Chapter 8: Goldilocks Part 2

When Alibaba woke up, he immediately sensed that something was wrong.

The first indicator was that he tied up in rope.

"What the hell," he grumbled, voice heavy from slumber. He wriggled his limbs, finding his wrists bounded behind his back. His ankles and knees were locked together.

He tried to shake away the sleepy haze and tried to survey his surroundings. He was in a tent which appeared to be vaguely familiar. Red drapes were pitched high above the rugs-spread ground, creating a spacious interior. Pushed to one side were satin pillows. He had foggy recollections of stumbling inside…somewhere. That somewhere was evidently this tent.

He ran his tongue within the corners of his mouth, tasting the residue of a savory mushiness. While he didn't have to worry about pangs of hunger… Well, actually, that might be a source of concern. After the event that took place before he got here, he should have been starving. He had been largely depleted of energy at the Dungeon and hadn't eaten prior to that, after all. Was his full stomach related to him being tied up?

Alibaba worried his lower lip. As far as his memories could take him, he knew that he had woken up in a field and made his way into a woodsy terrain. He had been heavily disoriented but had managed to come upon this tent. He had entered here on his own accord. So he hadn't been kidnapped, but had…intruded? Was that why he was like this?

He grimaced. Okay, so he technically had brought this upon himself, but he didn't have time to act as prisoner (again). He needed to get out of here and find Yunan, Kassim, and Alamir.

Alibaba struggled against his bindings with vigor, yet the feat was futile. He only gained burning wrists that were chafing against the coarseness of the rope. He attempted to squirm his way to the tent's opening, but only succeeded moving an inch from his original spot.

He sighed. He didn't keep track of how long he had been doing this, but he knew that it was long enough for him to get tired again. He decided to close his eyes and try to get a quick nap before the owner of the tent would return.

"Wakey, wakey! It's time to get up!"

Alibaba groaned and groggily opened his eyes. Squatting before him was a short fat man wearing an eyepatch. The man's appearance normally wouldn't have interested Alibaba so much had it not been for the flute dangling from his swollen neck.

Alamir's flute.

Alibaba jolted into full awareness. He clenched his fists—his ring was missing from his person too.

"Lookie here! The little lady is now awake."

"Is that so, Brother?" Standing from the side was a slim and good-looking man. He wore a smile on his carefree expression that made him appear to be an airheaded simpleton than a pleasant fellow. He dropped the arm that held a scroll over his chin and strode forward close enough to tower over Alibaba. "I suppose you are correct in your assumption that she's pretty enough to be sold off, especially with those doe-like eyes."

Alibaba was alarmed. Sold off to? Did that mean what he thought it meant…?

The fat man rubbed his chin contemplatively. "Yes, but we should get her cleaned. She won't make much of a sell if we display her all filthy like this."

"Um, excuse me—" the blond croaked, but was cut off with a swift kick to the stomach.

"Quiet, Goldy! No one said that you can talk," the fat man snapped.

He wheezed. It shouldn't have hurt more than it did, but his body was already aching from his last moments in the Dungeon. From his wavering focus, Alibara caught snippets from the fat man's rant about paying his debt from eating all the food. What reeled him back was when there was mention of Alibaba going to be sold off as a slave. It was just as he had feared.

Of all the places to stumble into, he had to run into slave traders.

"—But you've got too much dirt on ya, so we'll be adding onto your debt. Consider it your cleaning fee."

How generous. A service that he didn't even ask for.

"Is L Nando around?"

"He should be. Oi, L Nando!"

"I'm here, Brother." An enormous ogre-like man slipped through the flaps of the tent's entrance. His shirtless body was thickly padded, making him look portly. However, unlike his eyepatch brother, this giant looked like he could pick up an average-sized man and easily snap him in half. "Is there somethin' ya need?"

"Could you take the girl to the river?"

His piggish eyes shifted towards Alibaba. "Oh, her. Sure thing, Brother." With each step, it was as if the ground could quake from L Nando's heavy approach. He grabbed Alibaba's waist and hoisted him over his shoulder, eliciting a grunt from him. "Ya want me to just dunk her?"

"Yeah, just like that."

"Okay."

Outside of the tent, Alibaba squinted from the sudden bright sunshine. He blearily scoped the area. It was just as he recalled—a forest. This was a forest, right? The pictures in books he had seen when he was younger depicted forests to be denser with trees and foliage, but the terrain here was sparser. Also, there weren't any pitched tents and men strolling about in the books.

"Hey, L Nando, gonna have fun with your lady friend?" one of the men called out to him, and the others around began to hoot and laugh.

When L Nando passed by them, Alibaba could see that the men were dressed in pale robes lined with black fur. Most of them wore head coverings. Judging by the attire, Alibaba hazarded a guess that he was still in the Tenzan Plateau. He had a harder time looking at L Nando or his brothers since they looked distinctly mixed of both Eastern and Western influences.

L Nando laughed at the man's remark. "Nah, she's too scrawny for the likes of me."

"If you ain't gonna play with her, then how about leaving her with us?"

"No can do. At least, not now. If you want, take it up to my brother." With that said, the man continued to go on his way.

Alibaba's mind drifted back to what the fat man had told him. By his additional "debt", he had a few ideas as to what they had been referring to. If they were going out of their way to give him a bath, then they wanted him to look presentable. And if they wanted him presentable, then they intended to sell him to someone who had plans to do with his "pretty" face. The implications made him tremble with disgust, anxiety, and anger.

They were going to get a nasty shock once they discover that he happened to be a man, Alibaba thought spitefully. They wouldn't be able to make a profit off of him then. Not when he didn't have boobs or—

The shock of cold water that his body was thrown into caused him to gasp. Water entered his windpipes, causing him to fall into compulsory sputtering and hacking. His bangs curtained his vision, so he couldn't see L Nando reaching out for him. He felt his body being lifted into the air, only to be thrown back into the body of water.

This was what L Nando meant by dunking him? By literally dunking him?

His bare hands and knees scraped against a gritty floor. His fingers curled around the substance and felt grainy particles escape through them. Was—was he in a pond? A lake? He probably was—the water didn't taste salty.

L Nando threw him in one last time before throwing him over his shoulder. Alibaba felt like a wet rag—washed without a care, and then tossed over when ready to use again. He also felt strangely tired for someone who did nothing but undergo a drowning-cleaning process.

He vaguely wondered if Yunan would suffer from a conniption if he ever found out that his supposed goddaughter was being used like this.

"Hmm. Would Brother want me to take you with the other slaves or back to him?" L Nando mused aloud.

Was Alibaba supposed to answer? But when he had tried to say something to the fat man, he had gotten a kick to the stomach. He didn't think that it would be wise to try it on his much bulkier sibling.

It seemed that the man made up his mind as he ambled his way past the trees and into a new direction. Alibaba continued his uncontrollable coughing fits. To his luck, L Nando didn't seem to notice—or probably didn't care.

When the discomfort in his chest subsided, Alibaba sighed softly and allowed himself to slump heavily forward. So, what he had hoped for didn't happen since he had expected he would be given a normal bath. Even if he was going to be treated as a piece of merchandise, Alibaba had thought that they would clean him by more effective means.

Thinking about his current circumstance caused his anger to return.

Well, this was just great. He had nearly gotten himself slayed by Jamil's monster of a bodyguard, had barely escaped freaky Dungeon creatures, and still looked like a girl. And all for what? To get a Djinn that he didn't want to begin with and to get caught by a bunch of slave traders? This didn't feel so much like the magical destiny that Yunan had guaranteed him of having.

And where was Yunan? For an all-powerful Magi, he should have located him by now. And what about Kassim and Alamir? Where were they? Alibaba couldn't remember much beyond the blaze of fire and swiping Al's flute from Maimoonah. But if Alibaba made it out alive, then could the others have as well?

He raked through his memories. Sinbad had written that he had entered Dungeons with his friends and rivals, and that they had left with him being the victor. But had they left together? Or had they been separated? To his peaking frustration, he couldn't remember. It had been years since he read Sinbad's adventures and yet, even so, he should have at least recalled this part of the story.

Frustration turned into concern. What if Yunan, Kassim, and Alamir had died in the flames? Or what if Amon's Dungeon didn't allow any survivors aside from Alibaba himself? Was he truly alone, then?

Alibaba hadn't been happy living his life as a servant back in Balbadd, but he hadn't been unhappy either. Had he known that this would have happened, he never would have left the palace.

He sighed again and dropped his eyes to the ground. At the corner of his vision, he spotted something. Dangling from L Nando's pants was his satchel.

Immediately, he thought of Morgiana and her brute strength. He didn't know if she was still alive or not after being sucked into the satchel's void, but, if she was, then this could be an opportunity of escape. It would be chancy, though, since the last thing that she remembered was fighting against him and Kassim, but he knew that she would be L Nando's match in terms of strength.

Of course, he couldn't grab the satchel now. He could hardly reach it what with his hands tied behind him. He figured that he could seize the opportunity to do so once he would be set down.

L Nando walked by several tents only to enter one. The interior was reminiscent to the previous tent's, yet the only notable difference was the occupier. Sitting on one of the chairs was a shaggy-haired man. Upon L Nando's entry, the man looked up from his scroll and stared at Alibaba with interest as Alibaba was set down on his rear. His face was strangely feminine with his delicate cheekbones, long lashes, and red lips, yet the frame of his body was decidedly masculine.

What was with pretty men and their scrolls?

"What do we have here, L Nando?" he asked, getting up from his seat and moving towards them. He dressed similarly to the men that L Nando had encountered, but the way he carried himself indicated that he was some sort of head honcho of this ring. The deliberately aristocratic tone and the confident strut basically gave it away.

"Eh, some girl that Brother found in his tent. He decided that she'd make a selling."

"Oh?" The pretty man knelt in front of Alibaba and grabbed his chin. He tensed as his face was being forced to move at angles for the man to inspect. "Hm. She looks like she would make quite a fetching price. She's even docile at that."

"Brother didn't seem to think so when he found that she ate all of our porridge and slept with a full stomach."

"Nonsense. This girl is all stick and bones. Aren't you?" He tilted Alibaba's chin upwards and smirked at him, but Alibaba's lips remained sealed.

L Nando waved dismissively. "Whatever. I can leave her to you, right, Fatima?"

"Of course. I need to properly assess her before pricing her."

Properly assess? What was that? A full body check?

"Then I'll be taking my leave," L Nando said. The hulking man turned around and made steps to the exit. Oh no—if he left, then how would Alibaba get the satchel? The area was large enough that even finding a man of his size would be difficult.

Alibaba didn't want to do this, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

"The ropes," Alibaba whimpered in his best feminine voice. "They hurt."

Fatima's attention was drawn back to him. "Is that so, my dear?" he said, amusement evident in his voice.

Alibaba jutted out his lower lip and widened his eyes. "Please, sir. Would you please cut them? I… I wouldn't be able to escape anyways…"

The man snorted. "Of course, you won't." Nevertheless, he secured a hand on his upper arm as he procured a knife to slice the bindings. When the ropes fell, Alibaba brought his hands before him, seeing how his raw wrists were.

This was now his chance!

Alibaba brought up his leg and kicked Fatima squarely in the chest. This act of surprise allowed him to rip his arm from Fatima's grasp and roll to the side. He then pushed himself onto his feet and made a dash onwards. He heard Fatima made an alarmed sound behind him as he felt a few tugs on the ends of his tresses (he tried to grab his hair?).

Because of L Nando's weight, his body was too slow to react to Alibaba's action. Alibaba clung onto his satchel and purposefully dropped to the side to evade any swipes made at him and to utilize his weight to detach the satchel from L Nando's person. Alibaba, upon nearly hitting the ground, summersaulted until he was back onto his heels.

He spun around, fleetingly catching the men's baffled and livid expressions, and upended the bag.

Nothing.

Oh snap. He seriously that that would have worked.

Time for Plan B: Run.

Once upon a time, there was a maiden

Her face was youthful, her long hair was a cascade of gold, and her clothes were of but a simple dress. An unassuming yet lovely lady was what she was.

The maiden wandered aimlessly in the woods until she came upon a large tent. Feeling famished, she called if anyone was inside, but she received no response. Puzzled, she poked her head inside. Sitting on a mat were three bowls of porridge.

The maiden was unable to contain herself as she impulsively sampled from the first bowl and the second bowl. Deeming them too hot and too cold, she went for the third bowl, which was just right. She ate everything from that bowl.

After eating her meal, she felt sleepy. She turned around and found three pillows, which she tested the first pillow and the second pillow. Deeming them too hard and too soft, she went for the third pillow, which was just right. She lied down and closed her eyes. Soon, she drifted off into a deep slumber.

Meanwhile, three brothers were making their way back home. When they entered their tent, they were alarmed to discover that it was a mess inside. They looked over to the mat where they had placed their bowls of porridge, which they had intended to eat later.

"Someone has been eating my porridge!" the eldest brother said.

"Someone has been eating my porridge!" the middle brother said.

"Someone ate all of my porridge!" the youngest brother said.

They turned around and noticed that their food wasn't the only thing they had to worry about.

"Someone has been using my pillow!" the eldest brother said.

"Someone has been using my pillow!" the middle brother said.

"Someone is sleeping on my pillow!" the youngest brother said.

The three brothers gathered around the sleeping maiden. Bewildered, the brothers were uncertain what to do. Then the eldest brother had an idea.

"Why don't we sell the girl?" the eldest brother suggested.

"That is a wonderful idea," the middle brother exclaimed.

"Truly wonderful!" the youngest brother agreed.

Thus, the brothers had the maiden tied up in rope in case she woke up before they could do anything with her. During this, they confiscated her only belongings: a flute, a ring, and a satchel. The eldest brother kept the flute, the middle brother kept the ring, and the youngest brother kept the satchel.

Finished, the brothers smiled at each other, believing that, despite the trouble the girl had caused them, the result would be worth it.

What they didn't count on was the fact that the maiden was a troublesome one.

Alibaba deftly dodged the grabby hands of the men he passed by as he continued to sprint. He could hear Fatima's distant shouts of capturing him, but Alibaba felt a bit assured that his demonstrated agility was too much for the others to keep up.

He definitely needed to cut his hair, though. Many of them nearly caught him because of it.

There wasn't anywhere for him to hide, and he knew that he couldn't outrun them forever. There was a startling number of people here. Why would a group need this many slave traders? Unless they already had an abundance of slaves stored away somewhere to keep them in line? Regardless of the reason, they would soon corner him if he didn't act soon.

Alibaba slipped inside a tent and waited for the thundering sounds of running feet to pass by. He released a sigh and looked up, locking gazes with L Nando's pretty brother.

"Oh my," the man said.

Alibaba didn't waste a minute jumping on him. The pretty brother yelped, but Alibaba muffled him in time before his pitch could grow loud enough to attract attention. Alibaba sat on his stomach with his knees pinning down his arms. The man's struggles were futile.

Alibaba had known that the man was slim, but he was surprised to find that he lacked any strength whatsoever. It was laughingly easy how Alibaba could overpower him.

The blond quickly patted the man's side until his fingers brushed against a handle. He whipped out the dagger and pointed it at his neck.

"If you don't want to die, I suggest you do as I say," Alibaba warned.

The man swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.

"Do you have a ring that you and your brothers took from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he cried. Alibaba pressed the sharp edge closer, causing the man to flinch. "Alas, I confess! I happen to be wearing it right now."

He was? Alibaba quickly glanced over at his left hand. Wrapped around his fourth finger was a diamond ring. There was a black detail on the center of the diamond that Alibaba was too far to make out, but he knew that it was it was the mark of the Star of Solomon.

He had his satchel and he had his ring. Now, all he needed to do was get Alamir's flute.

It was going to risky, but it was worth a shot.

"Get up," he commanded, "We're going out."

Alibaba grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. He then kept the dagger trained at his jugular. Just as the pretty man was now a nervous wreck, Alibaba himself felt his heart get caught in his throat. He never had done this before and hated doing it, but he had to do it. He had to maintain his cool.

Stepping outside once more, the men nearby took notice of him and ran in his direction.

"Don't move!" Alibaba yelled, making a show of the dagger. The men stilled. "If you do, I'll kill him!"

"You wouldn't dare, Goldy,"one sneered.

"Don't test me." To show that he wasn't bluffing, Alibaba created a slight cut below the man's jawline. A small stream of blood began to pour, and the man shrieked in panic.

"Shit, the boss isn't going to be happy about this," Alibaba heard one of them mutter.

More and more men immediately increased the crowd that gathered around Alibaba. This sent Alibaba on the edge, yet, soon enough, he heard a familiar voice crying out for his brother.

"Outta my way," the fat man snapped, pushing his way to the front. "M Nando! M Nando!"

M Nando? The pretty man's name was M Nando? What were their parents thinking naming their sons like that?

"Brother!" M Nando cried.

"You bitch!" the fat man seethed. "First you barge into our tent like you owned the place and now you have my little brother as your captive? You cold heartless fiend!"

Oh, so he was the bad guy now? They were the ones who wanted to whore him out!

"Give me the flute or I'll kill him," Alibaba said.

The fury on the fat man's face shifted into that of terror. "Don't kill my brother!"

"Then give me the flute that you stole from me!"

"Alright, alright!" He untied the string and tossed the flute over to Alibaba. Alibaba, without releasing M Nando and the dagger, quickly gathered the flute into his satchel. "Now, let him go!"

"Not yet." Alibaba forced M Nando to move along with him. "If you try to attack, I'll mark him up badly. If you follow, I'll plunge the blade into his stomach. If you let me go, I'll leave him alive."

"Boss, what do we do?" someone asked. Alibaba stared. The fat man was the actual head honcho? He didn't see that coming.

The fat man grounded his teeth. Finally, he said, "Do as she says. But," he said this to Alibaba now, "if you dare harm him again, I'll bring you a worse fate than what I had planned for you before."

Judging by his stormy expression, Alibaba knew that he meant it. Alibaba nodded curtly and began to walk. The crowd, while fixated on his movements, parted to allow his exit. Alibaba kept alert in case there was someone who would strike him from behind despite the fat man's blatant distress for his brother's safety.

Once the slave traders were out of sight, Alibaba transitioned their deliberate pace to a hurried one. He pulled on M Nando's arm to get him to keep up. Once they were somewhere where Alibaba felt assured that he was relatively safe, he tucked the knife inside the belt that cinched his dress around his waist. He then repositioned his grip on M Nando so that the ring was facing up at him.

Alibaba tugged on it.

And tugged and tugged.

The ring didn't come off.

"What the hell?"

"Alas, what misfortune!" M Nando wept prettily. "To be stuck in this situation..."

"That's my line," Alibaba groused. "Okay, it looks like it's not coming off."

"Please don't cut off my finger!"

"I'm not going to do that!" He exasperatedly shook his head. He pulled out the dagger held it by the ring. "Amon, Djinn of Politeness and Austerity, I command you to transfer yourself onto this dagger."

No response.

"Um, Amon, would you please move from the ring to the dagger?"

No response.

"I beg your pardon, but why are you talking to the ring?" M Nando asked.

"Because I'm going crazy," Alibaba muttered gravely.

"I've been captured by a mad woman! To think that this would be the reason for my demise!"

Alibaba stared at him bewilderedly. Did this guy always spout dramatics or did he do this only when he was under stress?

He then scowled. From a distance, he could hear people loping about in their direction. Did the brother not take his threat seriously? Not that Alibaba would actually inflict serious damage to M Nando, but he thought that he acted perfectly menacingly. Perhaps his menacing acting just wasn't convincing enough.

"We're going," Alibaba urged.

"Pardon? Why drag me along?" M Nando whined. "You promised that you would release me!"

"Because my ring is glued to your finger! Unless you really want me to cut your finger off, you better do as I say," he snapped.

"Eek!"

And, so, Alibaba and M Nando ran. It seemed that all Alibaba did was run lately. He wondered how much more he could take this. It wasn't as if he had received regular endurance training back when he had served at the palace.

Before them, the terrain looked like it discontinued. Were they going to have to run down a slope? While that might be advantageous in terms of speed, towing along an already breathless man wouldn't be so safe. Alibaba knew that M Nando would end up tripping over his own feet and falling on his face. When that would happen, he would have to think of a way to get him to roll down.

The slave traders were gaining on him since he could clearly hear their voices. Alibaba pressed forward in urgency, but just when he saw what was over the pinnacle of the slope, he found that it was no slope at all.

It was the edge of a cliff.

It was a daunting height with a wide river rushing fiercely below. The torrent crashed against jagged rocks that jutted upwards amid the river. Alibaba cautiously backed away and looked over his shoulder. The slave traders arrived.

"It's the end of the line for you, Goldy," one called out to him, brandishing his sword.

"Hand over the boss's brother and we'll spare you."

After the stunt he had pulled? As if.

M Nando burst out exclamations of relief. Alibaba felt guilty for what he was about to next.

He opened his satchel and pulled it over M Nando's head, sucking him inside. The men cried out in shock at abrupt his vanishing. Alibaba then ate up the remaining distance from where he stood to the end of the cliff in three sprints before taking a leap. Seconds before gravity could pull him down, he squeezed his eyes shut and hugged his satchel.

He hoped he didn't end up hitting one of those rocks.

Author's Note: In the manga, M Nando looks like he's blond, but in the anime he has black hair. I know I said that this story will follow the manga over the anime, but I think I'll make him a brunet. After all, his brothers are brunets.