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At sunrise the next day I was high over the bandit camp, literally. The genie had not only provided me with a disguise, he had also provided a flying carpet. "I offered this to Aladdin as well, but he chose to travel more quickly and more discretely. I think being up in the air bothered him, too." Abdul said.
We came low over the bandit camp, and I stood up and waved. The carpet was not fast, it moved at the speed of a man sprinting. Before we swooped low I cast a protection from missiles spell so that no hot-head with a bow would cause us grief. We circled to make sure we had some attention, when there were shouts below and people were coming out of their tents, we then headed for the pass to the west.
"Such a simple solution." I thought as we turned west, and it was... until we passed over the bandit leader's tent. The bandit leader came out. He looked up, and when he recognized what he was looking at, he shouted in an unfamiliar, but definitely mystic, language.
I had a moment of worry, "By A'zork, this is no son-of-a-peasant bandit leader!" Then the flying carpet came to an abrupt halt. I didn't. I flew off the front into thin air and headed earthward! Fortunately, the Featherfall spell is easy to remember and quick to cast. I landed without harm.
But, I was now in the middle of a thoroughly alerted bandit pack, headed by a magic user of some sort, and that magic user then threw a Hold Person spell on me, so I couldn't move or fight. The magic carpet with the genie on board drifted down beside me.
"My deepest and sincere apologies, Master. The man in front of you is an acolyte of Zarathustra, the patron saint of genies and effrit. You are my master until you have taken your three wishes, but he is much more so. Zarathustra was the man who introduced jinn and effrit to the Prime Material plane. His worshippers on the Prime Material plane have our highest respect."
"Well spoken, Genie Abdul." said Ali Babba, the bandit leader, who stood in front of me now.
"You know me?" said the genie.
"Your tale is well known among the true believers." laughed Ali Babba, "Who is this curious man you are traveling with? A man who dares disturb the morning rest of my band of followers? Take the disguise from him...." Ali Babba looked surprised when he saw me, "Odd, I do not know you, sir."
"You were expecting Aladdin, perhaps?" I said.
"I was. What has happened to him?"
I motioned to the genie, who said, "He had a most unfortunate accident. Broke his neck falling from a horse. I sent him home."
Ali Babba raised his arms and bellowed, "Arrrrrgh!!! Can't I get some luck! He was the finest trapmiester in Ankara! I almost have a location, and now my trap master takes off! I suppose he's chasing after that merchant princess-daughter he's constantly writing love songs for. I don't need this!"
Ali Babba's tone then changed abruptly, and he became business-like. He said to Abdul, "Enough on that for now. Back to your part in this saga: where is the temple?"
"At this top of this pass." replied Abdul.
Ali Babba did a little jig of delight, "Hah!! I knew I was close! Well, at least some good news this day!"
He looked at me, "You, I will deal with later. You're probably good for some ransom, but that's an issue for later." then back to Abdul with a grin, "LEAD ON! LEAD ON!"
The bandit pack decamped and headed up the very pass I was trying so hard to distract them from. Not only that, Abdul lead them to the very temple I had been drawing the day before, the one with the secret door. Once there, he looked confused and worried.
"This does not look right." he said, "It looks quite strange, in fact."
Ali Babba looked like he was about to curse the gods again, but instead he paused and asked, "Abdul, when did you last see this temple."
Abdul scratched his head, "Jinn to not measure time as humans do. Let me think... It's been a long time... a thousand years, human time."
Now Ali did curse the gods again, "The Romans destroyed the old temple and built one of their own over the top of it! Arrrgh! Years of searching, all in vain because of the whimsy of some Roman priest and some wet-behind-the-ears Roman governor with a point to make!" Ali Babba sat on a nearby rock and buried his face in his hands.
"What did you lose?" I ask.
Ali Babba looked up at me, "The key to freedom for my people."
"The people around here think of me and my men as bandits. They are justified in that because here we are foragers. In my homeland of Armenia, far to the east of here, we are freedom fighters who work to cast off the yoke of the Turks."
"I am familiar with fighting the Turks." I say.
"As are many of the people of the world these days. We Armenians were one of the first people to get in their way. Since before time the Turks would come from the deserts of the east to rape, loot and pillage in our fair mountain lands. They would come, then they would suffer from our mountains and our impassioned resistance, and they would go back where they came from. When they left, we would rebuild. But of late, something has changed. Now they come and they stay. They come, and they pass through, to conquer even more lands further west. Clearly, they are no longer suffering enough, and that's why they have not left my fair land. I suspect that is because their heathen gods have given them additional blessings. My men and I are trying to fix that.
"Legend has it that the sixth of Zarathustra's disciples traveled to this land and left a holy text in a temple here -- a text written by the hand of Zarathustra himself. Gaining that text will give my people another blessing, and the will to throw off the Turk."
"The wisdom of my people is that there would be trails in finding these sacred texts... but I have been wandering this distant land for five years now. Five years! I've been away from my home, and fighting Turks and other peoples who have nothing to do with my homeland. Nothing! Am I being a fool?
"And... here... now... I thought I was so close! The tomb I just opened held the lamp, and the genie in the lamp would tell me where the temple was. Now, here I am, and the temple is gone! Arrrrgh!"
I listened. He was saying the right things. His heart was in the right place. Now he had no reason to bother the inn-folk. Should I tell him of the secret door?
As I listened, his story touched my heart. He was saying the right things... his words were right, but his deeds were wrong. He was a bandit. He had been terrorizing this land for five years. If I told him of the secret door, I would be getting involved in something big that had no meaning to me. If I said nothing, he might go and leave me -- I had not hurt him or his men. Since I was noble, he might ask for a ransom.
"You." he was pointing at me. "May leave, but leave me the lamp as your ransom. Given your skill in managing the tumble off the carpet, I suspect that jinn magic is not going to add much to your repertoire."
"Three wishes. That sounds like a lot of ransom." I say.
Ali Babba's face brightened like I'd made a joke, "Hah! So you are a man of Occidental magic, not Oriental. You don't know about jinn magic."
He said to Abdul, "Make him a gold coin." Abdul pulled a single gold coin from his garment and handed it to me.
"Check it." he said to me. I hefted it, it was heavy enough to be gold. I bit it, it gave easily under the pressure of my teeth. It was genuine, very pure, gold.
"Now, go bury it outside the temple, then come back here. Mark your spot, so you can find it again, like you're burying valuable treasure." Ali Babba chuckled again. I followed his instructions, and put the coin in a four inch deep hole that I paced off from the column. I came back.
"OK, now listen carefully. I want you to..." there was a bang, "WHAT WAS THAT!" Ali Babba looked around wildly, I looked around, too. Was there danger? I saw that Abdul had popped a sheep's bladder. Everyone laughed.
Ali Babba smiled, "Now, go back and collect your treasure." I went back and opened the hole, the coin was gone! I came back to Ali Babba scratching my head. He was grinning like a cat with a canary in his mouth.
"Did one of your people sneak over and take it?" I asked.
He laughed and said to Abdul, "Abdul, how long does jinn magic last?"
"As long as someone thinks about it." he answered, "We jinn envy your human ability to make things which last years and years without being thought about. No jinn home has an attic."
My jaw dropped, "Wow! No, I hadn't ever heard that."
"Do you still want this lamp?" Ali Babba asked me.
"Oh, it's quite a nice souvenir of this trip." I said.
"In that case, you can have it, Mr.... I don't believe you've given me your name."
"Baron Iglacias Rostov, of the Kalzov Valley, north of here.
I made my choice. I said, "And in turn for being so generous to me, I, perhaps can help you. Tell me, does that knife on your belt, with the curvy blade, have some special significance?"
Ali Babba pulled out the blade and held it with the blade straight up. "It is the symbol of fire. Fire is the symbol of the beliefs of Zarathustra."
"I have seen, nearby here, a parquet with that curvy flame image inlayed in it." I said.
Ali Babba's eyes opened in interest. What he said next was crucial: it was a test of his character. If he threatened, I would oppose him, for his life as a bandit had turned him into a bellicose fool. Likewise, if he tried to bargain, his mind would be on betraying me in the future. I prayed I had made the right choice, and his heart was still pure....
"Tell me where, and I will be in your debt for life. If I find what I seek there, my people will also be in your debt, and I will see that you get repaid handsomely. This I swear!" and he used the dagger to draw blood from his arm.
It was a good answer. I took him to the hidden door and did the knock spell to open it.
I could see the excitement in his eyes, but he did not enter. "Traps." he said.
"Oh, the first part is safe enough." I said and I started in. Roughly, he pushed me back.
"You went at a special time. The crafters of this could have easily built time sensitive traps."
"You have a point." I said.
"Now," he laughed, "I need Aladdin!" Ali Babba was clearly feeling much better, "Abdul. You sent Aladdin away. Can you bring him back again?"
"I can." he said, "But it will take some time."
"Do you need the lamp to make a wish?" I asked.
Abdul said to me, "The high priest can command at will. I won't be long. But, in the meantime, sit and enjoy yourselves." Abdul waved a hand, and an elaborate lunch buffet appeared, complete with tables, silverware, and a couple of waiters. Then he vanished.
Ali Babba laughed again, "There's nothing that beats the creature comforts of traveling with a genie."
A leisurely lunch later, Abdul was back with a scruffy looking boy-man, who didn't look happy, but did look very scared when he saw Ali Babba.
Ali Babba looked grimly at him, but there was a strong undercurrent of joy in his eyes, "I have not forgotten, but I will forgive, if you perform well for the next few hours." Aladdin nodded.
Ali Babba pointed at the hidden door and smiled a relaxed smile, "I have found the final resting place. Help me gain entrance...." then he scowled hard, "And this time be very, very careful what your light fingers touch."
Aladdin looked at the food. Ali Babba cuffed his head, "Feel lucky to still have your hands and tongue to each such food with! Prove your worth first! And your honor! Until you do that, you are low-life scum!"
Ali Babba said to me, "You have an interest in this, Baron, you may join us." and the three of us, and the genie, went to the secret door.
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