"Well?" Iago asked as Aunty Agatha poked and prodded him. "How does it look?" Over in a corner his hostess Sarah sat in a chair sewing while her husband Isaac looked on.
"You no longer look or smell like a roasted turkey." Aunty announced. She stepped back and put her hands on her broad hips. "I think one more round of my medicines will do the trick." She rummaged in her shoulder sack and then pulled out a small glass bottle filled with a blue liquid.
He held out his newly grown red and blue wing feathers for the bottle but she stepped back again. "Oh, no. You get this only when I get the last half of the scarab."
Sarah looked up from her sewing. "That was never part of the bargain." Isaac frowned but held his peace.
"Oh yes it was." The old woman hissed. "He promised me the whole scarab and in this way I'll make sure he pays."
"What? You don't trust me?" Iago mimed being mortally wounded.
"You bet I don't." Aunty snapped. "I've dealt with Jafar and his like before and it's soured me. It's payment up front as they say and no credit offered or given."
"Iago, you don't have to do this." Sarah said and then she looked at her husband who nodded. She turned and glared at the old woman. "How much gold would it take to satisfy you?"
The old lady waved a hand in dismissal. "More than you can imagine, girl. The complete scarab is beyond price, as your little feathered friend well knows." She stepped between Sarah and Iago and glared at him. "What will it be, birdy? More pain or the scarab?"
Iago sighed. "Your kindness overwhelms my common sense. I'll take you to the scarab half, but I.."
"But me no buts. We leave tonight." She snatched him up and they vanished in a puff of white smoke.
Isaac came over and laid his hand on his wife's shoulders. "You tried, dearest. The rest is in God's hands."
The moon was rising over the summits of the eastern dunes when Iago who was sitting on Aunty Agatha's shoulder directed her to the grove beside the river below the castle walls. The old woman had insisted on coming after dark as she wanted no encounter with the city guards. She figured she could deal with any common riffraff of the night.
"All right, birdy, go find the scarab half." She plucked him off her shoulder and dropped him on the ground.
"Hey, be careful." Iago complained. "I'm still tender."
"You'll be even tenderer if you don't come up with the scarab half pretty quick." She snarled.
"No sympathy for the hard working parrot." He complained. He looked around with a bemused look on his face. "Now where was that tree?"
"Quit stalling." She snapped and fired a small bolt that caused him to leap in the air.
"Hey, watch it. You kill me and you'll never get the scarab." He blew smoke off his tail feathers.
She shrugged. "You'd be surprised what you can live through."
"There's a comedian in every crowd." Iago complained. He looked around and then pointed. "Over there. By the river." Out in the water a familiar pair of crocodile eyes blinked and the beast began its slow trip towards shore. Food was near.
"That's not a secure place." She growled. "Anyone could find it by the river. It'd be uncovered sooner or later."
"Better later." He told her and then shrugged. "And I didn't have a lot of time to make better choices."
"Hush." She said. She made a couple of passes with her hands and something in the sand by the riverbank glowed softly in response.
"There it is." Iago exclaimed. "I'll go get it."
He was shoved rudely back by Aunty. "And fly off with it? I don't think so." She knelt by the bank with her scarf dangling near the water and dug hurriedly in the sand. She gave a cry of joy and held up the half scarab. "It's mine. All mine."
That was exactly what the crocodile was thinking. It lunged out of the water and as the old woman fell back startled it seized the scarf in its teeth and yanked her into the river.
Iago sadly regarded the now silent waters. "I think the security was pretty good even if I didn't have much time to improvise, don't you?" There was no answer. He sighed. "Now I have to find someone that can get that scarab out of the river in a few days."
As if in answer the river started boiling as a bright flash lit Iago's face up. A column of water burst into the air and then a water stairway appeared. At the top of the water column Aunty Agatha appeared.
She marched down the stairway and as Iago stepped back she hurled a suitcase at his feet. It had a tag on it that said. 'Genuine crocodile skin'. A pair of crocodile eyes blinked from the top of the suitcase. Nice try, bird." She snarled.
Iago tried to fly away but she grabbed him by the tail and pulled him back so his neck was in her fist. "You're going to lead me to the spot where Jafar used the scarab." She snarled.
Iago gurgled and she let up her grip a little. "And then what?" He asked.
She smiled wickedly. "Then we awake the Guardian and get the lamp."
"No, you won't." A familiar voice said from behind her. They whirled and saw Jafar.