Sixteen

 

"And so, that is where I have been. Exploring an underground city, getting left behind, and having to trek through the desert to get home," Aladdin finished. He'd managed to tell his mother the truth without mentioning djinn once.

"A truly alarming tale, my son. But what does this have to do with the princess?" Maman asked gravely.

Aladdin choked on his water, briefly becoming a fountain before his coughing fit eased. "What princess?"

"Her Highness Princess Maram, who summoned me to the palace to give you a message," Maman said.

"What message?" he asked faintly.

Maman scrutinised his face. "You do not seem surprised that one of the Sultan's daughters would summon me, or leave a message for you."

Now he'd done it. "I met her once in the marketplace. She was very gracious."

"What was a princess doing in the bazaar?"

He could answer this without incriminating himself too much. "She had just returned from a long journey abroad, and she was on her way to the bathhouse."

"Princesses do not..." Maman's eyes widened. "Most princesses do not. Only one does. The Traitor Queen's daughter, the witch the Sultan sends abroad to enchant foreign princes." Maman shook her head. "No wonder she is so beautiful and yet unmarried. What man would want a wife who has known more men than she can count – and foreigners, at that? Unwashed, uncouth, unmannered, with no idea of proper behaviour...and they eat the strangest things!"

No stranger than Gwandoya, though he was a foreigner, too, from southern lands instead of those in the north from whence the crusaders came. But Aladdin didn't want to think about the madman. His thoughts were of Maram, and his mother's slight to the lovely woman.

"What man would deserve her," he corrected. "Beautiful, enchanting, gracious, and the Sultan's daughter. Every man desires her, whether she wills it or no. But it is her father who will not allow her to marry. She is too valuable as an envoy to ever be free."

"Careful, my son. It sounds like you are under her spell, too. If she is forbidden to marry as you say, then you risk heartbreak even thinking about her. Forget her."

Aladdin shook his head. "I cannot. And if she gave you a message for me, then she has not forgotten me, either. Maman, please tell me...what did Princess Maram say?"

She sighed. "She wanted me to tell you to present yourself at the palace, saying she commanded you to do so. But I fear that if you do, it will only result in your doom. If you are lucky, the palace guards will turn you away. If you are not lucky...it is only a matter of time before the princess tires of you, and she will have you killed or imprisoned without hesitation. Please, I beg you, do not do as she asks."

Aladdin nodded slowly. "You are wiser than you know, Maman. The palace guards will never admit a street rat into the Sultan's palace. But you have been allowed in. You have dined with the princess herself. You must go to the palace, and present a gift to the Sultan for me. If he likes my gift, then you will ask the Sultan to summon me, so that I might beg for the hand of his daughter."

"No, I cannot. The Sultan will not see me...and what gift can you possibly offer that he will accept?"

Aladdin held out a cloth-shrouded bundle, peeling the layers away to reveal the treasure beneath. A small, jewelled shrub, perhaps two handspans in diameter, glittered in the lamplight. Each berry was made up of a cluster of amethysts so dark they almost seemed black, a stark contrast to the mother-of-pearl petalled blossoms. Together with the green agate leaves, the whole thing weighed far more than a shrub should, but Aladdin thought his mother could manage it. "Give this to the Sultan as my gift, and tell him that if he allows me to make Princess Maram my bride, I will give him a whole garden of trees and bushes such as this."

"I will take it to the Sultan, and we shall see what he says," she said doubtfully. "As long as you are sure this is what you want."

Aladdin laughed. "Maman, I have never been so sure of anything. This will work. I am certain of it."