Bahshir opened up the cage and took Iago out. Iago could sense he was being held, and wanted to fly out the window, but his senses weren't in full control right now. His body was too shaky and he had blurred vision.
"Now is the time for your final lesson, Bird." Bahshir laid him on the table, then took both of Iago's wings and held them up. Then, he took out his sword. "I wonder how well your blood matches your feathers." The sick man declared.
Bahshir put the sword to Iago's aching belly, and from the right to the left, drew the sword across the skin under the feathers.
Iago screamed bloody murder as he felt the sword slice his tender flesh. He squirmed his wings and legs, trying to get loose, but Bahshir held his wings tighter.
Blood began to coat the red feathers, dampening them. They looked damaged now.
"Hmm. No. I don't think that was enough."
Bahshir was about to do it again. Iago cried out. "NO! Please, don't! I'm sorry... for stealing!"
"I don't believe you, Bird. Let this be a good lesson to you. Both the poison and cutting you. If I catch you again, it might be the last next time." Bahshir warned him.
Iago nodded. "I won't... do it again... Please. Don't... Let me go." he pleaded weakly.
"I don't think so, not before this." Bahshir then drew the sword over Iago's flesh again, getting another big cry out of him. Blood coated the sword. It was a little darker than the feathers, but it still blended with Iago's red feathers. "And this."
Taking the left wing in his hand, he twisted the wing hard enough and there was a SNAP!
"OWWW!" Iago screamed. He now had a broken wing as well.
Bahshir let go of Iago on the table. Iago was in incredible pain, worse than before. First, he was sick, now he was both sick and injured. He had to get back to the palace, but now, he couldn't fly there.
"I don't ever want to see you stealing from the marketplace again. You got that?!" the man decreed.
"Yes. Sure. No... prob...lem..." Iago gasped for breath. His blood was pooling on his feathers. His wings clutched at the wounds. His wings were getting blood on them too. The blue color even got red on them.
Bahshir picked Iago up and set him on the floor. "Now, get out of my house!"
Iago could barely move. He didn't feel good at all. He was losing blood.
"Oh, here." Bahshir threw a cloth in front of him.
Iago could barely make it out, but he saw what it was. He reached it and despite the injured wing, he wrapped the cloth around his middle. His wing needed support too, but his stomach had to be kept from bleeding out anymore. Iago kept his left wing bent at the elbow next to his body.
Iago tried to get out the open door as fast as he could from this maniac who had tortured him. And for what? Just stealing for food? He was a monster!
Iago could feel the throbbing pain as he ran away, but he had no idea where he was going at the moment. It was too dark out.
Bahshir wondered if he would survive the night out there, letting him go like that? He didn't care at this point. He wanted that bird gone from his sight.
...
Iago got far enough away from Bahshir's house that he finally collapsed from the awful pain he was in. He couldn't go on anymore. At least, not right now.
He whined and moaned, holding his aching stomach. The makeshift bandage was soaking with his blood. Iago knew he had to stop to rest and catch his breath. He didn't know where he was at the moment, or cared. As long as he was away from Bahshir's house.
He fell unconscious due to the pain.
In the morning, light awakened Iago. He felt a little better, as his vision was a little less blurry, but he felt throbbing in his stomach and wing. He raised his head and looked down. He saw why. He saw the blood and how bad his wing looked. He needed to get home and get treatment.
Iago knew he couldn't fly with a broken wing. That human had wanted to teach him a lesson. But this wasn't a lesson. It was torture, pure and simple. And he thought the group at the palace were bad before.
Iago now knew where he was in the town. He had to get back to the palace. He decided that he would stay here and rest for now, staying out of people's ways. He didn't need to be stepped on.
He rested all day, and as evening fell, most of the humans went home for the night. That was when Iago woke up and started for the palace. He walked straight through the marketplace, wincing many times. His wounds were bleeding from exertion by the time he reached the bottom stairs of the entrance. He couldn't climb those stairs like this.
Iago knew he had to try though. He panted hard. He gave it his best shot.
He passed out five times on the way up. It was the middle of the night by the time he got close to the top. Then, he finally made it. His bandage had slipped, coming off on one of the stairs below.
Iago now saw hope. He stumbled to the doors. He knocked with his good wing. "Help! Help! Anyone there?! Help... me..." Iago was so exhausted and pained, his footing gave out. He fell to the floor, unconscious.
Most of the palace's occupants had gone to bed, but there were guards and the genie and carpet were up right now. The carpet heard the knocking. He went through a high window to go see who was there.
Upon reaching the outside, the carpet saw it was the missing Iago. He had passed out in front of the door. He went down to check on him. He touched him. No response. But he saw he was breathing, faintly. He lifted him up a little, and that was when he saw the red liquid on the floor. Blood!
Carpet knew this was trouble. He turned Iago over onto his back and put him on his back, so to speak. He went to find Jasmine, taking Iago with him inside.
The carpet awakened Jasmine when he got to her room.
"Hmm? Carpet. What's going on?" she asked.
Carpet showed her it was Iago. Her eyes snapped open at the sight of the parrot that had been missing for days now.
She picked him up in her arms. She saw his left wing was a mess. And some feathers on his belly were a mess too, coated in darker red. There was some even on the carpet.
"Oh no! We have to take care of him right away, Carpet!" Jasmine declared in worry.
Carpet agreed.
"Go get Aladdin." she ordered. The carpet did as told.
Jasmine touched Iago's stomach and saw the blood on her hand. She had to find something quick to bind the wounds. It was hard to say at this point what was wrong. She ran to her personal bathroom and used a towel to wrap around Iago's stomach.
She then laid him on her bed to let him rest. She then went to find Genie. She found him in his lamp in the Sultan's room this time. She got him out. She also awoke her father.
The Sultan wasn't too happy about being woken up, but when Jasmine said, "Father, Iago is back. He's hurt, bad." That snapped him awake.
Carpet soon returned with Aladdin and Abu. They were tired, but came at Carpet's urging.
The genie was summoned and he heard why. They all went to Jasmine's room and saw why.
He was in horrible shape. Blood soaked the towel. And the wing looked badly damaged.
"What happened to him?" Aladdin asked in concern.
"I don't know. Carpet found him like this." Jasmine replied.
"I can figure out what is causing this bleeding. It must be stopped immediately." Genie said.
The towel was removed so he could take a look at it. When he moved Iago's feathers aside, he saw there were deep wounds in the flesh. He winced at that, just looking at it. Iago was going to need stitches if he was going to have any chance of survival. He had lost too much blood already.
The ruined feathers had to come off though. They would just spread infection. Genie plucked the bloody feathers off of Iago's belly to where it was just bare skin. Now they could see the reason of what was bleeding.
Genie set about stitching up the wounds. He also x-rayed Iago's body to check for broken bones. His left wing was broken. He also fixed that up as well.
Once the wounds were stitched up, Genie bandaged Iago's middle. He was going to have to take it easy for awhile. They just hoped he would wake up.
They all took looks around the castle to see how far Iago had gotten. From the entrance, they saw the blood by the doors, and down the steps, to the other bandage. Someone had done this to him, but for what? They would find out when he woke up. But then, he could never wake up!
As Aladdin sat by Iago, watching him, he said, "Iago, I'm sorry this happened to you. But please, don't give up on us. We promise we will treat you more fairly, but you need to stop trying to steal stuff from the marketplace. That's what got you into trouble this time. Please come back to us."
Iago still didn't respond. He was so critical right now that he couldn't be left alone. Someone had to be with him at all times until he woke up.
Everyone took turns throughout the night watching over Iago. And the next day...