Chapter 9: Black Sand Traps

Aladdin hadn't had much time to recover when he was awakened by the sounds of Iago's panicked screaming. Not to mention his own changed appearance. For one, the poison had taken its toll as he looked at his hands with a start. Dark, thick vine-like lines started from his palms, snaking around and branching up in curls as they covered his hands, arms, chest, and just stopped short at the left side of his neck. A partial, imposing body tattoo that wasn't easy to see in the darkness of the room he was in, but just enough. He could feel the poisonous magic crawling under his skin; each time it moved caused him a pain so bone deep that he gritted his teeth.

But that didn't alarm him as much as the thing that occupied Iago's attention. Not only were they trapped in a room of Black Sand walls and flooring that had no exit, but the walls were closing in on them.

"It's gonna crush us!" Iago shouted, flying around in a frenzy until he hit one of the moving walls, nearly knocking himself out. Aladdin gently picked up the bird by his tailfeathers.

"Panicking isn't going to get us out of here. Not sure how we ended up here in the first place, but there's gotta be a switch somewhere. Have you seen anything like that? A hidden panel, something?"

Iago shook his head. "Nah, I woke up in here after hearing something loud and realizing the walls were closing in...literally! I'm so glad you can be calm about the prospect of being smashed flatter than Carpet. Except it's probably gonna be FAR more messy for us!"

Aladdin quickly looked around at the walls, realizing he didn't have much time to consider their situation. "I'm not calm as much as trying to think through how to not die in this situation. There might be something hidden among the Black Sand, so look carefully."

The two of them used their hands and wings, respectively, to brush away some of the black sand on the floor. Sure enough, Iago was the first one to find a possible switch. "YEAH BABY! Hit the jackpot. Let's stop these walls from squashing us like bugs."

"Wait a minute, Iago, don't push it without knowing...!" Aladdin stopped short as Iago pressed the panel without a second thought. Sure enough, the walls started coming in around them faster.

"That wasn't supposed to happen!" Iago cried, even more panicked than before.

Aladdin couldn't see well in the dim area of the room, but he could make out the pattern of the panel that Iago had pressed. Sure enough, the swirling pattern of symbols not only were turned inward, but the wave of lines around it made it seem like it affected the speed.

He didn't have a lot of time to think about the meaning, but it was enough for him to search the floor, brushing sand away from several panels that covered the floor, but none that he was looking for.

"Just push one already!" Iago urged.

"NO, Iago! I'm not trying to..." Aladdin trailed off as he uncovered another quad of panels with various symbols. The walls were now mere steps away from them. Aladdin just barely saw the panel he was searching for, pressing it just before one of the corners of the wall could close over it. The effect was immediate, the walls moving back into place and revealing a set of stairs that led out of the room.

Iago sank to the ground, just close enough to where Aladdin knelt on the ground by the panels. "Man, that was close. How'd you know which one it was?"

"The symbols turned in the opposite direction of the one you pushed. Good thing I was able to get to it. A moment later and the wall would have covered it. Wouldn't have been able to press it at all." Aladdin winced just as he finished the thought, the poison running through his body making it hard to think.

Iago noticed for the first time the effect of Aladdin's poison on him. The bird's eyes widened with fear, surprise, and almost impressed reverence. "That's really Mozenrath's magic doin' that? If it wasn't wreckin' you and under your skin, I'd mistake it for some kind of Henna body art. When did he learn that trick?"

"Good question, wish I had an answer for it. But more important than that, if we're still trapped, it means that we're not out of Mozenrath's weird test yet. We gotta find Jasmine and the others. They might be caught in one of these trap rooms, might be in worse shape than we are."

"Didn't Mozenrath say he hated pulling strings? Why's he not just blasting us like he always does? Not that I'm complainin'. I need a break between death traps, and his laughin' mug's not helpin'."

Aladdin raised a brow at the bird as Iago perched on his right shoulder. "You don't know by now? He's stalling. From what Jasmine said earlier, Mozenrath's planning to use Genie's magic to power this whole realm we're trapped in. The end goal being to destroy all of us before we have a chance to escape. This test is all magic; none of it is at the point where he could use the full extent of that power. What Mozenrath still doesn't get is that Genie isn't phenomenal cosmic-powered anymore. There are many things that can go wrong."

Iago's expression brightened. "Hey, that means good news for us!"

Aladdin shrugged, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as his expression turned to a grimace. "Not exactly. While Mozenrath may not be able to direct Genie's magic in a way that helps him, we're probably not out of trouble for anything that might backfire."

Aladdin felt guilty for the way Iago's mood quickly depressed. "I've never been an optimist, sure. But comin' from you, wonder kid? That's cold."

"Don't worry too much over it. We'll get back to Agrabah eventually. At least we know what we need to do, even if we don't know what to expect."

The two made their way out of the trap room, up a long spiraled staircase that was barely lit. Iago reached the top of the staircase before Aladdin did, flying just slightly ahead of the prince in order to scope out the path ahead.

"Ya think Mozenrath could've made it a little easier to see down here? Everything's so dark, I can't see the feathers molting from my wings. I'll need a few weeks to practice self-care once we get outta here."

When Aladdin didn't answer him, Iago looked over his shoulder. Aladdin had just reached the top of the staircase, leaning in the frame of the archway against the wall as he recovered his breath. If Aladdin hadn't been poisoned, the staircase would have been slightly challenging with steep steps and a long trek. Instead, it had felt much more like a marathon. Aladdin had hit his limit before reaching the top.

"You sure you're good, kid?" Iago said. It was the first time in a while that Aladdin noticed Iago sounded anywhere close to concerned about anyone but himself, at least in a while.

Aladdin smiled a little. "I'll manage. Looks like the way up here is clear for now. Let's not press our luck."

The two of them tried to move through the darkened maze the best way they could. Iago appeared to be on edge, peering around each corner of the maze as if he expected something to jump out to attack them. Aladdin couldn't blame the bird, his own nerves on edge as he focused on the path around them. He realized it was because the darkness gave an eeriness in this part of the test that their previous venture had not. It was made more complicated that the path had no distinguishing features that could guide them out.

Aladdin realized from the frustrated squawk that Iago gave that the bird had come up against something more annoying than dangerous. "We're at a fork in this path with no directions on which way we should go. You wouldn't happen to have a spare gold coin that we can flip to decide, do ya? I mean, better to have somethin' to go by than just followin'..."

Aladdin abruptly cut the bird off from saying more by raising his hand in front of the bird's beak, his attention turned towards noises that he could hear faintly from the path of the maze. He couldn't tell the direction they were coming from, though.

"Iago. Quiet."

At first the bird wanted to give Aladdin an earful for the gesture, but he noticed the approaching sounds and the serious expression that Aladdin had in the faint light. After several long moments, Aladdin turned to Iago, speaking in a low voice.

"We need to go left. A group's coming from behind us and from the right. I don't know if they're together, but we need to get as far ahead of them as we can. Maybe even find a place to hide until they all pass."

As Aladdin moved forward, Iago hissed in a whisper that was far too close to the prince's ear, making him wince as they moved forward. "And where are we gonna hide in a place like this? The maze looks the same, there's nowhere to go!"

But as Aladdin turned one of the corners, he saw a perfect opportunity. He motioned with his head in the direction that Iago wasn't looking in. "It's not the most stable place we could be, but better that for right now than meeting anything coming up behind us."

Iago turned to see what Aladdin did - an area where part of the maze's wall had collapsed in. Large dark boulders provided more than adequate cover for a hiding space, but it was hard to tell what caused the collapse.

Aladdin's eyes widened as he saw what produced the shadows cast from the dim lights along the wall. Iago almost squawked aloud at the same sight, at least before Aladdin clamped his hand over the bird's beak.

The figures marched past them cheerfully. Some whistling, some playing instruments. Some were slim and some were more stout. But all of them were towering giants that plodded ahead without a care in the world, let alone any regard to where Aladdin and Iago were hiding.

"...Giant. Shadow. Teddy bears. Seriously?" Aladdin said in a low whisper, one eyebrow raised as he shared an equally confused look with Iago.

"That's definitely Genie's doin'. No doubt about it," Iago said when Aladdin gently removed his hand.

"Yeah. That proves my theory on Genie's magic exerting an influence in this realm. Considering there's so many of them, he must be sending his magic here in giant waves."

"Guess that means the coast is clear," Iago began, but was abruptly stopped when Aladdin grabbed his tail to prevent the bird from marching in the line of sight of the marching bears.

"No, Iago. We don't know whether they're friend or foe. Remember how many times Mozenrath told us this was his realm, so his rules?"

"Right." Iago let out a long, but low sigh.

The two of them waited a long while before the last of the giant bears disappeared down the maze path. Aladdin was the first to step out, surveying the area to see if anything - or anyone - would approach from the path behind them.

Iago muttered a few words that Aladdin didn't catch under his breath. But the bird was more clear as he flew upward, perching on Aladdin's shoulder.

"So what's the plan, royal highness? We still don't have a map to go by and we don't know where the others are."

Aladdin thought for a long moment, closing his eyes between the waves of pain and dizziness that went through him from the poison. When he finally spoke, it was without hesitation. "I think our best bet is to follow the crowd. It'll be easier to see where we're going, not get turned around, and avoid any of the traps that lay ahead. Dunno if Jasmine and the others are ahead of us or behind us, but we're bound to run into them eventually."

Iago startled Aladdin with a sudden, sharp cry. At first Aladdin wanted to scold the bird for possibly alerting the shadow army of teddy bears to return to them. But as Iago frantically pointed his wing behind where they stood, Aladdin saw the danger that awaited them with no chance of hiding from it.