Rajah's Curse

Chapter 30: An Answer

The magician's study became our default meeting spot. It was protected from guards and filled with interesting things. Adding that together with the mystery of Jafar made the study our favorite place to spend the night. However, even with our frequent visits, the study was still full of secrets. After an entire week, it felt like we had barely touched the place.

Tonight, like most nights, Jasmine was downstairs doing her own research, while I was up above reading scrolls on the Durgara faith and gemstone properties. I didn't think an Agrabah library would have information on my amulet in particular, but I hoped it might have something useful. I knew there should at least be information on my amulet's gemstone, lapis lazuli. So far though, I had not even found that. There was little order to the scrolls in this place.

I was just about to try a new scroll when Jasmine burst through the door that led to the lower study. She ran over to me with her eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" I demanded, "You forgot your blindfold."

"I know," she said, "but you have to read this. I think I figured it out."

I looked down at the scroll she thrust in my face.

There are few magical artifacts more powerful than the genie of the lamp

and unlike many other artifacts, it and the genie of the ring have a fixed

location, the Cave of Wonders.

I frowned. I'd heard tales of the genie of the lamp. Some said he was captured by the first sultan of Agrabah, but I'd never heard of the genie of the ring before. I read on.

Any time the lamp or ring are without an owner, one or the other will

teleport back to the cave. The Cave is filled with all sorts of magical

items, a magic carpet, mystical stones, and enchanted gold. However

only the lamp and ring can be easily removed. This elaborate treasury

is said to be part of a wish made by Sultan Hamed Bobolonius I of

Agrabah.

I stared at the scroll. Magic carpet? I felt a headache begin as my eyebrows came together. I decided to ignore it and keep reading. The text went on to explain the properties and rules of the lamp and ring. When I finished reading, I put down the scroll.

Five wishes and the three from the lamp had almost no limitations. It sounded impossible, but then, I was standing in a magic study concealed by an illusion and when sunrise came, I would turn into a white tiger. My definition of impossible was quite flexible at this point.

"Don't you see?" Jasmine squealed, interrupting my thoughts. I glanced at her. The princess was practically bouncing. I did enjoy seeing her this excited, but I also enjoyed being human and I didn't want another fountain incident.

"Hold on," I said. I moved back towards the staircase.

"Where are you going," she asked.

"To get your blindfold," I called back.

I went down to the lower study and grabbed it.

"Come on," she said from behind me.

I nearly jumped. "Jasmine!" I said, turning around. "You scared me."

Jasmine smirked.

I went up to her and said, "Hold still." I meant to briskly wrap the cloth around her eyes, but my hand brushed across her skin. I flinched but it was too late. I had felt it. Her skin was so soft. I wanted to reach for her again. I wanted to rest my hand on her cheek. And her hair, I was so close to it and it looked so sleek and shiny. I would do almost anything to comb my fingers through it.

I shook my head. I was being inappropriate. I needed to stop fantasizing about touching the princess and focus on tying the blindfold.

"Are you done yet," Jasmine said impatiently.

"Not yet," I said. I told my hands to move and they slowly obeyed. "There."

"Finally," Jasmine said, beaming at me.

My own smile was wobbly. I couldn't stop looking at where I had touched her. I was a lecher just like all the others.

"Ren," she pressed. "What do you think?"

"Think?" I said dully.

"Yes! About the scroll," she said eagerly.

"Um...it was interesting," I ventured.

Jasmine shoved me.

"Hey."

"Stop being dumb," she said.

I scowled at her but then I realized she couldn't see it. "Fine," I said, "What you think about the scroll?"

"It's so obvious," she said and then she started to talk fast as she paced around me. "The reason Jafar, a great magician, came here was because he was looking for the lamp. From what we have gone through so far, it seems like Jafar was a sorcerer and he dwelt in the art of using artifacts for small manipulations. That lamp is the most powerful thing I've come across yet and it'd said to be part of my ancestor's treasury. I mean even I've heard of the Cave of Wonders. It's part of the Agrabah creation myth. Jafar must have come here looking for the lamp to grant some kind of elaborate wish. The reason he left is because he finally found the lamp."

"It's possible," I said.

"Possible? Possible!" Jasmine whipped around. She looked like she wanted to shake me. "Ren, I'm almost certain. Think about it."

I did. The princess's theory made some sense, but... "Jasmine, it's too soon to draw conclusions. We've barely started looking."

"Nonsense!" she declared. "It makes sense that the answer would be one of the first scrolls that I found. It was on the lab workbench which means it was referenced often. So there!" she finished triumphantly.

"Jasmine..."

"What?" she said.

"Let's say, you're right."

"I am," she said confidently.

"Then answer me this: What did Jafar wish for? I mean if he was going to make some big wish from a genie lamp. Shouldn't there be evidence?" I asked.

Jasmine deflated a little. "Well...he...I don't know. The possibilities are almost endless."

I nodded.

"And I don't know what he'd want," Jasmine said talking slower. "As grand vizier he would have all the wealth and resources he could need and as a sorcerer he could have even more. I even found a potion recipe for eternal life earlier. It seemed complicated but surely it would be possible to make it with Agrabah's resources behind him to find the ingredients."

"So?" I prompted patiently.

"So, I need to keep looking to support my theory," she said with a sigh.

I smirked.

Jasmine shoved me again. "Don't act so smug," she said.

"I wasn't..." I began to protest.

"I don't have to see you to know you're making a face of some sort."

I stifled a laugh and said, "It would be hard not to, considering the fact I have a face."

Jasmine groaned.

"I'll head back upstairs then?" I said.

"Oh, alright," she said before murmuring. "You self-righteous pedant."

I chuckled and returned to my post.

The rest of the night, Jasmine was a bit grumpy, but really, she couldn't just assume her first answer was the right one. And if I was being honest, I wasn't in a hurry for this search to end. This new project had been good for Jasmine. My princess was a natural problem-solver and it was nice to work on a problem that didn't have thousands of lives hanging in the balance. In the magician's study, she was confident and vibrant. She'd been pretending to be that person since Ali disappeared, but now it didn't seem like an act anymore.

And of course, there was my curse to think of as well. I kept telling myself not to get my hopes up, but it did me no good. I was too damn upbeat these days.