Chapter 6: Separate Ways
Jasmine flew with Carpet through one of the open windows of Mozenrath's castle. Her plan had worked out perfectly so far, but she wasn't sure how much time Genie would have before Mozenrath saw through their ruse.
The faster we can get Aladdin and the others out of here, the better, she thought. She looked around the room after climbing off of Carpet, realizing she was in one of the many idle rooms the castle had to display Mozenrath's trinkets and decorations.
"Mozenrath's castle still feels creepy and empty," she said with a slight shiver that made her hold the sides of her arms. "If he didn't make so many enemies, he might have company here once in a while. Still, we don't want to risk letting the guards know we're here. Better to find a place where we can enter a mirror and fast."
Carpet appeared distracted. His knobs shook with excitement and he flew so quickly that Jasmine struggled to see what caught his attention. She realized it a moment too late, only a breath away of warning Carpet to stop, before the rug collided with a nearby mirror hanging on the wall. Jasmine was thankful the mirror didn't fall or break, but she helped pick Carpet up from where he'd fallen on the floor.
"Carpet, you shouldn't try to fly into random mirrors just because you see them. We're looking for a special type of mirror. Portal mirrors are different. My guess is that the portal mirrors leading to the other dimension are heavily guarded. We won't be able to get to them easily."
Carpet appeared to understand, nodding slowly, but one of his knobs pointed again to the mirror. Jasmine turned to look at it - at first only seeing her reflection and Carpet's. But the reflection quickly shifted to one that showed the inside of a maze made of rock, sand and dark vines. Jasmine noticed the flowers that Mozenrath had sent to the palace, lining the walls in various sizes, from buds to full blooms. She instantly recognized Aladdin, Abu and Iago as they made their way along one of the paths.
Her lips turned into a wide grin. "They're okay! No wonder you were so excited before; I get it now." Her expression fell as she considered another truth before turning to Carpet. "It doesn't look like any of them are hurt, but if Aladdin's really poisoned, then we need to get to them as soon as we can. We can check their progress looking through any mirror, it seems, but we need to find one that will guide us to where they are."
Carpet gave a brief salute with one of his knobs before easing open the door to the room leading out into the palace's hallway. Carpet cautiously looked around, then waved his knobs to Jasmine when it was safe to move forward.
She nodded. "Okay. Keep a low profile and don't attract attention until we find what we need; that's the plan. Let's move, Carpet."
Genie swallowed against the lump in his throat as he saw Aladdin, Abu, and Iago move through the maze pathway. He stood behind Mozenrath in one of the innermost rooms of the Black Sand's palace. Xerxes busied himself elsewhere in the room, putting as much distance between himself and Genie as possible. If Genie had to take a guess, the creature didn't want to agitate his master any more than possible.
"As you can see, they're perfectly fine," Mozenrath said, breaking the silence in the room. He looked over his shoulder at Genie. "They're doing better than I expected - close to halfway through. Annoying, but at least it's provided some entertainment."
Genie folded his arms across his chest. As much as he wanted to use his magic to free his friends, he wasn't sure how that would work. One wrong move and Mozenrath could seriously hurt them. Genie didn't want to take that risk.
"Is Al really poisoned?" Genie asked. "Does he know?"
"Cutting to the chase, then? Fine." Mozenrath asked, turning fully to face Genie then. "He's starting to feel effects of it, but the worst is coming. And no, he doesn't know. Why would I tell my mortal enemy that he's poisoned, especially when his own actions led up to it? He'll figure it out soon enough."
"What do you mean by 'own actions'? Pretty sure you poisoned all three of them when you banished them to that lair."
Mozenrath laughed briefly. "Two different poisons, two different results. The poison that put them all to sleep wore off as soon as they arrived in that realm. The poison that flows through Aladdin's veins is one he initiated - first by accident, then by intention. Wasn't by my hand at all - not directly."
Genie narrowed his eyes at the sorcerer. "You need to let them go. I'm here - there's no reason for you to keep them trapped. And Al needs a cure."
Mozenrath's expression darkened quickly, all trace of humor gone. "My realm, my rules. I also had an agreement with Aladdin as well: for him and the others survive the maze. His level of achievement has been decent, but I'm not satisfied. Let's see where they are after this next stretch, then I'll consider letting them go. Only thing that you have to do is recognize that you're trading your freedom for theirs. If you at any point break that contract, then I'm not obligated to keep them alive."
Xerxes chose that moment to speak up. "Prove their worth."
Mozenrath smiled a little. "Exactly. I told every single one of them that they were the most useless of your group. I would think you'd be curious to see what they could do on their own without magic around. Baby steps away from you holding their hand."
Genie transformed into a detective with an overly large magnifying glass, pointed right at Mozenrath. "I'll have you know that my buddy is very good at seeing through the toughest of crimes. This one being no exception. He always prevails in the name of justice, and he doesn't need my help for that."
Mozenrath shrugged again as he turned his attention back to the mirror. "We'll see about that."
Genie's confident expression fell a bit when he realized Mozenrath and Xerxes weren't looking. He wanted to do more to help Aladdin, but he knew what would happen even if he sent a little helpful magic their way.
Just gotta trust Jasmine and Rug Man to get there before Mozenrath notices, Genie thought. Hang in there, guys.
"So from your vantage point, Iago, how much further in the maze do we have to go?" Aladdin asked as he looked up at where Iago scouted the paths ahead. The bird had flown upwards at a greater distance from where Abu and Aladdin waited on the ground. When he returned, Iago looked deflated.
"Still only halfway. Great. We keep at this pace and we'll be outta here by the next millennia."
"I don't think we're doing that bad, considering," Aladdin said. "We're making good time based on the position of the moon in the sky. Only a few monsters have given us trouble and we've avoided most of the traps we've come across, thanks to working together."
"At this rate, we'll be here all night!" Iago shouted. "Come on, Al. I see the exit within a fair flying distance. At this point, I think we might as well cut our losses and try a different route."
Aladdin folded his arms across his chest, one brow raised. "What plan would you suggest?"
"I say I go on to the exit, get back to Agrabah, and let Blue Boy know you two are here. He'd figure something out."
Aladdin shook his head. "That would take much longer than you think. What are Abu and I supposed to do, just stay here and wait? That's more likely to bring danger to the two of us if we stick in one place. Also, I don't trust that Mozenrath doesn't have something horrible waiting for us at the end of this maze. He said it wasn't designed to be easy."
Abu screeched in agreement, shaking his fist at Iago and saying something along the lines of Iago abandoning them prematurely.
"Look, I'm not sayin' you guys aren't swell, but in a magic maze, magic beings make the most sense to fight against magic monsters. As much as I hate to agree with Jafar Jr., we're useless against most of the creatures I see waitin' for us in turns of this above ground route. That's not even countin' the stuff we'll run into in the paths below the ground."
"So what are you saying, Iago? Are you just gonna give up and leave us behind?!" Aladdin snapped. "We aren't useless. Mozenrath is totally wrong and was just saying that to throw us off."
"That's easy for you to say!" Iago said, flying close to Aladdin's face with an angry expression to match. "While you and the monkey are on the ground, I'm using my wings to scout out most of the way up here! I'm offerin' the easiest solution here!"
"Sometimes the easiest pathway isn't the one to take. There's always something more to it that makes it harder than what you might see in front of you," Aladdin said. "I remember the Sultan telling me that one of the times we were scouting out territories around Agrabah."
"One of the many times the Sultan had his turban wrapped too tight," Iago said. "In any case, this is where our paths split. I'm not stayin' in this place another second longer, not when I see an obvious answer right in front of me. And being Wonder Kid doesn't mean you're right or are the brains of the operation all the time. You guys are useless when it comes to lookin' at other parts of the picture anyway."
Aladdin was so shocked by Iago words that his eyes widened, his mouth opening, but he couldn't find what to say. Abu, quicker to anger, screeched loudly, some turns of his speech even incomprehensible to Aladdin, but Iago knew and glared at the monkey.
"Whatever, monkey. If you wanna have a race to see who gets to the exit first, fine. I know I'll win that lickety split. I'll find Blue Boy and you guys can do whatever you want in the meantime. Just try not to get yourselves killed in the meantime."
"Wait a minute, Iago." Aladdin said, interrupting the two from their argument. "It's not like I can stop you from doing what you want, but you shouldn't go alone. You should take Abu with you. That way you both can go back to Agrabah. But if you guys run into any trouble at the exit, fall back. I'll meet up with you both."
Abu's mouth dropped open. Iago had a small amount of surprise, thinking Aladdin would put up more of a fight in the argument. But Abu was full on panicked, screeching in protest.
"Don't worry Abu, I'll be fine. This isn't my first time finding my way through mazes and traps by myself, especially without Genie. I can handle it, and I'll make my way towards the exit. If you guys cross with no problems and get back to Agrabah, tell Genie that's what I'm doing. We can meet in the middle if we have to." Aladdin turned away, his back facing both Iago as he spoke his next words. "Working as a team is usually a better option than splitting apart, that was my thought. But sometimes you have to know when to go separate ways if there are other ideas from the team that are better. It's not about being right or wanting to be leader and talk over others all the time. I'm not like that, Iago. Hoped you would have understood that by now, as many journeys as we've been on. Seems like I was wrong to assume."
Guilt flashed over Iago's expression for a moment, before it smoothed over to his regular annoyed look. Iago turned to Abu. "Well, if I'm gonna carry you, better get ready monkey! Unless you'd rather go with him."
Abu looked between Iago and Aladdin, appearing both conflicted and heartbroken. Aladdin looked over his shoulder, his expression resolute. He tipped his head in the direction above them. "Go, Abu. Iago's made his decision. You should follow him, let everyone at the Palace know what's going on when you get there."
Aladdin didn't wait for Abu's response as he moved along the path ahead, moving towards the underground level. Abu reluctantly let Iago pick him up, carrying him over the walls of the maze.
"Geez, good thing we only have a short way to go. Didn't think I was gonna have to carry cargo."
Abu was too sad to protest, which Iago noticed.
"Come on, monkey, don't be down in the dumps. If the kid says he's gonna be fine, he'll be fine. And if we do see a trap ahead, I'll be the first to say Al was right on this one."
"Yeah, yeah." Abu said, but his voice didn't have much enthusiasm.
Neither of them noticed that Aladdin had lingered, just out of sight in the entrance of the underground path, watching them safely fly away.
He took a long, slow breath when he saw them disappear. "Hope I don't regret letting them go on like that, and that they don't run into any real trouble," he said aloud, closing his eyes and running his fingers through his hair, smoothing it away from his face. Beads of sweat dotted above his brow. "Okay, time to keep moving. If Iago wants to make it a race, then that's his deal." He opened his eyes and turn toward the path ahead, hands balled into fists at his sides. "He and Mozenrath have one thing in common - they see this as a game. But I'm not choosing to play around here. Not at all."
