Four riding on Nightmare's back the entire way back to not only the land of the living but the Isle of the Crown, was a slightly more cramped experience than it had been the way out there when it was just Han and Chewbacca. During the trip, he briefly brought the king and queen up to date on just who he was and how they came to be there and how they'd gotten mixed up in all this chaos. Queen Allaria thanked him for his courage and incredible bravery and risking all that he had to save them and their daughter. Han knew it was rude and probably also bad luck to roll his eyes at royalty, but he didn't know how to explain to them that he had no idea what possessed them to get involved in their daughter's affairs, and ordinarily, were it possible, would've only focused on getting himself out of there from the get-go, but ultimately decided he'd be better off saying nothing. If they wanted to think him a hero, that was their problem, he wasn't going to say otherwise.
"The Vizier seems to have everyone fooled about what's really going on in the castle," Han said, "I think our best plan of action would be to just blast through the front door and let him know we've arrived."
King Caliphim was not convinced. "Abdul Alhazred's treachery must be handled carefully. Allaria and I must go gather our allies and form a plan. Watch over our daughter and see that she comes to no harm. We will return as soon as we can to take back all that has been stolen from us."
Han felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. He couldn't be hearing this right.
"All the allies you need are at the castle, Saladin and the guards were loyal to you, as soon as they see you alive, they'll realize what the Vizier's up to," Han pointed out, "all he's got in his corner is that genie, we could take them here and now and have it over with."
"You are a very brave man, Captain Solo," Queen Allaria told him, "but we must be careful in how we go from here. We will be at the castle in due time."
They landed on the beach long enough for Han and Chewbacca to get off and Nightmare took off again and continued on his way with the royal couple in tow.
Han wanted to collapse, scream, and probably throw up as well. He turned to the wookiee and asked, "Can you believe it, Chewie? We could get this whole thing settled right now, but they want to be diplomatic about it! Are all royal people the same?"
Chewbacca snorted in response.
"Yeah well I hate the whole lot of them," Han said, "they'd rather let their kids die than run head-on into something."
Chewbacca growled in answer.
"I know it doesn't always work, but knowing what we know, we can't afford to stand around and wait, we've got to get in that castle now, at any cost," Han pointed out. Then he felt himself lose some steam as the sensible question invaded his mind, "The question is how?"
That was the problem, neither of them could think of a way to get in and slip past the guards, the Vizier and his genie.
It was unreal that someone who could challenge Death personified and win, couldn't come up with a solution to this problem. But Han wracked his brain and couldn't get anywhere.
Finally he concluded, "Alright, alright...there's no easy way to go about this, so we're just going to have to blast our way in and take it from there. There's got to be a way we can find the princess before anybody catches us."
Chewbacca snarled and snorted in response.
"That would be our luck alright, we save the royal family, so they can throw us in the dungeon for blasting holes in the castle...but it's a chance we have to take. Since the wedding's closed to the public, nobody knows when it is, and nobody knows what the Vizier's going to do to the princess once the wedding's over. Let's go."
Han Solo and Chewbacca once again reached the castle and found the guard dogs on duty at the doors. They'd just noticed him when Han hollered at them, "Send out Captain Saladin!"
A few minutes later, Saladin came out the front doors and approached the smuggler, his hand already reaching for the hilt of his sword.
"I thought I made it clear that you were not welcome back here," the captain said with a small growl that escaped the side of his muzzle.
"Look, I know you don't know me, you don't trust me, I don't care," Han told him, "but you have to believe the only reason I'm here is to make sure no harm comes to the princess."
"And why should I believe that?" Saladin wanted to know.
Han shook his head. It wouldn't do any good to try and explain about Cassima's parents, because until they arrived and Saladin saw them with his own eyes, he'd never believe it. Han didn't blame him, he hardly believed it either and he'd been there.
"Because you don't trust the Vizier," Han answered, "not really, and you're right not to."
"This is a private affair of the Crown's," Captain Saladin warned the Corellian.
"The Crown is a lot bigger than you think, captain," Han returned, "if you actually care about that princess, you'll do as I say and bring her here right now, the Vizier's orders be damned."
Saladin growled louder and moved to pull out his sword. Chewbacca howled and grabbed the humanoid dog, bodily lifted him off the ground and hurled him through the air and sent him flying across the lawn. Han grabbed the two guard dogs nearest him and slammed their helmeted heads together, with a deafening CLANK!, they fell down either stunned or unconscious.
"Let's go!" Han said as he took out his blaster and fired at the large double doors.
The reinforced wood and steel exploded when the bolt hit them, creating a hole large enough for the two newcomers to slip in through, and they were off and running through the castle, admittedly with no idea where they were going, but that had never stopped Han before.
Voices bounced off the walls, he didn't know where anyone was but he could hear Saladin's furious tone informing the other guards that an intruder had broken into the castle and he must be stopped on sight. Just as Han started to wonder just where the princess was being held, he realized he and Chewie had gone the wrong way and were by the dungeon cells, Han tried to skid to a stop to turn around but he skidded too far and ran straight into a suit of armor mounted in front of the wall. He felt the metal arm move in response to him hitting it, and he landed flat on his back and thought he was seeing things when he saw the wall beside the armor opening up.
"Chewie!"
The wookiee howled as he pulled Han to his feet and they ran into the passageway, it slid shut behind them and they found themselves surrounded by a muffled silence.
"I think we're safe in here, for now anyway," Han said as he looked and saw a set of stairs leading up to the next floor. "Come on, let's see where it goes."
They moved up the stairs quickly and came to the next level of the castle. Up here a ray of light shone in through a small hole in the wall, and also a sound, a sound Han couldn't quite place but it did sound familiar. He realized it was the soft sound of a woman crying. He quietly moved over to the hole in the wall and peered in.
This must be the Princess Cassima all this trouble had started over. He saw a beautiful young woman who in truth, barely even looked old enough to get married, much the image of her mother, the same shaped face, the same long black hair, most of which was covered by a long green scarf, she sat on the edge of her bed in a floor length green skirt and a pink and gold blouse. It'd be hard pressed to find many males in the galaxy who wouldn't want to marry something like that.
Now that they'd found her and actually seeing her for the first time, Han felt, not for the first time that day, like an idiot. What now? He knew what now, but what would he say to her?
Deciding to go with the first thing that came to mind, he cupped his hands around his mouth and said through the hole in the wall, "Princess Cassima!"
The woman moved with a small jolt and looked around, "Who said that?"
"Over here, in the wall," he answered.
The woman got up from the bed and crossed over towards him and he saw an eye gazing in at him through the whole.
"Who are you?" she asked.
"That's a long story, princess," he answered, "but we're here to save you."
"We who?" she asked.
"I've got a friend with me," he said. "Now listen, get as far away from the wall as you can."
"Why?" she asked.
"Just do it," he told her, "we're going to get you out."
He watched as she backed away to a corner of the room, he and Chewie took a few steps back and he blasted the weak spot of the wall, making a much bigger hole, temporarily encased in fire.
Cassima's eyes were wide in shock and disbelief as she ran over towards them.
"How did you-"
"Never mind that, come on," Han said as he grabbed her and lifted her, struggling and screaming, through the makeshift doorway, "the whole castle's hunting for us and we've got to find the Vizier and stop whatever he's doing."
Chewbacca howled and directed Han's attention to a narrow hallway in the hidden room.
"Do you have any idea where this leads?" Han asked Cassima as he set her on her feet.
The young princess shook her head, "I never knew this room existed."
"Let's check it out, everybody be quiet," Han warned them as he went first, blaster still in hand.
They moved quietly and carefully, single file, through the narrow hallway, and rounded a corner, and came to another narrow corridor, where there was another small beam of light shining through another chink in the wall, this time they could hear a man from the other side. Han looked at Cassima and the young woman's eyes widened as she nodded in silent answer, that was the Vizier Alhazred himself. Han motioned for her to stay quiet and tiptoed over for a better look.
In the room was a dark skinned man with black hair, mostly concealed by a red and blue turban, as well as a mustache and small pointed beard, as he sat over a desk and wrote out a letter with a black feather pen and narrated as he wrote.
"Dear Shadrack, Salutations from the Society of the Black Cloak, etc, etc. My long preparations are about to come to fruition. In a matter of minutes, I will wed the lovely, ha ha, Cassima. Once I've established my power and my crown, I can stage another accident. The princess has proven infuriatingly stubborn, as you know, she's becoming quite a dangerous little thorn in my side. In a way, it's a shame I have to kill her, she is lovely and would be amusing to keep around, but I can't risk her talking treason to one of the guards. So far, I've managed to keep her locked away, but I can't continue that forever. Well, on to it now. I'd send her to you but, as you know, I had no luck in doing so with Mordack. I close in triumph, King Abdul Alhazred. I think it's about time to see if Shamir has taken care of the wench as I asked. It's almost time for the wedding."
Han turned and looked at the princess, whose eyes were wide with horror at what she'd heard. Han looked through the hole in the wall again and saw the Vizier had stood up and left the room. Then Han made another discovery, in the same wall was a large panel big enough for a person to fit through, it was almost like...
"There's a hidden door to this room," he told the others, "come on."
He pushed the panel open and found himself plunged in darkness. He felt along and found another door, and got it to open, and found himself in the Vizier's bedroom.
"This guy makes out alright for a cold blooded murderer," Han noted as he took in how fancy the room looked.
"Who are you and what're you doing here?" Cassima asked.
"My name is Han Solo and his name is Chewbacca, and it would take too long to explain the rest," he told her as he picked up the letter the Vizier had just penned, the ink was still wet, "you might just say I'm squaring away any good deeds for the rest of the millennium."
"How did you get in here?" she asked.
"Through the front door."
"How?"
"We attacked the guard dogs," Han answered, "now the whole castle is trying to find us to either kill us or throw us in the dungeon. That's why we had to find you, and now it looks like we've got something to prove just what the Vizier has been up to. He..." Han turned, and saw something else that set his radar for shiny valuable things on high.
On the table in the room was a tall, ornate, light blue, skinny necked, broad bottomed bottle with a cork in it. It positively shone in the light. He automatically put a hand out to touch it, it felt ancient but well preserved.
"That's Shamir's bottle," Cassima told him.
"The genie? Where is he anyway?" Han asked as he pulled the cork out experimentally. He also noticed on the table next to the bottle was a bowl of blue mint candies. He remembered what the members of the isles had said about the genie, and he guessed this was the way the Vizier kept the genie in line. He guessed mint was to Shamir what spice was to Jabba.
"He's always around somewhere," Cassima said.
Once again Han was met with the dilemma he'd found something shiny and beautiful and he couldn't keep it. But there wasn't anything saying he couldn't hold onto it for the time being. He put the bottle in his bag for safe keeping, if nothing else maybe they'd get lucky and they could steal the genie, that'd certainly throw a hydrospanner into the vizier's plans. He pored over the rest of the contents on the table. There was a small black box with a key by it, Han unlocked it and found a stack of other letters. He took out the one on top and read over it.
"Greetings to a brother of the Black Cloak. I was sorry to hear of great Mordack's death. It seems the plans for that little kingdom of yours are coming along. I must congratulate you on your handling of the king and queen. Isolating the islands so that no protest could develop was another brilliant stroke. It looks like there's not much left to stand in your way. Do as I recommended with the girl. and you shall have your crown." He turned to Cassima and Chewbacca and said, "Well all the pieces fit now..." he noticed an uncomfortable look on Cassima's face and asked, "What is it?"
"Mordack was the wizard who kidnapped me," she told Han, "I was held prisoner at his castle alongside the family of the man I love, Prince Alexander from Daventry...Alexander's father, King Graham freed his family and liberated me...that's where I was when my parents were murdered, and now to find that Abdul had arranged that too?"
The pain in her eyes was deep enough Han could feel it biting into him. He tried to deflect it by turning to Chewie and saying, "our friend Death is going to have a new visitor today, I'm going to send this Alhazred to him special delivery. Let's find out where he went."
They went back down the stairs and figured out how to open the secret passage from inside and found themselves back out in the hall by the dungeon cells. They turned a corner and all stopped when they heard something coming from up above.
"That's wedding music," Han realized.
The three of them looked at one another in confusion and headed for the stairs. They found themselves in a luxurious room that was decorated all in red, with many candles lit and two sets of stairs leading up to the next floor.
"What is this place?" Han asked.
"The throne room's through that door," Cassima pointed, "That's where the music's coming from."
A door opened and Han heard the murderous growl of Captain Saladin who had the tip of his sword aimed at Han's throat before he could even realize what was going on. Chewbacca growled and moved to attack the humanoid dog but Han waved him back. He knew that Saladin was sorely misled, but he meant what he'd said earlier, he respected the captain and understood his position.
"Saladin, don't!" Cassima begged the guard.
"Your Highness," Saladin was shocked by her appearance, "are you-"
Han thrust Alhazred's letters at the captain and told him, "You want proof what the Vizier's capable of? Here's your proof. Go ahead and read them."
Saladin's sword never wavered from Han's jugular as he read the letter Abdul had just written, and the letter to him from the Black Cloak Society. He growled murderously and said, "This is treason, I'll have his throat!" He finally lowered the sword away from Han's neck and asked, "But how do I know this isn't a forgery? You could have written this yourself."
Cassima yelled "No!" at the same time Chewbacca growled at the guard. Han merely replied, "I don't have the time to waste on stuff like that, and I don't have any investment in this kingdom to care enough to try. If you don't believe me, ask your princess, she'll tell you what Alhazred's up to."
Now Saladin looked confused, and he asked, "But if the princess is here...who's in the throne room with Alhazred?"
Han and Chewbacca looked at one another and all four of them ran to the door and burst into the throne room, alarming the several guard dogs surrounding the simple ceremony of an officiate, the Vizier and...
"Another one?" Han asked in disbelief as he saw another woman with her back turned to them, with long black hair, a green scarf and dressed exactly like Cassima.
The woman didn't turn around but Abdul turned his head and ordered Saladin, "Kill the intruder now!"
"Halt! In the name of the true king."
Everybody turned and saw King Caliphim and Queen Allaria enter the throne room. The guard dogs all murmured in confusion at both the reappearance of the dead royal couple and the appearance of two identical princess Cassimas in the room, along with a few questions of who was who.
Han reached in his pocket and bellowed, "Hey Shamir! I got something for you!"
The Cassima standing beside Abdul turned and her eyes sparkled gold, confirming what Han had already suspected, this was the fake Lady Celeste who had tried to lure him to his death back in the catacombs. She saw the green mint leaves, inhaled the scent and suddenly there was a bolt of light and when it cleared, the second Cassima was gone and instead there was a tall, pale man with dark facial hair, rings in his ears, a white turban on his head, and sparkling gold eyes.
"You fool!" Alhazred yelled, "Get the guards!" and he took off running and escaped through a door at the back of the throne room.
"As you wish, master," Shamir made a series of movements with his hands and conjured up a big blue swirling ball of crackling light that stunned the first guard dog it hit. As he worked up a second ball, Chewbacca came up behind the genie and howled as he slammed his fist straight down on top of the genie's head and knocked him unconscious, as Han ran past him and followed the Vizier out the door.
Abdul hadn't gone far, and Han realized why when the man turned around wielding a particularly large sword he'd taken off of the wall.
"You will die for what you have cost me!" he told Han as he inched up on the smuggler displaying an array of swordsmanship skills that might prove intimidating to most. But before he'd finished his last move, the air filled with the distinct sound of a blaster bolt being fired and hitting its target.
Han lowered his blaster to his side and grimaced like a chill suddenly ran through him and he asked himself, "Why did that feel so familiar?"
Behind him he heard Chewbacca's grunting and turned and saw everybody had followed him out: Chewie, the princess, her parents, the guard dogs and their fearless captain.
Saladin looked at Abdul's smoking corpse and looked at Han Solo with an expression that looked close to lunging in for the bite, "You killed the Vizier."
"Oh come on!" Han exclaimed, "You can't possibly be mad about that!"
Saladin raised his sword and for a brief second Han thought the guard had lost his mind and would run him through with it, he was only faintly aware of everybody screaming something and he looked around realized it was in fact everybody in the room. He forgot about Saladin's sword and heard this time as everybody cheered, "All hail Captain Solo!"
"What?" he asked, confused.
Cassima ran up to the smuggler, threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek. "You saved my life, you saved my parents, how can I ever thank you?"
His brain could barely register the question, he subtly pushed her off of him and grumbled, "Just don't make me ever have to do it again." He was slowly coming to terms with the fact that one, the vizier who had caused so much trouble for him in a record setting 24 hours, was now dead, by his own hand, or blaster rather, and also, the guards were cheering him, celebrating him killing the vizier.
"It's over?" he asked cluelessly. Suddenly his whole body felt old and heavy and his eyelids felt like they were going to drop and take his whole head down with them. He stumbled over to his friend, who roared happily and patted him on the back hard, and asked him, "It's all over? Really? That's...that's great..."
The toll of the entire day's events started to weigh in on the smuggler and he felt his strength and energy leaving him and slowly felt his body slipping down to the marble floor. Chewbacca howled inquisitively and grabbed Han's arm to pull him up.
"Yeah...yeah, I'm fine, Chewie," Han weakly answered, "I just need to rest my eyes for a few...minutes..."
He felt his head slump down against his chest and heard the wookiee above him roaring in distress.
A/N: One more chapter to go.