Spellbound
Author's Note: Because most of you seem to enjoy Puck – and the clever little bugger actually managed to find a way to make his presence important to the plot – I've decided to allow him to make further "guest appearances." Rest assured, however, that I won't let him take over the story (no matter how adorable he thinks he is).
And now, let the plot commence!
Chapter 9: The Choice
"You what?"
Sadira had never seen Aladdin so angry.
It wasn't as though she could blame him. She'd known this moment wasn't going to be pleasant, which was why she'd been dreading telling them the truth since they left last night. Puck had provided some distraction for a while, but after seeing how tired she was, he'd taken his leave of her, remarking that he wanted to "see the sights of your fair city, dear mortal." There had been a wicked glint in his eyes that Sadira was quickly becoming familiar with, and she'd asked him if he could please leave Agrabah in one piece while he roamed about.
"I make no promises," Puck had said airily, and he'd disappeared before Sadira could get reassurance that he was just kidding. Still, she hadn't been too worried. Puck was definitely mischievous, but he didn't strike her as malevolent.
When he departed, she was left alone with her own thoughts. She was tired, so tired, but images of Mozenrath kept entering her mind, completely unbidden, and when she tried to think of something else, she could only focus on what she was going to have to say at the palace in the morning.
In the end, she'd just mixed up a sleeping potion and downed it one gulp, which led to a deep and mercifully dreamless night's rest.
She'd woken in the morning feeling nervous, but resolved. As she'd made her way to the palace, she'd looked around to see if Puck had wreaked his havoc anywhere, but the marketplace looked the same to her. For a moment she'd thought he hadn't caused any trouble at all – that is, until she actually met up with Jasmine and the rest, who looked rather weary and annoyed. Genie, she noticed, was absent from their little gathering.
"You missed a fun night," Iago had said sarcastically by way of greeting.
"What happened?"
Aladdin had frowned. "It's difficult to describe, exactly. But if I didn't know any better, I'd swear Chaos had been paying us another visit."
"Everything's alright, isn't it?" She'd asked anxiously. They'd already be mad enough when they learned about her association with Mozenrath; she didn't want to have to have to take responsibility for unleashing a potentially dangerous native of Avalon on them as well.
"It's fine, Sadira. Genie said there was some magical force at work, but he couldn't figure out the source. And whatever it was, it seems to have vanished with the dawn," Jasmine had told her. "He's still trying to track it down now, that's why he's not here."
The princess had looked a little tired as she spoke, but otherwise none the worse for the wear, and Sadira had felt a brief moment of relief before she continued. "Now, you were going to tell us where you've been? We were really worried …"
Sadira had swallowed then, nervously. "Yeah, right. Um, first let me just say that, whatever happens, you have to know I'm on your side, and I'm going to protect you …"
"Protect us?" Jasmine had asked, puzzled. "From what?"
She'd taken a deep breath. "Maybe you better sit down for this."
And then, she had told them everything, starting at the beginning, when Mozenrath had approached her with his bargain, after their battle at the palace.
Well, not everything. Even as guilty as she felt about it all, she still thought she was entitled to some degree of privacy, and so she had left out that parts that involved her more personal moments with the sorcerer. And though she talked a bit about the island, she didn't really discuss its inhabitants, or its supposed ruler, mostly because they would have been too difficult to describe, but partly because the magic and the wonder of it all was something she wasn't ready to share.
Also, for some weird reason, she felt that Mozenrath deserved some privacy as well. So she hadn't mentioned anything about what the water-woman had hinted at on Avalon, about him losing his parents and his sister.
Why she thought she owed him that, she didn't know.
Needless to say, by the end of her story, her friends were not happy with her. If she could even still call them her friends.
But Aladdin was the angriest of all.
"I … I just wanted to learn magic properly …"
"So you made a bargain with Mozenrath? What were you thinking?" He fumed. But as difficult as it was to face, his reaction wasn't the worst part.
"Sadira, how could you?" Jasmine's quite reproach stung more than the full force of Aladdin's rage. "After all we've be through, why would you do this?"
"He … he was going die …" And he still will, eventually. She willed herself not to cry.
"Then you should have let him," Aladdin said coldly, much to everyone's shock. His loathing of Mozenrath was completely understandable; still, to hear him actually talk like that was disquieting.
"Aladdin …" Jasmine said softly, but his gaze was fixed on Sadira.
"He wasn't tricked into anything, Sadira. When he … when we drank the Elixir of Life, he could have been healed then, he could have been normal, if only he'd been willing to give up that stupid gauntlet. If power means more to him than his own life, then he damn well should have to face the consequences of his own actions!"
"But –"
"He tried to steal my body from me, Sadira." There was an intensity in his voice that she'd never heard before. "Do you know how that felt? It was worse than if he'd tried to kill me. Can you imagine what it's like, to look in the mirror and see that someone else is wearing your face as a mask? To feel like you're going crazy, being taken over … do you have any idea of how … how violated I …"
Sadira felt both horrified and guilty. She hadn't given any thought to how traumatic the experience of Mozenrath's first plot to survive must have been for Aladdin.
Jasmine rushed over and put her arms around Aladdin comfortingly. He clasped her hand briefly, nodding his reassurance that he'd be alright, and then turned to Sadira again.
"How could you make a pact with someone so evil?"
"But he's not evil!" Sadira protested before she could stop herself. "I mean, not completely. There's more to him than that, I know there is!"
Jasmine stared at her as if she'd grown an extra head, her mouth hanging open. "Sadira … do you actually have feelings for him?"
Her face burned with shame, and she looked away.
"No! No of course I don't, I just –"
"Look at me," Jasmine demanded, and Sadira reluctantly met her gaze, her eyes filling with tears. The princess read the truth of it in her expression.
"You do," Jasmine gasped. Then she shook her head, and laughed bitterly. "Wow, Sadira. You sure know how to pick 'em." There was a hardness to the princess' voice that she'd never heard there before, and it made her heart break all over again.
"Jasmine, please –"
But then she stopped, staring at something over the princess' shoulder. Following her gaze, they all turned around – to see Xerxes, floating in the air.
"Sadira, Master is coming. Please, no fight him …"
"Now?" Sadira quailed. "He's coming now?"
She'd thought she'd have a little more time, at least. Time to prepare, time to try and protect her friends, before she had to face Mozenrath.
What if she couldn't stand against him?
No. She couldn't think like that, not now. She would make this up to them, she would make this right.
She would defend them with her life.
"I'm sorry Xerxes, but I have to." She raised her arms and recited one of the Grimorum's incantations from memory:
Per usum meum adsumate signo tuto uto care.*
Magic sparkled around Jasmine, Aladdin, Iago, and Abu. Aladdin glared at her.
"What did you do to us?"
"You'll see," Sadira said. Suddenly, she was feeling strangely calm. You'll see, and you might even thank me for it later, if I'm still around.
He was already here, she knew. After all the time they'd spent together, she could sense when he was near.
Sadira turned from them, to face Mozenrath.
She remembered the first time she'd encountered him, how powerful he had seemed, how she'd doubted she could match her skills against his.
Sadira could still feel the power radiating off of him, but it was different now. For one thing, she knew what that power was costing him.
And for another, this time, she was far better equipped for a fight.
They stood there, staring at each other, sizing each other up. Sadira's face held a grim determination, but Mozenrath's expression was impossible to read. After a long moment, his face broke into a sneer.
"So nice to see you again, my dear little witch. And much sooner than you expected, I trust? I always did favor the element of surprise …"
His voice trailed off, and for a beat, he waited for her to correct him, as she usually did. To tell him not to call her that, to say that her name was Sadira, to snap at him with all of her usual passionate spark. But she said nothing, only looked at him, her hands held up in a defensive posture, her beautiful eyes impossibly wide.
Finally, she spoke. "I won't let you take over Agrabah. And I won't let you hurt my friends."
There was none of the usual fire in her voice. She spoke calmly and firmly, as if reciting a simple, immutable fact. Mozenrath felt an odd sort of fear grip him at that moment, a strong sense of déjà vu. But he forced himself to laugh cruelly.
"You actually think you can fight me?"
"It's like you said. I learned from the best."
And with that, their magics met.
Sand and lightning, fire and flood. They struck at each other with all their strength and skill, circling, weaving, and looking for weaknesses, an intimate and deadly dance. Sadira heard Aladdin's voice, coming as if from somewhere very distant, calling frantically for Genie. She was not the least bit surprised when Mozenrath paused in their battle to show Aladdin his friend, captured in something that resembled the Crystal of Ix.
"Catch!" He shouted, tossing the caged Genie in Aladdin's direction. He immediately dove and caught the object, looking for a way to get Genie out, and finding none.
Mozenrath dodged another magical blast from Sadira, and used the opportunity of Aladdin's distraction to strike at him with the gauntlet –
Only to see his magic deflected, rebounding as if off an invisible shield. He tried again, aiming at Jasmine this time, only to have the same result. Fuming, he turned to Sadira.
"You!" He snapped. "How –"
"The protection spell, from the Grimorum."
For a moment, he looked both frustrated and proud. "Such a clever little witch. But not clever enough. I can break your spell –"
"No you can't!" Sadira shouted. "You can't, and you know it! Not that spell, not one from the Grimorum Arcanorum! Why do you think I chose it in the first place? Face it, Mozenrath, you've lost! You taught me too well, after all."
He looked at her then, in a way that made her blood run cold. Whatever she had seen in him, whatever she had felt from him or for him that had made her think he still had a heart – it seemed to whither before her very eyes.
"There is one to way to end your spell, Sadira," he said, in a low, deadly voice. "If you die … the spell dies with you."
Sadira heard Jasmine gasp in horror. Aladdin shouted, "Mozenrath, if you hurt her, I'll –"
"Stay out of it, street rat!" The sorcerer snapped. He lit his gauntlet, and suddenly, Aladdin and the rest were in chains. Sadira's spell had prevented him from hurting them, but she'd cast it so quickly and impulsively, she hadn't thought to include protection against simple imprisonment.
You need to be more careful, Mozenrath had said to her, during so many of their lessons.
And damn him, he'd been right all along.
Mozenrath approached the chained Aladdin, scowling. "You thought you'd be her hero, was that it? Isn't one girlfriend enough for you?"
"Jealous, Mozenrath?" Aladdin taunted. For a moment, the sorcerer looked very angry, but then he just sneered again.
"Hardly. The little witch means nothing to me. And as soon as I get her to lift the spell, I'll deal with you permanently …
"I'm not going to lift the spell," Sadira said calmly. He turned to her.
"Yes you are," he snapped.
Sadira folded her arms across her chest. "No, I'm not. I told you, I won't let you hurt them. At least, not while I still draw breath."
"Sadira …"
"If you want to end the spell, you're going to have to kill me."
He stared at her. "You … you think I can't? You think I won't?"
Once again, she took on her typical defensive posture, the one she always used to ward off magical attacks.
"You can try," she said.
She was standing all wrong. He had the sudden, ridiculous urge to go over to her, to touch her, to gently adjust her stance, as he had done that night on the ship, so that at least she was doing it right. She'd come so far, but she still had much to learn. So much potential …
"Don't … don't be stupid, Sadira …"
"Too late," she said, a slight quaver in her voice. "I already did that when I got involved with you."
"You will lift the spell!"
"I will not!"
"Damn it Sadira, stop being so stubborn!"
"I thought you liked that about me," she whispered. There were tears in her eyes again.
"I hate that about you! You – you are the most impossible, infuriating –"
"Then what are you waiting for?"
"Don't think I won't do it!"
"Don't think I'll go down without a fight!"
For just a moment – perhaps she only imagined it – he looked stricken. Then his expression hardened, and he lifted his gloved hand.
"So be it," he said coldly. "One way or the other, your spell will end."
She felt the heat and power of his magic approaching her. In that moment, her courage failed, and she closed her eyes, bracing for the impact, the pain. And then, finally, she felt …
Nothing.
After a moment, when she realized she was still in one piece, she slowly opened her eyes. Then she lowered her arms, and looked at him.
He'd lowered his gloved hand, and now he was just … staring at her.
"Damn you, Sadira," he whispered. "What have you done to me?"
"You … you didn't kill me," she said, stunned.
"He didn't kill her," Jasmine echoed in relieved shock, but Sadira hardly heard. All her attention was focused on Mozenrath.
She walked over to where he was standing. "You didn't kill me," she repeated softly.
"I can't. You know I can't."
"You … you won't hurt me," Sadira realized. "You won't hurt me, not ever."
"No, little witch, I won't hurt you. Not ever."
Sadira put a hand to his face, and he could not bring himself to pull away from her touch.
"My name," she said softly, "Is not 'little witch.' It's Sadira."
And then, she kissed him.
She knew Jasmine and the rest were watching, watching and probably judging, but she didn't care. And neither did he. He wrapped his arms around her, practically lifting her off the ground, and for a moment, they were the only two people in the world –
"Um, excuse me. I really hate to interrupt this beautiful, touching moment, but could one of you dear, dear little mortals be so kind as to … hide me?"
At the sound of the all-too-familiar voice, the embracing sorcerers broke apart. Along with the rest, they stared up at the owner of said voice, who floated about them all, looking very nervous indeed.
"Who are you?" Aladdin demanded, but Puck ignored him.
"Hide me," he said to Sadira. "Please?"
It took a moment for her to find her voice. "Hide you from what?"
"Hey!" Genie said suddenly. Somehow, while Mozenrath and Sadira had been … distracted, he'd managed to escape his cage, and free his friends as well. Now, he pointed angrily up the little trickster.
"That's the guy who caused all the trouble last night, I can tell!" He rolled up his sleeves. "I'll teach you to mess with my friends, you –"
"Oh come off it, big blue," Puck taunted, suddenly sounding less nervous and more amused. He bared his teeth at Genie, much has he had done with Anansi on Avalon. "I've forgotten more magic than you'll ever know –"
He was interrupted by a rumbling which seemed to shake the very foundations of the palace. The air went dark and cold, and all of them, immortals and humans alike, were filled with an enormous sense of dread.
"Hide me!" Puck said frantically, his bravado gone. He zipped down and got behind Sadira. "Hide me gentle mortal, hide me dear mortal, hide me before she comes –"
"Who?" Sadira asked, but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.
"Queen Mab," Puck whispered. "She must have found out I lied about where Oberon was, and now she's coming to …" He couldn't finish. "Hide me, help me, please."
"Help you?" Mozenrath asked incredulously. "Even if we wanted to, how do you expect us to fight Mab?"
"I don't know! Get iron!" Puck exclaimed. "Get lots of iron! Come on, I helped you on Avalon! You owe me, mortals –"
"Will someone explain what's going on here?" Aladdin interrupted angrily. "Sadira, I know you mentioned Avalon, but who is this Mab? I want to know right now!"
The palace shook again, and out of nowhere, a cloud of black magic appeared. Puck gave a little squeak of terror before he spoke.
"Never thought I'd have to say this to a mortal with a genie, but … be careful what you wish for, Aladdin. You're about to found out."
*Latin, roughly translated as "Through my skill receive this protective spell to use, o precious ones."