Chapter 55: His Sentence

"Dhiren," the sultan said, drawing me out of my stupor. He had let go of my sleeve and was standing in front of me. "I need you to bend down."

Bend down?

"Go on, bend," the sultan prompted, gesturing with his hand.

I tried to obey him.

"No, not like that…bow your head. Yes! There!" He took his damp turban from my hand and plopped it on my head. "Now stand up straight and hold these." He placed his diamond ring in my left hand and a tiny glass lamp in my right. "Now move slightly to the left so that you are centered. Yes, just like that. Perfect."

"Perfect?" I echoed, confused. How was any of this going to help with my execution?

I looked around, becoming even more perplexed.

Some time ago I suppose, I'd been interrogated by the sultan. He'd asked me all sorts of things to the point where I wasn't sure what was meaningful and what was asked to throw me off.

He needn't have bothered to try and confuse me. My mind was already too much of a mess for lies. Nor did I see a point to them.

Nothing would change the horrible truth and eventually, even the sultan saw that. When I had, at last, answered all his questions, he had said, "Unfortunately, I don't think you're lying Dhiren which is really too bad…"

He'd grabbed my shirt sleeve and beckoned me to follow him after that.

I let him lead me out of Jasmine's rooms not bothering to look up or protest, knowing he was taking me to my death but not caring about the specific destination of my last breath.

It didn't matter.

Jasmine…she was dead.

She was dead.

Dead.

And I…

I had killed her.

Her father knew all that now. He knew the whole story. I had left nothing out from the night's events. So, though the sultan was many things, I had no doubt my life was forfeit. Even when he had been magicked into being a fool, he'd never cringed away from using the death penalty for those who deserved it.

So, why had he brought me here?

Not to the dungeons or the palace guillotine.

Not even to the court or before my Mujulaai people for public condemnation.

Instead, I stood in a small grove that served as the crossroad for eight different sandy paths. Each one was lined with fruitless fruit trees.

It did not make sense.

This had to be the same orchard the sultan had taken me to a few days ago. But we had needed to ride horses to get here before, so how—

"Yes," the sultan cut in, "I thought perhaps you wouldn't be able, but luckily the betrothal seems to be enough."

"Enough for what?" I asked dully.

The sultan just responded to my question with another question. "Dhiren, do you know what the hardest part of being the sultan of Agrabah is?"

I stared at him.

"Go on. Try me," the sultan said, watching me.

The look in his eye reminded me of our earlier conversations when I still had something to lose. For a moment, I attempted to summon some kind of acceptable answer, but I had nothing. No perfectly proper and well-crafted response and really what was the point?

I just said, "I don't know."

The sultan patted my arm. "Well, not exactly inspired, but isn't it nice to be honest for a change?"

I said nothing.

"As a reward, I'll give you a straight answer in return," the sultan said, indulgently. "The hardest part about being sultan of this country is all the restrictions. I'm tangled in them due to nearly every one of my ancestors sacrificing this or that freedom for a supposedly pressing need in their time."

I nodded, not understanding his straight answer in the least.

"Did you know that I can't dance in the rain or eat anything blue raspberry flavored?"

I just shook my head.

"And that's just the tip of the tiger's tooth. I could go on for an hour about the clothing stipulations alone, but that's neither there nor…well anyway what matters for today is that aside from a few highly specific exceptions, the sultan of Agrabah cannot leave Agrabah. Honestly, he shouldn't even leave the palace which is why I need a favor."

"A favor?" I repeated, trying and failing to see the point of all this.

"Indeed! You see, Dhiren, Agrabah needs a sultan," the sultan explained, "but I have a daughter in dire need of rescue…"

A daughter in need of rescue? Jasmine was his daughter, his only daughter, but she didn't need rescue.

She was past the need unless…

Did the sultan still think Jasmine was alive?

But he had said he believed me before, hadn't he?

Could I have misheard him?

We still did not know what caused the qumabêruh to react so violently. Was it possible that Jasmine was…

The image of her somber violet eyes and her skin laced with cracks of light flashed across my mind.

I could still hear the horrible sound when…

She was dead.

I knew she was dead.

I had seen it.

I had done it.

Despite the sultan's strange upbeat attitude and confusing words, there was no reversing the fact that I had murdered his daughter and that was the ugly truth of it. Now was not the time for denial.

Jasmine deserved better.

Instead of making up wild stories, I needed to focus on her father's actual words. However, my distracted thoughts had eroded much of the sultan's monologue, so I only caught the end of it which was: "…Agrabah until further notice," which of course made no sense to me.

Feeling like a fool, I said, "I apologize, Sultan Hamed, but could you repeat that last statement?"

The sultan gave me an exasperated look that told me he too thought I was being a useless idiot. This wasn't the first time I'd said something like this tonight, but I'd never cared so much as I did now. "Please, Sultan Hamed, I am very sor-"

"Confound it, Dhiren!" the sultan snapped. "I told you before. No more apologies! Just try listening for a change. Nod if you understand."

I nodded.

"Splendid! Now, pay attention. I won't be repeating myself again," the sultan threatened. He, then, took a large step back and cleared his throat, eyeing me to make sure I was listening.

I was.

For the first time tonight, my full focus was on him.

The sultan gave me a stern nod before he began in a loud carrying voice:

"Prince Alagan Dhiren Rajaram, second son of Queen Deschen and King Rajaram of Mujulaain, I, Sultan Hamed Bobolonius II of Agrabah, recognize you and your betrothal to my daughter, Princess Jasmine Bobolonius I of Agrabah. I have bestowed upon you the symbols of this country: the sands of wealth, the ring of wisdom, the lamp of power, and the turban of sovereignty. Lastly, I bestow my blessing."

As he spoke those last words, I started to…

Float?

What?

What!

"What's happening!" I cried out in alarm as I rose up into the air. Bits of the path lifted up with me, accelerating into a swirling sandstorm that stole my voice and obstructed my vision.

Instinct took over and I fought against the sand. It got under my clothes, pressed the sultan's turban flush against my head, and pushed the ring in my left hand onto my finger. It even filled the glass lamp causing it to expand and grow heavy in my right hand. I tried to toss the lamp and ring away, to tear at the new clothes forming around me, but it was no use. The sand was faster and stronger than I was and it was everywhere.

Over the storm, I heard the sultan proclaim, "Thus, I do officially declare you to now be Alagan Dhiren Rajaram I, Diamond of Diamonds, Jailer of Jinn, Seer of Sand, Master of Men, the Sultan of Agrabah. May your reign be short and uneventful."

I tried to protest. I tried to scream but no sound came out and the sultan carried on in a conversational tone. "Now that that's all done. Nimrahruq, would you be so kind as to remove the trespasser from here?"

My whole body tensed, but instead of some sort of painful and strange death by sand. My feet landed on the ground. The sandstorm died and I found myself in the orchard grove.

Alone.

The sultan was gone.

A/N:

Thank you to my writing buddies BarrissOffee99 and ErrantTalisman for providing extra support during this and last month. And a very special thanks to my dearest friend and fellow writer, march4fun, he really helped kickstart me when I had lost hope about reaching this publishing goal and honestly without him, I doubt I would have gotten past chapter 42. He has been such a great help and comfort. To him and ErrantTalisman for reviewing my work…I can't describe the joy it brings me to get comments on this story in particular.

Thank you!

I've said it before, I love Rajah's Curse and sometimes that love gets the better of me. Sometimes I set impossible expectations, it almost happened with this chapter, but I remembered my resolution from last May and with my friends' help, I pushed onward. And wow! I managed it. I got this chapter published in time to celebrate this story's 3-year Anniversary because yeah there have been 3 whole years of Rajah's Curse and the RCU. Over 150k words and 95 chapters of published work for this little universe with more to come! Crimson Tiger is currently (fingers crossed) on schedule to finish in June and after its climax rewrite, Of Rats and Royals is in its final 6 chapters. If you haven't already, y'all should check both stories out because I'm so excited for what this summer will bring for both of them!

As for Rajah's Curse itself, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was a lot of fun to up the magic and intrigue in this story yet again! The purpose of 'smart' sultan has at last been revealed and yet it probably just raised more questions.

;)

I hope the sea of questions and desire to know more is enough to hold you over because you'll be waiting for the answers for a bit. That's right. It's time for me to officially go on break for this story. I'm not sure when I'll be back. I have a climax to finalize. I'm loaded with plans and schemes and even some plot, but I need written words.

Please bear with me as Dhiren and I figure it out.

And though I say it a lot, I mean it:

Thank you all for your support and readership!

I hope you all have a magical summer.

Talk to you later!