Chapter 14: The King of Thieves

Cassim had stolen from a lot of extravagant weddings in his time with the Forty Thieves, but this was perhaps the most extravagant of all—he would go so far as to call it unnecessarily so. From his position on a ledge near the ceiling, hidden in the shadows, Cassim watched as the blue-skinned man paraded through the crowds with his trumpet blowing loudly. The groom, a handsome young lad with a messy mop of black hair, stood nervously at the end of the aisle next to his three friends: one teenage boy with spiky brown hair and two strange foreigners the likes of which Cassim had never seen. Across from them, near where the bride would stand when she arrived, were two teenage girls with identical faces—they could only be twin sisters. But his interest lingered on the groom. Something about him, about his face and his eyes, seemed so…so…

Cassim shook his head to clear his thoughts and turned back to the large pile of treasure and presents by the door. Sa'luk and the others would be beginning soon. He had to be ready.

The bride, Princess Jasmine herself, came down the aisle and took her place next to the boy. The Sultan of Agrabah ran up to the podium and began a speech while the blue man began crying into a handkerchief. Cassim glanced out the window, where he could spy one of his men walking up to an elephant. The time had come.

The Sultan was asking the groom to take his vows when the deafening sound of an elephant's trumpet shook the room. The following earthquake from the miniature stampede that his men had caused threatened to knock Cassim down from his perch. Everyone's attention turned to the front door as the elephants came charging in and all chaos broke out. While the elephants rampaged through the room, the remaining thirty-nine thieves arrived and began pilfering everything they could from the stunned guests.

To the groom's credit, he and his friends tossed away their own surprise and were on the scene immediately. Cassim's eyes widened at the multicolored lights that flashed from their weapons and danced on their fingertips; he was no expert but he knew magic when he saw it, and this was definitely powerful magic. But he couldn't allow that to distract him. While the boy and his friends dealt with the thieves – and there was no doubt in Cassim's mind that they would win, not after seeing that magical display – he had to hurry and find the treasure he was after. Carefully Cassim ran along the edge near the ceiling and then down behind the chaos to land by the front door. He started digging through the pile of presents without delay, shoving gem-lined chalices and golden chests aside in his search.

"Hey! What do you think you're doin'?!"

Cassim spun around at the scratching voice yelling at him. The speaker wasn't some guard or any of the wedding guests, but a little red parrot that could speak. "More sorcery," he muttered under his breath. Then, speaking to the parrot, he said "You shouldn't antagonize people bigger than you."

The parrot flinched back, intimidated. He gulped and hopped up onto a nearby statue so he was eye level with Cassim. "You're not takin' any of this stuff while I'm around!"

Cassim was amused at the bratty parrot's gusto, even if he could tell in his eyes that there wasn't enough courage to back up the threat. "If that's how it's going to be…" Cassim reached out and gripped the parrot tightly with one hand. While it choked and begged him to let go he grabbed a chest with his other hand and poured its contents out onto the floor before shoving the parrot inside. The bird ranted and raved from within the chest, so Cassim placed a heavy decorative lamp on top to keep the lid shut tight.

"Now then, back to business."

Nothing was on this wall, so Cassim turned to the next one to look through the presents there. To his surprise, he wasn't alone—and it wasn't one of his men, either. A short, fat man was digging through the treasures frantically and muttering quietly to himself. Cassim couldn't make out the words. When the stranger's hands found a long golden staff with an emerald at the tip, however, Cassim's eyes widened. There it was!

"Ooh, this will fetch a pretty penny." The man held it up to the light, watching the emerald sparkle against the sun. Cassim tightened the cloak around his face and approached the short man, tapping him on the shoulder. The man jumped back in surprise, evidently not expecting to be seen. The staff slipped from his grip and clattered to the ground.

"I believe you have something of mine."

"O-Oh yeah? Says who?"

"That's no business of yours."

The short man kneeled down and picked the staff up. "Look bud, just let me have this. Let me have this, a-and your Forty Thieves can have everything else!" He took a step backwards. "Please? W-We don't need to turn this into a big deal."

"I'm afraid that is all I care for. Hand it over."

The fat man quirked an eyebrow questioningly. Cassim couldn't blame him, for the Forty Thieves were never known to leave treasure behind. But if he got that staff then he'd be set for life. He didn't need the trinkets scattered around them.

Cassim held his hand out, signaling to the fat man to hand it over. The man glanced between Cassim, the staff, and the assorted treasures. "So…" he began slowly. "You get this, I get everything else?"

Sa'luk wouldn't like that, Cassim knew, but he was sworn to follow the King of Thieves. Cassim opened his mouth to agree to the little thief's deal when the booming voice of the groom's blue-skinned companion rose above the crowd with a sudden shout.

"Thirty, thirty-two, thirty-four…" What was he counting? "Al! It's the Forty Thieves!"

The foreigner with a face resembling a dog knocked one of Cassim's men away with his shield and turned to the blue one. "But uh, I only see thirty-nine!"

The groom – the one called Al – looked around and locked eyes with Cassim. "Forty." Cassim felt his shoulders fall slightly, but he recovered quickly enough. He hadn't intended to be seen but what's done was done.

A loud quacking sound pulled Cassim's attention to the apparent wizard of the group. "Wak, and that's Abis Mal!" Cassim looked over his shoulder at the fat man who appeared to be trying to hide. So they had a history?

He'd have to worry about it later. Al ran forward with a scimitar drawn, and so Cassim replied by pulling his own blade out from beneath his cloak. Their swords clashed, but the boy's was simply a ceremonial blade meant for the wedding—hardly useful for combat. Despite that, he showed remarkable skill in swordplay. This was no pampered prince.

Their movements were a dance, a clash of metal on metal that rang out among the chorus of cheers and cries from the thieves and wedding guests. "I'm surprised a thief is so good at up-front attacks," Al said. "The idea is to sneak by in the shadows, didn't you get the memo?"

Cassim smiled beneath his mask. "That's the King of Thieves to you, boy!" Al's eyes widened, the revelation stunning him for just a brief moment—not long, but long enough. Cassim knocked the boy's scimitar out of his hand and watched as it clattered on the ground some yards away. He ducked down and swung his leg out in an arc, knocking the groom's feet from out from under him. While the boy recovered from his fall, Cassim reached for the staff he wanted only to find that the one called Abis Mal still had it in his own hands.

Before Cassim could return to negotiating with Abis Mal, he suddenly found himself surrounded by a legion of blue men dressed in black, pointing strange weapons unlike any he had seen at him. "Do not attempt to move or we will be shooting ourselves!"

Cassim growled. Fine then, the mission was a failure. "Forty Thieves, retreat!"

"What?!" Sa'luk roared. Cassim couldn't see him, wherever he was.

"That is an order! Take what loot you can and run!" Cassim spared a glance behind him. Perfect, there was a window. He backed up and the blue-skinned soldiers closed in. He smiled beneath his mask. "Well fought, gentlemen. You will always remember this as the day you almost caught the King of Thieves!" With a bow he leaned back, falling out the window and to safety.

x-x-x

Xion watched as the group called the Forty Thieves fled the palace. No one was chasing after him, since everyone was far more concerned with recovering. The stonework of the room was a mess and held up only by Genie's magic, while Donald and Kairi were attending to the guests with Cure spells. Abis Mal had not escaped with them and was being detained by Goofy while Aladdin, Sora, and herself were interrogating him.

"I swear, I don't know anything! It's a complete coincidence that I came here at the same time as them!"

"Last time we saw you, you abandoned Maleficent to flee the Heartless," Sora pointed out. "How do we know you didn't abandon those guys this time?"

"Do I really look like someone who'd get accepted into the Forty Thieves?"

Sora and Xion glanced at each other. They really didn't know a lot about this group, but apparently they were rather infamous in the deserts around Agrabah. Genie certainly knew who they were, and Aladdin had looked shocked when he heard his opponent was the King of Thieves.

While the interrogation continued, Xion found herself distracted by muffled shouting coming from the pile of gifts. Xion moved away from Abis Mal for the time being and crouched down among all the gold and jewels, searching for the source. The shouting was coming from a shaking chest with a lamp sitting on top of it, and when Xion opened it up a red bolt flew up with a flurry of feathers left behind.

"Air! Beautiful, fresh air!" Iago shouted through a cough. He took in a deep breath. "Oh, thank goodness you heard me, Xion!" He flew down and landed on her shoulder; Xion winced slightly as his talons dug into her exposed skin.

"What were you doing in there?"

"It was the thieves' leader, the guy dressed in blue! He trapped me inside the chest while he dug through the loot!"

Xion paused in thought, pulling up one of the translucent blue straps on her upper arm that had slipped when Iago landed. Seriously, Genie; next time asking what she wanted to wear to the wedding would be nice. "He was only looking over here?"

"What were they after?" Jasmine asked, walking up to them with Kairi and Donald behind her. "The presents?"

Aladdin shook his head and held up a staff with an emerald at the tip, which Abis Mal had been holding when they captured him. "Not all of them. Just this."

Donald walked over to Aladdin and took the staff, letting out a soft "ooh" at the sparkling gold. He admired his reflection in the jewel for a few moments before asking "So what is it?"

"Don't look at me," Abis Mal said weakly.

"You need but to ask and I shall tell you all," an echoing, feminine voice boomed. Everyone looked around for the speaker, but the only person in the room boisterous enough was Genie, and it certainly wasn't him. The emerald on the tip of the staff flashed brightly, causing Donald to drop it in surprise and shield his eyes. From the tip of the staff poured a bright white light, and a translucent figure dressed in white cloth emerged from the treasure. She floated above them, emitting a light from her very body, and her presence hushed the entire room.

Genie approached them with a spyglass held to one eye. "Oh my, it's an Oracle."

"I am the spirit of the staff," the ethereal woman explained. "I see all and know all."

"Yup, definitely an Oracle." Genie's spyglass vanished and was replaced with a long stick. A chalkboard appeared floating in the air behind Genie and he used the stick to point at drawings and diagrams of the staff and the woman. "They know everything and can answer any question you have, but each person only gets one question and no more. That's it."

"Really?!" Donald asked with a gasp, turning to the Oracle.

"Your question has already been answered," she stated calmly.

Donald's wide smile fell. "That didn't count…" he grumbled.

Sora looked down with a thoughtful look. "Any question, huh?" Xion saw Kairi glance at him. They both had the same question on the mind. Sora looked back up at the Oracle. "Can you tell me where my friend Riku is?"

The Oracle shifted and wavered, and for a brief moment Xion thought it was going to return to the staff. Instead, her image transformed into a window to another world showing a black hooded figure standing in a desert wasteland.

"He wanders lost in the dark, a boy with his heart teetering on the brink."

Xion watched Kairi and Sora's disappointment grow on their faces, and she had to join them in that. That was so incredibly cryptic that it didn't help them at all. "At least we got to see the world he's in?"

"I guess so," Kairi said sadly.

"My power wanes for the time being," the Oracle said suddenly. The window to the other world had vanished and she had returned. "If any questions remain, speak them now before I slumber."

Jasmine placed a hand on Aladdin's shoulder and smiled. "Aladdin, we could learn anything! About our lives, about our future!"

Aladdin kneeled down and picked up the staff, examining it in silence. "I know my future, Jasmine—it's with you. What I want to know is my past…but I can't get those answers in just one question."

The Oracle tilted her head. "Ah, but questions about your past can be answered by your father."

Aladdin froze. "My father?"

The Oracle vanished again, opening a new window. This one revealed a man with graying hair and a black beard, and Aladdin's mouth dropped open as silence fell over the room. When Aladdin finally spoke, his voice was soft. "My father…is alive?"

The Oracle returned and extended her hand outwards, gesturing through the window that the King of Thieves had escaped and out toward the setting sun on the horizon. "Follow the trail of the Forty Thieves. Your father is trapped within their world."

"The Forty Thieves?! Is he hurt? How long has he been their prisoner?!"

The Oracle bowed her head. "I am sorry. Only one question and one answer to each person." In a bright flash of light the Oracle disappeared, returning to sleep in her staff.

Aladdin gripped the gold tightly and looked out on the horizon. "It's up to me."

"You're not going out there alone, Al." Sora put a hand on his shoulder. "We'll all be right there beside you to free your dad from those guys."

"Thanks, Sora." His smile was genuine. "Jasmine, can you wait for the wedding just one more day?"

The princess shook her head, but she was smiling. "Of course. Your father will be a guest of honor."

"Alriiiight!" Genie appeared in a puff of smoke, holding a road map in his hands. "Road trip! Let's go! Do ya need a break from modern livin-"

"Not you, Genie." Aladdin said. Genie stopped in the middle of his song and his map disappeared. "I need you here in case the barrier keeping the Heartless out falls, so you can put it up again."

"Well, I-I guess that's a good point…"

"Thank you, Genie." Aladdin turned to the rest of them. "Sora, Xion."

"We're ready to go whenever you are, Aladdin," Xion said with a smile.

"Actually, can you stay here with the Genie?" Xion's smile faded and she glanced over at Sora. He was frowning in confusion. "If the Heartless break down the barrier then that means it wasn't strong enough. But your Keyblades can reinforce it."

Xion rubbed her arm. That made sense, she supposed… She didn't like it, certainly, but it made sense. "You're still not going out there alone. We won't let you."

"I'll go with him." Heads turned. Kairi was standing firm, and when Sora realized she was the one who spoke and was about to object, she shook her head. "I don't have a Keyblade so there's no reason for me to stay here. And besides," she held up her hand and an orb of water appeared, "we don't want Aladdin dying of thirst out in the desert."

Aladdin chuckled. "Thanks, Kairi."

Sora grumbled and turned to Donald. "Can you go with her?"

"I'm not a fragile little doll, Sora," Kairi said before Donald could reply.

"I didn't say you were, Kairi! But you're also only just starting out with your magic. Donald should be there in case a spell goes wrong."

Kairi sighed in reply instead of voicing an okay. Donald walked over to her, took her hand, and led her to Aladdin. "We'll be back soon," he assured everyone.

Goofy, however, seemed to think things were going by a bit too quickly. "Gawrsh, uh… Do we even know where the Forty Thieves are?" Everyone looked around awkwardly at each other. Apparently they hadn't even considered that, and with the Oracle asleep they couldn't exactly ask her… Xion crossed her arms, trying to think of a good way to find them. The desert winds would probably have blown away their tracks already.

"…I do," Abis Mal said quietly. Xion had completely forgotten about him with the Oracle's arrival and the revelation about Aladdin's dad, and judging by the expressions on everyone else's faces they had as well. Abis Mal looked up at them and gulped. "Or at least I know the stories. But if they're right, I can lead you right to the hideout of the Forty Thieves."

Kairi, Donald, and Aladdin glanced at each other. "I don't know…" Donald said with crossed arms. Jasmine, however, walked over to Abis Mal and crouched down to eye level.

"If you do this and help Aladdin find his father, you'll be pardoned for breaking into the palace," she said. "It's not like you actually stole anything anyway. Do we have a deal?"

Abis Mal sighed in relief. "We-We do."

x-x-x

The group had set out immediately on Carpet, who had once again been grown by Genie's magic; that way, they flew right above the battling Heartless and Nobodies. But even with Abis Mal's guidance the search went on and on, until finally in the middle of the night they reached the ocean with no men in sight.

"I knew I should have stayed behind," Iago complained nervously from his spot on Carpet's back.

"Aw phooey, put a sock in it," Donald said with a yawn.

Kairi looked up at Aladdin and Abis Mal sitting in the front and directing Carpet along the coast. Aladdin sure was determined, even when the rest of them were fighting the urge to slip off into sleep, and she couldn't really blame him for that. Some may say he had rushed off too quickly, and she couldn't really blame him for that either.

I mean, what would I do if Dad got kidnapped? She thought back to Braska, mayor of the Destiny Islands and her adoptive father. If he had suddenly got missing, Kairi couldn't be sure that she wouldn't jump right into the action just like Aladdin did tonight. In fact, she probably wouldn't have even thought it through enough to bring backup along (though no doubt Sora would have followed regardless). Kairi could be a little impulsive, she had to admit that.

They flew by a rocky hill on the beach and something in the shadows at its base caught Kairi's attention. Iago let out a terrified squawk and Donald, Abis Mal, and Aladdin immediately turned to look at the hill as well as Carpet came to a sudden stop. Kairi flexed her fingers and leaned over Carpet's side, watching the shadows begin to bubble and move.

Whoosh, whoosh.

That noise wasn't coming from the hill, but from above. Kairi glanced up just in time to fall back out of the way and avoid a lance impaling her through the face. Carpet swerved away as the weapon pierced its cloth, and with some distance between them Kairi could make out her attacker.

"A Dragoon. We've got Nobodies!"

Kairi, Donald, and Aladdin were immediately on their feet on the sandy beach, and Carpet lifted Iago and Abis Mal high into the sky. In addition to the Dragoons, Dancers moved gracefully toward the beach from out over the black water. Aladdin brandished his scimitar, fire flared to life on the tip of Donald's staff, and Kairi called droplets of water to surge around her right hand while her left sparked to life with the makings of a Thunder spell.

"Are they with the Forty Thieves?" Donald asked, raising his staff defensively.

"I don't think so," Kairi said with a shake of her head. She spared a glance behind her, at the shadows beneath the hill. Bandit and Air Pirate Heartless had arrived, meaning they were now pinned between two enemies. "I think we just walked into a battlefield without knowing it."

"But how did the Forty Thieves avoid them?" Aladdin asked.

Kairi bit her lip as the Heartless and Nobodies approached. "Maybe they didn't come this way." It was the only answer she could think of.

"Here they come!" Donald cried.

The Bandits struck first, leaping into the air and bringing their curved swords downward. Aladdin, as the only one with any melee abilities in the group, ran between Kairi and Donald and the Heartless to block the slashes with his own sword. Kairi instead turned her attention to the Dancers and Dragoons, firing streams of Watera and calling Thundara bolts down from the sky. A Dancer curved its agile body around Kairi's spells and delivered a strong kick into her side, interrupting a cast and sending water spraying everywhere. Kairi rolled out of the way of a the next kick from the Dancer, tumbling through the sand before climbing up to her feet and striking it in the back with Pearl.

When the Dancer was knocked into the sand it was suddenly attacked by a Bandit that leaped clear of Aladdin, who was still keeping the other Bandits occupied. Its curved blade pierced the Dancer's pale flesh and tore a good chunk out which faded away in black and white wisps. The Dancer lashed out at the Bandit in silent fury, kicking it hard in the chest. The Heartless vanished and the Dancer spun around to kick Kairi once again, but Kairi threw up a timely Reflect spell and then cast Watera point-blank at the Nobody. The torrent of water pushed it into the rocks at rapid speed, impaling its body on the stones before it faded away.

Donald, meanwhile, had his hands full with flying Dragoons and Air Pirates, which along with fighting him were battling each other in the air. One of the Dragoons' lances pierced an Air Pirate's wing and it let out a pained screech as it tumbled through the air, shadowy smoke flying out from the hole left behind. Donald jumped out of the way of the Heartless's crash landing and called on a storm of Thundaga, sending bolts of lightning raining down on Heartless and Nobody alike. Most managed to avoid the strikes, but others weren't so lucky.

"Donald, watch out!" Aladdin shouted. The duck spun around to see a pair of Bandits running at him from further down the beach. Given that Aladdin was in completely the other direction, they couldn't have been ones that he had been fighting.

"Gather!" Donald called out, casting a Magnega spell and pulling the attacking Bandits in, as well as several of the Dragoons and Air Pirates in the air around them. With a flick of his wrist the Magnega was replaced with Graviga, forcing the Heartless and Nobodies to the ground and crushing them under their own weight. To finish the job he released a flurry of Fira spells, burning what was left and leaving nothing but some super-heated glass in the place of the sand they had once occupied.

Donald's master of magic impressed Kairi, and she gave an impressed cheer to the duck as he turned his attention to the sky and started sending casts of Blizzara up at the Air Pirates. Kairi herself moved to help Aladdin, casting Water and knocking away several of the remaining Bandits he had to deal with.

"Thirsty?"

"Never hurts to have a bit more water in the desert."

Kairi glanced out at the ocean behind her. As of now she couldn't conjure up more than a Watera spell on her own, but maybe using an external source she could pull up some imitation of Waterga. "Watch my back, Aladdin." She flexed her fingers and jabbed a hand out toward the ocean. There wasn't much of a reaction, but she did see something start to change with the water. The water bubbled and rippled. This might just work.

A Dancer came flying at Kairi with a spinning kick, but Aladdin jumped in the way and sliced it across its chest. The Dancer ducked down and slammed its foot hard into Aladdin's gut, knocking him backwards. Aladdin pressed his hands against the sand behind him to keep from falling to the earth and then shoved himself back up, piercing the Dancer through its right leg. The Dancer replied by spinning around and backhanding Aladdin in the cheek, but he punched it in the head and then dug his scimitar into its chest.

Almost immediately after the Dancer faded a Dragoon came down from above, missing Aladdin by inches. Before Aladdin could turn around and attack the Dragoon, however, and Air Pirate swooped down and tackled the Nobody hard. It brought a fist down hard on the Dragoon's head, but the Nobody contorted its body impossibly and dodged the attack before whacking the Heartless with the length of its lance. The Air Pirate responded by a kick followed by another punch, this time to the Nobody's gut. The lance flew from its head and Aladdin snagged it from the air.

Both Heartless and Nobody turned their heads to Aladdin. Aladdin's grip was awkward on the lance, but he pointed the sharp end to the two of them all the same. "Do you get my point?" Up above, Iago groaned at the pun.

The Dragoon rushed at Aladdin, swinging wildly with its claws. When the Air Pirate moved to join in the battle, the Dragoon swung its tail and struck the Heartless across the face. The two got into a struggle and while they were distracted Aladdin tossed the lance forward with all its strength. The pink bladed tip pierced the Dragoon through the throat and it let out a wet, guttural growl as black and white wisps began flowing out of the puncture wound. The Dragoon's claws wrapped around the lance and it did manage to pull it out of its body with some struggle, but it was too late. Its body turned translucent and faded away, and the lance fell to the sand with a soft thunk.

With its opponent gone, the Air Pirate dived toward Aladdin. However, thinking fast, All, somersaulted under the tackle and picked the lance up once again. "You should split!" he shouted, swinging the lance out in front of him like a giant sword. The bladed end sliced cleanly through the Heartless, purple and black smoke escaped from the halves of its body, and it faded into darkness.

Kairi, meanwhile, had finally gathered up as much seawater as she could handle. A large orb floated above the sea, rotating and splashing slowly. Her makeshift Waterga was ready.

"Donald, Al, get clear!" Kairi pulled her arm back, spun on her heel, and then thrust her hand out toward the remaining Heartless and Nobodies. The orb of water transformed, shifting into a torrential current that arced through the sky from the ocean and crashed down on the beach. When the water flowed back out into the ocean, the three of them were safe—albeit soaking wet and covered in salt and muddy sand. A quick Aero from Donald solved the first problem, but Kairi tugged at her dirty hair with a frown.

"Boy am I glad I'm on your side," Abis Mal said as Carpet lowered to the earth.

"You're not," Donald shot back. "You're just helping us find Aladdin's dad."

Abis Mal laughed sheepishly as they climbed aboard Carpet. Aladdin took his place at the front and his eyes scanned the area. "There's no way the Forty Thieves could have come this way without running into the Heartless and Nobodies," he said. "They must have taken a different path."

"Then let's keep looking," Kairi said while running a hand through her hair. She turned to Abis Mal. "Are you certain that their base is on the beach."

The little man shrugged. "That's what the stories say."

Aladdin gripped Carpet tightly. "We'll find them. I'm not leaving without my father."

Their search must have taken hours as they glided along the length of the coast in complete silence. On a few occasions Kairi had spotted more movement from Heartless in the shadows, which prompted Carpet to climb up higher and avoid any more combat. If they were going to fight forty men to get Aladdin's dad out of his imprisonment, then they couldn't get tired out by fighting during the search.

Eventually, in a canyon near the coast, they finally found a storm of hoof prints in the sand. With renewed vigor, Carpet flew high into the sky and came to a halt so that they could search for the riders. It wasn't hard to find them, as a storm of forty horses was quite loud.

Al directed Carpet down low, and they hid behind black rocks as the Forty Thieves came to a stop at the shore of a small lagoon.

"Where's their base?" Donald asked. Abis Mal shrugged helplessly.

"Well, they've got nowhere to go," Aladdin said. "We've got 'em trapped."

"'We'?!" Iago gasped. He flew up to Aladdin and jabbed his beak into his face. "They are forty thieves! We are you, a fat guy, a duck, a kid, and me." He paused for a moment. "Wait, don't count me."

Kairi, ignoring Iago, looked over the rocks at the men. "They're just…standing there. What are they doing?"

The King of Thieves moved forward, adjusting his mask for comfort, and held his hand out over the lagoon. "Open Sesame!" he shouted, his deep voice echoing around them. The earth suddenly started to shake violent and the cliff wall on the far side of the lagoon cracked open, a sliver of bright golden light standing out against the darkness of midnight. The waters rose and parted, creating a 'canyon' in the sea that led from the shoreline to the new cave. The Forty Thieves took off down the pathway, their horses galloping at full speed to the cave.

"Let's move!" Aladdin said sharply, directing Carpet to follow the horse. The waves came crashing down mere feet behind them as Carpet flew down the parted sea. Whatever magic the King of Thieves had called upon with those words was fading quickly.

Carpet breached the opening in the cliff wall with seconds to spare and the stone wall slammed shut behind them as if the door had never been there.