Before Morgana could proceed there was a loud pounding at the door.
"Now what?" Morgana said in a vexed tone, "The barn is enchanted so, it cannot be any of our visitors, except
maybe the bird, but he's too small to knock so loudly." She started downstairs, and then looked back. She
shouted, "Come along, apprentice." She snapped her fingers, and all the dolls were back on their shelves and
the cupboard shut itself. You hurry after her.
Another round of pounding. "It's too late for visitors. Go away!" complained the witch, "I need my beauty
rest." Of course, she knew that the people downstairs outside the stone walls couldn't hear her.
She reached the door, and glanced into the mirror next to the door, and frowned. There was no reflection in
the glass. She harumphed.
"I guess they got tired of waiting and left," she said testily, "I'd curse them for that alone, if I knew who
they were." She pointed at the mirror. The image of nothing outside remained. Then the pounding started again.
"Perhaps they're invisible?" she posited uncertainly.
I took a step back, I may be a humble princess/apprentice, but the only thing I know that can pound on a door
and doesn't have a reflection is something undead. Witches have the power to summon and control the undead,
but clearly Morgana didn't summon her visitor.
"Alright, who's there? And what do you want?" Morgana demanded through the tiny iron grille in the door that
she opened inside the larger door.
"I am here for Prince Aladdin. I know you have him," demanded a shrill female voice.
Morgana peered through the grille and then looked at the still empty mirror.
"Most peculiar. You appear to be a frail young woman, but my magic mirror says that is an illusion. What are
you?"
"I am Princess Jasmine. Now release Aladdin and our friends."
"You're Princess Jasmine? But I was told she was ill. Then I was told she was a horse. How did you get
here? Agrabba is at least two fortnights journey on the fastest horse."
"I'm Princess Jasmine. You know that. Your panacea cured me, but the translocation spell as the bottom of the
phial swapped me with an old mare from the fruit vendor's cart outside the palace gate."
"It did," Morgana laughed, "You in a horse collar, now that would be rich. However, if it were true, you
couldn't be here, unless you were now a vampire. Which would explain why you don't cast a reflection in my
mirrors either. So I'm not inviting you in."
"Listen, witch, I'm no vampire, but you'll wish I was when I get through with you, if you continue to resist."
She whispered to her apprentice, "Feisty. I must add her to my trophy closet."
"Alright, Jafar, the rest of my first wish," Jasmine said to some unseen force.
"You know, Princess," said an oily voice, "If you just had wished us both out of the Cave of Wonders, this
would be so much simpler, and really multi-part wishes should count as multiple wishes."
"No, such luck, Jafar. I got the wording from Genie based on the genie handbook ages ago for just such a
situation as this. Now complete my first wish."
Jafar sighed loudly.
Jago woke with a fright.
"I know that sigh! It's Jafar! Wake up, wake up, I just heard Jafar!" squawked the parrot.
Aladdin whinnied, and Abou through mud - at least Jago hoped it was mud. Genie said, "Jafar's in the cave of
wonders for 10,000 years. You're just having a nightmare, Jago. Go back to sleep."
"As you wish, so shall it be!" roared Jafar.
Everyone awoke. Genie said, "You dream really loudly, Jago."
"It's not a dream, now turn Aladdin back into a man, so we can put the old master back into his shiny black
lamp!"
"Right. Hocus Pocus, Horse Out of Focus, Man in Focus," muttered genie.
"Hocus Pocus?" Jago said in disgust.
"Hm, that should have worked," the genie said in alarm. "It must be this barn. It's enchanted against magic.
Old witch didn't trust me after all."
"If it's magic proof, then Aladdin's stuck as a horse as long as he's in here?"
"Now witch, this is your last chance," Princess Jasmine said.
Aladdin turned around and whinnied.
"I think he's calling Jasmine. Stand clear he's going to knock down the stall door."
Aladdin kicked and kicked. Wood cracked and splintered.
"Wow, I figured it was enchanted too," Genie said in surprise as the door splintered and broke.
"A little tip, genie. Witch's magic tends to fail when exposed to iron or salt. That's why Jafar ended up in
a black iron lamp. His wizardry won't work on it, and his genie powers are bound by those special manacles
linked to the lamp."
As soon as Aladdin made it through the barn door, he became a naked man again.
"A little help, Genie."
"Rooty tooty, something suity," Genie said.
The bird groaned.
"Hey, I need my 8 hours sleep to come up with my best spells," the genie explained, and the oohed as he saw
Aladdin was dressed as a chimney sweep. "I said suity not sooty!"
"At least, I don't have to stare at his little brown butt," the bird said flying through the hole. Abu and
Genie followed. The nag went back to sleep.
"Jasmine!" Aladdin shouted as he ran to the castle entrance.
"Alright, enough is enough!" said Morgana flinging open the doors and striding out with her long gnarled staff
glowing with preternatural power. "I'm in charge here."
"Oh, really, Morgana?" said Jafar appearing as a translucent red misty image of himself stretching high into
the sky.
"Hiya, Master, long time no see! Looks like you been working out," said Jago flapping so as to hide Aladdin
from Jafar's view.
"Jago, so good of you to notice. You cannot protect Aladdin, and you don't need to protect him either.
Princess Jasmine rubbed my lamp and made a wish. I'm here to save you all."
"Jasmine did what? Oh, this is bad- I mean, good. Uh, I don't know what I mean. Is it safe to have this much
magic in one place? I feel like a canary in a mine. There's just soo much, magic. It's intox-?" Jago swooned
and Aladdin caught him.
"Jago, what did Jafar do to you?"
"Not Jafar-everyone. Too much magic in one place. Genie tell them, critical mass," the bird squawked, "Get
away while you can."
"Magical Critical Mass?" said the genie, "Oh, uh, Aladdin remember that water balloon you wanted to drop on
the guards?"
"Later, Genie."
"No, Al, it's important. It's relevant to this situation. What happened?"
"What does that have to do with this situation? I just over filled it and it exploded all over me."
"Right, and this place is so saturated with magic that it's about to explode unless we can diffuse it. The
best way is to get away."
"I'm not leaving Jasmine."
"Just say you wish we were all back at the palace and say it fast."
"I wish Jasmine, me, you, Jago, Abou, and that horse were all back at the palace in Agraba, right now."
"There was a flash and they were."
"Wait for it?" said Genie. There was only silence.
"Guess I was the critical mass?" Genie said.
"In your dreams," said Jago sitting up, "But we've seen the Cave of Wonders explode before. It does it all the
time."
"The Cave of Wonders, but we were at Morgana's keep?"
"Oh, Jago's right. I couldn't let Jafar leave the Cave of Wonders, so I simply wished that it existed
simultaneously around Morgana's castle," Jasmine explained, "And thank you so much genie for those crib notes
on genie magic."
"You're welcome, but never ever do that again. You could have blown us all up."
"I still don't understand, I thought you were that horse."
"Jafar figured it all out. He goes way back with Morgana. He used to be Jay the Magnificent, and his
apprentice stole most of his powers."
"Whoa, wait Morgana was Jafar's apprentice. I wondered why Jafar didn't double cross you. Only person he hates
more than Aladdin is his former apprentice. He'd never even speak her name. That's why he wanted genie, he
wanted revenge on her for stealing his powers and making him need a familiar to do simple conjuring," Jago
blurted out, "What I'm a quick study, and the way Jasmine tells stories, it could take 1001 nights to get to
the end."
"So genie, can you tell what happened between those two?"
"Well, Jafar is still a genie in a lamp in the cave of wonders," Genie answered, "And Morgana's keep didn't go
boom. But I would be surprised if she's done with us yet."
"No, genie, not by a long shot," said Morgana wiping the soot from her face as she glared into a magic mirror
watching the events unfolding in Agrabah, "Not by a long shot."
Then she turned to me, and threw me a broom.
"Clean up this mess, apprentice. I'm going to bed."
I stared at the ring of monoliths surrounding the keep. They had absorbed most of the explosion. Many were
toppled like dominoes, but most stood upright. She glared back at me from the stairway. So I started sweeping
up the plaster and debris that was everywhere. There had to be a better way, I stole a glance at her spell
book.
"It'll take a 100 days with one broom to clean up this mess," I groaned. Then I looked at the spell book, "Or
maybe one day with a 100 enchanted brooms, or maybe an hour with a thousand?" Did I dare?
Jasmine looked at Aladdin, "Take that straw out of your mouth, you look like a hayseed."
"Straw?" said Aladdin, and he coughed up a stomach full of partially digested hay.
Everyone laughed. Except Aladdin, who stole a nervous glance at the mare. He had been quite a stallion earlier
that night.