Chapter 9: Let the Games Begin
Aladdin managed to recover quickly enough to scramble up a branch of a few nearby trees, his body tense as he stood in the shadows of branches looking down at the merchant who searched the darkness for him. While he could've outrun the merchant through the path of trees - that would've been too predictable. Aladdin figured it was smarter to get a better vantage point and figure a better plan than just running away.
"Come on out, Aladdin. You can't hide forever," Warek called, his voice taunting and echoing through the trees.
Warek's voice sounded very much the same, but Aladdin could still hear the odd distortion in his voice, sneering and inhuman - not as hidden now. Not to mention he was more than aware of Warek's armed dagger.
He's not who he says he is. I know it now. Warek, even when he was controlled before, was more of himself than this impostor. Who...what is he? Aladdin shook his head, his mind a jumble of thoughts.
He followed "Warek" carefully, moving from branch to branch as if he were casually leaping from rooftop to rooftop in Agrabah. Aladdin had to take care of his timing. Not just for fear of falling - and it was a long drop to the ground from where he'd climbed - but also for Warek discovering Aladdin's hiding place.
It'd be easier if Carpet were here. I'd be able to move a lot faster than this, Aladdin thought. At the recollection, he wondered about the others. Was Jasmine okay? Were Genie and the others looking for him? Was the Palace in danger? With the many questions and fears in his mind, he felt a surge - a rush out of him that made him feel more weary than usual. Like his energy was being sucked out. It made his breath catch a moment. He couldn't place what it was, but he did know one thing.
I need to find a way out of here and figure out what's going on.
Aladdin followed until the false merchant came to a clearing near the edge of a lake, but realized two things. The first was a familiar blue semi-phenomenal cosmic powered friend who was sleeping a fair distance away from where Warek stood. "Warek" seemed equally surprised to see him.
Aladdin's eyes widened. Genie?! How did he get here? He noticed Genie was dressed in sleeping attire, and just waking from a long slumber, stretching his limbs.
But the second oddity Aladdin noticed as Warek discovered Genie. The merchant quickly hid his dagger behind his back. When Aladdin saw Warek's form pass the reflecting waters, it gave him a start. Where Warek's reflection should've been was a tiny creature with dark sockets for eyes, large sharp teeth, claws and a slim frame.
I've seen that figure before, the time we first found Warek. It's...an imp? Regardless of the size of the imp, it still looked scary, threatening even. It had long sharp claws that could do a fair share of shredding even more than the jagged knife behind its back.
He realized that whatever imp this was, it'd been disguising himself since Aladdin had woken in Moonstone Oasis following his capture. Which explained the odd imitational voice the merchant had taken on. He realized also that this "imp" could've also been passing as Jafar, and it would make sense given the timing, the attack, and odd mannerisms Jafar had had when attacking Aladdin and Rajah.
The main question that came to Aladdin's mind was why had this imp tried to attack him in the first place.
Aladdin realized exactly what he needed to do. I have to warn Genie...and hope I can give him enough time to react before that imp tries anything...against either one of us.
Iago, Abu, and Rajah barely made it out of Agrabah in one piece. If it hadn't been for Warek's quick thinking, they probably would've been swallowed along with the cloud that raced after them through the streets of the city, sweeping around and over buildings and chasing after them like snow rushing down a mountain during an avalanche.
Razoul had warned them in the second explosion of the orb, but it hadn't been in enough time to save the head of the guard nor the Sultan from succumbing to the sleeping spell of the mist. But Warek happened to see the mist coming as Rajah, Iago and Abu raced - with Iago's yells cutting the silence of the night - through the city. He led them out, just in time as the dark mist hung over the city like a thick cloud, and its advance had halted quickly, leaving the city completely eclipsed with clouds of darkness.
Iago collapsed on Rajah's fur, his breaths coming in gasps. "Okay...I'm guessin' we're the only ones who made it out of the city. A tiger, a monkey, a merchant and a camel. Talk about havin' odd company."
Warek, who wiped a hand over his brow, sighed while standing beside his steed, Dyna, who looked weary from the running they'd done. Dyna wasn't used to a lot of running for a camel, and Warek knew it, running a hand over her head in comfort. "This is the sort of magic trickery that only one with a high level of magic power can wield," the merchant said. "A sleeping spell, of all things."
Rajah purred in a low worried tone, looking back at the city from the outskirts with the others.
Warek looked between Abu, Iago, and Rajah, his face twisted in confusion."What happened to all of you? And where are your comrades? Aladdin? The Princess?"
Abu told Warek the whole story in a series of screeches and gestures with his paws. The merchant sighed, worry lines crossing his brow. "And none of them have returned yet?" He scratched the hair beneath his turban. "Unless we find whatever magic did this and reverse it - we won't be able to go back in the city without succumbing to the spell."
"This is all Jafar's doing, I'm tellin' ya!" Iago grabbed Warek's collar, pressing his beak against Warek's nose in his plea before sighing and perching on the merchant's shoulder. "That's it. Let's go to Getzistan, win some money at the Casino and start a new life incognito. Whatd'ya say? It'll be a fresh start for all of us."
Warek shook his head. "No, bird, I owe a debt to Aladdin for saving my life against the demon that attacked me. If Aladdin was targeted by that same demon, I think it would be best to find him and your friends. We also need to tell them what happened to Agrabah. I've little doubt that their disappearance and this foul magic hovering over the city are somehow connected. I'm just not sure how."
Iago's brow narrowed. "Look, maybe I'm not making myself clear. I'm not understanding the stupidity of going directly against anybody that could do THAT to a city!" Iago gestured back to Agrabah. "If the boy wonder can't fight 'em and Genie hasn't come back yet - there's obviously something wrong with this picture! I'm not understanding what you think WE can do!"
Abu whimpered a few low tones, and as if in comfort, Rajah nudged his head against the monkey, nudging Abu to stand on the sands.
Warek sighed, cutting his eyes to Iago. "Perhaps none of us can fight against a magician as great as that power, but it's worth trying to find something as to what happened. I'm not liking it any more than you."
Iago's shoulders slumped. "Fine. Considering Jafar's probably gonna hunt me down no matter where I go, might as well see what this turns up. What's it gonna be?"
Warek motioned for Iago, Rajah and Abu to follow him. "We return back to the place where all this trickery began - the Oasis. And hope we don't run into the being responsible for all this when we arrive there."
"Anything Carpet?" Jasmine asked, even as Carpet tried to rouse Genie. Even with a few slaps of his knobs against Genie's face - the semi-phenomenal being was still sound asleep in his pajamas.
Not to mention snoring.
Jasmine sighed. "What kind of sleeping spell would do something like this to a genie, of all things?"
"A power of mine, dear Princess. And one that continues to grow the more beings I have put under slumber." The familiar voice made Jasmine jump to her feet from where she'd knelt by Genie's side. Her heart quickened in her chest. She whirled around toward the direction of the voice, facing towards the edge of the forest of the Oasis in time to see a shadowy figure emerging from the trees.
Robes. Snake staff. Turban. Wicked grin that was illuminated in the light of the full moon. Jasmine gasped.
"It...can't be. Jafar?"
The sorcerer smiled. "Yes. You look as ravishing as I remember, Princess. It's too bad your Genie isn't available for the moment. It would make a more...interesting reunion, to say the least."
Jasmine's look of fear vanished quickly, turning to a boiling point of rage rising inside of her. "What have you done?"
Jafar laughed. "Plenty! I'm happy you've inquired." He took several steps forward, closing the distance between himself and Jasmine as he spoke. In the time of Carpet discovering their company, it had more fervently tried to wake Genie in a series of frantic shakes. But Genie seemed in what seemed to have changed from a blissful sleep to one that didn't seem as pleasant as before, leaving Carpet to wonder what Genie was dreaming about.
Jasmine didn't dare look away from Jafar as he approached, continuing his explanation. "You see Princess, in the time that I've been at the Oasis, I've been building upon my magic during these series of odd full moons."
"You're saying the legends are true, then?" Jasmine asked.
"Yes, to an extent. You see, in the light of a full moon, the Oasis is prime for the taking for those with magic power. I can use that power - the power in the fear of those who happen to traverse here to fuel my magic. And I can use that magic to make whole cities succumb to my grasp. Which is what I'm presently doing with Agrabah for the moment."
"What?" Jasmine's eyes widened.
"Yes. And you can thank the energy I'm drawing from your Genie and prince for that. As we speak, I've gathered enough energy to put Agrabah under a significant sleeping spell. It'll take just a bit more time, but those you've left behind will soon be under my complete command."
"What have you done to Genie and Aladdin?" Jasmine's fists balled at her sides. She wanted with every fiber of her being to fight Jafar for all that he was, but she needed to hear what had happened. Moreover, what she might be able to do to wake them considering they were under the influence of the scorpion magic from earlier.
Jafar laughed again, his cackles echoing in the night air. "They're under a very powerful spell - one that my minions possessed before you destroyed them." Jafar's expression melted into one of annoyance. "Still, I'm keeping the illusion they're under active. It takes a great amount of energy to manipulate. I'm having to control multiple dispenses of power. The power that keeps the sleep spell over Agrabah, the power that keeps the nightmare active for those two so I can draw more power from them. Among other things."
"That must take a lot of concentration on your part," Jasmine said, smiling slightly. If it was taking the sorcerer's concentration of power in enough ventures, maybe she could come up with a way to wear him down enough to where his concentration would falter...maybe even enough to loosen the grip of magic that Aladdin (wherever he was) and Genie were under. "But I wonder if you have enough magic to try to chase me while you're manipulating with so much magic, if you're so powerful."
Jafar seemed to marvel at this. "You're challenging me? With some petty game of cat and mouse? You take me for a fool, Princess."
Jasmine's smile grew. "And you must be a coward, if you think you can't handle it."
Jasmine thought she saw something flicker in Jafar's form, a faltering of the inflection in his voice too as the magic around his form glowed, shining a brilliant red. "Run while you can, Princess, because I'm certainly capable of taking my time and having enough magic to destroy you and everything you love."
Jasmine took enough time to narrowly miss Jafar using his staff to shoot magic at her. She scrambled toward Carpet.
"Carpet, let's move!"
Carpet stopped abruptly, rushing over and swooping her up into the sky. Jafar, like Jasmine had though, wasted no time rising his form into midair, and shooting displays of his magic toward her and Carpet.
If challenging Jafar what it took to direct the sorcerer's attention away from the sleeping Genie, enough to have a thread to wake Genie from his slumber, Jasmine was willing to take that chance.
She hoped it wouldn't destroy her or Carpet in the process.
Jatika's plans weren't going in the way he hoped. Not completely - it was enough to be an annoyance. He was taking in as much magic as he was expending. Between keeping the active illusion of his guise in Jafar, keeping his nightmare form to manipulate the Genie's and Aladdin's fears, keeping the cloud of sleeping magic over Agrabah, AND engaging in a game of chase across the Oasis with Princess Jasmine, he had his claws full.
Still, Jatika wasn't one to turn down a dare. Wasn't in his nature. He'd tease the Princess a little before he destroyed her.
But Jatika saw trouble in his mind's eye as he manipulated the illusion under which Genie and Aladdin were in their respective slumbers. In the guise of the boy's merchant friend, Warek, Jatika had gone on the attack against Aladdin, no doubt betraying the boy's trust with nearly stabbing the street rat through with a dagger.
Jatika knew his dagger or magic could technically kill Aladdin in the dreamspace. As long as Aladdin was under the illusion that this was reality - it was Aladdin's reality. Deadly blows counted, and could kill the aspiring Prince of Agrabah even in his slumber. But Jatika didn't think it was fun to kill Aladdin quickly. No, he wanted to draw as much strength from Aladdin's fears as he could. So scaring the boy, making Aladdin fear he'd been betrayed by a friend, were all a part of the plan.
Jatika hadn't expected the Genie to show up in Aladdin's dreamspace though. That was an oddity he hadn't foreseen. With Aladdin on the run and in no visible detection in the dreamspace, Jatika realized he needed to turn his attention on manipulating Genie. So he hid the dagger behind his back as the Genie, near the edge of the Oasis forest, awoke with a start.
"Well, that was a weird dream. I just imagined getting clipped by a giant scorpion, and uh..." Genie stopped midsentence, discovered his surroundings, and frowned. "Where the heck am I?"
"Oh, it's good to see you, Genie. I didn't think I'd find anyone else in the Oasis at all." Jatika used the voice of the merchant Warek to make Genie aware of his presence.
Genie blinked a few times. "Oh hey! Warek. Didn't expect to see you here. I'm guessing you woke up here too, huh? Man, Jafar's really racking up on the magic vendetta since he's been back." Genie scratched his head, looking toward the merchant. "Don't suppose you've seen anyone around here like a certain aspiring Prince or Princess of Agrabah? Last time I checked, I'd been clipped by a few scorpions. They were not happy campers." Genie shapeshifted into a small likeness of the scorpions, but Jatika shook his head.
"I haven't seen any scorpions at all." That part was at least the truth. "And I haven't seen anyone else here."
"That's a lie!" The voice that cut through the trees made Jatika wince. So the boy was around after all.
"Al? Where the heck are you?" Genie asked. Both Jatika and Genie searched among the trees, since the voice came from far above them, echoing into the still night.
"Genie, be careful, he's not who he says he is."
Jatika was facing away from Genie, but visibly grimaced. The good news was that neither Aladdin nor Genie realized they were in the dream, but the bad news was that his cover had been blown. He couldn't exactly argue his way out. But the direction of Aladdin's voice made him easy to spot. High above in the trees, standing on a branch, his arms folded across his chest.
"What's the matter, 'Warek'? You can't exactly run me through with your dagger now that I'm all the way up here." Aladdin's tone mocked him, and that made Jatika's fury burn.
"Uh, could one of you two fill me in on what happened, because I'm obviously missing a big part of this picture," Genie said.
Jatika ignored him. "I may not be able to reach you from here with this dagger, Aladdin," Jatika's dagger disappeared, changing into a ball of magic materializing in his hand. Aladdin's expression faltered at the sight of the magic ball, and at Jatika's change in tone. "But my magic can certainly still kill you."