Aladdin: The Thief of Aisha

Chapter 6

ALADDIN

Why do bad things always find me? Even when fortune favors me, I still find a way to send it away. I'd bought goods I could have sold for a fortune, and I gave it away for a bowl of Camel's milk. I sighed. Now an old destitute had come with a map to the fabled forbidden cave and all its riches, and I pushed him away. I must be cursed by the gods of our fathers.

"Hey you!" said a deep voice.

I heard the voice, but I didn't stir. The person would move on like the other busybodies that don't keep their noses where they belonged. I wanted to be left alone to my sorrows.

"You, sitting there like one of the statues in the Sultan's palace!" repeated the voice.

I wouldn't have moved, but I smelled the horses, the sweetest of smells, mixed with that of an expensive fragrance that only the wealthy wear. I turned my head. A tall, dark man wearing a turban and flowing fancy robes stood with his hands on his hips looking at me. The Sultan's messenger. What now?

"Are you Aladdin?" asked the Sultan's messenger.

Jubril stepped forward. "He is Aladdin," said Jubril in a shrill voice. "He's the one that sold the dead horse!"

I jumped off the wall I'd been sitting on. "My...horse...Marengo is dead."

"Shut up, moneylender," said the Sultan's messenger. "The horse is not dead." He turned to face me. "You are needed at the palace. The horse is not doing well."

What happened? I wanted to ask but kept my mouth shut. The messenger thanked Jubril for leading him to me.

"You sold me a sick horse?" asked Jubril. "You better pray it doesn't die."

We headed towards the palace, and my stomach was tied in knots. Was Marengo hurt? About to die? Nobody said anything until we arrived at our destination. The palace entrance had a gate like the city gates. As we entered, a servant came out with a big pot of food. Some men, women, and children had lined up at the entrance.

"The Sultan provides food to the less fortunate in our society," explained the messenger. "Rice and lamb will fill any hungry stomach."

We passed the metal gate adorned with intricate designs of circles, rectangles, and squares. We rode into the cobblestoned entrance of the palace. Close up, the domes and piers of the palace were even more imposing. The walls of the mansion were made of marble. The polished marble floor of the entrance glimmered in the sunlight. Men were busy sweeping sand off the stones. It would take only a few months for the ever-present sand to bury the cobblestone if no one swept it regularly.

"You can close your mouth now," said the messenger. He disembarked from his horse, and I did the same. "The sick horse belongs to the princess. We think something is wrong with it and we understand it used to belong to you."

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.

"Your job is to make the horse whole," said the messenger.

The messenger led the way to the stables. I hesitated.

"Come, we don't have all day," said the messenger.

I followed and was only a few feet away when Marengo picked up my scent and made horse sounds and poked his head out of the stable.

"He's your horse," said the messenger. "You see the sundial over there?" He pointed at the stone dial in the garden carved from stone.

I nodded.

"Start now to calm the horse. If the princess comes once it's noon, you excuse yourself from the princess and leave. And if she doesn't show by noon, just leave."