Rajah's Curse

Chapter 14: The Wait

And then the unthinkable happened:

It was a half-hour past sunrise and Jasmine still hadn't returned.

I was looking up at the sky from the highest balcony of the palace. Jasmine had gone on another carpet ride with the prince. Normally, they just rode around Agrabah, but I hadn't seen them in the sky before I went to bed. I hadn't thought anything of it at the time since it had been a cloudy night. But now it was past sunrise and I still did not see them.

What if they had left the city? What if they were lost? Or captured? Anything could happen when a magic carpet was involved.

I moaned. I could not wait any longer. I didn't want to report her but I would. I had to. She had been gone for too long.

I should have alerted someone already. No one knew that the prince had taken Jasmine out alone except me. Using the same agreement as always, Jasmine and I had made our usual deal, but now she'd broken the terms.

I headed down to the princess's vacant rooms and went inside. There was a pile of colored parchment by her vanity. After I picked up the green sheet on top of the pile, I left her rooms. It was time to get help.

I tried the sultan first. I strode past the sleeping guards and entered the chambers no problem. The sultan slept in a crimson bed that could have fit a family of eight. The man was cocooned in the middle of it.

I didn't want to wake the guards outside. Plus, the parchment made it hard to make sounds because I didn't want to get my drool on the important words Jasmine had written on it. So, I opted to shake the bed.

The sultan moaned a bit and rolled over.

I growled softly. The parchment fluttered in my mouth.

The sultan and I had had a strained relationship ever since I realized what a useless idiot he was. It was honestly a miracle he hadn't been deposed yet. Rumors said his rule was protected by ancient magic. On days like these, I believed it. How could this man sleep when his daughter was missing and there was an angry tiger in his bedroom?

Forget it. Subtlety was overrated. I put the parchment down and then I roared.

The guards from outside rushed in. The sultan was up. "Allah almighty," he cried turning this way and that. "What on earth?"

He spotted me. "Rajah!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing here? It's the middle of the night."

The guards saw me too, of course. They watched me as one of them asked, "Do you require assistance, Your Majesty?"

I glared at them.

The guards swallowed nervously.

The sultan looked between me and the guards. "No. No. You can go back," he told them. "It's only my daughter's tiger."

The guards did not need to be told twice. They scrambled out the door which gave me some satisfaction. After a few "lessons", Most palace guards understood they did not want to mess with me.

"Now what is it, Rajah?"

I remembered the sultan and turned to face him.

"Is Jasmine having a nightmare?"

I did not acknowledge that silly question. Instead, I grabbed the parchment off the floor with my teeth.

"What's that you got there?" he cooed in a sweet belittling tone.

I snarled without meaning to.

"Oh my!" the sultan yipped in response.

What did he expect? I was not his pet. Unlike Iago, I did not tolerate the sultan's coddling. Something I wish the man would remember.