"Is he ever going to wake up, Genie?" Jasmine asked seriously.
Everyone was worried for the red parrot. Two days and he was still unconscious. Even Abu was showing concern for him. Genie changed his bandages as needed. The wounds were holding together.
"I don't know. From what you showed me outside, he's lost a lot of blood. He might, and he might not. I'm sorry. I wish I had better news." Genie explained sadly.
Razoul and the guards couldn't believe that Iago had come back here. After all, he knew who had taken him out of the palace in the first place.
"Maybe it would be better to put the bird out of his misery." Razoul suggested coldly.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?!" Aladdin exclaimed. "You always have. Just leave us alone."
"He is right, Razoul. Leave us be." the Sultan ordered.
The guards hated when their leader sided with the street rat. They couldn't believe he was going to be their next Sultan, if and when he and the princess actually got married.
The gang knew that Razoul was right though. If Iago didn't wake up in a week, it was probably best to put him down, so he wouldn't suffer. But they just wanted to know who had done this to him even more. If Iago died, they would never know.
In Iago's sleep, he seemed to be fighting something. He whimpered quite a bit. Of course, his body was fighting an infection. Both from the poison and his trauma.
Another couple days passed with no results. But on the fifth day, the eyelids of Iago finally began to flutter open. His vision was blurry.
"Hm. Where am I?" he asked in confusion.
The one watching him this time was Abu. He started screeching in excitement.
Iago recognized Abu's voice. "Aw! Stop screaming, Abu!" he exclaimed.
The monkey calmed down, but he ran out of the room to go get the humans and others.
Iago's vision began to focus and he saw he was in Jasmine's room. When he tried to move himself, he immediately felt pain in his middle.
"Ow!" he complained and looked down. He saw his left wing was wrapped in a splint, and bandages around his belly, and it all came back to him. What happened to him had been no dream. It was a nightmare!
Then, Iago's friends came into the room. They all were smiling gratefully.
Iago looked up at them. "What?" he asked.
"We're glad you're alright. That's all. We've been worried sick about you." Jasmine declared with a smile.
"You were missing for three days, and when you showed up again, you were badly hurt. And you were unconscious for five days. Can you tell us what happened?" Aladdin asked.
"I thought you didn't want me around." Iago said. "You said I was guilty of stealing."
"And we were going to solve that issue, Iago. Like we always do."
"But you were gone when we went to go get you. You had escaped or something." Jasmine said.
"Escaped? How could I escape the guards? I was in shackles!" Iago yelled angrily. He moved too far forward, and his stomach gave a painful jolt. He winced and laid back.
"What's wrong?" Genie asked.
"Stomach... hurts." Iago replied in a weak voice. He placed his good wing over it.
"What happened, Iago?" the Sultan asked.
Iago breathed a bit before talking again. He opened his eyes and continued, "I never escaped. The guards never took me to the dungeon. Instead, they took me near the Skull and Dagger tavern. There was a guy there that said he had bought me. That you sold me out, Aladdin. Why would you do that?" he demanded.
"What? I never sold you out. I never sold you, period." Al was shocked that the bird would even ask. Didn't he know that by now?
"Then it must have been the guards who did it all on their own." Genie realized.
"They have wanted to get rid of Iago ever since he came to live with us." the Sultan said.
"I know they have wanted that, but I'm here to stay." Iago stated.
"What happened after that, Iago?" Jasmine asked.
"I was given to the man, uh, Bahshir." the parrot stated.
"I know that name. That was the name of the man who asked me about if I would sell you to him many weeks ago." Aladdin admitted.
"He must have paid our guards to get Iago behind our backs." Jasmine realized.
"It was still wrong to do. And it seems all he wanted you for was to harm you." Al realized.
"Yes. He starved me for a day. He poisoned me, and he cut me up. He busted my wing too." Iago exclaimed. Tears were in his eyes. "What if he comes back for me?"
"We'll make sure he doesn't get his hands on you again." Al said.
"Thanks."
"And as for your stealing, Iago..." Al brought up.
"Huh?"
"It has got to stop. Just ask us if you need something, or want something. We'll try to see what we can do. But, can you promise us, no more stealing from the marketplace?"
"I promise. Cross my heart." Iago declared with his good wing in the air like scout's honor. "Oh!" He winced again, putting his wing over his belly again.
"Just take it easy and rest, Iago. You're going to be sore for awhile. You lost a lot of blood." Genie explained. "You're going to need to regain your strength."
Iago nodded. He was in a lot of discomfort. "Bahshir... he said the poison would... go away on its own... Still doesn't feel like it..."
"Do you know what it was?" Genie asked.
"No, I don't." Iago replied.
Genie made a magic book appear before him and looked through it. It was a medical book. When he came upon a solution, he said, "Well, when we don't know what sort of poison it was he gave you, we could give you liquid-fied charcoal. It will coat the stomach and help the problem."
"Charcoal?" Iago asked. He wasn't sure about the sound of that.
"Right now, it might be the best solution, Iago." Aladdin said.
"Sure it won't harm me?" Iago asked.
"I don't think so." Genie said. Then, he called upon a jar of liquid black stuff, aka charcoal. He poured some into a spoon and offered it to the bird.
Iago was still unsure. He smelled it. It wasn't his favorite.
"This might be the best shot at feeling better, Iago." Jasmine said.
"Oh, alright." Iago hesitantly gave in. He took the bite off the spoon and it tasted awful! Just about made him gag, but he could hurt himself if his stomach muscles were aggravated too badly.
"It tastes... terrible!" Iago complained.
"But it might have saved your life. To stop the stomach pain." Al commented.
"We just want you get well again, Iago." Jasmine agreed.
"I know. I want that too." Iago said.
"Do you think you can try to take some water after a while?" Jasmine asked.
"I could go for a drink right now. That charcoal tasted awful."
A servant girl brought in a urn that had some water in it, and it was poured into a glass for Iago to consume.
"Just don't drink too fast." Genie warned him. "It'll upset your stomach. Drink slowly."
Iago nodded. He was glad to get some life saving liquid into his stomach. He drank it slow.
Next came another bandage change and Iago got to see first hand that his belly feathers were all gone. He saw the horrendous stitches that were keeping his wounds closed. He knew they would grow back, but maybe the genie could speed up the process once his stitches were removed.
Iago was ordered strictly to rest. He wasn't going to be doing much of anything, at least until his stitches came out. But it would take longer for his wing to heal.
As for the guards, they were questioned about what selling Iago to the maniac was really all about. They had no reason to go behind even the Sultan's back to do that. Everything Iago had said was true about what they had done.
Razoul apologized to the Sultan about his actions. But he explained it was better that they had got rid of the bird so there wouldn't be anymore complaints about the stealing from their own animals. Abu didn't do it quite as much, as there had been a talk with him about it. Though only when really necessary. Now it was Iago's turn to learn not to do it.
Iago felt most comfortable in the princess' room, as that was where he was now. Here, he was given a special pillow that he could rest on. There was also a special pillow for him in the throne room if he was to be allowed out of Jasmine's room for awhile while he healed. He was going to have to spend two weeks with bandages around his middle, though a little shorter amount of time now, since five days had gone by already.
The Sultan ordered that his guards go out and find the man responsible for hurting Iago. They went out reluctantly, but did their job, only to come back empty-handed. Bahshir had skipped town on knowing he would be in trouble for hurting the parrot. He had had a feeling the bird would come back to the palace.
"Well, where is he?" Sultan demanded.
"He was gone, Your Highness. We looked as much as we could." Razoul declared.
"Oh, very well. But he is to be kept an eye out for."
"Yes, Sire."
The guards still kept their jobs, but they were not to go behind the Sultan's back anymore on all assets of what would ever be sold or not.
Iago couldn't believe they still had their jobs after what they had done to him this time.