Rajah's Curse

Chapter 5: The Kidnapper

I shook my head and tried to push the old memories away. I had bigger problems right now. Jasmine hadn't come back at the usual time and I was growing worried. If it got past sunrise, I would have to notify someone.

Just as I was gearing up to go bother one of the guards, I caught Jasmine's scent and saw her marching towards me. She looked furious.

"Rajah, I need you to track Jafar. I can't find the man anywhere."

I blinked. The princess was sweating and she was still wearing her dull brown disguise. What on earth was going on?

"Now, Rajah," she snapped.

I grunted at her.

"Please," she added.

I raised my nose into the air and sniffed. Ever since I became a tiger, my sense of smell had become sensitive. I mean all animals were supposed to have a better sense of smell, but when I concentrated, I could track just about anyone in this palace.

Jafar scent of staff polish, oil, and spice filled my nose. He was surprisingly close.

"Rajah?" Jasmine asked tentatively.

I nodded. I had him. I strode to across the garden to a lesser-used hallway that connected to the throne room. Jasmine followed.

I led Jasmine into the hallway and just as I sensed, he was there heading toward the throne room. Grand Vizier Jafar had aged very little in the last few years. His sleek goatee was still as black as his chosen robes. He held his iconic snake staff in one hand. The rubies in the staff matched the jewel in his headpiece and his ruby ring. The only difference between now and then was that his supremely annoying red parrot, Iago, was missing at the moment.

"Jafar!" Jasmine called out.

The grand vizier turned and looked down at us. I will never understand how the man could look so malevolent and trustworthy at the same time. Even now, when the man was clearly displeased to be interrupted, he gave off a sense that he could be confided in.

The grand vizier's look of disdain morphed into a warm and unsettling smile as he simpered, "Princess Jasmine, what an unusual ensemble you have on."

Jasmine ignored his words and said, "I demand that you release Aladdin Rajul Alsiyn from our dungeons immediately."

I stared at her. Aladdin had been captured?

At first, Jafar frowned at her. "Princess," he said, "it is not very becoming to be issuing commands when you are dressed like a peasant with the tiger at your side no less."

I narrowed my eyes. The man never used my name.

"Jafar. I gave you an order. This is not the time to discuss my royal façade," Jasmine snapped.

"On the contrary, princess," Jafar said, "Now is the perfect time. For you see, that is exactly why you are here."

"I'm here to set Aladdin Rajul Alsiyn free," she said.

"Princess, I have always believed that you are a lovely and intelligent woman just like your mother. I have yet to regret supporting you in your political career. You have done excellent work in the foreign policy's trade department. And for those reasons, I have often defended you from your father's more stringent beliefs, supported your exhaustive search for a husband, and smoothed over the feathers you have ruffled over the years."

I did not like where this was going. I glanced up at Jasmine to exchange a look but she wasn't watching me. Her eyes were fixed on Jafar. "What does any of that have to do with Aladdin Alsiyn?"

"It has everything to do with the boy. I work tirelessly for the good of Agrabah. I have excused any particularities in your behavior because I thought you too were dedicated to this great city, but princess you have gone too far even in my eyes. Rumors have spread about your... excursions."

I knew it. This was bad.

"And today I am saddened to see how true they were. Fraternizing with street rats and rogues is unacceptable, Jasmine. The boy was-"

"Aladdin is a good man," Jasmine protested.

Jafar practically ignored her interruption. "The boy was a lowlife thief and has been on the wanted list of many merchants and wealthy nobles. Do not disgrace yourself further by defending him. It is too late regardless."

Too late?

Jasmine glared up at Jafar. "What have you done?"

"The boy has been sentenced for kidnapping you."

My eyes went wide.

"Kidnapping!" she exclaimed.

"It was the only way to clear your name of those nasty rumors."

"But the punishment for kidnapping a noble is..."

"Death by beheading."

Before I could stop her, Jasmine grabbed Jafar's robes. "You didn't," she said.

Jafar pulled her hands away. "I am sorry, princess. As I said, it was the only way."

I snarled. Liar.

"When my father hears of this," she began.

"He will not!" Jafar said, slicing through her words. For the first time, he looked truly dangerous. It was only for a moment before his expression smoothed into another uncanny smile. "There are two truths, Princess Jasmine. Either you ran away into the city ignoring the sultan's only restriction on you or you were kidnapped by a rogue and a thief by no fault of your own."

"There's only one truth," Jasmine hissed.

"Yes, there is only one truth that will ensure your position in this court and your father's trust. We both know what truth that is," Jafar said with his eyebrows raised.

My insides went cold. Damn it, he was right. Too much of Jasmine's political power was tied up with Jafar and the sultan, he would never support us in this.

I looked up at Jasmine to see what she made of it. Her face was blank but there were tears in her eyes.

"I am sorry, princess." Jafar tried to reach out to her but I stepped in front of her, guarding her from this man.

Jafar glanced down at me as I growled at him.

He looked away and called out, "Come. Iago."

The parrot seemed to appear from nowhere as it fluttered onto the vizier's shoulder.

"We must leave the princess to rest. She is feeling unwell," Jafar said.

Jafar turned and left us. As soon as he and his parrot rounded the corner, Jasmine collapsed onto me.

I nuzzled her as she sobbed into my fur. It wasn't fair. Aladdin's death, Jafar's political machinations, the sultan's high-handed restrictions, me and my curse, I stuck close to Jasmine and let her cry. One of us should be able to.