home . Chapter . one . two . three . four . five . six . seven . eight . nine . ten . eleven
The horses were good, and Aladdin and the genie flew like the desert wind along the Induslan trail. At first Aladdin laughed and laughed at the pure joy of it. Never before had he ridden a horse. Now he was riding a horse in masterly fashion under a star-filled sky with a genie at this side. He was headed to Induslan to win a war, and become a hero of his people. Yes, it was a good night to be alive!
They made good time. The first blue glow of dawn was in the sky when they rode into Induslan. Aladdin was no longer laughing spontaneously, but he was still feeling good, and not tired at all. Induslani was still mostly burned down, but a few buildings were restored, and beside one of those Farmer Maburack was washing his face. Aladdin and the genie rode up and stopped beside him. Aladdin mouthed silently to the genie, "Watch this...."
"Farmer! Where is the Induslani militia?" commanded Aladdin in his new commanding voice.
Maburak looked up, but there was no recognition in his face, he simply saw a prince, then bowed his head. He spoke with great respect as he said, "My lord, they are at the mouth of the valley. The Iron Men have returned."
Aladdin and the genie rode on, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Aladdin started giggling. "Oh... this is fun! He really thought I was a prince!"
The genie said nothing, and looked as if something else was on his mind.
The mouth of the valley was an easy half day walk from the village, but coming back took a couple hours longer because of it's steepness. The day brightened as Aladdin and the genie rode down the trail. As the day brightened, they saw more and more people on the trail. Most had grim looks on their faces. They were a mix of workers and soldiers. At the checkpoints Aladdin and the genie were stopped only briefly. When Aladdin asked about the whereabouts of his father and uncles in his commanding voice, the guards were quickly satisfied he was friend, and important, and waved him through with helpful directions.
The valley opened up into the plain beyond, and the enemy camp came into view. Aladdin's father's camp was now close. But before it was in sight, the genie stopped Aladdin. "Wait, before we talk to your father, lets find out more about this enemy. Lets do a little scouting."
Instead of going directly to his father's camp, the genie lead Aladdin to an isolated, rocky outcrop that had a good view of both the valley and the plains below. There they dismounted and walked to where they could get a good view of the Iron Man camp. They were still two kilometers away from it, so there was little danger from arrows or other weapons in the camp, but it was close enough that an ambitious scouting party might patrol nearby and try to catch them. The genie conjured up some kind of instrument which he put to his eyes, and for about four minutes he looked over the camp without saying a word. Aladdin followed his gaze for a while, but when nothing changed, he began scanning around to study the rest of the terrain. It was Aladdin who spotted the ambitious scouting party headed their way.
"We should leave." Aladdin said to the genie, and pointed to the party headed for their rock -- they were about 500 meters away, and fifty below. They had spotted Aladdin and the genie, and were climbing towards them.
"No reason to leave, just yet." said the genie, "But we can take some precautions. Lets back off the cliff edge for a moment."
When they were out of sight of the scouting party, the genie waved his hands some more. With the first motion their horses disappeared, and with the second the genie vanished!
"You are now invisible." the genie said, "You can still be heard... and felt... and hurt, so be cautious! Be we can stay here and learn more."
Aladdin held his hands in front of him, and didn't see them. But, when he shuffled his feet in the dust, he saw the dirt move and dust rise. He could hear the hiss of the dirt under his feet, too. The scouters couldn't see Aladdin or the genie, but they could still be detected by all the other senses should they think something was amiss.
Aladdin quickly practiced being quiet and still, and how not to leave easily spotted footprints in the desert dust. Aladdin guessed it would take the scouting party about five minutes to reach the outcrop. It took them ten, but it took the extra time because they were sneaking up -- they were ambitious and they did want to catch whoever it was they saw on the hill earlier! They were being very alert and very careful as they climbed the hill, so he had to be very quiet. One of the men came within three meters of him, and his face changed expressions -- perhaps he smelled something! But he didn't see or hear anything, so he kept moving on.
When the strange men saw that the outcrop was empty, they were disappointed, but they took a break rather than moving off immediately. The leader looked around the valley for camps of the Induslani soldiers while his men rested. The men talked quietly and in a relaxed fashion. Aladdin couldn't understand a word of it. They looked so strange, too. The fabric of their clothing was strange. It was also old and grayed with too many days spent on too many dusty trails. The cut was quite tight, which revealed the shapes of their legs, and the shape was wrong. Their legs were too long for their bodies. Their faces looked wrong, too. There were too many kinds of faces. Some were round, some were long, and their hair came in so many variations! So did their skin. Some looked OK, but many looked... red? Way too red!
The amazement of looking at these strange people froze Aladdin for about five minutes. But after five minutes it struck Aladdin that he had a problem: he didn't know where the genie was! Had the genie left? Had he gone back in his bottle? His worry about the genie grew steadily, and he thought about sneaking off the outcrop and walking to his father's camp. But, instead, he stayed put, and quiet. Ten minutes later, the leader said something, the tone of which was, "All right, men, up and at it.", and the scouting party continued it's climb.
Four minutes after they left, Aladdin heard the genie say, "Fascinating." from about ten feet away.
He was so relieved! But he only said, "You could understand them?"
"As well as I can understand you."
Aladdin was deciding he really didn't like this invisibility. He had no idea what the genie was thinking or doing unless the genie was talking to him. After a while he got the idea of looking for footprints and listening for the hiss of silk moving on silk as the genie walked, but saw no evidence of either.
Finally, the genie started talking again. "Those soldiers come from quite far away. They look so different!"
"I noticed that, too."
"Did you know there's an ocean not far away? Those men sailed that ocean to get here."
"An ocean? Oh, you man what's next to Tyre! I've heard merchants talk about it. They're taking their stuff to that ocean, and bringing stuff back from it."
"Where is this Tyre?"
"Oh... I don't keep track of such things... but I think it's a week's walk west of Induslani."
"West of Induslani... as in across this plain we are facing?"
Aladdin looked west. He had been in this valley a few times, but he had never traveled on the plain. Camel caravans came out of it, and left Induslan to walk across it. From listening to the merchants in the bazaar, he knew the crossing the plan was a hot and dusty task. The merchants coming from the plain were always so happy when they got to Induslan. They were happy because the journey was hard. Once in a while he had dreamed of going with a caravan to see what lay beyond the plain, but adventure was not a big part of his heart. His father had advised him, "If you want to be a good merchant, you must travel. You must see what places and people are like beyond Induslan." When he heard that he had decided he didn't want to be a good merchant. He would rather be with his friends.
"Yes, a week's walk across that plain." said Aladdin in answer to the genie.
A frown clouded the genie's face, "If this place Tyre is where I think it is.... In my time there was no ocean there! Tyre is on a cliff overlooking a deep desert. My people lived at the bottom of that desert. The heart of my world is there... was there.... has there been that much change? This is something I must see for myself.... but perhaps not right now."
"So... did you find out what you needed to find out? Will we have victory over the Iron Men?"
"Oh... that. Yes. The "iron" of the Iron Men is simple passive armor. I had feared they were mechanical men of some sorts. But they are as human as you, and nearly as primitive... sorry, but true. Now, would you define a victory as having them leave and not return for at least a year?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because I think I can help you do that much. But, if for you to feel victorious, I must cast a spell that turns them into little green toads and they must all die of baking in the desert sun while you laugh and taunt them about their dire misfortune of tangling with a Prince and a Genie.... I can't do that."
"Ah, I see.... Yes, if we can get them to go back where they came from for a year. That will be fine."
"Even that may be too much to ask -- from what they were saying, they came from a long way away. It would take them a couple of years to go home. How about... it is a victory if they go back to Tyre, and don't come this way for a year, or... how about: It is a victory if they simply go somewhere else and don't come near Induslani for a year. That's even better."
Aladdin was getting annoyed, "This is old person's talk. If we get these people away from Induslan for a year so that I can move back and my family will be happy. That is a victory."
The genie cringed, "Ouch! Three wishes all in one breath!" he sighed, "But OK, I will take that as the definition. Now, we should meet your father."
The genie summoned the horses once again, and they rode down from their outcrop to Aladdin's father's camp.
home . Chapter . one . two . three . four . five . six . seven . eight . nine . ten . eleven