Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 28

Aladdin's head was spinning. He was alone now, apart from Abu perched on his shoulder, wandering the halls of the Sultan's palace and trying to piece together what must have just happened, and what he needed to do next.

It had to be Jafar. He had wanted revenge on Aladdin and Jasmine for a long time now, and it looked like he had gotten it. Aladdin hadn't even been thinking about watching out for him – he had been so sure Jafar would never try anything so long as he, Aladdin, held the Genie lamp. But now it seemed the tables had turned. If Jafar had managed to remove Aladdin's palace from its foundations in Agrabah... that meant he must have Genie's lamp now. How else could he have moved the entire palace and taken it... who knew where? Why hadn't Aladdin been keeping a closer eye on the lamp? The truth was he hadn't wanted to look at it too much, reminded every time he did of that painful conversation with Genie... and now look. Jafar had Genie under his control, he had exposed Aladdin and nearly turned the Sultan and all the people against him – how Aladdin had escaped from that he still didn't know – and he had taken Jasmine, he must have. Jasmine... the thought of his spirited wife at Jafar's mercy was more than he could bear. Who knew what Jafar was doing to her right now??

Well, Aladdin still had one advantage over Jafar. Jafar didn't know that Aladdin's execution hadn't gone through, and wouldn't be expecting Aladdin to come after him. And Aladdin would come, Jafar could count on that. He would never rest so long as Jasmine was in Jafar's clutches.

The only problem was where Aladdin should even begin to look for them. The Magic Carpet could take him wherever he needed to go faster than any other form of transport, but if Jafar had Genie, he could have had Aladdin's palace removed to anywhere in the world even faster. He could hide out as long as he needed to. Where should Aladdin even start looking?

Before he left to begin his search (his faithful Carpet turned up at the palace to join him just as he was about to leave), Aladdin ventured out onto the streets of Agrabah one more time, Carpet beside him in an upright pose as though he was walking and Abu on his shoulder, to be greeted by throngs of people. There were many more than he had expected would still be out there, all of them wanting to shake his hand and tell him how much he had helped them and how much he meant to them, and to offer their sincerest good wishes in his search for the missing princess. Word about her had gotten out fast, it seemed. Aladdin was touched by their support. No one said anything about magic, leaving Aladdin both relieved and nervous as he wondered whether they realized yet that the accusations of his practising it were true, and if not, whether their support would vanish in a moment when they did. It was more important than ever now to live up to their expectations, to show them he was still the brave, good hero they had always believed him to be. He had to find Jasmine and bring her safely back home.

But Aladdin's first few days of searching didn't go well. He flew to every surrounding city, combing each new place carefully with his eyes for any sign of an unusually grand palace, flying low every time he saw forests or caves or anything else that would be useful for hiding in, sometimes landing and asking the locals if they had seen a tall, thin man with a twisted beard wearing red and black robes, or a beautiful girl with long thick hair and huge almond eyes. But he never found out anything, and considering Jafar had Genie's lamp and access to those unlimited wishes, what good would this kind of searching do anyway? Jafar could do any number of things to avoid being found.

Each time he left a city, Aladdin was always torn between staying just a little longer in case he had missed some clue, and heading on to the next place in hopes of it being the right one this time. He was gripped by a constant sense of urgency, as if a cold hand were closed around his heart. What was Jafar planning to do with Jasmine? What might he have done to her already??