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The manservants gave him a simple but elegantly designed garment to wear while he ate, and the maidens kept him company. Two sat next to him, two entertained him, and two were just happy that he was there -- they ran back and forth to get things that he wanted. After some of the wonder wore off, Aladdin was happy that they all were there. He learned their names, and he ate and sang with them. When dinner was finished he had a luxurious bath, complete with hot and cold running maidens, and they helped tuck him in when nap time came. All-in-all... he was very, very refreshed!
It was nearly dark when the chief manservant awakened him. "Time for you to ready for travel." he said. He and the others bathed Aladdin once more, and set out some luxurious suede. He noticed a set of scale mail armor on a rack.
"Will I be wearing that?" he asked.
"We will put you in that after you eat." said the manservant, "It's quite comfortable on a horse, but a bit clumsy at the table."
Aladdin had a light dinner and with the manservants' help girded the armor on himself. He looked in a mirror. If anything, he looked more commanding and princely.
As he finished, the genie came in. The perfect timing was a bit unnerving. It was as if the genie were on que. He said, "Good you are ready. There is much to do this evening."
Aladdin motioned to his armor, "There will be fighting tonight."
"As we discussed in the plan with your father. Yes. The fighting begins tonight, and you will lead the units who begin the fighting."
"I... I... I've never fought in a real battle before." Aladdin said.
"Fortunately for you, that won't change tonight." said the genie confidently, "We are providing a distraction. The men you will be leading will be my army, a djinn army. They are very easy to command, and they don't die... well, not in the human sense, anyway. What you need to do is stay behind your men... my men... and be commanding. You must convince the Iron Men that you are a real prince, and a real prize. A prize worthy of capturing. Can you do that?"
"Yes."
"Good! If you do that, the Iron Men will follow you, and we will lead them to the prize that will keep them away from Induslan. Lets get started."
The genie lead Aladdin out and Aladdin saw what the genie had been working on for so many hours. On the top of Thor's Hammer now stood a sturdy looking stone tower. In its wall were many arrow slits, and behind those slits there were many men. If the Iron Man army attempted to rush up the road, it would get pincushioned with arrows from the tower.
"Wow! Very nice!" said Aladdin. Then a thought came to him, "If you have made this sturdy tower, why are we bothering with the distraction. Wouldn't this be enough to save Induslan?"
The genie looked at Aladdin and the look had some pain to it, as if Aladdin was missing some piece of information that terribly important, but that the genie didn't want to discuss. It was the kind of look Aladdin's father gave him when he first asked where babies came from. And then the genie gave Aladdin his father's answer, "Lets talk about this a little later."
"Ah well...." thought Aladdin, "I'm in for a surprise." and Aladdin and the genie climbed on the magic carpet. First, they circled over the Induslani camps, and a great cheer went up. Then they flew higher and headed over the Iron Man camps out to the great waterless plane.
As they rode through the dark sky, the genie talked.
"From talking with you, and your father, and listening to the Iron Men, I can tell that humans have had no contact with my people, the djinn, for many, many years now. Why the djinn have disappeared remains a mystery to be solved at another time. But, it is now clear that humans have forgotten much about the djinn. Humans remember that the djinn are magic, but they have forgotten the powers and limitations of that magic."
"Limitations?" said Aladdin.
"Oh yes. There are limitations. For instance, I have told you I'm not a war djinn."
"True, but you have made me a prince, and you have made a wonderful war tower, and you are about to make a wonderful army."
The genie looked at Aladdin, "You are clearly not aware of a major limitation of all djinn magic. It is not what you humans call 'permanent'."
Aladdin thought for a moment, "Not permanent?" then his jaw dropped, "Not permanent! ...All this stuff is going to disappear? I will stop being a prince! When?"
"When it is forgotten." said the genie, "It is a rule of djinn magic. Once out of mind, it is gone. And it only has to be out of mind for a moment. That is usually as simple as being out of sight."
Aladdin thought some more. "So I stay a prince because you stay with me."
"Right. Although your own thinking will sustain your princelyness. Even after I leave, you will stay a prince as long as you or someone around you is thinking of you as a prince. What that usually means is you will stay a prince until you sleep."
Aladdin had another thought, "The gold you gave Almuden back in Sambi is...."
"Most likely gone. Especially that which was hidden. Which in this case is probably not a bad thing. The story of the gold will quickly turn into a tall tale invented by the children, and that will save them all a lot of grief which would be caused by greed and envy."
Aladdin thought about it a moment, "I suppose so."
"Anyway. The permanence of what humans build has always been something djinn marveled at, and that ability is perhaps why humans are here now, and not djinn. It is something I will research further, once I have fulfilled your wish."
The rest of the flight was in silence.
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