by J A Armitage
"That's enough!" he finally said, gasping for air. "I'll go." He crawled toward the door, pulling himself up with the help of the door frame until he could walk on his own. I waited, making the flames go out as I heard the front door click.
I turned, expecting the mistress to be happy to see the back of him, but her expression showed only fear. Fear, not of the guard, but of me.
"Miss! You need to leave. I cannot be associated with your evil sorcery," she said, panicked.
"Sorcery? What? No! I'm not a sorceress..." I protested, but she cut me off too soon.
"Please. I don't want any trouble for the orphanage. For the children. I beg of you. Please, leave."
"I'll leave," I said, defeated. "But first, I must look around. I need to find the Sultan. Aladdin."
"Who?"
It made sense she didn’t know who he was, If my father’s own wife and best friend couldn’t remember him, why should she, but I’d hoped the sickness had been confined to the palace. It obviously hadn’t
"The sultan. My father," I said again, losing hope.
She eyed me coolly. “The sultana is unwed. She never took a husband. You are mistaken.”
“My father is Aladdin, and he's the sultan, husband of Sultana Jawahir.”
The mistress stood motionless, as if unsure what to do next.
It was clear to me that not only did she not know who my father was, she also didn’t recognize me. I’d stood beside her at so many events at the palace where we’d given food out to the poor, and here she was looking at me as though I was a deranged stranger.
“My name is Gaia. I’m the daughter of the Sultana Jawahir.”
Her eyes remained wide as she shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” I continued, seeing that I was making things all the worse. “I was brought up here. I was adopted out at a very young age and wanted to see where I spent my youngest days. I lied to you about the sultana. I guess it’s what we adoptees do, pretend our parents are royalty.”
It was an outrageous lie, but the truth was weirder, and it was the only thing I could think of to say to her to be able to look around. Even as I spoke, I knew I wouldn’t find my father here, but it was the only link I had to my father’s past. If he wasn’t here, I didn’t know where else to look.
"Very well. I'll accompany you. But as soon as we've finished, you must leave and never return." She hesitated as though she’d not finished speaking her mind.
"Please. Speak freely," I said.
“What you did with fire. That is not normal, nor is it something people in the kingdom are very welcoming about. You helped me. So, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, but I do not want any sorcery in front of the children.”
"Understood."
We walked through the orphanage. I knew the place well, but there was something different. Whereas the children had once been happy, they were all sullen and miserable. What had happened here? There was no mistreatment as far as I could see, but the atmosphere was markedly different from the last time I visited.
As I suspected, my father wasn’t there, and I left the orphanage with a feeling of despair. It was as if my father had completely vanished, not only from Kisbu but from existence. And now I was going the same way.
I walked around town with my headscarf wrapped around half of my face, to avoid anyone recognizing me. Just because the mistress didn't, didn't mean no one else would. I needed to find my father, just so I knew I wasn’t going insane.
I spent all morning under the scorching sun, taking one street at a time, leaving nothing unsearched, until exhaustion found me, and my body couldn’t push further.
After buying a small meal from a street vendor, I sat down on the side of the street feeling completely despondent.
That's when I saw the newspaper stand and made my way to it.
If this sickness was happening in Kisbu, I wondered if it was happening elsewhere. Where did the sickness stop?
A group of people gathered around the stand. Ice invaded my chest as I took in the headline
SULTANA JAWAHIR INCREASES TAXES AND CANCELS TRADE DEALS WITH NEIGHBORING KINGDOMS
I lifted my hand to my mouth as I read the paper. Badalah needed trade. My mother had set up many of the trade deals herself. Both she and my father had made Badalah as prosperous as it was, largely due to trade. We needed it. Badalah land was arid, and not much grew here. We needed to trade just so we had enough food. Without food from other kingdoms, the people of Badalah would starve. There were a few farms between Kisbu and the neighboring town of Khoha, which supplied a lot of Kisbu’s food, but the rest of the kingdom didn’t have the right kind of land to farm anything. And increasing the taxes! Why?
“That woman is pure evil,” a small woman to the side of me said to her friend. “She'd do well to abdicate and give us a true government.”
All around me, people bobbed their heads in agreement. Not once in my life had I heard a bad word against her, and yet it seemed that everyone hated her.
"Perhaps she needs to finally get married," someone else said.
Others exploded in laughter.
"Imagine that. Sultana Jawahir married? Who could possibly tolerate such a foolish hag? Sure, she might still hold some of that beauty of her youth, but her soul is evil to the core. It radiates from her like something putrid."
The mumblings spread as I distanced myself, bumping into someone as I ran.
"My apologies," I said, holding my headscarf in place.
"Princess Gaia? Is that you?"
My heart leapt as I heard my name and title. I wasn’t going completely mad, after all. "Jamal. You remember me?"
He stared at me, confused. "Remember you? We spent much of yesterday together. We gave out cakes to the poor, not far from here. Princess, are you all right?"
Tears rolled down my face. I wanted desperately not to cry, except it was too late. I couldn't stop. I didn't even care that I'd thrown myself into his arms for comfort. "I… I think I’m losing my mind. Nothing makes sense."
He squinted his eyes. "I’ve noticed something strange happening, but I’m not sure you are the one with the problem. The sultana is behaving quite bizarrely. I left the palace early because..." he paused. "Well, it seems your mother has taken a liking to me. She has it stuck in her head that I am here to court her."
"What?" I jumped back, feeling as if a stampede of camels were crossing my chest.
“Yes, exactly. And then there is the situation with your father. It's as if everyone in the palace has forgotten about him. Your lady servant remembers him, but I fear she is the only one.”
"Something terrible is happening, Jamal. I can feel it. Truth be told. I've been out here since the wee hours looking for my father. I haven't been able to find him. And I was just reading the kingdom’s paper. They are speaking ill of my mother! She’s making decisions going against everything she and my father spent eighteen years building up. Not only doesn’t she remember my father; she’s actively trying to cancel out all the good he did."
“I don’t mean to pry, but were there problems in your parent’s marriage?”
I thought back to how they’d been dancing together only days ago. They only had eyes for each other.”
I shook my head. “I’ve never met a couple more in love than those two. This isn’t a problem marriage, it’s a sickness. A group hallucination...” I broke down completely. “I don’t know what it is.”
Jamal looked over toward the paper stand and watched the people. "Something is definitely strange. But we'll get to the bottom of it."
"Don't you think it is strange that you and Freya are not affected by this?" I asked. The whole world had gone mad, and yet, having two people believe me made it easier. At least, it wasn’t I that had gone insane.
“Come with me,” he said, taking my hand. “I'll share our theories.”
"You and Freya have been talking?"
"Yes, all morning. She noticed you were gone and came straight to me. You see, sh
e knows I too am of magic."
I stopped in my tracks. "Of magic? But..."
"Now is not the time for this. Let's keep moving. I'll explain it all as soon as we are in a safe place."
“We aren’t going back to the palace?” I asked, noticing we were heading in the opposite direction.
“Freya came with me to look for you. Kisbu is a big town. We split up to look but agreed to meet up in an hour. She wrote an address for me.” He fished out a folded piece of paper and handed it to me. On it, in neat handwriting was an address I didn’t recognize.
“It’s in the old part of town apparently,” Jamal said, whisking me through the crowds of market-goers. “I think it’s best to keep your scarf covering you until we get to where we are going. The world is crazy, and I don’t know how safe you are.”
“I’m pretty sure most people don’t know who I am anymore,” I countered. “I think I’m safer now than I usually am.”
He didn’t answer, and I kept my scarf on as he’d asked.
We walked quickly through the winding streets of the old part of Kisbu until we reached one of the original older neighborhoods of the less fortunate.
Jamal asked a couple of people if they knew the address until one pointed us to an old door in a run-down building.
He tapped on it, and a woman that had to be my mother's age opened it. Her hair was covered with a scarf, but wisps of silver hair escaped it.
"Mrs. Shan." He acknowledged her with a slight nod.
She simply gave him a slight bow of the head and gestured for us to enter. Her sharp eyes took me in as I entered the house.
"Freya will be here shortly. She's sent word that I should expect the two of you here. I guess she wasn't wrong."
She closed the door and returned to the modest space that served as her kitchen and sitting room. “Have a seat. I'm preparing lunch. I'm sure the two of you can do with some food. Jamal, you can sit here, and Your Highness, you may take the head of the table.”
"Wait? You recognize me?"
"Yes. Where do you think Freya gets her magic blood from? If you haven’t already gathered, I’m Freya’s mother."
"Freya is magic?"
"Indeed. Although, she doesn't understand it and probably will never be strong enough to wield it."
"She told me she learned about magic at university."
“Magic is not something to be proud of in these parts. Since The Vizier tried taking Badalah using magic, it has fallen out of favor. She was only protecting herself. Please don’t punish her lie.”
“I wouldn’t,” I assured her. No wonder Freya figured out I was magic before I did. “Why do people not like magic here anymore?” I asked. “It can’t all be to do with The Vizier.”
"He was a very bad man. Evil ran through his pores. I wonder if this isn’t his magic." She said, gesturing the air around her. She shuffled back to her cooking, leaving me confused.
“My grandfather’s vizier is long gone. He’s not been seen since my parents married. My father told me that he became trapped in the very same lamp that Genie spent most of his life in. It was taken to the desert and was buried.”
“Things that are buried have ways of becoming unburied,” she said cryptically. “Besides, no lamp could hold The Vizier. I doubt that’s where he has been all these years. He might have been trapped there for a while...I don’t know.”
The thought of someone as wicked as The Vizier being around terrified me. He’d used his own brand of evil magic to try and take over Badalah. My father had stopped him. The story was legendary. No stories of The Vizier had surfaced since I was born. He was well and truly gone.
“What makes you think this is the work of The Vizier?” I asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders and turned to look at me. “It feels the same. Before your father became the sultan, Badalah was a miserable place. You won’t remember it, but crime was rife and people starved. I saw the Badalah Beacon this morning. I don’t think your mother would suspend trade if she was in her right mind. The Vizier wanted to suspend trade. This smacks of him.”
I felt a chill creep into my bones. The Vizier had been a powerful and evil man. “Why did he want to suspend trade?”
“He wanted to be the only one who could trade with the other kingdoms. He didn’t care about the people of Badalah, only about lining his own pockets.”
“You don’t think my mother wants to do that?”
Mrs. Shan came over to me and took my hand. “Your mother and father are the best rulers Badalah has ever seen. I know your father is lost. Freya told me. I think your mother is just as lost. Her father, the sultan before Aladdin, also acted strangely in his time. It turned out The Vizier was hypnotizing him. I don’t know how anyone would be able to hypnotize a whole kingdom, but it feels that way.”
“And only people with magic can see through that?”
She let go of my hands and nodded her head. “I believe that to be the case.”
“But what about Genie? He can’t remember father either.”
“But he is no longer magic, is he? He lost his magic at the same time The Vizier left. It makes me wonder if The Vizier somehow got the genie’s magic when he was sent into the lamp. The lamp was the only thing able to contain such powerful magic.”
Bile caught in my throat. If The Vizier had escaped, no one would be able to stop him. Not even Genie. I turned to Jamal.
“Tell me, Jamal. What is your magic?”
He paced the room. "Earth. But like Freya, I cannot wield it. That is something I've never been able to do. I don’t know anyone who is capable of using their magic in the way you do. Not from Badalah anyway. I can only sense it."
“It is extremely uncommon, that is for sure,” Mrs. Shan added. “Freya tells me you came upon this magic recently. Do you think it is connected to everything that is happening in Badalah?”
“It seems likely, though I cannot say how. I’ve never met anyone who knows magic outside of Badalah.” The palace had hosted parties with dignitaries from other kingdoms, some of which had magic. The people of Enchantia especially were known for their magic, but that was all. “My magic only came to me within the last week, and now this. I don’t know what the connection is, though.”
“We should think about asking around to see if anyone else has noticed their magic becoming strong,” she said, nodding to herself. “But first, you eat.”
Mrs. Shan placed in front of us a modest lunch of beans and bread.
The door swung open and in popped Freya, short of breath.
"Oh dear, are you all right?" her mother asked, rushing to her daughter's side.
“I am. I just ran all the way here.” She let out a big laugh and joined us on the cushions for her lunch. “I'm glad Jamal found you in one piece. Where'd you go? Don't answer that. You went to find your father, didn't you?”
I nodded.
"You went to the orphanage?"
I nodded again as Mrs. Shan placed a plate of food in front of her daughter.
“Yeah, I didn't think you would find him there.”
"And why is that?" I countered.
She dipped a piece of bread in the sauce and shoved it in her mouth.
“Because I know where he's at.”
"Where do you think he is?" I asked Freya.
She waited to finish chewing. "I think he's in the bell tower. I asked around after someone matching your father’s description was seen acting strangely. Someone told me he saw someone break into the bell tower last night."
Of course! He'd mentioned how he'd sometimes find refuge there when he was living on the streets. He always spoke of the place fondly. I stood up to go find him, but Mrs. Shan pushed me back in my seat.
“Finish your food before you leave. You’ll not get very far on an empty stomach.”
She was right, but the thought of my father out there alone made me feel sick to my stomach.
“He lived on the streets for years without your help. He can do it again for anot
her half-hour or so.”
She was right. He’d grown up out here.
“We could do with finding out what all this magic nonsense is about,” Mrs. Shan said, sitting down at the table with her own food. “Magic just doesn’t appear like...well, magic. Especially magic like this. Something has happened.”
I put down my spoon. “I’ve been following the news from the other kingdoms. I’ve been expecting something like this for quite a while.”
“What do you mean?” Freya asked, looking right at me.
“You know I read the papers. I’ve noticed a kind of pattern. As far as I can tell, it started in Draconis. At the beginning of the year, their queen fell asleep, and so far hasn’t woken up.”
“It’s a terrible business,” Mrs. Shan interjected.
“But it didn’t end there. In Atlantice, the queen there reverted back to being a mermaid.”
“She was cursed too?” Jamal asked, the interest in the subject evident in his eyes.
“Actually, no. According to reports that came out later, she was a mermaid to begin with. She used magic to get her legs and then pretended to the entire kingdom that she was human for years.”
“So her magic didn’t appear; it did the opposite? It disappeared.”
I nodded. “I guess so, but it’s been happening in other kingdoms. As far as I can tell, eighteen years ago, something happened that spewed magic out into the world. That magic calmed the years of war and depression.”
“I remember it well,” Mrs. Shan said, leveling a spoon in my direction. “It was as though peace occurred overnight. Of course, that was because your father became sultan. Badalah sorely needed a fresh perspective.”
“It wasn’t just my father. All over the kingdoms, the royal families came into luck. They married their sweethearts, they took over the rule. It was as if everything magically was set right.”
Freya looked at me with excitement. “So, you think a spell has been broken?”
“No.” Jamal shook his head. “I might not know much magic, but I know of it. I’ve traveled a lot for business. No spell is that powerful. No person, not even the mages of Enchantia, could produce a spell that would cover all of the twelve kingdoms.”
