Aladdin - the Arabian Nights

Chapter 32

Aladdin was gone for several hours, finding the nearest city and then searching for a marketplace, and then an apothecary's. He and Abu used a trick from their days of stealing from the marketplace in Agrabah, with Abu causing a distraction jumping around the apothecary's shelves and messing things up, while Aladdin hastily turned all the bottles around trying to find the right one before the apothecary turned and saw him. The apothecary did turn and see him, just as Aladdin found the right bottle, and he'd leaped onto the Carpet and scooped up Abu with one fluid motion, taking off into the sky before the apothecary could raise the alarm. He wished he could have just explained that he was the prince of Agrabah and that he needed this drug to rescue his wife, and promise to pay him for it as soon as he could, but he knew the apothecary would never have believed him.

It was late in the afternoon when he made his way back to what had once been his palace, and he hoped he wasn't too late and that Jafar hadn't already come to take Jasmine to their wedding-feast. But Aladdin was on time; Jasmine was still in their room waiting for him, and Aladdin slipped her the little bottle, which she tucked away in her waistband, promising to find a time during the feast tonight when she could slip it into Jafar's drink without his noticing.

Aladdin stayed beside Jasmine until it was time. They weren't able to talk much, in case Jafar passed by the door unexpectedly and heard their voices, but Aladdin could hold Jasmine in a silent show of support and reassurance. Jasmine was glad just to have him there, drawing strength from his presence for the task ahead. A whole feast pretending to be in love with Jafar... it was going to be a long night. But at least she knew it was going to be the last one.

Jafar came for Jasmine soon after it got dark. Aladdin ducked away behind the curtains as soon as they heard him coming, hating that his part in this plan was just to hide and watch as Jasmine faced their enemy all alone. Jasmine greeted Jafar with more swaying of her hips and swinging of her high ponytail, making it out like she had been impatient to see him again. He seemed quite pleased with this; he offered her his hand with its long, twisted fingers to lead her to the wedding-feast, and Jasmine brushed it with her delicate fingers, trying not to wince as his hand closed around hers. Resisting the urge to pull away, she summoned her best smile.

Aladdin followed them down to the banquet hall, slipping silently through the halls some distance behind Jafar and Jasmine, always keeping them in his sight. Carpet and Abu followed Aladdin, slipping around behind him and pressing themselves against the walls, Carpet in a sneaking pose even though he could hover and didn't need to worry about making noise when he moved. Fortunately it was still pretty much Aladdin's palace, apart from being all red and dark and twisted, and he knew the layout well enough to find hiding places with ease, ducking behind a lounge here and a curtain there until they made it to the banquet hall, where he settled himself behind another curtain just outside the doorway, his friends beside him, positioning himself so that he could see everything happening with Jasmine inside, everything that Jafar did to her. One wrong move, Jafar.... He wished that instead of hiding, he could be out there protecting her like he was supposed to. He felt so useless....

But Aladdin had to admit, watching the scene inside, that Jasmine did seem to have everything under control. She leaned in to Jafar, she turned on all her charm, she told him everything he wanted to hear. Jafar did honestly seem to think he had won. He wanted Jasmine to tell him about himself, to give him compliments, and poor Jasmine spent a good several minutes struggling to oblige because Jafar kept telling her to give him more. "Well, you're... tall, and dark, and... well-dressed...." Luckily Jafar didn't seem to notice how much trouble she was having thinking of anything nice to say about him. "And your beard is so... twisted," twirling her finger next to his head as if to imply Jafar's beard was far from the only part of him that was twisted. Oddly enough Jafar never seemed to think the conversation needed to turn to Jasmine. He did talk about what it would be like when they were married, the idea being that he still expected Jasmine to serve him and revere him and obey his every whim, and Jasmine merely batted her eyes and said that she would love nothing better. She wondered if he still intended to keep her in chains after they were married.