A/N: Nope, still don't own Genie or Carpet.
Sorry about the long wait, guys! First we had company, then school started, now suddenly I'm drowning in work. Long story short, this probably won't be the best year of school for me.
Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 7: The Lone Rugman
Carpet was sort of in a sleeplike state when he first heard the muffled roaring from the back of the cave. For a few seconds, the rug was torn between fear and curiosity, half hanging out of the cave as he tried to decide whether or not to bolt. The roar sounded again, but this time Carpet could get something telling out of it. For one thing, whatever was making it was not going anywhere, given that it hadn't moved from the back of the cave, also, it was…in pain.
In the second his mind processed that, Carpet's inquisitiveness got the better of him. Clinging closely to the shadows, the intrepid rug slipped past spired rock and, after coming out from behind a bend in the cave, came upon the scene of a lifetime, and not in the good way. Chained to the floor was a silver, blue, and violet creature, a dragon, Genie's master, the man his master had been with when he had last seen them, and a flicker of familiar blue off to the side betrayed the presence of the jinni himself, who looked very subdued at the moment. At least until he noticed Carpet near the water entrance of the cave.
The mood change could practically be tracked through sight [not that Carpet really understood why his friend was behaving like this], disbelief, shock, fear as the jinni looked from the older man to Carpet and back, and then they both saw Genie's master bend with something in his hand. The dragon let out a low growl that sounded more like a groan, during which Genie chose to zip over to the stunned rug and float in front of him, blocking him from view.
"Listen, Rugman, I really really don't have time to explain right now, but you've gotta get out of here. This guy's on a power trip and getting more out of control by the minute! C'mon, go! I'll be fine."
The continued yowling from the river spirit chained to the floor seemed to contradict that. Carpet fluttered in midair, trying to see what was going on. Genie resolutely blocked him at every turn, taking on an outfit resembling that of a theater usher.
"Nope! This movie is rated MSMC. Material not Suited for Magic Carpets. Now move along! C'mon!"
The problem with focusing his full attention on Carpet, however, was that it left him totally blind to the fact that the Healer had noticed his efforts.
"Genie, what are you babbling about?"
Swallowing down a mild panic attack [and not doing very well], the azure entity flipped back around the other way, still blocking the stationary Magic Carpet from view. Genie wasn't sure what the man would do to the rug, but he had no desire to find out. And, worse still, Carpet hadn't moved. If anything, he pressed in further to Genie, as though convinced that somehow that would protect him.
"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Just…chasing out a bird!" Genie ad-libbed, donning a farmer outfit and waving a pitchfork in the direction of the cave entrance. "Yeah, those pesky critters just get into everything! Everything, I tell you! Worst pests since cockroaches!"
Given that Carpet was plastered so close to him that he was near invisible unless Genie turned completely around, the Healer might have been fooled. Until he noticed a distinct gold tassel sticking out from behind Genie. With a quick motion that the jinni was too slow to stop, the man's hand shot out, gripping the tassel and pulling it, and the rug it was attached to, out into the open. Carpet twisted and flailed, easily recognizing the ways of a magic monger, and reacting accordingly. Genie internally cringed, but was altogether powerless to do anything. He couldn't interfere with his current master, at least not directly. At this point, grabbing Carpet away would have been pretty direct.
He, however, could defend the rug on a verbal standpoint.
"Ah, that! Quite a find, really, but not worth a penny! Totally worthless, really! No point in keeping it!"
"On the contrary, I believe this is quite valuable. There aren't many…magic carpets in the world nowadays, yes? Perhaps when this project is finished," He thought aloud, gazing at the captive river spirit with something close to hunger. Carpet twisted in a frantic bid for freedom, but fruitlessly so. In response, the Healer pinned the flailing rectangle of fabric under a table leg. A particularly vehement roar from the dragon snapped all of their attention back to the drama going on a few feet away on the rock floor. The muzzle on the reptile had slipped off, revealing the savagery that presented itself in rows of gleaming teeth that were bared in a knee- jerk reaction to frighten off her tormentor. But, unbeknownst to the others, Ribadore had other ideas in mind.
"Marid!"
Despite the fact that it had the growling undertone that identified a predator, the faint echoes of the girl he had watched, followed, and loved were there. He paused, knife still firmly in hand.
"If you really wish to know why I never accepted your advances, it was because you, as a human, only saw what you wanted to see. As I am now, you would not have looked twice at me before killing me, as your people have done to the rest of my kind. You often fear what you do not understand, and now, you are only proving my point." For just a moment, a small flicker of recognition appeared in Marid's eyes. It seemed as though her words had broken through the spell. "If I am wrong about you, and your kind, show me."
The unaffected eyes stayed full with clarity for a few seconds longer, before something inside them seemed to smolder and darken. Before any could bat an eyelash, the spell had reconsolidated it's hold on Marid's mind, more powerful than it had minutes ago.
"You aren't her. Don't pretend to be. You are a monster. DON'T IMITATE HER!" Marid was nearly bellowing by that time, and the small knife came down again.
Yeah, it wasn't my intention to put Ribadore in a bad light when I first wrote this. Though, you have to think about it from her standpoint a little. Humans, to her, are a somewhat selfish group of creatures that have destroyed a part of the world around her river, and others of her kind, because of fear. It's sort of like what Goliath told Demona in Gargoyles.
"It is the nature of humankind to fear what they do not understand."
Also, take a look at the episode 'Garden of Evil'. The whole mess was caused by one big misunderstanding. It happens even more so than we think.