke. Genie then turned to Aladdin. "Talk to me, Al."
"Genie," Aladdin repeated, "we need a distraction."
Morphing into a military uniform, Genie saluted. "Can do, Sergeant!" The jinni then did a back flip and, opening a parachute, floated in front of the golem. As the sounds of battle cries echoed in the canyon, Aladdin and his companions dived down along the walls. As Aladdin leapt off of Carpet, he turned back to his companions.
"Abu," he reached his hand out to the monkey. Apprehensively, Abu looked at Iago before scampering on to Aladdin's arm and up to his shoulder. Aladdin then turned to Iago and Carpet. "You two, stay out of sight."
"You don't have to tell me twice," Iago exclaimed. "What do you think I've been trying to do since we got here?"
Aladdin held a finger to his lips, signaling the international sign of silence as he climbed down with Abu on his back. As Iago watched, he crossed his wings.
"Of course, if they just left me behind, I wouldn't have to hide." Suddenly, a hand comprised of mamluk parts came down and swiped at Iago and Carpet, prompting Iago to shriek and Carpet to fly off.
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"Meddlers," Mozenrath grumbled to himself, watching from along the canyon floor in the shade. "So much for a quiet morning." He turned to leave when Aladdin suddenly dropped down in front of him.
"Mind if I drop in?" Aladdin asked cheekily as Mozenrath scowled contemptuously, rearing back his glowing right hand. A blue fireball shot out of his hand and made a beeline towards Aladdin. The street rat leapt as it exploded at his feet.
"What, Aladdin," Mozenrath drawled as another fireball shot from his palm, "couldn't find a nice third world nation to save, so you decided to bug me?"
"I was in the area," Aladdin replied, dodging the fireball. He managed to get close enough to strike the sorcerer in the jaw. Mozenrath snarled as he wiped the trail of saliva and blood from his chin. More fireballs came flying and Aladdin avoided them, left and right. Suddenly, after the last one, Mozenrath's leg swung around and struck Aladdin in the side, knocking him down. Aladdin rubbed gingerly his side as he saw Mozenrath smirked gloatingly as that was so prevalent amongst villains.
"End of the line, street rat," he reared his hand when his face contorted into an exaggerated shocked expression. Suddenly, the sorcerer began to grab at his clothes, a small bump skittering and chattering beneath those layers. "No," he growled when he suddenly began to laugh giddily, "ah-heh-hahahahahahah-n-no, ah-eh, stop, no!"
However, his protest went unheeded as the small bump shot straight up towards his collar and was soon staring at Abu, who poked his head out. The stunned stare became a snarl as he ripped the monkey from his clothes and threw him. However, something red glimmered in Abu's hand that made Mozenrath's eyes widen.
"Gimme the jewel!"
Abu shrieked as Mozenrath leapt towards him, but the sorcerer was thwarted by Aladdin who tackled him to the ground. The two young men struggled, one hand reaching towards the monkey and another grabbing its wrist. Suddenly, a small fireball, emitted from the sorcerer's finger, came screeching and smacked right into Abu's hindquarters. The monkey let out a pained screech, the jewel flying out of his hands...
And right into the canyon wall, shattering into some hundreds of tiny shards. As the pieces fell into the sand, a tiny wisp of smoke rose from the remains.
"Abu!" Aladdin got up and picked up the monkey who was fanning his singed bits of fur. "You okay, buddy?"
"Spare me the sentimentality!" Mozenrath howled. "Do you have any idea what I had to GO THROUGH FOR THAT ROCK THAT HE BROKE?" He pointed his finger at Abu, who ducked behind Aladdin's neck. "TWO WEEKS OF DECODING AND GETTING PAST THAT OVER-SIZED LIZARD THAT WAS GUARDING IT!"
As Mozenrath began his usual rants whenever he was foiled, Aladdin noticed that the earth was rumbling and looked up. A black shadow hovered above the trio. The street rat's eyes widened with alarm.
"Hey, Moze-" Aladdin began, pointing up.
"-AND THAT WAS THE EASY PART!" Mozenrath continued, so swept up in his tantrum that he completely ignored Aladdin and Abu. "I HAD TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO FINE TUNE IT AND DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW LONG THAT TOOK? THREE WEEKS! THREE WEEKS THAT I'M NEVER GOING TO GET BACK!"
Aladdin backed away and soon mamluks began raining down upon the canyon. Aladdin whistled and Carpet, its tassels being gripped strongly by Iago, came flying down and scooped up Aladdin.
"AND THEN YOU HAD TO SHOW UP AND MEDDLE AND-" Mozenrath turned to face Aladdin, but, looking up, his black pupils suddenly grew smaller, now barely dots on the whites of his eyes. Aladdin and his crew shot out of the canyon when a huge wave of mamluk parts came crashing down.
Once in the air, Aladdin looked around. "Genie?"
A stream of sky blue shot out from the canyon and materialized upon Carpet.
"Present!" Genie gave a salute. Aladdin smiled. Genie looked down and winced. "Ew, looks like the cattle call for a George Romero movie."
"Can we please go home?" Iago whined. He let out a scream as Carpet shot off, Genie quickly picking up speed and following besides his companions. Meanwhile, down in the canyon, Mozenrath was sputtering angrily for obvious reasons as he trudged through mamluk parts.
"Great, great, great," he grumbled as he assessed the damage, meaning the masses of undead servants strewn across the canyon floor. "That does it," he said after a long pause. He then made a swiping motion in the air and Xerxes in the background of the Citadel appeared on a "screen", suspensed in the air. "Xerxes, the mission was a bust. I'm going home."
Xerxes hissed an affirmation and the "screen" disappeared. The gauntlet glowed and in a swirl of dark blue and violent pink flames, the sorcerer disappeared. The quiet in the canyon was interrupted by a wheezing chuckle coming from a figure standing in the shadows.
"I'm (wheeze) freeeeeee."
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"So, Jasmine isn't back yet," Genie said as Aladdin walked down the steps into the menagerie.
"Yeah," Aladdin looked up at the jinni who was now adjusting his pink bow tie on a gleaming white tuxedo with a pink carnation in his lapel. "She's still shopping with Sadira. Jas told me that she needed a dress for the wedding."
"Oh, that witch definitely needs it," Iago interjected as he landed on Aladdin's shoulder. "That kid's a walking crime against fashion, but, personally, I won't feel safe, until she learns to cook."
"Yeah, especially parrot al'orange," Genie added, cheekily.
"That was so funny I forgot to laugh," Iago frowned. He looked over at Abu who was gingerly sitting down on one of the cushions but kept rubbing his bottom tenderly. "What's with Abu?"
"Mozenrath got him in the, uh- well, he got him while we were fighting over the jewel," Aladdin answered, picking up Abu. Abu curled up in Aladdin's arms and sighed contentedly.
"How are you, Iago?" Iago mocked. "Oh, I'm just fine, apart from the emotional scars that I've gotten over the years because they keep playing hero AND dragging me along!"
"Iago," Aladdin replied, touching Iago's beak, "I remembered you wanting to go."
"Well, you said you were going after a jewel," Iago retorted. "Where's the jewel, Al?"
"Well, it broke."
"So, it became another of those missions where you get us into MORTAL PERIL FOR NO REASON!" Iago screeched. "And return absolutely nothing to show for it, but a scorched monkey butt!"
Suddenly, with a wave of Genie's finger, a tiny white straightjacket was wrapped around Iago and a muzzle was fitted around his beak.
"You just need a little time out, meshuga," Genie lifted the protesting parrot from Aladdin's shoulder and set him down on the ground. "But now, I got a date with the prettiest genie in Para-moor!"
He tipped his white top hat and vanished. Aladdin smiled and then looked at Abu.
"Come on, we'll go grab some falafel later," he said to Abu, who chattered excited. He walked back into the palace, the muffled protests of Iago heard to those still outside.
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"Pull!"
The sounds of mamluks hurtling into the air and suddenly exploding echoed in the Land of the Black Sand. It was clearly obvious that Mozenrath was thoroughly furious, the glee he expressed when his fireballs collided with the corpses was missing and a perpetual scowl had been imprinted on his face since he'd returned to the Citadel.
"He had to butt in. What is his problem?" he asked. Not an answer coming from his undead slaves, he continued. "Well, of course, he has to butt in. His whole existence is to be a thorn in my side. I mean, it's not like I spend every waking moment figuring out how to make his life a living-"
A thud upon the sand interrupted his thoughts and he turned to face its cause. The smell of burning minions invaded his nostrils, prompting him to grab his nose.
"Ah, yoad didmid," he said, not letting go of his nose, "ad, fod the lob ob Allob, pud yoadselbs aud." He waved his free hand dismissively and the mamluks began rolling on the sand, extinguishing the flames. Suddenly, an earsplitting howl echoed against his eardrums, prompting him to press his hands against his ears.
"What now?" he shouted through the noise as he ran back to the Citadel.
However, as he entered, Mozenrath found that the noise was as, if not more, deafening inside as it was outside. His bewilderment only grew when he saw a small figure sitting on his throne, fiddling with an abacus. Upon closer look, the creature was dressed in Egyptian attire, but what caught his eye were its vulture beak and the pair of wings upon his back. Automatically, the sorcerer's lips formed the word "imp".
"Yes, yes," the imp spoke. "You're wasting my time and when you're wasting my time, I'm wasting money."
"What?" Mozenrath replied, his hands still over his ear. The imp fluttered up to him.
"YOU'RE WASTING MY TIME AND MONEY!" it proceeded to yell.
"WHAT?"
The imp sputtered with aggravation and, pulling out a small square device, pressed a button and the howling ceased. Mozenrath, looking around, slowly removed his hands.
"Now," the imp continued, "we have to discuss the manner of this debt you owe."
Mozenrath glared at the imp, incredulously. "What debt?"
"The debt that you have accumulated over the course of seven years, Mister Destane," the imp added, pulling out a ledger.
"Mister Destane? Listen," Mozenrath interrupted, "I am not Destane."
"Well, are you not the ruler and proprietor of Citadel One, The Land of the Black Sand?" the imp looked at the sorcerer questioningly.
"Well, yes," Mozenrath replied apprehensively, "but-"
"Then the debt is your problem." The imp ripped a sheet of paper of his ledger and handed it to Mozenrath. The sorcerer scanned the paper carefully, but the paper began to crinkle as his hands quivered. The imp looked over his shoulder.
"If you have questions of payment," he said, "I take cash up front, no checks or credit."
"I owe you seven hundred dinari?" Mozenrath screamed. "What, in Allah's name, did he-er, I do?"
"Overdue library book," the imp simply replied.
Mozenrath stared at him disbelievingly. "Overdue library book?"
"Yes," the imp looked at his ledger, "and since you have been given many warnings, you will be given the full extent of punishment for failure to comply. Hold out your hand."
"What do you mean 'punishment for failure to comply'?" Mozenrath demanded. "I did not see a single warning! I don't even know what the book is!"
"Please hold out your hand," the imp insisted as he pulled out a small blood-colored crystal, "if you want it the easy way."
"Easy way? What do you mean-" Before he could finish his sentence, the imp shoved the crystal into Mozenrath's gut and electrical bolts jumped at the sorcerer. Mozenrath screamed as a current rushed through his body. He limped down to his knees, strength leaving him. The imp suddenly jerked the crystal away, it now taking on a pulsing glow.
"And you didn't want to do it the easy way," the imp taunted.
Mozenrath snarled and thrusted his right hand up. However, his face fell for he felt no energy in that arm, none of that spark of magic that coursed through his body. He knew this feeling once and he dreaded the day he would go through it again.
"Your powers are now the property of the Interdismensional Cosmic Library," the imp said, with great relish. "That is, until the debt is paid and lifted. But remember that if the book is not returned along with the payment, your powers will permanently be that of the Library."
"Well, what was the book that Destane lost?" Mozenrath demanded as he slowly rose. The imp smirked with glee.
"Said book will begin to emit that noise that you heard earlier and it will not stop until you find it. Starting now."
As the imp disappeared, soon enough the howling pierced Mozenrath's ear.