Chapter 10: A Game of Liars

Aladdin sat on Carpet just before the entrance of the cave, walking through the details of his plan one last time before he would enter. He knew what he needed to do, just a matter of walking through all the potential things that could go wrong with his plan. But he knew if he took too much time, it would only delay the inevitable.

"Not just that," he said, answering his own musings. "But I'd rather finish this before Genie and the others even know it happened. Really don't want them involved, especially if it means the thief could use them as pawns in the game. Hate to think of any one else having to be 'punished' by that thief's magic, or Arzin being manipulated to hurt anyone else."

Carpet perked up at Aladdin's words, his knobs standing to attention, but Aladdin shook his head.

"No worries here, Carpet. Just thinking aloud. You ready to go? Everything good with the plan we went over?" Carpet nodded with enthusiasm, which made Aladdin smile. "All right! Let's get Abu and Arzin outta here."

Arzin clearly had not been expecting Aladdin to arrive in the middle of the night. His already unblinking slits for eyes stared beneath narrowed brows as the two of them arrived. Carpet was not able to hide a full backpedaling from the man-turned-monster.

"So, you've come to guess Master's name in the middle of the night? Or are you fulfilling his request?" Arzin said, his voice a low growl.

"The latter. Figured he wanted these scrolls sooner than later," Aladdin said. The Prince patted the side of his cloak, indicating the scrolls the magic thief had requested.

"Very well. I suppose your Carpet can come with you, since it's not as if he'd be able to fight my or Master's magic. Nor will you, should you decide to deceive us." Arzin hit the hidden panel of the wall with his large, clawed hand, opening up the hidden pathway. Aladdin was weary about flying in with Arzin following behind him, but urged Carpet forward anyway.

Aladdin had to keep his own nerves in check, because part of him knew what would happen if he screwed this up. He also felt the pit of his stomach turning at the thought of Arzin discovering what his plan actually was, but there had been no indication that Arzin had seen what Aladdin had done, apart from the earlier meeting he had with Remi.

"Welcome again, street rat. I trust you have what I've requested for the first part of our game? Or that you have a good guess to offer for my identity?" The thief waited for Aladdin without any surprise, standing near the amber encasing trapping Abu. Although Aladdin couldn't see the thief's face, he heard a hint of amusement in the being's voice.

"Actually, I've done everything you asked of me. No guesses to your name, though" Aladdin said. He pulled the scrolls gently from the side of his cape, handing them out to the thief. "One from the archive and the one taken directly from Ezele's lab. You can check them yourself, if you want."

The thief eagerly took the scrolls from Aladdin's hands, unraveling them just enough to see a few lengths of the instructions. "Very good. And I'll admit that I've observed at least part of your progress with Arzin. He saw your meeting with Remi earlier today. I saw you enter and exit Ezele's home with the scroll. It seems you are being truthful, unlike other times I've known you."

Aladdin swallowed against a lump in his throat. He'd had the feeling that he'd been followed on two occasions earlier that day, including when he and Carpet had flown from Ezele's home upon taking the second scroll. It made him glad that he'd set the wheels of his plan in motion earlier that day. He hoped he could keep the nerves out of his voice as he quickly responded to the thief. "Yeah, well, like I said before - you really don't know me at all."

The thief chuckled. "And you still don't know me, so I suppose we can call it even."

"So you'll let them go?"

The thief's face turned to Aladdin then, and he appeared to tilt his head to the side in confusion. "Them? Ah, you're asking about the wager. But you're assuming that I'm letting two people go instead of one."

Aladdin's hands balled into fists at his sides. His voice didn't raise, but his tone was firm. "You invoked a thief's game. You can't go back on the terms agreed upon."

The magic thief held up a gloved hand. "I know, I know. You know the rules as well as I do. Yet, I asked you to do one task - obtaining the scrolls. Therefore - only one exchange must be done. You're asking me to free two people. But are we thinking of the same two? One said person is in league with me - you can't technically 'free' him if he doesn't wish to go with you. Arzin has made his choice."

Arzin approached Aladdin from behind. Aladdin took a few cautious steps back away from him as Arzin grinned, sneering in close proximity to the prince. "I'm not going anywhere with you, boy. My place is here. I serve the Master now."

Aladdin knew Arzin was trying to bait him into a fight, so he chose not to respond to his words at all. But the thief drew his attention. Aladdin asked the first question that came to mind, though his tone betrayed his weariness. "What do you mean by that?"

The thief chuckled without humor. "I have two prisoners at present. You will only be able to choose to free one of them, for now. One of those prisoners is NOT Arzin. Thus, the 'game' continues."

Before Aladdin could ask the identity of the second prisoner, he heard a hidden passage in the wall open from behind the magic thief. Another long amber crystal slid into view, snapping into place alongside the crystal where Abu lay. Aladdin's eyes widened in horror as he recognized the girl sleeping within the crystal, under the same spell as the monkey. His fear quickly turned to rage.

"Miza? What did you do to her?!"

"Oh, so you care about the girl, do you?" The thief said with a laugh. "Then I suppose you'll have no problem choosing to free her with our arranged deal - one task for one request. Of course, if you choose to free her - your monkey is still a part of the game. And if you choose the monkey, then I suppose you're offering the girl's life to be traded for the next task. Should you fail your next trial, you would forfeit the life of the one you leave in my care. Either way, we are just beginning. I told you that it would be a test of your loyalties."

"You double-crossing..." Aladdin was abruptly cut off by Carpet pulling him backward. The prince had been all too close to marching up to the thief. The magic thief's laughter only grew louder throughout the cave. Only this time, the thief was amused by the level of anguish he'd inflicted upon the prince.

"You really are as gullible as I remember you to be, Aladdin. I would listen to your magic friend, if you don't want any of the said trades to face punishment for what you choose to do. I'll give you a moment to make your decision. It is a 'game,' after all."

"Aladdin! Jasmine! Genie!" The voice startled Jasmine awake from the hallway of the inn. She had been sleeping for a while that night, but she figured it was closer to morning than not, judging by how high the moon was in the sky outside of her window.

When she stepped out of her room, an irritated Iago had a few choice words for Remi, who was struggling to catch his breath. "Fine time to start scaring people awake! Couldn't this have waited until morning, though? Like a NORMAL hour?"

"No, this can't wait. I need to...Princess?" Remi noticed Jasmine then. He approached her quickly, his expression panicked and words tumbling out in a rush. "I'm sorry, your Highness. I know it's late, but I needed to talk to you all. We need help."

"It's okay, Remi. Breathe first," she said. She realized Remi must have run all the way from the archive to the beach, thus to the inn. That was quite a distance to run so late, and it couldn't be for good news. "What happened?"

"Miza's missing. There's a search going out through town now. We have reason to believe the thief may have kidnapped her."

"Wait - how'd that happen?" Iago asked, raising a brow as he frowned. "The kid stay up past curfew or somethin'?"

Remi shook his head. "I don't know the details, but Ezele heard something odd, went to check on Miza, and she was gone."

"That doesn't sound like she might've been kidnapped to me - just sounds like she probably ran away or somethin'." Iago rolled his eyes. "I mean, she tried goin' on her own to look for Arzin before."

Jasmine sighed. "We don't know either way, Iago. It matters more that no one knows where she is. We should help find her. I'll go get Genie and Aladdin." She paused for a moment, looking around the area. "Wait a minute. Where's Carpet?"

Iago only seemed to notice the magic rug's absence then too. He pointed a wing towards Remi. "Maybe he got spooked from this guy yelling?"

Remi frowned, holding up his hands in defense. "I didn't see him when I came in. Was he here with you?"

Genie appeared in the middle of the inn's hall, dressed in a nightcap and long sleepgown. He yawned and rubbed his eyes as if he'd just woken up. Based on his response, however, he'd at least heard part of their conversation. "Rugs don't really sleep, but Carpet is one exception to that rule. Weird that he would go off on his own without any of us though. I can only think of one time that actually happened, and it was a whole adventure for all of us. We can catch up on that later, though." Genie used his magic to transform out of his sleepclothes into his normal attire. "I'll go get Al while you guys get ready."

Jasmine turned to Remi, nodding to him with confidence. "Whatever might've happened to Miza, we'll find her. Don't worry. I'm sure Aladdin's probably going to be worried too, once he finds out."

Genie appeared again, situated between Remi and Jasmine with an anxious expression. "Okay, guys - I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is really quick - I'm pretty sure wherever Carpet went, Al went with him. So at least they're together."

Iago winced. "Does the bad news mean what I think it does?"

Jasmine's eyes widened with recognition. "You don't mean..."

"Yep," Genie said, his tone heavy with sadness. "Bad news is that Al's gone too. And I have a feeling I know exactly where he went."

Remi's own expression mirrored his horror. "Oh no. I don't know if he knew that Miza went missing or if it's something even more than that..." He trailed off, then shook his head. "Please let me come with you."

"Oh boy, here we go," Iago said with a groan. "Glasses boy here thinks he's doin' somethin' important and wants to throw his hat in the fire along with Wonder Kid."

"I"m not just saying I want to help just because!" Remi snapped. "This whole thing started with the thief because of ME. I'm tired of everyone telling me to stand back. I'm tired of everyone risking their own safety to protect me. I want to help - I want to actually DO something. If Aladdin, Miza, Arzin, and Abu need help, if there's a way to stop this thief from hurting anyone else, I want to be a part of it."

A long silence fell among the group at Remi's words. Jasmine and Genie shared a concerned look, but Jasmine turned to Remi with a slow nod. "I don't see why you couldn't. It'll be dangerous, but if you can help us at all, we'd be grateful."

Remi smiled a little. "I'd be happy to do so, Princess."

Iago ran a wing over his face, even as he perched on Genie's shoulder. "I still don't get how you guys didn't think Al would go rescuin' the monkey and traitor monster a night early. That's his usual thing - bein' a hero. It's been annoying since day one, and it's annoying now."

Genie shook his head. "Al said he needed time to get a plan going - I thought he'd wait and loop us in once he figured it out, even with the thief's game. I gave him space to try to figure things out, since he didn't want my help. Guess I should have figured it out from the moment he started saying 'Genie, stay out of it.' " Genie did an almost pitch perfect imitation of the words Aladdin had said to him earlier that day. It was hard for anyone in the group to mistake the hurt in the semi-phenomenal being's voice. Even Iago appeared to regret voicing his thoughts aloud.

"I heard him say that too, but maybe Aladdin needed to move up his plans. I wouldn't doubt it if he learned Miza was missing. Or if he thought any of us getting involved would lead to us getting captured or used in the game the same way Abu is," Jasmine mused. "In any case, we need to catch up to him before he gets into any trouble. If he's not already knee-deep into it."

Think Al, there has to be loophole to this. If this is a game between thieves, I have to find a way to end the game somehow. Aladdin found his thoughts racing, even after the thief asked him to make a decision. He knew he couldn't choose between Abu or Miza. It was too cruel of a choice to think about. If he chose, the game would continue and the one he didn't choose would be in danger.

He realized the only way that he'd be able to get them out of the game entirely would be to think of a way to bend the rules again. He'd already bent them once. (The thief hadn't noticed - yet. Aladdin hoped his luck wouldn't run out on that, either.)

Carpet had stopped him from doing something he would have regretted. The magic rug drifted close to his side, waiting for Aladdin to give him some signal. There wasn't much to do, no way of escaping in the moment without hurting any of his friends here - or himself.

Another thing Aladdin noticed - Arzin hadn't said anything at all since Miza was revealed to be the second prisoner of the magic thief. He couldn't look at the man-turned-monster out the corner of his eye, but Aladdin knew where Arzin's heart was. Miza was his niece, family. He'd raised her in Ezele's absence, back when it was assumed the Deathseeker had killed Ezele more than five years ago. Aladdin had rescued Ezele from another dimension in which he was trapped, in which he was the only survivor of a group ravaged by the Deathseeker's terrible bloodlust. It was little wonder that not only did Arzin care for his brother, but also his niece.

Aladdin wondered if Arzin was fighting the control of the monster, pushing a willingness to protect his niece. He realized that might be a key to turning this whole encounter around, at least in part.

Then an idea came to him. He realized it'd been a long time since he learned the rules to various games of this sort. He'd witnessed enough of them, even been a part of a few dangerous ones himself. But he remembered the rules of one game in particular that gave him the advantage he needed to

He needed to call the magic thief's bluff.

"I think this game should be forfeited. You're either not being honest, or you've forgotten the rules," Aladdin said, his expression stern.

This surprised the thief. "You dare call me a cheater? Do you truly realize what you are saying?"

Aladdin moved on. "Let me make it clear then - I've fulfilled my end of the bargain. I've brought you BOTH scrolls from Gloloria, under the terms that you mentioned. But you forget one important thing about the game."

"And what's that?" the thief growled through gritted teeth.

Aladdin smiled a little, one of his brows arching up as he spoke. "The Rule of Two, at least in a thief's game. Also called the Rule of Multiples. If you really have known me a long time, you should've remembered that, right?"

At that point, Arzin - for what was a far too long silence from him - spoke sternly. "The boy's correct. For every request made, you must give an equal number in return."

"I requested ONE thing!" the thief snapped, pointing a finger sharply at Aladdin's chest as he addressed Arzin. "For him to retrieve the scrolls of Saztou!"

Aladdin shook his head. "No. You're wrong. You asked me to get two scrolls by two different means. One from Remi, in which you asked me to get the scroll from him directly, and the other from Ezele, which you asked me to steal. Therefore, it wasn't one request, it was two separate ones, which means you need to reciprocate what you asked for. Which means you let BOTH Abu and Miza go. Or you forfeit the game."

Aladdin's words had all the effect of a silent hammer hitting the magic thief with his mistake. Aladdin wasn't sure why it appeared to bother the thief as much as it did (apart from being incorrect), but he knew he had the advantage now.

"I suppose THIS time, you win on a technicality. I still have what I want from you." The magic thief's glove glowed with a warm light that filled the cave. He aimed both magic blasts at the amber entrapments that held both Abu and Miza. Both of them woke as their prisons disappeared and they fell to the ground.

"Owwie!" Abu cried out, rubbing the side of his hip.

"That hurt," Miza agreed, holding the side of her head as she lay on her back on the ground.

"Abu, Miza, are you guys okay?" Aladdin said as he ran to their side. All the while, Aladdin realized that Arzin hadn't moved from where he'd stood. He didn't look back though.

"Prince Aladdin? What happened?" Miza's voice was still groggy, even as she sat up when he knelt at her side.

"I think the magic thief attacked and kidnapped you. Same as Abu. You don't remember anything?"

Miza appeared to think a moment, before wincing. "Miza's head hurts too much to remember."

"Bad, bad, bad," Abu said with annoyance. But as he saw Aladdin meet his gaze with concern, Abu spared no moment to leap forward, his arms looping around the prince's neck as he wailed.

"Aww, Abu, I missed you too. Don't cry," Aladdin said, returning the monkey's embrace.

"Oh, boo hoo. This reunion is making me sick!" the thief's voice echoed through the cave, cutting their reunion short. "This game isn't over, street rat."

Aladdin snorted. "It is for now. Since you let Abu and Miza go, you can't establish any new terms until the time limit runs out, which is the day after tomorrow. If you still have any way of continuing the game. Let me guess, you had some access to magic that allowed you to use the thief's game to your advantage. So you couldn't forfeit without losing something, am I right?"

Miza frowned. "What does Prince Aladdin mean?"

Abu appeared equally confused. He pulled away from Aladdin, tilting his head to the side as if to ask Aladdin "What's going on?"

Aladdin stood, helping Miza to her feet, and helping Abu perch on his shoulder. "So, I think the reason why our lovely thief here decided to engage in this game in the first place, was because he made a magic wager. In other words, getting access to a power that he otherwise wouldn't have. I've seen it before, back when Abu and I went to the Thieves Den looking for things we could steal. That's when we learned about the 'games'."

Abu cringed at the memory, sticking out his tongue and uttering a "bleh" as Aladdin spoke.

Aladdin continued his story as he looked at Miza. "There were several thief games that Abu and I watched from a distance. Most were high risk and based on treasure, blood, and honor. If you won a game, that meant your reputation as a thief would grow, or at the very least you'd keep living a little longer. That's how it normally works among thieves that are human. But those who wield magic have a different set of rules."

Miza frowned. "What kind of rules?"

"If you made a magical wager, and won a game, you'd have access to a level of power that you normally wouldn't have. If you had a regular thief who played a game with a magic being and won, the thief could potentially wield magic. But if that thief lost, that magic could be used to destroy them. I don't think that's the case with the thief here, because it looks like our thief is either made of magic or can wield it without problems. But he made some other kind of bargain - one which involved creating a game with me." Aladdin then looked up to meet the thief's gaze directly, his voice hardened as he continued. "And for some reason, he was thinking he'd win it without question."

"You little..." the magic thief began, but Aladdin cut him off before he could say more.

"I'm not done. You made that magic bet with something, which granted you power you wouldn't normally be able to control. I have a pretty good guess as to what it was. I thought that Arzin was part of the game in that he was your prisoner. That wasn't it at all. You were able to control him as a part of the terms for the game itself!" Aladdin smiled a little as the magic thief appeared to squirm. "In other words, you were lying the whole time about Arzin being your companion by his own will. You were using a magic you had no business wielding to control him, thinking you'd win. So I think you can stop pretending you won anything, and let him go too."

"NO! How would you be able to figure that out?" the magic thief wailed. As if the magic in the cave recognized the truth of Aladdin's words, several things happened at once. Arzin groaned, his body suddenly surrounded with a red light that changed him from his monster form into the human he was before. The thief also groaned, falling to his knees as if some power that appeared to make him stronger left him with much less power than he once had. It didn't give any clues to Aladdin as to whom the thief was, but the energy in the room definitely shifted.

Arzin appeared to struggle to breathe, looking between Aladdin, Abu, and Miza for a moment before he fell forward. Miza cried out in horror, but Carpet was quick to catch the man before he hit the ground. The three of them rushed to Arzin as he lay on Carpet, his breathing ragged.

"It's okay, he's just lost a lot of energy," Aladdin said. "Arzin, can you hear me?"

"I can hear you fine, your highness," Arzin said tersely. Aladdin knew from his response that the man was back to his usual self. A little crabby, but not a threat to anyone anymore.

"If you think this is over, street rat, you are wrong!" the magic thief snapped. "Because now I have the Saztou's scrolls. You won't be able to stop me from doing what I'm planning to your friends, nor Gloloria."

Aladdin narrowed his eyes at the thief as he helped Miza and Abu board Carpet. "If you think you can, try it. But I think we're done here now. Carpet, let's move."

Without another word to the thief, Aladdin climbed aboard Carpet, gave the magic rug the signal, and the group of them flew out of the cave, leaving the magic thief behind.

Arzin didn't appear happy as he, Aladdin, Miza, and Abu left the caves, flying out to the desert around them on the way back to Gloloria. He might have been weak from leaving the control and manipulations of the magic thief, but his voice had all the punch of a physical hit as he aimed them towards Aladdin. "I can't believe that you actually left Saztou's scrolls behind with that thief. Do you realize what you have done? How could you be so careless?"

Aladdin looked down at Arzin as the man lay on his back on Carpet. His expression was more resigned than anything else. He clearly didn't want to - nor did he have the energy to argue. "First, I think getting you, Miza, and Abu away from the thief was the most important part of what happened tonight, regardless of anything else. That was the main reason I came here. But the second thing? I actually didn't give him Saztou's scrolls at all."

"Huh?" Abu said, frowning.

"But Miza saw Saztou's scrolls in the thief's hands," Miza said, also frowning. "Miza remembers the pattern of the scroll from Papa's study. Papa said that I should never touch it, no matter what."

"Not to mention it's the same pattern as Remi's scroll from the archive," Arzin pointed out. "I might have been within the monster of that magic thief's control, but I remember seeing you get the scroll from Remi's archive and stealing the one from Ezele's study."

Aladdin grinned as he looked between the three of them. "See, Carpet already knows what I was planning because I told him what I did after I finished at Remi's archive for the day. I stayed in my room at the inn for a while - something I know you didn't see Arzin. In that time, I made a pair of scrolls that are similar to the ones I have right here." Aladdin reached on the other side of his robe, gently pulling out two scrolls that were almost identical to the ones Aladdin had handed over to the magic thief. Except the scrolls Aladdin held were much more worn. They were clearly the real ones that Saztou had actually penned, illuminated in the full moonlit night.

"Whoa," Abu and Miza said at the exact same time.

"You little sneak," Arzin said, his voice with a hint of amusement. "You mean to tell me you went through the trouble of making those duplicate scrolls yourself?"

"With a little help from Tani getting the materials. I didn't tell her what I was doing, just told her I wanted to make a few scrolls to help out Remi at the archive. She believed me, and I just worked on making the scrolls alike enough. A true thief - not one easily pulled in by greed or power - would have looked further than that guy did. I copied two of Saztou's cures for each scroll. If he'd pulled the scrolls further apart, he would've seen that the rest of the scroll was blank."

"That's amazing!" Miza said. "You really fooled him, Prince Aladdin."

Aladdin shrugged. "Well, it was risky, but it's something I figured would happen. That thief was so blinded by his revenge against me and whatever he was planning, he didn't check."

"And you've no idea who he is?" Arzin asked.

"Not a clue," Aladdin confirmed, his tone more melancholy. "If I did, I wouldn't have pulled that plan at all. I would have just revealed his name and spared you all the trouble."

Arzin snorted. "Seems to me that we just witnessed not a game of thieves, but a game of liars. And you won that rather handily, I might add."

Aladdin didn't say anything to that. Miza noticed that Aladdin appeared so heartbroken that he couldn't say anything.

Abu noticed too. "Aladdin?"

"What's wrong?" Miza added. "Uncle Arzin was saying you won against the thief. That's a good thing, at least to Miza. Aladdin shouldn't be sad about it."

Aladdin shook his head. "That's not a compliment, Miza. Being a liar isn't a good thing. Lying's something I've been too good at for too long. It's kept me and others I know safe, even alive, but it's also hurt them too."

Arzin was silent a long moment before he spoke again. Abu noticed that the man even appeared somewhat sympathetic. "It could be a compliment or an insult. I intended it as both, your highness. Ironic as it may be, figured someone had to tell you the truth."

"I appreciate that you did, Arzin. Really, I mean it," Aladdin said while meeting the man's gaze. The two seemed to come to a silent understanding, one that escaped both Abu and Miza in the moment. It quickly passed as Aladdin let out a long, shaky breath. "Let's get back to Gloloria as soon as we can. If everyone isn't already up looking for us, they may be soon. And I've got a lot to answer for."