Chapter 20: Fire and Fangs

Even though she was covered in tea and cake, on the ground, wounded, and trapped inside a burning tent with angry venomous snakes and a screaming monkey, Princess Jasmine did not immediately consider her plan of escape a failure. She disregarded the noise, her soiled state, and the fork impaling her leg. The growing inferno behind her, by her estimation, was actually quite a fortuitous coincidence. The well-read princess knew that typhlopids were especially sensitive to odors and temperature differences. Her original plan had involved Abu using his unbound tail to grab something off the tea table and throw it at one of the paper lanterns to cause a fire. She had theorized that the smoke and heat would drive the typhlopids away.

And it had worked!

Partially.

The typhlopid that had been fighting Abu was gone as were two of the typhlopids that had been holding Jasmine captive. Now if only she could get rid of the pair that remained. In their fear, they had constricted their hold around her once again, making breathing even harder and vocalizing nye impossible.

Meanwhile, Abu was vocalizing just fine, though the screaming monkey was speaking far too quickly for Jasmine to make anything out besides, "FIRE!"

That was another troubling deviation from her original plan. Jasmine had been hoping to cause a small fire, not a frightening inferno. Furthermore, thanks to the fire and snakes, Abu had been far too frantic to pay attention to her after freeing himself. Instead, he had immediately tried to leave the tent.

Jasmine had only caught a glimpse of his matted sooty fur, before Syreeta's prized blind snake, Lali, intervened. The princess did not see exactly what happened, but she heard Abu's ear-splitting shriek and knew that he had been recaptured again.

Even the princess's strategical optimism was unable to say this development was anything but a problem. Jasmine knew Aladdin would be devastated if Abu died and she didn't want to die either. If only she could get closer to the flames, but how?

She could wait for the fire to spread, but Syreeta might return before that happened. Jasmine did not want to think about Syreeta's reaction to this mess.

She did not want to think about Syreeta at all.

The princess told herself to remain calm. Things were bad, very bad, but if there was a solution to all this, she had to find it and quickly.

Just as Jasmine was trying to forget the memory of Syreeta looming over her and refocus herself, Abu came back into her line of sight. The little princess watched the monkey open his suspiciously red mouth and bite down hard on Lali's long tail.

The enormous typhlopid seized up and let out a shrill rasp.

In the next moment, Abu was free and Jasmine had a few new ideas for her escape. The path seemed clear, especially since Abu had finally noticed her.

Jasmine smiled at him, but before she could do anything else, Lali lunged after the monkey with her fangs bared.

It happened too fast for Jasmine to even attempt a scream. Luckily, the fear in her eyes was warning enough for Abu. The monkey managed to dodge Lali's attack by jumping onto a cabinet.

Undeterred, Lali whipped around and went after the monkey again. Though Abu was quick enough to evade the snake, it soon became apparent that he would be too preoccupied with his own problems to help the princess.

A series of possible plans became moot.

Jasmine tried to roll closer to the fire. However, as she suspected they might, the typhlopids impeded her efforts. While Abu battled Lali and the fire spread, the princess lay captured and useless.

Jasmine looked down at the slick skin of the typhlopid head on her right shoulder. Her stomach twisted as she contemplated her last and rather desperate idea. She did not want to do it, but she could not afford to gamble on the flames coming to her in time to save her friends. Her neck and mouth were free and her friends needed her!

Thus, the princess set aside her reservations, opened her mouth, and then proceeded to find out what raw snake tasted like.

The effect of her bite was immediate. Her prey convulsed and let go of her. The other typhlopid was gone seconds afterward.

Finally, Jasmine was free!

Energized by her victory, the princess forced her aching body into a standing position and assessed the current situation. Abu was once again in Lali's clutches. The fire had engulfed Syreeta's desk and was overtaking the tea table, but Jasmine was unconcerned.

Now that she could move, the princess felt invincible. Getting her and Abu out of here seemed almost too easy. With such thoughts in her head, Jasmine went over to the nearest wall and grabbed an ornate walking stick. She dipped it into the flames. As she hoped, the stick caught fire immediately. Thus armed, the bloodied and frosting-topped warrior princess turned to face the last obstacle between her and true freedom.

A/N: Hey...

Yeah, I know it's been a bit. This climax (and like every other climax currently in the RCU) has been giving me trouble, but I have good news. April is this fic's anniversary so expect to hear from me then, along with a special announcement.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are looking forward to checking in with Aladdin next time.

See you then!