Maram slumped. "So there is nowhere to escape to, even if the gates were not guarded by lions."
"The only way you will ever go home is if you persuade Gwandoya to order me to transport you or the palace back to your city." Amani smiled sadly. "If you have any of your mother's wiles to match her beauty, then I am sure you know how to make a man do whatever you wish."
Amani had known her as a child, so he had no idea how many men she'd seduced, all for her father's benefit and the good of the kingdom. What was one more, if it meant going home to Aladdin?
It would be a betrayal of Aladdin, and the freedom he had won for her. She had promised herself to him, and to let any other man touch her...Maram shivered. No, she could not even feign pleasure in any man's touch but his. Aladdin was the only man she wanted now, and she would not betray him with another, even if it meant their wedding would be delayed. She would return to him, somehow. There had to be a way. A way that did not involve seducing a madman.
THIRTY
"Have you seen the palace that was here yesterday?" Aladdin asked. "It was here, but now it's gone." When the man shook his head, Aladdin tried another passerby. "Did you see anything here last night?"
People shook their heads and moved away from him, eyeing him suspiciously as they passed on the other side of the road.
Aladdin couldn't really blame them. After all, if he'd been confronted by a desperate man asking if he'd seen his palace, Aladdin might have thought him a madman, too. And it wasn't the palace he cared about as much as Maram. If Hasan had hurt her...he didn't know what he'd do.
He kept his head down as he ambled through the bazaar, not wanting to look at all the things he'd thought about buying for Maram.
"Aladdin? Is it really you?"
It took a moment for the sound of his name being called to penetrate through Aladdin's wretchedness, and it took another long moment before he raised his head to focus on the man calling. "Berk?"
Berk grinned. "We all thought the madman had killed you, like Bugra! Ah, you should have waited, for there was work enough for all of us earlier this week. Some foreign prince came to court one of the Sultan's daughters, and he needed porters to carry his treasures through the city before he made them a gift to the Sultan. Never have you seen such riches! Gold and jewels and all manner of precious things. He paid handsomely, too. So handsomely we hope he leaves soon, and needs our help again. That much coin would feed my family for a year."
"Did you see what happened to his palace?" Aladdin asked, hardly daring to hope.
Berk scratched his head, then righted his turban. "Not me. But one of Rasul's boys might have – they watch the place all day, ready to fetch the prince a porter if he needs one."
"All day? What about all night?"
Berk shrugged. "The boys go home for dinner after dark. Now their father can afford it."
Aladdin's heart sank. The boys wouldn't have seen anything if they weren't there.
"Hey, Rasul! Did your boys see anything strange about the prince's palace yesterday?" Berk shouted.
Rasul shrugged. "Ghulam said he saw a big nobleman go in to visit the prince. He challenged him, he said, shouting terrible things. Ghulam came running home, telling us we must help the prince fight the man off, or we would not see the prince again. As if the prince did not have his own guards to deal with such things."
Hasan. It had to be him.
"Did your boy see what happened to the palace?" Aladdin asked eagerly.
Rasul shook his head. "His mother had already made the evening meal. He stayed home to eat, like a good boy." He reflected for a moment, then added, "I hope the prince had guards. He pays better than the noblemen of this city. I would be disappointed if we don't see him again."
Berk clapped Aladdin on the shoulder. "Aladdin's the one we didn't think we'd see again. When he went off with that Gwandoya, we thought he'd be as doomed as the rest of them. Especially after Gwandoya came back without him, trying to get more of us to work for him. Yet here he is, safe and well. What sort of work did that madman want you to do, Aladdin? Was it as dangerous as we thought?"
Aladdin managed a smile. "Treasure hunting in the desert. So dangerous, when I got trapped, he left me for dead. I barely made it back. Whatever you do, don't agree to work for him. I was lucky to make it out alive from that place."
Berk nodded gravely. "I told you not to. None of us is that crazy. Although...I haven't seen him for the last couple of days. Have any of you?" The other men shook their heads. "Huh. Maybe he has a new employee to go treasure hunting for him. Hey, did you find anything?"
If he told the truth, every man here would head out into the desert to their deaths. Aladdin forced out a laugh. "Nothing but an old, tarnished lamp."
"Pity. We could all do with a change in fortune." Berk sighed. "Ah, well. When the prince leaves, make sure you're around. We'll tell him to hire you, too."
Aladdin thanked Berk, farewelled his friends, and headed home.
His mother was waiting for him. "What happened?" she demanded. "I heard some guards arrested you and took you to the palace! I told you, only evil could come of messing with princesses and djinn. Djinn would try to trick the Sultan himself out of his crown, just for the fun of it. Or make his palace invisible. Or..."
That's how Hasan had done it. He'd somehow learned of the djinn that lived in the lamp, and enslaved him to his will. If the servant of the lamp could make a palace appear in a night, then surely he could make it disappear just as easily. He'd probably tried to keep Maram for himself.
Aladdin found his mother staring at him, as though expecting a reply. "You are wiser than I will ever be, Maman," he said warmly. He dug into his purse for his few remaining coins. "How about buying us a meal fit for a sultan tonight? I saw some new, exotic fruits in the bazaar this morning."
She looked slightly mollified. Wrapping her veil around her hair and face, she bade him farewell and headed out.
Aladdin let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. "Kaveh, I need your help," he said.
The dejected djinn appeared beside him. "Before you ask, no, I can't bring your palace back, and as long as the other djinn has her, I can't bring your princess back, either. He's far more powerful than me."
Aladdin digested his words for a long moment before he said, "But you know where Maram and the palace are?"
Kaveh nodded. "In Gwandoya's homeland, deep in the savannah."
"Is Maram all right?" If she was, then nothing else mattered.
"I do not know."
"Take me to her," Aladdin said.