“Where to now?” asked Jewel.
The Thief of Baghdad was nowhere to be found. The worthless dog had no doubt fled the castle. To where, I hadn’t a clue, and I gave the man no further thought. Meanwhile, the very castle itself continued to shake and rattle as the beastly minotaurs continued bashing heads down below.
“They will battle to the end, and one will die,” said Nylon, who had now reverted to looking like my dead wife. I saw the reason why: Jewel herself was here. What good was a replica when the real deal was nearby? As she spoke, Nylon touched my arm in an overly familiar way. Jewel caught the Nymph’s intimate gesture and raised an eyebrow. I shrugged Nylon’s hand off me and idly wondered how the Nymph Queen appeared to Jewel. No doubt her magical charm was lost on the females of our race.
Still, I understood Nylon’s meaning. Now fully recovered, Lamprey was surely as powerful as Prince Zeyn, but there was no guarantee that my djinn would come out of this victorious.
“But I have no control over my djinn,” I said. “I commanded his help, but he could have just as easily refused. We are in the land of djinn, after all, where my authority over him is moot.”
Nylon was shaking her head. “Their battle goes beyond you, King Aladdin. Last year, Zeyn had gained the upper hand by trapping Ifrit Iften when your djinn had been in your service, and thus at a disadvantage. But now released, they will settle an old grudge.”
“But I do not want Lamprey to perish.”
“He may not. He may very well destroy the foul prince once and for all.”
“Or not,” I said.
“Or not,” agreed Nylon. “Unless...”
“Unless what?”
“You call out for his help, and thus summon him away from Zeyn.”
“I can do that,” I agreed. “But what’s the point, if my summoning distracts and weakens Lamprey?”
“Zeyn will give chase, and instead will find me, resembling young Duban. But I can only hold the deception for a short period.”
I nodded, recalling our plan. “And you yourself will be standing at the portal to Hades?”
“Where that fat bastard will rot for all eternity.”
“Now that,” I said, “sounds like a plan.”
Chapter Twenty-nine
I rubbed the lamp again. “Lamprey!” I called. “I need you!” Would he respond? We were counting on it.
He did, appearing in human form. “Aladdin, I am busy at the moment,” he said urgently.
“I know it! But we have our own plan to deal with Zeyn. Hide yourself, and if our plan doesn’t work out, then you can take him on again.”
He shook his head as if bemused by dealing with foolish mortals. “I hardly think—”
“Humor me.”
He sighed and faded out.
We forged on through the residential section of the castle, heading for the servants’ quarters, and the servants’ privy. But the castle was huge, and we soon got lost in its labyrinth. The demons were coming after us, and we had to chop at them constantly, cutting off limbs and snouts to keep them at bay.
Then the demons retreated. Apparently we had entered a section where they were were forbidden. What could it be?
We found ourselves in an apparent cul-de-sac, a storage area where an assortment of treasure items was piled. Gold, silver, diamonds, pearls, elaborate weapons, fancy clothing, bound dancing girls—all the usual.
And there was the Thief of Baghdad, busy sorting through it all, looking for the best things to steal. He hadn’t even waited for the battle to finish.
Jewel was disgusted. “The man has his uses, but he’s too damned shallow.”
Then we heard the heavy tromping of hooves. “The minotaur!” Myrrh said. “Looking for Lamprey.”
“Yes,” Jewel agreed. “I’m tracking him by the sensor I planted on him.”
I drew my scimitar. “Hide!” I told the others. “I’ll take him on.”
“You foolish man,” Jewel said, almost fondly. “You can’t hope to match his magic power.”
“Let me handle this,” Nylon said. “Hide, but keep your eyes locked on me.” She glanced at Myrrh. “I will need your help. Keep your mind in touch.” Myrrh nodded.
I wasn’t sure what Nylon had in mind, but there wasn’t time to argue. She needed me to watch her so she could emulate Jewel, my beloved, for others. Jewel and I hastily buried ourselves under invaluable embroidered carpets and peeked out to watch Nylon. Duban and Myrrh hid nearby. Sinbad and Nydea found their own hideout. I wasn’t sure where Sylvie was. Only the Thief remained visible, oblivious to all but the treasures before him.
The minotaur appeared, snorting steam. Nylon, in the form of Jewel, spun about, as if discovering him unexpectedly. “Oh!” she cried, horrified.
“Haa!” he said. It seemed he could talk in this form if he chose to. “Come here, mortal tidbit!”
“Never!” She turned to flee.
He strode to catch her by her trailing hair. “Where is the fell ifrit? Tell me and I won’t ravish you.”
“Never!” she cried, struggling ineffectively. She lacked the sword Jewel had, not that it would have done her much good.
I kept my eyes locked on her, so that the illusion would not be broken.
He threw her down on the floor, holding her there by her hair. “I am not partial to this word ‘never,’ strumpet. Tell me!”
“I-I must not,” she said, whimpering.
With his free hand he ripped off the front of her gown, exposing her torso from breasts to belly. “Last chance, slut. Tell me!”
I felt the real Jewel’s hand clench in mine. This was too close to what she had experienced in the past.
Her resistance collapsed. “He—he’s hiding in the servant’s quarters, where he thinks you won’t look.”
“Excellent.” The monster lowered his body onto hers.
“But you said you would not ravish me!” she protested tearfully.
“I lied.” He thrust so savagely that her whole body slid along the floor. She screamed piercingly, from pain or outrage, but he did not relent. In a moment he had done it. “I doubt you are pregnant any more, after that plumbing, she-dog.” Then he got up and forged on, leaving her sobbing on the floor.
“He thought that was me,” Jewel murmured as we emerged from our hiding places. “That would have happened to me.”
“Yes,” I said tightly. “If he caught you alone.”
Nylon got to her feet. “Of course he did not hurt me,” she said, brushing herself off as her gown re-formed, intact. “I am invulnerable.” She twitched a smile. “And not pregnant.”
Jewel was clearly shaken. “I owe you one.”
“Not yet,” Nylon said. “We still need to eliminate Zeyn.” She walked rapidly in the direction Zeyn had gone.
“She has to get to the portal before he does,” Myrrh explained. She faced Jewel. “I had to tell her about the way you were raped in the past, so she could play the part. Now Zeyn is on his way to the servants’ quarters, thanks to her.”
“I really owe her,” Jewel said.
“I need to get over there,” Myrrh said. “To help her emulate Duban.”
“I can fight my own battles!” Duban protested.
“If this works, you won’t have to.”
“But—”
She leaned forward quickly and kissed him. That completely shut him up. Then she hurried off.
“Women are like that,” I advised him. “They run the show. But if our ploy fails, we will really be in for it, and you will need all your magic.”
“We had better get over there,” Duban said.
We hurried in the direction the others had gone. Soon we found the servant’s quarters. Then Zeyn found us.
“I don’t see Iften,” he said. “Who should I torture next?”
“Me, you bag of garbage,” Duban said. “If you have the gumption.”
“Gumption!” Zeyn said outraged, and charged, horns down. But Duban was already moving out of the wa
y. He ran into the next chamber, closely pursued by the minotaur.
We followed immediately after, uncertain what else to do. This seemed to be as much farce as combat. “We’ve got to stop that boy from getting himself killed,” Jewel said.
There was the privy chamber. Duban was standing by the seat, balked by the walls of the enclosure. There was no escape.
“Tell me where Iften is,” Zeyn said. “And maybe I won’t turn you into a sausage and eat you.”
“Eat your own foul guts!” Duban said. He raised his hands in a magical gesture.
Zeyn dived for him. And through him. The prince was gone without even a scream. He had of course never seen the trap coming, or he would have avoided it.
Duban’s form wavered, becoming Queen Nylon, for a moment in her own form of a regal queen. “Got him,” she said with satisfaction. “Thanks to Myrrh, who maintained her focus on me.” Which had enabled her to emulate Myrrh’s beloved, Duban.
Myrrh appeared. She hugged the Queen, who became a second Myrrh as Duban gazed at them.
“Thanks to you!” Jewel said. She hugged Nylon too, and they became two Jewels as I gazed at them.
“Thanks to us all,” I said, highly gratified. Suddenly I was overcome with an emotion borne of relief. My vision clouded. No, of course I wasn’t crying.
Jewel took my hand in hers. “Thanks mainly to your cunning plan,” she said. “To trick him into that portal.”
“Oh, Jewel, I’m so glad you weren’t—”
She silenced me with a kiss. Then she led me to an adjacent chamber and pulled the curtain closed. She brought me to the bed and kissed me again, and pressed her wonderful body close to mine.
My passion for her exploded. Still, I demurred. “Jewel, you’re—”
She kissed me again as she shrugged out of her gown. “One time won’t hurt, beloved. As long as it’s not too violent.” She grimaced prettily, evidently thinking of the rape we had witnessed.
“No violence!” I agreed eagerly. With her I had no fear of impotence.
Soon we were in the throes of lovemaking. It was absolutely wonderful. “Oh, Jewel,” I said as we relaxed. “I love you so much.”
“There is something I should tell you,” she said.
“Anything is fine with me, as long as I’m with you.”
“It is not in my nature to deny you. But I’m not Jewel.”
I stared at her. “I don’t understand.” But an awful notion was percolating through the thick mush of my brain. The two women had hugged, looking identical for a moment. Had I somehow gotten hold of the wrong one?
The curtain was pulled aside. “Aladdin, what are you up to?” the real Jewel demanded.
My world came crashing down around my shoulders. I had just cheated on my wife with the Queen of the Nubile Nymphs!
“You just couldn’t wait to get into her pantaloons, could you!” Jewel said angrily. Not that Nylon had been wearing any such clothing. “The moment my back was turned! How could you!”
And what could I say in my defense? I had sinned badly.
Jewel came to touch Nylon, who still looked just like her. “And I’ll bet he didn’t give you any chance to get away. He just barreled in before you could explain.”
“Well, not exactly. I was hardly unwilling.”
Duban appeared. “You were cheating on Mother?” he asked grimly.
“Well, not intentionally,” I demurred. “I thought—”
The boy seemed to swell dangerously. “I knew you weren’t good enough for her! After all she’s done for you. I ought to turn you into a salamander and hurl you into the fire!”
Unfortunately, he surely had the power to do exactly that. How could I explain?
Jewel got up and approached him. “Duban, dear, don’t do anything rash. I don’t think he even knew.”
“Well, he should have known!”
She took his hand, placating him somewhat against his will. “Oh? Prince Zeyn didn’t know. And did you?”
The boy looked confused. “Know what?”
“That I am Queen Nylon.”
She must have changed for him, though she still looked exactly like Jewel to me. “Oh, no!” Duban blushed, then turned and hurried away. She had truly stifled his righteous rage.
And there back on the bed was the real Jewel, who had never left it. “She did have you going, Aladdin, didn’t she?”
I had trouble finding words, knowing this was treacherous territory. So I took the safest course. I apologized abjectly. “I’m so sorry, Jewel. Can you ever forgive me?”
She frowned, considering the matter. Then she laughed, facing Nylon. “Debt paid?”
“Paid in full,” Nylon said, making a little curtsy.
“So it’s true, then. You appear exactly as I do?”
“To him, yes. Because of his great love for you.”
That seemed to calm my wife down. At this point I could not be sure how much of her anger was an act. She said, “But to me you look nothing like me.”
“It is because my magic has no power over you.”
I shook my head, trying to make sense of this. Jewel had said she owed Nylon, for sparing her the brutal rape, but this—
“I would like to get to know you better,” Jewel said to Nylon. “Why don’t you come with us and be his leading concubine? Or is that beneath your dignity as queen?”
“Not at all,” Nylon said. “He’s mortal.”
“We can bring Sylvie Siren along too,” Jewel continued. “To sing him to sleep.” They both laughed.
It seemed I was being teased. But I liked it. “Yes, bring them both,” I agreed. “At least while you’re pregnant.”
Jewel frowned, then called my bluff. “Done.”
Was she serious? At this point, I hoped so. For one thing, it would make an honest man of me, because concubines were within bounds. And a concubine who looked exactly like my wife would not only solve my impotence, but was hardly a threat to Jewel.
“Now,” said Lamprey, appearing before us in a puff of smoke, “we need to decide what to do with this castle.”
Chapter Thirty
We were in the great throne room.
Here sat a massive ivory throne on one end, now empty. The ivories were of creatures I had never seen before...and hoped I never would. Here and there were bits of ceiling, which had broken loose during the minotaurs’ epic battle down below. The stone walls were still pocked with holes where Zeyn’s stone army had broken away. Little dragons, no bigger than crows, flitted in the air above us. Some of them belched fire, but for the most part they were as harmless as birds in the sky.
The Thief of Baghdad had rejoined our group, looking very much like the sphinx who ate the swallow. Duban whispered in my ear that the thief had used a minimalizing spell to shrink much of the castle’s treasure, which now lined his many hidden pockets. I only shook my head, bemused, unsure of what to do with the dastard. That he had helped my wife find her way to me was certainly something in his favor. But I did not take well to thieves in my kingdom. No doubt I would send him along his merry way with a warning to never return.
I thought it better that Queen Nylon return to my finger. I had already made one mistake in my wife’s presence. I wasn’t about to make another one. At least not here. Nymph Myrrh, with a bow and a small puff of smoke, returned to her magical refuge. Sylvie Siren returned to my finger, where she would remain an invaluable ally. For some reason Jewel had not wanted the alluring mermaid to reside on Duban’s finger, and Myrrh had concurred. We would, of course, come to the Sirens’ aid when requested, holding up our end of the deal with the beautiful sea nymphs. I would never forget Sylvie’s haunting song, which would live in me forever.
Nymph Nydea stood by Sinbad’s side, holding his hand tightly. He held hers in return and I sensed great love between the two. Whether Nydea faked her love or not wasn’t a concern of mine. That Sinbad felt her love and was satisfied, was enough. Interestingly, as they held each other, the less she looked
like Jewel and the more she looked like another very pretty young lady.
She’s taking on Sinbad’s wife’s features, came Nylon’s voice in my head. Soon she will appear exactly as Sinbad’s deceased wife.
And does Sinbad know his wife is deceased? I asked, frowning.
On some level, yes. On another, he is in denial. Better denial than a world of hurt.
So say you, I thought, not convinced, but who was I to tell another man how to run his life?
Well, you are king, giggled the Nymph. But in this case, I believe you are correct to step aside. Sinbad has his wife, and Nydea has her mortality and thus her chance to truly feel alive.
I had just wondered where Lamprey had gone off to, when the tall ifrit appeared before me in a swirl of black smoke. He bowed deeply.
“Master,” he said. “I was down below, ridding the castle of the zombies and stone demons. All have been banished from whence they had come.”
“You are a powerful djinn,” I said, impressed.
The tall being merely nodded.
Queen Nylon’s words next appeared in my thoughts. He is, after all, the rightful heir to the throne, my king.
What do you mean?
Prince Zeyn, millennia ago, seized the throne and banished Ifrit Iften. He has been residing in the magical lamp ever since. He was a good and fair ruler, and much beloved. Our land prospered under his rule and never once did he take djinn slaves or kidnap mortal females.
This is true? I thought, surprised.
Oh, yes. But he’s still bound to you, despite the freedom he presently enjoys here in Djinnland. The moment you return to the mortal realm, he will once again be at your service. Such is the curse of the Lamp.
How do we break the curse?
Only his present master can break the curse. All his previous masters were too greedy to do such a thing.
I thought about it. Her words were true. It was, indeed, a painful decision to release such a powerful secret weapon.